Archive for the “Windows” Category

Just not in this arrangement.

Last week we had a bit of a upgrade-induced meltdown at work.  The server upgrade that had gone so smoothly the night before had somehow fallen apart by the next morning.  I was flying into work with my laptop already out and ready to go online and see what had happened by the time I got in the office, and I went straight to my boss’s office instead of my own.  I sat in the chair next to his desk and he and I worked on the issue for about an hour to get everything buttoned back up again.  Towards the end of our ordeal, he noticed how slow my laptop had gotten since they had purchased it for me and how much battery life it was sucking away.  He decided that I needed an actual workstation to have in my office, and to only use my laptop when I was working out of the office.

This is a follow up to my last post here.  If it seemed like it was a little one-sided, that’s because it was.  It was getting a little long in the tooth, so I split it into two separate entries.  If you read one, and feel the need to comment, please make sure to read both.

At the end of my last entry, I sort of bashed on the iPhone unfairly.  It’s not that I have an actual issue with the iPhone per se, but it was the best example of Apple’s “we can charge you extra for what PC user’s have had for years!” mentality.

In truth, where Mac OS shows everything that making a computer “idiot proof” can do wrong, the iPhone shows where “idiot proof” isn’t such a bad thing!  (special thanks to my friend Robert, a Mac user, for the phrase “idiot proof”).

Tags: Apple, Cingular 8525, HTC, iPhone, os x, Smarphone, Windows, WM5, WM6

OK, just to be clear first and foremost; this is not to start a flame war.  I am writing this about my own experiences and observations using computers and personal electronics.  Not everyone knows computers to the same degree, so I’m going to simplify things as best I can without coming across as children’s programming.

I would tend to think that I have a little more expirience using a computer than most people.  Not all people, mind you, but most.  I own a Mac and a PC and use Windows and OS X (sometimes at the same time).  I’ve had to teach myself how to recover from any sort of system crash in Windows, and that there isn’t really a way to recover from a crash in OS X (so don’t go screwing around in there).  But it wasn’t until this last weekend that I think I might have hit upon the fundamental difference between an Apple and a PC.

Tags: Apple, bootcamp, computers, defragment, error message, iPhone, leopard, Microsoft, migration, os x, reformat, winclone, Windows

I am an absolute technophile.  I love seeing all the new gadgets that come out and what they can do for me.  I love to think about how I can then modify those gadgets to do even more for me without me having to pay anything more.  I’m a cheapskate, and an enthusiast.

The term “enthusiast” is not one I’ve used all that often to describe myself.  If there were a scale to describe how much of an enthusiast a person could be, I’d imagine I’d be rather low on the scale.  But the fact is, I’m still ON the scale.  There is a very sad down side to being an enthusiast (well, there are probably a few); those same devices that you find you can’t live without aren’t usually everywhere you might need them.

Tags: 256k isdn, broadband, cell phones, cheapskate, Chrome, commercials, DVR, enthusiast, HTPC, internet, ISDN, listening to the radio, new gadgets, Oracle, technophile, TiVo, tv, Vista

My aunt is a really funny lady; she has a wonderful personality and a great sense of humor.  She’s also smart enough to know when she’s doing something wrong vs. when something just isn’t working.  She sent me an email and invited me to post it here.

I am now playing Halo 2.

This sounds like I’m horribly behind the times, but in fact I’m only a year behind. I’ve played through all of Halo 2 on the Xbox, mastered the multiplayer, pwnd n00bs and l33ts alike, and have enjoyed the game like crazy. However, at some point, long ago, I stopped playing on Xbox Live and canceled my account. Then the world moved past me.

Suddenly we’re on Xbox 360 and Live has been totally retooled. You can now opt to NOT play against foul mouthed 9-year-olds (you can even mute specific people), and giving negative feedback about someone actually does something to them!

Not having the funds for a 360, I kept the multiplayer experience for video game parties at friend’s houses. And I was happy with that (my thoughts on anonymous multiplayer changed drastically when I realized I seemed to be the only person who wasn’t practicing Halo like I had nothing else to do in life).

Tags: Bungie, Halo, Microsoft, multiplayer games, negative feedback, PC Multiplayer, Vista, Xbox, xbox360 games

I’ve written about this before on other sites, and I’ve briefly touched on it here, but I want to get this off my chest.

I hate the whole Mac vs PC thing. I hate those stupid ads, the zealots who think they actually have a valid argument, and I’m starting to hate white plastic because of them.

That out of the way, let’s clear some stuff up; yes I have a Mac, yes I have an Airport Extreme, and yes, I like them. So why do I have such a strong opinion against Macs? Well that’s just it, I don’t. I have a strong opinion against the whole “herd” mentality of Apple advertising, and the suckers who just eat it up.

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