Dutch log

Good Freeware software list from winAddons.com.

Well, ok, so I don’t hate Macs, but this guy does. A funny article for all you Mac haters out there. Personally I’d like to spend some quality time with a Mac learning it inside and out. My mum has a Mac and I liked using that. I bought it for her. But still don’t know enough about them. I don’t like Windows, but I use it every day at home and at work. I write software that only runs on Windows in C#, a Microsoft invented programming language.
I use Linux all the time, mostly on the server but I ran Linux as my primary desktop OS for a long long time. But in the last 12 months my system has pretty much stayed running Windows XP because there are programs I use that don’t run in Linux, eg Visual Studio Express, iTunes, etc. Also, I tend to not want to tinker with my PC so much these days. I just want to read mail, surf the web, and refill my iPod with podcasts each day.
The funny thing is that even though I’m running lots of commercial proprietary software on my PC the only things I’ve had to pay for besides games is Windows. Everything else is either free (as in Beer), or Open Source.
If I was a non-Linux using/aware person and I got a new PC (with Windows bundled in the price) there isn’t much I’d need to buy once I’d connected to the Internet. If I didn’t know about OpenOffice maybe I might mistakenly think I needed to buy Microsoft Office.
Actually when I think about it, Open Office really is exposing a soft underbelly of Microsoft. One of the massive cash cows at MS is the Office application suite. They sell truck loads of it to corporations and small businesses. 90% of which most office workers don’t use. Especially the small/medium business types. Sure some companies use it to ridiculous degrees and have entire document and workflow management systems built around exotic VBA macro nightmares. But heaps of people don’t use a fraction of what Office can do.
If OpenOffice could pull a Firefox and really get its marketing up to scratch they could put a large dent in Microsofts revenue stream. Firefox is attacking a free product in the form of Internet Explorer and winning ground. Surely the Open Source community can have an even larger impact competing with software that costs hundreds of dollars. If there was a “spread OpenOffice” campaigns like Spread FireFox and a snazzy professional “Web 2.0″ looking website like mozilla.com for OpenOffice I’m sure more people would take OpenOffice more seriously.
Ah well, enough ranting.

What makes Laptop vendors like HP choose to be so sucky at supporting graphics drivers.  I have an HP Compaq nx7010.  It is my main PC.  The one I’d like to play games on.  The only problem is that the graphics drivers are ancient.  So I’m stuck playing ancient games.  I don’t expect this Laptop to play Crysis but at least HL2: Episode One would be nice.  Sure it’ll crawl along at 800×600 but I’m ok with that.

My laptop died recently. It turns on, but fails to POST. So I replaced it with a shiny new workstation. I didn’t want to spend to much so it’s not completely wiz-bang-flash. For around $1700 AUD I got an AMD Athlon 64 3500, nVidia 7600GT, 320GB disk, nForce 4 based motherboard, ViewSonic 19″ widescreen LCD, and Windows XP Pro.
It certainly seems to power along quite nice. Games certainly look a little more slick with all the shiny nobs turned up to 11. Now I can play Half-Life 2 Episode One.
Only downer at the moment is that Ubuntu 6.06 x64 (Dapper Drake) fails to install. Seems it has “issues” with my SATA Hard Disk controller.

Apple introduces the iPhone. Wow. Best phone ever. Click the link and watch the demos if you don’t believe me. Costs a lot though at $500USD. I also wonder if it will ever get to Australia. It is a GSM phone so Vodaphone could partner with Apple to sell it here. Does Telstra or 3 Mobile use GSM?

MacNN is reporting that Jobs would offer DRM-free music in a ‘heartbeat’. And Jobs’ open letter on Apple.com seems to suggest the same. This is nice. I hope he gets to prove his word.
Maybe, just maybe, the tide is turning on DRM and we’re actually heading in the right direction away for DRM lock-in hell. Emusic sells DRM-free music, Yahoo is trying the odd song, and Amazon might be giving it a go.
Hmm. I’ll believe it when I see it.

With my iPod going the way of the Dodo I’m beginning to think maybe I should use a media player that is a little less focused on the roach motel business model.
But then I’d have to re-rip all my CDs again in MP3 (instead of iTunes’ usual AAC) format. And iTunes is actually a very good little (big) app. It’s pretty good at podcasts and managing your audio and has some nice bling. Guess I’m stuck in the roach motel.

This article talks about Second Life VR “game” client going open source. Which is cool. However the author doesn’t know much about Open Source.

Netscape the company failed because it couldn’t compete commercially with a free browser bundled with the dominate desktop OS of the time. But their gift of the Mozilla (aka Netscape Navigator & Mail) source code to the Internet community and founding of the Mozilla Foundation has produced Firefox which now enjoys a 30% “market share” by some metrics.
Linux has not failed in the market. According to ZDNet Research Windows commands 65-70% of the corporate server operating system market, while the Linux share stands at 15-20%. Currently, Linux server shipments represent the fastest-growing segment of the market. Fastest growing doesn’t sound like a failure.

Well it seems that I had a fit of idiocy and bought a Macbook. Why? I have no idea. I guess it is because my old HP laptop has officially died and I’d been lusting after a Mac for a while now. I’m suffering from a serious case of buyers remorse though as this is an extravagance I didn’t need. I’m going to have to ebay a whole swag of old junk to pay for it.
I’m liking the little white bugger though. I’ve been hunting around the net trying to find cool software to install. I’ve found some stuff I’ll probably use everyday. Adium X looks like a slick multi-protocol IM client. I’ve also installed Synergy so I can control both my PC and mac at the same time from the same keyboard and mouse. Though I think I need to either buy a second 19″ wide screen LCD or rearrange my desk some more so I don’t get so much of a kink in my neck looking at the Macbook’s screen.
Erk, VNC and Synergy don’t play nice with each other. Cursors keep disappearing. And synergy doesn’t seem to send (or the Mac doesn’t understand) the home/end page-up/page-down keys on my Logitech wireless keyboard which is a little irritating.
The other irritating thing is how friggin hot this Core 2 Duo beast gets. You could cook off it.
Ah well… more stuff to learn & play with.

Argh!  First my laptop dies, now my fricken iPod.  I’m having no luck of late.  When will the pain end?

I can’t believe how much of an Apple fan boy I’ve turned into.  I got my Mum an iBook a couple years ago and now I’m trying to convince my father to buy a MacBook or MacBook Pro instead of an HP or something similar.  I own an HP nx7010 myself.  I run Ubuntu Linux and Windows XP on it.  Why is it that I have Apple envy?  I’d certainly dig having my own Apple notebook as the hardware is pretty slick.  Though, what OS would I run on it?  Probably Ubuntu and Windows again.