This is the actual title:
What… no Borat?
Update: In the comments, David Hunter and Michael Moncur point out that the real story is not fully told in the KB article.
Author: Ed Bott
Tech journalist. Author of 25+ books. ZDNET Contributing Editor since 2006.
Contact info: https://edbott.com/contact-me/
A primer on 64-bit Windows
My ZDNet colleague George Ou has a very nice introduction to the differences between 32-bit and 64 bit Windows. If you’re planning a new PC purchase and weighing the pros and cons of the x86 and x64 architectures, it’s worth reading.
Express upgrade almost here
I bought a pair of new Dell dual-core machines, one in December and another in January. Both came with Express Upgrade options entitling me to a copy of Windows Vista for the cost of shipping and handling – $10 each.
According to Dell, one of those copies is due to arrive tomorrow morning. For those keeping score, that’s exactly six weeks after the retail release of Windows Vista. Express? Eh.
It will be interesting to see what’s in the package. I’m expecting a utility to remove and/or replace incompatible programs and drivers, plus the Vista media itself. But Dell doesn’t make this software available for download, as far as I can tell, so who knows?
Anyone else get their Express Upgrade package yet?
“Once-in-a-lifetime opportunity”
This memo from an AMD Executive Vice President, cited by Robert McLaws, makes me want to buy a new PC with an AMD processor. Sure, Core 2 Duos might be faster, but I’d rather back a company that’s trying to think months or years ahead, because they’re more likely to satisfy their customers that way.
Go read the whole thing.
What’s up with Gartenberg?
This announcement from Michael Gartenberg is a total head-scratcher. Last month, he jumped to Microsoft’s payroll as “enthusiast evangelist.” This month, he jumps back:
But after much of thought [sic], I have decided not to remain with Microsoft and I am returning to JupiterResearch as of Monday 3/12.
I’m wondering what kind of breakdown in one’s training as an analyst it takes to misread the impact of a personal decision so thoroughly. And what sort of trigger does it take to convince one to publicly renounce a major, widely publicized decision so quickly?
Weird.
WordPress users, take notice
Good lord, this is a nightmare scenario. If you run a website powered by WordPress, be sure to read this announcement:
Long story short: If you downloaded WordPress 2.1.1 within the past 3-4 days, your files may include a security exploit that was added by a cracker, and you should upgrade all of your files to 2.1.2 immediately.
Longer explanation: This morning we received a note to our security mailing address about unusual and highly exploitable code in WordPress. The issue was investigated, and it appeared that the 2.1.1 download had been modified from its original code. We took the website down immediately to investigate what happened.
If you know someone whose site is powered by WordPress, spread the word. And man, do I feel bad for the people who run WordPress.org. This is indeed “the kind of thing you pray never happens.”
Who uses newsgroups?
I’m curious: How many people that visit this site use newsgroups? How many people even know what newsgroups are?
If you follow any Windows-related newsgroups, leave a comment (anonymous is OK) and tell me which ones you follow.
Also, do you use a newsgroup reader, like Outlook Express, Windows Mail, Agent, or Thunderbird? Or do you use a web-based reader like Google Groups or Microsoft newsgroups? Or do you have a completely different approach?
A Vista Hands On update
I’ve posted a couple of new entries in the Vista Hands On series over at ZDNet.
Vista Hands On #9: Use Vista for four months, free
You can install an evaluation copy of any Vista edition and use it for a minimum of 30 days without having to activate it. As several publications have already noted, you can renew this evaluation period a total of three times, extending the evaluation period to roughly 120 days. But this post contains a secret technique that no one has yet published: how to automatically “rearm” the trial period at the end of each 30 day period.
Vista Hands On #8: Delay activation
Microsoft doesn’t get enough credit for one major change in Windows Vista. Using the standard Setup program and installation media, you can install an evaluation copy of any Vista edition and use it for a minimum of 30 days. In essence, this makes Windows Vista the ultimate shareware program. But there’s a gotcha: By default, Windows automatically activates itself after three days. Unless you know how to shut down the timer.
There’s an RSS feed for all my posts at ZDNet, or you can get a custom feed with must the posts in the Hands On series.
High-security web certificates arrive
I’ve been meaning to mention this for a while, and today I got another reminder when I went to eBay to see how much I could get for a Dell PowerEdge 600SC server:
In IE7, the Address bar turns green to indicate that the secure connection is backed up by an “extended validation” certificate from a trusted certification authority (in this case, Verisign). So far, I’ve seen these certificates at PayPal and eBay, both of which are prime targets for phishing attacks.
When these certificates were announced, there was a bit of a brouhaha about how they would turn mom and pop retail outlets into second-class citizens. But organized criminals aren’t aggressively attacking those little sites; they’re going after the big names. So this approach makes sense. (Not only that, but many small businesses use PayPal or eBay stores for payment and order processing, which means they get the enhanced security without having to pay for an expensive certificate.)
Have you seen these certificates anywhere else?
Update: If you’re running IE7 on Windows XP, you’ll need to go to Windows Update and get the Root Certificates update (in the Optional section) before this feature will work.
Uh, Chris?
Chris Pirillo gets “pissed off at the people who are blaming me for Vista’s shortcomings.”
A wee bit defensive, are we?
In this case, at least, you’re pointing a finger at the wrong guy, Chris. I’m not blaming you for anything, nor am I suggesting that you’ve made the wrong decision, nor am I trying to get you back on the Vista bus. Seriously, go back and read what I wrote and someone please tell me where I said all that stuff, because I can’t find it. I just said my experience is different from Chris’s, and I’ve heard the same from plenty of other people.
Oh, and agitprop is a term of endearment, buddy, a deliberately anachronistic word dragged from the shelf, dusted off, and applied to the bomb-throwing, emotional, over-the-top, headline-grabbing style that propels people to the top of Slashdot and Digg and so on. It’s the reason you and Dvorak and Cringely have 100 times the traffic I do (and make about 10 times what I do besides).
But I don’t mind. It’s just software.
Update: Be sure to read Chris’s response in the comments, and my response to that, and then keep reading, because there’s more good stuff there. Hell, you could even add your own comment.
Ed Bott 