Here is an arbitrary list of items which contribute to hassle and even distress:

• Monolithic content management systems such as PHP-Nuke (and its derivatives or siblings) still attract spam. My forum section has begun eating spam on a daily basis and it is very time consuming. I restore from backup every couple of days, merely reverting to an older database state.
• The blog’s CAPTCHA filter has been cracked, so I must cope with over 100 spam per day.
• Some people post incoherent comments which are not only characterised by poor grammar and typos. It makes one wonder if click-and-point sobriety tests should replace CAPTCHA-based filters.
• With the increase in the number of Windows zombies on the Web, the amount of junk mail that I receive doubled within a few months. I am not alone in this, so I at least find some sympathy.

Speaking of which, the following showed up in the news last night:

Spam zombies give UK ISPs the fear

A massive 96 per cent of 50 ISP respondents cited the proliferation of botnets – networks of virus-infected PCs under the control of hackers – as a key business issue.

According to industry analyst firm Gartner, seven in 10 items of spam originate from infected PCs.

Let us take a moment to thank out friends at Microsoft. Owing to their so-easy-to-hijack operating system, we all choke on spam.

• Lawsuit against Google over PageRank got bloggers humming. It was a mastery of incompetence. One such lawsuit was apparently successful, so algorithms that discriminate (not deliberately so) can lead their operator to paying fines.
• Judging by one of the OSDL mailing lists, to which I have been subscribed for while, the OSDL mailing lists (much like xmms-dev) mainly attract spam, kooks, and posers.
• Outlook Express or Outlook (same codebase; same rubbish; one word less) are a bit of a handful. I am tired of receiving E-mail where responses, are top-posted (‘jeopardy-style’ composition, i.e. answer comes first, then the question).
• Making your software exclusively available for Windows is like selling and displaying your merchandise at a garbage site just because most prospective customers reside.
• Digg version 3 does not discourage dupes as effectively as it used to. It makes it somewhat inferior to its predecessor. But I digress…

Season of the playful penguins from Oyonale

HE ‘SCO threat’ is merely gone now, which means that Linux should no longer be associated with looming lawsuits. To quote:

“A judge’s decision to dismiss 182 of the company’s 294 claims against IBM reduces the chance that SCO will prevail, one analyst says. ”

This is a significant milestone in the road to worldwide Linux adoption. Within just a couple of month, Novell is expected to deliver a real ‘Windows killer’. The following set of videos demonstrates some of the new features.

The annual conference Medical Image Understanding and Analysis 2006 is due to begin tomorrow. I will be presenting on the second day (HTML version). This means that I am not very likely to be active on the Web. Certain habitual chores will be unaffected: exercise and posting of GNU/Linux advocacy items. I have begun taking the latter more seriously and, as of several months ago, the return has been tremendous.

The months to proceed are likely to have me occupied with thesis writing. It appears as though I’ll have to make various submissions concurrently. These events often seem to distract, but I am positive that I can stay on track nevertheless and submit in September.

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 the visual traits of a desktop environment is anything to go by, Linux has got it all. I am not suggesting that appearance is the very core of user experience. However, who refused to accept a tool which is packaged appropriately and is designed to improve usability?

KDE appears to be getting a gentler, cleaner look through third-party addons and some customisation or themes. Here is a quick preview of the one such outcome. Looks are subjective due to taste, of course, which is not always the case when it comes to function (i.e. features).

Here is a KDE 4 mockup, which might become a reality when KDE matures. KDE 4 is approaching its release date.

Older related item: KDE 4 Preview

Wallpaper from Houghi (click image above
to enlarge; non-lossy PNG version)

HE admirable Compiz/XGL cube has already earned its 15 minutes or fame. However, one alternative that often gets overlooked is 3-D Desktop, which has been available for GNU/Linux for several years.

Here are two 3-D Desktop videos from YouTube. They illustrate that simple function and demonstrate its beauty. Like XGL, speed is highly dependent upon OpenGL with a decent graphics card.

• Video #1
• Video #2