NEW ELEMENT DISCOVERED
Passed along by Wayne Clark

Investigators at a major research institute have discovered the heaviest element known to science. This startling new discovery has been tentatively named "ADMINISTRATIUM" (Ad)

This new element has no protons or electrons, thus having an atomic number of ZERO. It does, however, have one neutron, 125 assistant neutrons, 75 vice neutrons, and 111 assistant vice neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312. These 312 particles are held together by a force called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons.

Since it has no electrons, Administratium is inert. However, it can be detected as it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. According to the discoverers, a minute amount of Administratium causes one reaction to take more than four days to complete when it would normally take less that one second.

Administratium has a normal half-life of approximately three years. It does not decay but, instead, undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons, vice neutrons and assistant vice neutrons exchange places.

In fact, an Administratium sample's mass will actually increase over time since, with each reorganization, some of the morons inevitably become neutrons, forming new isotopes.

This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to speculate that Administratium is formed whenever morons reach a certain quantity in concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as "the critical morass".

You will know it when you see it.

For those who are AGAINSED MS including anything inside the OS I have a few things to say.
1. Windows Media Player 8/WMP 6.4 can not play .RM or .MOV yet is the only player to support .WMA formats so you can not say that it is competition targeted at the other media players like Quicktime or Real Player due to the fact that you must have these products to play those files. WMP 6.0+ was included with windows since about 98 I believe so why is everyone going crazy at the "SKINED" version of WMP 6.4?
2. MSN messenger-
MSN messenger, due to the intergration of Remote Desktop and and Remote Application, is the base software used to communicate to the "Help and Support" areas for windows XP so without this users would have more difficulty getting quick support and/or answers to questions. Furthermore it can only access MSN Instant message users so therefore it can not be considerd a distraction from using AIM or another instant messaging client. If a consumer knows someone on AOL they get AIM to communicate with them in the first place.

OTHER then MSN Messenger and Windows Media Player. What software is the problem? Notepad, Calculator, Paint, Wordpad etc are BASIC programs that the OS gives users so they do not have to purchase 3rd party software if they need BASIC features.

Please excuse any grammer mistakes. I am in a hurry and was in a rush.

If you are a content provider, you have two options:
1. Make all your content available in a client all your users will be forced to have (MediaPlayer) or
2. Or require that that your users download QuickTime or RealPlayer knowing that most will have 28 k internet access?
This is a government charge against Microsoft, using an old monopoly (Windows) to give a new product (MediaPlayer) an advantage over its competitors. The same applies to Windows Messenger (isn't MSN Messenger gone?)

Well when I said MSN Messenger I ment Windows messenger and the support issue is allready resolved (there is a THIN client just used for this).
As for the media player, would you buy an OS that can not even play a .mp3 file?

> "1. Windows Media Player 8/WMP 6.4 cannot play .RM or .MOV yet is the only player to support .WMA formats so you cannot say that it is competition targeted at the other media players."

Wrong! The software is merged into the OS so that everyone will have it, there for everyone will have to support .WMA instead of .RM and .MOV, kind of like how everyone has to buy office to read all the docs that the sheep keep sending you. Or like how many web pages won't display right because M$ had to take a crap on the HTML standards, just like they did to Java, make it only run on windows when the Java criterion was "write once, run anywhere." And M$ has the nerve to blame that on Sun for not submitting it to the standards body (That didn't stop M$ from pissing on HTML or C++). The "write once, run anywhere" criterion is a standard for interoperability that Sun supports. M$ never submitted the Win32 API or VB or any standard to a standards body, nor do they support openness or interoperability.

Its the same logic that astroturfers like yourself use to defend the indefensible.

M$ is using the OS to extend its monopoly. And That includes Messenger, and all the other stuff M$ pours Billions over and hands out for "Free" while they don't even upgrade notepad or WordPad.

> "Notepad, Calculator, Paint, WordPad etc are BASIC programs that the OS gives users so they do not have to purchase 3rd party software if they need BASIC features."

Yes, they are so basic that I can make all of them. You are comparing a piece of crap that to IE, messenger, and other things that M$ spent billions to make and now is "giving away for free" because they say "The customer wants M$ to control all biometric information" when they are saying the exact opposite. And lets not forget that this software will need to be upgraded on a weekly basis due to poor security. This has the effect of making your OS a complete security hole that needs constant maintenance.

> "so they do not have to purchase 3rd party software"

Nice job crackhead! You just admitted that M$ is trying to stop people from using "3rd party software." You can only lie so much before you lie yourself into the corner.

"I'm not doing anything illegal! Its my OS, I can do what ever I want! I can put a ham sandwich in it if I want!" "Why wont everyone let us kill Java!" "Why cant we have our way all the time!" "Bill G never did anything wrong EVeR!" "Sun, Look what you made me do! Break the Law Again! Now I have to Kill you!" "Everyone is a Communist!"

You guys are amazingly pathetic in your astroturfer logic. I'm blown away that a company as big as MS can lie so much without any guilt. No wonder so many people bash M$.

I agree censorship isn't exactly what is called for, but just warning those who post insults just to insult is a bit to soft. I stopped coming here or posting here for a while because of getting flamed because I created my business web site with FrontPage! The OS Holy Wars need to die fast.
Linux users need to stop bashing everything Microsoft, while Microsoft users need to stop bashing everything Linux. There is no value in all the insults.

James Wheat
http://belprecomputerwizard.com

Well stated. The next incarnation of the site (hopefully to appear soon) will take all of this into account. Better moderation is needed.

Nate Mook
nmook@betanews.com

Since we've had a 'few' messages regarding the censorship or apparent censorship on this site I thought I would add my views on the whole thing.

I don't know exactly why we have censorship on this site or why it is to the level of banning people (if that's what is it up to), it might be a good thing to hear from nate or one of the other betanews folks on this subject.

However if people are being banned then I'd like to suggest a warning system of some kind, so you get a chance to 'shape up or ship out' so to speak. I'm guessing that this censorship came as a result of requests that betanews got from people complaining about there being no moderation of any kind. If these were requests that said 'i don't like hearing about linux' - then those should be ignored on account of free speech amongst other things, however if they were more of the 'i don't like the fact that xxxx does nothing but insult people' - then these are things that should be warned against/moderated to some extent.

I for one try not to swear and insult others because it's not going to achieve anything productive - you just come off looking like an immature fool who cannot discuss/argue a point. If you don't like what someone said - fine tell them so, calling them a f** or saying they they suck xxx's d*** is immature. There's plenty of ways of putting your view across without having to insult everyone and everything in your path.

In that regard, Ativo I don't think should have been banned because I enjoyed having discussions/arguments with him, as he kept the insults down (at times) but Brian Davidson on the other hand I don't think had a single post where he didn't insult everyone who has anything to do with Microsoft and that's where his posts ended.

Therefore, allow everyone to share their views, if they feel a need to call Microsoft M$ and Linux linsux and Netscape Netscrape etc etc that's fine, let them. If they start insulting everyone for no reason, quitely warn them, if they keep on doing it, warn them again, if they're still doing it, then think about banning them.

Just my views on the issue.

Chris,

Although we do not actively moderate the talkbacks, we do our best to make sure the discussions stay on topic and appropriate. We will remove comments abusive to other users and containing vulgar language (after many requests from readers) but that is about it. The very few cases we have had to block a user was after repeated abuse on the site despite being warned multiple times. There is no censorship - we just try keep the discussions related to the topic and appropriate for all of our visitors. E-mail me if you have any further questions.

Nate Mook
nmook@betanews.com

Chris wrote, twice!: "In that regard, Ativo I don't think should have been banned because I enjoyed having discussions/arguments with him, as he kept the insults down (at times) but Brian Davidson on the other hand I don't think had a single post where he didn't insult everyone who has anything to do with Microsoft and that's where his posts ended. [This message brought to you by Microsoft]"

Sorry to disappoint you Chris - I'm not getting paid 1 billion dollars to Astroturf like you are - I was never banned from your cesspool you got running here. As for being censored, I am not nearly censored as much as Ativo. I have seen entire branches of his deleted, where I have had a few of my posts removed - sometimes for vulgarity - but what is most annoying is the fact that the catalyst is never removed, ever. This shows a strong bias towards M$, and it is wrong.

On the other hand of censorship, CPUGuy has been censored only ONE, time that I have witnessed, yet he is permitted to air his deep dark paranoid nightmares about how the communists are out to get his company and to post hidiously unspelled lies:

CPUGuy Tried To Write: "WHAT exactly is your problem with activation? How can you say it's intrusive? Thats PURE speculation. WPA is NOT a difficulty! No gimmicks, no headaches, no catches. You can change hardware w/o problem it is very unobtrustive. No hassles, nothing at all! [This message brought to you By the Special Olympics of Philosophy]"

Chris wrote: "If they start insulting everyone for no reason, quitely warn them, if they keep on doing it, warn them again, if they're still doing it, then think about banning them.
Just my views on the issue. [This message brought to you by Philip Morris. Working to make a diffrence]"

Come on Chris, you are by far the most abrasive person on here "for absolutely no reason" well none other than to defend - in the most patronizing and belligerent way - M$ for murder. I only insult the extremely stupid M$ radicals, and have a point to be made in all of my posts, whereas you, never mind the fact that you are always wrong, Let us look at what long and pointless things we have to read from you... That you post to everyone.

"Look at yourself! Once again you managed to outshine even yourself. Interesting conclusions you came up with there. I'm interested to know, are you really that stupid and don't understand what other people have written or are you just twisting things around so you have something to say? I'm glad that you were 'intelligent' enough to link the two together. How the hell do you come up with these things? [Drive an SUV! They won't kill you! This message brought to you by General Motors]"

That's just from one of your posts, don't make me dredge up all of them, I don't want peoples heads to collapse. The fact is, Chris, you don't know how to use sarcasm effectively, as I do. You just use it to try to intimidate people into thinking you are right, when you are wrong.

If you want to censor someone to keep this place intelligent, start with the flame-bate M$ Christians: CPUGuy, Chris_belligerent, and Jim weed; and all the other eight-million names that you keep logging in under to hide the fact that you are a fraud that is getting paid off my M$. Funny how I use only one name, where you guys have to pretend to have support.

I try to avoid this place because I'm too smart for this pitfall of filthy, disgusting, astroturfer sewage. My creativity is just wasted in here... and I'd like to pretend that the world is NOT going to s***. But it doesn't help because dam does Microshaft suck OS.

Yet. Mook and Worthington have their heads up each others asses vicariously writing "non-partisan" articles, watching the world go by while eight-hundred-and-fifty million free-range idiots (All the Alias of CPUGuy; or Chris_kaBongwater) lay down the Astroturf.

'I am not nearly censored as much as Ativo.'

If that's true then that's really wrong! I have no idea who complained but from my observations you threw a lot more pointless insults in everyone's direction.

'This shows a strong bias towards M$, and it is wrong.'

True, we shouldn't have a bias of any kind, but that's also a little unrealistic as I'm sure that the managers of this site are trying to 'market' it towards a certain audience - or maybe they're not. The point is that whenever you offer you audience to share it's views there will always be bias. People who support product A will go and post messages where there are a lot of other people who support product A. When is the last time that slashdot.org (an an example) wasn't biast? Just try saying anything in the slightest bit negative about Linux in there (no matter how true and how much proof you have) and watch everyone flame you.

'I only insult the extremely stupid M$ radicals,'

So everyone that uses any MS product is be default a 'M$ radical'? Because I'm sure if you think back a while you'll remember accusing quite a few people of being sheep, kissing Bill ass, sucking him off, etc etc etc. Or you don't remember that? The point is, why do you bother insulting anyone? Can't you hold a discussion/argument without insulting anyone and everyone?

'The fact is, Chris, you don't know how to use sarcasm effectively, as I do.'

No-one can do anything as good as you. Can you teach me? :)

'I try to avoid this place because I'm too smart.....'

Glad to see you can still make all of us laugh. I'm glad you think that you're such a superior human being and everyone else on this site is just one person posing under how ever many aliases. Because that's the only conclusion you could come up with right? I mean, it's just not possible that other people may have a difference of opinion.

Like I touched on earlier, if you want to insult Microsoft etc, the best places to do that are those places where other people will be behind you no matter what you say. If you come to a site like this which may not be 50%/50% but it's definetely not 100%/0% then expect to get 3 types of responses.
1. People insulting you and Linux back because they're just as immature or don't really have a valid point to make, but a few swear words put together sound cool.
2. People who will agree with you simply because they hate MS too.
3. People (like myself I'd like to think) who will either agree or disagree with you based on the comment you've made. If you make a 'stupid' comment regarding MS, I will point it out, just as quickly as I will point out a 'stupid' comment regarding Linux, because I'm not religious when it comes to OS' (or religion for that matter!) and understand that you should use the best tool for the job.

'and I'd like to pretend that the world is NOT going to s***. But it doesn't help because dam does Microshaft suck OS.'

Final comment. Aren't you using Linux by now? Why does it bother you that someone else is running Windows? I'm not bothered by the graphics designers at work who use a Mac.

Yes, comments from me also have been deleted from Betanews.. and then my nick was banned completely. Maybe it is also becasue i am pro Linux. No being pro linux does not mean i am also automatically anti microsoft. However my pro linux comments along with my comments when i feel betanews covers stories that in my opinion are not "Beta News" seem to have gotten me kicked out of here. I guess by posting this the next step for them is to bann my IP and possibly IP block. Hopefully enough people will read this and actually care that this kind of thing is going on here on the Betanews site.

Maybe you should examine the way you were posting, and try to find out *why* you were censored? Foul language? Insults? "Going overboard" in promoting your views?
Perhaps you can get in touch with those who run BetaNews, and find out what kind of guidelines need to be followed, since this is *their* site, and it is not our "right" to post just whatever we wish.

James Wheat
http://belprecomputerwizard.com

I understand that one of my friends has been banned from this forum for posting his views, infact his IP is not allowed to connect to this system any longer. It seems that he is not the first linux user that has been banned from this system over the past few weeks for speaking his or her mind. I also understand that many of his comments have been deleted but replies, some of which are very vulgar have been left. I expect that if I were to post comments on this site that they too will be deleted. Here's the deal, there are a lot of people out there that will not put up with systems like this where the owners show heavy bias, segregate, and outright deny people their right to free speach. This sort of action will not be tolerated. You have no right to deny any man their right to assemble, and post their views, no matter what the content may be. I truely hope you are happy with what your recent actions have created.

Okay who the hell cares. Personally I find it convient as a network administrator that when someone sends me a document from word that I can open it up in word. But when someone sends me a document from wordperfect I can not open it up unless I convert it. Personally I think there should be standards on everything and have each company work together to make these standards. Sure Microsoft owns alot of the OS market but remember the days of DOS and how incompatiable s*** was. Then comes plug and play. You know people talk about how unsecure windows is. Personally linux out of the box is just as open. People invest in firewalls that is why they are made. Your OS is just to boot a computer not to do everything you want. There are other things out there then just microsoft and if you are so blind to realize this then that is your own ignorance.

Someone has too much time on their hands :)

Try to keep the discussions on topic. I will make sure this thread does not get moderated so others can see it as an example, but this is a talkback regarding Microsoft and the Supreme Court, if you have any other issues, feel free to e-mail the webmaster.

Nate Mook
nmook@betanews.com

My god how stupid the justice system really is. Ms has promised OEM's the full version of winXP by august 15. MS has done it once again.

They will use the law to thier advantage like any smart company.

I wonder how long this will last. Do you think Microsoft will win the time to release Windows XP?
Post your comments, the government sucks.
--William

I hope that they can win the time... I have a question for you. Would the US governments decision, apply to Microsoft products outside of the US? And if it does how fair is that to me (a Canadien) who is not represented by the US government?

While I think microsoft needs to be trimmed of some bad branches I don't see why it should be chopped down. Windows XP will more then likely boost the pc industry. Delaying it's release could impact on job security for many people employed in this industry all over the world.

Job security for who?
All the companies that are having troubles surviving now they are seeing their revenue going down because Microsoft is bundling all the products they are trying to sell, with Windows?

You mean AOL. I dont have any sympathy for AOL. I dont think many people have sympathy for AOL. Do you have sympathy for AOL? I dont think the messenger argument hold weight (remember, the govt told them they have to open AIM) As for the others that MS is hurting... CDBurning software was licensed off or Adaptec (they are get a chunk of change for each copy of XP sold), DVD off of Intervideo (same), unzipping files from WinZip (same), firewall from Armat (same), etc. etc. These companies are holding a pretty big stake in the release of XP. I also think that people are excited about the release and generally like Microsoft. As a developer, I know why MS won the browser war... They were SO much better that any alternative. You know that, I know that. Before the government starts dictating what is better for consumers, they should ask them. The public is in support of MS dispite the media's juciy stories about how it is us against MS. Who will win... The good guys or the evil empire... And who here doubt that splitting MS will make any difference. The fact is, MS make excellent products. Delaying XP will cause nothing but problems, both in the market and in peoples lives. There, I got that out...

I can't remember who off hand, but the Zip software is not from WinZip... different company, but the same idea.

I don't know what the deal is with everybody and AOL. I live in Europe (thanks God) and don't know anybody that uses AOL. I have different friends and a lot of them use different ISP's.
So I wasn't thinking about AOL at all.
So Adaptec got some money, what about all the other companies that produce CD-burning software. Microsoft includes streaming audio and video so Real and Apple get screwed. Since you brought up AOL, yes, MS IM can reach more people world-wide than AOL or any other company can do (I have only seen one AOL CD in my life, got bundled with my old CDROM and I threw it away). I heared there was a firewall built in, so goodbye ZoneLabs, TinyFirewall...
The fact is, Microsoft has a monopoly on the desktop market and it's using that monopoly to get into other markets as well. There is no fair play in this. Other companies need to get there product to the customer, Microsoft just puts it in its OS.

You seem to think/believe that just because a basic "something" comes bundled with the OS, nobody will want to use anything else. I don't care what comes bundled with XP- I will get it, use it, but I will still have my ZoneAlarmPro (XP does *not* break it!), roxio/EZ Cd creator 5 deluxe (works fine, 'cept for directCD, which I never use anyway), WinRAR for zips, etc.
Do you think people will just say "Oh look- it comes with this, which isn't near as good as that, but I'll just use this anyway"? I don't believe that way.

James Wheat
http://belprecomputerwizard.com

Yes I truely believe this. I've seen a lot of people using software that came pre-installed just because they don't know there are better products. When people have something the fullfils their basic necessities, they are not going to look for something else, something better. Microsoft has the advantage they can put their application in the OS which means they have 1st choise when it comes to delivering their solution.
Microsoft still targets the average and new users a lot. These people don't have old software (like you do) they can install on their brandnew PC and will use whatever Microsoft puts into it, be it good or bad.

Just read an article on ZDnet where Allchin is saying XP is just a platform. No, it's a platform with a lot of application thrown on top of it. He also said Microsoft is pro choise and pushes people to install 3th party software. So why don't they not install all their applications and give the people the choise to install what they want and not use what already is installed anyway.

Yes, I have some "old" software, but that "old" software might be around 6 months to 1 year old, like PSP 7, SystemSuite 3.0, Office 2000, wordPerfect office 2000, etc. I am trying to get Ontrack to set me up to beta test SystemSuite 4 for WinXP (I love playing with software!).
I help point my customers to the best software solutions, and more often than not, besides Windows98SE or Win2K, most everything else is non-microsoft software. I do my best to help my customers see what all is out there.

James
http://belprecomputerwizard.com

I think Microsoft should sue the US governement.
IT is the US Government that is monopalising the market by telling companies what they can and can't do.
I have been using MS products since I got my first computer.. I have never had a problem about going out and looking for nwe software that will help me do the job.

Well that was just a thought......

A lot of people I know just buy there computer; they only know of Office and if there is anything they want installed, it's Office. Allmost none of them asks for an IM client, firewall, browser etc... So when they get home, the first thing they see and use will be Microsoft's software without ever going back to a store to see if there is any software better suited for their needs. As far as they know, this is the software they need/should use.

Not because of the OOBE. My 80 year old mother uses Corel and Wordperfect. She is smart enough to find alternatives. She knows that software is sold in stores. The internet is full of ads leading to software that can be purchased. She finds her stuff on her own. And she doesn't know diddly about computers...
Your point is like saying that my mother would only buy Albertson Brands when she shops in an Albertsons grocery because they are easier to find.

No, your mother would only buy Albertson brands because she receives a monthly catalogue or goes to the internet-site and only Albertson brands are advertised. She would order those brands as no other brands would be displayed.

Would these people know about an IM client, firewall, browser etc... unless Microsoft introduced them to the idea first? Perhaps a browser, but I'm willing to bet they wouldn't know the first thing about a firewall. Perhaps being introduced to a firewall that is included, they will research what it does, and find that there are other, more feature complete firewalls out there. In the meantime, they have a rudamentry firewall -- Better than no firewall at all.

/Ryan