Recent Posts

3226

Living Room / Re: Microsoft ending TechNet subscription activations effective august 2013

« Last post by 40hz on July 02, 2013, 08:39 AM »

Microsoft claims this is a direct result of piracy - mainly sharing of licenses.

-J-Mac (July 02, 2013, 07:39 AM)

Supposedly it was for a number of reasons besides just piracy. And to be blunt, the rules surrounding TechNet software were pretty widely abused by many subscribers.

But I really think it has more to do with a broader long-term goal of pulling actual copies of Microsoft software out of the hands of companies and individuals, and getting everything up into the cloud where it can be more effectively regulated, metered, and billed for. (And, in the wake of recent revelations, monitored by our government as well.)

I think a lot of the motivation is because Microsoft has been unable to convince people that Microsoft products are "licensed not sold." So their customer's perspective is still one that says "possession is 9/10ths of law." And that's despite 30 years of trying to "educate" people otherwise. Most people flat out refuse to accept the notion of 'intellectual property' when they're buying a physical product.

So the simple fix is to not allow customers to get their hands on a copy to begin with. Just allow them to use it. That way there is absolutely no question of who owns what. And many more revenue opportunities to be had because of it.

Oh well... 40hz - prepare yourself for a lot of questions about implementing Linux!

-J-Mac (July 02, 2013, 07:39 AM)

It's really not that big a deal. Seriously. It's not.

Grab a copy of Linux Mint's Cinnamon edition (or something similar) and just try using it. It's not much different from Windows. Most people that just use their computer for "productivity" will hardly even notice the difference.

I've booted Mint off a live DVD for non-tech types and told them it was an advanced experimental version of Windows that wasn't due out until 2015. And guess what? Most of them loved it. Raved about how nice it looked, how smooth it felt, how it was great to see a familiar desktop environment again, etc. etc. etc. They'd play around with it for a few minutes and were soon off and running, getting things done.

But if I told them it was Linux first, they'd immediately get confused and convince themselves they couldn't use it.

Interesting, no?



Suggestion: you have nothing to fear but fear itself. Just give it a try. You'll be amazed how far things have progressed in the Linux world - much to Microsoft's chagrin.
 

3227

Living Room / Re: Microsoft ending TechNet subscription activations effective august 2013

« Last post by 40hz on July 02, 2013, 07:58 AM »

FWIW I think it may only be a short while before they'll only be providing VMs for developer use.

Developers who need the actual software for testing purposes will probably need to sign additional paperwork and submit more frequently to those rare (but very real) onsite compliance audits Microsoft does do from time to time.

The biggest hurdle I can see is that unless you're an MVP, a MSDN subscription is considerably more expensive than TechNet was. Which really hurts small software developers and start-ups.



Right now, my biggest concern is what they might do with MAPS. As a "non-developer" MS Partner, MAPS is an absolutely essential resource for my company. Unfortunately, Microsoft has been dropping some pretty strong hints that they want all of their partners to be involved in software development - so the more traditional 'support & service' companies preferred by SMBs may soon be shown the door. Unless they also develop and sell software that would make a client need to "go Microsoft" in order to run it.

 

3228

Living Room / Re: Worth Reading: Trevor Pott's editorial on NSA PRISM and its real ramifications

« Last post by 40hz on July 02, 2013, 07:09 AM »

Please... that's hypocrisy at work.  The only thing the EU is glad about is that the NSA got caught. 

-wraith808 (July 01, 2013, 11:26 PM)

+1!

Right now I think that a good number of US 'allies' are extremely embarrassed, both about what the US has been up to, and their degree of direct or indirect complicity in it.

There's a lot to be said for speaking "truth against the world." Something our self-proclaimed "democratically elected" and "representative" governments now seem incapable of doing.

It's a problem. One that will be corrected. Again. And the same old lesson re-learned for about the hundredth time, if history is anything to go by.

So it goes.

Let's get busy!

3229

Living Room / Microsoft ending TechNet subscription activations effective august 2013

« Last post by 40hz on July 01, 2013, 07:35 PM »

Bad news for legitimate users of TechNet.

This from ArsTechnica (link to article here):

Microsoft killing off TechNet subscriptions
Time-limited trials will have to suffice.
by Peter Bright - Jul 1, 2013 7:10 pm UTC

  
Microsoft is set to end its TechNet subscription scheme. Started in 1998, TechNet subscriptions gave IT professionals perpetual licenses to Windows client and server operating systems. Though these licenses were technically only authorized for evaluation purposes, many used them as cheap Windows licenses for personal machines.

First reported by Ed Bott, Microsoft today e-mailed TechNet subscribers to inform them of the changes. Both new subscriptions and renewals will remain on sale until August 31, 2013, with activation of subscriptions supported until September 30, 2013. With most subscriptions lasting one year, TechNet subscriber downloads will cease to work on September 30, 2014.

For volume license customers, TechNet subscription benefits will be available for the duration of the volume license agreement.

In addition to illicit production use, there have been reports of TechNet license keys being sold without disclosing their evaluation nature, leaving their buyers unwittingly exposed in the case of a software audit.

To justify the change, Microsoft said that users wanting evaluation copies of its software had shifted to freely available time-limited trial copies. That caused a decline in usage of these paid evaluation licenses.

Microsoft's official announcement along with additional information regarding MAPS, MSDN, and other subscriptions can be found here.

Microsoft is retiring the TechNet Subscriptions service to focus on growing its free offerings, including evaluation resources through the TechNet Evaluation Center, expert-led learning through the Microsoft Virtual Academy, and community-moderated technical support through the TechNet Forums to better meet the needs of the growing IT professional community.

The last day to purchase a TechNet Subscription through the TechNet Subscriptions website is August 31, 2013. Subscribers may activate purchased subscriptions through September 30, 2013.

Microsoft will continue to honor all existing TechNet Subscriptions. Subscribers with active accounts may continue to access program benefits until their current subscription period concludes.

The FAQs below includes additional information for all subscribers, including those that receive subscription benefits through Microsoft programs such as Not-For-Resale (NFR), Volume Licensing (VL), IT Academy (ITA), MAPS, Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT), and Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP).

So it goes...



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

ADDENDUM:  Trevor Pott over at The Register doesn't take this bit of news quite so clamly. Read his editorial take on what this is really all about here.

Here's a brief excerpt:

Take that, sysadmins!

The cancellation of TechNet subscriptions isn't merely a Windows 8.1-style slap in the face or an incomprehensible XBone-class failure to read the market. This is a deliberate, planned, carefully considered shot to the vital bits from on high.

The message is crystal clear: if you want to test Microsoft software on anything excepting disposable short-term "free evals", then you will do it in the cloud and you'll pay for the privilege. Can't afford to subscribe to the cloud for a test lab? MSDN a little too pricy, or the restriction to development use too severe? Too bad.

You and I – we dregs of the IT industry – are not Microsoft's target market. Microsoft has moved beyond the SME, the hobbyist, and the power user. Where once we were the foundations of the empire – the hearts and hands upon which Microsoft built and projected its global mindshare – we have become too "low margin" to maintain as customers.  <more>

3230

Living Room / Re: Google Reader gone

« Last post by 40hz on July 01, 2013, 01:35 PM »

^FWIW (assuming I understand Bazqux's TOS) you can pay what you want - with the suggested amount being between $9.95 and $29.95 annually. Haven't exhausted my free trial yet so I don't know how true in practice the "any amount" part is. I think $20-$30 annually is reasonable. But my finances aren't somebody else's so YMMV.

Also Bazqux doesn't have free accounts - period. So if you did need a free account, Bazqux won't be on your short list.
 

I wish DoCo could put something like this (plus some other web services) together for its members. Especially as paid services to get a steady revenue stream in. Because I'd rather drop my plastic here than elsewhere if I'm spending money.

3231

Living Room / Re: Worth Reading: Trevor Pott's editorial on NSA PRISM and its real ramifications

« Last post by 40hz on July 01, 2013, 09:04 AM »

A major reason why it's so easy for governments to get away with what they do...

This is the mentality they're largely dealing with:

3232

Living Room / Re: Worth Reading: Trevor Pott's editorial on NSA PRISM and its real ramifications

« Last post by 40hz on July 01, 2013, 07:34 AM »

So maybe it's time to accept, adapt, and move on - since one is generally likely to be impotent to shove these things back into Pandora's box.

-IainB (July 01, 2013, 03:10 AM)

Non serviam.

3233

Living Room / Re: Google Balloon ('Loon for all) - initiative for a balloon-distributed Internet.

« Last post by 40hz on June 30, 2013, 07:25 PM »

Yes, but it will probably be no laughing matter if the balloon is doubling as an NSA surveillance device - which it probably will be...

-IainB (June 30, 2013, 04:58 AM)

  No, not "if", but "when".....

-Tinman57 (June 30, 2013, 06:30 PM)

Yeah...there's also that little "concern" too.

3234

Living Room / Re: Google Balloon ('Loon for all) - initiative for a balloon-distributed Internet.

« Last post by 40hz on June 30, 2013, 07:22 PM »

One problem is, if there's enough of these balloons floating around, they might create a navigation hazard for all the "surveillance" drones our federal, state and municipal governments plan on putting up real soon now.

Purely "for your own protection" of course...


 

3235

Living Room / Re: Prism Break

« Last post by 40hz on June 30, 2013, 10:26 AM »

Oooo ... This looks fun to play with: Anonym.OS

-Stoic Joker (June 29, 2013, 01:02 PM)

  That's been abandoned since 06 according to one of the post.

-Tinman57 (June 29, 2013, 08:11 PM)

Tails (The Amnesic Incognito Live System) has largely stepped in and filled the gap left by AnonymOS going moribund. Info and download here.

Be sure to read its warning page which explains the limitations of what this distro can do for security.
 

3236

General Software Discussion / Re: License Key BS

« Last post by 40hz on June 30, 2013, 07:15 AM »

MAYBE what he really was saying is that under certain circumstances it is too difficult for a new visitor to navigate the site.

-Curt (June 30, 2013, 05:02 AM)

That may be the case. Although it might have been nice if he/she actually said that.

And even if that was what the person meant, there are still better ways to covey that message than saying "There are too many free apps out there for someone to jump through all these hoops then this endless circle of click here and there to get license key." and "Count me out." That just strikes me as more of that 'entitlement mindset' you see everywhere on the web these days.

DonationCoder is a community - not just a 'free software' site. Something that should be fairly obvious to anybody who does more than just take a quick scan to see what's available for free here.

 

3237

General Software Discussion / Re: License Key BS

« Last post by 40hz on June 29, 2013, 09:16 PM »

Bye!

3238

Living Room / Re: Interesting Amazon MP3 development

« Last post by 40hz on June 29, 2013, 11:55 AM »

^Agree. Which is why I personally think it's mostly a rumor right now, and a possible long-term strategy at best.

I'd also guess that the economics of manufacturing and distribution figure as more significant considerations than any anti-piracy concerns - if the decision is ever made to completely abandon all hard media.

All DRM gets broken eventually. And any digitized data is successfully duplicated sooner or later. Whether it resides on hard media or soft, the outcome is the same.

3239

Living Room / Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.

« Last post by 40hz on June 29, 2013, 11:47 AM »

Just imagine how much we'll know tomorrow...

...if we're strong enough.

3240

Non-Windows Software / Re: Window Managers and Terminals for *NIX

« Last post by 40hz on June 29, 2013, 11:38 AM »

Been using Xfce since the 2.something days.  Something about it, I keep coming back to.
Never got into tiling window managers.

-Edvard (June 29, 2013, 03:04 AM)

Ditto. Xfce just hits the sweet spot for me. Not too much or too little.

On a semi-related topic this has got to be the absolute best RDP client I've ever worked with. Better even than Microsoft's own remote client running under Win7 when accessing Windows servers.

Now I can RDP out to a W2k3/8 server and reliably do 'my thing' without having to exit Linux first.

Awesome!

3241

Living Room / Re: Interesting Amazon MP3 development

« Last post by 40hz on June 29, 2013, 06:30 AM »

is this a prelude to the complete disappearance of physical products and this is the way to move customers into the new digital only world?

-Carol Haynes (June 29, 2013, 04:39 AM)

It's been rumored that's the direction the industry wants to go in. No more uncontrollable physical media.

3242

Living Room / NSA Surveillance Leaks: Facts and Fiction panel discussion

« Last post by 40hz on June 28, 2013, 10:49 PM »

Interesting panel discussion on the NSA Leak hosted by the Newseum in Washington DC. It runs about 1-1/2 hours, but IMO it's worth watching in its entirety. Some big names here, including (starts at 15:20) Robert Litt, who is the General Counsel of the Office of the DNI.

 

3243

Living Room / Re: Interesting Amazon MP3 development

« Last post by 40hz on June 28, 2013, 09:50 PM »

In some respects it's kind of sad that you have a business like Amazon offering (for whatever reasons) some additional value - and people (again for whatever reasons) immediately start coming up with ways to game the system.
 

3244

Living Room / Re: FCC disagrees with NSA - telcos must protect mobile metadat privacy

« Last post by 40hz on June 28, 2013, 09:39 PM »

Probably. But the President can't tell the FCC commissioners what to say. He can replace them with people who are more sympathetic towards his administration's position. But he can't order them to parrot his position or rubber stamp it.

This opens things up considerably now that the FCC is down on record as saying there's a "reasonable expectation of privacy" for mobile communications. It gives the courts room to step in and rule on the broader constitutional issue if/when this becomes a disputed decree.

Replacing the currently sitting commission membership with an entirely new slate won't make that legal question go away.

It was a brilliant maneuver on the part of the FCC.

3245

Living Room / Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.

« Last post by 40hz on June 28, 2013, 09:22 PM »

To be perfectly blunt, I haven't seen where any of the so-called "Western Democracies" have behaved in any manner so exemplary that they are now in a position to honestly point fingers at anyone other than themselves.

From my perspective, the entire "grand experiment" that began with the European Enlightenment and arguably culminated with the creation of the United States, which was AFAIK the first nation that was consciously designed to be a society that derived the authority for its very existence from the will of its people alone.

It was a beautiful and lofty idea.

Unfortunately, all the old demons from our past: the will to power; greed; provincialism; superstition; ignorance; hatred; cruelty...the list is long, weren't abolished just because some individuals began to look up from what was directly in front of them and try get us to elevate our awareness, as a species, up a notch or two.

I think it's still too soon to say that this experiment has definitely and conclusively failed. But it's certainly at a crisis point. One where decisions are going to need to be made - and painful lessons learned -if it is going to continue.

I'd like to think the widespread loathing and anger many are feeling towards our key social institutions (i.e. state, church, business, family) over their absolute betrayal of principle, and the people they are supposed to serve,  is the start of a large scale social 'correction.' One that is going to play out primarily in North America and Europe. But whose ramifications are going to be felt globally.

Time will tell if it is a rebirth or not.

There is (supposedly) an old Chinese curse that goes: May you live in historically "interesting" times.

Well...we do. And I intend to make the most of it.



I plan on making a career out of being a royal pain in the ass.

3246

Living Room / FCC disagrees with NSA - telcos must protect mobile metadat privacy

« Last post by 40hz on June 28, 2013, 03:39 PM »

This is so surreal you just can't make it up!



From TechDirt   (link here)

FCC: Telcos Must Protect The Privacy Of Mobile Metadata That The NSA Insists Isn't Private
from the left-hand?-speak-to-the-right-hand dept

So the FCC has announced new rules saying that mobile operators must protect the privacy of their users, including around various metadata:

    "When mobile carriers use their control of customers' devices to collect information about customers' use of the network, including using preinstalled apps ... carriers are required to protect that information," the FCC said in a statement today. "This sensitive information can include phone numbers that a customer has called and received calls from, the durations of calls, and the phone's location at the beginning and end of each call."

This came out, ostensibly, in response to an investigation by the FCC into the use of services like Carrier IQ by various mobile carriers, whereby they were collecting a ton of data about how everyone used their phones.

However, when put into the context of the news of the month: the federal government's dragnet surveillance efforts, which involves hoovering up all metadata on every single phone call made... it suddenly becomes somewhat interesting. On the one hand, you have the administration and its defenders claiming that there's no expectation of privacy in "metadata" like phone numbers, duration of calls and the phone's location. And yet, now you have the FCC, also a part of the same administration, flat out telling the world (and the telcos) that there's clearly an expectation of privacy in exactly the same information. And, of course, once you have that expectation of privacy, the 4th Amendment applies, no matter how many times the NSA says otherwise...

3247

Living Room / Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.

« Last post by 40hz on June 28, 2013, 03:10 PM »

But my guess is so many of those countries are so poor that one good knock on the door will make them buckle over something like this!

-TaoPhoenix (June 28, 2013, 12:52 PM)

Especially when that knock comes from the only country ever known to use nuclear weapons against an enemy.

-app103 (June 28, 2013, 01:58 PM)

Yup. I think this should be affixed to the cornerstone of  the White House the way things are playing out theses days:



But seriously, who needs big clunky city busters, and all that collateral property damage, when you have a large collection of these toys at your disposal?

----

Addendum: Oops! Looks like T-Man is on the same wavelength and got in ahead of my post.

3248

Living Room / What metadata can reveal and be used for - and why we should be concerned

« Last post by 40hz on June 28, 2013, 02:57 PM »

I was going to write up something on this topic. But Jessica Leber of the MIT Technology Review beat me to it with a much more informative and well-researched article than I could ever manage.

Read the full article here.

Mobile Call Logs Can Reveal a Lot to the NSA

Research shows how much the NSA could glean from call records, and why efforts to downplay the significance of such metadata are misleading.

By Jessica Leber on June 18, 2013
---------------------------

Why It Matters

Privacy is an important component of a free and democratic society.
The so-called “bare-bones records” culled by the NSA ... can give the agency a tremendous amount of information on people’s movements.

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

Of all the recent revelations about the National Security Agency’s sweeping surveillance activities, the collection of metadata from Verizon’s U.S. call records may be the most concerning (see “NSA Surveillance Reflects a Broader Interpretation of the Patriot Act”). Despite reassurances that the information collected is limited in its scope, academics who study such data say it could still reveal a great deal about the people being monitored.

To defend the program, members of Congress have been instructed to refer to these logs as mere “bare-bones records,” according to a set of leaked talking points. But in reality, the metadata subject to the court order obtained by the NSA—including phone numbers, call time and duration, and information about device interactions with cellular towers—gives intelligence analysts a clear window into sensitive interactions and movements of the U.S. population.

The term “metadata” simply refers to information that is used to track or describe another piece of data, whether that is a cell-phone conversation or a money transfer. One study published this March, using records provided by a European wireless carrier, shows the surveillance power of telecommunications metadata. Vincent Blondel, an applied mathematician at MIT and the Université Catholique de Louvain in Belgium, and collaborators analyzed 15 months of anonymous call records from 1.5 million people. His team was able to uniquely pinpoint the movements of 95 percent of people from only four records, using only the location of a nearby cellular station and the time each call was made.

“You can infer a lot, such as where people work and where people live,” says Blondel. “You don’t need information about the content [of the call].”

From there, connecting such movements with a person’s real identity would be a relatively simple matter of cross-referencing the records with other sources of data. The NSA may be able to do this using credit card transactions or e-mail communications, Blondel says, or simply by knowing who has the phone number.

These techniques could reveal sensitive activity such as attendance at a particular church or a visit to an abortion clinic. Analysts could even surmise where and when two individuals are meeting face to face, Blondel says, or construct a diagram of complex relationships among far-flung communities (see “Has Big Data Made Anonymity Impossible?”).

It’s not known exactly how and to what extent the NSA is mining Verizon’s data, other than that it is collecting the information every day. And the practice may well assist the NSA in locating terrorism suspects or networks that are actively seeking to evade detection. “These individuals are very aware that there is a high probability their communications are being monitored,” says Drew Conway, a scientist in residence at IA Ventures, who has studied data mining techniques used in counterterrorism efforts. But a more computationally intensive “big data” approach, without specific targets or questions in mind, could also be used to flag unusual communication patterns in hopes of predicting suspicious activity, he says.

Similar tactics have been used successfully against the U.S. In 2011, the Lebanese militant party Hezbollah was reportedly able to pinpoint a CIA network by mining cell-phone data for anomalies, like phones that were used only rarely and in specific locations...

<more>

“It may well be the case that this kind of thing is of some utility in some situations, in the same way a general warrant to search any house you please might be useful in preventing crime.” - Julian Sanchez (research fellow, The Cato Institute)

Something to think about...

3249

Living Room / Re: 10 signs you may have OCD

« Last post by 40hz on June 28, 2013, 02:27 PM »

Well at least it's nice to know whatever psychological issues I may have, OCD isn't one of them.

I didn't even get one telltale out of the ten listed. (I feel so left out right now!) 

 

3250

Living Room / Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.

« Last post by 40hz on June 28, 2013, 09:40 AM »

There's also this little fly in the ointment concerning Ecuador as reported this morning over at TechDirt. (Link here.)

Ecuador Using Copyright To Try To Take Down Leaked Documents About Its Surveillance Practices
from the copyright-as-censorship dept

While Ecuador has received plenty of attention for granting asylum to Julian Assange and being one possible landing place for Ed Snowden, it's no secret that the country is not exactly known as a bastion of civil liberties protection. In fact, last year, just as it was granting Julian Assange asylum, there were reports coming out about highly questionable activities by the Ecuador government in extraditing someone who had exposed corruption. In that post, it was noted that Ecuardor scrapped its own rules requiring a warrant to investigate someone's IP address and has been known to seize the computers of critical journalists.

So, it should come as little surprise that while so much attention is on Ecuador, it was leaked to Buzzfeed that the country is in the middle of purchasing equipment for widespread surveillance, including a system called "GSM Interceptor" (subtle!) and some unmanned surveillance drones. Basically, the country does not have a great record on protecting civil liberties or freedom of the press.

In the immortal words of Hagbard Celine: There are no honest men aboard for this trip.