...by the inmates...for the inmates...
Saturday, October 26, 2002Blogging Break
No more posts until late Wednesday, at the earliest.
A Wasted Day. Up Yours, Microsoft.
[Begin rant]
Wasted most of today getting the USB2/FireWire hard drive working properly with Windows 2000 and Windows XP. Yes, I had the latest O/S and driver updates from Microsoft, adapter card, and enclosure vendors before starting. This is, sadly, a common experience when adding hardware to Windows. What is supposed to be a simple plug-and-play installation becomes an entire day down the drain.
Of course, when I installed the drivers and plugged the hardware into Maria's PowerBook, using an old version of OS 9.0, it "just worked". No bullshit, no effort, it just worked as expected.
After many wasted hours, it also finally worked with the ThinkPads running Windows 2000 and Windows XP. Now I have a very fast backup capability.
Except, of course, that Windows is too stupid to let you just drag-and-drop your local drive onto your external backup drive. It gets part way through and then complains about various files being in use. No shit, Sherlock! Don't you understand how to copy open files on-the-fly? This ain't rocket science! If you can't do the job, why don't you just ask me if I want those files skipped and make me a list of them? Nooooooo. That would show some intelligence on the part of Microsoft engineers. Instead, I am presented with OK or Cancel buttons. Clicking either one stops the copy operation with no indication of how far it got, what was still uncopied, or any way to restart where you left off. Morons.
Before you say anything... YES, I know that I can use copy commands in DOS with command line parameters to bypass errors. The whole point is that should not be necessary.
Yes, I know that Windows includes a backup program. Anyone every use it? It is worse than no backup at all. Those who use it quickly learn that you should not trust your backups to a backup program from Microsoft. Been there, done that. Lost data. Every damn time. Microsoft claims they spend millions on usability testing. You'd never know it.
Of course, on Maria's PowerBook, I just did a drag-and-drop of her hard drive onto the external drive and it "just worked". No bullshit, no effort, it just worked as expected.
Anyone see a pattern here?
[End rant]
Cute Drawings With Historical Significance ;-)
Ancient patent drawings online.
Edison's Ark: scanned vintage patent drawings. Link Discuss (via The Schism Matrix)
[Boing Boing Blog]
A Bit Of Random Fun
Attn: Randomizer Members.
Introducing the randomizer game: If you're a member of our little forgotten network, here's a little game you can play. Visit your own site first (that gives you a hit, silly). Then click on the adorable button and read the last few entries on the blog you end up on - who knows - you might find some interesting reading. Then click on the adorable button and repeat. When you end up on your own site, you are done.
Non-members can play too: All you need to do is click this
Wanna join?[Please cite source if you republish this information. Thanks.] [jenett.radio]
Improve Your Pixel-Capturing Skills
Top Ten Digital Photography Tips: "You have a digital camera and have recorded the typical shots of family and friends. Now what? Here are ten tips to make your next batch of digital images so impressive that people will ask: "Hey, what type of camera do you have?" Guess what? It's not the camera." [Meerkat: An Open Wire Service] [Mac Net Journal] [Universal Rule]