ICROSOFT have announced officially their intent to enter the anti-virus market a couple of months ago. They now unveil a service called OneCare (homonym of “wanker”) Live, which is paid for annually. In simple words, the customer gets protection for the operating system’s own flaws and pays $50 per year for the service from no-one but the O/S vendor. As reported by CNN:

Microsoft Corp. said on Tuesday it plans to launch a new computer security service in June, marking the world’s biggest software maker’s entry into the fast-growing consumer anti-virus market.

Microsoft’s Windows OneCare Live, a subscription-based, self-updating service, will push the software giant into competition with consumer security providers Symantec Corp. and McAfee Inc.

The article neglects to mention the controversy that is associated with this anti-competitive strategy. Microsoft exploits a monoploy in the desktop market and gives itself motives to create flaws intentionally, then offer the cure for a high cost. I believe Symantec filed an anti-trust lawsuit against Microsoft over a month ago.

CCASIONALLY I get reminded why productivity and Windows remain an oxymoron. Take authoring in research, for example.

Colleague: juggling processes, restoring and minimising active windows, yet unable to cope with the complexity and clutter in the desktop

Over here: 8 virtual desktops

Colleague: needs to convert many images from encapsulated PostScript to PNG. Approach: start bloatware and wait for a little while; Load all images, assuming physical memory permits it; Wait for a long time for images to be rendered; Save images one by one and change file extension by hand.

Over here: a simple 3-line script does all of the above in just seconds. It uses ImageMagick.

Colleague: uses Wordpad for composition and paint.exe for simple graphics

Over here: a decent choice of professional tools

Colleague: figure placement handled by hand, hyphenation not possible. LaTeX is not reliable under Windows as it is not ‘native’

More issues: occasional viruses, FS maintenance, regular reboots (thus restoration of workspace is needed)

I estimate that we save several hours per day by opting for Linux. I am left baffled wondering: how can anyone who uses a computer for work possibly choose Windows? Has the world turned upside down?

I will soon be writing about the transition of a close friend to Linux. He recently discovered a world of power computing and left Windows on the curb. Linux stereotypes are often the main peril.

If you are switching from Windows to Linux, be warned. An independent, small-scale study concludes that migrating from Linux (back) to Windows is hard. As Windows lacks the power and user-friendliness that Linux offers, frustration should be anticipated.

A similar and older article uses sarcasm and outlines reasons not to use Linux. In practice, both articles which are cynical serve as primers to the advantages of using Linux.

If you choose to upgrade to Linux, be aware that rather than reading surveys, you can use a questionnaire-type utility to determine which Linux distribution suits you best.

Also see: 25 Reasons to Convert to Linux

Bill Gates arrested in his younger days (photo in public domain)

This one particular story comes from CNET and it speaks of a patent which has just been upheld. This patent has apparently suffered from some court battles and rejections in the past as it is very controversial. Judge for yourself:

[...]

The FAT file system, a common means of storing files, was originally developed for Windows but is also employed on removable flash memory cards used in digital cameras and other devices. Some Linux- and Unix-related products also use the system to exchange data with Windows.

[...]

To many this means that files will be ‘locked’ not only by proprietary formats, but also by the underlying filesystem. The filesystem in itself becomes proprietary and very restrictive. I wonder not only how this affects Linux, but merely any device that attempts to communicate with the closed-source ogre. The European Commision is less than pleased about aggressive attempts to lock out the competition.

The European Commission has threatened to fine Microsoft up to 2m euros (£1.36m; $2.4m) a day until it gives rivals more access to its systems.

Business as usual…

Slashdot has revealed to me this mild critique:

Four years ago, Bill Gates dispatched a companywide e-mail promising that security and privacy would be Microsoft’s top priorities. Gates urged that new design approaches must “dramatically reduce” the number of security-related issues as well as make fixes easier to administer. “Eventually,” he added, “our software should be so fundamentally secure that customers never even worry about it.”

The grim reality:

• WMF Exploits (2 new ones discovered yesterday)
• Windows Today Worse Than Windows in 2001
• Microsoft and Windows Zombies
• Yet Another Windows Patch
• Phishing Vulnerability
• 3 More Critical Flaws in Windows
• Internet Explorer Trojan

INDOWS Vista’s time is drawing nearer and nearer. Its release is expected to take place some time in later 2006, just after KDE 4. By the time Windows Vista comes out, many users will have ditched the platform. Morever, when the product finally ships, evident disappointment though experience will give a compelling reason to migrate away. The scale will be comparable with that of a rampant stampede. From Chris Pirillo, a famous and loyal Windows ‘power user’:

Even as I’m watching the 2005 WinHEC keynote right now (which I downloaded from a fan site, FWIW), I’m screaming at my screen! The Longhorn demonstration was faaaaaar from impressive, and left me NOT wanting more – but wanting to walk away altogether. Instead of watching with awe and wonder, I’m watching with a very confused look on my face. My brow is furrowed, and my fingers are slamming against the keys of my keyboard at this very moment… I’m growing increasingly impatient.

We are yet to see if Apple can pick up the pieces or if Open Source finally sees the limelight.

• XP + New Colours = Longhorn (Vista)
• Vista Perils
• Novell: Vista to Drive User to Linux

Google software gets heavily bundled to Windows

ANY of us were wondering if a Linux distribution would ever come from Google. Google are of course using Linux in house and are dependent on Open Source projects. Unsurprisingly, having accumulated many programs that run on Windows only, they have just assembled a distribution that includes Acrobat Reader, Mozilla Firefox, security software and a large variety of Google software.

So we created the Google Pack — a one-stop software package that helps you discover, install, and maintain a wide range of essential PC programs. It’s yours today – and it’s something we hope you find to be painless, easy, and even fun (if computer setup can ever be called that). And it’s free.

This will by all means have an impact on many workstations. It can give a boost to a variety of Google application and their close ally Firefox is included. The bundling of Firefox is indirectly related to Dell’s distribution in the United Kingdom.

Notice the hypocrisy in this item however:

 
This was the experience (Windows installation) both Sergey and Larry had a year ago…
 

Both Larry and Sergei are Open Source advocates and most likely Linux users too. I guess this did not fit contextually and it conflicts completely with previous rumours about a Google PC that runs the Linux kernel.

Editorial: Editor’s Note: Google May Hold Big Key to Desktop Linux or “Why Google should port their applications to Linux”.