Windows XP Source Code Leaked to 4chan

[Captainant 27791]

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/windows-xp-source-code-reportedly-posted-to-4chan

Quote

Reports have emerged today that the Windows XP source code has been leaked to 4chan, with the leaked code then being posted to a torrent and the Mega file sharing service. Reports have also emerged that independent researchers have since begun analyzing the data, with initial indications that the leak is legitimate. However, there hasn't been an official confirmation.

The thread on 4chan has since been archived (it was only open for four hours), and Microsoft hasn't commented publicly on the matter yet, either.

 

Windows XP, and the Iconic Bliss background that is said to be the most viewed image in history, has now passed its 19th birthday and reached its end of life in 2014, meaning Microsoft no longer supports the operating system. As such, critical security updates and compatibility with modern-era hardware hasn't been added. Regardless, it's predicted that one percent of computers still have the aging operating system installed. 

As such, the leak doesn't present any immediate danger to most XP users: It's unlikely that hackers would invest the time to create new exploits targeting the old operating system - there simply aren't enough users to make it a financially attractive target. 

However, given that Windows has evolved as a continuous series of updates over the last two decades, it is possible researchers could find clues to various mechanisms that provide an attack vector on more modern variants of Windows 10. Also, much like we see with COBOL, which debuted in 1960 and refuses to die, there are likely still many governmental organizations around the world using the operating system.

Coders could also use the source code to add support for newer hardware and possibly spin off custom distributions. Naturally, researchers would also have plenty of interest. 

We're sure that Microsoft will respond quickly in an attempt to stamp out the spread of the Windows XP source code, but given that it appears to have already spread widely, there doesn't appear to be a way to put this genie back in the bottle.

I wonder how many enterprises are still running XP in critical places... I know there's a bunch of O&G tech folks finally getting buy-in to upgrade old boxes now lol

[Pato del Muerto 52608]

Microsoft leaked it if there’s really some machines still running on it. 
 

probably came from wgates@yahoo.com

Edited September 25, 2020 by Pato del Muerto

[Stella Link 534]

2 minutes ago, Captainant said:

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/windows-xp-source-code-reportedly-posted-to-4chan

I wonder how many enterprises are still running XP in critical places... I know there's a bunch of O&G tech folks finally getting buy-in to upgrade old boxes now lol

I wonder if this was actually leaked on purpose to force upgrades....

[Parliament 14325]

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/windows-xp-source-code-reportedly-posted-to-4chan

Reports have emerged today that the Windows XP source code has been leaked to 4chan, with the leaked code then being posted to a torrent and the Mega file sharing service. Reports have also emerged that independent researchers have since begun analyzing the data, with initial indications that the leak is legitimate. However, there hasn't been an official confirmation.

The thread on 4chan has since been archived (it was only open for four hours), and Microsoft hasn't commented publicly on the matter yet, either.

 

[/url]

Windows XP, and the Iconic Bliss background that is said to be the most viewed image in history, has now passed its 19th birthday and reached its end of life in 2014, meaning Microsoft no longer supports the operating system. As such, critical security updates and compatibility with modern-era hardware hasn't been added. Regardless, it's predicted that one percent of computers still have the aging operating system installed. 

As such, the leak doesn't present any immediate danger to most XP users: It's unlikely that hackers would invest the time to create new exploits targeting the old operating system - there simply aren't enough users to make it a financially attractive target. 

However, given that Windows has evolved as a continuous series of updates over the last two decades, it is possible researchers could find clues to various mechanisms that provide an attack vector on more modern variants of Windows 10. Also, much like we see with COBOL, which debuted in 1960 and refuses to die

, there are likely still many governmental organizations around the world using the operating system.

Coders could also use the source code to add support for newer hardware and possibly spin off custom distributions. Naturally, researchers would also have plenty of interest. 

We're sure that Microsoft will respond quickly in an attempt to stamp out the spread of the Windows XP source code, but given that it appears to have already spread widely, there doesn't appear to be a way to put this genie back in the bottle.

I wonder how many enterprises are still running XP in critical places... I know there's a bunch of O&G tech folks finally getting buy-in to upgrade old boxes now lol
Really? I would think they all bumped to Win 7 or 10 a long time ago. If you're running a 15+ year old OS, you kinda deserve it.

[Leeroy Jenkins 2415]

14 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

Microsoft leaked it if there’s really some machines still running on it. 
 

probably came from wgates@yahoo.com

There are plenty of machines still running it.  Many will be Govt. and I am sure there are still military systems running XP.  

[Captainant 27791]

2 minutes ago, Parliament said:

I wonder how many enterprises are still running XP in critical places... I know there's a bunch of O&G tech folks finally getting buy-in to upgrade old boxes now lol
Really? I would think they all bumped to Win 7 or 10 a long time ago. If you're running a 15+ year old OS, you kinda deserve it.

I know and work with people who are still running windows 2003 in their data center in production

[Pato del Muerto 52608]

1 minute ago, Leeroy Jenkins said:

There are plenty of machines still running it.  Many will be Govt. and I am sure there are still military systems running XP.  

Military runs on whatever can save to an optical tape drive. 

[dingleberryswitzer 2724]

Might help Linux nerds get more windows programs to work in Linux. 

[Texas_Rocks 347]

Whatever happened to Linux from HF?

[Doc Reeves 6434]

54 minutes ago, Captainant said:

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/windows-xp-source-code-reportedly-posted-to-4chan

I wonder how many enterprises are still running XP in critical places... I know there's a bunch of O&G tech folks finally getting buy-in to upgrade old boxes now lol

Putin famously still uses  XP

[blacklab 11953]

In 2010 we had to drag a fortune 500 O&G kicking and screaming off of IE 6.0 which had been depreciated for years. One of their financial programs still used it and they refused to let anyone in the company install a different browser. 

[52-80 19258]

Man, this will really come in handy when I compile a fake windows to sell for money

[Guest Lobo]

Our bank just went off Windows XP less than two years ago after running the same software for over 15 years.  both my OCC and FDIC regulators told me we had to make the switch for security reasons as we embarked on some Fintech ventures and they didn't care what it cost us.  I guess I'm glad we did it.  Of course we're still running FiServe Precision as our core processor, which itself is run in Milwaukee on Windows XP.  

People think bringing down our financial system happens through shitty loans or a bad week on Wall Street or crippling our electrical grid.  One well placed virus inside of FiServ and Jack Henry software systems and every bank transaction in this country is locked out, including every digital payment, credit card, debit card, auto-draft, settling of every public markets transaction to cash, even the inter-bank activity all the way up to the Federal Reserve system.  Those two companies handle the movement of a couple trillion dollars a day and while the Federal Reserve bank system is the most buttoned-up security system in the world...FiServ and Jack Henry can be broken into by a bored Chinese teenager  with an Apple Newton.  

[Leeroy Jenkins 2415]

1 hour ago, Pato del Muerto said:

Military runs on whatever can save to an optical tape drive. 

You should see some of the old ass Solaris systems I still have customers on.  Although most have moved or are in the process of going to Redhat or Windows 10.  

[gyroprotagonist 2595]

if it works it works.  At my old company we had mfg machines (epoxy dispense) that were rocking DOS and working fine as of a few years ago.  We would have to resolder EPROMS to the motherboad occasionally.  The CPU was all fancy with its math co-processor.  I think it was an 80386

[Orange&White 5539]

XP???  Jesus Fucksticks. My regulatory requirements must be much, much, much stronger than everyone elses. I was forced off of XP years ago and if any instances were found on our entire network (1200ish endpoints) we'd be in violation of several federal agencies. We have one vendor out of thousands that insists on XP and that single machine is 100% standalone with absolutely no networking/internet of any kind.

I am currently getting grief because I have two servers running SQL 2012 V3 which has only been out of support for a few months. I have a single VM server running 2003 that is only retained for retention requirements and it remains in perpetually powered down state, completely partitioned away from the entire network, and removed from the domain with only a single local user.

My favorite part is that the agencies that audit me are the biggest violators of their own rules.

[Pato del Muerto 52608]

6 minutes ago, gyroprotagonist said:

if it works it works.  At my old company we had mfg machines (epoxy dispense) that were rocking DOS and working fine as of a few years ago.  We would have to resolder EPROMS to the motherboad occasionally.  The CPU was all fancy with its math co-processor.  I think it was an 80386

The pharma company I worked for in Austin 5 years ago had (has?) a dos program from 1982 that did a bunch of stuff. The only thing I used it for was access to all of the company documents, specifically SOPs, but i think it may have handled inventory tracking and hourly wage and pto, and completed/required training history. Who knows what else.  I left there in 2015. 

Edited September 25, 2020 by Pato del Muerto

[Guest Lobo]

8 minutes ago, Orange&White said:

XP???  Jesus Fucksticks. My regulatory requirements must be much, much, much stronger than everyone elses. I was forced off of XP years ago and if any instances were found on our entire network (1200ish endpoints) we'd be in violation of several federal agencies. We have one vendor out of thousands that insists on XP and that single machine is 100% standalone with absolutely no networking/internet of any kind.

I am currently getting grief because I have two servers running SQL 2012 V3 which has only been out of support for a few months. I have a single VM server running 2003 that is only retained for retention requirements and it remains in perpetually powered down state, completely partitioned away from the entire network, and removed from the domain with only a single local user.

My favorite part is that the agencies that audit me are the biggest violators of their own rules.

Out of curiosity, what types of regulatory bodies do you have to deal with on a regular basis?  I could use some example stories for my own team when I make assistant regional manager.  

[Orange&White 5539]

they deal a lot with CJIS (FBI) and Hipaa (HHS)

[The Ace of Aces 5194]

Aren’t most ATMs running Win 95 or XP?

[Handcruser 2805]

Operating rooms still use XP in many places.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[atomheartbevo 89809]

6 minutes ago, The Ace of Aces said:

Aren’t most ATMs running Win 95 or XP?

OS/2, although most have been transferring off for the past 10 years.  

[Blotto 23579]

11 minutes ago, The Ace of Aces said:

Aren’t most ATMs running Win 95 or XP?

 

4 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

OS/2, although most have been transferring off for the past 10 years.  

Windows CE would be my guess. 

In the manufacturing world, there is no shortage of machines running the same OS and software as when the machinery shipped years ago. 

Edited September 25, 2020 by Blotto

[NeverMarryAStripper 21927]

I still think XP is better than 10, I mean if you have to use the tool of the devil.

[gurt 750]

1 hour ago, Lobo said:

Our bank just went off Windows XP less than two years ago after running the same software for over 15 years.  both my OCC and FDIC regulators told me we had to make the switch for security reasons as we embarked on some Fintech ventures and they didn't care what it cost us.  I guess I'm glad we did it.  Of course we're still running FiServe Precision as our core processor, which itself is run in Milwaukee on Windows XP.  

People think bringing down our financial system happens through shitty loans or a bad week on Wall Street or crippling our electrical grid.  One well placed virus inside of FiServ and Jack Henry software systems and every bank transaction in this country is locked out, including every digital payment, credit card, debit card, auto-draft, settling of every public markets transaction to cash, even the inter-bank activity all the way up to the Federal Reserve system.  Those two companies handle the movement of a couple trillion dollars a day and while the Federal Reserve bank system is the most buttoned-up security system in the world...FiServ and Jack Henry can be broken into by a bored Chinese teenager  with an Apple Newton.  

This is only true for institutions using a service bureau, not for those that host in-house.  Now, for many in-house they are not exactly operating at the cutting edge of security best practices...

[conVINCEd 21469]

I used to work for a very large insurance company who still used a DOS based system as of 2 years ago.

[Pescado_Rojo 19429]

2 hours ago, blacklab said:

In 2010 we had to drag a fortune 500 O&G kicking and screaming off of IE 6.0 which had been depreciated for years. One of their financial programs still used it and they refused to let anyone in the company install a different browser. 

When I was an SE selling VDI back in 2012, we did a big presentation for the CIO and department heads of a neighboring state. When I was done, one of the minions at the kiddie table asked me if we could virtualize IE 6.0. I said we could, but it wasn't supported and he should just upgrade. He said something about an application dependence, and one of the department heads cut him off and gave him a death stare. A week later, I was in a meeting with the same underling, and he told me the rest of the story. They needed IE 6 to run a specific application that required it. I said I couldn't believe the app developer hadn't released an update to use a newer browser. He told me they had, but you had to be on support to get the update, and they had been off support for 5 years, and the app company wanted to charge them for back support to get up to date, and there was no money for it in the budget. 

What was the application, you ask? Nothing important, just the app that ran the SNAP and food stamp program. 

[atomheartbevo 89809]

35 minutes ago, Pescado_Rojo said:

What was the application, you ask? Nothing important, just the app that ran the SNAP and food stamp program. 

Man, anything involving government work....the govenrment wants to penny pinch, the contractors want to gauge the shit out of them and treat them in ways they'd never dream of treating private businesses.

[atomheartbevo 89809]

1 hour ago, Blotto said:

Windows CE would be my guess. 

In the manufacturing world, there is no shortage of machines running the same OS and software as when the machinery shipped years ago.

We were still dealing with customers on OS/2, and trying to transition them to Linux.  And there were still OS/2 updates being pushed out.  Banks liked it because it was secure and could be locked down, and it helped that the script kiddies were focused on Windows 2000/XP/Vista/etc.

[MissingInAction 25197]

XP was already vulnerable when it went EOL 8 years ago.

[AUS-97HORN 11824]

20 minutes ago, Pescado_Rojo said:

What was the application, you ask? Nothing important, just the app that ran the SNAP and food stamp program. 

Louisiana gonna Louisiana

 

as of 2019, one of my accounts was still running an accounting software that literally ran their entire payroll department- ON A DESKTOP.  The software program was a custom-written program for a niche group, probably only sold to 500 or sold to companies worldwide with a heafty cost for yearly maintenance. My cust bought the full version in Jan 2002. the software was written for XP code with a 3 year coverage. 

There was a small update done every year and in 2005 just before the maintenance ran out (and just before the customer was scheduled to get their SP2 update) the finance software company went under overnight. lots of missing money, stolen, etc. turns out their code data was at a COLO that they hadnt  their bill paid in months so their data servers were confiscated by COLO as collaterall, never returned.

End result, my account was stuck using that XP SP1 version until 2019. At some point my customer lost the actual software CDs and they couldnt get the system to copy over the entire program to a virtual server. they just couldnt find a way to transfer the old data to a newer program, so they kept kicking the can down the road and buying all the spare parts they could for this fucking Dell Dimension 4000 that the company would fail if it didnt run correctly. It took about 2 years of cajoling, providing worse-case scenarios before they finally bought a new program, hired something like 100 coders to literally sit there and type in all data from the old software files to the new program.  took the coders about 6 months to transfer it at about a 98% success rate. 

My account kept the Dimension 4000 as a backup just in case... about 1 month after they completed the transfer the dimension ate itself most likely due to a power supply failure and melted to slag. 

 

[atomheartbevo 89809]

1 hour ago, NeverMarryAStripper said:

I still think XP is better than 10, I mean if you have to use the tool of the devil.

Windows 2000 for life.  And not because I got paid to help fix networks that got fucked up from unsecured Win2K installs either.  My  favorite OSes in no particular order:

• MS-DOS 6.22
• OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard
• Amiga OS 3.0 - shit was high-tech compared to Windows 3.x.
• Various Slackware distros from the 90s
• OS/2 Warp 4.0 (on a dual Pentium Pro system with a lot of RAM, they were awesome for database stuff), tied with OS/2 Warp Server for eBusiness 4.52 or whatever (used as a workstation, the last true IBM version of OS/2).
• Windows NT 3.51 and 4.0 (vs 95).
• Windows 2000 and Windows XP (tied).

[Blotto 23579]

9 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

We were still dealing with customers on OS/2, and trying to transition them to Linux.  And there were still OS/2 updates being pushed out.  Banks liked it because it was secure and could be locked down, and it helped that the script kiddies were focused on Windows 2000/XP/Vista/etc.

Found this article which makes an interesting distinction between ATMs that are owned by banks vs ATMs owned by independent owners (i'm guessing those you find in convenience stores, misc areas). They require different capabilities and hence different operating systems became predominant.

https://www.digitaltransactions.net/how-ready-are-deployers-for-the-next-big-operating-system-conversion-for-atms/

CE is pretty much a dead end platform at this point as well. 

[gsoda3 3283]

Hah, there's a certain division within a branch of our armed forces which hasn't upgraded to XP yet. I guess they're safe.

[MissingInAction 25197]

Texas tracks Medicare funding for residents at their state supported living centers with Win 95 version of fox pro. They do their monthly uploads to the feds using 28k baud dial up.

[Hagbard Celine 10926]

3 hours ago, AUS-97HORN said:

ss of 2019, one of my accounts was still running an accounting software that literally ran their entire payroll department- ON A DESKTOP. 

thousands of companies with more than $100m in revenue are still running quickbooks.

hundreds of vertical markets are owned by client/server survivor/grifter firms running 25+year-old code.

i know the proprietary number of companies running Great Plains, AX, etc., i.e. the non-cloud version of MS Dynamics (365) and it would blow your mind.

in the case of the vertical markets, there are grifters collecting $20k-$50k a year from dozens up to hundreds of companies and doing absolutely nothing for the money, often, with fewer than 5 employees, because modernizing would cost $1m and that's skipping the important stuff like process documentation and a business requirements documentation exercise.

but they will spend more than $1m every year on manual labor in the .xls salt mines, because it doesn't require a $1m commitment to effect the change on top of the cost of the salt mines.

[sdm 892]

8 hours ago, gyroprotagonist said:

if it works it works.  At my old company we had mfg machines (epoxy dispense) that were rocking DOS and working fine as of a few years ago.  We would have to resolder EPROMS to the motherboad occasionally.  The CPU was all fancy with its math co-processor.  I think it was an 80386

I had some electronic directories running off some old 8088 based machines that bit the dust. I went to buy the cheapest replacement boxes I could find and was pissed that I had to pay up for 80486 machines. But that was the earliest technology I could find at the time.

[Homercles 10206]

34 minutes ago, sdm said:

I had some electronic directories running off some old 8088 based machines that bit the dust. I went to buy the cheapest replacement boxes I could find and was pissed that I had to pay up for 80486 machines. But that was the earliest technology I could find at the time.

I love LGR on YouTube.  He still has game reviews but a lot of the content of his I watch is surrounding old 486, IBM, etc hardware he dusts off and plays classic games on.  There’s a nostalgia there harkening back to when you really had to understand how the hardware and software stack worked to squeeze the most out of a system.  It helped me get a job during college working in a Creative Labs call center...in fact he reviews a CL Encore DXR2 which was one of the first things I bought on the EPP. 
 

I feel those of us who were growing up during the dawn of personal computing have an innate advantage with tech in that we were exposed to the inner workings enough to know it’s not black magic.  A lot of the fun seems to have gone out of it with tightly integrated smart phones as my main ‘computer’...I miss tweaking IRQs, DIP switches, and turbo buttons.  

[capnamerca 572]

7 hours ago, Pescado_Rojo said:

When I was an SE selling VDI back in 2012, we did a big presentation for the CIO and department heads of a neighboring state. When I was done, one of the minions at the kiddie table asked me if we could virtualize IE 6.0. I said we could, but it wasn't supported and he should just upgrade. He said something about an application dependence, and one of the department heads cut him off and gave him a death stare. A week later, I was in a meeting with the same underling, and he told me the rest of the story. They needed IE 6 to run a specific application that required it. I said I couldn't believe the app developer hadn't released an update to use a newer browser. He told me they had, but you had to be on support to get the update, and they had been off support for 5 years, and the app company wanted to charge them for back support to get up to date, and there was no money for it in the budget. 

What was the application, you ask? Nothing important, just the app that ran the SNAP and food stamp program. 

I suspect I was in the same conference room after you, for another vendor presentation. The technical leadership in that particular state was pretty forward-thinking, but couldn't get anything done.

[bernorange 8366]

I am browsing Surly on a Win XP machine.  Get off my lawn.

[Hagbard Celine 10926]

8 hours ago, Homercles said:

I feel those of us who were growing up during the dawn of personal computing have an innate advantage with tech in that we were exposed to the inner workings enough to know it’s not black magic.  A lot of the fun seems to have gone out of it with tightly integrated smart phones as my main ‘computer’...I miss tweaking IRQs, DIP switches, and turbo buttons.  

the mastodon in the room is that your smart cell is a gaping security hole wider than the grand canyon or south austin's mom.

i'm in IT but i don't do email on my cell.  i don't download anything if i can at all avoid it.  i have never purchased anything on my cell.  i have never done any banking on my cell.  i don't log in to anything on my cell.

the biggest problem with modern computing is the number of people with c-level titles who think the black box is magic, it will run itself, it will cost what they believe it will cost to run itself, and anyone who tells them differently is a threat to their existence.

[Pescado_Rojo 19429]

9 hours ago, capnamerca said:

I suspect I was in the same conference room after you, for another vendor presentation. The technical leadership in that particular state was pretty forward-thinking, but couldn't get anything done.

Yep, no doubt you were, and you’re absolutely right. But we can’t get into the reasons without cloaking it up. 

[Upgrayedd 5821]

Nerds 

[JohnnyRage 1617]

1 hour ago, Hagbard Celine said:

the mastodon in the room is that your smart cell is a gaping security hole wider than the grand canyon or south austin's mom.

i'm in IT but i don't do email on my cell.  i don't download anything if i can at all avoid it.  i have never purchased anything on my cell.  i have never done any banking on my cell.  i don't log in to anything on my cell.

the biggest problem with modern computing is the number of people with c-level titles who think the black box is magic, it will run itself, it will cost what they believe it will cost to run itself, and anyone who tells them differently is a threat to their existence.

A man after my own heart...but probably way more diligent and intelligent.

[capnamerca 572]

1 hour ago, Pescado_Rojo said:

Yep, no doubt you were, and you’re absolutely right. But we can’t get into the reasons without cloaking it up. 

As I think back, I might have been in that room WITH you - I think you might have been our sponsors that day. The regular SE from my company who would have covered it was out, so I flew out to handle the meeting with our rep.

[atomheartbevo 89809]

On 9/25/2020 at 10:14 PM, Homercles said:

I love LGR on YouTube.  He still has game reviews but a lot of the content of his I watch is surrounding old 486, IBM, etc hardware he dusts off and plays classic games on.  There’s a nostalgia there harkening back to when you really had to understand how the hardware and software stack worked to squeeze the most out of a system.  It helped me get a job during college working in a Creative Labs call center...in fact he reviews a CL Encore DXR2 which was one of the first things I bought on the EPP. 

I feel those of us who were growing up during the dawn of personal computing have an innate advantage with tech in that we were exposed to the inner workings enough to know it’s not black magic.  A lot of the fun seems to have gone out of it with tightly integrated smart phones as my main ‘computer’...I miss tweaking IRQs, DIP switches, and turbo buttons.  

I watch The 8-Bit Guy on YouTube all the time, well some of his deep dives into obscure 80s tech I skip, because I just don't have time in the day, but it's a real nostalgia kick.  There's some massive warehouse in Dallas that has nothing but old computer tech.   8-bit Guy and LGR guy makes me want to pull my old stuff out of storage and clean it all up and get it working, but then I'm thinking I need to sell off several hundred game carts from the 80s, and just focus on stuff that still interests me.  I keep talking about it, but need to this fall.

I went back to school for another degree, and because I had to have certain classes ahead of others in my degree track, and because there was no equivalent to what I had taken back in the 90s (my intro class dealt with DOS, Unix, and VAX/VMS back then), I had to take a modern intro to computing class, and it's jarring:

• I'm older than the instructor
• In theory I could have written one of the textbooks and taught the class
• When they cover hardware, it's at the 30,000 feet level, and is covering the basic concepts - definitions of what is a CPU, what do you use a scanner for, etc., with very little coverage of the actual hardware (how things connect).  Of course, most students have a laptop, USB runs everything, and they aren't going to be cracking their laptops...
• There was a brief mention of punch cards, and one of the students was like "they used to have programs on cardboard??", and I'm thinking "in storage, I've got a case of punch cards from a previous job, that I used to use for to-do lists and scratch paper, because we had boxes and boxes of the things in the supply rooms as they were still getting rid of them 20 years after they last used those computers."  Hell, I worked with people who built and serviced those old mainframes.  

On the one hand, it's an intro class meant for people who know little about computers (and Microsoft Office, which is a whole other story), and you specialize heavily almost out of the gate, rather than the more generic degrees we had 25-30 years ago.

Like you say, a lot of fun has gone out of the technology, with everything "just working" - My Mac hasn't crashed since last year, the only time I have to deal with serious hardware issues is getting some old a/v capture stuff working properly through Firewire using Thunderbolt adapters, etc., but even that is relatively easy with modern software.

And I shouldn't bitch too much - I don't have time to deal with hardware and software problems these days in my personal life.

[atomheartbevo 89809]

A while back, we were driving by The Domain, and I pointed out to my second grader that IBM used to make typewriters there, and he asked what a typewriter was.

[Celery Man 21001]

I think it would be a grown up millennial hipster power move to fill out forms using a typewriter before scanning them back in (for things that still exist in that weird state of "must be signed by hand").

[52-80 19258]

On 9/26/2020 at 5:14 AM, Homercles said:

I feel those of us who were growing up during the dawn of personal computing have an innate advantage with tech in that we were exposed to the inner workings enough to know it’s not black magic.  A lot of the fun seems to have gone out of it with tightly integrated smart phones as my main ‘computer’...I miss tweaking IRQs, DIP switches, and turbo buttons.  

Yes....but I also don't miss that "PC Compatible" components were not, in fact, compatible, and that some parts played together much less nicely than others.

Or having to make fundamental trade offs like 3Dfx/nvidia for 3D and ATI for 2D. 

Or having to reformat the computer every 6 months because inevitably it'd go to shit.

I like that I can buy a laptop off the shelf and it would work for everything (mostly).

[MadBurgerMaker 404]

1 hour ago, Celery Man said:

I think it would be a grown up millennial hipster power move to fill out forms using a typewriter before scanning them back in (for things that still exist in that weird state of "must be signed by hand").

This is a thing.  My department has a typewriter that occasionally still has to be used for some dumbass form or another.