Don't get caught up in today's marketing tactics. Apple, Microsoft, Unix and the entire open source gang are all big businesses wanting your money!  

If I recall correctly, in 1974, the Altair 8800 was born and then sold to MITS (Micro Instrument Telemetry Systems). Then in 1975, Bill Gates created the Altair BASICprogram. Then he joined forces with Paul Allen to write BASIC programs for Tandy & Apple. Then in 1977, Tandy created the TRS-80 and Apple created the Apple II. Then in 1979, IBM developed the IBM PC which was released in 1981.

The Apple O.S. was partially open source and the IBM O.S. was totally open source. Around this time, Digital Research owned the CP/M (Control Program/Microprocessor) operating system. IBM needed this O.S. to create their hardware products and Digital Research would not sell it.

So they went searching for an O.S. and found Seattle Computer Products' QDOS (Quick and Dirty Operating System). However, Bill Gates was already in talks to buy Seattle Computer Products (which he did) and renamed it Microsoft. Microsoft licensed the QDOS O.S. to IBM which in turn renamed it PC-DOS. Up to DOS v3.3, Microsoft & IBM developed this O.S. together.

At this time in history, Microsoft created MS-DOS with NO HELP from outsiders. Along with IBM and Microsoft, Bell Laboratories was busy creating an O.S. for mainframes called UNIX. Because of the fact that Windows & Unix share many commands and most directory commands, these programs are close cousins. However, Microsoft owns the license for DOS.

Regardless of what side of the fence you stand on, all of these companies have had the same pool of resources & clients to grow from. All of these companies have had the whole world eating out of the palms of their hands for many-many years. And regardless of what you hear in the news, they all have decided to create "what they have" out of their creative talents and company directors. The only difference in them all is that Microsoft has over 80% of the world's machines running MS-DOS-WINDOWS. Not because of any arm-twisting or Mafia tactics (after all I am an Italian and would know) or any other strange voodoo.

Microsoft Windows climbed to the top because the "consumers of the world" decided to buy Windows...period. Microsoft did this at the direction of Bill Gates.
As for the comments about paid postings, scare tactics and the like, they must be referring to the Mac-Antics (like their misleading T.V. ads) and the open source gang.

Finally, Why can't Microsoft sue others? if Microsoft can get sued for including music players, security software and components of their software with their O.S., why shouldn't they use the same legal tools to sue others? If you had rocks thrown at you over & over for no real reason, would you (at some point) pick a few up and toss them back! I will admit the fact that I would!

The facts are clear. All of these companies are billion dollar corporations wanting your dollars - even the open source gang. No business is a business without the money exchange. They all have products to offer and we all get to choose what works best for each of us. No one product will work best for all, but all products will require security countermeasures and regular maintenance!

Don't buy into these new age marketing tactics.

As we work through the malware war of 2007, some "old dogs" think they can come up with "new tricks" to infect our machines. They think they can sue us and make us go quiet. They think they can rename their Malware and start fresh...infecting machines all over again with a clean slate.

I, for one, will not accept this. I will stand up and say "without-a-doubt" that Malware is serious and destructive, and ZANGO is Malware.

Yes, Zango shows up on your machine out of nowhere and is very hard to remove. It damages your machine and tracks your online activities and reports back to Zango.

THIS IS MALWARE!

If you have been affected by Zango in any way, why not drop a note to PC TOOLS and help them in their time of attack by Zango.

""Zango is seeking at least $35 million in damages, alleging that Spyware Doctor removes Zango's software without warning users that it will be deleted.""

If we fall for this tactic, every Malware Maker will do the same and our LIFE SAVING TOOLS will be rendered useless!

Even if you you do not use PC TOOLS' Spyware Doctor or other security products, take a stand and visit their site at http://www.pctools.com/contact/webmaster/guide/spyware-doctor/ and tell them about your Zango experience! If you do not want to go there, tell us about them at http://www.micaspecialties.org/contact-us.htm and CAAM ~ Consumers Active Against Malware will do the work for you and you can remain anonymous!



ZANGO

If you are a fan of the older version of Microsoft Office, 2003, you only have a short amount of time to purchase additional copies for any future machines you may be adding to your network. After June 30, 2007, Microsoft Office 2003 will not be available from Microsoft. While you will find some copies still in stores after this date, the supply is forever gone, so when the store is out...it is out!

Your ID, please

by, Dr. Katherine Albrecht; www.spychips.com.
Founder and Director, CASPIAN Consumer Privacy

"Your ID, please" is a phrase Americans will be hearing far more often if the Real ID Act is implemented. But with your help today, we can prevent this 'Real Nightmare' from becoming a reality.

The Real ID Act requires every American to have a standardized driver's license – a de facto national ID – to fly on commercial airlines or enter government buildings. Legislation has also been proposed that would make showing a Real ID a requirement for voting, getting a job and obtaining benefits like Medicaid. Real ID will invade privacy, trample religious freedom, and won’t make us any safer.

We need your help by Tuesday, 5:00 PM EST to tell DHS and Congress that Americans reject Real ID.

As required by law, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is accepting comments on its proposed Real ID regulations through Tuesday, May 8th, at 5:00 PM. Anyone in America has the right to submit comments to the government on this proposal.

Please submit your own comments telling DHS and Congress that Real ID is a 'Real Nightmare' that needs to be fixed. Your comments today will be critical in this debate, as Congress will be looking carefully at the number of comments delivered.

Here is how you can submit your comments:

1. Online through the Federal Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov (search for "DHS-2006-0030-0001" and follow the instructions for submitting comments)

2. Fax to 1-866-466-5370. Your fax must state that you are submitting comments in response to Notice of Proposed Rulemaking DHS-2006-0030.

3. Postal Mail sent to Department of Homeland Security; Attn: NAC 1-12037; Washington, D.C. 20538. Your letter must state that you are submitting comments in response to Notice of Proposed Rulemaking DHS-2006-0030. For more information about comment submission, visit http://www.privacycoalition.org/stoprealid/ For more information about Real ID, go to www.realnightmare.org

For the ACLU's page on religious opposition to Real ID, go to http://www.realnightmare.org/opposition/101/

For CASPIAN's New Hampshire Anti-REAL ID page, go to http://www.granitestateid.com

For a video of the NH rally opposing REAL ID (including excerpts from my speech) see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeE3iB90KeE

Writing your Comments: We've posted a number of talking points below to help you craft your letter to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). You can raise one or all of these issues, but please use your own language. If you can't write a carefully crafted letter, don't worry. Even a short comment - "I don't want REAL ID!" will be counted and add you to the ranks of the opposition. Doing something, however small, is better than doing nothing. Please take a minute and file a comment for your future and your liberty.

In freedom,
Katherine Albrecht, Ed.D.

Mix07 was held in Las Vegas this year. Mix07 is a 72 hour Conversation where Microsoft and its partners interact with attendees with many different sessions, unveil innovative new technologies and services and showing off the latest opportunities with Windows Vista™, Xbox 360™, Windows Mobile® and Windows Live™ services.

You can download each year's recording in your favorite video format and watch the session in Windows Media Player, on your Zune, with your video-capable iPod, or even using the brand new Microsoft Silverlight technology.

Microsoft Research will return for another peek at the latest wonders they’re cooking up in the labs. This itself, wouldv'e been worth the trip to this year's event. If you've never visited Microsoft Research, you have missed some intense studies into the worlds of tomorrow. Over the last 14 years, Microsoft Research has evolved into an organization with more than 700 researchers studying more than 55 research areas. These include speech recognition, information retrieval, user-interface research, programming tools and methodologies, operating systems and networking, graphics, natural language processing, machine learning, and mathematical sciences.

Microsoft® Silverlight™ is a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering the next generation of .NET based media experiences and rich interactive applications for the Web. Silverlight offers a flexible programming model that supports AJAX, VB, C#, Python, and Ruby, and integrates with existing Web applications. Silverlight supports fast, cost-effective delivery of high-quality video to all major browsers running on the Mac OS or Windows.

A few Silverlight resources:

Watch the Videos

Run the QuickStarts

View the Whitepapers

Read the Silverlight documentation