I don't know what it is, but today I got this in my junk mail:


Dear Sir/Madam,

We have logged your IP-address on more than 30 illegal Websites.

Important:
Please answer our questions!
The list of questions are attached.


Yours faithfully,
Steven Allison


*** Federal Bureau of Investigation -FBI-
*** 935 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Room 3220
*** Washington, DC 20535
*** phone: (202) 283-4108


I'm insulted.  If you are going to prank me into running your spyware, please put some effort into it.  Not to mention the small matter of jurisdiction...

There's this thing called the Turing Test.  In a nut shell it is can a computer be so clever that you don't realize that it's a computer you are communicating with.   The test must then assume some  benchmark level of human intelegence.  Could a drop in the benchmark of human intelegence be measured by how lame the lure has to be before someone bites?

And a quick post-script to any law enforcement agencies out there:  If you ever get so lazy that you start to question suspects by email...  *rolls eyes*

I saw this post the other day on the IE team's blog while looking at some IE7 stuff...

I was unaware that the SV1 token gets added to your browser User Agent string after XP SP2.  I don't think in this case it matters if SP2 is more secure than RTM XP, I still don't want someone to know my patch level.  Call me paranoid...

As fortune would have it, fiddler has an answer!  Thanks

Oh, with regard to IE7 - apart from all the user experience enhancements like tabs (thanks for coming to the party IE) etc the killer I reckon is in protected mode registry virtualization - I think we will see more of this in future!

So it's been a little while between updates on the blog, sorry about that!

I've been on a bit of an OS roller coaster ride of late.  I tried the latest LonghornI mean Vista beta (beta 2) on a couple of machines.  I didn't do a lot of homework because I have this bad habit with operating systems - I just grab the bootable disc and dive in the deep end.  I did this with Linux in '98 and it took me 6 years to kick the habit!   

The two machines were:

1. Dell Inspiron 1100 laptop, P4 2Ghz, 1Gb RAM, integrated Intel graphics, 80Gb HDD
2. Home-brew PC, P4 Dual Core 3Ghz, 2Gb RAM, 512Mb 6800 graphics, 1.2Tb storage

First thing's first - they both run fine.  The install was painless, the new features and UI are discoverable and I am well impressed with the direction Vista is taking. 

My problem is that the laptop needs to run Visual Studio 2003 to maintain some Web Services projects.  These require Front Page extentions on the local IIS to do debugging when I am on a train or otherwise not close to a server.  So after a week of new-OS glow and fighting uphill against IIS 7.0 (which does not and will not support FPE) I am presently formatting the HDD and putting XP SP2 back.  *sigh*

The desktop box runs a treat with the "Glass" enabled and all.  I am looking forward to running the final release on it. 

As an aside both these machines are running the Office 12 beta too!  They have taken things back to real core usability in this release and I think it's a very good thing.  There are some cool new features, sure- but the killer for me is in its usability improvements. 


After blog mint [?]:  I love Linux to bits and it has come along leaps and bounds in that time - I'm just a Windows guy at the moment.  2003 Server played a bit part in that.  I harbour no ill will to the penguin, it's just not me right now.  that's all.