Can you guess the time we installed the “upgrade?”
I’d take it more in stride, but this PostScript preflighting software licenses at $20k/host and stubbornly refuses to use more than one CPU/core. We were considering putting our 2 licenses on virtual hosts to at least free up some hardware, but can we really do that if it’ll consume 70% of a CPU when idle?
Add to that that you can’t run it as a service, you are requred to keep a generic user logged in at the console to run the application.
An interesting op-ed by an former Microsoft VP, describing the silos that company is divided into and a bit of the internecine warfare that goes on between them.
Microsoft posted a rebuttal, and one of their point was the integration of a product called OneNote into the Office suite. This was the first I had ever heard of OneNote, so I clicked through to the demo page and found that it requires Flash.
Maybe someone should tell the OneNote team about Silverlight?
Props to Mr. Gruber for the perfect summary of Microsoft & HP’s tablet/slate prototype. Complete with stylus! That is just what the world is waiting for, two years post-iPhone. A stylus! Can’t wit for the demo.
OK so seriously, there are a few things missing from this demo:
twitter
facebook
gmail
flickr
SMS
chat
ie, everything a modern consumer cares about on their (mobile) computer. A couple inescapable conclusions from this information:
Microsoft has had a skunkworks project for a new mobile operating system that looks nothing like any Microsoft product and specifically does not emulate any current features of Word, Excel or Outlook
Microsoft has given up one the Office/Windows duet that has given them two decades of profitability
this project has somehow seen the light of day, but hasn’t been released in any way shape or form
For all the bits spilled on the subject of Michael Duvall, I have not been able to find anything about any potential penalties he may face.
Can’t one of our many fine publications let us know? Isn’t he guilty of an ethics violation for every energy vote he didn’t recuse himself from? Wouldn’t that be a lot for a sitting member of the “Assembly Utilities and Commerce” committee?
Props to RR: he signed the UN Convention Against Torture. We had our differences, he and I. But on this particular subject, we are in perfect agreement. I looked around for a reference to his signing statement and part of it is unequivocal:
The United States participated actively and effectively in the negotiation of the Convention. It marks a significant step in the development during this century of international measures against torture and other inhuman treatment or punishment. Ratification of the Convention by the United States will clearly express United States opposition to torture, an abhorrent practice unfortunately still prevalent in the world today.
The core provisions of the Convention establish a regime for international cooperation in the criminal prosecution of torturers relying on so-called ‘universal jurisdiction.’ Each State Party is required either to prosecute torturers who are found in its territory or to extradite them to other countries for prosecution.
I’m sold, except for the part where he says the US has the right to decide upon the competence of the Committee Against Torture to investigate torture in the US; it is analogous to giving the accused the right to decide the competence of the district attorney. But I’ll forgive him that par-for-the-course resistance to outside oversight that has been typical of US foreign policy for several generations in light of his opposition to the practice of torture.
I don’t know if Reagan ever thought about a “ticking time-bomb” terror attack scenario, but I am pretty sure he thought of that in a military context. Maybe he knew that, as happened with Ibn al-Sheikh al-Libi, we are as likely as not to deceive ourselves with our own lies when we do it.
I’ve been a member of a credit union since returning to San Francisco, as opposed to using a standard-issue bank. There are pluses and minuses; the pluses being lower fees and rates (ie 12% on a credit card) and the minuses being less robust infrastructure.
The other day as I was taking some cash out of the ATM. It’s on the ground floor at work, which is very convenient, at least when I remember to get cash before leaving the office. Anyway, I noticed it was taking a little longer than usual to authorize my withdrawal. Then I noticed this on top of the ATM:
Cell Signal Strength
The set of LEDs at left are labeled “Cell Signal Strength.” This does not fill me with confidence! I mean, of course the data is all encrypted before it is transmitted on the red cable (never mind the cellular phone network!), which someone could plug into a $49 router they’ve hacked to copy and forward every packet/frame off somewhere? Right? Could never be any other way, right?
Ralph Nader just went on national TV, on Fox, and asked whether Barack Obama would be (from memory here) “Uncle Sam or Uncle Tom to the corporate interests.”
Wow, Ralph. That was perhaps the most ridiculous thing I have heard this election, just a little head of Gov. Palin reading “all” of the newspapers.
Well, I’ve got to give props to Senator McCain for a classy concession speech. It was refreshing after he fought a dirty, underhanded, over-wrought campaign of fear, distrust, division and on occasion, outright hatred.
John McCain is a flawed and better man than all that. Flawed in that he let Steve Schmidt listen to Karl Rove and drive his campaign, primarily by naming is running mate. Better in that he knew it was wrong, and conceded as much in his speech.
I can’t say the same about the crowd in front of him. Asked, “What more could I have done to win this election”, the crowd answered “Reverend Wright”. Well, that was the perfect reference to all the things that went wrong with his campaign: he listened to his advisers and let them over-ride his instincts, and that was his undoing.
On the “concession call” they pledged to work together. Here’s hoping they can pull it off.
Our friends at CKOI in Montréal have just pulled a most marvelous prank, convincing Sarah Palin that she is speaking with Nicholas Sarkozy on the phone.
Initial reaction: well, anyone can get pranked.
After a painful listen, several things are remarkable about this:
she repeats her talking points to the President of France
she calls him “Niko”
she gushes over him the whole time
she ignores a reference to “Nailin’ Paylin’”, the Hustler-produced tribute porn
she glides past his reference to how hot his wife is — in bed
she misses two references to Canadian politicians (the Prime Minister of Canada and the Premier of Québec), both with the wrong names
I wonder what portion of the American electorate will see this as I do (further evidence that she is not qualified for the office she is pursuing) and how many will see it as — well as something else. I can’t quite imagine what that something else is, but I’m sure they will find it.
