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February 2010 Archives
I'm as much of a Microsoft fanboy as the next, but this recent email to Windows 7 RC users put me off a bit:
It's time to upgrade from the Windows 7 Release Candidate
While most people who tested Windows 7 have now moved to the final version, some are still running the Release Candidate. If you haven't moved yet, it's time to replace the RC.
Starting on March 1, 2010 your PC will begin shutting down every two hours. Your work will not be saved during the shutdown.
The Windows 7 RC will fully expire on June 1, 2010. Your PC running the Windows 7 RC will continue shutting down every two hours and your files won't be saved during shutdown. In addition, your wallpaper will change to a solid black background with a persistent message on your desktop. You'll also get periodic notifications that Windows isn't genuine. That means your PC may no longer be able to obtain optional updates or downloads requiring genuine Windows validation.
To avoid interruption, please reinstall a prior version of Windows or move to Windows 7. In either case, you'll need to do a custom (clean) install to replace the RC. As with any clean installation, you'll need to back up your data then reinstall your applications and restore the data. For more details about replacing the RC, see the Knowledge Base article KB 971767. For more information, visit the Window 7 Forum.
Thanks again for helping us test Windows 7.
When I installed Windows 7 RC, I had to re-install all my programs:
- Microsoft Office
- all my development tools
- my favorite text editor
- screen capture application
- WInSCP
- Git+Mercurial+SVN
- python (Django, Twisted, PIL, numpy, setup-tools+pip+virtualenv, fabric, nltk, etc.)
- WinZip
- Adobe *
- Paint.NET
- WinDirStat
- a zillion other things.
I was reluctant to do it. If I had known that installing this RC would require me to reinstall the universe twice, I'd never have put it on my machine. Thanks, Microsoft!
Awesome video from flixxy.com:
Flixxy videoUnited States Olympic Aerialist Ryan St. Onge and Science reporter Henry Fountain, break down the "double full full full", a jump St. Onge may perform at the Winter Olympics 2010 in Vancouver.
I upgraded my copy of WinSCP "(WinSCP is an open source free SFTP client and FTP client for Windows. Legacy SCP protocol is also supported. Its main function is safe copying of files between a local and a remote computer.") last night and during the installation, I was offered Xobni to install, too. It looked cool, so I installed it. I upgraded at home and was offered WeFi. I liked that so I installed it, too.
By now, I was intrigued. I checked up on OpenCandy, the company that does the offers, and found that there is a network of companies that allow additional products to be pushed out during the installation of their products. It looks to me as if all of the products are pretty cool, but here are my favorites:
My friend Michael Chepovetsky forwarded me this video link from inside an underground roadway in Russia with this explanation:
The 3150 meter Lefortovo Tunnel in Russia is the longest in-city tunnel in the world. It is nicknamed The Tunnel of Death. See for yourself why. There is a river running over the tunnel and water leaks through in some areas. When the temperature reaches nearly 0°C (as it does during winter in Russia), and the road freezes. The result is the attached video which were taken during a single day with the tunnel's surveillance camera.
Congratulations to the dual-carriage bus driver - imagine the passengers in the back! What a ride! The next time you complain about traffic, remember this video... Russian Engineering!
According to wikipedia, the video is a compilation and not necessarily over a single day. Still.
