Windows Problem & Solutions

Here's a comment I posted on Preston Gralla's Blog at COMPUTERWORLD. He wrote, "I've pored through hundreds of emails in the Vista "junk PC" lawsuit, and it still doesn't all add up."

Here are my 2 cents on the matter...

It seems that every MS Windows release has been plagued with problems initially (continually?). As long as MS gets away with this and other atrocities against customers (Office 2007?!) MS will continue to commit them.

The Federal government is probably MS's largest customer, and it should use its buying power (in addition to anti-trust enforcement) to keep MS honest.

• Publish specs in an RFP that the products/vendors need to meet.
• Make MS compete against Apple and open-source alternatives to win Federal contracts.
• Put penalties in the contracts for when products fail to perform as promised.
• Establish a government contracting preference for open source.

Sync Me Not

In a prior posting I wrote, "Voice recognition software. This will fundamentally change the way we interact with machines. "Computers" will be embedded in every device so that we can tell them what to do." In that posting, I wrote that current software from Microsoft, IBM, Dragon et al. was not up to the task.

Now, along comes Ford selling cars with Microsoft's "Sync," which claims to be a voice-controlled, on-board music, radio and communications system. What are the chances that this system works as advertised (see syncmyride.com)?

Knowing what I do about the state of the art, I bet a colleague of mine that Sync's voice recognition feature does not work well enough to be useful -- certainly not like it does in one of the ads where a passenger orders up a Michael Bolton song. The implication is that the system hears someone sitting in the passenger seat when the car is moving and understands a voice that it has not been trained to understand. (This is something that I know from experience that high-powered PC cannot do adequately in a quiet office.)

For a preliminary answer, let's consult the Internet... For now, there's not a lot of real information about Sync. Several technology journalists tried Sync when it was unveiled. Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal wrote, "I found the voice-command system surprisingly reliable. In four days of testing, I encountered only a few instances in which my commands were misunderstood." (Source)

One fellow who owns a Ford Explorer with Sync comments, "I only use the SNYC for recharging the iPod and very rarely for voice commanding the iPod. (Not to mention feeling like an idiot yelling at your dashboard to play something and the voice commands giving you idiotic responces) I'll stick to a click or 2 on the iPod menu and leave the voice SYNC for handsfree phone."

In this instance, I am more inclined to believe the Ford Explorer guy (bad grammar, misspellings and all) than Walt Mossberg. Something tells me that Walt's ride was tricked out by Ford & Microsoft in ways that boosted his results/opinions.

I'm still a skeptic.

Ubuntu Update

A little more than a year ago, I migrated from Windows to Ubuntu. It began as an experiment to see how Ubuntu/Linux compared to Windows, to see if the sacrifices entailed in using Ubuntu were too much for a user like me, and to see how long I could hold out before I went home to Mother Microsoft.

I made the change at home and at work. But I've got access to Windows machines if and when I need one. And since virtually all my family, colleagues and clients use Windows machines, I frequently have my hands on and inside Windows machines.

Yet, when I have a choice; for Internet (email & web), for writing letters and documents, for doing spreadsheets, etc.; after a year, I choose Ubuntu every time.

Now, I don't feel compelled to justify myself or sell you on Ubuntu. Instead, I'll tell you what I don't like about Ubuntu:

• Open Office is quirky. OO Word Processing fine for a letter, but I wouldn't want to use it to put together a long document with footnotes. I cannot do MS Office macros or VBScripting in Open Office, but I can and am doing text processing in Ubuntu using Perl and regular expressions.
• There's no tax prep software for Linux/Ubuntu. I don't think the online versions work on Linux/Firefox (they don't say).

Note that these are not Ubunu problems per se; they are holes in the apps available to run on Ubuntu. And these "problems" are pretty minor, especially in light of the many benefits (all free) of using Ubuntu/Linux.

Save Our Privacy

According to the Washington Post this morning, all the major search engines are tightening their privacy policies in the face of mounting concern about the vast amounts of personal data they collect and store.

I don't like the idea of Google, Microsoft, Yahoo! or any other organization collecting, storing and analyzing data about my web searches and web surfing. They all say they do it "to improve the quality of their search services." As if that is sufficient reason for them to collect and analyze mountains upon mountains of data. Quality assurance/improvement is typically done using statistical analyses of relatively small, random samples.

We all have to use search engines to find information on the web. Individually, we are powerless to prevent the collection and storage of all that data about each of us.

What can you and I do about it? The only compelling reason for these companies to collect, analyze and store these vast amounts of data is to help them sell advertising and help their advertisers sell products. Take away the ad revenue, and they have no incentive to collect all that data. Take away the ad revenue, and they will not be able to afford to collect and store the data.

In the Firefox browser, there is a free extension that you can install that blocks most of the advertising on web pages served by Google, et al. Here's how you get the extension: in Firefox, select Tools/Add-Ons/Get Extensions/Adblock Plus to download and install the extension. Once you do, you will no longer see most of the ads currently running on the web.

As more and more of us do this, the money will go out of web advertising, and these companies will no longer have the incentive to collect all that data. Just the prospect of this happening is probably enough to get the search engines to stop amassing these mountains of data.

So, if you too are concerned about the activities of the search engines, you can do your part to stop them by using Firefox and Adblock Plus. Do it today.

More...

Google assures us that it does not "profile" users for marketing purposes. However, Microsoft and Yahoo! both use the information they collect to profile users and "behaviorally target" advertisements to them. According to the Wall Street Journal, "Microsoft says that in testing in the U.S., behavioral targeting increased clicks on ads by as much as 76 percent."

Microsoft says that users will soon be able to opt-out of demographic ad targeting if they choose. Good luck finding out when and where to sign up for that, and does that cover behavioral ad targeting, too?

Governments around the world will be itching to see this information, and these companies will supply it to them. For example, last year, Yahoo gave a user's emails to the Chinese government, and those emails were used to jail a Chinese dissident. Google, for its part says, "Companies like Google are trying to be responsible corporate citizens," in complying with lawful (in each country) requests for data.

Maybe our elected officials will get involved and require adequate protections. For instance, Rep. Bobby L. Rush (D-Ill.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee that addresses consumer protection, says about Google's proposed acquisition of DoubleClick, "Concerns have focused not only on the implications for competition -- in online advertising and other possibly affected markets -- but also on the potentially enormous impact on consumer privacy." On the other hand, maybe Congress will renew the Patriot Act.

Recommendation: Macintosh

I used to be an Apple computer user and a Macintosh man. But, I haven't had one for many years.

For a long while I avoided Macs because I thought that Apple was going to disappear, like hundreds of other computer manufacturers have. I was afraid I'd be stuck with orphan technology, and I'd lose my work and my data.

With the success of the iPod, Apple's future is secure for the time being. Now, I'm thinking that Apple will abandon Macs and focus instead on iPods, iPhones, Apple TV, et al. But Mac PCs have become more like their competitors over the years, and there would probably not be any difficulty migrating work and data files to another platform. So that's no reason not to buy a Mac now.

Historically, Macs were significantly more expensive than Windows PCs. However, Mac users reportedly have fewer problems than Windows owners. So, from a total- cost- of- ownership perspective, Macs are probably cheaper than Windows PCs, even if they are more expensive out of the box.

The main reason that people have fewer problems with Macs is that there are fewer hardware and software choices available for Macs than there are for Windows PCs. Less crap installed and connected to the Mac equals fewer problems. Unfortunately for Apple, many people like me want all that crap. If you are satisfied with the crap that you can get for a Mac, then a Mac may be right for you.

Macs have long been fashionable and hip in certain circles. I do not travel in those circles. I thought the iMacs were pretty when they came out, but the idea of a monitor married to a CPU never appealed to me. If the look and feel of a Mac appeals to you, go for it.

Because of increasing returns to scale, Microsoft was able to corner its market and act in a predatory and monopolistic fashion, without proper regard for the interests of its customers. Now Apple has had similar success in the online music market. It is likely that Apple will be demonized as a monopolist one day, tarnishing the holier- than- thou image it has today in some quarters. But again, that is no reason not to buy a Mac today.

If you are looking to buy a PC for the office, and your company is a Windows shop, as most companies are, then you are probably better off getting a Windows PC at work. You probably don't have any choice in the matter.

If you want to buy a computer for yourself or someone in your family, then you should consider a Mac. Does it have the software, games and peripherals you want/need? When something goes wrong, will you be able to get support somewhere? Given the "right" answers to these questions, I recommend that you get a Mac.

Episode 6: Printers

The continuing adventures of one man's attempt to migrate his desktop PC from MS Windows to Ubuntu/Linux.

Setting up my Ubuntu machine to print was a step I was dreading. Over many years I have spent long hours dealing with the myriad of problems that printing spawns. And as my regular readers know, I don't normally approve of printing anyway (see Friends Don't Let Friends Print).

Notwithstanding my dread and hostility, no computer is complete without one or more printers installed and working. There are situations when even I need to print out something.

To date, I've installed 4 different printers on different Ubuntu Edgy machines. These were all network printers. One was an HP LaserJet wired directly to the network. Two were HP OfficeJets shared by Windows PCs, and one was a Samsung laser shared by a Windows PC. One network was a peer-to-peer network and the others were Microsoft Active Directory networks.

So, how hard is it to set printers up on Ubuntu? I am happy to report that it is not hard. In fact, it is so easy that I made it more difficult for myself than I had to because I said to myself, "It can't be that easy."

The information you need to install your specific printer is available on the Internet. Google it. Start with the simplest pathway you can find; resist the impulse to make it difficult.

If you have any trouble, stop. The problem is either a lack of drivers for your model printer (complain to the manufacturer and get another/different printer -- they are cheap) or with you (get another self(?)). The problem is not Ubuntu. So, don't waste time agonizing about the solution. There is an easy one available.

Episodes: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.

Bye, Ma!

Episode 1

This is a story of leaving home. I am saying good-bye to Ma Microsoft on my desktop, installing Ubuntu on my PC instead of Windows.

What fate awaits me as I struggle to adjust to life without Ma? Will I be able to cope without Microsoft Office? Will I be able to see my Exchange emailbox? Will I be able to use file and print sharing services on the network? Or will I give up in frustration, turn away from Ubuntu and go back to Windows?

Over the years, I have installed different distros of Linux on different PCs. These PCs then went into service as a firewall/router, a database server, a file server, and a web server. These were all command-line or non-GUI (graphical user interface) instances of Linux.

Last year, I installed Debian with KDE and Gnome GUI interfaces on an old laptop. I use the laptop to make presentations. It is a great attention grabber to show a non-Windows desktop to business audiences accustomed to Windows and the occasional Mac desktops. Talk about tech cred!

Recently, the 86-year-old patriarch of my family, AKA Grandpa, complained that his computer was running slow. His computer was a 9-year-old, Windows 98 machine with a 366 Mhz processor and 64 megs of RAM. My brother donated a 3-year-old machine that was recently retired from service, and I loaded Ubuntu on it for Grandpa. He's made the transition to his new setup like a champ! So, I figure if he can do it, I can too.

Ubuntu has greatly simplified the installation of Linux. Gone are all the questions about the refresh rate of your monitor, the chipset of your graphics card, the size and number of your swap disk and other questions that left me scratching my head when I installed Linux in the past. It detected all my hardware, and it got and installed the right drivers. Amazing!

Tips & Tricks: When I moved my PC from the bench where I did the install to my desktop, I discovered that the Linksys USB WiFi adapter I planned to use did not work. There is no Linux driver for it. I didn't want to use the Window's driver with ndiswrapper -- too much work for a cheap piece of hardware, so I swapped the USB adapter for the Linksys "Wireless Gaming Adapter" my son uses with his XBOX. This Wireless Gaming Adapter is a bridge device that requires no drivers. Problem solved. FYI, the 802.11-b version of the Wireless Gaming Adapter sells for less than $20 on Ebay.

In future episodes I will let you know how the migration from Windows to Ubuntu is going. Will I be able to survive or will I come running home to Ma with my tail between my legs? Stay tuned.

Only free software was used in the creation, storage and delivery of this message.

Episodes: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.