S a programmer in training and background, I have always been told that I must keep up with the latest and the greatest — technology-wise that is — in oder to remain marketable. The way I perceive it, Windows technology that excludes the competition is a dying breed. I would not want to expand my knowledge in that area, which is why I continue to urge people to upgrade to Linux. At the same time, I rarely bother to keep up with advancements in the Windows world and yet I keep an eye on features and demonstrations that permit me to make a comparative analysis.

A mockup I prepared using the GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP)

Today in the news:

• Microsoft CEO seeks to reassure analysts
• Ballmer: Windows releases must come more quickly
• Microsoft fails to ease Vista fears
• Beijing Co-Create Claims 50,000 Linux Desktops

And that, mind you, is just half a day in the news. It is representative of merely any day in the year 2006. The world changes more quickly than most people care to realise.

O, there I am at work again. By all means it’s an ordinary day, but the unusual heat makes me want to stay inside where it’s air conditioned. Just a minute ago I saw a follow Ph.D. student slamming his mouse and keyboard. I could see an empty Windows XP desktop, so I can only imagine that it froze on him (possibly after an important overnight experiment). That’s just something, isn’t it? No access to the results and a whole night gone in vain. I’d offer him Linux (it’s already installed on his secondary partition), but I don’t want to risk alienation or become his ‘support guy’.

My computer was running from April to July (SuSE Linux 8.1) without a single reboot, but we had three outages recently. These were due to the heat wave that evidently affects London datacentres, as well as California (notably the half-day MySpace downtime). I even heard about Utah too last week… downtime reported in news:alt.www.webmaster. I then found a news release and reproted it to Walt as a possible proof that the Web host was not lying. I guess we must all have to cope with the effect of the weather on our servers. Everyone suffers the same, so balance prevails.

I spent about 10 minutes this morning preparing the following mockup.

There is indeed a typo in the image, but I have not bothered to fix it. Perhaps it can be perceived as humorous.

I have many more such images in the Amusement page.

ORE executives are leaving Microsoft while more of its products are having their release date further delayed. As each blow to the prospects of the company hits, people jokingly say that the CEO throws a chair. This is mentioned in reference to his anger management problems, which are potentially connected to issues with his character, as Wikipedia explains.

Ballmer’s tendency to loudly and enthusiastically express himself is well known. A famous 1991 incident left his vocal cords requiring repairative surgery after he screamed “Windows, Windows, Windows” continuously during a meeting in Japan. With the advent of internet video, such incidents have become increasingly infamous. (see videos)

Recommended: An hilarious video that demonstrates rage and tantrum in computing.

F you listen closely, you can already some squeaks of anguish. Indeed, these are coming from Mr. Ballmer as oinks his way into a nearby office to break a chair. The prospective departure of Bill Gates has been made public, so the future of the company his jointly founded does not look bright.

Despite the many problems that Microsoft is facing, many are eager to stay with Windows and accept the Microsoft waiver (EULA). More recently, privacy of users, as well as rights, have been compromised. It’s high time people took a closer look at the truth behind licensing. Deplorable executives whose misuse of the law has reached new peaks are now beginning to depart. This includes Jim Allchin with a Vista status report that can make anyone gasp. Windows Vista is the result of just 6 months in development.

When Windows Vista finally comes out, Steve Ballmer will no longer be dancing like a ballerina. It is no longer the 90′s (alluding to the in/famous “monkey dance” scene). More likely than that, he will toss a chair with sheer fury, repulsed by the outcome, which is completely unacceptable.

So, what it is that can keep Windows in the game for a few more years? To name a few factors: (1) dependence on a vendor, which leads to exacerbating standards, or (2) unilateral deployment of new proprietary ones. Fortunately, Adobe resist the latter, as well as the former. Moreover, OpenDocument has recently become the one and only ISO standard.

There is yet another snag that will act as a barrier to Windows’ acceptance. Microsoft OneCare’s marketing campaign will have to bash Windows security in order to be sold. It is a necessary ‘component’ that fixes another already-broken product, which ironically enough, comes from the very same vendor.

But not all hope is lost. On the other hand, Linux is gaining steam on a daily basis. I no longer blog as often as I used to simply because I report Linux advocacy items elsewhere. Apart from more obvious advantages that are stability, Freedom, and security, Linux always leaves me wanting more as I know the options for extensibility are there. They just need to be understood and embraced. The Linux kernel is better wrought, yet Microsoft propaganda, trolls and marketing puppets deny it. Yes, for income.

Click to enlarge the image

OOGLE Earth has been released for Linux (see my SUSE screenshot for proof), following the Mac OS X version and preceded by the Windows version.

Let us look further. Google Talk is another example of a similar ‘porting channel’. It began with Windows support, just like most desktop applications from Google. Then, there is Picasa, which was ported to Linux using the Wine layer, with several features disabled. There is a whole variety of applications that began as native Windows programs. This appears to be the trend rather than a mere coincidence. A few days ago, SketchUp from Google was ported to the Mac. No Linux version, as yet.

This simple observation leaves you wondering if Google, a company that is heavily dependent on Open Source software, even owing its success to Linux, perceives Windows (with a userbase majority) as a top priority. Only then come the Mac users, Linux being at the bottom (or top rather) of the pyramid. Considering the fact that Linux is more prevalent than Mac OS X (based on several surveys), it would seem as though Google unfairly favours Mac users while neglecting the loyal Linux users, whose number is underestimated. It is worth emphasising that even Google engineers use Linux (Goobuntu) on their desktops. Don’t they have a say?

ODAY I was reminded why, despite the fact that I never set my hands on Windows machines, they still manage to hinder my work. I was ready to upload experimental data to personal Webspace, in order to have it transferred to a colleague down in London. I was then faced with a hot red warning message saying that the large ZIP archive appeared to be a virus (merely based on file size and file type). Renaming the data file and changing its filetype would not help. I was forced to send to the entire lump of data (4 GB, yet compress) to a different computer and then FTP it, which is a really time-consuming PITA.

Why was I presented with a prompt saying that the file may be a virus in the first place? Allow me to generalise this question. Why is it that there are terms such as “trusted sites” or “dangerous, malicious E-mail”? Yes, Windows is still severely flawed. Windows is insecure by design and this has led society to take system crashes for granted and assume computer security to be a top-priority risk factor (not accidental data loss or physical, hardware dysfunction). Since everyone is assumed to be using Windows, everyone suffers.

Another impact on Windows of my life are the endless heaps of SPAM. A Symantec study has shown that 80% of all spam, which is the majority of the entire world’s E-mail traffic/volume, is being despatched from Windows zombies, i.e. Windows computers that are compromised, hijacked and controlled remotely, passively sending mail, requesting files, and scanning port. To add to this pain, I was on several occasions the victim of DDOS attacks. That broken Windows was virtually, if not practically, attacking my Web sites en masse, which I think is unacceptable.