Miscellaneous Tech News
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Parallels Desktop 15 for Mac moves to Metal for DirectX 11 and more
Update promises better graphics performance in games and CAD applications.
Today, popular virtualization software Parallels Desktop 15 for Mac becomes available to new and current users. The flagship feature is support for DirectX in virtual Windows machines via Apple's proprietary Metal graphics API. Other additions include a handful of new macOS Catalina-related features and improvements to transitions between Mac and Windows software running on the same machine. When we wrote about Parallels Desktop 14 around this time last year, we asked about Metal support. The application then still relied entirely on OpenGL in macOS, and Apple had already announced that continued support for OpenGL would end. We were told it was coming, and we were not misled: the new version of Parallels Desktop now supports DirectX 9, 10, and 11 via Metal. Previously, DirectX 9 and 10 were supported via OpenGL and DirectX 11 was not supported at all. Parallels' rep noted to us that "Metal and DirectX work best in Catalina." -
@mlnews said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
Microsoft cuts Office 2019 one-time licenses through Home Use Program
Microsoft's march through subscription land continues apace.
Another one bites the dust. Microsoft has been shifting much of its software to a subscription model, and the latest Office 2019 news heralds another change on that front. The suite of Microsoft programs had been available for purchase as one-off perpetual licenses through the company’s Home Use Program. HUP lets select businesses offer employees discounted rates on the software from their workplaces to use at home. Both Office Professional Plus 2019 and Office Home and Business 2019 have been removed as options for one-off licenses under the program. Instead, HUP will give a 30% discount on annual subscriptions to Office software. Office 365 Personal will run HUP members $48.99 a year, and Office 365 Home will cost them $69.99 annually. The feature sets of the two subscriptions are the same, including premium versions of Microsoft programs, 1TB of OneDrive cloud storage, and OneDrive ransomware detection. The Home version supports up to six people, and Personal is for an individual.This is going to drive a lot of people away from MS Office.
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@Dashrender said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@mlnews said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
Microsoft cuts Office 2019 one-time licenses through Home Use Program
Microsoft's march through subscription land continues apace.
Another one bites the dust. Microsoft has been shifting much of its software to a subscription model, and the latest Office 2019 news heralds another change on that front. The suite of Microsoft programs had been available for purchase as one-off perpetual licenses through the company’s Home Use Program. HUP lets select businesses offer employees discounted rates on the software from their workplaces to use at home. Both Office Professional Plus 2019 and Office Home and Business 2019 have been removed as options for one-off licenses under the program. Instead, HUP will give a 30% discount on annual subscriptions to Office software. Office 365 Personal will run HUP members $48.99 a year, and Office 365 Home will cost them $69.99 annually. The feature sets of the two subscriptions are the same, including premium versions of Microsoft programs, 1TB of OneDrive cloud storage, and OneDrive ransomware detection. The Home version supports up to six people, and Personal is for an individual.This is going to drive a lot of people away from MS Office.
Naaaah, just a few techie people. They might lose a couple of customers, but I can't imagine this having a big impact.
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@kamidon said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@Dashrender said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@mlnews said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
Microsoft cuts Office 2019 one-time licenses through Home Use Program
Microsoft's march through subscription land continues apace.
Another one bites the dust. Microsoft has been shifting much of its software to a subscription model, and the latest Office 2019 news heralds another change on that front. The suite of Microsoft programs had been available for purchase as one-off perpetual licenses through the company’s Home Use Program. HUP lets select businesses offer employees discounted rates on the software from their workplaces to use at home. Both Office Professional Plus 2019 and Office Home and Business 2019 have been removed as options for one-off licenses under the program. Instead, HUP will give a 30% discount on annual subscriptions to Office software. Office 365 Personal will run HUP members $48.99 a year, and Office 365 Home will cost them $69.99 annually. The feature sets of the two subscriptions are the same, including premium versions of Microsoft programs, 1TB of OneDrive cloud storage, and OneDrive ransomware detection. The Home version supports up to six people, and Personal is for an individual.This is going to drive a lot of people away from MS Office.
Naaaah, just a few techie people. They might lose a couple of customers, but I can't imagine this having a big impact.
Sad. But true.
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Microsoft Finds Two New 'Wormable' Flaws in Windows
The flaws affect Windows 10, Windows 7 SP1, and Windows 8.1. If exploited, they can be used to launch a computer worm to attack vulnerable machines that have Remote Desktop Services activated.
Microsoft has discovered two serious flaws in Windows 10 and Windows 7 SP1 that the company fears could be weaponized to launch a computer worm targeting PCs and servers across the world. Both flaws are "wormable," meaning they could pave the way for malware that automatically jumps from one vulnerable machine to the next, without any action from the user, Microsoft said in a blog post on Tuesday. Other operating systems affected include Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2012. (Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 and 2008 are immune to the threat.) -
@travisdh1 said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@kamidon said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@Dashrender said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@mlnews said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
Microsoft cuts Office 2019 one-time licenses through Home Use Program
Microsoft's march through subscription land continues apace.
Another one bites the dust. Microsoft has been shifting much of its software to a subscription model, and the latest Office 2019 news heralds another change on that front. The suite of Microsoft programs had been available for purchase as one-off perpetual licenses through the company’s Home Use Program. HUP lets select businesses offer employees discounted rates on the software from their workplaces to use at home. Both Office Professional Plus 2019 and Office Home and Business 2019 have been removed as options for one-off licenses under the program. Instead, HUP will give a 30% discount on annual subscriptions to Office software. Office 365 Personal will run HUP members $48.99 a year, and Office 365 Home will cost them $69.99 annually. The feature sets of the two subscriptions are the same, including premium versions of Microsoft programs, 1TB of OneDrive cloud storage, and OneDrive ransomware detection. The Home version supports up to six people, and Personal is for an individual.This is going to drive a lot of people away from MS Office.
Naaaah, just a few techie people. They might lose a couple of customers, but I can't imagine this having a big impact.
Sad. But true.
Unless businesses are going start paying for those home users to O365, I'm guessing home users will dump Office and find other options. OR... they'll simply use their extra work Office installs (assuming they have it) on their home computers.
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@Dashrender said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@travisdh1 said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@kamidon said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@Dashrender said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@mlnews said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
Microsoft cuts Office 2019 one-time licenses through Home Use Program
Microsoft's march through subscription land continues apace.
Another one bites the dust. Microsoft has been shifting much of its software to a subscription model, and the latest Office 2019 news heralds another change on that front. The suite of Microsoft programs had been available for purchase as one-off perpetual licenses through the company’s Home Use Program. HUP lets select businesses offer employees discounted rates on the software from their workplaces to use at home. Both Office Professional Plus 2019 and Office Home and Business 2019 have been removed as options for one-off licenses under the program. Instead, HUP will give a 30% discount on annual subscriptions to Office software. Office 365 Personal will run HUP members $48.99 a year, and Office 365 Home will cost them $69.99 annually. The feature sets of the two subscriptions are the same, including premium versions of Microsoft programs, 1TB of OneDrive cloud storage, and OneDrive ransomware detection. The Home version supports up to six people, and Personal is for an individual.This is going to drive a lot of people away from MS Office.
Naaaah, just a few techie people. They might lose a couple of customers, but I can't imagine this having a big impact.
Sad. But true.
Unless businesses are going start paying for those home users to O365, I'm guessing home users will dump Office and find other options. OR... they'll simply use their extra work Office installs (assuming they have it) on their home computers.
That's why the wrk accounts give so many installs. That is the expectation.
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Biostar security software 'leaked a million fingerprints'
More than a million fingerprints and other sensitive data have been exposed online by a biometric security firm.
Researchers working with cyber-security firm VPNMentor managed to access data from a security tool called Biostar 2.According to VPNMentor, the exposed data, discovered on 5 August, was made private on 13 August.
It is not clear how long it was accessible.
As well as fingerprint records, the researchers say they found photographs of people, facial recognition data, names, addresses, passwords, employment history and records of when they had accessed secure areas. -
@scottalanmiller said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@Dashrender said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@travisdh1 said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@kamidon said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@Dashrender said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@mlnews said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
Microsoft cuts Office 2019 one-time licenses through Home Use Program
Microsoft's march through subscription land continues apace.
Another one bites the dust. Microsoft has been shifting much of its software to a subscription model, and the latest Office 2019 news heralds another change on that front. The suite of Microsoft programs had been available for purchase as one-off perpetual licenses through the company’s Home Use Program. HUP lets select businesses offer employees discounted rates on the software from their workplaces to use at home. Both Office Professional Plus 2019 and Office Home and Business 2019 have been removed as options for one-off licenses under the program. Instead, HUP will give a 30% discount on annual subscriptions to Office software. Office 365 Personal will run HUP members $48.99 a year, and Office 365 Home will cost them $69.99 annually. The feature sets of the two subscriptions are the same, including premium versions of Microsoft programs, 1TB of OneDrive cloud storage, and OneDrive ransomware detection. The Home version supports up to six people, and Personal is for an individual.This is going to drive a lot of people away from MS Office.
Naaaah, just a few techie people. They might lose a couple of customers, but I can't imagine this having a big impact.
Sad. But true.
Unless businesses are going start paying for those home users to O365, I'm guessing home users will dump Office and find other options. OR... they'll simply use their extra work Office installs (assuming they have it) on their home computers.
That's why the wrk accounts give so many installs. That is the expectation.
yeah - that is the likely the case for O365 work accounts...
I'm not sure if HUP is something that was part of O365... I think it might only be part of SA as part of Open/Value/Enterprise agreements.
So what I said about users just using their O365 additional install locations likely doesn't apply to those in the HUP situation.
This is just one more shove from Microsoft to get away from perpetual licenses and onto subscriptions. Even though most people don't need a new version of Office every 2-3 years... once a decade or once a computer refresh is likely all most users need... so the perpetual was a huge cost savings compared any subscription... Hell - O365 for business (just office - $12/u/m) $144 year is about the cost of the home user version, or something like $350 for the full normal business edition... etc.
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@scottalanmiller said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
That's why the wrk accounts give so many installs. That is the expectation.
Yeah exactly.
Honestly I see this all as a good thing. Yes in the long run we will be paying more, but there are benefits to it as well.
With one sub, you do get a bevy of features and the five different machines you can install Office on.You could hop on to any machine in the world and use your Office suite and cloud storage and continue working. (So many ands...need moar coffee)
I also like the quicker updating process too, I can't tell you how many times our users would have a bug while on the deferred track and we'd fix it just by updating. Sure you also get bugs by updating so quickly, but after a few years we stopped seeing game breakers.
I suggest Libreoffice start doing the same thing, launch a subscription platform, the money would be put to good use in development of an even better product. This may seem counter intuitive, but "free" software doesn't get the love and attention as paid products.
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@kamidon said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
I suggest Libreoffice start doing the same thing, launch a subscription platform, the money would be put to good use in development of an even better product. This may seem counter intuitive, but "free" software doesn't get the love and attention as paid products.
It does when people value the support - and buy that support.. they just get the software for free.
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Owners of defective 2016 Google Pixels can now claim up to $500
The class action lawsuit settlement site for defective Pixel microphones has gone live.
Back in May, Google settled the defective Pixel 1 lawsuit brought against it in 2018 for $7.25 million, and now owners can file a claim at a new Pixel Settlement website. Owners of a first-generation Pixel could get up to $500 if they bought multiple defective devices, and everyone that bought an original Pixel before the cut-off date is entitled to $20, even if they didn't experience a defect. Some of the first-generation Pixel phones went out the door with defective microphones, and a class action lawsuit alleged that Google couldn't or wouldn't fix the problem. Google denies these allegations, but the company still agreed to pay out $7.25 million. According to the settlement site, Pixel 1 owners are eligible for a payout if they live in the United States and bought "a new Pixel or Pixel XL smartphone manufactured before January 4, 2017 and did not receive a replacement Pixel manufactured after January 3, 2017 or refurbished after June 5, 2017." -
@Dashrender said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@kamidon said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
I suggest Libreoffice start doing the same thing, launch a subscription platform, the money would be put to good use in development of an even better product. This may seem counter intuitive, but "free" software doesn't get the love and attention as paid products.
It does when people value the support - and buy that support.. they just get the software for free.
But to become more successful, especially with Microsoft around, they'll need to figure something out.
Hell $5 per month and you get the suite? Lol...something. -
@Dashrender said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@mlnews said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
Microsoft cuts Office 2019 one-time licenses through Home Use Program
Microsoft's march through subscription land continues apace.
Another one bites the dust. Microsoft has been shifting much of its software to a subscription model, and the latest Office 2019 news heralds another change on that front. The suite of Microsoft programs had been available for purchase as one-off perpetual licenses through the company’s Home Use Program. HUP lets select businesses offer employees discounted rates on the software from their workplaces to use at home. Both Office Professional Plus 2019 and Office Home and Business 2019 have been removed as options for one-off licenses under the program. Instead, HUP will give a 30% discount on annual subscriptions to Office software. Office 365 Personal will run HUP members $48.99 a year, and Office 365 Home will cost them $69.99 annually. The feature sets of the two subscriptions are the same, including premium versions of Microsoft programs, 1TB of OneDrive cloud storage, and OneDrive ransomware detection. The Home version supports up to six people, and Personal is for an individual.This is going to drive a lot of people away from MS Office.
Not at all. The actual % of people that use this is low. Across the few clients I had that offered this I know of 3 users that made use of the benefit.
When I worked at AT&T, this was a benefit available. I know of only a handfull of people in a 500+ person office that made use of this benefit.
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@JaredBusch said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@Dashrender said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@mlnews said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
Microsoft cuts Office 2019 one-time licenses through Home Use Program
Microsoft's march through subscription land continues apace.
Another one bites the dust. Microsoft has been shifting much of its software to a subscription model, and the latest Office 2019 news heralds another change on that front. The suite of Microsoft programs had been available for purchase as one-off perpetual licenses through the company’s Home Use Program. HUP lets select businesses offer employees discounted rates on the software from their workplaces to use at home. Both Office Professional Plus 2019 and Office Home and Business 2019 have been removed as options for one-off licenses under the program. Instead, HUP will give a 30% discount on annual subscriptions to Office software. Office 365 Personal will run HUP members $48.99 a year, and Office 365 Home will cost them $69.99 annually. The feature sets of the two subscriptions are the same, including premium versions of Microsoft programs, 1TB of OneDrive cloud storage, and OneDrive ransomware detection. The Home version supports up to six people, and Personal is for an individual.This is going to drive a lot of people away from MS Office.
Not at all. The actual % of people that use this is low. Across the few clients I had that offered this I know of 3 users that made use of the benefit.
When I worked at AT&T, this was a benefit available. I know of only a handfull of people in a 500+ person office that made use of this benefit.
HUP was pretty popular here, not huge but more common than what's being mentioned here. Same for other places I've worked.
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@notverypunny said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@JaredBusch said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@Dashrender said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@mlnews said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
Microsoft cuts Office 2019 one-time licenses through Home Use Program
Microsoft's march through subscription land continues apace.
Another one bites the dust. Microsoft has been shifting much of its software to a subscription model, and the latest Office 2019 news heralds another change on that front. The suite of Microsoft programs had been available for purchase as one-off perpetual licenses through the company’s Home Use Program. HUP lets select businesses offer employees discounted rates on the software from their workplaces to use at home. Both Office Professional Plus 2019 and Office Home and Business 2019 have been removed as options for one-off licenses under the program. Instead, HUP will give a 30% discount on annual subscriptions to Office software. Office 365 Personal will run HUP members $48.99 a year, and Office 365 Home will cost them $69.99 annually. The feature sets of the two subscriptions are the same, including premium versions of Microsoft programs, 1TB of OneDrive cloud storage, and OneDrive ransomware detection. The Home version supports up to six people, and Personal is for an individual.This is going to drive a lot of people away from MS Office.
Not at all. The actual % of people that use this is low. Across the few clients I had that offered this I know of 3 users that made use of the benefit.
When I worked at AT&T, this was a benefit available. I know of only a handfull of people in a 500+ person office that made use of this benefit.
HUP was pretty popular here, not huge but more common than what's being mentioned here. Same for other places I've worked.
Interesting.
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@JaredBusch said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@Dashrender said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@mlnews said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
Microsoft cuts Office 2019 one-time licenses through Home Use Program
Microsoft's march through subscription land continues apace.
Another one bites the dust. Microsoft has been shifting much of its software to a subscription model, and the latest Office 2019 news heralds another change on that front. The suite of Microsoft programs had been available for purchase as one-off perpetual licenses through the company’s Home Use Program. HUP lets select businesses offer employees discounted rates on the software from their workplaces to use at home. Both Office Professional Plus 2019 and Office Home and Business 2019 have been removed as options for one-off licenses under the program. Instead, HUP will give a 30% discount on annual subscriptions to Office software. Office 365 Personal will run HUP members $48.99 a year, and Office 365 Home will cost them $69.99 annually. The feature sets of the two subscriptions are the same, including premium versions of Microsoft programs, 1TB of OneDrive cloud storage, and OneDrive ransomware detection. The Home version supports up to six people, and Personal is for an individual.This is going to drive a lot of people away from MS Office.
Not at all. The actual % of people that use this is low. Across the few clients I had that offered this I know of 3 users that made use of the benefit.
When I worked at AT&T, this was a benefit available. I know of only a handfull of people in a 500+ person office that made use of this benefit.
So you were the one that handed the HUP out? or at least informed people how to get it?
I'd say more like 40% of people in my office used it. I sent out yearly emails, which frequently lead to questions from people, etc...
I'm only saying 40% because that's how many people asked me about it. Once you email blast the website and tell people to use their work email address to sign up, there is no involvement of you in the process - so you can't really tell how many people are actually using it at all.
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@Dashrender said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
So you were the one that handed the HUP out? or at least informed people how to get it?
Not at A&T, but elsewhere, yes. As I just said, it is interesting to see different responses.
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FAA tells airlines MacBook Pros with defective batteries can’t fly
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/08/faa-bans-some-15-inch-macbook-pros-with-battery-problems-from-flights/The Federal Aviation Administration has banned certain 15-inch MacBook Pros with potentially defective batteries from US flights. The move, which follows Apple's June recall announcement, is part of a general FAA policy on devices with defective batteries.
"The FAA is aware of the recalled batteries that are used in some Apple MacBook Pro laptops," FAA spokespeople said in emails to Ars Technica. Under FAA policy, affected MacBook Pros are banned from the passenger cabin and from checked luggage.
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I wonder if this means anybody offloading their old equipment on ebay/etc will have to ship via ground. . .?
