According to EarthLink, the average user has 28 spyware programs on their computer! [Slashdot] I didn't think that I had any spy ware, so I decided to try out the EarthLink Spy Audit tool to see what it would tell me. I was surprised to find out that I have two spyware programs and 70 spyware cookies on my system. Time to do some spring cleaning. 4:07:12 PM    comment []  

Recently, I started studying Japanese using the Pimsleur Comprehensive Program. I have done the Quick & Simple program for Portuguese and found it to be a great method. It is certainly a lot better than the majority of other language programs out there. Since I wanted to learn Japanse, I decided to try the Pimsleur approach, but this time I was going to go all the way. The Comprehensive programs are much larger and much more complete than the Quick & Simple programs. They're also a lot more expensive.

A couple of sources mention that after completing the three part comprehensive series, program users can achieve a proficiency level of "Intermediate-High" on the ACTFL scale. So, that fits in well with my goal to be "conversational" in three months. Of course, by conversational, I don't mean that I will be speaking effortlessly. This is not my first time learning a new language and I know what it takes. Rather, I expect that in three months I should be able to converse with a native Japanese speaker about basic everyday things. Furthermore, I should have the tools and skills needed at that point to ask for clarifications and to ask questions to help me learn more.

Here are some interesting links on the topic:

• Sybervision
• G-Blog.net / petrol
• Flexistentialist
• Languages 4 Less (cheapest seller I could find)
• #LearnJapanese Torrents

I started the Japanese I program on April 12th and there are 90 lessons in the full series. So, my goal is to do one lesson each day for three months which should put me at a basic conversational level by July 12th. I have found, however, that I need to repeat most of the daily lessons twice to be comfortable moving on. That's not so bad, it just means I need to dedicate one hour each day to studying. For now, Nihongo ga scoshi wakarimasu. 3:54:49 PM    comment []  

Today at 3:15pm PST, I tried to use Google and it was down. Could this be true? That would be a first. 3:17:04 PM    comment []  

Every two years for the past seven or eight, I have tried making the transition away from Windows. Each time, I have come up against road blocks. So, for the past five years or so, I have worked with two computers, one Linux and one Windows. The main reasons have been Office, Internet Explorer/Windows Media Player and Outlook.

The software that I have been working on over the past years has been geared primarily toward the Internet Explorer/Windows Media Player combination. I've been working on streaming media applications. Most of the web applications can be tested in a Linux environment, but if it uses Windows Media Player, it needs to be tested in Windows. As a result, I have become an expert at quickly switching between my Linux box, where I write code, to my Windows box where I test it. My KVM switch is operated through the keyboard, which makes it pretty easy.

MS Office is the next reason that I have not been able to transition to a pure Linux desktop. OpenOffice has turned into a decent tool. Other tools, like AbiWord, are also pretty mature now. However, since I work in a corporate environment, I have to constantly share documents that are in Microsoft’s proprietary formats. I have found that even though the OOS office suites are getting better and can even read and write to Microsoft Office files, they don't do a perfect job. As a result, the files don't print quite right and many of the features in these documents don't work quite right. Rather than deal with the headaches, I simply use MS Office. Hasn't that been Microsoft's plan all along?

More recently, I have become dependant on Outlook. This was primarily precipitated by my need to schedule meetings and receive meeting requests coming through an Exchange server. I have heard of tools that can interface with Exchange in a Linux environment, but the ones I have seen are also not free. Since I run two desktops anyway, I find it easier to just use Outlook. Furthermore, with the proliferation in recent years of HTML emails, I find that Outlook does a good job at rendering the emails. With the introduction of Outlook 2003, I have come to really like this email client. I actually think it's better than most of the Linux clients at this point, though the Ximian client and the new Thunderbird client are pretty good as well.

So, despite my wishes, I have pretty much resigned myself to the idea that I will continue to use both Windows and Linux side-by-side for a long time to come. There are certainly ways that I could avoid this, but they all seem to be more work than they are worth. Of course, not everyone has the luxury of running multiple desktops at once. I do, so I will continue to do so until Linux is truly able to interoperate cleanly and simply in a Microsoft-centric environment. 11:30:44 AM    comment []