Recent Posts

1201

Living Room / Re: Large Hadron Collider Live Webcams!

« Last post by zridling on September 02, 2009, 08:54 PM »

So that's where my other sock went!

1202

General Software Discussion / Re: Dying technologies: do you still use a printer much?

« Last post by zridling on August 27, 2009, 06:45 PM »

Any of our British friends seen a COOL-ER CoolReader yet? It's supposedly more open than Kindle. Problem is, it uses Adobe's smelly DRM. Pretty sad that Amazon has proved that it is no great friend of open access -- first, by embracing DRM for its books, and second, by disabling the text-to-speech capability because The Authors' Guild has 18th-century ideas of what copyright is about.

The reason that Amazon can turn off the screen reader capability is that the machines use non-free software, controlled by Amazon rather than by the user. If Amazon can turn this off retroactively, the product has a dangerous (and costly) back door. Amazon's point is to keep people from sharing a book with a friend or family member. In that world, all public libraries are criminal institutions!



As long as ebooks have to be viewed on lock-down devices (phones, tablets, e-readers), the book industry will continue to give way to more open technologies. Anyone who pays $400 just to have the company invade and erase your PURCHASED documents is asking for it.

1203

General Software Discussion / Re: Dying technologies: do you still use a printer much?

« Last post by zridling on August 26, 2009, 09:04 PM »

Hmm, I hadn't considered larger screens for reading documents as a reason. Makes sense.

1204

General Software Discussion / Dying technologies: do you still use a printer much?

« Last post by zridling on August 26, 2009, 03:58 PM »

With the rise of online suites such as Google Docs, Zoho Office, the prevalence of PDF, Twitter, email, etc., are you still buying and using as much printer ink and paper as you were a few years ago?



Since HP's printing revenue continues to decline, I figure this must be the case. Or maybe it's because a lot of businesses are no longer in business.

1205

General Software Discussion / Re: Chrome Experiments

« Last post by zridling on August 26, 2009, 03:35 PM »

Interesting. I do think that the Google Chrome OS (browser as platform) will make a difference with how we view both software and hardware. Not for everyone or every situation, but will do for many, especially anyone doing their computing not on a traditional desktop.

1206

General Software Discussion / Re: Hannah Montana Linux -- about time!

« Last post by zridling on August 26, 2009, 03:30 PM »

What can I say, she completes me. Those lyrics sealed the deal. I'm switching! Here's an article on hacking the Hannah photocube. Dude bricked it.

1207

Living Room / Re: Tech News Weekly: Edition 28-09

« Last post by zridling on August 26, 2009, 03:11 PM »

Ehtyar, you manage to find some things I would never come across. Thanks!!

1208

General Software Discussion / Re: MS Word: Live by the patent, die by the patent? (rant)

« Last post by zridling on August 20, 2009, 03:22 PM »

Ah, more details emerge from i4i on how the patent doesn't involve the MS-OOXML format itself, but the Custom XML element used in Word 2003/07:

* "The suit is not about file formats, and the verdict has no implications for Open XML,” Kutz added. “It is about the way Microsoft Word handles certain kinds of code. In addition, the particular Custom XML functionality at issue is not used by most customers."

* "i4i said it has looked at OpenOffice and found it doesn’t infringe on its patents."

* Why the i4i and Microsoft patents do not apply to ODF

________________________________________________
Finally, Amy Wohl explains the whole mess better than anyone I've read so far:
..............
It's important to know what a custom tag is, so you'll understand that although it's critical to some users (such as large pharmaceutical companies), it's largely unused by the average Word user.  XML (which is the basis not just for Word but for other modern word processors such as OpenOffice, as well) allows text to be tagged.  Standard XML tags are built into Word for objects like names, item numbers and so forth; these standard XML tags are not at issue in the patent disspute.  However i4i holds a patent on software that allows a company to create custom tags so that it may, for example, collect all the objects that contain a particular ingredient or were approved by a particular manager.  Pharmaceutical companies use it to get the rght information onto medicine labels.

According to my conversation with i4i's attorney, Doug Cawley of McCool Smith, Microsoft at first referred customers to i4i for this custom tag function, but then decided to build the function into Word; he explained that documents made public at the trial indicate Microsoft chose to proceed knowing that they might make i4i obsolete by including custom tags in Word.
...............

1209

Living Room / What happens to your online life when you die?

« Last post by zridling on August 20, 2009, 02:58 PM »

CodeTrucker got me thinking with this post recently: Is your online life in your will? Then by coincidence, Time magazine posted: How to Manage Your Online Life When You're Dead



...______________
As more and more people carry out their lives online, and as older generations make the digital move, there's less being stored away in dusty attics for loved ones to discover and hang onto. Letters have become e-mails; diaries have morphed into blogs; photo albums have turned virtual and come with tags. The pieces of our lives we put online can feel as eternal as the Internet itself, but how much of our virtual identity actually lives on after we die?
...______________
I wonder, what will happen to your online life -- or digital legacy -- when you die? And do you care?

1210

Living Room / Re: Coding Horror Asks: Are You a Digital Sharecropper?

« Last post by zridling on August 20, 2009, 02:45 PM »

Unfortunately, it's almost impossible to know what you're agreeing to, since nearly every site has a "subject to change without notice" clause built in to their usage contract.

-40hz (August 19, 2009, 05:21 PM)

Ah, and there's the rub, my friend.

1211

General Software Discussion / Re: MS Word: Live by the patent, die by the patent? (rant)

« Last post by zridling on August 20, 2009, 04:46 AM »

Problem is, it's far more difficult to overturn a patent than most think. If it were easy, lots of patents would be overturned each month. Microsoft has made things worse by not dealing with this, thus the judge hit them with an additional $40mn in "enhanced damages" for Microsoft's "willful infringement." All together, the court has raised Microsoft's fines from $200mn to $290.6mn. Starting a long appeals process will likely bring more damages to Microsoft's bottom line.

Here's the crazy irony. All the gymnastics Microsoft went through to get MS-OOXML approved as an ISO standard may be awash. If they had only went with ODF, no infringement would have occurred.
________________________________________________
Here is the patent if you're curious.

Still, in the end, as Stoic Joker and steeladept noted: PATENTS KILL INNOVATION.

1212

General Software Discussion / Steven's handy desktop Linux guide

« Last post by zridling on August 20, 2009, 04:30 AM »

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols provides a nice guide toward Linux choices. It's short, so I copied most of it over.


(Links at source.)
________________________________________________
With so many desktop Linux distributions, unless you're an expert it's hard to know what's what. Since I've been using desktop Linux almost since day one, and I've used every major distribution out there and many of the minor ones, I think I qualify as a desktop Linux expert.  So here's my quick and dirty guide to picking out the right desktop Linux.

You're sick of Windows, but you don't want to spend a lot of time learning Linux. If that's you, get a pre-installed Ubuntu Linux PC. Ubuntu is easy to use, and you can get ready-to-go laptops from Dell and System 76 among other companies.

You no longer want Windows, or you're not interested in 'upgrading' to Windows 7, on your business PCs, but your office is using a Windows-based server infrastructure. If that's you, you're in luck. While some people really dislike Novell for partnering with Microsoft, if you want a Linux desktop that will work hand-in-glove with Microsoft servers and AD (Active Directory), Novell's SLED (SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop) 11, is for you.

You want nothing to do with proprietary software what-so-ever. There are several desktop Linuxes that steer clear of any contamination from closed-source programs or drivers, and the Free Software Foundation has an up-to-date list of closed-source free Linux distributions. Of these, I like gNewSense the best.

On the other hand, if you want a Linux with some proprietary goodies, such as support for some Wi-Fi hardware or Windows media formats, you have two good choices. OpenSUSE, which like SLED, works well with the business side of Windows, and Mint, which is built on top of Ubuntu. I use both a lot and I can heartily recommend either.

If you want a Linux that has great community support, but is also right on the cutting edge of technology, Fedora is your distribution of choice. Fedora 11, I might add, is also an excellent distribution in its own right.

Finally, if you just want a Linux that works really well, let me recommend one of my personal favorite Linux distributions: SimplyMEPIS. MEPIS, which is based on Debian is remarkably stable, easy-to-use and full-featured Linux.

1213

General Software Discussion / MS Word: Live by the patent, die by the patent? (rant)

« Last post by zridling on August 19, 2009, 12:51 AM »

Microsoft, Adobe, Apple, IBM, et al. are all guilty of chasing each other in the insane patent race. One has even gone so far as to patent gestures (such as diagonal movement across a phone screen), another downloading; gestures and downloading damnit! But this time, thanks to a patent-friendly court in East Texas (US), Microsoft gets kneecapped as a judge has issued an injunction that prevents it from selling Word 2003 and Word 2007 in the US after October 10th.



Isn't it time to rethink this whole process?

The patent system has long been distorted and corrupted by corporate money in the US. The main beneficiaries are attorneys. Why should the system change? Microsoft regularly rattles its patent portfolio when it wants to, and because of the system that's flooded with patent trolls and frivolous patents of every conceivable thought, it's on the receiving end.

Politicians are swayed by campaign contributions that help them stay in office, but also by the promise of lucrative lobbying jobs after they leave it. Indeed, the promise of post-congressional soft landings probably makes it easier to ignore the corrosive effects that patents have on betrayed constituents (as consumers).

- Need to slash greenhouse emissions to prevent the ice caps from melting? You have to do it without hurting the energy companies.
- Need to rescue the economy and reform the financial system? You have to do it without hurting Wall Street.
- Need to make healthcare affordable and available to everyone? You have to do it without hurting the insurance companies.
- Need patent reform? You have to do it without diminishing the influence of the corporations or the advantages of holding thousands of frivolous patents each.

So if you're waiting for anything to change, it's virtually impossible to get there from here.

1214

Living Room / Re: Coding Horror Asks: Are You a Digital Sharecropper?

« Last post by zridling on August 18, 2009, 08:01 PM »

Atwood specifically uses social networking sites as his example, and in those cases, users have to know going in that whatever they post is owned by that corporation, not by them. That wouldn't bother folks as much as (1) they turn around and make billions from community-contributed content, and (2) they're terrible at protecting your 'private' data, whatever that entails.

I vastly prefer a freewheeling web to what Facebook is trying to do, which is return to the days of AOL and Compuserve and serve as online gated communities.

1215

General Software Discussion / Re: notetaker that uses odf as default?

« Last post by zridling on August 12, 2009, 04:10 PM »

None that I'm aware of unless you find something in the cloud, such as Zoho or Google Docs. I'd love to see this, too.

1216

Living Room / Re: When Computers Leave Classrooms, So Does Boredom

« Last post by zridling on August 05, 2009, 04:12 PM »

Even before the days of PowerPoint, I remember professors (usually in business classes) who loved those damn transparencies.

1217

General Software Discussion / Re: Is the party over for Microsoft?

« Last post by zridling on August 05, 2009, 03:45 PM »

John Gruber has better revenue/stock/enthusiast details than Dvorak in his Daring Fireball's post, Microsoft’s Long, Slow Decline. It's long, so here is the gist:

• 91 percent of $1,000-and-higher retail computer sales now go to Apple.
  
• Microsoft’s quarterly financial results, in which revenue fell $1 billion short of projections and declined 17 percent year-over-year.
  
• To be clear, Microsoft remains a very profitable company. However, they have never before reported year-over-year declines like this, nor fallen so short of projected earnings. Something is awry.
  
• Microsoft’s operating system business is not new, and it has never been particularly cyclical. Windows revenue, prior to this just-completed quarter, has only ever gone in one direction: up.
  
• One argument is that the fault lies with the global economy, not Microsoft itself. However, Google is doing just fine, and Apple reported record non-holiday-quarter numbers for its just-ended quarter. Apple operates in the same economy Microsoft does, and Mac sales are up.
  
• Microsoft’s core problem is that they have lost the hearts of computer enthusiasts. They’re a software company whose primary platform no longer appeals to people who like computers the most. This is true in many markets with broad appeal, not just computers. Microsoft is looking ever more so like the digital equivalent of General Motors. Car enthusiasts lost interest in GM’s cars long before regular people did; the same is happening with Windows.
  
• No one seems to be arguing that Windows 7 is something that will tempt Mac users to switch, or to tempt even recent Mac converts to switch back. It doesn’t even seem to be in the realm of debate. But if Windows 7 is actually any good, why wouldn’t it tempt at least some segment of Mac users to switch? Windows 95, 98, and XP did.
  
• The PC Hunter ads, the PC Rookie ads clearly have been winners in the marketplace. Such winners in the marketplace that Apple’s laptop sales went up last quarter, and the rest of the industry’s declined.
  
• I’m not arguing that Microsoft will collapse. They’re too big, too established for that to happen. I simply think that their results this quarter were not an aberration, but rather the first fiscal evidence of a long, slow decline that began several years ago.

___________________________
Uh, wasn't this the same case against IBM back in 1984 with regard to Apple? The same Apple who, in the 90s, was gasping on its last legs when Microsoft threw $150mn their direction to stave off bankruptcy. With Apple, you pay twice the price for the privilege of being locked into not only software, but hardware. And with Apple's iPhone app censorship, I don't see the fun in being an Apple consumer. I don't dispute Apple's brute, specific code-to-hardware quality, just that merely bottom line profit does not measure quality user experience for Windows users.

1218

General Software Discussion / Re: Deciphering Win7 Upgrades: The Official Chart

« Last post by zridling on August 05, 2009, 03:20 PM »

Another benefit that Win7 users will love is that installation time has been drastically cut, as has boot time.

1219

General Software Discussion / Deciphering Win7 Upgrades: The Official Chart

« Last post by zridling on August 05, 2009, 01:43 AM »

Walt Mossberg asked, and Microsoft created a nifty upgrade path chart:

Over the past two weeks, in my Personal Technology columns, here and here, I’ve explained some of the challenges and limitations that will be involved in upgrading an existing Windows XP or Windows Vista PC to the forthcoming Windows 7 operating system, due out October 22. Several readers asked me to publish a chart showing which current versions of Windows could be easily upgraded to which planned versions of Windows 7, and which couldn’t. So I asked Microsoft to supply such a chart we could publish, and the company graciously did so. It is reproduced below, unaltered.


PNG version

1220

Living Room / Re: When Computers Leave Classrooms, So Does Boredom

« Last post by zridling on August 05, 2009, 01:32 AM »

I can't believe how dependent (emotionally!) I am on the computer, or rather, what I do with mine. For me, it's a window into everything I don't know, and all the things for which I'm intellectually curious. At the same time, it irks me to go to the grocery store and see some jackass yacking at 87decibels on his bluetooth up and down the aisles or in line.

Time to redefine the classroom computer as a productivity tool, and not necessary for that 1-3 hours during lectures.

1221

General Software Discussion / Re: 30 Days of DonationCoder Screencasts - Video Links Here

« Last post by zridling on August 05, 2009, 01:10 AM »

I'm loving this series. Thanks mouser, you're a natural!

Everyone should consider doing such a series for their app/s.

1222

General Software Discussion / Re: Life with Linux: The series ... [Bob Sutor, IBM]

« Last post by zridling on August 05, 2009, 01:05 AM »

Wow Innuendo, at least you weren't bored!

(1) It took you 531 words to tell us you hated Bob Sutor's blog posts (no one said they were articles);
(2) You attributed a Win7 slam to Bob Sutor what was actually upgrade advice written by WSJ's Walter Mossberg, and only in your mind was it a diatribe; and
(3) You wasted a lot of (negative) energy here on me when you could have responded directly on Bob's blog. But you didn't share a single one of your 531 words in any comments on his blog.

Heckuva job!
_______________
PS: I like Linux. I'll continue to post about what I know and use. If it bothers you that much, just sidestep my posts. And for the record, I hated Vista but like Win7's corrections. I won't be using it personally, but family and friends will. Not a problem.

1223

Living Room / Re: Tech News Weekly: Edition 31-09

« Last post by zridling on August 03, 2009, 10:56 PM »

re: 4. UK's National ID Card Unveiled

The UK government needs to understand that creating a single, all-powerful "proof" of identity is exactly the wrong thing to do. Once compromised, it is dangerous in unforeseen ways. Worse, it gives far too much power to the provider of that infrastructure (which is why the government loves it).

I'm imagining a country that wants to attract the best and brightest immigrants will liberalize their internet policies as much as possible, and corner a lot of brains in one place!

1224

Living Room / Re: Anyone have an i7 chip yet? If so, tell me how you like it

« Last post by zridling on August 03, 2009, 10:51 PM »

Prices come down, down, down (please?) 

1225

General Software Discussion / Life with Linux: The series ... [Bob Sutor, IBM]

« Last post by zridling on August 03, 2009, 10:47 PM »

Bob Sutor went from Windows to Linux to Mac and back to Linux, and he chronicles his Linux setup in a series of posts. Quite nice.