No one in this advert is shown to cover their PIN while entering it. To me, this is a poorly thought out video. ATMs tell us to cover the keypad while entering our PINs and yet Barclays, who have won awards for security, have produced an advert that teaches the complete opposite. It doesn’t just fail to show the keypad being covered, you can actually see the PIN that’s entered.

Users are the weak point in security and should be encouraged to keep their PINs safe. Yes, you need more than a PIN to access someone’s funds, but cards are still easy to clone due to the magnetic strip for backwards compatibility.

Not only is the PIN shown in this advert, entering PINs is the theme of the advert. Had it not been, I wouldn’t be so concerned.

Can people be easily influenced by such a short clip? I would say yes, especially on a subconscious level. It wasn’t until the advert ended (albeit a shorter version) that I realised the blatant disregard for security. People may not think they are paying attention to the advert, but the catchy beeps are there to draw attention. Adverts are designed to get stuck in your head, so the behaviour presented may well stick too.

Any thoughts or opinions on this?

As an aside, as a (student) programmer I find it frustrating that improvements are always being made to the computer aspect of banking security, yet a bank as high profile as Barclays can’t be bothered to show secure behaviour in an advert.

For all their highly qualified programmers, Microsoft don’t use the correct units for file sizes. In Windows systems data sizes are written in the binary size form, but labelled in the decimal form. This can be a bit confusing, so I’ll do my best to explain it.

N.B. Microsoft are not the only offender in this matter, but I mention them because they are at the core of many computer users’ lives.

If you are familiar with the difference between mega and mebi, giga and gibi, feel free to skip ahead. I won’t be offended. _Much.

Decimal units

Decimal data units are what you are used to seeing and what you will assume you are seeing on Microsoft systems too. A few of these unit prefixes are kilo, mega, giga and tera. They are commonly used to label binary data sizes and there have even been lawsuits disputing storage sizes.

Decimal prefixes can be represented as 10^x. These are the same prefixes used in every day metric measures, for example 1 kilometre = 1000 metres.

Binary units

Binary units are used less often and I know of some programmers and engineers who have never even heard of them before. A few of these are kibi, mebi, gibi and tebi. These are contractions, for example “mebi” is a contraction of “mega binary”.

Although many have not heard of these units, they are used more than you possibly realise because binary sizes of bytes are often labelled with decimal units in error, such as with Microsoft giving gibibyte values the gigabyte unit (GB).

Byte units in the binary form can be represented as 2^x bytes.

Comparison

This becomes much clearer when binary and decimal values are compared side by side.

(Please read “,” as commas not decimal points)

As you can see, in the higher units the difference begins to become substantial. We are now at the point that terabytes are becoming commonplace, but if the unit is incorrect you could be tricked by a 10% difference.

Microsoft and the units

Microsoft do all their workings in binary sizes of bytes (kiB, MiB, GiB) but label them as decimal (kB, MB, GB). To provide some evidence of this a will show you some screen-shots regarding hard drive size.

In System Information you can see that my hard-drive is 320,070,320,640 bytes. Dell advertised this drive as 320GB. This is the correct number of gigabytes, as 320,070,320,640 / 1,000,000,000 (bytes in a gigabyte) = 320 as a whole number.

To the left of the bytes is what Microsoft say the drive is in gigabytes: 298.09GB. This number is a binary representation, in gibibytes, but labelled as the decimal form, gigabytes: 320,070,320,640 / 1,073,741,824 (bytes in a gibibyte) = 298.09 (to 2 decimal places).

To summarise the point, my hard-drive’s size should be written as 320GB or 298GiB.

You can see this problem again in the drive properties dialogue box. In the screen-shot, used space, free space and capacity should read 122GB, 182GB and 304GB respectively, or the units should be GiB.

Why does it matter?

If you only ever use Windows and never look at the size of you hard-drive or other storage and never look at file sizes on the Internet or external media then it doesn’t matter, because you will only ever be working with sizes in the same form.

However, if you don’t live in a Microsoft bubble then you will come across decimal data sizes that don’t match up when Windows tells you the size. For example, you purchase a drive of one size and Windows says it is a different size, due to using the wrong units. This can become a problem.

How many users would consider that it is Microsoft that is wrong and not the smaller company they purchased the storage from? I certainly jumped to the conclusion that Dell were in the wrong about my hard-drive, until I looked in System Information.

These units are standardised for a reason, and that reason is so people know what values they are reading based on the unit provided. Microsoft using the wrong units could be compared to speeds in miles per hour being labelled as kilometres per hour, although there the difference in values is far greater, but you get the point.

Why don’t Microsoft use the correct one?

That’s not a question I can directly answer, but the likely hood is Microsoft have not yet adopted the IEC’s binary prefixes because they are still relatively new, having been introduced in 2000.

Microsoft’s operating systems have been around for far longer than binary prefixes and so it could confuse those who have been using Windows for more than 9 years if Microsoft suddenly made the change.

However, I do still find it odd that Microsoft chose to label binary multiples in with decimal units, because unit prefixes such as “kilo” and “mega” have been used in science for a long time. To call 1024 bytes a kilobyte when 1000 metres is a kilometre is just asking for trouble, because they went against the norm.

References & further reading

While writing this article I used several Wikipedia articles to make sure I didn’t get anything wrong. (Don’t worry, I checked the sources and other sites to confirm.)

If you would like to learn more about this topic, I recommend you read the IEC’s article on prefixes for binary multiples. That article explains things far better than I have. I suppose I could have just linked to it and not written a full article, but I wanted to input my own opinions on the subject.

There is also an interesting Wikipedia article on binary prefixes.

But what Firefox needs to be learning from Chrome is that browser startup speed is essential.

From my experience with Firefox and Chrome, Chrome loads extremely fast but Firefox tends to load somewhat slowly, even without comparing it to Chrome’s speed.

And why is this? By default, when you load Firefox it checks for updates for Firefox, your add-ons and search engines. The more add-ons you have, the slower Firefox will load. This is certainly not a good way to encourage people you use add-ons, or even use Firefox when Chrome is an alternative.

I do use a fair number of add-ons for Firefox and, while I appreciate that Firefox checks for updates, I do not believe that the load process is a good time to do so. I would rather have a faster load process and restart Firefox on the off chance there’s an update than sit around waiting for it to check for possible updates.

You can of course turn these updates off (Options > Advanced > Updates), but that means you have to manually check for updates.

Checking for updates wouldn’t be a problem if they ran in the background after Firefox has loaded. You could then be prompted to restart Firefox to complete the updates. This is how most other programs seem to handle updates – even Windows performs updates while it is loaded. The exceptions tend to be programs that need you to be running the same version as everyone else (e.g. MMORPGs). Perhaps this will happen once Firefox switches fully to multi-threading.

I would go as far as to speculate that when add-ons come to Chrome for the general public, Google will not let them dent it’s incredible startup speed by making the same mistake as Firefox.

Update

Thanks to Octavian for reminding me about Google Updater. This is a background process that is added to your computer when you install any of Google’s products and is how they can load without an update check slowing them down. Google Updater runs all the time, continuously checking for updates for the Google software installed on your machine.

1. Compatibility

As an artist I rely on both Photoshop and my Wacom to aid my creative process. Although there are ways to make both of these products work with Ubuntu, it requires more than just basic knowledge to set up. It is simply easier to boot into Microsoft XP when I want to do artwork.

There is also the issue of game compatibility. Many games will work on Ubuntu using Wine, but again it is just easier to use XP.

Perhaps I’m just lazy on this issue, or perhaps software manufacturers need to push back against Microsoft’s dominance, but compatibility is the top reason I always end up back in the hands of Microsoft.

2. Access to core files

I really like that Ubuntu, as with other linux distributions, protects the core system files. However, I do find that it can make life slow and frustrating if I want to edit any of them. I’m not a particularly experienced Ubuntu user, but from my understanding (and experience of trying it) you can’t access the core files directly, but instead have to access them via the terminal. I’m sure there’s probably a hack for that, but I’d rather not mess about in an OS I’m not familiar with.

Windows on the other hand, as insecure and dangerous as it is, lets you do whatever the heck you like with core or installation files. While this is bad for users who have no idea what they’re doing, it’s great for people like me who want to change various things, or even just look at files out of interest. (Yes, I do that. I once even looked at Civ IV’s uncompiled code folder. Interesting stuff.)

3. Habit

I was first introduced to the Windows OS with Windows 3.11 back when I was 7 (that age being a guess based on my Dad not buying it until 2 years after it was released). As you can see, I have been brainwashed by Microsoft from a very young age. Not only at home, but also at school where they only ever used Windows.

My first look at a non-Windows OS was when I was about 11. One of my close school friend’s household computer was an Apple Mac, which I occasionally got to see. I didn’t like it at all. My friend, on the other hand, was very pro-Mac anti-Windows back then. My attempts to convince her Windows was the better OS failed and, looking back, that makes me glad.

It wasn’t until I went to university that I first saw a Linux based OS, which happened to be Fedora. Having a formal education about it certainly helped ease me into the use of a different OS. I liked it so much I was willing to attempt triple booting my computer with it as the addition.

I never did install Fedora though. A few friends at uni convinced me to use Ubuntu instead. To be honest, I’m ignorant about the differences between Linux distributions, but I much prefer how they name the releases. Yes, funny names are enough to convince me to use a different product.

Final thoughts

I really would like to use Ubuntu as my primary OS, especially when I have already set it up to deal with my daily computer use (Firefox + music). However, I think Microsoft will always have a certain hold over me. It’s hard to break away from a company whose software I have used for the past 14 years.

What about you?

Which operating system do you use most? Did you use Windows but then move to a different OS? If so, why did you decide to change and how did you deal with the transition?

Please leave a comment below with any OS usage stories you have. Thanks

Microsoft have a program (the non-software kind) called the Microsoft Developer Network Academic Alliance, or MSDNAA, which provides free Microsoft software for departments, including students and faculty of the department. It is available for collages and universities (and some high schools), although only certain department types can apply.

I will point out now, although it is free for students and faculty downloading the software, the department providing it must pay an annual fee. But it’s not like universities can’t afford it with how much they charge us for our education.

I have made use of this service through my university. In fact, my computer runs 3 operating systems, including XP Professional and Vista Business both of which I downloaded through MSDNAA (the 3rd is Ubuntu is case you were wondering).

Here’s a screenshot of just some of the software I have access to:

You can only obtain 1 product key per software package, e.g. I cannot obtain another XP Professional product key through this service. They do keep track of your product keys for you though, just in case you lose it.

The use agreement

There is a use agreement that you have to sign before you are given access to your department’s download area. The basic rules you have to follow are:

• Don’t share the software downloaded even with other eligible students. You can’t share the product keys either.

• Use the software for non-commercial purposes only.

• Once your course has ended you must stop downloading software via MSDNAA, but you can continue to use previously installed software (I wouldn’t have installed the OSs otherwise). You do still have to follow the other terms, e.g. non-commercial use.

• If you violate the terms of the agreement you have to uninstall all software downloaded via MSDNAA. The program admin for your department will ensure this is done.

All in all I think those are quite generous terms, especially as they allow you to continue using the software once you leave the course.

Is it worth it?

If you are eligible for the free downloads, then yes it is definitely worth it! It’s free, high quality software and it doesn’t take long to get access. When I signed up it took only a day for my account to activate.

As to whether or not it is worth it for the department, I would say it probably is, especially if the students are expected to know how to use any of Microsoft’s product for their course. For example, on my course we had to learn how to use Microsoft Project and include a Project file in some coursework submissions. Having access to Project at home was of great benefit.

Aside from cases like that, on a programming course it is likely students who excel will want to explore further development areas and tools. Setting up compilers on different operating systems has been a frustrating yet educational experience that I am glad to have had.

If a department can afford to pay the fee I think they should make the effort to provide this service for the students. Hopefully enough students will use the service to make it worthwhile.

Does your department run the program?

If you attend an applicable department (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) there’s every chance your department participates in this program. Microsoft provide a school member search you can use to check if your school participates.

If they don’t run it, point out the benefits and try to get them to sign up.

Microsoft Office student discount

MSDNAA isn’t the only nice thing Microsoft do for students. They provide Microsoft Office at discount rates for students, although you will have to catch the deal at the right time of year depending on your country – the UK deal has expired for this academic year.

I purchased Microsoft Office 2007 for around £40 in 2007 (~US$65 then), which Microsoft say is 90% off the estimated retail price.

People often believe the cheaper student product contains only a few of the Office suite programs. That is in fact wrong. At the student price I obtained:

• Word 2007
• Excel 2007
• Publisher 2007
• PowerPoint 2007
• Outlook 2007
• Access 2007
• Groove 2007
• OneNote 2007
• InfoPath 2007

Conclusion

I would like to believe Microsoft help students out of the kindness of their hearts. However, they most likely have an ulterior motive, such as getting students to trust them or to make them pay to upgrade their licences to commercial after their course has ended (if they happen to use their personal computer for work).

Whatever the motive, Microsoft’s kindness to students does soften my heart toward them a little.

Your opinion

I’d like to hear your opinion on Microsoft in regard to students and also any experiences you’ve had with MSDNAA or student discounts on Microsoft products. Please leave comment below.