Tuesday Morning Tech News

Warning! DO NOT BUY WINDOWS VISTA. DRM will hurt everything about this operating system. Stick with XP or even go to Linux.

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Several major changes have been made to the way the operating system will handle video and audio, though few of these are included in the early version now in the hands of beta testers. The rest of the components will likely be added in the next, as yet unscheduled, beta release, and will be in the final launch of the operating system next year. At the most basic level, some audio and video--at least when it is in Microsoft's Windows Media format--will be handled in a new "protected environment" that will keep applications such as media players or plug-ins separate from the actual media data.

Content protection built into Vista is a good business plan for Microsoft. It screws consumers in two ways. The first is that your rights as a consumer are left out in regards to fair use. Don't think of making a backup copy of anything you buy legally for any reason. I make copies of games that I buy all the time and use the copied disk instead of the original. The second is vendor lock in. If Vista will be the only person out there that supports this massive DRMed customer hated crap, then we will all be forced to use this POS or we won't get the movies and music that we may want to hear. Since movies and music nowadays suck, I don't think there would be much of a problem if this happens... I think I speak for everyone when I say "Screw you Microsoft and the RIAA and MPAA."

Creative Zen loaded with virus.

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Looks like somebody turned off the virus scanner at the Creative production plant—it would appear that about 3,700 5GB Zen Neeons shipped since July might have possibly been packing a W32.Wullik.B@mm payload. Of course, if you don’t go running conspicuous applications found on your device and have some cursory virus scanning going on you’ll probably be ok just to wipe the damned thing out of box, but somehow we have a feeling there’ll be an unfortunate few for whom this won’t be too fond an experience.

Microsoft releases WinFS beta.

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WinFS will not be a part of the next version of Windows, Windows Vista, when it ships at the end of next year, but will be available to the operating system as an add-on release sometime in 2007, said Quentin Clark, director of program management for WinFS at Microsoft. The technology originally was scheduled to be part of Windows Vista but Microsoft cancelled that plan in August 2004. WinFS promises to make it easier for users to search and organize their files on the Windows operating system, Clark said.

ESA contemplates shuttle delays.

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ESA's major piece of ISS hardware, the billion-dollar Columbus module, cannot fly until NASA delivers Node 2 - the module’s station attachment port - to the orbital laboratory during the planned STS-120, ESA officials said. The STS-120 flight, however, must wait until after a series of missions to add new solar arrays, batters and trusses to the ISS that begin with the launch of STS-115 aboard Atlantis, according to NASA's current shuttle flight plans. Node 2's arrival would mark the completion point for U.S. components, with Columbus slated to launch three flights later. "Our priority is for the launch of Columbus, and therefore of Node 2 to which Columbus is attached," Thirkettle said. "Then for the establishment of a 6-person permanent ISS crew, to ensure the full utilization of Columbus and thus the full scientific return on the investment we have made in the ISS program."