My Blackberry Playbook review

It sucks. [END REVIEW]

Okay, maybe I should elaborate a bit more... try reading here, for just a SMALL sample of what I, and it seems many other, PlayBook users are going through.

Multiple users, all getting the same problem. When you first power on the unit, and get it on the wifi and then register your new account, it wants to do an immediate update. Sure, fine I think... and that's where the problems begin. Not just for me, but for MANY users.

Once the update process begins, THERE'S NO WAY TO GET OUT OF IT. If it fails, you have to reboot, and then after the reboot, it gives you two options: A) Try again, or B) Power off. That's right... it's TRY AGAIN, or NOTHING. So... I'm now on my SEVENTH attempt. I kid you not... MY SEVENTH. This time, lo and behold, it managed to complete the download of the update... after taking I don't know, an hour or so to download 300MB.

The power button on the thing SUCKS too. When it powers down the screen, it takes a couple of tries to press the power button "just right" to get it back on again. Flimsy is the word that comes to mind.

All in all, I've had the thing out of the box for four some-odd hours, just trying to get it past the initial setup portion... AND I'M STILL NOWHERE WITH THIS THING. At the moment, it's nothing more than a rather stylish looking PAPERWEIGHT.

An expensive, but stylish, paperweight.

Bottom line thoughts thus far... NOT READY FOR MARKET.

GOODBYE KOODO!!!

UPDATE IV: Wow, this post is STILL the highest traffic post I think I've ever written, so a clarification is in order... I've since had GREAT service from Koodo.  I have to chalk things up to a single issue with an account, in part because I was the technical contact who set up the account, while someone else was the one paying the bill.  I'd signed up for a paper bill, and since the payee never got one, I didn't know anything about it until Koodo sent me a "FINAL NOTICE" before going to collections.  Anyway, I got it all cleared up, but this post went up because I had a bad experience with a customer service rep.

If you're looking for Koodo, check them out here: KoodoMobile.com

ORIGINAL POST


Well, being an IT guy, and being the resident cell phone expert amongst my friends and political circles, people ask me for advice on who's got the best deals for cell phones. And invariably, for average usage folks, I've always spoken well of Koodo... low cost, and great value for what you get.

BUT NOT ANYMORE!!! Thanks to their low cost, or rather, cheapskate billing practices, I nearly ended up getting a collections black-eye thanks to the folks at Koodo... because THEY never bothered to send me an electronic bill, which is what I'd signed up for! You see, their way of doing things is that instead of sending your monthly e-bill to your e-mail, which is what I "thought" I was signing up for, you actually have to go and register on their website in order to get access to the e-bill.

The real kicker is when you cancel your account (which I'd done, because it was an Election 2011 campaign phone)... you'd think they'd send you a final invoice in order to get their money, right? WRONG!!! All I got from them was a PAST DUE notice, and a threat of getting sent to a collection agency! How's THAT for "Customer Service"???

Funny thing is, if they'd just sent me the bill, paper or electronically, they'd have had their money MONTHS AGO!!! (say, May 3rd?) Instead, cause of their backwards billing processes, they've had to wait an extra two months for their cash, AND have gone and lost me as a customer, AND a whole whack of folks to whom I'll be making recommendations in the future!!! Did I mention that I've already steered two people today away from Koodo?

Plus, I seem to recall that there's a campaign coming up soon... guess who's NOT going to be getting our cell phone contract! And likely this post will influence a few other campaigns to go elsewhere too!

WELL DONE KOODO!!!


UPDATE: Oh the power of the blog... got a response:
"Looked at your account & from what I can tell the issue seemed to have been that your bills have not been received by you. I can see that they were sent to Canada Post with your address that we have on file. As long as our records are correct I don't have a ready answer why they haven 't arrived even prior to the CP strike. Because of privacy and security concerns we don't email invoices and I don't think anyone else does. Since you were set up to receive a paper bill no email notifications were sent out. I also see that you called and now have access to your bill through our self-serve site. Disappointing that it took us this long to solve things, but I think we have learnt from the experience and will make a few reccos to our team. Thanks for your feedback! Bernard from the Koodo Team"

Thanks for the reply Bernard... you're right, I never got a bill, not even once, even though I paid the extra $2 a month for them. Guess I need to call back for a credit?

UPDATE II: It's been a while since I posted this, and a number of people have found it online and commented on it. Thought I should post an update, because I've since had another, and MUCH better, experience with Koodo, and didn't encounter these kinds of issues. I may have to chalk it up to a one-off issue, as opposed to their customer service as a whole.

UPDATE III: Well, it seems I'm still getting LOTS of traffic to this post (it's one of my higher hit count posts) so it looks like I have to do YET ANOTHER update to clue people in on a few things.

1) Koodo has improved their processes since this post, so the main issue has been resolved. I have dealt with them a number of times since (though NOT during the 2011 Ontario election, as I promised) and have been satisfied. With several of their new plans and phones, they are, in my opinion, once again one of the best options on the market.

2) The issue WAS ON THEIR END, it had nothing to do with me, where some commenters have tried to lay blame. Though I set up the phone for someone, I was NOT supposed to be dealing with the bills... therefore, I didn't even know there was an issue until I got the FINAL NOTICE before going to collections. But the root cause was the fact that there was an issue with Koodo, NOT with me.

So here's a FINAL NOTICE to commenters... anyone who posts stating that "it was your own fault" simply won't get their comments posted. So now you've been warned.

Now accepting applications for my next Internet Provider

With the big players in telco industry seeking to kill the innovative online spirit of the average Canadian customer, I am now currently shopping around for a new ISP. My requirements are as follows:

- At least 80GB of data usage
- 12MB download, 1MB upload speeds
- Reasonable price point, which SHOULD no more than $50 per month

As a Network and Systems Administrator, I have a better idea on what these services ought to REALLY cost... and believe me folks, we're ALL being WAY OVERCHARGED. I've always managed to talk them down in their pricing, or get them to do things like credit my modem rental charge for the year, in order to compensate for their overcharging. But with their recent moves to further REGULATE our Internet usage is unacceptable.

That being said, I do recognize that there are a few ABUSERS of the current systems, who's abusive usage affects the rest of us with slowdowns, etc. The ISP's should be going after them DIRECTLY, instead of punishing the rest of us by forcing us to curb our own usage. Of course, I've never even gone over 75% of my "allowance", but that's beside the point. When I sign up for Internet, I want to be able to USE my Internet. With more and more services becoming available online, ISP's like Bell and Rogers ought to be finding ways to ATTRACT more customers, by offering more COMPETITIVE packages... NOT by seeking to punish smaller ISP's for offering better packages than they're offering. And what's most disturbing is that they're using their lobbying efforts via the CRTC, which is SUPPOSED to serve CANADIANS, to restrict and punish Canadians, instead of fixing their own internal issues and offering Canadians CHOICE.

So, think about supporting the various online initiatives that are taking aim at the CRTC, Bell and Rogers... that is, if you haven't used up your monthly "allowance" already.

Canadians should NOT buy NVIDIA graphics products

Just a heads up... if you're considering a new computer, DO NOT BUY ONE WITH AN NVIDIA GRAPHICS CHIP, as NIVIDA won't support you just because you're Canadian.

There's a $2 MILLION dollar class action lawsuit against NVIDIA in the US, filed by customers of various laptop vendors who purchased units with a NVIDIA graphics processor. ("GPU") NVIDIA has chosen to settle the suit, and will be compensating customers with affected units. Details on the settlement can be found at www.nvidiasettlement.com.

I have one of the affected units, an HP PAVILION dv9000 series laptop, model number GA359UA. (just in case you want to look it up on the site to verify) I have had for three years the exact symptoms as reported in the suit... I go to turn the laptop on, and the screen is blank, but the laptop is still working, just no image on the screen. Anyway, I have been officially advised by NVIDIA that because we're Canadian, they're not going to do anything for us... too bad, so sad, you're outta luck cause your Canadian.

Well, that's not sitting right with me... and since I have a blog, one that gets a pretty high Google hit count when I post I.T. related stuff, I'm going to do something about it.

If you're considering an NVIDIA equiped unit... DON'T BUY IT. Go with an ATI or Intel graphics equiped unit. ATI has a strong Canadian presence, I I highly doubt they'd try to pull something like this.

Just for some perspective here, of how BIG a problem this is for NVIDIA... if you've bought ANY one of these computer, you may have a ticking time bomb on your hands... from Dell, to HP, to Compaq, right up to high end Apple units...

Dell Notebook Computers
PLATFORM NAME PURCHASE DATE RANGES SERVICE TAG NUMBER
Dell Inspiron 1420 May 2007 – September 30, 2008 Please click here to find out if your notebook computer is affected by the settlement.
Dell Inspiron 9400/E1705 March 2006 – February 28, 2010
Dell Latitude D620 December 2005 – November 30, 2008
Dell Latitude D630 February 2007 – September 30, 2008
Dell Latitude D630c February 2007 – September 30, 2008
Dell Latitude D820 November 2005 – March 31, 2008
Dell Latitude D830 March 2007 – September 30, 2008
Dell Precision M2300 August 2007 – September 30, 2008
Dell Precision M4300 March 2007 – September 30, 2008
Dell Precision M6300 December 2007 – March 31, 2009
Dell Precision M65 November 2005 – January 31, 2008
Dell Vostro 1700 March 2007 – September 30, 2008
Dell Vostro Notebook 1310 December 2007 – September 30, 2008
Dell Vostro Notebook 1400 May 2007 – September 30, 2008
Dell Vostro Notebook 1510 December 2007 – September 30, 2008
Dell Vostro Notebook 1710 January 2008 – July 31, 2008
Dell XPS M1210 March 2006 – November 30, 2008
Dell XPS M1330 March 2007 – September 30, 2008
Dell XPS M1530 September 2007 – January 31, 2009
Dell XPS M1710 March 2006 – February 28, 2010
Dell XPS M1730 November 2007 – January 31, 2009

HP-Compaq Notebook or Tablet Computers
PLATFORM NAME PURCHASE DATE RANGES PRODUCT IDENTIFICATION NUMBER
HP Pavilion dv20xx March 2006 – December 31, 2008 ES745AV; ES 746AV; ES817AV; ES826AV; ES892AV; EZ643UA; EZ644UA; EZ645UA; EZ648UA; EZ649UA; EZ672UA; EZ674UA; EZ675UA; EZ676UA; EZ677UA; EZ678UA; EZ679UA; EZ680UA; EZ681UA; GD275AV; RD140AV; RD153AV; RK416AV; RK434AV*
Compaq Presario v30xx March 2006 – October 31, 2008
HP Pavilion dv21xx March 2006 – December 31, 2008 EY045AV; EY046AV; EY047AV; EY048AV; RG404UA; RG406UA; RG407UA; RG408UA; RG411UA; RG413UA; RG414UA; RG415UA*
Compaq Presario v31xx March 2006 – October 31, 2008
HP Pavilion dv22xx/dv23xx March 2006 – December 31, 2008 GA154UA; GA155UA; RD856AV; RD857AV; RD858AV; RD859AV; RE205AV; RE206AV; RP408UA; RP409UA; RP410UA; RP412UA; RP413UA; RP415UA; RU767UA; RU768UA; RU769UA; RV322UA; RV323UA; RV324UA; RV325UA; RV326UA; RV327UA; RV328UA; RZ833PA*
Compaq Presario v32xx/v33xx March 2006 – October 31, 2008
HP Pavilion dv24xx March 2006 – December 31, 2008 GA532UA; GA533UA; GA534UA; GA535; GA536; GA537UA; GM035UA; GM037UA; GM038UA; GM039UA; GM040UA; RX692AV; RX693AV; RX694AV*
Compaq Presario v34xx March 2006 – October 31, 2008
HP Pavilion dv90xx May 2006 – November 30, 2008 EW635AV; EW680AV; EX988AV; EZ452UA; EZ453UA; EZ456UA; EZ457UA; EZ458UA; EZ459UA; EZ460UA; EZ461UA; EZ462UA; EZ468UA; EZ470UA; EZ471UA; RG139AS; RG564AV; RG931AS*
HP Pavilion dv92xx/dv93xx May 2006 – November 30, 2008 GA074UA; GA075UA; GA076UA; GA077UA; GA078UA; RD860AV; RG565AV; RL015AV; RP114UA; RP115UA; RP116UA; RP122UA; RU312UA; RU313UA; RU314UA; RU971UA; RU972UA; RU974UA; RU975UA; RW113AS*
HP Pavilion dv94xx May 2006 – November 30, 2008 GA354UA; GA355UA; GA356UA; GA358UA; GA359UA; GA361UA; GD545AV; GD574AV; GL880UA; GL885UA; GL886UA; GL887UA; GL888UA; GL889UA; GL890UA; GL891UA; GL892UA; RX944AV*
HP Pavilion dv60xx May 2006 – April 30, 2009 EW434AV; EW435AV; EW468AV; EW585AV; EW586AV; EW618AV; EZ472UA; EZ473UA; EZ474UA; EZ475UA; EZ502UA; EZ503UA; RE603AS; RE606AS*
Compaq Presario v60xx May 2006 – October 31, 2008
HP Pavilion dv61xx May 2006 – April 30, 2009 EX991AV; EX992AV; EX992AV; EX994AV; GD536AV; RD167AV; RD181AV; RG253UA; RG254UA; RG264UA; RG265UA; RG266UA; RG267UA; RG272UA; RG273UA; RG274UA; RG279UA; RG282UA; RG286UA; RG287UA; RG289UA; RG290UA; RG293UA; RG294UA; RG298UA; RG563AV; RG568AV; RK415AV; RM662LA; RN906UA; RN907UA; RN910UA; RN911UA; RN914UA; RN926UA; RN927UA*
Compaq Presario v61xx May 2006 – October 31, 2008
HP Pavilion dv62xx/dv63xx May 2006 – April 30, 2009 GA212UA; GA213UA; GA215UA; GA218UA; GA219UA; GA231UA; GA232UA; GA233UA; GA235UA; GA238UA; GA451UA; GA452UA; GA673AV; RD861AV; RD862AV; RD863AV; RD864AV; RD865AV; RJ637AV; RK654AV; RK664AV; RP153UA; RP154UA; RP156UA; RP158UA; RP160UA; RP162UA; RP164UA; RP165UA; RP168UA; RP203UA; RP211UA; RP287UA; RU676UA; RU677UA; RU678UA; RU679UA; RV003UA; RV004UA; RV005UA; RV009UA; RV010UA; RV011UA; RV012UA; RV013UA; RV018UA; RV020UA; RV052UA; RV053UA; RW114AS; RW115AS*
Compaq Presario v62xx/v63xx May 2006 – October 31, 2008
HP Pavilion dv64xx May 2006 – April 30, 2009 GA442UA; GA443UA; GA444UA; GA445UA; GA447UA; GA448UA; GA 449UA; GA450UA; GA454UA; GA456UA; GA458UA; GD661AV; RX950AV; RX951AV; GA462UA; GL896UA; GL909UA; GL910UA; GL911UA; GN202AV; GD662AV; GL912UA; GL913UA; GL914UA; GL915UA; GL916UA; RX945AV; RX947AV; GL917UA; GL925UA; GL926UA; KA249UA; KA250UA; RX946AV; RX948AV*
Compaq Presario v64xx May 2006 – October 31, 2008
Compaq Presario F500 October 2006 – September 30, 2008 RZ326UA; RZ327UA; RZ329UA; RZ330UA; RZ335UA; RZ340UA; GF593UA; GF596UA; GF602UA; GF606UA; GF606UA#AVA; GD598AV; GL935UA; RS499AV; RS500AV

HP Pavilion Tx1xxx
(tablet computer) March 2007 – May 31, 2008
PLEASE NOTE: All HP Pavilion Tx1xxx models purchased between March 2007 and May 31, 2008 are eligible to participate in the settlement, regardless of the Product Identification Number displayed on the computer. If you choose to file a claim, you will still need to complete a Claim Form and provide the required information, but you will not be required to provide a Product Identification Number.

* If the notebook product number is listed here, it is included as a Class Notebook computer whether the product number does or does not contain the letter "R" or "#ABA."

Apple MacBook Pro Computers
PLATFORM NAME PURCHASE DATE RANGES SERIAL NUMBERS
Apple MacBook Pro (15-inch) May 2007 – September 2008 Please click here to find out if your notebook computer is affected by the settlement.
Apple MacBook Pro (17-inch) May 2007 – September 2008

For some perspective... this is about as big as the Toyota recalls from earlier this year... although laptop user's safety isn't in question here.

CBCSports.ca to stream World Cup games online

WOO HOO!!! Finally getting (some) of our money's worth from the CBC.

Of course, this will likely mean a headache for me and my fellow techies in the local I.T. industry, as we're forced to monitor bandwidth and ensure staff aren't clogging the network at the office...

Soccer fans to get World Cup fix online for free
Toronto — The Canadian Press
Last updated on Tuesday, Jun. 01, 2010 2:54PM EDT

Soccer fanatics who will be away from a TV during World Cup action this summer can stream the games for free online.

CBCSports.ca will stream all the games live, as well as broadcasting them on TV.

Considering the tournament is being played in South Africa, time zone differences will be a factor for some fans, who might try to watch from work on their computers.

Humour - Something crashed on my laptop

No blogging today, because something has crashed on my laptop...

"Running a country? There's an app for that"

Even with all his money, there's no way Apple CEO Steve Jobs could buy a better ad for the new iPad than this...


That's Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, using an iPad to keep in touch with things back home while stranded in New York City

Take one stranded world leader, add a mid-Atlantic volcanic eruption, throw in a dash of a continental airspace closure... and then top it off with Apple's latest toy, the iPad.  A dish that Steve Jobs has got to be thoroughly enjoying right about now.

Ubuntu developers make their first MAJOR mistake with 10.04

You've all been reading over the months of what a fan I've become of Ubuntu... well, I'm trying out the new release, 10.04 Beta 2, and I must say, though it loads SUPER FAST, I have to throw my two cents in now... I HATE THE DECISION BY THE CORE UBUNTU DESIGN TEAM TO MOVE THE LOCATION OF THE WINDOW BUTTONS!!!

The main reason many of us are looking to Ubuntu is as a Microsoft Windows replacement. However, the design team has decided to change the location of the main window control buttons, Minimize, Maximize and Close, OVER TO THE LEFT, like they do in the Mac world, as opposed to Windows and EVERY PREVIOUS UBUNTU RELEASE, where they normally reside on the right.

This one's a BIG deal for a whole lot of people in the Ubuntu community. I've been reading complaints all over the place, and the design team has decided to shut down debate and stick with the left hand placement of the buttons.

Bad move guys... I hope you intend to make it easy for most of us to customize it back, because I can promise you this, it's one of the first things I'm gonna have to do with each and every install I do.

Or it may cause me to not bother with the install. I'm seriously debating whether or not to bother putting this one on my laptop. I was already debating it, having just updated my laptop with the FREE copy of Windows 7 Ultimate that Microsoft provided me with a little while back. (yes, they're trying to woo some of us back into the MS fold)

While I know most people will just look at this as a cosmetic thing, it's not. It's a BIG DEAL, since a lot of us are constantly switching back and forth between the Ubuntu and the Windows worlds. I've even been thinking about putting together proposals on how we can use Ubuntu within our organization, but now, I'm having a rethink on that. YOU try and teach dozens of older nurses a totally new way of doing things with a new OS, and then telling them that the folks who make the decisions have decided to make things more complicated for you by moving the three buttons that are used CONSTANTLY. The main menus being at the top are easy to adjust to... moving those little three buttons IS NOT.

One PARTIAL fix is to run the following command, which will move them to the right side, but will leave the MAXIMIZE and MINIMIZE buttons switched... which I can live with. (to change the order of them breaks the aesthetics) To run the command, press ALT+F2, then enter the following:

gconftool-2 --set /apps/metacity/general/button_layout --type string "menu:maximize,minimize,close”

Did that, and now I'm a "little" more at peace with the new Ubuntu...

UPDATE: If the above command breaks the button order, try adding a comma after the "close" option... like so:

gconftool-2 --set /apps/metacity/general/button_layout --type string "menu:maximize,minimize,close”

PC vs. Mac - The Revenge

Not sure where I picked this one up, but you've got to love the power of Photoshop...

"Okay Mr. Spiffy Mac guy, this is how this next ad is gonna go down..."

FREE COFFEE @ McD's

At least in Ontario, from today until March 14.

Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that Tim's Roll up the Rim starts today? Looks like the 2010 Coffee Wars are on... And we the consumer win!

Sent from my Blackberry

Cracking a PDF password (I.T. post)

[LEGAL DISCLAIMER] According to various sites I've read, cracking the password of a PDF file that you have full rights to, such as one from within your own organization, is perfectly legal. For the record, I do not condone any illegal use of the software product recommeded here.
[END DISCLAIMER]

So, I got a call today from someone who'd created a secure PDF file, but had forgotten the password they'd set... and of course, they call their "miracle worker", hoping I could figure it out for them. GRRRR, since figured I didn't have a chance, I told them they were likely up the creek without a paddle... but send me the file anyway, and I'd take a "crack" (ha ha) at it.

Did the research online, and that's why I'm writing this post today... found a GREAT tool from Elcomsoft, their Advanced PDF Password Recovery tool. Their "free" trial version doesn't have all the bells and whistles, but it had enough functionality for me to get the password I needed. It's a great looking tool, and if we ever need it again, I'm going to recommend buying the Pro license for my company.

Apple "iPad"... I WANT ONE

Apple CEO Steve Jobs launched the "iPad" today, basically a cross between an iPod Touch, a MacBook, and a Tablet computer.

I WANT ONE... and I'm not normally much of a latest-and-greatest kinda guy... nor an Apple guy.

IBM's "unGreen" Green campaign

This one gets filed under the heading of "Are you kidding me?"

Got a package from IBM today. Obviously some promotional thing, so we open them up to see what we got this time. Here's what we found inside...

Yes, little IBM nested Russian dolls, only... not.

The marketing campaign is about IBM's DB2 system, a robust and "Green" database system that they claim will reduce costs for organizations due to better performance, therefore less power usage and therefore more "green", etc.

Anyway, they shipped these things out of the US, so they've had to travel quite a distance, using lots of fuel in transit. Strike One.

They're quite large and heavy and USELESS, which added to the fuel costs. Strike Two. (come on guys... something like a 1GB USB drive won't have likely cost any more than these useless things, and would have cost way less to ship... besides, getting something useful tends to make me want to go over your brochures, rather than just chucking them like I did with these ones)

Then there's the real irony of this... this is to tout the "green" benefits of their "amazing" database solutions, right? Well, due to an IBM database error, my boss and I BOTH GOT TWO OF THESE THINGS EACH!!! That's right... doubling the shipping costs and fuel consupmtion! Strike Three, YOU'RE OUT!

Like I said... come on, would something useful like a USB drive have killed you? I likely would have gotten you a more positive post, that's for sure.

Dropbox - Sweet online storage app!

Best new online storage program BY FAR... Dropbox!

I've been looking at various "cloud computing" online storage options lately, from SkyDrive, to a GMail hack that lets you store files in your GMail, and various other things of that nature. Haven't been too impressed by any of them thus far. SkyDrive is okay, but I want the ability to have it linked to a folder on my PC, or a mapped network drive like I can with the GMail hack, so that I can share files easily betwen my various PC's, laptops, and independent of the OS I'm running, as some are XP, some are Windows 7, and others are Ubuntu 9.04 or the 9.04 NBR.

Anyway, a buddy of mine MSNed me today with Dropbox, and I think I'm in love. It just WORKS, and works the way I want it to. I can have multiple folders, syncronization takes place online in the background, and if the sync gets interrupted (say you shut down before it's complete) it'll just pick up where it dropped of next time you're online.

You can also share files easily. Upload a file to the "Public" folder, and then right click on it, go to the Dropbox submenu, and then click the "Copy Public Link" option. Paste the link into an e-mail, or on your website, and bingo, you're done!

They'll give you up to 2GB's for FREE (another requirement for me), and if you refer people and they sign up, they'll give you another 250MB per signup, growing your storage up to 3GB!

It also kicks SkyDrive in one major area... THERE'S NO LIMIT TO THE FILE SIZES! My friend here in Canada was able to share a 1GB file with a customer in Spain without any problems! This app has already helped me solve several problems that I've been having with the other free filesharing options available.

Check it out, and get signed up!

What? You mean the political realm still exists?

I don't know about you, but things have been REALLY quiet for me lately. Of course, there's been stuff going on in the news, but haven't been following much. There was Warren's Great Waffer Caper, in which the Liberal Party of Canada ended up with a "host" of egg on their faces, but other than that, nothing that's really grabbed my attention. (NOTE: Just to be clear, I am in no way implying that Warren actually had anything to do with the whole "Wafer-gate" affair... in fact, I don't believe for a moment that he did. I just came up with that catchy little title because on Warren's blog recently, it's been all Wafer-gate, all the time)

Of course, that's a good thing... there's been nothing that major grabbing the headlines, just steady, quiet, good Government. That, and the fact that the economy seems to be beginning it's slow rebound. All in all, this must be driving the Liberals batty... which is never a bad thing, because they normally end up doing really stupid, err, good things when we're driving them nuts.

Anyway, work's just been crazy anyway, so I've been grateful for the downtime. Rollout of our Exchange 2007 system (with external OWA) has gone almost flawlessly, as has the integration of our new Blackberry Professional Server, running 11 Blackberries. Add to that a new firewall system, along with a remote access VPN, I have to admit that it's been fun running multiple MAJOR projects simultaneously... though just a little nuts. Just about ready to burn out... time to begin a well earned vacation.

Anything other things that I've missed?

Google OS on the horizon?

This could be something to watch... Google is working on a low footprint Linux based OS for the desktop market, in a direct challenge to Microsoft's dominance.

I'd be willing to give it a whirl on my Asus EeePC netbook, which is what the first incarnation of the OS would likely target. Though I must say I'm fairly happy with my Ubuntu 9.04, which I have on my netbook and on my HP dv9000 laptop that I'm running right now. (though I have managed to goof up my Java-based SSL-VPN client somehow... that oughta be a fun one to fix)

No, I'm not dead

It's nice to know people notice when you're not posting...

Been way to busy to even read the news over the last two weeks, and haven't even had time to bother posting my Ottawa pics from the other week. All my time has been consumed by my Blackberry... it's not mine per se, it's just a loaner, but getting it to interact with our new Exchange system has been a real interesting adventure... especially since the troubleshooting documentation from RIM regarding the new Business Professional Server is, well, WEAK. (and that's being GENEROUS) All of their documentation is for their higher end Business Enterprise Server, so I had to take bits and pieces from here and there and pretty much troubleshoot my issues on my own. Not much fun, needless to say.

However, it IS pretty fun when you eventually do get it figured out, and then get to show it off to the boss. ;-)

Likely back in the loop next week... oh yea, and will be posting something "fun" tomorrow.

Ubuntu 9.04 NBR on my EeePC 701 (4G)

Wow, I'm liking Ubuntu Linux more and more... and more!

Have been playing with it on my HP dv9000 laptop for a while now, and I love it. It's quick, has all the major tools I need, and hasn't crashed once. (which is more than I can say about my Vista on that same laptop... still waiting to hear from Microsoft on if they'll let me upgrade to Windows 7, to prevent me from making the switch completely)

So anyway, now that Ubuntu 9.04 is out of Beta and has been fully released, I decided to give the 9.04 NetBook Remix (NBR) a whirl on my EeePC 701, for 4GB SSD model. Seriously, if I can summerize my feelings with one word, it would be "WOW". The thing loaded up without a hitch, all the drivers were loaded flawlessly, and the thing now rocks... WAY better than with the EeePC's default Linux distro. There was one glitch where the mouse was jumpy, but that was solved quickly by running "gconf-editor" from the terminal, and going to "apps > netbook-launcher" and checking the "force low graphics" option. (as the 701's don't have the most beefy specs of the NetBook market) A quick reboot, and life was good.

Didn't take long at all to get it rigged up to use my new SSL-VPN for work. Just had to install the Java6 runtime, and then download and install an RDP client. Getting new programs for Ubuntu is smooth, most of the apps are available through the "Add/Remove Programs" menu, and they download and install in a jiff.

In all honesty, Ubuntu 9.04 is the first Linux I've seen that has a real serious shot at chipping away into some of Microsoft's market share. It's been nearly 10 years since I played with Linux, so I'm really rusty, (and I was never that good with it anyway) but it's been a total breeze to get it running on my systems. I now have it running on 4 systems, a desktop at home, a VMWare server at work, my main laptop and this EeePC, from which I'm writing right now. Oh, did I mention that the wireless worked right out of the box?

Seriously, if you're thinking about reinstalling your Windows because it's been slow lately, give Ubuntu 9.04 a try. If you're primarily using your computer for e-mail, internet and word processing, Ubuntu's got everything you need!

Download the ISO, burn a disk, and give it a whirl! You can actually test it out without installing it, the CD will boot up into a "Live" environment on it's own, and will give you a fully functional desktop OS that's running right off the CD... no installation required. That's how I gave it a test drive on all my systems first, which was great because it was totally risk free. Like I said though... I really think I've crossed the bridge, and have made the move to Ubuntu.

See ya later Billy G!!! (though you still got me on the server side... Microsoft's Server 2003 R2 is just a rock solid and stable product, and Microsoft's DPM has saved my butt a few times over, so I'm not likely to switch on the server side, at least not yet...)

I'm thinking of converting

No, it's not an April Fools post, I'm seriously thinking of converting... to Linux, thanks to the latest version of Ubuntu!

It all starting through some good natured ribbing from a fellow Tory thanks to the Confiker worm, (for which, for some reason, I'm still ranked really high on Google) after I sent out some instructions on patching Windows computers to all my fellow Tory contacts. Anyway, he sends back some smart-alec comment about how it's time to finally time to come to the "dark side" and make the switch. So, since I figured I've been meaning to give it a whirl on my HP Pavilion dv9000 laptop (remember, the one I bought with Vista?), so I looked up the latest version of Ubuntu, which is the Beta version 9.04. Downloaded it, burned it, and rebooted.

Seriously, even with repartitioning my drive so both Ubuntu and Vista can live side by side, it took all of about 20 minutes to get it all loaded. (on my second attempt mind you, tried installing first on my second hard drive but my dv9000 didn't like that, wouldn't give me the option to boot from my second drive, so I had to install again)

Booted up, man is it ever fast. It's easy to navigate, nice and cleanly designed. First time around, my wireless didn't work, so I plugged in to my router, and ran a hardware update. Found a suitable driver, loaded it, and that was it. Ran some tests, and from a cold boot, it takes one minute and twenty eight seconds till I'm fully online. And that's including the time required to enter my username and password, and automatically attach to my home wireless network.

I've always been hesitant to make the switch, because I've never been much of a programmer, and because basically, Windows has always just worked for me. (especially Windows XP Pro SP2, by far their best OS ever) Linux has always had the problem of getting applications installed, which is a snap with Windows. In Linux, you need the right RPM's, tarball files, the right kernel, etc. Could never be bothered to work through all of that.

But there's been a dramatic shift in the last couple of years. With the advent of high-speed internet connections, everything is moving to an online application model. You've got your Hotmail and GMail for e-mail, you've got OpenOffice and Google Docs for word processing, you've got Facebook, etc., etc., etc. Essentially, the average user doesn't need to install much software anymore.

As such, once you're online, you're pretty well done. You can do everything you need online. Therefore, since I pretty much use my laptop for online communication, I figured what the heck, let's give it a go.

Again, I'm hugely impressed. So much so, that I'm posting this post from the SECOND computer that I've converted, the old P4 tower in my home office. Only a P4 1.6Ghz with 768MB of RAM and a 20GB HDD, and the thing still screams. Of course, XP would also work nice on those specs, but why would I want to spend money and buy an OS to put on that old thing? Exactly... free is good.

Of course, should the need arise, I can always turn to VMWare... I've got the VMWare Player installed on the box, so I can call up an MS Virtual PC image from work should I need it. All in all, it's pretty sweet.

Anyway, I'm sure I'll have more to say in the weeks to come. Also got the ISO file configured on a USB stick, from which I can run a LiveCD boot on most computers, so I'll be playing with it on various hardware, like my eeePC. I'll let you know how it goes.

Confiker worm brings back memories...

UPDATE: For those of you looking for the Microsoft patches, they're right here.

With all the talk over the Confiker worm, and all the standard fare mocking that comes from my Linux and Mac friends, I couldn't help but turn my thoughts back to Bill Gates, and the original lauch of the then much lauded Windows 98...


Now for the political connection... a Linux guy I know sent me a link, looks like the Parliament in the UK may be riddled with the bug!

Enjoy... now excuse me, I have some server patching and rebooting to do... hey, I already told you to quit laughing you Mac and Linux guys...

If you need the patches, you can find them via my blog here.