Microsoft Windows

“ Microsoft sells Windows to end users and computer manufacturers, both foreign and domestic. Purchasing manufacturers install the software onto the computers they sell. Microsoft sends to each of the foreign manufacturers a master version of Windows, either on a disk or via encrypted electronic transmission. The manufacturer uses the master version to generate copies. Those copies, not the master sent by Microsoft, are installed on the foreign manufacturer's computers. Once assembly is complete, the foreign-made computers are sold to users abroad. ”

“ To set up QRead on your system, run SETUPQR.EXE from Windows, or type SETUP at the DOS prompt.
QRead lets you read text files quickly and easily in the Microsoft Windows 3.1 environment. Text files can be shown on the screen in any font you choose, and QRead will automatically adjust the type size or the line structure to fit the window. Qread also provides tools to help with browsing and management of your text files.
QRead is a Shareware program. All rights are retained by the author. You may share the program and freely distribute it for evaluation purposes. ”

“ Sure, PCs were more powerful, but in commoditizing the PC marketplace with its chips, Intel had created a situation in which proprietary software vendors now held the power. For every new user won over to the free software cause via Linux, hundreds, perhaps thousands, were booting up Microsoft Windows for the first time. ”

“ A skeleton program, created by hand or by another program (like, say, a parser generator) , which provides the necessary incantations to set up some task and the control flow to drive it (the term driver is sometimes used synonymously) . The user is meant to fill in whatever code is needed to get real work done. This usage is common in the AI and Microsoft Windows worlds, and confuses Unix hackers. ”

“ To run the Cruise tutorial you will need:
- An IBM-DOS or DOS-compatible computer
- XGA- or XGA-compatible adapter set to display 256 colors at 640 x 480
- Microsoft Windows (TM) version 3.1
- Approximately 1.5 MB of disk space
- 2 MB RAM minimum
- Internet connectivity and software that does file transfers via FTP.
"Mining the Internet"
The Net as mine metaphor is a popular theme. Tunneling through the network matrix in search of gems and ore is not far from fact. Sometimes it is hard work, and a lot of it is working in the dark. ”

“ The fact that the high-technology marketplace has come so far in such little time is fuel for both sides of the GPL debate. GPL-proponents point to the short lifespan of most computer hardware platforms. Facing the risk of buying an obsolete product, consumers tend to flock to companies with the best long-term survival. As a result, the software marketplace has become a winner-take-all arena.See Shubha Ghosh, "Revealing the Microsoft Windows Source Code," Gigalaw.com (January, 2000) . ”

“ Microsoft has advertised Windows 2000 as offering "increased reliability, availability, and scalability with end-to-end management features that reduce operating costs." Microsoft studies indicate companies migrating to Windows 2000 will see benefits immediately. Microsoft concedes that migration can be expensive, but says Windows 2000 can significantly reduce operating costs by streamlining help-desk operations, improving PC manageability, and offering businesses greater control over software applications. ”

“ MICROSOFT RESPONDS TO PRIVACY ISSUE Reacting to a controversy started when a programmer in Brookline, Mass., discovered Windows 98 generates a unique serial number that is implanted in every electronic document and that can be used to trace the identity of its author, Microsoft said it will create a software tool to allow customers to remove the number, which was created to help support specialists diagnose problems for customers who call with questions. ”

“ Novell and Santa Cruz hoped that the merged product would provide a commercially successful alternative to Microsoft's Windows system. Decl. Tor Braham at ¶ 8. Novell's Netware product needed an alternative operating system if it was to compete with Microsoft. Id. Novell also had a strong interest in the development of a commercially successful UNIX operating system that would run on Intel's 64-bit processors because it would expand the market for Netware. ”

“ Windows abstracted from a tangible copy no doubt is information—a detailed set of instructions—and thus might be compared to a blueprint (or anything containing design information, e.g., a schematic, template, or prototype) . A blueprint may contain precise instructions for the construction and combination of the components of a patented device, but it is not itself a combinable component of that device. AT&T and its amici do not suggest otherwise. ”

“ Modern documents, such as the new X.800 recommendations, were being produced in Microsoft Word for Windows. My second batch of tapes had all the files that were available in the Word for Windows format, the new ITU publishing standard.
To do the conversion, I was quite lucky to be working with Sun Microsystems on a research grant. They had sent over two large servers for a research program I was participating in and graciously agreed to allow us to use one server to post standards on the network. Without their help, we wouldn't have had the resources to do anything. ”

“ LINUX USERS WANT THEIR MONEY BACK FROM MICROSOFT Aficionados of the Linux operating system, which is available for free, say they will demand their money back for Windows software installed against their wishes on PCs they buy. Their demand is based on a Windows licensing agreement that says that if the purchaser does not agree to the terms and conditions of use of the Windows software, he or she should promptly contact manufacturer for instructions on return of the unused product for a refund. ”

“ A 1993 example of a heatseeker was someone who, owning a 286 PC and Windows 3.0, went out and bought Windows 3.1 (which offers no worthwhile benefits unless you have a 386) . If all customers were heatseekers, vast amounts of money could be made by just fixing some of the bugs in each release (n) and selling it to them as release (n+1) . Microsoft in fact seems to have mastered this technique.
Node:
heavy metal
, Next:
heavy wizardry
, Previous:
heatseeker
, Up:
= H =
heavy metal n. ”

“ It bears emphasis, however, that uninstalled Windows software does not infringe AT&T's patent any more than a computer standing alone does; instead, the patent is infringed only when a computer is loaded with Windows and is thereby rendered capable of performing as the patented speech processor. The question before us: Does Microsoft's liability extend to computers made in another country when loaded with Windows software copied abroad from a master disk or electronic transmission dispatched by Microsoft from the United States? ”

“ Will the windows at least slightly slow down some programs? A word processor may take longer for you to get from one part of your report to another.
3458. Is the program picky about the computers it’ll work with? A window system may need over half a million bytes of RAM and a hard-disk drive storing 5 megabytes. Also, as of this writing, windows seemed geared more to the IBM-style MS-DOS computers than to the older but cheaper CP/M ones. Besides, some companies may not sell windows programs directly to ordinary buyers. ”

“ From Multics, through to Unix, Windows and Mac OS, there has been a raft of closed-source operating systems that are licensed to users for corporate profit and which have formed the basis of most people’s interaction with computer systems. ”

“ An older computer running Windows 95 might be sluggish and expensive to maintain. But replace Windows with the free Linux system, and it can feel like new again. Free Geek breathes new life into computer equipment that probably would otherwise end up in a landfill. ”

“ If you catch a newspaper or magazine abusing the work `hacker', write them and straigten them out (this appendix includes a model letter) .
* If you're a techie or computer hobbyist, get involved with one of the free Unixes. Toss out that lame Microsoft OS, or confine it to one disk partition and put Linux or FreeBSD or NetBSD on the other one. And the next time your friend or boss is thinking about some commercial software `solution' that costs more than it's worth, be ready to blow the competition away with free software running over a free Unix. ”

“ Nowadays, like many operating systems, UNIX hides behind a graphical user interface like the X Windows system. Occasionally—and networking is unfortunately one of those occasions— its quirks like file-naming and directory hierarchy peek through.
This Appendix gives you just enough UNIX to avoid some pitfalls and issue commands needed to transfer files. The basic commands you need to know for any system are how to display directories and list the contents of files, how to name files, and how to get help about the system. ”

“ The Internet has the added savings that any communications software you buy for it works with all providers. You do not have to buy (or customize) special software for each information provider. Thus you can use one familiar graphical user interface ("windows" program) to connect with any computer. The usual situation where you have to buy a special "client" program to connect to each kind of "server" is replaced with a situation in which you have a single program that any "server" out there has to comply with. This standardization is the main advantage of using the Internet. ”

“ Never buy a computer without seeing for yourself that it and the software will together serve your needs. Don’t take the sales rep’s word. Instead, make him or his software specialist put the machine through its paces. Do so even if you’re not buying software at the store. Of course, the sales rep may not have access to the software, in which case you may want to visit another store for a demo. And if no one can assure you, no ifs or buts, that the computer-software combo works fine? Then you may want to hire a consultant.
Use of CP/M Software CP/M is a kind of operating system. ”

“ Not all hardware and software are compatible. In fact, hundreds of producers of computer equipment and computer programs are in the market, and there are few across-the-board standards. So it's important to get hardware and software that are compatible.
Software, or the computer programs themselves, are not like records that can be played on any record player. They have to be compatible with the hardware in terms of the programing language used, operating system, size, format, and other factors. ”

“ This is what the Washington Information Service Corp. in U.S.A. did. There's an abundance of software to choose from. Many companies rent private 'conference rooms' on commercial online services rather than doing it in-house. The advantage is easier access to an established multi-user system and user base. Microsoft, Toshiba, Quarterdeck, Digital Research, Tandy, Novell and hundreds of others rent public support forum space on CompuServe to keep in touch with customers all over the world. Others rent space on regional bulletin boards. ”

“ A number of the free software evangelists, in informal discussion, felt that the proper response to Microsoft would be to stand together. Mundie's speech shows that Microsoft's strategy is to keep us divided and attack us one at a time, until all are gone. ”

“ You actually need only two things: the e-text itself and a text editor or word-processor that can handle book-sized files and save them as text.
Nearly all word processors and text editors in current use will work. Volunteers use many common programs, including WordPerfect, Microsoft Word, WordPad, DOS EDIT, vi, Brief, Crisp, EditPad, MetaPad, emacs, AbiWord, and the word processors from Open Office abd AppleWorks. And all of these are in actual use by volunteers today. Since all of them contain the necessary basic functions, the best program is the one you're most comfortable with. ”

“ In X jargon, the program that speaks to the hardware is known as an X server. User applications that ask the X server to show windows or graphics on the screen are called X clients. The X server includes a video driver, so you must have an X server that matches your video card.
The X server doesn’t provide any of the features one might expect from a GUI, such as resizing and rearranging windows. A special X client, called a window manager, draws borders and title bars for windows, resizes and arranges windows, and provides facilities for starting other X clients from a menu. ”

“ Ibid.; cf. post, at 2 (STEVENS,J., dissenting) (" [A] master disk is the functional equivalent of a warehouse of components ... that Microsoft fully expects to be incorporated into foreign-manufactured computers.") .
Judge Rader, dissenting, noted that "supplying" is ordinarily understood to mean an activity separate and distinct from any subsequent "copying, replicating, or reproducing—in effect manufacturing. ”

“ In the X Window System, a window is a rectangular area on the screen that lets you view graphic output. Client applications can display overlapping and nested windows on one or more screens that are driven by X servers on one or more machines. Clients who want to create windows must first connect their program to the X server by calling XOpenDisplay. ”

“ If you consider the Mini‐Microsoft blog, that place where microsofties rails against their managers, and if you take a look at what is said in Mini‐Microsoft, you recognize that the microsofties by and large think that their primary adversary is a company that has three and a half percent of the hardware market and which looks good running a proprietized FreeBSD because they only have to run it on hardware they totally control and design, and they never have to test it on any device that they didn’t make first. ”

“ Many computer experts strongly recommend against buying a computer first and then shopping for the software packages. So identify your needs and select the software packages or materials that will help you do what you want to with your computer. Then find the hardware to run the programs. ”