Steve M

Just want to give a shout out to developers. On a recent project I had a bunch of old SOAP code that was no longer working with a new version of Java we were upgrading to. I converted all of the C code to using the curl libraries (libcurl) in about two days. It is a really easy API to learn and use if you need to write applications that transfer information with a web application, or for simple file transfers.

Hmm, I don't know which will be closer from my house, but I suspect I will go to the Park Meadows store more often simply due to traffic. Don't have to get on I-25 to go that way.

Glad to see someone caught the spelling on Broomfield, having graduated from Broomfield HS myself. Go Eagles!

For those of you who insist that the OS X security is the same as Vista security, you haven't actually used both operating systems, or you are pathologically unable to find fault in Microsoft products.

Let me spell it out concisely: The UAC on Vista is more annoying AND less secure than the security features of both OS X and Linux. In fact probably all Unix flavors have the same security features, but I haven't used them all.

Here's why:

If you are an admin user, the UAC doesn't ask for your password, it simply assumes that whoever is at the mouse is the Admin. That's a very bad assumption, and will cause grief in many corporate environments.

Worse, the UAC pops up a security alert so often that the average user (the ones we want to protect) WILL become numb to the silly thing and simply click OK to get rid of the annoyance. I remember one case in RC1 where an Icon was created on the users Desktop during Vista installation that was created by the admin process, so deleting it from the desktop actually required an approval.

Vista's UAC promotes bad behaviour because it is so annoying.

The way all of this is done in most *nix type systems (including OS X) is to always ask for Admin password, and then grant access for five to ten minutes. This allows the user to perform a variety of system housekeeping commands before the password is requested again. This is a much more sane process that promotes better security while being much, much less annoying than Vista's UAC.

So how can you say more annoying AND less secure is as good or better than OS X?

As a software engineer, I can attest to the fact that moving applications to Vista is a pain in the arse. The security framework of Vista, while a step in the right direction, has vastly changed how applications install and run.

That and the fact that Microsoft was making so many changes right up to the last minute made us decide to hold off on upgrading our software for Vista. It seems that not many of our customers have upgraded yet anyway, so I think we have time :)

Of course we want the full interview. Short attention span folks can listen to it in installments!

Well, I too am currently running OS X on an Intel Macintosh, so much for everyone posting from Windows. I do, however, have Windows XP for gaming. It is still the best gaming platform around for FPS's.

To be honest, if it weren't for DirectX 10 games coming in the next couple of years I would never consider upgrading to Vista. As it is, I hope to be able to avoid it for at least a full year. XP is rock solid and has done so well for gaming, I just can't be bothered with installing a new OS to help Micrsoft's shareholders.

When XP was released, I didn't get it for over a year. Not until I bought a new laptop that came with it.

XP was so much better than Win98, I was glad of the switch when I finally got around to it. However, nothing I have seen in Vista (and I have run it from RC1 on one of my systems) has turned out to be worth an upgrade.

@tim said: "It is going to suck if OS X is sold to be put on PCs, because then more and more people will have it, which means more crap that is on Windows will affect it (spyware, viruses)."

This was one of the ludicrous reasons people gave for Apple NOT to switch to Intel. "If OS X is on Intel, we'll have all of those Intel viruses, on noes!"

Totally incorrect. The viruses run on the operating system, not the hardware. Having OS X on PC hardware will not make it more susceptible to viruses.

Now, if you meant that when OS X becomes more popular it will be a bigger target for virus makers, then that may be true. However, that's a problem that Steve & Co. are only too glad to have.

"We've doubled our market share, and now we have viruses, what shall we do?"

"I know, sell them iVirus Protector!$!"

At the time, I was the president of a local Apple Users group in Denver. Apple brought in an early Mac to show us, and showed the ad to us. I had already seen the commercial during the Superbowl because we had heard it was coming.

I saw the demo of MacPaint and knew I had to have one. I was in what Jobs called the 100 day club, as I bought one of the first Macs in the first 100 days of release.

Cool days.

Bliz has been sending out invitations to folks like me who stopped playing WoW long ago. I'm tempted to jump back in just to see what gives, but I'll definitely wait until after the first week (or month) has passed.

You probably want to put a disclaimer at the end of the article, stating that you are not recommending a purchase of stock. It's cool to quote an Analyst, but when you state that you believe the stock is still a strong buy, on a public forum, it can be construed as a recommendation to buy the stock. That could land you in trouble with the SEC if you aren't careful.