[Wed Apr 30 17:26:39 CEST 2008]

A good friend told me about GNOME Do, a Linux app inspired in Apple's Quicksilver. The screencasts section shows the tool in action. Here is one of the videos:

{link to this story}

[Mon Apr 28 14:50:30 CEST 2008]

Ubuntu released version 8.04 ("Hardy Heron") of its operating system last week. I already installed it on a partition of my laptop and played with it for a while, but still have to find the time to test it more thoroughlu. The reason why I find this release particularly exciting is because it's their second Long Term Support (LTS) release, which guarantees 18 months of support and is precisely the version I like to run on my work system. Sure, the regular release that comes out every 6 months is far more exciting and full of interesting upgrades, but I cannot afford spend time fine tuning this or that feature, making sure such application runs fine with the latest release and, above all, testing the Cisco VPN client to check that's fully compatible with the new kernel before moving all my apps to it (hmm, I just came across an article that refers to a VPNC tool that I should test). In any case, my first impression of the new release was pretty good, as it always tends to be the case with Ubuntu releases. InfoWold published a review of a beta version of Ubuntu 8.04 that sums it up pretty well:

Between a new kernel, a new version of the Gnome desktop, improved windowing and graphics layers, and a number of default configuration tweaks, nearly everything about Hardy Heron feels snappier and more responsive than the previous version. Windows and menus feel less sluggish, disk access is improved, and program launch more quickly. It even boots faster.

There is also this other review published by ComputerWorld that only seems to dislike their server edition and concludes with the following remarks:

When I choose a distribution to install on a desktop or laptop system, it's always Ubuntu. It has the most trouble-free installs and usually the best support for the hardware on my systems. Some of the other distribution makers have taken the success of Ubuntu as a wake-up calle and are focusing more on creating an easy-to-use desktop experience, but for the moment, Canonical has the lead by several horse lengths. Anyone who tells you Linux is hard to install or use has clearly not seen Ubuntu lately.

I totally agree. {link to this story}

[Fri Apr 11 14:20:59 CEST 2008]

Ah, the joys of proprietary software! Last Summer, we bought a new and shiny MacBook Pro for my wife. Don't get me wrong. It is a great piece of hardware. Sure, a bit pricey, but the laptop is excellent, hardware-wise. On top of that, Leopard is also a great piece of software. The OS is powerful, well designed, stable, reliable, easy to use and versatile. One does run into the sporadic problem here or there trying to use a non-Microsoft product in a Windows world, especially when it comes to certain public wireless networks here or there (yes, dear Linux users, this is not a problem limited to Linux, as you may have heard all so often). In any case, Leopard came with an application called Time Machine that truly makes it very easy for the end-user to perform all sorts of backups. It only has a little problem: it won't work with the AirPort we also ended up buying (isn't that precisely the whole point when it comes to Apple, to make sure you buy as many products from their catalogue as possible?). By this I mean: if we connect our external LaCie USB drive to the AirPort the MacBook Pro can see it no problem and it can access its contents, write to it, etc. However, what it cannot do is backup any data to it. Nope. Sorry, folks, not supported. Search around the Web, and you may even find some posts from people hoping that Apple would support it in a future release of the OS. It makes sense, right? After all, isn't that what new releases are for, to add new features and fix bugs? Well, sure, but not when the vendor can make a quick buck. So, today I came across a piece published by Computer World about Apple's new Time Capsule. What is it? Of course, you guessed it! It's nothing but yet another new piece of hardware that Apple can sell to you in order to be able to perform a backup of your laptop to an external USB drive via the AirPort and without a need to directly plug the disk to the laptop. In other words, the feature they should have written into Time Machine if they had a true interest in making things easy on their customers, rather than on making a quick buck. As in the case of many other companies before, I don't blame Apple for acting this way, mind you. After all, it is a company and it needs to make a profit. I understand that, of course. However, there is so much ype surrounding Steve Jobs and Apple all the time that one may forget that it is just that: a company trying to make money, and not a group of evangelists intent in changing the world to make it more creative and innovative. Marketing just like Microsoft. A different type of marketing, but marketing after all. So, if you are seriously considering to buy an Apple system, please, don't fool yourself. Yes, the products are great. Yes, they make you feel good (talk about the power of good marketing!). However, they are still in the business of making money, not the one of changing our life. They will try to squeeze as much money from you as possible and you will be less free than if you take the opensource route. {link to this story}

[Tue Apr 1 17:06:19 CEST 2008]

eWeek published today a slideshow listing what they consider to be the 10 greatest tech hoaxes ever. Among the best: Google's story on the true "algorithm" behind their search technology (pigeons!), howStuffWorks document explaining how to use a cell-phone implant (not sure this is not already truly in the works) and a notice from 1997 advising people to get off the Internet while all the "electronic flotsam and jetsam" was cleaned by some Japanese robots. Fun, fun, fun! {link to this story}