[NTLUG:Discuss] Thanks for the info

[Herb Cee]

I am in the process of learning how to work with
Linux and I do have a Redhat 7.1 box running.  MY
winter time project is to learn this OS and I am
having a great time wandering the hills and valleys
of this perplexing land.  I know DOS, use Win98  but
only speak pidgin UNIX. Reading this discussion list
for the past few weeks has been enlightening for
me.  I get totally lost mostly but hey I went to the
old Sat afternoon movies where the serial was Buck
Rodgers when I was a kid, hell I can handle Linux,
heh, lol.

Thanks to you folks for sharing your knowledge and
while I am not ready to modify anything on Linux
quite yet I now have confidence that you folks will
bail me out when I step into deep poo-poo.
Incidently Bedias Texas has lots of that just
flopping around.  I now and then stand one up and
roll it down to the house for the Begonias to feast
on.

 I do need a bit of help with what I have learned,
if you please will be so kind.

Steve, David and the rest of you that have been
discussing W-XP a big hooray.  It is something I
have been trying to fathom.  I have learned a bunch
since reading the ntlug e-mails.  I maintain a
web-site and a  private list of friends that I send
interesting stuff their way.  I would like to share
some warning about XP with them but I am not a tech
so could one of you please proof the following
intended missive for me?

I am not positive that I have understood and
translated these problems correctly.  I will be
indebted, perhaps I will pay a poem on the subject,
a funny one is rattling around in my head.  I
suspect it will birth soon.

If one of you will be so generous as to perform this
chore for me you can reply either on the list or
straight to my mail if you think it not list
appropriate.

 - - - -Intended Mail for proofing- - -

Hey Friends, This is for those of you that are
thinking about upgrading to the new Windoze XP that
will be released soon.  As most of you know I am not
a tech or hacker, just a long time user of puters.
The question of Upgrade has bothered me since I am
long sick of 95 and 98 problems. I passed on W2K/ ME
because of reported severe security problems.

Well MS has made it much worse by adding some stuff
into the Kernal of XP (the untouchable part of the
OS) that you need to know before spending your
bucks.  I have been attending a virtual discussion
with some very knowledgeable folks and this is the
revealing sub-subject that concerns a requirement of
running XP.  You have to subscribe to MS Passport,
sounds simple right?  I did that with 98, hell it
sounded like a benefit.

The New Passport, as I understand is necessary to
support a secure connection for financial etc.
transactions,  has some bad hooks into your puter
that are embedded into the Kernal on installation.
You can’t avoid it, you can’t change it. The result
is if you make any configuration change to your
puter after installing.  XP will shut down within 3
days unless you re-register.  This discussion has
been going for several days and has outlined some
serious considerations with this new MS OS.  Here is
a snip of a communication between David replying to
Steve.  It is most enlightening.

At 01:07 PM 10/21/2001 -0500, you wrote: >Steve
wrote:
>But you still have to phone them up to ask for a
re-registration of your >OS - right?

Yes, if you have changed the configuration more than
four times I think it is.

>I don't think the basic detection mechanism in the
OS has changed.

It hasn't, because it has been in manufacturing for
weeks.  (HC, the process of producing the cd,
enclosures, packaging and filling the pipeline to
the distributors for sale.  A done-deal, no change
now.)

>I havn't seen anywhere a list of what you can
change before XP wigs out on >you.

It can be pretty simple. David Coursey, a Microsoft
whore of a journalist if ever there was one, took a
trip with the final release candidate on his laptop.
While on the trip, he inserted a PCMCIA card once
too often and his machine shut down fully within
three days. He had tried to hook up with Microsoft
to re-register, but could not because he was dialing
in from a different IP address than his original
registration!  (HC, hehehehe, now and then the
‘licker’ encounters a snapping butt.)

>Suppose you upgrade your motherboard, CPU and RAM?
Is that enough to >invalidate >the OS? What about
the hard drive? The NIC?

As I understand it from people who have reviewed it,
a MB/CPU change would certainly be enough...as would
the hard drive. I don't know about the NIC or RAM.

There are other problems with XP as well. For
instance, it's brain-dead "keep alive" process sends
ID messages to the servers incredibly often. Some
who have looked into it are predicting that XP will
bring down many DNS servers and even possibly some
of the root servers as the numbers of these machines
increase.

It appears that the Al Quaeda terrorist organization
doesn't need to engage in computer warfare--we're
letting Microsoft do it for them! ~ David
  * * * * **
 Herb ~ So  XP  runs only on the original machine it
installs on and if it detects any change to that
puter through a snooping process, it then refuses to
run. So even though you paid 200+ bucks, MS judges
you illegal and pulls the plug. You have to then
prove your innocence, genuflecting to MS in order to
get your property back.

As if this wasn’t enough insult, MS arrogantly
automatically adds a huge load onto most servers in
the world by constantly requesting service.  In
effect an XP box will require the same service time
as several boxes running other OS’s.  All this in a
really stupid approach to maintaining a secure
connection.   HA! A total farce since the real
objective is to police the bootleg problem.  Gates
goes ballistic over the mention of giving up revenue
of a single illegal copy. I repeat, the real
objective is to protect MS not you, the valued
customer.

If MS achieves the projection of 20mil units it
could be the same as adding 100mil new puters to the
routing backbone of the Internet, bound to slow it
down.  Plus every server in the entire world will
share the burden, all for more bucks to the already
richest.
So let me give you my recommendation.

 Fuck Gates and Co.  DON’T BUY THIS CRAP.

Let me add one more thing.  MS wrote MS-Word to
duplicate WordPerfect, some say stole WP instead of
paying for it. Corel, now the owner of WP had ported
most of it’s products to Linux X-Windows and was
working on supplying the free OS with WordPerfect
office suite, etc.  that of course would remove
Windoze from your required software. I had laid my
plans to go with this option but Microsoft bought
Corel this year, you can guess what will happen to
that plan now.

My new plan is Linux and Star-office.

So Peace and Love to you my Friends.
Please visit me @  www.lookcee.com
Herb C.   Hc at lookcee.com