Free tech support

One of the nicest things about being involved with customer support is being able to hear in first hand _real_ users fears and doubts.

Today i received an e-mail (at work) from a customer contemplating "migrating to a Ubuntu / Firefox solution" (his words) from Windows / IE and he was wondering if it would be safe to use our on-line banking service.

Yes it is. The only side effect is that the web app will work better in Firefox.

And since I am in a good mood, I will send him my personal e-mail for any tech support questions he might have in his migration.

It feels good to help a customer. :o)

30 (+10) reasons to switch

This is a post i thought i'd never write. It's not that i don't find the discussion fascinating, but that in my experience people (read: non geeks) seldomly need (or want) to change their OS.

Better yet, most people don't use an OS, they use a set of applications. But if the same applications are either cross platform or platform agnostic, then it might make sense to discuss the possibility of switching.

I'm doing it now because i saw a post earlier this week about reasons to change to Linux, and the whole thing got me going. I really don't think my opinion will make you change your mind, but it _does_ come from a someone who is a Windows specialist, a Mac fan-boy and a Linux geek (all me, at different times).

Oh, and this is my first post from TextMate!

10 reasons to use Windows
- It comes pre-installed with ~80% of the PCs sold worldwide;
- You don't know what a driver is (except if its behind a wheel) and couldn't care less;
- Most software is written for Windows, all new technology (Blue Ray; HDVD; DRM) is made for Windows;
- You can go to chat rooms, use file sharing software, visit google and read from Windows;
- You don't know how exciting it is for a script kiddie to see what files you have on your "My Documents" folder;
- You mostly play games, but don't have a games console;
- You don't know that there _are_ other OSs that you could use;
- You use your computer as an electric typewriter with a monitor. What is an OS anyway?;
- You can't afford a Mac, and Linux doesn't offer you the trust of a big corporation behind it;
- You are a VB, XBase, .Net and\ or a MSSQL pro;


10 reasons to use Linux or other *NIX OSs
- You are curious by nature;
- You know a little bit about computers, but want to know more;
- You are a programmer, a security or systems expert, or any other sort of Hacker (or want to be one);
- You can't afford a Mac, and Windows isn't configurable enough;
- You laugh at something like "rm -rf /usr/bin/laden" or you understand the sentence "thank @Divinity I had that shell script to change my MOTD with events from calendar.* or I would have missed LISP's birthday last wednesday";
- Somebody shown you what Beryl, XGL or E17 can do. And now everything else fades in comparison;
- You saw a video on youtube of a guy playing around on a touch screen and flipping windows with his thumbs;
- You believe in Open Source ideals;
- You are a security \ privacy junkie;
- You have DVDs from more that one region or you can't stand the idea behind DRM;


10 reasons to use Mac OSX
- You are a creative professional. (And i don't mean those of you who can write a 20 line telnet replacement);
- You are easily influenced by Apple's halo effect or Steve Jobs reality distortion field;
- You want a computer that just works. And looks good enough to turn heads;
- OSX is a UNIX on visual ecstasy (in-joke, i'll explain another day);
- You don't mind using a closed source OS that is based on Open Source and whose OSI model layer 7 (again, in-joke) can be replaced with FOSS variants;
- You would never replace a CPU, motherboard or graphics card on a laptop by yourself;
- It comes pre-installed with ~10% of the PCs sold worldwide, including your own;
- You are really good at Windows (an expert of sorts) but your antivirus spouts messages about Viruses and other threats that try to creep into your PC and you wonder how it's like on the other side;
- No matter how much you tweak Linux (or how much software you put on top of XP for that matter), it still doesn't feel as snappy or look like OSX;
- Your favorite band is putting out GarageBand files of their new album (I'm still excited about that, sorry);


10 reasons not to use a Computer
- you don't work with computers;
- you own a DVD player, a good Stereo, a Cell Phone and Cable TV;
- Your prefer to listen to CDs instead of ripping them;
- No one ever picked up a girl by formatting her hard drive;
- You don't know how people spend so much time writing and reading without touching a single sheet of paper;
- You where the one behind this. You will now pursue a new career;
- You where the one behind this. You will now pursue a new career;
- You like practicing sports that are incompatible with a flat ass;
- You don't own a portable media player apart from an old Walkman;
- Your fingers are too thick for such small keys;

my version of this week in tech

Like most geeks I spend much of my off (work) time trying out software solutions just for the sake of knowing how it works and evaluating my options.

So this week I got interested in streaming again. Apple as a good offer. You should check it out. Not only is Darwin Streaming Server free, it is also open source (well not _exactly_ open source, but you can get the source), and they offer you pre-compiled binaries for Linux and Windows.

ESR, one of my personal heroes seems to have fallen out of love for Red Hat and is currently trying to land a job with Ubuntu. Mark Shuttleworth, it has been rumored, was seen buying a one way ticket to the next space shuttle for tourists (tm). Probably no relation what so ever between these events.

Steve Balmer said that Vista's poor sales are a consequence of pirating, giving linux lovers and CTOs all around the world another reason to suspect Microsoft’s stance on security. I mean, if they can't protect their own software...

Of course that since that they're being so generous with their licensing this time, I'm sure the adoption rate will not reflect the sales figures.

Mono is now supporting native Visual Basic code in their new release.

Sarcasm mode on:
Well, Mono belongs to Novell, Novell seems to be 0wn3d by Microsoft so I'm not surprised.
Sarcasm mode off:
Really, this is great news for me and, I'm sure, to some other ex-VB addicts.

Finally, it seems that Terrasoft (Yelow Dog Linux, anyone?) is giving me another reason to buy a PS3.

open software everywhere

One of the biggest surprises that my new job had stored for me, was the abundant usage of open source software all over the infrastructure!

I mean, I expected to be one or two apaches in there, but found that there were only one type of web server that would do the trick. Apache. It makes perfect sense.
But that's not all, we (damn..I'm one of them...) use:
-Apache
-Mysql
-Tomcat
-Ubuntu
-Joomla
-Perl

The list could go on, but you get the picture.

But what I'm most proud of, is that they are now beginning to know and love ruby. And that was thanks to me :o)

A Linux user’s experience with a Macbook

Well if many people found it strange that I, being an VB \ MS SQL professional programmer and MCSA was a devoted Linux hobbyist and advocate, then what would they say if they found that I was becoming an Apple fanboy now?

The word “Triple-Traitor” comes to mind, although I don’t think that’s even a word…

I bought a black Macbook two months ago because I just couldn’t resist its charm and because now, with the Intel processors, I actually had one less excuse not to use the best looking hardware in the market. I knew that thanks to Apple’s Boot Camp I could use Win XP without virtualization hassles if I needed (and I do, really).

Obviously my first reaction to actually owning a Mac was akin to a child left alone in a chocolate factory. Apple really invests in the “buying experience”. It’s hard to explain, but I could swear that the casing’s interior and the laptop itself smell like apples… and I didn’t even noticed that it didn’t include a mouse or any other “gifts”. It’s just the laptop, the installation DVDs, Apple Remote, a power supply and that’s it.

Once I got past the drooling, I started the rather simple and straightforward process of installing Windows XP with Boot Camp. The instructions on how to do it are all over the net, so I won’t go about it here.

One thing I noticed immediately when first logging on to XP, is that it seems to respond slowly, there’s a feeling of hiccups just in moving the mouse pointer that I assume are due to “only” having 512 MB of RAM and using shared video memory, since I’ve gorked a bit for similar user experience and couldn’t find any such complaints.

The other major catch is the keyboard. Not having a delete key, is easy to live with, but not being able to easily write symbols like “@ “and “€ “? Now THAT’S hard to explain.

Next came the “usual” process of fitting and tweaking XP to my personal taste and needs. That meant about 1 hour of modifying default settings, from visual effects to the size and functionalities of command.com. I’ve grown so accustomed to changing default settings that I almost don’t even notice just how many times I have to open regedit, reboot, or go into administrator mode to get everything just perfect. If anyone is interested in finding out what the process was, just ask.

Finally I got to spend some time on Mac OSX. I’d already done all the updates, so I was left to change the default font size, setting up a non-administrator account, turning dock hiding and zoom on, readjust the app selection on the dock to fit my user profile and change the default wallpaper. That was it, really. I could automagically connect to my Linux box, had access to my ISP and a neighbour’s Wireless network that I use just to check if wifi works Po) . And using Microsoft Remote Desktop Client from Mactopia, I even get easy access to my Windows 2003 DNS and DB Server.

As to bundled apps, Mac OSX is, all things considered, much like Ubuntu, or SuSE Linux. It comes with a good selection that allows you to be immediately “in business” but the best tools come from the community.
The iLife suit is sweet, very easy to use even if somewhat limited for advanced user other than myself (I’ve heard), FrontRow is great, and there is also a SQL DBMS in it too. But what really got me by surprise was Xcode, Automator, Script Editor and Ruby being installed by default. I am totally addicted! Honest!

All in all I’m very happy with my Macbook and I would defiantly recommend anyone, even sysadmins with a little patience and some time to spare that need or are considering a new laptop to buy this one.