Thrymm - Slashdot User

Microsoft Battles Vista Perception With Prizes 342

Posted by Zonk on Thursday February 14, 2008 @07:33PM from the you-too-may-already-be-a-winner dept.

LambAndMint writes "In what can only be described as an act of utter desperation to overcome Vista's mostly negative public perception issues, Microsoft has put together an online "Fact or Fiction" quiz about Windows Vista. Every person who submits themselves to Microsoft indoctrination gets a free shirt and the chance to win a $15,000 prize. Some of the supposed 'facts' will make you feel like you're reading a document from an alternate reality. Get ready to get a job as a computer salesman for a mass-market retailer as you go through the quiz."

SCO Goes Private With $100 Million Backing 411

Posted by Zonk on Thursday February 14, 2008 @05:34PM from the this-is-just-a-touch-unexpected dept.

AmIAnAi writes "Just when you thought it was all over, the SCO story takes a new twist. SCO has received $100 million financing from Stephen Norris Capital Partners to get them out of Chapter 11 and go private 'The move gives Stephen Norris, whose namesake founder was a co-founder of private equity giant The Carlyle Group, a controlling interest in SCO, which now has a platform to continue its court battle with Novell Inc. over royalties from the Unix server operating system, SCO's main business ... According to a statement from the company, SNCP already has a business plan for SCO that includes pursuing its legal claims.'"

Journal SPAM: Cash Starved Forest Service Spends $600,000 to Buy Tasers 8

Journal by Jeremiah Cornelius on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @05:23PM

After an intense fire season, the US Forest Service is saddled with more than a quarter-billion dollar deficit and cuting core programs. Nonetheless, the Service has bought $600,000 worth of Tasers without any training program, rules for use or even a written explanation as to why the devices are needed, according to agency records obtained under a FOIA request by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The Tasers are sitting

Submission + - Western Digital: No file-sharing for you! (blorge.com)

Submitted by thefickler on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @05:08PM

thefickler writes: Despite the deep dislike for DRM among the masses, Western Digital feels that it, too, needs to impose copy-protection. Western Digital's Anywhere Access software that comes with its networked drives disallows sharing for certain file formats that include MP3, MPEG, DIVX and OGG. It makes no distinction between original or copyrighted works, meaning that you can't even share legitimate files.

Submission + - Star Wars Holiday Special In 5 Minutes (sfrobots.com)

Submitted by

WDancer

on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @05:03PM

WDancer writes: "Here is a video clip showing highlights (arguable) from the Star Wars Holiday Special. This is a masterwork; Jefferson Starship, Mark Hamil in a hairpiece, Carrie Fisher singing, and Harrison Ford looking for a way out of his contract."

Submission + - FTC: payment processor schemes took millions (networkworld.com)

Submitted by

coondoggie

on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @04:48PM

coondoggie writes: "The Federal Trade Commission and seven states have charged a payment processor with violating federal and state laws by debiting, or attempting to debit from consumers' bank accounts on behalf of numerous fraudulent telemarketers and Internet-based merchants.Between June 23, 2004 and March 31, 2006, the payment processing company, Your Money Access, processed more than $200 million in debits and attempted debits to consumers' bank accounts and more than $69 million of the attempted debits were returned or rejected by consumers or their banks for various reasons, indicating the lack of consumer authorization, the FTC complaint alleges. http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/22935"

Submission + - Microsoft files 52 lawsuits against global pirates

Submitted by Stony Stevenson on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @04:33PM

Stony Stevenson writes: As part of its effort to crackdown on the use of illegally copied software, Microsoft has filed 52 lawsuits against businesses and individuals around the world for using illegitimate versions of its Windows, Office, and other products. The company also referred 22 additional cases to local law enforcement authorities in foreign countries, Microsoft said Monday. Of the lawsuits filed, 15 involved software that's been traced to a Chinese syndicate that Microsoft said is the world's largest ring of counterfeiters. The gang was busted earlier this year through a joint effort involving Chinese authorities, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Microsoft. Microsoft estimates that counterfeiting costs the software industry about $40 billion per year worldwide.

Submission + - Ulteo brings OpenOffice.org to the web browser! (ulteo.com)

Submitted by

joestar

on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @04:08PM

joestar writes: "Just announced on their website and now on some news sites: OpenOffice.org 2.3 can now be used online within the web browser (at least Firefox and IE), without prior download nor install. I've just tried it and they have implemented an interesting way to print documents, as a PDF download. It seems that the Ulteo plateform also offers some realtime desktop sharing capabilities, for training and workgroup. I would love to access all my apps online the same way!"

Submission + - Ohio caves to encryption after massive data breach (computerworld.com) 1

Submitted by

Lucas123

on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @03:56PM

Lucas123 writes: "After a backup tape containing 106,821 pieces of sensitive information on Ohio residents and businesses was stolen from the car of a government intern in June, the state government just announced it has purchased 60,000 licenses of encryption software for state offices to use to protect data. Ohio's missing backup tape featured the names and Social Security numbers of 47,245 individuals; the names and Social Security numbers of 19,388 former state employees; and banking information on less than 100 businesses. It's estimate that the data loss will cost the state $3 million. In September, the state docked a state government official about a week of future vacation time for not ensuring that the data would be protected."

Submission + - Rogers Inserts Content Into Users' Webpages (bit-tech.net)

Submitted by geekmansworld on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @02:01PM

geekmansworld writes: It seems that Canadian ISP Rogers is inserting data into the HTTP streams returned by the websites requested by it's customers. Probably intended as a "feature", the unsolicited intrusion is nonetheless unsettling.

Submission + - The Solar System Is Bent (cnn.com)

Submitted by RWarrior(fobw) on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @01:54PM

RWarrior(fobw) writes: CNN reports today that Voyager 2 has found that the solar system is asymmetrical.

I suppose it's only a matter of time now before the Voyager crafts prove that the whole fabric of the space time continnum is not merely curved, it is in fact totally bent.

Submission + - Microshutters for the Webb Space Telescope

Submitted by

Roland Piquepaille

on Thursday January 25, 2007 @02:08PM

Roland Piquepaille writes: "In case you don't remember, the Webb Space Telescope will replace Hubble, probably after 2011, and should be able to catch phenomena which happened 13.5 billion light-years ago (read more for a Hubble vs. Webb comparison). At these distances, the instruments onboard will need to be more precise than ever. This is why NASA has developed a new technology based on microshutters for a better focus of distant galaxies. These arrays of microshutters, composed of more than 62,000 individual shutters measuring 100 by 200 microns, will allow scientists to systematically block out light that they do not want, allowing the large-format detector to measure infrared spectra optimally — and to perform spectroscopy on up to 100 targets simultaneously. Read more for additional references and an image of an array of these microshutters."

Submission + - 911 Calls Reveal Dangers of Media Consolidation

Submitted by BendingSpoons on Thursday January 25, 2007 @02:00PM

BendingSpoons writes: Five years ago, a 112-car train derailed outside of Minot, North Dakota. Over 240,000 gallons of anhydrous ammonia leaked out of the car, resulting in one death and the hospitalization of hundreds. Why is this news? Because newly released 911 tapes reveal a breakdown in Minot's emergency broadcasting — a breakdown that some are attributing to media consolidation. When panicked residents called emergency dispatch, they were advised to tune into KCJB, the designated local emergency broadcaster. However, KCJB — along with Minot's five other commercial channels — was owned by Clear Channel; the music was piped in from out of state, and no one was in the station to respond to calls. 911 callers were therefore directed to radio stations that provided no emergency information. The problem of "local" news stations unable to transmit information about local emergencies is now raising concerns about both national security and media consolidation.

Submission + - Stable, Mature Open Source ERP's with support?

Submitted by dughutch on Thursday January 25, 2007 @01:52PM

dughutch writes: Our company is considering changing its current inventory management system to something a little more friendly, extensible, etc. Having surveyed the playing field and seeing items such as Sage Accpak (http://www.sageaccpac.com/) along side systems such as webERP (http://www.weberp.org/) and Adempiere (http://www.adempiere.com/) I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions or feedback. Cost is not the top priority, uptime is a must as our organization lives by our current system. That being said, I'd like to see our $$$ go to supporting and extending a product, but on call support is a must. Ideas? All thoughts welcome.

Submission + - Who has the best US high definition broadcast

Submitted by mhollis on Thursday January 25, 2007 @01:50PM

mhollis writes: Gizmodo is featuring a subjective HDTV quality test from the five networks that were sending an HD signal of the President's State of the Union speech. This speech was broadcast using a pool feed, so everyone was deriving their signal from exactly the same source.

According to Gizmodo, CBS won the contest with the highest quality signal. Fox lost, as they did not have an HD feed at all — just widescreen — so their picture looked fuzzy as compared to the other networks. Also judged was sound quality.

And you thought NTSC standard definition television stood for Never Twice the Same Color!

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