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Softpanorama |
May the source be with you, but remember the KISS principle ;-)
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Classic Unix command line tools and other OSS command line utilities is a part of "command like" or orthodox ecosystem and in the opinion of the author they are badly known and underutilized in the Windows environment.
"Ripping
out Windows desktop and installing Linux
doesn't change much because the same users are there"
Generally competition with OSS somewhat helps to control Microsoft in the same way Microsoft used to control IBM: in the past the great achievement of Microsoft was that it prevented (or at least limited) the ability of IBM brass to use its competitive advantages to push sub-par software. Please remember that that catch phrase "GNU not Unix" can mean things quite different that RMS originally intended ;-). Actually a lot of commercial software both on Unix and Windows and first of all Oracle needs a reality check from open source. Switching to an open-source database can slash costs for one of the most expensive segments of the software budget by as much as 90%. In such cases who cares is Oracle replaced with open source database (Postgres, Ingres, or MySQL) on Windows or on Unix as long as the result is reasonable reliability and lower costs.
It's interesting to note that Microsoft has pretty high level open source specialists in staff: in May 2005 Microsoft hired Daniel Robbins, the founder and former chief architect of Gentoo Linux, probably the best and definitely the most innovative among popular Linux distributions. Ballmer recently said that Microsoft has listened to customers who've demanded better support for non-Windows machines in Operations Manager software, Microsoft's key management product. Also, he said, the company will step up support for running Linux-based virtual machines in a service pack update to its Virtual Server product later this year.
The phrase "GNU not Unix" have a very special meaning indeed, probably unanticipated by Richard Stallman ;-). For me often (but not always) using GNU utilities and other software ported from Unix to Windows is easier and provide more consistent environment then usage of native Windows tools. Unixification of Windows means maximization of the usage of command line tools and scripting.
It is not necessarily always means usage of ported classic Unix utilities. Many UNIX utilities are outdated to the extent being obsolete (find, grep, sed: in most case using Perl is easier then messing with all obscure options that those utilities got for the last 30 years, unless you are professional Unix admin) and other (including native Windows) command line alternatives are probably preferable. But many are still extremely relevant (awk, expect, Korn shell, bash). Also for some Unix command line applications a better native alternatives exist in Windows. For example, FAR is definitely better then port of Midnight Commander.
One of the tremendous advantages of Windows over Unix is that Microsoft managed to enforce a single macro language (to be more exact a pair of macro languages: VBA and JavaScript) for many of its tools (including major workhorses like FrontPage, Ms Word, Excel, Visio, etc). It is also used in some third party tools like Lotus Notes) and as an internal scripting language. In this respect only OS/2 can compete with Windows. At one point Sun has chances to match Solaris with Windows by using TCL but they never managed to pull it off.
Windows has a powerful capabilities on the command line that are severely underutilized by most users. Actually Microsoft supports developers well and provides a lot of free or semi-free utilities. Windows Resource Kits are one such example. They are essentially collections of pretty powerful command line utilities. Unfortunately they are not very popular and are definitely underutilized. I see creating your own powerful collection of command line utilities as an optimal way of using Windows in both personal and enterprise environments and Resource kit utilities as SFU are important components of this collection.
A powerful command line environment which is so characteristic for Unix can be more or less successfully replicated in Windows and provides the same advantages: a better, more "scriptable" environment especially to use in tandem with Unix/Linux server (my preferred configuration).
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Unixification of Windows means maximization
of usage |
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Port of common GNU utilities to native Win32. In this context, native means the executables do only depend on the Microsoft C-runtime (msvcrt.dll) and not an emulation layer like that provided by Cygwin tools.
Many of the command-line tools from the Windows Server 2003 resource kit can be used in Windows XP. Some are described here.
Microsoft provides a large assortment of command-line tools, which can be obtained in a variety of ways. For users of Windows XP Professional, there are three major sources. One set of "native" tools is part of the standard installation and these are listed on another page. A second set, called "support tools", can be installed from a full version of Windows XP Professional or downloaded. These are the subject of this page on the present site. A third set is part of the Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit but are applicable to Windows XP. They can be downloaded here and are the subject of this article.As would be expected, the Windows 2003 Server tools are intended for large networked systems and many are not appropriate for typical home systems. Nonetheless, many can be useful in a simple system. I have made a somewhat arbitrary selection of those that seem most helpful and discuss them below. Note that some of these tools are actually graphical (GUI) tools that are opened from the command line and this is indicated where it applies. A full list of the tools is available at the Microsoft download site. Once they are installed. the Help and Support Center will contain a list with descriptions and syntax for their use.
- Cdburn.exe: ISO CD-ROM Burner Tool
- CDBurn is a command-line tool that allows the user to write data images from image files located on the hard drive to a CD. The data image can be any kind of data, even raw data. This tool can also be used to erase CD-RW media.
- Chklnks.exe: Link Check Wizard
- Link Check Wizard (ChkLnks) is a GUI tool that scans all the link (shortcut) files on a computer to determine whether or not the shortcuts point to existing applications or documents. When Link Check Wizard does not find an associated application or document, the wizard lists that file as a dead link, giving you the option to remove it.
- Cleanspl.exe: Spooler Cleaner
- Spooler Cleaner (CleanSpl) is a GUI tool that restores the print spooler to its original state. It deletes all print jobs, printers, printer drivers, and spool files on a specified local or remote server.
- Creatfil.exe: Create File
- CreatFil creates a blank file of a specified size, filled with space characters.
- Diskraid.exe: RAID Configuration Tool
- DiskRaid is a command-line tool that enables configuration and management of redundant array of independent (or inexpensive) disks (RAID) storage subsystems.
- Dvdburn.exe: ISO DVD Burner Tool
- DVDBurn is a command-line tool that allows the user to write DVD images from image files located on the hard drive to DVD media. The data image can be created by any program capable of producing DVD image files. You can also use this tool to erase DVD media.
- Empty.exe: Free Working Set Tool
- Free Working Set Tool (Empty) is a command-line tool that frees the working set of a specified task or process, making those page frames available for other processes.
- Iniman.exe: Initialization Files Manipulation Tool
- IniMan is a command-line tool that enables you to add, delete, modify, or query sections or keys in an .ini file.
- Instsrv.exe: Service Installer
- Service Installer (InstSrv) is a command-line tool that installs and uninstalls executable services and assigns names to them.
- Kernrate.exe: Kernel Profiling Tool
- Kernel Profiling Tool (KernRate) is a command-line tool that is a CPU sample profiler. A sample profiler monitors performance and reports back to the user. KernRate reports on kernel and user-mode processes to provide information about CPU activity. Use KernRate to identify which processes are causing a CPU bottleneck.
- Linkspeed.exe: Link Speed
- Link Speed is a command-line tool that displays the speed of the connection between computers on a network.
- Memmonitor.exe: Memory Monitor
- MemMonitor is a command-line tool that monitors the memory a process uses
- Memtriage.exe: Resource Leak Triage Tool
- MemTriage is a command-line tool that detects a possible resource leak on a running system. MemTriage records process information or current kernel pool information and saves it to a log file.
- Now.exe: STDOUT Current Date and Time
- Now reads standard input (STDIN) and then displays, on standard output (STDOUT), the current date and time followed by the STDIN. Used alone, it displays the current date and time.
- Ntimer.exe: Windows Program Timer
- NTimer is a command-line tool that measures how long a program runs. NTimer shows elapsed time, time in user mode, and time in privileged mode.
- Oh.exe: Open Handles
- Open Handles is a command-line tool that shows the handles of all open windows. OH can also be used to show only information about a specific process, object type, or object name.
- Oleview.exe: OLE/COM Object Viewer
- OLE/COM Object Viewer (OLEView) is a GUI tool that allows you to manage all Microsoft Component Object Model (COM) classes installed on your computer.
- Pathman.exe: Path Manager
- PathMan is a command-line tool that adds or removes components from system or user paths.
- Pmon.exe: Process Resource Monitor
- Process Resource Monitor (PMon) is a command-line tool that displays several measures of the CPU and memory use of processes running on the system. The PMon display appears in the command window.
- Printdriverinfo.exe: Drivers Source
- Drivers Source (PrintDriverInfo) is a command-line tool that is used to collect information about printer drivers and is primarily used for support purposes.
- Qgrep.exe
- Qgrep is a command-line tool that is used to search a file or list of files for a specific string or pattern and return the line containing the match. QGrep also allows you to search multiple files and subdirectories. Qgrep is similar to the UNIX tool "grep".
- Remapkey.exe: Remap Windows Keyboard Layout
- RemapKey is a GUI tool that changes the layout of a keyboard by remapping the scan codes of the keys.
- Robocopy.exe: Robust File Copy Utility
- A versatile utility for maintaining an identical copy of a folder and its sub-folders in more than one location,
- Setprinter.exe: Spooler Configuration Tool
- Spooler Configuration Tool is a command-line tool that is used to set configurations of local and remote printers
- Sleep.exe: Batch File Wait
- Sleep is a command-line tool that causes the computer to wait for a specified amount of time. For use in batch files
- Splinfo.exe: Print Spooler Information
- SplInfo is a command-line tool that collects information from the print spooler and displays it.
- Tail.exe
- Tail is a command-line tool that displays a user-specified number of the last lines of a text file, such as a log file, in a console window.
Win32 subsystem is TOO much tied to NT kernel and closely coupled
to achieve the performance it has today.
That is why NT 3.51/3.53 was more robust than NT 4,0 which moved major
parts of the UI code to kernel mode.
Please actually read Inside Windows NT 3.51 by Helen Custer and THEN
read Inside Windows NT 4.0 to know the difference.
Sorry, hun, read both and even had this discussion with a key kernel
developer at Microsoft a few years ago. (1997 in fact, as we were starting
to work with Beta 1 of Windows 2000)
NT 4.0 ONLY moved video to a lower ring. It had NOTHING to do with moving
the Win32 subsystem INTO NT - that did not happen.
That is why Windows NT Embedded exists, and also why even the WinCE
is a version of the NT kernel with NO Win32 ties.
Microsoft can STILL produce NT without any Win32, and just throw a *nix
subsystem on it if they wanted to, but yet have the robustness of NT.
Win32 is the just the default interface because of the common API and
success of Windows applications.
I think you are confusing Ring dropping of the video driver with something
completely different.
NT is a client/server kernel... Go look up what that means, please for
the love of God.
Win32 is a subsystem, plain and simple. Yes it is a subsystem that has
tools to control the NT kernel under it, but that is just because that
is the default subsystem interface. You could build these control tools
in any subsystem you want to stack on NT. PERIOD.
by hirschma (187820) on Tuesday October 31, @06:33PM (#16666341)
See
the pretty charts [eweek.com] and the
article [eweek.com].
Pretty much, EWeek found that the OSS stacks run best on Windows. Now,
is this because EWeek ran everything without tuning? Possibly. But then
again, so do most folks, so the results are pretty valid.
I bet that someone at MS was reading that, too.
by moore.dustin
(942289) on Tuesday October 31, @04:12PM
(#16664465)
(http://www.reasonistreason.com/)
This is good news as far as I am concerned. Additional support from a major provider of server OS's to a widely used OPEN SOURCE language can and will help. It is not like PHP is only thing out there now and its flaws are more apparent now with the whole web 2.0 and its corresponding languages. Maybe some support and extra innovation will keep it viable and maintain its developers/users. I know I have been looking to other languages more and more as time goes by.
What does this mean for ASP though? Short answer is probably nothing I am guessing, but could this mean something down the road?
by oohshiny (998054) on Tuesday October 31, @04:33PM (#16664821)
Maybe some support and extra innovation will keep it viable and
maintain its developers/users.
If PHP developers wanted "innovation", PHP wouldn't have succeeded as
much as it did. PHP has succeeded because it's for people to develop
web applications with, and to do so with little more than a text editor.
It also doesn't look to me like PHP needs more support (and what kind
support would Microsoft offer anyway?).
This is simply what it looks like: Microsoft wants PHP to run better
on Windows servers so that people who want to run popular PHP applications
aren't forced to switch to Linux in order to get good performance. It's
understandable, it's reasonable, and it's not particularly nefarious.
Maybe Microsoft will add a little more support to their development
tools for PHP, or maybe not, but I doubt that will make a difference
to anybody; people who develop with Microsoft tools probably aren't
all that interested in PHP (yes, I know, I'm an insensitive clod because
you, gentle reader, happen to be one of those people, but I suspect
there aren't so many of you).
by steve_l
(109732) on Saturday October 28, @09:41AM
(#16621982)
(http://www.1060.org/blogxter/publish/5)
Windows pricing is hard to compare, because its so variable. A copy
of XP pro over the three year life of a PC is less than RHWS; but add
on the cost of CAL licenses to network infrastructure (exchange, file
servers) and the price of a PC rises. Same for server installs -the
cost of the database scales with the number of users you want to support.
On the other hand, if you are a developer with an MSDN subscription,
you get all of windows, office, much of visual studio for a flat rate,
less than an AS subscription. Microsoft treats developers well.
But Fedora? To increase the value of the paid products, RH had to reduce
the value of the free ones. Fedora achieves that. I don't see why we
'community' developers, whose of us who write the stuff that ships with
RHAS, have to suffer on an unstable distro with no support for products
like VMWare. Here I am, working on things for no money, and yet RHEL
still treat me as a leech who deserves low stability junk. If I want
that, I'd use MS Vista
by lukas84
(912874) on Saturday October 28,
@02:15PM (#16624188)
(http://projectdream.org/)
By Ryan Paul | Published: August 10, 2006 - 08:07AM CT
With highly expressive syntax that is easy to read, write, and maintain, dynamic programming languages like Python and Ruby are extremely conducive to rapid development. Microsoft and Sun Microsystems have observed growing interest in dynamic programming, and plan to integrate more extensive support for dynamic language features in their respective managed language platforms.Microsoft developer Jim Hugunin reveals that the Redmond, WA software company is in the process of augmenting its popular .NET platform to simplify development of dynamic programming languages. Hugunin, the developer of a Python implementation for .NET called IronPython, says that the .NET Common Language Runtime will be extended in order to add additional support for dynamic language features. New libraries will be added as well to provide framework components that can be used by language creators. Microsoft hopes that the new features and the availability of the IronPython source code (which will act as a reference implementation) will encourage developers to bring other popular dynamic languages to the .NET platform. Several useful dynamic language features have already been added to .NET 2.0, most notably Lightweight Code Generation and DynamicMethod.
Hugunin is also very enthusiastic about the opportunities created by PowerShell, Microsoft's next-generation command line architecture. Built on .NET technology, PowerShell provides a highly sophisticated dynamic language that includes impressive support for first-class functions and other desirable features. PowerShell also comes with a broad selection of useful libraries and utilities that simplify common computing tasks. Hugunin hopes to expose much of that functionality to Visual Basic and IronPython in order to provide users with a broader selection of options for scripting.
In my overview of PowerShell (then called the Microsoft Command Shell), I pointed out that lack of support for defining classes in scripts represents one of the most significant limitations of the language. By enabling users to leverage the power and functionality of the PowerShell libraries and classes in an elegant and sophisticated dynamic language like Python, Microsoft can provide developers with the best of both worlds.
Python isn't the only dynamic language making its way to .NET. Canadian developer John Lam is currently developing RubyCLR, a bridge that will make it possible for developers to create .NET applications with Ruby. Other dynamic languages ported to .NET include Lisp (Rob Blackwell's L#), and Smalltalk (SmallScript Corp's S#).
Sun Microsystems plans to expand its own Java platform to provide stronger support for dynamic languages. In an uncharacteristically perceptive statement from Sun, Sun Computational Theologist Gilad Bracha admits, "It has come to our attention that some people want to program in things other than Java."
Sun has been steadily laboring to improve dynamic language support, and plans to include a JavaScript implementation in version six of Java Standard Edition. In order to simplify development of dynamic languages for the Java Virtual Machine, Sun has issued a Java Specification Request describing a new bytecode operation called invokedynamic, which Bracha describes as "a loosely-typed invokevirtual." Sun also plans to add support for dynamic metaprogramming facilities (runtime code generation mechanisms analogous to macros in Lisp and metaclasses in Python). Although several dynamic languages are already available for the Java Virtual Machine, including JRuby and Jython, the new features are important because they will simplify the language development process and expand the scope of functionality accessible to those dynamic languages. Dynamic metaprogramming is a particularly exciting feature that has a lot to offer in the field of domain-specific language design.
Many dynamic language enthusiasts are also interested in Parrot, an open source virtual machine designed specifically for dynamic languages. Initially conceived as the foundation for Perl 6, Parrot provides some extremely impressive features including a built-in grammar engine that vastly simplifies the process of language development. Although Parrot is far from complete, a number of languages built on top of it are at various stages of completion, including ports of Python, Ruby, Tcl, Lisp, and basic. Perl 6 developers claim that Parrot will eventually provide better performance than the JVM or .NET for dynamic scripting languages, but performance claims are currently debatable since Parrot is still in early stages of development. There are several significant architectural differences between Parrot and other prominent virtual machines, particularly the fact that Parrot is register-based, whereas Java's bytecode and .NET's Common Intermediate Language are stack-based.
Released yesterday, Parrot 0.4.6 includes new partial Ruby and Javascript implementations, improvements for the grammar engine and abstract syntax tree generator, and new opcodes for accessing globals, as well as numerous bug fixes and improvements.
Managed language platforms have a lot to offer modern dynamic languages, particularly performance (IronPython is one and a half times faster than the standard Python implementation in some contexts), interoperability, and broader library support. As dynamic languages continue to grow in popularity, widely used development platforms like .NET and Java will expand to meet that demand, and Microsoft and Sun will continue to strengthen their commitments to the dynamic language community. Parrot will also eventually catch up and provide a robust, open source alternative.
re: Recovering remote NT/W2K/XP desktops with a network boot CD/DVD
Friday, April 28, 2006 12:58 PM by fluke g4u is a very interesting project. I have been using Novell's ZEN Image which boots a light (less than 12MB) version of SuSE to do imaging. And just like g4u, it supports be started via CD boot or PXE network boot.
However, you did not answer the question about *RECOVERY* of an existing installation at all.
At the University, we have several students that are getting hit with the "Blackworm." Several of these Dell laptop users don't even have a Windows install CD, but rather a Ghost boot CD that puts the drive back to OEM default (in some cases also without SP2). It would be nice to have a "Live CD" based on the XP kernel. This way, even if the user has hardware not supported by alternative OSes, a recovery enviroment could be booted that is ensured not automatically start any rootkits from the hard drive. We could then use network access to the "Live CD" enviroment to try to remove the infection or at least remotely back up critical data files.
But the problem is one of license terms instead of any technical issue. While several people claim that Windows is simply a victim of it's own popularity and if Mac OS or Linux became the popular desktop then it would also be the target of malware. To some extent that might be true but the people that make this claim do not seem to take into account what methods of recovery could be made available to the different personal desktop users.
If a Mac OS port of Blackworm came out, we could create a bootable recovery CD based on Darwin that uses Apple's offical HFS+ file system code and is able to support all the same hardware drivers as the hard drive installed OS. Once such a recovery CD is created, we could then redistribute it to the students under the licensing terms of Darwin.
If a GNU/Linux port of Blackworm came out, we could create a bootable recovery CD based on the GNU/Linux distribution that uses the distribution's offical file system code and is able to support all the same hardware drivers as the hard drive installed OS. Once such a recovery CD is created, we could then redistribute it to the students under the licensing terms of the GNU/Linux distribution.
But now that XP version of Blackworm is out, we have tried creating a bootable BartPE CD that uses the offical MS kernel, NTFS driver and other XP drivers. But, then the terms of redistribution on any work derived using the XP kernel and other resources prohibits us from redistributing it to the students.
We don't want to cheat Microsoft but we don't want to cheat our students either. Ultimately, copyright law wins out and our ability to help the students is greatly hindered. Our Microsoft sales rep will only confirm that we don't have any reasonable method of redistributing BartPE CDs regardless of what our intentions are.
Much like you, Dell and Microsoft's answer involves re-imaging the laptop which does not address keeping any of the data they need to pass their classes.
"and went for coffee (anytime is a good time for coffee J )"
Well... if you can recommend any good coffee, it might at least make our students feel better about loosing to the Blackworm their end of semester papers that are due today.
If only malware authors where restricted by the same laws that hinder us from fighting their creations.
Tim O’Reilly has talked about the importance of architectures for participation. The value of building an architecture to allow participation was never more clear than reading (and responding!) to thousands of these emails. Now you may be reading this saying “Amazing, it took this guy how long to learn about blogs?” and that’s a fair criticism, and Jason Matusow and Robert Scoble have been telling me to do this for a long while now. But hopefully by the time you finish reading through this site, you’ll understand why Port 25 is somewhat more than just a place to blog.
So why is it called Port 25? Some background on port numbers first. SMTP is short for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol and is the protocol for sending email messages between servers or from a mail client to a mail server. On a server, the port for SMTP is 25. When you open a port on a server, such as to allow for SMTP traffic, it is commonly referred to as ‘listening’ on the port. Port 25, therefore, is a metaphor for how we are opening the communication lines to for a discussion around Open Source Software and Microsoft. Cute, huh?
As someone who has many hours at the command line, debugging things such as protocol states (LISTENING?) and getting software and servers working to provide some type of service, the concept of server ports and being open is well engrained in how I and the team here in our lab think about communications – so we thought it was applicable to how we want to start the dialogue around this subject. I guess it just took a Slashdot interview and a couple thousand emails (and consistent nudging from friends) to really drive the point home that having a participative discussion around OSS and Microsoft technologies is a good thing, not –as many people may believe- something we want to ‘hide’ or shy away from.
What will you find here? This will be the place we not only blog, but also where we put analysis from our OSS labs and also where we discuss and show other parts of Microsoft that we think are just plain cool or interesting. I think what you’ll see here over time is how a bunch of open source guys inside Microsoft think, as well as people and technologies inside Redmond that we think other folks like us would find interesting as well.
Microsoft’s Open Source Software Lab is an ambitious research project. Located on the company’s main campus, the lab houses more than 300 servers, which collectively run more than 15 versions of UNIX and 50 Linux distributions. It boasts a team of senior-level programmers and system administrators, some of whom were architects of popular Linux distributions or authors of well-regarded books. In short, the lab is one of a few such facilities in the world dedicated to open source research.The driving force behind the lab is Bill Hilf, General Manager of Platform Strategy at Microsoft. Hilf joined the company in 2004 after working at IBM, where he was instrumental in driving IBM's Linux technical strategy for its emerging and competitive markets organization. Prior to his stint at IBM, Hilf was VP of Engineering at E-Toys, where he helped build the company’s e-commerce infrastructure.
When Hilf speaks about the lab and his involvement, the usual response he gets is, “At Microsoft? Why run Open Source in a mixed environment at Microsoft?” While theories abound—ranging from “Microsoft is working on its own Linux implementation” to “Microsoft is considering porting Windows to Linux”—the truth is far simpler. The lab provides Microsoft with deeper insight into the world of open source software, and it helps the company improve how Microsoft products work with open source software.
“Contrary to the belief that Microsoft is anti-open source, the reality is not so black-and-white,” says Hilf. “Most customers don’t live in an either/or world, nor do they choose a technology based on its development model. Instead, they choose a technology based on its ability to serve a business need or solve a particular problem. By running open source software in a Windows environment, we’re learning how those technologies can work better together so that our customers can benefit from a broader range of choices.”
One of the issues being addressed in the lab is how Microsoft management tools can do a better job in heterogeneous environments. For example, for customers who are using Microsoft Systems Management Server or Microsoft Operations Manager and need to manage a Linux or UNIX server, the lab can provide input on which third-party technologies can enable that scenario.
Another example is the testing it has done with Windows Server 2003 R2, which includes a variety of UNIX-based services like Network File System (NFS) and Network Information Service (NIS). Collectively called the Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications, the lab tested those services extensively to see how well they could interoperate with open source software in a data center environment.
Practicing the Art of CoopetititionAlthough testing interoperability between Microsoft products and open source software is one of the lab’s primary roles, it’s not the only one. The lab also helps Microsoft to build better products through a deeper understanding of open source software.
“Licensing restrictions permitting we analyze and benchmark open source software in areas where Microsoft competes or has an interest,” says Hilf. “We share those results with other teams at Microsoft, who use the data to determine how we can improve our own products.”
One recent example is the work the lab did for the Microsoft Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003, which the company announced in late 2005 as part of its entrance into the high performance computing (HPC) market. Today, that market is largely dominated by Linux.
“When the product team first began building Compute Cluster Server, they asked us to find the best HPC solution from an open source perspective,” says Hilf. “We built a large, clustered system using Linux and did extensive benchmarking, then we wiped out that installation and ran the same tests for Compute Cluster Server. The data we collected will help us to deliver a more compelling product.”
“Both Windows and open source software will continue to be around for years to come, so it’s important that we test and analyze interoperability with open source software even if we may sometimes compete with some of this software – this is the real world where mixed environments exist,” says Hilf. “Coopetition – cooperating and competing – is part of the real world. Customers exist in the real world so we focus on what they care about, not what people philosophize about.”
Although there are many different ways that Microsoft could gain that desired knowledge about open source software, Hilf believes that one of the most effective ways is through a hands-on approach in which his team must address the same challenges as customers who run open source software in real-world scenarios.
“Deeply understanding a technology without actually using it would be like trying to deeply understand a foreign country without spending any time there,” says Hilf. “Listening to Berlitz language CDs or reading travel guides might help familiarize you with a foreign culture before you visit, but you’ll remain a tourist until you’ve lived there for a while.” Rather than function as a third-party trying to understand the open source phenomenon by looking in from the outside, the Microsoft Open Source Software lab is immersing itself deep into this space, relying on hands-on experience and hiring the necessary technical expertise to generate fact-based, unbiased information.
“We’re out to find the science that proves or disproves the statements made about open source software, so that we don’t need to guess or draw abstract conclusions,” says Hilf. “By being a center of knowledge and competency, we’re able to provide hard facts to Microsoft product teams when they ask questions on the state of management for open source software or the state of a certain open source application.”
Mar 30, 2006 (CNET News.com) The announcements were made in conjunction with the LinuxWorld conference in Boston this week.
Virtualization, an emerging technology which is garnering growing interest from corporate customers, allows a server to run multiple instances of an operating system. This makes it easier for corporations to consolidate many applications on a single hardware server and provides a level of reliability.
Microsoft said that it has developed software to simplify the installation of Linux distributions from Red Hat and Novell SuSE to run on Virtual Server 2005 R2 on Windows. In addition, Microsoft will provide technical support customers running Windows and Linux side by side.
"We’ve made a long-term commitment to make sure that non-Windows operating systems can be run in a supported manner, both on top of Virtual Server and our future virtualization products," said Zane Adam, director of Windows Server product marketing, in a statement.
Microsoft has said that the server edition of Windows Vista will have virtualization built into it. Specifically, it said it is developing so-called hypervisor software, code-named Viridian, to host multiple operating systems on one machine.
Microsoft faces competition in the market from EMC subsidiary VMware and increasingly the Xen project that's being built into forthcoming versions of Suse Linux Enterprise Server and Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
VMware believes that the benefits of server virtualization should be universally available. Period. VMware has introduced free VMware Server Beta for immediate download.
VMware Server is a robust yet easy to use product for users new to server virtualization technology. VMware Server enables companies to partition a physical server into multiple virtual machines, and to start experiencing the benefits of virtualization. With VMware Server, companies can provision a new server in minutes without investing in new hardware, run multiple different operating systems and applications on the same physical host server, move virtual machines from one physical host to another without re-configuration, and much more!
VMware Server can be used to streamline software development and testing, evaluate software in ready-to-run virtual machines, re-host legacy applications or simplify server provisioning. In addition, users can leverage a wide variety of plug-and-play virtual appliances for commonly used infrastructure.
VMware Server offers more than GSX Server
In addition to the VMware GSX Server capabilities, the generally available release of VMware Server plans to offer the following unique features:
- Virtual SMP
- Experimental support for Intel® Virtualization Technology
- Support for 64-bit guest operating systems
Learn more about VMware Server.
Support and Subscription Options
VMware is fully committed to GSX Server customers' continued success. Notwithstanding VMware's Support and Subscription agreement terms, GSX Server will be fully supported by VMware for two years after VMware Server becomes generally available. GSX Server customers will be able to renew existing support contracts during that period.
Upgrade Options
The free VMware Server represents the upgrade path for all GSX Server customers. Once VMware Server is generally available, which is currently planned for Q2 2006, it will replace GSX Server as VMware's hosted server virtualization offering. At that time, VMware will also start offering Support and Subscription services for VMware Server for purchase.
VMware also offers very favorable terms for upgrading from GSX Server to VMware Virtual Infrastructure products—VMware ESX Server and VirtualCenter. To learn more about the terms of purchasing Support and Subscription for VMware Server or upgrading to ESX Server and VirtualCenter, please read VMware Server Order Information.
To learn more, please read the GSX Server FAQ.
Start experiencing the benefits of server virtualization
- Download VMware Server.
- Download pre-built, ready-to-run virtual appliances from industry-leading ISV partners, open source partners and the VMware community.
AutoHotkey is a free, open-source utility for Windows. With it, you can:
- Automate almost anything by sending keystrokes and mouse clicks. You can write a mouse or keyboard macro by hand or use the macro recorder.
- Create hotkeys for keyboard, joystick, and mouse. Virtually any key, button, or combination can become a hotkey.
- Expand abbreviations as you type them. For example, typing "btw" can automatically produce "by the way".
- Create custom data entry forms, user interfaces, and menu bars. See GUI for details.
- Remap keys and buttons on your keyboard, joystick, and mouse.
- Respond to signals from hand-held remote controls via the WinLIRC client script.
- Run existing AutoIt v2 scripts and enhance them with new capabilities.
- Convert any script into an EXE file that can be run on computers that don't have AutoHotkey installed.
Getting started might be easier than you think. Check out the quick-start tutorial.
More About Hotkeys
AutoHotkey unleashes the full potential of your keyboard, joystick, and mouse. For example, in addition to the typical Control, Alt, and Shift modifiers, you can use the Windows key and the Capslock key as modifiers. In fact, you can make any key or mouse button act as a modifier. For these and other capabilities, see Advanced Hotkeys.
Other Features
- Change the volume, mute, and other settings of any soundcard.
- Make any window transparent, always-on-top, or alter its shape.
- Use a joystick or keyboard as a mouse.
- Monitor your system. For example, close unwanted windows the moment they appear.
- Retrieve and change the clipboard's contents, including file names copied from an Explorer window.
- Disable or override Windows' own shortcut keys such as Win+E and Win+R.
- Alleviate RSI with substitutes for Alt-Tab (using keys, mouse wheel, or buttons).
- Customize the tray icon menu with your own icon, tooltip, menu items, and submenus.
- Display dialog boxes, tooltips, balloon tips, and popup menus to interact with the user.
- Perform scripted actions in response to system shutdown or logoff.
- Detect how long the user has been idle. For example, run CPU intensive tasks only when the user is away.
- Automate game actions by detecting images and pixel colors.
- Read, write, and parse text files more easily than in other languages.
- Perform operation(s) upon a set of files that match a wildcard pattern.
- Work with the registry and INI files.
License: GNU General Public License
Here's a list of some new tools mixed up with the old favorites that will make any Linux user feel at home with the command prompt. A lot of these commands are intended for administrating a network, but they are great for savvy home users as well. We even listed which OS you need for these commands.
With most of these commands, you can just type the command without any options and a list of possible arguments will be displayed.
- bootcfg (XP only) This utility allows you to set up your boot options, such as your default OS and other loading options.
- cacls (XP, 2000, & NT4.0) Changes the ACLs (security Settings) of files and folders. Very similar to chmod in Linux.
- comp (XP & 2000) This utility is very similar to diff in Linux. Use the /? switch to get examples of command usage.
- contig (NT4.0 and newer) A great defrag utility for NTFS partitions.
- defrag (XP only - NT4.0 and Win2k use contig) Yes, XP comes with a command line disk defrag utility. If you are running Win2k or NT4.0 there is still hope. Contig is a free defrag program that I describe on the defrag page.
- diskpart (XP only) Use this command to manage your disk partitions. This is the text version for the GUI Disk Manager.
- driverquery (XP only) Produces a list of drivers, their properties, and their versions. Great for computer documentation.
- fsutil (XP only) This is a utility with a lot of capability. Come back soon for great examples.
- getmac (XP & 2000) This command gets the Media Access Control (MAC) address of your network cards.
- gpresult (XP & 2000 This generates a summary of the user settings and computer group policy settings.
- ipconfig (XP, 2000 & NT4.0) This handy tool displays IP settings of the current computer and much more.
- MMC (XP, 2000 & NT4.0) - Microsoft Management Console This is the master tool for Windows, it is the main interface in which all other tools use starting primarily in Windows 2000 and newer systems.
- msconfig (XP only) The ultimate tool to change the services and utilities that start when your Windows machine boots up. You can also copy the executable from XP and use it in Win2k.
- msinfo32 (XP & 2000) An awesome diagnostic tool. With it you can get a list of running processes, including the residing path of the executable (great for manually removing malware) and get detailed information about hardware and system diagnostics.
- netsh (XP & 2000) A network configuration tool console. At the 'netsh>' prompt, use the '?' to list the available commands and type "exit" to get back to a command prompt.
- openfiles (XP Only) Allows an administrator to display or disconnect open files in XP professional. Type "openfiles /?" for a list of possible parameters.
- Pathping (XP & 2000) A cross between the ping and traceroute utilities. Who needs Neotrace when you can use this? Type "pathping <ip address>" and watch it go.
- recover (XP & 2000) This command can recover readable information from a damaged disk and is very easy to use.
- reg (XP & 2000) A console registry tool, great for scripting Registry edits.
- schtasks (XP only) A newer version of the AT command. This allows an administrator to schedule and manage scheduled tasks on a local and remote machines.
- secedit (XP & 2000) Use this utility to manually apply computer and user policy from your windows 2000 (or newer) domain. Example to update the machine policy: secedit /refreshpolicy machine_policy /enforce
To view help on this, just type secedit.
NOTE: In Windows XP this command is superceded by: gpupdate /force- sfc (XP & 2000) The system file checker scans important system files and replaces the ones you (or your applications) hacked beyond repair with the real, official Microsoft versions.
- shutdown (XP & 2000) With this tool, You can shut down or restart your own computer, or an administrator can shut down or restart a remote computer.
- sigverif (XP only) Microsoft has created a driver signatures. A signed driver is Microsot tested and approved. With the sigverif tool you can have all driver files analysed to verify that they are digitally signed. Just type 'sigverif' at the command prompt.
- systeminfo (XP only) Basic system configuration information, such as the system type, the processor type, time zone, virtual memory settings, system uptime, and much more. This program is great for creating an inventory of computers on your network.
- tasklist (XP pro only) Tasklist is the command console equivalent to the task manager in windows. It is a must have when fighting scumware and viruses. Try the command: tasklist /svc to view the memory resources your services take up.
- taskkill (XP only) Taskkill contains the rest of the task manager functionality. It allows you to kill those unneeded or locked up applications.
Microsoft Windows 2000 Command Reference If you think these commands were handy, check out our list of helpful Windows Shortcut Keys.
There are a lot of great freeware products out there. Many are as good or even better than their commercial alternatives. This list features my personal pick of the "best of the best."
All these utilities in this list have been featured in past issues of of my free monthly newsletter "Support Alert" More freebies are featured in every new issue. If you are interested in great utilities and freeware you really should consider subscribing. It's free.
You'll get the most from this list by browsing through it at leisure. The pathologically impatient can consult the index.
This page is updated regularly. Last update: October 20, 2005.
October 2, 2005 (Pdfzone) Microsoft will build into its forthcoming Office 12 desktop suite a "save to PDF" capability, according to Office program manager Brian Jones.Jones communicated word of Microsoft's PDF plan for Office 12 on his blog on Saturday afternoon. He posted that Microsoft will add native support for PDF in Word 12, Excel 12, PowerPoint 12, Access 12, Publisher 12, OneNote 12, Visio 12 and InfoPath 12.
Slashdot.org picked up Jones' posting, with a number of posters noting that Microsoft Office rival OpenOffice already offers a similar save to PDF capability.
Jones' disclosure was somewhat surprising, given Microsoft's announcement earlier this year of plans to incorporate "Metro," Microsoft's PDF/PostScript alternative, into Windows Vista. (Microsoft currently is using the XML Paper Specification (XPS) to refer to many of its Metro components.)
And Microsoft's Metro announcement was seen by industry watchers just one of a growing number of direct shots by Microsoft at Adobe's PDF/PhotoShop/Illustrator empire.
Jones' post also is somewhat puzzling, given the fact that Microsoft forbade the Office 12 Most Valuable Professionals (MVPs) who attended last week's Global MVP Summit from disclosing particulars about Microsoft's next-generation Office suite, which is due to ship in the latter half of 2006.
Microsoft officials did acknowledge to Microsoft Watch that the Office team did provide pre-Beta 1 Office 12 bits to MVPs who attended the conference, albeit under strict non-disclosure-agreement (NDA) terms.
"Microsoft Office MVPs will receive a pre-beta release of Office "12" code under strict NDA," a Microsoft spokeswoman confirmed late last week. "The MVPs form an essential part of Microsoft's customer feedback processes and are now being involved earlier than ever in providing feedback about next version of Office products.
... ... ...
Microsoft plans to include some of those features in Windows Server 2003 R2, an update to the server OS due at the end of this year. At the same time, the company said it is not planning any further releases of the standalone Services For Unix product.
Samm DiStasio, a director in the Windows Server unit, said Microsoft has done more than just add a few components of SFU onto the Windows Server disks, noting that the company has done significant work to more deeply integrate the features with the operating system.
"It's not a bundling thing," he said.
In particular, DiStasio said that with R2, there is a new architecture for allowing applications to run on Windows, making use of both Windows and Unix programming interfaces.
DiStasio said the plan is to build Unix tools into releases beyond R2 as well, but he did not rule out that there might be some tools offered separate from the OS.
As was the case with SFU, DiStasio said, the goal is to support customers with mixed Windows and Unix setups as well as those looking to bring their Unix programs onto Windows.
"I think it gives them the tools to do that (migrate to Windows) and to coexist, if they think that is their endgame," DiStasio said.
August 08, 2005 (IDG News Service)Computerworld Just one day after the first public reports of viruses being written for an upcoming feature of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system (see "First Windows Vista viruses unleashed"), the company said it will not include the feature in the first generally available release of Microsoft Vista, due out in the second half of 2006.The feature, called the Monad Shell, provides a way for users to access the operating system using text-based commands rather than the traditional Windows graphical user interface. In the past, Microsoft has said that Monad will be part of Longhorn, the code name for both the next client and server versions of Windows.
In an interview Friday, Microsoft director of product management Eric Berg said Monad will not be included in the first commercial version of Windows Vista when it is released. But the product is expected to be included in Windows over the next "three to five years," he said. "Our intention is to synchronize it with both client and server operating systems."
Security experts had worried that if Monad were included in a widely used client, it might become an attractive target for hackers -- especially if the shell were enabled by default.
Whether it will be enabled by default is unclear. "There are multiple ways that we could introduce this technology to the client stream," Berg said.
The first Microsoft product to use Monad will be the next release of Microsoft's Exchange messaging server, code-named Exchange 12, which is also due in 2006, Berg said.
On the operating system side of things, Monad is then expected to be included in Windows Server Longhorn, expected in 2007, and could be available in a future Windows Vista release, said Rob Helm, director of research at Directions on Microsoft Inc. "Presumably, as time goes on, all of Microsoft's products will have Monad scripting interfaces," he said.
New Windows shell? Looks like it'll be yet another technology that won't make it into Longhorn. 'It will take three to five years to fully develop and deliver,' said Microsoft Senior Vice President Bob Muglia this week at Tech Ed 2005. However, it's not dead yet--despite not shipping in Longhorn in 2006 or Longhorn Server in 2007, the article says 'Exchange 12 administration functions will be built atop Monad, which would enable users to do everything from the command line that can be done from the graphical interface.'"
Re:Let's try making a list! (Score:4, Informative)
by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 10, @09:08PM (#12786084)People, let's try making a list of that which we do know that (for now at least) will be in Longhorn. Each person who replies just has to copy paste the previous list and add his content :P
... ... ...
I'll try my best:
* Avalon: a new user interface subsystem and API based on XML,.NET, and vector graphics.
* Indigo: a service-oriented messaging system to allow programs to interoperate as part of the.NET framework.
* WinFX: a new API replacing the current Win32 API (there's of course still Win32 + Win64)
*.NET framework 2.0 (the foundation for Longhorn)
* WGF - Windows Graphic Foundations
* DirectX 10 which will further merge pixel and vertex shaders and introduce new technologies for 3D rendering.
* Lower user privileges (IE 7 will run in these on Longhorn)
* Included compiler (msbuild)
* New driver model and improved kernel/driver loading (drivers get "unloaded" in realtime if they become unstable) - also drivers get loaded quicker in the boot process so you can enjoy higher res/color depth while booting - also improved is boot speed and install time.
* New MS Installer
* New document format competitive to PDF
* An application deployment engine ("ClickOnce")
* Improvements in the ClearType font rendering technology + new system fonts
* New desktop search capabillities
* Improved security through lower privileged accounts and services
* Full support for the "NX" (No-Execute) feature of processors.
* New graphic user interface (Aero) using vector graphics for rendering.
That's everything I could come up and google within 10 minutes. Those are pretty much the biggest improvements that we know about. Then there are of course a lot of improvements on the device drivers, the way Windows handles drivers, wireless conectivity etc. The main code branch is built upon Windows Server 2003 SP1.
This is still 2 years away from release so I'm sure they can come up with more stuff. Hell, AFAIK Monad and WinFS will be available as free add-ons later on (SP probably).
Split reality (Score:5, Interesting)
by ProfaneBaby (821276) on Friday June 10, @05:48PM (#12784612)
(http://www.vobbo.com/)While the standard DOS shell is nearly useless, WMI is still pretty damn powerful. It has problems (most people in production lock it down, which will break a lot of the truly useful uses for it), but it makes this statement: Microsoft Watch reports that Exchange 12 administration functions will be built atop Monad, which would enable users to do everything from the command line that can be done from the graphical interface.Almost redundant. You can already write scripts with WMI that will let you do MOST of the things in Exchange that you would want to do from the command line, and once it's in the script, it's at least semi-permanent.
Even in UNIX, I tend to write scripts when there's more than 5 commands (even if the commands are all piped together into a single command) - I may know it well enough not to see it later, but my assistant tends to find the scripts very useful for his learning and library.
Re:Monad the name? (Score:3, Informative)
by Barlo_Mung_42 (411228) on Friday June 10, @06:31PM (#12785112)
(http://slashdot.org/)I'm glad you asked so I can finally get my money's worth out of a philosophy class I once took.
The name comes from the philosopher Gottfried Leibniz. He had this idea that existence was made up of these atomic building blocks of experience. They link together and form all that we know about the world around us. These Monads make up the composite of possibilities that form our "best of all possible worlds."
[ Parent ]
- 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
Re:Monad the name? (Score:2)
by snorklewacker (836663) on Friday June 10, @06:33PM (#12785124)It's not related to Haskell monads, no. However, Haskell syntax tends to be a lot like piping, and lazy lists act like streams. One of monad's biggest features is the ability to pipe arbitrary objects around, and this will allow in its own way lazy evaluation to become ubiquitous in C# code (especially if you can take your same lazy list generators from C# and plug them into Cw code). I suspect the name is just paying homage.
[ Parent ] Re:Monad the name? (Score:2, Insightful)
by Bambi Dee (611786) on Friday June 10, @06:33PM (#12785128)The word's ancient (and Greek) and does not imply functional programming. The Monad shell follows an object oriented approach. The Wikipedia article on MSH [wikipedia.org] explains this. There's an external link to what might just be a video I've seen before: a developer demos Monad and the way objects, rather than plain text, are piped between commands... or whatever; I'm not the one to explain this.
Monads and Unix Pipes (Score:2)
by exp(pi*sqrt(163)) (613870) on Friday June 10, @06:54PM (#12785302)
(Last Journal: Monday January 06, @11:36PM)It may have something to do with this [okmij.org]. (Though to be honest, it wouldn't take much stretching beyond the ideas in that web page to argue that BASIC is a functional programming language that uses monads.)
Steve Ballmer has lambasted IBM, Linux and SAP while exhorting thousands of partners to bet their next 10 years on Windows and Microsoft services.
A pumped-up and sweating Ballmer informed Microsoft's Worldwide partner conference on Sunday morning that IBM is a spent competitive challenge that is pushing sub-par software, while he worked the crowd's concerns over IP and patents by talking of so-called "rumors" that Linux violates more than 200 patents.
Highlighting planned advances in Microsoft's search technology, mobile platforms and integration across Microsoft's applications, Ballmer urged partners to target legacy installations of Novell's NetWare, IBM's Lotus Notes and Microsoft's NT 4.0.
Screaming multiple "thank-yous" Ballmer said he loved partners for helping increase Microsoft's revenue and market share during its recently closed fiscal year. Looking ahead Ballmer said: "There is still plenty of NetWare and NT business out there. Let's bring them over."
Microsoft's high-octane chief executive continued: "We have Lotus Notes opportunities coming out the yin-yang. I've never seen [such] a customer base waiting to be plucked."
Ballmer, though, sent a coded message to partners warning them that their trusted platform provider could turn competitor, as Microsoft would continue to enter new markets - as it has done by adding Business Intelligence to SQL Server and buying Great Plains and Navision in business applications - to "extend the footprint" of general purpose products.
"Customers like this notion of being able to do most of their important tasks from within applications that they understand... I don't think that should be an issue for us and the partners in this room," Ballmer told delegates.
Instead, Ballmer said, partners should look to build functionality on top of general-purpose Windows platforms, like Microsoft Business Solutions (MBS). "We see MBS as a horizontal platform which will need thousands of partners to bring vertical experience, solutions and IP... we want and embrace those partners."
Ballmer added that if Microsoft didn't buy companies and help consolidate the market, then someone less likely to partner with small ISVs would step in. "SAP will consolidate that market, and SAP is less interested in ISV partners who write vertical solutions," Ballmer warned.
Having beaten up partners on the need to love Microsoft, Ballmer proceeded to tell companies why they need-not fear the might of IBM or the rising tide of Linux.
During an on-stage Q&A with three specially invited, and prepped, partners, Ballmer was asked by Dimension Data chief executive Brett Dawson how to compete against the combined might of IBM hardware, services and consulting.
"That sounds like the three [blind] mices instead of three musketeers," Ballmer said, padding around the conference stage. "Does IBM have the best software? They don't even have the second best software," he said, adding - incorrectly - that since IBM's $1.25bn sale of its PC business to Lenovo IBM "won't sell you the hardware anymore. "
"IBM's not the compelling value proposition it was 10 years ago. It's important to disabuse the notion it all comes from IBM... the [IBM] value is significantly less today than at any time in my 25 years in the business," said the moist Ballmer.
Turning to Linux, Ballmer focused on patents. Responding to a question on IP, Ballmer - again inaccurately - cited an Open Source Risk Management (OSRM) survey from last summer that highlighted the existence of 287 patents in the Linux kernel. "Rumor is Linux violates 286 patents," Ballmer said before moving on quickly.
Linux vendors had to find ways to launch products that are "appropriately packaged" with IP and indemnification from prosecution, he added.
Ballmer then launched into a description of future opportunities for partners who resell Microsoft's current and planned products and services. He outlined opportunities with the up-coming Longhorn, Office 12, SQL Server 2005 and Visual Studio 2005 and a list of MBS applications.
Ahead of new products, Ballmer told partners they should use existing products like Office 2003 to deliver desktop productivity and collaborative offerings anchored on Window Server 2003, to unseat those legacy NetWare, NT and Notes installations. Just 15 per cent of all PCs currently run Office 2003, two years into its life, Ballmer said.
Microsoft looks to extinguish LAMP CNET News.com
In November, Microsoft will release Visual Studio 2005, which will include a new edition called Visual Web Developer Express designed specifically for relatively small-scale Web development, where LAMP is often used.
At the same time, Microsoft will release two low-end versions of its SQL Server 2005 database, including a free Express edition. The Workgroup Edition of SQL Server, meanwhile, will include business-intelligence software for generating business reports--typically a costly add-on.
How to Script In-Your-Face Alerts
Ensuring that machines are online is one of the most important tasks that network administrators perform every day. The moment a machine goes offline, administrators need to be alerted so that they can get the machine back online. With time being such a crucial factor in high network availability, administrators need a monitoring tool that can quickly notify them when a machine is offline.Perl is the perfect scripting language for writing such a tool. However, although writing a Perl script to monitor machines is simple, scripting a notification system isn't so simple.
To be fair, you can easily write a monitoring script that produces a log file, registers Win32 event log entries, or even sends an email message or a page. But if you're working on a computer when something goes wrong, you need an alert that jumps out and is in your face. You could decide to write code that pops open a dialog box with a message. But if you use that approach and many alerts occur while you're away from your computer, you have to wade through numerous dialog boxes and click OK in each one. A better way to provide alerts is to use the taskbar status area (TSA).
The TSA is the region of the Windows taskbar (typically at the lower right of your Windows display), where icons appear alongside the system clock. This area provides the user with information about what an application is doing. For example, when Windows Update has downloaded a new system patch, an icon appears that informs the user a patch is ready to be installed.
[Jun 4, 2005] The Register/Hack can upgrade XP Home to XP Pro Lite
C'T writes in its latest print issue (in German only) that you need to copy the root directory and the i386 directory of the WindowsXP CD to your harddisk, and change only 2 bytes in i386\Setupreg.hiv by using Regedit. In fact all you have to do is edit the binary key "default" and change "01" to "00" and "02" to "00" in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Homekey\ControlSet001\Services\setupdd, C'T claims.There is one big drawback, though. Users won't be able to install Service Pack 2, unless they integrate SP2 in the installation CD. And that's probably too much trouble for most users, who of course are better off buying a legal version anyway. It is expected that Microsoft will change the setup files soon to prevent this hack.
See also
Slashdot News for nerds, stuff that matters
The Register reports that many of the features of Windows XP Pro, such as Remote Desktop and user management, can be enabled in Windows XP Home simply by changing two bytes in an installation data file. Another explanation can be found here."
[Apr 2, 2005] Windows XP X64 goes gold
MICROSOFT HAS released the final version of Windows XP 64 to manufacturing, meaning that those with machines that have 64-32 bit processors in from AMD and latterly Intel can now see what the extra addressing brings to the party.No doubt people can also look forward to future service pack releases from Microsoft, but we mustn't be too churlish about this, even though the OS is long delayed. Only the most absurdly cynical would suggest that it's been delayed because Intel was hurriedly racing to catch up and make its chips similar enough to AMD64 processors to run the OS.
Despite this, Microsoft has plumped for the Opteron and already uses the AMD processor to run some of its own inhouse systems. Microsoft was always a big fan of the Alpha chip.
Both Intel and AMD believe that 64-32 processors are the way to go, although Chipzilla was slow to convert to the idea. It has accomplished its volte face by putting its Itanium processor into a niche and hopes that it will topple RISC chips from the enterprise space.
[Mar 28, 2005] WinSCP Freeware SFTP and SCP client for Windows WinSCP is an open source freeware SFTP client for Windows using SSH. Legacy SCP protocol is also supported. Its main function is safe copying of files between a local and a remote computer.
SourceForge.net- Project Info - FileZilla FileZilla is a fast FTP and SFTP client for Windows with a lot of features. FileZilla Server is a reliable FTP server.
[DOC] Building a Windows 2000 Boot Disk for Automated Installation
jpsdomain.org: Favorite Utilities, Tools, Software for Windows
- Disk & File Utilities
- UNIX Utilities for Windows
- FREE IP Subnet Calculators
- DOS & Command Line Tools
- Windows & Graphical Tools
As far as I know, all of these tools are free unless otherwise noted.
Use any ZIP program, such as WinZip or InfoZip's FREE Unzip to extract the ZIP files.
Disk & File Utilities
Re:Prices--Red Hat way more expensive
(Score:3, Informative)by lukas84 (912874) on Saturday October 28, @10:50AM (#16622560)
I work in sub-200 people environments in switzerland. So my perpspective might differ a lot from yours, but i've found microsoft to offer good value for their money.(http://projectdream.org/)
1 CHF (Swiss Franc) = 0.80 US$
If you're a sub-15 people company, and only have one machine, Microsoft Small Business Server is a good bet. You can get the Standard Edition for 800 CHF, and the Premium Edition (includes SQL Server and ISA Server (no idea why you would want that)) for 1300 CHF. Each includes 5 User CALs, So for 15 people you need two more five packs or about 1000 each. This price doesn't include support, though. Also, i'm not much of a fan of SBS because of several restrictions (only a single domain controller, Exchange and DC on the same machine), but these are the standard practice in such small companies.
Microsoft offers their SBS server for up to 75 users. I don't think thats a good idea.
Companies in this size usually don't have any IT staff, so self help is important. With windows, the people at least feel that they can try to fix problem themselves (which they usually can't). With Linux, this isn't the case. (Just because windows server offers a GUI for 80% of it's functions doesn't mean that it's simple).
Windows is mostly the only choice if you are cooperating with other companies. Some might offer their shipping calculation program only for windows, some specialized ERP software might only be available or windows, etc. pp.
I've found windows to offer the best SMB desktop management, everything from redhat etc. seems to be geared at big companies with a standard desktop images. Group Policies are a fucking cool thing.