Gizmo + SIP Adapter = Duh!

I was browsing the web yesterday when it hit me - I still have that D-Link SIP adapter!

Let me explain. I used to have AT&T CallVantage (home VoIP service). I liked the features, but the quality just wasn't that good so I canceled it early this year. Of course, I kept the VoIP gateway they sent me (a D-Link DVG-1120M).

And today it hit me - use that with Gizmo/SIPphone and have an always-on free internet phone! Why didn't I think of that before? I hooked it up and went under da' hood, only to found that cheap AT&T set a username and password for advanced options so you can't use it with any other VoIP service. That's a cheap way of getting buisness.

I started searching online. I found one username/password for a newer version of my adapter, but that didn't work on mine. I spend about an hour of googling, but I found no other username/passwords.

So, I consulted the SIPphone forums. A fellow user pointed me to a geocities site that had the SIPphone firmware for my SIP adapter. SIPphone keeps it unlocked, so that's good for me. In order to apply the firmware on this (and I think any D-Link device) is to set up a TFTP server and it will download it directly from your computer. Nice, I guess, but I like the way Linksys does it much better.

Included in the ZIP package is a Windows exe, a couple firmware files, and a readme. But, before I could upgrade the firmware, I need the administration panel...

Another user told me that if I did a hard reboot (hold the 'reset' button for over 1 min), then that may reset the password. I just thought "That's so simple, it'll never work" and boy was I surprised when it did. You'd think AT&T would have a more clever factory reset, but they don't. Oh well, I can log in with admin/admin now and get at the administration panel.

I was hoping that if I could get this far, I wouldn't need a firmware upgrade. But now, AT&T has reached an all-time cheapness. The firmware installed on it will not allow you to configure the SIP settings. So, I'm stuck with their service unless I upgrade the firmware for it (which I luckily can do).

No problem, right? Just set up a TFTP server and send it... wrong. I could not actually get a TFTP server working. tftpd didn't work at all, atftpd ran but I couldn't get it working, and tftpd-hpa didn't work. I spent a few hours trying all three of these things, but none of them worked. The only machine in the house that has Windows is my main desktop, but that is downstairs on a wireless connection.

Why is this a problem? My adapter has two ports: one for the Internet and one for a computer or router. Since my main desktop is on a wireless connection, I didn't think it would work because it was behind a NAT.

The obvious answer... forward ports. I'm so stupid. I forwarded port 69 to my computer, booted up Windows and ran the D-Link mini tftp server. To my surprise, that worked right away. I think this is the first time a server has worked perfectly in Windows the first time while I was fiddling around for hours on Linux and still couldn't get it working.

Regardless, I configured it to work with SIPphone, rebooted it and it worked :) Connected directly to the internet, I can make and recieve SIP calls with great clarity (better than CallVantage, though still using the same device).

But after I get something working good, it's time to complicate it.

My first plan was to hook it up to my unused ethernet port on my computer, but that would create a double NAT and probably wouldn't work. Also, it would only work when the computer is on.

So... I picked up an 802.11b ethernet bridge that was laying around (yeah, I have lots of little gadgets) and hooked it up. I plugged the D-Link into my computer directly and configured it to use a static IP and then configured the router to set up a DMZ on that IP. I plugged the box into the wireless bridge, waited a moment (untill it 'clicked', if anyone else has a similar box) and dialed 411. To my amazement, it worked the first time.

With all this success, I discovered a problem. Because this is an old model (like a year), the firmware is also old and doesn't support STUN (for those of you who don't know, STUN is a way for a device or application to discover it's real internet IP addres when it's behind a NAT and can't tell itself). Because of this, I cannot recieve calls. I don't think this will create a huge problem, though, because I am usually the one calling other people.

Stay tuned, more to come.

KDE 3.5 Features

I just checked the KDE site to see that KDE 3.5 has been released. And along with this new release, there are some cool new features. I'll just highlight them for ya.

• Kicker has some nice improvements. The Pager (desktop switcher) now shows application icons so you can tell which application is running on which desktop. Also, the tooltips have been extended (not exactly sure what that means, though).
• SuperKaramba is now included in KDE. The last time I tried this, I really hated it. Now that it is included within KDE, it should (hopefully) improve.
• Konqueror now includes KHTML improvements so that it can pass the Acid2 test (which was done a while ago, but was not included until now). Konqueror now has Adblock functionality, so you can easilly block out annoying ads.
• Kopete got some nice improvements. Now it can handle MSN and Yahoo webcams (yes!). Also, custom MSN emotions are supported now.
• KDE now has good support for external media (although Gnome has for a while now). Now if you insert any media device, KDE will present a dialog similar to the one in XP. Definately cool.

I'm looking forward to trying this new release of KDE.

Check it out

Edubuntu Makes Sense

I'm sure most everyone around here has heard of the Edubuntu project. It is a brother (or sister, who knows) of the Ubuntu project. I think it's cool that they are trying to use Linux and apply it to educational environments. If kids get used to it, guess what will happen when they get older...

I was listening to TWAT episode 29 today, which is about installing and configuring Edubuntu. He explained that Linux just makes sense for kids because it can run on older hardware, runs fast, and is easy to use. But, there was one quote he said that I really like.

Most people are going to give you crap about this, but if they do, explain you're going to need $200 from them to get a copy of XP and $300 for better hardware, and they'll shut up and use Linux.

That explains, in a nutshell, why Linux rocks. Who wants to spend $500 for a fully functional Windows system when they could get a fully functional Linux system for nothing?

Another great quote:

There are two kinds of computer users: there's the people who understand what's going on and there's the people who know where to click the mouse. And making them learn Linux at home and maybe use Windows at school, the kids are learning more things. They're not just learning where to put the mouse, they're learning computer concepts, and that's a lot more important.

I couldn't have said it better.

Gollum

On digg, I came across something cool: an AJAX browser for Wikipedia called Gollum.

It basically provides a really nice and visually appealing alternative to typing in the whole URL into the address bar every time, like I usually do. It also has some cool features like Bookmarks and an easy way to print the data, which has been absent in Wikipedia.

Check it out some time

Good Ads and Bad Ads

So you've got a popular (or maybe semi-popular) website and you want to get a little money off of it. The best solution, of course, it an ad on the site. What kinds of ads should you get? In my opinion, these are two types of good ads:

• Any sort of text ad (aka Google AdSense)
• Any type of ad that does not draw the user away from the site's content

But what about the bad ads? In my opinion:

• All kinds of pop-ups (especially the ones that exploit the FF problem)
  
• Flashy animated GIF ads (I deeply hate the flashy "You're an instant winner! Click here to claim your prize")
  
• Flash ads. Not only are they annoying, they sometimes create noise and cause older machines to slow down
• Any sort of ad that draws the user away from the site's content
• Any ad that gets annoying to look at
  

There are a lot of honest users out there who want to make some money for their time. I deeply understand that (hey, I have a text ad on this blog). I'll even click on them if I enjoy the content that is on the site. But when the ads start to get annoying and draw me away from the content, that's where I draw the line. I come to a website to look at the content, not be bombarded by pop-ups and flash ads. I don't feel guilty blocking those, but I do feel guilty blocking the un-annoying ones.

I stopped using Adblock for awhile, but I re-installed it today. I'm trying to use it only to block bad ads, and I like what I've achieved so far.

To those of you who use Adblock as well: don't block out good ads! They're not annoying at all!

Not Many Features in XP

I was reading Popular Mechanics for December, and I came across an interesting article called "Have It Your Way" (anyone who has PM, it's on page 121). This article lists some common programs that you might want to use on Windows to improve performance and functionality. Looking through the list, most of them are present in Linux my default. I'll list them all here.

• Virtual Desktop - Included in almost all desktop environments, not in Windows without an XP powertoy
• Indexed Music Files - Not exactly sure what they mean by this, but most Linux distros come with a program like amaroK or Rhythmbox that can index your music files.
• Whether - This, and so much more, can be added to the desktop with GDesklets (apt-get install gdesklets-data does it).
• Tabbed browsing - Included in just about every browser other than IE. PM directs users to get the MSN toolbar.
• Calendar - Included in Kmail and Evolution.
• FireFox - included in most distributions. The distros that don't include it will probably have another one like Mozilla or Konqueror.
• CPU Temperature - Covered in a GDesklet.
• Image Resizer - The GIMP does wonders here. Included in most distros. Windows users have to download Image Resizer.
• Alarm - Haven't looked into this much, but I assume there is a GDesklet that can do this.
• Stocks - Probably another GDesklet.
• News - aKregator works great. Included in most KDE distros (haven't looked into GNOME aggregators).
  
• Google search - Default engine in FireFox and Konqueror.

And when you think about it, Windows users have none of these by default. None! 8 out of the 12 conviences listed here are already included in Linux and the remaining 4 are covered by GDesklets, one install of one program.

How do Windows users get anything done...

Microsoft to Mac Users - Don't use IE

This is really ironic.

For the first time in ... forever, Microsoft gave the message to ditch IE. If you load the MSN home page in IE 5 for Mac, from what I've heard, the rendering is horrid and there is a big message at the top that advises users to go with another browser.

Wow.

Take a look at this. Look at the second result in Google. "If you are using Internet Explorer for Mac, we recommend that you use another browser to have an optimal experience on MSN." This is a first. A MS browser cannot properly render a MS website.

As ironic as it may be, this can be a good thing. With MS pushing away Mac users, they will get accustomed to other browsers and will want to use those if they ever use Windows in the future.

The death of IE will really start innovation online.

CNet Article

Trying Writely

After Jon blogged about Writely , I thought that I'd give it a whirl, and I'm pretty impressed. Writely is a completely web based word processor. You can edit and save all of your documents online. You can tag them, star them, and archive them when you're done. You can also upload and export the document and save it to your computer. When I first tried it out, they only supported MS Word documents, but as of now, they also support OpenDocument and OOo SXW. I really like that, since most online services opt out of OpenSource and go for the most commonly used standard, even if it's proprietary.

With Writely, you can also share a document and allow a group of people to edit and make changes, which can be useful in certain situations.

Also, a nice feature is the print feature. Normally when you want to print something in a web browser, you click on a print button and it opens up another small window and you usually print that window. In this, however, you click the print button and it immediately opens up the printer dialog box. It's not necessarily better, but it's a nice improvement.

But one of my favorite features is the blog feature. You can post to most common blog services, including Blogger, LiveJournal, and any other blog that supports the xmlrpc standard (another innovation, brought to you by open standards). I like the Writely interface much better than Blogger's (take a look at the screenshot). I think I'll try using it for a while.

One nice thing is that I can write extra articles and save them incase the likely event happens that I get lazy and want to update my blog. Just click'n blog from Writely, problem solved.

More to come!

Skype vs. Gizmo

User Interface - Gizmo wins
Ok, let's face it - Skype's UI isn't as good as Gizmo's. I find the Skype UI to be clunky, unresponsive, and ugly. Furthermore, you need QT libraries to run Skype and only GTK to run Gizmo. I like Gizmo's UI much better, even though some parts of it don't work yet.

Call Quality - Gizmo wins
I also found that Gizmo's call quality was slightly better than Skype's. Maybe this is just because I was talking to someone about 80 miles away with a Broadband-to-Broadband connection, but I'm not sure. I think that Skype's protocal is designed for slower connections, thus doesn't sound as good as something optimized for Broadband.

Configuration - Skype wins (badly)
Gizmo can't win in this arena (yet). I know that the Linux version of Skype has much less configuration options than the Windows version does, but Gizmo has none at all! None! This means that I can't use my USB headset because there is no place to specify an alternate sound device.

Call Completion Rate - Skype wins
I have had so many problems using Gizmo. Whenever I recieved a call (my friend has the Windows version), I would get a dialog which I would accept, but nothing happened after that. I saw the text "Incoming call from..." in the statusbar, but that changed back to "Ready" in 5 seconds. If that happened (which it did every time), we'd both have to close and re-open Gizmo. I also noticed that Gizmo ties up the sound card after the call if that happens, which is really bad. I have to call my friend in order for it to work.

Piping Through aRts - Skype wins
I like aRts. It works pretty well and I can hear audio in multiple apps at once. 'artsdsp' works great with Skype, but doesn't work with Gizmo. I can hear the other end talking, but they can't hear me. If I exit and start normally, it works again.

Overall Functionality - Skype wins
Skype is overall more functional that Gizmo right now, but that could change soon. Gizmo (for Linux, at least) is currently in beta and Skype has been stable for a while now.

So there you have it. In my comparison, Skype wins. But I do really like some parts of Gizmo. I love how they decided to use only open standards and support SIP and Jabber. We can expect great things to come from Gizmo in the future. But for now, Skype it is.

Google, You Dissappoint Me

I've been reading lots of websites and blogs lately about Google's lack of support for Linux. As far as search goes, nothing beats Google. But, they haven't ported any of their applications to any other OS than Windows (with the sole exception being Gmail notifier for OS X). GMail Notifier, Desktop/Desktop 2, Pisca, Hello, Web Accelerator, Google Earth, and Google Talk (although I do approve on their use of Jabber) are all avaliable for Windows, but none are for Linux. I would really love to have Google Earth and Google desktop on Linux, and possibly Pisca. But this isn't going to happen. Not anytime soon.

And get this - there's a rumor that Yahoo will be porting their Desktop to Linux. Let me say this again - Yahoo. Launch doesn't even support FireFox, and they may be releasing their Desktop search for Linux. Unbelievable.

Maybe we're getting through to Google - Here's a letter from Google:

Dated October 26, 2005 DiBona is familiar with these complaints, and indicated that they are usually made by users dissatisfied by the lack of applications like Picasa, Earth, or Desktop being available for the Linux platform. DiBona emphasized that all of Google’s software are undergoing ports, so ultimately these tools will be ready for Linux, too.

We'll see how long "soon" is.

Sony's In Trouble...

As many of us have heard lately, Sony's rootkit has been causing a lot of controversy over the past few weeks. It really restricts your freedoms to do what you want to music. But not only that, but people have made viruses for it. Viruses! All people want to do is play their music, and they are immediately vunerable to new viruses.

And it looks like MS is doing something smart. They're going to release a tool to get rid of it.

But that's all besides the point. A couple of days ago, people found LGPL code in it (from mpglib - I think that's from LAME, but I'm not sure). Yes... they used Open Source code and failed to even mention it.

But now, they've found proof that they also used GPL code in it. They found code from drms.c, a program written by DVD Jon and Sam Hocevar.

Sony, get a clue. Not only have you surpressed freedoms by not allowing us to do what we want with our music, but you have also used free software without even bothering to mention it.

Let's boycott Sony!

FeedBurner Digg Splicer!

FeedBurner just added Digg to it's list of Link Splicers. Being a fellow digger, I enabled that feature. Now, if you subscribe to the blog feed, you'll also get the interesting stories that I've dugg. So if you're bored and I haven't posted anything, look at the feed. Chances are there'll be something interesting to read there.

Ad-Supported Windows? No Thanks.

According to CNET, Microsoft may be planning on releasing ad-supported versions of their products. In particular, they were thinking about ad-supported versions of Works, Money, or (possibly) the whole OS.

To me, this seems like a desperate attempt to get people back over to MS's proprietary formats. I don't know if you have ever used Works before, but it is a complete piece of crap. Not only is it a horrible word processor, but it can't view nor edit MS Word files despite the fact that Microsoft created the format. To me, that is pathetic.

And an ad-supported version of Windows? Definitely not. Having ads in an individual application is one thing, but having to view ads whenever using the computer is just absurd. Why would you put up with that if you could pop in an Ubuntu or Kubuntu CD and try a great, fast, fully-featured free and Open Source OS without even needing to install it? Whoever doesn't is just being stupid.

Whoa, Talk About Speed!

I finished compiling the Kernel and following a couple of HOWTOs. Yesterday, I was able to hibernate and resume successfully using Software Suspend 2 with NVidia drivers. Thanks to everyone in the Ubuntu community who made those HOWTOs possible.

Everything was working well, but I wasn't too impressed with the speed of hibernation. It took about 30 seconds to hibernate and slightly less to resume. I went back to the HOWTO, and re-read a section where it instructed you to compile proper support for your IDE. I didn't find mine on the list (I have an Intel ICH5 SATA). I had compiled in SATA support, but apparently that didn't help because I was getting around 5 MB/s read and 6 MB/s write.

I started googling for answers, and found a site that had some info on my specific IDE chipset. It said that the Intel PIIX driver worked with my chipset. I recompiled the Kernel with that driver included (this time it only took a few minutes) and wow! I rebooted and it started up quicker than it ever did! It now hibernates in about 5 seconds and resumes in about 6. I looked at the speed, and now I have a whopping 51 MB/s write speed and 48 MB/s read speed. Hibernating is faster than it has ever been on Windows (take that Microsoft!) and now everything in Linux is faster.

Enter 'gloat' mode :)

That Was Quick.

And, suddenly, Hibernation no longer works. I installed the nvidia-glx package and activated it, and hibernation doesn't resume anymore.

I discovered that Ubuntu doesn't use SoftwareSuspend2, but instead the original SoftwareSuspend that is included in the kernel. From reading a bit, I've found that version 2 works much better. I also found a guide on the Ubuntu forums that I'm currently following to get hibernation working with the proprietary NVidia driver.

We'll see how this goes.

A Cup of Ubuntu

Well, I tried Kubuntu and wasn't too impressed by it. I really like it on my other desktop, when I didn't have any real goals for it, but I was expecting slightly more out of it here. It worked OK, but I couldn't find any hint of Hibernation... anywhere.

So, I installed regular Ubuntu, and I'm really liking it. Hibernation works great. I also discovered that Ubuntu uses the original version of Software Suspend, as opposed to the new Software Suspend 2 that I was trying before. It seems to be working fine, but if I come across any problems, I'll install the newer version.

And I've also learned to appreciate Gnome. Up until now, I've basically had the opinion that Gnome went in the wrong direction when they moved the main menu up to the top of the screen. But, it doesn't bug me. At all.

I'm also noticing that Gnome has some nice bells and whistles that I haven't had with KDE before. For example, when I insert a DVD, it opens up Totem. When I insert a regular CD, it auto-mounts it and opens it with Nautilus.

On Fedora, I really hated Nautilus. But on Ubuntu, they've changed it around so it is much more usable. I still favor Konqueror, but I can now actually imagine using it.

But, my life is still not complete without KDE. So, I installed "kubuntu-desktop" and now I have Kubuntu and Ubuntu together in one. I'm going to try to use Gnome more and see what happens.

Stay tuned.

Time For Kubuntu?

Well, XFree86 has crapped out on me. I tried installing KDE headers to compile an application, and in the process it needed to upgrade XF86 and install X.org. Why, I don't know, but I let it continue. I clearly remember what happened before when I upgraded and swiched the X server to X.org, so this time I told it to use the XF86 server instead. Well, today I booted up to a text login prompt. I logged in as root to see what was up. Running "startx", I get the message telling me that /etc/X11/X is not executable. I changed into that directory and tried a ./X, but I got the message "/etc/X11/X - no such file or directory".

At this point, I don't know what's going on. I'm guessing that "X" is a symlink and it links to somewhere that I don't know.

Well, I guess Kanotix had it's run. I'll probably make a couple more attempts to revive it, but in some aspects I'm glad that I may have an excuse to try another distro.

Lately I'm getting all hyped over Kubuntu. I installed it on the MythTV box (now, we have a TiVo) and I really like it. That computer is lacking in speed and decent ram, but Kubuntu still runs really well on it. When I first heard about Ubuntu, I was a little concerned that it was incompatible with the Debian package repositories, but after trying it out, I found most of the applications I need are in the Ubuntu repositories. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that's because people can contribute to the multiverse repository.

One thing that I'm really looking forward to using Kubuntu is Hibernation. I never got SWSP working on Kanotix, and now I'm probably not going to. I know Ubuntu has hibernation built in, and I'm pretty sure that Kubuntu does too.

So, I'm probably going to end up putting Kubuntu on here.

Stay tuned.

Less Filler, More Content

You've probably noticed that I haven't been posting as frequently as I have been before. This is because I'm trying to avoid 'filler' blog posts and actually post articles that are worth your time to read. I'll try to average an article every two days.

More to come!

The New Users Guide to Windows XP

So, you've decided to buy a new computer running XP or buy an expensive upgrade to it. Good move! You will now be able to unlock features that have been avaliable in other OS's for a while now. But don't let that get you down, because you will have them now too!

So, you're sitting in front of a fresh XP installation. Time to start using it? Nope! You need to upgrade to SP2 immediately. If you've been able to obtain a CD with SP2 on it, you're lucky. If not, you'd better have broadband, because it's a 80 MB download. After that, it'll probably take an hour or so to install.

So, now you've installed SP2 and did a reboot. Now, more updates! Go to Windows Update and get all avaliable updates. Chances are, you'll need to go there at least three different times and reboot after each one. This process will probably take at least an hour, depending on how many bugs MS has decided to fix.

Go grab a cup of coffee, the fun has just begun.

So, now you have a fully patched system. Time to use it? Not quite. Now, you have to go out to the store and purchase Norton AntiVirus, which is around $50. Once you've bought it, drive back home and install it. 10 minutes and a reboot later, it should be installed.

So, now you have a patched system with AntiVirus. Nope, still not done yet. MS decided not to include any sort of protection against spyware in the OS, so you'll have to do that yourself. Go out and download Spybot, Ad-Aware, and MS AntiSpyware. It's best to have all three, because there's always something one has that the other two don't. To be safe, install and configure all three of them. Make sure at least one is always running in the background.

Once that's all done, go to the security center and make sure that automatic updates are enabled and a firewall is installed. The default XP firewall is pretty crappy, so it wouldn't be a bad idea to get a real one. ZoneAlarm offers a free firewall that works ok, so you can go with that. Install it and reboot. Otherwise, read on.

Now, at least four hours into this fiasco, you are finally ready to start using your system. In XP, there is very little software avaliable at first, and the applications that are there are of poor quality. So, go ahead and spend the rest of the day installing the rest of the applications that you need.

You have now wasted a day of your life.

But, the war's not over. There are periodic tasks that you must preform

• You need to make sure your AntiVirus and AntiSpyware apps are always up to date
• Every week, you need to analyze the hard drive and defragment it if necessary
• Every month or so, you need to run an AntiVirus scan
• Every month or so, you need to run a spyware scan
• Every month or so, you need to go to Windows update and get all avaliable updates
• Every six months or so, your Windows install will likely get screwed up and you need to repeat all of this over again

Have a fun time with Windows XP!

SCO Wants Linux 2.7 Info

SCO has done it again. Now they're asking Intel for info on the mysterious Linux 2.7 Kernel. The problem is that it doesn't exist.

From the Inquirer:

There is no 2.7 kernel, and it never really made it past the discussion stage. That doesn't seem to be an impediment for lawyers in search of a case, though.

Fresh from the last round in which they claimed victory, the SCO boys are on the attack.

So what does SCO use for evidence that IBM contributed to something that does not exist? Aliens? Area-51 technology? Time travel devices that haven't been invented yet? The cat told them? Whatever the case, you can read all about it on Groklaw (go to the real article)

Way to go SCO.

DSLinux

We have our first entry into the contest! Kenneth Coble has submitted this great article about DSLinux. Heck, if they get Linux perfected on it, maybe I'll get a DS and use it as a PDA.

It didn't actually take me long to think of a "worthy" post to enter into the MLB's contest. All that I had to do was think of what technologies were exciting me at the moment. And as I have become wrapped into the world of WiFi nothing has me more excited than the up and coming DSLINUX!

Don't get The name confused with DSL wich is Damm Small Linux. Although it will be Damm Small, it's not quite the same thing. This distro is going to run solely on the Nintendo DS handheld system.

If you haven't seen the DS let me give you some brief details. It sports dual screens, the bottom screen being a Touchscreen! It has microphone capabilities, built in 802.11 B wireless, and nice emulated surround sound. It also has some decent graphics processing due to dual arm processors that come close to the graphical powers of the Nintendo 64 of the olden days.

This isn't meant to be a replacement for the DSLinux website. I won't be delving to deeply into the Technical details, but I am going to entice your imagination a bit.

Just think a few of these possibilites over. NFS wireless transfer via adhoc or infrastructure with multiple Nintendo DS systems over a WiFi or "Ni-Fi" setup. Touch pad support, period! Dual Screen Xmame? Homebrew Linux apps for the DS (aside from the existing text games).

Im not sure where it stands and I know that the PSP has its own respective team working on PSP-Linux, but I've always been a Nintendo supporter and there are just too many innovative features in this handheld to ignore. At the very least DSLinux is a cooler name.

I wonder if we'll start seeing DSLinux boxes soon rated N for nerds only :)

DSLinux Site

Comment Moderation On

Blogger has a new comment moderation feature. This means that when someone submits a new comment, it emails me and asks me if I want to publish the comment or reject it.

Word Verification had it's run, and seemed to work well, but got annoying for me after a while. I'm going to give this a try and see how well it works.

Also, I added Head Change to my blog list. Check it out when you get a chance.

More Get The Facts Bull S***

"By choosing Windows Server over Linux for our new SAP APO solution, we'll save an estimated one million dollars in software, staffing, and support costs over the first four years. We needed performance, security enhancements, and reliability at a reasonable price, and Linux would have presented additional risks in all of those areas. It may be the new thing from a technical perspective, but Linux doesn't cut it from a buisness perspective - I need a proven IT environment that I'm sure we can support"

--Rick Dempsey, Cheif Information Officer, Rayovac

WTF??? Linux would present risks in performance, security enhancements, and reliability? What planet are they on?

Yeah, they'll save One Million because MS is paying them to do these stupid, false, and pointless ads. Any real techie knows that Linux blows Windows away in areas like Security and Reliability.

Technorati Tags: microsoft, linux, get the facts

New Logo

I found a new logo for the blog that I like. I think it somewhat fits in with the blue theme, and still looks pretty cool.

Let me know what you think.

Microsoft: "Firefox support is coming soon"

I just heard on digg that Windows Live beta has been launched. Windows Live currently is a start page, similar to Netvibes.

I went to the page and was surprised to see this text at the top:

Firefox support is coming soon. Please be patient :-)

Hmm... Since when has Microsoft released a new web application and actually planned towards FF support? Hmm...

Actually, the site now seems to work perfect with FF. I haven't noticed any real problems. The only "problem", if you consider it a problem, is with the sidebar. "hide sidebar" seems to be misplaced and doesn't do anything.

Microsoft Checks Me Out...Again

You may (or may not) recall before when we got a hit from Microsoft. Well, it's happened again.

Someone at Microsoft came to my blog not just once, but twice. How did they get here? Technorati.

Using Technorati's new "Blog Finder" utility, they found my blog under the name "windows vista". They came to the blog home page, and you won't believe what browser they were using. Firefox! Yes. Firefox. Sounds like someone working for Microsoft doesn't feel safe using IE! We don't blame you.

So they came here and saw my latest post about the XPS format. Then, they clicked on the "Comments" link, since there were two comments.

After that, they left and came back (once again, from Technorati) and viewed the home page. Then, they left.

And this all happend about 15 minutes ago (at 3:37)

Oh, on a completely different topic, a Google search for "mighty linux" brings up my WP.com blog first, and then this blog. That's really odd since this blog has been around longer, is a Blogger blog (Google owns Blogger), this is updated much more frequently, and this has a higher PR (but the other one is not doing that bad, 3/10). Really strange...