Hello Russell!


Here's some more MS trivia of late.. (I didnt write these)

MS's Feeble attempt to stop pirating of their wares
---------------------------------------------------
Well, It looks as though Microsoft thinks they can pull a fast one on the
Pirate community. They have taken to adding HIDDEN files to the install disks
on some of their new releases, so that when the disks are later unzipped, they
will not install.

I have found this file to usually be _MSSETUP.EX_ but it could be others as
well. To avoid this problem in the future, ALWAYS include the  -whs  switch
when using PKZIP, and use the  -Jhs  when using PKUNZIP.

The  -whs  tells ZIP to include hidden and system files, the  -Jhs  tells
PKUNZIP that any files stored with the HIDDEN and SYSTEM attributes, should
be extracted with these attributes as well.


MS's WIN'95 VIRIS
-----------------

:  Microsoft officials confirm that beta versions of Windows 95 include a
:  small viral routine called Registration Wizard.  It interrogates every
:  system on a network gathering intelligence on what software is being run
:  on which machine.  It then creates a complete listing of both Microsoft's
:  and competitors' products by machine, which it reports to Microsoft when
:  customers sign up for Microsoft's Network Services, due for launch later
:  this year.
:
:  "In Short" column, page 88, _Information Week_ magazine, May 22, 1995
:
:  The implications of this action, and the attitude of Microsoft to plan
:  such action, beggars the imagination.

And here comes the interesting part :-O

:  An update on this. A friend of mine got hold of the beta test CD
:  of Win95, and set up a packet sniffer between his serial port and the
:  modem. When you try out the free demo time on The Microsoft Network, it
:  transmits your entire directory structure in background.
:  This means that they have a list of every directory (and, potentially
:  every file) on your machine. It would not be difficult to have something
:  like a FileRequest from your system to theirs, without you knowing about
:  it. This way they could get ahold of any juicy routines you've written
:  yourself and claim them as their own if you don't have them copyrighted.
:
:  Needless to say, I'm rather annoyed about this.
:  So spread the word as far and wide as possible: Steer clear of Windows 95.
:  There's nothing to say that this "feature" will be removed in the final
:  release.

--- FMail 1.0g