Chaos Program

Yesterday I ran across a hilarious article (If you love Windows XP, you’ll hate Windows 7) about some alleged objections to the next version of Windows, Windows 7. The article explained that disliking the new version is just a matter of an unwillingness to learn new, allegedly better, work habits. I used to hear the exact same kind of discussion about why MS Office 2007 was better and why people who didn’t like it (which seems to have been a majority of users, though I don’t have actual figures on that) were wrong. “Once you get used to it, it’s much better.”

One of the things they wanted me to get used to was that the options I wanted were hard to find, so that I kept clicking on things I didn’t want that were in completely irrational (but easy to find) places. I suppose with enough effort I really could get used to it. But I didn’t see the point. Putting things in different places does not, in my book, constitute an “upgrade.” At least not one worth spending money on.

Maybe I really am a childish throwback old-fashioned unadaptable idiot. Maybe I’m unworthy to use all those fine new MS products (That’s okay with me. I prefer Linux anyway). But I still think, “Your habits suck” is a poor marketing slogan.

It started out strange and got stranger. Then it got stupid.

Chapter 1: The first strangeness

A few months ago I noticed an odd charge on my cell phone bill. It was for about $10 and was for a service I didn’t recognize. I called the phone company and they said it was a subscription to a media service, so I could download ringtones and things to my phone. I explained that I never do that. I did download a ringtone a few years ago (Hell’s Bells by AC/DC) but since my phone is always on vibrate, getting another seems pointless. And I don’t download other media to my phone. I’m one of those weird old-fashioned guys who uses the phone for talking – and not a real lot of that.

The representative of the phone company was very understanding and helpful. When I told him I had no idea how this service got added to my bill and I did not want it, he removed the charge and canceled the subscription. After I verified on my next bill that he had done as he said, I thought the incident was over.

Not exactly. read more »

Interesting headlines the last few days about a new patent for Microsoft on what they refer to as pay-as-you-go computing (See: http://edition.cnn.com/2008/TECH/12/29/microsoft.metered.computing/index.html). The basic idea is that you rent time on an application such as Word, rather than having to spend much more money for the whole package. Sounds like a great idea when you just need it to get a particular job done and lack either the money or the inclination to buy the software.

On its face, this may sound like a good idea. Hey, you mean I can go to the library and do my work without needing a lot of expensive stuff?

I hate to tell you this but you probably don’t need the expensive software anyway. OpenOffice includes an excellent word processor, a fine spreadsheet and other goodies like the ones MS charges a lot of money for. If you don’t like that, try Google docs. Or even something else. This doesn’t apply just to office-type applications. There are lots of tools out there that can be used for free or very little.

But that’s not the big problem. read more »

I’ve read a couple of year end pieces recently (sorry, I haven’t yet gotten into the habit of collecting links for pseudo-interesting stuff as I read) claiming that information security type jobs will be protected from the current economic downturn. The logic seems to go that companies understand that, in order to compete on the Internet, they have to protect themselves more than ever before. So, though they’ll be laying people off in all other sections of the business, they will actually expand their staff in protecting their digital assets.

This is some of the stupidest wishful thinking I have ever seen. Not THE stupidest, but it’s truly dumb. read more »