TECH SOFTWARE: Sage Software’s Act! — NOT RECOMMENDED!

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

http://weblog.infoworld.com/gripeline/archives/
2008/03/not_a_class_act.html

March 18, 2008
Not a class Act!

***Begin Quote***

Many people have mixed feelings about class action lawsuits, seeing as how the only real winners are usually the lawyers. But is such litigation more justified against a software company that keeps putting out a buggy product? That was the question confronting one reader when he received notice of a settlement involving Sage Software’s Act! 2005.

***End Quote***

I don’t even fight any more. My defense is Open Source Software. A huge criteria to “invest” my time and effort, which is worth far more than the little bit of money I spend on software, hardware, or services, is can I get my data in and out. I can’t — goodbye. I spend ZERO on anything that I can’t escape from. I’ve been locked in by the best of them most notable Microsoft and I’m going to escape that trap this year. No Vista for me. It’s a failed meme to use tools that trap you into upgrade cycle hell or steal your time and attention away from profitable activities. I’m moving to the zero foot print computing that the web — most notably Google — is offering. As long as I can export my data to Open Office, I’ll be OK. More than one way to skin a class action lawyer.

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TECH SOFTWARE: a strange bug or data error with Microsoft WORD2003

Monday, March 10, 2008

Microsoft Office, (Have I mentioned lately how much I hate Microsoft Office and Outlook?), specifically WORD2003, threw me a curve this weekend. I was doing my Jottings Sunday morning and was hit by a strange bug or data error.

Everything on the page was coded as a hypertext link.

I was hooked bad. On deadline, I really didn’t need that hassle. Tried to clear the format in any way I could think. New doc. New file. Cut’n’paste. Even went through the doc and “removed hyperlink” on every paragraph.

Nothing worked.

Fired up Open Office. Removed one page of links. Saved it. Uploaded it. Still screwed up.

Fired up NVU and opened the page. It allowed me to globally nuke the link and save it.

Argh!

Two hours down the tubes.

I hate Microsoft Office.

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TECH HARDWARE: troublesome laptop (mac book air) and a flight long gone

Sunday, March 9, 2008

http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/019882.html

March 08, 2008
The TSA Doesn’t Dig The Macbook Air
Posted by Manuel Lora at March 8, 2008 08:28 PM

***Begin Quote***

The TSA is the federal agency that supposedly keeps airports safe. It prevents bombs, firearms, knives, brass knuckles and all sorts of evil objects and people from boarding flights. Yet they were puzzled by the new Macbook Air:

***and***

The senior agent hasn’t been trained for technological change. New products on the market? They haven’t been TSA approved. Probably shouldn’t be permitted. He requires me to open the “device” and run a program. I do, and despite his inclination, the lead agent decides to release me and my troublesome laptop. My flight is long gone now, so I head for the service center to get rebooked.

***and***

Oh heroic TSA agents, may you keep our homeland secure from all evils present and future. May your vigilant, Orwellian and totalitarian eyes look after us poor frightened citizens forever and ever. And while you’re at it, read some technology blogs and leave us alone.

***End Quote***

I guess this is one small strike against my getting one. Is this part of the cost of being on the bleeding edge?

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TECH HARDWARE: Western Digital’s website may be wrong about “out of warranty”

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

http://weblog.infoworld.com/gripeline/archives/2008/03/western_digital.html

March 04, 2008
Western Digital Lies About Warranty Status
The Gripe Line
Ed Foster

***Begin Quote***

Drive manufacturers often seem to have a bad memory when it comes to their warranty promises. That’s what one reader discovered when Western Digital’s website falsely labeled his drive as being out of warranty when it wasn’t.

***and***

Then the reader discovered some fine print that only popped up when he hovered his cursor over a small “note” link. It read:

“By default, the warranty date is calculated from the manufacture date. However, if you have proof of purchase, we can update the warranty to calculate it from the purchase date. If you feel that the warranty date needs to be updated from the purchase date, please follow the instructions below.”

***End Quote***

I would have thought that was “fraudulent”. I can see them saying “we only know that we made the drive x/y/z date.” But, I think that they also ask you to register the drive with the dumb post card. Maybe, they are NOT crooks, but this is certainly bad PR.

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TECH SERVICE: Google Sites as part of Google Apps

Thursday, February 28, 2008

FROM GOOGLE to admins of domains using google apps

***Begin Quote***

Greetings admins!

Today, we’re excited to announce the introduction of Google Sites as part of Google Apps.

Google Sites makes creating a team web site as easy as editing a document. You can quickly gather a variety of information in one place — including videos, calendars, presentations, attachments, and gadgets — and easily share it for viewing or editing with a small group, your entire organization, or the world.

As of today, Google Sites is enabled for reinkefaceslife.com, which means your users can get started immediately. To help you announce this new offering to your users, we’ve included a template message below that you’re welcome to use.

You can learn more about Google Sites at http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/users/sites.html.

To find more information or get in touch, visit our Help Center at http://www.google.com/support/a. Please do not reply to this email; replies are not monitored.

Sincerely,

The Google Apps Team

——————————————————-

Google has just released a new product called Google Sites, and you can start using it today!

What is Google Sites?
It’s an online application that makes creating a team web site as easy as editing a document. You can quickly gather a variety of information in one place — including videos, calendars, presentations, attachments, and gadgets — and easily share it for viewing or editing with a small group, their entire organization, or the world.

* Anyone can do it — Building a site is as simple as editing a document, and you don’t need anyone’s help to get started.
* Share from one place — Create a single place to bring together all the information your team needs to share, including docs, videos, photos, calendars and attachments.
* Work together — Invite co-workers, classmates, or your entire organization to edit your site with you to keep it fresh and up-to-date. And let as many or few people view your site as you want.

Take a look at some example sites to see how you might use Google Sites:
* Company intranet — http://sites.google.com/a/organic-city.com/intranet/Home
* Team project — http://sites.google.com/a/altostrat.com/project-eggplant/Home
* Employee profile — http://sites.google.com/a/altostrat.com/jkraus/Home
* Classroom — http://sites.google.com/a/googleclassrooms.org/mrs-richau/Home
* Student club — http://sites.google.com/a/googleuniversity.org/ski-club/Home

To start using Google Sites, go to http://sites.google.com/a/reinkefaceslife.com

If you have questions, visit the Google Sites Help Center at http://www.google.com/support/sites.

***End Quote***

Interesting!

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TECH SERVICE: BLOGLINES stops updating

Sunday, February 24, 2008

http://www.bloglines.com

As an RSS reader, I liked it a little better than Google’s. Until it stop working today.

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TECH SERVICE: Western Union money transfer — NOT RECOMMENDED

Friday, February 22, 2008

http://wumt.westernunion.com

***Begin Quote***

Why do I have to call to complete my transaction?
See answer
For security reasons, we need to speak with you to confirm that your transaction is valid. We apologize for inconvenience.

***End Quote***

It’s a disaster.

NOT RECOMMENDED

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TECHNOLOGY: Being Declared Dead Ruins Life

Thursday, February 21, 2008

http://www.wsmv.com/news/15315424/detail.html?taf=nash

Woman Says Being Declared Dead Ruins Life
Laura Todd Says She’s Been Dead On, Off Again For 8 Years
Reported By Nancy Amons
POSTED: 5:10 pm CST February 15, 2008
UPDATED: 4:59 pm CST February 16, 2008

***Begin Quote***

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A Nashville woman said that having to prove she’s alive over and over is ruining her life.

***End Quote***

It’s technology because it is poorly designed.

Just shaking my head.

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TECHNOLOGY: Who needs smoke detectors?

Saturday, February 2, 2008

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/02/fire_at_south_brunswick_apartm.html

Fire at South Brunswick apartment complex displaces 16
by Seung Min Kim/The Star-Ledger
Saturday February 02, 2008, 2:50 PM

***Begin Quote***

The fire was first detected when a tenant working on his computer around 3:15 a.m. noticed the power flickering throughout the apartment, South Brunswick police Detective Jim Ryan said.

***End Quote***

Who needs smoke detectors? We have the “web surfers”.

:-)

Can laff now about a potentially serious incident.

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TECH HARDWARE: OLPC can’t deliver!

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/25/0625206&from=rss

Big Delays, Small Laptops: OLPC XO Recipients Mad
Posted by Soulskill on Friday January 25, @08:15AM
from the give-one-get-one-if-you-are-lucky dept.
Portables Hardware

***Begin Quote***

PCWMike writes to tell us about the growing concern over the failure of OLPC to deliver laptops to some of its customers. PC World editor-in-chief Harry McCracken notes that record-keeping was poor for some of the people who paid via PayPal. A report on LinuxJournal also suggests that customer information was lost due to errors in the database software used by OLPC. Quoting PC World: “OLPC spokesperson Jackie Lustig acknowledges problems with the ordering and the fulfillment process, but says the biggest challenges are a short supply of XO laptops and the organization’s ability to meet consumer demand for the XO laptop. Some also wonder whether chronic delivery problems for Give One, Get One donors may bode poorly for the 15 countries slated to receive nearly 500,000 XO notebooks. Lustig says delivering in bulk to just over a dozen countries is infinitely simpler than processing and delivering 80,000 individual laptops.”

***End Quote***

Guess I wasn’t lucky. Now the “early January” date has slipped to “maybe April”. Argh! What did these guys take lessons from Dell? They should have outsourced it to Amazon!

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