Misc. Ramblings

Week of 22 January through 26 January 2001
Last Week    Mon    Tues    Wed    Thurs    Fri    Next Week
Home     Diary Index     Search
Contact Dan
   Jump to Last Update: Friday 7:00 am HST

Losing Connections. The dog ate our T-1. Actually, our connection (not to mention our web and DNS servers) has been a little flaky lately. A reply to an email to our IT people only says something is wrong, but they don't know where. Hmmm. I think I just told them that, maybe they could be a little more helpful? On the other hand, if they truly don't know what is going on then we are in even bigger trouble than I thought.

Linux Desktop. InfoWorld's Nicholas Petreley's column (see it here) points out a major shortcoming of Linux as a desktop operating system. Notwithstanding the release of the 2.4 kernel, Linux still needs better driver support. Petreley specifically refers to USB, and to a lesser extent, printers.

I agree with both and would like to extend his remarks. We must remember that Linux is more than just the kernel, at least in the desktop environment.

On the desktop, we need a stable, usable GUI. We are not there yet even though KDE 2.x is a step forward. But it is simply unacceptable, to most people, to have to remember and use "Klingon" (see JHR) to get your work done.

We need a stable, usable browser, even though Opera is another step forward, why should we accept unstable, unusable browsers in Linux when we don't settle for that in Windows? Why should we accept hundreds of bugs in Linux applications but decry the same in Windows?

We need better support for video cards, printers, and other peripherals - at the time they ship, not years afterwards. What good does it do consumers to buy the latest and greatest only to find they are either unable to use what they bought, or at best, are able to use only certain base features?

We need simple, usable support of fonts, both in viewing and printing. It amazes me how anyone can do useful work without easy to use font support. And yet, the state-of-the art in Linux requires you to manually install, configure, and edit X Windows, Ghostscript, and application files, at the command line, for each font you want to display and print.

We need a simpler way to install and upgrade applications and the kernel itself (I'm sorry, but compiling programs is not something Aunt Minnie will be doing anytime soon). And don't even get me started on problems with dependencies...

And finally, for those who still use modems, we need simple, but robust "wizards" to connect to the Internet. It shouldn't be this hard, but it is.

How will all of this happen if different companies insist on "enhancing" Linux, and thus making their version incompatible with every other distribution? Simple, it won't. Not unless one company comes to dominate the market and thus is able to create a de facto standard. But if that happens, how is that better than MS? I don't have any simple answers to a difficult business question but standardization must come to a core set of services.

Standardization would leave the companies to differentiate themselves in other ways. Would those ways keep all of them in business? Probably not. But there is going to be a "shake-out" whether or not standardization comes. So we might as well get some benefit from it.

Until all these things come together, Linux on the desktop will be a very difficult, unstable, and frustrating environment to get useful work done. One hopes that day comes soon though, before MS implodes under its own hubris..

Netscape 6 for Linux. Speaking of Linux browsers, I forgot to mention Netscape Navigator. I downloaded their latest version last week but didn't get a chance to do the install until yesterday.

The first download is just a stub (it requires you to gunzip the stub after downloading to create the install directory and files) that accesses the net and downloads the real program. If you are using a slow connection, I would think the custom install, with as little as possible checked off, would be the best way to go since Navigator is a big program (relative to Opera) but I chose the default install so I can't say for sure what control you have if you do a custom one.

Once the main download is done (mine had nine components), the program configures itself drawing its defaults from your current installation of Navigator (assuming you have one). After doing that, I don't know if the install hung or if you're supposed to do a control-c to terminate the install but that's what I had to do. Doing so didn't seem to harm anything but I can't say for sure.

I was quite impressed with the install in that it looked a lot like one in Windows. That is, you don't have to do any compiling, make install, or any other arcane Klingon commands (other than typing in ./netscape-installer in a KDE konsole window to begin the process and of course, gunziping the stub download mentioned earlier). In fact, other than not creating an icon or program group for KDE, it looked and acted very much like a Windows install. Top marks for that.

As far as the browser itself, I haven't done any tests but I don't see any obvious bugs and it doesn't appear slower than any other browser (although again, I haven't done any tests).

Over the Hill. No, I'm not talking about being too old (although, ahem, some would say that). Someone asked about my calling Wednesday "Hump" Day. Well, of course it refers to the middle of the work week and how it's over the hill and a slow slide down to the weekend. Why? What did you think it meant?

By the way, it also sort of dates me in that I used to listen to a radio station in Los Angeles called 94.7 KMET-FM (the "Mighty Met") that had phrases for just about every day of the week. I've long since forgotten them (which shows my age again), but the one that stuck was Hump Wednesday. By the way, Hollywood made a movie roughly based on the station. The movie was called "FM." The soundtrack was probably better than the movie. Whooyah to yah!

Oh. And Fridays being called "Aloha Friday"? That refers to the local tradition of wearing casual clothes on Fridays (something that has since spread to the mainland). You can read about the evolution of the term here.

Colorful Phones. No, I'm not talking about cell phones in different colors. I'm talking about the Motorola Timeport P8767 (doesn't that name just roll off your tongue? Who came up with that name anyway?). It has a color display using electroluminescence to display text in three colors.

Pure Bunk. Yes, I'm talking about Dr. Bunk, maven of the the e-hoax. So you've just gotten that hot email letting you know about the Intel/AOL beta-email tracking test. Or the one about the woman who was robbed after inhaling what she was told was a perfume sample but was actually a super-duper knock-out liquid. Or even the one about how to weasel out of that speeding ticket. Before you forward these emails to 10 of your very best friends (soon to be former friends if they have a clue), go over to ZDNET (see Dr. Bunk's site here) and take a look at the latest hoaxes running around. On the other hand, look out for that super heated water inside of your microwave.

Forgot to mention that Pair.com, who hosts this site, will be upgrading their server tomorrow. They say it will be down for only 10 minutes but things do happen. So don't be too surprised if you can't get to my site tomorrow. Just keep trying and eventually you will get in. Sometime. Somehow. Somewhere.

Microsoft Unresolved. The same company that wants you to buy into its .NET strategy of running your applications and storing your data on their servers ran into DNS problems yesterday. And in fact, I can't get to microsoft.com, msn.com, or hotmail.com this morning either. I'm sure glad I don't have any mission critical applications or data running on their networks because I wouldn't be able to do anything if I did. <.NYET!>

I've got to finish my report for tonight's class (a 20 minute presentation on whether or not campaigns to increase visitor spending should require an Environmental Impact Statement) so I gotta go - Aloha!

So yesterday's problem relating to MS was caused by a DoS attack and not continuing DNS problems. At least that's what MS is saying (see an article here from the New York Times). Hmmm. Either way, people could not access the MS website nor Hotmail.

In what could be called the electrical version of the Domino Effect (you heard it here first. Or not.), people are beginning to realize that if California's economy is sufficiently affected by their energy woes, it is only a matter of time before other states are affected. Perhaps this is just "saber rattling" on the part of Californians trying to get Federal intervention, but if so, that doesn't mean they are wrong.

California's economy is so large that it could very well hasten the coming recession, or make it last longer or deeper. Having said that, the opposite danger is to make hasty decisions without thought to the long-term implications. In any crisis there is opportunity, the question is, who will seize the opportunity and to what end?

The presentation for class last night went well. The issue was covered fully and in depth. The only problem was that it went long [something about being long winded - Ed]. Now, I have to write a five page paper on the topic and turn it in by 2:00pm tomorrow. No problem.