Windows 10?

[Rick Danger]

The man who charted the course of Windows Phone, former CEO Steve Ballmer (over the objections of many key Microsoft executives) is now expressing criticisms of the strategy under his successor, Satya Nadella.

As my Mom used to say, "Is this the pot calling the kettle black?"

Ballmer to Microsoft: Universal apps won't work, Android on Windows Phone will
Microsoft's former CEO Steve Ballmer thinks company's universal apps strategy that took shape shortly after his departure is the wrong course.

By Liam Tung
December 3, 2015 -- 11:34 GMT (03:34 PST)

Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer reckons Microsoft's universal Windows app strategy will fail to fill its app gap. Instead, the company needs to ensure Windows Phone handsets can run Android apps.

It's no secret that Microsoft still has a problem on the mobile front two years on from its acquisition of Nokia's handset business, a deal which was led by Ballmer. Windows Phone continues to hold single-digit market share, offering little incentive for developers to invest in building apps for the platform.

To address this issue, Microsoft earlier this year announced software bridges to make it easier for iOS and Android developers to port their apps to Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile.

However, earlier this month, it seemed that Microsoft would abandon its Android bridge, dubbed Project Astoria.

That decision was a mistake, according to comments made by Ballmer at Microsoft's annual general meeting on Wednesday.

An audience member questioned Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella about the continued absence of key apps for Windows Phone, to which Nadella responded that it was appealing to Windows developers through its universal apps program, which lets them build apps that work across PCs and mobile devices.

"That won't work," Ballmer is quoted by Bloomberg as saying as Nadella spoke. Microsoft instead needs to allow Android apps to run on Windows Phone.

Microsoft announced universal apps for Windows 10 in April 2014, shortly after Nadella took the reins from Ballmer. A year later Microsoft announced the iOS and Android software bridges to bring those developers in the fold and subsequently took a $7.6bn write-down on its Nokia acquisition that Ballmer led.

However, Microsoft hasn't confirmed that Project Astoria is dead, with its official line being that it is "not ready yet". Previously the company planned to release Astoria bridge code in a public beta by fall.

As ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley has previously noted, Astoria was more limited than the iOS bridge called Islandwood, which let iOS developers build for mobile and PC. Astoria on the other hand only worked on Windows 10 mobile devices, thanks to an Android subsystem/emulation layer in Windows 10 mobile.

But recent builds of Windows 10 mobile have dropped the Android subsystem, again signalling that Microsoft might be pulling away from the plan.

Ballmer, Microsoft's largest individual shareholder, also criticised Microsoft for fudging how it reports sales and profit margins for its cloud and hardware business.

"If they talk about it as key to the company, they should report it," Ballmer told Bloomberg, labelling Microsoft's run-rate reporting for its cloud business as "bull****". Run-rate represents a yearly rate of sales based on a single snapshot.

"They should report the revenue, not the run rate," he said, adding that Microsoft should report margins since they're very low in cloud services and hardware relative to Microsoft's traditional software business.

[Rick Danger]

The Register.com


Microsoft encrypts explanation of borked Windows 10 encryption
Disk vault Bitlocker snubs self-encrypting drives – when's the fix?

By Chris Williams
4 Dec 2015 at 07:03

We know Microsoft can be pretty secretive about its spyware-as-a-service Windows 10, but Redmond has now taken its furtiveness to a whole new level.

You may or may not know that its disk encryption tool Bitlocker has suddenly stopped working in the latest version of its operating system for a number of people.

Bitlocker refuses to work if you try to enable it on a self-encrypting drive with the hardware-accelerated encryption switched on: when you do a clean install of the latest build of Windows 10 – the November 2015 edition aka version 10586/1511 – you'll find you're unable to enable Bitlocker on your self-encrypting drive.

This affects a good number of folks, who were looking forward to using Windows 10 on their self-encrypting flash drives. One frustrating solution is to install an older version of the OS from scratch, enable Bitlocker with hardware encryption, and then gradually bring it up to version 1511 via Windows Update.

Microsoft pulled .ISO images of the November release, used to perform clean installs of version 1511 of Windows 10, but later reinstating the files after fixing a privacy bug. There was no mention of the Bitlocker issue, although version 1511 did add support for 256-bit XTS-AES encryption, which is performed by software rather than your drive's hardware. That may have something to do with it. Some readers have told us the reinstated .ISO download is actually still build 10240 of Windows 10 from July, so your mileage may vary.

To the crux of the matter: we asked Microsoft to shed some light on the problem, and hopefully get an ETA for a fix for this encryption snafu. The patch KB3116908 released on Wednesday didn't fix it. We asked Redmond twice – before and after the Thanksgiving break here in the US – for any information at all. Anything.

Aptly for the trouble at hand, we were sent a statement enciphered using an algorithm and key we cannot possible fathom, rendering it roundly indecipherable. Can you make any sense of this?

Windows is the only platform with a customer commitment to investigate reported security issues, and proactively update impacted devices as soon as possible. We recommend customers use Windows 10 and the Microsoft Edge browser for the best protection. Our standard policy is to provide solutions via our current Update Tuesday schedule.

Where's GCHQ when you need it? ®

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/12..._10_bitlocker/

[Rick Danger]

I almost missed the boat on this one.

BitDefender has come out with the "Box". Essentially, it is a security appliance that protects all devices attached to your home network. This includes devices like thermostats and lighting controls that cannot run security software on their own. It could also help the average consumer with multiple desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones economize on the cost of security product licenses across all their device platforms. It can function in a limited sense as a wireless router, and it is possible for you to use it create your own Virtual Private Network (VPN).

Worth checking out.....http://vintage-erotica-forum.com/sho...8&postcount=55

[masque51]

I've had KB3112343 sitting on Windows Update for a couple of days. Unlike most of the updates I was able to find something about it. It is intended to improve upgrade to Windows 10 from older versions. Gee thanks, guys!!! That one goes in the "hide update" file.

[Rick Danger]

It just occurred to me. If you are still running Windows XP but don't have a modern, up-to-date security suite running on it, the BitDefender "Box" may be heaven sent........

[utley]

Originally Posted by Rick Danger

Maybe because this thread is about WINDOWS 10?
(LOL)

I dont really see any threads pertaining to Apple or Google in these forums.....so maybe this thread and your posts are a bit...BIASED?

[BCFC_1982]

Try to keep it civil Bill and Steve. Ta.

[utley]

Originally Posted by a435843

Well, knock yourself out and start your own thread, or make an actual, factual contribution to the existing ones, as appropriate to the respective thread, instead of whining about other posts. If you have countervailing facts about Microsoft's practices and operation, please feel free to do that as well, supplying links and facts as appropriate. I've worked with Microsoft products for decades, so I don't like them for many reasons. My experiences and knowledge being inconvenient for your worldview is not my problem.

If you simply wish to deflect substantiated criticism about Microsoft's products by waving your hands and saying, "Look at Google and Apple", once again, start a new thread, or perhaps start a "I love Microsoft" thread. I'm sure it will be verrrrry popular.

However, spare us the classic fanboy tactic of deflecting attention onto other guilty parties.

Im not the one whining about anything - you are. Im merely pointing out the fact that a few of you are acting as soothesayers and naysayers rather than actually giving it a shot. It seems to me that everyones been on the Microsoft hate bandwagon ever since vista was released. You dont like it? Go with someone else, plain and simple. Let others do their own research, as should you.

[beutelwolf]

Originally Posted by utley

Im merely pointing out the fact that a few of you are acting as soothesayers and naysayers rather than actually giving it a shot. It seems to me that everyones been on the Microsoft hate bandwagon ever since vista was released.

Well, giving it a shot is what I've been doing for the last decade or so. I never liked being treated as an idiot by MS operating systems, but indeed Vista was indeed the first big warning shot, i.e. where things started to fall apart. At our Uni, I am relying on MS machines to teach in lecture theatres, and every few months there's an upgrade that breaks things. When you are standing in front of 200 students and the piece of software you intended as the centre piece of the lecture fails to work, yes, then you begin to join the MS hate bandwagon.

You dont like it? Go with someone else, plain and simple. Let others do their own research, as should you.

I do go with something else - got to this thread out of the wish to stop my MS machines attempting to upgrade to W10. ...and besides: we cannot do all our own research on everything - life's too short.

[Rick Danger]

Re: [patchmanagement] Windows 10 is your system restore is on or off?
Saturday, December 5, 2015 5:17 PM

From: "Susan Bradley" <sbradcpa@pacbell.net>
To: "Patch Management Mailing List"

Note applies to Windows 7

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/w...tem-protection
System protection is automatically on for the drive that Windows is
installed on. System protection can only be turned on for drives that
are formatted using the NTFS file system.

And with Windows 10, it seems to be defaulted to off, except for larger
drives and upgrade scenerios where it was on before.