Mac vs PC UK

Here is the Mac vs PC UK video, which i came across @ YouTube. Its really funny..

Windows Vista Wallpapers

I had tried Microsoft Windows Vista very long ago. (Almost a year ago to be precise, As soon as it was released!) Well, it was one month trial version.

I was totally disappointed with Windows Vista. I removed it within 20 days, without waiting for my trial due date.

Well, I don't want to mention, like what disappointed me most.. The list is long! It may end up in a separate post all together!

Even though I was disappointed with Windows Vista, one thing I liked about Windows Vista was its default wallpapers.

Windows Vista includes some nice high quality wallpapers.

So, Even though I removed Windows Vista within 20 days, I took a backup of its wallpapers to use them with Ubuntu.

but later on, some how I lost all these Wallpapers...

Today when I was browsing my old backup archives, I found them again. Thought of sharing them... I know they are 1 year old.. but still they look good.

Enjoy!































Wide-screen versions:









P.S.: These wallpapers are copyrighted by Mircosoft.

One Laptop per Child Video on 60 Minutes: Intel is Evil

Intel is using predatory tactics against the One Laptop Per Child project. In this CBS "60 Minutes" video, Nicholas Negroponte shows documents proving that Intel is pressuring certain governments to not sign with OLPC. Intel is dumping the price of the low volume order of Classmate PCs with Windows XP to prevent OLPC from starting mass production.

In the short run, this may look like good thing. However, the fear is that this price decrease by Intel is only temporary in order to drive out competition. Then, once OLPC has gone under because no governments ordered their product, Intel will raise their prices. With no alternatives, governments will be forced to pay the higher price. So, in the long run, this might cost governments more money than going with OLPC.

Moreover Intel laptops are coming with Microsoft Windows XP or Linux, I suspect that Microsoft is giving support to Intel's laptop project to move their 6 year old operating system in to the developing countries and hence to create a strong user base for their windows products in future and hence the lock-in. Ultimately what both Microsoft and Intel wants is to improve their market share in the developing countries.

What Intel is doing here with OLPC is not actually a healthy competition as many may think. Actually it's an anti-competitive behavior.

If I have a boatload of money sitting around so I can sell my product at a loss, I can guarantee that no one will ever be able to beat me in terms of price.

Healthy competition is companies competing to have the most efficient system so they can produce more product for less.

For sure, Microsoft is looking into the student's market of developing countries to create its future customer base. As you remember Bill Gates in China introduced the $3 bundle of Windows XP and MS Office to governments in poor countries that subsidize computer purchases by students.

Now $3 may look like a great price for MS Office 2007, However it's the Home and Student Edition and it doesn't come with PowerPoint. Also the version of Windows XP is Windows XP Starter Edition which is basically a crippled version of six year old Windows XP operating system, with networking disabled and multitasking severely limited.



OLPC has, against all odds, come up with a spectacularly appealing machine that has real promise to truly change the world. As for Intel, it should really have better things to do than to combat a non-profit effort that seems to be making a difference.

Links:

• olpc.tv
  
• Portions of the article are based on the comments posted on digg.com
  
• Does Intel fear $100 laptops ?
  
• The real cost of $3 Windows

Microsoft needs your Credit Card details ?

I recently came across an interesting Trojan sample, detected by Symantec as Trojan.Kardphisher.

The Trojan is not very technical - it's really just another classic social-engineering attack. What makes it interesting is that the author has obviously taken great pains to make it appear legitimate.

When you restart your PC after the Trojan is installed, this window appears:



You can only choose only Yes or No. You can't run Task Manager or any other applications. If you choose No your PC will be shut down immediately. If you choose Yes you'll see this image:



Now you may think "It can't be true. I have activated my legitimate copy of Windows. MS can't do such a thing!". Surely almost everyone will notice that something strange is going on, and hopefully very few people will actually become victims by inputting their credit card details. But unfortunately even the people who are not tempted to give up their information this time might well become victims the next time. After all, failure to follow the on-screen instructions results in your PC shutting down immediately.

Video : There is a movie which shows this threat in action. Check out the following video:



Solution : In the short run the solution would be installing some kind of anti virus and anti spyware software on your system. It is always better to have some anti virus and anti spyware installed in your Windows system. Also don't forget to update their virus/spyware definitions.

However the root cause of this kind of problems is the weak security model of Microsoft Windows. Windows security model is so weak that any program can gain the super user access and can potentially harm your Windows system.

Microsoft has stated that they have improved the security model of Windows Vista to avoid such kind of problems in Windows Vista, However still a very large number of people use Windows XP as their main operating system and for most of them it is not possible to upgrade to Windows Vista due to the hardware requirement of the Microsoft Windows Vista. For such people only possible solution is to install some kind anti virus/anti spyware and keeping it's virus/spyware definitions up to date.

A FREE alternative : There is a free alternative solution to avoid viruses and spywares. Yes, Your guess is correct. The solution is Linux.

As of now the users of Linux need not worry about viruses or spywares. The security model of Linux is very strong and it doesn't allow user program to harm the kernel space. Also there is SELinux to enhance the Linux security.

At present there is almost NO virus threat for Linux. It may be because of strong security model of Linux or may be just because of the small market share of Linux desktops. The developers of viruses/spywares want to hit to the mass audience, so they are most likely to develop such programs for Windows.

So I would suggest people to install Linux at least for internet browsing. The distributions such as Ubuntu are so easy to install and easy to use that any one can use it. Also Ubuntu sends the FREE CD's to those who ever requests for it. You can also request for FREE cds here. They will send the CD's to your door step for FREE.

Its worth a try.

Funny Windows Vista

Search result for "n" in Vista is Macromedia Flash 8 !!

What happened to Microsoft ??



This image is from Beta version of Windows Vista, and Microsoft has fixed this issue in final version of Windows Vista.

Bill Gates and Blue Screen of Death

Well, We all know that how much we hate Windows "The Blue Screen of Death". But here in a Live product demonstration Mr. Gates himself sees the Windows 98 BSOD and user frustrations related to it.

Its a strange fact that, even after this, Microsoft's next gen OS continued crashing and continued producing BSOD.