2009 will be the year of major operating system releases.  On the Linux front, Ubuntu 9.04 was just released earlier this week.  Microsoft is due to release the next version of Windows (Windows 7) sometime soon, most likely May.  Snow Leopard, Apple's next version of MacOS X, is due out sometime in the summer.  What does all this mean?  I guess it depends on who you ask, and where they stand.  The passion that some people have (myself included) for their operating system of choice borders on religion.  I have previously ranted and raved on various issues I have with Microsoft, and most of my problems with them come down to many bad decisions...and especially their decision to keep Steve Ballmer.  

<>This week Apple announced that they just had their most profitable non-holiday quarRead on... Comments (2)

So I think the coolest software I've run in a while is, far and away, ScreenFlow by Telestream. Screencasts are not only increasingly popular as video over the web is getting popular, they are extremely useful. Being an "IT Guy", it's so much easier for me, and accessible for users, to just create a "movie" detailing how to do something.

I just gave it a real try, and it is totally professional looking! Zooming, panning, not to mention that it knows mouse clicks and where your pointer is and just about everything you could possibly want it to do. The greatest part, it's only $99. Thinking of all the hours I can save by not having to repeat myself a bazillion times...just tell a user to "go here" and view the screencast on how to perform that particular task.

<>You don't have tRead on... Submit the first comment!

So it's all the buzz, everywhere you turn, politicians and prominent figures using Twitter and Facebook. So yesterday afternoon I decided to make a little experiment: create an account on both, and see who (if anyone) finds me.

I actually have very little faith in anyone finding me on Twitter. Not only is it nowhere near as popular, I don't think anyone I know is using it. As for Facebook, I have a feeling that it shouldn't be too long until somebody I know is recommended to be my friend or stumbles upon me, mostly because the majority of people I communicate with online already have Facebook accounts.

<>I've held out, about as long as I could. Never bought into MySpace, mostly because it's intended for bands. I could care less about privacy of anything I post online, I undersRead on... Comments (1)

After my bout with day-1 in getting tickets, I had hopes that LiveNation saw their servers crashing like they were running Windows98 and would take measures to step up the availability. Well, I was absolutely disappointed.

It started okay, requested my tickets, eventually passed the turing test (BTW... apparently I'm mostly non-human, since I failed many of their incredibly hard CAPTCHAs), and then the fun began...

• There was a problem. An error occurred. We apologize for the inconvenience. Please try again.
• Please wait...
• An error (500 Internal Server Error) has occured in response to this request. (their server misspelled occurred

And my absolute favorite...the one you got right at the end, after you clicked "Complete Purchase":

<><> Sorry! Your time has run out.

The tickeRead on... Comments (1)

I was able to be a part of a distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) attack this morning, although this attack was just as destructive as any other, it was not done in a malicious manner. Phish fans from around the country (world?) signed on for the 9am EST on-sale date for 6 shows. The band hasn't tours in 5 years, and this could be adding to the feeding frenzy, but it was only for 6 shows!??!

<>Luckily, I was one of the ones that ended up with tickets...1 out of my 3 computers was able to get through, where the other two continually timed out. What was worse, they had a count-down timer, which gave you about 7 minutes to complete the transaction...seems like plenty of time. However, when it takes about 1:00 for their server to respond to every submission (and there were a numberRead on... Submit the first comment!

Saw this hilarious posting (the top posting) on the Zune forum's website, the funny part is the URL it links to: http://www.apple.com/itunes/

I for one think it's a pretty valid fix ;-)

Outsourcing and globalization by Adobe just earned me about $1,100. How you ask?

One of the great things about Adobe is it's commitment to students, and offering huge discounts on "Student Editions" of it's software. I was in the market for purchasing the new CS4 Web Premium Student Edition, legitimately since I am currently enrolled at DePaul for a class starting in January. The full price of the software is $1,699, where the Student Edition is $349...the $1,350 in savings I was getting makes the sting of the $2,550 per class tuition at DePaul a little less potent.

<>When I actually decided to make the purchase, I must have rushed, and chose the Windows version, when I really wanted the Mac version. I realized this after they confirmed my order (approved me as a currently enroRead on... Submit the first comment!

So I recently decided that I was going to buy one of the nice/new glass and aluminum MacBook Pros to replace my late-2006 model. The late-2006 is nice and all, which is part of the reason I wanted to get rid of it...I still had about a year of AppleCare warranty, and saw I could get over $1,000 on eBay for an equal laptop. I figured, in one year I wouldn't even be able to get $500 for it...so the time was now.

So I went to the local Apple Store, picked up my new shiny one... transferred all my information, performed the wipe of my information (took forever!), and got the thing up on eBay. Decided to ask for $1,000 as a starting bid, and Buy-It-Now at $1,200, even threw in a Timbuk2 case for free. It was a total deal.

<>Within two days, I had a buyer...paid for it using PayPal, Read on... Comments (1)

As it's probably no secret, I believe that Rails is the answer that so many web developers are looking for. Compared to programming in PHP, Rails is just fun...and you never feel like the project is getting out of hand.

However, there is still one issue that all web developers have to deal with, whether they're using PHP, ASP, JSP, or even Rails...the front end. That combination of (X)HTML, XML, CSS, and JavaScript. Now, the worst part isn't learning and knowing how to use those languages properly...it's knowing how to use them improperly to make real world browsers (specifically Internet Explorer) display your pages the way you intended them to.

<>Now I can, and have, gone on long tirades as to how I think all the browser vendors need to get their asses in gear and make their bRead on... Submit the first comment!

Okay, what the hell is wrong with Maryland?!?!

First, they pass a new tax law that says work done by computer consultants/programmers is a tangible, taxable, good. Unlike the rest of the US that still believes what we do is service based...as is truly is. However, even the Governor of Maryland wants to repeal this law.

But now, something WAY worse is happening in our Nation's capital: they want to criminalize usage of other people's wireless networks How fucked up is that?!?!

Open wireless networks are just that...OPEN!! They may have been left open intentionally; or just left open for convenience. This is clearly a bill designed to help people who use technology they don't understand.

<> So let's see...instead of educating people on how to enable security (whaRead on... Submit the first comment!

So you want to run Linux as your primary OS, and who'd blame you! But you have a few reasons to run Windows from time to time...what to do? Well, you can emulate, but I prefer virtualization. Personally I'm a Mac user, and Parallels has worked out pretty well for me (except for the occasional issues with network adapter drivers). But I'm going to focus on an open source solution for Linux, VirtualBox OSE (Open Source Edition). (As a side note, VirtualBox was recently acquired by Sun Microsystems.)

I'm going to show how easy it is to get VirtualBox running on Ubuntu Desktop. However, I am going to assume that VirtualBox is already installed on your machine. If not, just go to Synaptic Package Manager and install it!

<> Once installed, VirtualBox should be located uRead on... Comments (3)

It seems as though Microsoft has "decided that IE8 will, by default, interpret web content in the most standards compliant way it can."

If so, this is a really great thing...mostly for the web development community, but also for Internet Explorer users. Too many times have I had to sacrifice clean CSS files just to get layouts to display properly in IE.

Also, Microsoft getting behind web standards means that we should start to see improvements from other web browser developers to push their compliance even further. IE is, without a doubt, worse at displaying pages properly than Safari and Firefox, but hopefully they can give Apple and Mozilla a little friendly competition.

<> Now if they could only lock it down further... separate it from the OS... do away with ActiveX...Read on...

This week, Representatives Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Chip Pickering (R-Miss.) unveiled a bill, entitled "Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2008", to the House of Representatives which will encourage Congress to seek out public opinion on how Internet service providers operate.

Luckily (for me), this bill is quite short and easy to read; sometimes just looking at a bill can cause my eyes to glaze over and my head to become dizzy. They first state the current U.S. policy, the highlights being:

<>

"to maintain the freedom to use for lawful purposes broadband telecommunications networks, including the Internet, without unreasonable interference from or discrimination by network operators"

<><>"to preserve and promote the open and interconnected nature of broadband networks that enablRead on... Submit the first comment!

I think throughout the years I never gave Bill Gates enough credit for things he did at Microsoft (as a person I give him much respect for what he does in philanthropy). Bashing M$ is like second nature to me, I don't even have to do it and something nasty will just spew out, so why all of a sudden talk well about the man who started it all? The reason: as he's been stepping down since 1998, the products have been declining, with the height of success with Windows Version 5 (aka 2000, XP, and Server 2003). Subsequent products have been, well, crappy.

<>XP was actually the start of the downfall...adding a facelift to the already successful Windows 2000; a way to make more money on top of an exsiting code base...but as support for 2000 decreased, and XP increased, it clearly becaRead on... Submit the first comment!