OK, starting tomorrow I am changing this weblog into separate pages with different news topics. We're playing with stuff here at UserLand, so please bear with the dust and noise as I rebuild this weblog into something new and better.

Untitled. Fit and finish really makes the difference between products, even operating systems. I was watching TechTV's _Call For Help_ today, because they've been doing stuff on Windows XP all week, and I reckon I'll need to know about it sooner or later. Today's topic was doing a clean install of XP. I couldn't help but compare and contrast with doing a clean install of Mac OS X. When you boot from the Mac OS X CD, you get a great-looking installer program with the new Aqua interface that steps you through the installation process with a minimum of technical choices (the hardest thing that it asks is the info you need to set up your e-mail account). [Backup Brain]

LinuxProgramming: Perl and Python for Microsoft Visual Studio .NET Now Shipping [Linux Today]

The high-tech bully. By reaching for the remote control instead of sending ground troops into Afghanistan, the U.S. is reinforcing its international image as the schoolyard bully, a British critic argues. [Meerkat: An Open Wire Service]

Glitzy Times Square Debut For Windows Xp. Advertising Age Oct 26 2001 8:17PM ET... [Meerkat: An Open Wire Service]

Centra announces support for XP. ASPconnection.com Oct 26 2001 8:02PM ET... [Meerkat: An Open Wire Service]

Week in review: XPs high exposure. ZDNet Oct 26 2001 7:17PM ET... [Meerkat: An Open Wire Service]

See, I'm in the Oakland Tribune talking about Windows XP.  [Meerkat: An Open Wire Service] Scoble's Note: I love RSS. I can point to stuff that I posted on other sites. It's very weird.

Bastards get the a*** at Microsoft. Sydney Morning Herald Oct 26 2001 5:09PM ET... [Meerkat: An Open Wire Service]

Stores pile on freebies with Windows XP. Major retailers are offering goodies such as digital cameras and Palm handhelds to those who buy Microsoft's new operating system. [CNET News.com: Personal Technology]

Hello, Police State! "A Sacramento journalist is t .... Hello, Police State! "A Sacramento journalist is taken into custody by police and forced to destroy photos by an over-zealous National Guardsman." Link Discuss
posted by Mark Frauenfelder at 15:54 permanent link to this entry [Meerkat: An Open Wire Service]

Windows XP launch prompts new Microsoft concerns. The New Zealand Herald Oct 26 2001 11:02AM ET... [Meerkat: An Open Wire Service]

Tweenies cant sing and dance on WinXP. The Register Oct 26 2001 11:46AM ET... [Meerkat: An Open Wire Service]

U.S. Takes Heat for Backing Off Windows XP. The U.S. government, already locked in a bitter, seemingly never-ending legal struggle with Microsoft Corp. over its ubiquitous Windows operating system, was blasted by consumer groups Tuesday for failing to take on the company's next-generation operating system. [osOpinion]

Dell releases $599 prebuilt PC. The company is launching a low-cost, prebuilt PC in hopes of nabbing computer buyers who traditionally opt to buy at retail stores. [CNET News.com: Personal Technology] Scoble note: nice PC for $600 bones. Dell sure seems to be cleaning up in the brand-name PC business. Once this recession ends, Dell should be the first to pull out profits.

On Monday Matthew Haughey of MetaFilter announced that MeFi was open for text ads. On Tuesday he announced he had sold enough to pay his rent. Wow! [mattgoyer]

Open Source stock report: Borland's fortunes drop, IBM and Sun duke it out. - By Dan Berkes - Nasdaq and Dow make major gains from last week, helped in part by inoffensive economic reports. Borland revenues plummet, Big Blue and Sun wage war for server mind and market share, and Apple shows off its new iPod. Oh, and rumor has it that some company near Seattle released an operating system. [Meerkat: An Open Wire Service]

Win-XP firewall defeats Gibson NanoProbes. How can the bad kiddies find you if Steve can't? [The Register]

full scoop. Mark Pilgrim has the full scoop on the NY Times electronic edition. Oy such a bad idea. Requires a special player. No Mac version. Expensive. I can see why they like it, but their users won't. ... [Meerkat: An Open Wire Service]

WinXP doesn't feel the Force Feedback. Sorry SideWinder [The Register]

Hello Dan.

High-Tech Overload: Upgrades Bring Stress : With each upgrade comes stress for ordinary users. (Union-Tribune via Applesurf) [Applesurf]

Windows XP Counterfeits Appear [Geeknews]

Windows vs. Unix. 26 Oct 2001: Linux World comparesWindows and Unix."Most of the Windows versus Unix debate has been cast in terms of which is technically better or which is cheaper, but the real question is, 'Under what circumstances is it smarter to pick one technology rather than the other?'" [RootPrompt.org -- Nothing but Unix]

The Classroom Of the Future. NEWSWEEK asked leading teachers, inventors and entrepreneurs for their vision of what schools will be like in the year 2025—and how learning will change
Steve Jobs, Linda Darling-Hammond, Bill Gates, John Doerr , Maria Cantwell, Brandon Lloyd, Danny Hillis , Herb Allen , Seymour Papert, Deborah Meier, Newt Gingrich    -- Newsweek [RavenX News]

Windows XP debuts -- but will users buy it?. Seattle Post-Intelligencer Oct 26 2001 10:11AM ET... [Meerkat: An Open Wire Service]

Microsoft will face a tough legal foe. Seattle Post-Intelligencer Oct 26 2001 10:11AM ET... [Meerkat: An Open Wire Service]

Korean-Version Windows XP Debuts Friday. Digital Chosun Oct 26 2001 10:06AM ET... [Meerkat: An Open Wire Service]

Windows XP Officially Launched Amid. Korea Times Oct 26 2001 10:43AM ET... [Meerkat: An Open Wire Service]

XP wins with the Finns. Silicon.com Oct 26 2001 10:29AM ET... [Meerkat: An Open Wire Service]

XP is not safe say security firms. Silicon.com Oct 26 2001 10:29AM ET... [Meerkat: An Open Wire Service]

XP debuts loud, now awaits crowd. Seattle Times Oct 26 2001 10:12AM ET... [Meerkat: An Open Wire Service]

Computer users party with new Windows XP. Rocky Mountain News Oct 26 2001 10:02AM ET... [Meerkat: An Open Wire Service]

Some answers to XP questions. Rocky Mountain News Oct 26 2001 10:02AM ET... [Meerkat: An Open Wire Service]

Teach Yourself Programming in Ten Years. Teach Yourself Programming in Ten Years Researchers (Hayes, Bloom) have shown it takes about ten years to develop expertise in any of a wide variety of areas, including chess playing, music composition, painting, piano playing, swimming, tennis, and... [Duncan's Jotter]

Photo Gallery: XP Launch Event [BetaNews.Com]

New York Celebrates XP [BetaNews.Com]

MSN browser lockout continues. Although Microsoft says it has reopened its redesigned MSN.com Web site to rival browser makers, some third-party browsers still can't get there. [CNET News.com]

Rumors of MobileStar's Demise Greatly Exaggerated. EXCLUSIVE: While free wireless Internet access services roll out nationwide, the high-profile provider tells InternetNews.com that its Wi-Fi network is still operational clearing the way for its partners. But analysts warn about the free-for-all. [internetnews.com: Top News]

XP keeps consumers guessing. Windows XP could be a turn off for consumers, who will need a powerful computer to run the new software. [BBC News: sci/tech]

Slashdot | Your Rights Online - Whit Diffie Comments On .NET security. [Privacy Digest]

Slashdot | Your Rights Online - SSSCA Hearings Postponed Under Heavy Opposition. [Privacy Digest]

Microsoft drawn into new browser war. CNET Oct 26 2001 8:26AM ET [CNET]

SSSCA Hearings Postponed Under Heavy Opposition [Slashdot]

Microsoft Edits English [Slashdot]

Mac OS X: Apple Is Nifty, But Windows Is More Practical : OS X runs circles around XP, but Windows has more software. (Detroit Free Press via Applesurf) [Applesurf]

MS XP signed drivers regime draws consumer groups' ire. A refreshing change from the usual grouse list... [The Register]

The Progressive magazine | Editor Matthew Rothschild | Hats Off to Feingold.

He reminded his colleagues that our Founding Fathers "wrote the Constitution and the Bill of Rights to protect individual liberties in times of war as well as in times of peace." And he pointed out that "they did not live in comfortable and easy times of hypothetical enemies."

Feingold was quite clear about the stakes involved: "There is no doubt that if we lived in a police state, it would be easier to catch terrorists. . . . But that wouldn't be a country in which we would want to live, and it wouldn't be a country for which we could, in good conscience, ask our young people to fight and die. In short, that country wouldn't be America."

His final warning could not have been clearer: "Preserving our freedom is the reason we are now engaged in this new war on terrorism. We will lose that war without a shot being fired if we sacrifice the liberties of the American people in the belief that by doing so we will stop the terrorists."

[Privacy Digest]