Microsoft says yes, will augment UAC in the next Win7 RC
In a stunning and maybe unprecedented accedence to public opinion this morning, Microsoft has announced it will take the emotion out of its discussion, and simply do something its users are asking for.
Perhaps taking a cue from President Obama himself -- who on Wednesday evening after the failure of two of his cabinet nominees told the American public, "I screwed up" -- Microsoft's Steven Sinofsky and Jon DeVaan yesterday took a blow for the team. In a contrite and euphemism-free blog post this morning, the two senior vice presidents in charge of Windows cited excerpts from their own critics who demanded that the adjustable User Account Control dial in Windows 7 not be exempt from User Account Control itself, and then essentially responded, "Okay."
Microsoft on Win7 UAC: 'Take the emotions out of the discussion'
The latest blog posts from Windows 7 engineers reveal this quandary: If the whole point of accelerating Win7 was to eliminate the Vista complaints, and the tool to accomplish that is generating more complaints, what do they do?
Repeating the message, sometimes exhaustively, that they are indeed listening to testers' concerns about the trial security measures in the latest Windows 7 public beta, Microsoft's engineers appear to be on the brink -- if not already over it -- of asking testers the following: If all you're going to do is complain, why should we bother?
Woz gets a job!
A producer of high-speed solid-state storage devices announced this morning that the legendary Steve Wozniak, the co-designer of the Apple I and II computers and the keeper of the technological spirit of that company during its formative years, has joined the company as its Chief Scientist.
A Fusion-io statement this morning quotes Woz as saying, "The technology marketplace has not seen such capacity for innovation and radical transformation since the mainframe computer was replaced by the home computer. Fusion-io's technology is extremely useful to many different applications and almost all of the world's servers."
AP stakes a claim on 'Hope,' literally
It is perhaps the first truly iconic poster to be produced in the 21st century: the steadfast and upward-looking face of a presidential candidate, produced in a rich combination of just four colors, emblazoned with the word "HOPE." It has come to stand for the new president, Barack Obama; and its artist, poster painter Shepard Fairey, is being honored with awards and even documentary coverage from USA Network.
But now that it's all pretty much done, the Associated Press is claiming it is the rights holder for the photograph on which Fairey's work is based. Though it has not sued Fairey, as other sites are reporting, its attorneys have sent Fairey correspondence which apparently seeks compensation.
A private Web site tries to clean up the public DTV coupon mess
The US DTV transition debacle has become almost comical in its exposure of the failure of bureaucracy, but an announcement this morning only serves to underscore it even more: A social Web site is offering to collect unused government converter box coupons being distributed to citizens who did not actually request or need them, and distribute them to citizens who have requested coupons but did not receive them.
Retrevo, which established itself as "a matchmaking service for people and electronics," is asking folks who have extra DTV coupons that they're not going to redeem, to enable them to be donated to others using the service as a transfer medium. "Anyone with an extra coupon that they're willing to put in the mail or have someone pick up, provides Retrevo with their e-mail address and zip code and Retrevo will hook them up with someone who needs the coupon," the company said in an announcement this morning. "For people who need a coupon, they simply submit their e-mail address and zip code and Retrevo will try and connect them with someone who has an extra coupon."
Intel software engineer: Is Win7 on netbooks worth the premium?
It may be the clearest demonstration to date that the working relationship between Intel and Microsoft is about as loosely coupled today than at anytime in the companies' histories. A very frank but official blog post from Intel software engineer Josh Bancroft, dated Tuesday, warns prospective netbook buyers that one of the elements not revealed by Microsoft's not-very-revealing announcement on Windows 7 SKUs earlier this week concerns licensing fees.
"Currently, when Microsoft sells a license of Windows XP on a netbook, they're making very little money," writes Bancroft. "They would have preferred to stop selling XP altogether a long time ago. But the low cost of an XP license adds very little to the overall cost of a netbook -- important when you're selling a device for $300-$500. No one but Microsoft knows how much it will charge for the various versions of Windows 7, but it's safe to assume that it won't be much (if at all) cheaper than Windows Vista. And adding, say, $100 to the cost of a $400 netbook just to pay for Windows 7 is going to be a tough proposition all around."
Windows 7's ability to selectively elevate privileges is under scrutiny
In Microsoft's ongoing effort to alleviate users' discomfort with Windows Vista's security nags, the company may be re-introducing a potential powder keg of new problems, as researchers continue to discover.
In his continuing investigation of the UAC bypasses being tested for Windows 7, developer Rafael Rivera points out another potentially serious problem: As developer Leo Davidson noted in a recent blog post, some binaries in Windows 7 are given the ability to present XML-based manifests of themselves that give themselves a privilege called autoelevate.
House bill would strike radio's exemption from performance royalties
In the first round of a new chapter in the music royalties debate, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee has proposed a fresh bill that would excise language in US law exempting terrestrial radio stations from paying royalties.
In one of his first major moves since abolishing the House Subcommittee in charge of Internet and intellectual property-related issues, Rep. John Conyers (D - Mich.) today introduced fresh legislation that would close the books on a key exemption in place ever since the formation of the radio industry in the 1920s: the exemption enjoyed by radio stations from paying royalties for performances of a musical work.
Microsoft offers clarifications on Windows 7 SKU issues
A number of key details surrounding Microsoft's announcement yesterday on Windows 7 versions were left up in the air, and now spokespersons are working to bring them down to earth.
A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed to Betanews this afternoon that Windows 7 Home Basic -- the version of the operating system that would have reduced "experience" features, comparable to Vista Home Basic -- will not be available to retail customers in the US, Canada, and Western Europe. But Win7 Starter Edition -- which was at one time touted as the company's emerging markets version -- will be available through retail channels.
House votes to delay DTV transition, President likely to sign
By a vote of 264 - 158 at 4:12 pm ET, with official time to vote having been closed, it appears Congress has moved to extend the transition date for the DTV transition to June 12.
The final legislative hurdle came at about 3:30, when Rep. Joe Barton (R - Texas) offered a motion to recommit -- a move to have the bill sent back to the Energy and Commerce Committee. There, it would have considered an amendment compelling broadcasters to vacate the VHF/UHF spectrum anyway, if police, fire, or other public safety officials in their broadcast area had expressed plans to use the vacated spectrum for their own purposes.
Explanation for Windows 7 'clear choices' for SKUs murkier than ever
There will be a client version of Windows 7 geared for everyday consumers, and another client version for businesses other than those that would normally purchase volume licenses. The reasons why are growing fewer in number.
The official explanation for Microsoft's choice of product SKUs for Windows 7 later this year -- which follows an almost identical pattern to the current breakdown for Windows Vista -- could be more befuddling than the existing explanation for Vista. Yesterday's prepared Q&A with Windows General Manager Mike Ybarra states in great detail that his company's choices give consumers a broad array of choices, while at the same time acknowledging that there's only one choice they should make anyway.
Rules change approved, DTV delay may be debated Wednesday
10:30 am EST February 4, 2009: Given the House's current schedule, it appears likely that the House Resolution will pass, and debate on the delay, will begin at 11:30 am. Betanews will cover the debate live.
What a vote of the entire US House failed to accomplish a few days ago, the House Rules Committee did Tuesday evening: enabling a delay of the DTV transition date to be debated without spending time in markup.
Verizon Wireless: A Vaio-P rebate may exist for some
1:45 pm ET February 4, 2009 - Verizon Wireless spokesperson Brenda Raney contacted Betanews this afternoon with a clarification: A Sony Vaio-P rebate for Verizon Wireless service does exist, she told us, for some customers, at Sony's discretion. That rebate is nationwide, but it's up to Sony to decide whether to issue those VZW-supported coupons.
Raney reiterated that since VZW does not sell netbooks in its stores, and because it leaves rebates up to resellers and partners to promote, Verizon Wireless would not be the one announcing any rebate of this nature.
Rumored Apple tablet PC patent app has some history behind it
An article in this morning's Electronic Pulp shows what turns up to be a patent application filed early last month for a kind of laptop computer assembly where the logo is etched on panes of translucent plastic, such that it's invisible when turned off but illuminated eerily below when turned on. The publication talks about it as a possible application for a tablet PC or MID computer design, and speculates that it could represent a future tablet PC design.
The presence of the Apple logo, the writer went on, suggests that the company's design is "near complete." Well, unfortunately, he's quite right.
Version 3.0.6 of Firefox goes live, formal release is pending
Download Mozilla Firefox 3.0.6 for Windows from Fileforum now.
This morning, our Fileforum editor dutifully noticed that the Mozilla organization has placed the final candidate for the sixth update build to Firefox 3.0 on its FTP servers. As is Mozilla's procedure, this happens prior to the official "release" of the build to general users; and indeed, according to the development team's checklist, contributors are just now being notified of the availability of this build for final testing. Users of earlier editions are not yet seeing notices that the new edition is available, and exactly what issues have been addressed have not yet been listed.
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