WINDING DOWN
An idiosyncratic look at, and comment on, the week's net, technology and science news
by Alan Lenton
Normally at this time of the year, real news, as opposed to fluff, is thin on the ground, so it’s safe to take a break. This year, though, Microsoft in particular have taken it upon themselves to generate real news. So, there’s a bunch of stuff about Microsoft, as well as material on the British Library’s pictures, comic books, ‘War of the Worlds’ illustrations, a Meccano bridge, an ISS video, a very large camera, and things to do in London. Most of the URLs relate to source material used in the Microsoft round up, but there are also a couple on a new ‘secure’ car, helium, YouTube and ISIS, and rare earths.
So, welcome back to Winding Down!
Roundup: Microsoft behaving badly
I can only shake my head at Microsoft’s antics over the past couple of weeks. I covered Microsoft’s Windows 10 in early August, but since then it’s been mostly its activities with Windows 7 and Windows 8/8.1 that have been hitting the headlines.
First off the starting block was a report suggesting that Microsoft was back porting its personal data gathering activities from Windows 10 to Windows 7 et seq. This, of course, caused an immediate outcry. I think this was a false alarm – it seems to have been an update of an existing voluntary scheme that you could opt in to, the purpose of which was to pass information about crashes back to the programmers responsible.
I can’t say for definite – these days Microsoft is suspiciously vague about what its patches are actually doing – but my best guess from the information I could gather is that it wasn’t a Windows 10 style data-slurp.
Unfortunately, the next story to hit the net – that Microsoft was downloading all the install files for Windows 10 to Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 users, even if they hadn’t indicated any desire to downgrade to Windows 10 – turned out to be absolutely spot on.
It looks like the case that if you had auto updating switched on (the default) then Microsoft would download somewhere between 3 and 10GB onto your machine. Of course people with limited bandwidth were going berserk over the costs involved, and those who only had a small amount of space allocated on their system partition weren’t exactly happy either.
I have to confess that my first reaction was similar to that of InfoWorld’s Woody Leonhard, who wrote a piece entitled ‘It’s unlikely that Microsoft’s pushing Windows 10 files onto Windows 7 machines’. My feeling was that even Microsoft wouldn’t be so stupid as to alienate its customers in this fashion. Like Woody, I was wrong. That’s exactly what they were doing, and three days later Woody made up by ‘fessing up’ and giving the best explanation I’ve seen yet of how to clean the unwanted files off your computer, and to make sure they don’t get re-downloaded.
Boy, what a shambles. I suspect there might well be some sort class action about misuse of people’s bandwidth...
In the meantime, there were persistent rumours going around that Windows 10 users were being hassled to use the Edge browser when they searched for other browsers using Microsoft’s Bing. Annoying, but relatively speaking, a minor peccadillo on Microsoft’s part.
And all this on the 20th anniversary of the launch of Windows 95!
There’s a whole slew of URLs on these stories, but I’ve put most of them into the scanner area, with the exception of the two ‘Woody’ articles, the second of which is the detailed description of how to check for, and get rid of, unwanted downloads of Windows 10.
http://www.infoworld.com/article/2983473/microsoft-windows/its-unlikely-that-microsofts-pushing-windows-10-files-onto-windows-7-machines.html
http://www.infoworld.com/article/2983777/microsoft-windows/how-to-clean-the-windows-10-crapware-off-your-windows-7-or-81-pc.html
Shorts:
Hidden in all the news that there has been lately about copyright take downs and demands for payment over alleged infringement, a modicum of good news crept in earlier this month. The British Library has just put over one million images into the public domain! The archive is part of the library’s Flickr Commons project and contains images from the 17th, 18th and 19th Centuries. Brilliant – take a look.
http://www.openculture.com/2015/09/the-british-library-puts-over-1000000-images-in-the-public-domain-a-deeper-dive-into-the-collection.html
And while we are on the subject of free stuff (a rare commodity, these days), take yourself back to your youth with a look at the Comic Book+ site. The material on it is all free, and, what’s more, it’s all legal. (Well, that’s what they say, and I have no reason to doubt it.) I found myself drawn into reading a ‘Zorro’ book – haven’t seen one of those for years. See what you can find...
http://comicbookplus.com/
If your inclinations run more towards the Horror/Sci-Fi end of the spectrum, then point your browser at Monster Brains, where they have a wonderful set of illustrations made for the French edition of H. G. Wells book, ‘War of the Worlds’. Those of you who played the original version of my game, Federation II will know that I have an abiding affection for the book. I just love these illustrations – very creepy!
http://monsterbrains.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/henrique-alvim-correa-war-of-worlds.html
Homework:
Now this is the way to get children interested in engineering!
Kudos to Queens University, Belfast, whose project to involve school students and 3rd year university engineering students in building a bridge made from Meccano over Belfast’s Clarendon Dock came to fruition this weekend. It’s the largest thing ever built out of Meccano, and judging from the video a great deal of fun was had building it, and, I guess, even learning something about calculating stresses and design.
A brilliant idea – I wonder just how on earth they are going to follow up on the project?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-34288492
NASA has uploaded a great video to YouTube. It’s called ‘All Alone in the Night’ and it’s time-lapse footage of earth as seen from the International Space Station. Impressive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FG0fTKAqZ5g
Geek Stuff:
OK guys, this one’s for you. How about a 3.2-giga-pixel camera? Yes, that’s giga-pixels, not mega-pixels. It’s going to be built as part of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) now under construction atop Cerro Pachón in Chile. Of course something like that is not exactly light weight – it’s the size of a small car and will weigh in at 3 tons.
Oh and there’s an extra you will need, should you want to have one built in your back yard – you will need 1,500 high definition TV screens to view the output!
http://www.gizmag.com/construction-approval-worlds-most-powerful-digital-camera/39183/
London:
If you think London is boring, then take a look at these aerial views of the city taken by Jason Hawkes. Absolutely stunning. I love the picture of the Leadenhall building – it looks as though it’s just about to take off.
http://londonist.com/2015/03/aerial#gallery=1514227,1514233
If you’re in London and looking for something to do on Thursday evening, why not pop in to Imperial College’s Designs for Life Lecture. This one features a zero emissions racing car, hearing aids, conservation at the Victoria and Albert Museum, 3D printing and design, the future of wheelchair design, and designing the latest drugs. Sounds interesting, something for everyone.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/imperial-fringe-designs-for-life-tickets-18051978955
Scanner:
Microsoft – data collection
http://www.infoworld.com/article/2979054/windows-security/windows-7-8-10-now-all-collecting-user-data-for-microsoft.html
http://www.ghacks.net/2015/08/28/microsoft-intensifies-data-collection-on-windows-7-and-8-systems/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/09/01/microsoft_backports_data_slurp_to_windows_78_via_patches/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2015/09/06/windows-10-worst-feature-now-installing-on-windows-7-and-windows-8/
http://www.infoworld.com/article/2981947/microsoft-windows/the-truth-about-windows-7-and-81-spy-patches-kb-3068708-3022345-3075249-and-3080149.html
Microsoft – downloading Windows 10 (see also the URLs at the end of the ‘Roundup section)
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2425381/microsoft-is-downloading-windows-10-to-your-machine-just-in-case
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/09/10/windows_10_forced_download/
Microsoft – other stuff
‘Free’ Windows 10 makes expensive software changes
http://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2015/08/17/windows-10s-pirated-software-searches/
Microsoft replaces Windows 10 patch update, isn’t saying why
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/08/17/microsoft_replaces_windows_10_patch_update_wont_say_why/
Microsoft Windows 10 running on 75 million devices
http://www.techienews.co.uk/9739846/microsoft-windows-10-running-on-75-million-devices/
Beware of Windows 10 DNS resolver and DNS leaks
https://medium.com/@ValdikSS/beware-of-windows-10-dns-resolver-and-dns-leaks-5bc5bfb4e3f1
Microsoft’s remarkable pivot: Windows 10 abandons privacy
http://www.darkreading.com/endpoint/microsofts-remarkable-pivot-windows-10-abandons-privacy/a/d-id/1322027
Changed your mind on Windows 10? Here’s how you can roll back: How To Video
http://www.cnet.com/videos/changed-your-mind-on-windows-10-heres-how-you-can-roll-back/
Microsoft Windows 10 users being persuaded to ditch Chrome, Firefox
http://www.techienews.co.uk/9740723/microsoft-windows-10-users-being-persuaded-to-ditch-chrome-firefox/
Twenty years ago Windows 95 was released
http://www.i-programmer.info/news/82/8920.html
Other – non-Microsoft stuff
New Range Rover Sentinel shields you from explosions, bullets for £300000
http://www.techienews.co.uk/9740724/new-range-rover-sentinel-shields-you-from-explosions-bullets-for-300000/
We may not be running out of helium after all
http://www.gizmag.com/helium-source-natural-gas-fields/39038/
YouTube’s Battle Against ISIS
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/youtube-battle-against-isis_55d61416e4b0ab468da037a6?kvcommref=mostpopular
West’s only rare earth mine closes. Yet Chinese monopoly fears are baseless
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/09/02/western_worlds_only_rare_earth_mine_closes/
Acknowledgements
Thanks to readers Barb and Fi for drawing my attention to material for Winding Down.
Please send suggestions for stories to alan@ibgames.com and include the words Winding Down in the subject line, unless you want your deathless prose gobbled up by my voracious Thunderbird spam filter...
Alan Lenton
alan@ibgames.com
20 September 2015
Alan Lenton is an on-line games designer, programmer and sociologist, the order of which depends on what he is currently working on! His web site is at http://www.ibgames.net/alan/index.html.
Past issues of Winding Down can be found at http://www.ibgames.net/alan/winding/index.html.
