Please do your company a favor and tell your cluless IT support about the existence of this.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Server_Update_Services
Windows Server Update Services 2.0 and above comprise a repository of update packages from Microsoft. It allows administrators to approve or decline updates before release, to force updates to install by a given date, and to obtain extensive reports on what updates each machine requires. System administrators can also configure WSUS to approve certain classes of updates automatically (critical updates, security updates, service packs, drivers, etc.). One can also approve updates for "detection" only, allowing an administrator to see what machines will require a given update without also installing that update.
Administrators can use WSUS with Group Policy for client-side configuration of the Automatic Updates client, ensuring that end-users can't disable or circumvent corporate update policies. WSUS does not require the use of Active Directory; client configuration can also be applied by local group policy or by modifying the Windows registry.
NZ banned software patents the same way they're banned in Europe i.e Not really.
Meantime we see patent lawsuits going to places like UK and Germany because they give judgements and injunctions even faster than rocket dockets like East Texas. See Motorola vs. Microsoft on H.264 patents on Windows 7 for example, or Apple vs. Samsung/HTC etc.
If those are not software patents then what are?
http://allthingsd.com/20120502/german-court-backs-motorolas-injunction-against-microsoft/
Outercurve's president seems to be the Apache Software Foundation's cofounder though.
Jim Jagielski, a co-founder of the Apache Software Foundation; a director of the Open Source Initiative; and currently a consulting software engineer for Linux giant Red Hat is now president of the Microsoft-sponsored, open-source friendly Outercurve Foundation's Board of Directors.
Why is dropping price such big news? It happens all the time for a phone and is routine. Multiple Android phones have received multiple price cuts. But it's only big news if it's a Windows Phone since Slashdot seems to have axe to grind. Recently the Nexus 4 got reduced to a firesale price of $199 unlocked.
Also another fallacy I see in these kind of posts is "the price dropped by 33%!". Or, "the price dropped by half!"! All while referring to the on contract price. While the "price" may have dropped from $100 to $50, the OEM still getting ~$450 compared to $500 earlier. That's a 10% drop, not 50%!
Huh, Google spends the most on lobbying among tech firms.
http://www.theverge.com/2013/6/4/4394234/google-eight-biggest-record-lobbying-washington
First, we are talking about Metro apps. Second, Windows 8 apps are fully supported without any changes in 8.1
We're talking about new versions of Metro apps that can optionally use the new APIs in 8.1
Metro apps written for 8.0 won't be "glitchy".
Given the number and usage of Metro apps, this isn't that big of a number. Second, the 8.1 preview has the necessary APIs required to develop and test, so this isn't like the Android situation.
Once 8.1 is released, developers can test and release their new version of apps using the new APIs. Their old apps will continue to work unchanged.
As usual this is a storm in a teacup.
RTM means release to manufacturing, i.e to the OEMs to test on beta hardware and with beta drivers.
Take Google, which just drops the new version of the Android SDK over the wall along with the hardware running the new version of the Android OS. I didn't notice any outrage there, perhaps because they don't allow comments on their blog posts(or they don't have blog posts). Or perhaps because if Google does it, it's okay.
This is just a low-effort manufactured story quoting blog comments, by the cookie cutter Computerworld "journalists" who can't even spell "sneak peak[sic]" and submitted by them to Slashdot to troll for pageviews. Another Slashdot low.
The author of this "article"? A certain Gregg Keizer, who is most well known for inteviewing a fake CEO(who was actually a computerworld writer himself) who faked Windows 7 benchmarks to spread FUD against Windows 7, which Slashdot predictably lapped up at the time. (now, Windows 7 is the best OS ever according to Slashdot though)
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9158258/Most_Windows_7_PCs_max_out_memory
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/why-we-dont-trust-devil-mountain-software-and-neither-should-you/31024
ComputerWorld reporter Gregg Keizer last week quoted a company source as boasting, “Outside of Microsoft, I don't think anyone knows more about Windows performance than us.”.
ComputerWorld reporter Gregg Keizer has frequently been first on the scene with details when DMS has released a new study. We found at least a dozen stories under his by-line at ComputerWorld based on reports from XPNet, many including quotes from DMS Chief Technology Officer Barth. As we note later in this report, our reporting strongly suggests that “Craig Barth” does not exist and is in fact a pseudonym for InfoWorld contributing editor Kennedy since the late 1990s
Yet Slashdot continues to fall victim to this junk on multiple stories every week, the jokes on us. However, it's apparent that readership is dropping, as people with half a brain continue to quit, the moderation becomes even more brutal towards any comment that is not hating on Microsoft(see GP comment modded down, perhaps by Computerworld sockpuppets for calling out CWMike), and people lose interest in submitted stories to a dead place, resulting in Computerworld and HotHardware's MojoKid blogspam taking over the front page as they have a vested interest to submit stories and write flamebait headlines and summaries as they know Slashdot laps it up, and this causes more people to leave.. The problem seems to be taking care of itself.
Opera 15 is the current Opera. Try downloading from opera.com.
Opera Next is the beta build of Opera 15.
Opera 12 is the deprecated one, but they haven't pushed an update to Opera 15 for Opera 12 users
By latest build do you mean Opera 15 or 12? Doesn't work in 15.
Getting sick of the multiple Ballmer stories with the same old tired discussions... this is what, the 10th story on the same thing?
The advantage of Open Source is that you or anyone else can fix the software if/when security problems are found, whether in the OS, core libraries, network stack, or any Open Source applications. We are not dependent on the original developers to make any such fixes. I have done this a couple times in the past by fixing security issues in open source code before the developer fixes were available (I could have waited a day and got the developer fixes).
Advantage of closed source - you can edit the HOSTS file and be done instead of doing all that.
It's curious to see Google pull this.
From http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/meaning-of-open.html
"At Google we believe that open systems win. They lead to more innovation, value, and freedom of choice for consumers, and a vibrant, profitable, and competitive ecosystem for businesses. Many companies will claim roughly the same thing since they know that declaring themselves to be open is both good for their brand and completely without risk. After all, in our industry there is no clear definition of what open really means. It is a Rashomon-like term: highly subjective and vitally important."
"To understand our position in more detail, it helps to start with the assertion that open systems win. This is counter-intuitive to the traditionally trained MBA who is taught to generate a sustainable competitive advantage by creating a closed system, making it popular, then milking it through the product life cycle. The conventional wisdom goes that companies should lock in customers to lock out competitors."
"To understand our position in more detail, it helps to start with the assertion that open systems win. This is counter-intuitive to the traditionally trained MBA who is taught to generate a sustainable competitive advantage by creating a closed system, making it popular, then milking it through the product life cycle. The conventional wisdom goes that companies should lock in customers to lock out competitors. There are different tactical approaches — razor companies make the razor cheap and the blades expensive, while the old IBM made the mainframes expensive and the software
"In other words, Google's future depends on the Internet staying an open system, and our advocacy of open will grow the web for everyone - including Google."
The entire thing is a good read.
We are not a loved organization, but we are a respected one. -- John Fisher