Channel 9 - Discussions by Flashbak

Coffeehouse - The Anti-Sticky

Flashbak — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 12:26:54 GMT

jamie wrote:

could we lose at least one sticky post ( the "what do you want to know about vista (but were afraid to ask)" one?

No, can't loose that sticky - there's a plan you know...

... the plan is when Vista SP1 is released they'll answer the questions :

"That issue was fixed in Service Pack 1"

Coffeehouse - Ho-hum

Flashbak — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 16:33:02 GMT

Don't see what your security concerns are it's only storing personal contact and financial information...

Seriously though, I wouldn't hold your breath for a fix. If you're the only customer bemoaning the quality of the application then they may not consider it enough reason. The other possibility is that many customers are complaining, but the software is sufficiently niche (which I would suggest it is) that they don't have much competition.

That said, I really hope you've approached them about your issues. After all if they're unaware of your concerns, how can they fix them. Presuming they'll notice traffic from their website is flawed in that they may not support the site themselves, and even if they do how many small businesses ever look at their web logs!?

I have to say, looking at the UI it's certainly not the pretiest I've ever seen and a little busy for my tastes but it's not THAT bad.

After all if the app works well for the end users (not ignoring your security concerns, which certainly are an issue) then I'd take functional over pretty any day. (Unless that day is your wedding day of course )

Coffeehouse - Web 2.0 Expo Girly Geekdom Competition - for UK Students

Flashbak — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 16:18:09 GMT

Might be worth highlighting to someone at Channel 8 (http://channel8.msdn.com/About/Default.aspx) as the official Microsoft "Place to be for Students"

Coffeehouse - Leopard 10.5

Flashbak — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 15:55:45 GMT

creditcard wrote:

When Leopard comes out and you buy a new Mac, it comes with Leopard already right?

Indeed it does.

If by that you mean where's the revenue stream; well that's a whole other argument about Apple and the halo effect of their various hardware/software combinations

Coffeehouse - Leopard 10.5

Flashbak — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 12:06:19 GMT

Firstly in the interests of full disclosure I am a Mac owner, and small-time Apple fanboy, but it's Mac for fun and Windows for business...

... really XCode is not Visual Studio

Anyhow, whilst I have already pre-ordered (Yesterday!) a copy of Leopard if I'm honest it's largely because it's something new to play with rather than me actually needing any of the new functionality. And unless Apple is witholding some new feature, I really don't see anything that groundbreaking.

That said, comparing it to Vista I don't think either product shows a clear win - although at present Vista is somewhat tarnished by being shipped maybe a tad early, I imagine most of the issues will settle down after SP1. And in reality Leopard isn't actually in the race until the final build ships.

It's sad, but true, that the overriding reason why Vista and Leopard exist has nothing to do with innovation or servicing customers, or any other altruistic reasoning it's money pure and simple. Both companies need to find revenue streams and releasing new products is a way to do that.

It's no doubt true that the computing experience has come a long way since the days of command-line only interfaces and will doubtless continue to improve. However for companies to finance this improvement (especially as the incremental improvements become smaller and more costly to make) you'll just have to put up with the occasional dud version (Windows ME - shudder!!) and keep paying the piper. Because if you don't there won't be a next version, and who knows that might be the version you wanted!!

Coffeehouse - 7 Page Review of Windows Home Server

Flashbak — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 15:44:27 GMT

Isn't WHS somewhat of a product waiting for a market?

I suspect the number of civilians running mutiple machines at home is fairly low, of those that do they probably use a switch to share their internet connectivity and that's about it.

Yes, backup functionality is a good thing - but first users need to be persuaded that backups are needed. Far too many people just don't see it as an issue.

As for the vast majority of WHS's potential customers, that would be us (Channel 9 members) the compromises made to produce a cut-down Windows Server are a deal breaker, besides which how many people here aren't running at least one server at home?

So personally, I'll stick with the quarter pounder Windows Server, rather than the diet salad WHS thanks all the same!

Coffeehouse - Bye, and good luck Rory

Flashbak — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 12:41:13 GMT

As a random, unknown talking head from the internet - I'd like to wish you all the best Rory! I can certainly relate to the whole quitting thing...

And one last thing before you go Rory, you realise you have to do a long exit interview and post it on Channel 9!

No really, you must - it's the law

Coffeehouse - One Web Day

Flashbak — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 01:30:05 GMT

Fine, so we probably should celebrate and indeed cherish the internet for enabling seamless human communication - either of the interpersonal variety or the dissemination of news.

However, the internet has an fundemental flaw - it lacks physical form. So all you open source, free software, I don't want to pay for it zealots (I accept these categories may not apply to all!) consider how that attitude plays out in the real world. Most people own cars and spoons and cameras and indeed the knowledge to make these items is well known. However I have yet to witness anyone going shop to shop and door to door asking for free spoons!

Even if I have spoons, or I'm a blacksmith who makes spoons - why would I give you one? What are you contributing? The only time this scenerio playing out in the "real" world is begging or pan-handling. I think I just called some of the free-software community beggars - oops! that wasn't really my intent (but it is 2:20am here right now); but I'll press on with my point regardless...

What we should all be doing is contributing more. When I was at University, the web was just begining. Graphics on a webpage were a rare treat, we were using NCSA mosaic - mostly on SUN/SGI workstations. Gopher was in it's heyday, and files were moved around with FTP and FSP (anyone remember that!?). BUT importantly everyone contributed what they could to the community and by it's very makeup there were few (if any) freeloaders.

So next time you moan about your favourite podcaster asking for donations or the piece of software nagging you to pay and register - consider what you've contributed to the community...

... and if like so many today it's essentially nothing, then shutup and pay the $5 or the $25. Money on the web isn't evil, perhaps its a sign of maturity - after all you don't work for free do you.

Me, I'm happy to say I'm paying my dues - over the years I've done my bit on Usenet, released a few bits of software (that app for the Acorn Archimedes that converted from various icon formats) that was me! and paid for more shareware than I care to remember.

So if you want to advance onlife life - be a better member of the community

Coffeehouse - What were you doing?

Flashbak — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 16:31:58 GMT

I was at work in the UK, I got a phone call (from my Mum as it happens) saying that the WTC had been hit according to the BBC newsflash she'd just seen. I guess the fact that the BBC broke into an exisiting programme made it stand out, I think she'd only called me at work maybe once or twice before.

I hit the net, as one does and already the BBC, MSNBC, ABCNews, CNN (I'm sure I tried a bunch more sites) were crawling along; little more than leaking the occasional packet - at that time myself and the rest of the IT department were the first to know, so the company net feed was still ok.

Flash forward a few minutes, and the rest of the company knew. Back then they only had a 2mb line, and it was borked with everyone hitting the web. It only lasted for a few minutes, I was just about to make some changes to our firewall to drop the web traffic when it evaporated. I was surprised by this until I wandered around the building to find everyone clustered around a couple of TV's watching the events unfold.

As it happened the company was also sold on that day, but as you can imagine none of us really paid any attention to that news.

Coffeehouse - How often do you change your desktop?

Flashbak — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 20:40:07 GMT

I don't change my desktop wallpaper all that often, when I've found one that a) spans 3840x1200 without distortion and b) has or can be corrected to have an appropriate tonal range, I tend to stick with it.

I'm not sure some brightly coloured backdrop does ones eyes any good poking out from behind and around windows on the desktop - certainly when I'm staring at a screen for many (too many!) hours a day exceptional contrast is what I don't want.

I remember the last time I changed icons, cursors etc, it was when I first installed Windows 95. I think all that eye candy is something I've just grown out of...

... gazes at OS X desktop (or maybe I just get eye candy fix elsewhere these days!!)

Coffeehouse - Choose your weapon

Flashbak — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 14:17:02 GMT

I considered the DiNovo, but I'm concerned about the placement of the trackpad and volume slide.

The Razor I hadn't seen, and it looks like a real contender - now if only they hadn't messed up the PageUp/PageDown key cluster!

The new Apple keyboard looks nice, but I've yet to try one out. Actually it looks a bit like the Enermax keyboard - has anyone tried that?

Coffeehouse - Tell us about what you do for a living

Flashbak — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 14:06:07 GMT

Charles, It'd be really useful to have a few more options, or possibly have the poll offer checkboxes rather than radio icons (do we still call them that, or am I showing my age?) so we could pick multiple answers.

I imagine many who might want to enter ITPro, i.e. those working for small shops as "IT Manager" or "The IT Guy" want to pick :

Helpdesk
Developer (Systems)
Exchange Admin
Active Directory Wrangler
Cleaner of dirty mouse balls
Cat 5e Cable knitter
Excel formula debugger
Developer (UI)
... and anything else the clueless PHB who employs you thinks should be in your job description...

Not that I have any unresolved issues from when I used to be "the IT guy" or anything

Coffeehouse - Choose your weapon

Flashbak — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 19:15:55 GMT

The model M keyboard is actually pretty close to the keyboard I'm replacing.

... and I'm just not sold on ergo keyboards, although I've never used one for long enough, if I'm honest, to really hold a solid opinion. Perhaps I'm just being a bit of a luddite?

Maybe I'll wish I hadn't been when carpal tunnel finally kicks in

Coffeehouse - Choose your weapon

Flashbak — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 17:25:44 GMT

Due to some percussive maintenance of head by keyboard, I'm in the position of needing to find a replacement keyboard for my primary machine. My old keyboard had been a trusty Cherry heavy-duty clicky version. Now I need to replace it, I thought something with a little style would be nice.

... And yes, I've seen the Optimus keyboard, and I'm afraid (though this might make me a heretic) I don't like it. Style looks fine, but the usage of movable keycaps and static sceens would drive me to distraction - so that's out. Not that I mind paying a little over the odds for the right device.

What do 9'ers recommend, what's your prefered keyboard?

Coffeehouse - Apple to release iWork for PC's

Flashbak — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 17:16:44 GMT

I can't see them doing it. The port of Safari certainly was a surprise to me, but trying to take on Microsoft Office would be unlikely I'd think. Apple, even though it punches far above it's weight, isn't crazy. My bet is that they'll continue to follow the now established pattern of targetting the home user/lifestyle segment, and the graphics pro/publishing sectors. I don't imagine in Apple's wildest dreams do they see substantial penetration into the work-a-day PC/Microsoft arena.

I have to admit to being somewhat of an Apple fanboy (Lovingly strokes Macbook!!), but some of us straddle both camps and still manage to maintain a sane view on the world.

Coffeehouse - The rise and fall of Rory?

Flashbak — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 22:53:49 GMT

So brie is it; mouldy on the ouside, soft and creamy in the middle

Well whatever foody metaphor is you preference, it's good to see your return.

May the crackers of your life be henceforth and forever plentiful!!

Coffeehouse - The rise and fall of Rory?

Flashbak — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 10:12:51 GMT

To take up a coffee metaphor, what with so many of you being Seattle residents:

I like a good shot of espresso, rich and flavour-laden, it gives you a jolt. Sometimes it's even better with a little water added to make for a longer drink. (Those are Charles videos)

And whilst espresso is the mainstay of my coffee consumption, sometimes I want something different.

If you take an espresso shot, and blend with ice, cream and chocolate you get a completely different drink - whilst the essential coffee element is still present the beverage is a completely different beast (These are Rory's videos)

But you wouldn't want all that chocolate and cream everyday because you'd get really, really fat

So I guess what I'm saying is what happened to the Rory behind the camera videos? I'd quite understand if the higher-ups are loathe to let him loose with a camera, but go on we need a little Ror-ster occasionally!!

Also for full disclosure I have to say, I'm really not much of a coffee drinker - tea all the way for me. (in my defence, I'm really rather awfully British!!)