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Have fun if I wasn't on the west coast I'd make it.

Great coverage all the way.

Thanks

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Wish I could be there.

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Continuation:

Mikegalos you’re a moron using heavy doses of sophistry to babble on about things you know little off.

In 2008 I’ve written some code to do some basic interactions with the bindows security subsystem, such as testing if a user has the Log On As a Service privilege. Every time I venture in this area of bindows I cringe, because the security APIs are disjointed, incoherent, and vastly over-complicated. Presumably this is due to the evolution of the Windows security subsystem as it diverged from its VMS roots, but that’s no excuse.

The latest example pertains to the ‘Log on as a service’ privilege, called SeServiceLogonRight, which corresponds to a #define in the Windows SDK called SE_SERVICE_LOGON_NAME. I need to know if a given account has this privilege, because if not I need to grant it before the account can run a service. Easy, right?

You’d think so. There’s an API function, PrivilegeCheck, that will test if a given token has a set of privileges. The only problem is that PrivilegeCheck wants the privileges described as LUIDs, which are the binary identity of each privilege. All I know is the so-called “programmatic name”, that is, SeServiceLogonRight. No problem; there’s an API for that, called LookupPrivilegeValue, that returns the LUID for a privilege given its name.

So I wrote that up, but something’s wrong. LookupPrivilegeValue is failing with error ERROR_NO_SUCH_PRIVILEGE (that’s error number 1313). The text associated with that error code is A specified privilege does not exist. This is, of course, Bull*hit, since I got the priv name from the bindows headers.

After a bit of spelunking, though, I found this MSDN document.aspx) that notes certain privileges, including SeServiceLogonRight as well as other favorites like SeInteractiveLogonRight and SeNetworkLogonRight, are so-called “account rights”. What’s the difference between an “account right” and normal privileges? Well:

All of the LSA functions mentioned in the introduction above support both account rights and privileges. Unlike privileges, however, account rights are not supported by the LookupPrivilegeValue and LookupPrivilegeName functions.

Nice. So, how the hell do I test for this privilege–I mean–account right?

The LsaEnumerateAccountRights function enumerates the account rights held by a specified account.

Lovely. The reason that sucks is that I can pass a token from OpenProcessToken to PrivilegeCheck, but LsaEnumerateAccountRights wants a SID, plus I have to open a handle to the local security policy. Why the *UCK are account rights and privileges treated as equivalent if they have different semantics and APIs? And don’t get me started on the epic FAIL that is LSA_UNICODE_STRING!

Give my regards to Ed and Mary Jo! I post on their blogs often, lol.

I'm there. I would bring a copy of Windows 7 Secrets for you to sign, but I don't have a backpack big enough to hold it.

bal

Well, that was a long and totally off-topic posting cluttering a totally unrelated topic that never even bothered to even try to justify or explain your original claim and wasn't even on-topic with that.

Paul

Wish I could justify a cross-country trip. Sounds like a great party and I've been hearing good things about Antarctica even from 3K miles away.

@mikegalos - Why avoid Balthazar9's claims about the programming...after all, you are an on again/off again star MS programmer, right? You should easily be able to correct his errors. My expectation is that, as normal for you, since you have been proven wrong you will stay quiet or change the subject. Remember, you have gone off topic many times on this site, so that claim is invalid.

--tayme

Nice try Balthazar.  I might have believed you if it weren't for some shoddy editing on your part.

apocryph.org/.../windows_security_model_ridiculous

While we're already deviating from the topic at hand with O/T responses:

@Mum, Re: GPU support in new Mac's:

What I was referring to was the fact that Apple has pulled the rug out from under their support of NVIDIA.  The new chipsets are made by Intel, which means they can't unify their platform under NVIDIA, which is what they said they would do for the long term when they released all the systems after MacWorld of last year with NVIDIA chipsets.

Also, the statement about the Mac Pro is accurate - there are no professional-grade cards for high-end graphics programs, GPU-accelerated engineering programs, and 3D animation programs.  The Radeon HD 4800 series is lackluster compared to the GeForce 200 series, and it really puts a black eye on Apple's whole move with OpenCL.  It is not a certified card for professional engineering, CAD, and animation packages.  They don't offer FireStream GL cards from AMD either.  The biggest video card option you can get is with 512MB of RAM, which is far behind PC's.

I'm almost betting that they go with Intel Larrabee exclusively when it ships, shutting out both NVIDIA and AMD in the process while backtracking on their commitment to NVIDIA core logic, but time will tell.

Back on topic:

Does NYC ever get any snow like Buffalo?  Toronto is normally right across from Buffalo, but States-side usually gets all the blizzards.  I like the snow, but Toronto usually gets less than south of the lake (Lake Ontario).  I just don't think New Yorkers "get" Antarctica.  Everybody knows that they're "cold" though.  ;)

Waethorn

FYI: Central Park (which is where snowfall is typically measured in Manhattan) averages about 22" of snow per year. A lot less sticks in the built-up parts of the city but it does happen and New York in the snow is an amazing place (for the first 1/2 hour until it's all gray slush)

@mike:

If you want to see some real snow, go here:

www.carnaval.qc.ca/home.html

LOL!  Quebecers are a funny bunch:

www.youtube.com/watch

(that's the St. Lawrence River they're crossing)

www.youtube.com/watch

(look at the "ants" on the right side of the screen: that's them)

Waethorn-

I live in western NY. Average snowfall here is 92 inches a year, last five or so it has been in the 100" to 110+ range. Record is 162" here.

Your also right about Lake Ontario. "Lake Effect" snow means we can get another 1-6" on top of a regular snowfall forecast or just snow in the same range if the wind is right with no storm predicted.

I have friends who live in TO (Mississauga) actually and they might have just a trace while we are getting hammered.

Dude,

And the "lake effect" gets worse in extreme Western NY. I spent a lot of time in Chautauqua county and some towns there average about 300" per year.

Waethorn

Actually, if you want to see some real snow come out here to Washington state where the Mount Baker ski resort broke the world record for snowfall in a season back in 1999 with 1,140" (2,896 cm or 95')

Wow...that's a lot of snow...almost as deep as the sh!t that piles up here!

@Balthazar9: Its true that the Windows Security API is really tricky but everything what Microsoft do is not bad so far!

You can see Mt. Baker in the horizon in certain areas of Vancouver and Abbotsford.

Estimates say that if Mt. Baker ever erupted today (it is a volcano), the ash would cover most of Washington State and a fair chunk of Southern BC.

@mike:

The amount of snow one area gets is also related to elevation.  Whistler gets a lot of snow too, but it's also a fair bit higher than Vancouver, which mostly gets rain in the winter (the city doesn't have any snow plows, so when it snows - which is extremely rare - the city just shuts down).

@"JoshW" (whoever you are):  Check your inbox

Waethorn  said:

@mike:

Yes I am From Montreal, Quebec, Canada and we have a loooooot of snow!!! We get 147 inches of snow in 2007-2008 winter...

Mike, you can stay with us in South Jersey if you want a place to lodge for the conference.

Doc

Erico, Mike and I both lived in the snow belt up North [ not together of course, but he posted it once]. Last year, Erie, where I lived, got 142 inches of snowfall, plus the lake effect on wind. Brrrrrrrr.

Haaa... ***... Forget me... I will go to the Apple "Magic Mouse" party rather...

"The amount of snow one area gets is also related to elevation."

Wow, you build cheap commodity crap AND you're a weather expert! Impressive.

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@Dipsh....that's hilarious. Nicely done!

DRWAM  said:

"Erico, Mike and I both lived in the snow belt up North [ not together of course, but he posted it once]. Last year, Erie, where I lived, got 142 inches of snowfall, plus the lake effect on wind. Brrrrrrrr."

Yep! And the winter season coming...!!!

"Wow, you build cheap commodity crap AND you're a weather expert! Impressive."

What impresses most is that you can think and type at the same time.  Well, maybe not....

"Yep! And the winter season coming...!!!"

You can tell, because it's starting to get dark at 4:30.

DRWAM

Thanks for the offer. If I did make it out there I've got people I could crash with on the Upper West Side who'd be very annoyed if I was in New York and stayed anywhere else. Still, I think I'll skip the two cross-country flights. It may be a good party but I'm not sure there IS a party that good...

Paul

Have fun, I am sure it will be a great party. Unfortunately travelling from Australia to New York for a party is out of the question. Even Windows 7!!!!!!!!!!!! By the way Windows 7 is available in retail stores here from this morning.

@mike

Am I the only one that noticed you have changed your avatar. Its a good one.

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Backup

I figured I should have an avatar appropriate for the Windows 7 launch.

BTW: The Day 1 Launch offers were announced on the Windows blog (There will be new deals every day for a week): windowsteamblog.com/.../windows-7-s-big-day-tomorrow-new-offers-announced.aspx

The first batch include:

Family Pack pricing

Student pricing

A package from Best Buy of a Laptop AND a desktop (with monitor) AND a netbook AND a wireless router AND setup of your home LAN for $1,199.

Deals from Dell and Gateway

Discount on an upgrade copy of Win 7 for your old system when you buy a new Win 7 machine.

Looks like it's going to be a fun week!

Have a good time all. Wish I was there. say hello to MJ and Ed

I hope that MS gets some good media coverage. Of course the media will just call it an uber-geek event, since most of the media is clueless about tech. Someone set up their twitter and they think they know it all.

What? No reply at Balthazar9 from Galos?

Throw the man some technical facts and he disappears, only to re-appear and talk about Snow.

I'm not a bit surprised.

Nevertheless: enjoy the launch day! I'm glad you guys can finally go where OSX has already been.

"What? No reply at Balthazar9 from Galos?"

Read my post from above.  He totally plagiarized the post from where I linked.  That gives him zero credibility, and not worth refuting.

BTW, I already went to the launch on Tuesday in NYC, got my free copy of Win 7, and attended some very informative server sessions.

"I figured I should have an avatar appropriate for the Windows 7 launch."

I thought you would change that beautifully bearded face of yours a shade of blue.  (Sorry, haven't heard a beard joke in a while!)  :)