Supergeekblog

My home desktop is several years old.  I don’t game much, so keeping up with the latest and greatest isn’t really on my list of things to do.  If you’re a gamer, you want the latest and greatest because it gives you a richer experience.  And it gives you an edge over the competition; if you’re playing multiplayer. But, I don’t, so it makes little difference to me what my frame rate is.

But, all of that is really not what were here for.  Which is a tale of an upgrade gone wrong.

About a month ago, I got one of those nasty bugs that it seems a computer will get occasionally.  I thought I got it cleaned off.  Maybe I did and what was left was something else, or maybe it was just a tougher bug than I thought.  Either way, my system was compromised.  I spent about 7 hours (over several days) trying to clean the thing off.  I even pulled the hard drive and brought it to work to scan it as a secondary drive (this is useful because most viruses load into memory on start up, but only if they are on the primary/boot drive), but to no avail.  So, rather than waste even more time trying to clean the thing up, I made sure everything was backed up and started fresh with a format and reinstall.

Once I got the reinstall of Windows Vista done, I went straight to Windows 7 using the upgrade that I had bought for it late last year.  The install/upgrade went incredibly smooth.  In previous versions of Windows, it was always preferable to install the full version of the new OS.  Something about the upgrade process just didn’t work well and you would get some nasty errors.  Windows 7s upgrade process is a bit different.  When you do the upgrade, it gives you the option of doing a format and full install.  Pretty awesome.  Except for the part where I reinstalled Vista first…  oops.

One full install later, and I had a brand new install of Windows 7.  My first impressions were very good.  A lot of the feel of Vista that I had gotten used to, but minus some of the clunky-ness.  Alas, it wasn’t to last.  About a week later, I awoke to a login prompt.  That was weird because I don’t normally log out my home pc.  So, it only gets a login when it restarts.  My first thought, of course, was to think that it was Windows Update that had caused the restart.  Until I came home at lunch and found it at a login prompt again.  [Cut through a couple days worth of technical tinkering]

The machine was set to restart on error.  So, everytime it got a system error, it would reboot.  And, after watching the machine for a while, I discovered that it would get a BSOD after about 20 minutes of idle time.  To shorten the story again, I did diagnostics on everything I could think of to figure out what the BSOD was being caused by.  I gave up after about a week and a half of that.  My assumption is that a update from either Windows or from a hardware related driver replaced a system file of some sort or was causing the problem.  A repair install was no help and I couldn’t do a system restore because it would cause a BSOD if you went into the system restore console.  Once again, I was faced with a format and reinstall.

Luckily, Jake was around to talk some sense into me.  I did the reinstall/restore, but I only went as far as Vista this time.  Perhaps at a later date, I’ll try the upgrade again, but until then, I’m sticking with Vista.  After all, it was pretty stable up until I got whatever I got and had to restore it the first time.  And, maybe, just maybe, Microsoft will fix it with the first Windows 7 service pack.

Either way, I think I’ll likely stick with Vista until the machine needs replacing.  Some of the machines hardware wasn’t just barely good enough for Windows 7, so it might be better to just wait until I need a new machine and get Windows 7 on that.

Authors note: Jake suggested that I should write a post here (somewhat jokingly, I believe) as I’ve largely moved on to other things and Jake has taken full control of this site.  So, I thought I’d call him on his joke and surprise him with a post!  Surprise!  Also, if you like, my blog is over at Thatedeguy.

For those a little more daring: Vista SP2 has now hit the net.

Yesterday Microsoft released Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista Service Pack 2 Beta to the public. If you have been waiting for a second service pack for Windows Vista, give the new beta a shot!

You can download Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista and Server 2008 here. Note that this is the beta version and the final version of the service pack is not expected to be released until April 2009. However, if you enjoy testing new service packs or want to test it out before deploying it to your network next year, try out the beta.

Aseem over at Help Desk Geek has a great write up on this. He has included a list of updates/changes that come in SP2.  Like he mentioned above, it is important to remember this is *BETA* software.  It can potentially really screw up your machine.  (Vista Sp1 beta I really didn’t have any problems with.  WinXP SP1 I remember quite a few issues with.)  It all depends on your setup, the tweaks you make, and the various applications and drivers if it is going to play nice.

If Aseem sounds familiar, that is because his wordpress plugin “Best Posts Summary” has been reviewed here before.  A big fan of the plugin, so kudos to him!

Saw this a little while ago on the “Geeks are Sexy” blog.  Kiltak did a post on it and linked to the demo videos for us.

I though just haven’t seen enough to decide if it would really work as promised.  For one, I don’t see a single drink shown with ice in it.  Also – as a former bartender, you learn that point to ask your customers for more drinks.  If it is slow enough that you have time to be checking a monitor for everyones drink level, there is probably something you should be cleaning.

That whole part aside – it is actually pretty neat.  If they get towards a production product I will be quite interested to see what sort of bars it would go into.

On the heels of the uproar over Self-Destructing Windows installs, a lawsuit was filed in US District court(seattle) this week.  The lawsuit calls Microsoft’s WGA a spyware.

The suit by Los Angeles resident Brian Johnson, filed this week in U.S. District Court in Seattle, seeks class-action status for claims that Microsoft didn’t adequately disclose details of the tool when it was delivered to PC users through the company’s Automatic Update system.

Windows Genuine Advantage is designed to check the validity of a computer user’s copy of the operating system. But the tool became a subject of heightened controversy earlier this month, after PC users began noticing that it was making daily contact with Microsoft’s servers without their knowledge, even if their software was valid.

“Microsoft effectively installed the WGA software on consumers’ systems without providing consumers any opportunity to make an informed choice about that software,” the suit alleges.

While the lawsuit should open Microsoft’s eyes a little, I seriously doubt that it will go anywhere.  The behavior of the software is borderline, but doesn’t necessarily cross the line into full-blown spyware/malware.  Microsoft has a bit of an edge in that they released a new version that doesn’t “phone home” anymore and also released instructions for disabling the notifications.

I have to admit that given the opportunity, I would not jump on board the class action.  Would you?

Ed Bott at ZDNet is reporting that Microsoft will soon make installation of WGA (Windows Genuine Advantage) mandatory. Not only will it become a mandatory install, if WGA isn’t installed within 30 days, the install of Windows will cease to operate.

If WGA becomes mandatory, would it mean that Microsoft could prevent Windows from working if it determines  possibly erroneously that your copy isn’t “genuine”? That’s a chilling possibility, and Microsoft refuses an easy opportunity to deny that that option is in its plans.

Chilling indeed. Maybe it’s not such a bad time for Bill Gates to retire. If MS truly decides to make a “kill switch” out of WGA, it could be the boost for Apple X and Linux that they’ve both been waiting for. I’ve already had a few problems with WGA on my home PC and have seriously considered making the full time switch. Not because I want to, but WGA is annoying at best. I don’t like that it “phones home” either.

Appearantly, Windows Genuine Advantage calls home every day.

Microsoft Corp. acknowledged Wednesday that it needs to better inform users that its tool for determining whether a computer is running a pirated copy of Windows also quietly checks in daily with the software maker.

The company said the undisclosed daily check is a safety measure designed to allow the tool, called Windows Genuine Advantage, to quickly shut down in case of a malfunction. For example, if the company suddenly started seeing a rash of reports that Windows copies were pirated, it might want to shut down the program to make sure it wasn’t delivering false results.

Did you catch that?  I’ll repeat it for you.  ”Undisclosed.”  That means they didn’t tell us about it at all.  Well, now they have, and they are looking for a better way of telling us that it does that in EULA.  Personally, I think that each and every user of this program should be able to get a tool to remove the WGA immediately.

Of course, they are playing it like it’s a “undisclosed” feature and not a blemish.  Typical jargon for when you get caught with your pants down.  If it checks in, what else does it tell them?

This isn’t exactly good for the big brother image that many people hold of them.

Lauren Weinstein, who is co-founder of People for Internet Responsibility and was one of the first people to notice the daily communications to Microsoft, said he understands and sympathizes with Microsoft’s desire to control piracy. But he said it’s problematic that Microsoft did not disclose all the program’s communications with the company.

Weinstein said he also was surprised that Microsoft decided to release so widely a tool that it says is in a “pilot” mode and might need to be suddenly shut down.

Lauren poses a great question.  Why, if the program needs to be babysat daily, did they push it out to so many people so quickly?  Maybe the greed of making all those pirated copies of Windows pay up was just too much.  At $200 a license, if only 10% of the millions that have it installed are pirated, it could mean Billions in additional revenue.  That’s nothing to cough at.  Of course, it could also mean that Linux might grab a bigger piece of the desktop market as the pirated version users become annoyed by the messages and make the switch to the venerable penguin.

Whoa!  This is a little interesting.  Not exactly a non-reliable source either.  I can’t begin to fathom what exactly it could mean to the industry if this were to ever go through.  Of course, Skype would certainly be integrated into Windows.  That might be alright for a while.  I don’t really see much integration with eBay except for the mentioned integration with the Live Search.  Added exposure for certain.  Could also make for interesting integration of both Skype and Ebay into MSN Spaces.

One question that comes to mind is how much is eBay worth.  They just paid a bucket load for Skype and that was a minor drop in their total value.  This would almost certainly be a deal in the billions.  I also would like to ask why we haven’t heard anything else about this in the few weeks that they have been talking. Could be a lotta smoke and mirrors but, the nypost is normally a pretty good source for not following rumors around.  We’ll have to keep our ears to the ground and see if/what everyone else is saying.

In another bold and somewhat obvious statement a spokesman for Microsoft suggested that business’ should consider investing in an automated system to wipe and reinstall Windows on machines as much of the malware coming out is considered incurable by MS.

Perhaps Microsoft should invest some money in better securing its operating system and spend less time sending users off to buy another piece of software. However I would imagine many business’ already use automated ghost image systems for setting up machines when they change owners anyways.

Or perhaps they could buy up a company like the one that makes DeepFreeze and integrate it into their workstation version of Vista? Thats probably the route I would take if I were making decisions for MS on these issues.

…and then proceeds to throw a chair, run around the room screaming like a gorilla, and chant like a cultist.

But seriously. In an interview with Forbes Steve Ballmer suggested that Microsoft may intend to start enforcing its patents against Linux. He goes on to suggest, however, that Linux is not the threat they once thought as people “prefer a commercial organization” behind software they use for business. He also claims that people don’t use free software because it “tends to be clunky” and not well supported. I find it rather ironic that he responds to a question about his knowledge level of Linux and Linux related matters and says that “we have people watching” and they will “make him aware” of any new developments. Apparently they didn’t make him aware of Open Office, CentOS, Firebird, Thunderbird, uTorrent, GAIM, GIMP, and Bittorrent when they told him free software “tends to be clunky”. Consider that Open Office isn’t even 1/4 the piece of bloatware MS Office has become in recent years and actually now compares quite well to Office for usability and community support and addons. Oh well Ballmer always was the irrational one from the start of Microsoft.

A reader has commented on our speculation about “Apple’s Next Move” as possibly producing a console system. I found this an intriquing line of discussion and thought I’d bring it up again with my comments and responses to the readers comment. See the original article here.

1. Christian Koster says:

Look, Apple is not entering the Console Game market. Of course they can afford to do it, but they’d lose a lot of money. The 360 and the PS3 are losing money on every console, we know this. Obviously Apple would have to go with a Revolution philosophy, but then why would anybody buy an Apple over the Rev? So then we look at if they did the Home Media center thing and then added a game console feature to it. Well, now we have a computer than can do all the Home media things and can play games. So it will cost as much (or more probably) as a PS3/360 and have the graphics capabilities of a Revolution (or probably less).

And where are the games coming from it. We have seen that a 4th player in the console market never lasts, so somebody would need to go. Now it looks like that could be the 360 (crossing fingers) but if Apple joined the market the support for them would be abysmal. The only way Apple could have done it is if the Revolution tried to be the graphical monster that the PS3 is. Then, Apple could have taken the simple/innovative way (which would have been very convincing like we have seen with OSX and the iPod).

One final paradox: Apple will not enter the console market because they would not succeed if they did. However, if they did enter the market they would succeed.

(Meaning if Apple did enter the market it would be because Jobs saw the magical way to be successful in it, that mere mortals like us could never comprehend until he showed us the light.)
January 5th, 2006 at 1:08 am

Or maybe they are? No one on earth would have believed Apple was going to switch to Intel chips if we had predicted that last year. The console market is going to change a lot in the next couple years. It’s an unfortunate truth that in all likelyhood one of the major players is going to fail and there is a good chance it will be Nintendo.

Furthermore it’s not inconcievable that Apple would consider making console machines but they definately would not do it at a loss. Something Apple is exceedingly good at is selling really nice hardware at a premium price and making a 60% or greater margin on it.

Honestly if Apple applied it’s usual technique to the console market they would dominate over the current major players if merely for the fact that they wouldn’t be losing money on early single console they sold unlike Microsoft and Sony.

Now a niche market that is nearly untapped at this point is the portable gaming market. The Playstation Portable has done surprisingly poor and the Nintendo DS has had meidocre sales until recently. A slick handheld unit with style and good battery life could go a long way in todays market. The PSP looks nice but is huge and clunky while the DS is fairly portable but is ugly and has a bizarre interface that people aren’t taking to (How the hell are you supposed to hold it while using a gamepad and touching another screen at the same time? Grow another arm?).

I think that the biggest possibility for this unlikely entry into the portable gaming fray would probably be a future generation of Ipod. Millions of people already have them and will likely upgrade if the features are right. Supposedly the next gen Ipod is going to have nothing but a huge touchscreen accross it’s entire front so it would be feasible to also ship it with some basic games like tetris. Now what would be even more genius would be that Apple could deliver more games Itunes for a fee instantly. As we’ve learned with the Ipod the convienence of Itunes easily overroad the competition in the hardware market for mp3 players. Apple quickly took 90%+ of the market and continues to hold it to this day.

The only thing in the way of portable gaming on the current Ipod is really just the interface. The click wheel is incredibly annoying to use for games but ideal for navigating mp3s. Now if they were already going to go with a touchscreen it would be quite easy to dynamically change the interface to suit the current application be it playing mp3s/movies or games. The unit is powerful enough to run basic games already and could easily be pumped up to handle better graphics while maintaining Apples high profit margin.

As is typical of Apple they would also try to use the new system as a way to leverage Mac sales through further convienence and coolness factor. With Intel processors running in their entire line by release time for any new Ipod/Console device they would already be set to get a plethora of gaming companies producing for their computer systems as well.

Which brings me to another topic… Why do you think Apple is switching to Intel? Surely it can’t just be cost as it’s a drastic step to take just to cut costs. Jobs is planning on growing Apples’ computer market share. For other than the obvious advantages of more profit it makes sense from a user-base standpoint. The Mac becomes more valuable for Game and Application publishers to release new software onto when it has a larger user-base. It’s the whole reason Apple platform machines are unpopular now. Because they can’t run what the other 90% of the world is running easily. Its the same reason Apple switched to a Unix based OS a couple years ago. They knew Unix would instantly add to the their userbase especially in the nerd category which is probably the most influential on other buying groups. Nevermind the massive amount of opensource software OSx added support for as well.

I merely wanted to point out reasons why our previous speculation could easily be true (Not that it is now of course) and construct a logical reasoning set behind it. Feel free to comment and realize this is all for fun and being right down the road would merely be a bonus for us