Mar 11, 2007 | blog
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?
Technorati tags: Microsoft Vista, Mark Evans, End of Windows, Last Windows
Mar 7, 2007 | blog
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
Technorati tags: Zoho Writer, EchoSign
Mar 7, 2007 | blog
I’ve been using FireFox as my main browser now for about 9 months (maybe a little more) and have become a true convert from IE. Since there is much more expandability on the FF side, I’ve really started depending on a select group of plug-ins. This expandability that was never available in IE, has allowed my browser to take on new functionality that I never dreamed could be possible. So here is a list of my current FF plug-ins.
- FireFTP – FireFTP is a free, secure, cross-platform FTP client for Mozilla Firefox.
- del.icio.us (classic version) – Keep, share and discover all your favorite things.
- ClipMarks – With Clipmarks, you can clip the best parts of web pages.
- GUtil – Google® Utilities in your Firefox Menu and Toolbar
- Cooliris – Cooliris Previews 2.1 for Firefox gives you the power to browse faster and send links instantly.
- Foxmarks Bookmark Synchronizer – Install Foxmarks on each computer, and it will work silently in the background to keep your bookmarks synchronized.
- Blog This for Firefox – The Blog This for Firefox adds a button to Firefox which starts a new Windows Live Writer blog post.
- Google Notebook – GNotebook allows you to clip & collect information in private & shared notebooks.
So there you have it – the mainstays of my FF add-ons. The one other really powerful tool in FF for me is the bookmark toolbar. I wish there was a way to make a second toolbar for bookmarks as I have trimmed each entry down to one or two letters with the “favicon” for the site.
Do you have any great FF add-in suggestions? There are thousands out there and I know I’ve only scratched the surface.
Technorati tags: FireFox, FireFTP, ClipMarks, GUtil, Cooliris, Foxmarks, Google Notebook
Mar 3, 2007 | blog
It may be for me. My new theme simply does not like WLW created posts – mainly because it does not create strict XHTML. Why can’t Microsoft adhere to a standard? It really frosts my balls when they have some great (and complex) products, but they can’t follow something as simple as XHTML.
Ugh!
And it was a nice WYSIWYG editor as far as I was concerned. Figures!
Get it right MS!
Technorati tags: Windows Live Writer
Feb 26, 2007 | blog
My brother-in-law Dave has a great post where he talks about Microsoft Word (among other things) and its usefulness. He’s right on the money in that most users simply view it as a tool for writing quick documents and not employing its more useful features.
Nice writeup Dave!
Link to Dave’s Journal: The Obligatory “Crackdown Rocks” Post, Snow, and Word
