Well…this is very nice. Sitting on the couch, a nice warm down blanket over my legs, the house is a little chilly, but nothing that the comfy blanket can’t fix. Football on TV, watching the surprisingly good Buffalo Bills take on the Texans…who look pretty ugly this season in all honesty. The laptop sitting in my lap, running Ubuntu Breezy live cd…everything loaded like a charm and it’s always better than running windows. It really doesn’t get much better than this. The only things missing, a crackling fire filling the house with a bit of warmth and a hint of smokiness. I wish my girl was sitting next to me, holding my hand, maybe looking into my eyes, our love being plainly apparent to anyone watching us. …yep, this would make this just about perfect. Oh how I miss you so.
Month: September 2005
Exclusive: Windows Vista Product Editions Revealed
Windows Vista Product Editions Revealed
Windows Vista Starter Edition: Aimed at beginner computer users in emerging markets who can only afford a low cost PC. As with the XP version, Windows Vista Starter Edition is a subset of Home Edition, and will ship in a 32-bit version only (no 64-bit x64 version). Starter Edition will allow only three applications (and/or three windows) to run simultaneously, will provide Internet connectivity but not incoming network communications, and will not provide for logon passwords or Fast User Switching (FUS). Windows Vista Starter Edition is analogous to XP Starter Edition. This version will only be sold in emerging markets.
Windows Vista Home Basic Edition: A simple version of Windows Vista that is aimed at single PC homes. Windows Vista Home Basic is the baseline version of Windows Vista, and the version that all other product editions will build from. It will include features such as Windows Firewall, Windows Security Center, secure wireless networking, parental controls, anti-spam/anti-virus/anti-spyware functionality, network map, Windows Search, the Aero user interface, Movie Maker, Photo Library, Windows Media Player, Outlook Express with RSS support, P2P Messenger, and more. Windows Vista Home Basic Edition is roughly analogous to Windows XP Home Edition. This version is aimed at general consumers, Windows 9x/XP Starter Edition upgraders, and price sensitive/first-time buyers.
Windows Vista Home Premium Edition: Whole home entertainment and personal productivity throughout the home and on the go. As a true superset of Home Basic, Windows Vista Home Premium Edition will include everything from Home Basic, as well as Media Center and Media Center Extender functionality (including Cable Card support), DVD video authoring and HDTV support, DVD ripping support (yes, you read that right), Tablet PC functionality, Mobility Center and other mobility and presentation features, auxiliary display support, P2P ad-hoc meeting capabilities, Wi-Fi auto-config and roaming, unified parental controls that work over multiple PCs, backup to network functionality, Internet File Sharing, Offline Folders, PC-to-PC sync, Sync Manager, and support for Quattro Home Server. Windows Vista Premium Edition is similar to XP Media Center Edition, except that it adds numerous other features and functionality, including Tablet PC support. My guess is that this will be the volume consumer offering in the Windows Vista timeframe (today, XP Pro is the dominant seller). This version is aimed at PC enthusiasts, multiple-PC homes, homes with kids, and notebook users.
Windows Vista Professional Edition: A powerful, reliable and secure OS for businesses of all sizes. Windows Vista Pro Edition will include domain join and management functionality, compatibility with non-Microsoft networking protocols (Netware, SNMP, etc.), Remote Desktop, IIS Web server, and Encrypted File System (EFS). Additionally, Pro Standard will include Tablet PC functionality. Windows Vista Pro is roughly analogous to XP Pro today. This version is aimed at business decision makers and IT managers and generalists.
Windows Vista Small Business Edition: Designed for small businesses without IT staff. Small Business Edition is a superset of Vista Pro Standard Edition, and includes the following unique features: Backup and Shadow Copy support, Castle and server-join networking, and PC fax and scanning utility. Additionally, Microsoft is looking at including a number of other features, many of which might be cut: These include Small Business Edition guided tour, pre-paid access to the Windows Live! Small Business or Microsoft Office Live! subscription services, Multi-PC Health (a managed version of Microsoft One Care Live), and membership in the Microsoft Small Business Club online service. Microsoft will offer a Step-Up program for Small Business Edition that will allow customers to upgrade to Windows Vista Pro Premium Edition (see below) or Windows Vista Ultimate Edition (see below) at a reduced cost. This SKU is new to Windows Vista; there is no XP Small Business Edition. This version is aimed at small business owners and managers.
Windows Vista Enterprise Edition. Optimized for the enterprise, this version will be a true superset of Windows Vista Pro Edition. It will also include unique features such as Virtual PC, the multi-language user interface (MUI), and the Secure Startup/full volume encryption security technologies (“Cornerstone”). There is no analogous XP version for this product. This version is aimed at business decision makers, IT managers and decision makers, and information workers/general business users.
Windows Vista Ultimate Edition: The best operating system ever offered for a personal PC, optimized for the individual. Windows Vista Ultimate Edition is a superset of both Vista Home Premium and Vista Pro Edition, so it includes all of the features of both of those product versions, plus adds Game Performance Tweaker with integrated gaming experiences, a Podcast creation utility (under consideration, may be cut from product), and online “Club†services (exclusive access to music, movies, services and preferred customer care) and other offerings (also under consideration, may be cut from product). Microsoft is still investigating how to position its most impressive Windows release yet, and is looking into offering Ultimate Edition owners such services as extended A1 subscriptions, free music downloads, free movie downloads, Online Spotlight and entertainment software, preferred product support, and custom themes. There is nothing like Vista Ultimate Edition today. This version is aimed at high-end PC users and technology influencers, gamers, digital media enthusiasts, and students.
Prices have yet to be announced…wow, confused yet? 
Yeah So I Disappeared Again
Honestly, I haven’t been up to all the much as of late. Most of the past week has been spent talking to my wonderfully amazing girlfriend who is now older than dirt as of the 6th (she turned 23) and working on my server a bit. My server runs Ubuntu Hoary which is the latest stable (non testing) release of this distro (distribution). It’s an amazing little distro I must add, but this is neither the time or the place for a proper review of Ubuntu. Anyways, back to the point…Lets just say that “this person” happen to acquire OSX for intel processors which will from this point on be referred to as OSx86. “This person” also then went on to get the most recent version of the generic OSX installer patch release 1 and then installed OSx86 on a spare hard drive. The installation was so simple a blind chimp could handle it. Everything works like a champ following the installation except for the wireless networking. After a bit of researching on the internet “this person” find a group of people discussing this exact problem and “this person” following several other people’s suggestions eventually got the wireless networking working perfectly. So now that “this person” has a fully (well almost fully…more on this later) working installation of the yet to be released OSx86 they decided to run the server on this instead.
OSX is supposed to be able to mount linux partitions just fine. “This person” happens to be lucky though however. Some unknown reason, be it a bug on this development version of OSx86 or what, “this person” is unable to mount the linux partition inside OSx86 to get the previously stored server files that need to be moved onto the new server. …This is what has been consuming most of the compter-related time as of late. The general conclusion “this person” has come to is that the easiest solution is going to be to try and boot into linux using a live cd and then try and just move the old server files onto a separate hard drive and then to boot back into OSx86. It sucks that this seems to be the only solution.
Enough of the boring stuff. My girl is coming in November because she is absolutely amazing. Then in the not so distant future I am going to Norway hopefully for quite an extended visit. This is my life, I am pretty happy with it right now with a few exceptions, namely the distance to Norway thing.
Where the Hell is the Help?
Before and After comparison of New Orleans
Relief workers face ‘urban warfare’
# Survivors living among corpses
# FEMA head: Working in “conditions of urban warfare”
# Armed gangs attempting rapes, police warn
# Bodies dragged into corners at convention center
# Mississippi death toll rising
This is fucking ridiculous. Where is the help from the government? It’s not like this hurricane snuck up on anyone. Help should have been on the way days before the hurricane hit, everyone knew roughly where it was going to hit. I think “Chaos” is a pretty fitting category for me to be writing this under. It is sickening and appalling that we can so quickly mobilize when something terrible happens like the tsunami, but when it’s on OUR OWN DAMN SOIL we can’t get our act together. Why are we fighting a war in Iraq and worrying so much about people off in another country when our own people are starving and dying in the streets? 
Here is a pretty good summary, I highlighted some of the major differences for you:
Click for a bigger image
Wandering the Interwebs 