From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon Aug 23 15:16:03 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id i7NJG2713399; Mon, 23 Aug 2004 15:16:03 -0400 (EDT) Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2004 15:16:03 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200408231916.i7NJG2713399@massis.lcs.mit.edu> X-Authentication-Warning: massis.lcs.mit.edu: ptownson set sender to editor@telecom-digest.org using -f To: ptownson Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V23 #396 TELECOM Digest Mon, 23 Aug 2004 15:15:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 396 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Telecom Update (Canada) #445, August 23, 2004 (Angus TeleManagement) Book Review: Fighting Spam for Dummies, Levine/Young/Church (Rob Slade) Cincinnati Bell Alternatives (BMN) Re: Choosing AT&T Wireless Worst Mistake (Joseph) Re: Choosing AT&T Wireless Worst Mistake (John Levine) Needed: Auerbach Books, Reports especially Early Ones (Ed Sharpe) Suggestions For USB Phone? (John R Levine) Mailing lists for Audiocodes/Mediatrix equipment (Ryan Tucker) Re: International Call Forwarding to US, UK or Germany Needed (J Levine) Re: International Call Forwarding to US, UK or Germany Needed (Joseph) Re: Microsoft Changed My Mind (Gene S. Berkowitz) Re: Microsoft Changed My Mind (SELLCOM Tech support) Re: Microsoft Changed My Mind (Paul Vader) HDTV Gets a New Player (Monty Solomon) Microsoft Internet Explorer Drag and Drop Vulnerability (Monty Solomon) All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2004 10:48:05 -0400 From: Angus TeleManagement Subject: Telecom Update (Canada) #445, August 23, 2004 ************************************************************ TELECOM UPDATE ************************************************************ published weekly by Angus TeleManagement Group http://www.angustel.ca Number 445: August 23, 2004 Publication of Telecom Update is made possible by generous financial support from: ** ALLSTREAM: www.allstream.com ** BELL CANADA: www.bell.ca ** CISCO SYSTEMS CANADA: www.cisco.com/ca ** CYGCOM INTEGRATED TECHNOLOGIES: www.cygcom.com ** GROUP TELECOM: www.360.net ** JUNIPER NETWORKS: www.juniper.net ** PRIMUS CANADA: www.primustel.ca ** SPRINT CANADA: www.sprint.ca ** TELUS: www.telus.com ************************************************************ IN THIS ISSUE: ** Bad News Continues at Nortel ** Bell Plans Wireless Broadband in Alberta ** Marketers Want National Do-Not-Call List ** Bell Workers Accept Contract ** Cygnal Fires CEO, Lays Off 50 ** Ten-Digit Dialing Schedule Set in 613, 819 ** Telus Extends Offer for Microcell ** Globalive to Buy Canada Payphone ** NorthernTel and Telebec Deploy 1X ** Applications for Leftover Wireless Licences Due Today ** CRTC to Hold Expedited Hearing September 24 ** MDS Broadcasting Licences Renewed ** Aliant Wants Deferral Account Ruling Changed ** Bell Joins Aeroplan ** Telecom Management Awards Program ** Comparing VoIP Services ============================================================ BAD NEWS CONTINUES AT NORTEL: Nortel Networks issued its long-delayed "estimated limited preliminary unaudited financial results" for the first half of 2004 last week. The company took in about US$5.1 billion in the six months, but net earnings were essentially zero. ** The company will cut another 3,500 jobs (10% of its workforce) this year, but is predicting no improvement in gross margin in 2005. ** A new strategic plan calls for "an increased focus on the enterprise market and customers." ** Nortel's wireless, wireline, and optical businesses have been recombined into a single carrier networks organization. ** Seven more executives have been terminated for cause. They and the three senior executives fired in April will be asked to give back their 2003 bonuses. BELL PLANS WIRELESS BROADBAND IN ALBERTA: Bell Canada says it will build a wireless broadband network in Alberta, using Ericsson's Mini-Link point-to-multipoint wireless technology. The network, which will support data speeds up to 155 Mbps, will extend the reach of Bell's IP network by several thousand kilometers. MARKETERS WANT NATIONAL DO-NOT-CALL LIST: The Canadian Marketing Association says the CRTC should change its mind and order a national do-not-call list. The CMA says that the new rules set in May, which focus on company-by-company procedures, are at least as expensive for telemarketers as a national list would be. The Commission wants comments on the CMA's request for a stay by September 3, and on its proposed changes by September 7. www.crtc.gc.ca/PartVII/eng/2004/8662/c131_200408543.htm BELL WORKERS ACCEPT CONTRACT: Members of the Communications, Energy, and Paperworkers' Union have voted to accept Bell Canada's final contract offer. 81% of the 7,000 members at Bell voted; 85.4% said yes to the four-year deal. (See Telecom Update #439, 441) CYGNAL FIRES CEO, LAYS OFF 50: Markham, Ontario-based telecom and network equipment provider Cygnal Technologies last week reported a loss of $2.7 million on $29.7 million in quarterly revenue. CEO Kieron Dowling has resigned "at the request of the Board of Directors," and the company has laid off 50 employees in its network operations group. TEN-DIGIT DIALING SCHEDULE SET IN 613, 819: CRTC Telecom Decision 2004-55 approves a revised industry plan to introduce mandatory 10-digit local dialing in 613 (eastern Ontario) and 819 (western Quebec). Callers who dial only seven digits will receive recordings announcing the change beginning June 17, 2006; use of ten-digits will become mandatory in the week of October 21, 2006. www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2004/dt2004-55.htm TELUS EXTENDS OFFER FOR MICROCELL: Telus Corporation has again extended its offer to buy all outstanding shares of Microcell Telecommunications. The new closing date is September 20. GLOBALIVE TO BUY CANADA PAYPHONE: Toronto-based Globalive Communications has agreed to purchase Canada Payphone Corporation for $1 million. CPC has been in bankruptcy protection since April. (See Telecom Update #430, 432) ** Globalive also owns OneConnect, Canopco, Lucky Call, and other Canadian telecom companies. NORTHERNTEL AND TELEBEC DEPLOY 1X: On August 16, NorthernTel and Telebec Mobility put 1XRTT high-speed wireless technology into service throughout the digital parts of their networks in Northern Ontario and Quebec. APPLICATIONS FOR LEFTOVER WIRELESS LICENCES DUE TODAY: Bidders have until today at 5 pm to apply for 2300/3500 licences that were unassigned in the February 2004 spectrum auction. In September, Industry Canada will announce the winners of licences wanted by only one bidder, and the timing and format of an auction for the rest. http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/epic/internet/insmt-gst.nsf/en/sf06079e.html CRTC TO HOLD EXPEDITED HEARING SEPTEMBER 24: The third of the CRTC's expedited hearings will consider two disputes: ** Infolink vs Bell Canada: Bell says Infolink's Voicecasting service is a prohibited Automatic Dialing-Announcing Device (ADAD) and should be cut off; Infolink disagrees. This dispute dates from 2001. ** Interbaun vs Shaw: Edmonton-based ISP Interbaun Communications wants to resell Shaw's high-speed service on the same basis as ordered for Cybersurf (see Telecom Update #427), but says Shaw is dragging its feet. www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/process/2004/sep24_t.htm MDS BROADCASTING LICENCES RENEWED: The CRTC has renewed the Multipoint Distribution System (MDS) licences held by Look, Craig Wireless, and Image Wireless until August 2011. They may use part of their spectrum to provide internet services, but must devote at least 50% to non-pay-per-view television. www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Notices/2004/pb2004-63.htm ALIANT WANTS DEFERRAL ACCOUNT RULING CHANGED: Aliant has once again asked the CRTC to allow the telco to draw down from its deferral account $6.4 million in "unused price cap room" from the first price cap period. The CRTC rejected a similar proposal in Telecom Decision 2004-42. www.crtc.gc.ca/PartVII/eng/2004/8662/a53_200408626.htm BELL JOINS AEROPLAN: Beginning in November, Bell Canada customers will be eligible to receive one Aeroplan Mile for every dollar spent on Bell's Digital Bundle, which includes Internet, wireless, and TV services. TELECOM MANAGEMENT AWARDS PROGRAM: The 2004 Telemanagement Live! conference will include the first "Management and Industry Commitment" (MIC) awards for Canadian telecommunications managers. The recipients will be selected by a panel of independent consultants. ** Nominations in five categories are due by September 30. For details, go to www.telemanagementlive.com/award.html. ** Telemanagement Live! 2004 will be held October 20-21 at the metro Toronto Convention Centre. COMPARING VoIP SERVICES: In the new issue of Telemanagement, Ian Angus offers a "Buyers Guide" to Canadian broadband-IP telephone services from nine suppliers, and John Riddell compares the IP Centrex offerings available from three Canadian carriers. ** Also in this issue: Designing Converged Networks for Manageability, including a checklist for troubleshooting converged nets. ** Subscribers to Telemanagement Online can read the new issue on our website now. ** To receive Telemanagement every month--including unlimited access to Telemanagement's extensive online content--visit www.angustel.ca/teleman/tm-sub.html or phone 800-263-4415 ext 500. ============================================================ HOW TO SUBMIT ITEMS FOR TELECOM UPDATE E-MAIL: editors@angustel.ca FAX: 905-686-2655 MAIL: TELECOM UPDATE Angus TeleManagement Group 8 Old Kingston Road Ajax, Ontario Canada L1T 2Z7 =========================================================== HOW TO SUBSCRIBE (OR UNSUBSCRIBE) TELECOM UPDATE is provided in electronic form only. There are two formats available: 1. The fully-formatted edition is posted on the World Wide Web on the first business day of the week at www.angustel.ca 2. The e-mail edition is distributed free of charge. To subscribe, send an e-mail message to: join-telecom_update@nova.sparklist.com To stop receiving the e-mail edition, send an e-mail message to: leave-telecom_update@nova.sparklist.com Sending e-mail to these addresses will automatically add or remove the sender's e-mail address from the list. Leave subject line and message area blank. We do not give Telecom Update subscribers' e-mail addresses to any third party. For more information, see www.angustel.ca/update/privacy.html. =========================================================== COPYRIGHT AND CONDITIONS OF USE: All contents copyright 2004 Angus TeleManagement Group Inc. All rights reserved. For further information, including permission to reprint or reproduce, please e-mail rosita@angustel.ca or phone 905-686-5050 ext 500. The information and data included has been obtained from sources which we believe to be reliable, but Angus TeleManagement makes no warranties or representations whatsoever regarding accuracy, completeness, or adequacy. Opinions expressed are based on interpretation of available information, and are subject to change. If expert advice on the subject matter is required, the services of a competent professional should be obtained. ------------------------------ From: Rob Slade Organization: Vancouver Institute for Research into User Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2004 08:36:12 -0800 Subject: Book Review: Fighting Spam for Dummies, Levine/Young/Church Reply-To: rslade@sprint.ca BKFTSPDM.RVW 20040719 "Fighting Spam for Dummies", John R. Levine/Margaret Levine Young/Ray Everett-Church, 2004, 0-7645-5965-6, U$14.99/C$21.99/UK#9.99 %A John R. Levine www.iecc.com/johnl %A Margaret Levine Young www.gurus.com/margy %A Ray Everett-Church www.everett.org %C 5353 Dundas Street West, 4th Floor, Etobicoke, ON M9B 6H8 %D 2004 %G 0-7645-5965-6 %I John Wiley & Sons, Inc. %O U$14.99/C$21.99/UK#9.99 416-236-4433 fax: 416-236-4448 %O http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0764559656/robsladesinterne http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0764559656/robsladesinte-21 %O http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/0764559656/robsladesin03-20 %P 222 p. %T "Fighting Spam for Dummies" Part one introduces the world of spam. Chapter one tells us that spam is bad and that spammers like to do it, but there is little substance to the material and a lot of oddly spam-like verbiage. Even though the authors outline the "dictionary" process (that generates addresses on a semi-random basis) in chapter two, they insist on trotting out the usual recommendations to limit exposure and prevent address harvesting. A confusing look at US law, in chapter three, says that the situation is confused. Chapter four does provide information about obtaining and deciphering email headers, but the attempts to be funny make it hard to understand. Part two deals with filtering spam. Chapter five has a generic description of filtering, but there is little useful content. Chapters six to ten describe menu items related to filtering in the Outlook, Netscape, Eudora, AOL, Hotmail, and Yahoo programs. Part three looks at filtering programs and services. Chapter eleven has a terse review list of major filtering programs (with some odd exceptions: SpamAssassin is not mentioned), a few spam filter review sites, and fairly detailed descriptions of POPfile and Spam Bully. A reasonable, if brief, outline of filtering services is given in chapter twelve. Chapter thirteen touches on a few items not previously detailed, but it is far from being a useful guide to the network and email administrators that it supposedly addresses. Part four is the usual "Part of Tens." Chapter fourteen lists the most common spam scams. The list of annoyances in chapter fifteen is mostly unrelated to spam. (For the one that is, dealing with popups, some fairly complex solutions are listed, and a simple one is missed -- turning off JavaScript and ActiveX works great. The cost to the user will vary with patterns of activity.) This book does provide some pointers to software based assistance with spam filtering and removal. However, even in relation to the minuscule size of the book the content is very thin. Repetition, editorializing, and attempted humour take the place of substantive information. "Stopping Spam" (cf. BKSTPSPM.RVW) and "Removing the Spam" (cf. BKRMSPAM.RVW) are from an older era, and address the issue from a perspective of users who were more used to manual email controls, as well as a time when spam was not the overwhelming majority of email. Even so, they dealt with the issue realistically and informatively, which this book does not. The current work is better than nothing, but only just. copyright Robert M. Slade, 2004 BKFTSPDM.RVW 20040719 ====================== (quote inserted randomly by Pegasus Mailer) rslade@vcn.bc.ca slade@victoria.tc.ca rslade@sun.soci.niu.edu I've got a PhD and no one listens. I take off my clothes off, and here you all are. - Briony Penn to the media, 20010123 http://victoria.tc.ca/techrev or http://sun.soci.niu.edu/~rslade [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: John Levine is a regular participant in our little digest. He, or Ms. Levine-Young or Mr. Church may wish to respond. PAT] ------------------------------ From: telecommunication@sympatico.ca (BMN) Subject: Cincinnati Bell Alternatives Date: 23 Aug 2004 10:25:35 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Looking to get the low down on wire line alternatives to Cincinnati Bell. They don't want to play ball on renegotiating our pricing and I am wondering how good, bad or indifferent other providers are. We have about 10K/month in local and LD. Its a lot of work to switch and sometimes the devil you know...etc. Thanks in advance. ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: Choosing AT&T Wireless Worst Mistake Date: Sun, 22 Aug 2004 18:29:28 -0700 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On Sat, 21 Aug 2004 16:03:32 -0500, Steven J Sobol wrote: > Joseph wrote: >> AT&T "SOC" locks their phones to work with their system. > But Alltel is CDMA, so an AT&T phone would only work in analog on > Alltel's network anyhow. True, but if say there was cingular TDMA in one town and someone wanted to use an AT&T TDMA phone the SOC lock would be a problem if the cingular people sent OTA information to update the phone. Once the phone wandered into AT&T territory it would present a problem since the phone is SOC locked. ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: Choosing AT&T Wireless Worst Mistake Date: Sun, 22 Aug 2004 18:33:06 -0700 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On Sat, 21 Aug 2004 18:25:22 -0700, [Telecom Digest Editor] wrote: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: My two Nokia phones are actually > model 5165 Type NSW-1NX. The batteries, the headsets, the chargers, > etc are all interchangable between my two phones. PAT] In your original article you spoke of "6100" series phones not Nokia 5165. At any rate 5165 is a TDMA/IS-136 handset and not GSM at any rate at all. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Because, in the advertising and instructional material I have from the era when these phones were sold and used, Nokia referred to them as the '5100/6100 series of phones.' PAT] ------------------------------ Date: 23 Aug 2004 00:22:15 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Choosing AT&T Wireless Worst Mistake Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: My two Nokia phones are actually > model 5165 Type NSW-1NX. The batteries, the headsets, the chargers, > etc are all interchangable between my two phones. PAT] I used to have one of those. It's TDMA 800 and AMPS. Physically all the phones are the same, but they all have custom software for the provider who sold it. I gather it's possible but difficult to load in new software for a different carrier. John R. Levine, IECC, POB 727, Trumansburg NY 14886 +1 607 330 5711 johnl@iecc.com, Mayor, http://johnlevine.com, Member, Provisional board, Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial E-mail ------------------------------ Reply-To: Ed Sharpe From: Ed Sharpe Subject: Needed: Auerbach Books, Reports, Journals Especially Early Ones Organization: coury house / smecc - see us at www.smecc.org Date: Sun, 22 Aug 2004 17:00:35 -0700 ***needed: Auerbach books, reports and journals especially. the early ones. Also any early data processing journals and information. Reply off list to me directly please. Thanks Ed Sharpe, Archivist for SMECC - - See the Museum's Web Site at www.smecc.org Coury House / SMECC 5802 W. Palmaire Ave. Phone 623-435-1522 Glendale Az 85301 USA ------------------------------ Date: 22 Aug 2004 21:46:06 -0400 From: John R Levine Subject: Suggestions For USB Phone? I've been lugging my Vonage ATA around to hotels which works but is a pain in the patoot once I set up my laptop as a router and cables and whatnot and borrow a phone from somewhere. There are lots of VoIp packages that work with USB phones. But I don't know anything about USB phones. Any suggestions for a good or bad one? I realize there are standalone VoIP phones like the Grandstream, but that's not what I want, since I doubt they can negotiate the signon on hotel networks and they need separate power, just like the ATA. I could also just plug a headset into the sound card on my laptop, but I gather a USB phone has better sound and also feels like a phone. Regards, John Levine johnl@iecc.com Primary Perpetrator of The Internet for Dummies, Information Superhighwayman wanna-be, http://www.johnlevine.com, Mayor "A book is a sneeze." - E.B. White, on the writing of Charlotte's Web ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2004 10:12:25 -0400 From: Ryan Tucker Reply-To: Ryan Tucker Subject: Mailing Lists For Audiocodes/Mediatrix Equipment Greetings! We're using the Mediatrix 1102 analog telephone adapter and the Audiocodes Mediant 2000 large-scale media gateway to provide VoIP and Fax-over-IP service to a few customers. Alas, we're running into problems where the faxes aren't working quite as well as they should, and our support contacts are more or less regurgitating what the manual says, which isn't working. I'm wondering if there's any fora out there for these two pieces of equipment, or for those manufacturers in general. I haven't been able to find anything with casual Googling. If folks are interested in such lists, e-mail me and I'll let you know if I hear of anything ... if I don't, I may just start a list myself. Thanks! -rt ------------------------------ Date: 23 Aug 2004 00:49:29 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: International Call Forwarding to US, UK or Germany Needed Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > I have a customer with special requirement. I need to get one > telephone number in as many countries as possible (except the US, UK, > and Germany) to forward a call to either my telephone number (DID) in > either the US, UK, or Germany (whichever is cheaper). This sounds like an ideal application for Lingo's VoIP service. Their basic business service is $50/mo for a US phone number with unlimited calling to the US, Canada, Mexico, and most of western Europe. For $10/mo each you can add incoming local numbers in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom. Incoming calls are free. You can attach your Lingo box to any broadband connection, so the phone can be wherever you are, and if you want, you can call forward the calls to any other POTS number. Regards, John Levine johnl@iecc.com Primary Perpetrator of The Internet for Dummies, Information Superhighwayman wanna-be, http://www.johnlevine.com, Mayor "A book is a sneeze." - E.B. White, on the writing of Charlotte's Web ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: International Call Forwarding to US, UK or Germany Needed Date: Sun, 22 Aug 2004 18:40:51 -0700 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On Sun, 22 Aug 2004 15:56:39 GMT, David Helman wrote: > I have a customer with special requirement. I need to get one > telephone number in as many countries as possible (except the US, UK, > and Germany) to forward a call to either my telephone number (DID) in > either the US, UK, or Germany (whichever is cheaper). > There are several ways to do this, but I think this would be the > best and cheapest way: > Have the local phone company install a single telephone line (POTS). > This could be at a home or business (which ever is cheaper/easier). > This telephone line should have call forwarding (maybe known as call > divert, or something else by your local phone company). Once this is > done, I will ask that the phone number be forwarded to a telephone > number (direct dial to a DID) in either the US, UK, or Germany, > depending on which is the least expensive call from your country. > I of course will pay for the cost to install the service and all usage > charges. In addition, I will pay a 10% premium over the cost of the > service or if you prefer, provide you with a free voice mail number in > New York, London, or Germany (your choice) with messages forwarded to you > via e-mail. This is a USD$ 15 monthly value. While neither the 10% or > free voice mail is a lot of compensation, you would have helped me a > great deal in meeting the special requirement of one of my customers, > which would be very much appreciated by me and my customer. I may not be understanding what you wish to do, but what *is* available is the ability to get local numbers in several different countries including the UK, Germany, France and Spain that will forward to to other countries. Kall8 has such a service. http://www.kall8international.com/ ------------------------------ From: Gene S. Berkowitz Subject: Re: Microsoft Changed My Mind Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2004 01:59:01 -0400 In article , support@sellcom.com says: > I hope this subject is not too much of a stretch for this forum but it > seems consistent with certain types of threads here. > I just went from a "poor Microsoft why are they persecuting it" to a > "Microsoft is really really dangerous and something needs to be done" > in only a few short hours. What caused this great change of heart > you might ask? The answer is "XP". I held out for as long as I could > without buying it, but ... > I had a simple motherboard problem so I simply removed the hard disk > on that machine and moved it to one of the little used computers. > Then, not only do I have the effort etc of the reconfig, I have this > garbage where I have to call Microsoft and explain to them why I am > requesting an activation code for software that I BOUGHT AND PAID FOR! > What if the phones had been down ... etc ... > Then I am advised that someone had been using that "little used" > computer and had extremely important work on it. > So I take the other computer, fix it, and then put the hard disk back > in that computer. Sooo ... then we have the same Microsoft garbage > that I only have "three days to activate". I figure it is best to > set up networking first so I click no to the reactivate now planning > to do it later but install some Windows update that it had there. > The next reboot it would not let me log on unless I activated, minutes > later not "three days". Of course I called the phone number and > wasted more of my time. But this is software I PAID FOR! > If this kind of thing doesn't scare you, you are not paying attention. > I admit that I was not paying attention before enjoying all the free > updates and cool software etc and etc ... > The next time I read of some patriot trying to bust the Microsoft > monopoly I will have a whole new attitude. > Steve Winter > (The opinions expressed here are not necessarily the opinions of any > company express or implied, but they SHOULD BE!) > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I have been told by people who know how > to generate Microsoft 'product keys' that if you have a good, working > product key it will work on other copies of the same product; that the > product key is not peculiar to the individual disk. I am told that a > product key is based on some mathematical formula (like a credit card > 'check digit'); that I could install XP and later when you decided to > install your copy of XP you could use my product key number. I know > that when I installed my copy of Win 98 on a different laptop it > worked just fine. > Now when I recently attempted to install Win 98 on an old IBM Think > Pad which had Win 95 on it out of the (original) box. I ran into a > crude awakening. I could not just format the hard drive and install > Win 98. I was missing some drivers needed by IBM Think Pad, so I had > to first run the Win 95 restore disk to get those missing drivers > and then I discovered that Win 95 would not lay down unless it had > FAT-16 on the hard drive. I started from scratch, formatted the hard > drive with FAT-16, ran the restore CD, *then* installed Win 98 on > top of that. It *still* did not work right, and my friend said the > problem is "you cannot do all that with it in the docking station, > do it without the laptop attached to anything. Only use the docking > station when you have everything else finished and installed." When > I removed it from the docking station, and started from scratch once > again, it actually worked. **Then** I started working on the > networking side of it. It finally, more or less, came around to > working right as of Friday, about three months after I first made an > appeal here to get a new laptop to replace the one that had bit the > dust. > Someone also sent me a second IBM Think Pad, and I 'celebrated' my > victory over Microsoft yesterday by installing a WiFi card in it > to go with my wireless router. Today for the first time in three > months I am not feeling so depressed with myself. PAT] Of course, all these issues of licensing and activation were much publicized at the time of XP's release. XP does not depend exclusively on the "quintet" CD key of older MS products. It produces a unique key using identifying characteristics of: Display adapter SCSI controller IDE controller Network adapter type and MAC address RAM amount Processor type Processor serial number Hard Drive type and serial number CD-ROM drive If it sees more than a few of these devices change at the next boot, it assumes that the computer has changed, so re-activation is required. In the case of the original poster, everything EXCEPT the hard drive appeared to have changed, which triggered the re-activation. --Gene [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: By the way, I also found out in *my* saga it could not be just any old copy of Win 98; it had to specifically be an 'upgrade' version of Win 98. My copy of Win 98 started loading and did a few things, wasting about 10 minutes of my time, then it came back and said in effect, "You cannot use this disk to upgrade an OEM type earlier product such as Win 95." At one point it even stopped and asked me to insert the OLD product key from the version of Windows which was running on here prior to this upgrade. Good luck in trying to find that number somewhere! Then it ran a few more minutes and came back to tell me it would not work. Microsoft would be doing a good thing if they published a little booklet entitled "How to upgrade our products from one edition to another" and explained all these things, obviously without giving away their formulas and secret rules, just telling users what would be expected, and the order in which it had to be done, etc. Or is their objective to be sadists trying to torture and confuse the guys trying to do Microsoft upgrades on their own? PAT] ------------------------------ From: SELLCOM Tech support Subject: Re: Microsoft Changed My Mind Organization: www.sellcom.com Reply-To: support@sellcom.com Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2004 02:03:04 GMT TELECOM Digest Editor responded to SELLCOM Tech support on that vast internet thingie: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I have been told by people who know how > to generate Microsoft 'product keys' that if you have a good, working > product key it will work on other copies of the same product; that the > product key is not peculiar to the individual disk. I am told that a > product key is based on some mathematical formula (like a credit card > 'check digit'); that I could install XP and later when you decided to > install your copy of XP you could use my product key number. I know > that when I installed my copy of Win 98 on a different laptop it > worked just fine. However, the issue here is the activation. You can certainly install it but it will stop functioning in 30 days if not activated, or if you have to change motherboards it may stop functioning immediately. The "activation" garbage is new with XP and I believe is way over the line. It is astounding that we have been so conditioned that we will put up with it, but do we have a choice? Right now we do not have a choice (if we need to run many apps), but hey that's what monopoly is all about, right? Steve at SELLCOM http://www.sellcom.com Discount multihandset cordless phones by Siemens, AT&T, Panasonic, Motorola Vtech 5.8Ghz; TMC ET4000 4line Epic phone, OnHoldPlus, Beamer, Watchguard! Brick wall "non MOV" surge protection. Uniden 2line 5.8GHz cordless If you sit at a desk www.ergochair.biz you owe it to yourself. ------------------------------ From: pv+usenet@pobox.com (Paul Vader) Subject: Re: Microsoft Changed My Mind Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2004 15:42:54 -0000 Organization: Inline Software Creations support@sellcom.com writes: > I just went from a "poor Microsoft why are they persecuting it" to a > "Microsoft is really really dangerous and something needs to be done" > in only a few short hours. What caused this great change of heart > you might ask? The answer is "XP". I held out for as long as I could > without buying it, but ... A bit late to the party, aren't you? People have been complaining about exactly what you describe since the day XP came out. That's the way XP works, and you agreed to that way of doing things by using the software. Annoying, isn't it? Then TELECOM Digest Editor opened his mouth and taught the people saying: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I have been told by people who know how > to generate Microsoft 'product keys' that if you have a good, working > product key it will work on other copies of the same product; that the > product key is not peculiar to the individual disk. It's true that there is no on-disk copy protection. But there are actually several different kinds of Windows disk (upgrade, full retail, OEM, possibly others), and the product keys are NOT interchangable among them. > product key is based on some mathematical formula (like a credit card > 'check digit'); that I could install XP and later when you decided to > install your copy of XP you could use my product key number. I know You could, and if it happened just a couple times it would even work. If the key came up too many times in activation (that's what activation is FOR), eventually MS will disable the key, and the next time the OS phones home, you're out of business. > Now when I recently attempted to install Win 98 on an old IBM Think > Pad which had Win 95 on it out of the (original) box. I ran into a > crude awakening. I could not just format the hard drive and install > Win 98. I was missing some drivers needed by IBM Think Pad, so I had [remainder of the tale of the hard disk shuffle deleted] This is a BIG problem with trying to use older versions of Windows on new equipment. Besides the drivers, chances are the hard disks are incompatible. Win 95 can't see more than a FAT16 filesystem can address, period. Win 98 upped this to FAT32, but the formatting utilities won't make a FAT32 filesystem larger than 32gb. In fact, the only reliable way I've found to make a FAT32 system larger than that is to use linux: 'mkfs.vfat -F 32 /dev/blah'. This is really irritating if you want to reformat a large external hard drive as FAT32 -- time to break out the Knoppix CD. One note about the linux trick -- if you're doing this for mac compatibility, forget it. While WINDOWS, despite the fact it tells you it won't make a FAT32 partition larger than 32gb, will recognize and use it just fine, Macs will simply refuse to mount one of these. There's other odd restrictions too, concerning which type of partition is first on the disk for booting purposes. So while linux will let you break any rule you like, it doesn't mean it will work anywhere else. * * PV something like badgers--something like lizards--and something like corkscrews. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: When my Canadian advisor helped me over the phone work with my (then) new 80 gig hard drive, putting Windows 2000 on it and then Red Hat Linux version 9.0 on my original hard drive, he told me how to fix it so Linux was the default boot unless I specifically asked for Windows 2000. Also, regards the size of FAT, he told me to do something (I forget what) so that when running Linux it would also mount the Windows hard drive and allow me to *read but not execute* the files there -- such as text files, letters I had written, etc (on Windows). I had to restrict the FAT size on Windows in order to accomodate Linux. I also asked him if it was possible to create a Knoppix.rc type file so I did not have to manually fill in all my details each time; then load all that on the hard drive and run it instead of Win 2000. He said it just would not work; that Knoppix had to be run from the CD each time. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 22 Aug 2004 23:52:53 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: HDTV Gets a New Player Cablevision says the outlook for its Voom service is crystal clear. But in the rapidly evolving satellite TV market, the reception has been considerably more fuzzy. By Peter J. Howe, Globe Staff | August 22, 2004 As the owner of a 64-inch high-definition television set, Stephen Ferreira of Billerica got excited when a new satellite network called Voom started up last year, offering nearly three dozen channels of high-definition shows and movies. All Voom needs now is about 2 million more people like Ferreira -- and fast. Nine months after Cablevision Systems Corp. , the Long Island cable TV company, launched Voom at a cost of over $600 million, the service has attracted only 25,000 subscribers nationwide. With Voom accounting for less than 1 percent of Cablevision's revenues but nearly half its most recent quarterly loss, and threatening to gobble up another $500 million this year, many Wall Street analysts have been bluntly urging Cablevision to pull the plug on the would-be third satellite TV provider. Not that Ferreira and other fans of crystal-clear, super-sized television aren't enjoying the show. "I love being able to enjoy a breadth of high-definition content," said Ferreira, a 54-year-old regional sales executive for consumer electronics maker Pioneer North America Inc., who raves about watching HD-format Lyle Lovett and Sheryl Crow concerts and movies in wide-screen format. Ferreira already had a DirecTV satellite dish. But once Voom cut its installation prices this spring by more than 70 percent to $200, he was happy to pay another $50 a month for a Voom dish to get access to much more HD content. http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2004/08/22/hdtv_gets_a_new_player/ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 22 Aug 2004 23:20:26 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Microsoft Internet Explorer Drag and Drop Vulnerability http://secunia.com/advisories/12321/ TITLE: Microsoft Internet Explorer Drag and Drop Vulnerability SECUNIA ADVISORY ID: SA12321 VERIFY ADVISORY: http://secunia.com/advisories/12321/ CRITICAL: Highly critical IMPACT: System access WHERE: From remote SOFTWARE: Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 http://secunia.com/product/11/ Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 http://secunia.com/product/10/ Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01 http://secunia.com/product/9/ DESCRIPTION: http-equiv has discovered a vulnerability in Microsoft Internet Explorer, which can be exploited by malicious people to compromise a user's system. The vulnerability is caused due to insufficient validation of drag and drop events issued from the "Internet" zone to local resources. This can be exploited by a malicious website to e.g. plant an arbitrary executable file in a user's startup folder, which will get executed the next time Windows starts up. http-equiv has posted a PoC (Proof of Concept), which plants a program in the startup directory when a user drags a program masqueraded as an image. ... http://secunia.com/advisories/12321/ ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. 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