Microsoft


Windows Live Writer: Test 1

This is a bit of a test of Windows Live Writer.  Well, a beta of this product.

 

First, it took longer to install than most programs.  Probably a Microsoft thing. 

Second, I don’t really like the related privacy policy.  But, it is probably not all that much worse than Google’s.

Third, the “Insert Hyperlink” window takes too much time to pop up. Then some of the other tools also seemed to take too long.  However, after the first use they popped up crisply.

The table generator worked fine:

Table Table
Table Table

 And here is a picture:

EasternYellowJacket  

I’ll have to figure out how to get images to automatically upload.  When I have time I’ll test the upload to FTP server function.

It will take some experimentation to determine whether this program will provide powerful picture placement capability.  Though it was reasonable straight forward to place this text.

 

 

Most of my posts are done within the blogging application, e.g., Movable Type or WordPress. Once in a while I’ve wanted a tool to use when offline and for this purpose I’ve been pretty happy with BlogDesk for the past 6-8 months.

I’ll probably give this a go for a while and see if it can move me away from BlogDesk.


Microsoft Update Alleviates But Does Not Fix Responsiveness Problem

Microsoft swears that the two patches they have released fix an ongoing problem caused by Windows Update:

Microsoft Corp. said that patches for a Windows Update lockup problem do fix the flaw, even though users still see their computers’ CPUs maxed out at 100%.

They are wrong. At least from where I am sitting.
I installed the fixes manually two days ago. Things do seem to have improved however programs still become unresponsive from time to time. This does not seem to happen as frequently and the program does not seem to stay unresponsive for as long but the problem still occurs.
Microsoft clearly fixed part of the problem but they need to do some more followup.

On a related note…only a few more weeks until the MacBook Pro family is upgraded.


The Shorter Microsoft Warranty

Bryan, Why Now, tells us why we should trust Bill Gates:

Any member of Congress who is tempted to vote for anything based on the testimony of Bill Gates should read a Microsoft warranty¹. After reading that piece of legal prose and having it parsed to explain exactly what it says, the member of Congress should be able to understand how trustworthy Bill Gates isn’t.

Here is Bryan’s shorter Microsoft warranty:

Microsoft only guarantees the quality of the media [CD-ROM or DVD] that their products are shipped on. They don’t guarantee that anything will be on the media, and if there is something on the media, they don’t guarantee that it will do anything. If the media is defective, they’ll replace it.

Letting Microsoft hire a bunch on H1-Bs will not change their unwarranty.

Bryan’s analysis of high tech unemployment and H1-Bs is correct. Nevertheless, here we do support open borders whether it be Mexican, Indian, Canadian, Cuban,…..
Governments should not be allowed to get in the way of people’s voluntary movement or their voluntary exchange of goods.


Digital Restrictions Management (DRM)

Yea, I stole the restrictions word from Kurt’s comment to this Bruce Schneir post.
DRM is another good reason to stay away from Windows Vista:

Unfortunately, we users are caught in the crossfire. We are not only stuck with DRM systems that interfere with our legitimate fair-use rights for the content we buy, we’re stuck with DRM systems that interfere with all of our computer use–even the uses that have nothing to do with copyright.
I don’t see the market righting this wrong, because Microsoft’s monopoly position gives it much more power than we consumers can hope to have. … Some researchers think that this is the final straw that will drive Windows users to the competition, but I think the courts are necessary.
In the meantime, the only advice I can offer you is to not upgrade to Vista. It will be hard. Microsoft’s bundling deals with computer manufacturers mean that it will be increasingly hard not to get the new operating system with new computers. And Microsoft has some pretty deep pockets and can wait us all out if it wants to. Yes, some people will shift to Macintosh and some fewer number to Linux, but most of us are stuck on Windows. Still, if enough customers say no to Vista, the company might actually listen.

Now would be a perfectly good time for Apple to release a version of its operating system that runs on any Intel platform. This is their next step, isn’t it?
Via

Update: Coyote Blog agrees and has more.