tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39779715146894573202011-11-27T18:54:09.763-07:00A blog on what I see happening.Yertnoreply@blogger.comBlogger811100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-55825717880066153792010-07-04T10:07:00.001-07:002010-07-04T10:07:11.525-07:00

As pointed out in this link, YouTube got hit with a bit of an elaborate scripting attack via its comments. And while programmers can be very creative in parsing comments and other user entered text fields, I feel that it is a waste of programmer time. HTML5 is still a work in progress right? I know this might not be the best place for it, but I have a suggestion I think just might work to fix

Yertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-90182698318009574822010-06-08T07:31:00.001-07:002010-06-08T07:31:42.172-07:00

Zed A. Shaw wrote an article called “There Are No Famous Programmers” recently (as far as I can tell). There Are No Famous Programmers Really now? Because I know a handful or three. Steven Wozniac, Bill Gates, Dave Cutler, John Carmack, Grace Hopper, Paul Allen, Tim Berners-Lee, Anders Hejlsberg, Miguel de Icaza, Linus Torvalds, and Ada Lovelace, just to name a few. It's even gone

Yertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-48346108566310171282010-02-19T01:33:00.001-07:002010-02-19T01:33:23.335-07:00

So I heard that you will be able to set tiles with websites, from tech journalist Paul Thurrott. If I am mistaken, and this is not a feature, it is now. Get developing. Since I am unaware of what the current state of development is on this function, I would like to give some input on this feature. It is not nearly enough to put a link as a tile. Information has to be given, but in a way that

Yertnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-2929591732109570802009-12-03T10:20:00.001-07:002009-12-03T10:20:12.911-07:00

In today’s age of endless information, my biggest gripe is that we don’t have enough information being beamed to us at all times. Or rather, useful information; because, unlike some information has no impact on my life (usually something regarding some movie star). I do care about things that do impact me, be it the the personal contacts in my life, or information regarding the products and

Yertnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-71620577544382854862009-07-06T16:45:00.001-07:002009-07-06T16:45:45.031-07:00

So apparently between my current lack of a reply (I’ve been busy) and my comments on Long Zheng’s blog and either the commenter on the last post I made involving this in which I was mistaken, or the commenter's blog itself, People have been reading stuff… and not just any people, market research people: sri-uk@live.com says (10:07 AM): Hello again, Yert, I just wanted to reach out again

Yertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-2064210614750590112009-07-02T11:50:00.001-07:002009-07-03T04:07:02.000-07:00

Got this message this morning from the live.com domain (good indicator it is fake, for one, the person could have used an email from the Strickman Ripps domain). Strickman-ripps, inc. says (9:56 AM): Hi Yert...I work for strickman-ripps, a market research company in NYC and found a comment of yours on the microsoft blog.  I have a letter to send to you with details about participating

Yertnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-58886339552675717432009-04-22T17:22:00.005-07:002009-04-22T20:09:45.079-07:00

About a week ago I read this trite. I thought about writing about it, but in my busy rush I didn't. Now I see the error of my ways now that people are talking about a segment that used the data that was on CNBC even though just about nobody bothered to even respond to the original set of lies.Of course, I love picking apart easy pickings, so I'll jump right in.Yes, $699 beats the $2,800 you'd pay

Yertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-57858811965026713582009-02-01T00:20:00.001-07:002009-02-01T00:20:19.842-07:00

Netbooks pose an interesting pricing problem for any corporation trying to sell an operating system for them that also runs on other stuff and doesn’t want to just give the thing away. You see, netbooks have low costs, and thus, for any OEM that doesn’t make the software to run on it itself, bad margins for traditionally priced operating systems. Cutting the price for Windows 7 just for

Yertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-61578226425064078942009-01-17T18:15:00.001-07:002009-01-17T18:15:49.538-07:00

The EU has found that Microsoft needs to unlink IE from Windows. Microsoft has eight weeks to comply or get a hearing, or it will face more fines. This supposedly stems from a complaint from Opera, but with the bad economic situation, and the lack of direction where EU monopoly fines go, it is hard to not think that the EU is just using Microsoft as its personal ATM, and Opera as its excuse.

Yertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-11561479124687351592009-01-16T19:04:00.001-07:002009-01-16T19:04:56.882-07:00

So I haven’t posted in a long time, and I really would like to get back to my blog, even if I am busy as a bee. Opening up the software, it looks different, as I updated to Wave 3 come the CES announcement. Still, this discouraging sight caught my eye. I have no drafts. Still, I must push on, and I have a few ideas even if I haven’t written anything down into Writer. One that I need to

Yertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-8231378711895218052008-12-26T20:18:00.001-07:002008-12-26T20:18:46.244-07:00

Okay, I know this is really obvious to anyone that has ordered Domino's Pizza online, but I haven't ordered pizza in a while, and it amused me. So yeah, the pizza thing estimated like forty minutes for delivery.   It is really amazing how the fast food industry is, well, fast. Almost missed this very short step of boxing the things. And the guy got here within five-ten minutes

Yertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-39599779104155786022008-12-15T22:53:00.001-07:002008-12-15T22:53:54.025-07:00

Last time Microsoft was unsuccessful with it's OEM model that it prefers, it ditched it. That was the Zune. Before the Zune hit, there were rumors. Lots and lots of rumors. Of course, to the audioplayer makers, who used Play Anywhere, it should have been a warning. A warning to shape up or else. And now the rumors struck again. But this time, it was on the mobile phone front. Windows Mobile

Yertnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-47614659635211737092008-12-15T20:42:00.001-07:002008-12-15T20:42:38.844-07:00

Many different articles, starting with the Wall Street Journal have mentioned Google's recent actions against network neutrality. Of course, typical Google fashion, it sounds nice, but it still breaks network neutrality. Paul Thurrott tells it nicely: Google notes that its collocation agreements with network providers are not exclusive, so these companies could strike similar deals with

Yertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-68063824273861503532008-12-06T14:22:00.001-07:002008-12-06T14:22:35.560-07:00

Idea 1: Microsoft claims that TCO of Windows is cheaper then Linux. I'm basing this one off of Paul Thurrott's article here, which is about Microsoft claiming the same thing it keeps claiming. But what really caught my attention was a claim made in the comments (then fought over in typical flame war fashion) that Microsoft has cheaper support (Software Assurance $800 vs. $3,000 for RedHat

Yertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-29240134160317369522008-11-02T00:48:00.001-07:002008-11-02T00:48:32.125-07:00

Today YouTube got Google's autotranslate for caption tracks. I've been planning for a while to do a post on all the new features YouTube has been getting, but as always, I'm very busy. Still, since YouTube got a new feature today, why not write about it? You can now use autotranslate caption tracks in YouTube videos to another language. This makes watching videos from foreign countries

Yertnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-21968583291540922962008-11-01T15:21:00.001-07:002008-11-01T15:21:54.851-07:00

Okay, when I saw it in the first place, I was reminded of the dock (but better), but I wasn't going to write about it until my complete write-up of the day's the rest of PDC. (Been very busy, and I've had to put out more day to day coverage in favor of my view; hey, I wasn't there in person, so who is really watching?)  Then I got into a conversation with quikboy about the Recycle Bin being

Yertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-44260890168933762012008-10-27T20:02:00.001-07:002008-10-31T22:30:48.993-07:00

I've not much to say, as for one, I'm not physically there, but I will sum up the summed up news, and, of course, give an embedded for the Keynote video Ray Ozzie did. The embedded bit works much better now that Silverlight 2 is out mind you; for one it actually works with Firefox now (as opposed to the beta). So here it is, and below that, my summery and comments.

Yertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-88802772016958214682008-10-24T21:13:00.001-07:002008-10-24T21:16:24.730-07:00

Microsoft made another programing language for beginners and it is called "Small Basic" (not to be confused with "SmallBASIC").      Despite already having a language for beginners, and a guide for C# for Sharp Kids, among other incentives and products to get people to program Microsoft up some third party apps and support (Developers, Developers, Developers)

Yertnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-22311305299525907872008-10-20T19:58:00.001-07:002008-10-20T19:58:44.380-07:00

Silverlight 2 recently came out. Biggest improvement over the Beta? It works with Firefox. - Then there is Mono 2.0; the .NET companion to non-Windows users everywhere. If you aren't using Windows, support Microsoft's allowing this to be possible, and further, the hard work of the devs at Novell. The only sad news to Mono 2.0 is a sad joke they could have used for the naming of either

Yertnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-54585044420749371412008-10-10T17:37:00.001-07:002008-10-10T17:37:41.258-07:00

With a bit of discussion of UAC on e7, interest in UAC has moved up a little bit again. I have to say I like the comments for the most part from the post; a good deal of people like UAC, or if they do not like it, they understand and use it (this is far different from those who do not understand it, and turn it off). That isn't to say someone can dislike the current state of it, but understand

Yertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-40864000539216239662008-09-25T22:52:00.001-07:002008-09-25T22:52:12.927-07:00

Change the world! Give us an idea! We'll fund it, you'll probably never see a dime, but help the world! Google has a nifty project that calls for ideas. The thing is, I site on a ton of ideas at any given point of time, that I am in no position (currently) to implement (and hopefully become fabulously wealthy from, in addition to improving the world with). Most of these ideas won't help 10^

Yertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-71618986128456573572008-09-24T18:16:00.001-07:002008-09-24T18:16:51.136-07:00

Another contest from out on the Internets. Free hardware. Video explanation below. 5576/7500 Geeks as of time of writing. Join quickly.

Yertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-23970863670399551862008-09-22T21:07:00.001-07:002008-09-22T21:07:20.435-07:00

So in case nobody noticed, I took the time to change some colors and introduce the logo. This is not the finished layout, and not near it, as I want to do major revamping (i.e. to a hand crafted template of my own design), but I need some feedback on the colors I have right now. Also, the logo. I have a decent drawing of it including a vector, but it isn't perfect from the descriptors (the

Yertnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-17791177415167330922008-09-21T12:08:00.001-07:002008-09-21T12:08:38.140-07:00

Just read another article about Chrome, and I kept thinking, "All these features are available in other browsers." So much so I'm making a list and checking it twice, as per the first seven from the article: It won’t crash. IE8 has this feature. It’s really fast. This one is the only one that gets anywhere with unique due to V8 being under the hood. Still, it gets wiped out by

Yertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-46066533907389389972008-09-19T22:56:00.001-07:002008-09-19T22:56:49.976-07:00

Google has been expanding a bit lately. Android. Chrome. Gears. A few products with a lot of hype. They could all crash and burn and Google could still get the return of investment on the projects. Why? I'll give an example. Chrome's V8 engine, arguably the most original thing about Chrome (Chrome is pretty much a bunch of great ideas placed together well, which while really cool, is

Yertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-650056479092050042008-09-12T19:44:00.001-07:002008-09-12T19:44:28.238-07:00

I've heard countless claims that Microsoft spews anti-Linux FUD. Of course, FUD is just the word for propaganda that we use on the net. And further, is even more pejorative then the word propaganda. And everyone does it. "Oh, not us, Mister!" many would proudly proclaim. I call shenanigans. Everyone does it. Need an example? Vista. My point today is that Microsoft, while it does have

Yertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-81740519453206975072008-09-05T04:17:00.001-07:002008-09-05T04:19:16.036-07:00

The first one is here. With more supposedly to come. If you aren't a big sports watcher either, and missed it at the NFL kickoff game, like me, catch it below. Not perfect, but the talk up with the explanation video and PressPass site puts things into more perspective. Still, I have to say that talking Windows up like its delicious and moist, while not a lie, does bring up some thoughts of

Yertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-4485601400221366042008-09-01T12:14:00.002-07:002009-12-03T10:22:41.258-07:00

Standard excuse for why this one is late. Nice introduction. Blah, blah, blah. Okay, so I'll assume everyone already knows what Photosynth is or can take a look at a link. I have a few suggestions to the Photosynth team, and my standard anyone-can-use-this-free bit always falls on my suggestions posts. Feature Request: Pointcloud format release Imagine allowing the information from a Synth

Yertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-17463989244061988892008-08-26T19:10:00.001-07:002008-08-26T19:10:27.551-07:00

Okay, another awesome title that is very misleading, because this post is mostly speculation. Those in it for the "real" news can leave now. Those in it for what might be the best speculation ever, stay. So word on the street is Apple plans to release some major (and possibly iPod related) news come September 9th. Why is this remotely important, aside from the obvious neat new Apple product

Yertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-72975816164187480772008-08-25T17:51:00.001-07:002008-08-25T17:51:12.870-07:00

Admittedly, this is a bit of pandering to my need to get month old content off my front page, but I also feel this short, but very sweet, tip needs to be shared with all. I know I've talked about it before, but I repeat. This tip needs to be shared with all (Windows users). If you use Vista (or XP) and you love Windows Photo Gallery or Windows Mail that come with Vista, or Windows Messenger

Yertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-75492534787762567382008-08-21T09:43:00.001-07:002008-08-21T09:43:33.420-07:00

Okay, I didn't post for a while. I last posted, last month. I normally would want to cover all the stuff I had commentary on and whatnot, but I only have two points of less then current news, and some more recent stuff at the end. There was the security scare with Vista that was WAY overblown. These people (the journalists who wrote the "sky is falling" arguments) must really need something

Yertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-63491138961891183522008-07-31T03:25:00.002-07:002009-12-03T10:22:25.864-07:00

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Microsoft has an event almost every week. Especially this year, and this last month. How many conferences and events did Microsoft hit us with? I'm not sure I could count them all, but I tried. Imagine Cup 2008 Worldwide Finals July 3-8; Paris, France Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference 2008 July 7-10; Houston, Texas Pretty boring and this

Yertnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-24561060081588524952008-07-29T02:22:00.001-07:002008-07-29T02:22:52.646-07:00

Heard of Windows Mojave yet? Its not Microsoft's big marketing campaign. I see it as more of a proof of why Vista needs an ad campaign. And it does. In any case, check it out; I had to interrupt writing a post to tell you about it, so check it out posthaste, and stop eating the FUD. Windows Mojave.

Yertnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-35796076051904991892008-07-28T18:26:00.002-07:002008-07-28T22:33:26.655-07:00

I'm going to start off with two admissions. I try to avoid anything that looks remotely political on my blog. My blog is sometimes more for me then my readers; in this case, I'm pointing to something my sparse readers have probably already seen from the string of echoing social sites. Watch this pair of videos. This involves one of those rights that people assume are used only by

Yertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-88723238542614664852008-07-26T23:39:00.001-07:002008-07-26T23:39:08.694-07:00

I type "google.com" into my address bar. Something is askew. The Google home page has a new tiny little note at the bottom, exclaiming things about a dead guy:     And I'm like... who the heck is Randy Pausch, and furthermore, why should I care. But as you can see from the pictured link, I clicked it. And I watched a very witty man who knew he was going

Yertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-79919467672948615862008-07-24T20:27:00.001-07:002008-07-24T21:02:30.930-07:00

This post started its news gathering (but not writing which is happening now) a few days back when I saw a ship on open seas on Microsoft's website. I almost blogged about it, but then thought a bit, and for whatever reason, decided not to. Of course, Bott ate it up, covering it so fast, I almost wrote a post on the spot about how I meant to write a piece. That is... until I checked to

Yertnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-83913899302602228372008-07-22T19:44:00.001-07:002008-07-22T19:44:07.488-07:00

SanDisk's CEO Eli Harari blamed Vista for poor SSD performance: SSD "performance in the Vista environment falls short of what the market really needs", admitted Harari at the company's earnings conference this week. Why not? According to Harari, it's because "Vista is not optimised for Flash memory solid-state disks". Riiight. Note that earlier in the article, the link it gives for poor

Yertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-9846175170431054292008-07-17T13:27:00.001-07:002008-07-17T13:31:16.842-07:00

Or rather, giving them out. I tried this out, on a fellow blogger. Apparently Fake Steve Ballmer is really not Steve Ballmer pretending not to be Fake Steve Ballmer, at least at his email address's name level. Its not exactly stealthy, as I had to send a calendar invite, but it does work, helping spammers to know your true name, and magically control you.

Yertnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-594103356312407532008-07-16T12:16:00.001-07:002008-07-16T12:16:46.269-07:00

Ed Bott just wrote a wonderful post about his experience with OS updates. It turns out that Linux updates are almost exactly the same as Windows updates. Modern operating systems apparently have similar behavior. Also, the skill is blue. A few key points: All modern operating systems used as mainstream business and consumer platforms are “works in progress” and require frequent updates

Yertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-66042339010578517352008-07-13T18:49:00.001-07:002008-07-14T15:30:16.715-07:00

I don't really even know who this guy is, but after seeing this joke his site, I thought I'd pick it apart. I wasn't 100% certain on whether or not I should though, because the entire site seems like a spoof, so if anyone can confirm that for me, I would gladly note that. Still, since you see this, it means I've decided to dig into this guy. Okay, so the article in question is supposedly a list

Yertnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-20236750190028194172008-07-13T08:24:00.001-07:002008-07-17T13:30:34.640-07:00

When talking to those whom believe the shear amounts of crap spewed about Windows, a the same topics come up often, and that is one that Windows is supposedly high maintenance.  My answer is a flat no. Windows requires little to no thought to maintain, even if some older version require some setup. First qualm I hear is that somehow, Windows is a security mess, and that if you aren't running

Yertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-25397402877735364912008-07-08T20:42:00.001-07:002008-07-08T20:43:07.005-07:00

A few months back, I got to eat parts of the most chocolaty cake ever devised. Here is the box. Now what say you reader? Is this cake a lie? In which case, what is this thing doing down here?

Yertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-71592009232150644642008-07-08T11:09:00.001-07:002008-07-08T11:10:27.834-07:00

The ZDNet Duo, Foley and Bott recently elaborated on the fiasco a week or so ago, going more into depth with Mary-Jo Foley's reveal of her data on Midori. Of course, I will be quick to point out that Microsoft, if it ever plans to make Midori a product, isn't going to do anything overnight, and is thinking way ahead. Just like Microsoft though somewhat ahead with the building of NT. (I will

Yertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-81625887676236922132008-07-05T08:56:00.001-07:002008-07-05T08:56:07.087-07:00

Windows 7 PR Manager. Need I say more? I want this job. It would be awesome, and I would be able to blog and get paid (you, my readership, isn't clicking advertisements as much as I'd hoped, only as much as I expected; hint, nudge) for not only doing so, but for knowing what Microsoft is doing. In any case, I'm not exactly in the position to take the position... Which is why I'm moaning here

Yertnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-38612644407969106342008-07-04T22:00:00.001-07:002008-07-04T22:00:38.313-07:00

Before I start, I'm going to mention that its hard for me to call others hypocrites because it always comes to bite me in the end. Still, I love to hate the FSF, and its bearded leader, for various reasons. This bit here is to point that out. Here is a farce the guy wrote. Note the bottom, indicating where you can stick it if you want to edit it: You can copy and redistribute this article

Yertnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-54079323533332561822008-07-02T10:42:00.001-07:002008-07-05T09:00:35.455-07:00

So I read an article about more applications of the WiFi that a Zune could have (note the article got it wrong about the three plays restriction), and I've thought about it a bit. Its pretty obvious what could be done: Feature Request: Broadcast. Would share a song with all Zunes in range, allowing venues like concerts to share songs with fans. This one was an idea in the article, but I felt

Yertnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-28119463793011238772008-07-01T05:36:00.001-07:002008-07-01T05:36:10.839-07:00

Because XP was to be "killed" yesterday, there were a few attention seekers who spread the usual trite. Like this rebuild from the ground up article from Stross. I would have a ton of things to say about this sorry excuse for a news article, but as you will have it, Thurrott got there first. His analysis is head on. As it points out, MS has already rebuilt before. Of course, the fact that

Yertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-88155578377253144642008-06-27T08:22:00.001-07:002008-06-27T08:22:55.163-07:00

Okay, so I'm introducing, "Without a Clue" a part where I will occasionally rip apart another person's writing for being clueless, much like Paul Thurrott does on his site. On today's agenda I'm going to take a crack at this PCWorld article. 1. Stop trying to be everything to everybody. The core OS/Office software trite is a reoccurring argument. Note that while Microsoft is first and

Yertnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-20905465443200617652008-06-26T09:36:00.002-07:002008-07-23T23:45:17.938-07:00

so there I was... reading up on a blog with Channel 10 videos, and the videos wouldn't show. They would prompt me to download Silverlight, because apparently, I don't have it. Trying to download tells me I already have it, and its a newer version to boot! (I have the latest Silverlight 2 beta installed.) So I headed over to a few other pages to check out if this was a common behavior. Other

Yertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-21081168207703895132008-06-25T06:01:00.001-07:002008-06-25T06:01:18.758-07:00

As I have said (oddly though; I have to say I wasn't completely out of the mindset from before) before, Microsoft is working to cut up the products that make up Windows, in order to avoid lawsuit, and to raise customer satisfaction. Components of Windows are being turned into Live applications, like how Outlook Express was replaced by Live Mail, or how Movie Maker is going to soon be replaced

Yertnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-25334369985861413342008-06-23T20:01:00.001-07:002008-06-23T20:01:04.750-07:00

A bit of a disclaimer before I even start. First off, to me, the word bloat is a FUD word (like most of the other points in this post) that doesn't mean anything except that the user is a whiner who can't pay up for the proper hardware. Second, Apple controls the hardware, (so for years Macs have had large hard drives pretty much no matter what,) which is another reason that Apple doesn't have

Yertnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-81494634929158780492008-06-23T10:33:00.001-07:002008-06-25T03:58:48.247-07:00

All too often these days all sorts of companies are advertising their asses off to convince the public that their company cares about the environment. That is a method called greenwashing, which is often used in conjunction with a small action to better the environment so that the company can say, "See! We care about the environment! Buy our product now!" Another note is that the "attempt" to

Yertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-86152534322220198652008-06-21T07:22:00.001-07:002008-06-21T07:22:36.686-07:00

So one of my goals with this blog is to be able to get some sort of compensation for doing it. I had some free time today, so I finally checked out Google's AdSense bits. It had a long line of legalese, and was generally useless, but I signed up, reading through sheets of crap. All this because Google is supposedly the easy guy to use, and so far, it would seem so, because in two days, I am set

Yertnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-35544563689041781362008-06-21T00:04:00.001-07:002008-06-21T00:04:15.999-07:00

Back in early 2007, Microsoft released Windows Vista, and with it, a $500 million dollar ad campaign to launch it. The ad campaign, much like most of Microsoft's advertising, was a flop. Not only was it a flop, but Apple, and others had been preparing, and shooting at Microsoft's position for a few years at that point. And with the new Microsoft OS, they were in perfect position to hit hard.

Yertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-42395423500506345292008-06-20T03:52:00.001-07:002008-06-20T03:52:02.244-07:00

Today I was looking around for a way to some integration of Live Writer, and I found the Live Toolbar to have it and other Live services wonderfully integrated into the browsing experience (I thought about the IE8 beta as well, I might check that out later). But of course, it has the search toolbar in it. Furthermore, there is no way to remove it. IE7 already has a search box, which I had to

Yertnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-54563949552762973212008-06-19T19:20:00.001-07:002008-06-19T19:20:09.650-07:00

Today I got the opportunity to talk with the MCE guys in their monthly "Expert Chat" thing. I asked a few questions, but the likelihood of getting serious answers was really low, and it seemed more like a troubleshooting exercise. Still, this was one of my few chances to get something resembling an interview, so I asked a few questions. mikefos_msft (Moderator): Welcome to today’s live Windows

Yertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-52426537410760031782008-06-18T15:58:00.001-07:002008-06-18T15:59:45.259-07:00

Gotta love Google at times. I was doing a search, trying to identify a file I downloaded to my computer, to determine if its safe. So naturally, I type out "what is this file" which brings up a result. I check it. It identifies the file. But the story doesn't stop there. I've already become set on getting this file scanned you see. And I don't have an antivirus installed (no need; There are

Yertnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-24824480407966836652008-06-18T10:59:00.001-07:002008-06-19T19:23:00.550-07:00

I've decided too test out Windows Live Writer. This is my first post with it. I've a few reasons to do so, which I'll explain below. 1. Testing out more Windows Live Services, especially now that I have Live Mesh. 2. Google's blog writer service has a bug that causes the texts to incorrectly wrap. This is no longer acceptable. 3. The cloud is still too laggy. I'm used to Done!, not "This

Yertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-27334082098260286632008-06-05T02:36:00.000-07:002008-12-10T08:47:24.721-07:00

The following is the most xkcd-esque moment I have ever experienced, and happened a number of days ago. What happened goes as follows: In a very odd and somewhat wispy rendition of the last day of school before the summer, I was wearing a pair of flip-flops, and totting my backpack (among other things, but these two are special, because I don’t wear flip-flops to school, and high schools

Yertnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-57858343684430385952008-06-05T02:04:00.000-07:002008-06-05T02:34:10.219-07:00

My final part in this series on the Dragon Contests...slashdotreview - A bunch of questionares. Confusing, but easy to enter.Neowin - Great site that I read almost every day. Confusing rules on deadline prevented my entry. Really sad as I had a great entry.Geek and Lockergnome - Nope, didn't even bother.Planent64 had a nifty treasure hunt. A bit shallow in scope of what you had to do but fun

Yertnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-83538112245324600412008-05-25T06:11:00.000-07:002008-05-25T11:51:08.882-07:00

Because of finals and such, I've been busy, but I've been doing my best to enter these puppies. I want that lappy.I left off with Windows-Now, which I did not enter. Windows-Now, as always, has failed to provide updates after the contest posts. Just as well; their contest, while a very nice concept, lacked some targeting towards the people who would want the HDX most; users looking to migrate

Yertnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-68496777488514709332008-05-11T22:17:00.000-07:002008-05-11T23:05:39.018-07:00

I'm not gonna end up doing a post for every contest as I had hoped. I'll give the short bits however.These people are or at least seem to be very connected with each other. Apparently the blogging community is very close. In order to get what few readers I have, I had to post comments on blogs and other sites, most of which are on the list of people involved in the Dragon contests. This leads me

Yertnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-77895990078667989272008-05-04T00:04:00.000-07:002008-05-04T01:20:28.921-07:00

Yuppers. The MS-Yahoo! thing when down the tubes.I'm happy for Microsoft a bit, because for $45 billion, I think they can build up for a fight for less then this.I don't know what else to say right now; I don't think I can say much else that anyone else hasn't.Most of that would be about some great products in need of more effort (i.e. Mesh, Surface, and on), but as before, I can't say much else.

Yertnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-59541199954470911092008-05-03T23:26:00.000-07:002008-05-04T00:00:27.449-07:00

So I'm writing up my first submission for the 31 Days/Sites Dragon laptop.31 different rules, blogs, sites, days, and on. Hopefully I win one, but it does beg the question:When will this blog allow me to score free merc?But seriously...I will be posting reviews of the sites, and what I did for each starting the first deadline, with the exception of if something bad happens to me. If I do manage

Yertnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-91278113735266241612008-04-18T23:12:00.000-07:002008-04-18T23:21:35.073-07:00

So Microsoft has been distressed about some users encouraging people to buy a Upgrade Version of Windows without having a qualifing previous version of Windows, and doing an install.How do people not get this?This is not Microsoft trying to get you to steal their software or some crazy stuff like that. The ability to target itself as an upgrade target is something they have done before with MS

Yertnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-58319786121489862452008-04-17T01:03:00.000-07:002008-06-25T04:00:22.449-07:00

A common PR tactic is to look like you care for the environment; do some token work, trumpet it, and make it look like you are doing more then you are, in the name of being green. Its called Greenwashing. Comcast recently started an industry led "P2P Users' Bill of Rights" I can tell you right now that its P2P-washing. They need to clean their image. So what are they gonna do? They don't

Yertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-47843883409341260472008-04-15T20:42:00.000-07:002008-04-17T00:54:07.763-07:00

So people have whined about the many, many different versions of Vista. There is Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate.Then there are the N versions, separate 32/64 bit versions for all but Starter, and the Product Red version, among others. For the most part, Starter, N versions, the difference between 32/64 bit versions (for selling purposes, because you can

Yertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-40588980528160977592008-04-14T19:56:00.000-07:002009-10-28T12:37:15.967-07:00

A rumor about Microsoft starting retail stores is floating around. While I think its just a rumor... imagine the possibilities! So instead of telling you how much likely this is or isn’t, I'll tell you how awesome this could be: Imagine a couple shelves in the back, some displays, one an office, and one a living room/den. And to push all this are Surface tables all over. Assuming this is

Yertnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-45515459036526689082008-04-11T23:38:00.000-07:002008-04-12T00:09:41.411-07:00

I am not a big fan of the status quo. I value progress over tradition in most cases.Still, sometimes you have to shoot for compromise.Yesterday, I talked to someone I know regarding their interest in a laptop, mainly for video creation (and someone who doesn't do video editing yet, to boot!). So I gave them my two cents.I proposed she check here or there, and talked merits of different computers.

Yertnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-86873771617263546172008-04-05T10:17:00.000-07:002009-10-28T11:00:35.060-07:00

XP got a longer life on low end mobile computers, but its just until 2009 or Windows 7, whichever comes first. This is a show of MS's plans right now. They didn't get Vista as far as they'd hoped with componentization, so they have to deal with it in the UMPC market. They have a bunch of converging product lines that they are pushing towards. Vista doesn't scale down as well as it should,

Yertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-12929481981368438572008-03-21T20:02:00.000-07:002008-03-31T23:09:41.255-07:00

My last post was definitely missing something... so I was reading the news a bit... when I remembered what Iforgot! The European launch of the Zune is coming up! And I though... this would be the perfect chance for Microsoft to get a rave group using a massive campaign of epic proportions to release their hardware!The Zune is a wonderful player. It has some points I wish were better off, such as

Yertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-66059279720460790302008-03-19T22:06:00.000-07:002008-03-21T03:15:37.551-07:00

Okay, got the idea to do this post from this: Harry Potter and the Missing Ad CampaignI have to say that this here is awesome. There is a case for a great ad campaign that would spark interest in the TWO movies that will make up the final Harry Potter book. I have to say that kudos go to this Potter fan for thinking this up.Now I follow advertising alot. I think that while it is essential for

Yertnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-56861411101253366352008-03-17T23:30:00.000-07:002008-03-18T00:11:16.621-07:00

Network Neutrality is an older issue now that its been floating around for a while. But I'm bringing it up anyways, after a few comments I've seen. Namely from everybody and their brother censoring a well-known video sharing site whenever it makes them feel tingly, and a bit from a well known web figure talking about how web service should be like getting water from the tap. I pretty much agree

Yertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-64700288535137174642008-03-13T22:10:00.000-07:002008-03-16T06:00:37.358-07:00

This post will be on a very special product that I love. And I also hate.AdBlock is a thing that does the odd job of removing all of the ads from a website. All of them. You'll never see another ad again (actually you might, but its gonna be rare, or course, this is also only if your using a blocker with subscriptions, like AdBlock Plus).What does this mean?Well is means the site owners and

Yertnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-40456054873290581692008-03-13T20:55:00.000-07:002008-03-13T22:09:27.426-07:00

My post on the distribution differences of Silverlight.The Oracle mentions other competitors, but I found them irrelevant in the context I was looking for. Flash is the only competitor that even comes close.The one difference I see foremost is implementation.Flash is great in the fact that it is already widespread, a De facto standard. Its powerful enough to do its job, although I would say not

Yertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-36553006328969172732008-03-11T19:55:00.000-07:002009-10-28T11:03:16.885-07:00

So I use a lot of different browsers. I do this because of the features. Page rendering is important, but since everyone is working on it, I'll ignore it for now. So here are a few browsers, and some awesome features that make them worth while. If you know of more features or browsers you suggest, poke me with a comment. On a side note, I value knowing what is innovation, and integrating

Yertnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-41369064659735878082008-03-08T13:33:00.000-07:002008-05-05T22:32:05.275-07:00

The stages are:Denial: "I'm not gonna switch, my version of Windows has everything I need."Anger: "This version of Windows is crap. Micrsoft will go under. Everyone is switching to Linux/Macs. The Windows code base is trash, Microsoft will pull a Mac OS X, and use Unix."Bargaining: "I'll switch after SP2. / I'll skip this version of Windows."Depression: "I'm not used to this version of Windows. /

Yertnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-59656486976955143422008-02-29T20:56:00.000-07:002009-10-28T10:56:53.392-07:00

Integration is the wonderful thing that we all need.  Scoble mentioned something like this not too long ago. I believe if I remember correctly it was regarding the internet.  That is true. We do need an OpenID to "get big"... I've currently got a "Google Account", a "Yahoo! ID", and a "Microsoft Passport" amoung others.  I know that all three also support OpenID

Yertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-87295780290044189432008-02-24T14:47:00.000-07:002009-10-28T10:54:39.414-07:00

In my last post I talked about the architecture of NT. Now I will talk about its Surface... including... Microsoft Surface! No surprise on that. So where am I going with this? Microsoft has been and is working on natural interfaces. Handwriting Speech Touch Landmarks and Position These are to be fit into everything Microsoft is doing with an operating system. Everything.

Yertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-70256630339205725082008-02-23T22:47:00.001-07:002009-10-28T10:52:11.773-07:00

Microsoft has been in the news lately. They announced they wanted to buy Yahoo! on the 1st, and now the EU thing. Honestly I didn't really expect the Yahoo! thing that much (but I didn't rule it out). I did expect the EU thing. Where is Microsoft going right now? They want a few things... The phasing out the usage of older Windows APIs, not completely perhaps, but they would like to see .NET

Yertnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3977971514689457320.post-85296668063587583682008-02-21T23:10:00.001-07:002008-08-23T02:41:58.898-07:00

Okay. I've tried this before. I failed.This time I won't...Why? Because this time around I actually have something to say.A timeline to post stuff. Stuff to post. Ect.In this case I will start off by doing the most obvious speculation.Of course nobody else speculated it.But thats half the fun.This time my attempt will succede however, because this time I know my stuff.I did research. I know how

Yertnoreply@blogger.com0