Now a computer isn’t like the steak that wasn’t cooked enough, you don’t just send it back to the kitchen.  There is always a learning curve and what is very frustrating out there is not enough people know or want to know how things work.  The problem I see is that the world is convinced that Windows is the only way to go, but that isn’t true.  Like going out to eat, you have your choices.  Windows is more like Sushi, its expensive, a little dangerous and you walk away still a little hungry. While Mac is more like a steak house, you pay a lot for a lot and sometimes its just too much.  While Linux is more like the hot dog stand, you order your beef frank but have to put the mustard and relish on your self and then you might want to buy a side of fries.

There is a lot of places out there for peole to learn how to use linux and openoffice.  There are wonderful open source proudcts out in the world that will not break your bank.  However, when its free, there is usually no hands on support.  No one to call.  This is what makes it harder for people.  We all want someone to hold our hand.

After a long day and many crashing Windows machines I’ve decided to lean inward and grab good old curiosity and let her scream. I’ve done it, apparently Chavez got the wrong guy. According to popular weblore Bill Gates might be the devil, not President George W. Bush. However what makes people think that Gate’s is so Devilish? What makes so many people hate this geek? I for one can’t say I hate the guy, I may hate some of his products but lets face it when was the last time the guy coded an entire operating system himself? Never, only one man in the history of computers has done such a thing and that was Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.

Anyway back to the random Google experiment here, I typed in ‘Bill Gates the Devil’ into google and came up with about 448,000 results. Not bad, but how many on the first page are relevant?

Top link: The Bill Gates is Satan conspiracy theory . The site isn’t hosted in the US, so this is apparently an international belief. The Theory is quiet interesting in stating that if you add Bill Gates birth name (William Gates III) in ASCII then you get 666. Interesting theory. I wonder what mine is?

2nd Link: Bill Gates is the Devil, Hitler implicated – Which is an interesting article from the register dating back to 2001. It takes a humorous look at a German article which states the unpopularity of Gates and has a picture of Hitler on the opposing page. Someone must of had fun putting that order in.

3rd and finally: Since I don’t want to take you away from updating your Windows with the latest security patch. This was not third on the list however, it is a well written article on a statement which Gates said. Devil’s Advocate: Should Microsoft be paying you to use Windows?This article from silicon.com really shows the Devil at work as he suggests Google should pay users back for using Google.  Now after reading the article and realizing that Bill Gates is the richest man in the world from the investment of one company – Microsoft – I wonder at which point he was willing to give consumers money for just using a product?

All the above may not prove that Bill Gates is the Devil, hell, it doesn’t make sense for the devil to be wearing geek clothing.  To make things fair ‘Steve Jobs The Devil’ gets  312,000 but some of those might reflect on the ‘Fake Steve Jobs’ as well.  In the end we love to symbolize anyone as good old Satan, hell, I’ve called some of my best friends the devil and sometimes a little worst. But until Bill Gates wears Prada I’d just say he’s just a geek who knew how to sweet talk and delegate.

/// PHOTO – William Henry Gates the Third Arrested for Speeding at the age of 19!  Not your average Geek!

Microsoft, most notably the number one reason for increase spending on System Administrators and Help Desk staff is entering your supper market. They will be providing software that will have a Smart Shopping Cart with ads that will ‘help’ a consumer to ‘buy’ more things. This technology will use up-links from home PC, RFID technology and coupons. While this is an interesting concept, it is a prototype and just the tip of the ice-berg of things to come. As we get more wireless and screens get smaller the computer will invade every square inch of our everyday mundane life.

“Blue Screen of Death in Isle 5,” I can here over the loudspeaker as a service technician is called out from behind the freezers.

About ten years ago there was a company giving scanners to people to do self check-out, they were attached to carts and as the customer put the item in the cart they would scan it. Today we have self-check out in many stores fixed at the exit. These first prototypes help our direction towards the future where, ads are displayed on carts and a customer can easily access information about the store, a product and maybe one day have Britney Spears tell them how much she loves Eggo’s and don’t fogert to buy her new Album so she can pay alimony.

However we are stuck in the year 2008 where these silly things of computerized shopping carts are the wave of the future, we’ll have to stick with our talking GPS’s and wireless digital cameras. Who knows, by the time Microsoft gets out of the Beta for the product we will have an Apple Driod doing our grocery shopping for us.

Microsoft Smart Shopping Carts – VIA: Information Week

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 

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.

Anyway, look at the pretty pictures and enjoy.  Please send any other ideas for Mac Classic dress ups and pimp-outs since I’ve got one in storage collecting dust.  Thinking of turning it into a digital frame, not sure how yet!

Via – http://www.hifihamster.com/current.html 

It seems the PC world has another scam up there sleeves. To save them money they have the consumer make recovery disks. This just means the Manufacture is trying everything these days not to do their job. I always hated the concept of having a recovery partition and having to make your own disks, why can’t the machine work right out of the box? What this means is you have a choice of making the disks (an hour of your time before using the computer) or actually paying the computer company that you just bought the computer from for a CD. This of course doesn’t happen on a the Apple’s MAC computers. I also find that Dell doesn’t seem to charge anymore for the media, but I could be wrong. Are the computer companies trying to make things more difficult then they have to be? They seem to be able to package the AOL disks pretty well. This article in PC World really pissed me off — http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,136496/article.html — Where it seems the large retails stores are profiting from the apparent Recovery Disk issues by forcing customers to buy the retails stores recovery disks, claiming it is the only way to recover your computer if something goes wrong.

Now I have dealt with both Apple and many PC vendors. Dell has been the only company that I haven’t seen the recovery disk issue come up with, but you have to check a box to get the disks. Why don’t do they give you the disks like Apple has for years? Why is Apple the only one that has stayed constant and gives a proper and simple restoration procces if things go wrong. For example I had two computers that the hard drives failed. An iMac and a Dell. The iMac took less then two hours to format, install the OS from recovery 1 disk and be back online with updates and all. The Dell took half the day and I had to put different disks in, plus find updates online. If I wasn’t as technical as I am, I would of given up and paid someone to figure it out.

It seems to me that the Microsoft Windows world maybe the basis of the Chaos for the recovery disk and getting back up and running quickly without spending a huge amount of money. Issues happen with computers, whether its a PC or a Mac, however what counts is how long it takes to recover and of course how much extra in time and money it takes to have those recovery disks available when that time comes. Always backup your data and if your on a Mac keep those original recovery disks in a safe place.

The new iMac is out and well every tech site has had a take on it. They will point you to the Apple iMac page and tell you about all the bells and whistles on this beauty. However something struck me while Steve Jobs strutted on stage in his designer blue jeans and black shirt, ‘is the new iMac green?’ Now Apple has gotten a lot of heat being placed bottom on the list of green tech companies and building products that are based on some of the most recycled material out there makes me wonder if this isn’t Apple’s take on recycling. Now I couldn’t find anywhere on there site that mentioned beer bottles or soda can’s being the previous incarnation of your MacBook Pro or your new iMac. This of course would have to be investigated abroad where the machines are usually made, in plants that may not have caught on to this green and recycle approach. The truth is it would just be Apple enough to Recycle and not tell since I’m sure some rumor site will be posting all the details about this soon enough. However since glass and aluminum are two very popular recycled materials, next time you clean up the tin cans and beer bottles from your party just think of how many iMacs you could make! Till then cheers.