Caffeinated Gonzo!

Apple cautions Windows iTunes and iPod users to wait a few weeks to upgrade to Windows Vista.  It seems that the current version of iTunes is not compatible with Vista and will cause data corruption or worse with purchased iTunes or on the iPod itself.

CodePlex is Microsoft’s open source project hosting web site. Coders can use CodePlex to create new projects to share with the world, communicated with and join others who have already started their own projects, or download and applications on this site. Feedback is encouraged.

If we want the world to embrace free software, we have to make it beautiful. I’m not talking about inner beauty, not elegance, not ideological purity… pure, unadulterated, raw, visceral, lustful, shallow, skin deep beauty.

~ Mark Shuttleworth

Far from the cold days of computers locked up in dungeons with white lab-coat suited scientists, our relationship with computers have evolved into something more personal and akin to our relationship with our automobiles.  Whether we love computers, or hate them, the biggest influence on how we relate to a computer has more to do with Aesthetics than numbers.  Design is  is an important part of any computing experience. 

Personalization is another important feature. As much as IT Support people hate the idea, very few people use a computer long without at least attempting to personalize their desktop environment in some fashion.

Creative people love the Mac because it is beautiful. Geek’s love Linux because it is tweekable.  Back in the early 1990’s many PC users became Windows users because of two innovations.  Reluctant as they might have been to give up the familiar look and feel of Lotus 1,2,3 and WordPerfect 5.1, secretaries adopted Windows because it had the ability to have a cute desktop and they could play Solitaire when the boss wasn’t looking.

Whether the average home / home office user adopts Windows Vista early will have more to do with aesthetics and available bells and whistles than any perceived gain in productivity or security over Windows XP.

Linux is cool.  If you are a geek that is.  It can even be beautiful at times, but Mr. Shuttleworth is correct when he says that it could use some improvement. 

Aesthetically, I would love it if my PC could look, act and feel more like OS-X. If I could afford to replace all of my Windows software for their OS-X counterparts cheaply, I would switch in a minute. 

Linux when done right is like a cheap vacation from the day to day business world that is my PC experience.  The more beautiful it could be, the happier more fulfilling my little byte-sized vacations could be.

This is the first post I have written using the beta version of Windows Live Writer. It will be interesting to see how well this new effort by Microsoft works with my WordPress.com blog.

So far it is evident that Windows Live Writer can work with WordPress categories and upload pictures. I am curious about how it will handle post formatting. I will know as soon as I hit publish. Here goes nothing…

Any one who claims to be geniunly surprised by the news that Microsoft has planted Spyware in Windows and several of it's other products as a part of it's "Genuine Advantage" program has got to either be living in a fantasy world or care less about computers than how to operate their toaster.

The fact that Microsoft finally admited (even if half-a*sed) to this obvious intrusion is the real surprise.

Just when you thought it was about to be safe to remodel your Windows at home again, Microsoft prepares to role out the new Vista product line. Which one of the eight styles of Windows will you bring home. Microsoft is offering eight. All of them presumably come with free a screen(saver that is).

Check out Information Week's step-by-step and illustrated guide on how to boot XP from an ordinary USB drive. Linux users have been doing this for a while so it's really not all that new of an idea. Haven't tried it myself but it's might make for a decent experiment if nothing else.

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For later snacking and digestion over a bag of donuts, I found these articles on Outlook Group Schedules and “Manage group schedules in Outlook.”
I also found this Microsoft Knowledgebase article on adding holidays to Outlook, a feature I had trouble finding after Outlook 2000.

Randomly chosen and chewed…

msd2d.com covers Microsoft Server, Exchange, SharePoint, .Net and more. Discussion, tips, articles, and e-mail newsletters are available on all these topics and general computer security as well.

Another good place to find info is& msexchange.org.

Then there is Microsoft’s own “Exchange Server Tips and Tricks Center.”

Delving deeper into MSCE Brien M. Posey’s site I found the following link to a large section of articles on Microsoft SharePoint. Many of them are worth a good read.