To Vista, or not to Vista

Do a little surfing. You can buy anything from Brazil... even movies not yet released ;-)

...Jim Thompson

You sound bitter.

Why did you upgrade?

On Mon, 22 Jan 2007 21:46:56 -0800, JeffM wrote:

I got a kick out of this:

--------------------------- Note C: In order for content to be displayed to users, it has to be copied numerous times. For example if you're reading this document on the web then it's been copied from the web server's disk drive to server memory, copied to the server's network buffers, copied across the Internet, copied to your PC's network buffers, copied into main memory, copied to your browser's disk cache, copied to the browser's rendering engine, copied to the render/screen cache, and finally copied to your screen. If you've printed it out to read, several further rounds of copying have occurred. Windows Vista's content protection (and DRM in general) assume that all of this copying can occur without any copying actually occurring, since the whole intent of DRM is to prevent copying. If you're not versed in DRM doublethink this concept gets quite tricky to explain, but in terms of quantum mechanics the content enters a superposition of simultaneously copied and uncopied states until a user collapses its wave function by observing the content (in physics this is called quantum indeterminacy or the observer's paradox). Depending on whether you follow the Copenhagen or many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, things then either get weird or very weird. So in order for Windows Vista's content protection to work, it has to be able to violate the laws of physics and create numerous copies that are simultaneously not copies.

(Someone has pointed out that Microsoft is trying to implement a quantum encryption channel in software that attempts to make premium content non- observable, detecting problem states and discontinuing transmission if any are observed).

--------------

Cheers! Rich

Then you might like to know that MS just extended support for Windows XP to

Robert

OS

experience/expense

spent

I was actaully going to try Open Office a few months back but based on a few things I have heard here I decided not to. The other reason was that the I couldn't be assed finding a bullet proof linux distro, so I asked a linux guy to find one. He never got back to me the slack prick.

I have since installed MS Office 2007 instead and I will never go back. They have done great things to the UI which have finally made it easy to use.

martin

I tend to agreed for engineering point of view, but it will start to wear thin in 3-4 years as Vista may become defacto standard and we be forced to upgrade. They will discontinue XP support like they did with Win98 and ME.

Riscy

box

Hey! I'm a Slacker, and I don't know if that "slack prick" remark was just an adjective or a crack about the distro:

Slackware is abut as bullet-proof as you can get, albeit it's not Aunt-Tillie-friendly. ;-)

But if you can find USENET, and know how to bottom-post, you're probably technically competent to install it. :-)

You could lurk news:alt.os.linux.slackware if you're wondering about it, and there's lots of info at their site.

Good Luck! Rich

For the wary you could always read from:

microsoft.public.windows.vista.installation_setup

Some of it is quite hilarious. Some of the things that MVP's have said about vista has cost them their status as MVP.