February 25th

Microsoft Grabs Huevos... Squeezes

OEMs and corporate types get to install a version of Windows XP that doesn't require the usual activation rigmarole. But that leaves wide open the possibility that folks at corporate central or the sweat shop can do a bit more installing than Bill would like based on the customer's license bill. So now Microsoft is cracking down on those installation keys. Expect this to continue until you need to put a lien on your house to use Windows.

Discuss here.

                                             Dr. John

February 17th

The Bill Tax

What is the Bill Tax? It is the mandatory investment in money, time, frustration and energy demanded of Windows users by Bill Gates. The first form of Bill Tax Windows users encounter is the exorbitant price of the operating system itself. At the local computer store you will shell out $200 for the home version of Windows XP, or $300 for the professional version. If you buy a new PC, the price will be elevated by approximately $100 for the home version, and nearly $200 for the professional version. This is the most immediate Bill Tax, but by no means the most onerous or insidious. The hidden Bill Taxes fit that bill.

The most obvious hidden Bill Tax is the lack of security, and the constant patching and repatching of the operating system with the full knowledge that many bugs and back doors will always remain after each patching session. This particular Bill Tax is especially onerous for many businesses running Windows machines by the dozens or hundreds. Microsoft has attempted to make this process automatic, but the automatic updates feature in Windows can also be quite frustrating at times, like when it tries to update your system right in the middle of something important, and with a deadline.

Another hidden Bill Tax is the loss of certain functions on some computers after applying one of Bill’s patches, namely Service Pack 2. The most recent report of such problems involves a dramatic slowdown in burning times with some dual layer DVD burners, and loss of laptop battery life after installing SP2. Upon its initial release, over 200 programs were reported to be “broken” by the installation of SP2. The loss of productivity associated with such problems is a particularly onerous Bill Tax.

There are many other Bill Taxes, large and small, including the Windows upgrade Bill Tax each time a new version of the operating system comes out, or the “my printer won't work” Bill Tax associated with the difficulty in writing proper drivers for Windows XP. All of all, Bill Taxes come in many forms, and we have all become so used to paying them without thinking, that we now think of them as simply part of the Windows eXPerience. Other operating systems have their problems and frustrations as well, but no one has come close to topping Bill’s infuriating money machine for its pure power at taxing the wallets and patience of its victims.

Discuss here.

                                             Dr. John

February 12th

SCO Postmortem

After their latest round in court, SCO seems doomed to extinction. While some at SCO feel vindicated that the Judge did not apply IBM's request for summary judgment (dismissal), most observers think that the end is now in sight for SCO. In many ways, the judge was actually telling SCO lawyers that summary judgment was a hair's breadth away, because, as the judge noted:

  "It is astonishing that SCO has not offered any competent evidence to create a disputed fact regarding whether IBM has infringed SCO's alleged copyrights through IBM's Linux activities... [There is a] vast disparity between SCO's public accusations and its actual evidence—or complete lack thereof."

Remember that SCO said it had found thousands, maybe millions of lines of code copied from Unix to Linux? Notice now how the judge remarks that not even a single disputed fact had been shown by SCO. That's pretty much what the Linux folks have been saying all along.

It's all down hill from here for SCO.

Discuss here.

                                             Dr. John

February 4th

More Microsoft Patches Coming

Apparently, Microsoft is readying 13 more patches for Windows, some of which are for bugs that were reported many months ago. It looks like next Tuesday is bug-patch day, so don't forget to head over there if you don't have auto-updates enabled.

Discuss here.

                                             Dr. John

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