Experts such as Brian Livingston, editorial director of the Windows Secrets newsletter, say Microsoft is intentionally allowing a loop-hole to exist, which enables more advanced users of Microsoft's operating systems to upgrade to Vista SP1 without having the necessary previous versions of Windows.
The loop-hole exists in the Vista SP1 Upgrade Edition, which requires a previous install of Windows 2000, XP, or Vista but the upgrade edition will install even if they're absent. The Vista SP1 Upgrade Edition retails for about $110 less than the full version of Vista SP1, which means users can save money on upgrading to Vista by purchasing the cheaper upgrade box.
Livingston believes Microsoft supports the hole since the upgrade edition installs over itself in Vista SP1. Although it may seem absurd at first, Microsoft may benefit from such software pirates -- if they can be called that anymore.
The theory behind this is already at play and has been at play for many years. As more and more users install some version of Windows, others will see it as "the standard", and then they will buy it -- or they'll pirate it and indirectly influence others to buy it.
All right, the headline is a little bit of a lie. Some Linux installs are hairier, take longer, and just aren't as soothing as the one we're about to show you. They do all work approximately the same way, however, and that's just fine for us as a point of illustration.
So there we are, looking at the "Download" page of an Ubuntu derived distribution. We decide that we'll download the x86 version of the distro (we'll assume we don't have a 64 bit or PPC system or don't want a 64 bit OS). So we click on the file that ends in .iso, and it starts downloading.
Your shiny new Linux system has it all -- except that one program you really needed it to install. You get online, you find the program's website, and click 'download'. Except there's not just a link to the program there.
There are four, or five, or more links to the program. Each has a slightly different format, ending with .rpm, .deb, .tgz, or possibly even .ebuild.
Some include x86 in the name, while others say ppc or amd64. What's the difference? What's actually included in these packages?
Packages are pre-compiled programs for your system (the exception being Gentoo's .ebuild). You've got to know a bit about your system to install them.
Yahoo! launched Widget badges today. In keeping with the Yahoo Widgets desktop and Konfabulator theme, the newly developed widgets bring what was previously only offered on the desktop to the web for easy downloading and installing.
With Yahoo! Widget Badges users can now embed download badges into their website, social network or blog through a custom HTML code. These new widgets can then be installed, updated and opened directly on the website they are embedded in, so there is no leaving the website for any installation purposes. The in-page installer makes it easier for people to grab information and applications without the hassle of downloading and then installing directly on the desktop. Yahoo! sees this move as one that will break the barrier that widgets have faced as desktop software, and grow their audience while making it a more advantageous development platform.
GirlSense is one of the first companies to get Widget badges up and running. Take a look at how the badge can be blended into the website so as to not seem distracting or out of place. Users must have the Yahoo! Widgets application running on their computers for the badges to work.
UPDATE: Yahoo! has let us know that users do not need to install Yahoo! Widgets in order to take advantage of the Widget badges.
Ooh. Here's a bit of an "oops" for Microsoft: It turns out it's possible, with no hacking or advanced skills required, to make a full-blown clean install of Windows Vista from a Vista upgrade DVD. Seeing as the upgrade disc costs about two thirds what the full version does, that seems like a pretty big oversight. DailyTech has the scoop. The process is very easy, but takes a bit of legwork. Here's the basics:
Boot from your Vista upgrade DVD.
Don't enter your product key when prompted; click "Next" instead, which will install a 30-day trial version of Vista.
Once your new trial boots up, launch setup from the DVD again, from within Vista.
Enter your product key when prompted, and then choose Custom (advanced) to do a clean install (yes, you're installing Vista a second time).
Congratulations, you've got Vista!
According to Paul Thurrott, all of this info is actually contained within internal Microsoft docs, so it's kind of amazing to me that Microsoft shipped Vista update discs with this capability. Regardless, doing this is almost certainly in violation of your license agreement, so don't try it at home (but if you do, let us know if it works).
One of the great things about WordPress is how easily you can have it up and running, completely customized to your liking, in such a short period of time. After setting up WordPress for several of my friends, I found that having a 'checklist' makes things go even faster - so I decided to write it all up and share with you.
Please don't hesitate to use the comments to suggest additions etc, I'll update the checklist accordingly.
Depending on how you've installed WordPress (manually or by a "one-click-install" that many hosting providers offer) - one of the very last installation steps is to choose a blog name and provide an email address. That's where this checklist begins. Click on a heading below to get started!
Not familiar with nLite? Well, let me enlighten you. nLite is a great free utility for Windows that lets you configure a Windows installation to your liking before you install it. Its main use is to remove features you don't need to save disk space and improve performance, but it can also be used to add features and even entire third-party programs and create an unattended install CD. If you haven't tried it, I highly recommend you check it out the next time you need to install Windows.
Of course, with the imminent release of Windows Vista, intrepid programmers have created vLite, a version of nLite for Windows Vista. It works just like the original nLite, though it's been prettied up a bit for the Vista scene. vLite is in beta, naturally, so you probably won't find it as rock-solid as its progenitor, but it's bound to be just as useful.
InstallPad is a brilliant open source app for Windows that lets you automate the download and installation of entire suites of programs. InstallPad relies on "application lists," which are XML files that tell it where to download the programs and how to install them. It has a built-in GUI for building and editing an application list (or you can edit XML by hand if you like), and you can select which applications from the list to install. The really cool part is that it does all of this silently. You don't have to play "Next, Next, Next, Next, Next, Next, Finish" game with the installers, because InstallPad does it for you. It also lets you pass arguments to the installers and invoke scripts when installation is complete. It can download from HTTP and FTP sources as well as run local installers or network resources. The obvious audience here is the network administrator who frequently has to bootstrap machines with the same bunch of apps, but it also has benefits for when you're doing a reformat-and-reinstall, or setting up a virtual machine with a bunch of apps.
Over at Lifehacker, Gina Trapani has put together a few application lists for InstallPad, including a "PC Rescue Pack," "Media Pack," and a general-purpose "Lifehacker Pack." Don't miss 'em.
AOL has been blacklisted on StopBadware.org due to the main fact that it installs additional software with AOL 9.0 without telling the user. The test of the free AOL 9.0 that StopBadware.org tested, reportedly got the bad grade because AOL did not live up to their "rich legacy" as stated by StopBadware.org co-director John Palfrey. Palfrey says this was the only reason why AOL had got dumped into the same category as malicious badware providers.
AOL has said that they are reviewing the report, and that no company has done more to fight malware than AOL. AOL is taking steps to ensure that the issues are addressed, and that they involve only minor UI changes.
Have you ever wondered why Firefox makes you wait three seconds before you can click on the Install button when you want to install an extension? Most users (self included) assume that it's just to make users read the dialog. It turns out that's not the case--Jesse Ruderman explains that it's actually a security feature to keep people from unwittingly installing malicious code. He describes an ingenious exploit in which a user is presented, for example, a security (CAPTCHA) image to type in. JavaScript is used to initiate an extension installation when the user starts typing, and when the user types 'y' or enter, it triggers the 'Accept' or 'Install' button, allowing the malicious software to be installed. Since many users type faster than they could respond to the box popping up, the software is installed before they can react. (If you're confused, head over to Ruderman's blog, he explains it better than I can.) The delay in Firefox gives the user time to react and stop typing. Mozilla describes the solution in bug 162020, but the same vulnerability exists in other browsers, most notably Internet Explorer and its ilk.
Too lazy to make an unattended XP
install disc but don't want to stare at nothing but progress bars while it installs? Turns out it's easy to run
Pinball, Minesweeper, or Solitaire while the Windows XP setup grinds along. User Boofis on the Whirlpool forums
explains: "You just have to wait until the right moment the pinball files are copied. Sometime after where it asks
you for the product key and a question or two after that, where it says 'copying files'." Then you can press Shift
F10 to get the command prompt, navigate to the appropriate folder, and run your game. Head over to the forum thread for the full
instructions.
I
have to wonder what it's like at Apple right now, what with everybody and their grandma installing Windows XP on their Intel Macs.
Are heads rolling? Are doves being released into the sky? Do they even care? Well, if one thing's sure, it's that
installing XP on your Mac is only going to get easier, ergo this video tutorial from UNEASYsilence, which donated $500 to the
cause. The tutorial is about 12 minutes long, formatted for your iPod (a higher-resolution version is coming soon), and
pretty easy to follow.
In related news, I'm pleased to report than OnMac.net (the home of the $13,000
bounty) has gotten a nice redesign, its forums are back up, and its wiki is coming along nicely, with a constantly improving HOWTO and a very handy FAQ for would-be installers.
Over at MSFN
they've got a Difinitive How-To Guide to Unatteded Windows. But
unattended, of course, they mean installing Windows XP without hanging around to click Next... Next........ Next. It
covers how to create an install CD that includes all the latest service packs, hotfixes, security patches, libraries,
and even apps and which will install all by itself without you having to babysit it. There are three versions of the
guide for Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced users. Especially useful for admins who don't have time to kill and
also for those of us with lives to get on with.
Last week I installed a fresh, clean, virgin version of Windows XP. The point? I'm going to add applications, in small batches, to see what horrible things happen when innocent downloads go terribly wrong (RealPlayer I'm looking in your direction). Well thus far my C drive looks positively sparse. There are four, yes ONLY four folders in there!
I am not slipstreaming anything in or including any wacky drivers. Sometimes it's nice to see what Microsoft really intended with their OS. My VAIO came preloaded with a bunch of junk, some of which mine can't use (like PicoPlayer). Anyone who buys a PC with an OEM version of Windows is often in the same boat.
So I've been conservative with my downloads once again. This time I turned my attention to Microsoft's own Power Toys...
All right, the headline is a little bit of a lie. Some Linux installs are hairier, take longer, and just aren't as soothing as the one we're about to show you. They do all work approximately the same way, however, and that's just fine for us as a point of illustration.
Your shiny new Linux system has it all -- except that one program you really needed it to install. You get online, you find the program's website, and click 'download'. Except there's not just a link to the program there. 
