Microsoft Profit Drops; Forecast May Miss Estimates Microsoft Profit Drops; Forecast May Miss Estimates

Microsoft Profit Drops; Forecast May Miss Estimates:

Microsoft Corp. declined 5 percent in extended trading after it reported an 11 percent drop in third-quarter profit and forecast earnings that may miss analysts' estimates as Windows software sales fell.

Net income dropped to $4.39 billion, or 47 cents a share, from $4.93 billion, or 50 cents, a year ago. Revenue was little changed at $14.5 billion, matching analysts' estimates and disappointing investors looking for more after industry reports showed better-than-expected demand for personal computers.

The world's biggest software maker said sales of Windows for PCs sank 24 percent and revenue from its online advertising unit came in at the low end of its projections. Microsoft's report contrasted with positive comments from chipmaker Intel Corp. and computer company International Business Machines Corp.

Could it be that Windows Vista sucks and as a result, a lot of people are not upgrading?

Microsoft seeks patent for office 'spy' software Microsoft seeks patent for office 'spy' software

Microsoft seeks patent for office 'spy' software . Initially, I thought that this was a patent claiming computer operation by, for example, brain waves. But instead, it just hooks up the user of a computer to leads so that his employer can monitor heart rate, perspiration, etc. Much less cutting edge, and, more worrisome because of its ability to be misused. It shouldn't have any patentability problems whatsoever, indeed fewer than the typical software patents filed by MSFT.

Why haven't I been updated? Why haven't I been updated?

ZDNet: Why haven't I been updated? exposes that Microsoft is apparently updating its Windows Update software without informing its customers that it is doing so - even when they have selected knowing about updates.

One of the first things that I do with a new Windows system, whether on a new computer or after I install it, is to totally turn off automatic updates. But most MSFT customers don't know that you can do this, or how to accomplish it, if they did want to. And most of them are not as paranoid as I about having stuff put on my computers that I don't know about. MSFT EULAs would seem to give them the legal right to read anything on a computer running their Windows OS, and that is frankly scary to me, in my belief that sometimes my interests and those of Redmond sometimes diverge.

That said, it does appear that at least as late as Windows XP, Windows Update wouldn't be updated without permission if no updating is selected, since I have occasionally had to update this feature before I can update the rest of Windows.

Another Sony rootkit worms its way to the surface Another Sony rootkit worms its way to the surface

Another Sony rootkit worms its way to the surface

Sony can't catch a break after its infamous rootkit scandal back in 2005. In fact, we know from talking to security researchers and black hats alike that Sony is under the careful eye of many as a result of that major screwup. Now, a new story has come out involving Sony's biometric Micro Vault USM-F thumb drive, which apparently contains a rootkit that could potentially allow hackers to compromise users' PCs.

"The apparent intent was to cloak sensitive files related to the fingerprint verification feature included on the USB drives," Kapoor and Purdy wrote. "However, in this case (*cough* AGAIN! *cough*) the authors apparently did not keep the security implications in mind."

Last time, it was arrogance. This time it appears more ineptitude, in trying to secure its fingerprint verification software, it opened up a similar security hole as it did two years ago.

Vista #10 Vista #10

Typical weird Microsoft Vista problem. Right now, I am using my Vista laptop to post this. The connection is via a cross-over cable to my Windows 2003 Server, and thence out another Ethernet port to the Internet. The two Ethernet adaptors on the server are bridged, and DHCP on the server assigned the Vista machine its IP address.
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So, can either system see each other? Of course not. Not only can Windows on each system not see the other system, but I can't ping the other system either. You would think that that indicated a lack of connectivity. Of course not. The Vista machine can ping the modem and the print server through the Server, and, indeed, can access the Internet through the Server. It can't find DNS on the Server, but can find external DNS's.

Vista #10 - Searching Vista #10 - Searching

If I had to prioritize my gripes with Microsoft's new Vista operating system, I would put its search capabilities near the top.

Vista has a brand new search facility that seems aimed at competing with Google Desktop for control of searching users' computers. And it is fast. It gets its blinding speed through indexing files beforehand. Think of it as using a humongous relational database with all the nifty file information stored therein. Which is fine when the relevant files are indexed, but many aren't. So, you do your first search, and don't find what you want. Then, you notice that it didn't search unindexed files, and you try again, and voila, you get the answer. I am not quite sure yet why some files are indexed and others aren't. I didn't have this problem with earlier versions of Windows, where I was able to control this fairly well (and it was much less important).

Then there is the problem that it no longer makes my most common types of searches easy. Up through XP, if I wanted to search for a file folder with "Canon" in its name, as I did the other day, it is simple to do, using "Advanced Options", and selecting "Folder" as a file type. No longer. You can search for all files, including folders, with that name. But not just for folders. Similarly, for other file types. There though, if you know the extension of the file type you want, you can, maybe use that.

Overall, in the name of providing a broader use tool, I see the search facility in Vista being significantly less useful that its predecessors. This sort of thing is not uncommon with Microsoft, where they throw away useful features to generalize a tool to make it more powerful - but less easily used.

Vista #9 Vista #9

Well, I solved by parallel port driver, but I will get to that in a minute.

When I woke up this morning, my Vista computer was dead. It wouldn't boot. Rather, I would get the Compaq flash screen, and then nothing. A totally blank screen, except for a character cursor in the top left corner. I tried different ways of booting, etc., all to no avail.

So, I called up Compaq, and got a technician in India, whose English proficiency wasn't quite there yet. It was rather humorous.
HP: Is the computer acting any differently?
Me: Yes, it isn't running.
HP: What did you change?
Me: A lot.
HP: What services are running?
Me: None. The computer is dead.
HP: What applications are running?
Me: None. The computer is dead.
HP: Did you install any software?
Me: Yes, that is what computers are for, running software.
HP: Let's check the event log.
Me: Sorry, the computer is dead.
HP: What is the last thing you did?
Me: I went to bed.

Ultimately, it turns out that the problem was that I had set the system to go to sleep after two hours of inactivity. Initially, that wasn't an issue, since it would wake up with activity on the network, and my server (H) would broadcast WINS status checks every twenty minutes or so. But then, a day or so ago, I disabled having the Ethernet interface wake the system up.

I had also manually put the system to sleep, both by the external switch and the internal button. Of course, programming the external switch to put the computer to sleep meant that it was nearly useless when I wanted to reset or reboot the computer. Of course, the solution to that was to unplug the computer and then plug it back in. Then, the external impulse switch works as a boot switch, at least for a moment or so.

It took rebooting a couple of times, trying to get into the setup menu, and finally, moving the cursor around a lot and hitting the space bar a couple dozen times (under the supervision of the helpful HP technician) to finally get the system back up.

Then, I was referred to another HP technician who seemed to know a lot more. I first asked him about my parallel printer port problem. Whenever I would boot the system, I would get an error message that the parallel port driver couldn't start, and the most likely reason was that I didn't have a parallel port - which for the first time ever, I don't.

The solution was to go into the registry (and how many HP customers would know how to do that?). Under current settings, etc., there is a key for "parpor" or something like that. Guessing, I clicked on it, and, sure enough, the description said "Parallel Port Driver". The startup parameter was set to a 3. The technician had me set it to a 4. I then rebooted, and no error message.

Looking back, it is obvious that I should have looked up parpor under CurrentVersion under Windows under Microsoft under SOFTWARE under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE in the registry and changed the Start value from a 3 to a 4. I am just embarrassed that I had to have that HP technician tell me to do so.

Actually, of course, most people who use Windows don't know what the Registry is, don't know how to access it, how it is organized, etc. And worse, Microsoft suggests very strongly that you run in Vista (and XP) as a User, and not as an Administrator. Of course, the Registry is likely inaccessible in User mode (I haven't verified this, because I almost always run as an Administrator).

I am used to mucking around in the Registry, and have shortcuts already set up for the two programs that Microsoft supplies to view and modify it. One nice thing that Windows does provide is an environmental tag for the current Windows directory. This has been true at least since Win 2K. So, you can code shortcuts utilizing this environmental tag, and move them from system to system. So, I did this once, and now have shortcuts on all my Windows systems (2K, 2KSE, XP HE, XP Pro, 2K3SE, and now Vista HP) for all sorts of Windows utilities.

Still, despite all the above, I am curious whether this whole thing was an HP programming problem, when they customized Vista for this computer (and they didn't verify the customization by checking the Event log), or whether I actually inadvertently activated the Parallel Port driver. I won't likely know until have to reinstall Vista.

Vista #8 - disappearing control panels Vista #8 - disappearing control panels

It seemed like all of a sudden, and my control panels disappeared out of Windows Vista. After a lot of investigation, I found that I could execute them directly from the Windows\System32 directory. But, I couldn't get them to run from the start menu.

I went through a system restore to a point a couple of days ago, to no avail. Then, I started playing a bit more with Services, and found the culprit: "Software Licensing". Apparently, in my attempts to turn off some of the nagging, irritating, Vista stuff, I had turned that service off. Reading it carefully, it indicated that the service:

Enables the download, installation and enforcement of digital licenses for Windows and Windows applications. If the service is disabled, the operating system and licensed applications may run in a reduced function mode.

Apparently, MSFT's definition of "reduced function mode" means no Control Panels. But I still can't figure out the logical connection between "Software Licensing" and the Control Panel.

Now all I have to do is figure out why the parallel port driver is being started, since I don't have a parallel port and it therefore error terminates after each boot.

Vista #7 (IE 7) Vista #7 (IE 7)

Finally, something good about Vista. It comes with Internet Explorer 7. While IE 7 lost some of its buttons, etc., it made up for that by being able to properly render this blog.

As with a lot of things, Microsoft has been reluctant to conform to standards, in this case, HTML standards. My default presentation mode is "chopped" in this blog, and IE level 6 and earlier did not properly render that mode, which uses the following CSS to implement:

.Post-Chop .post-item-body{
max-height: 3in;
overflow: hidden;
}

Apparently, IE 6 and below don't support the max-height attribute nor the overflow: hidden.

Vista #6a Vista #6a

This is in response to a commenter who was quite upset about not being able to use the built-in FAX that has been a part of Windows for at least a decade now.

Here is an official comparison of the different versions of Vista.

You can, of course, upgrade to Vista to the Ultimate version that has everything. Here is a Vista upgrade calculator. For me, it would cost $159 to go from Home Premium to Ultimate.

Right now, I don't need the FAX functionality. I primarily use send2fax.com to send and receive FAXs electronically. But I also have several computers running with older versions of Windows that have FAX software and have two multifunction printers that can also FAX (though I only really use them for scanning and copying).

Rather, if I do end up upgrading to Vista Ultimate, it will be to have more control over the security settings, be able to back stuff up en mass, be able to host remote desktops, and synchronize files on different systems.

I should note that some of these differences are only visible when you start digging into the documentation. For example, I found out about the remote desktop stuff and synchronization when trying to set them up. I am currently using Synchronize It! to synchronize files among my different computer systems. The problem is that it is becoming laborious to make sure that they are all up to date. The Vista synchronization facility looks like it might be useful for me - if it were available. It isn't in the version of Vista I have (Home Premium).

Vista #6 Vista #6

One thing that I do like about Vista is that it provides a quick and easy way to put the computer to sleep or to hibernate. It actually seemed to try to eliminate hibernation, but that is still available via the sidebar. But there is a sleep button on the Windows Start menu, and the power button can be programmed to sleep also. It is easy enough that I am actually starting to use that feature if I will be gone for a day or two.

I did set the system to sleep if inactive for four or more hours. It hasn't availed itself of that yet. I suspect that it is because the Ethernet adapter was set to wake it up, and the server periodically makes sure that its WINS entries are up to date, and so queries all the computers it can every ten minutes or so, and this probably kept the system up. I have disabled that, and hopefully the system will go to sleep on its own. We shall see.

Vista #5 (and other stuff) Vista #5 (and other stuff)

Not really a Vista problem this time. I have had any number of problems with Vista and one of them was that PDFcreator doesn't run yet under Vista. Every time I run it, it generates some sort of error message that is tied to the print queue. The message is "Interactive Services dialog detection", and if you click on it, it takes you into some weird mode to display the message.

Currently, I have taken PDFCreator offline and marked the print file for deletion, all to no effect. I need to reboot to get rid of the silly error message, which I plan to do once I have posted this.

Which brings me to another weird problem today.

I was desperately trying desperately to file a provisional patent application electronically today with the USPTO. The USPTO EFS system requires limits submission to .pdf files (and some of them are required to be updated only by Acrobat reader 7.0.9 - not 7.0.8 or 8.0, which is what you get when you have a government monopoly). I needed to submit them from my server (H) which is running Server 2003. Unfortunately, both PDFCreater and CutePDF were not working correctly there. And the Vista computer (I) couldn't run PDFCreator since it doesn't run under Vista. That left my laptop (E) running XP. But because of the weird Home Edition stuff of both Vista and XP, I couldn't go directly from the server (H) to the XP (E) computers. Rather, I had to move everything via the Vista (I) computer. At first, I was moving stuff from server (H) to Vista (I) to laptop (E) and back. But then I found I could just skip the middle step, and have a window for the server's desktop and one for the laptop's desktop open, and move the files back and forth between the two desktops - from the Vista machine. Weird. And what is even weirder is that the laptop (E) is connected to one Ethernet port on the server (H) via a crossover cable. Meanwhile the server (H) is connected to the same Ethernet hub as the Vista system (I) (and hence to the Internet). And then all the server connections are bridged together. Thus, in order to transfer a file from the server (H) to the laptop (E) via the Vista machine (I), it actually travels from the server to the Vista machine back to the server and thence to the laptop. And then, of course, the reverse is also true on the flip side.

A final note on Home Editions, etc. Last night I brought up a DHCP server on the server (H) primarily to make assignment of an IP address easier, etc. for the laptop (E). This way it can always automatically acquire its IP address, regardless of whether it is connected to my office network or another network. DHCP assigns the same IP address to the laptop based on its MAC address. It also provides it with the latest DNS settings, etc. And that worked great the first time. For once. So, now the laptop can operate on my network with a static IP address, and all the systems have that IP address loaded statically.

But while I was working on that, I also tweaked my WINS server there. I noted that most of the WINS entries were static (via lmhosts) - except for two critical ones. The Vista computer (I) invariably ended up as the network browser. And the Laptop (E) invariably ended up owning the workgroup. The first seems a bit harmless. But the later may be the reason that I often have problems with the XP laptop connecting to the other systems. Initially, it can't access the workgroup. I suspect that is because at that time it is owned by one of the other computers. But once the laptop gets ownership of the workgroup, it works just fine.

I should note that part of the problem here is that both Vista and XP systems are running Home Editions. That means that they have stripped down security systems. I don't have this problem with either XP or 2K Professional, or 2K or 2003 Server, where I have full security control.

Which brings to one final point - I should be bringing back up another desktop computer (D) in a couple days that runs Win 2K Professional. In the past, it has worked great with 2003 Server. It shall be interesting to see how it works with Vista HE. Probably as poorly as the server does.

Vista #4 Vista #4

I mentioned in a previous post that Vista can find other computers in the local network significantly faster than can previous versions of Windows. Well, now I need to qualify that - if Vista finds another computer, it does so faster than do the older versions of Windows. But currently, I have a situation where an XP computer (E) is routed through a Server 2003 system (H). The new Vista computer (I) cannot find the XP system (E) and there is no way to look for it in Vista.

I should note that the problem is likely due to Microsoft intentionally maiming its home editions. I am running XP Home Edition on my laptop (E), which is why I can't just hook it up to the Ethernet hub like everything else. No, I have to hook it directly to my server (H) via a cross-over cable, and then bridging it in the server (H) to the hub and modem. But I can't search for computers on my network with my other "Home" edition, this time, Vista (I). The brand new fancy Vista search engine didn't bother to include the ability to search the local network for specific computers. I am sure things work find in the professional version of Vista - for a $150 upgrade.

Vista #3 Vista #3

I am still getting used to Windows Vista. One of the nice new features is the Side Bar. It allows you to load up one side of your screen with "gadgets". Currently, I have three clocks, showing Mountain, Pacific, and Eastern time, followed by two weather gadgets showing the weather in Dillon and Golden. Then, I have tasks and calender items from Outlooks, followed by RSS feeds from a bunch of web sites. Finally, I have some performance gadgets on the bottom. I have their opacity set to the minimum so that they don't distract me, but when I put the cursor over them, they fully appear. Pretty slick.

One big problem with gadgets is that most of them that reference Office, reference Office 2007 only, and I am not about to pay for that as long as Office 2003 works just fine. Besides, it appears that Microsoft has reorganized their look and feel even more than it did Windows with Vista. I have spent a decade or so getting a good system working with the various Office programs, with menus and button bars that expedite my work. I am not about to throw that away until I have to.

Final problem though is that the bizarre security system in Vista can't figure out that shortcuts to its own products should be treated the same as the underlying products. So, if I create a shortcut to a Microsoft product and then click on it, Vista makes me verify that it is legitimate before executing it. Come on guys, if you can't trust your own software, you shouldn't be selling it.

Acobat 8 versus Visio 2003 Acobat 8 versus Visio 2003

I was recently testing out Acrobat 8, and for the most part, it worked quite well. I created three .pdf files from Visio 2003 files, and then one .pdf from those three, sorting the pages as I needed to. Some of the Visio files were landscape and some portrait. Nevertheless, I could rotate just the landscape files, resulting in a .pdf containing only portrait pages. Then, I applied a dozen different backgrounds to the generated .pdf to generate a dozen or so unique files of Visio drawings, which were then successfully submitted as parts of patent applications to the USPTO.

However, Acrobat 8 (professional) has a very nasty habit when coupled with Visio 2003 - it constantly overrides the Visio button and menu bars in order to make sure that its own button bar and menu items are persistent. So, I will set up the button bars and menus like I want in Visio. It will run just fine, until I exit. Then, when I restart Visio, Acrobat has reset the Visio button bars and menus to their initial state and added buttons and menu items for itself.

I wasn't absolutely positive that it was an Acrobat problem until today. But my 30 day Acrobat 8 test license is expired and I managed to uninstall it (not without having to reboot both before and afterwards). And guess what? Visio is running great - remembering button bars and menus across program executions.

What is interesting here is that Acrobat 8 tries to do the same thing with the rest of Office 2003, but doesn't screw the rest of the programs up this way. The button bar and menu customization, etc. look the same across all these Microsoft products, but apparently isn't, since Acrobat only screws up Visio.

Nevertheless, I am hesitant to purchase and install Acrobat 8 for just this reason.

Weird computer problems Weird computer problems

I mentioned in an earlier blog that I have a new computer. Ignoring that it comes with Windows Vista, otherwise it works great - except that I was loading a page in a Firefox and an advertisement was flashing so fast that it was almost uncomfortable to watch.

My guess at the problem is that the new computer has two 3 ghz processors. That is a lot of horsepower, and when misused as was done with that advertisement, the results are not always pleasant. My guess is that the designers of the ad just assumed that it would run slow enough that they didn't have to worry about inserting delays. They were wrong.

Vista #2 Vista #2

I am still underwhelmed with Windows Vista, esp. as I find more and more places where Vista Home Premium has been intentionally crippled to entice us to upgrade.

• I downloaded some free software from the HP web site to my desktop. Well, I thought that it was to my desktop, but it didn't show up there. But I was able to see it if I opened the desktop as a folder. I refreshed the desktop. Not dice. What was going on? Apparently, the install file is downloaded with a "do not index" attribute set, and because of that, it wasn't showing on the desktop.
  
• Vista comes with folder menu bar disabled. It took two days to figure out how to turn it back on. I still can't set up a folder icon bar.
  
• Folder shortcuts have mostly disappeared. These are like regular shortcuts, except that when you put them in the start menu, you can traverse them as pull-down menus. This can be quite convenient.

Vista #1 Vista #1

Yesterday, I got my new computer, connected it up, booted it, and had my first experiences with Microsoft Vista (Home Premium). I had been dreading this, and now it was upon me. But, since I had essentially purchased the OS, I figured I might as well try it out.

The good news is that it wasn't as bad as I expected. The bad news is that it is still very questionable. First some of the good, before we get to the bad:

• Nice new spiffy interface (that sucks CPU and memory). Icons are more three dimensional.
• I could actually connect up to my local network and the Internet w/o as much trauma as I expected. Much better than XP Home Edition, whith makes connecting to other computers almost impossible.
• Possible to set up standard shortcuts for starting to look for files.
• Vista comes with IE 7, which has a lot of Firefox features, esp. the use of tabs.
• Vista finds the other computers in the local network almost immediately. No five minute lag until the next update, etc. No having to search for computers you know are there because they are both hooked to the same hub.

Now some of the bad:

• Its a bigger pig than I thought. I have two 3 mhz processors, and it still doesn't run that fast.
• With over six times the processor power that I have on my server running Windows Server 2003, it still takes notably longer to boot.
• Microsoft seemed to go out of its way to change things around. This was esp. bothersome as configuration stuff that went together intuitively, isn't together any more.
• Most old drivers don't work. This was esp. bothersome with my MSFT keyboard and mouse - I spent twenty minutes tracking down the right drivers for my MSFT hardware. You would think that the company could at least include drivers for its own hardware.
• No Tweakui. That means that I can't get rid of any number of annoyances that I have in the past, such as removing "shortcut" from all the shortcuts I create.
  
• When you first sign on, the default security is so ridiculous that you have to approve of every program you run, even MSFT programs residing in the Windows directory.
• Eventually, you can turn that off, but not without getting nasty error messages whenever you boot.
• MSFT and HP have taken their tie-in advertising to a new high. You have to stand on your head to use your own ISP. There are dozens of shortcuts on the desktop, in the favorites, etc. that need to be dumped. It is about twice as bad as XP, which was pretty bad already.
• A lot of nice features are in other versions of Vista, but to get them all, you have to upgrade to Vista Premium - for another $169. For example, there is no FAX software in either of the Home editions. And you can't play media with the Business edition. In other words, what used to be standard features are now only available through an expensive upgrade.

These are just off the top of my head. I am sure there will be more. So far, if I had been given the choice of XP or Vista, I would have picked XP in a heartbeat. I would never have paid for Vista, and am only using it because it comes bundled with new systems and XP does not (and I was never a fan of XP).

Skiing and Google Maps Skiing and Google Maps

Keystone Ski Area from space:

This is a satellite picture of Keystone Ski Area, via Google Maps. The area consists of three mountains: Dercum (formerly Keystone) Mountain to the north (top), North Peak in the middle, and the Out Back to the south (bottom). Most of my time over the last five seasons working at Keystone has been on the front (top/north) of the northernmost mountain. This is also the part of the area that I helped clear in the summer of 1970. We cleared about half of what was ultimately cleared in the front that summer, and the area opened for operation that winter.

The way to read the image is that the base area is at the top. There are two base areas, the Mountain House to the left (West), and River Run on the right (East). Where all the spagetti comes together is the Summit area on top of Dercum Mountain. Then, SW from there is La Bonte's Cabin at the bases of the Ruby and Santiago lifts. SE from there is the top of North Peak. SW from there is the Wayback lift, and SE from a bit below the bottom of that is the Outback. You can compare this to the more abstract official 2006-7 Keystone ski area map.

Actually, it isn't a single satellite picture, but rather Google puts together a bunch of them, which I downloaded and reassembled into the image we see here. Interestingly, Google downloads about twice the number of satellite image files than are actually displayed at any one time, at least on my computer. This may be to provide for monitors that can display more than mine can, or to allow a minimal amount of moving the display around w/o having to download more images. In any case, I could only see about half the mountain at any one time in Google Maps, but found that I had downloaded images for the entire ski area.

More spam scams More spam scams

While some spam scams are getting more sophisticated, I am seeing a lot more stupid ones too. Yesterday, I got an email from a generic "Central Bank" asking me to, of course, update my account information. Today, it is from Ethan at yoyecm@highdown.com. Unfortunately for Ethan, I am the administrator for highdown.com, and have never assigned that email address. Worse, it is sent to "Lorna" who coincidently has my email address. Nevertheless, the crudeness is interesting:

We spoke a few days ago and I'd like to confirm everything now.
Please go over the information below and let me know if you have any questions.
http://hocktwouser.com
We are accepting your form. Your status has been accepted.
We need to confirm your details one more time.
Just check the URL above and fill out our last form.

The email appears by its header to have come from comcast.com. But the domain name (hocktwouser.com) was registerd to Gary Reed of Vancouver, BC, three days ago. Wonder how long it is going to take the Mounties to knock on his door at 3495 Cambie street, in Vancouver? He even has a phone number ((604)767-8695) and email address (garyr@coldmail.ca).