Recent Posts

1451

Living Room / visual: Cool Linux wallpapers

« Last post by zridling on January 13, 2009, 12:54 AM »

Thanks to Tech Source from Bohol, a trio of cool and funny Linux wallpapers can be found here, here, and here. Worth sharing.

openSUSE

Tux world

Tux silver

Bottled Tux's

kubuntu

Lonely Tux

KDE

Slackware baby

xubuntu

1452

Living Room / Re: What may you be missing?

« Last post by zridling on January 12, 2009, 09:10 PM »

I've found that to slow down long enough to appreciate and experience beauty -- in art, philosophy, music, in laughter, in the strangeness that is folk, in literature -- you have to arrest novelty; that is, the lure of the latest 'new thing.' There have been many songs written about this, one being Carly Simon's The Stuff that Dreams are Made of.

Tech and computer life drowns us with novelty.

1453

General Software Discussion / Re: Another 'Lifetime' license bites the dust

« Last post by zridling on January 10, 2009, 12:34 AM »

Why not just make it the "lifetime" of the exact unit you got? If the unit is broken, clearly its lifetime has run its course.

-Hirudin (January 09, 2009, 11:27 PM)

That can easily be qualified to the consumer as a Limited Lifetime Warranty in that case. Much more honest. If a company isn't honest in its dealings with consumers, then they won't be in business long. Oh wait, that's not true now, is it?

1454

General Software Discussion / Re: BetaNews

« Last post by zridling on January 10, 2009, 12:19 AM »

Yea, it's completely ruined. And that's bad news for the writers on staff there, since the design makes the site much harder to read.

1455

Living Room / Re: 10 reason to deploy Vista (and 10 why not to)

« Last post by zridling on January 09, 2009, 09:39 PM »

Got to agree with Fred on this one. The (purposeful?) dilemma of announcing Windows betas is that they freeze purchases. If you're running XP, there's no reason to bother with Vista. Just wait until Win7 arrives, and skip the upgrade or free upgrade step altogether.

1456

Living Room / Searchme.com - both interesting and disturbing

« Last post by zridling on January 09, 2009, 09:27 PM »

Here's a 3D search site that's been around for a while called Searchme.com. Go there, key in your name or moniker and see what happens.



I found people I had been related to were dead (news to me!), not to mention a relative who's a very successful college baseball player. They don't just share my last name, Ridling, they're the sons and fathers/mothers of people I know! Apparently, I'm also wanted by the FBI, but they'll never find me, the rat b*stards!

1457

General Software Discussion / Re: WINDOWS 7 THREAD (ongoing)

« Last post by zridling on January 08, 2009, 03:55 PM »

I would not be so sure about Win 7 being released by mid-2009....

-MrCrispy (January 08, 2009, 03:38 PM)

Anyone want to take bets on this? I say it will be released on June 1st, July 1st at the very latest.

1458

General Software Discussion / Re: WINDOWS 7 THREAD (ongoing)

« Last post by zridling on January 07, 2009, 11:36 AM »

CNET's Renai LeMay confuses me. She starts with this stunning theme sentence:

Windows 7 could be one of Microsoft's greatest operating systems, if it fulfills the promise shown by the unofficial beta version (build 7000) we have been testing for the past couple of days.

only to end with this qualification:
...Microsoft has spent a lot of effort with Windows 7 on delivering a solid operating system that won't "wow" anyone....

But then goes on to say:
I want to stress that we didn't test the Windows 7 beta exhaustively....

Are Apple devs the worst ever?
Windows 7 didn't thrash the hard disk or ever feel unresponsive, except when we were installing Apple's iTunes, a notorious pain on Windows systems.
_______________________
Still, all reports on Win7 continue to be positive, and that's great news. Now if Microsoft can only not muck this up between now and the official release. 

1459

General Software Discussion / Re: The Ribbon strikes again!

« Last post by zridling on January 05, 2009, 03:26 AM »

I think one reason why the ribbon is with us is that screens are much bigger these days. I have a dell 22 inch which is their "standard" option now, and even laptops are pretty big too. So with all that extra space, it gives Microsoft a chance to at least try to make things more obvious.

-kiwi2b (January 05, 2009, 03:13 AM)

Yes, but that 22" screen is merely wider, not taller. The flaw of the Ribbon is that it takes up valuable vertical screenspace. If I could dock that monster on the side like you can OpenOffice's toolbars, then it would make more sense. The Ribbon is already competing with the taskbar, the menu bar, the title bar, and the status bar for the same [shrinking] vertical space (in the example above).

1460

General Software Discussion / Re: The Ribbon strikes again!

« Last post by zridling on January 05, 2009, 03:23 AM »

...I can tell you from first hand experience that once the users I support have learned the ribbon, upon our migration to O2K7, a lot of them are far more productive. Not all people can memorize menu locations and this provides them a much easier way to accomplish what they want.

-Josh (January 05, 2009, 02:39 AM)

I'm curious: How exactly are they more productive? By not sifting through the menus? In just about any office app, you can customize keyboard shortcuts, or in some, rearrange the menus. If making them that big increases efficiency, why not make them twice again as big?

Most people use an app in practical, specific ways, no doubt many of them do so inefficiently. But visually, the Ribbon is just in my way. In the SolSuite example above, though, it's the redundacy that is crazy for so few options -- they've labeled the icons which are already labeled! Unlike Office 2007, I at least want the option to turn the thing off or revert to the smallest icons possible. If you need a huge icon for copy/paste, then it's hopeless.

1461

General Software Discussion / Re: The Ribbon strikes again!

« Last post by zridling on January 05, 2009, 02:22 AM »

Josh reminded me of this one, so I shouldn't be too hard on the Ribbon:

1462

General Software Discussion / The Ribbon strikes again!

« Last post by zridling on January 05, 2009, 01:12 AM »

SolSuite Solitaire is the latest app to ruin its UI with a completely superfluous use of the Ribbon where it's not needed. Look how much vertical screen space that fat tub-o-toolbar eats up! Seriously, was this designed for 6-year olds?



Notice they actually have a categorized label of Undo and Redo under two monster icons labeled Undo Move and Redo Move. Gaaah!!! SolSuite, I curse thy name. Better, I'll let Captain Picard express my emotions.

 

1463

General Software Discussion / Re: Google Experimental

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

Whoa, Hirudin, I had no clue! I lost a half hour playing around with the yearly filtered review alone. However, I had to redefine my keyboard shortcuts within Opera to take advantage of Google's.

Thanks for sharing.

1464

Living Room / Re: Microsoft's Pay-Per-Use PC: ...Worst? Idea? Ever?

« Last post by zridling on January 04, 2009, 04:01 PM »

[Josh]: Wait a minute, you mean the linux KERNEL doesn't have to be re-written correct? I am fairly certain that unless you want to run just the kernel alone, you will have to make a customized distro which includes KDE, Gnome, fluxbox, or whatever WM customized to run on said netbook. Am I wrong?

No, Josh, you're correct on that. I should have specified the kernel. KDE and the current GNOME would be pretty heavy handed DE's on a netbook, defeating the whole purpose. If a lightweight, modular Win7 version is built for smaller devices, then that will be fantastic. What I'm seeing with everyone's XP netbooks around me is that they're treating them like a full-blown laptop, wanting to play games, download videos, and do all kinds of things it just isn't designed for.
_____________________
@40hz:
Again, the only shortcoming I see with your scenario is that PCs -- especially laptops -- are as cheap as they'll ever be. The devil comes out when that leased box/PC needs repair. If a customer gets the same nightmarish treatment that Apple gives its iPhone users, then I think the idea will quickly fail.

1465

General Software Discussion / Re: WINDOWS 7 THREAD (ongoing)

« Last post by zridling on January 03, 2009, 07:07 PM »

[Darwin]: Actually, if they revamp their pricing scheme to mimic Apple's this won't be the end of the world, and would likely line their coffers like never before.

They really, really should do that (copy Apple's pricing). Another thing they NEED to do is drop the Software Assurance program for businesses. They no longer have the money to make what feels like lifetime payments to Microsoft when they're stuck using XP and Office 2003. OS X just crossed the 10% marketshare threshold this week. Not a big deal, you say? The old revenue paradigm of proprietary office suite dependent upon proprietary OS has lost its grip. As such, Software Assurance comes across as punitive in this economic climate.

1466

Living Room / Re: Techno kittens!

« Last post by zridling on January 03, 2009, 06:59 PM »

Sweet find!

1467

N.A.N.Y. 2009 / Re: NANY 2009 Wrap Up

« Last post by zridling on January 03, 2009, 06:54 PM »

Holy freakin' crap. These apps are fantastic!!

1468

General Software Discussion / Re: WINDOWS 7 THREAD (ongoing)

« Last post by zridling on January 02, 2009, 12:01 PM »

I see what you mean, there, Darwin. Going from Vista to Win7 won't be a big deal like XP-to-Vista was. But you have to figure that from now on Microsoft will likely issue only one SP before rolling out another major OS version, just to keep the revenue stream intact. Gates lamented not making XP-SP2 a new OS version on its own. They won't be sitting on Win7 long either before rolling out another version.

1469

General Software Discussion / Re: Shell Extension City's Best Freeware of 2008

« Last post by zridling on January 02, 2009, 11:57 AM »

The same simple format for years. Brilliant.

1470

General Software Discussion / Re: Another 'Lifetime' license bites the dust

« Last post by zridling on January 02, 2009, 11:35 AM »

Nice find. Thanks, Josh; let's hope that's the case.

1471

Living Room / Re: Why Windows Rules: the QWERTY phenomenon?

« Last post by zridling on January 02, 2009, 11:33 AM »

Ehtyar, but much like your native language, had you started out using a DVORAK keyboard, you'd likely have the same learning curve with a QWERTY keyboard. There's only three [desktop] apps that stay open all day on my computer: (1) browser, (2) file manager, and (3) text editor. Everything else is at-hand when I need it, or in the cloud, accessed through #1, the browser.
____________
Oddly, kids say they prefer simple keypads to larger QWERTY pads on mobile devices. I presume it has something to do with their netspeak, or whatever the term for the slang is.

1472

Living Room / Re: Microsoft's Pay-Per-Use PC: ...Worst? Idea? Ever?

« Last post by zridling on January 02, 2009, 11:25 AM »

Man, 40hz, that is so true. I could be happy with any of a dozen distros at any given time.

Unlike Linux however, whether it be XP or Win7, Windows has to be rewritten to fit on a netbook... or a smartphone... or other mobile devices. That's cumbersome, costly, and will always put it in catch-up mode. Moreover, if you shop for netbooks, it's truly depressing to see that XP adds anywhere from $150-$300 to the cost depending on the vendor. Add in the crazy factor of users thinking that netbooks are the same as desktop machines and asking the hardware to do impossibly more than its capabilities, then the consumer really must make exceptions to run Windows on the netbook.

1473

General Software Discussion / Re: WINDOWS 7 THREAD (ongoing)

« Last post by zridling on January 02, 2009, 09:42 AM »

[Darwin]: Windows 7 looks interesting, but hardly earth shattering.

And that's just it: it doesn't have to be. Correcting Vista's ugliness is the major goal, and as A. Kingsley-Hughes writes, speeding up everything is the first thing you notice. But he reminds people like me that if you didn't like activation, validation, and forced updates before, you really should move to another OS. The latest piracy news from China show that Microsoft is getting ready to ramp up anti-piracy measures in '09.

1474

Living Room / Re: Microsoft's Pay-Per-Use PC: ...Worst? Idea? Ever?

« Last post by zridling on December 31, 2008, 09:55 AM »

[Carol]: What's more large OEMs will also see the point and increase the push towards Linux.

As of Nov. 2008, every major OEM now offers at least one Linux computer for sale. To me, that's a huge foot in the door. I credit it to the netbook phenom, which people bought and saw that the pretty little OS running on it wasn't scary after all.

[Carol]: It isn't a huge step to ask the question 'Why do I have to pay to upgrade at all?'

It may sound silly, but I keep asking myself: Is XP just too good? If nothing else, it gets the job done, and there has been so much great software written to run on it. Still, Vista broke the myth of the inevitable upgrade. Linux is not immune. While the internals get updated, there are quite a few distros out there that take years to upgrade rather than what's trendy because of Ubuntu (to upgrade every six months).

1475

Living Room / Re: This coming year, I am SOO looking forward to __________ .

« Last post by zridling on December 31, 2008, 09:39 AM »

Phil, oh god, I'm hurting from laughing so hard!

And f0dder, go sit in family court for a day and then see if you want a woman. They're expensive, man, and besides, you're too young. If you wait long enough, nursing homes are full of women, and you'll probably be the pick of the litter!