Windows XP Automatic Downloads May Be Harmful

I have to wonder if the following excerpt from the ZDNet’s All About Microsoft column by Mary-Jo Foley is saying more than is actually written in her column. This column usually contains quite reliable information from specific applications to the latest rumors and speculations to hard business and software news. There are more technical sources of information about Microsoft, but for a “slightly technical” reader such as myself Ms. Foley provides excellent coverage and links to more specific sources when appropriate.

“Microsoft is stepping up its war on software pirates by rolling out new Windows Genuine notification software for what it is calling its most pirated version of Windows: Windows XP Professional.

In an August 26 posting to the Windows Genuine Advantage blog, Director of Genuine Windows Alex Kochis said XP users should expect Microsoft to begin rolling out a new version of Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) notifications starting this week. Microsoft is expecting the rollout to take several months. … “

Most specifically, the article seems to be saying more about Windows XP-Professional than might appear at first glance. If XP-Pro is the most pirated OS, it follows that it is likely that it is the most popular. Microsoft, while pushing hard with a greatly increased advertising campaign for Vista, seems also to be threatening XP holdouts with Genuine “Nagware” notifications. It has been denied that a “reduced functionality mode,” aka “kill switch” will be installed in XP.

“Microsoft officials noted that WGA for XP never did default to “reduced functionality mode,” a k a, the kill switch, which was part of Windows Vista when it first shipped.”

Ms. Foley’s blog, All About Microsoft publishes frequently. Perhaps you should bookmark it.

Draw your own conclusions, but I would suggest that you read the full article before you do so. It has left me with questions and doubts as to whether even my Genuine Microsoft copy of XP-Pro will pass the test when I install it as a second OS on a new PC.

Peace, Doc

Copyright © 2008, Thomas A. Blood, Ph.D.

“It's no wonder that truth is stranger than fiction. Fiction has to make sense.” – Mark Twain

Technorati tags: Windows Genuine Advantage, XP Pro, M. Foley

Free Worldwide Tech Support For Vista Service Pack 1

Microsoft is now offering free tech support for Vista SP 1 via email, chat, or toll-free telephone. This offer is valid worldwide until March 18, 2009. The article I found that let this information be widely known is on Digital Inspirations by Amit Agarwal. When you have a look at that article, consider signing up for Mr. Agarwal's free e-mail newsletter. Personally, I find his efforts to gather truly useful information and articles to be superb. His newsletter is one of the first bits of e-mail that I read after family mail. Be careful. It is good enough to be addicting.

This information is also listed on Lifehacker and by Microsoft in its Help and Support pages for Vista.

Peace, Doc

Reason Number 7342 To Stick With XP Pro

It was recently discovered that the spell checker in all versions of Vista and Server 2008 was “correcting” writers of words which were actually being spelled correctly. On Friday, July 11, 2008, The Register published an article about this important bug. Full details may be found at the Microsoft Help and Support page for the remedy to this urgent problem and a possible workaround. The words?

• Friendster
• Klum
• Nazr
• Obama
• Racicot

That’s it. Five words. They must have given as much concern to these five words as was given to “the seven words you can’t say on TV” a number of years ago. Why do I write of the apparent immediate need to correct these five words? The correction is a 56.4 MB download. Still another reason for sticking with XP Pro.

Peace, Doc

Copyright © 2008, Thomas A. Blood, Ph.D.

“Never trust a computer you can't throw out a window.” - Steve Wozniak

Vista vs XP, Continued

Since my recent post about the impending demise of Microsoft Windows XP, I have seen some articles which suggest that MS may continue to offer WinXP for sale, at least the Home version, for some time past the June 30, 2008 cutoff. Nothing certain, just hints and rumors.

A Computerworld article TechNet subscribers rip Microsoft over XP SP3 ‘farce', stated that Microsoft did not release the Service Pack I for Vista to developers as promised, and went on to say that they would not release the Service Pack III for XP until after Vista SP I was released. Much confusion is produced for developers as well as end users, here, as a Microsoft developer posted that Vista SP I would be available on May 2, 2008, only to have that page removed from his blog. The alleged logic in this is that Microsoft is putting its main effort into repairing Vista prior to updating XP. It also makes sense if a company is trying very hard to push consumers into using a new OS and abandoning an older (and better, in my opinion) OS, so further profit can be extracted.

Microsoft has pointed out the huge number of Vista OS sales that have occurred since its release as evidence of its popularity. Well, Duh. If Vista is the only Windows OS that one can obtain when one buys a new computer, of course its sales figures will look impressive. Only a very few, very small, "white box" computer makers continue to offer XP Pro SPII on their machines. Why do they do that? They make extremely fast gaming computers and XP works better.

As the dust settles somewhat, a few matters appear to have become clearer.

• If you have to buy Vista, get the Home Premium version. Common wisdom has come to a consensus that it works the best of any of the Vista versions.
• Don't try to "upgrade" a Vista machine to XP. It isn't worth the trouble, crashes, driver changes, and incompatibilities with some of your current software. Buying a new machine with Vista pre-installed eliminates many of these frustrations.
• Vista does not seem to run nearly as well on laptops as on desktop machines, probably due to its greater demand on computer resources.
• If everything you are now running is working well for your needs on XP, I would hold out for Microsoft's "OS 7," the next OS in the pipeline, which is rumored to have had its release date moved up from 2010 to sometime in 2009.
• Finally, I would note that the Vista debacle is not Microsoft's intentional plan to irritate its users. With all the legal actions, interoperability problems, changes to changes, and patches to holes which were discovered by hackers even before Vista was officially released, etc., they have had a difficult time with it. It is simply my belief that they should not remove a well tested and working OS from availability before they have something better and more stable to offer. As the wise old barnstorming wing-walker would say it, "Don't leave holt of what ya got till ya got holt of somethin' else."

In the interim, my plan is to stay with XP Pro, buy a copy of XP Pro before it goes off the market, eventually buy a new CPU and install XP on it, but leave a bay open for another hard drive on which Vista can be installed (as a dual boot system) in case I'm wrong. That has happened to me once or twice before in 62 years.

Peace, Doc

Copyright © 2008, Thomas A. Blood, Ph.D.

Save Windows XP

The sale of Windows XP to the public is due to be totally discontinued by Microsoft on June 30, 2008. Support for it will continue via automatic or manual update, but it will be unavailable for purchase. The vast majority of computer manufacturers have switched to "forcing" Vista on the buyer of new computers because that is the only Operating System MS will provide to them (except for relenting to some business customers who loudly and forcefully complained that Vista didn't work.) A very few, small, specialized "white box" computer manufacturers (generally of ultra-fast, high-end gaming computers) have been allowed to continue new installs of XP. One can also still buy the shrink wrapped, boxed software to install Win XP on your own if you are building your computer. Some are going to dual-boot computers, using XP and another OS on separate hard drives.

Even this set of dates has been atypical for Microsoft, which has left XP in production and available to manufacturers over a year longer than previous Operating Systems. There are also industry rumors that Microsoft is pushing very hard to have an early release date for OS 7, the system that is to replace Vista, in the second half of 2009. Enough problems, including lawsuits over proprietary rights, have reduced Vista from what was originally "promised" to a substantially less desirable OS. About the only positive things I have found written about Vista is that it has a prettier desktop and is "safer" online. Clearly, they are concerned about Vista sales, already have issued a Service Pack for it, and are trying to produce a better system as quickly as possible.

Many individuals and business users have resisted the adoption of Vista due to a variety of compatibility problems, system investment, and the generally much heavier draw that the Vista OS places on the computer's resources. More and faster memory and system resources are usually necessary. I have seen minimum specifications that state one Gigabyte of RAM is a minimum requirement. Reviews that I have read, however, strongly suggest that three to four Gigabytes is the "real" minimum for Vista to work correctly. Faster hard drives and more powerful CPU chips are also required for acceptable performance. Problems with finding appropriate "driver" software to interface your older peripheral hardware have frequently occurred.

So, what is it that I would ask you to do about this? Go to InfoWorld's Save Windows XP site and sign the petition requesting Microsoft to continue production of XP. It takes nothing away from anyone that wants, prefers, or needs Vista, but allows XP devotees to continue to be able to purchase current equipment that suits their wants and needs. What will I do? I've already signed the petition and read a fair amount about the subject. I have a Maxtor backup drive that saves everything on a computer, including the OS, as a complete clone if you tell it to (so I could transfer this whole system onto a new, bigger, better hard drive.) I'm considering buying the boxed XP software on June 25th or thereabouts. In an ideal world, I would have the funds to buy a quad-core monster of a PC from one of the white box builders. But if everything else fails, I still have a Win 98SE box that works.

Peace, Doc

Copyright © 2008, Thomas A. Blood, Ph.D.