Windows 8 - Deeper Impressions

[jaclaz]

Direct link:
http://www.ccc.de/en/updates/2013/ccc-breaks-apple-touchid
and video:

AND:
http://blog.cenzic.com/2013/09/cenzic-researchers-uncover-new-vulnerability-in-apples-ios-7-that-enables-pretenders-to-act-on-a-users-behalf-even-when-iphones-are-locked/

This vulnerability indicates that there is a thin line between security and convenience. Functionality like calling phone numbers, sending messages and sending emails, even if the phone is locked, can be debated as security over convenience but there is no setting that can control this if Siri is enabled. A user might need to disable SIRI completely to stop this.
Cenzic encourages all iPhone users to be aware of these flaws, and never hand over their iPhones to untrusted individuals. In the wrong hands, your iPhone could lead to compromise of your identity, even when it is locked and protected by a password. Cenzic also calls on Apple to look into these vulnerabilities and remediate them as soon as possible. A patch is sorely needed, not only in iOS7 but in older versions. On a broader scale, Cenzic encourages all enterprises to do careful scanning of all new applications introduced to the organization, particularly mobile applications, which have frequently been found to be vulnerable to attack.

And, strangely ON topic the new Surface, wittingly named Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 have been announced:
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2013/09/23/microsoft-gives-surface-tablet-another-try/

From the mouth of the wolf:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/press/2013/sep13/09-23surface2pr.aspx

Among the new accessories that will be released, I would like to meet in person someone that will actually buy any of these:

• Car Charger with USB. Car Charger plugs into most cars’ power or lighter ports and charges Surface without the need for an additional adapter. It also features a USB port to allow simultaneous charging of a phone or other device. Car Charger will have an estimated retail price of $49.99 and has a projected release date of early 2014.

• Arc Touch Mouse Surface Edition. This special-edition Arc Touch Mouse has been updated to match the look of Surface. Like other Arc Touch mice, it is designed for comfort and flattens for portability. It connects via Bluetooth 3.0, freeing Surface’s USB port for use by other devices. Arc Touch Mouse Surface Edition will have an estimated retail price of $69.99 and will be available for pre-order in the U.S. and Canada on Sept. 24. Distribution in additional markets is projected to begin in the coming months.

IMHO the Arc Touch Mouse Surface Edition is a steal at a mere US$ 69.99 , expecially when compared to the (lousy) Car Charger with USB plus at a whopping $49.99, I mean, WOW, a device capable to connect to the lighter plug and charge a tablet/notebook with no need for an additional adapter WHILE ALLOWING TO SIMULTANEOUSLY charge another USB device, what an innovative idea!

jaclaz

Edited September 23, 2013 by jaclaz

[TELVM]

Direct link:

http://www.ccc.de/en/updates/2013/ccc-breaks-apple-touchid

and video:

How about having your "password" unavoidably "written" multiple times all over your device ?:

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

In privacy news -- I'm not sure if we covered this story already, but it's so Kafkaesque that I had to (re)mention it:

I know the feeling my friend. It is exceedingly difficult to check back now that these threads have just 25 comments per page rather than the 150 ( that I ) used previously. It was simple to CTRL-F search a much longer time period.

Feds Threaten To Arrest Lavabit Founder For Shutting Down His Service

The saga of Lavabit founder Ladar Levison is getting even more ridiculous, as he explains that the government has threatened him with criminal charges for his decision to shut down the business, rather than agree to some mysterious court order. The feds are apparently arguing that the act of shutting down the business, itself, was a violation of the order:..

[...]

"Levison stressed that he has complied with 'upwards of two dozen court orders' for information in the past that were targeted at 'specific users' and that "I never had a problem with that." But without disclosing details, he suggested that the order he received more recently was markedly different, requiring him to cooperate in broadly based surveillance that would scoop up information about all the users of his service. He likened the demands to a requirement to install a tap on his telephone."

[...]

[emphasis in original]

So it's no longer enough to cease providing customers a measure of privacy, you have to actively collaborate with the official Peeping Toms, or else...

Without stating a political opinion it is fair to say that our government, regardless of party, is running the world's largest organized crime ring down in DC. A Constitutional Convention with a new set of Amendments that cripples the federal government is the peoples' only real hope. Did I say "people"? Sorry, I meant Sheeple.

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Steve Ballmer Believes Google Has Reached Monopoly Status ( Maximum PC 2013-09-20 )

Ballmer: Microsoft has discussed Google's practices with 'competition authorities' ( TechSpot 2013-09-20 )

Steve Ballmer Says It's Weird Going to Work; Trashes Google ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-21 )

Ballmer also took a shot at Google during the executive Q&A, saying that the search engine giant is a monopoly, a term that was once used to define Microsoft, and that the government should step in and tame the Android beast.

This is more proof of what I believed in the late 1990's to 2000 that the aspect of the DoJ case about MSIE was totally incorrect. Going after them for including a free web browser was counter-productive and set a horrific precedent that can now be used again. The part of the case concerning backroom OEM deals and strong-arm licensing tactics however was the 800 pound gorilla that got away. Great job guys!

Naturally old fathead is blurring the facts to his advantage, in effect rationalizing Microsoft's crimes to a dumbed-down public full of sheeple. Is Google strong-arming OEMs to use Android instead of something else? And once they have achieved their alleged monopoly ( 70-ish percent versus 90+ percent for Windows ) are they then leveraging that penetration? Moreover, unlike the expensive operating system called Windows Google's Android is free. So Ballmer should really be saying "Hey, this free thing is more popular than our expensive thing". Boo hoo. Ironically Android isn't really free at all because of Microsoft's nefarious cut over some mysterious intellectual property they claim to own.

Astoundingly we still don't know the truth of this because what Microsoft actually does is show up at the Android device producing OEM and demand payment under threat of legal action and then not only take their Sopranos skim, they get the manufacturer to sign an NDA to not reveal what they were extorted for!

Microsoft: Windows tablets are better than Android devices for schools and government ( NeoWin 2013-09-21 )

All I can hear is the ka ching sound of my school tax bill continuing its skyward trajectory. You want to donate to schools, fine ( let's see these companies get into a competition over who donates the most! ). You want to charge them money, which is to say charge me money for devices I will never use or even see, then screw you. And this applies to all of them including Apple and Google. I would support a law that prohibits any taxpayer funded institution from purchasing computers making it a felony to even attempt to extort money from the taxpayers.

Microsoft working on unified app platform across its operating systems ( NeoWin 2013-09-20 )

All I can hear is bah ah ah ah ah ah ...

( original photo )

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

As just mentioned above by Jaclaz ...

Microsoft takes another stab at hardware with new Surface 2 tablets ( TechSpot 2013-09-23 )

Microsoft Announces Two New Surface 2 Tablets ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-23 )

Microsoft Announces New Touch Covers, Power Cover and Dock ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-23 )

Microsoft announces Surface 2 ( NeoWin 2013-09-23 )

Microsoft kills the Surface RT branding for new Surface ( NeoWin 2013-09-23 ) <--- SIGNIFICANT!

• Microsoft announces Surface Docking Station ( NeoWin 2013-09-23 )
• Surface Power cover is official, extra battery for your Surface ( NeoWin 2013-09-23 )
• Microsoft reveals Surface Music Cover, refined Touch and Type covers ( NeoWin 2013-09-23 )
• Hands On: Surface Pro 2 ( NeoWin 2013-09-23 )
• Hands On: Surface 2 ( NeoWin 2013-09-23 )
• Hands on with the new Surface covers and docking station ( NeoWin 2013-09-23 )
• EDITORIAL: Why isn't Microsoft selling an Xbox branded Type cover? ( NeoWin 2013-09-23 )

( Leave it to NeoWin to already post about 10 articles, and there may already be more! ) Anywhoo, big deal, Haswell CPUs, spare battery in the keyboard and 1920x1080 a full year later. And yet they've still learned nothing in that entire year ...

Both the Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 will be available starting October 22. The former starts at $449 for the 32GB model and $549 for the 64GB variant, while the latter begins at $899 and goes up to $1,799 depending on the model. Both ship without a keyboard cover. Meanwhile, the original Surface RT is sticking around (while supplies last, we assume) for $349.

Certainly the big story has to be the death of Windows ReTard Edition at least in name. Yep, they've conceded a huge error without admitting anything it seems.

However, contrary to all the NeoKids praising this decision they still cannot see the two massive errors of using Windows for ARM versions and also for Metro itself. In the former case it is a different CPU so the traditional x86 universe of software is simply not invited to the party and in that universe "Windows" is a software platform that means x86 software. In the latter case "Windows" is a GUI concept describing multiple programs living in separate windows which has been sentenced to death by the MetroTard fanatics. So this rather significant reversal by Microsoft's standards is no real reversal at all. It is merely a continuation of their decent into madness, and they intend to drag us all down this swirling toilet bowl with them.

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Check out these two contrasting stories ...

(1) Microsoft Xbox One engineers talk about ESRAM, CPU speed and more ( NeoWin 2013-09-22 )

Ignore the Xbox subject and note their logic here feigning concern for power waste in explaining why they decided to use plain DDR instead of GDDR ...

Microsoft's Xbox hardware architecture team manager Nick Baker seemed to hint that the company wanted the Xbox One to have a solid balance for its memory and that using the PS4's GDDR5 hardware was not considered early in the development process. He said :

"In terms of getting the best possible combination of performance, memory size, power, the GDDR5 takes you into a little bit of an uncomfortable place. Having ESRAM costs very little power and has the opportunity to give you very high bandwidth. You can reduce the bandwidth on external memory - that saves a lot of power consumption and the commodity memory is cheaper as well so you can afford more."

Also, don't forget all of the other countless things that have been sacrificed in Windows 8 and related with power consumption. It is a boilerplate rationalization for crippling the end-user experience right?

Okay, got it? Now let's take a look at Bing where they suddenly and conveniently stop worrying about power consumption and waste ...

(2) Microsoft offers more info on Page Zero feature in Bing ( NeoWin 2013-09-22 )

( original photo from NeoWin )

One of the examples of how Page Zero works is shown above, where a search string for actress Michelle Pfeiffer starts with the Bing user typing in "michelle pf." The Page Zero feature, using the Bing algorithms and the Satori database, figures out that the user is trying to find information on the actress even before the full name is typed. The search box expands with a picture and brief description of Michelle Pfeiffer and offers links that when clicked bring up more search results for images, video and more information on the actress.

Okay see the dichotomy? Bing is using up all the saved wasted power from Microsoft's other crap products to anticipate what you might be searching for. If that wasn't your intent, oh well, wasted local CPU and GPU processing and wasted remote search engine queries and wasted pulls of data and images from even more remote servers ( I expect that somehow Bing gets multiple hits credited in the process though ).

This is not to say this feature is a bad thing because unlike Microsoft I am no hypocrite. Besides, it is simply an slight improvement on the predictive algorithm they all already use. The point is the blatant and convenient hypocrisy that Microsoft utilizes at every turn, and that is putting it kindly. I'll just say it outright, Sinofsky and Julie and Jensen and of course Ballmer are fraudulent liars. Aero Glass was not removed to save power, but to facilitate the devolution of Windows from a workstation OS for competent human beings down to Playskool level Microsoft Tiles sheeple bait. They care no more about power waste than they do about their users in general, which is to say they don't give a crap about it.

And we're not even considering the trend in Bing to also use the alleged discredited GUI desktop components like wallpaper and little icon-like flyovers. Hypocrisy is what is really in style at Microsoft.

And yet another Xbone blunder! ...

PSA: Microsoft Designed the Xbox One Console to Lay Flat. Go vertical at your own risk ( Maximum PC 2013-09-20 )

Microsoft doesn't condone vertical orientation for Xbox One ( TechSpot 2013-09-20 )

Xbox One Can't Stand Vertically Due to Disc Drive ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-20 )

Microsoft: 'We don't support vertical orientation' for Xbox One ( NeoWin 2013-09-20 )

So says Albert Panello, senior director of product management and planning at Xbox, who spoke with GameSpot at the Tokyo Game Show this week.

"We don't support vertical orientation; do it at your own risk," Panello said. "It wouldn't be a cooling problem, we just didn't design the drive for vertical. Because it's a slot loading drive, we just didn't design it for both."

[...]

Panello reasons that through Microsoft's own research, the company found that 80 percent of people situate their Xbox console horizontally anyway. Even if true, 20 percent is a big chunk to flip the finger at.

Wait what?! Did somebody order tray loader opticals instead of a slot loaders? Notice the odd choice of words: "we just didn't design the drive for vertical". You didn't "design" the drive at all, but selected one that is thoroughly insufficient for the type of people that use consoles, like kids for example.

Anyhoo, research, telemetry, what's the difference. One thing is for sure, for several years now Microsoft has proved it is now concerned only with the sheeple, everyone else be d@mned. They are designing down to the lowest common denominator with everything from Metro on Windows 8 to Xbone. Excellence is NOT an option. Microsoft is truly over.

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Security related ...

NSA-engineered cybersecurity hole prompts RSA to drop network encryption standard ( TechSpot 2013-09-20 )

Don't Use NSA-Influenced Code in Our Products, Security Company Warns ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-20 )

Here's some more on that story about the 'RSA Security' company, founded by very famous names in the crypto community, who now have some people wondering why they ever used that spook compromised algorithm in the first place ...

Dual_EC_DRBG was co-developed by the NSA. In 2006, the algorithm was published as a standard by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a branch of the U.S. Department of Commerce that reviews and publishes standard practices for governmental organizations.

All of NIST's standards are publicly reviewed by field experts, and many nongovernmental organizations RSA Security among them use NIST's standards because of their high quality.

Dual_EC_DRBG passed NIST's original public review period, but in 2007, two Microsoft researchers found a "backdoor" in the algorithm, meaning that the algorithm was written in such a way that anyone with a certain passcode could predict what numbers the algorithm would generate.

"We have no way of knowing whether the NSA knows the secret numbers that break Dual_EC_DRBG," wrote security expert Bruce Schneier in a 2007 Wired op-ed, though, in the same piece, he also noted that Dual_EC_DRBG was slower than other available methods and was "in the standard only because it's been championed by the NSA."

The only thing they left out was that this backdoor was still inserted into Vista and later anyway, and so far I have seen nothing to contradict this fact nor any word from Microsoft about it's removal. IMHO, this is why Microsoft is on a Jihad to destroy Windows XP and older, it is the last popular pre-9/11 operating system still in use. I suspect but cannot prove that this compromised random number generator in Vista+ would make NTFS encryption less secure than on XP and older. Chew on that fanboys.

Brazilian hacker brings down NASA homepage, mistakes it for NSA's ( TechSpot 2013-09-22 )

Mistaken "NASA" for the other one? Well maybe. But that isn't what I found interesting. The article ends with ...

Regardless of whether NASA was the intended recipient or not, the compromised webpages certainly raised awareness about Brazils anger towards the United States. After learning that their nation is the second most monitored country by the NSA, followed only by the US, Brazil is understandably unhappy.

In response to this knowledge, Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff recently canceled a planned trip to Washington, and the country is now looking for a way to completely disconnect itself from US' Internet; a task that is easier said than done.

Personally I hope and pray that this is really true and that folks are seriously accepting that the "Internet" has now been co-opted and is becoming almost useless. I've said many times that 'We're gonna need a new Internet' somewhat in jest, but less so today. Yes, the hardware infrastructure is still a risk as it has been physically compromised at so many points but that wouldn't stop the non-governmental development of new end-user protocols with endpoint encryption to facilitate secure p2p communication. It will require a new paradigm in practical security with regards to privacy and keys.

But then again, maybe we can just apply the DMCA against them by citing the provisions making "circumventing" protection of copyrighted material illegal. This might require a Constitutional Amendment that declares that all laws apply to everyone equally, including government and Hollywood, no exceptions. Just think of the fun we could have with that.

NSA-themed ransomware leverages public concern over privacy ( TechSpot 2013-09-21 )

Ah, another Moneypak malware. This will no doubt breeze its way into Windows computers through MSIE from facsimile dialog boxes getting the sheeple to click. Job security for all of us.

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

More Security related ...

Is iPhone Fingerprint Security Secure At All? (Op-Ed) ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-20 )

Good article basically asking why should any security conveniences should ever be trusted. There are a few whining commenters who miss the point, AppleTards no doubt who mistakenly take this a an attack on their precious baby, but one of them does offer some interesting details about how the iPhone works ...

You do realize that the iPhone 5s fingerprint reader is sub dermal right. It is actually a capacitance reader. The outer layer where your finger print is non-conductive, the sub-dermal layer is actually conductive. So the iPhone's Biometric sensor is actually reading the differences in conductivity to create the print. You won't be able to bypass it with just a lifted print as your suggesting.

Also, keep in mind that the outer ring is used to let the sensor know to activate. It may also be emitting a small current to make the capacitance clearer to read. This would also explain why it works even when your finger is placed on the button in a different position. This is something that a traditional finger print reader would have a hard time with.

At some point you guys should just give them a little credit. The way they have engineered this thing is pretty solid.

I was with him until that last sentence which is pretty much the point of this article and most others - it really doesn't matter how well it is thought out or engineered now does it? There truly is no way to be certain of anything these days, and that is the sad truth.

And some more about the fingerprint cracking mentioned by Jorge and others ...

iPhone Fingerprint Reader May Already Be Hacked ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-23 )

Apple's Touch ID fingerprint scanner has been hacked, group claims ( TechSpot 2013-09-23 )

Hacker group claims to have used fake fingerprints to defeat iPhone 5s Touch ID ( NeoWin 2013-09-23 )

According to a report on Reuters, the well-known German hacker group the Chaos Computing Club photographed a person's fingerprint and then printed it on a transparent sheet. The sheet was then used to make a mold for a fake finger. The mold could unlock an iPhone 5s with the Touch ID feature enabled.

"A fingerprint of the phone user, photographed from a glass surface, was enough to create a fake finger that could unlock an iPhone 5s secured with TouchID," read an English-language post on the Chaos Computer Club's website. "This demonstrates again that fingerprint biometrics is unsuitable as access control method and should be avoided."

Read the article at Tom's Hardware for a more detailed roundup of all the candidates for defeating the fingerprint scanner and links to the videos. It's not settled yet and will take some hours or days to determine what is real. Like I said a few times already, just wait until this makes it to 3D printing. The entire concept of fingerprint identification may then be made moot, well if not, it should be.

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Big news from the Competition ...

iPhone sales top 9 million in launch weekend, iOS 7 overtakes iOS 6 ( TechSpot 2013-09-23 )

Apple sold 9 million iPhones over the weekend ( NeoWin 2013-09-23 )

Wow. That's quite possibly more sales in one weekend than all Windows Phone 8 handsets sold to date. Note that I actually can't find the real WP8 total sales number anywhere even though it should be simple to determine since Nokia did the lion's share, but even if it is only half of all the WP8 units sold to date it is still crushing all the Microsoft fanboys hopes and dreams. To Steve Ballmer: for this you destroyed Windows?

This was the teaser for today's big announcement from Valve ...

Valve to make three Steam Box announcements next week ( NeoWin 2013-09-20 )

Valve Revealing First Part of Linux Invasion on Monday ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-21 )

During LinuxCon in New Orleans earlier this week, Gabe Newell said that Linux is the future of PC gaming because there are no closed networks; it's an open-source environment that ultimately will provide a cheaper gaming platform for PC gamers because there's no added OS costs.

[...]

"It feels a bit funny coming here and telling you guys that Linux and open source are the future of gaming," Newell said after walking on stage. "Sort of like going to Rome and teaching Catholicism to the Pope, so bear with me."

And from today comes the 1st of 3 big announcements and Steam has hit it out of the park ...

Valve's SteamOS promises to bring PC gaming to the living room ( TechSpot 2013-09-23 )

SteamOS announced by Valve, a free operating system available soon for living room PCs ( PC Gamer 2013-09-23 )

Valve Introduces SteamOS.Valve Software has developed its own operating system. ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-23 )

SteamOS is the First of Valve's Three Big Reveals. Valve takes another step away from Windows ( Maximum PC 2013-09-23 )

Valve announces Linux-based Steam OS ( NeoWin 2013-09-23 )

In the first of three scheduled announcements for this week, Steam has unveiled a free operating system designed for the living room that the company promises will combine the rock-solid architecture of Linux with a gaming experience built for the big screen. Itll be a combination of Steams current platform and Linux and according to company brass, there are hundreds of titles in the pipeline for next year.

The OS combines the rock-solid architecture of Linux with a gaming experience built for the big screen, according to the announcement. In-house streaming to a TV, similar to whats used in Nvidias Shield, is a feature of the OS.

Valve also emphasizes SteamOSs openness. Users can can alter or replace any part of the software or hardware they want, and hardware manufacturers are free to iterate in the living room at a much faster pace, setting it apart from console-style closed systems.

Wow, I can't wait to see what Wednesday and Friday brings. Plenty of comments already at those threads, especially at NeoWin where the MetroKids are worried. Sorry fanboys, only Microsoft could have made this happen. They always joked about the 'Year of Linux' but thanks to their actions have given an opening to Android, Chrome, Firefox, and Steam OS's with others in the pipeline and even breathed new life into older distros like Ubuntu. Great job guys.

[JorgeA]

More stuff that our friends at No Such Agency peek into:

'Follow the Money': NSA Spies on International Payments

The National Security Agency (NSA) widely monitors international payments, banking and credit card transactions, according to documents seen by SPIEGEL.

The information from the American foreign intelligence agency, acquired by former NSA contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden, show that the spying is conducted by a branch called "Follow the Money" (FTM). The collected information then flows into the NSA's own financial databank, called "Tracfin," which in 2011 contained 180 million records. Some 84 percent of the data is from credit card transactions.

Further NSA documents from 2010 show that the NSA also targets the transactions of customers of large credit card companies like VISA for surveillance. NSA analysts at an internal conference that year described in detail how they had apparently successfully searched through the US company's complex transaction network for tapping possibilities.

This has got even some spooks worried:

But even intelligence agency employees are somewhat concerned about spying on the world finance system, according to one document from the UK's intelligence agency GCHQ concerning the legal perspectives on "financial data" and the agency's own cooperations with the NSA in this area. The collection, storage and sharing of politically sensitive data is a deep invasion of privacy, and involved "bulk data" full of "rich personal information," much of which "is not about our targets," the document says.

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

Another thing about this item:

The Death of the Windows Desktop. It's dead, Jim ( Thurrott 2013-09-17 )

Paul is really taking a beating in the comments section. A lot of incisive points being made there. Here's one of the best contributions:

Wow, just wow...Apart from some of the comments here, this has got to be among the most uninformed illiterate pieces of drivel I have read in a long time.

Where to start? Well, why don't we first try to figure out what it is that Paul believes is "dead"? The "desktop"? What desktop? Or, are we talking about the Win32 API? You do understand, do you, that these are different things, right? That I can have a desktop that is not based on Win32, and that I can have Win32 applications that do not use any kind of desktop, right? That it is not the desktop per se that is targeted by hackers?

Apart from that little detail of what it is we are talking about here, let's talk about the actual Windows desktop, aka the Explorer shell. Now, I do understand that there is some underground of users with minimal requirements for their user interface, that seem to be intimidated by the complexities of a windowed desktop environment, and that truly embrace that pathetic crippled excuse for a UI that is "Metro". You know, exactly the kind of people who really never need anything more than an iPad. However, for the rest of us, that need to manage complex workflows on their computers, the desktop environment is a necessity. Let's just observe that there was a reason such desktop environments have been developed in the first place. Those environments were developed because there was, and is, a need for them, not because somebody got bored, or because they look pretty. It is more than a little amusing how some people here now hail the regression to 1980s-style computing, with what is essentially a single-tasking metaphor in Metro, as the best innovation since sliced bread. I'll tell you a secret: We had this kind of environment with the DOS task switchers roughly 25 years ago, and you clowns now hail this primitive stuff as the next big thing?

Bottom line: Sure, some people do not need anything but an iPad, but a significant an important part of the Windows user base absolutely needs the desktop. Nobody with even a minimal amount of good sense would even dream of abandoning a fundamental UI paradigm that has proven as overwhelmingly successful and an outright necessity as this.

Here's a final observation: I notice that this primitive "Metro" environment has now been endowed with upgraded windowing capabilities as well. I'll bet you the next big new idea will be "How about we also allow applications to use horizontally split regions of the screen. I'll bet that'll come in Windows 9. Then, in Windows 10, people will go wild when Microsoft will "introduce" the "new" capability to freely move those Windows around on the screen. That's when a lot of us may seriously injure ourselves from laughing so hard...

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

And from today comes the 1st of 3 big announcements and Steam has hit it out of the park ...

Valve's SteamOS promises to bring PC gaming to the living room ( TechSpot 2013-09-23 )

SteamOS announced by Valve, a free operating system available soon for living room PCs ( PC Gamer 2013-09-23 )

Valve Introduces SteamOS.Valve Software has developed its own operating system. ( Tom's Hardware 2013-09-23 )

SteamOS is the First of Valve's Three Big Reveals. Valve takes another step away from Windows ( Maximum PC 2013-09-23 )

Valve announces Linux-based Steam OS ( NeoWin 2013-09-23 )

As long as it's not another walled-garden type of scheme where anything users want to install has to go through Valve/Steam, this is an unqualified good development.

If it is another walled garden, then it's a "qualified" good development -- not so much in and of itself as for the further competition that it gives Microsoft.

--JorgeA

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Paul is really taking a beating in the comments section. A lot of incisive points being made there. Here's one of the best contributions:

Yes he is Ironically it actually may do some good because it is likely that some suits at Microsoft might find the time to pry themselves away from their caviar and champagne to read a few comments ( of course they would learn much more by reading this thread here at MSFN ).

Here is another good one ...

Microsoft seems to have issued a new hymn book to their reps because they've all been going around dripping disdain on the desktop. I've heard them call it "legacy computing" and "living in the past" (those are EXACT quotes). I never used to get any inquiries in the past about porting my software to Linux but I'm getting them now.

Metro is the future? No, Metro is already dead but the stench of the rotting corpse hasn't drifted up to Nose Bleed Heights where Microsoft's out-of-touch management lives. But it will, sooner or later.

:

I see that Paul finally crawled out from under the rock he was hiding and added a comment, just one out of all 96 ( normally he is all over his threads ) and that one is currently the last comment. It's kind of snarky and enigmatic and if I read it right I think he is doubling down on stoopid.

[Tripredacus]

Well vertical stands are novelty. I'm not sure how the ODD could be designed "wrong" or to not support that orientation. Even the ODD on the PS3 can go either way (and Sony sells a vertical stand for it and the PS2) and can the actual drive be that much different between the two devices?

[jaclaz]

This has got even some spooks worried:

But even intelligence agency employees are somewhat concerned about spying on the world finance system, according to one document from the UK's intelligence agency GCHQ concerning the legal perspectives on "financial data" and the agency's own cooperations with the NSA in this area. The collection, storage and sharing of politically sensitive data is a deep invasion of privacy, and involved "bulk data" full of "rich personal information," much of which "is not about our targets," the document says.

--JorgeA

Hmmm.

To be fair, one should ask him/herself WHY exactly London is a world financial capital, choose three from the following:

-5. Because of the nice weather.

0. Because the British (and particularly Londoneers) are - generally speaking - nice guys/gals.

5. Because Her Majesty the Queen is a guarantee of stability of the financial system.

35. Because the British Laws - with particular regard to financial trading - are very favourable when compared to other Eurozone countries

35. Because - with much difficulty - the people from the US can actually understand what they say and with even more difficulties the British can understand what the US peeps say, and - still with much difficulty - a conversation between them, the people actually doing the work in India and the people which bring in the real money (Arabic countries) is possible.

35. Because the British have built for themselves a reputation of respect of privacy, earnestness and correctness second only to that the Swiss made for themselves.

Give yourself the points correspondent to the three options you chose, if you make less than 100 you are wrong.

No particular surprise IMHO that the good guys at GCHQ (actually those in command of them) are perplexed by the spying (in favour of the US Government) on financial transactions.

jaclaz