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On an article published on November 2007 I talked about my favorite mouse, long time has passed and I have changedmouse several times. I finally found one that I like, the Microsoft Bluetooth Notebook Mouse 5000, and I’m loving this little mice, I picked this one up from OfficeDepot for $30 while on sale about a month ago.

This mouse is lightweight, comes with a pouch for carrying it while on the go, and it doesn’t use as much batteries as other wireless options. The downside is that to make all the buttons work I had to buy a little software called USB Overdrive. Before I dive into details, let me say that this is not my first Microsoft mice and both of them were excellent, this is my second must have from Microsoft, when I get a new MacBook I always install MS Office then get a MS wireless mouse. Read the rest of this entry →

Let’s summarize this review on the first paragraph, I don’t know why I waited so long, I regret not buying one before. If you don’t have one and you need a new mouse give Apple Mighty Mouse a try, you won’t regret it. When I got my first Mac, over two year ago, I was using a wireless Microsoft mouse, it worked fine with my Mac mini until it broke. A key got loose or something, I try to open it to fix it and that was the death of it.

After that mouse I got a Logitech mouse, which was not wireless but only lasted like 9 months, it started double-clicking whenever I was trying to single-click. I looked over Logitech forums and apparently this is a flaw in Logitech’s hardware. I went my local Target store and grab one of those mini Microsoft mouse that can holds the transmitter under the mouse for easy travel, it drove me crazy, I blame it this time on the many wireless stuff I have sitting on my desk.

Finally, I read all the reviews on the Mighty Mouse on Apple.com and decided to give it a try, boy why I waited. I’m not saying that this is the perfect mouse, it still has some room for improvements, but it certainly works better than any of the other mouse I had before it.

The first thing I liked is that is an Apple brand and it works great with my Mac mini, its white which holds that Apple design beauty we are all so use to. The cable itself is kind of short, but if you use your mouse close to your keyboard (Apple brand keyboard) this should not be a problem. The scrolling key works fantastically, in fact is the best scrolling wheel I’ve used and its very accurate.

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Microsoft announced the implementation of new “Strategic Changes in Technology and Business Practices to Expand Interoperability,” I was really impressed with this announcement until I read a couple reports from experts in the industry. I’m asking myself now if Microsoft is trying to screw up the open source community with this so-called effort to be more open.

Skepticism comes to my mind, as we know that Microsoft likes to make promises and then they don’t deliver, but it looks like this time they are clear on what their goal is. They claim to want to play nice with the interoperability side of their business by ensuring open connections, I’m not a developer so this means very little for me.

I’m thinking they want to make sure that all MS Office documents are compatible with other document management applications like OpenOffice, NeoOffice, and other flavors of Office Suites, etc. Are they really doing this or open just means that they want more people developing for them on some sort of freeware license, leaving open standards behind.

On the other hand, maybe they are just trying to help the occasional developer that is trying to do a plugin for MS Office, proprietary, functional only to one company. This developer will have the tools to make the plugin 100% integrated with the office suite without paying royalties or licenses to MS. I’m not buying it, something tells me that I’m not getting this at all.

Microsoft also mention data portability, I’m not sure what this would mean to the end user. Does this means portability across platforms, compatible across programs, or portable as one open standard? I heard Paul Thurrott saying on his show with Leo Laporte that this is not the first time Microsoft tries something like this, just to look good on the eyes of those who are not happy with them, i.e. the EU.

Whatever is that Microsoft if trying to do, whatever their intentions are, we will know soon rather than later. For now, they still dominate the market and unfortunately I haven’t find any other software that allows me to write the way MS Word does. One day I will leave this company forever, for now I think there is no competition to their Office Suite.

Do you agree with me? Don’t hate me for expressing myself, if you have a better clue of this approach by Microsoft, they talk to us about it by leaving a comment on this post.

Photo source http://tech.optzile.com/?p=11

Windows Weekly with Leo Laport and Paul Thurrott

When Microsoft Windows Vista was originally introduced, a lot of us asked ourselves what the point of so many versions was. Is not Home or Professional anymore with this people, now you have to go and make a decision on whether you need Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, or Ultimate. You can go down the list and insult the capabilities of each one of them, but the real joke is on Vista Basic.

Basically, you get a strip down OS (operating system) with very basic options, I can’t think of a perfect user for a machine that runs Windows Vista Basic. The only thing you get from Vista Basic that you can’t find on XP is the instant search capability in the start menu, and of course the so-called security enhancements. For the average user Vista Basic is a nightmare, and for the basic user is a frustration.

What needs to happen with Vista Basic is very simple, don’t hate me for what I’m going to say, and just try to understand my idea even if you don’t like it. Vista Basic needs to become more basic than what already is and Microsoft should give it away free. I felt it too, earth shook when you read that.

Here is my point, I have built almost a hundred of computers from parts that I pick up every time I work with my clients computers. I have sold over half of those, while others I give them out free to people that can’t afford a computer. Every single time I have to install some sort of Linux operating system on them because the cheaper XP I can get is an OEM version of Windows XP Home on Tiger Direct for $89.99.

If I could install a version of Windows that was free of charge, with installation limitations, network limitations, whatever but that allowed me to give out or sell out a computer that is booting up in a consumer friendly environment, which would be great. Whoever gets this computer will immediately upgrade using Windows tools to whatever version they need, because the simplicity of the Basic will be intolerable anyway.

Think about how much aftermarket business they would do, instead of trying to get an illegal version of Windows, just get the Basic-very limited copy of Windows, and let the buyer decide what they want. Sounds great, I know it will never happen, Microsoft partners will be a little mad if it did. After all, it’s all about selling more computers not less, and that is something that Microsoft partners will not allow.

After waking up from this nightmare where Microsoft partners where trying to assassinate me, I go back to what’s the point subject. Have you tried a Vista Basic? I did, and I would cry if this thing were installed on any of my computers. Let me know what you think about this idea, but please don’t be rude.

We’ve heard so much about the subject already, the truth is that I’m as tired as when the only conversation you’ll hear was iPhone this, iPhone that. Microsoft made a bid on Yahoo for little over 40 Billion dollars, after Yahoo take some time to think about it, we heard that the Yahoo campus is undervaluing Yahoo. The whole thing is one big mess mainly because you would think this kind of offers comes after long periods of discussion, which was not the case.

The funniest part was that many people talk about the subject like it was the end of the world. I got a kick out of some ideas, like some Flickr user group came up with the slogan “Keep your evil grubby hands off our flickr group”, funny indeed but the reality is that several thousand people joined the group.

I was listening to John C. Devorak talk on his show Cranky Geeks arguing about what was the point on Microsoft wanting to buy Yahoo. True above all, I heard someone say somewhere that Microsoft idea of innovation was via acquisition, here is yet another example with the whole Yahoo hostile takeover.

The truth is that I don’t find any of this hostile or troublesome, Yahoo is a great company but the their user base has decline in the last couple of years. Companies like Google among others are giving a good show of market competition. What’s in for Yahoo? What’s in for Microsoft?

Yahoo has a great number of people using Yahoo Mail and Yahoo Messenger, Microsoft’s Hotmail is a big web mail client as well as good Messenger user base. Combined they are definitely bigger than Google since Gmail is not as big as some may think and don’t get me started on Google’s Talk chat client. I’m not saying these Google products are not good, it’s just that people haven’t got around it.

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I own a Linux box, I’ve tested many distributions like Ubuntu, Freespire, and Xandros. When I decided to leave the Windows world, Linux was my first option but I also needed to be connected with the reality of our Windows world.

When I saw the great advantages of OS X in terms of being able to have a stable OS capable of running any Linux application and Windows at the same time, I said to myself “this is it.” I’m still thinking Windows could be a great OS, they have the money to put into great programmers and get this OS to kick buts everywhere, for some reason they don’t.

I don’t blame Microsoft for their failures, there is a bunch of hackers around the world making money by bringing down every single flaw on this OS. If this same group were to target and attack OS X, I think Apple would be up for a big challenge.

What you are not going to hear me say or type, is that Linux is an utter crap operating system. In addition, I consider myself an Apple fan-boy, get Linux on a computer and try to install something as simple as flash for your browser, I got it done, after a lot of reading, and it’s not easy.

I love OS X, I’m forced to use Windows XP on my Mac to run applications that I need for the kind of work that I do, and my kids computers all have Linux (one Ubuntu, one FreeSpire). Our friend Torvalds think that because he’s a lousy programmer, sorry I meant to say because the file system in OS X is bad he can call it an utter crap file system.

Well dear, this is for you, learn to have respect to your competitors because if Windows have 93 percent of the market and OS X have 7 percent, where are you? I think any browser in this planet has a bigger user base that any Linux distribution combined. I know some IT people prefer to use Linux servers, and that most web hosting companies preferred them too, but tell me Torvalds, how much was your income from licensing last year.

I’m sad to say this but even Linux blogs are full with stories on how Linux is not anywhere where they would like to be. No user base, no fans, no standards, everything is done via the terminal, and the small group that are making things better must be feeling ashamed of you for being so hard headed.

Steve Jobs woke up one day and realized that if Microsoft could contribute even one crappy browser, one office suite, and a couple million dollars to his company, he could embraced the joined efforts to make things better. Be smart and maybe all the utter crap software vendors in the market will have mercy on you and ignore your words.

I’m not totally upset, I can understand what a fan-boy is, I understand Linus loves his Linux, but common don’t expose yourself like that. Bring on the flame, what do you think about this guy, do you support his point of view or not. Remember one thing, I’m a technology lover, if it’s good and serves me well, I’m using it. Cheers.

Sorry, I had to do this.

When traveling with you laptop you may want to consider a wireless mouse, there are many options in the market but one advantage a Mac user have is that every new MacBook or MacBook Pro comes with Bluetooth integrated. These makes the selection of a mouse easier since the reliability of a Bluetooth mouse seems to be better than a plain wireless remote.

Apple Inc offers a Bluetooth mouse, the Apple wireless Mighty Mouse is a Bluetooth mouse that offers great functionality and matches with the elegance that a Mac laptop has. On the downside you have the price, the Apple wireless Mighty Mouse goes for about $69.00 USD, some complaints also points to bad reception from you Mac, bad quality craftsmanship, and poor battery life after a year.

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What was running around as rumors became a reality, Microsoft has released photos and specs for their new Zune lineup that will be release sometime in November 2007. The new Zune lineup has an 80GB model called the Zune 80, and two flash models sporting 4 and 8GB of storage. The company gave no indication of discontinuing the 30GB, 1st generation model, instead the new updated UI (user interface) will be added via update software to the old Zune.

If you ask me Microsoft is up to something, the new UI and software upgrade add some interesting features that are worth discussing. This first one is the integration with Windows Media Player, now you can transfer your media content from your computer to your Zune effortlessly. What’s better the new Zune software is compatible with h.264 and MPEG4 codecs, you don’t need to convert your media files to WMV.

Some good news to Podcasters is that the new Zune software includes support for podcasts, you won’t be able to update your podcasts over WiFi, but you can share them with other Zune players. Talking about sharing, Microsoft changed the rules for sharing music a bit. Now instead of getting the three days, three plays restrictions you only get the three plays restriction, not sure if this means something to Zune owners.

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It’s no secret that I’m an Apple fan but today I saw a video of a new Microsoft product that really made me go wow. The Microsoft Surface product is where advance technology and dreams get together to surprise the industry. Of course that touch sensitive technology it’s been among us for a while, but the application of it has been kind of slow. The new touch sensitive surfaces from Microsoft takes computing to a new level, letting you share pictures, place orders at places like hotels, bars, restaurants, etc. I can just imagine me sitting at Starbucks ordering my vanilla latte and paying for it from my table and waiting for my name to be called to pick it up at the counter.

Some time ego this technology was show off on a video from YouTube, unfortunately I can’t find that video anymore. Also, the new iPhone from Apple share functionality similar to this new system from Microsoft . I went to the website were Microsoft is showing off this new product and I was impressed with the design, of the website. Also the Surface product was impressive, while there’s not much information information the three videos available are good examples of what the product can do. After seeing all these I went Digg.com to search for videos and guess what, the couple of videos available shows a Surface product kind of skippy and not looking as good as the demo from Microsoft .

The rumor from a Popular Mechanic video is that the product will be around $10,000 to $15,000 and will initially available only to business partners. While I’m dying to play with one, with that price tag I’m getting mines in 10 years or when I hit the lottery whichever comes first. So get involve, what do you think? Leave your comments over this post or at the Digg.com post. I would like to see a similar product from Apple, for now I’ll play with the iPhone . Thanks.

Microsoft hits the open source community again, this time the software giant claims that Linux infringes 235 of their software patents. Making this the argument of choice for Microsoft, this is not the first time we have had this conversation. With the popularity raising with Linux operating systems, and company’s like Dell selling their hardware with Linux pre-installed, I was wondering when the argument was going to start.

Personally, I find myself with split opinion in regards to this situation, on the one hand you have a company defending their patents like they should. In the other hand, you have an open source community and barely monetize from their efforts to have a different platform of computing which shouldn’t be a problem at all. So I have been reading all over the Internet and found a letter from Kevin Carmony from Linspire at www.linspire.com/linspireletter where he discussed the options the open source community have.

What are the options, Kevin writes that option number one is to fight or ignore the issue. Well, tell that to Microsoft lawyer Horacio E. Gutierrez that uses all the words in a dictionary to state that Microsoft will be protecting their patents. Is Microsoft afraid of the market share Linux could take away? I think the problem is that as a company they would like a cut of any money that moves around Linux. After all, they will be loosing the opportunity to sell “three” licenses of Windows on Dell computers. Yes, I’m being sarcastic.

A couple months ego, Novell and Microsoft released a joint letter to the Open Source Community where they explained the joint collaborations to make Microsoft and Linux application more compatible. The collaboration letter stated various bullet points with details and the first one was about patents. So Novell can get around it why would Microsoft be pushing the rest of the industry.

Neosmart at www.neosmart.net point at how Microsoft won’t point what the violations are. So they want the Linux guys to stop whatever is patented inside the applications without telling exactly what it is. So what’s in the future for Linux? Legal battles takes long time, especially when they haven’t even started. Not all flavors of Linux are involved, leaving an open door for you to search the Internet and make sure you are clean. Microsoft may be only scaring people away, maybe fear that OpenOffice will to better than MS Office, which I don’t think so.

Lastly, a lot is yet to say and if Microsoft can get to sell Windows XP for three dollars to some countries I know they can settle this dispute with some licensing terms that favors them economically. Hopefully those of us who really believe in Open Source and Linux will see more Linux to come in the future, and those who are monetizing it get to pay the fair licensing they need to continue with the business structures. Find more around the web, leave a comment on this post. Which flavor of Linux you use the most? I use Freespire and Ubuntu, both of them great software. Thanks.