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Windows users have rabidly stuck to their XP operating system - the problems with Vista have kept users from adopting the new operating system, Vista.
In order to keep Windows XP secure, however, Microsoft is compelled to release new updates. When these updates become significant enough, they release a service pack - previously, Service Pack 2 was the big daddy. Users loved it - it was stable and caused minimal problems.
With the launch of Service Pack 3 last Wednesday, though, hundreds of users have been posting their problems with the upgrade.
""My external disks are having trouble starting up, which results in Windows not starting up," complained user Michael Faklis, in a post Wednesday. "After three attempts [to install XP SP3] with different configurations each time, System Restore was the only way to get me out of deep s**t," said 'Doug W'.
Another user said the service pack prevented him from starting his computer. "I downloaded and installed Windows XP Service Pack 3 Network Installation Package for IT Professionals," wrote 'Paul'. "Now I can't get the computer to boot.""
Of course, Microsoft fanboys keep it all in stride, telling me that 'it's not a big deal' and 'all operating systems have bugs that have to be patched'. He'll continue, telling me about the problems with my Linux distribution.
The difference is, naturally, that Windows costs a lot of money and Linux is free. For the difference in price, I'm happy to have to deal with the bugs.
The article seems to cut Microsoft a little bit of slack - more than I'd give:
"It's not uncommon for major operating system updates to cause problems. Typically, the glitches are due to conflicts with software, such as drivers, system files, or applications already resident on the user's PC. Microsoft has yet to indicate whether it will issue an update to address some of the problems, though it has done so with previous updates." Your text goes here
Already, some users are suspecting Microsoft of deliberately dropping the ball on the service pack, hoping to push more users towards Vista.
Ah, wonderful. Those clever efficient Swiss... Wired News reports of a computer center that recycles its heat by channeling it to heat the local swimming pool.
It's a mentality that more of us should have. So much of our electricity goes to heating or cooling, when it makes so much sense to funnel the heat and cold between the two.
Server rooms produce an obnoxious amount of heat... all that computing power, packed into tight spaces, cooled by fans and heat sinks - well, the heat has to go somewhere. Most server rooms are air-conditioned to the point of making it a painful environment.
Removing some of the heat with water is a fantastic idea. From the article:
"As in all data centers, air conditioners will blast the computers with chilly air - to keep the machines from exceeding their optimum temperature of around 70 degrees - and pump hot air out.
Usually, the hot air is vented outdoors and wasted. In the Uitikon center, it will flow through heat exchangers to warm water that will be pumped into the nearby pool. The town covered the cost of some of the connecting equipment but will get to use the heat for free.
Steven Sams, a data center services vice president for IBM, said the Swiss project should be a model. After all, IBM says, the computers in the Uitikon center will throw off enough heat to warm as many as 80 houses."
I'd like to see more efforts like this - the only other one that I can think of is the house that uses its rainwater tank to keep the temperature of a house stable.
Knitted lamps aren't so fashionable anymore, but they do give your home a nice DIY feel. And knitting is coming back as the latest craze to hit the nightclubs, with all the celebrities bringing knitting needles to the hot Hollywood parties.
Knitting doesn't really have a place on Techcrunch, though, unless there's something cool involved. Like invisible knitting or even steampunk knitting.
Well, this comes close... this lamp knits its own lampshade. Slowly, but surely.
When it gets too long, just rip off the bottom part and wear it like a skirt. Voila!
From the post:
"it's "a lamp that develops like a living organism: switch it on and it slowly starts growing by knitting its own lampshade at a speed of three rotations per hour.""
It's a great idea, and one that can, hopefully, be extended to other things... how about self-knitting socks, for example? As soon as you've lost one, the other sock has knitted a friend?
It was big news... five undersea telecommunication cables were broken in the Middle Eat last month, causing major outages to India. People were quick to point fingers and yell 'Conspiracy!' but then the news came out: relax - it's just a ship's anchor snapping the cables.
But the Arabic news was disputing claims, stating that the cuts were in part of the ocean that had little traffic. More people yelled 'Conspiracy!' but they were largely unheeded
[ Click here to read more ]
It's no big secret that I love Ubuntu, the Linux distribution that finally, to me, made sense. It's been a long time since I used Windows on my laptop at home, and a big shout-out should go to the Ubuntu team for making a distro so easy to use, with such a fantastic community that I've never felt like I needed Windows for anything.
I've been using Gutsy Gibbon flawlessly now for months, and I'm excited about upgrading to the next version, Hardy Heron. It's still in Alpha, which means it's just to play on
[ Click here to read more ]
Firefox 3.0 is due to come out in March 2008, and open source supporters are excited about the news.
The latest version of the web browser has been drawing some rave reviews from beta reviewers, who have praised the interface tweaks, the improved security and the fast page loads
[ Click here to read more ]
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74 Posts dating from November 2006
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