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============== Windows Reinstall Woes
Lately, we at VCC have had considerably more trouble validating Windows XP installs on repaired computers. It used to be that nearly every time we reinstalled Windows, we could revalidate online. Recently, this has changed dramatically. Computers where we are quite certain no one has ever used the Certificate of Authenticity (that's the correct term for the 25 character code used to authenticate Windows) will fail the automatic update and require a phone call. And even there, we have mostly failed the automatic telephone check and get forwarded to India and a real person. Their questions are much more pointed than they used to be and you have to satisfy them that this is a real reinstall before they will furnish the code.
Other vendors are getting similarly persnickety. There is a tremendous groundswell of anti-piracy sentiment amongst the software vendors. Not coincidentally, this is occurring at the same time that open source freeware is also experiencing a surge in popularity. I think this will prove to be a huge mistake by the for-fee vendors. Currently, their biggest advantage over open source is market share. If nearly everyone is using Windows, Linux won't become too popular even if it is free. Ditto for Microsoft Office versus Open Office and dozens of other products. If the pirates cannot steal the software, they aren't going to become customers. They will migrate to the open source products. This will start to increase the market share of open source considerably. The end result will be that the mass of open source users will swell to the point that those who are paying will be tempted to switch to a product they see as up-and-coming and popular amongst a larger and larger number of users. Paying customers will continue to pay as long as they think they are getting something for their money. But let them think, even momentarily, that the product they are paying for isn't as good as one available for free and they are gone. Permanently.
Even if the for-fee product is better, the increasing hassle of authentication will drive some legitimate users away. When you fail the Microsoft online authentication, you have to call an automated attendant and read read off 48 numbers in groups of 6. When that fails, you get shuffled off to a real person in India. About half the time, the call doesn't go through so you have to redial, respeak the 48 numbers to the automaton and then pray you don't die yet again heading out to India. Repeat this very often and you'll be searching for a different product.
And it's not as if there aren't excellent open source options. Legions swear Linux is better than Windows, Open Office is better than Microsoft Office, Firefox is better than Internet Explorer, Thunderbird is better than Outlook Express, etc. It won't take much to tip the scales for a lot of us to switch.
============== Microsoft Automatic Update
Quite a few newsletters have weighed in on the Microsoft Automatic Updates. Microsoft violated their own standards in April by including as a "Critical Update" a tool whose only purpose was to catch pirated copies of Windows XP. The end-user got nothing from this critical update other than permission to continue to receive updates. To make matters worse, several of the patches this year have been buggy and have had to be repatched. Woody Leonard, among other influential authorities, is suggesting that everyone should turn off automatic updates and do it all manually.
If you read the reports on the patches and would know which ones were good and which ones had trouble, this is probably good advice. If you don't follow patch literature, it's a whole different matter. You are better off allowing automatic updates even if you have an occasional problem. Microsoft will patch those fairly soon. If you get a virus, you may not receive help in time to prevent disaster.
I consider myself to be a knowledgeable computer user, but I'm far more comfortable having the patches installed automatically than to have to watch the darn things myself. I've got better things to do with my time.
============== Rick's Rant: What more do you want your computer to do?
More is better, right? More RAM, More Memory, More Disk Space & More Processing power, but when is enough, enough? Is there a limit to what we need? Or what we want? Is it that we all secretly desire to have a conversation with computer such as HAL in "2001, A Space Odyssey?" Do we all secretly want a machine to be our own modern day personal slave? Is the PDA a precursor to having our personal assistant following us around or hovering silently near us? All those Sci-Fi movies have got us all thinking this is going to the next greatest thing since sliced bread!
But seriously folks, doesn't your PC pretty much do what you want it to? It gets your work done, and also provides entertainment, communication and of course the most important thing, your connection to the internet. I watched an episode of Doctor Who the other night and he took a man from the 21st century to earth in the future where (if you have enough money) you can get a surgical implant into your forehead that open up for information transfer directly to the brain. It was triggered by snapping your fingers and this great gaping hole opens up in your forehead. Unfortunately his greed got him transferred back to our time and when his mother snapped her fingers -- imagine her surprise! Do we really want all this stuff? Is the future really going to be so great? I think all the animation we see in cinema has got us all tuned up that any day the Vulcans will land and we will be warping around the galaxy. Do you really think we will be visited soon? And knowing us, if you were an alien would you want to give us a bunch of unearned technology. We can't handle the stuff we have now. Just open up the newspaper and read about Iran and you'll get my point. And really, let's go back to the alien thing again. Have you noticed that since almost everyone on the planet is armed with some sort of photographic device and cameras are on every street corner and public place that there have been zero UFO's seen. Unless star trek had it right and every alien has a cloaking device you would expect at least some sighting somewhere! But no, they only exist in our minds as do the fantasies of computers doing the yard chores. So what do you want? You know what I want? I'm glad you asked. "WIRELESS ELECTRICITY" Thanks right! Think of it. We're bombarded with every sort of wave length now, FM, AM, Wi-Fi, Microwave, Infrared and on and on. So why not electricity? No more wires, no more power lines, no more bird's nests of cable under every desk. You can put stuff just where you want it. The only losers are the people who own stock in Belkin and Monster Cable. This is what I want but it probably won't happen because the power companies couldn't put those stupid meters on to bill us. Then again, Why not put the power plants up in space and beam the electricity down via satellite. Just charge everyone 1% of their income to pay for it all. Everybody loves a new tax. And also, wait, there's somebody at the door, Oh no they found me. The guys in white jackets with the smiling faces and Taser's in their hands. I've got to go. I'll broadcast from my spider hole in the ground that I've prepared for just this occasion. They coming in the back door, Aaaaaauuuuggghh......
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