Windows becomes top server OS

Microsoft's Windows Server System became the number one selling server in 2005, replacing Unix which has held the top spot in all years past. Linux came in a far behind third.

"It's the first time Unix was not top overall since before the Tracker started in 1996."

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UK Wants Back Door into Vista

UK officials have begun talking with Microsoft about the security features in Vista, which they say are too strong and could make it impossible for law enforcement officers to collect data from criminals' computers. The UK would like Microsoft to provide them with a software back door in Vista, so that "competently set up" Vista computers could be examined by the police if needed. Although it's unlikely that Microsoft would allow such a back door­­despite unending rumors of a CIA/NIS back door into previous Windows versions­­or even announce the existence of such a back door should one be granted, the company did say that it would work with the UK on the issue. "We are working with law enforcement to help them understand [Vista's] security features and will continue to partner with governments, law enforcement, and industry to help make the Internet a safer place to learn and communicate," a Microsoft spokesperson said this week. You know, maybe if the UK could put in a good word for Microsoft with the European Union (EU), they could make a deal.
Source: WindowsITPro.com

How could this be true, I always thought Windows was a unsecure mess that anyone could get into? (sarcasm) Well I guess someone thinks Windows Vista will be a secure OS.

BUSH: America is addicted to oil

The State of the Union

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush, in a push to take charge of the election-year agenda, is expected to say Tuesday that "America is addicted to oil" and must break its dependence on foreign suppliers in unstable parts of the world.

In his State of the Union address, Bush also is expected to renew his commitment to the central pledge of his inaugural address. "Our nation is committed to an historic, long-term goal - we seek the end of tyranny in our world," he plans to say. "The future security of America depends on it."

Excerpts were released in advance of the 9 p.m. EST speech.

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No new funding for Iraq, US planning attack on Iran

TWO UNRELATED BUT POSSIBLY RELATED STORIES

Story 1: US will not provide additional funding to rebuild Iraq
“The Bush administration does not intend to seek any new funds for Iraq reconstruction in the budget request going before Congress in February, officials say. The decision signals the winding down of an $18.4 billion U.S. rebuilding effort in which roughly half of the money was eaten away by the insurgency, a buildup of Iraq's criminal justice system and the investigation and trial of Saddam Hussein.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/02/AR2006010200370.html

Story 2: US planning to strike Iran
The US is reportedly coordinating a military strike against Iran with NATO. It is also reported that countries neighboring Iran, such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Oman, and Pakistan have been also updated regarding the supposed plan. American sources sent to those countries apparently mentioned an aerial attack as a possibility, but did not provide a time frame for the operation.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1135696369601

I may just be drawing connections where none exist, but could the winding down of efforts in Iraq be a sign that a strike on Iran is coming since it would free up needed resource if a conflict with Iran were to begin?

Declassified KGB Report Claims UFOs Real

The alleged "Blue Folder" the KGB kept on UFOs has not only been declassified but the Russian Academy of Sciences considers it a credible phenomenon. Not only that, they are also very interested in further researching the phenomenon further. Does this make Russia the first government to openly acknowledge UFOs as real?

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IE screws up my PC, Firefox saves the day...

Thanks to new hardware for my computer that I got for Christmas I have been out of commission since then, so here is a late Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

If your wondering I got a new hard drive for my computer so I installed it. Well I got to the very last stage of getting all my software back on the computer and guess what? Internet Explorer failed me, I had a terrible malware attack that forced me to reinstall the entire system again. I had a lot to do and didn’t have time to do it again and I just now found the time and got it done.

Even though I had a terrible experience with Internet Explorer I am still an avid use and will continue to use Internet Explorer.

PS: I used Firefox the second time to get the software and this time everything went perfect, so I guess Firefox is the more secure browser in this situation.

Track Santa with Google Earth

Want to show your kids Santa's trip? Now you can with Google Earth.

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NBC buys controlling stake in MSNBC

NBC and Microsoft have begun parting ways, today they announced that Microsoft has sold part of its 50% stake in MSNBC giving up majority control to NBC. The two have had a troubled relationship since the birth of the news channel. MSNBC has consistently fallen in last place in the cable news wars, but has recently been making gains, even beating Fox News and CNN on several occasions in recent days. Microsoft will retain control of MSNBC.com, the #1 news website on internet. The deal also allows NBC to buyout all of Microsoft’s share in MSNBC in 2007. There is no word yet on if any major changes will be made to the network now that Microsoft is basically out of the picture.

Microsoft and NBC both affirmed that they were committed to the online counterpart of the cable network, MSNBC.com.

I personally love MSNBC and I seem to be one of the few people who actually watch the network. I think they provide the best news coverage available. They do seem to be lacking the primetime powerhouse schedule that CNN and Fox News both have, but they are making progress.

http://nbcumv.com/release_detail.nbc/corporate-20051223000000-nbcuandmicrosoft.html

Google sells its soul for AOL

The nightmare of geeks everywhere has come true; the company that was thought to be the world’s saving grace has turned on us. Google is evil. They have joined the ranks of Microsoft as one of the evil corporations that control the world. They have sold the user out in favor of money. They have become evil. Simply put Google is now officially evil.

Now that my evil ranting has gotten out of my system lets get down to the facts. Google has spent $1 Billion ($1,000,000,000= the price Google put on what’s good for its users, sorry I had to throw one more evil rant in) to buy a 5% stake in AOL from Time-Warner. With that they have limited majority control of AOL, ownership of the AOL Search business, and a say in any additional selling of AOL, along with other perks.

What Google also gave up in return for AOL deals with search results from Google. In the past Google has solely relied on PageRank technology for its results, but now they will feature AOL-sponsored search results on the main page. That’s right it sounds like you can now buy your PageRank from Google/AOL. In addition to Search, AOL and Google will also link up their IM networks so GoogleTalk users will now be able to communicate with AIM/AOL users. There are more details to the deal that will come out and I will be sure to keep you updated.

Hopefully I’m getting riled up over nothing. But it seems to me that Google has sold out to try and hurt Microsoft. In doing so they have become what they once hated. It seems making money is the most important thing to Google now. I guess the “do no evil” motto that they once used is no longer valid. I was pulling for Microsoft in the battle for AOL, but sadly it seems I lost.


Update (12/20/05-10:03PM)

The AOL, Inc. Press Release, http://www.corp.aol.com/press/release/122005.shtml

Some details of the deal:
-Creating an AOL Marketplace through white labeling of Google's advertising technology- enabling AOL to sell search advertising directly to advertisers on AOL-owned properties;
-Expanding display advertising throughout the Google network;
-Making AOL content more accessible to Google Web crawlers;
-Collaborating in video search and showcasing AOL's premium video service within Google Video;
-Enabling Google Talk and AIM instant messaging users to communicate with each other, provided certain conditions are met; and
-Providing AOL marketing credits for its Internet properties.

Bush Authorized Domestic Spying

Apparently it got out that the US has been using “domestic spying” to gain intelligence to stop the next terrorist attack and Bush says that now that this is out in the open.

“This is a highly classified program that is crucial to our national security. Its purpose is to detect and prevent terrorist attacks against the United States, our friends and allies. Yesterday the existence of this secret program was revealed in media reports, after being improperly provided to news organizations. As a result, our enemies have learned information they should not have, and the unauthorized disclosure of this effort damages our national security and puts our citizens at risk. Revealing classified information is illegal, alerts our enemies, and endangers our country.”

The truth is we are at war, and in times of war things have to be done that normally would not be allowed. Take the camps that were built during WWII for Japanese-Americans, the Supreme Court ruled that they were constitutional even though they were in no way constitutional or right. The benefits of these camps, if any, may not be appreciated like they should be. Yes, they were wrong but does that mean that they didn’t save any American life? We will never know because we had them, but we will also never know what would have happened without them. In this case the wire-taps may not be right but in times of war the right thing to do is not always the right thing to do.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/16/AR2005121600021.html

Missed me?

Well I’ve not been near a PC, TV, or anyway of contact with the news outside my immediate area for the past few days and that’s why there have been no post. As a result I’m a little out of the loop and have some catching up to do. So I may not be able to comment on some things that I would like.

Build your own Google homepage with API

As a bit of an update to the post I did yesterday on Goowy, Google has released an API for its Google IG allowing developers to create widgets for its homepage.

Google has already made a few widgets of their own including one called “Eyes”, which follows you around as you move in the web page. They also already have a game, integration with Google maps, the ability to change the Google logo, and some others on the way.

If you want to check out the Google homepage with widgets just head on over here.

The future of the web is here, Goowy Desktop

Goowy Desktop is a flash based widget desktop application that can either be downloaded or run within your browser. It has some very neat widgets and in its infancy it seems like it is, and could become, a very powerful tool. It has integration with several elements of Web 2.0 including an RSS reader, search engine, and useful widgets that are very common with the other widget engines like a stock reader.

It’s very similar to Konfabulator except that it is web based and has included with your account 2GB of email storage (*@goowy.com). The email application is very bare but is still a very featured application that looks similar to what MSN and Yahoo are doing with there email services. The application also supports POP3 so you can use your existing email account with the service.

What they are doing here is a very exciting service. Everyone from Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, to ,well, Goowy are entering this business and I hope the market does not become too crowded. I’ve used several of the services that are already out there and I have to say this one seems to be ahead of the competition. So simply put, the other guys need to catch up. Good job Goowy, keep up the good work and make this product even better!

Goowy Desktop

Study: Abortion leads to mental problems

According to this study, the abortion of a child can lead to mental illness in the woman who has had the abortion.

It also has this interesting fact:

According to the U.S. abortion statistics, a total of 857,475 legal induced abortions or about 250 abortions per 1000 live births were reported to the CDC in 2000 from 49 reporting areas.

http://www.foodconsumer.org/777/8/Abortion_induces_long_term_mental_distress.shtml

Bush's Ratings Rise to Highest Level in Months

He’s coming back! President Bush’s approval ratings are climbing for the first time in months now. He now has an approval rating of 42%, up from 37% in November. The upswing in his ratings are probably due to lower gas prices, an improving and bustling economy, and the settling of the dust from the scandals that his administration has faced.

If this continues the second term of the Bush presidency may be able to turn around and fulfill some of the promises he was elected on. I foresee that if this continues that the GOP will gain seats in the upcoming elections.

Wikipedia, can it be trusted?

Last week Wikipedia, the encyclopedia anyone can edit, got into a bit of trouble. They had two examples of abusing the system. If you’re not familiar with the system basically it’s an encyclopedia of pure user submitted content that anyone can add, change, or remove.

I have to say I am a big fan of Wikipedia and I rely on it a lot when I am doing research on almost everything. It is a huge database where nearly everything that could be covered is covered. But with what happened last week I am begging to doubt my trust in an open-source encyclopedia.

The founder of Wikipedia has announced that beginning tomorrow you will be required to log-in to the site before you can edit. All changes that are made will be tracked, so anonymous changes will no longer be allowed. But this only applies to creating new pages; existing pages can still be edited anonymously. So to me this does not fix the problem, it only puts a band-aid on a deadly wound that could kill the encyclopedia.

Wikipedia needs to make all changes (whether it be creating new pages or editing an existing one) require you to be registered with the site. They need an extensive system that will prevent users from abusing the open policy of the site. I’m not sure of what this system would entail but I’m thinking about it. I hope Wikipedia can fix the problems in its system before people begin to loose their trust in the idea and effectively kill the product.

The War on Christmas

I am going to begin reading The War on Christmas by John Gibson. I have seen it mentioned so often lately I figured it might be worth reading. I do tend to think that Christmas is being erased out of the public eye, but we will see what I think after I read this book. If you are interested in reading this title if can be found on Amazon.

Merry Christmas!

Post #1, can it get any better

This is the first post here on my new Mooba blog. Mooba is a replacement of the old a100wwe's blog that I started back in April of 04' on tBlog.com, then moved to Blogger in January of 05', and now replaced with this blog, Mooba.

If your wondering about the name, Mooba is a combination of two animal sounds. "moo" from a cow and "ba" from a sheep. That way your forced to moo everytime you say the name of the blog.

I hope to not let this blog almost die due to inactivity like my last blog, but we'll see! I will try not to let that happen, I have a few ideas I'm going to try that will hopefully keep that from happening again.

Also, Mooba will my XBOX LIVE gamertag as soon as I get an XBOX 360.