Yes, yes, I know that Internet Explorer 8 is still in beta testing. Despite that and the fact that I permanently run my browser in IE7 emulation mode, I have still seen a few problems here and there while surfing the web. The biggest one so far is probably whatever problem it is that completely stops me from using Google Maps.
Have a look at the screenshot and see for yourself the horrors which I was subjected to when trying to plan a little journey of mine.
As well as not seeing any actual mapped journey (just a couple of markers), the map also broke out of its usual confines and the zoom controls were obviously on acid or something. Cool. I wonder how it’ll look if I print it out…
If you’ve been paying attention over the last couple of months, you’ll most likely know of the uproar concerning Apple’s Software Update on Windows, and how it used to include new software (namely Safari) in the same section as software updates (namely for iTunes and QuickTime) as well as ticking the checkboxes by default.
As a result, many people who usually pay very little attention to update dialogs would have just clicked “Install”, thereby updating their software as well as installing Safari, complete with its Start Menu, Desktop and Quick Launch shortcuts.
This caused a big hoo-ha with many users, as well as Mozilla, makers of the competing Firefox browser, amongst others.
Apple have now decided that new software does not count as an update and has released a new version of the Software Update application now has separate sections for updates and new software. However, in their infinite wisdom, the checkboxes for new software are still ticked, presumably in the hope that users will still not realise and click the “Install” button without un-ticking them.
Isn’t it time for Apple to stop treating its users like children and allow them to make their own choices regarding new software? Updates are understandable. Installing new software by default isn’t. If I want to install Safari, I’ll tick the box myself thank you very much. I know better than you if I want the software or not. End of.
RSS feeds are fast becoming ubiquitous and there are a wide variety of applications where they are used to great effect.
The Careers Advisory Service at the University of Reading (where I work part-time) has just moved into a brand-new building kitted out with the latest in plasma screen technology (!). They have also just grasped the extent of RSS and have keenly moved to make their latest jobs and events features RSS-enabled to allow people to subscribe to new job and event alerts from their browsers, email applications, websites or desktops.
Seeing all of this, one of those imaginary light bulbs switched on above my head as I had a great brainwave - why not combine the two to create an application that gets the jobs or events feeds from the web and displays it full-screen on those under-utilised plasma screens?
I announced this idea to my boss who took an interest in it but basically told me to get on with it myself and see what I could come up with. The amount of work made him sceptical of the implementation, but I had confidence. I opened up Visual Studio and found a very handy RSS screensaver starter kit. I took that as my base and ripped it apart, taking out all the screensaver code and changing the rest to reflect what I wanted. Two days later and I have a completed application ready to be tested out. I even checked it out with a profiler to make sure there were no memory leaks since it will probably run continuously for many days or weeks at a time.
There’s a nice large screenshot waiting for everybody to have a look at. I’m not releasing the code just yet - there’s still probably some work to be done on it and a lot of stuff needs to be cleaned up. There’s also a lot of CAS-specific code in there that needs to be taken out if the application is released. Until then, take a look at the screenshot and show your love!
I’ve been using Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007 ever since the beta emerged and I recently purchased a copy from The Ultimate Steal. So far, I have been very impressed.
Microsoft Office Word is obviously the one application I use the most day-to-day. I’ve used it for everything from reports to drafting blog posts and have to say that some of the new features or ways of doing things have made my life much easier than before. Using Word’s new styles panel and range of professional designs, I was able to complete a report in must less time than I thought it would take. Applying styles was as easy as clicking one button. The word count feature, which has its home in the status bar, helped me keep an eye on how much I was writing.
Microsoft Office PowerPoint is another staple in the student’s armoury of tools, and I have been using it quite a lot as my second year of university demands increasing numbers of presentations. New SmartArt allows me to quickly insert professional-looking diagrams and charts, while the templates give the whole presentation the polish it needs. I have particularly found that the new ribbon has made many tasks much quicker and has unveiled many existing features.
Finally, I have used Microsoft Office Outlook as my personal email manager and planner. Outlook has allowed me to manage my email deluge and prioritise my tasks. To to-do lists keeps tabs on what I have outstanding, while the calendar reminds me to wake up for lectures!
All in all, the Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007 suite has allowed me to organise my student life and get my work done much faster than I expected.
This blog is part of the Microsoft “The Ultimate Steal” Blogging Contest. Go to www.theultimatesteal.co.uk for details.
I bit the bullet and installed Movable Type 4 beta today. I was one or two security updates behind the current version anyway, so I thought I’d try out the beta and see what it was like. I think I can safely say that I’m not disappointed.
Most of the work seems to concentrate on the look and feel of the dashboard, which has been completely redesigned. The interface is more AJAXified and everything looks better than it used to. The installation procedure was also painless, and as a bonus, none of my data (backed-up of course) was lost during the transfer! I didn’t even have to do any editing of configuration files - the installer took care of it all, as well as upgrading my database and removing some unused templates.
One major difference that I’ve seen so far is that now you can make pages just like you can in WordPress. Previously, I split my site into two Movable Type “blogs” - one for the static pages, and another for the Metablog. I used index templates for some of the site and blog entries for many of the inner static pages. I could now theoretically combine these two blogs using pages, but I’ll probably leave that for a while, see what the final released version lets me do, and then go on from there.
They always say that you shouldn’t run beta software in a production environment, but what can I say - I’m writing this in a beta version of Movable Type running on a beta version of Microsoft Windows Home Server! I just can’t resist the urge to try out new things.
They say nothing good ever came out of the USA. Well, I think I can just prove all those people wrong with what I have for you today. They are the best source of real-life comedy you can get:
A California-based DRM software company has sent cease and desist notices to Microsoft, Apple, Adobe and Real Networks for not using its product.
The likes of Microsoft and Apple usually love all the DRM they can get. In this case, however, Media Rights Technologies and its subsidiary BlueBeat.com said in a press release Thursday, the four software giants’ failure to implement the MRT’s X1 SeCure Recording Control software is a violation of the infamous Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
Read the full article and make up your own mind.
Only in the USA.
Well well: Windows Vista was finally released to the public today with a huge fanfare in the US. While things this side of the pond were much more subdued, there will still be many people who cannot wait to get their hands on the new OS and give it a spin.
There has been a large gap between the release of Windows XP (2001) and Windows Vista (2007), and I think we can expect that many people will be eager to use the new OS, but there will also be people who will be critical of what Microsoft has been spending its time on for the last few years.
I for one want to get a copy of Vista, but it seems like my budget says otherwise… Maybe I’ll just have to wait until I get enough to get a new PC or laptop, and get Vista at the same time. Maybe a new Mac with Boot Camp or Parallels? ;)
A while ago I purchased a license for Waterfall Software’s Wallet. Normally, these things go quite smoothly, with the key in my inbox in a matter of minutes, and the whole thing working within five. Oh how naive I was…
I waited and waited, but there was no key in sight. I waited some more, figuring that there was some delay in sending out emails. But nothing. I found a key retrieval tool on the website and thought I’d try that, but it didn’t like my email address and told me that I had never bought anything.
OK, I thought. I fired off a quick email to the support email address and expected to get an apology email and key within a few days. You can see where this is going though. I never got a reply to it. A while later, I sent another email to the sales address, expecting it would get a faster reply. But I still haven’t heard anything back.
So just a quick warning for those of you thinking about purchasing a license for Wallet anytime soon…if you don’t get the email within 5 minutes, it’s probably a lost cause. I’m waiting for a reply from Waterfall Software to restore my confidence.
So Windows Vista has finally been released to manufacturing!
Was it worth the wait in the end? We’ll have to wait until February of next year to find that one out for sure.
Until then, Amazon is already taking pre-orders for the new OS. The Ultimate Edition is priced at £325, which is a lot of money for an OS.
We’ll have to wait and see how it’s received when people can finally get their hands on it.
I’ve been using Windows Live Writer for a few days now and posting all of my blog articles using it. I’ve found it an altogether pleasing experience, especially as the software makes it so easy to do many things. However, there are a few small things that I think could be improved.
- You can’t give an article a separate excerpt, which makes Movable Type using a first part of your post body instead. It’s not too bad though, as I prefer the latter behaviour.
- When you paste a multi-paragraph block of text into a blockquote, paragraphs aren’t made properly. Every paragraph starts with a <p> but doesn’t end with a matching </p>, making it invalid XHTML. I don’t know if this is also the case with normal blocks of pasted text as opposed to a blockquote.
- The Windows Live Writer window does not seem to remember its last size settings and always default to a small windows at the bottom of the screen.
Other than these small annoyances, the software is great for a beta.
BlogMinistry is a blog dedicated to helping ministries, Churches and other such organisations to gain a foothold on the internal and the blogging phenomenon, and use it to their advantage to spread the word of Christianity throughout the world.
I’ve recently been invited to join the BlogMinistry team as a blogger in order to discuss blogging, content management and forum software, give recommendations and generally chat about best choices for ministries and Churches taking their first steps on the internet.
I’ve just written my first article for BlogMinistry all about the self-hosted Movable Type and WordPress blogging tools, so go over, have a look and leave a comment if you like it or have anything to suggest!
So Microsoft have decided to conquer the blogging-from-a-PC-application market by releasing the beta of Windows Live Writer.
Basically, the software is a glorified version of the venerable WordPad that’s been with us since Windows 3.1, updated with the 2007 style and with the main functionality of posting to a blog. In a first for Microsoft, they’ve made the tool work with blogging tools other than their own, and even this beta version works with an amazing number of apps, although more support is planned for future releases. The application mainly works using XML-RPC and other such interfacing standards, which means that its support can be extended.
Set-up is very easy, and all you really need to do is to enter the URL of your blog, plus a username and password. The software works out most of the rest itself, and only asks you if it needs further information (in my case, it asked for Movable Type’s XML-RPC URL, which is easy to work out as it offers the placeholders). You can also provide some FTP details if you want it to use those to upload your pictures, otherwise it just uploads it to your weblog app, which then stores it somewhere or another.
The main window contains a writing pane with all the usual rich-text editing tools, plus a spelling checker, which is a must for all us blogging types! There’s even a function to insert pictures and maps from Windows Live Maps. The editor saves drafts just in case that all-important post goes missing :)
After posting your entry, you can have a look at it on your weblog, and if the software supports it, the writing pane itself adapts to show your post in your blog’s style, even as you’re typing it, which is a nice touch.
The interface itself needs a little tweaking here and there and maybe some touch-ups, but overall, it’s a very nice version 1.0 app from the Windows Live people. Well done Microsoft!
PS. Oh, and if you were wondering, this post itself was written and posted using Windows Live Writer. See how easy it is? If you want more information, or to download it and try it out for yourself, visit the Windows Live Writer Zone.
Is Paul Thurrott about to finally lose his patience with the continuously delayed Windows Vista? It would seem so.
Paul is usually a very staunch pro-Microsoft pro-Vista campaigner. Over the years, he’s tested numerous betas and commented on their features as well as weaknesses and points for improvement. You could even mistake him for having a vested interest in Microsoft’s good performance.
Since Longhorn was announced many light-years ago, Paul’s been reviewing every nook and cranny of the new operating system and has documented all its developments in detail. He’s usually been very supportive of Microsoft in this light, even coming forward to slightly help Microsoft by agreeing that they need more time for feedback when everybody else says that it’s just Microsoft’s incompetence that isn’t allowing them to release on time.
However, Vista’s continual delays have become comical, it’s been called vapourware by some and his pro-Microsoft stance has been criticised (read the comments). It seems that he might just be breaking. Maybe it’s due to him being bitten by Windows Genuine Advantage and Vista crashing on him so much that his wife fears for his sanity? If Microsoft can’t even keep supporters like Thurrott on side, then they must really have a huge problem on their hands.
Someone at Microsoft please send this guy a Bill Gates punch bag or something. It seems like he really needs it right now…
I think I’ve mentioned the phrase “I could hear the screams” on the SuperSite before. My wife said that to me one day, and she was referring to the sound of me barking some primeval curse at my desktop PC as it succumbed to Vista’s stupid slowdowns, crashes, and hang ups for the umpteenth time.
macZOT’s MysteryZOT 5 has been revealed. The mystery applications in the $5 bundle were PHPStudio, CastLife, AppZapper, Soulver and World of Where. This now means that I have extra licenses for CastLife and Soulver that I’m not going to use. If anybody has any use for these, please contact me and I’ll see what we can work out :)
It seems like I just can’t finish updating all the web software I rely on to run my websites… In the past week, I’ve had to update two Mint installations, WordPress and Movable Type to their respective newest versions.
Hopefully, the update-a-thon’s finished for now…
As I explained last time, I broke out the Mac I had lying around, blew off the dust and upgraded it. However, now was the time to get really serious!
When I first purchased the laptop, it came with an external USB wireless network dongle. While this worked reasonably well for short periods of time, it would always cut off after a while and would also get very hot to the touch. What’s more, I found out that the Mac had a spare AirPort slot just waiting to be used! I instantly packaged up the dongle with all its accessories and sold it on eBay. With the money and some more I put in, I found a brand new original AirPort card on eBay and purchased it. Since Apple stopped manufacturing these things a few years ago, they’ve been like gold dust, especially brand new packaged ones!
Continue reading "Foray into Macdom part 2" »
Since I started using computers many many years ago, I’ve been solely a PC user. From Windows 95 to 98, NT, 2000 and now XP, I’ve been through the thick of it Windows-wise, but it’s only recently that I decided to give the Mac side a spin and see what all the hype was about.
It all begin nearly a year ago when I decided that I needed a laptop for university (although it was more than a year away, it was a good excuse!) I was looking around for a good deal (as every student should do) and I came across a second-hand Mac iBook G3 being advertised on the forums of my then web host. The price was right and the laptop itself was adequate for my university needs. I crossed my fingers, left a reply and posted the money using PayPal. Maybe it was a little risky, but hey, I like taking moderate risks!
Continue reading "Foray into Macdom" »
