This afternoon, as I was watching over the front desk at work, I had no alterrnative but to use an operating system called Microsoft Windows. It did not have a good browser installed. I once installed Firefox on it, yet somebody insisted on removing that ‘spyware’. In that browser that ended up using, my site looked corrupted at times. There were no tabs either and when opening a context menu over a link, I lacked the ability to use key bindings, which would open a link in a new window. The experience was a very frustrating one. I felt imprisoned for that long time period, namely half an hour.

Most annoyingly, at the top of my Web log, I noticed Google AdSense advertisements, which usually get blocked in my Firefox installations owing to some nifty CSS. The advert I got served in my own site occupied two AdSense slots that clearly stated:

Linux versus Windows

Windows performs better than Linux according to independent studies

Guess where the link pointed? It pointed to Microsoft’s Get the Facts Campaign. I took no screenshot as the process is rather laborious under windows: print screen, paste in paint.exe, crop, then save.

Let me clarify a few facts:

• AdSense is Google
• Google is competing with Microsoft whether they admit that or not
• Google uses Linux only and runs Linux servers
• AdSense should preferably be kind to my visitors, not drive them away
• AdSense should reflect on site content, not oppose it
• Visitors seek the truth. Look again at the link above

Now, why would Google have my site point to that garbage? Can it not sense the Microsoft bashing that is contained heavily in a decent proportion of the pages? Are they trying to make me, as their client, promote false propaganda that feeds the same lies which I strongly oppose and detest? If Microsoft are allowed to infiltrate, by the means of money (verging the notion of “bribery”), a site like mine, then how can their deceitful campaign ever reach an end? Linux bashing on my own turf?

My writings are rather blunt and honest. I feel rather disappointed and filled with mixed feelings about AdSense, which can be outrageous at times, although not voluntarily so.

APSKAT from COLA (nntp://Comp.Os.Linux.Advocacy) composed a very hilarious essay, which I was granted permission to duplicate. If you use Linux/Mac and possess fundamental knowledge of Windows, you will probably find the following hilarious.

Dear Abby…

Help! My computer is sick!!!

It really is, it’s got to be something serious!

Before, when I ran Windows, my computer never overstressed itself. It knew the importance of frequent breaks and had no problem letting me know when it was tired or just didn’t feel like doing anything. It took naps when it wanted, rebooted often and never did more than its share. It was always crying out for attention when it wanted it, it made me feel like I was special and truly needed for its survival. I used to shower it with expensive anti-malware programs and security software, frequent scandisks and defrags, cleaned it up often to keep it running happily along. I made sure I kept it safe from all the bugs and nasties running rampant out in the cruel world. I took it to the shop ever so often so it could be groomed and tuned up. Everything was fine!

It all started when I installed this “Linux” on it. Now, my computer just works all the time, it never takes a break! It just keeps on going and going like it was a machine! It never asks for a reboot like it used to all the time, it never rests. I’m really concerned for it, it’s like a constant workaholic, always ready to do something else, no matter how massive the task is – stuff that it wouldn’t even think of doing before! It’s downright scary I tell you! I’m really afraid that it’s going to hurt itself, but it never seems to mind at all.

Before, it was constantly crying out for attention and care. Now, it never asks for anything, it’s like it’s some sort of automaton just waiting for the next task to complete. It doesn’t slow down, it doesn’t reboot, it doesn’t require the loving care and attention it used to demand all the time. It doesn’t even succumb the to malware and nasties that used to be its major phobia. It’s like it doesn’t even care about them anymore, and it refuses to even run the anti-virus I paid so much for. It takes care of itself as if it were self-sufficient and only needs me to give it stuff to do!

It doesn’t even want all of the expensive gift software I bought for it, it comes with all of its own programs and they are all workaholics too! They do all the stuff the expensive software I bought even better and faster, but it didn’t cost me anything. I didn’t even have to go out and download them, they came with this new Linux thing.

Please, I’m begging you..what’s wrong with my dear computer? What happened to the cuddly, bloated, expensive powderpuff it used to be, and who is this sleek powerful workhorse of a beast in front of me? Please help me, I’m so confused!

Signed

  CompuConcerned

Related item: Reasons to Use Linux

Somebody had to clean up the trash

have come across a very funny and heavily-cited story from a guy who turned down a job at Microsoft, the “king of proprietary”. I particularly enjoyed reading his reply to the recruiter, a snippet of which lies below:

On the day *I* go to work for Microsoft, faint oinking sounds will be heard from far overhead, the moon will not merely turn blue but develop polkadots, and hell will freeze over so solid the brimstone will go superconductive.

I have found a very amusing Flash clip involving Monkey Boy Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft. He sure seems to love his iPod, but so does the Queen of England.

Context: Massachusetts says Goodbye to Office – including a reference to Ballmer’s ugly side.

otLinking is a term describing the situation where one site uses another Web site’s traffic, usually to display images it does not own. It is considered an act of stealing or unfair and unauthorised use of content. A few days ago I read a story about an HotLiknking victim that has gone a long way to achieve that sweet old revenge. As a large hamburger chain HotLinked a Flash clip, the Webmaster could notice unusual levels of traffic pulled from afar, namely from the hamburger chain’s Web site. He quicikly reacted quite shrewdly. The Webmaster explains: “…I redirected everything coming from Fuddruckers.com (the HotLinking criminal)… Wrote a nice little message pointing out how incredibly stupid their web developer is. And then redirected the main page to a pleasant little website showing photographs of slaughterhouses. And also opened up some more popups, for those that don’t have popup blockers.”

Also see my previous write-ups on HotLinking:

• Bandwidth Thieves – My battle against HotLinking
• Stolen Graphics – An hilarious Hotlinking Story

A humorous article, which was sarcastically called “Five Reasons NOT to Use Linux” in fact talks about why Linux is better than Windows.

In short, here are the arguments listed by the article’s author:

• The Windows Registry has deficiencies
• Windows is hard to install due to patching, AV, etc.
• Windows lacks built-in applications
• Windows is not secure
• Windows is more expensive

Is you are not convinced about any of the above, have a look at the essay. It provides compelling arguments and includes references to support them.

A ZDNet item that got Slashdotted moments ago reminds me why I back-up my data so frequently and frantically.

…A woman placed her laptop on top of her car while she got in. She forgot about the laptop, which slid off the back of her car, and she then reversed straight over it and reported hearing a ‘crunch’…

My seriousness when it comes to backup peaked a couple of months ago. As part of my ‘paranoia approach’ to backup, I have bi-weekly procedure which includes mirroring my entire hard-drive (~150,000 files), doing data integrity tests and a shallow sanity check using ‘diff‘ to ensure that no data was explicitly erased by accident.

Related items:

• Copy is Power – duplicating data excessively
• Cron-based Backup – backing up with pre-defined cycles
• One-Click Backups – automating the backup process
• Backup Fallacy – a common mistake
• Palm SD Card Backup – backing up PDA‘s using a tiny memory card