Don’t do windows anymore…

October 17, 2007 By - Leave a Comment

After years of systems support in both small and large environments with windows, mac, netware and linux I have made a choice.  I don’t do windows anymore.  I have found that all systems are frustrating and at times don’t behave well, like when your dog pees on the carpet.  But after a good yell and those puppy-dog eyes you learn to forgive.  Not the Bill Gates Bull Dog.  I have recently switched over to a job that is mostly Mac system support.  I love it!  I clone machines, in a heart beat, run an entire OS off a portable hard drive or CD, and numerous other tricks you can’t do with windows.  Let’s face it there just too fragile.  Linux and Mac OS X are in the same ball park and everything I mention here can be done with Linux.

Now comes Vista, which in Spanish means View, a Window with a View… HAHAHA.  So, the only view the user is getting I hear is a frustrating one. I tested vista in beta and got nothing but a headache, it crashed, never worked, none of my programs worked from Windows XP and the reply from everyone around me was “that’s to be expected, its beta and its a new product.”  When Mac OS X came out I beta tested it in 2000 while I was working for a media company, they were working on the NASADAQ Market site in Time Square and needed to render the globe.  This globe was the size of a couple stories and curved.  So, the rendering on a G4 I believe with SCSI hardrives and fast graphic adapter said it would take around 90 hours.  I was testing mac os x and put a classic os 9 environment on top of it, ran the same program on a G 3 without the SCSI hardware and did the same rendering in only 40 hours. Of course this was only BETA.  I did have other issues with the Mac OS X beta but the machine ran smooth, applications did load, things copied and most of all backwards compatibility seemed to be working just fine.

What sparks me to write this is that everyday a new bug is found in Windows Vista yet more people are using the product.  I think people have to start making the move off Vista and onto Linux or Mac OS X.  The time has passed Windows if Microsoft can not make a product that is stable enough to work efficiently.  I could go into all the little details as Microsoft Certified Professional that I’ve seen over the years but it really isn’t worth it, it’s just a crime to see a company that’s products don’t even work properly on its on operating system then blame the consumer. So, educate yourself and see a whole new world out there.

Article on copying issue with Vista: http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=829 

Consumer group demanding XP over Vista 

Filed Under: Apple, Rant Tagged With: , , ,

Target the Rocky Ipod box!

October 10, 2007 By - Leave a Comment

iRockSo the story of the time is a girl’s 14th birthday present in Texas should of been a shiny new iPod but instead it was a box of rocks.  Well, that sucks.  As described in the orginal story from the Star-Telegram and summed up by the boys where I dug it up at Ars Technica, it seems that Regan Riter’s mother purchased the iPod from Target using an in store Credit Card and finding the best deal around.  Now that is the problem, these warehouse stores are suppose to be the best deals around but are they really?  Do they really help us when thing go to hell?  I’m acutally supprised they belived the Riter’s didn’t stuff the box with Rocks themselves but when they went back and it happened a second time it was very obvious this is a major issue.

Now the real problem isn’t the fact a young girl got a box of Rocks.  That is just a little funny, and ironic and shows you that there is a major lack of security with Targets or its distributer shipping depatrment. But the problem is the policies and the fact that they wouldn’t give the family their money back so they could go else where and let the girl get her iPod for her birthday.  Since policy is policy and Target is Target, I mean they have those red circles everywhere so I’m sure the emploeyes know not to mess with policies. So, the first store was sold out and the mother drove the daughter to another store where they bought with store credit the second iPod where the insisted of opening the iPod in front of the clerk, and the clerk said they needed to buy it first, which they did, and that one was full of rocks too.  So, they were now told since they used a store credit card they could be given anything but store credit and they did this to get that extra 10% discount.  So, since they had the store credit and it was the girls birthday the mother asked the girl to buy something else, even though she really wanted the iPod.

The issue here is why can’t a 14 year old girl who has the money to buy the product that she wants for her birthday can’t get it from one of the largest retails chains.  Target replies with the usual legal jargon but the lacks the respect it should have its customers and the rest of the market.  I enter the stores and as I walk out they treat me the customer like a criminal by checking my receipt, or by inisting in some places that I have to check my bags.  However, they make a mistake in there shipping and they will not honor and give back someone the money for something they have just purchased.  If you want an iPod then goto an apple store or buy from Apple. Atleast they will do the right thing and treat you with respect, and not wait two weeks to get back to you with a form letter.

Filed Under: Apple, Rant Tagged With: , , , , ,

Do computers have souls?

June 21, 2007 By - 2 Comments

A computer that I have used for a long time died, deceased, pushing up the daisies, kicked its case, gone to the other side (no its not a mac now!!) — it now is in a scrap pile outside waiting for a dumpster. What a terrible way to go. We had our time together, the past year and a half. Like dog years, computer years are calculate by nine years but that is nine years for every month it’s first post passes boot inspection. So, I shed a tear for my P4 friend who for prosperity I will name P4.

As his mother board fried due to an accidental close encounter with Mr. Starbucks I lay back in my swirly chair and wonder if computers have souls. I mean we have souls. I believe we have a spirit inside us, a unique and powerful energy that if you put your two pointer fingers slightly together but not touching and focus on the empty part you will see your own unique energy. Whatever you call it, a spirit, soul, aura it is there and its still somewhat of a mystery. Animals have souls, you can sense there energy when they are near you.

Death in all cultures is the time when that spirit leaves its vestal and journeys to some far away world. Will we see our electronic devices in heaven in some big shopping mall? Do they meet there maker? And who would that be the guy who made the designs or the union worker who screwed the motherboard to the casing. It won’t be Bill Gates since he most likely won’t be joining P4 in heaven. I believe P4 has a soul and is in computer heaven soaking up a futuristic virus free OS, and has a full upgrade with 24TB of ram and Petabyte hard drive. I can dream that he is having a good life making someone happy as they fight a battles in WOW with Einstein, Edison and Tesla.

With the passing of P4 I have learned that true lessons of technology; Moore’s law. A dual-core processor blows the slow poke out of the water! I salute P4 and all the processing he has done for me, I raise Mr. Starbucks, lay back in my swirly chair and listen to Pandora.com. Rest in peace my old friend, thanks for the memories, you won’t be missed since Dual-Core got a sister I’ve been eying and she’s called Quad-Core.

Filed Under: gadgets, humor, Rant, Technology Tagged With: , ,

Postal rates gone Postal

May 17, 2007 By - Leave a Comment

With more people mailing the USPS has been increasing the rates like crazy over the years. Now it isn’t about weight but size too. Cheaper to send a post card then a letter. Which brings me to the technology part of this interesting Postal topic — Email Postal Charges. We’ll call it EPC to keep with the growing trend of making up more ways to confuse people. Now if we implemented EPC and the USPS was in charge of it then we would need a USPS PM to that would be labeled as PMEPC who would probably need to increase the EPC every two days or so to keep up with the fast paced world of the Internet. Now that we have realized the Information Super Highway needs a couple of toll booths so it can be regulated, sensored and sealed up with read tape all of us Internet users can rest assure that we will be clicking in a safer place as our bank accounts get emptied out from the IT (Identity Thefters).

So before anyone complains about the snail mail interest rate increasing, sit back and pray that congress doesn’t put an email tax. Now some may believe this if fictional but just do a google search for Email Tax or Internet Tax…. I think its time to get back to tying little notes on pigeons.

Filed Under: Advice, Rant, Technically Foreign Tagged With: , ,