Outlook 2007: One step forward, 20 steps back

Well, just when we had warm and fuzzy feelings towards Microsoft for the improvements in Internet Explorer 7, they go and flush it all down the loo.

If you have to create HTML email, you'll be pleased to know that Outlook 2007 won't use IE as it's rendering engine any more. It uses... wait for it... Word! And we all know how good Word is at rendering and creating HTML! (Not!!!)

So instead of getting improved standards support in the next version of Outlook, we take about 20 steps backward instead.

Sheesh... what are they thinking?

Read more here.

Digital Music Downloads - Not Forever?

There have been a few stories lately talking up digital music downloads (iTunes not coping with demand, music charts being changed to reflect the nature of digital downloads) but I'm not so sure about it any more.

I have downloaded a couple of things from iTunes: Engima's Voyageur was virtually impossible to buy over the counter, and I also grabbed a couple of Neil Diamond's tracks as it was convenient just to get the few I was after and not have to buy a whole album.

Convenient? Yes. Fast? Yes. However:

1. I have paid for these tracks but I've only got them at 128 kbps. The quality will never be any better than that. Okay on cheap equipment, but I recently shouted myself some quality headphones and now I can tell the difference.


2. Recently I reformatted my hard drive. Sure, I backed everything up, but iTunes would not play these purchased songs until I "authorised" my computer.

Now there's a trap - the songs can only be played on "authorised" machines - and I can only authorise 5. Actually only 4 now, as I didn't de-authorise before reformatting last time.

Now, if I lose a hard drive unexpectedly, there goes another machine. And what if I want these tracks on a work computer and a home computer?

I dunno - I think that in a few years' time I won't be able to play these tracks anymore. Might have to burn them to an audio CD and re-rip them back into iTunes.

Second thoughts, just fire up amazon.com and buy the CD...

NetOffice Revitalised

Some time ago, I had some plans for a revitalised version of NetOffice that got shelved due to staff shortages.

Well, we're almost back to where we need to be and I've dusted off the folder ready to get back into it!

Will probably take a few weeks to get back up to speed. Will post again when we have something to show.

Top 8 Firefox Plugins

Just moved to a new computer, and it's time to reinstall everything again!

Thought it might be a good time to list my favourite Firefox plugins so I can find them again...

1. Web Developer
   


2. ColorZilla


3. MeasureIt


4. Timestamp Converter


5. Clear Cache Button


6. View Source Chart


7. del.icio.us


8. ShowIP

Have I missed any good ones? I think that's about it...

UPDATE

The del.icio.us plugin listed above is a new one that behaves a little differently. Actually, it hijacks your normal bookmarks toolbar! Here's the original (better) one.

How to Lose a Customer for $12

It's been a few months since I hired a movie from my local Video Ezy store. We've been collecting the Stargate SG-1 series on DVD and have been chipping away at those. Up to season 8 now, so we're nearly done. I'll be hiring a few movies once we're done as I've got a bit of catching up to do!

But I won't be going back to Video Ezy.

You see, I had a couple of late returns. Nothing major - 2 movies that were returned a day late. One day late.

Didn't think too much of it until I received a threatening letter from Video Ezy. Followed by a letter of demand from this mob called Entertainment Recoveries.

Now get this - it's all over $12.

If new release movies are $6 each, in the month after we finish with our Stargates we would probably have spent $48 with them. That's 4 times the amount of the late fees, in 1 month.

Now, for the sake of $12, I'll never go back.

What business would permanently distance a customer over $12?

Think of it this way. Even if I only hire 2 movies per month (which is pretty conservative) that's $156 in a year, or 13 times the amount of the late fee. Pretty good chance of hiring more than 2 movies a month, mind you.

I don't understand the marketing logic behind this. Sure, if I hadn't actually returned the movies I can understand the legal threats.

(And to top it off, I now have a $15 "Administrative Charge" as well. Give me a break!)

And I love this bit too - notice at the top of the excerpt above? I have a "Member Number"! I'm a member of Entertainment Recoveries now?

Top 10 Geek Business Myths

Ron Garret has posted are rather clever article, The Top 10 Geek Business Myths.

Although I don't think it's just limited to Geeks. I have people come in from time to time wanting a quote on a website that, in their eyes, will be the next big thing. Some are extremely reluctant to tell me about their idea "in case I steal it"! (How can I possibly do up a propsal for them if they won't tell me what they're wanting to do???)

And I look through this list and they are making all the same assumptions that are listed here.

Think I'm going to hang onto this link and print it off for the next one that comes in!

Top 5 Command Prompt Tips

Typing commands instead of mouse-clicking... sound a bit old-fashioned? It's true, once upon a time all computing was done this way. It may not be pretty, but the command line can still be pretty handy. Here's a few commands I use:

1. PING
   If you need to check your connection to something, this is the basic check. You can either ping a name or an IP address.
   ping www.sitename.com
   or
   ping 127.0.0.1
   are both valid. If you ping a name, you can also see what IP address that name resolves to.


2. TRACERT
   This will trace the route to another computer. Again, you can use a name or an IP address.
   tracert www.sitename.com


3. SHUTDOWN
   This one will shut the computer down. (Pretty obvious, hey!) Really handy to put at the end of a batch file that does a backup or something similar. Heaps of switches, so type shutdown /? to display all the options available.


4. IPCONFIG 
   Displays the IP address of your computer, plus the address of your gateway (eg your ADSL modem or the computer that's actually connected to the internet).


5. XCOPY
   Great for quick and easy batch backups. Check xcopy /? for all options available.

That's 5 that I use a fair bit - got any others?

If you're really bored, here's Microsoft's A-Z Reference.