Monthly Archives: November 2005

The next MS direction

Bill Gates has issued a high-level memo to the company about future direction. You might recall the 1995 memo that famously turned them onto the Internet, and started the browser wars. In 2000 a similar change got them heavily into XML and web services… which has obviously been a factor in highlighting XML to the world (and thus helping companies like the one I work for, eVision, which specialises in messaging technology, and XML).

This time it’s about Internet services — the next step on from web services.

Of course it may just be a big PR stunt. But given the examples from Google (people integrating Google maps into their web sites) and elsewhere, you can understand why people see it as the way forward: opening up the myriad of useful services out there on the Net for use and re-use, and critically, making them economically viable (through advertising or otherwise).

Whatever we’re about to see, if Microsoft is turning to move into it, it’s bound to be big.

Irritating things in Word templates

I’ve been working with somebody else’s template. Irritating things have included:

  • Use of mirror margins — these have a marginal (ha!) effect on the presentation when printed double-sided on paper, but are really annoying when editing on screen. As your eye passes down the page, at each page-break everything moves over a little way, left-to-right, right-to-left. Particularly jarring when looking at columns or tables that go over two or more pages. To turn it off: File / Page Setup / Set Multiple Pages to Normal.
  • Default font size 12 point — is anybody that blind or in that much need to use up trees that they use 12 point for a default? Fortunately one can change the Normal style to another size, and provided the other styles are based on it, everything follows.
  • Trying to decypher and fill-in confusing bits in the template. But that’s not a Word problem, per se.

Timezones

Microsoft is official technology partner for the 2006 Commonwealth Games, but they don’t appear to have got around to issuing a Windows patch to accomodate the summer time extension for the Games.

Soon, apparently.

PS. 7/12/2005: Patch issued.

FolderShare

Microsoft actually impressed me with a recent purchase – the job they did turning Lookout in to MSN Desktop Search was fantastic, I really couldn’t imagine my computing life without Desktop Search now. It seems they are on to a winner with their latest acquisition – Foldershare.

I hadn’t heard of Foldershare until I read that Microsoft had bought them out over the weekend (and made the product free) but it is apparently a well established product. It allows you to synch your files over multiple devices, share selected files privately with other users or securely access your files via an internet connection. I’ve given it a run between two PCs and it seems to do exactly what it promises.

They have temporarily pulled the Mac version but say it will be back soon.

UDPATE

Oh, wow. This is cool. Using the search box on the Foldershare site I can search, using MSN Desktop Search, across any of the devices I have synced. I’m hoping this functionality will move to the actual MSN Desktop tool but for now, wow.

NVU

I’ve been playing around with the NVU web page editor, an open source application available for Windows, Mac and Linux. So far it’s good stuff, certainly rivalling Frontpage, and heaps better for new users looking for something cheap or free other than MS Word (which has well-known problems).

Now up to version 1.0, it probably isn’t on a par with Dreamweaver, but for basic WYSIWYG web page editing, definitely worth a look.

Sony’s evil DRM

Sony BMG, the only major record label that refused to sign up to the Apple iTunes Australia store, has been caught red-handed taking Digital Rights Management measures that put a trojan onto Windows computers. It puts files disguised as device drivers onto the computer. Attempts to remove the files may end up in your CD/DVD drive being disabled. Mark Russinovich at SysInternals has the grisly details. Naturally none of this crap is detailed in the EULA displayed when you put the CD in, and it can’t be easily removed once it’s there — in fact Sony ask you to contact their customer service department to remove it!

The DRM does allow limited copies of the music to be made, but not in a form playable on iPods. Sony blame Apple for this, even suggesting that people complain to Apple, despite that it’s Sony’s DRM that stops it working.

Interestingly on Macs, the DRM doesn’t operate, and you can use the CD as normal, I assume including ripping to MP3. Hopefully that’s also the case on Linux and other operating systems.

Sony has now announced that a patch will be issued. It won’t remove the DRM nasties, but it will uncloak them.

This shows complete contempt from Sony to its customers. What a pack of evil bastards. They obviously haven’t twigged that eventually they’ll lose any copy protection arms race — not only will anonymous hackers figure out how to get around it, but they’ll have alienated lots of customers in the process by producing these broken CDs. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if some people get so pissed-off by the whole idea that they seek out pirated copies (ripped on Macs!) on P2P services.

Interestingly, one label that Sony distributes is distancing itself from their DRM. And Ben Edelman and Ed Bott ponder if Sony is committing fraud by selling these products as “CDs”, given they break the established standard.

Sunday 1pm: Update from SysInternals about the patch