With a sister who blogs, I now don’t even have to recap my day; she’s already done it. Now, Max is going to help me by typing. We’re sitting here watching Blue’s Clues, and I decided to use the time to check my mail. Bad idea. He wants to “help me”. Here is the product of his “help”:
My friend Jon, from Tucson, writes a brilliantly macabre comic strip called Jeremy. This week’s strip is truly the best ever.
Big stuff is happening at work, but I can’t say anything until it’s announced in the morning. Needless to say, I’m excited. So excited, in fact, that I may have to go buy myself a present. Like that reconditioned Visor I was looking at or a PS2. It’s THAT exciting. I’ll tell more tomorrow after the word gets out at work.
I love OS X. I just installed Jaguar, and I was desperately hoping they would provide a utility to switch the mouse buttons. You see, I’m left-handed. I use the mouse with my left hand. In Windows (which I’m trying to wean myself off of) and Linux, I can easily flip the mouse buttons so the right button does the clicking and the left button does the context menu. In OS X, that is impossible. I’ve combed Google for answers. I’ve combed Apple’s help site. No luck. Nothing. Nada. No one’s done it. I even searched the filesystem for mouse-ish files, to come up completely empty handed. I would love to use OS X full-time, but the fact that I have to use the wrong mouse button in OS X is driving me NUTS!!
My friend Jon clarifies the Christian position on goats. Funniest thing I’ve read in a very long time.
How cute is this? The Dooce gets hitched… great pictures.
I don’t know what whoever sent this is smoking, but I’m sure it’s not good for their long-term mental health:
Hello,
If you are a Time Traveler from Dimension D1263GT10, year 2008 or Dimension D2044GT5, year 2432 and or in possession of the Dimensional Warp Generator wrist watch, the Carbon Copy Replica model #524350 series or similar technology I need your help! My entire life and health has been messed with by evil beings! I simply need the safest method of transferring my consciousness or returning to my younger self with my current mind/memory. I need an advanced time traveler to work with who can help me, I’d would prefer someone with access to teleportation as well as a variety different types of time travel. I will also need temporal displacement. This is not a joke! I am serious! Please send a separate email to me at: Robbyyy1@aol.com if you can help! Thanks
::edit::
I know I said I would never edit myself, but this is really an addendum, and I’m not changing the content of the post. I’ve been getting a lot of traffic from search engines for search terms related to this piece of spam, which I’ve now gotten about a million times. It’s spam!!! If you don’t get that, you should time-travel back to school and actually study this time. It’s amusing yes, but it’s still spam which costs people money to transport and store.
::/edit::
According to Google, I am the two most relevant results for “perfect guacamole recipe”. Who knew? I hope whoever searched for it thinks so too.
It’s articles like these that make me think. You know, I love Linux. I also love OS X and have no real hatred for Windows (I do have real hatred for Microsoft). The point of the editorial is basically to watch out for Linux on the desktop. Ummm, duh. Just the other day at Lowe’s buying paint, I caught a glimpse of the terminal in the wallpaper department… Linux on a small IBM machine running XWindows. That is how Linux will grow on the desktop. I think Linux is perfect for single application terminals / limited use in stores, or other places where those using the computer should have 1) no ability to change the functions of the machine or 2) limited access to functionality outside of the intended use. So, for a call center, you could give each rep access to a web browser, like Mozilla, with e-mail and web browsing, their own home directory with a disk quota for bookmarks and documents, and put your customer tracking database online behind a firewall. Voila, no site-wide Windows License and almost perfect security.
When I was in tech support, we made a hobby of breaking the Windows Policy Editor settings that were supposed to keep us from running our own applications. We ALWAYS found a way around them. In Linux, those functions can be removed from the terminal completely, and each user will only be able to run applications in the directory they’re assigned.
The problem with adopting Linux across an enterprise is converting the business folks who 1) aren’t geeky, and 2) set in their ways when it comes to Microsoft Office. I fear the conversion for them will never happen, unless Microsoft’s licensing scheme becomes completely overbearing and financially unbearable. Even then, I think that business folks might start looking at OS X as an option (ok that’s COMPLETELY wishful thinking).
As enterprises become more creative, and Microsoft charges more and more for licenses, Linux will make gains. First at the bottom levels of organizations where it’s easy to dictate to the user base what they will use to perform their job functions.
Personally, I don’t use Linux day-to-day as my desktop. I like Gnome, and it’s perfectly servicable for navigating through installed programs. I’m still a slave to Windows, although I find myself using my Powerbook and Quiksilver G4 with OS X more and more. I may make the switch eventually. It’s about inertia and having benefits of switching that outweight the time involved in learning new behavior. That’s the key. If I haven’t switched, and I’m a geek, I can’t expect the non-geeks out there to switch.
Unfortunately, it’s up to the Linux community and associated companies to provide that incentive, or Microsoft’s to keep providing cons for using their’s. The linux community has proven it can innovate, drive new technologies and make a difference. The linux desktop still has a ways to go, and a few more apps to provide. I honestly believe it will get there and Linux will start challenging Windows outside of the data center where Linux is already making huge inroads.
The problem with writing about this is that there are so many things to say on the topic. I think this is a topic for the Geekery. I think I’ll start a decision guide, and a “Here’s What I Would Use For X” doc. Not sure where it will go, but I guess we’ll find out.