The Shepherd's Wake

The false hope of Windows “7″

The Shepherd — Wed, 14 May 2008 02:20:54 +0000

There’s no doubt that Windows Vista is meeting with resistance from the computing market as a whole. I can attest that Vista is better than XP, but don’t even think about running it on something that isn’t close to state of the art. Furthermore, I don’t think the gains it offers are enough to make it a worthwhile purchase over XP. In fact, I think that the majority of people would be served just fine by a computer running some sort of Linux, Ubuntu being the most likely candidate. With all this reticence to Vista, people are instead putting their hope in the Windows version that would come after Vista, which at this point would most likely be the seventh version (unless they pull an XP and make it 6.1 like they made XP 5.1). People are putting so much faith in Windows 7 that they seem to be distorting the reality of the situation and how they should attack it. As with any computer purchase, the correct procedure is not to wait, but to buy what is needed, when it’s needed. It makes no sense to wait if there is an urgent need to get new equipment. Furthermore, what has Microsoft done in the past that would warrant the faith that this next version will be better? Every version of Windows has needed more powerful equipment than the one that proceeded it. Every version of Windows, to a worsening degree, places program compatibility above nearly everything else, the only exception being User Account Control, which although being the right decision probably could have been better implemented and has elicited horror from many users. Since Windows 95 Microsoft has made only small changes to their Windows user interface, with almost all of them being limited to the Start menu. So, given all of these things, why are people falling for this? It makes no sense to hope for change in a company where it has delivered very little thats been different over it’s history.

The state of 64 bit apps on Windows

The Shepherd — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 01:33:39 +0000

All this talk of the Mac version of Photoshop and the fact that it’s going to have to be ported to a different framework (Cocoa, from the now deprecated Carbon) has me thinking about the state of 64 bit applications on Windows. I use a 64 bit version of Windows for many reasons, chief among them being able to use more than 3~3.5 Gbs of RAM. I had no illusions about the speed gains - mainly, that there were none, or very little - and that has proven to be my experience. I’m definitely I’m glad I made the decision to go to 64 bit, and given the opportunity would do so again. Living in the 64 bit world has certainly given me an appreciation for applications built to take advantage of the larger address space. .Net applications thankfully are already immune to any switch, since they will run anywhere .Net will run. However, the bulk of applications in Windows are natively compiled, meaning that they will need to compile another version of their program specifically for 64 bits. I’m happy to report that I have yet to experience any problems running 32 bit compiled programs on my 64 bit OS, but I really wish I wouldn’t have to. There are many important applications that still run in 32 bit mode. Flash cannot be run with a 64 bit browser. Microsoft Office, Windows Media Player and Quicktime are all notable applications that have yet to go 64 bit. I know that the majority of computers are still running 32 bit OSs, but thats not a reason for application developers to not address this problem, since it’s clearly only going to get worse.

Holy Crap!

The Shepherd — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 02:18:32 +0000

I just did a little vanity search. I searched for Steam DRM and found that my last post, only put up about 90 minutes ago, is now the top result for that search term. Now thats quick.

Steam = DRM

The Shepherd — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:59:40 +0000

As readers of this blog should know, I recently built a new computer, and along with it got some new games. One of those games was the Orange Box from Valve. I’ve heard many good things about this package and had high hopes for the game, and to this point the games have certainly not disappointed. I am very disappointed, however, with Steam. During the installation it asked me to register for the service, which I dislike doing as a rule but was willing to overlook in this instance. I soon realized, however, that in registering for Steam the game was tying itself to my account, meaning that I will never be able to resell these games. Every time I want to launch one of the games I need to go through an authentication process that is at the very least, annoying, or, at the most, an invasion of my privacy. Steam itself is a good idea and a decent enough program, but it is clearly just one big DRM machine. I know that in the future I will avoid any game from Valve, or any other game that uses Steam.

Impressions of Windows Vista

The Shepherd — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 02:55:55 +0000

I recently built myself a new computer, and along with the many parts I bought a copy of Windows Vista Home Basic. I thought about buying Premium but I didn’t think it was worth my money, quite frankly. For the most part, I have no complaints. I did, however, encounter the update problems many others have encountered. I was lucky that a system restore fixed the problem, but it`s still something I don`t think should have happened in the first place. While I`m on the topic of updates, I really wish Microsoft would make up it`s mind with Service Pack 1 already. It`s been ready for release for the past few weeks but Microsoft has been holding off on releasing it to the public. However, since I`m running the 64 bit version of Windows it was available to me last week. It showed up in the Updates application, but I didn’t install the update at the time. A couple of hours later it was gone, and it hasn’t shown up again since. Another point I should make about the updates application is that I’m not all that crazy about it. Maybe I’m just a bit tied to the old way of doing things, but it’s just not working for me. I’ll be the first to admit that the old way of installing updates needed a serious overhaul. OS X and the better Linux distributions (Ubuntu especially) have been eating Windows’ lunch in this area for quite a while now. The one thing I did like about it was the fact that it told you what it was going to do, and then it did it. I have encountered some times in use where I haven’t felt like it was telling me what it was planning to do, and how it was going to do it.

On another note, Vista works much, much, much better on larger monitors. My biggest complaint about XP was it’s lack of support for larger monitors. It routinely cut important windows off, things like installer applications or preference windows. Things like that aren’t acceptable in this day and age. The only thing I found to work was a little program called ResizeEnable, a program that by the authors admission is a pretty dirty hack. It didn’t always work, but it was the best solution I could find. One feature that makes being on a larger monitor much nicer is the bigger icons. No need to hack around in the DPI settings, no need to make the font sizes bigger. Right out of the box it scales itself to the monitor.

As for negatives, it takes quite to start up. I don’t quite see how I’m gaining anything for all the time it takes to load up. Thankfully, once it’s loaded in my experience it’s quite snappy, about as much as XP. Another thing I’m not so enamored with is the new start menu. I’ve never been a fan of anything other than the good old fashioned Windows 95 start menu to be honest, and I routinely change the setting if it’s not changed already on whatever computer I happen to be working on. The search box inside the menu is a good idea, but I always know the name of the program I want to run, so I’m not really gaining anything. As far as search is concerned, it’s another good idea, but is not executed nearly as well as Spotlight in OS X.

In summary, given hardware good enough to run it, there’s really nothing wrong with Vista. There are things I think could have been done better, but they aren’t big enough to be annoying. In the bigger picture I’d love to be able to put Linux on it, but alas, things just aren’t that way in the marketplace. I intend to game on this machine, and the games I want to play aren’t on Linux. Hopefully that will change, soon.

Microsoft uses its lever

The Shepherd — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 16:46:11 +0000

I was surprised this morning while flipping through the channels to hear that Microsoft has finally put a formal bid in to buy Yahoo! Surprised not only because I personally didn’t think it was ever going to happen, but buy the audacity of the move by the usually timid Microsoft. Microsoft is certainly known for buying out other companies, but none of them are as big as this. Both Yahoo! and Microsoft have plateaued in their market share of the internet search market, and bringing Yahoo! under the wing of Microsoft seems to be one method of furthering the battle against Google. However, I’m certainly not convinced that this is the way to do it. First of all, searching the internet has become a habit. It’s not something people think about doing, it’s just something they do. With something like that it’s very hard to barge into people’s thought processes and say, “look at me! I’m better!” And if another company does want to do it, they have to be much better than the competitors. I haven’t seen anything coming out either of these companies that is better enough to take market share from Google, and frankly, I don’t think anything will. Microsoft hasn’t done anything relevant on the internet, ever. Yahoo!, on the other hand, is still an important player in this market and can continue to do that on it’s own. In fact, I think eventually Yahoo! could be better than Google at the things Google does well. They haven’t been successful so far but I see no reason why they couldn’t, and to be honest, it surprises me that they haven’t achieved it yet. As far as Microsoft is concerned, this is another example of the leverage they have gained by their monopolies in the Operating System and Office applications markets. They’re already plowing all kinds of money into their Entertainment and Devices Division, which until very recently had never turned a profit. It’s clear that Microsoft is willing and able to use the profits it gains from the monopolies under it’s possession to leverage themselves into other markets. I was glad to read recently that states in the US are trying to extend the penalties placed on Microsoft, since they have had little to no effect since their adoption. As usual, these restrictions have little teeth and will do nothing to stop Microsoft’s hold on their monopolies. I’m glad that the EU have so far dealt with the resolve and determination this case demands. Hopefully, for Yahoo! and the comsumers sake government will put a stop to this deal.

Hotel Arizona

The Shepherd — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 03:28:05 +0000

I was lucky to get a Nintendo Wii for Christmas, and after a couple weeks with it, I have to say it’s a very impressive machine. That is, when it’s controllers are used properly. Super Mario Galaxy is in the top 5 of games I’ve ever played, and I’m not even that big a fan of platforming games. The level design is without peer, the graphics aren’t superb, but they fit the game to a T, and even the music is fantastic. Most of all, the controller is used inventively and intuitively. Metroid Prime follows Mario’s lead, although I don’t think the controls work quite as well. Standing in opposition here is Madden 08. This game’s use of the controller is terrible. Running the ball is a challenge, and throwing the ball is next to impossible. I can emphathize with their plight a slight bit, since the Wiimote just doesn’t have enough buttons to replicate the experience someone would get on an XBox360 or a PS3, but their compromise just doesn’t work. Next to that is inconsistency of the buttons needed to move through different menu options. Sometimes it the plus or minus buttons, sometimes the minus button is used for sorting players by a certain characteristic and the C or Z buttons are used. It’s just a mess, and it’s really something that should have been thought out better. Overall, when used properly, the Wii is a fantastic system, but is also a challenge for developers. A challenge that, so far, they have utterly failed to rise to. I certainly hope they get their act together, and with the amount of units being sold these days, it’s a pretty good bet that they finally will. I just hope that when they finally do they don’t saturate the market with party games like they’re doing now.

Sixtyten

The Shepherd — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 16:07:46 +0000

And here’s the rest of the list:
1. Silverchair - Young Modern
2. M.I.A. - Kala
3. Sondre Lerche - Phantom Punch
4. Chris Connelly - The Episodes
5. Caribou - Andorra
6. The Twilight Sad - Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters
7. The National - Boxer
8. Kings Of Leon - Because Of The Times
9. Matthew Good - Hospital Music
10. Kanye West - Graduation
11. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Baby 81
12. Róisin Murphy - Overpowered
13. Tracey Thorn - Out of the Woods
14. Robyn - Robyn
15. Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare
16. Dillinger Escape Plan - Ire Works
17. Björk - Volta
18. Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero
19. Burial - Untrue
20. Ulrich Schnauss - Goodbye

Cop Shades

The Shepherd — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 16:13:10 +0000

I put together my best of 2007 music list this morning and I’ll be counting them down for the next few days. Today I’ll be starting with the honourable mentions.

Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank
I really would have liked this to be on the list, and if I did this tomorrow it might even be on the list, but as of now this lands here. It has many strong songs, but on the whole it’s probably too long.

Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
I don’t know what it is, but this band is still missing something. If I had to choose between their first album and this one I would probably choose this one, but they’re never able to break through for me.

Blonde Redhead - 23
Every time I listen to this album I wonder why I don’t listen to it more. It’s excellent, but there’s nothing that pulls me back to listen to it. If it had a stronger pull on me it would definitely be on the list.

Buck 65 - Situation
I’ve only had this album for a week or two, so this one probably suffers from being too new to me. It’s nice to hear a rap album out of Buck 65 again, since he’s such an adept rhymer. Not quite as good as Talkin Honky Blues, but very good all the same.

Celebration - The Modern Tribe
This suffers the same fate as Blonde Redhead. Very good, and should probably be on the list, but there’s just nothing that pulls me back and wants to listen to it again.

Dinosaur Jr. - Beyond
It’s a testament to how talented Dinosaur Jr. is that this makes as high as this. Lou Barlow and J Mascis are finally reunited in Dinosaur Jr., and have put out an excellent album.

Here are the rest of the Honourable Mentions:
Electro Group - Good Technology
Field Music - Tones Of Town
Film School - Hideout
Future Of The Left - Curses
Kevin Drew - Spirit If
Saul Williams - The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!
The Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse
The Good, The Bad & The Queen - The Good, The Bad & The Queen
The Most Serene Republic - Population
Wilco - Sky Blue Sky

Firefox 3 Beta 2

The Shepherd — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 20:59:40 +0000

I’ve been testing out Firefox 3 Beta 2 and it’s quite impressive. Chief among the new goodies is the many fixed memories leaks, and those are very impressive. Right now I’m using Firefox with three tabs open on a Pentium III 900MHz machine with 128Mbs of RAM, and it’s running quite well. No bad memory leaks to speak of here; it’s only using 41 MBs of memory. That’s a HUGE improvement over Firefox 2, and now I can’t wait for the final release.