Saturday, September 29, 2007
#
So I read today that Live.com upgraded it's Live Search. I live and die by the search engine when researching information so I'm always up for testing out the "other guy" on the block.
I honestly want to like Live Search. I do like the aesthetic of the search results better than Google's. That hardly matters when the search results are so often irrelevant.
I have two relevant experiences here that I wanted to discuss. First, on my Vista PC at work I gave up on Firefox and went back to Internet Explorer. I love Firefox, but for some reason it is just not fast enough. At any rate, in going back to IE, the default search was Live.com so I said, what the heck.
In my few days of using it, I found a couple of things - but there were more times than not when the results just didn't click for me and I had to new tab to Google. Google just wins. It's as though Google can read my mind and gives 80% different results on nearly every search. (on the front page - do you ever go deeper, except on complex searches?)
So I gave up on Live.com search a few months ago. Then, seeing that it upgraded last night I decided I'd give it one more try.
In a related article I saw that Performance Point Server 2007 had been released. I read a quick article on a new site about it and decided I'd do a quick search and see what I could find. I fired off to live.com search.
I ran two searches:
msdn performance point server
and
performance point server
The first was targeted to get me into some development related content over on the MSDN site. The second was to get me general product info and links hopefully to the main Microsoft sites to get me more info.
I was amazed at the disparity. Live.com really biases blogs and elevates their rankings. You know, that's fine - to get blogs into the picture because they are typically more timely - but rarely are they extremely heavy on content. I find blogs on Google but boy are they good at filtering out the non-content focused blog entries. And besides, if I really want blog links, I'd go to technorati or techmeme anyway.
Google's results for the second search are exactly what I was looking for, whereas the live.com one can't seem to figure out what I'm talking about. I don't care what bloggers have to say - when I search for an EXACT PRODUCT NAME, I'd hope to find factual focused sites on the specified topic.
One thing I may be asking for here is that maybe blog searches need to be filtered out better - on both sites. I read on Lifehacker a while back about doing a date-oriented search on Google which is really cool. But, I'd like that to be an elevated feature. Almost like a toggle on the homepage for "include blogs" and "sort by date [newest first]"
Back to the issue at hand - Live.com, despite the major upgrade, is still not getting me to the relevant content out there. Sure, it's one search. But if they don't win me to their search with one search - how are they ever going to win against Google.
Monday, July 02, 2007
#
I pre-ordered
Over the Rhine's latest masterpiece
The Trumpet Child this evening.
The cover artwork is phenomenal and reminds me what is wonderful about holding a real-life CD (or vinyl, even) in your hand while listening. In fact, I love that drawing so much I picked up the vinyl LP as well. There's nothing like the warm crackle of the record player and holding such great artwork while listening.
It may be presumptuous to offer it as a
masterpiece having only heard 4 tracks from it. I do presume it will be a masterpiece based upon Over the Rhine's proven record of making me very happy each time I hear a new album. They have a strong collection of albums under their belt to be sure.
Linford mentions exploring something new on this release, but it sounds like a gentle progression from
Drunkard's Prayer. The
Live from Nowhere collections also highlight a bit of what they are tinkering with. All in all Over the Rhine stays true to what makes them so special and is one of the few bands I enjoy enough to own nearly all their releases.
As I'm drafting this post Jacksie from
Patience which makes me reminisce with fondness of times past and friends come and gone, but not forgotten.
If you're curious what The Trumpet Child holds, you can
pick up two tracks at Shore Fire which appears to be their PR firm for this release.
Now, I have to sit and wait for Tuesday, August 21st for more!
Sunday, June 24, 2007
#
As reported by the BBC, "
Cyber attack on Pentagon e-mail"...
A hacker has managed to penetrate one of the Pentagon's e-mail systems, leading officials to take up to 1,500 accounts offline.
...
Asked if his own e-mail account was affected, Mr Gates said: "I don't do e-mail. I'm a low-tech person."
Is it just that US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has an overdose of bravado, or does it simply prove how irrelevant he is in today's world?
How does he exist as US Defense Secretary without utilizing e-mail to communicate?
It's one more symptom of an American defense establishment woefully out of touch.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
#
Mark purchased a new MPG digital video cam. Very nice, small size. Definitely not DV quality. But fun to mess with.
Here's a quick edit involving
gratuitous footage of a 15-year Lagavulin (wmv).
Sunday, March 11, 2007
#
Tonight we explored a bit more of New Orleans. We needed some baby food so we identified a Whole Foods on Esplanade just off City Park and decided we'd head that way. Not only was there a Whole Foods, but the Canal Street street-car ran right up to Carrollton Ave and we could transfer to another street-car to head over to the park and Esplanade. We knew little A would love the street-car. He is fascinated with all things train.
It was hovering around dinner time so I jumped online and did a quick Google search on local restaurants that would be relatively close to our initial stop at Whole Foods.
A little join called Lola's showed up. Frommer's had a write up and the quote was, "Please don't put this into the book..." and mentioned it was a great little local joint. It could be exactly what we were looking for, or an over-hyped tourist dive making us wish we had gone elsewhere. It was billed as a good little Spanish place with great paella and garlic shrimp. Ok.
The street-car ride was fairly uneventful except for A eating up every minute. It was apparent on our ride up that as soon as we left the city and headed into midtown that there were vestiges of Katrina's wrath. Several businesses had "Now Open" signs, but many were still boarded up or deserted.
At Carollton we hopped off and waited for the transfer. While we waited, an Explorer dressed like a contractor truck stopped at the light with bass booming, window down. Little A kicked it up spinning in circles and dancing murmuring something about "Digweed, Digweed, Digweed" - as anything dance-music related is "Digweed". All respect to the master, I hope to refine his electronic music identification so that Digweed will be reliably noticed. At this point, 1992 Two Unlimited could be mistakenly flagged as "Digweed".
Giving up on the transfer wait, we began walking down Carrollton to the park where Esplanade branches off and heads back to the river. Dusk was settling in and it was getting fairly dark as we turned down Esplanade. Two women were heading into their house when I turned to ask, "Is there a Whole Foods down here?" Google Maps told me it existed, but the women both stated, "Not anymore." I asked, "Is Lola's still there?" "Yes, next door to Terranova's".
It took a moment to hit me but we had just been talking about Terranova's because my wife had mentioned it being featured in an article on
Marketplace. It's one of a dying breed of locally owned supermarkets. It was also located in New Orleans and had
re-opened after Katrina and has been getting
great business since. When it hit me, we were both pretty excited. We enjoy running across little things like that.
Alas, they had no baby food but we picked up some essentials and then made our way to Lola's just next door.
Lola's is a small little joint filled with paintings from local artist
Corey Allen of Moss Street Gallery. Unpretentious comes to mind. Simple, straight-forward. Frommer's said there are typically lines out the door and there is usually a wait. Katrina has obviously had its effect here - and it was Wednesday night. Only two or three tables were filled upon our arrival. The waiter was friendly and very helpful. Even in such a small space, they welcomed our stroller and allowed us prop it up near our table.
Upon sitting down on the sturdy, hard-wood chairs it scraped against the cement floor and made a yelping noise exactly like that of a dog. None other than our ex-dog, Flush. Little A was instantly interested and began looking under the table for the "dog". "Bush?" (Bush as in Flush with a B) he would inquire. He was sure there was a dog under our table for the duration of the meal. Very cute. But also annoying when we could not convince him there was no dog under our table.
Service was fairly prompt, and very friendly. We ordered a bottle of sangria, and an appetizer of garlic shrimp - supposedly their specialty. Special it was and had a great taste. A plate of 3 warm pieces of bread were brought out with a home-made garlic butter that was heavenly. The garlic shrimp was very tasty - a bit spicy, very-garlic, but rich in spice. Not fishy shrimp at all.
For our main course we had salmon and lamb. Both were superb. My salmon was cooked "medium" and was super-tender, and very rich in flavor. Cooked simply in a red-pepper sauce - but very lightly dressed. A little bowl of sauce on the side had a pesto flavor and complimented the salmon very nicely.
The lamb was a stew with vegetables. Very rich, but the best lamb my wife has ever had. She said, "I've been cooking lamb all wrong."
For desert was opted for the flour-less tort. It was a solid slice of pure chocolate bliss. A piece of cake wishing it were a candy bar. It was dense like a brick of mud, but so far from a brick of mud in taste it probably ruins the analogy to relate it as such. The tort was possibly the best tort I've ever had. It was firm but tender, and not too moist. Topped with white and milk chocolate chips and a dollop of real whip cream and glazed with a raspberry/cherry type sauce. It went down fast.
The boy had migrated into pre-break-down mode so we knew it was near time to leave. He also paused thoughtfully half-way through and decided to bless us with a super-full, nasty dirty diaper. We had let him sit in it long enough and we had to get out to get him changed.
Lola's only accepts cash. So be prepared if you indulge in as much as we did. It's not overly expensive, but it adds up fast. I guess more so when you're not used to buying appetizers or alcohol when eating out. Main courses were roughly 10-20 dollars.
Visit Lola's.
After changing the boy, we headed back via a route recommended by the waiter to get us back to Canal St. faster than going back up to Carrollton. On our way we passed a film set. A neighbor to the filming stated it was for a movie called, "
College". A semi-clone of "Revenge of the Nerds". A house was decorated like a frat house and its lawn spread with tents of filming gear. We didn't see any cameras roll, or anyone worth knowing. What is most interesting is that this type of movie is actually receiving funding - from someone. Someone wants to spend their money producing this movie and making it into a visual reality. I don't have any blockbuster ideas at the moment, but I certainly could come up with something better than "College" to spend someone's million bucks on.
We got back to Canal St. and hopped on the street-car to head back downtown.
All in all a great evening and a fun time exploring another part of New Orleans.
It's definitely a city in disrepair, but life is going on. If you have an opportunity to visit and contribute to the place, you should.
Pictures by Corey Allen of Lola's:
Lola's Reopens
Almost Six at Lola's
Lola's
Lola's at Night
Thursday, February 15, 2007
#
Two CDs that have been captivating me as of late are:
John Digweed's Transitions #2 - Digweed's second compilation on Renaissance that carries the same name as his weekly radio show. Transitions highlights interesting and newcoming artists in the electronic music scene. Dare I call it progressive house, or is that genre label not in vogue this week? It's textured layers of electronic beats and glitchy tech house from around the world. Like the first one, techy, minimalistic German producers round out the stable of producers for this mix. Very enjoyable from start to finish. Nice build-up and carry-through. Personally, better than the first - but both are great stuff if you're into the master of perfect mixes. How seamless can two beats be interwoven in a flawless tryst? Let Digweed take you there.
Balance 010 - Jimmy Van M - Jimmy's first release since his seminal release on Bedrock Records in what 2001? This 3-disc journey into the deep world of electronic house borders on pure bliss. Is it sacrilege to compare this to Northern Exposure from Sasha and Digweed? This thing compares in scope. Disc 1, Downtempo, Disc 2, Midtempo, Disc 3, Uptempo. Put your Sennheisers on, turn up the volume, and wake up next week in a dreamstate. The tracklist is sublime, a collection of off-beat and "mainstream" tracks when put together make this something you'll be chewing on for some time to come. Nothing's made me feel this way since Northern Exposure II.
These two masterpieces have finally renewed my faith in music. In this world today where music permeates our every move, whether it be a download from iTunes or the RIAA knocking on your back-door. This stuff makes you feel happy to shell out the hard earned money to keep the music playing.
Saturday, November 18, 2006
#
As I mentioned in my previous post, I've been using Vista RC1 for a few weeks (months?) since it was basically released. I upgraded to Vista RTM today.
I wanted to comment on a few of "usability" issues that I faced in using the product. I am not necessarily reporting this because I believe it is a blatant "bug". I am fairly certain most of my usability experiences have been "warranted" as per the Vista experience. It doesn't mean I like them.
UAC
User Access Control is a GREAT concept. If you believe in anti-virus. I know I'm probably 0.01% of the population that does not believe in anti-virus. I am not so crazy to actually believe viruses do not exist, but I am firmly of the belief that if you use Windows intelligently, you do not need anti-virus software. This is a major, major push by the entire INDUSTRY, and I think it is disingenuous to the end-user. Well, ok, I admit as an IT Director - end-users can be entirely stupid - but you CAN use your Windows workstation in a SAFE manner.
Which leads me to tangent on my experience to the Mac store recently when I asked the Mac sales rep why I should get a Mac. He proceeded to tell me how "it just works" on the Mac, and that he doesn't have to worry about "updating four different anti-virus apps to protect my PC". Which, of course I have absolutely no understanding of because I don't believe in anti-virus. I enjoyed promptly telling him that I do not run anti-virus and he sort of paused, "hmmmm"'ed and paused and didn't have much to say.
I do not run anti-virus at home because I do not have the need. I will not explain the actual protections in place that I have, but I am NOT a stupid user (hubris? perhaps. proof: in the pudding, baby - no viruses). I religiously write back to STUPID acquaintences that send me forwards. I do not open stupid attachments. I use "SpamBayes" for Outlook 2003. I do not go philandering through my e-mail. It seems so simple, folks. The world of Symmatec, McAfee, etc. has you by the balls. Cut yourself loose and recognize that it's fear-o-nomics. Don't be a stupid user.
Enough of the tangent. Back to Vista RC1/RTM. User access control IS STILL A GOOD THING regardless of running anti-virus. It is a decent mechanism that Apple and Linux also have in place to actually run the current user in a "less than privileged account" status. It means that if some malicious code SHOULD happen to run on your computer - it won't have the full capability to squash civilization that it would if you were running it under stay, XP or Windows 95.
But UAC caused me much pain. Enough to nearly make me cry. I am currently registered as a local administrator of my machine, and there are some things I simply can't do. I haven't fully turned it off, but there are times where it absolutely annoys me. For instance, I tried to clear my DNS cache because I was testing a web app I was publishing. "ipconfig /flush dns" broke because the console/cmd.exe app was not running as a full administrator.
What was most annoying about this situation was the fact that cmd.exe did not warn me at all. It appeared as though the command executed successfully/per normal. However, it had not in the least.
My major complaint: UAC is a good thing: but it is not integrated into the OS well enough to allow applications that fail because of it to notify the user with enough information. Fix it!
That is my major gripe with UAC. I completely refuse to go into the actual alert boxes that come up with the whole UAC/security precautions. You'll get tons per/second. Total over-exaggeration - but the perception is well behind the actual numbers - you'll hate it. When UAC is enabled and you can't do stuff, and you don't have the "local security policy" setup right - you'll be notified and prompted to make a decision on every stinking "secure" option you may have. I simply disabled this as it completely blew the whole user-experience for me. I wrote to them in my feedback that this HAS GOT TO behave like it does on Apple/Subunit which I have some end user-experience with. The UAC warnings are far too many, far too often.
My suggestion: keep UAC enabled, but disable the most frequent/annoying security messages in the Local Security Policy of the machine. (I can't remember the setting, run the sepal.masc/Security Options and edit something about the Administrator UAC alerts, blah blah blah.)
Enough about UAC.
The other issues:
SEARCH
I can't say how bitter I am about WinFS being neutered to the point that we still do not have a deliverable date. I'm hoping for a gaggle of white-rabbits to pop out of someone's hat and announce it's ready. But I'm not holding my breath.
Search is certainly integrated into Vista, but it's been in XP the whole while as well. Maybe not as "user friendly", but it's been there.
Several things:
1. Search should be a "standard API" for every single application. The "search" box that shows up on Windows Explorer - that same box should be accessible from MY APP via API so that I can hook into it. (Maybe it is, I haven't explored this - but in my Vista experience it only shows up in Windows Explorer).
2. Search- come on folks - We want to search our freaking e-mail (everything) easily!!
Because Windows Desktop Search is completely neutered when you upgrade, you're not going to get the pure-sex search of Outlook like you had in your toolbar. You're going to have to click on the "Start" menu for all search functions. It just seems like an extra step. If you're IN your e-mail - you want quick access to search. Back to #1 - make it API and toolbar accessible FOR EVERY APP, EVER MADE, PERIOD.
I can search for e-mail, but then even when e-mails show up, when I double-click them - sometimes they never show up. I don't know where they've went. Is it waiting for Outlook to load? Even when Outlook is loaded - is it waiting for Outlook to handle the pass-off and load? I don't know. I want that damn e-mail to load. But, it doesn't. Stupid. (This is RC1, haven't noticed this or proven it on RTM.)
Overall, search has to be easy to access.
If I'm sitting at a blank desktop ready to work - I have to go to Start menu to search. No good. I want it on my task bar. (maybe this works? how?)
3. Network File Shares
I often open Windows Explorer and navigate directly to:
\\servername\share
or
\\servername\share\foldername
and Windows Explorer just freezes.
I essentially have to kill the application - even if I sit and wait, it never comes to.
We have a mix of "old" Windows 2000 file server AND Windows 2003 file servers - and they all work the same. There does not appear to be discrimination with one or the other - it fails/freezes equally on both.
After killing the app, the only resolution I seem to have is to renavigate to the base server and drilling down to the location I require.
4. Mobile Device Center
I am still confused: should Mobile Device Center be included in RTM, or I do I still need to download it? For some reason the upgrade from RC1 Ultimate to RTM Ultimate did not install the device center. So now I'm tempted to download it as a Beta (from the beta download release site) compared to it being installed from the RTM disk (which it does not appear to be installed.)
5. Annoyance: RC1 to RTM - Erased my QuickLaunch. You stupid git.
I consider one of the tenets of a power user is intelligent use of the QuickLaunch toolbar. Upgrading to RTM nuked my QuickLaunch. Come on folks! This totally sucks!
What icons did I have down there?
Was this icon on the left or right of this? (I typically prioritize by my own preference/frequency of use/category of tool). Now I'm left to re-construct. No. No. No. No.
What do you care about my stupid QuickLaunch in the first place!? Leave me alone!
6. Video flashes.
I have a 256 MB ATI video card on my Dell OptiPlex workstation. Enough to run Vista competently as I would expect.
RC1 screen-flashed when it would go into "Log Off", "Shutdown", etc. And especially when going from screensaver back into login mode. (Password protected login screensaver.)
RTM is generally slightly faster - but the screen blinks and flashes are still ANNOYING! FIX IT!
I actually have the photo-rotation screensaver going. When I'm ready to come back in, I hit a key - or CTRL-ALT-DEL - hoping I'll get right there - and it blinks, flashes, wheezes, thinks, flashes, blinks.
It takes forever.
Seriously, not forever. But annoying enough to drive me NUTS. I'm here. I'm ready to use my PC. I want you back. COME TO ME - NOW.
CTRL-ALT-DEL - direct to login screen.
You essentially have to hit CTRL-ALT-DEL twice.
After 5 seconds, you'll be there.
Enter your password, you're in.
I seriously know this is so nitty - gritty - but I do this about 10 times a day and it is driving me nuts.
This user-experience has to be put back onto par with XP so that I can get back into my machine QUICKLY.
I have dual-screens. With a graphic back-ground to my desktop.
I don't care.
Give me "password" prompt as soon as I hit CTRL-ALT-DEL. I'm talking 1-second, tops.
7. Copying files slowness
I'm not sure if this is tied to the whole network exploration that goes on with the thing I mentioned above. But I copied a 762 byte - yes BYTE - file between my computer and the network today. It took 3 minutes.
How does 762 bytes ever take 3 minutes in any world - Apple, Unix, Windows. Ever. I mean, come on. This is completely, totally unacceptable.
And the freaking dialog box that pops up tells you NOTHING.
WHY. WHY. WHY.
I was hoping you had refined "SAMBA" or whatever you want to call it for Windows (CIFS, SMB, etc.) in Vista. Maybe you completely need to abstract FTP/TCP/IP with this stuff and give up on the stupid SMB stuff. Come on. Too slow.
8. Window sizing - Maximizing problems
I do like the color-coding hints Vista gives when a window is maximized. For instance, if you have Outlook maximized it will be a black border/background to the window. That way you know that it is full-screen and it is retaining the focus. Instead of the Aero sexy-sort-of-transparent see-through effect for normal windows.
With the black - which is nice, you still get it where the window goes UNDER the start menu.
I run my start menu two lines. One for "running apps", the other for "quick launch".
So when I run apps full screen, I notice the bottom scroll-bar for the full-screen app (let's say Outlook) is "under" the Start Menu.
The only way to force everyone to re-assess themselves is to drag the START MENU up and back DOWN to it's original position. Then the Start Menu (which is set to on-top) a will re-freeze, and the app says, "Oh man - I'm under the Windows base OS god=like functionality! I SHALL MOVE!" - and then it pops up to be just above the start menu like you would expect.
But you have to force this.
Disclaimer: I have experienced this in RC1 regularly, but not necessarily "consistently". I am still working with RTM to determine if this still happens, I think it does.
At this point in time, these are my current opinions about the experience of Vista. It reflects mostly RC1 but also my RTM experience (today) that I had. Since not a lot of stuff changed for the end-user in RTM, most of the frustrations I experienced in RC1 still plague RTM.
My overall point is this: Vista is Microsoft's 3'rd attempt at a major desktop OS. Sure, it's out. But is it upgrade-worthy? No.
It certainly doesn't feel like they've "arrived" due to the number of "details" that have been left out in the cold.
Vista was a major undertaking, and from a development perspective they certainly addressed a lot of security and overall features in the system. That doesn't always translate into a refined user experience.
You'll have to experience it for yourself to be sure. But my recommendation is to try it free if you can. There's no reason to upgrade. Stick with XP, as ugly as it is.
It sounds as though I am not the only one "underwhelmed":
Bryant Lykes:
http://blogs.sqlxml.org/bryantlikes/archive/2006/11/17/Vista-RTM-Thoughts.aspx
Sam Gentile:
http://codebetter.com/blogs/sam.gentile/archive/2006/11/17/Vista-RTM-Installed.aspx
Friday, November 17, 2006
#
A good friend of mine owns a very beautiful 911. Here's a short video "trailer" I threw together for him. It was filmed on a Sony V1000 DV NTSC camera, edited up in Sony Vegas 6.
Porsche.Video.002
I've been running Vista RC1 for the past several months. Essentially, since RC1 was released. When RC2 was released I neglected to get at it so I made the jump directly from RC1 to RTM.
MSDN released RTM of Vista today so I took the plunge.
If you're interested in my initial synopsis: underwhelmed. There, I said it.
That said, the gritty details follow:
Vista RC1 was definitely an upgrade from XP. It has been serving me well for the past few weeks/months, but there have been a couple of line-of-business applications we run internally that have been absolutely not supported on Vista. If you're in the camp of: I run standard large-vendor apps all the time, then you may be fine. However, if you run anything that is business specific, you may definitely have some issues. In healthcare, the primary apps that run the business are fairly unique and miserably fail under Vista. That includes both our practice management software (i.e. billing/scheduling), and our EMR (patient records). Both vendors say they'll work on Vista support once RTM hits, so I sit in waiting. Fortunately, I don't use line-of-business apps as my day-to-day. In my day to day I manage a small IS shop of a decently sized healthcare practice in the U.S. We have a team of 10 including myself. The team is a mix of developer and system support, myself the only one running Vista at present.
In the meantime, I've resorted to the beta of Virtual PC 2007 to run XP to host my line-of-business applications.
Back to Vista RTM:
My first impressions of Vista were horrible. The number of UAC (User Account Control?) that limits access by all accounts - even those run as local admin's is completely unacceptable. I sent multiple feedback requests to the Vista team about this. Vista Team: Thanks for putting the link to this DIRECTLY on the desktop, and not buried deep. The visibility on the desktop made me think, "This team wants to hear this." and made me more candid about my feedback as petty as it may have been in some cases. Thanks much.
Overall, the Vista experience is good, to happy (in isolated cases). The usability of the whole OS is decent. I don't have much to compare it to other than XP, and it contains many usability improvements which I would consider "nice-to to must-have improvements". XP from the "chrome" aspect needs an update. It seems so old-skool and outdated. Vista definitely delivers on the eye-candy front.
Can it deliver on the ultimate driver of decisions: business value.
First, if you manage an IT department you're probably asking yourself how you're going to manage the transition to Vista in a strategic manner. First thing: every single user that uses Windows is going to have to have training. This is not a minor upgrade. Microsoft has done some good things with the UI that makes it more intuitive, etc. but if you want your users to actually take advantage of the Windows interface itself, they're going to need training. It's similar - but disorienting.
Now from a raw functionality standpoint: does it work? Yes. If you run XP, should you convert? No.
Why? Unless you have clear business need for an application that requires Vista, there is absolutely no need to run Vista compared to XP.
I've yet to see the "killer app" on Vista that's going to bring the world to Vista.
Of course, Vista is the necessary, much needed, much delayed, absolutely required upgrade Microsoft needed to bring XP into the new century. However, is there anything compelling that will bring the world to Vista - as far as I can tell - no.
I'm a developer originally, so I bring with myself some bias, such that I think it completely stupid that Microsoft dropped WinFS from the original Vista build. If they release it in say, 1 month and it brings world peace - I'll be proven wrong. In the meantime, Without WinFS (and the world peace-inducing advancements it was promised to bring) there are absolutely zero advanced OS capabilities this thing offers (in terms of business value-add).
The question to ask yourself: will it make employee's more productive?
Is it where the world should be headed - yes. Is it worth it? No.
Therein lies the problem. How many years has Microsoft been at work on this? How bad does it need to renew its revenue annuity stream of Windows licensee's? Much. Thus, is this driven by pure consumer advantage and value vs. the Microsoft consumer-annuity running dry? I am not sure. But beware.
I haven't seen business apps that REQUIRE Vista. Until I do, I can't make judgement. But my judgement today - this second - is that there is absolutely no requirement to upgrade to Vista from XP.
I think of it also from my "home" situation where I run XP Pro. Is it worth it to pay $150 or so to upgrade to Vista Business, or even $199 for Ultimate? Oh my heavens, no.
Here's the thing: Vista offers some niceties, but it is not worth the upgrade price for admission to the new club.
In order to keep this post to a minimum, and focus on my points I will make a new post with my opinions about usability between RC1 and RTM.
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
#
Note: This post was derived from a "brain dump" e-mailed to a friend. I began discussing my lust for Apple machinery and experience and somehow wandered around to my thoughts on how far Vista misses the mark.
Interesting blog post by a professor at U of Maryland - human-computer interaction lab... about going from Microsoft to Apple.
Very timely as I've been mulling a MacBook Pro for some time...
After reading this, I'm feeling very queasy about it. I really really want that brushed aluminum goodness.
But, the freaking low-ball prices on the fresh Core2 Duo Dell's blow my mind. I could buy something for my wife and myself and pay as much as the MacBook Pro. Absolutely sick.
I think I'm going to be a PC guy for a long time.
Here's Ben Bederson's post:
http://www.cs.umd.edu/~bederson/user-advocate/2006/09/switchback-horrors-of-windows-power.html
Vista... now that's another story. Like I said, still nothing too compelling.
I actually well up inside wanting to cry about it. I honestly wanted Microsoft to get it right. They've been "out of the game" in terms of new features for Windows for what 5-8 years?
Vista usability is "slick", but man, it is NOT worth the upgrade price.
I'd be willing to consider selling a kidney for OSX on a Dell Intel box, though.
It's too bad Apple's only a hardware company.
As I write this, and now dwell on these thoughts, another thing that piques my interest is the fact I'm lamenting about these things that ... man, a few years ago, were going to change computing. Sort of like looking forward to Windows 95, faster machines, and the Internet.
Yet, here we are with the same old, same old. When is something big and awesome going to come and sweep me off my feet? Something so fundamentally game-shifting that everyone thinks, "Why didn't I think of that?" We're still stuck on the same, old, stupid "desktop" paradigm.
I have an inkling though... it could be something similar to Ubuntu. If the Linux crowd could aggregate their powers for good and unite across distros (think: "Distros Unite!" and a couple of thousand code-wielding nerds throw their hands together for a huddle), man, think of that potential to just blow us away.
Get a couple of hardcore industrial design firms involved... compete for the UI to beat all UI's...
What is super sad is: Microsoft has honestly taken a hit, and has been hemorrhaging user acceptance (and talent) because of security. Vista will get security right, though. It will also go too far, with DRM baked into the neurons inside. DRM baked in doesn't even annoy me quite as much as the gazillion pop-ups that you have to click through to DO anything.
But as far as pure OS experience... it's just so missing. WinFS (and friends) should never have been cut from the final spec.
Stockholders (which I am one.. albeit, to a very small degree) are one thing, but I honestly would give Microsoft the benefit of the doubt if they were still feeling ambitious enough to throw WinFS (and the other missing components) into Vista. I mean, they're basically saying, "We'll bake Google-like search into the OS." I'd wait for that.
I was pretty hardcore with Windows Desktop Search on XP... Vista took that away from me. And the search experience in Vista sucks. Search itself "works" functionally (especially if you index), but the accessibility/usability of it from file system, e-mail, and other parts of the system just sucks. You always have to invoke the start menu to search. Maybe I'm missing something? It's vaguely intuitive. But I want it right there - everywhere - when I need it. I want the IE7/Firefox Google search right there at the top of every app that runs on my system. EVERY WINDOW/APP needs search when its relevant. Every Windows app needs to have the option to hook into a Search API and provide relevant results to it. It needs to be as standard as the red-X to close windows.
One thing I am secretly hoping for is that somewhere about 9 floors underground in Redmond there is an army the size of the U.S. Iraq contingent working on WinFS and the other Vista-drop-outs. Then, they roll Vista... people begin crying fowl and complaining, "What in the heck are you trying to pawn OSX's leftovers over on me for?" - they pull out the secret weapons. And then Windows Update shows us that we all have some delicious features to pull down and make our lives complete.
Would it make the $299 upgrade price to Ultimate worth it? (You know as a power-user you can't live much less than Ultimate).
There are other lamentables such as the licensing terms of only being able to transfer to one additional machine and so on.
I'm using it (Vista RC2) in production on my machine at work, and sure its generally been a decent experience, but when I think of having to pay for the upgrade. It ain't worth it.
Then there's the whole corporate side of it and having to ultimately make a decision on whether we upgrade our entire organization to Vista. At this point, nothing compelling will push us to Vista so we'll wait until XP goes off support in 5 years or whatever it is. Our users don't even need anything on Vista. With straight line-of-business apps (with minimal "visual" requirements), my users can barely manage the features of switching windows in XP as it is.
I wonder how much of Vista adoption will also depend on baby-boomer retirement issues. I know that's more of a socio-cultural line of thinking, but we have a large contingent of baby-boomer age people who just hate computers. The machines are necessary evils of this world, up there with Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda. I'd hate to think what it'd do to these folks if Vista were unleashed on them.
Monday, September 19, 2005
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Just found this link to a cool freeware Mind Mapping application called “FreeMind”.
Very nice. I've heard good things about “Mind Mapping” as a way of outlining/thinking/organizing information, but many of the products out there have steep entry prices.
This looks like a good little tool, and thus far is very slick.
Thursday, June 23, 2005
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I need a new seat for my bike.
My brother-in-law Randy recommended looking over on www.mtbr.com for what they have to say.
I did, and here are the contenders.
WTB Laser V Stealth
Brooks B.17
I honestly cannot decide between the two by simply looking at the reviews on mtbr.com for each. I love the Brooks B.17 for the style, quality, and long-life aspects. The WTB caters to the more toward my desire to have a good all-round MTB saddle. Although, realistically off-road riding hasn't been much of a reality in the flat plains of Iowa.
Maybe the B.17 would be best.
Check out Brooks Saddles online. They have some very nice stuff. Their attention to craftsmanship also really tempts me. Craftsmanship: One of those things I really miss about England.
Tangent, Other Examples:
Good Cheese: Red Leicester + more.
Gardening: Haws Watering Cans + more
Clothing: Burberry + more
Scotch: Laphroaig + more
Cars: Mini + Jaguar + Rover + more (legacy, not necessarily who owns them now...)
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
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I managed to ride my way into work today. Now that my office just migrated outward, this is a good thing.
Total distance to and fro, 17.02 miles.
Total time, 1 hr 15 min.
Average speed, 13.7 mph
Pretty decent for a strong headwind there, and a nice pushback home.
Blue is to, red is return.
Now if I can just habitualize the experience.