Recent Posts

2101

General Software Discussion / Google OS already here, with hardware?! Well, sort of.

« Last post by zridling on November 01, 2007, 06:02 PM »

So far this has been an exciting year for operating systems, among them OpenSolaris, but for now this Fall brings another surprise, a Linux-based Google computer, or gOS sold by Wal-Mart for under $200.



Everex, a longtime personal computer vendor, has unveiled its latest PC featuring Ubuntu Linux-based open-source productivity software and Google-based Web 2.0 applications. The package does not include a monitor, but does include a keyboard, mouse, and stereo speakers. For graphics, it uses a VIA UniChrome Pro chipset on the motherboard. This, in turn, uses 64MB of system memory. The computer's pre-installed and linked Software includes Mozilla Firefox, gMail, Meebo (a browser-based IM client) Skype, Google Documents & Spreadsheets, Google Calendar, Google News, Google Maps, GIMP, Blogger, the Xine Movie Player, and OpenOffice 2.3.

2102

General Software Discussion / Re: More Vista Fun and Games

« Last post by zridling on November 01, 2007, 03:07 AM »

On top of its exhorbitant hardware requirements, Vista's license is the single biggest gripe for me. After I first installed it, I called Microsoft support and asked what happens if I upgrade my processor — would I need to buy another copy of Vista? The answer? Yes, I would.

Motherfrick that. The whole point of having a PC (over say, a Mac) is that since 1992 I've built my own machines and upgraded their components to extend their lives. I personally don't make enough money to barely afford a lot of software, and rather than steal it, this was enough to force me to consider GNU/Linux. If by merely updating your hardware's drivers (most major video drivers are updated monthly), Vista invalidates your Windows installation, then enough is enough. That's more intrusive than I ever bargained for when buying Vista, and moreover, it tells me I can no longer afford Windows computing.

2103

Living Room / Re: Teledildonics — build your dream (virtual) sex machine

« Last post by zridling on November 01, 2007, 12:50 AM »

I think Ralf and Tinjaw have seen the future.

2104

Living Room / Re: NEW Cody wallpapers for Halloween

« Last post by zridling on November 01, 2007, 12:42 AM »

Holy crap, Nudone — these are fantastic!!

2105

General Software Discussion / Auto-renew fees just slammed me!

« Last post by zridling on October 28, 2007, 05:34 PM »

I absolutely hate anything or service that auto-renews on an annual basis. First, I can't remember what or when it's due (I don't keep up with that crap). Second, I probably don't want to renew it, since it didn't change my life. And third, they always renew when I'm totally broke, slamming my tiny little checking account! No notice, no option, no thank you, just debited the amount, and I don't recall ever signing or approving any auto-renew option. I mean, WTF mate!

Bring guns and lawyers!

2106

General Software Discussion / Re: Extended Download Protection Plans? A waste of money?

« Last post by zridling on October 28, 2007, 05:29 PM »

This is the "sucker" option. I'm wondering who actually ever buys this. Like when you buy a TV and the cashier asks, "Would you like to buy 3-year extended warranty today?" ....No, if it doesn't work, you'll exchange it, right? Right?

I thought so.

2107

Living Room / Teledildonics — build your dream (virtual) sex machine

« Last post by zridling on October 28, 2007, 05:22 PM »

Maybe you've heard of Teledildonics, maybe not. But as porn has always been on the cutting edge of internet tech, virtual sex is already here in some forms. Don't laugh, blogs like Slashdong are serious about this. I'm not sure virtual sex will ever replace companionship (Tron won't cut it), but I still say when the Holodeck becomes fully functional, I won't ever come out. Here's my original ideas on the topic:



or maybe instead of sex, I'd just use it to look for the best piece of cake over and over and over:

2108

General Software Discussion / Re: What are Your Top Tech/Software Podcasts?

« Last post by zridling on October 28, 2007, 04:31 PM »

muntealb mentioned CrankyGeeks, which is pretty good. Dvorak has mellowed out a bit, though he's spent his career as a bomb thrower. Still, it's his guests that make it worth listening to, and the show isn't like his columns.

2109

General Software Discussion / Re: Ubuntu 7.10 Released today

« Last post by zridling on October 28, 2007, 04:26 PM »

Thanks for the heads up on Xubuntu, Lashiec. I haven't had any of their problems (usually specific laptop hardware), driver support is noticeably better, but I like the Xfce desktop environment a little more than Gnome or KDE. 2010 will be the year everyone looks around and says, "Hey, that Linux crap ain't so bad." I just hope that Vista's successor is as good as XP-SP3 will be.

2110

General Software Discussion / Re: Freedom from Microsoft Day!

« Last post by zridling on October 28, 2007, 04:18 PM »

2007 has been a down year for software... for Vista. And believe me, I'm looking for something every day. Most things run on Vista, but they're no different than XP. By moving from XP, I could probably drop half the software on The Great Software List. For example, with Vista all the tweaking apps can be done manually for free with ease since there's not a lot of tweaking to do unlike XP. And nothing's been developed that specifically takes advantage of Vista's power yet. I won't shut it down, but it will expand to include more online apps (which I'm suspicious of unless they give me a local version) which are not platform-specific. The first thing to take advantage of this in a big way was the OASIS OpenDocument (ODF) format. By liberating software (formats, drivers) from a mono-platform dependency, it creates user choice, increases competition, and extends the life of the software itself. I haven't spent enough time with GNU/Linux software to know what's great. Few of my favorite apps are (text editors, newsreaders, file managers) even decent on GNU/Linux. Others seem better and faster, e.g., OpenOffice, Firefox, and Opera.

As mouser reminds us, every OS has its problems and limitations. It's just which ones you're willing to live with!

2111

General Software Discussion / Re: Freedom from Microsoft Day!

« Last post by zridling on October 25, 2007, 09:44 PM »

I've considered shutting it down. Vista has really thrown a wrench into a lot of the best software out there. It's difficult to specify what works well on XP but not Vista, Vista but XP, 32-bit but not 64-bit, and so on. I'd never focus it solely on Linux software; there's just too many apps, most of which can't even be considered good, much less great.

Maybe focusing on cross-platform software is a future angle, indeed.

2112

Living Room / fadishist says what I can't

« Last post by zridling on October 25, 2007, 07:01 PM »

fadishist is a (NSFW) site that offers great bumper stickers, bracelets, T-shirts with all kinds of irreverent messages.



(These are two of the tamest ones!)

2113

General Software Discussion / Re: Gmail rolling out IMAP Support?

« Last post by zridling on October 25, 2007, 06:51 PM »

This is really fantastic and opens Gmail up to all kinds of utility. Google promised this feature a couple of years ago; good to know they keep their promises.

Garett Rogers posted this on ZDnet:

What is IMAP? Basically it is a different way email clients like Outlook can manage your email. There are two different methods that most clients support: POP and IMAP.

POP, has been supported since Gmail was launched. It basically downloads all messages to your local machine, then messages are read and managed locally. In contrast, when users use IMAP, all the messages exist and are managed directly on the server. This means that if a user move a message to a different folder, replies to or deletes messages, or anything else, everyone who subscribes to that IMAP account in their email client will always be in the loop.

This can be very useful if you have a shared company-wide email address, like “sales”, and you want to prevent multiple sales people from replying to the same message, or if you have a personal email address that you check on multiple machines. Thank you Google for finally giving this feature to us.

2114

General Software Discussion / Re: MakeUseOf.com - Nice Blog

« Last post by zridling on October 25, 2007, 06:49 PM »

I love this site, too. They take their time and post good content. And content — not quantity — is what it's all about. Check it out when you get the chance.

2115

General Software Discussion / Freedom from Microsoft Day!

« Last post by zridling on October 25, 2007, 06:44 PM »

Today, 25 October 2007, is Freedom from Microsoft Day for me! I've replaced every formerly used Microsoft app with an equal or better one, based on my needs. While I haven't used hardly any apps outside of the MS Office family, since 2003 I've fully switched from:

• Microsoft Office to OpenOffice
  
• Expression Web to KompoZer
  
• Internet Explorer to Opera
  
• Windows Vista/XP to GNU/Linux (Zenwalk for now)
  

In return I've left behind a steadily increasing number of hassles that Microsoft has deployed, having made it too difficult for legal users to bother with the increased time, cost, and hassles of using Microsoft software. WGA (Windows Genuine Advantage) has essentially become Microsoft's rootkit. Now I enjoy:

• No activation;
  
• No automatic updates;
  
• No validation;
  
• No DRM;
  
• No data format lock-in;
  
• No failed WGA servers that invalidate your license, locking you out of your system;
  
• No "Trusted Computing";
  
• No more licensing costs! (After more than 20 years of buying Microsoft software, I deserve a break.)
  
• I can change and upgrade my hardware at will without having to buy another OS license, or having my license invalidated;
  
• I don't need a killer system to run my OS, thus saving me significant cost over time;
  
• No real worry of viruses and trojans on my system.

I could go on, but you get the gist. While I've become agnostic on OS choice —  an operating system should do what you want it do when you want to do it — man, I feel really good about being Microsoft-free!

2116

General Software Discussion / Re: Can Open Source apps compete with commercial ones?

« Last post by zridling on October 24, 2007, 01:13 AM »

Ralf, think simple: by "better" think, would you use and recommend the open source app over its best commercial counterpart?

Justice brings the list, and oh god, AutoHotkey is the king for me. And XYplorer file manager just took a huge step in that direction with their User Defined Commands and scripting. (XYplorer is not open source.)

Definitely agree with sri on FileZilla. Its 3.0 version was a huge letdown for me after years of using it. But I'm more than willing to enjoy FTPRush now.

Finally, mouser makes a good point on choosing an app over the long-term — how many active programmers are dedicated to the project? I've seen even some great commercial apps abandoned over the years for no reason, among them CompuPic, NetCaptor, and for a long, long time, QuarkXpress. And yes, how the heck are you going to open up someone else's code unless its modularized in some way? Few programmers would ever have enough spare time to make it worth their while. But then, small changes can make huge differences (it's the little stuff that annoys me the most).

2117

General Software Discussion / Can Open Source apps compete with commercial ones?

« Last post by zridling on October 23, 2007, 02:06 AM »

Beyond Firefox, what open source desktop [client] apps are there that are better than their commercial counterparts? I'm wondering if there are any.

2118

General Software Discussion / Re: Ubuntu 7.10 Released today

« Last post by zridling on October 22, 2007, 09:09 PM »

Loaded Xubuntu last week and man, it's really solid. I loaded Xubuntu in only 12 minutes! Ubuntu's not my first choice among distros. Boot time is 40 seconds including login. I like Zenwalk and Fedora better, but every six months, I'm using Windows less and less.

Don't you know Ballmer would kill for a 6-month upgrade cycle? Seems a better way to go, make incremental changes and progress twice a year rather than digest a major upgrade every 2-3 years (if you count the Windows Service Packs).

2119

Living Room / Re: OK - lets get to know each other... who are you, what do you do, where from?

« Last post by zridling on October 22, 2007, 09:02 PM »

Welcome John and Masha! Glad to have you with us.

2120

General Review Discussion / Re: UltraEdit Review and Giveaway ($50 value)

« Last post by zridling on October 22, 2007, 08:54 PM »

Thanks mrainey, Mofi is great there on the UltraEdit forum. mwang, I really love EmEditor and the upcoming version 7 is really going to be special, and perhaps for the first time, compete with UltraEdit's feature set.

2121

Official Announcements / Re: Mouser Sabatical from DC Coding for 3 of months - Your Help Requested Please

« Last post by zridling on October 22, 2007, 08:48 PM »

Thanks for asking and thanks for sharing with us, mouser. A break will be good for you, now if you could only take a break after your side job! Just FYI mouser, every time I take a job, the states of either Missouri or Illinois take 50% off the top by the second paycheck. I don't mind paying for the education; it's the crippling interest that kneecaps me! I'll do my part, besides, I'm rested and in a good [family health] situation once again.

2122

General Review Discussion / Re: UltraEdit Review and Giveaway ($50 value)

« Last post by zridling on October 17, 2007, 09:01 PM »

Michael Rainey is the UltraEdit god! Every time I try to wean myself from UE, it pulls me back! It allows ALL the customizations I want/need to make to a text editor. Bought a lifetime license years ago, but hate that I have to contact IDM, submit all my license/order info, and then wait for them to allow me to upgrade to the next major version. As a licensed lifetime user, THEY should be contacting me!

2123

General Software Discussion / Re: Does your Vista installation run out of memory when copying files?

« Last post by zridling on October 17, 2007, 08:57 PM »

This was one of the first things I noticed about Vista way back on Feb. 1st: slow copying and moving operations, as in very slow, even with a fresh install, new computer. Made no sense until I read that it was built in to discourage copying too many items without the usual DRM shackles. This is also one of the dozen main reasons I contend that Vista isn't better than XP. My computer is three times faster than my old one; my "Windows Experience" rating is perfect, so why did everything get slower?

2124

General Software Discussion / Re: What are your top 10 Tech/Software Blogs?

« Last post by zridling on October 17, 2007, 08:52 PM »

Paul Graham is indeed classic. Sam Hiser is another I like who hits on a wide variety of tech topics.

2125

Living Room / Re: Companies Facing Information Overload ...

« Last post by zridling on October 17, 2007, 08:49 PM »

Depends on the business. Some businesses — like the health care sector — are required to keep redundant records on every little thing here in the US because of endless lawsuits, valid or not. Many others, however, just spray way too much email around, wasting a lot of time.

I spend a significant part of each week archiving data from my HD onto other media. It's like cleaning the kitchen or bathroom: I just do it while I'm watching a sports game in the background.