Cloud security..

You can fall through them, fly through them, and even walk through them in certain circumstances. Clouds offer little or no resistance. Will cyber clouds be any different?

Presently, we have some privacy in what we do on our computers. We can restrict access to our own hard drives by encryption and passwords, and nobody can get in. The same assurances are being made for storing our stuff in cyber clouds, but how do we know that our data will always be secure?

We must all be aware by now that stuff we upload to social networking and personal websites is there for all to see, and that our e-mail can be intercepted while ‘en route’. How do we know that the same will not happen to stuff uploaded to a cloud base? I am not suggesting that it will be on public display, but the technology exists to intercept whatever we send.

We take it as read that countries around the world do it, so why not ours? Because they say they will not? You trust them that much? If you have cloud computing in your plans, have you thought it all out enough?

I don’t do anything subversive and I am not a member of any community whose agenda is to do harm to anybody or anything, but I still don’t like the idea of my stuff being read by people to whom it is not directly addressed. Western Governments are getting more paranoid about ‘national security’ all of the time, and what we do is fast becoming fair game in the eyes of the paranoids. They have the power to make cloud storage companies turn over everything to them, and there would be little that we could do to get it stopped. And that assumes that we are told in reasonable time that measures like this will be taken.

It would be like having your diary or little black book being read ‘just in case’. Is that ok with you? Look at how many private medical records, bank details, military service, military installation details etc go missing or fall into the wrong hands each year.

Companies could lose R&D stuff, payroll, pension, sales and purchasing information. Private individuals stand to lose anything they have created, written or developed. There may be no privacy at all.

The great aspect about the Personal Computer as we know it today is that it is exactly that.. personal. I can sit down in my little space here and play a round of cards, shoot my way to victory in Delta Force Xtreme, write a poem or compile the family secret recipes and nobody will get access to any of it unless I choose.

It will stay that way too for as long as the requisite computer parts are available. If you want my stuff, you will have to ask because it will not be appearing in a cloud anytime soon.

Windows 7 E..

The Euro version of Windows 7. There is no upgrade path because there is no equivalent version of Vista, but Europeans will get it at an upgrade price which is good for them.

So, you install an operating system cleanly onto a hard drive. Now what? No browser, no e-mail client, the two things that most users want above all else are not there. If you clean install an operating system which has no access to the Internet, how can you get a browser, e-mail client or updates? . Well, you could download Firefox and Thunderbird, before installing Windows 7, then save them to a CD for installation after Win 7 is up and running, but I have a better plan..

Being as it is not the fault of the poor, downtrodden Euro-user that there is no built-in browser and e-mail client, the national governments and EU Commission should be responsible for the creation of a CD containing the Opera browser, and then send it out to all Euro-users at least three times per week free of charge, a la AOL style. If this process is started now, all potential Windows 7 E users should have at least thirty CD’s kicking around by the time that they have a Windows 7 E installed on their computers.

It is time to write to your local MPs, methinks.. 

They’re back..

Language packs compatible with Vista SP2 have appeared in Windows update.. 34 of them.. that’s it.. :-)

PC – Personal Computer or Politically Correct?

Back when..

DOS

The choices were:

1. DR-DOS
2. MS-DOS

And the winner was… MS-DOS. DR-DOS was probably better, but Digital Research didn’t respond to IBM, and Microsoft did. IBM supplied their own version of MS-DOS only on their own computers. Why didn’t Digital Research push for DR-DOS to be installed by other manufacturers? Who knows other than Digital Research. The product was good but the marketing was atrocious.

End result.. monopoly caused by intransigence on the part of IBM/Microsoft competitors.  

Windows

The choices were:

1. Microsoft Windows
2. OS/2

And the winner was.. Microsoft Windows because, unlike OS/2, it was available to everybody who ran MS-DOS regardless of computer make. There were no other alternatives until IBM released OS/2 Warp to users of computers which were not IBM badged. Maybe they should have acted earlier. Digital Research were still licking their wounds from the DOS era, and never produced a graphical user interface.

End result.. monopoly caused by intransigence on the part of IBM/Microsoft competitors.

By 1992, the die had been cast.

Apple Macs were an alternative only while IBM were solely controlling the PC. When the cheap IBM clone machines appeared, Apple Macs retained their price levels, thereby committing to a niche market.

Let’s face it. Windows 3/3.1 looked pretty good at the time, better than all of the other ‘home’ computers. It had an advantage too in that it was running on what was essentially a business computer, not a games machine +. Some of the other home computers were in fact very good machines but the individual manufacturers kept on producing their own vision of a home computer, and lost out because none of them were ultimately as powerful as IBM/Microsoft. Had they joined forces, maybe they could have challenged the IBM/Microsoft giant, but they didn’t.

End result.. monopoly caused by intransigence on the part of IBM/Microsoft competitors.

Browsers

The choices were:

1. Netscape
2. Internet Explorer

And the winner was.. Internet Explorer. At the time of release, it was the better browser. ISP’s continued to push Netscape on their connection CDs, but the majority wanted the better browser, so lobbied the ISPs to change allegiance because it saved them having to uninstall Netscape.

End result.. monopoly caused by intransigence on the part of Microsoft competitors.

Office Suites

The choices were:

1. Microsoft Office
2. Lotus Smartsuite
3. WordPerfect Office

And the winner was: Microsoft Office. Lotus products were ok, but never integrated too well. IBM bought Lotus but failed to do much to improve anything. WordPerfect 5.2 was a lousy first try at a Windows word processor, and WordPerfect for Windows did not come good until version 7. In the meantime, Microsoft worked hard on their Office product, and the result was a highly capable and polished suite. If some of the features from WordPerfect and Lotus Smartsuite had been included, it would have been even better.

End result.. monopoly caused by intransigence on the part of Microsoft competitors.

Today

The choices are:

1. A decent product
2. An indifferent product
3. A bad product

And the winner is: A decent product. Doesn’t matter who makes it. At the end of the day, it wasn’t IBM or Microsoft which created a monopoly. It was us, the existing and potential computer users. We dumped other products because they were going nowhere and IBM/Microsoft were making huge strides forward. If other companies had put more effort into their products, they would have been viable choices, but they didn’t and they weren’t. It was our choice. Our purchasing choices created the ‘monopoly’. Even a free operating system can’t make headway, and why? Because the people don’t want what THEY see as a substandard product.

All you people who think that we should be using something else are no better than Bill Gates making deals with computer companies to ship his operating system with every computer. In actual fact, you are worse because you don’t offer an acceptable alternative, that is ‘acceptable to us’. You can lobby governments for a political decision all you like, but ultimately we will find our way to what we like and what works for ‘us’ as individuals. Make a decent product and we will give it a whirl. Make it bad and the deal’s off.

Keyboard/mouse drivers..

Microsoft have released Version 7 drivers of the Intellipoint/Intellitype drivers for their range of keyboards and mice, and guess what? The scroll wheel on my Optical Desktop Elite keyboard is working properly for the first time in almost two and a half years.

Yippeeeeeeeeeeee

Apologies for the exuberance. You might want to go get them for yourselves.. :-)

http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/downloads/default.mspx

Anti-trust?

I am still officially a British Citizen, I hold a British/EU passport, and I don’t intend to let it go anytime soon. However, there are some things which happen in the UK and Europe which really make me cringe.

The latest is the response by the EU to Microsoft’s offer to sell a version of Windows which does not have Internet Explorer as part of any installation. Microsoft already sell a version which does not have Media Player, so you would think that the EU Commission would be ok with that, yes? Apparently not..

The EU Commission wants Microsoft to ensure that competitor products are a part of an Windows installation. According to the Commission, notably competitor browsers. Opera started this stuff, so presumably they want their browser installed as the default, which is going to piss off Mozilla and Google. If Microsoft were to agree to this, presumably they could include their own browser but not set it up as the default. Of course, they would face the fury of Mozilla and Google who, under the terms of the EU Commission would have as much right to have their competitor product installed as the default.

The next step for the EUC is to question the inclusion of MS Works and trial versions of MS Office. Should Microsoft include Open Office and Star Office too? Before too long, Microsoft will be expected to sell Ubuntu as the base operating system with Windows running in an emulator!!

OK, European Union Commission, go to BMW Munich and give this list of specs for the proposed 2010 BMW M5.

1. it must have a Mercedes Benz steering wheel just so I remember that there is better made stuff out there
2. It must have a Skoda interior because it is less wasteful
3. It must display Renault badges
4. It must have white lettered no name tires so that people looking at it know that there is more to rubber than Pirelli, Michelin and Dunlop
5. Performance must not be better than a stock VW Caravanette so as not to humiliate drivers of same
6. Reliability must not better than that of the MG Maestro EFI. It is about time that BMW owners gotten a taste of what it is like to have to push one’s vehicle to the dealership on a daily basis

Please note that GM have been producing stuff like the above for years and look how well they are doing.

If the BMW high command march you to a wall in the early hours, stand there and take it like men..

Back to reality, eh. I am truly ashamed of what the EU are doing. If I could take back my support for creation of the EU, I would do it right now. The EU Commission is completely bonkers, and the people responsible for the garbage which comes out from it should be jailed without delay.

The people who are ‘served’ by the Commission made it perfectly clear that they were ok with the regular Windows versions. It seems to me that the EU Commission is a self serving body of clockwork lunatics who are looking to appropriate funds under the guise of fines to make up for inappropriate financial judgments made by guess who.. The European Union Commission. This governing body is not to be trusted. It is not working in the best interests of the European Community. The Commission think that all of you Europeans are stupid, and not capable of deciding what you want as individuals.

Vote them out before it is too late.. 

Network Speed

Internet

You pay for 10mb download and an upload speed of 512k (set this low to prevent you setting up your own server). How do you know that you are getting what they say you are? Why, run a a speed test, of course!

Before you run anything, bear in mind that there are variables:

1. The incoming cable, especially if you are on DSL (the regular telephone line)
2. The cable between modem and computer (and router if you use one)
3. The router if used
4. The network interface on your computer
5. The amount of Internet traffic in the locality of both your installation and your ISP

So, you need to run a test more than once, and do it at different times. If, during any test run, you get very close to the speed that you agreed with your ISP, you have nothing to worry about. Your modem, patch cables, router and NIC are all good. Lower speeds at any other times will be down to item 5 in the above list. What you don’t want to do is panic if the speed on the first or second test is not good. Don’t start to change settings or cables needlessly, and use more than one test site. My favorites are Speedtest.net and Speakeasy.

If you don’t get the speed expected, you are a cable user, and you have your own router between you and the modem, ensure that its firmware is the latest, and that the router is not aging. An example of an aging router is the D-Link 701, a router for which there has long been no support. If you can’t get firmware dated around 2006 or later, consider replacing whatever you have. There is also a good chance that the patch cables being used are getting old too, and incapable of fast throughput.

Consistently slow DSL speeds can be affected by an aging router and cables as much as cable Internet can, but if you are sure that they are ok, then you must be living too far away from the telephone exchange to which you are connected. The only way to improve the connection is to move closer to the exchange. DSL is ok for anything up to 3.5 miles, and is exceptional at 500 yards (how far I lived from my exchange last time I was DSL connected).

Home Network

Network Interface Cards are rated by throughput. Really old ones will only manage 10mb through them but, if yours doesn’t predate Windows 98, there is a very good chance that it is of the 10/100 type. This means that data can be transferred between two computers on a home network way faster that they can transfer stuff from a server on the other end of an Internet connection. If you are lucky enough to have Fiber Optic in your area, the difference is not quite as great but, for the longest time, 10mb was as good as it got.

Old routers may have the same limitation of 10mb too, so check yours out. Run the cable test if your router has the option in its tools setup. Newer routers have been available in 54mb and 108mb guise, and now even 1000mb. Check the box when you buy. Routers capable of 1000mb will be expensive.

I would think that all integrated NIC’s are 10/100, and some of the latest are 1000mb capable too, but if you are using a 3rd party NIC for any reason, use SIW software to check it out. It is also easy to tell a 10mb card from a 100mb type. Look at the slot contacts on the card. If the contacts are evenly spaced on both sides, it is a 10/100 type. If there are uneven gaps, it is only a 10mb type.

In general

Whatever you use, it will only ever be as good as the slowest part of the connection. P2P users will know all about downloading at slow speeds. Just as your upload speed may be way lower than your download capability, the same applies to computers users who are sharing on a similar connection. Slow speed is more apparent if your P2P utility has only found one download source from a computer with 512k or less output.

Social Networking..

Twitter definition: intransitive verb chatter: to chatter or giggle in an overexcited or nervous way.

In the UK one might use the word ‘twitter’ in the following context: You are on the phone to your mother and she asks how your child is.. “Oh, she is twittering away to herself and seems to be having fun”.

So, have you tried Twitter? I did. Hmmmmmmm… In 140 characters or less, I am asked to type in what I am doing now, and I did that. Next day, I opened Twitter and there was all kinds of meaningless crap there, and I had people following me. So what I am doing today? I am wondering why I took the trouble to join Twitter is what I am doing. Needless to say, I have delete my account.

I have a Facebook account and, a while ago, I had an e-mail from Facebook asking me why I hadn’t called in recently. Should I write back and tell them that it is because I am sick of seeing messages from people I thought I knew who have inexplicably joined the ‘Campaign to save the severely endangered Icelandic Crested Elephant’ or want me to join a mind numbing, senseless fishing game? Yes, sure you can block this kind of stuff, but if you do it, there is no longer any point in having Facebook. Hey, that’s it. Facebook and Twiiter have no useful purpose. For sure you can maybe find lost friends sometimes, but the price in terms of crap intake is high.

Even MSN and Yahoo Messenger profiles are being converted to social networking areas. Is there no escape? Best part is that nobody asked me if they could do this. All of a sudden I get a message to say that a friend has left a comment on my profile. If I want a comment on any part of my person, I will ask. Please do NOT leave unsolicited comments, or I will block you, ok?

Personally, I think that the drive to socially network has gone far enough. Like chat rooms, most of the content is meaningless drivel that you wouldn’t want your boss or your Grandmother to see. So join with me and we can start the ‘Campaign to exterminate Social Networking Insanity’. BTW, squeamish people should not apply. It could be a messy campaign.. :-)  

Windows 7 – A Classic Menu.. Kinda

Despite protestations from many fronts, Microsoft have seemingly stuck to their guns over the issue of including a classic start menu. There is no sign of such an animal in Windows 7 RC. However, it is possible to almost replicate it, and is what most Classic Menu users are going to have to do and live with until such time as Microsoft relents or some kind code writer comes up with a hack.

There are two links which walk through the process of getting a cascading menu list that I have found so far. I am currently trying out each one to determine personal preference.

http://www.unawave.de/windows-7/win7-classic-menu.html?lang=EN

http://win7vista.com/index.php?topic=1414.0

It is a pity that, in order to preserve workability, users will have to resort to messy alternatives, but I think that either is better than the mess which is the Windows 7 default menu option..

Windows 7 is almost upon us, and I have been busy sorting out my production machine in readiness for the change. Good luck, everybody.

Best Buy says..

.. that Vista doesn’t work, that computer users should take advantage of their free Windows 7 upgrade offer, available if you buy a computer on or after June 26th which has installed on it an operating system which doesn’t work. Best Buys words, not mine!! You can see why Best Buy staff are inclined to offer misleading information to customers. It comes right from the top of the organisation.

So, Best Buy want you to buy a Vista machine which by their own admission will not work by offering you a free Windows 7 upgrade rather than buy a Vista machine from another retailer which just might work? Supposing one of Best Buys competitors sells Vista computers which do work and also include a similar Windows 7 upgrade offer? That would be much better, wouldn’t it.

The Best Buy deal is the first on the table, I think, but the idea of knowingly selling you a computer loaded with an operating system which doesn’t work does not seem so great. What do Best Buy think that you are going to do in the meantime with an operating system that doesn’t work?

Being serious, the good aspect of this kind offer is that you will have Vista to fall back on if you find that Windows 7 is not to your liking. The bad aspect is that upgrades do not always go as smoothly as they should. Upgrade failures are worse when you have spent time and energy on customizing the original operating system.

OK, here is my two cents. If you wait until October 22nd of this year because, on that date, you can buy a machine which has Windows 7 already installed and you will also save time upgrading an operating system which, according to Best Buy, hasn’t worked since you bought it.

The funny thing is that I didn’t buy my machine from Best Buy and it runs Vista 64 very well. So am I going to buy a machine from Best Buy? Wait one second while I go outside and see if hell has frozen over yet. Mr. Best Buy, I have bad news for you..

Bing! You’ve got websites..

The Bing search page has a nice soothing picture which is necessary if only to separate it from the rather sparse offerings from Google and Yahoo. Of course, sparse is good when mobile computing and presumably an option is present or will be added to reduce the loading on a mobile computing device. There are limits as to how different a search engine page can look, and Microsoft tend to get much flak if anything of theirs looks even remotely similar to others. However, a search engine page should not be judged by how it looks. Search results are what count most.

My start page is a highly personalized Pageflakes, where I have many quick links to the variety of stuff that go to daily, so I don’t actually get to see the pretty picture or the list of generalized links along the top. Instead, I have added it to IE8 search providers as the default search engine. If it is anything like as good as the Microsoft search engine which was part of Internet Explorer when first released, I will probably keep it that way.

To be perfectly honest, I  really don’t care which search engine I use as long as it gets me the results that I want. I don’t care that 37,000,000 sites have been found in 0.14 seconds because looking through them all would take way longer than I have left to live. In any case, most of the searches are duplicates, especially those dealing with computer related problems which appear word for word on every forum known to man.

Ideally, a list of maybe ten reputable web sites will do me and, so far, Bing is doing that. If I find that Bing is not giving me what I want, I will try Google and then Yahoo and if I have to keep looking elsewhere, Bing will be demoted. It is as simple as that.

Windows 7 general release date..

will be October 22nd, 2009. It will appear on the shelves from then on. A special upgrade to Windows 7 will be available to people who buy a NEW computer before that date, but details as to how the scheme will work are yet to be released formally.