April 27th

A Message From Bill to You Lowly Windows Users

We just got another mailer from Bill, and like most mailers we get from Bill* (*which range from veiled threats to outright intimidation), this one was meant to lay down the law on Windows.

The mailer is all about licenses for Windows operating systems.  And it lists a bunch of "Facts" you should know about Windows licenses.

Fact #1 has to do with the 3 ways you can obtain a valid MS OS license (buy a retail software package, buy a PC pre-loaded with it, or buy licenses from an equipment manufacturer).

Fact #2 states: "OEM licenses for Microsoft operating system software are not transferable from one PC to another, even if the PC on which it was originally installed is no longer in use. The OEM license is tied to the original PC on which it was installed."

The remaining "Facts" on the mailer are just more of the same old crap.  But "Fact #2" really caught my eye.  We've always known that MS treats OEM licensed OSs differently, but this draconian stipulation really is news to me at least.  Bill is saying that even though you bought a copy of Windows and paid for it when you bought a computer, and even though you got a full Windows CD in the deal, you can't install that software on any other machine, even if your computer burns to the ground. 

Does this make any sense?  Not to me, but it does explain why Bill made the new Windows XP Product Activation code tied directly to the hardware in the machines that Windows XP is installed on.  They are trying to force people to never use that OS on any other machine ever again. Indeed, if you buy a new PC from the likes of Dell, Micron or Gateway, you no longer get a Windows CD in the package.  

Now we know how Bill treats his loyal customers (like dirt), but how about the OEMs that help him sell all that overpriced, legally complicated software?  Fact #4 (Bill to OEMs): "If there is a problem [with my crap OS] you fix it" (meaning me, and the other poor slobs who sell Windows). "As a system builder, you're required to service PCs on which you've preinstalled Microsoft OEM licensed software."

So there you have it,  Bill gets all the money, and system builders get all the hassles, problems, returned computers, and frustrated customers.  Thanks Bill! (you dolt).

                                Dr. John

MS "Facts"

April 24th

What the Begeebers is an Opteron?

Biologists know about 'Operons', or control elements that regulate gene expression in cells, but Opterons? Isn't that the race of evil slug monsters from Optima Prime?  No, unfortunately, Opteron is the new name for the Hammer series of processors from AMD.  Sledgehammer wasn't good enough, so Opteron it is.

Check the date, it's not April 1st.

OK, the initial shock has worn off. Opteron. It sounds like a new parking meter.  Opteron. It sounds like a Japanese movie monster. Opteron.... I'm still thinking.

I'm thinking what they were thinking, or at least trying to. What does the name Opteron imply?  Something that can perform opterations?  OK, maybe operations. A Teron that can perform operations.... But what's a Teron?  I can only surmise that it's the suffix to Op.  

Does Latin help here?  Operari = work and Terra = earth. Opteron means the earth works?  The work of the earth?  

We're not getting anywhere this way.  Why do I have the feeling that some psychotic focus group came up with this one? Maybe I'm just getting a tad cynical.

                                 Dr. John

AMD

April 23rd

Bill Gates Testifies!

Bill was smartly dressed in a blue suit and purple tie, and he didn't rock back and forth in the witness chair.  This is a big change from previous Bill sightings.  And Bill is not done testifying in the penalty phase of the Microsoft antitrust trial, he will be back again today.  For those of you who haven't been paying attention, Bill has been found guilty of leveraging other companies with his software monopoly, and now the court is just trying to figure out how to punish him.

Bill's take on this?  He has changed his story now that he is a convicted monopolist.  Now he says that Microsoft is too big, too important (cough) and too intricately entwined in the "PC ecosystem" to be punished without causing an ecological disaster in the PC world. So what is he saying? That Microsoft is even bigger than any simple monopoly, it's like a super-monopoly, acting as a linchpin which can not be removed from the machine without disastrous results.

Will this ill-conceived strategy work to get Bill off the hook?  In my opinion, it may hurt him in the end.  This arrogant reversal of the defense strategy makes Microsoft seem completely untrustworthy.  They obviously say whatever they feel serves their immediate cause, regardless of how disingenuous they have to be.  From, "we just want to innovate" to "we ARE the PC industry" is a bit of a jump. 

So stay tuned today, it might even get interesting!

                                 Dr. John

April 20th

Dell Duller Than Ever

Dell has finally fessed up officially.  When Mike Magee at the Inquirer posted letters from angry PC fan boys that their Dull computers weren't upgradeable, Dull replied that their computers are made from standard computer parts.  Such corporate fibbing made me wince, but I'm getting more used to it as it becomes SOP.  

Now Dull has published a letter to it's unwitting fans claiming that all those non-standard parts (you know, proprietary) are Dull improvements to the ever-so-poorly engineered PC.  That's right, those funky power supplies from hell are an improvement as described thusly. "Dell engineers designed a connector that supported the increased use of 3.3V current which differed from the industry proposed designs that we deemed less than robust."

And those bizarre motherboards they use?  An improvement of course! "Modifying the motherboard dimensions to allow for the most efficient way for service and support personnel to remove and replace a faulty board."

And the cooling solutions in, lets say the Antec SX series, isn't good enough for Dull, they can do much better. "Modifying the cooling solutions to accommodate a rear chassis fan to pull air across the processor versus the standard ATX specification that had air pulled through the power supply." Hmmm. Air pulled through the power supply. Yes, I remember that from ATX cases back in 1998.  So in 2002, Dull has improved on the 1998 ATX case.  How will anyone keep up with this fantastic level of engineering prowess?

So next time the phrase "Dude, you're getting a Dull! surfaces from the depths of your ad-tormented mind, force it back to the depths from whence it came!  Buy your own parts, and make a real rig.  And leave the Dulls to the unwitting masses.

                                 Dr. John

The Inquirer

April 18th

Hardware Watch

Lots of stuff going on in hardware land.  First, IBM, the inventor of hard drives is getting out of the hard drive business.  They are selling their manufacturing plants to Hitachi. They are calling it a joint venture, with IBM retaining a 30% share, but this is obviously the beginning of the end for IBM hard drives.

Crucial has finally released PC2700 (333MHz) DDR DRAM.  This is good news considering that 333MHz DDR motherboards are hitting the market.

Early DVD-RW drives won't write to DVD-R disks, and in some cases it looks like a firmware update won't fix the problem. These types of problems with new burners are quite typical, and that's the best reason I can think of to wait for version 2 (or at least 1.2) of anything that new.

Finally, AMD is discontinuing the Duron.  Probably a good idea, since the lower speed Athlons are so inexpensive. The Duron was nice, but it's small cache made it less desirable than the Athlon, and the price difference was never that large. The buzz is that AMD wants to dedicate as much fab capacity to the Thoroughbred Athlon and Hammer series processors as possible.

                                 Dr. John

April 16th

Dude, You're Getting a Dull!

The letters are flowing over at the Inquirer after Mike posted a quick piece about Dell computers not being made from standard parts.... proprietary is the other word for it.  Motherboards that aren't standard issue, non-ATX power supplies and connectors, non-standard case wiring, and even non-standard CPU sockets.  It's true, and we (and probably most other places that work on PCs) have said it for years on our repair/upgrade web pages (if anybody ever bothered to look). But don't just point the finger at Dull Computers, check out Grateway and Compuke Computers while you're at it. In fact many brand-name PCs are basically proprietary, and difficult or impossible to upgrade. 

                                 Dr. John

The Inquirer

The Inquirer

April 15th

Thoroughbred On the Way

If reports on the web are true, AMD's new CPU code-named Thoroughbred will be out by June. Several things change with the Thoroughbred, including core voltage (down to 1.65 from 1.75v), a shift (finally!) to 0.13 microns, and a change in the positioning of the external components. Also, motherboards will be required to pump out 45 Amps to be able to run the new CPUs, making it uncertain if current motherboards will take them.  This means that people with existing Athlon XP systems may not be able to upgrade beyond the Athlon XP 2100+ (the last Palomino CPU) unless they upgrade the motherboard as well.

So far it seems as though AMD is not going to change the CPU name, so they will still be in the "Athlon XP 2200+" format. Other details which are still undetermined include what the front side bus speed will be, 133MHz or 166MHz.  My guess is that they will come out at 166MHz, but I can also imagine two types, one at 133MHz and the other at 166MHz.

                                 Dr. John

The Inquirer

Anandtech

April 10th

A Hammer by Any Other Name?

There has been quite a bit of hype concerning the AMD Hammer series of 64-bit processors scheduled to come out over the next 6 months.  Clawhammer is the codename for the single CPU design, and Sledgehammer is the codename for the multi-CPU design. Fuad Abazovic at the Inquirer pointed out that these names are codenames, like Tualatin and Palomino, and they will disappear when AMD comes up with a dumb marketing name (like Fastlon). So, they are taking votes over at the Inquirer as to whether fans would like AMD to keep the Hammer names or not.  So go Vote!

                                 Dr. John

The Inquirer Vote

Anandtech

April 7th

OSX for PCs?

The rumors have been flying that AMD is working on a 'port' of the Mac OSX operating system to work with X86 CPUs.  No one has been clamoring more than me for a company to make an operating system that can compete with Windows on the PC, but I'm not sure this is the best way to go.  I'll admit, it's one hell of a lot easier than starting from scratch, or even from some Linux distro, but OSX?  Indeed, I dislike that operating system even more than I dislike Windows.  If that's the choice I get with "competition" in the OS market, I'll probably stay with Windows 98SE and 2K (anything without the crap in Windows XP). According to the rumor mill, NVidia and ATI are already working on drivers for the hybridized OS. 

OK, I'll try to stay positive on this "news".  Poor competition is better than no competition, and who knows, maybe AMD will improve OSX as they port it (oh sure, ports are always improved, right?).  First off, they'll have to add support for more than one stinking mouse button.  And since most people have more than one finger on each hand, that will be a good thing.  

What will Microsoft do if this turns out to be true, and Apple starts selling an X86 OS on the cheap ($39, no licenses required for extra machines)?? Hmmm. I can see Bill's temple veins bulging, and his face getting all red and funny looking.  He might even start rocking back and forth faster than usual.  Indeed, he might crap a brick, which is never a good thing.  

"Take a couple of those blue pills Billy, you'll feel much better."

                                 Dr. John

The Inquirer

April 5th

More Windows "Security" Patches? Is it Possible? 

I've been keeping track of how many 'non-security" patches Microsoft has released for Windows 2K (you know, the world's most secure OS) recently.  It almost seems like a joke.  How could there be that many problems with the OS that is "the best MS has ever made"?

November 2001: This update resolves the "Windows Media Player .asf processor contains unchecked buffer" security vulnerability in Windows Media Player...

January 2002: This update is a cumulative update for Windows 2000 that includes every security fix offered for Windows 2000 since the release of Windows 2000 Service Pack 2

February 2002: This update resolves the "Unchecked Buffer in SNMP Service Could Enable Arbitrary Code to be Run" security vulnerability in Windows 2000

March 4 2002: This update resolves the "Java Applet Can Redirect Browser Traffic" security vulnerability in the Microsoft virtual machine (Microsoft VM) on Windows 2000

March 7 2002: This update resolves the "Unchecked Buffer in Windows Shell Could Lead to Code Execution" security vulnerability in Windows 2000

March 28 2002: The "28 March 2002 Cumulative Patch for Internet Explorer" update eliminates all previously addressed security vulnerabilities affecting Internet Explorer 5.5 Service Pack 2 (SP2), as well as two new vulnerabilities

April 4 2002: This update resolves the "Unchecked buffer in the Multiple UNC Provider" security vulnerability in Windows 2000

Gosh, I feel so much more "secure" now. Don't you?

                                 Dr. John

Massive Video Card Showdown

The Tech Report has a video card roundup of 9 different new video cards, including the newer ATI Radeon 8500 and GeForce 4 Titanium cards.  Check out the benchmarks to see who wins, and who loses. It's quite interesting, and also shows just how fast the low-end cards are nowadays.  We also did a short review of the GeForce4 MX cards a couple weeks ago, and were quite surprised that the low-end was actually darned fast for the money. The high-end stuff is really impressive. Take a peek!

                                  Dr. John

The Tech Report

GeForce4 MX review

April 4th

Windows Servers Don't Serve

The extremely embarrassing reports coming out of Redmond have so far escaped the major media outlets.  You won't hear about it on CNN, ABC, or any other major network, but Microsoft just got it's head handed to it while attempting to bad-mouth Unix as a server platform.

Microsoft and Unisys put together a web site called "wehavethewayout.com" and it's sole purpose was to show off how much better Windows and Internet Information Server (IIS) were for running servers than yucky old Unix running Apache Server.  The only problem was, the web site was running on Unix and Apache Server, not Windows with IIS.  Hmmmm. What is MS really trying to tell us here?

But the story gets better, and quite pertinent for us personally here at KickAss Gear. When it became known that MS and Unisys were running an anti-Unix web site on Unix, the embarrassment was too much to handle.  They quickly tried to convert the server to Windows 2K with IIS, but the migration crashed, as such ill-advised conversions are want to do.  It took several days for MS to get this extremely simple web site running on Windows.  Imagine how tough the job would have been if the Apache Server actually was doing something other than presenting viewers with a single online form!  If, for example they had an e-commerce web site running on Unix/Apache, and tried to migrate to Windows/IIS, things would have gone far worse.

We know about this first hand. Several months ago our web site was shifted from Linux/Apache to Windows2K/IIS (not our decision), and immediately every functional aspect of the web site was burnt toast.  The problems still have not been fixed, despite many man hours directed at the problems. 

So, who's got the way out?  Not Bill, that's for sure.

                                  Dr. John

The Register

The Inquirer

The Inquirer

April 3rd

AMD Changes Packaging

In what has got to be a money-saving move, AMD has just changed their retail packaging from the good old cardboard box (a la Intel's retail packaging method), to a pre-molded plastic package reminiscent of the inner packaging of olden days.  The new packages do look a little cheesy, like something you'd expect for the packaging of a $2 kids toy, but it is also obvious that the new packaging saves money.

Both Duron and Athlon XP processors come in this new packaging system.  One thing you'll notice when you look at them side by side is that the Duron is still rated by GHz, while the Athlon is rated by the PR (performance rating) system. The other thing you'll notice is that AMD is finally putting better heat sinks in the Athlon retail packs than with the Duron.  It used to be that they included the same heat sinks with both processors.

I am assuming this change is part of AMD's continuing effort to cut costs, and reduce prices, to make their CPUs more attractive than Intel's offerings.

                                  Dr. John

April 1st

Microsoft to Change Ways

This morning Bill Gates announced big changes at Microsoft.  In a speech given to the "Ethics in Business Symposium" held in the Hart Senate Office Building in Washington DC today, the Microsoft founder said "The era of big business is over!". And to drive his point home, Mr. Gates said that he would be dividing Microsoft into 20 smaller companies, each in competition with the other. 

"All 20 of the Baby Bills will make operating systems" he said, "and all of them will be better than Windows." Questions from symposia attendees such as Esq. Mike Magee of The Roigister included "(hicup!) er... What will the new corporations be called?"  "We have been playing around with names like "Bill's Ware", "Lindows", "Winux", The [H]ardOS, and "It Works!". 

Mr. Gates went on to say that they would be releasing the source code for all versions of Windows in order to allow customers to customize the operating system, and to allow programmers to fix it. 

                                  Dr. John