Jonathan Mills

Microsoft’s Ballmer Touts Vista-To-XP Downgrade Program

Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer has a unique sales pitch for the company’s Windows Vista operating system — if you don’t like it, you can turn it into Windows XP.

Referring to Microsoft licensing policies that allow customers who purchase an operating system to legally install predecessor versions on their PCs, Ballmer noted that the program allows customers who aren’t satisfied with Vista to use XP.

“Customers get both,” said Ballmer, during a brief interview at an event Tuesday in Washington, D.C.

Ballmer was responding to a question about whether Microsoft would extend Window’s XP’s shelf life beyond its scheduled June 30 expiration for the broader PC market. The company earlier this week said it would give XP a reprieve for installations on ultra-low cost desktops.

Ballmer implied that an extension for mainstream PCs isn’t in the cards because customers who want XP past June 30 can simply purchase Vista and exercise the downgrade option. “I don’t know how you can do better than getting both,” he said.

Via InformationWeek

shameless.

EFF attacks foundation of entire RIAA lawsuit campaign:

By Nate Anderson | Published: June 22, 2008 - 09:03PM CT

The Electronic Frontier Foundation weighed in this week on the Jammie Thomas file-swapping case, where the judge has asked for public comment on whether just making a file available for download on a P2P network should count as copyright infringement. In its filing (PDF), the EFF goes for the jugular, seeking to show that the RIAA’s entire approach to file-swapping cases is flawed.

from the article:

So RIAA investigators just have to download the file instead of peeking into a shared folder, right? Sure, it’s a bit more resource intensive, but it’s not big deal.

Not quite, says the EFF in its brief; downloads by MediaSentry and other investigators don’t count, either.

“It is axiomatic that a copyright owner cannot infringe her own copyright,” says the brief in its concluding section. “By the same token, an authorized agent acting on behalf of the copyright owner also cannot infringe any rights held by that owner. Accordingly, where the only evidence of infringing distribution consists of distributions to authorized agents of the copyright owner, that evidence cannot, by itself, establish that other, unauthorized distributions have taken place.”

OUCH

“Because we won, we now have no choice — we have to win. We have to win!” (9:58)

I loved this video…

Concept Cars: Shape-Shifting BMW Concept Car Is Made of CLOTH: NEW YORK, 8:54 AM, WED JUN 11

“BMW has created a concept car called the GINA Light Visionary Model, which takes a seamless, plastic-coated lycra material, and stretches it over a metal frame with moving parts—allowing for the car to have shape-shifting properties. The shape of the body can be changed without tearing or loosening the fabric, and the steering wheel, gauges and headrest all move into place after you sit down in the car.”

Via Gizmodo

Tom Brokaw Slams Press Drumbeat For Hillary’s Exit: “Inappropriate”, “Commentary Disguised As Reporting”:

DAVID BAUDER | June 9, 2008 12:01 AM EST

…”Americans have taken a deep interest in the campaign and the media, particularly cable news, has responded to strong ratings by giving them more, more, more. It encouraged a predictive culture, fueled by opinion polls. It was not enough to report what was happening; people needed to prove themselves by talking with assurance about what will happen.

“There was also an overwhelming need for closure, odd for a very close race even in the context of recent history, when Gary Hart and Ted Kennedy took losing nomination fights to the summer conventions. As one veteran political reporter wondered recently: why would journalists seem so eager to see the best story of their life end?

…

Via The Huffington Post

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I’d like to be a fly on the wall in a serious journalism class, and hear a discussion of this topic, because this really bothers me. While I liked the election coverage provided by MSNBC over the other networks thus far, they do seem to have too much time on their hands, and it leads them away from the facts and into the realm of the speculative — in a way that is often leading or suggestive to their viewership IMO. And it seems endemic of the 24-hour news cycle. It’s just too much!