Microsoft Says Be Legit...or Else!

Starting today, users of the Windows Operating System will have to first prove that they have a legitimate copy of Windows, or they will not be able to download any add-ons from Microsoft. We told you a few months ago that this was coming...and now it is here.

Believe it or not, there is one exception...and that is for security-related patches. Regardless of whether a system passes the test, security updates will be available to all Windows users via either manual download or automatic update. However, the Microsoft Update and Windows Update utilities, which provide notifications of new patches, will require validation.

All this is part of Microsoft's "Windows Genuine Advantage," a program that is designed to increase the number of Windows users that are actually paying Microsoft for its software. Currently, the company estimates that roughly a third of Windows copies worldwide are not legitimate. And, no doubt about it, that is a huge loss of revenue for the company that they would like to recapture.

With Windows' share of the desktop market estimated to be well above 90 percent, cracking down on illegal copies of the OS is seen as one of the few ways for Microsoft to grow its Windows business. The two other main ways that Microsoft has identified are increasing the number of PCs per household and expanding computer usage in emerging markets.

So what happens if you fail to pass the validation test? You will then be presented with two options: First, if you bought your PC with what you thought was a legitimate copy of Windows and you have the CD that was supposed to come with the system, you would fill out a piracy report and become eligible to get a legitimate copy of Windows at no charge.

If you don't have the CD or proof of purchase, you still fill out a piracy report. Then, you will have to pay for a licensed copy...$99 for Windows XP Home and $149 for Windows XP Professional. Those prices are higher than the upgrade cost for Windows XP, but lower than the price one would have to pay for an entirely new copy of the OS.

Just thought you would like to know.

Kodak Layoffs Reflect the Demise of Film

The name "Kodak" is synonymous with photography. After all, the company's founder invented photographic film. And, as an avid photographer for many years, it was sad for me to learn this week that Eastman Kodak announced that it would be cutting up to 10,000 jobs in the near future...this after last year's 12,000-15,000 person layoff announced last year. These job cuts total about 25% of Kodak's entire workforce.

It saddens me, not only for the employees who will lose their jobs, but because what the layoffs really represent is death of film as a media for taking pictures. Even Kodak admits that digital cameras and media are replacing traditional film products in the marketplace even faster than their predictions.

According to Kodak's Chief Executive Officer, Anthony Perez, "Sales of our consumer traditional products are declining faster than expected," he said. "Although we have been moving rapidly to get our costs down ... we are picking up the pace dramatically. This is what the company needs to succeed as a digital company."

Other analysts agree. The digital photography boom has been and still is, killing film sales at a pace much quicker than many companies, including Kodak, could have anticipated. And the market will continue to founder, with the effect on film vendors and processors being close to "catastrophic," said Charles LeCompte, president of Lyra Research.

"Kodak is the most public company to suffer from how quickly film is declining, but there are plenty of others hurting," he said, adding that a number of European companies focusing on film have gone bankrupt within the past few years.

These enterprises did see the size of the digital photography wave, LeCompte added, but not its speed. Kodak has been investing heavily in digital photography for nearly 10 years while demanding that executives to concentrate on the issue, but the company didn't move quickly enough to avoid layoffs, said Mike Wolf, director of digital photography trends at research firm InfoTrends.

"Anyone who has been reliant on film in the past has had to adjust their model or meet their maker," said Wolf. "What's happening at Kodak is happening across the industry."

"Some people didn't see the shift to digital cameras happening so fast, but we did see, early on, that film was on its way out," said Dan Havlik, public relations specialist at Canon USA.
Film will always have a place in the photography world, Havlik said, but it will likely get pushed to the hobbyist and specialist market as digital photography matures.

What does all this mean for people like you and me? It means we had better consider buying a digital camera in the near future, if we haven't already done so. Look for film costs to go up as well as film processing prices as the number of available vendors offering these services decreases. With costs going up on film and processing and the price of quality digital cameras coming down, it makes sense to think about moving to digital photography.

I offer myself as an example. As some of you may know, I shoot mostly slide film in my work as an artist. To shoot a roll of 36 exposure slide film these days costs me about $10 for each roll...$5 for film and $5 to process it. That means that every time I click my shutter, it costs me 28 cents. And I buy my film from a New York dealer who specializes in getting gray market film, otherwise I would be paying almost $10 per roll.

That is why I am looking strongly at going digital in the near future for much of my work. With 8 megapixel SLR digital cameras now being offered at a more reasonable price, it just makes sense to consider making the change. These cameras now offer me the same basic image resolution that I get when I scan my slide into my computer with my film scanner.

If I can get the excellent image quality that I now get with my film cameras and scanner, it just makes good sense to go digital. I can click the shutter to my heart's content and not worry about the costs. After the initial expenses for a camera and extra memory, there are no other costs to worry about.

I just bought Susan a 4 megapixel digital camera for her needs and am now beginning to experiment with it to see if going digital is right for me. We are very late in getting into the digital photography game as probably most of you have already done so. But, shooting film has been a big part of my life for many years and it will be difficult to let go. But, it is inevitable.

Just ask Kodak.

New Windows - New Name

For more than a year, Microsoft and the press has been calling the next version of Windows by its code-name designation, "Longhorn." Now, Microsoft, after much research and innumerable focus groups has come up with the official name.

The next version of Windows will be called, "Windows Vista."

This was, of course, not to be released to the general public yet, but like many internal secrets, it leaked out yesterday and was on the web by last night. Some enterprising person also discovered that Microsoft registered the WindowsVista.US domain name. This morning, Microsoft made the announcement official.

The advertising tagline for Vista is "Clear, Confident, Connected: Bringing clarity to your world," according to a video of the announcement posted by Microsoft.

The company also said that the first beta, or test release, of Vista is slated for release by Aug. 3. That release will be targeted at developers and IT professionals. A second, broader test release aimed at consumers will likely debut ahead of Vista's final release in the second half of next year.
Vista's three design goals include better security, new ways to organize information, and seamless connectivity to external devices, the company said. Microsoft will provide more detail on Vista features Aug. 3.

Among the key features of Vista are a new searching mechanism, lots of new laptop features, parental controls and better home networking. There will also be visual changes ranging from shiny translucent windows to icons that are tiny representations of a document itself.

By the way does anyone remember the original code name of Windows XP?

Actually, it was "Whistler."

The "We Are Not Afraid" Web Site

It seems that whenever we have some great, momentous event, someone creates a not-so-serious web site to commemorate it. Sometimes these have been labeled as "moblogs." For instance, after the elections of 2004, there was the "Sorry Everybody" web site, where hundreds of people posted pictures of themselves apologizing for the re-election of George W. Bush.

Now, after the London bombing attacks, there is a new web site called "We're Not Afraid" where people can post pictures emphasising the fact that they are not afraid of terrorists.

The site was created on the day of the bombings, when a bloke by the name of Alfie Dennen, posted a picture of the London skyline with this caption: "Show the world that we're not afraid of what happened to London today, and that the world is a better place without fear."

The web site became so popular overnight that it was difficult to get on during the first few days after the bombing. People began posting their own pictures or pictures of famous people or characters, all proclaiming that they are not afraid. I like the one of Yoda, proudly proclaiming, "Not afraid am I."

The pictures are serious and frivoulous, as well as defiant. I urge you to swing by the web site and have a look for yourself.

Microsoft Going Into Spyware Business?

First, let me apologize for my recent lack of blogs. I am on the road a great deal these days as it is the busiest part of my schedule. I just returned from six days in Eugene, OR and will leave early tomorrow for Sandy, OR. Then a quick return home for restocking, then down to Salem, OR. So, I will write when I can. Now, for today's story.

Microsoft's Windows AntiSpyware application is no longer flagging adware products from Claria Corp. as a threat to PC users.

This all comes less than a week after published reports of acquisition talks between Microsoft Corp. and the Redwood City, Calif.-based distributor of the controversial Gator ad-serving software, Security researches have discovered that Microsoft has quietly downgraded its Claria detections. A coincidence? Doubtful.

Anti-spyware activist Eric L. Howes, who serves as a consultant to Sunbelt Software, makers of Counterspy, discovered the default changes during a recent test that included four Claria applications: Dashbar, Gator, PrecisionTime and Weatherscope.

According to the results published by Howes, four different builds of the Windows AntiSpyware beta detected the Claria products, but the default recommendation was "ignore." Prior to the recent tests, Microsoft's AntiSpyware tool detected Claria's products and presented users with a recommended action of "Quarantine." Although the default has been changed to "ignore," users can still change the action to "Quarantine" or "Remove" via a drop-down menu.

Writing on the popular Broadband Reports security forum, Howes described the default changes as "troubling," coming so close on the heels of the acquisition talks between Microsoft and Claria.

In addition to the Gator-branded products, Claria's adware applications include eWallet, DateManager, WeatherScope and PrecisionTime. The company's behavior-tracking database of users' surfing habits is believed to be among the biggest in the world. A recent spyware report from Webroot Software Inc. lists Claria's software as the second most prolific adware install, appearing on more than 2 percent of consumer desktops.

I think this move by Microsoft to possibly get into the spyware business is a betrayal to all of its customers. I understand that the business of Microsoft is to make money, but it shouldn't be at the expense of it's customers, especially since Microsoft makes the most popular operating system in the world today as well as the most used web browser in the world. Should they complete the purchase of Claria, they will no doubt leave the window open (no pun intended) for its products to allow the entry and use of it's own spyware software on unsuspecting user's computers.

My reaction is this: Today I have erased all copies of Microsoft's AntiSpyware software from all our computers and have purchased copies of Sunbelt Software's Counterspy software. If you don't want to spend the money for Counterspy ($19.95), I suggest you use either Adaware or Spybot-Search and Destroy...and remove all copies of AntiSpyware from your system.

Let me know what you think.