Entries for ddewbofh

Wow, when did Autodesk take over the world? [Wow, when did Autodesk take over the world?]

ddewbofh — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 07:38:35 GMT

Was looking around their portfolio, mostly looking at Autocad 2008 and something hit me. They totally dominate the high-end visualization market. They have everything in that field, ranging from mechanical design to 3d rendering.

Not only that, but they have also bought the people who make plugins and renderers for their stuff. I'm totally impressed, that's the ultimate in capitalism. Aw man, if I could go back in time 10 years and pick up some of their stock I'd be a rich man now. :)

in reply to Wow, when did Autodesk take over the world?

(rant) BeOS->Dan0->YellowTab->Magnussoft->? [(rant) BeOS->Dan0->YellowTab->Magnussoft->?]

ddewbofh — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 06:19:44 GMT

Weird headline, but there's a point. For those who don't keep up with the greatest OS in history, Beos, here's the 30 second version of it's history.

<backgroundOnBeOS>

Be Inc created the Bebox with it's custom designed operating system BeOS. This was generally considered to be an awesome machine but thanks to bad marketing/managment it failed. After that Be focused on a x86 port which was powerful, elegant and no one got it. It did things, UI-wise, that systems of today finally are getting, things like rendering video on OpenGL surfaces and so on. Lot of the things were just for showing off but it's still a powerful os.
Be Inc saw that BeOS wasn't very profitable so they switched their focus on to their internet appliance software, BeIA. Sadly this was way ahead of it's time at a time when most internet access was dial-up so that sold about as well as icecream on the north pole. Be Inc went bankrupt shortly after and sold the rights to BeOS to Palm.

Now here is where it gets hard to keep track of. Some say that Bernd Korz has bought the source and/or rights to distribute it but there's been no evidence provided for or against that. He founded YellowTab anyway and went on to develop and sell Zeta (presumably BeOS 5.1 or 6).

Last year the company went bankrupt and a deal was made with magnussoft to sell and distribute Zeta as well as port software to it. The development team at Yellowtab stayed on to keep working on Zeta and a patch was recently released, bring some pretty sought after new features such as multi-user and a translation framework.

A couple of days ago magnussoft and Zeta parted ways for undisclosed reasons and now it's in a state of limbo.

</backgroundOnBeOS>

That should provide some background atleast to my post. I'm a huge BeOS fan and have been using it on and off for that past 10 years and I still think it's an amazingly powerful os with a strong foundation. It's got some very good design choices that I think are relevant even today.

I'm just curious if anyone else here is a fan and how they think Zeta should be handled in the future. Assuming Bernd owns the source should it be donated to Haiku, opened up in any other way or should it be kept closed source with further development?

If I had the finances for it I'd buy YellowTab and their devs in a heart-beat, what do you think? :)

in reply to (rant) BeOS->Dan0->YellowTab->Magnussoft->?

Chinese democracy [Chinese democracy]

ddewbofh — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 03:16:55 GMT

The upcoming album from Guns N' Roses, anyone heard it?

I'm actually quite surprised with it, a lot better than I expected. It's been in the making now for a decade and it finally looks like they're wrapping up production. First off I should mention that the name is very misleading, there's nothing GnR about the band except for the frontman. I'd say that it's rock mixed with some industrial influences.
Lyrics-wise it's decent but the music and performance of the whole band is awesome, the air-raid siren Axl Rose is back with a vengeance, just listen to the bridge in "Better".

Can't wait for it's release, it's sort of on a Duke Nukem schedule with the firm date of "whenever it's done" but unlike DNF I'm actually looking forward to it. :)

PS Axl's voice is as good, if not better, than it ever was in the 90's. Just wish I could say the same of his style of using botox and hiding his reciding hair-line with implants and rastas.

in reply to Chinese democracy

Great article/editorial about MS and Bill Hilf [Great article/editorial about MS and Bill Hilf]

ddewbofh — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 01:35:46 GMT

Yes, I know it's a risky subject but I found the article to good to pass up. It explores MS way to compete as well as co-exist in an open source enviroment. Talks a little about the various deals MS has made with open source companies and how other companies, like Oracle, are starting to embrace OSS.

It's a pretty level-headed read and there's no "bashing" going on as far as I can tell. I quite enjoyed reading it since the other stuff you read about open source deals on the net are usually very heavily skewed in both directions.

Check it out and let me know how you think, I'm curious over how the "real" linux people here interpret it.

http://redmondmag.com/features/article.asp?editorialsid=688

Edit: It sure looks like we're seeing the start of a new era in Microsoft, less "me, me, me" and more "us, us, us" :)

in reply to Great article/editorial about MS and Bill Hilf

A Windows security features chart [A Windows security features chart]

ddewbofh — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 15:35:15 GMT

http://www.matasano.com/log/611/gunar-petersons-os-security-features-chart/

Found this over at ufies.org and I'm curious on it's validity and if anyone have any comments? Looks legit and the features in it aren't geared towards anyone's favour.

Discuss :)

in reply to A Windows security features chart

How many are using Vista in a way like the longhorn concepts? [How many are using Vista in a way like the longhorn concepts?]

ddewbofh — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 01:41:13 GMT

I was checking out the old longhorn concepts from 2003 and how they show that explorer was supposed to be used less and less. That you would browse less and work with searching and tagging instead.

What's happened for me is that for the first few months of Vista-testing I used the "old" XP way of accessing files, browsing folders etc. but now after getting used to using the start-menu's search and the included apps for everything I work differently. I've set up a few stored searches for some special cases but apart from that I hardly use the file browser.

I seriously think that within a few months I'll be able to work without any file-browsing at all, instead relying on indexes and searches.

I find that pretty amazing, if you start using Vista "the Vista way" it's really obvious that it's more than XP with a fancy GUI. Anyone else had similar experiences?

in reply to How many are using Vista in a way like the longhorn concepts?

Yahoo Messenger WPF [Yahoo Messenger WPF]

ddewbofh — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 19:06:19 GMT

If you for some reason haven't taken a look at it yet I suggest you do, there's a great video over on on10.net about it.

I'm simply curious whether MS has collaborated with Yahoo on it or if there's a new WLM on the horizon that uses WPF.

Thanks
/Dave

in reply to Yahoo Messenger WPF

Apple and vendor lock-down? [Apple and vendor lock-down?]

ddewbofh — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 20:24:47 GMT

In the light of tonight's announcements something hit me. Am I the only who's concerned about Apple's vendor lockdown? From what I've understood about itunes is that either you use itunes music store (driven by apple) or nothing at all. It's sort of the same thing with the apple tv, you can only stream stuff from itunes. Apple's software is only for their hardware and if you buy their hardware (computers) then you'll have to buy their OS. Later on with the iphone will it be possible to buy it "unlocked"?

To me, the casual observer, it looks like they're trying to control the whole computer business with their company. They are controlling everything from the hardware design to the various pieces of software as well as the use of it by only allowing their own store to be used for digital purchases.

The most bizarre part to me is that MS comes off as the bad guy even though they're the ones collaborating with manufacturers as well as online merchants.

Any thoughts?

in reply to Apple and vendor lock-down?

Rory as the "successor" of Scoble (WARNING: mind-less rant) [Rory as the "successor" of Scoble (WARNING: mind-less rant)]

ddewbofh — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 23:16:48 GMT

Any opinions on whether he's doing a good job?

I know it's not the right thing to call him, but you get the idea. He's sort of the new "front-man" of Channel 9.

Personally I miss Scoble, I think he had a nice normal geek thing going. I could identify with him more, seems more like a "proper" geek in my eyes. Sort of like a normal person coming to this behemot of a company and asking people what's new.

That being said I really love Rory's interviews. He's sort of a geek many aspires to be, in the professional sense as well as other ways (yes, I am a little jealous of his boyish good looks :P ). The interview with the driver-guy was pure gold, that's the kind of stuff I really want to see. In a way it feels more natural when the focus isn't so much on the technology and more on the people behind the technology and their experiences in the field.

Anyways, keep the great interviews coming, I really like them. :)

/Dave

in reply to Rory as the "successor" of Scoble (WARNING: mind-less rant)

Vista RTM and mobile devices [Vista RTM and mobile devices]

ddewbofh — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 07:41:45 GMT

I know this probably isn't the best place to ask, but I'm guessing atleast a few of you are running Vista RTM.

I have a Sony-Ericsson w810i cellphone, pretty awesome little piece of hardware, and I was hoping to get it to connect to Vista. I know the OS isn't released yet, there are no drivers etc. but I figured someone here might've found out how to use the XP drivers to get it to connect.

I tried asking google to no avail as well as browse through the newsgroups for the beta.

Any pointers would be awesome
/Dave

in reply to Vista RTM and mobile devices

Port25, opinions? [Port25, opinions?]

ddewbofh — Sat, 15 Apr 2006 08:26:46 GMT

So, I've just spent 25 minutes reading the comments on the top two posts on port25. So far I've seen one "proper" response, everything else has ranged from retarded slashdot-comments to "educated" responses ala "M$ already steals OSS-code, their tcp/ip-stack is ripped from FreeBSD. Just look at their documentation."

I just gotta ask, what were they thinking? What are the goals/hopes for this, is it to create an open forum for discussions about OSS-interoperability or what are you hoping to accomplish?

in reply to Port25, opinions?

Google calendar launched [Google calendar launched]

ddewbofh — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 03:34:26 GMT

Just checked it out and it looks pretty awesome. Using natural language recognition (or whatever it's called) for input so you can enter "Meet up with Mike for lunch from 12:30 to 13:30 next monday". Very pretty interface as well, I'd say it looks cleaner than gmail.

Have a look at calendar.google.com

in reply to Google calendar launched

Re: Windows and the Internet: Unsafe at any speed revisited [Re: Windows and the Internet: Unsafe at any speed revisited]

ddewbofh — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 19:50:30 GMT

shooby wrote:

I took a locked down, firewall-ed, antiviruse-ed, anti-spyware-ed, and ran a limited account and, well, randomly browsed the internet, clicking on whatever popped up.

The stupidity of users can't be blamed on windows, go play with your dolls now.

in reply to Re: Windows and the Internet: Unsafe at any speed revisited

Curious, exposé or the new taskbar and why? [Curious, exposé or the new taskbar and why?]

ddewbofh — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 19:05:23 GMT

I wanna hear from people who have used both which one they prefer and why. I prefer the new taskbar thumbnailing myself, exposé is great but it's too "cluttered" for me. I really can't hack having windows flying around on my screen. :)

in reply to Curious, exposé or the new taskbar and why?

Turned off OSes because of zealots? [Turned off OSes because of zealots?]

ddewbofh — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 15:18:38 GMT

Am I the only who's been turned off an OS because of zealots? I know it sounds like an april fool's joke but it's actually happened to me. In this case it's about linux fanatics, all you see around on forums and in newsgroups are crazy "everything must be free or else..."-types.

Most other minority OSes, like BeOS, *BSD and so on tend to have more like a "<otherOperatingSystem> does this, how can we do it better?"-spirit going on in the forums. Why is linux so diferent? One thing that strikes me as odd is that many of the linux newssites judge linux as better based on statements like: windows is insecure/slow/annoying/kills puppies and linux doesn't do that, therefore it's better. Why not stop comparing linux to other OSes and start focusing on it's strong points instead?

That mentality has made me focus my attention on the other great OSS systems out there, specifically Nexenta (GNU/Solaris). Both the forum and mailing-list traffic there is a lot more down to earth and sane.

</rant>

in reply to Turned off OSes because of zealots?

Yet Another Vid Request (tm) [Yet Another Vid Request (tm)]

ddewbofh — Wed, 29 Mar 2006 07:55:50 GMT

I really enjoy the hardware videos, it would be cool to get more of those. Stuff like with the design dept. or the point-of-sale demo.

in reply to Yet Another Vid Request (tm)

Re: Windows Vista Launch - November 2006 [Windows Vista Launch - November 2006]

ddewbofh — Tue, 14 Mar 2006 14:44:14 GMT

Ahh, uniformed opinions expressed with an imagined sense of knowledge. Where would the world be without Troll 2.0...

in reply to Windows Vista Launch - November 2006

Transferrable licenses? [Transferrable licenses?]

ddewbofh — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 13:25:35 GMT

I've been getting conflicting answers to this question and figured someone here might know.

Looks like I'll be needing to run WinXP 32-bit for some software but the only copy I have available is some old retail-version I got from a friend when I got rid of his box.

I figured I'd install that but got kinda worried after seeing something about "having the media and a product-key does not mean you have the right to a license" or something to that effect on microsofts site. Are licenses transferrable or am I up the creek on this one?

Cheers
/Dave

in reply to Transferrable licenses?

Confessions of a switcher returned [Confessions of a switcher returned]

ddewbofh — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 22:20:21 GMT

So the story goes something along these lines:

Back in 2004, after a long period of dual-booting win2k and various linux distributions, I came across the pearpc project and got sold on the mac os.

I wound up getting myself an imac which later on turned into a powermac g5. Both great machines, fast and stylish. I happily macified my life and went head first into the infamous apple-scene.

But what made me turn back to the x86 world was a lack of choice the are great apps for Mac OS X, just not that many of them. :)

So I went to linux and gave ubuntu a run for it's money, but something was _still_ missing.

But I've found out what it is, the total lack of consistency. That combined with the arrogance and elitism pushed me over the edge. So I hooked myself up with a new copy of Windows XP Pro x64 and Visual C# Express and I'm totally happy.

Can't see what all the whining is about, I've never had a BSOD, I don't even know how to manage to get infected by spyware or anything malicious for matter. I do regular spyware and virus scans of course but so far I've managed to avoid it.

I've been away for 18 months but now I'm back on Windows, here's to 10 more years. :)

/Dave

</rant>

in reply to Confessions of a switcher returned

NUGs (.NET User Groups) [NUGs (.NET User Groups)]

ddewbofh — Mon, 12 Sep 2005 08:10:19 GMT

Ok, so after my last post looking for fellow .netters I checked out SWENUG (thanks for the link, you know who you are). I'm kind of wondering what it's like, so if anyone have been to one of their meetups/seminars I'd love to hear a little bit about it. Like what's discussed and how "newb" tolerant they are. This might not be the best place to ask but at least there are _some_ international users here. Cheers /Dave

in reply to NUGs (.NET User Groups)

Sitespaces.net [Sitespaces.net]

ddewbofh — Sun, 11 Sep 2005 20:03:37 GMT

I just checked it out. Seems nice enough, but how about doing some sorting with the various groups? So you have topics like: tech, life and so on. Make the ones already there sub-topics to those. It'd make it a whole lot easier to read.

Other than that it looks decent enough.

Just my 2 cents :)
/Dave

in reply to Sitespaces.net

Any swedes around? [Any swedes around?]

ddewbofh — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 13:33:50 GMT

I was sitting here enjoying the PDC videos when it struck me, to my knowledge there aren't any user groups here in Gothenburg, sweden. So if there are any Gothenburgers around I'd love to get a few tips. We used to run a group but after we all moved it kinda disbanded and now I'm looking around for another one.

Cheers
/Dave

in reply to Any swedes around?

An insightful comment on slashdot (albeit not _at_) [An insightful comment on slashdot (albeit not _at_)]

ddewbofh — Sun, 28 Aug 2005 09:03:39 GMT

Found this little nugget on digg, figured the linux/slashdot crowd might find it interesting.

Linus Torvalds in a recent LKML post

Gaah. I don’t tend to bother about slashdot, because quite frankly, the whole _point_ of slashdodot is to have this big public wanking session with people getting together and making their own “insightful” comment on any random topic, whether they know anything about it or not.

Quoted for truth.

in reply to An insightful comment on slashdot (albeit not _at_)

Differences between OEM and Retail discs [Differences between OEM and Retail discs]

ddewbofh — Sat, 27 Aug 2005 17:04:56 GMT

Would it be possible, both legally and morally, to install XP using my OEM key from any cd downloaded off the net?

I accidently threw the CD away when I was cleaning up the other day and now I need to reinstall XP. I have the cd-key on a sticker on the computer but I don't have the disc.

Cheers

in reply to Differences between OEM and Retail discs