I hate slow Internet. I really hate it with a passion. Unfortunately, I do most of my work on dial up and GPRS modems. You know how slow dial up is? Well GPRS is a bit slower. Fortunately I have found a solution that can almost double my Internet download speed over GPRS and dial up. What is the magic tonic?
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Will Windows be the last Vista? Will Microsoft stop making Windows after the Vista ends its run? With the recent tie-up with Suse Linux, it becomes a definite possibility. A lot of people are running rampant about what the tie-up means and most importantly, what does Microsoft expect to get out of it.

I ignored the first mentions about the tie-up between Suse Linux and Microsoft, but with a little seed planted by office banter, I am now beginning to wonder what if. What if Microsoft is readying itself for entry into the Linux consumer marketplace? Microsoft Office for Linux might be a big hit. It would free a lot of constraints and would open the field up to other proprietary software to exist on the Linux platform.

Ok, that is interesting, but take it a bit further. Ubuntu Linux comes with the Gnome Desktop, Kubuntu Linux comes with the KDE Desktop. Imagine a Microsoft Linux coming with a Vista Desktop. A Vista windows manager running on top of Linux. This is all pie in the sky dreaming and what ifs, but a big what if it is.

Microsoft would make more money by spending their time only developing apps and a window manager instead of developing and testing an underlying OS that is prone to breakage, manipulation and security breaches. Sure this is something to think about and it really makes you wonder……..

Well, maybe this is a harsh headline, but it is as close to the truth as possible. From the state that brought you Evan Meacham, the pink underwear tycoon Sheriff Joe Arpaio and other shady characters, we have a new scandal brewing. According to this article, the Attorney General of Arizona, Terry Goddard is seizing Western Union money transfers that is “suspects” are for the payment of smuggling gangs. This raises on a lot of questions about freedom. Not surprisingly, Terry Goddard is a democrat.

How do they come to suspect people? How does Terry Goddard know what transfers are suspect and which aren’t? Well, from the nearest I can tell, he is looking for hispanic names on the transfer forms and flagging any transaction over $500. Only 10 to 15% of the seized transfers are eventually returned to the sender. This is wrong. It gives me a good reason not to be in Arizona or any state in the US.

I know this is only going to appeal to a very low number of people, but I sure wish I would have known this a few weeks ago or even sooner. I only discovered it by chance. We all know Paypal. Who is Netbank? An awesome internet only bank that gives you a visa check card and atm, it is damn easy to make deposits to it, and they charge no atm fees.

Up until sometime in the last couple of months, you couldn’t use the netbank account to be verified with Paypal. Who knows why, but now you can use it. Now it is even easier for people like me to use Paypal. It is now easier to put funds on my account and with the PayPal debit card, I am set. Thanks, PayPal.

Well, in times past, one could pick up a copy of any Windows version they wanted at any number of markets in third world countries for just a few dollars and have a complete functioning copy of Windows. While Windows XP has always required product activation for retail copies, the volume licenses did not require activiation and these copies are the ones found in the markets around the world. According to this article, Windows Vista will close that loophole.

Microsoft will also extend activation and validation to enterprise volume license users for the first time with Vista, said Hartje, and require them with Windows Server “Longhorn,” the server software follow-on. “One of the big holes we’ve had [in our anti-piracy efforts] is in our volume keys. It’s a very open process, with the keys in clear text and easily stolen and misused,” Hartje said.

So, I guess a quick install on many third world country computers will not happen as fast as Windows XP. This action, at least until a workaround is found, will dramatically slow its acceptance around the world. Ubuntu Linux is looking better every day and anymore, I can’t find a single reason not to use it…and I do use it.