Lights That Blink

I’m with Chris Pirillo on this 100%…

The power of the PC is that it can support a billion different configurations, but some of us are at the point in our lives where we only need one config to work. I’ve come to this realization, and I don’t find it sad at all - I find it uplifting.

…

To switch or not to switch… is becoming less of a question. Yesterday’s arguments simply DO NOT APPLY.

(emphasis mine)

tags: apple, macmini, os-x, windows

Posted by Doug | 1 Comment »

Joost is live.  Well…in the beta sense.  It is open for everyone.

Check it out.

tags: joost

Posted by Doug | No Comments »

Lots of links and videos about the favorite toy of over-eager law enforcement and security personnel.

tags: politics, video

Posted by Doug | No Comments »

This blog entry from Bring It On! hits the nail on the head.

Here’s a thought. If OpenOffice.org wants me to quit spending thousands of dollars on a commercial product, they have to compete on more than just price. Price isn’t the deciding factor in which suite I buy.  Quality and enhanced productivity are. Even if the cost of Office Pro works out to a few hundred dollars a year per user over it’s lifetime, that’s less than a dollar a day. In real world terms that means my employees pay for Office in about 2 minutes each day thanks to the extra features.

This is essentially what I was trying to convey the other day.  OpenOffice.org, and other free MS Office competitors like Lotus Symphony, aren’t going to get widespread adoption just because they’re free.

tags: ibm, lotus, microsoft, office, openoffice

Posted by Doug | No Comments »

The much awaited launch of Google’s Powerpoint competitor is here.

Earlier this year in April, Google had announced plans to add a new, PowerPoint-like presentation application to its Web-based Docs suite.

Reportedly, starting today, the application named ‘Google presentation’ has been added to Google Docs. Using this application, users can create Web-based presentations, as well as view and update them from any Internet-connected PC anytime.

Similar to what Microsoft’s PowerPoint offers, ‘Google presentation’ users will be able to create presentations, including series of slides with text and graphics on them.

I have it live in my instance of Google Apps…so I’m guessing most people do.

tags: google

Posted by Doug | No Comments »

Count me among the underwhelmed at this announcement.

IBM has joined the growing group of tech companies punting alternatives to Microsoft’s omnipresent Office suite.

Its new Lotus Symphony package, which launched yesterday, includes word processing, spreadsheet and presentation programs and is available free of charge to Windows and Linux users.

I mean…I’m sure that the IBM folks have a nice product and everything. But do that many normal people actually switch from Microsoft Office? Being a cash-strapped geek, I switched for a while while in college to OpenOffice, which was just fine for writing essays and whatnot.

Switching completely for any business is a different story. It is painful. The lost hours of productivity that have to be dedicated to training staff on the new software is not insignificant. And having them get used to an MS Office alternative can certainly stifle work flow. The costs associated with switching are not insignificant.

When those costs are compared to the cost of staying with what works (MS Office) I don’t think we’ll see a wholesale exodus just yet.

tags: ibm, lotus, microsoft, office

Posted by Doug | 2 Comments »

They’ve setup a separate organization now to handle the email initiatives.

Today Mozilla is launching a new organization to develop Internet mail and communications software. It will use the open source email desktop client Thunderbird as a base - the product, code and brand. Technically this will be a Mozilla Foundation subsidiary - and it is very similar to Mozilla’s Firefox effort.

Interesting stuff. I wonder if this will speed Thunderbird development along.

tags: mozilla, thunderbird

Posted by Doug | No Comments »

Then I’m happily felonious.

tags: apple, iphone

Posted by Doug | 2 Comments »

Sanity still rules some parts of the legal system. After losing that critical ruling in August, SCO has filed Chapter 11.

Hooray.

SCO Group, whose CEO tried to kill the Linux operating system, filed for bankruptcy Friday, a month after a court ruled it did not own the copyright to the Unix operating system.

tags: sco

Posted by Doug | No Comments »

I don’t find stories like this suprising.  At all.

Our favorite local-blog-with-an-admitted-ax-to-grind, the Claremont Insider, digs into the city of Claremont’s website and strikes .pdf gold: “scanned-in bi-monthly pay stubs for all city employees going back several years.” The Insider writes up an amusing (and clearly fictional) account of how they obtained the stubs and posts the juice.

The city freaks out and starts muttering about “theft” and “investigation.” The Insider reveals that they found the information by simply using the city website’s search engine. Claremont’s city attorney contacts Google and asks for the post to be deleted.

Unbelievably, Google removes the post, telling the Insider that “we’ve received a complaint that your blog…contains confidential information…Accordingly, we have had to remove the content in question.”

Why would you host a blog with Google (or Typepad or Wordpress or any other 3rd party when you don’t control the domain?).  Especially if you’re going to be muckraking.

tags: blogging, google

Posted by Doug | 2 Comments »