No iPhones, iPods at Bill Gates's house

[QueenOfCalifornia]

No iPhones, iPods at Bill Gates's house
Tue Mar 3, 2009 2:39PM EST
Buzz up!
On Yahoo! http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/patterson/40926;_ylt=Aj5abxdLbXM9wjW9RkRr1wgWLpA5

Bill Gates's sprawling Washington state compound is, as you might expect, packed to the gills with bleeding-edge gear, from the heated floors and 20-seat home theater to the X-ray machine (for screening the mail, of course) and miles of fiber-optic cabling. But here's what you definitely won't find at chez Gates: an iPhone.

In the latest issue of Vogue, Bill's wife, Melinda Gates, reveals that among the "very few things" on "the banned list in our household" are—you guessed it—iPods and iPhones.

Brutal, yes—especially for Bill and Melinda's three kids (two daughters and a son, aged 12, six, and nine, respectively), who'll just have to grin and bear it as their little pals make merry with the latest and greatest iPod.

And even Melinda herself admits to an occasional pang of Apple envy: "Every now and then I look at my friends and say, 'Ooh, I wouldn't mind having that iPhone.'" (Ouch!)

Then again, what else did we expect from Microsoft founder Bill Gates? The man has his pride, not to mention scores of Windows Mobile and Zune team members who'd probably feel a tad bit hurt if Bill Jr. was running around with an iPhone.

So, which phones and MP3 players are on the Gates's "good-to-go" list? Well, there's always the Zune for music and video—not the sexiest MP3 player out there, mind you, but at least it's got Wi-Fi and a snazzy interface.

And of course, there are plenty of Windows Mobile handsets to choose from; personally, I'd go for the Palm Treo Pro (if I had to get a Windows Mobile phone, that is), although it's not exactly a barrel of fun for the teens. Or how about the HTC Touch Pro? That's a pretty cool phone … I guess (as I pat the iPhone 3G in my jeans pocket).

Discuss :popcorn:

[meegbear]

1. And your point caller?

[liberal N proud]

2. Probably no Windows at Steve Jobs house either

[QueenOfCalifornia]

4. Do you really think

that if you had a Zune in your pocket Steve Jobs would give a crap?

[47of74]

3. I'd go for an iPhone myself, but...

Since AT&T sucks coverage wise here in Iowa and that's the only carrier that offers them in the U.S. I don't have one. If there was a way for U.S. Cellular to offer them for use on their network I'd seriously consider it.

[onehandle]

5. Long thread going on for 2 days here ----->

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3763986

[HysteryDiagnosis]

6. C'mon, you know Bill has several of them tucked under his

mattress. You know he does.


http://www.crn.com/software/18839747
Microsoft Uses Linux To Publish Its Own Web Site

Microsoft has made a big deal out of asserting that Linux is not fit for the enterprise. But Microsoft itself is using Linux to help protect its servers against denial-of-service attacks.

According to a post on the Netcraft Web site, Microsoft changed its DNS settings on Friday so that requests for www.microsoft.com no longer resolve to machines on Microsoft's own network, but instead are handled by the Akamai caching system, which runs Linux.

Akamai runs a service to help boost Web site performance by caching copies of Web sites on many servers in many locations. Akamai can help defend against denial-of-service attacks by spreading the attack among many servers. Just as a distributed denial-of-service attack enlists large numbers of systems to attack a single server, Akamai presents a distributed defense against denial-of-service attacks.

As of this writing, Netcraft reports that www.microsoft.com is still running on Linux, although microsoft.com is reported as running on Windows Server 2003.

A Microsoft spokeswoman said she'd look into the report and get back with a response. An Akamai spokeswoman declined to comment, except to confirm that Microsoft is a customer.

Microsoft using a Linux service is ironic, given that Microsoft has identified Linux as its biggest competitor. In a conference call with analysts last month, company CFO John Connors ranked Linux as the #2 risk faced by the company. The #1 risk was the general economic environment, Connors said. Nearly one in five small and mid-sized businesses are using Linux on the desktop.

In tomorrow's news: McDonald's executive found eating at Burger King.

[seabeyond]

7. my dad got paycheck from coke, we werent allowed pepsi products. my kids not allowed

any of the phones... lol. wont do it. they need one cause older and going out, i give them mine, otherwise, .... none of that shit