I think the usefulness of introducing incompatible binary file formats as a way to force corporate upgrades is over for MS. And really, what new features that will be generally used could possibly be left to introduce? That leaves UI changes (hated by the established user base) and bug fixes (no revenue produced, so WGAS?). All MS has left is the delivery model since that can be tied to the "new" cloud-based version of MS Windows and Google seems to be all over that. But over time, the traditional version of MS Office will yield to OO because of economic and OS-dependency issues. Microsoft needs a new business model or it will die.

I don't have "donkey balls" installed here so I can't observe the effect when I use OO. Is "donkey balls" some kind of Windows look-and-feel emulator or win32 file-compatability app? Please post your link to "donkey balls".

MS has free and open access to all FOSS code and is free to scan the Internet with Bing to its hearts content searching for discussions of FOSS and all its projects. It's not like FOSS is doing anything that needs to be hidden. Where MS wields power is through political influence in government and trade groups, power FOSS generally lacks or lacks the skill to exploit as effectively as MS because in those arenas, it is always about the money.

So having MS involved in FOSS stuff is typically no big deal. Well, except for Miguel "Judas" de Icaza.

I've always advocated a cop in a tower with a sniper rifle who would shoot people who run red lights. It's one of the few instances where the death penalty would truly act as a deterrent. I, myself, would probably never again drive a car just to avoid the possibility of getting shot. Look at how green that would be! Think of the whales we could save . . .

Which is why traffic signs are special shapes. An octagonal blob of snow on a pole at an intersection still communicates "STOP".

Make WinXP look like KDE http://www.tech-atom.com/windows/ultimate-linux-transformation-pack-for-windows-xp.html

Make GNOME look like WinXP http://ubuntu.online02.com/xpgnome

Make WinXP look likeUbuntu http://pc-hacks.blogspot.com/2007/10/make-up-over-your-windows-look-like.html

Make WinXP look like Enlightenment http://www.litestep.net/

Make Linux look like Win95 http://fvwm.org/

It all makes my head hurt.

Since you are not disclosing the ISP name so we can examine their TOS or contracts to see who's really being the jerk here and learn enough actually help you, pay the $35/day just to recover/delete your data if you need to and find another host that suits you.

Otherwise STFU; I'm beginning to understand how your ISP feels.

Agreed. Quit your damn whining, pony up $35 and fix you machine. If you can't fix it, remove any "confidential" information or encrypt it, give them root access an let _them_ try to fix it. Over the long run, find an ISP that offers support on terms you find acceptable and change ISPs; you'll both be happier.

yes. Yes! YES!! I install it on every machine I admin. I use it in an xterm on the desktop; it's much better that those GNOME/KDE GUI file managers. I wish that distros would put the statically linked slimmed-down version on their rescue disks.

Fixed that for you.

Forgot to include this. Free for non-commercial use. I have not used it, so anybody with experience?

http://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-linux-per/

I've used NTFS-3G successfully. http://www.tuxera.com/community/ntfs-3g-download/

But the nfsmount people have this to say: "The ntfs-3g driver is an obsolete fork of ntfsmount. Use ntfsmount from ntfsprogs-2.0.0"

http://www.linux-ntfs.org/doku.php?id=ntfsmount

Who is correct???

They've used that for every new release so far. Why stop now?