Bnpositive's Blog

A couple of days ago the folks over at Bungie Studios sent a little something out the doors. They released the final code for Halo 3 to go to manufacturing and reproduction.

Three years in the making by renowned developer Bungie Studios, Halo 3 is now finished and will begin its journey to store shelves around the world in less than four weeks. Halo 3, which has already set new records as the fastest pre-ordered game in history, has exceeded one million presales in North America alone. The title is set to shatter day-one entertainment sales records when it is released worldwide beginning Tuesday, September 25.

“This is a huge milestone for us and a big cause for celebration at Bungie and Microsoft Game Studios,” said Harold Ryan, Studio Head at Bungie Studios. “This is the game we’ve always wanted to make and certainly the best game our studio has developed. We can’t wait for gamers to get their hands on it on September 25.”

It’s pretty impressive to me to think they’re expecting single day sales records for this game in the stores in less than 4 weeks. I’ll be it’s a pretty impressive process to see these factories churn out millions of copies of this game ready to be put on store shelves. I’d like to see that on “How It’s Made”.

Oh yeah! If my boss is reading this. If I happen to call off of work on Wednesday, September 26th, it’s only a coincidence okay?

Source: Halo 3 Released to Manufacturing

An article by Dana Blankenhorn on ZDNet.com has an interesting question she’s posing. At least I think this is a question she’s posing. Her article actually states that Microsoft should be afraid of open-source software, but I’m not sure that’s actually the case.

What they may need to be concerned with is a change in the software and computer application industry space and adjust accordingly.

Instead of selling Windows for, say, $150, through an OEM, sell one year of it for $99. Require registration for updates, and then charge $75/year for maintenance, just like the anti-virals do.

The same thing with Office. Don’t sell it for $500. Sell it for $300, but for one year only. Then ask for another year of maintenance. Or, even better, get their credit card and charge $30/month for the whole shebang, Windows, Office and all.

Now you’ve got recurring revenue, you’re actually getting more than retail (because people keep PCs for three years, not two), and you’ve got constant access to the customer’s PC in order to provide the service that customer is paying for.

That does make sense to me, but I’m just not sure how many people would adjust to that model.

For example, I keep my computers for quite awhile without upgrading them completely. I upgrade to a new Windows version when they come out, which isn’t exactly regularly. I’ll upgrade my Office applications maybe every version, maybe skipping one. ( I LOVE OFFICE 2007). For each of these purchases I plop down a chunk of cash, consider it an investment and I’m done with it. I don’t really think about the purchase price anymore.

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This week has just been crazy, and it looked a lot like the 5 weeks before this one and the week to come.

The problem this week is that I couldn’t squeeze into my calendar a seminar in my area that was going to be devoted to Microsoft’s new Windows Home Server.

Totally bummed I couldn’t fit it in, so now I’m trying to see if I notice any chatter about new details that may be available.

Has anyone heard anything?

My son got the new TMNT game for the Xbox 360 a few months ago and we’ve been playing it quite a bit. So much so that we’ve already beaten the entire game.

However, the improvements to game-play over previous versions (which we own all of) is pretty dramatic. There’s loads more cool moves you can do with each turtle as well as each turtle having their own signature moves.

You can also build-up the opportunity for your turtles to work together and help you work through the obstacles and hurdles that present themselves during the quest for completion.

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A recent report released by Honeynet Project shows that Internet Explorer 6 is more secure than Firefox 1.5. Granted both of these browsers have now been upgraded with their latest counterparts, but the results of the study are interesting nonetheless don’t you think?

Common perception about Internet Explorer and Firefox is that Firefox is safe and Internet Explorer is unsafe. However, a review of the remote code execution vulnerabilities (primary source: SecurityFocus) that were publicly disclosed for Firefox 1.5 and Internet Explorer SP2 reveals that, in fact, more were disclosed for Firefox 1.5 indicating more the opposite is true.

Before we get too excited though, Internet Explorer isn’t in the clear by any means. Because of the increased popularity of the browser compared to Firefox and the more tightly integration into the operating system, Internet Explorer is still a huge target.

We can only speculate why Firefox wasn’t targeted. We suspect that attacking Firefox is a more difficult task as it uses an automated and “immediate” update mechanism. Since Firefox is a standalone application that is not as integrated with the operating system as Internet Explorer, we suspect that users are more likely to have this update mechanism turned on. Firefox is truly a moving target. The success of an attack on a user of Internet Explorer 6 SP2 is likely to be higher than on a Firefox user, and therefore attackers target Internet Explorer 6 SP2.

I’m still using Internet Explorer 7 as my primary browser but also have Firefox loaded and updated. I’ve been happy with my experience still and haven’t run into any security issues or viruses in a couple of years I believe….knock on silicon.

Source: Firefox or IE? Strange answer to security question

The only way I could solve this puzzle was by taking the stickers off or completely taking it apart and putting it back together.

This guy does it the right way, and one-handed at that! Oh, and SUPER FAST!

If you’re like me, you’re counting the days until Halo3 comes out and you may have even requested the following day off of work because you know you’ll be up all night long playing as much as possible.

As you might expect, part of the promotional campaign is limited edition versions of the Xbox 360 system, headset and wireless controllers. A picture of the controllers is shown.

I’m sorry, but I probably wouldn’t use these controllers if I received them free with the purchase of the game. Those are ugly!

It would be a challenge for me to put the army green Xbox 360 system in my living room, for the value of the system, I’d make it work if I won one. These controllers just wouldn’t make it. If I won them I’d probably take them apart, pull the faceplates off and give them a shot of flat-black spray paint.

What about you?

One of the most active topics on this website when it comes to comments is this post about Problems With Visual Studio 2005. With 157 comments there have been numerous people who have shared their frustrations with the software application.

Cameron McColl with Microsoft has shared the latest comment and encourages our readers to contact the right folks if their really interested in helping improve things with a piece of software.

Just a friendly reminder if you are going to post complaints about the performance or stability of VS2005 on this forum.

If you look back through the thread you will find a lot of posts from Microsoft employees including myself asking that you contact us directly with your issues.

For VB issues: [email protected]
For C# issues: [email protected]

If you just want to complain then feel free but if you’d like to see about getting the problem fixed please consider contacting these aliases.

Note: These aliases are monitored by the actual VB and VC# teams.

Oh and the performance improvements in VS 2008 are very significant so please try Beta2 which will be released very soon.

I wholeheartedly agree with Cameron. If you’re going to complain about a piece of software, then take the next step and share your thoughts with the right people to initiate some improvement.

Being someone who’s really gotten his feet wet in some VB.NET programming lately, the developments of Visual Studio have become more of an important interest to me now. I’ve still been able to get things done with Visual Web Developer Express, but I’m sure at some point I’ll probably need to transition to the full-blown application for my development efforts.

Make use of the e-mail addresses above and share your input with the right people at Microsoft to make a difference.

As you may or may not know, b5media’s new headquarters are located in Canada, so we’ve got some pretty good Canadian exposure.

The CellClients.com website is for those Canadians who are unhappy with their cell phone service, but not interested in paying large amounts of money to get out of their contracts early. Bijan Sharhrokhi has take steps to help solve that problem by developing this website to bring two, unhappy parties together and make themselves and their cellular providers happy at the same time.

A University of Toronto undergrad student started a website that solves a very annoying problem Canadians face with their cell phone contracts. Cellclients.com aims to help Canadians leave their cell phone contracts without paying cell phone contract cancellation fees. The site connects the two ends of cell phone plan ownership transfer to each other. The site is useful to the original subscriber because now he doesn’t have to pay any cancellation fees to leave his contract (most providers allow contract ownership transfer for free). It’s also a great deal for an individual to take over a contract because he now doesn’t have to pay for activation, SIM card, and a brand new handset. Wireless providers are also happy because this website helps them replace unhappy subscribers with happy subscribers. In the end, a happy wireless subscriber uses the service more often and will spend more money by adding extra features such as voice mail, Caller ID, and text message. The website is currently in the Beta mode and soon will be out of Beta in both English and French languages.

Sounds like a great idea to me! Let me know if you’ve seen this site or hopefully even used it before. I think this one is a great one to uncover.

Trade your crappy cellphone service in for another one and save money at the same time with CellClients.com

A friend from college just shared this photo with me.

He was driving through Elkins, WV and said he had to turn the car around and snag a picture of this little tanning salon.

Do you have a great photo like this you’d like to share? If you’ve already posted it on your site, just let us know about it and we’ll give you some link love and exposure. Of course I’m just in it for the laughs!

Leave a comment and let us know what you think.

Here’s a funny photo regarding this news:

Stephon Marbury says dogfighting is a sport like hunting:

“I think it’s tough,” Marbury said, according to Albany TV station Capital News 9. “I think, you know, we don’t say anything about people who shoot deer or shoot other animals. You know, from what I hear, dogfighting is a sport. It’s just behind closed doors.”

That’s cool. I needed another reason to not watch the NBA. If it’s just like hunting, why is it an underground sport genius?

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It’s that time of year again. The kids are heading back to school and parents are rejoicing. It reminds me of that commercial with the guy jumping and skipping down the aisles with the cart to the music, “…it’s the most wonderful time, of the year…”

Microsoft has an article on their website with a list of programs or resources and their uses that are invaluable tools for you students as they get back into homework and project mode.

• Microsoft Student with Encarta Premium 2008
• Microsoft Encarta 2008
• Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007
• Microsoft Office OneNote 2007
• Microsoft Office Online Clip Art

I’ll admit it, I was kind of weird growing up. I used to lay on our living room floor, in front of the TV, and read encyclopedias. In my case is was a set of brown WorldBook’s 1979 edition.

If I’d had something like the Internet and Encarta when I was growing up. I’d have probably become an even greater geek than I am now.

Go check-out the article from Microsoft, “5 power tools for students” and find out how these applications could help your student learn even more this year, and of course improve their grades at the same time.

Photo Credit: Salisbury University website