The Stand-up Philosopher

CNET: McAfee's Big Blunder

CNET has a blog post about McAfee's Big Blunder. Recently, McAfee pushed out a buggy software update. It didn't affect me, as I've long since banished McAfee and Norton from my network. I'm all for keeping my computer safe, but both are far too needy for attention, and demand too much of a performance sacrifice.

I swore off Norton after their Norton Internet Security 2005. I had a copy of NIS 2003. After about 3 weeks, I'd start getting notices that Norton quarantined and deleted my email. I couldn't retrieve it. Then people would start asking me "Did you get my email?" Well, no. I uninstalled and reinstalled NIS 2003 and the same thing happened within 3 weeks. After my 3rd try, I uninstalled it and used the disk as a coaster after it wouldn't sell on Ebay.

I got a laptop for Christmas 2005. I was just getting started at the University of Phoenix and my old P-II 233Mhz Toshiba laptop couldn't keep up. I got a Compaq, which came with a 90 day trial of NIS 2005. It didn't last 2 months. NIS 2005 seemed to have to download updates every 20 minutes, and had to flash a status balloon on my taskbar to notify me of each individual step it was taking. The problem is, I like to hide my taskbar for screen Real Estate, so when an attention needy program like NIS 2005 wants to keep telling me what it's doing, it gets in the way. It also started letting me know way too frequently that my 90 day trial was running out in 89 days, 88 days, etc. Go away, Norton. Nobody likes you.

I Am So Happy About This: 1Password for Windows

There was a time when I could use one username and password for everything. Those were wonderful days. Yes, I know the “security experts” don’t recommend that, but seriously, how do you keep track of all your logins otherwise?

Then companies started rolling out mandatory password changes. Then we had mixes of systems where we could pick our own passwords and systems that auto-generated passwords. We had systems with varying periodicities and requirements. One system required a min 6 character password and changed every 60 days. Another required an 8 character password (with mix of upper and lower case, numbers, and special characters) and had to be changed every 90 days.

It got very confusing, and I started running out of sticky notes to keep my passwords on. It was time for software to come to the rescue. Actually, I never kept my passwords on sticky notes. I used Outlook notes for a long time though.

For several years, I used KeePass. KeePass had a Windows client, and a Windows Mobile client. Life was good. Then I went through the Samsung BlackJack II and the Samsung Epix, and decided I’m never using Windows Mobile again. I bought an iPhone. I love my iPhone 3G. I’m happy with it.

But I have yet to see a KeePass port to the iPhone platform. Doh!

I did a search in the app store, and discovered a program called 1Password. It has an iPhone client, and a desktop client. But the desktop client is only for Mac. I downloaded the iPhone client. Later, I managed to snag the Professional version while it was on sale for free.

I still don’t have a Mac though.

Recently, a beta of 1Password for Windows came out. I'm happy about that. I can finally edit and maintain my passwords on my desktop (or netbook) again, but always have my login information with my where ever I go.

Software Focus Annoyances

I must really like to write these “annoyances” blog posts. Right now, I’d like to rant about programs stealing focus.

Just now, I got the idea for a blog post. I hate when people refer to a blog post as a blog. The blog is the entire framework to which you publish individual posts. I guess that’s for another annoyance rant.

I came up with an idea. I decided to launch Windows Live Writer. The splash screen came up. I then decided while WLW was loading, I’d switch back to Chrome and bring up Amazon so I can embed an affiliate link for a book I planned to mention.

What I mean by software focus is, the program demanding focus comes to the top. This is annoying, especially when a program goes through a few different phases while being brought up. That makes it almost impossible to get anything else done while the program is loading.

This is one of the reasons I refuse to use Norton Internet Security. I don’t care if it’s been completely reengineered. The 2005 version annoyed me so badly with it’s focus stealing that I uninstalled it and swore I’d never use it or any of it’s bastard children again. Whenever NIS would download updates, it would constantly steal focus from whatever I was doing to tell me what it was doing. If I was trying to write an email, my email window would go inactive while Norton flashed on the taskbar. Then I had to stop what I was doing to click on the Norton window, then go back to Outlook only to be interrupted by Norton once again.

It would be great if programs allowed you to get other work done while they load in the background, rather than constantly stealing focus from other programs while doing a childish “Look at me!” routine.

Remembering the $1000 iPhone App “I Am Rich”

This is a classic. One of the first apps released for the iPhone’s OS 2, and one of the most expensive I’m aware of. I Am Rich originally sold for $999. It was bought by 8 people, two of which appealed. 6 people apparently were happy with their purchase. I Am Rich did little. It showed a picture of a red gem, and had a mantra which read:

I am rich
I deserv [sic] it
I am good,
healthy &
successful

Deserve was misspelled. But I guess if you’re rich, you don’t have to spell “deserve” right.

I had a freeware version of the app for Windows Mobile.

How To Use A Daily Capture Mind Map

Way back in September, I wrote a post about using a concept called a Daily Capture Mind Map. It was to address a serious vulnerability in my own productivity system.

For the most part, it worked really well. I began using Mind Manger for iPhone. I kept this map on it. I treated this as a dashboard and used it to park information that I needed access to quickly. Prior to buying Mind Manager for iPhone, I was using Mind Meister, an online mind mapping service with a free plan. At the time I had two computers for work on two different networks, so I could access my dashboard at either, plus at home.

With Mind Manager for iPhone, if I was out and about, and came up with a new idea, or an action item, I would park it on this mind map until I could get to it later. If somebody committed to get something to me, it went on here. And, if I committed something to somebody else, it went on here. I referred to it several times a day.

It worked really well for a while. At least, it worked until I didn’t have a job anymore. For some reason, I’m a lot better at tracking lots of information than I am very little information. Once I was removed from my position in November, I didn’t have anything else to track. I haven’t really used this map much since then.

I’m going to dust this map back off as I go about my job search.

Finally, The Differences Between Web Browsers Explained

If you ever wondered what the differences were between the major web browsers, this should help.

Lately, I've been using Firefox portable on a hard drive that I carry with me. At home, I use Google's Chrome on my computers. I started having problems with Firefox on my desktop, and it's memory leaks are just too much for my netbook to handle.

I never got the point to Opera. I like Safari on Mac, but until the Windows version gets a session manager, I'm not using it.

I use Internet Explorer only in extreme emergencies. I hate Internet Exploder. It's slow and clunky.

Fun With Ghosts

In my last post, I wrote about a new iPhone app that allows you to superimpose ghosts onto pictures. Here are the first two I came up with. One is a "ghost" standing next to Caleb on the bed while he plays Lego Star Wars on the Wii. The other is a picture of the front of my house during a recent snowstorm.

I could have a lot of fun with this app. Yes, I promise not to test how gullible the Philadelphia Inquirer might be.

Take Pictures of Ghosts With an iPhone

I like the show Ghost Hunters, so I won't pick on them here. I assume it's safe to take the show at face value until I find a reason not to.

One of the things I like about TAPS is that they place the highest value on evidence. Personal experiences are interesting, but count for little to nothing. They only go by what they can demonstrate.

That's good, because I just found out a way to have fun with those who aren't as careful to only deal in verifiable evidence. Turns out, a UK tabloid published a photo with an apparent ghost in it. It looks real enough, right?

Not really. Turns out, the picture was a hoax. And as the cliche goes, there's an app for that. Introducing Ghost Capture, now live in the App Store (iPhone). Ghost capture is available in both free and $.99 versions. I'm downloading the free version.

Now if I can only hoax Christina before she reads this blog post...

An iPhone App That Prevents You From Getting Caught Having An Affair?

Are you screwing around on your wife but don't want to get caught? Well, there's an app for that now. It's called "Tiger Text". Pete Wilson does a good job of explaining the app and the moral implications, so no need for me to repeat that.

From Pete's writeup, the app allows you to send text messages to the object of your affair. The texts don't reside on your iPhone, but on their servers. Cool, that just means they can be subpoenaed by a savvy attorney. Oh, also, you can only have affairs with people who also have iPhones.

The app also isn't likely to prevent a spouse from discovering an affair. It'll just prevent text messages being sent back and forth from being on the iPhone. You are subject to the consequences of your poor judgment, planning, and overconfidence involving all aspects of an affair outside of your text messages. No matter how well you think you're hiding it, it WILL catch up to you.

I discovered an ancient secret that prevents your spouse from finding out that you had an affair. It's the kind of secret that everybody should know, but for whatever reason doesn't. I should patent this advice and sell it on late night TV for $29.95 with a boiler room telemarketing upsell. I won't. I'll offer it here on my blog for free because that's the kind of man I am.

The easiest way to prevent a spouse from finding out about an affair is:

DON'T HAVE A FREAKING AFFAIR! See how easy this is? You can apply this to every other area of life. Don't want to get caught cheating on taxes? DON'T CHEAT ON YOUR TAXES. There'll be nothing to get caught for. Don't want to get pulled over for speeding? DON'T SPEED! (OK, I'm the last one who should be giving that advice, but it still works even if I don't follow it).

For some reason, I always use the word "freaking" more when I've been listening to Dave Ramsey. I have no idea why...

I doubt this post will go down in history as one of my best, but if I can save one marriage by it, it's worth it.

Though I am far from an expert on the subject, I have done plenty of reading about marriage. Just as I am not aware of a single lottery winner who didn't end up blowing the whole wad and destroying his or her family, I'm also not aware of a single case where an affair ended well. I do know plenty of people who kept it together through rough spots in marriage and came out better.

I've known people who cheated. Even if their spouse didn't directly find out about it, their marriages disintegrated anyway. I've seen cheating destroy public images and end or damage careers (Clinton, Sanford, etc...) Seriously, these things NEVER end well. I don't care if 30+ years of soap operas are based on little more of a plot device than who is having an affair with whom. In real life, they never end well.

Nook to Get Update This Week?

Engadget has a report that the Barnes & Noble nook is likely to get a software update this week. For those of you following my eBook reader series, this goes with what I've been saying. Most of the problems up to this point reported with nook are software related, and should be easily fixed with a software update.

As far as I know, Amazon hasn't released a software update for their Kindle. 

nook: Does Barnes & Noble Hate It's Customers?

That's my take on the title of one blog post I read today. I also came across Mashable's compilation of nook reviews. I left nook uncapitalized because apparently that's how Barnes & Noble left it. 'sposed to be more informal that way yo.

I believe I could be getting an eBook reader for Christmas (or for that unmentionable solstice cultural observance for you socially autistic people who freak at the mention of Christmas). The question is, which one? Kindle has been around the longest. nook is the new one. I'm not considering Sony for several reasons, like the root kit debacle a few years ago. I just don't feel like Sony likes it's customers. Sony likes money. Everybody likes money, but Sony doesn't hide it as well. Anyway, Sony is out of my consideration at this point. That leaves me the Kindle and nook. For the record, I don't believe Amazon or Barnes & Noble gives off a vibe of hating customers. I personally like both businesses. Amazon makes it cheap and easy to buy books. Barnes & Nobles makes it comfortable. I still remember the days when you'd get yelled at in bookstores for opening a book and trying to get a feel for what's in it. "Either buy the book or leave!" you'd be told. There's none of that at Barnes & Noble. It's very comfortable and pressure free to browse around. You can sit on a couch and read a book, with coffee. I've taken refuge at the Deptford Barnes & Noble many times when Christina needed to shop in places I didn't want to go.

Back to the point: I have Kindle and Barnes & Noble's reader on my iPhone. About the only reason I want a reader is the ability to read some pdf ebooks I pick up. I'll basically download any eBook that's free, but then I never have time to read them. They're not always easy to get onto the iPhone. If I had a Kindle or nook, I could convert them easier to read on the go.

If I ask for the Kindle, I could possibly get it in time for Christmas. If I ask for nook, I won't see it until mid-January or later because it's seriously backordered.

I'm less worried about software glitches and shortcomings. Those can be fixed by the company if it chooses. nook apparently has some glitches, but those could be solved by a software update. Kindle doesn't support the ePub format, which again could be fixed with a software update.

When I look at reviews of the devices, I try to take that into account. If a reviewer says "Don't buy nook because it's buggy", realize that a software update can easily fix the problem, so it might not BE a problem by February. Of course, it's also possible but less likely that the software problems will never be fixed. I suspect they will be. Although it would be nice to see devices released with perfect software, it's getting less likely by the day. We seem to live in a perpetual beta culture. What I mean by that is software is often released to the public in a state that seems unready. Sometimes this refers to software that runs on a specific device like an iPhone or Kindle, and other times it deals with larger operating systems like Windows or software suites like Microsoft Office.

In some cases, I think there is a strong "rush to market" mentality, and the product has to be on the market before it can be ready. No matter how hard you try to avoid it, schedules do slip. Unforeseen events pop up, and you're left with a ship date that's harder to make than when you wrote the schedule two years ago.

In other cases, I think it's simpler. Companies can only do so much testing "in house". There is no way Barnes & Noble can conceive of every possible use for nook, and so glitches and shortcomings often pop up when users get their hands on it.

Which one should I ask for? Kindle or nook?

Dragon Dictation Free for the iPhone

I learned this morning that Dragon Dictation is free for the iPhone/iPod Touch for a limited time. I downloaded it and am eager to try it out.

If you'd like to be able to dictate text messages and tweets, point your App Store search feature to Dragon Dictation.

Maybe I'll dictate a blog post about how well it works.

More On eBooks- Content and Devices

I came across yet another post on dedicated eBook readers here. I was going to leave a comment, but it's on an idiotic site that expects you to join their "community" just to post a comment. I'm no fan of that. Just let me post a comment and move on. I'm not interested in sticking around your "community", and if you're that needy, I'm less interested. A person can only maintain so many logins.

This post refers to the one I wrote about yesterday, about whether or not eBook readers will make good Christmas gifts (it took the cowardly way of referring to a non-specific cultural observance "holiday".)

I want to take a step back here. Let's forget about "eBook Readers" for a minute. Let's talk about eBooks. We don't want to confuse the two. eBooks and eBook readers are separate things. 

An eBook is what we could call "content". An eBook reader is what we would call a device. A platform is the content plus the device or devices that the content can be used on.

Personally, I would like the ability to read my content on just about any device. Thanks to Kindle, at present, I can. I can read the same book on my iPhone, my Acer netbook, my Dell desktop, and soon on my BlackBerry. At no point do I have to get a physical Kindle. I hope Amazon sticks to this model, of selling content, or books. Personally, I think Amazon will make more money in the long run if they stick to selling books and work to make those books accessible on more devices.

Amazon could have gone the other way. They could have decided "We want to make money selling Kindles, so we'll publish books in Kindle format but require you to buy a Kindle to read them". They didn't do that, and they made money from me because I can read my Kindle books on my iPhone. I'm not locked in to a Kindle device.

But I am locked into the format. I can read my Kindle books as long as I'm using Kindle software. I have to worry about how long the Kindle platform will last. Will I one day find my Kindle books unreadable?

I know Barnes & Noble has an eBook reader for the iPhone. I haven't downloaded it yet. I also know they're coming out with an physical eBook reading device called "The Nook". I promised in my last post that I would do some reading on it so I can comment intelligently. I haven't done that yet. It's on my to-do list. But I'm not interested in it at present. I tend to stick with Amazon for one reason:

Amazon makes it cheap and easy.

Almost any time I need a book, Amazon usually has the best price. I even have an app for my iPhone where I can take a picture of a book, upload it to Amazon, and get back what prices Amazon has for that book. It's almost always cheaper on Amazon. Then, if I spend more than $25, the shipping is free. With Kindle, I can buy and start reading books instantly.

I honestly haven't had a reason to go anywhere else. Barnes & Noble at present hasn't given me a good reason to look into their format or inventory. Neither has Sony.

Let's get back to the point: should you buy an eBook reader (that is, a dedicated device) for yourself or a loved one for Christmas (or any non-specific cultural observance you may buy presents for)?

Here are a few reasons why you might want to consider one:

1. Do you, or said loved one, read a lot of books? Then, you probably should.
2. Do you, or said loved one, travel a lot? I'm content to read books on my iPhone, but iPhone 3G battery life isn't good, so if I were traveling a lot, I might want a Kindle.
3. Are you, or said loved one, already overloaded with gadgets? If all you have is a "dumbphone", or no phone, but meet the other two points, then go for it. Somebody said that the max number of gadgets most people are willing to carry is 3. I've carried 3 gadgets. I'd say it's my limit.

By the way, if you'd like to buy a Kindle for yourself or a loved one, I'll make it quick and easy for you. You can buy it through my affiliate link right below. Amazon will gift wrap it:

Will eBook Readers Make Good Gifts This Season?

I've been asked a few times by friends if an eBook reader is a good idea. I was asked once specifically about the Kindle, and again about readers in general.

I read an article on Macworld's site giving 7 arguments why eBook readers aren't a good idea this "holiday season". I'll save my "holiday" rant for later. Let me redefine this: should you get somebody a Kindle or other eBook reader for Christmas? (The illogic of that whole "holiday" thing drives me nuts). 

The 7 arguments put forward in that article are:

1. We're on the brink of radical change in how people read e-books

2. E-book readers are the least discounted gadgets on the market

3. There are so many other new ways to read e-books

4. Giving an e-book readers may involve committing a person to a specific technology

5. E-book readers are old and busted

6. Everyone who really wanted one already has one

7. One of the best choices is unavailable

Mostly, the arguments rest on the assumption that Apple is working on a mythical "iTablet" that will be such an awesome eBook reader, it will render the Kindle, Nook, and that Sony thing useless overnight.

I've started and deleted several blog posts about how I'm sick of hearing about the Apple iTablet and will believe it when I see it. I stand by that.

I can personally attest to argument #6 being wrong. Everybody who wanted a Kindle DOES NOT already have one. I don't. I want a Kindle, and I don't have one yet. I guess I don't want it bad enough, but I'd still like one.

#4 is a very real concern, and it's one reason I've been slow to adopt eBooks even though I'm really excited about them. If you commit to a platform, will it last? What happens if I buy a Kindle and several Kindle books, and within a year the Kindle format is dead? I can't buy any more books, and once the platform dies out, I won't be able to read the books I bought. What if I buy a Kindle and for some reason the Barnes & Noble Nook takes off? Can you read Kindle books on a Nook, and Nook books on a Kindle? I don't have high hopes for Sony. Sorry, Sony just doesn't excite me about much. I'll believe Sony builds a successful eBook reader when they build one. I didn't like their last one. I played with it at Sam's. I found it non-intuitive and slow. I wouldn't have bought one. If you're going to buy an eBook reader for a friend or loved one, do keep in mind that you could be enslaving them to a platform with no guarantee of success.

The argument about eBook readers being "old and busted" reeks of somebody who has enough money to buy everything that comes out, use it for 2 days, and throw it away. I'm sure the rest of us without such a budget or access to review units will find that argument to be more of an elitest opinion than something to base our own buying decisions on. It's one of the reasons I despise tech journalists. They don't realize what it's like to have to work your butt off for months to save up for an iPhone. They get one handed to them and get sick of it by the time they get a Droid review unit.

I've bought some Kindle books to read on my iPhone. So far, I like it. The only advantage a physical Kindle would give me is the ability to read pdf files on the Kindle. 

So, should you buy a Kindle, Nook, or whatever Sony calls their reader? Sure. If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch, or a PC, you can read Kindle books without owning a Kindle. Kindle will soon be releasing readers for the Mac and BlackBerry. No Windows Mobile. Good though I jumped ship from Windows Mobile. I'd almost say for now, get an iPod Touch and download Kindle for iPhone, then buy some books.

I guess I'll have to do some reading about the Barnes & Noble Nook, because I can't comment intelligently about it right now.

No Need To Pay For Security on Your PC. Lifehaker Says MS Security Essentials Are Enough

Most of my non-geek friends like to ask me about security. I tell them that unless they look at a lot of porn or spend time downloading pirated software, then they don’t need to worry as much. It’s not that big a deal.

Microsoft once had Windows Live OneCare. I hated the beta version, and installed it after less than 15 minutes. As it matured, I found it to be very useful, and I would recommend it to friends who asked what I though. I’ve long since had it with Norton and McAfee, although I’ve heard since they days that they gave me a bad taste that they’ve optimized their products so they don’t require as much time and attention, as well as system resources. I’m still not ready to pay for either again.

While Windows Live OneCare was a paid product, Microsoft now has Microsoft Security Essentials, which is free. Lifehaker says it works well enough that Windows users shouldn’t have to shell out money for other security products.

Kindle For PC Is Here! And More Good News

Amazon’s Kindle for PC was released today. Maybe it was last night. I’ve already installed it. I’ve had Kindle on my iPhone since I first leaned about it. I’ve only bought one book to date, but now that I can make notes and highlight, I’ll probably buy more. I like to read, and being able to carry my books with me is a great thing.

The post on Amazon’s blog also includes this at the end:

Stay tuned, as more apps are on the way, including Kindle for Mac, and Kindle for Blackberry.

Sweet, Kindle for BlackBerry. Between my iPhone and BlackBerry, and now my computers, the only excuse I’ll have left for not reading will be “because I don’t want to”.

If anyone from Amazon is reading this, can I have an @kindle.com email address without buying the physical Kindle? If I could get some pdf files into the system, that would be great.

Productivity Hack: Using A Daily Capture Mind Map

Chuck Frey at the Mind Mapping Software Blog has an interesting post about using a Daily Capture Mind Map. I found this to be a fascinating idea, and I think it will address a serious weakness I have in my own productivity. I've extensively studied Franklin Covey and David Allen's Getting Things Done, but there's one thing I've just never been good at, and it's causing me a lot of problems.

It has to do with how I track things that other people owe me. I'm not so bad with tracking things that I have to get done for other people, but I haven't found a system that works with my brain for tracking when I have to depend on other people for action items to complete my own work.

I've tried bcc'ing myself on emails to other people, then putting it in an "@Waiting For" email folder. I've tried tracking these items under an "@Waiting For" list in Remember The Milk or a similarly named Outlook category. Somehow, a lot of these things still manage to slip through the cracks.

Symantec Video Highlights the Dangers of Shortened URLs

Lifehacker linked to a Symantec video showing the dangers of shortened URLs. What is a shortened URL? When using an application like Twitter with a character limit, it's not always possible to include a long link to a website, video, or article that you'd like to share with others. You then go through a URL shortener to create a shorter link that can be shared with a brief comment in under 140 characters. URL shorteners have been around for years, but I didn't start using them until Twitter came along.

Picture by ShiYali

URL shorteners can be convenient and useful. The problem is, they can also be used to hide malicious sites. How can you tell a malicious site?

If you click on a link, and immediately get what looks like a Windows notification telling you that your computer has a virus, GET OUT OF THERE! If the virus notification recommends a specific program to take care of the problem, GET OUT OF THERE! Just close the windows. If they won't go away, restart your computer.

Fix YouTube Jumpiness in Firefox

I’m going to experiment with this fix. I’ve avoided watching YouTube videos on my Acer Netbook because the videos jump. I figured it was the limited hardware of my netbook, although I’ve watched YouTube on much lesser hardware with Windows XP. Heck, it’s a 1.6Ghz processor with 1GB of RAM. Even if I am running several programs, this computer should be able to handle a YouTube video.

Apparently, it has to do with the session restore feature in Firefox. It’s set to a default save of 10 seconds. Even I am not that paranoid.

When my wife got me this Acer for my birthday (yes, I sort of asked for it since I needed a new laptop and it fit within our budget), I was wary. I push my computers pretty hard. So far, this Acer AspireOne is a pretty respectable little computer.

Why Do I Keep Using Firefox?

Firefox drives me nuts. I’m starting this blog entry after yet another crash. Why did Firefox crash? I tried to load a page. One web page. Seth Godin’s blog. And Firefox crashed. Why do I continue to subject myself to this kind of instability?

Honestly, because as much as Firefox raises my blood pressure, there are a few things it can do that other browsers can’t match.

Baby Shaker: App Store Mistake of the Week

I've been an iPhone owner for 2 1/2 weeks. I love it, and I don't even miss my Samsung Epix, which sits on my desk with the battery removed. Prior to my iPhone, I had an iPod Touch for over a year. My wife now has the iPod Touch. I spent the $10 to upgrade to the 2.0 firmware last summer, and joined the ranks of the App Store. I've written my own criticism over what I consider the silliness of other platforms jumping on the app store concept, especially when those other platforms have always had a more open development model.

I don't mind the Apple App Store. It has some difficulties, for sure, but for the most part it works as intended. That said, there are some flaws built into the system. Every now and again, something slips through, while perfectly legitimate applications sit in limbo. Remember "I Am Rich" last year? I honestly had no problem with I Am Rich. I happily downloaded the freeware Windows Mobile port when it was available.

Recently, a fairly disturbing game slipped through called "Baby Shaker". I'm not going to comment on the game. I'll just say it's not in any of the application genres that I would be likely to use. It's an interesting use of the iPhone's accelerometer, but still disturbing. The game was pulled within hours of release, and the developer apparently has no other apps listed in the App Store.

The thing is, it leaves us wondering, how does Baby Shaker slip through with apparent ease, when a bug fix to Pocket Informant takes weeks to get through, or when other applications get kicked back for obscure reasons? Other applications, like Sling Player and Hulu languish in the approval process.

I'd like to give Apple the benefit of the doubt here. The App Store is a fairly new concept, and maybe they're just fleshing it out. I don't think the concept is fundamentally flawed, at least, no more flawed than any process with people making decisions can be.

Still, I have to wonder again, why Baby Shaker gets through and a bug fix to Pocket Informant doesn't.

I'm Going to Become a Windows Mobile "Hater"

I’ve decided that I”m going to become a Windows Mobile “Hater”. That will probably seem unreasonable and illogical to many, but so be it.

That does not mean I am going to become a Microsoft “Hater”. I won’t become a mobile device “hater". I won’t become a Windows “Hater”. My “hating” is going to be specifically directed at Windows Mobile. That includes Microsoft’s Windows Mobile team, their “partners”, and the telcos, at least in regards to Windows Mobile.

I am going to become overly critical of the platform to the point where I do NOT recommend it. If you’re considering a Windows Mobile device, please, to preserve your sanity, don’t get one. Get a BlackBerry or an iPhone instead, or just get a plain old dumbphone.

I’ve had several Windows Mobile devices over the years. I’m tired of the same annoyances and performance issues that are common to every device I’ve had. Here is my device history:

Microsoft Shutting Down Encarta? Did Anybody Actually Use It?

Apparently, Microsoft is shutting down Encarta, it’s long-running encyclopedia. I don’t want to be unkind, but I’ve never actually used Encarta. I think I had a computer once that came with Encarta, or it came with another MS Product I had, but I never used it. I think I tried to use it once, but the setup was painful or it asked for money or something and I decided it wasn’t worth my time.

Will you miss Encarta? Will it matter to anybody? Now if Wikipedia went down… I can remember when I used to be able to get away with using Wikipedia as a reference at the University of Phoenix. About halfway through, it wasn’t allowed anymore.

App Store For Jailbroken iPhones Coming?

I can’t figure out why people are so excited about the App store concept, but apparently somebody is going to create a paid app store for applications for jailbroken iPhones. I know a BlackBerry App store just launched, and Microsoft is salivating at the concept of a central app store for Windows Mobile devices. Me? I don’t care. Really, I don’t care. Let me explain, again.

The iPhone App store works for Apple because the iPhone is a locked down platform. Apple wants to maintain Stalinistic control over the platform for a variety of reasons, some of them actually being good. Others are just paranoid, but it’s Apple’s platform and they can do this if they like. Personally, I’m not that thrilled with the App store concept. A lot of good applications never make it because they either duplicate functionality already present in the device, or top-secret functionality to be added later. It takes forever to fix bugs and re-release software for the platform. The app store also doesn’t guarantee that applications will be useful, just that they pass Apple’s requirements.

Personally, I have no enthusiasm for app stores on either Windows Mobile or the BlackBerry platforms. I guess if they want to maintain a central repository, so be it, but I don’t mind the way things currently are.

Some Interesting Developments in eBooks Today

Today brought some very interesting developments in the world of eBooks. The information also came to me in interesting ways. My wife was sick, so I stayed home from work to take care of the boys. I was using my mobile devices heavily. First, because the iPhone and iPod Touch have Exchange server support, I was able to keep up with a few things at work because of my Touch, which is set up for my company's Exchange server. I have a work issued BlackBerry, but I was carrying my Touch around with me anyway to listen to my podcasts rather than let a bunch build up. I was also using my Samsung Epix heavily today. I'd let a bunch of email pile up lately, so I was bouncing back and forth between the two devices to get through my personal account. I like the larger screen on the iPod Touch, but some of my html mail reads better in FlexMail 4 on the Epix. Also, the Epix's keyboard is slightly easier to use than the touch keypad on the iPod Touch.

I was catching up on some Twitter traffic on my Epix in Twobile when I saw that Michael Hyatt had downloaded something called "Kindle for iPhone". I switched over to my Touch, brought up the App Store, and searched for Kindle. I found it and downloaded it. From what I've read so far, using this application, I can purchase Kindle formatted books WITHOUT having to buy the $359 Kindle, but if I buy the Kindle, my books will sync between the devices.

I Like Solutions to Real Problems

Last week, I echoed Real Dan Lyons’ assessment that Google’s Android as “A solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.” This week, I am happy to be able to link to a solution to a problem that does exist.

I came across the Joel on Software blog during my days working on my degree at the University of Phoenix. I used several of Joel’s articles as references for my papers. I cannot attest to Joel’s ability to program, but his ability to write about programming is amazing. When I was in my programming classes, I would often come across a problem that wasn’t addressed by the textbooks, and my instructors weren’t meeting their requirement to answer student questions. I was left with search engines, which didn’t turn up anything useful.

Joel, together with some of his contacts, is addressing that problem with Stack Overflow. I wish this had been around two years ago.

Technorati Tags: Programming,Answers

When Open Source Sucks Part II: Firefox Extension Annoyances

I wrote my original “When Open Source Sucks” post on August 15 to rant about one of my favorite Firefox extensions falling into apparent vaporware status. To be honest, a lot of things about Firefox drive me nuts, yet I can’t replace the things that I like about Firefox and its extensions easily. I tried running IE 7 as my default browser because Firefox is eating up too much overhead on my laptop, but IE 7 is too slow for regular use. It takes forever to open a new tab and load a new page. I gave up quickly.

There is an annoyance about Firefox that really bugs me. I use some useful extensions such as NoScript. I’ve been using it for years. It really bugs me when, every time an update is released, I have to suffer through a tab being opened. This is really bad when 6 or more extensions that like to self-promote get updated at once.

It would be nice if the maintainers of these extensions could accept that they don’t have to constantly promote their extensions to their loyal users. This is as bad as when Microsoft, in it’s Windows Mobile email newsletters, constantly likes to include articles such as “Top Reasons to choose Windows Mobile.”

 

 

Figure 1: Why do Firefox Extensions have to open browser tabs to their pages every freaking time they update?

Technorati Tags: Firefox,extensions,updates,annoyances

Journaling: What Is The Best Platform?

I have long since some to the conclusion that journaling can be a useful process. If nothing else, it allows me the ability to rant so that I don't have to do it publicly on my blog. Sometimes I find it helpful to journal my way through a problem or to sort out my thoughts. I don't always follow this, but it does help at times.

The biggest problem I've had is: which client makes the best journal? Some people say that it's better to keep a written notebook and write everything in pen. This has never worked very well for me. For one thing, my handwriting is bad. To this day, as a 34 year old man, when people ask me "can't you do anything about your handwriting?" I reply with either "why do you think I took a job as an engineer?" or the more blunt "If I couldn't improve my handwriting for my 3rd grade teacher, what makes you think I can do it for you?" I do hope that my journals will be useful to my children or grandchildren when I am eventually gone, and the last thing I want to be remembered for is my poor handwriting.

So, what options do I have?

iPhone/iPod Touch 2.0.2 update “fixes bugs”

http://www.jkontherun.com/2008/08/iphone-firmware.html

Apple released the 2.0.2 update for the iPhone/iPod Touch yesterday. I updated my Touch. I wish Apple would publish a Software Version Description (SVD) or some other documentation when they publish updates. This is two “bug fix” updates released under the 2.0 version firmware, and my Touch still has the same bugs it’s had since I upgraded. These releases are more than 240MB each, which makes me wonder what is actually being fixed.

If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch with the 2.0 firmware? Have either of these “bug fixes” fixed any bugs?

Technorati Tags: iPhone,iPod Touch,Firmware,2.0 iPhone,iPhone 2.0,bug fix

When Open Source Sucks

I was real quick to jump on the "Hate Microsoft" bandwagon back in the Windows 95 days. Everybody hated Windows. I used to read PC Magazine and PC World magazines, and I read article after article and editorial after editorial about how horrible Windows is and how much better Linux is than Windows. I actually bought it for a while, although my experiences with Linux usually ran into some show-stopping limitation that drives me back to Windows.

I "hated" Microsoft until about 2006 when I was trying to get through my IT degree and some attempts to "switch" to Linux stopped me dead in my tracks. I couldn't get Linux to work with my wireless chipset, for instance.

I read and recited all of the reasons why Open Source is better than closed source software, but I finally reached the point of wondering if I really care anymore. There's very little that I need to do with a computer that I can't do on Windows. I have easy access to Microsoft Office 2007, leaving the need for OpenOffice and Google Documents out of my concern.

Firefox 3, and a Few Things You Should Know

Firefox 3 was finally released yesterday. It’s supposed to be better and faster than Firefox 2. I hope so. I was fairly happy with Firefox 1.5.0.7, and the increments of Firefox 2 have been fairly painful. It was almost painful enough that I would have scrapped Firefox to use Internet Explorer, except for the fact that I have several Firefox extensions that I’ve reached the point of being unable to live without on a regular basis, so I bore the instability and memory leak on Firefox 2. I finally broke down and installed the beta of Firefox 3 on my laptop when temperatures went up and I couldn’t take the memory leak anymore.

One of the worst parts of Firefox is that every time a new release comes out. some extensions break. Either the developers stop updating them or they just fall away, I don’t know. One of my favorite extensions over the last several years is Tab Mix Plus. Firefox, by default, displays all tabs in one horizontal bar. I can have between 30 and 50 tabs open at any given time, so that gets very impractical for me. Tab Mix Plus gives the ability to display tabs in multi-rows, which is very helpful. Also, I like to open a new tab next to the current one rather than at the end of the line. That keeps my tabs together. As far as I know, only Tab Mix Plus does this. I expected to lose some extensions after upgrading to Firefox 3, and Tab Mix Plus was one of them. I found out today though, that Tab Mix Plus for Firefox 3 is available on Download.com. I don’t know why it’s not on the Mozilla extensions page.

WebIS Flexmail 4 Released

WebIS released Flexmail 4 recently. I got the email yesterday. I’ve used the beta at a few intervals, but kept running into a minor problem of Flexmail refusing to download entire messages, preferring to truncate them instead. I decided to wait for the final release. I downloaded and installed it.

I’ve been using this product through a few versions and naming schemes. Around Christmas (or generic, unmentionable holiday) 2004, Handango was giving away a free application each week. One week, the application was WebIS Mail. For those of you who have used the Pocket Outlook client on Windows Mobile, you know that either the Windows Mobile developers are freaking lazy or have some kind of revenue sharing agreement with third party developers. I’ve used Windows Mobile 2002, 2003, 2003SE, and 2005. I’ve also used the update of WM 5 for my iPaq 4705. I honestly haven’t seen any improvement in Pocket Outlook whatsoever, forcing a power user to spend money on third party clients. The mail program is particularly useless. It took the Windows Mobile team up to Windows Mobile 6 to incorporate the ability for Pocket Outlook to work with html mail. WebIS Mail 2 had this feature on my iPaq 3765, which was running Windows Mobile 2002.

WebIS renamed the third version Flexmail, and released it as Flexmail 2007. I purchased it. I’ve watched the development of Flexmail 4. As I said, I keep running up against a truncation issue.

Sure enough, even though I set up my gmail folders to download the entire message and full attachments, I still found mail truncating. I decided to go back to Flexmail 2007, which I know works solidly on my phone. Perhaps I should do Alex (the developer) the courtesy of filing a bug report so he can look into it. In the meantime, here is a plug for his company. I’ve also used three versions of Pocket Informant, WebIS’s phenomenally powerful calendar, task, contact, and project management program. It is so good, I even bought Franklin Covey’s Plan Plus for Outlook to take advantage of all the features. If you have a Pocket PC, I highly recommend this. I know a Blackberry version is in the works, as is an iPhone version, although no details on that will be available until Apple lifts the NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement.) Pocket Informant is so good, if Alex ever developed a desktop client, I’d stop using Microsoft Outlook.

Technorati Tags: Pocket PC,Window Mobile,Flexmail,WebIS,Pocket Informant

eBook Headaches

Brad Isaac wrote a blog post the other day about ebooks. His intent was to ask if the Amazon Kindle is worth it. He reads ebooks on his Pocket PC, something I've always wanted to do but I have discussed my other blog. I haven't reached the point of trusting ebooks enough to spend money on them. I'm starting to open up to Mobipocket, which at least offers a free reader and a free converter, but other than converting free books I've already downloaded to this format, I'm not yet ready to purchase content. I just discovered something interesting on the description of Mobipocket Reader:

Personal eDoc Publishing : Beyond eBooks
Tired of scrolling through this 250 page technical manual in PDF? We've got the answer. Drag and drop it into the Reader Desktop and read it on any mobile device. It also works for Microsoft Office files, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and RTF TXT files as well. You can compile your favorite lyrics into an eBook or your best cooking recipes.

I will have to try that when I get a chance. Up to this point, my attempt to read ebooks and other content on my Pocket PC has been to convert to Repligo format. Repligo is designed to mobilize office documents, but I've found it efficient for publishing public domain books into a mobile, mark-upable format. However, Repligo is abandoneware, as the company has abandoned all but the Blackberry platform. I can't even get the print client to run on Windows Vista, so I have to keep an XP machine or XP virtual machine around in order to maintain it as a platform. I invested in Repligo while I was working on my degree at the University of Phoenix so I could take my textbooks with me on the go while my wife dragged me around (or while I took my beautiful bride about the town on errands.)
I think I will experiment with dragging and dropping pdf documents into MobiPocket Reader to see how well and how quickly I can convert my content for syncing on my Pocket PC.

Technorati Tags: ebooks,Windows Mobile,Pocket PC,pdf,adobe,Repligo

Useful Pocket PC Software? Call Firewall

This will be quick as I have to get moving soon. I have a couple of numbers that are driving me nuts. Citibank calls me every single day, but when I attempt to answer, the call hangs up. Then it shows up as a missed call. If I call back, I get stuck in phone menu hell, although I have found that pressing * gets me into a long que to complain to somebody who should be able to fix the problem. I was told two weeks ago that my number would be removed, but it hasn't been. The number I'm getting called from is (800) 967-2400.

I'm also getting calls from (660) 626-1534. The number claims to be from a marketing or survey office that is immune and exempt from do not call lists. This number has been calling me lately as well. I needed a good, free way to block them.

Enter Call Firewall. I just installed it today, and put both of those numbers in. We'll see how it works. Call Firewall features 4 modes:

- Blacklist : All numbers here will be routed to phone messenger (just like your cellphone is off)
- My contacts only : Only incoming calls from your contact list are allowed. Other will be routed to phone messenger
- Whitelist : All numbers in this list will be allowed to incoming call. Others are rejected.
- Reject all calls : Guess what ??? ;)

Of course, all I want is for these two numbers, for now, to stop bothering me.

Technorati Tags: Pocket PC,Call Blocking,Number Blocking,Citybank is evil

Ugh, Another Microsoft Email for new Office Users

I just finished taking a survey from Microsoft Office. I registered for these things a while ago. Some of them are very useful, but this one really sucked the life out of me and destroyed my hope for the future. Apparently, Microsoft is going to develop (or is considering) using emails to teach newly registered Microsoft Office users about how to use Office. On the surface, this may be useful, IF YOU HAVE NEVER USED AN OFFICE SUITE IN YOUR LIFE AND JUST BOUGHT YOUR FIRST COPY OF OFFICE 2007.

Considering my experience with Microsoft emails, I really don't have any hope and I never want to get on this one. I've mentioned before that I've been using Windows Mobile devices since 2003. I know a lot of tips and tricks, useful software (especially freeware), and I have a good suite of applications I've been using for years. I know how to get what I need out of my Pocket PC. When I upgraded to Windows Vista, and had to switch from Microsoft ActiveSuck to the Windows Mobile Device Center, I was offered the chance to register for an email newsletter to "help you get the most out of Windows Mobile, full of insider tips and tricks" (I'm paraphrasing.) I jumped at the chance, hoping for something useful. Do you know what the first article link in each and every one of those "Insider Windows Mobile" newsletters is? "Reasons to choose Windows Mobile." Seriously, this for people who already bought a Windows Mobile device. I have other subscriptions to Microsoft newsletters, and they are written on the same level. The Windows Insider newsletter covers such expert-level topics as "How to change your screensaver."

Imagine this: you buy a copy of Office 2007 (or 2008 for Mac.) During your installation, you're asked to provide your email address to get "exclusive access to insider tips for getting the most out of Microsoft Office." You subscribe, hoping to unlock some expert level features. What do you get? "Thank you for choosing Microsoft Office. In this edition of 'Office Exclusive Advanced Expert Insider Power Tips, we cover 'The Top Reasons to Choose Microsoft Office.' ' "

Now do you see why that survey makes me weep for the future?

Technorati Tags: Microsoft Office,Insider Newsletters,survey

Essential New System Software

Since I got my replacement work laptop, I'm doing some installation and cleanup to get it ready for my use. It's a Toshiba, so it's loaded chock full of crapware. Crapware is defined as software loaded onto your PC that you didn't ask for, nor did you want. Often, you really don't need it. Crapware can be anything from a 30 day trial of McAfee to the Yahoo! Toolbar. What do these idiotic toolbars do, anyway? As far as I can tell, nothing. The only toolbar I have ever really used is the Windows Live toolbar, because when I'm using IE7, it has a really good password manager. It's better even than Firefox, which is still my browser of choice despite serious instability issues and a memory leak.

In any case, I have a lot of crapware to uninstall from this laptop. I can do this with the help of free and highly useful products like the PC Decrapifier. It was originally designed for Dell computers, but has expanded to everybody else. The new version can delete the 60 day trial of Microsoft Office, which gets in the way of installing a real version of Microsoft Office.

Another essential product that I install on a new system is Spybot Search & Destroy. I honestly don't do much with it outside of immunizing my system in the beginning, but the Tea Timer utility that protects my registry is worth it's weight in gold. Nothing is able to change my registry, startup, or browser settings unless I say so. It gets a little annoying, especially when you try to run Quicktime, but I'd rather deal with the annoyances than having to clean out my Startup menu every day.

Recently, Sony tried charging a "crap tax", that is, when you buy a new computer, if you pay them extra, they won't install crapware on it. I believe that policy was reversed after much protest. Talk about mob business practices... That's like a car dealer saying charging you an extra $1000 on a new car to not rip you off with unneeded warranties or underbody spraying which is done in the factory anyway.

As I've been writing this, PC Decrapifier was running on my laptop. The new version did a stellar job. It couldn't uninstall McAfee, but I can do that manually. I also have to go back to uninstall Norton. Then I can get down to installing the programs I need.

Technorati Tags: New laptop,Crapware,uninstall

Windows Live Writer is Released

Windows Live Writer is out of beta. I have really come to appreciate this free and useful application from the Windows Live program. You can download a copy here. At one point I sort of laughed off the entire Windows/Office Live program, but I'm starting to see some value in it.

Technorati tags: Windows Live Writer, blogging, offline blog publishing

 

Labels: Blogging

When Designing, Consider Your User

I've written before about how much of a pain in the neck it is to deal with HSBC Mortgage for anything outside of regularly scheduled monthly payments. If a payment gets hung up in the mail somewhere and is up to 15 days late, a computer calls you demanding a payment be made right then and there. No option is given to talk to a person and explain that the payment was sent so just sit tight and you'll get it you greedy impatient bastards. Lately all of our payments have reached them in plenty of time not to have to deal with this junk. My wife and I have different bill paying philosophies. When I used to pay the bills, I would send them out as soon as possible. She likes to wait until closer to the due date so the money stays in our account collecting interest, and with bills like the mortgage that have a grace period, sometimes she'll wait a little while. I instructed that HSBC be paid early so I don't get any more calls.

At one point, we thought we would try to use our Rewards Visa to pay the mortgage because we could get lots of rewards points that way. Well, HSBC has some policy (and again, you can only deal with the computer) that any payment done outside of sending a check requires a service fee, which I believe is as much as $30. Seriously, this is one of the largest banks in the world and they want to gouge you for paying with a credit card?

This and other examples leads me to wonder who comes up with these business policies? Have you ever visited a website or downloaded a program that seemed to have been designed only for the use of the designer or programmer? "I'm the greatest coder who ever lived, and you'll just have to do things my way because I know better than you do" seems to be the mentality.

I found a post on Web Worker Daily called Web Design: The Human Approach. This advocates a form of role playing in the context of designing a website. Designers should create personas and characters and then work through the website as that person to see if the site can meet his or her needs. I honestly believe that this approach should apply to other concepts as well, especially programs and business processes. Two of the most challenging and life changing classes I've had at the University of Phoenix were on business systems analysis. A good systems analyst should be able to look at the business processes, interview the users and other stakeholders, and then design (or purchase) and customize a system to meet those needs. A system can't be geared too much toward the users nor can it be geared too much toward the business processes. For example, until last year, my current company still used paper timecards. My previous company, which I left in 2004, was using an eTime system as early as 2000 or 2001. The system was painful at first, but by the time I left the company the bugs and kinks had been worked out and I thought the eTime system was great. This company, rather than copy a successful concept, decided to reinvent the while and create a new eTimecard from scratch. The timecard is written in Java, is only supported on Internet Exploder 6, and crashes my browser 2 out of 3 times I try to use it. I've actually found it to be more reliable running in IE Tab in Firefox where it only crashes the whole browser 1 out of 3 times. When the application was first rolled out, it was apparently written entirely against the business rules for the paper timecard. The rules were if you made a mistake, you had to line out the entire line, initial, and write an explanation for the mistake at the bottom. The electronic timecard followed the same rules to a painfully exact level. If you were in the block for Tuesday, for example, and entered 4 hours against a contract, then tabbed to Wednesday, and said "Oh, no, I only worked 3 hours on that contract on Tuesday!", you could not go back and change it. You had to void the entire line, add an explanation in a pop-up box, then add the charge number and start all over again. I remember at one point I got so angry with this cumbersome process I actually wrote in the pop-up box:

I made a mistake and recorded the wrong amount of hours against this contract. I would also like to add that this is the stupidest application I have EVER used. What bonehead wrote a program that doesn't allow you to make a change during the active session? Isn't that the whole point to moving to an electronic system?

I would like to think that my witty and insightful comment turned the company around, but I'm sure it didn't, or at least I couldn't have been the only person to complain because the rules were fixed which is good. Now if you make a mistake you can change it until you save the timecard. After you save, you must provide an explanation for chances. Even though I never notice my mistakes until after I save, I can live with this.

I put that story out, not to complain, but to support the point to this post that if you find yourself designing a website or writing a program or even crafting business processes, take into account the people who will be using your program, visiting your website, or following your business processes. Most of the time, you are not designing for yourself.

Technorati tags: Web design

Labels: Misc comments, Software, U of Phoenix

VLC Media Player 0.8.6c Update

I upgraded my laptop to Windows Vista Home Premium two weeks ago, and as with any operating system and application upgrade I have run into a few snags along with way. One of those snags involves one of my favorite applications, VLC Media Player. I've written before about my Hauppage WinTV PVR-USB2 recorder that allows me to record TV shows. Watching those TV shows became a challenge, however. I'm rarely sitting at my desktop computer, although I do use the computer often thanks to the good people at Log Me In, a wonderful service that I highly recommend. My wife got me the WinTV a couple of years ago and I've had a few snags along the way that kept me from using it but for the time being, when there is a show worth taping, I can record it. Watching the show has proven to be a huge challenge. As I said, I often don't have time to sit at my desktop computer and watch my recorded TV. We don't have an Apple TV or Slingbox either, although I am trying to make a case to my wife why we need an Apple TV. The options I'm left with for viewing my shows are to stream them, or transfer them to either my laptop, iPod, or Pocket PC to watch on the go.

The first option I tried was streaming with Orb. I ran into a snag with Orb that plagues me across all of my options, but the snag is most painful with Orb. Probably because my recorder works on USB, every now and again the recording will have a "glitch" for about a frame. This will cause most media players, such as Windows Media Player, to skip several seconds. On Orb, that was disastrous, because every time I tried to back up the video the stream had to re-buffer. This made watching an hour long TV show take several hours, especially when the stream was cut off. I experienced the same problem on Real Player, and I didn't have that many options to catch a stream from Orb.

I next tried to take the video with me on my laptop, but again, Windows Media Player and Real Player would skip several seconds on every glitch causing me to either miss part of a show or spend hours trying to get that part to play. About this time I was working with my Apple iBook running Jaguar (OS X 10.2), and I couldn't find a way to play mpeg video on a Mac. That was when I came across VLC Media Player. VLC plays just about any format imaginable and works on almost every platform. I've used VLC Media Player on Mac, Linux, and Windows and I have never been disappointed. One of my favorite features of VLC besides the multi-codecs and cross-platform capability is that VLC will play right through the frame glitches with no skipping whatsoever.

That brings me to the point of this update. After I upgraded to Windows Vista, I went to watch an episode of Hell's Kitchen that I taped. I brought up my old trusty VLC Media Player and found that there was a minor incompatibility: the audio would play but not the video. I was running VLC 0.8.6b. I checked the VideoLAN home page, and found that sure enough, VLC had been updated. The new version works flawlessly on Windows Vista. If you're looking for a free media player, check out VLC.

Technorati tags: VLC, Windows Media Player, Digital Media, Orb

Labels: Linux, Mac OSX, Media

Windows Live Writer Beta 2 Is Out

Actually, it's been out, but I finally learned about it today. There are many new features and plug-ins available, and I look forward to testing them out. I learned that Blogger finally did add an API to upload images from an offline blogging client, however; that came out too late for inclusion in this beta. I've always wanted the ability to add images while typing my posts offline, but I realized during my Typepad trial that I rarely use a feature like that. Hopefully the next release will include the API. For now I either have to compose my entries using Blogger's online editor, or compose them offline in Windows Live Writer and upload the images manually after publishing. Blogger always inserts images at the beginning on the post, and I have to cut and paste my text around them. When I'm trying to include screenshots to demonstrate steps in software, this is very cumbersome and painful, and is why I haven't updated my Using Thunderbird for University of Phoenix Newsgroups post, which by far brings me the most traffic out of the 160 plus entries I've made.

I like the ability to add Blogger categories, so I can truly "fire and forget". Up until now, I've been composing in Windows Live Writer, publishing, then logging in and editing my post to add the categories. It's nice to have that extra step removed. Maybe I'll write more now that publishing got easier. Other new features include inline spell checking (apparently hard to do but very useful) and new windows don't open every time you finish one post and want to start on another.

I find Windows Live Writer (beta) to be an adequate and functional free offline blogging client. Blogger does include a WYSIWYG editor, but it's minimally functional and of course you have to be online to compose entries. With Windows Live Writer, I can maintain entries on my laptop and publish them when I choose. If you're looking for a free offline blogging client, give this one a try.

If you don't mind paying, try Blogjet, which I took advantage of a 30 day trial for during my Typepad trial. It's also a very good editor.

Technorati tags: Blogger, Windows Live Writer, Offline Blogging Client, Software, Blogging

Labels: Blogging, Software

Do Mac Apps Really Suck on Windows?

Some of you may have heard that Apple Inc. (Formerly Apple Computer, Inc.) released the Apple Safari web browser for Windows last week. Many of you may not care. I'm not sure exactly where I fit in. CNET's Rafe Needleman wrote a blog entry titled "Mac Apps On Windows Suck. Here's Why". I'm not sure that I agree with all of his conclusions.

With the Apple iPhone due for release soon, the announcement of Safari for Windows shocked a lot of people. Many developers and gadget geeks salivating over the iPhone had been hoping for an SDK (Software Development Kit) in order to produce applications for the iPhone. If you've ever used a Pocket PC, you know that third party applications are practically salvation. Pocket Outlook is minimally useful, but Pocket Informant is a wonderful excursion into the world of mobile productivity. WebIS Flexmail 2007 is also a wonderful replacement for Pocket Outlook's email functionality. I don't know many Apple people, but I do know that like Windows, sooner or later you'll need a third party application to get things done. As the iPhone runs Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, I'm sure it will need more applications. However, Steve Jobs (and I'm sure others, but Steve is the public figure) have decided to make the iPhone a closed platform. As I understand things, there will be ways to write applets through Safari, but that is the extent of development capability on this platform.

And so, millions of geeks are upset. I was sort of apathetic to this announcement. I don't intend to buy an iPhone right now. The announcement of Safari for Windows excited me about as much as, say, Outlook Express for the Mac. Oh, wait, my Macs do have Outlook Express. At least, my iMac does. I downloaded Safari on my work computer just to test it out, but for the most part I'm sticking with Firefox for the time being because the available extensions allow a great deal of customizability. Opera is nice, but Firefox meets my needs so I see little reason to use Opera, and IE7 needs a session manager for me to take it more seriously. I am spoiled with Firefox because when my system crashes, I can pick up exactly where I left off. If I have 50 tabs open and half of them are partway through a long article, I won't miss a beat. If IE7 crashes with two tabs open, I'm hosed.

However, I don't see the platforms through eyes of zeal. I have settled on Windows XP as my main OS for the time being because of all the tools available, Windows XP does what I need it to do the best. The programs that I use run best on Windows XP, I don't have to buy any new hardware, and of course it is well supported and established.

As far as tools go, I differ in my opinion of iTunes from Rafe Needleman. I actually think that iTunes is a fairly decent media manager. Actually, my favorite feature is the podcatcher. I really don't care for Microsoft's digital media implementation. I believe that their target market is the gyrating silhouettes from the iPod commercials a few years ago. Windows Media Player 11 is decent, but has no podcasting capability. I download several podcasts, and iTunes does a wonderful job of managing them. Ever since I got my video iPod, I've come to appreciate iTunes even more and I've digitized the better songs from my CD collection to sync with the iPod to listen to when my wife is in the car with me. Now, if a better iPod sync/media utility comes along, I'll happily try it out. For now, I'm content with iTunes.

Linux is a fine platform, but I have written it off for the time being. The software that I use and have come to depend on runs on Windows, and finding replacements or figuring out a new workflow just takes too much time on the two other platforms. Actually, I would love to play with Mac OS X more, but the hard drive on my iBook apparently crashed, and I don't have the time to take the thing apart again, swap the hard drive into a PC laptop, and use a Windows XP disk to check the hard drive. Mac OS X Tiger doesn't ship with much in the way of hard drive utilities.

In any case, if you're into Safari, check it out for Windows. If you're not, don't sweat it. Firefox will probably remain the undisputed champ of Windows browsers (and Mac and Linux) for a while.

 

Technorati tags: Firefox, Safari, Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, Apple, iTunes, iPod, Browser

Labels: Apple, Linux, Mac OSX, Media, Microsoft Windows, Windows Mobile

CNET's Top 5 Crapware

I haven't written about computers or technology for a while, but CNET gave me the perfect opportunity for a quick entry. Recently, CNET TV had a 2 + minute show about the Top 5 Crapware products. Over the years, many terms have sprung up to differentiate between the categories of software. Freeware is self-explanatory, being software that is free. Wares or warez are pirated or cracked full versions of programs such as Microsoft Office or Adobe Photoshop. A lot of software DRM (Digital Rights Management) has been produced to stop warez. Shareware is a type of software that typically allows a trial period before requiring purchase, but encourages you to share or pass along to your friends. Many aspiring programmers get started out with shareware, in fact, Steve Pavlina says that he got his start as a shareware games developer.

Malware is software designed for malicious purposes such as computer viruses, worms, and trojans, named after the Trojan Horse of ancient Greek history or legend. Spyware is designed to spy on you and send back information about your habits or even worse, keystrokes such as login and password information.

Crapware is a category all to itself. I'm sure that somebody has cooked up a wonderful and eloquent definition for crapware, but put simply, crapware is software that is utter crap and chances are you never asked for it in the first place. This includes unwanted browser toolbars and media players that just seem to show up. Some programs try to install trials of partner's products. Have you ever installed Intuit's Quicken and found shortcuts all over your desktop for things like Quicken Brokerage, Mastercard, and America Offline? Crapware is not limited to unwanted partner software. Some full version applications by supposedly reputable vendors can fall into this category. I actually consider Symantec's Norton Internet Security to be complete and total crapware. It bogs down my system, loses my email, blocks programs that I want to access the internet from accessing the internet, can't do the simplest process like update itself without constantly flashing a window on my taskbar to tell me what file it's updating, and it starts reminding you that you have to pay for a renewal way too early. I can't stand it. I also place McAfee's Internet Security in the crapware category after my last experience with their product. To be fair, it was the version that Comcast provides for free to subscribers, but it was an utter nightmare. It shut down my ability to share files across my home network, my Macs wouldn't even show up on it's network map because they didn't have McAfee installed (and no version was available to install), and I finally uninstalled the darn thing and decided I'd rather run unprotected than completely hindered in my normal activities. I spent 2 days searching for help. McAfee's website was actually more useless than Microsoft's (if that's possible) for finding answers, and even though I had every setting set properly I still could not connect from one computer to the other across my home network or Hamachi.

CNET's brief video deals with the crapware that computer vendors install on brand new computers. Except for laptops, I've always built my own systems, which cuts down on this dramatically. My sister in law lived with some stupid jukebox program that Dell installed on her laptop asking her to buy a music subscription every time she tried to play one of her own songs, until she finally shared that detail with me and I set iTunes to her default player and uninstalled the crappy jukebox software.

If you've ever bought a new computer that made you feel like you were living in a commercial after you booted it up, then kick back with a cold drink and watch this video. If you're thinking about building your own computer, let this inspire you while you wait for me to produce a series of blog posts on building your own computer. It'll be a while though; I'm still putting most of my time into famiy, church, and and finishing my IT degree.

CNET TV's Top 5 Crapware

 

Technorati tags: Crapware, software, computer vendors, Dell, HP, Compaq

Labels: Apple, DRM, Media, Microsoft Windows, Security, Software

Using Thunderbird for University of Phoenix Newsgroups

Thanks to the folks at My Blog Log, I now have access to some very basic statistics about my blog. I can see the last ten searches or links that led visitors to my blog. I noticed that yesterday, somebody was searching for some keywords involving Thunderbird and the University of Phoenix's newsgroups. I have some experience with this, so I thought I would write a brief post with advice.

I am no fan of Microsoft's Outlook Express. I do use Outlook as my mail client, not so much because it's the best out there, but because it is the best integrated PIM (Personal Information Manager) that will interface with my Pocket PC. Outlook Express was originally (as I recall) delivered under Windows 98 as a built-in mail client. At the time, I preferred Netscape's mail client, which I used heavily for many years.

The University of Phoenix requires students to use Outlook Express, which is about the only product they officially support. Their tech support will also support Mozilla's Thunderbird. Because I don't like a lot of the UI and operation of Outlook Express, I have tried many other options, but I always end up back at Outlook Express. OE doesn't do a good job, but it does what I want slightly better. I don't like the fact that every time Outlook Express runs, it has to call up Windows Messenger no matter how hard I try to uninstall or disable that useless program. Microsoft may run a monopoly on operating systems and office suites, but they have a long way to go to write a decent IM client.

I have configured Thunderbird 1.5 for the University of Phoenix's newsgroups on Windows, Mac, and Linux systems. That is the biggest advantage to Thunderbird; cross-platform capability. That's one of the things I love about Firefox as well. With Del.icio.us bookmarks and Google Notebook, I can work as effectively on any computer I happen to use. When I found that Thunderbird 2.0 is out, I decided to try it as well.

Two of the biggest problems that I have with Thunderbird involve my own workflow habits. Outlook Express allows the user to not have any message marked as read until the user is done with the message. I haven't found a way to do this with Thunderbird, but I have found a decent workaround: I set the "Mark message as read after..." timeout to 10,000 seconds. This is an idiosyncrasy that I picked up from the influence of David Allen's Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology, although it is not exactly orthodox GTD because I don't always act on the message the first time I read it. I don't mark a message as read in email or my UOP newsgroups until any action associated with that message is completed, whether that action is read, respond, or follow up on a comment or link contained in that message. If a message is marked as not read, that is my visual cue to do something with the message. This way, if the instructor asks a question deep in a thread or a student makes a post I want to follow up on, I can find it again because that is the message I haven't marked as read. This morning I discovered another work around that was holding me back from Thunderbird: marking a message as read. In Outlook Express, you can right-click and select, "Mark as read" or press the k key. You can also hit the context menu key (right of the space bar between Alt and CTRL) and k. In Thunderbird, the context menu requires the user to go to one level deeper in the menu, as in Mark -> As Read. I just discovered this morning that pressing the m key with a message highlighted will mark the message as read.

Another nag I have with Thunderbird is that I constantly get a pop-up alert saying "An NNTP (News) error occurred: No Permission". It gets to be a pain, and I don't get this with Outlook Express. I have no idea how to overcome this error. I've tried changing my time-out, but that doesn't seem to help.

I also tried Windows Live Messenger Desktop Beta, which seems to be the replacement for Outlook Express on Windows XP. I found it to be too unstable for use. I liked the UI, however, and when the finished product is released I may use it. Windows Mail, which is included in Windows Vista, did a great job with my UOP newsgroups as well. I would recommend it for you Vista users. I have no idea if UOP supports Windows Mail yet. I don't think they support Internet Explorer 7 either. As I wrote in a previous entry, the UOP seriously needs to  be brought into the 21st Century.

Thunderbird configures easily enough. I found it much easier to configure T-bird than to manually configure Outlook Express. UOP does offer an automatic newsgroup configuration script in their online classroom, but that script will only work in Internet Exploder 6. Once I upgraded to IE7 beta 2, I had to learn how to manually set up my newsgroups. If you already have Outlook Express set up, Thunderbird will automatically detect and import your IMAP email account from UOP.

Assuming that you have to configure Thunderbird for UOP access yourself, here is a brief procedure:

1. 1. Open Tools =>; Account Settings
2. 2. Name your account anything you wish. Put in your name and UOP email addresses in the appropriate fields.
3. 3. Click Server Settings. Enter the server name as emailxx.phoenix.edu, xx being whatever server you happen to be on. Enter your username in this format: ols\username.
4. 4. Select Add Account. This will be a newsgroup account. Fill in the requested information.
5. 5. Under Server Settings, make sure that SSL is enabled and the server is set to port 563.
6. 6. Outgoing server should be emailout.phoenix.edu, port 465.

When connecting, enter your ols\username and password, tell Thunderbird to remember, and go to town. Thunderbird 1.5 never seemed to remember my username and password, but it looks like Thunderbird 2.0 will, so I may be using this from now on.

Now to get newsgroups, click on File => Subscribe. Select whatever you named your UOP Newsgroup account from the drop down menu (mine is named Flexnet). Under "Show items that contain:", enter a search term for your class or program. I typically search under XBIT, which gives me the newsgroups for my program.

I wrote the subscribe procedure after several nights of my youngest not sleeping, so if it needs to be overhauled or clarified feel free to leave me constructive comments and I will revise it accordingly to make it easier for others to follow.

This procedure should work the same on Linux and Mac OS X.

Labels: Email, Linux, Mac OSX, Microsoft Windows, U of Phoenix

Why Can't We Disable the Alt Key?

I would like to share a frustration with the rest of you. Why can't we disable the Alt key while we're typing? I am getting so fed up with the stupid thing that I would like to rip it out of the keyboard. I just spent a half hour composing a blog entry, and in one second with a fat finger to the ****ing Alt key combined with an unfortunate tap on whatever key I was using, my browser window shut losing my half hour of work. Note, when Firefox brings up the dialog asking you if you want to close all of your tabs, hitting "cancel" does not work! I lost the whole thing.

Labels: Hardware

Norton Strikes Again

I got a call from a friend of mine yesterday with a tech support question. He had last used his laptop on a wireless network while traveling, but once he got home and tried plugging it back into his router, he couldn't get anywhere with Internet Exploder. He said the laptop was connected but IE would not connect to anything. He had already called HP and was told it might be a driver problem. It's too bad tech support desks don't hire people with real experience to offer tech support. Of course, how many of us with real experience could stand to do that kind of work for that kind of pay?

I walked him through some of the basics (does the network icon in the system tray have an x on it? etc). Then the answer came to me. I asked him if he was running Norton Internet Security. He said yes. I told him to right click on the Norton IS icon in the taskbar and select "Close" or "Exit". He did. Wouldn't you know that suddenly IE could connect to websites?

I'm not sure of the technical issues behind it. I can pretty much sum this up with "Norton sucks". I can't say I've ever had pleasant experiences with Norton's security products. Several years ago, I was given a copy of Norton Internet Security 2003. The first thing I noticed is that it sucked more than half of my computer's performance capability away in the resources it consumed. I ran it for a couple of weeks before I got home from work to a message that Norton AV had crashed and needed to be reinstalled. I reinstalled the product. Then I started getting messages from Norton Anti-Spam that some emails had been deleted. Funny, this was about the time that my mom started calling me to ask when I hadn't replied to a question she asked. Then Norton IS crashed again and had to be reinstalled. I used the products for a while because don't you know how insecure Windows is? I got tired of emails being deleted with no chance of retrieving them, and I got tired of reinstalling both applications every 3 weeks. I finally shelved the product.

My laptop that I got last Christmas came with Norton Internet Security and a 90 day subscription to Norton Anti-Virus. This time it was the 2005 version. I didn't bother with Norton Anti-Spam for long. I don't think anti-spam programs are very effective and you can read my strategy for dealing with spam here: http://emuelle1.blogspot.com/2006/06/how-i-deal-with-spam.html.  I found Norton Internet Security to be about as painful to use as always. I had one program I liked to use that for some reason I could not get Norton to allow. Any time I tried to manually input this program into Norton's allow menu, Norton locked up and I had to force my laptop to shut down and then reboot in order to recover. Whenever I wanted to run this program, I had to manually shut Norton down. When my subscription for Norton AV ran out, I happily uninstalled the suite.

Norton lately is bitching and complaining that Microsoft won't make it easy for users to switch their security center over to Norton's. I see this as a good thing. With the pains that I've been through with Norton's 2003 and 2005 suites, trust me, you're better off with the built in security center in Windows Vista. At least Windows won't suddenly start blocking Internet Exploder for no apparent reason.

If you suddenly find a your web browser not connecting, but Windows says there is a network connection, and you have Norton installed, try shutting down Norton. Then uninstall it.

Labels: Security, Software, Spam

Need A Free Download Manager?

I've never really cared for download managers before. They always seem to get in the way, they want to start at startup, and it always seemed like too much of a hassle to configure them. It was always easier for me to pick the download destination individually and use the download manager that is included in whatever browser I happen to be using at the time.

Several months ago, I was trying to download something at work. Maybe it was a Virtual Machine of one Linux distribution or another. I honestly don't remember. All I know is that I remember it being important to me at the time, and the download kept timing out. I was starting to grow frustrated, so I decided to get a download manager. I did a web search for "Free Download Manager", and wouldn't you know it, I found one by name.

Free Download Manager has been useful to me. It wants to stay in my startup menu, but doesn't seem to suck up many resources at all. It supports multiple downloads as well as pause and resume, and it will resume a download that has timed out, which has proven valuable.

This afternoon, I finally broke down and decided to get the Windows Mobile 2005 upgrade for my HP iPaq 4700 Pocket PC. (This must be purchased and can be delivered either in a download or mailed on a CD-ROM). The download made it up to 53% but didn't seem to want to go any farther in Firefox. I decided to put Free Download Manager on my laptop and it was able to successfully download all 331 Megs of the WM 2005 installation file at once.

Of course, by the time I went through this, I ran out of time to try to do the actual upgrade, so I will have to try tomorrow.

Labels: Software

The World's Most Useful Program

If I were in a position to give away an award for the most useful program, it would have to go to the creators of SpyBot Search and Destroy. The program I'm talking about is not even a program that you can download separately as far as I know, but it has long since become one of my favorites and a system essential. It is now one of the first programs I want to install when I sit down on a system.

I've always found it to be very annoying when a programmer decides that he or she knows better than you about how a program should run. One of the most annoying things about the Windows platform (I have no idea if Mac and Linux have this problem) is how many programs automatically install in your system tray, often without your consent. iTunes installs a service called iPod Service. I don't even have an iPod! What good does this do me? Real Player likes to install in your system tray, as does Quicktime and Weather Bug. What is even worse about this is that no matter how many times you run msconfig to take these programs out of your startup, the next time the program runs, it's back in there. Part of the program's initialization routine is to reinstall itself in startup, which means that you have to go back in and take it out.

Weatherbug is the worst. It's a very useful program, but it really bogs down my system when it starts up. But every time I run it to check the doppler radar, it's back in my startup. Sometimes you can work around this by using alternatives. Real Player, for instance, can be replaced with Real Alternative, which is all the fun without the bloat. When I took programming classes, I was taught to document heavily and to keep my code lean and mean. Apparently, this mentality hasn't permeated companies such as Microsoft and Real Networks, who insist on making their programs more bloated with each update.

Back to the topic: annoying and arrogant programs that won't stay out of your startup menu. The best way I have found to stop this is to download Spybot Search and Destroy. During the setup, you'll be given a screen asking you what services you'd like, ie. desktop icon, quickstart icon, etc. At the very bottom is the option to run a program called Tea Timer. This is pricelessware! This program's worth cannot be measured by our understanding of money. What Tea Timer does is sit in your system tray (this is the ONLY program that should belong there) and watches for any attempts to modify your registry or startup. Anytime a program attempts to do this, you'll get a pop-up window telling you what process is trying to do what. You can permit or deny. This way, when you watch a Quicktime file, you get a pop-up asking if it's OK for Quicktime to change your startup. You can tell it "NO!" The same goes for Weather Bug.

This program is most likely meant to watch for spyware, but I have found this to be a highly useful function of the program.

Of course, it can get annoying. Every time you install a program, even legitimate ones, you'll get all kinds of notifications about changes to your registry. You just have to read carefully, but to me this is worth it.

Labels: Security, Software

Getting Back On Track After Office 07

I said yesterday that I would probably have to reformat to repair the system damage that Office 2007 caused me. I was partially right. Before I continue, I don't fault Microsoft that much. It was a beta and you can expect to use a beta at your own risk. And of course most of us are familiar with Microsoft products that seem to be betas after their release date (Win95, Win ME, etc). I do appreciate them making Office and Vista available in public betas. It is smart. They give you approximately 7 or 8 months to get used to and learn to depend on their new software, then they release happens and you either have to pay for it or go back to the way things were. I think it's a brilliant strategy. I just don't see myself playing along.

Before I put the Office beta on, I did create a system restore point. I tried to return to it, but it was no good. This morning, I got the idea to try the system restore point before the pre-Office point. This time it actually worked. Office 2003 still won't run, but at least 07 isn't in my add/remove programs list and I can launch programs without the Office 2007 installer popping up. I've never understood what that was about, except that Office 2007 does include search functions and some partially uninstalled service was probably looking for the program it needed to monitor the program I was bringing up. At least my system is more or less back to normal. In the interim, rather than using Outlook I have gotten used to using gmail directly for my email. I do like it. If only Google calendar would sync with a Pocket PC, I really wouldn't need Outlook for anything.

Labels: Software

Using OpenOffice.org 2.02

When the Microsoft Office 2007 public beta was released, I couldn't wait to install and run it. As I reported in an earlier blog entry, Office 2007 sucked up a lot of my system's resources and rendered it very near useless. I promptly uninstalled Office 2007. The uninstall created quite a few problems for me, however. For one thing, Office 2007 still shows up in my Add/Remove programs list, but will not uninstall because "no files can be found". Office 2003 will not reinstall in a usable state because 2007 apparently has a lot of uninstalled components that were not in the Office12 folder that I deleted. I spend a couple of hours yesterday deleting office keys from my registry, yet barely made a dent in the total number of keys that Office 12 inserted.

After I originally uninstalled MS Office, I did install OpenOffice.org 2.02. I've installed and played with it in the past and found it to have a lot of potential, but I always gave up when hit with a limitation over what MS Office can do. This time, however, I was forced to use OpenOffice for a reason. I'm a student at the University of Phoenix, and I had a learning team project due for the final class session. I just finished up my second class on Java Programming. I had to create the requirements document as well as the class diagrams and incorporate them into our presentation. I used the draw feature in Writer to create the class diagram, then I used Impress for the slideshow. I found a few shortcomings, however.

• OpenOffice does not yet share very well between programs. I wasn't able to copy and paste the drawing from Writer into Impress. Only the text copied over. I ended up having to recreate the drawing in Impress.
• Tables do not copy over either. I had to copy the text into Impress and then tab it so that it looked like a table.
• Power Point allows for inserting slides from another slideshow, but I could not get Impress to do this.

However, my worries about format were for naught. My files saved into MS compatible format and were easily incorporated into the overall presentation in Power Point. Nobody could tell that I used a non-Microsoft suite to create them.

Seeing how apparently nothing short of a reformat will correct my MS Office problems, and I don't feel like reformatting my laptop now anyway, I will probably be using OpenOffice.org a lot more. I have also installed it on my work computer and have used it for a few light tasks, however, for official work I still use Microsoft Office.

Labels: Software

Outlook Rant

I think I have established that I use Outlook a lot, and I have been using it steadily for several years. I began using Outlook probably with Office 2000, though I may have been using it for email with the 97 version. I had always preferred the built-in email client that came with Netscape's classic web browser up through version 4.0. I think Netscape finished with 4.9 before selling out to AOL which did nothing to really improve the browser. I was using 6.0 for a while, and I think I might have downloaded 7.0, but by then I had given up. I had a computer at work with Outlook on it, so I started using Outlook at home to keep standardized. Later on when I quit buying refills for my Franklin Planner, I went looking for ways to adapt the Franklin method to Outlook.

In all this time of using Outlook, I really can't believe how little the functionality of the program has actually been improved. Outlook 2003 added some pretty colors and the ability to flag a message, but I still maintain that none of the developers use Outlook and they don't realize how frustrating it is to have already bought it and then you need to spend even more money on add-ins to make it useful for anything more than an email client and a very basic task and calendar display.

I want to rant on some email features or lack thereof. First off is the lack of a real security mindset. Outlook either ignores security or takes it to extreme levels. This morning I was reminded of how stupid this is. I got an email newsletter with links in it. When I went to click on a link, Outlook told me that links had been disabled and I have to click the Information Bar to turn them on. When I click the information bar, I get three options, one of which says "Turn links on (not recommended)". Excuse me, BUT THIS SENDER IS ALREADY IN MY SAFE SENDERS LIST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't understand how it can make sense to Microsoft to add a sender to a safe sender's list and still disable links until you manually enable them. What is the point to having a safe sender's list? I may explain my method for dealing with spam in another post, I won't take the time here.

Also, for some reason, some of my emails have the message that says "to protect your privacy, some images have been turned off" and you have to click the info bar to show the images. Perhaps I should google this one, because I don't know what the point is when again, the sender has already been placed in my safe sender's list.

This isn't part of Office per se, but annoying nonetheless. When a program wants attention, the window will flash. We all know that. But why can't programmers set up a routine so that if you acknowledge the program once, it will leave you alone for a few minutes? Norton is the worst. Anything Norton does constantly notifies me that Norton is doing something, so that anything else I try to do becomes painful. Any window I'm in keeps flashing to inactive and the Norton window flashes my taskbar. Since I keep my taskbar hidden, this always seems to happen when I need to do something at the bottom of the page and the taskbar keeps hiding it.

I guess we'll have to live with it until either I learn to program or somebody else comes up with something better. Speaking of which, I remember back in 1998 or 1999 when I was on the Bash Microsoft bandwagon. Sun seemed to be leading the chorus, along with Oracle and everybody else. We all spoke of how shoddy Windows 95 and 98 were and how Microsoft is keeping down everybody else.

Suddenly, I woke up and realized that nobody has come close to doing what Microsoft has done. Nobody was producing a comparable product. I stopped complaining at that point.

Labels: Email, Security