Posted 11/17/2009 at 01:28:25am

It may not seem like it would help much, but MS has actually taken measures due to abuse...of numerous types. Action taken ranges from investigation, to account freezing, to FBI notification and everything in between. It depends on the infraction itself, and the volume.

While using Messenger, hit ALT+H+U.

Posted 11/04/2009 at 03:49:41pm

It is more correct to say that Firefox beat IE6 due to attrition, not user preference.

It wasn't until the middle of last year that IE7 was classified as "high priority" on Windows Update...previously, it was optional. Once it was reclassified, everyone doing autoupdate got IE7.

However, according to SQM there are tens of millions of computers out there still running W2K and 98 (yes, ME too). Those systems will never upgrade beyond IE6, so it makes sense why it has taken all this time for Firefox to finally eclipse IE6. We'll probably see the usage stats level out a bit for the next couple of years, but as those old Windows machines are retired, Firefox will continue slowly increasing its lead over IE6.

Posted 10/29/2009 at 02:18:03am

A guy with a WebWatch walks into a bar...

Posted 10/24/2009 at 03:07:07am

Win7 does not support USB3. Last thing I heard, it might happen in a service pack (likely SP2). Vista support is a waffle, and they don't talk about XP anymore.

Last I heard about Linux is that they have written driver support, but no way to verify if it works yet (need hardware support, both mobos and devices).

Again, last I heard is Snow Leopard also does not support USB3.

So...there is basically nobody for Intel to support.

I also know a dev who is working on a USB3 device. Apparently, some hair loss has occured while trying to write drivers...

USB3 has all the earmarks of being even more of a nightmare than USB2 was.

Posted 09/16/2009 at 11:50:04pm

Almost 20 years ago, I worked the back room for Silo (the precursor of Best Buy, etc). The "extended warranty" thing was called out by Consumer Reports way back then, too. And I believed them. Of course, sales people are trained to always ask if you want to purchase an extended warranty on every single purchase...even a $20 Walkman-wannabe or stereo speakers.

And yes, the sales people knew what was up...but they told me there were basic rules to follow. If the device has a laser (CD player, LaserDisc player), a lot of moving parts (8mm or C-VHS camcorder), or high-end audio: you buy the extended warranty. That advice saved my tail with a lemon CD player (free upgrade replacement), a lemon camcorder (full refund, including ECC), a lemon ES receiver (free upgrade replacement), and fixed my LaserDisc player (which, yes, I still have...it's sitting on the next shelf above my MCE machine, and it gets almost as much use as my H/K turntable). My televisions, my HT speakers, computer monitors, washer/dryer...no extended warranties, all worked fine when I had to give them away.

Would I buy an extended warranty for my Walkman W580i that I got for free with signup? Hell no. Would I buy it with a much more complex iPhone that I had to spend c-notes on? Hell, yeah.

Posted 08/01/2009 at 09:13:55pm

Yes, it's backward-compatible with 2.0, but that doesn't matter for why the feature was canceled for that particular mobo.

Besides the lack of devices, there is a more glaring reason for canceling: lack of compatible operating systems. Not enough people use Linux, so very few people will care if the mobo has USB3 or not. So with no devices and no popular operating systems to support it, the additional cost of adding USB3 probably isn't worth it for Asus at this time. Next generation, tho', we should start seeing more mobos with USB3.

Posted 08/01/2009 at 12:33:08pm

"No one expects computers or other electronics devices to work properly in perpetuity, and there is no reason that any particular mode of distributing copyrighted works should be required to do so"

I've had some electronic devices quit working. But the H/K T25 with Ortofon cartridge that I purchased in 1984 still works perfectly. I also own some distributed copyrighted works that play on this device. I am one person who FULLY expects that my distributed copyrighted works will continue to properly play on a replacement turntable, should my H/K ever bite the dust. I pretty sure everyone in the Copyright Office required this capability decades ago, and still require it today.

I understand that when I purchase an album or movie that I do not own it. Instead, I have purchased a license to listen or view that content. With that license purchase come a reasonable expectation that I can access that content any time I wish in the future.

What Metalitz is essentially saying is that with DRM, we no longer purchase content licenses...we rent them. If we wish to continue utilizing the content, we have to pay more rent for the licenses.

But of course, he's not going to say to the Copyright Office that everyone in his industry expects their customers to pay again and again for the same content in perpetuity. That might make them look greedy.

Posted 07/24/2009 at 12:10:17am

Let me give you an example: after v1.0, the MSN Messenger team never released betas. The reasoning was that this would give AOL and Yahoo clear insight into what they were doing, and allowed the competition plenty of time to develop feature parity...in other words, the competition keeps their customers from churning by offering the same or similar must-have new feature in the same product release time-cycle. You might recall that MSN Messenger was first to have a "The other person is typing" indicator during an IM session...this was enormously cool back then. MSN Messenger was also the first to personalize IM with display pics and background images...also later copied by nearly all other IM clients.

Once a customer has churned, there is less-than a 15% probability that they will ever churn back. You don't do feature parity to get people to churn to your product, because they won't...they already have that feature. You work new features that those people never knew they wanted in the first place, and you hit them square in the face with that new feature on RTW...that's what gets them to churn.

Then there was the Windows Live re-org, and suddenly the "new" Windows Live Messenger was releasing betas every other month. You can guess what happened next...

Which leads back to Gabe's idea. You announce a game, and you throw out specific information to get investors to finance your development. The competition sees this information, there is a brand new concept no other game has ever done, and they have an OMFG moment (previously known as the "Ah-ha! moment"). The competition is only a year or so into development, so they can take this revolutionary idea or twist to make their game even better, and release well before you do.

By the time the game you invested in is released, that one truly cool concept has already been done before.

Epic fail.

Posted 07/05/2009 at 10:36:47pm

Sorry 'bout that...I would've figured it out if I'd looked at your handle ;-)

Posted 07/05/2009 at 12:07:52am

ALL software has bugs. ALL internet-aware apps have security holes. NO software has ever been perfect.

Mr. Peabody's Wayback Machine will confirm Mozilla's version-by-version missteps for you: http://www.archive.org/web/web.php