Print - WinInfo Short Takes: Week of July 4

An often irreverent--and yet totally patriotic--look at some of the week's other news, including summer plans, Longhorn's Project M, Longhorn Beta 1 in July, Longhorn RSS, Microsoft and Intel antitrust stuff, Tablet PC success, and so much more...

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Despite the fact that I've been traveling for years and often spend weeks at a time away from my family, I don't travel well. I came back from Seattle feeling groggy and tired, and this past week has been a disaster of late mornings and missed deadlines. I'm finally starting to catch up: My Microsoft Digital Image Suite 2006 review and the Longhorn Really Simple Syndication (RSS) showcase are up on the SuperSite for Windows, and my most recent article--a 10,000 word discussion of the Xbox 360--will be available soon. It's already written, but I need to finish some fact checking. If part one isn't finished today, I'll post it on Tuesday (because Monday is a holiday). If you're even remotely interested in video gaming, I can pretty much guarantee you're going to want to read this article.

This weekend marks the official start of my summer schedule, which will last through August, barring any unforeseen business travel. I'll work mornings and early afternoons, then head to the beach with my family for the rest of the day. We do this every day unless the weather is lousy, so if I seem to be offline during the afternoons, that's why.

One exception to this schedule will be our family vacation in July. This year we're going to Quebec City, Quebec. It's supposed to be more French than France, which sounds great to me. I've been to Montreal but this will be my first time in Quebec City. If anyone has recommendations about what to do and see, I'm listening.

This year's summer movies have mostly underwhelmed me. Aside from "Star Wars Episode III," which was everything it needed to be, the rest of the summer blockbusters have been lukewarm at best. "Batman Begins" is no better than Tim Burton's Batman and unnecessarily treads over the same tired Batman story we already know too well. And "Land of the Dead," George Romero's curiously well-reviewed zombie movie, didn't even rise to the level of last year's "Dawn of the Dead" remake (which was quite good). It seems like reviewers felt guilty about trashing Romero for so long so they made up for it with good reviews of a clunker. I have high hopes for "War of the Worlds," having just reread (the excellent and highly recommended) HG Wells book. If this movie stinks, I give up.

Finally, I need to find a new email-hosting solution for my thurrott.com email account. If you have any thoughts about that, please let me know.

Short Takes

Exclusive: Has Microsoft Found a New Longhorn Shell in Project M?
Sources close to Microsoft told me this week that the software giant has started a mysterious new software project called Project M, which might be a replacement for the Windows shell in Longhorn. Heading Project M is none other than Hillel Cooperman, the user experience guru who presented Longhorn's UI ideas to developers at the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference (PDC) in October 2003. Cooperman reports directly to Chris Jones, who recently returned to the Windows client team. Jones, in turn, reports directly to Will Poole, senior vice president of Windows Client Business. Project M is described internally only as Windows "shell enhancements," a mysteriously vague description. The project is secret even to most people at Microsoft and won't likely be added to Longhorn until the beta 2 or even the Release Candidate 0 (RC0) release. One source theorized that Project M is to Longhorn as Luna was to Windows XP: Early XP (then known as Whistler) betas used a UI called Watercolor that Microsoft eventually dropped. The UI in today's Longhorn builds, which we'll soon see in beta 1, could likewise be pushed aside for something more visually impressive.

Longhorn Beta 1: Late July
As for Longhorn Beta 1, that milestone release is still on track for "this summer," although Microsoft officially missed the original internal release date of June 30. My sources say that Microsoft now plans to ship Longhorn Beta 1 in late July. The beta 2 release is still scheduled for November. Internally, most Longhorn product groups have already shipped their beta 1 code to the Windows team, and Microsoft is now prepping various 5200-series builds (post-beta 1) for internal rollout and testing. My sources describe Longhorn Beta 1 as one of the most stable beta 1 OS releases in Microsoft history, although it will lack most of the UI niceties the company plans for future releases. Beta 2, I'm told, is going to be "incredible" and "far more impressive than people now realize." We shall see.

Longhorn RSS Is Cute, But What About Security?
OK, so Microsoft announced that it's adding pervasive Really Simple Syndication (RSS) support to Longhorn. Great. But what about the security ramifications of this move? Surely, Microsoft has thought through this issue, right? Actually, the company has. At PDC 2005 in Los Angeles this September, Microsoft will host several sessions about RSS security in Longhorn. Here's the problem: Because Windows is so widely used, security experts expect hackers to try to embed Windows-based attacks inside RSS feeds. That's the difference between a niche technology (RSS today) and one that's part of the Windows OS.

Microsoft Pays IBM $775 Million in Antitrust Settlement
This morning, Microsoft and IBM announced that they have settled IBM's antitrust claims against the software giant to the tune of a cool $775 million. Like so many of the company's antitrust cases, the IBM suit arose in the wake of Microsoft's US antitrust trial, in which it was documented that Microsoft punished IBM with discriminatory Windows pricing and availability because IBM bundled its own Lotus SmartSuite, not Microsoft Office, with its PCs in the mid-1990s. I think that $775 million should be enough money to help fund a companywide move from Windows desktops to Linux desktops. Novell did it. Why not IBM?

GO Files Antitrust Suit Against Microsoft
And speaking of Microsoft antitrust suits, the founder of GO, a company that tried to innovate with pen-based computing in the early 1990s but was shut out of the market when Microsoft preemptively announced a pen-based Windows product, has filed an antitrust suit against Microsoft. S. Jerrold Kaplan, former GO CEO, says that GO was forced out of business in 1994 when Microsoft perceived GO's OS, PenPoint, as a threat to Windows. Everyone pretty much knew why GO failed, but apparently new evidence has surfaced that Microsoft announced a pen-based version of Windows that didn't exist at the time and wouldn't for years, so the suit is on. Microsoft, characteristically, handled the news with its usual kid gloves. "These claims date back nearly 20 years," a Microsoft spokesperson said. "They were baseless then, and they are baseless now." But here's my favorite part: "Handwriting recognition had severe limitations in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and no company that attempted pen computers was successful." Ah, so that's all it was. I thought Microsoft's vaporware pre-announcement of Pen Windows, which caused support for GO to dry up, was the reason GO failed. My bad.

Microsoft in Talks to Buy Adware Maker
Big Brother, anyone? What would you say if I told you that Microsoft is considering buying the leading purveyor of unwanted adware? Would you assume it's a joke? Would you try to defend Microsoft, assuming that maybe, just maybe, the company plans to shut down the adware company and give the Internet a big fat gift in the process? Nope, that's not the plan. Microsoft revealed this week that it's considering buying Claria, the company formally known as Gator. Microsoft wants Claria for its people-tracking technology. Yes, seriously. To be fair, some Microsoft insiders think that the Claria purchase will give the company (Microsoft, not Claria) a black eye. I give them credit for that realization. But if you read about anyone outside of Microsoft trying to defend this deal, well ... that person is troubled. No good can come of this.

Windows XP Starter Edition Heads to Cancun for the Summer
Where does XP spend its summer? In Mexico, of course. This week, Microsoft Mexico launched the first Spanish version of XP Starter Edition, which is either the savior of computing in underdeveloped countries or a bald attempt to steal Linux's thunder, depending on whom you ask.

Intel Rejects AMD Accusations
You might recall that earlier this week AMD filed an antitrust lawsuit against Intel. Not surprisingly, Intel isn't happy. In a statement, the company noted that it "strongly disagrees" with AMD's accusations, which is the professional way of saying that Intel CEO Paul S. Otellini is probably pacing Intel's corridors this week like a caged beast. For the record, Intel believes that it's competing fairly and that AMD's case is "full of excuses," whatever that means. I have to be honest. I have a morbid curiosity when it comes to corporate lawsuits. They always remind me of the scene in the original 1933 version of "King Kong" when Kong and that dinosaur menacingly circled each other in staggering stop-motion.

BT and Microsoft Sign Deal for TV Over Broadband in UK
This week, BT, the UK's largest telecommunications company, selected Microsoft TV IPTV Edition software as the platform for its broadband TV efforts in the UK, which is that little slice of Europe that still refuses to move to the Euro. BT will begin an Internet protocol television (IPTV) trial in early 2006 and expects to deliver the service to consumers in mid-2006. Microsoft's TV efforts have been marred by low market penetration and an almost complete lack of interest from established infrastructure companies. They remind me of the company's smart phone efforts.

Gates Continues to Apologize for the Tablet PC
And speaking of the technology that God forgot, Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates said this week that he still believes in the Tablet PC. Despite slow sales of the devices--just 640,000, or about 1 percent of the portable computer market, were sold in 2004--Gates believes that the form factor will eventually take off. To be fair, he might have a point. Tablet PC sales are expected to exceed 1 million units in 2005, and IDC says that Tablet PC sales could hit almost 5 million units in 2007 and 9.7 million units in 2008. The key to this success is Longhorn, which will include numerous Tablet PC enhancements. You know ... if it ever ships.

No WinInfo on Monday
Because of the Independence Day holiday in the United States, we won't publish WinInfo Daily UPDATE on Monday. Have a great long weekend!

The Longhorn Team is definitely on a role. 5200 series it very far, so its possible that the OS will make it into the 6000 series by RTM.

Cant wait for Longhorn Beta 1! I dont use RSS, no one I know uses RSS and hardly of the sites I go to have RSS feeds. When I go online with IE I want to see websites, if I wanted text only I'd find a way to read sites in DOS. And Microsoft settled an antitrust suit brought on by a larger monopoly? I just find that funny that Monopoly A filed suit against Monopoly B and that Monopoly A is actually getting money. I wonder what Microsoft's plans for Claria are, I dont see them making any more friends if they start making their own adware, but if it's for advertising for MSN so they can keep up with the targeted stuff Google does then I can understand, but it'd be cheaper in my opinion if they just developed it all in house instead of buying someone out.

"Certainly don't insult the limeys, they're very sensitive. " Their just like the French.

i'm starting to see more and more people using tablet pcs. they like how it can be a laptop or a simple little flat notebook that they can write on. itd be nice if all laptops would start taking on the tablet look. as for the adware, what is m$ smoking? i hated gator when they installed on my computer without me knowing, and i still hate it after getting rid of it. you mean longwait might just happen to make it out to rtm by 2006?!?! i wonder if project m is the avalon everyone's been waiting to see that microsoft "spent millions on r&d on". if so, theyve been lying like sh** to inveestors.

Just like the French? If it wasn't for the UK, America might be speaking French today! Trust me, you owe us for that - BIG TIME!!! Paul - Please don't interchange England with the UK or Britain. England are only one country within it.

Paul An update on the MS anti-spyware beta on your site in view of it's latest beat refresh would be great. Your information on your Supersite was last updated in Feb. Any chance of any updates soon? By the way - your newsletter and supersite are both excellent.

"Sorry for the England bit, it was in bad tase. - Paul Thurrot " If you are "the" Paul Thurrot, why would you post as annonymous?

Wow, what depressing news for Microsoft enthusiasts. It's bad enough your operating system is a complete shamble of registry entries, leftover files, and crashing bugs. Now Microsoft is missing its own deadlines and shipping Tablet PCs nobody wants. Ouch. No wonder Apple sales are skyrocketing. Who's going to buy a Dell when you can get an Intel-based Powerbook next year that will run Linux, Windows, and OS X all on one machine? Face it, guys. Steve Jobs finally trumped your beloved Bill Gates.

"Podcasting, like blogging, is totally over-rated. No one cares what you think, and they surely don't want to listen to your opinions on their iPods. This is a niche of a niche, and hardly worth mentioning." HAHAHAHA...better tell Apple and their million new podcast subscribers! You sound like Bill Gates, Paul. He thought the Internet was a "fad" too.

"Microsoft this week revealed that it was considering buying Claria, the company formally known as Gator." HAHAHA!!! Typical M$ move, why ship a clean version of Longhorn that eventually gets laden with ad/spy-ware when M$ could just load the OS up w/gator ad/spy-ware from the factory!!! Another typical Micro$oft innovation!!!

"The fact that MS is even thinking about buying Gator says volumes about MS." It speaks that Microosft cares about its customers. If microsoft is willing to buy an adware company, unless microosft wants to load our computers with ads, theyre going to close it down

MS buying Claria is going to happen so MS can take their tech for targeted ads on MSN, it's the samething Yahoo and Google does with targeted ads when you visit sites. They aren't going to fill Windows with adware and so on. The new Project M info is interesting though, I wonder what they will do.

"The Longhorn Team is definitely on a role. 5200 series it very far, so its possible that the OS will make it into the 6000 series by RTM. " The word you want is "roll", you illiterate CRAPPLE moron! As for Longhorn, it can come out anytime it wants, and it will still sell more in just one month, than all the Mac OS sales for the past 2 years, just like Windows 95 clobbered Mac OS, even after massive delays. Sorry to burst your CRAPPLE bubble, but you guys simply don't count.

"HOW MICROSOFT WILL DIE: http://tinyurl.com/dqfdh" Coming from an apple site. The .NET framework hasn't been cut from longhorn. YOU don't know what you're talking about, nor does the person who wrote that. Hell, there's support for the .NET framework (versions 1.0 and 1.1) in Windows 98.

"Sorry for the England bit, it was in bad tase. - Paul Thurrot" If you are "the" Paul Thurrott, why would you spell your name wrong?

"Just like the French? If it wasn't for the UK, America might be speaking French today! Trust me, you owe us for that - BIG TIME!!! " Hey, dufus, whatever you are smoking, give it up, ok? Its screwing with your stupid British head. And go read some history while you are about it, fool, and stop living in dreamland! In real life, America kicked your ugly English butts over and over and over again in many wars we fought to shake off the arrogant English imperialists, starting with the War of Independence, where a certain General called George Washington proceeded to give the English Redcoats an *** whupping. Remember the Boston Tea Party, clown? The only "if it were not for the UK " I can think of is, if it were not for the UK, America will be even more powerful than they already are now. That's about it. BTW,.when are you clowns going to pay us off all the vast monies we loaned you suckers during WW II. This was in addition to all the fee weapons, food, arms, equipment, ships, etc etc that we gave you clowns.

BRAIN DEAD CRAPPLE MORON :"HOW MICROSOFT WILL DIE: " Real Life : Microsoft 90%+ OS share, CRAPPLE 2.3% OS share. Microsoft; more profits than any tech company on the entire planet. Dream on CRAPPLE moron. But this just happens to be real life. Microsoft rules!:)

I hope to see more tablet sales. I personally use a Gateway M275 and it is the greatest thing on earth. I will NEVER, repeat NEVER go back to a standard notebook. The ease of note taking alone is worth it. The only thing that I think really needs to be done to help Tablet PC sales is lower hardware price. I admit, the cost is steep. Maybe another idea would be a loan program, sort of like a test drive. I promise you, once you get used to using a tablet as a notebook, you'll love it. I have yet to meet anyone who didn't love theirs. My only regret is I may be using this one for a while so I won’t get any of the new Longhorn based hardware improvements like the external screen. Microsoft buying a spyware company is a good thing! Really! No, really... yeah, didn't think anyone would buy that. They will probably use it for MSN based ads, maybe even build it straight into IE7. Maybe they are also looking into it in order to track their software better to prevent piracy. Just remember, boys and girls, even if they shut it down, the people they shut down will get new jobs at other spyware companies. Project M... They still don't know what the hell they want tot do for a UI? Years in production, promising that the best feature is going to be the new UI and they still don't know what the darn new UI is going to be? Great... In case anyone wanted to know what to get me for Christmas, I'd like a copy of Longhorn Beta 1. Be careful though, it might not be out by then. Oh, and by the way, when you are trying to impersonate someone and their name is written at the top of the page, use that as a reference to your spelling.

Clueless CRAPPLE dreamer : "Ouch. No wonder Apple sales are skyrocketing. " Okey dokey. CRAPPLE sales skyrocketed alright, rriiiiight up to..wait for it...an underwhelming 2.3% world market share! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! CRAPPLE psychopath : "Who's going to buy a Dell when you can get an Intel-based Powerbook next year that will run Linux, Windows, and OS X all on one machine? " The same people who are buying Windows powered Dells today, when they can ALREADY get Intel based computers that can run Windows, Linux and OSX through emulation if they actually needed that useless OS. All that stuff has been available for ages. Hasn't made much difference to CRAPPLE or Linux share on the desktop. If anything Linux share on the desktop just dropped. CRAPPLE couldn't even compete with Power Computing CRAPPLE clones, how do you propose to compete with the super efficient Dell? LMAO!! CRAPPLE idiot : "Face it, guys. Steve Jobs finally trumped your beloved Bill Gates. " Steve Jobs never won a single war with Bill Gates in his life. That is why Microsoft is making more profits now than CRAPPLE has sales. Which is staggering when you remember that CRAPPLE USED to make more sales than Microsoft.

Hey Mr Crapple, Mac computers have an installed user base of %16, check your facts, then go back to drinking your KOOL-AID and playing the Sims 2 on your $10 dell PeeCee thats teeming with ad/spy-ware viruses, worms and trojans!!! Don't forget the next "patch tuesday" is just around the corner so better get rid of some of those warez torrents your seeding!!!! "Longhorn is a TRAIN-WRECK" - Paul Thurrot

CRAPPLE IDIOT :"Mac computers have an installed user base of %16," CRAPPLE market share TODAY is 2.3%..and that is even higher than last year and the year before. Hint: We are not counting 20 year old CRAPPLE machines are are propping up the wall in the basement or being used as bread toasters. We are counting machines sold in the past 5 years, when CRAPPLE's share has never gone higher than 2.5% in any year. Bottom Line: CRAPPLE share IS 2.3% You are irrelevant! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

the only source that says 16 percent is mac daily. What a coincidence. Every other source points under 4 percent.

I use a tablet PC and it has it's place. The handwriting recognition is quite good, actually. I use the Toshiba R15 with the rotating display, so it's a laptop/table combo - very effective!

The instant that Apple releases a Tablet-form Mac, I'll be the first in line to pick it up. Some of the Tablet PCs are quite nice. Unfortunately, they all run Windows.

"Gates believes that the form factor will eventually take off. To be fair, he might have a point." Oh, he does...but he covers it up with that bad haircut. =:-)

CRAPPLE IDIOT : "Hey Mr Crapple, Mac computers have an installed user base of %16, check " CRAPPLE can't have installed base of 16% when they have had less than 2.5% share in the past 5 years. 5 years is considered the normal life span of a useful computer. Even if you stretch it to 7 years, CRAPPLE is still in the 2. something percent share neighborhood. Again, we are not counting all those 20 year old CRAPPLE machines, being used as bread toasters, from when CRAPPLE USED to have 25% share. Get it, moron?

"the only source that says 16 percent is mac daily. What a coincidence. Every other source points under 4 percent. " You are exactly right. Its impossible for CRAPPLE to have installed base of 16%, when CRAPPLE has had less than 2.5% worldwide share in the past 5 years, using 5 years as the normal life span of a very useful computer. Those guys on that CRAPPLE site that came up with those fictitious CRAPPLE figures are smoking crack. :)

If you Windoze Sheep could get your noses out of Bill Gates' a s s for more than 10 seconds and learn to read, you'd see that it's not some Mac Zealot Website that came up with the "16% installed base" number. Read 'em and weep: "According to a statement released earlier this year, Apple Computer reported their 2005 first quarterly revenue and net income as the highest in the history of their company, with 74% revenue growth. Apple shipped 1,046,000 Macintosh units during this quarter, representing a 26% increase in CPU units over the year-ago quarter. According to US News and World Report, Macintosh owners buy 30% more software than their Windows counterparts. Further, Macintosh software comprises over 18% of all software sold, according to the Software and Information Industry Association. In addition, the Software Publishers Association (SPA) estimates that 16 percent of computer users are on Macs." Get it? THE SOFTWARE PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION said that. Not some Mac pundit. When you subtract all the Windows licenses that run cash registers, industrial machines, etc., I'm not surprised. There are a lot of "PCs" and Windows licenses that don't translate to a desktop machine. Anyway...that's the real story. Not that you'll hear it from Thurrott.

CRAPPLE IDIOT :"Get it? THE SOFTWARE PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION said that. Not some Mac pundit. " Is this the same Software Publishers Association that joined up with the CCIA (Computer and Communications Industry Association) and viciously went after Microsoft in the anti-trust case, and that up to today has bared their ugly teeth in the Microsoft EU anti-trust case, and are hell bent on destroying Microsoft? The same group that has continued to lie, slander and attack Microsoft every chance they get? When did these clowns start telling the truth? Give me figures from IDC, Dataquest telling me CRAPPLE has 16 % share if you can. FACT: BOTH IDC AND Dataquest are unambiguous : CRAPPLE HAS 2.3% MARKET SHARE TODAY! End of story. Meanwhile, explain to me how a company can have less than 2.5% share of the past 5 years, and end up MIRACULOUSLY having 16 % installed base, if you can, will you? BTW,you can leave out the old rotting museum piece CRAPPLE machines from 20 years ago, ok? I keep telling ya, you gotta stop smoking that crack , dude!

"The UI in today's Longhorn builds, which we'll soon see in beta 1, could likewise be pushed aside for something more visually impressive." Ah yes,.. priorities.. A new theme for a non existent OS.. OOH BOY!

You wrote -> "Finally, I need to find a new email-hosting solution for my thurrott.com email account. If you have any thoughts about that, please let me know." Check out my company's email hosting services at http://www.webmail.us. We are designed for small businesses but at $60 annually for the minimum of five mailboxes we pick up many family domains as well. And you might be impressed that we have embraced the blog movement and will be incorporating a blog reader in our webmail interface within the next two weeks as well as the ability to pull blog posts down as emails using any POP or IMAP compliant email client. Check out our CEO's blog to get a taste of our corporate culture. He even posted just today about RSS and Longhorn. http://patmatthews.typepad.com/ Regards, Trevor Winters Business Development

CRAPPLE NUT : "THE SOFTWARE PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION said that. Not some Mac pundit" More about the evil, anti-Microsoft Software Publishers Association : "Particularly troubling is the timing of your 'white paper,' which seems to coincide with Sun Microsystems' admission as a member of the SPA," Microsoft executive vice president and chief operating officer Bob Herbold wrote in a letter addressed to the SPA. "It is a disservice to the SPA membership that you would consider publishing such a partisan and one-sided document in their name." In January, Sun became a member of the SPA for the first time, paying the trade group $100,000 per year in dues. The SPA's board, which today approved the release of the white paper, is made up of a number of Microsoft opponents, including Oracle vice president and general counsel Dan Cooperman and Netscape general counsel Roberta Katz. "Windows NT has enjoyed great success because it offers the price and performance our customers demand," Herbold continued. "Our competitors' business model has been and remains one of low volumes and high prices, and it is only natural they would do everything possible to unfairly discredit our efforts on behalf of consumers. Herbold's comments were echoed by Jonathan Zuck, executive director of the Association for Competitive Technology, an organization made up of Microsoft partners who support the company in its antitrust dispute with the Justice Department. "I'm not going to cry a river for having to spend $30,000 to buy a system from Sun when I can spend a third" of that on a comparable system that runs NT, Zuck said. He called the white paper a "desperate attempt on the part of the SPA to gain the favor of a minority in the industry." " http://news.com.com/SPA+warns+of+NT+threat/2100-1001_3-212513.html

Microsoft may have preannounced "Windows for Pen Computing", but they did release it. Version 1.0a can be found with a quick search for the product name. This version was so successful, we are of course all using styluses with our computers today. Er... No. GO died - as did 'Windows for Pen Computing' - because there was no demand for pen-based desktop computing then. An OS incompatible with software written for the then dominant DOS and Windows 3.1 was even less likely to succeed than Microsoft's version.

Micros$oft Crazy: "Bottom Line: CRAPPLE share IS 2.3% You are irrelevant!" If Apple is irrelevant why do you spend 100% of your time bashing Apple?! Scared? Jealous? Or Both?!!

In real life, America kicked your ugly English butts over and over and over again in many wars we fought to shake off the arrogant English imperialists, starting with the War of Independence, where a certain General called George Washington proceeded to give the English Redcoats an *** whupping. Remember the Boston Tea Party, clown? The only "if it were not for the UK " I can think of is, if it were not for the UK, America will be even more powerful than they already are now. That's about it. BTW,.when are you clowns going to pay us off all the vast monies we loaned you suckers during WW II. This was in addition to all the fee weapons, food, arms, equipment, ships, etc etc that we gave you clowns. OK let's set the record straight mofo. if it weren't for ENGLAND America would not have had all the SLAVE LABOR that was imported via ENGLISH ships - consequently it was these slaves who built America. Only difference is we stopped supplying them when it became unfashionable unlike yankee doodle dandee who decides he's gonna prance round in a KKK outfit for another 60-ish years. Next - the only reason USA retaliated all those years ago and the reason your 2nd ammendment exists was because England was sucking the life blood out of US "no taxation without representation" etc and finally the US were MERCENARIES in WW2, you think your goverment gave us all that stuff for $0? do you know how many nice (former English) little islands (worth $billions today) the US "obtained" from THAT transaction, do you know how much was paid for those soldiers/weapons etc outta english money ***hole? do ya? far more than we got back in Marshall aid afterwards, numbnuts. suffice to say as far as i can see financially we're all square esp. since we ploughed all that money into your little dispute with saddam - and what a waste of time that was! dont start on me buddy cos i know my history a lot better than someone who was dragged up through the American education syste

For the dumb American who started this argument. Firstly, here in Britain we are educated and have manners. If you are going to reply, try and be factual, write in sentences and have some rational about your arguments. One of the reasons we are respected throughout the world is that we are respectful and tolerant (even of French and Americans), as opposed to Americans who are (like the French) ... well, not. Secondly, I'm Scottish, not English. That's from Scotland, not England. Both are parts of Britain. Slow me down if I'm going too fast for you. By the way, Britain is one of those brown/green things amongst the bluse stuff in your atlas. Hopeless, obviously lost you on that one ... And as for "America will be even more powerful than they already are now". You mean, even more powerful than they were in Vietnam and Iraq? And as for "when are you clowns going to pay us" - well, as we're all going to pay for Iraq for generations. So whatever we could have possibly owed you, how about we call it quits? As for "if it were not for the UK, America will be even more powerful than they already are now". Only your slack jaw redneck pea brain knows what that's about. Hey, I jsut thought of another oxymoron (no, no ointment for acne). You know oxymoron, like French reisistance. C'est va? Another oxymoron - American intelligence.

Man, this is NOT the place to argue politics. Go to irc.voidzero.com, #politics. :P But since you stated your opinion, i'll bite back. "if it weren't for ENGLAND America would not have had all the SLAVE LABOR" That's not a good thing, you're not helping yourself. "consequently it was these slaves who built America." They may have helped build the south, but slaves weren't really all that needed. People have farmed for ages, and could do so without slaves. "Only difference is we stopped supplying them when it became unfashionable" The fact you did it to begin with. Just because it's popular makes it right? You have blood on your hands too. "the US were MERCENARIES in WW2" Of course they were, Japan NEVER destroyed pearl harbor. It's all a "conspiracy". Why don't you walk up to some WW2 vets here and say that to their face :P. Man, even though they're getting old, you might get your *** kicked. "dragged up through the American education syste" Yeah, that horrible American education system never has provided anyone that did anything great for our society, oh wait... AND NOW THE OTHER PERSON "America kicked your ugly English butts over and over ..." I understand you didn't appreciate the british people being dicks to our country. I guess I don't get why the british guy over-reacted to what you said. Maybe Mr. Europe needs to quit being an arrogant idiot. Americans realize we've made mistakes in our past, how bout you guys?

And no, you don't need to bring up George Bush as an example of our education system. Schools teach people facts and give them skills for their later life. Schools seem to do little in the way of character (I don't ever remember sitting through a class with the purpose of teaching me not to lie or be corrupt).

"English imperialists" Funny. i guess the philipines weren't a US colony after all. I guess you Americans "liberated" them even though half their country was rebelling. You pity americans think you give everyone in the world so much aid. But with the aid comes political strings. You really think you invaded Iraq because you thought it was a threat? Against the most powerful military in the world? With fake evidence of WMD? And of course as America you have to pressure my country to get involved to. Dispicable. You Americans are so easily decieved by your own leaders.

British forces are in Iraq, for one. Secondly, why is it that you guys in 1776 wouldn't just leave us alone? You didn't really have much of a reason to attack us. Kind of parellel to the Iraq thing in ways I guess. Once again, you may step off your high horse. "Against the most powerful military in the world" Sounds like the british of the past. "You Americans are so easily decieved by your own leaders." I think bush won the conservative base, primarily because he's conservative. Abortion, gun rights, all the other crap people get into stupid arguments about. Perhaps if the young democrats in this country didn't go out of their way to act like dumbasses, we wouldn't have Bush right now.

An example of people acting like dumbasses: Nothing says "don't vote for me guy" more like celebrating when a president dies (People seemed so trilled that Reagan died. You disrepect others, don't expect them to respect you at the polls).

The WMD thing had more than just Americans decieved. Don't pretend it didn't :P.

"If Apple is irrelevant why do you spend 100% of your time bashing Apple?! Scared? Jealous? Or Both?!! " Scared of CRAPPLE, a mouse? You gotta be kidding. Listen good, I spend some time bashing CRAPPLE in reply to you, a CRAPPLE fanatic, taking up residence on a Windows site, for the sole purpose of spewing out anti-Windows garbage. So far as you continue to belch out anti-Windows rubbish, you will continue to get hammered with effective anti-CRAPPLE punches. Its that easy really.

"if it weren't for ENGLAND America would not have had all the SLAVE LABOR that was imported via ENGLISH ships - consequently it was these slaves who built America" So...the English bulldog comes out and belches out smoke about how the English practically invented, facilitated and carried out slavery in the colonialist era. Dude, if I were you, I wouldn't publicise that particular feat. BTW, America became a great country because of the hard work, ingenuity, creativeness and sheer guts of the American people. That is how we managed to have great companies like Intel , Microsoft , GM , Ford, 3M Boeing,etc etc. If slavery were the reason why countries become great, Britain and the Sudan would have been the greatest countries on the planet today. Britian is obviously not..and as for the Sudan... :) You gotta get off those meds, moron.

"Next - the only reason USA retaliated all those years ago and the reason your 2nd ammendment exists was because England was sucking the life blood out of US "no taxation without representation" etc" Ummm ...that is what I meant when I asked if you'd heard of the Boston Tea Party, moron. End result was we kicked the imperialist English suckers out of here. Get it?

"and finally the US were MERCENARIES in WW2, you think your goverment gave us all that stuff for $0?" Mercenary nothing! Dude, you are confused. Britain BEGGED America for years to come save your sorry English butts. By the time we came over, the Germans had driven the British out of continental Europe and most of North Africa. You guys were getting clobbered but good by the efficient German armies. Mercenaries? Nope. And army of tough, brave, well trained, well equipped American Army that came to save the pathetic, weasely British and trhe reast of Europe? YEAH! Now umm..abou the monies you owe is...we gave you losers plenty of free stuff, arms, ammunition, ships, planes,food, everything but the kitchen sink...but in addition to all that,we gave you money that was clearly marked as LOANS..you know..the money you are supposed to pay back? Well up totoday, you English suckers are yet to pay back our monies..so the question then arises..when are you English blood suckers gonna pay us back? There

"Firstly, here in Britain we are educated and have manners" You have manners in England? Don't make me laugh! You mean manners like the moronic, savage , uncivilized English football fans who charged Italian football fans in Heysel stadium and managed to kill so many Italian football fans? Now that is great English manners for you right there isn't it? Or manners like the English football fans who regularly trash every European capital the English football team happens to play in, including publicly urinating and passing excreta in the town centers? You guys are nothing less that wild animals. English manners ? You gotta be kidding!! I actually lived in England for some years. The English are the rudest, most stupid, most ignorant bunch of losers I ever came across in my entire life!!

"One of the reasons we are respected throughout the world is that we are respectful and tolerant (even of French and Americans), as opposed to Americans who are (like the French) ... well, not. " Is that right? Now forgive me if I burst your stupid bubble will you? But if the British are so respected, how come India waged a nasty , brutish war against the British so they could kick the bloody Brits out? Same thing with the Mau Mau in Kenya who fought viciously against the racist , arrogant British imperialists to kick them the hell out of their country. In fact every single country that the British lorded it over, including America, the citizens of that country rose up and kicked the hated British out. If you think that means they respect and like you you, then you are living on cloud cuckoo land! We haven't even talked about Apartheid South Africa and the crimes the British committed there against black Africans. Without the American congress passing tough sanctions against South Africa (something the British refused to do), we'll probably still be having Apertheid in South Africa today.

You know what... Apple should make something called an iCalc. Make a calculator to compete with the TI-83... Have it do everything the TI-83 does, but give it more RAM, and give it a pretty looking case. Oh, and charge 200 dollars for it. Oh, and have CalcCasting, where you can cast the answers/problem on your calculator to other people wirelessly.

Would that idea be "best-of-breed" innovative, make Apple leading the way while leaving Texa$ Instrument$ in the dust? Texa$ In$trument$ has a monopoly on the calculator business, but the DOJ won't do jack because George Bush (aka The Mother Of All Evil) won't let them. I HATE AMERIKKA. The TI-83 is a Trainwreck - Paul Phurrott

Update From iCalc OS I to iCalc OS II! Get the following features if you own a iCalc: Better Memory Managment. Extensions for iCalc iBasic. 3D Charts. MathLight(tm) Technology (Search for equations even faster!) Plus, you'll get this with an iCalc Pro: Screen will light up while active. Voice recognition. Built-in printing /w iCalcPrinter. More RAM. FireWire port for FireWire 1-Button Mice. A poster with the Apple logo on it.

"Secondly, I'm Scottish, not English. That's from Scotland, not England. Both are parts of Britain. Slow me down if I'm going too fast for you." Typical British arrogance and stupidity. Scottish huh? I have been to Glasgow, Scotland. Its full of a very high number of drunks and drug addicts. There wasn't a single evening I went out and didn't come across some Scottish git,completely blown out his mind with strong Scotish Wshisky or drugs and lying on the streets in an incoherent babble. This is the same Glasgow Scotland,that continues to vote for that drunkin git, George Galloway, a thief, a liar , a swindler , a guy who steals monye that is supposed to bring food to Iraqi children. Scotland eh? The drug and AIDS capital if Britian.

When will you Texa$ instrument$ FANGIRLZ learn?! The iCalc PRO has over 1 MILLION USERS! The TI-83 is a Trainwreck - Paul Phurrott

"You mean, even more powerful than they were in Vietnam and Iraq? " No. Even more powerful than we were when a bunch of American farmers kicked your sorry English butts in the war on Independence. As for Iraq, we were able to invade and conquer Iraq in the quickest and most impressive military voctory in history, with remarkably low casualities. In fact, up to today, America has taken far less casualities in Iraq than the Brotish took in just ONE day on July 1st 1916, the 1st day of the Battle of the Somme the blackest day in British military history where nearly 60,000 British casualties were sustained in the first hour and a half of the Battle. That battle raged on for five months from July 1st to November 25th during that time the British forces managed to advance no further than 12 kilometres sustaining 420,000 casualties. 420,000 British casualities in just 5 months, with the British advancing just 12kilometres!! Puts our 1,700 casualties for taking over a whole country in perspective , doesn't it?

NO YOU FOOL. BUSH HAS KILLED MORE PEOPLE THAN HITLER DID IN CONCENTRATION CAMPS OMG YOUR IGNORANT YOU WATCH FOX NEWS. YOU STUPID NUTS HAVE DOOMED OUR COUNTRY TO FAILURE. BUSH CAUSED 9/11 IT WAS A PLOT BY THE U.S. GOVT. HAVEN'T YOU EVER HEARD OF OPERATION NORTHWOODS I BET YOU HAVEN'T YOU UNEDUCATED SHILL. BUSH WILL CAUSE ANOTHER DISASTER TOO SO THE SHADOW GOVERNMENT CAN TAKE OVER AND CONVERT THE ENTIRE WORLD TO NEO-CONSERVATISM AHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!1111one!!111eleven.

"No. Even more powerful than we were when a bunch of American farmers kicked your sorry English butts in the war on Independence." Actually, that's not possible you insensitive clod. Farmers don't evolve into soldiers. Evolution doesn't exist. God created soldiers 6,000 years ago.

"NO YOU FOOL. BUSH HAS KILLED ...blah blah blah..""" Oh no!! They let the crazies out of the mad house without their meds again! Listen punk, I did warn ya about all those drugs you been taking. Now you have gone and lost what was left of your very tiny mind! Quick! Bring in the men in the white coats..with the strongest straightjacket they can get. We have a particularly psychotic lunatic one on the lose here.!

bet paul wishes he'd never started this... can we agree to disagree and wish you a happy july 4th? (in 2 days time obviously)

Paul, I live in Quebec City and I have a couple of things to suggest. Le Continental (near Chateau Frontenac)is by far the best restaurant in town. True French cuisine. The "Table d'hote" is nice, but go all the way and choose one of the house specials that is cooked and flambeed at your table. There is a distinct section for these on the menu. You will like a leisurely stroll on Terrasse Dufferin, in front of Chateau Frontenac The Montmorency Falls, 15 minutes to the East, are worth the trip. Take the aerial tram and go on the bridge atop the falls Enjoy your stay Bernard

Why we attacked? Obviously you declared independence. We were simply "preserving the union" as the north did during the civil war. And what gave you the right to invade Mexico and steal texas and california? What gave you the right to wipe out the entire Indian civilization? You Americans are to stupid to realize that your government is now controlled by ONE PARTY, thus there are no checks and balances.

btw bush is technically a war criminal as he issued an illegal war based on international laws. He also killed more Iraqis as a result of the so called "intelligence error" thus far than Saddam did.

"Obviously you declared independence. We were simply "preserving the union" as the north did during the civil war. " What union, dufus? Britain was an imperialistc, colonial power, out to plunder, and rape, there was no "union" to preserve. The evil British were merely doing what they have always done, try and oppress other people, and steal and rob them blind , like the British have done in ever single country the British colonised. You British are indeed a sorry group.

"And what gave you the right to invade Mexico and steal texas and california? " That is a bit rich coming from the incredibly stupid British. You suckers went to India, invaded and gabbed their lands, stole their minerals, went to Hong Kong, did the same thing, went to South African plundered massacred , raped the black people there, went to Kenya raped plundered slaughtered, went t Nigeria, did the same thing.. and it goes on and on and on and on. The British are more responsible for more massacres, more stealing of other people's lands, more plundering, more evil over the past 500 years then anyone else in history. Whatever america may or may not have done. pales into insignificance compared the the viciousness and the sheer bloodiness of the super evil British!! BTW, Mexico itself was invaded and colonized by the nasty Spanish invaders, who proceeded to commit the most horrendous slaughter of the Aztecs. Mexico did NOT start off belonging the the Spaniards. America had every bit as much rights to own California as a bunch of Spanish conquistadores, and California today is far far more advanced, prosperous and a far better place e to live in than Mexico is, with world dominant companies like Intel and Oracle being founded and run there. Where are the Mexican equivalents of these hi tech companies?

"What gave you the right to wipe out the entire Indian civilization? " Wipe out? Those Indians who are running the very rich, prosperous Indian casinos in so many states here will be very surprised to know that they have been "wiped" out and don't exist anymore. Meanwhile, explain to me what gave you stupid, British the right to go to Zimbabwe, South Africa and countless other countries and massacre millions of black people, brown people and every manner of people there, will you?

"You Americans are to stupid to realize that your government is now controlled by ONE PARTY, thus there are no checks and balances. " You are a buffon and an idiot. Answer me this: what countrty has been ruled by the same Party longest? Britian or Anmerica? Answer : Britian. Tony Bliar and his Labour Party was in power while Klinton was still in power, and he is still in power today! We have had a change in the ruling Party here in America. You are still being ruled by the same party in Britian. Guess which country is being "controled by one party"!! Hint: Its NOT America. Talk about the really STUPID British!!

One day, Paul Thurrot will free Cthulu from it's mountain cage, and all hell will break loose. Btw, US SOLDIERS ARE WAR CRIMINALS SINCE THEY'RE FIGHTING IN AN ILLEGAL WAR. EVERYONE WHO DOESN'T KILL THEIR COMMANDER IS A TRAITOR TO THE WORLD AND SHOULD BE VIOLENTLY RAPED AND KILLED. DOWN WITH AMERIKKKANS STUPID ZIONISTS.

"I'm tolerant i'm just not tolerant of amerikkkans." "Amerikkka is full of ghettos and racism." "Amerikkka is run by people like Fred Phelps (www.godhatesfags.com)." More crows for you to chew on :P

"Guess which country is being "controled by one party"!! Hint: Its NOT America." Oh, everyone knows that AMERIKKKA is being controlled by the repulicrats. Anti-marijuana legislation are the new jim croe laws. They're directed at black people. The AmeriKKKan prison system are the new concentration camps, and the large number of non-white people there prove it.

Btw, use these when refering to the great satan: KKKrow. KKKoncentration. KKKamps. RepubliKKKrats. KKKontrolled. (.KKKom) <- for urls MiKKKro$oft, KKKrapple, KKKapitalists, KKKansas, KKKentucky, ArKKKansas, KKKilled KKKthulu, KKKlinton, KKKenya etc... Replace C or K with "KKK" to "Rage against the machine".

"We haven't even talked about Apartheid South Africa and the crimes the British committed there against black Africans."??? What was "white only" policy on restuarants, bars, etc, in your country if that wasn't aprtheid? I suppose that killing African Americans in your own country is "sport" for you Rednecks? That'll be the same country that has still has the Klu Klux Klan. Land of the free? Yeah, right.

Redneck doesn't neccessarily mean racist. Rednecks are generally people who don't care much for social standards. They also don't seem to care much for "materialism". That's why you'll see them doing crap without any clothing on, cars parked in their front yard, run-down houses with appliances they bought 20 years ago, etc. I can tell you from living in america, even in the bible belt, they're not too common. You're probably more likely to find them in the DEEP SOUTH (Georgia, Alabama).

"That'll be the same country that has still has the Klu Klux Klan." This is the "land of the free" because of that. Most of us don't care for their beliefs, but we're not going to force them to stop practicing them. If I recall, their membership is down to the 1,000s, where as their are 100s of millions of non-klan members in our country.

And yes, if they started lynching people, you damn well better believe we would do something about it. You can have whatever hateful belief you want here, as long as you don't start hurting people physically.

"This is the same Scotland,that continues to vote for that drunkin git, George Galloway" Well, not many people here in Britain support Galloway. However, he has a democratic right to say what he want - especially as an elected member of Parliament - however distasteful he is. Unlike America. You either shoot anyone who you don't like what their saying (like JFK, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King), or persecute them (likke Arther Miller, etc, dury your McCarthy communist witchhunts). We got rid of fascism in 1945. It's still alive and well in American government and it's people.

"What was "white only" policy on restuarants, bars, etc, in your country if that wasn't aprtheid? I" FACT: It was the British faggots and their Afrikans surrogates who established the ONLY Apartheid regime on the planet in South Africa FACT: Under Margaret Tatacher, the Britisgh government was th biggest supporter for the evil Apartheid regime in South Africa. FACT: Without the US Congress passing tough legislation aginst Apartheid South Africa, we'd still have the nasty British whites carying on their eil regime in South Africa. Take that and chew upon it while eating your usual tasteless British "roast beef" this Sunday will you?

"That'll be the same country that has still has the Klu Klux Klan" This is the diference, fool. The KKK has been rendered ineffective and ineffectual by a combination of tough FBI action against them, and crippling legal action that has reduced them to pathetic fringe group. Meanwhile in Europe, the skinheads, the Nazies, the National Fronts and every txtreme anti-semitic, racist group out there is THRIVING today, and racist, anti-semitic attacks in Europe are now at RECORD levels!! In France Jean Marie LePen the super racist Nazi, was so popular he came second in the popular vote for president of France, something that can't even come close to happening here in America!!

Another uneducated Yank. Can't spell, has no undestanding of history (not surprising, before you stripped the land off the native Americans you "mongrels" had no history) and in denial of the apartheid in your own country - you probably still support it. As for you supporting terrorists and dodgy states (eg IRA in Ireland, Afghanistan, Iraq, Central America, etc). Now they're biting the hand that fed them, don't come to Europe for help. No wonder the rest of world hates America.

"Oh, everyone knows that AMERIKKKA is being controlled by the repulicrats" John Kerry the Democrat won 60 million votes. Meanwhile in France, Jean Marie LePen the Nzi, came second with nearly 30% in the popular vote for President. Europe is full of racist bigots, losers, race-hate Euro-trash, football hooligans and every kind of evil nasties on the planet. Chew on that you pathetic, cowardly Euro-Nazi moron!!

" I suppose that killing African Americans in your own country is "sport" for you Rednecks? " I happen to be black you pathetic British fool! And I am far more angry at the terrible massacres carried out by Europeans in Africa, with millions slaughtered by you nasty British loser in Zimabawe, South Africa, Kenya and every part of Africa your laid your ugly British feet on!! Nothing that happened in America comes even close to what the British have done to black , brown and every kind of people on this planet in the past 500 years!!

"Unlike America. You either shoot anyone who you don't like what their saying (like JFK, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King)," Yeah? Well it wasn't America where Oliver Crowell HANGED the English King Charles and took power from him That was one all by your ugly British selves, long before a plitical assasination was ever carried out in Amrica. We haven't even talked about Mary Queen of Scots, hangd by her own cousin the English Queen. The British mastered the art of political assasinatins long before we even knew what political assasinations were. I wouldn't even go there if I were you, fool!!

"Another uneducated Yank. Can't spell, has no undestanding of history" This is rich coming from a moronic British buffoon who spells "understanding" as "undestanding" LMAO! That is an example of your "superior" British education is it? Is that why the British government LOWERED GCSE standards in the past few years so that the incredibly STUPID British students , who couldn't even pass that old GCE "O" and "A" Levels, could now be given easy questions so they could pass the watered down GCSE? Yet another stupid comment from yet another stupid British idiot! You British are nothing less than filthy animals!!

"As for you supporting terrorists and dodgy states (eg IRA in Ireland, Afghanistan, Iraq, Central America, etc). Now they're biting the hand that fed them, don't come to Europe for help" Listen, you British idiot! it was the British that supported the biggest terrorist state of all, Apartheid South Africa! And it was America that TOOK OUT the terrorist regimes in Afghanistan and Iraq, while the nasty corrupt Euros continued to kiss Saddam's butt! As for America coming to Europe for help..you gotta be kidding! europe couldn't even handle Bosnia or Kosovo, and Europe sat by while hundreds of thousands were massacred in Kosovo. It took America YET AGAIN, to come save your ugly , pathetic, sad Euro-butts!! Europe's armies are a joke! you can't even fix your own mess, how can you fix a mess anywhere else?

"I happen to be black you pathetic British fool!" I am British, but hardly a fool. You don't know me, so don't judge me. Britain led the fight to free the world from slavery (I suggest you go read about it). Britain is also leading the fight to free Africa in particular, and other impoverished parts of the country, from debt, allow them fair trade and end the needless suffering (eg 50,000 Africans dying from starvation and curable diseases every day). Britain is trying to get the G8 countries to achieve it. Leading the fight against slavery. Leading the fight against poverty and suffering. That's why Great Britain is great. By the way, some of my best friends are coloured (black is a derogatory term in Britain, for you information) and are proud to be British, and hpoing (like me) that the G8 cancel thirld world debt. No doubt Bush will block the G8 from cancelling third world debt. 50,000 Africans dying every day - NEEDLESSLY. That's one every 3 seconds. Why spout poison about what you "think" Britain did 500 hundred years ago. Why now support www.live8live.com. Make poverty history. Make the world a great place. And thank Great Britain and it's great people for taking the fight to the G8 leaders. Years from now Africa will remember the part that GREAT Britain played in building a bright, healthy and prosperous future for it.

"Well it wasn't America where Oliver Crowell HANGED the English King Charles and took power from him That was one all by your ugly British selves, long before a plitical assasination was ever carried out in Amrica. We haven't even talked about Mary Queen of Scots, hangd by her own cousin the English Queen." Actually, I can't remember Cromwell executing any English kings at all. You probably mean King Charles I who was Scottish, and king of England and Scotland. (it was over 200 years before you stole America from it's natives, so no that long ago really). So hardly in our lifetimes were they? But Malcom X, JFK and Luther Martin King were. Land of the free? Land of the dumb, more like.

This has to be BY FAR the stupidest argument I have seen on here. It is one thing for PC and MAC users to senselessly bash each other on a Windows news site, but trying to argue politics and history? Come on. First, let me start of by saying I am an American. Both US and UK history has been tarnished with horrible acts both deliberate from the government and the work of its citizens. Much of this had been done in a time where it wasn't as "morally wrong" as such things would be today. Yes, the Americans have killed people to take their land. Yes, the British have raped, killed and plundered. Yes, George Bush is a moron (sorry, I just thought that needed to be said :-) ). But arguing past events that the best any of us could ever do is read about since they were so long ago is futile. Let's face another fact: Neither the US or the UK invented political assassination. Can anyone say Caesar? Further, with the exception of the few conspiracy theorists, the listed modern assassinations were work of a few fanatical, not either of our governments nor supported by the majority of the populations. Why are we arguing with each other? The US and UK are to great nations that have done a lot of great things together and will continue to work together based on our many similarities in industry, commerce, and science. You British, English, Scottish, and other members of the UK are great friends for us of the US to have and I personally appreciate being able to work with you. It is stupid for both sides to be bickering like children! No wonder the world hates us; we can't even agree to like our allies!

>It is stupid for both sides to be bickering like children! No wonder the world hates us; we can't even agree to like our allies!< Well said.

USA vs Britain arguments blow, lets get back to how superior Mac OS X is compared to XPee and Longwait. "Longhorn is a trainwreck" - Paul Thurrot

Its official, Apple is the clear winner in music downloading!!! HAhAHAHAA!!! WMA SUCKS!!!! forbes.com 7/1/05 Apple 'Clear Winner' In Music Downloading Piper Jaffray said Apple Computer (nasdaq: AAPL - news - people ) and Napster (nasdaq: NAPS - news - people ) both continue to gain traction in the audio-download industry, with Apple "the clear winner" in the research firm's recent "report card" on the sector. Piper Jaffray noted that Apple has the highest Web traffic rank, topping Napster, Audible (nasdaq: ADBL - news - people ) and Real.com from RealNetworks (nasdaq: RNWK - news - people ). The research firm gave "A" grades to Apple and Napster, a "B" to Audible and a "C" to Real.com. Napster is the only other site apart from Apple with an increase in rank and the company's marketing "appears to be having a positive impact on traffic," Piper Jaffray said. The firm didn't grade Yahoo! (nasdaq: YHOO - news - people ) unit Yahoo!Music and lacked historical data to state a trend, but noted that 1% of all Yahoo.com users go to Yahoo!Music and will monitor traffic going forward.

Americans are arrogant cos they've got their heads up their *****. E.g. 'Pollution? What pollution? All we care for is $$$$ so we won't introduce measures that will help the environment. No, we'd rather sink under hundreds of metres of water when the ice caps melt.' Now that's over something as simple as pollution. Quick bit of history; America was in a very bad depression right up until WWII. America profited in a big way by supplying aid to other countries both with $$$ and part of other countries colonies. Secondly the US even managed to f**** up the taking back of Europe...adding months onto the war. Americans...so full of themselves.

'I dont use RSS, no one I know uses RSS and hardly of the sites I go to have RSS feeds. When I go online with IE I want to see websites, if I wanted text only I'd find a way to read sites in DOS' You really have no idea what RSS is do you, there are applications that actually show the images and whatnot with the feeds...maybe you should check out the site Neowin.net and do a search on RSS readers!!!

Anyone think Beta 2's date seems a little optimistic and in general too close to Beta 1? Only 90 days apart? I suspect that was the original date and has not been updated to reflect the slips in Beta 1. I can't wait to see what Beta 2 looks like. If that doesn't deliver, it will be embarrassing to listen to MS say, "wait until Release Candidate 5. That's going to blow you away" for another 12 months. Personally, while I know Longhorn's development has been an unmitigated disaster with MS over-engineering everything then simplifying and cutting back to make the launch date, I personally think MS is sand-bagging a lot and Beta 2 is going to blow people away. Time will tell...

America may be the greatest democracy at home. But it is a dictator in the world dictating what is right and what is wrong based on their own selfish interests. They blame others for spending to much on their military when the truth is they spend more on military than the other top 20 countries combined.

I'm not sure which is more offensive, the astonishingly ill-informed xenophobic rants, or the disturbing and unsettling fetishising of ones chosen Operating System. All tribes, nations and empires since the beginning of history have acted in their own enlightened self-interest, and always will. And all ye Apple enthusiasts are just one more in a long line of niche technology users who believe that market forces have failed them. Like Microwriter keyboards or Variomatic gearboxes. Count yourselves lucky your product is still on the market at all. And bigoted fanatical rants merely reinforce your "fringe-product" reputation.

Microsoft wants Claria for its people-tracking technology. Now I am depressed. I get so sick and tired of this crap from monopolies. I can see I will be moving to Linux for sure now and no Windows computer I use will be connected to the Internet every again when they start this crap. Disgusted.

Oh yeah, me too. Once linux does this: Simple, unified way to apply patches. Easy software installation. Better device support (it still sucks, or I wouldn't be asking now would I?) More mature graphical ui (i don't care about gnome vs. kde, I just want something that's not buggy and isn't going to create files all over the place). You can tell i'm not the kind of user who wants "freedom". I'm the kind of user who wants to get stuff done :p.

Oh, and if anyone's like "why do you need a GUI?!", well, you're an idiot. Take word processing, for instance. I don't know about you, but I prefer the WYSIWYG approach for it. Not some Anonymous User -July 04, 2005

And the person who wrote about the enviroment. Yeah, our government is doing evil there. Problem is, people don't care. Who the hell cares if a species goes extinct (even I understand that question)? Species go extinct quite regularly without man's intervention. It's part of "evolution" and "survival of the fittest". I think a lot of people, if they sat down and thought about it, would care about our enviroment. The problem is that other people, like enviromentalists and vegans, come across as annoying dicks. If you want to save the enviroment, don't put up walls with your behavior. Sure, it's stupid that someone might polute out of spite because of something you did, but it's going to happen if you're a dick. And lastly, what are WE SUPPOSED TO DO? Energy corporations are freaking huge and ruthless.

"7/1/05 Apple 'Clear Winner' In Music Downloading " If you mean LEGAL music downloading, sure... LOTS OF PEOPLE download it illegaly though :P (and yeah, there are WMA files /w P2P for some reason along with the MP3s)

I just heard something evil!!!1111one11eleven iWine (a version of Wine created by Crapple Computer corporation) is refusing to run Microsoft Word now on windows. Apple is being evil by forcing you to use the Apple version of Office. Almost parellel to the Wine problem where Microsoft programs refuse to run if they're under Wine. Oh wait... iWine doesn't exist :S

Your country is FuKKKed UP! You guys deKKKlare WAR on Everything: War on EduKKKation War on Iraqi civilians War on the enviroment War on your own soldiers War on demoKKKracy Stupid AmeriKKKans

hahahahaha if it is not linux vs. windows vs. ibm vs. sun vs. java vs. .net vs. every IT thing on the internet, then it is countrymen making another word war here in paul's forum's hahahahaha

"hahahahaha if it is not linux vs. windows vs. ibm vs. sun vs. java vs. .net vs. every IT thing on the internet, then it is countrymen making another word war here in paul's forum's hahahahaha" LOL...I don't know why y'all think this kind of religious squabbling is confined to this forum. Just say something like "Canon ROX and Nikon SUX" and see where THAT leads. Zealots exist everywhere. Deal.

"Canon ROX and Nikon SUX" We need to get the car industry into this as well Chevy sux, Ford ROX ;-)

"MS buying Claria is going to happen so MS can take their tech for targeted ads on MSN, it's the samething Yahoo and Google does with targeted ads when you visit sites. They aren't going to fill Windows with adware and so on." - Fanatical Micro$oft luser, HAHAHA, would you like some salt to go with that crow?!!!! eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1834607,00.asp "Microsoft Downgrades Claria Adware Detections Microsoft's Windows AntiSpyware application is no longer flagging adware products from Claria Corp. as a threat to PC users. Less than a week after published reports of acquisition talks between Microsoft Corp. and the Redwood City, Calif.-based distributor of the controversial Gator ad-serving software, security researchers have discovered that Microsoft has quietly downgraded its Claria detections."