Artice ltake from Dailymail. Not sure how long Mrs Moir is going to have ajob for..
A strange, lonely and troubling death . . .
Stephen Gately
Dead at 33: Stephen Gately
The news of Stephen Gately's death was deeply shocking. It was not just that another young star had died pointlessly.
Through the recent travails and sad ends of Michael Jackson, Heath Ledger and many others, fans know to expect the unexpected of their heroes - particularly if those idols live a life that is shadowed by dark appetites or fractured by private vice.
There are dozens of household names out there with secret and not-so-secret troubles, or damaging habits both past and present.
Robbie, Amy, Kate, Whitney, Britney; we all know who they are. And we are not being ghoulish to anticipate, or to be mentally braced for, their bad end: a long night, a mysterious stranger, an odd set of circumstances that herald a sudden death.
In the morning, a body has already turned cold before the first concerned hand reaches out to touch an icy celebrity shoulder. It is not exactly a new storyline, is it?
In fact, it is rather depressingly familiar. But somehow we never expected it of him. Never him. Not Stephen Gately.
In the cheerful environs of Boyzone, Gately was always charming, cute, polite and funny.
A founder member of Ireland's first boy band, he was the group's co-lead singer, even though he could barely carry a tune in a Louis Vuitton trunk.
He was the Posh Spice of Boyzone, a popular but largely decorous addition.
Gately came out as gay in 1999 after discovering that someone was planning to sell a story revealing his sexuality to a newspaper.
Although he was effectively smoked out of the closet, he has been hailed as a champion of gay rights, albeit a reluctant one.
At the time, Gately worried that the revelations might end his ultra-mainstream career as a pin-up, but he received an overwhelmingly positive response from fans. In fact, it only made them love him more.
In 2006, Gately entered into a civil union with internet businessman Andrew Cowles, who had been introduced to him by mutual friends Elton John and David Furnish.
Last week, the couple were enjoying a holiday together in their apartment in Mallorca before their world was capsized.
Boyzone
Boyzone: Gately and his bandmates had a hugely successful career and had recently reformed
All the official reports point to a natural death, with no suspicious circumstances. The Gately family are - perhaps understandably - keen to register their boy's demise on the national consciousness as nothing more than a tragic accident.
Even before the post-mortem and toxicology reports were released by the Spanish authorities, the Gatelys' lawyer reiterated that they believed his sudden death was due to natural causes.
But, hang on a minute. Something is terribly wrong with the way this incident has been shaped and spun into nothing more than an unfortunate mishap on a holiday weekend, like a broken teacup in the rented cottage.
Consider the way it has been largely reported, as if Gately had gently keeled over at the age of 90 in the grounds of the Bide-a-Wee rest home while hoeing the sweet pea patch.
The sugar coating on this fatality is so saccharine-thick that it obscures whatever bitter truth lies beneath. Healthy and fit 33-year-old men do not just climb into their pyjamas and go to sleep on the sofa, never to wake up again.
More...
* Boyzone to play gig of their lives at Stephen Gately's funeral as police reveal his final few hours
* Stephen Gately smoked cannabis on night he died, civil partner tells Spanish police
* Louis Walsh pulls out of X Factor show to attend 'best friend' Stephen Gately's funeral
Whatever the cause of death is, it is not, by any yardstick, a natural one. Let us be absolutely clear about this. All that has been established so far is that Stephen Gately was not murdered.
And I think if we are going to be honest, we would have to admit that the circumstances surrounding his death are more than a little sleazy.
After a night of clubbing, Cowles and Gately took a young Bulgarian man back to their apartment. It is not disrespectful to assume that a game of canasta with 25-year-old Georgi Dochev was not what was on the cards.
Cowles and Dochev went to the bedroom together while Stephen remained alone in the living room.
Andy Cowles
Georgi Dochev
Gately's civil partner, Andrew Cowles, left, and Bulgarian student Georgi Dochev, right, were at the apartment on the night of the singer's death
What happened before they parted is known only to the two men still alive. What happened afterwards is anyone's guess.
A post-mortem revealed Stephen died from acute pulmonary oedema, a build-up of fluid on his lungs.
Gately's family have always maintained that drugs were not involved in the singer's death, but it has just been revealed that he at least smoked cannabis on the night he died.
Nevertheless, his mother is still insisting that her son died from a previously undetected heart condition that has plagued the family.
Another real sadness about Gately's death is that it strikes another blow to the happy-ever-after myth of civil partnerships.
Gay activists are always calling for tolerance and understanding about same-sex relationships, arguing that they are just the same as heterosexual marriages. Not everyone, they say, is like George Michael.
Of course, in many cases this may be true. Yet the recent death of Kevin McGee, the former husband of Little Britain star Matt Lucas, and now the dubious events of Gately's last night raise troubling questions about what happened.
It is important that the truth comes out about the exact circumstances of his strange and lonely death.
As a gay rights champion, I am sure he would want to set an example to any impressionable young men who may want to emulate what they might see as his glamorous routine.
For once again, under the carapace of glittering, hedonistic celebrity, the ooze of a very different and more dangerous lifestyle has seeped out for all to see.
Tara Palmer-Tomkinson: Too old for this look
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1220756/A-strange-lonely-troubling-death--.html#ixzz0UOGo8pwf
Monday 19 October 2009
Microsoft Security Essentials anti-malware
Microsoft has released data from one week of people using Microsoft Security Essentials anti-malware, and the results are clear: XP machines are far more vulnerable than Vista PCs, and Vista PCs are more vulnerable than those with Windows 7. And Brazil, for unknown reasons, is a hotbed for worms.
In the first week after the release of Microsoft Security Essentials, Microsoft says, the software was downloaded 1.5 million times. The software detected nearly four million security problems on 535,752 different PCs.
According to the company, there were far more problems detected on Windows XP machines than on Vista or Windows 7. You can see the results below.
Microsoft said this is in keeping with the general trend that less malware is found on newer operating systems and service packs.
Some of the more interesting findings come from an analysis of threats by country. In the U.S. Trojans are the most-common malware, while in Brazil it's worms, notably Conficker and Taterf.
For more information, check out the findings from the Microsoft Malware Protection Center.
In the first week after the release of Microsoft Security Essentials, Microsoft says, the software was downloaded 1.5 million times. The software detected nearly four million security problems on 535,752 different PCs.
According to the company, there were far more problems detected on Windows XP machines than on Vista or Windows 7. You can see the results below.
Microsoft said this is in keeping with the general trend that less malware is found on newer operating systems and service packs.
Some of the more interesting findings come from an analysis of threats by country. In the U.S. Trojans are the most-common malware, while in Brazil it's worms, notably Conficker and Taterf.
For more information, check out the findings from the Microsoft Malware Protection Center.
Microsoft names Visual Studio 2010 dates
Microsoft has struggled with the best way to sell Visual Studio's application lifecycle management ever since it introduced Team System against IBM's Rational four years back. As the company prepares to release Visual Studio 2010 for Windows 7, Office 2010 and a new line Windows servers about to come on tap, Microsoft is taking another stab.
This time, the company is spicing the packaging mix by throwing in hours of access to its Azure cloud plus upgrades to a new, top-of-the-line Visual Studio ALM package.
The changes will be unveiled today, as Microsoft announces the second Visual Studio 2010 beta and .NET Framework 4 beta two have been released to MSDN subscribers with everyone else getting code on October 21.
Also, Microsoft will announce Visual Studio 2010 will officially launch on March 22, 2010.
Visual Studio 2010 and.NET Framework 4 have been promised as "the most significant release" Microsoft's had of the tools suite and framework "in a number of years."
Microsoft says this about all products, but we assume this time it's referring to Visual Studio 2005 and Team System 2005 that debuted Microsoft's ALM push and came before Visual Studio 2008.
New features include Windows 7 and SharePoint 2010 tools, drag-and-drop bindings with Silverlight and Windows Presentation Foundation, the inclusion of the Dynamic Language Runtime (DLR) for programming with scripting languages, and support for parallel programming.
It's the packaging mix that sees the most change, though.
Microsoft will chop nine Visual Studio SKUs down to four, with the focus on ALM. Microsoft does not seem to be tampering with the Express editions, which add another five SKUs.
Visual Studio Development Edition, Database Edition, Architect Edition and Test Edition will go. These will give way to Visual Studio 2010 Professional priced $799 and no MSDN subscription option, Professional priced $1,199 for a new MSDN subscription, Premium priced $5,469 for a new MSDN subscription, and the new completely Ultimate Visual Studio SKU that will be priced $11,924 for a new MSDN subscription.
You can compare these MSDN subscription prices with those for Visual Studio 2008, here.
Senior director of developer marketing Dave Mendlen said Microsoft is cutting the number of Visual Studio SKUs following customer feedback. Mendlen said the new packages reflect the way developers work, by combining code, test, architect and collaborate options. This is a reversal, as the previous philosophy was separate Visual Studios for separate roles.
What do you get in your new packages?
Visual Studio 2010 Professional minus the MSDN subscription will feature core developer features, the integrated development environment, platform support and parallel debugging. With the MSDN sub, you'll actually get the current and previous client and server operating system runtimes.
Premium will include code analysis, database deployment, user interface testing and test impact analysis. The addition of the MSDN sub will give you the server platforms for Dynamics, SharePoint and Exchange, plus Office, Expression and some Team Foundation Server features.
Ultimate will include all these features, plus UML tools, historical debugging, manual testing products and load testing along with the full Visual Studio 2010 Team Foundation Server.
Microsoft will chuck Azure cloud compute time, storage and data transfer into the MSDN Premium subscription. Developers will get 750 computing hours per month for eight months - time that will commence once Azure becomes commercially available, expected next month.
The company will also try to upsell you under it's so-called Ultimate offer. Developers on the soon-to-be canned Visual Studio 2008 Team System editions or on Visual Studio 2008 who splash out and upgrade to the Professional-level MSDN subscription before March 22 will get Ultimate at no cost when it ships. Those on Visual Studio 2008 Professional and MSDN Professional now will get Visual Studio 2010 Premium at no extra cost.
This time, the company is spicing the packaging mix by throwing in hours of access to its Azure cloud plus upgrades to a new, top-of-the-line Visual Studio ALM package.
The changes will be unveiled today, as Microsoft announces the second Visual Studio 2010 beta and .NET Framework 4 beta two have been released to MSDN subscribers with everyone else getting code on October 21.
Also, Microsoft will announce Visual Studio 2010 will officially launch on March 22, 2010.
Visual Studio 2010 and.NET Framework 4 have been promised as "the most significant release" Microsoft's had of the tools suite and framework "in a number of years."
Microsoft says this about all products, but we assume this time it's referring to Visual Studio 2005 and Team System 2005 that debuted Microsoft's ALM push and came before Visual Studio 2008.
New features include Windows 7 and SharePoint 2010 tools, drag-and-drop bindings with Silverlight and Windows Presentation Foundation, the inclusion of the Dynamic Language Runtime (DLR) for programming with scripting languages, and support for parallel programming.
It's the packaging mix that sees the most change, though.
Microsoft will chop nine Visual Studio SKUs down to four, with the focus on ALM. Microsoft does not seem to be tampering with the Express editions, which add another five SKUs.
Visual Studio Development Edition, Database Edition, Architect Edition and Test Edition will go. These will give way to Visual Studio 2010 Professional priced $799 and no MSDN subscription option, Professional priced $1,199 for a new MSDN subscription, Premium priced $5,469 for a new MSDN subscription, and the new completely Ultimate Visual Studio SKU that will be priced $11,924 for a new MSDN subscription.
You can compare these MSDN subscription prices with those for Visual Studio 2008, here.
Senior director of developer marketing Dave Mendlen said Microsoft is cutting the number of Visual Studio SKUs following customer feedback. Mendlen said the new packages reflect the way developers work, by combining code, test, architect and collaborate options. This is a reversal, as the previous philosophy was separate Visual Studios for separate roles.
What do you get in your new packages?
Visual Studio 2010 Professional minus the MSDN subscription will feature core developer features, the integrated development environment, platform support and parallel debugging. With the MSDN sub, you'll actually get the current and previous client and server operating system runtimes.
Premium will include code analysis, database deployment, user interface testing and test impact analysis. The addition of the MSDN sub will give you the server platforms for Dynamics, SharePoint and Exchange, plus Office, Expression and some Team Foundation Server features.
Ultimate will include all these features, plus UML tools, historical debugging, manual testing products and load testing along with the full Visual Studio 2010 Team Foundation Server.
Microsoft will chuck Azure cloud compute time, storage and data transfer into the MSDN Premium subscription. Developers will get 750 computing hours per month for eight months - time that will commence once Azure becomes commercially available, expected next month.
The company will also try to upsell you under it's so-called Ultimate offer. Developers on the soon-to-be canned Visual Studio 2008 Team System editions or on Visual Studio 2008 who splash out and upgrade to the Professional-level MSDN subscription before March 22 will get Ultimate at no cost when it ships. Those on Visual Studio 2008 Professional and MSDN Professional now will get Visual Studio 2010 Premium at no extra cost.
MS claims early success for freebie security scanner
Americans stuffed with Trojans, Brazilians hit by worms
By John Leyden • Get more from this author
Posted in Anti-Virus, 19th October 2009 12:01 GMT
Free whitepaper – PC-disable delivers intelligent client-side protection for lost or stolen notebooks
Redmond estimates 1.5 million users downloaded its freebie security scanner software during its first week of availability earlier this month.
Microsoft Security Essentials, which comes at no extra charge to consumers running kosher versions of Windows, detected four million instances of malware of one type or another on 535,752 distinct machines in its first week of operation up from its release on 29 September until 6 October. Windows XP machines were more likely to be infected than Vista boxes which, in turn, were more bug-filed than Win 7 machines.
Trojans were the most frequently detected form of malware in the US, China has many instances of potentially unwanted software threats (a category that covers adware, spyware and more), and worms (particularly Conficker) were very active in Brazil, according to stats culled from Microsoft's security tool.
A blog posting from Microsoft containing pie-charts illustrating malware infection instances can be found here.
Independent reviews from the likes of AV-Test.org gave Microsoft Security Essentials a positive reception. Microsoft's freebie software earned favourable comparison with other free packages, such as AVG and Avast, in detection rates and scan speed. The avoidance of false positives was a plus for Redmond's effort, while the lack of effective behaviour-based malware detection was the one big minus in comparison with AVG.
AVG boasts a user base of 80 million, according to company estimates. However, user dissatisfaction with the tendency towards bloatware that came with AVG 8 make it vulnerable to attack from the likes of Avast and Avira, as well as Microsoft, which boasts a huge name recognition advantage in the consumer market. ®
By John Leyden • Get more from this author
Posted in Anti-Virus, 19th October 2009 12:01 GMT
Free whitepaper – PC-disable delivers intelligent client-side protection for lost or stolen notebooks
Redmond estimates 1.5 million users downloaded its freebie security scanner software during its first week of availability earlier this month.
Microsoft Security Essentials, which comes at no extra charge to consumers running kosher versions of Windows, detected four million instances of malware of one type or another on 535,752 distinct machines in its first week of operation up from its release on 29 September until 6 October. Windows XP machines were more likely to be infected than Vista boxes which, in turn, were more bug-filed than Win 7 machines.
Trojans were the most frequently detected form of malware in the US, China has many instances of potentially unwanted software threats (a category that covers adware, spyware and more), and worms (particularly Conficker) were very active in Brazil, according to stats culled from Microsoft's security tool.
A blog posting from Microsoft containing pie-charts illustrating malware infection instances can be found here.
Independent reviews from the likes of AV-Test.org gave Microsoft Security Essentials a positive reception. Microsoft's freebie software earned favourable comparison with other free packages, such as AVG and Avast, in detection rates and scan speed. The avoidance of false positives was a plus for Redmond's effort, while the lack of effective behaviour-based malware detection was the one big minus in comparison with AVG.
AVG boasts a user base of 80 million, according to company estimates. However, user dissatisfaction with the tendency towards bloatware that came with AVG 8 make it vulnerable to attack from the likes of Avast and Avira, as well as Microsoft, which boasts a huge name recognition advantage in the consumer market. ®
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