Cogs can think.

I doubled the RAM in my laptop, from 768MB to 1.5GB. And you know what?

You don’t notice a damn thing in either Vista or Ubuntu.

My dream operating system would have BeOS’ kernel, responsiveness, and soul. Mac OS X’ attention to detail and polishedness. Windows’ industry support. Linux’ price tag. VMS’ stability. OpenBSD’s security. My nightmare operating system would have the Linux kernel. Windows’ attention to detail and polishedness. SkyOS’ industry support. Vista’s pricetag. Windows 98’s stability. BeOS’ security.

Just saying.

The (very buggy) beta release of Safari on Windows has ignited a very interesting discussion: what font renderer does a better job, Microsoft’s ClearType or the method Apple uses?

The deeper reasons as put forward by Joel Spolsky put aside, I think there may simply be a more simple explanation for why the fonts are as they are on both platforms: the overall look. Microsoft tends to use crisper and sharper icons and widgets, with clear lines, whereas Apple uses softer lines, fuzziness, and actual textures.

In the Microsoft design, sharper looking fonts simply fit better, and the same goes for fuzzier fonts having a better place in OS X. While I like OS X’s fonts when using OS X, they look extremely crappy and out of place on my Vista box (when running Safari). I’m sure the same would be the case for Windows’ fonts on OS X.

Warning: rant ahead.

I don’t give a rat’s ass what all the anti-MS idiots say. Surface is a truly innovative product, and I applaud Microsoft for it. They had the guts, back in 2001, to devote money and manpower to this idea, and now, 6 years later, it is paying off. Surface looks great, opens up a whole slew of possibilities, and, as far as I can see it, is truly a Pandora’s box of opportunities. I’ve seen use cases flash before my eyes like every other minute of the past two days.

Surface is just one of those things the OSS community will never come up with. Let’s face it; Linux, BSD, most of the other OSS projects, they are all followers. They are in it to regurgitate what companies like Apple and Microsoft serve them. The OSS community is supposed to be so great, right? Then why is it that they never seem to be able to come with something truly new, something groundbreaking, something that will make people all around the world go: “wow…!” I showed Surface to some of my computer-illetrate friends, and they were baffled. They all saw new use cases in front of them… Just like I did.

Fact remains, as much as I like the OSS world (I try to use the OSS equiv. when it is at least as good as or better than the closed-source counterparts), they are followers, not trendsetters. So, sure, there is enough to bash Microsoft and Apple about, but at least they have the guts to come up with truly new ideas.

In 2010, we’ll see a marginally different, poor rip-off of Surface. The joy of waiting.

Is Linux for the masses happening? Will Microsoft ever lose significant market share to its competitors?

I have no idea, but I do know that what Aaron Seigo wrote on his blog is something I’m seeing all around me as well. I have seen many people switch to Apple, and, more interestingly, have seen awareness of Linux (and especially Ubuntu) grow almost by the day. Last year, I had a surreal talk (at the DIY shop where I work) with a normal (absolutely non-geek) handyman for a local institution for mentally challenged people about how he used and liked Ubuntu.

Awareness of alternatives to Windows is growing. Whether this will translate into significant market share increases for these alternatives is something else completely, though.

Sometimes, I wonder, what is journalism in this world coming to? What is journalism worth if you can just spout utter nonsense and have people believe you? Steven J. Vaughn-Nichols writes:

Microsoft is putting its own spin on its “re-re-announcement” that it believes that Linux and open source violate 235 of its patents. The company is now sending out a release to some members of the press explaining its position.

Microsoft’s statement opens, “The company’s longstanding preference is to license rather than litigate and Microsoft’s work over the past three years to build a bridge with open source is a result of that commitment. The November agreement with Novell addresses the IP issues in open source while meeting both the distributor’s needs and, more importantly, the needs of the customer.”

While Microsoft professes a preference to license rather than litigate, its record indicates otherwise.

Up until now, there is little wrong with the above. Microsoft makes patent infringement claims, but says it won’t litigate. SJVN then poses his thesis, namely that “While Microsoft professes a preference to license rather than litigate, its record indicates otherwise”. This is a thesis that needs proof. So, what do you expect SJVN to list now? Exactly, a list of court cases where Microsoft sued other parties for patent infringement. This is what follows:

On Feb. 22, 2007, a jury awarded a $1.52 billion patent judgment in favor of Alcatel-Lucent against Microsoft over the Redmond, Wash., company’s use of MP3 codices. This was the largest patent award in history. In the Eolas case, Microsoft was also found guilty in a $521 million patent infringement ruling over how Internet Explorer handled embedded content.

Those are cases against Microsoft. In other words, these cases are not started by Microsoft, and therefore are completely irrelevant to the build-up he wrote. These cases do not prove, at all, that Microsoft in fact prefers litigation instead of licensing (which may in fact very well be true, but that’s irrelevant).

This is just bad journalism, and goes to show what a Linux shill SJVN really is.

I just downloaded NewWave 4.0, a desktop manager from HP for… Windows 3.1. It’s from 1992. The installation went fine, and within 3 seconds it was done, and working perfectly. Start menu entries were created.

I was installing it in Windows Vista Ultimate.

Sometimes, a day comes along that is just so good, you can hardly believe you’re actually living it.

Today, my mother had a photographic check up of her remaining breast. Comparing it to the previous, ‘cancer-less’ photo, they found nothing. This means that the doctors are 95% sure that my mother is ‘clean’. The remaining 5% will be investigated in the coming week (a careful examination of the photo). After having so many setbacks in 2005, getting the phonecall from my mother that all was ok just brings instant tears to my eyes. Fcuk manliness, I cry when I get news like this.

I am so happy. Seriously. You cannot imagine how news like this feels.

And to make the day even better, my digital TV kit arrived today. I now have television via DVB-T to my brand-new 17″ widescreen HDTV, which Geeks.com sent me for review (expect it next Monday). And to top it off, the Vista review kit from Microsoft NL arrived today, containing 32bit and 64bit copies of Windows Vista Ultimate (expect a review on a low-end desktop soon).

I love days like this.

Cheesy, but I could not resist.

Petrol to reach Noorder Arcade shopping centre: 2E.
Ink cartridges: 50E
New headphone: 25E
Finding out the ticket machines of the parking garage run Windows XP: priceless.

Seriously. That really made my day.

Seriously. Apple’s marketing departement could learn a thing or two from the current Vista campaign Microsoft has launched. The guy says (in Dutch):

How many times do you experience something where only one word fits?

Discover Windows Vista.

It’s brilliant because it’s so simple and to the point. It appeals to a basic emotion, and instantly makes clear why you should try Vista: it will ‘wow’ you.

Compare this simple and direct ad to the somewhat arrogant and childish ‘Get a Mac‘ campaign from Apple. They were fun at first, but now they just make me cringe. Apple has such a good operating system, but instead of capitalising on that, they just ridicule their potential buyers. I have never seen an Apple ad which tries to sell OS X or the Mac on its own merits. Which is kind of sad.

Come to think of it, I have never seen an Apple ad, period. There has never been an Apple ad on Dutch television. Not even for the iPod.