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LangaList 2001-03-29 Please visit our sponsors and help keep the LangaList S.E. free!
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the above is an advertisement )-------------- 1) Windows XP PreviewMicrosoft has once again decided to offer a for-a-fee "preview" (beta) version of an upcoming product. This time, it's the "Windows XP" operating system. Later this year, XP will replace all current versions of Windows with a unified operating system (based on Windows 2000) that will come in at least three major flavors targeted ( respectively) for home, business, and server use. I'm ambivalent about for-a-fee beta programs. It can be good to get an early look at new software--- if you know what you're doing and know how to recover from inevitable serious bugs (this is unfinished software, after all). On the other hand, Microsoft is making a profit off a beta product, and that seems kind of sleazy. If you order XP on CD, it costs $20(US). That's profitable, but not insanely so. But Microsoft wants to charge you $10 even to download the software. To me, that's just plain gouging. Should you order it? If you need to know about XP early (say, if you're responsible for determining if a large number of systems should upgrade to XP, or if you know you will be upgrading and need to get a jump on working out the procedures); if you have a spare PC to try it on; or if you are sufficiently fanatical about your backups so that the inevitable crashes and bugs won't cost you valuable files or data; if you don't mind a certain level of frustration in dealing with the rough edges of unfinished software; and if you don't mind spending the money; then: Yes. Otherwise, wait for the final version, and even then, let those in the above "yes" category be your guide: Their opinions---far more than Microsoft's --- will tell you what the new OS is really like, and whether it's worth the change. (I'll be testing XP, and will share my results with you, for example.) If you're happy with what you're now using--- if it runs well and lets you do what you need/want to do with your current hardware--- then the answer should be an emphatic: No. The days of needing to "keep up" with every new version that comes along are long past. Most OSes now, including Windows, are relatively mature, so incremental releases are not revolutionary and certainly not mandatory. And the Windows ME fiasco proves that some "upgrades" are actually really, really badly done. If all the above hasn't scared you off <g> and you still want to give it a try, get your credit card ready and click to http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/preview/order.asp . Click to
email this item to a friend 2) Addendum on the "Fake Microsoft Security Certificates"In the last issue, I told you about some fraudulent digital security certificates that VeriSign issued to a malicious hacker posing as a Microsoft employee. I usually summarize that kind of info in the newsletter, and then provide a link to the full announcement (in this case, http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS01-017.asp ), and I'm glad I did this time: There was a date mismatch between the initial email announcement I got and what later appeared on the web site. The email said the bogus certificates were dated January 30 and 31 (and those were the dates I put in the newsletter), but the Microsoft site says the dates in question were actually January 29 and 30. I assume the web site is the authoritative source, so those dates are probably the correct ones. I apologize for the date confusion. Reader Jim Barrett also found some
good, third-party info on the bogus certificates: Thanks, Jim! Click to
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the above is an advertisement )-------------- 3) More ICQ ReplacementsAOL/ICQ must be annoying a lot of people, because replacement chat clients are popping up everywhere. Writing from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, reader Minoo says:
Thanks, Minoo. Jabber.Com looks like it will also be the home of polished, commercial versions of the server software, when they're done. Another site at http://www.jabbercentral.com/ offers even more clients, and http://www.jabber.org has open-source server software, if you want to be a jabber host rather than a user. Several readers---Robert Rutter was the first--- also wrote in to suggest http://www.Odigo.com :
Thanks to all who wrote in! Click to
email this item to a friend 4) Acronym SoupLast issue's item on the origin of ICQ's name ("I seek you"), brought a mini-flood of mail. Yes, Ham radio operators used "CQ" when trying to establish contact with other hams; one can make the case that ICQ should stand for "Internet CQ." But that still begs the question about the "CQ" part. That, in turn, goes back to early (wire-based) telegraphy, where CQ was used to initiate communications: It stood for "Seek You." 8-) So, tracking down that pseudo-acronym goes in several circles, but at least it ends. It's better than some other famous, fully recursive acronyms. For example, when some programmers developed an alternative to UNIX (which was controlled by AT&T at the time), they wanted to stress that their UNIX-like OS was "not UNIX." So they called it "NU," but added a leading "G" so people would pronounce it as a word ("Gnu;" a kind of African antelope) instead of pronouncing it as "EN YOU." But people still asked what "GNU" stood for, so they defined it as "GNU's Not UNIX." So what does the "GNU" in "GNU's Not UNIX" stand for? It stands for "GNU's Not UNIX..." on and on, in infinite recursion. OK, maybe you have to be a bit of a geek to enjoy that kind of humor. 8-) Reader Bryan_M_Armbruster pondered names and acronyms and wrote:
Indeed it is. In fact, we discussed it about a year ago in this newsletter in an item called "PMJI, But FWIW And IMHO, This Will Make You Say OIC." <g> See http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2000/feb-17-00.htm#6 Click to
email this item to a friend 5) "Tiny Firewall" Set FreeWe discussed the Tiny Firewall ("Tiny" is the name of the company, as well as a description of the size of the software) when it was in beta in http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2000/2000-11-27.htm#4 . Then, we said it looked promising, with: Rules-Based Intrusion Detection Readers had some mixed reactions to the beta (See "Readers' Yeas and Nays Re: Tiny Firewall" at http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2000/2000-11-30.htm#5 ) When it shipped, the Tiny Firewall cost $29, but personal use of the Tiny Firewall is now free, and business users may evaluate it for free. If you'd like to take a look, it's at http://www.tinysoftware.com/pwall.php Click to
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the above is an advertisement )-------------- 6) "Freedom" Suite FollowupA couple months ago, we also discussed another "Promising New Free Firewall" ( http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2001/2001-01-22.htm#7 ) called Freedom:
I tried Freedom for a while, but the press of events kept me from giving it the thorough test drive I intended. Fortunately, reader "Richard" beat me to it:
Thanks, Richard! If you'd like to form your own opinion, check out http://www.freedom.net/ Click to
email this item to a friend 7) Last Day To Enter March's FREE DrawingOn March 31, I'll choose another monthly winner of a no-strings $30 Gift Certificate for any item at Amazon.Com--- books, software, hardware, kitchenware, toys... To have a shot at winning, just use the following link to recommend the LangaList to a friend. Your friend just may find a new source of useful information; I just may gain a new subscriber; and you just may win a $30 shopping spree! (Full details also available via this link): http://www.langa.com/recommend.htm#2 The more times you make a recommendation, the greater your chances are of winning! Or, if you'd like to try to win
$10,000(!), try this link (full details also available here): Either way, thank you, and good luck! Click to
email this item to a friend 8) Woram's "Rogue's Gallery" GrowsThe site shutdown at Winmag.com is nearly done, and just about all the old content is now currently unavailable. (Sigh.) It should become available again--- in some form--- in a week or so, and I'll give you a URL as soon as I know it. Even then, you'll probably have to use Techweb's less-than-elegant search facility to dig out the stuff you want. (I hope CMP will open the pages to "spiders" from the major search engines; if they do, then it won't be so hard to find the moved material, once the search engines update their links.) Meanwhile, WinMag ex-columnist John Woram's "where are they now?" page of WinMag refugees has grown to include links to Scot Finnie Serdar Yegulalp and Jason Levine in addition to those former WinMag staff, columnists and writers he'd already posted last week: If you want to track where your favorite WinMag author ends up, see http://www.woram.com/winclose.htm Click to
email this item to a friend 9) They Loaded The CodeDo you have a home page or website?
(It doesn't matter what size.) Please click over to http://www.langa.com/code.htm
, and maybe you can join the hundreds and hundreds of LangaList readers who have
"Loaded the Code!" (If you've already "Loaded The Code" and
are wondering if your site will appear here or on the Langa.Com web site, please
see http://www.langa.com/link.txt
) Neat stuff on the Internet Digital Curiosity Windsor Park Neighbors Mark's Place Bill's Site Rick LaFay in Auburn Hills,
Michigan Djc's Jukebox (a site by a
blind Cyber Broadcaster) Joyce's Journal UltraMart Screen Savers Click to
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Birthday Gift --------------( the above is an advertisement )-------------- 10) Just For GrinsAt the time I suffered through it--- all four year's worth, deep in the throes of adolescence--- I can't say I enjoyed studying Latin very much. But in hindsight, it proved far more valuable than I could have (or did) imagine: Later, as Editor of Byte Magazine, I traveled worldwide, and although Latin didn't help my meager linguistic endeavors in Chinese, Russian and Magyar (and nothing at all could have helped with Magyar...), it did help my comprehension of almost every other language I actively encountered, and it improved my own native English as well. I still don't look back on those four years of Latin with fondness, but I do now view them with grudging respect. <g> So I especially enjoyed this list of neo-Latinisms posted (to a writer's groups I belong to) by the very smart, very sharp Rebecca Rohan:
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