The problems just don’t end for Microsoft. So many kludges have been used through the years, there are just too many ‘exception errors’ when the company undertakes a new project.

Ask anyone who has been involved with computers for a few years, and they will tell you that one of the biggest problems with any Microsoft operating system, and because of them, the hardware to be used by them, is backward-compatibility. Undoubtedly, there are things retained in Vista that, for the sake of backward-compatibility, originated in DOS 3.3 - maybe even earlier.

Apple showed how to properly make a break from the past when OS X first arrived, and it worked pretty well - not perfect, but now hardly anyone even speaks of it. If only Microsoft could have gotten this idea - or had the good sense to stay partnered with IBM, as those people know a thing or two about backward-compatibility. IBM has some software that runs on everything from the latest iron they make back to the machines with punched cards.

It seems that the latest problem Microsoft wants to address is the non-compliance of any released version of Internet Explorer with specific standards - most notably Acid2. As the story in Ars Technica explains, until Internet Explorer 6, Microsoft seemed to have the idea that ‘might makes right’ and so it would make the browser render as it wished it to, no matter what the international standards were. For the IE versions 1.0 to 5.5, the call was ‘Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!’ Then when IE 6 was about to be introduced, enough complaints were registered to be of concern to Microsoft. A new method had to be devised to allow the old, incorrect coding (mostly done with FrontPage) to work, yet not break when correct coding was done. There are problems with this, as anyone who has ever compared rendering of pages with IE, Firefox, and Opera will tell you.

Apparently there was not enough impetus for IE6 to fully comply with established standards, so IE6 is only part of the way to compliance. Internet Explorer 7 was a bit further along the way, but has made no friends with its own problem bag - many simply refuse to use IE7. Even making the download available without the inane WGA checks along the way hasn’t helped much. Microsoft is once again going to ‘push’ IE7 as a way to get it onto more machines in February.

Now, talks of Internet Explorer 8 are arriving, and Microsoft talks of ‘compliance modes’. This is as oxymoronic as ‘jumbo shrimp’ or military intelligence’. How many ’standards’ can there be for one thing? If you’re Microsoft, the answer is ‘as many as we want!’

So the answer for Microsoft, instead of a clean break with bad coding (some surprise, eh!) is to add another way of coding for Internet Explorer 8.  Microsoft is certainly relying heavily on the ‘U’ in FUD this time. Perhaps over the next few years, all older pages could get closer to compliance and we could judge browsers on features and speed, instead of IF they will allow pages we need to see correctly.

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Tags: microsoft, internet explorer 8, super standards compliance, internet explorer 7, wga, opera, firefox, acid2 compliance

According to all reports, the bidding is not quite as brisk as was projected for the frequency auction being held by the FCC. One look at the mapping of the proposed spectrum shows that again, the FCC and those who thought up this money grab had no clue of how radio transmission works and how electromagnetic propagation takes place.

look at the way the band is chopped up - this must have been figured out by Bozo the clown and his band of mental patients, using darts and a ouija board.

Looking at this, along with the other failings of the FCC in the last 20 years, makes it possible to decide that some sort of revolt should most definitely take place, as the FCC has no concern for the public good, only the lining of the pockets of its leaders ( and of course, any elected official who successfully hooks up with all the graft and chicanery).

Beyond the problem of the chopping of the spectrum, the entire changeover is a disaster waiting to happen - and it probably will, February of next year. This transition was to take place all at once, moving from analog to digital like the movement of a double-throw knife switch. Not anymore, and it is being reported  that someone wasn’t paying attention to things, and was probably bad with numbers, as many (117) stations across the country will be moved from not only their channel frequency, but also their numerical designator. Oh, I can see the civil actions lining up now, as we all use those numbers daily. Some lawyers are going to be convinced by stations, inconvenienced by channel number changes, that their inconvenience is worth some money (big money).

Now there is talk about ‘unique technical challenges’ that might let some stations cut back power, as long as 85% of their viewing audience is covered. (Just hope you are not in the 15% that get screwed when your favorite shows are no longer available in your area.)

There are so many problems here that the money once allocated to ’sell’ this idea to the masses, may not be enough - especially when those problems start cropping up. 

When things start getting dicey, it’s going to take more than a couple of $40 coupons to mollify thousands of unhappy television viewers.

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Tags: channel auction, fcc, bandwidth costs, converter box, graft, bilking the public

Since almost everyone is looking forward to the next version of Microsoft’s operating system, it should be a time for a look at what works, and what does not, and has not, for the past iterations of it.

maybe?

One of the things that, for some, make Windows the easy thing to learn it is also makes it a source of frustration for others. Many operations have 2 or more ways of being carried out. Some of these are carry-overs from previous versions of the operating system, while others are additions to make more sense to the uninitiated user. Changes here could make a huge difference in any upcoming revisions, and should be looked at carefully. 

Where there are two or three ways of doing something, the effort should be put into determining the best method, making the most sense, and then the other methods should be eliminated. This will make a big difference in future coding. Here is the rub, however, the brain-dead testers that were the guinea pigs for Vista should be blacklisted, and never used again. Microsoft should use those who have helped with the hardware testing (mice, primarily) as they have turned out winner after winner, unlike the usual software crew, whose taste and basic intelligence are questionable.

works in Las Vegas!

One of my personal peeves is a problem that has frustrated many of my customers, even if it is only for a short time. When removing software through the add-remove applet, the typical user will be concerned (as I said, perhaps only for a short time) when the dialogue comes up expressing the ‘configuration’ of the program - let’s be clear about this - NOTHING IS BEING CONFIGURED, it is BEING REMOVED. This is just another place where grossly stupid people put this in place - I can only imagine how this translates in other languages, and what trepidation comes to first time users - wondering why they cannot get the program to uninstall, and that somehow they missed a message that flew by.

Another thing that would make Windows (7) a better operating system is the coding of help files that really help. Instead of those terse, uninformative messages with obscure numbers, there could be a help file, to be pulled into memory only when needed, that would give a reasonable explanation of what has happened, and a hint or two on its solution. (Those who state that this would involve great cost, need to be prepared to convey to Microsoft that we’ve been paying for this for years, with overpriced software, and underpowered help.) A look to Unix man pages gives a clue as to what should be available.

Perhaps Microsoft should sponsor a contest to find the most absurd things with Windows, and remove them, which would be a grand prize for all who use their products.

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Tags:   microsoft, 7, operating systems, unix man pages, illogical methods, improved ui, user interface changes

Who knows what will happen in the long run with HD DVD, but if you are the of the gambling type, you can really clean up with a purchase of an HD DVD player or more HD DVD discs.

remember this…lots of these were sold at near cost before Christmas!

The loss of each studio, as they have come, one by one, has made the outlook look more and more bleak for the HD DVD crowd. It is especially bad since many of the people who bought or received HD DVD players at Christmas are still awaiting their promised promotional discs.

  remember, there are combo players being sold - the best of both worlds!

The HD DVD booth in Las Vegas, at the Consumer Electronics Show was pretty grim, but adopters of the format must remember the Yogi Berra quote, as all is not over just yet.

The current pricing is pretty attractive on both players and discs, and if you are a ‘glass half full’ person, you can envision the huge numbers of machines sold in the last two months of 2007 as a wedge, that will not allow HD DVD to completely go away. I do think that this is more than a VHS-Beta debate at this point, because as I have said before, HD DVD will surely survive as a storage medium. The question is, ‘Will it receive support by enough studios?’

No on can answer that right now. No one.

I will venture to say that enough players were sold to keep HD DVD players going - so if yours dies, you’ll still be able to get another for quite some time. Or perhaps you’ll be able to buy another new one.

From the sales I have seen in this area (Southern California), it is really tempting to keep buying discs if you have a player. Some of the HD DVDs are showing up at the same price as regular DVDs.

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Tags: hd dvd players, hd dvd discs, movie studio support, combo players

When I first heard about the Time Warner Cable idea of usage caps, I knew what an incredibly bad idea it was - immediately. Everyone I have talked to has agreed with me on this, and the number of reasons that have been expressed are many more than I could have come up with on my own. Each of the people spoken to have personal reasons for the deeming the capping a move of stupidity, and not a single person has expressed one iota of concern that the idea of caps has some merit.

So imagine my amazement when I read that a public interest group known as Public Knowledge has endorsed the move, claiming ‘it is a welcome development for consumers and for the cable industry’. This was the line put forth by the president of Public Knowledge, Gigi Sohn.

do you really want to take advice from a group as clueless as Clouseau?

What planet is this woman from? Did she give one second of thought before speaking out on the move of this cable company?

As I have said before, I don’t really think there is even one good reason for capping. So I do have concern for any group that identifies itself as being for the public good, yet gives opinions to the contrary.

The problem here is similar to the people of Consumer Reports, another group that purports to be in the public interest. I remember being an audio salesman (back when there was an audio industry to speak of), and having people come in with their issues of Consumer Reports, looking for the models that were deemed best by the ‘experts’ from the magazine. Well, not only were the reports wrong, for a variety of reasons, none of them having to do with individual taste, the very worst reason was that the ‘experts’ were so incredibly slow (I was not thinking mentally at first, but I suppose that could also apply) that when Joe Consumer came in with his magazine, almost all the models reviewed had sold out, as the Consumer Reports publishing schedule for audio electronics conflicted horribly with the release of new equipment.

The entire ordeal reminds me that we should always be wary of those who ‘have our best interests at heart’, not discounting them totally, as we should Consumer Reports on audio equipment and Public Knowledge on internet capping, but doing some checking on our own, and making sure that the reasoning done for us was done by those that we might consider worthy of consideration.

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Much ado has been made over the proposed bandwidth caps to be put in trial by Time Warner Cable. It is almost a shot heard round the world, as it has been put into the press releases of many publications, all around the globe.

In ITWire, an online publication from Australia, the case was made that other parts of the world have had to deal with metered usage, but then also makes it clear that these places have never known a time when usage was not metered. This is a good point, as imposed constraints are always more difficult when no restraint has ever been used.

While everyone seems to be talking about this capping, no one has seen how it can change the landscape of things here in America. One time foes just may join together to defeat the nasty forces of evil that would limit the free flow of data.

Think about it for a minute… The list could be very long. Apple and its  music download service would be first on the list, and not just because we tend to start with the A’s. It’s only a hop and skip to the television networks, that wish to have extra revenues with downloaded content. When limits on downloading start to appear, the customer base is going to become very selective, and thoughts of downloading gigabytes of material that becomes useless after 72 hours doesn’t sound like such a good idea.

Let us face it, every big company that has content to distribute becomes an enemy of caps, and a friend of the consumer.  A strange turn of events, no?

In the mean time, the many e-mails, voicemail messages, and hard copy letters to Time Warner that should be sent will serve to make that company think twice about its ‘little experiment’.

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Tags: time warner cable, itwire, download limits, metered usage, content providers, american’s unlimited usage

Last fall, it was reported that DirecTV had heard the rumblings of the many DVR users it has, and that several updates were on the way in January.

Well, some of the units have been pushed further back, to receive their updates in February, but for now, the HR20-700 will be gaining the ability to be programmed from a customer’s cell phone. With so little that is new on television, it is amazing that this was a feature rolled out first, but it will allow busy people another way to avoid missing favorite material.

Strangely, the promised rewards to the DirecTiVo faithful have yet to materialize. No one in customer service seems to have a clue what is being asked, as they know that DirecTV is no longer selling TiVo units.

Since it was reported in several places, and no retraction has come, it is assumed by this writer that the TiVo updates for DirecTiVos is still on the way - just delayed, kind of like the television programming of the second season.  Checks of the 2 TiVos in this house occur at least twice a week since January 1, to discover any updates to the system. So far, no joy.

perhaps a consultation will bring answers to when the promised upgrades will take place!

With the rather large push DirecTV is making right now, with the typical lulls after the holiday season, it is possible that these little updates are not the first things thought of when advertising dollars are allocated. Everyone knows that the already converted are taken for granted, and the holy grail is conversion of all the non-believers.

For those who own the covered model, almost any cell phone with Internet access and the Internet Explorer or Opera browser will enable distant programming of these DVRs.

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Tags: directv, remote programming, directivo, tivo programming changes, dvr remote control, opera, internet explorer

Over the past 3 weeks, I have been working on quite a few Dell computers for a leasing agency. I have seen cheap ones, expensive ones, desktops, laptops, and lots of them with Vista installed.

I had the chance to compare a couple of the Dell XPS machines with multimedia setups. One of the machines had Windows Vista Home Premium, and was set up to function as a home theater center, the other was set up similarly, but with Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005.

nice looking case, and it works well when loaded with the right stuff.

Before anyone gets the idea that this is not a fair comparison in terms of hardware selection, I must state that you would be wrong. The machines were identical except for the operating system, and the Vista machine had a second DVD-RW drive, while the other only had one optical drive.

another view of the handsome, but non-standard Dell XPS case.

These are also machines that had been on lease, so it was my job to bring them back to ‘like new’ condition. This meant that the drives were wiped, the operating systems reinstalled, updated with all the hotfixes and other updates to current, and then tweaked to make for the best performance.  By the way, both machines, being XPS models, had Pentium 4 2.8GHz processors, with HyperThreading enabled, and 2GB of RAM.

Each time I had to work on one of the Vista machines, I found myself getting peeved, so I guess you could say there was a bias. However, the bias was totally due to the fact that while one machine looked good and felt peppy, the other, using Vista, felt terribly sluggish, and was hard to wait for, as it took time to accomplish tasks. (Remember, all updates had been applied, so all the knowledge and help from Microsoft released thus far had been brought to bear.) While I hear people talk about the ‘gorgeous interface’ of Vista, I’ll agree that the color schemes are a change for the better, but some of them are simply the look of ‘angry fruit salad’ that as a budding programmer, I was told to stay away from.

As I tried out the machines to assure that they would work adequately on every task I had the chance to time things. In many cases the difference was a factor of two or three to one. The Vista machine was slow in accomplishing every task. I had to keep reminding myself that basically these machines were identical.

At night, when I would come home, I found myself looking at the ‘tips and tricks’ to make Vista faster, and this led to further frustration, as I found I had already, as a matter of course, done these things. (The more things change, the more they stay the same - most of the tricks are identical to the ones spouted by almost every article about how to speed up XP.)

I also read of the difficulties that people had with Vista in common theater setups, many of which had to do with video cards chosen. Most of these problems related to nVidia and the lack of mature drivers. Guess what. Both machines, and I suspect the lion’s share of those delivered by Dell, used a 7300 nVidia card. The problems indicated by the frustrated Dell users were easily duplicated when I tried, showing that the problems still were occurring, and then similar things done on the XPS with MCE showed no difficulties.

Problems with using two screens, such as television and monitor, problems with the television tuner (an ATi TV Wonder Elite, PCIe edition), the general lag induced when any operation is undertaken, all combine to produce a system that is wholly unsuitable for home theater usage.

Perhaps the change to a quad-core machine would make the lags less noticeable, but the problems with the tuner and displays will stay until changes are made in the core of Vista, and the drivers for the video. There is nothing more annoying than trying to quickly change channels on television, in order to catch the very first bit of the program, and having the change be slower than molasses in winter due to the vagaries of the operating system. (Just ask anyone who has Dish Network - these people know about slow channel changes!)

This is not so much a slam of Dell as it is the whole problem with Vista. Dell might have chosen components more carefully, but it also could have insisted that XP MCE be used until Vista gets the bugs worked out.

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Tags: vista, windows xp mce, home theater setups, htpc, dell computers, ati tv wonder elite, nvidia drivers

With the lack of something amazing from the Consumer Electronics Show, or Mac week, and nothing happening on the bleeding edge except for the activity of corporate lawyers, it becomes time to ponder if this might just be one of those ‘rebuilding’ years that sports teams are always talking about.

When talk of a rebuilding year comes up, all excitement leaves the conversation, and wistful looks into the distance, and dreams of what may come appear. It is a sure sign that no bursts of quality play and winning streaks are in the near future.

Consumer electronics, and especially computers, seems to be in a rebuilding year right now.

AMD, still feeling the pain of the problems with the first run of quad-core Barcelonas, is promising, in best Schwarzenegger fashion, that ‘They’ll be back!’. Intel, with no threats from the AMD camp on the near horizon, has decided to let a few production dates slip by. The graphics arms of the industry, ATi and nVidia, are making changes, but they are incremental, and evolutionary, not revolutionary, as we might have hoped for. Via seems to be making a small comeback with its PC-1 platform, but how many people are going to buy a low end PC and get really excited about it?

In the software realm, no news is coming about anything startling or earth-shattering. The big news here is the one about how the little companies get swallowed up by the bigger ones, like the old cartoon about the many levels of fish that eat each other. Microsoft has certainly not helped things with the extreme poor showing of Vista - and by that I mean that, no matter how much futzing is done with figures, perception IS reality, and the perception of the general public is that Vista is a bust. Everyone is awaiting the flavor of Linux that will make the reviewers say that this is the Windows killer - the OS that will draw the many away from the dark side, and into the light of Open Source.

Is that going to happen? Not if the Linux people don’t start working together. The tens, perhaps hundreds, of different distributions do nothing to bring the average user into the fold. Microsoft loves this, because the Linux users’ self - dividing behavior means that the conquering part is easy. Instead of so many different distributions, which mainly change the exterior of the OS, perhaps there should be something called simply Linux, and then the rest should be marketed as simple ‘glamour’ and ‘utility’ packages to add on. Possibly that is too much to change at once. There could therefore be Linux with KDE, Linux with Gnome, and Linux with Xfce. This would make choices smaller, and serve to eliminate some of the confusion.

So what does Joe Average think? If he wants to have something wonderful, exciting, and interesting he must tell those who try to innovate what makes for that excitement and interest. The big guys need a little help in this time of rebuilding.

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Tags: rebuilding, excitement, innovation, ces, mac world, ati, nvidia, amd, intel, linux, vista

I guess Ultimate means ‘not-as-limited-as-the-standard-version’ and doesn’t guarantee the owner much more than a couple of games from Microsoft. 

Oh, and for something to be Ultimate, it would seem that no Plus Pack would be needed. Guess that was a wrong impression.

This was found at FutureShop.ca, and the product is to go on sale in February, at a price of $39.99. There seems to be no utilities, or helpful add-ins for Vista, just four games that are of dubious value.

It will be interesting to see when (and if) the product goes on sale here in the USA.

(I’m sure that the package installer is designed to disallow installation on anything but Vista, much like the Windows Defender will not, without persuasion, install on anything but Vista and XP - it’s not enough to get the money for the games, MS wants those big Vista bucks as well.)

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Tags: plus pack, vista, games, canadian announcement, futureshop