Archive for the 'Uncategorized' Category

I’ll tell you what’s wrong with Setup.exe

Sunday, July 22nd, 2007

Jeff Atwood asks, What’s wrong with Setup.exe? Let me tell you. If I give you a link to a setup.exe and tell you to run it to install my app, what are you getting? What’s being installed, and where is it going? You basically have no idea. You’re running this executable and crossing your fingers. […]

OOXML vs ODF, The Real Test

Sunday, July 22nd, 2007

So various committees are trying to get both OOXML and ODF approved as international standards. The game that’s being played is who gets to claim their format is more open? Open is good, right? A complex open standard is only as good as the reference implementation. Nobody really wants to parse either of these formats; […]

Internet Explorer is Restarting…

Thursday, July 19th, 2007

You know what’s even more frustrating that an app that crashes every time you close it?   That same app crashing on an OS that restarts programs that just crashed.

Mac OS X / Windows Philosophical Differences

Wednesday, July 18th, 2007

It’s true, the Maximize button is one of those philosophical differences between the Mac OS and Windows.  The other recently discussed one is font smoothing, and there are still a couple more waiting to be discovered / discussed:  Close vs Quit, Switch Windows vs Switch Apps, and Replace vs Merge. Maximize vs Size to Content First, […]

Windows Home Server RTM

Tuesday, July 17th, 2007

Windows Home Server has RTM’ed.  I think Windows Home Server is one of the most significant products to come out in recent times.  It’s a product that so many friends of mine *need* although maybe they don’t realize it yet. Digital cameras for photos and videos are awesome, but for most people these just create […]

Dealing with Desktop Spam

Thursday, July 12th, 2007

Windows Update.  Adobe Updater.  Microsoft Office.  Apple Update.  LastFM.  Zinio Reader.  Every anti-virus tool.  MSN Messenger.  Firefox.  Hundreds of shareware and freeware tools.  In fact, almost any modern application. What do they all have in common? “An update is available.  Install now?” That message, or one to that effect.  They come up in dialogs and pop-up […]

Does the PS3 Price Cut make me want one?

Tuesday, July 10th, 2007

So after vehemently denying it just a couple of days ago, Sony has announced that it’s cutting the price on the 60gb PS3 by $100 and introducing an 80gb model (though the 80gb model is similar to models sold in other countries, which don’t include the hardware-based Emotion Engine used for PS2 emulation). First, shouldn’t […]

Why am I disabling IE add-ins?

Tuesday, July 3rd, 2007

Because IE crashes when I quit it. Windows checks for a solution to the problem every single time.  There’s never a solution.  But I guess it doesn’t hurt to check.

Internet Explorer Disabled Add-Ons

Monday, July 2nd, 2007

So IE7 lets you disable add-ons using some UI in the browser.  Nice.  Browser add-ons can cause IE to become unstable, and it’s nice being able to see what strange things have plugged themselves into your browser. But in yet another strange example of someone just not getting it, check out this notification: I disabled […]

Bad experience with iTunes

Monday, July 2nd, 2007

I plugged my iPod into the PC for the first time since installing iTunes 7.3, and I get this: So I hit OK, click “Restore”, and it resets my iPod to factory defaults.  The iPod reboots, and when it re-connects to iTunes, I get the same dialog. Now what?  I can’t get any music on […]