Microsoft’s recently published some information and sample/test code to show how they intend to respond to the embedded controls suit they lost to Eolas. In particular, MSDN tells developers on this page how to circumvent the prompts that will most likely arise from the changes. It’s an interesting read even if you’re not a developer.

Tim Oren’s weblog entry yesterday makes a good point about “The Next Big Thing” — you don’t know what it is until after it’s already happened. And all those columnists and pundits who pontificate about TNBT are either fooling themselves (and me) or they know they’re just blowing smoke.

Apparently the fix for MS03-032 changed the way IE interprets relative URLs when opened by javascript, resulting in “Page not found” errors. According to MSKB 827667 (or this download from the Microsoft Download Center), the new update will address this issue.

How? I dunno, the article is less than clear to me. I s’pose it changes the assumed base of relative URLs back to what it was BEFORE MS03-032. If you’re getting errors when you try to open a web page by clicking on a button in a web page (remember, this is a javascript issue, not a link issue, per se) then apply this patch.

Today’s Lockergnome Tech Specialist has a link to serverfiles.com, a website with downloadable software that’s more oriented to systems and network admins. Things like software for Microsoft’s Exchange, Fax server software and security scanners.

The October 5th issue of Lockergnome’s Bits and Bytes reports a security exposure that isn’t addressed by Microsoft’s recent hotfix for MS03-040 (which is also details in MSKB 828750). To be vulnerable you supposedly must have Adobe’s SVG viewer plug-in installed.

Had a lovely time there a few years ago. Nice to see that St. Orres has a website. Anyway, here are a cople of recommendations.

A friend sent this which is supposedly excerpted from a 1950s high-school textbook on Home Economics, teaching a woman how to prepare for married life:

1. Have dinner ready: Plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious meal – on time. This is a way of letting him know that you have been thinking about him, and are concerned about his needs. Most men are hungry when they come home and the prospects of a good meal are part of the warm welcome needed.

2. Prepare yourself: Take 15 minutes to rest so you will be refreshed when he arrives. Touch up your make-up, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh looking. He has just been with a lot of work- weary people. Be a little gay and a little more interesting. His boring day may need a lift.

3. Clear away the clutter. Make one last trip through the main part of the house just before your husband arrives, gathering up school books, toys, paper, etc. Then run a dust cloth over the tables. Your husband will feel he has reached a haven of rest and order, and it will give you a lift too.

4. Prepare the children: Take a few minutes to wash the children’s hands and faces if they are small, comb their hair, and if necessary, change their clothes. They are little treasures and he would like to see them playing the part.

5. Minimize the noise: At the time of his arrival, eliminate all noise of washer, dryer, dishwasher, or vacuum. Try to encourage the children to be quiet. Be happy to see him. Greet him with a warm smile and be glad to see him.

6. Some DON’TS: Don’t greet him with problems or complaints. Don’t complain if he’s late for dinner. Count this as minor compared with what he might have gone through that day.

7. Make him comfortable: Have him lean back in a comfortable chair or suggest he lie down in the bedroom. Have a cool or warm drink ready for him. Arrange his pillow and offer to take off his shoes. Speak in a low, soft, soothing and pleasant voice. Allow him to relax and unwind.

8. Listen to him: You may have a dozen things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first.

9. Make the evening his: Never complain if he does not take you out to dinner or to other places of entertainment; instead try to understand his world of strain and pressure and his need to be home and relax.

10. The Goal: Try to make your home a place of peace and order where your husband can relax.

Don’t remember where I heard it but I think the term’s a hoot. Anyway, I’ve kinda thought that Ah-nold would be a good replacement because he’s not cut from the same political mold (mould – :)) as the others and could represent a shift away from the same tired-old politically polarized way of doing things in the nation in general, and California in particular. Looks like I’m not alone.

I know, I couldn’t believe it either. Leo Laporte’s reports today that there’s a weblog being maintained (presumably by someone other than Bush and Cheney) here. There are even RSS feeds!

Microsoft released two new critical updates for Windows XP/2003.

MS03-040, the October, 2003 Cumulative Patch for Internet Explorer points to this download site. It’s about a 2MB download for 32-bit Windows systems. It appears this is intended to address some of the ActiveX issues that’ve been plaguing us all in recent weeks/months but it doesn’t actually come out and say that’s what it does. I’ll continue to follow the newsletters and post something here when I’ve got a definitive answer.

BTW, this update will cause HTML-based help to cease to function until/unless you’ve installed the newer HTML Help control from MS KB 811630.

They’ve also released another critical update to Windows Media Player 828026 – Update for Windows Media Player Script Commands. The article lists registry entries that affect how WMP interprets data embedded in the played datastream. The KB article says it applies only to WMP 6.4, 7.1 and 9 but Microsoft’s security bulletin says it also applies to WMP8, the version originally shipped with XP. Anyway, the article points to this download site which has about a 3MB download for WMP 9.