Monday, December 1, 2008
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Hotmail debugging oh how fun NOT!
[Update, November 25, 2008:] Check out this recent blog post for updates about the bug fixes we're making in repsonse to your comments.
Update on the new Hotmail
By the end of this week, all Windows Live Hotmail users will be upgraded to the new Hotmail. The rollout has been slow because we’ve been reading and listening to your comments. We’ve read all the comments, followed up with some of you, and changed the service as we went. Since our original announcement, we have read and analyzed several thousand comments, fixed several bugs, and released five updates to the code so far. Here are answers to a few of your frequently asked questions.
So, we want you to know that we’re listening, we’re making changes, and we want the service to be great.
Q: Why did you change? I liked the old version the way it was.
When we asked our users how we could make Hotmail better, the majority of people said they wanted the experience to be cleaner and faster. The new experience was designed with this in mind.
Now, we understand that everyone has different tastes and computer configurations. Although the majority of people in our tests preferred the new look and themes, some people didn’t. So, while most of you have seen Hotmail improve, some of you have not, and we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you.
Q: I find this hard to use. Was this tested with real users?
Yes, it was. We tested with several thousand people around the world and used their feedback to improve the design prior to releasing to all users. We interviewed hundreds of them to hear their opinions, measured their success rate accomplishing common tasks, and surveyed them to see how much they liked the new service compared to the old one. The data from our tests showed that most users found the new Hotmail to be faster, more reliable, and more usable.
Q: Can I opt out? Can I get the old version back?
A: We can’t provide two fast, secure, reliable experiences, so we have decided to just keep the new version. However, we will continue to improve the new version, based on many of your comments here, to make it work better for you.
And here are some specific concerns we’ve seen in your feedback, and what we’re doing to fix them:
Q: Where did my folders go? I can’t see enough of the page. The ad is too big. Can you give me more space?
A: We understand that the design isn’t optimal for many users who have smaller monitors, so we’re working on improvements to page layout that will give your inbox more space.
In the meantime, if you have a smaller display, you should maximize your browser window for best results (in Windows, look in the upper-left corner of the browser, click the Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Safari logo, and in the menu that appears, click Maximize).
Also, your folders are not gone — you may need to scroll the folder list to see them all.
Q: I can’t forward e-mail because I can’t find my contacts. I don’t know where my favorites went!
A: The new “contact picker” and “auto-complete” features were designed to save you time.
· While addressing an e-mail message, just type a couple letters of the name and we will show just the names that match those letters.
· Or, while addressing an e-mail message, click the To: button to see the full list of all of your contacts.
· To set up your favorites, go to the Contact list and click the yellow star next to each name that you want to be a favorite.
While this may require an extra click for some of you, our research shows that typing a few letters of the name is usually a faster way to find an address than scrolling through a list. Once you get used to it, we hope you’ll find auto-complete useful, too. We also have some cool ideas about how to use the space where the favorites list used to be. We’ll keep listening to your feedback on this one.
Q: I don’t like the themes. What are you doing about this?
A: We agree that more themes are needed. Additional themes are being designed now, and will be coming soon.
Q: There aren’t as many messages on the page. I want to see more!
A: We hear you, so we’ll be increasing the default number of messages per screen, and providing the option for power users to see many more. Look for these changes in an upcoming release.
Q: Where is the spell checker?
A: For users of Internet Explorer, there is a Check Spelling button; clicking this button draws red underlines below misspelled words, and then clicking the underlined words shows you suggestions. For users of Firefox and Safari, you can just use the built-in spell checker in your browser, so misspelled words will be underlined automatically.
We are constantly reading your feedback, so please let us know what you think. We want you to love the new Hotmail!
- Mike Schackwitz, Lead program manager, Windows Live Hotmail
Friday, November 28, 2008
Vista kernel is vulnerable oh my
Vista kernel is vulnerable
Discovered by Austrian researcher Thomas Unterleitner of the insecurity company Phion and announced last Friday, the buffer overflow flaw reportedly exists in Vista's networking I/O subsystem.
It can cause a blue screen of death system crash, allow denial of service attacks, or enable injection of rootkits or other malware such as viruses, trojans, bots or keyloggers.
Unterleitner told ZDnet UK that Phion had notified Microsoft of the vulnerability in October.
Phion successfully tested an exploit of the vulnerability against Vista Enterprise and Vista Ultimate and believes that other versions of Windows Vista are "very likely" also vulnerable. It says that both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the operating system contain the flawed code.
Windows XP reportedly doesn't contain the vulnerability.
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See story here
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Hotmail trying to be funny?
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HMMMM are thay trying to be Gmail???
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
we have a Lawyer running Finance hmmm!
| | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 2006 federal election | |
| Preceded by | Judi Longfield |
|---|---|
| | |
| Born | December 30, 1949 Lachine, Quebec |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse | Christine Elliott |
| Residence | Whitby, Ontario |
| Alma mater | Princeton University: BA Osgoode Hall Law School: LLB |
| Profession | Lawyer |
| Portfolio | Minister of Finance The PM is an economist & he has a Lawyer running Finance. Now i know why he looks like a Deere in headlights Lawyers don't know Finance at all!!!!! |
Friday, November 21, 2008
Bank of Montreal - what were they thinking?
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
How can The Conservative Party of Canada be so stupid
(28) This was evident during the Conservative national policy convention in Winnipeg last weekend, at least when it came to issues concerning women.
Passed were three policy resolutions that affect women, and their rights, and choices.
In ascending order of outrageousness, they are:
Resolution P-305 would allow for income splitting for families with children, which would ease the tax burden on the main earner and put more cash in the couple's pockets.
That means spouses – usually women – who don't work outside of the home for pay could also get some financial reward for their contributions to the family, assuming, of course, that they actually see some of the dough.
Now, on the surface, this is great.
Except for one thing: It discriminates against single-parent families, many of who struggle to make ends meet.
It also works more to the benefit of the rich than the middle classes. The more income that a couple can split, the bigger and better the tax break. And aren't non-working spouses dependents anyway?
What income splitting as official policy really says is, especially in the absence of a national daycare program, a woman's place is in the home.
Resolution P-213 should hardly come as a surprise to anybody following the Harper government's efforts to wipe out any and all support for women's rights.
The proposal eliminates support for full gender equality as well as equal pay for work of equal value.
Let me repeat that: It would eliminate support for full gender equality.
Oh it couches that in airy fairy speak, stating that the party is all for "the full participation of women in the social, economic, and cultural life of Canada." But the phrase "gender equality" was scrubbed and equal pay will only go for "equal work."
That means male parking lot attendants can continue to make more than female child care workers, even if the latter have university educations and are entrusted with your precious kid instead of your car.
Which says a lot about where the Cons stand on the issue of women's work and independence.
And, if you still don't get their agenda, consider what bloggers Dr. Dawg and Danielle Takacs both reported from the floor. At least one delegate objected to the resolution because women already have it "too good" and the proposal should have included men.
Last but, oh so very far from least, is Resolution P-207 which is all about, here we go again, protecting "unborn children" from violence.
Rewind to the eve of the last federal election when Harper pulled the plug on the controversial Bill C-484, the so-called "Unborn Victims of Crime Act" because it contained language that could lead to the definition of the fetus as a legal person.
Well, a similar bill could be back like the stink of skunk after the rain. According to Kady Malley of Maclean's, when one delegate got up to say that passing this would open the door to fetal rights, she was cheered. But, when the applause died down, she concluded that this was not a good thing. Which was when she was booed.
True, after the vote, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson told reporters Harper has publicly stated he has no intention of reopening the abortion debate. So why can't he close it in his own party ranks?
It's obvious that, whatever face Harper presents to Canadians, his dark grass roots will always be showing.
Antonia Zerbisias is a Living section columnist. azerbisias@thestar.ca. She blogs at thestar.blogs.com.