Posted 11/08/2009 at 03:09:54am

Doesn't if figure that MS would take something as good as Win7 and FRACK IT UP with stupidity like this. I swear they GOAD people into pirating their stuff with this kind of crap.

Oh, and CrashTECH - Get off your high horse and realize that the people who want to pirate Win7 wouldn't be complaining in this board about ACTIVATING it. DUH.   No - people are pissed that MS penalizes the PAYING customer by adding in this bass-ackwards install step making things take twice as long.

I buy my software - I have more licensed copies of several versions of Windows laying around than I know what to do with.  I was hoping to use Win7 for many years to come, but I don't want to sign up for double installing OS's simply because MS puts a lame ass attempt at stemming piracy.  Yeah, like this will help deter the pirates.  PLEASE.  The only thing it does is piss off the honest people and make them want to BE pirates.  I'd imagine several people will end up buying a legal copy and then using a pirated installer simply because its easier.  They might as well name this Windows 7 CS by Adobe..

I don't know why I expect more from MS, I really should know better by now. 

Posted 10/24/2009 at 12:42:02am

I wonder if this is just patent trolling so that they have it before anyone else?

Still seems kinda like it would be getting herpes before anyone else - who'd really want to!??

The idea of ad subsidized computers is also kinda stupid - "Hey person who can't afford a real computer, spend the money you don't have on THIS instead!" Weird.

Posted 10/24/2009 at 12:09:33am

1) can anyone confirm if the upgrade disk is bootable or not?  Question 10 and the subsequent answer on this post (http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7install/thread/a503099a-aac1-4e46-b454-2aa2f154ec33) seem to indicate that it isn't.  That seems really stupid.  What do you do the first time your install is toast?  Is the disk basically useless after the first time its used?  I figured it would at least be good until SP1 comes out and it would be time to slipstream...  Besides, while you can legally BUY an upgrade from XP to 7, you MUST do a reinstall because there is technically no direct upgrade path from XP to 7.  How the heck does that work if the upgrade disk isn't bootable?   What on earth could they possibly gain by NOT making it bootable??  Seems like a really stupid decision if it is indeed true.

2) Does anyone know if reactivation works like it did with XP - meaning that pretty much any change to the hardware will reactivate with no problem as long as it has been 30 days since the last activation?  I want to do the right thing and buy a copy for my PC at home rather than just use a VLK from work, but its really gonna piss me off if I have to pick up the phone and call MS every time I want to futz around with my PC.  XP was a good balance between protecting the software and giving the lawful owner the technical freedom to excercise their EULA given rights.  I hope they haven't fixed the OS only to break the licensing mechanism.

Posted 12/06/2008 at 01:37:37am

Maybe its a little wonky, but I think it actually has some good value.  Unfortunately, my digs do not allow me to run hard wire between my office and the 65" big screen, or the 42" plasma in my bedroom.  I've never heard of any wireless networking gear that can guarantee that I'll be able to stream HD content to both of those TV's without interruption.  This little contraption may be the perfect answer.

Another great use: How do I get my home movies shot with my Canon HD video camera to my TV?  Now its easy: fast transfer to one of my existing jump drives and walk it up to the TV.  No PS3 or blue-ray burner required. Just saved myself nearly $500.  Will I get those things eventually? Sure, but their usefulness has just been halved...

The real neat configuration question would be - are there any NAS units out there that have USB as well that would work with both simultaneously?   You could transfer files to the NAS and then access them from the device via USB, removing the actual "sneaker-net" part of this whole equation.  While its not as immediate as buffering over WiFi, at least the NAS means there would be no interruption once the movie is there.

If the quality is there, I think this could be a very nice head end to a cheap, low electricity consumption 1080p media server.  Maybe I'm being crazy, but if you are going to store all the HD media on a NAS unit anyway for "deep archive", this could really be a cool way to have constant access to it on the big screen.

If there was any way to try that setup in the review, that would be great!  :D

Cheers,
CS

Posted 08/09/2007 at 05:05:40pm

...and while I love it, it just doesn't work with multifunction units like my Canon MP530. To use it, I'd have to give up scanning and faxing, which is a big bummer. I guess I should have just spent more money on a multifunction unit that has its own server built in - but I don't think that would work with scanning anyway. Seems like someone would have figured this all out by now to help those of us of limited deskspace. I'd love to see follow on article on how the Belkin works for MF units, seeing as though you had to throw one away to use it. -CS