KDE - The Long Shutdown

As the Alice Cooper song goes "It's the little things that drive you wild," and that is certainly true with KDE4.

KDE4 has a lot of good things going for it. It looks very nice, it is easy to configure, the widgets work well, and even though it's not quite finished what is there tends to be an improvement over KDE3.

There is one thing that gets right up my nose though, and that is the shut down options. Allow me to walk you through the shutdown routine.

Step 1: Click on the "K" button to open the menu
Step 2: Click on the "Leave" tab
Step 3: Click on "Shutdown"
Step 4: Click on "Turn off the computer"

At this point the computer will actually shut down. That's a lot of steps for a simple task. The really annoying thing is that you actually get asked the same questions twice, so after you choose "Shutdown" from Step 3 (as opposed to "Log out" and "Reboot") you get presented with the same set of options again, but worded slightly differently.

Look, if I didn't want to shut the damn thing down I wouldn't have chosen "Shutdown" in the first place.

Personally I'd say it would be better to skip from Step 2 to Step 4 missing out the redundant set of questions in the middle.

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Hans Reiser - Sentenced

Hans Thomas Reiser, former Linux file system guru, was sentenced to 15 years to Life yesterday (Oakland, California). Hans confessed to the murder of his wife (Nina) as part of a plea bargain which reduced his minimum sentence from 20 years.

He claims to be putting Namesys and ReiserFS into a trust fund for his children, and hoped to earn money while in prison for them, "assuming I'm able to get access to a computer and the internet."

So what does this mean for ReiserFS? This probably finishes it off. Work on Reiser3 (which is included in the Linux kernel) stopped a couple of years back. Reiser4 is unfinished, and likely to stay that way.

Even assuming Reiser does get access to the internet and resumes work on Reiser4 is anyone likely to use it? You get the feeling it is going to be remembered as a "killer file system" for all the wrong reasons.

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I Love IM - NOT!

I'm starting to develop a serious dislike for Instant Messenging. Don't get me wrong, it can be a useful tool to keep in touch with people, or at least it is if they use the same protocol as you.

For example, if you sign up with an MSN account you can't communicate with people using Google Messenging, AOL won't talk to Jabber, Jabber can hardly talk to Jabber, never mind anyone else and so on.

This means that you end up needing multiple messenging accounts (and in some cases multiple clients) in order to do one job.

It really is a shame that Google, Microsoft et al are so distrustful of each other that something that really does need to be cross platform and cross protocol ends up just making people cross.

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Microsoft takes tougher measures against XP "Pirates"

They're at it again. The "Windows Genuine Advantage" (WGA) programme is being toughened up to make life less pleasant for users of pirated software. As well as a permanent watermark on screen, the desktop background will change to a plain black colour, and will revert to this once every hour if the wallpaper is changed. These changes are only being done against Windows XP Pro, because they are "focusing on the product edition that is most often stolen."

Or are they?

Many people use XP Pro in preference to XP Home for the simple reason that XP Home really isn't that good. So if you want to upgrade the most common way is to buy an OEM version of Windows XP Pro and use that instead. This is where the problems come in to play (and I think is one of the reasons behind the WGA scheme). Many OEM licenses are being blocked by WGA (I should know, my legally bought copy of XP Pro, complete with license sticker also fell foul of this).

This is because Microsoft don't want people buying OEM versions, they'd much rather you spent a couple of hundred pounds to buy the "Full" version of the product. The problem is the resale of OEM copies of products is perfectly legal in the UK - even if Microsoft don't like it. So their solution is to block these genuine copies of Windows - and if complain about it you are given the response that you need to "talk to the company that sold it to you."

Personally I think they're just after finding new ways of persuading people to upgrade to Vista.

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iPhone Antics

Truth in advertising is a wonderful - if sometimes rare - thing. Apple have fallen foul of the UK's stringent advertising laws with their iPhone adverts.

So what was the problem? Essentially this: "all parts of the internet are on the iPhone". All parts except those that need flash. Or Java for that matter.

The verdict?

"Upheld
The ASA noted that Java and Flash proprietary software was not enabled on the iPhone and understood that users would therefore be unable to access certain features on some websites or websites that relied solely on Flash or Java. We noted Apples argument that the ad was about site availability rather than technical detail, but considered that the claims "You'll never know which part of the internet you'll need" and "all parts of the internet are on the iPhone" implied users would be able to access all websites and see them in their entirety. We considered that, because the ad had not explained the limitations, viewers were likely to expect to be able to see all the content on a website normally accessible through a PC rather than just having the ability to reach the website. We concluded that the ad gave a misleading impression of the internet capabilities of the iPhone.

The ad breached CAP (Broadcast) TV Advertising Standards Code rules 5.1 (Misleading advertising), 5.2.1 (Evidence) and 5.2.2 (Implications)."

This does raise an important point about tech toys (and yes, the iPhone is definitely one of those) - if you start advertising it as more than a toy and it doesn't live up to peoples expectations then you could end up in a whole world of trouble.

Realistically only two people (who could probably do with getting out in the fresh air a bit more I expect) complained about the advert - and to be honest the iPhone probably browses the web better than most other mobile phones.

I just hope those two complainants are proud of themselves - isn't that right Bill and Linus?

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Pystar to Countersue Apple

According to CNET Pystar, those wacky funsters who have been selling Mac clones (with genuine Apple software) are countersuing Apple!

Rather than bending over and dropping their trousers ready for the gentle pleasures of Apple's lawyers, they are going on the offensive using two Federal laws which are meant to prevent anti-competitive practices in business (the Sherman Antitrust Act and the Clayton Antitrust Act).

I've got to admit, much as I'd like to see Pystar win (just for the sheer Hell of it really) I get the sneaky feeling that Apple may follow what appears to be standard business practice amongst big companies these days and string things out until Pystars money runs out - then sue them into oblivion.

If Pystar do win however, then this could mean some interesting times for Apple and OSX.

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For Sale - One Sun, Slightly Soiled

Latest on the rumour-mill is the possibility of Sun Micro being up for sale, with Microsoft being the potential buyer.

I've got to hope that this isn't true. OK, so the Sun of today is nothing like they were ten years ago - in fact I'd say they are pretty much a shell of their former selves and have been trading solely on their reputation for quite a while - but it would still be a crying shame if they were assimilated by the Microsoft Borg.

I've got to admit that I quite like the combination of Solaris on Sun hardware. There is something so damn solid and heavy duty about it which other companies (and I'm including Apple here) have never been able to match.

I've got to hope that this just turns out to be the gossip of bored journos out to get some more readers.

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