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Thoughts and things I care to shareCould Windows Vista be the end of the line?
Mark Evans asks if Vista is the beginning of the end of Windows, and I think he is asking a very good questions. I’ve mentioned this before, and believe that the new OS is the browser – actually the ‘net because that is where the applications and solutions are.
Operating systems should be “seen and not heard”, to steal a phrase from generations past. An OS only needs to perform a few specific, but important, functions. Namely, an OS is the software needed to interface with the hardware, to provide a stable platform on which to run task-specific applications, and to secure the entire environment from intrusion or compromise. Anything more than that is bloat, simply serving to slow the entire system down.
While there probably is a move by many to the Mac, I believe the true winner in the long run will be Linux. Since many distros are free, the price of entry is right compared to the Mac. Also, the level of sophistication is far enough along to provide the base services that an average user will need. Ease of upgrade or migration still needs to be dealt with and some rough edges in the environments will also need to be smoothed out and polished up.
The real challenge for Microsoft is to, of course, make Windows appear to have value to their customers. To them, this means adding features, making it better looking, and other items including more secure. Yes, I truly believe Microsoft has made great inroads in this area. To be fair, MS has the largest installed base, hence the largest availability of systems to learn how to subvert. The installed base also supports the largest number of applications that were written to the original Win32 API, and if you break that – guess what. So MS has some real hard work patching the system without breaking the API (documented and undocumented).
At any rate, as people discover that they can have all their applications served on the Internet, store all their files on storage services that are always backed up, and everything is accessible from everywhere, the importance of the operating system will be drastically reduced.
Via: Mark Evans – Is Vista the Beginning of the End?
NetVibes vs. PageFlakes I
After finally checking out PageFlakes and comparing to NetVibes, I just prefer NetVibes. It seems that there are more widgets to add to a page, and they seem more flexible. Adding my custom hosted GMail account was easier on NV than PF for example.
Poll: Are you using Twitter?
Easton Asks: How Do You Read Web Feeds?
Easton Ellsworth has discovered and converted to Google Reader as his main feed reader and has followed a post from Web Worker Daily and asks How do you read RSS feeds? So, ok I’ve got my own method or pattern for reading my feeds in Google Reader – which is the only feed reader as far as I’m concerned.
So, here it goes:
- Morning: Start with the All Items “river of news” style view going from top to bottom using my mouse scroll wheel, marking posts started (s), and shared (shift-s).
- Daytime: Keep following the All Items view, refreshing a few times to see what’s current.
- Evening: Focus on reading A-List feeds, and then technical feeds, then mobile device related feeds.
Overall, I really have become enamored of the river of news view that Dave Winer pioneered (thanks Dave!). Thanks for the question Easton!
As to why I read feeds, it simply is multitudes faster than individual sites. It’s also much more up to date than traditional media, which has caused me to cancel or let expire all my magazine subscriptions. They just can’t compare to the information shared by bloggers, or published to the news feeds.
Via: BusinessBlogWire – How Do You Read Web Feeds? My RSS Reading Habits
Storage Wars – Online Services
Well I’ve finally found the article that I was interviewed for by the Wall Street Journal – though I found it at The Baltimore Sun instead. The article by Jessica E. Vascellaro details the current crop of available online storage options from Box.net to XDrive.
WSJ interviewed me for my experiences using XDrive, though I also use Box.net as well. There are differences between them in usability and performance, but the simple ability to get at your most critically important files from anywhere is very powerful.
Link to The Online Storage Wars (at The Baltimore Sun)
Link to The Online Storage Wars (at The Wall Street Journal) subscription required
links for 2007-03-09
- Nifty web based image optimizer. Supports GIF, JPG, PNG and can convert between the three formats. Nice!
- This will change everything – not because it’s VoIP and cool, but because Microsoft will drive it into nearly every small, medium, and large size company. Large enterprise organizations will also see the cost/performance value. This changes the VoIP int
- An updated version of the successful Samsung Q1 Ultra Mobile PC.
- More and more, Google Reader is the preferred method of powering through large numbers of posts and articles. Anne Zelenka at Web Worker Daily describes how she uses almost all the GReader keyboard shortcuts, while another source simply uses the mouse sc
- Web Worker Daily’s Anne Zelenka has a great article on three web based mind mapping software tools. I might need to explore these!
- Interesting interview with BMC Software CEO Bob Beauchamp talking about managing IT.
Twitter Tip #1
Microsoft VoIP Server Public Beta
This changes everything for unified messaging. Make room for Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007.
Via: Yahoo! News – Microsoft Readies Public Beta Test of VoIP Server
links for 2007-03-08
- Freeware PDF printer driver – sounds good to me.
- Absolutely incredible – Steve Rubel digs up a great tip for Google Maps. It allows you to set a custom zoom factor for nearly any satellite map.
- I think this is important, mainly because the way I find new blogs is identical. I’ve found 99% of my favorite blogs by links on other blogs. All my feeds were found this way as well.
Zoho partners with EchoSign, updates Zoho Writer
Zoho Writer is now integrated with EchoSign. This kind of cooperation and partnering is what breads great products. The enhancements just updated on Zoho Writer entice me to use the product more than Google Writer for example.
Also updated/added is support for Box.net, another online service I use, and blogging tweaks to make posting from ZW easier.
Via: Zoho Blogs – Zoho partners with EchoSign & more
@MAC_Arms Pay taxes when you make your money, pay taxes when you spend your money, pay taxes when you successfully invest your money, pay taxes when you save enough taxed money to afford a house, pay taxes to live in your house, pay taxes when you sell the house that you paid taxes on to
Yup, taxes are criminal and we need serious reforms. I've always said that if you want to see a tax revolt, make withholdings illegal and have Americans write a tax check every payday. They'll revolt for sure. You don't miss what you never had.
I think it’s safe to say that @GovEvers should stop blocking audits in Wisconsin and open the books…
“Only AMERICAN citizens should vote.”
Sen. @berniemoreno says voter ID and proof of citizenship are simply common sense.
“We’re talking about a very low threshold — identify who you are and prove you’re a U.S. citizen when you register to vote. I think we’re getting closer to
Wrong. Democrats are solely responsible for hours-long airport lines.
They voted to defund TSA three times and won’t even entertain a conversation about reopening it. Why?
They’re using it as leverage to stop enforcing immigration laws.