gPC... will Wal-Mart see green?

I just recently noticed that Wal-Mart is to start selling a PC for $199. After a little Googling, it turns out that this PC is called a gPC running the gOS operating system. For starter let's look under the hood at the hardware specs: 1.5GHz, VIA C7-D Processor, 512MB DDR2 533MHz, SDRAM, 80GB Hard Disk Drive, DVD-ROM/D-RW Optical Drive, VIA UniChrome Pro IGP Graphics, Realtek 6-Channel Audio, (1) 10/100 Ethernet Port, (1) DB 15-Pin VGA Port, (6) USB 2.0 Ports, (1) RJ-11 Port, (1) Headphone/Line-Out Port, (2) Microphone/Line-In Ports, (1) Serial Port, (1) Parallel Port, (1) Keyboard, (1) Mouse, (1) Set of Amplified Stereo Speakers. One thing to note here is the VIA processor, and not the popular Intel or AMD processors that most computers come with. VIA is a leading chip-set manufacture for motherboards, and when you get right down to the nitty-gritty, it's the chip-set that controls how and what the computer does. The processor just does the work, it's the work horse so to speak. All-in-all the hardware specs are not too bad for a computer that cost less than 200 bucks.

The big deviation from the standard PC is the OS, so let's have a look. What in the world is gOS? OK here we go, gOS is based on Ubuntu 7.10 Linux system with an Enlightenment E17 windows manager interface. gOS uses Google applications to do most of your work. A dock bar runs across the bottom of the desktop with Google tools and services. With a single click from the desktop.... Mail, Calendar, News, Maps, YouTube, Blogger and Google Docs are at your service. Clicking the green leaf icon in the left corner of the dock bar will bring up the installed programs much like the start button in Windows. You will find all the software you need to browse the web, email, instant message, play movies, music, and edit your photos, documents, spreadsheets, presentations and databases. Also you will find a handy Google search box embedded in the top right corner of the desktop.

I decided to give gOS a spin around the block, and No... I didn't run down to Wally World and grab one of those PCs targeted at the infamous redneck Wal-Mart shopper. I simply spent about 35 minutes downloading a 694 MB iso file and burning it to CD, thus creating a LiveCD boot-able operating system. I booted that sucker up on my PC and was greeted with a nice refreshing green desktop and a dock bar with over-sized icons for the online Google services. This is not for a geek or power computer user, however for the first time user or someone just wanting to use Web services this is a nice clean OS. I can see many advantages to this system as opposed to a Windows system. With this system, no virus scans and updating anti-virus and anti-spyware software. Because it's a Linux box, no more time wasted defraging your file system.

There area few negative points with this system. Where's the monitor? Yep, it's extra. Next, while this is a nice Internet surfing machine you will need a broadband Internet connection using Ethernet. A RJ-11 Port is listed but dial up with Linux is not something a new or inexperienced user needs to tackle. Al-in-all it's a nice little box, but I have my doubts as to it's success.

Cyber Innovation Center... the dollar spectrum.

In the Sunday, October 21, 2007 edition of the Shreveport Times, John Andrew Prime wrote an article titled "Getting the answers about the Cyber Center". It's a quite lengthy article, however I have re-read it several times in hopes of completely understanding the the Cyber Innovation Center. An overview of what CIC is about is clear, however sad to say, the specifics of CIC are still only clear as Louisiana gumbo mud. I'm the type that will pursue a subject to the very end to get a satisfactory answer, so I turned to the Web. The Cyber Innovation Center website is a nice professional site, however still not very much specific detailed information on the inner workings of CIC or how they plan to spend 100 million dollars of taxpayers money. The one thing that is very clear; CIC is advocating sponsorship and membership ranging from an annual fee of $250,000 to as low as $1,000 for a public membership. So, how do individuals get involved? Looks like if you don't have $1,000 per year to spend your pretty much left out in the cold. Well maybe not completely, you can sign up for CIC updates at no cost.

It's going to be interesting to see how the private sector (Cyber Innovation Center) will mesh with the newly formed Cyber Command of the 8th Air Force and Barksdale Air Force base. Most politicians are expecting the best and think that the Cyber Innovation Center will have a positive effect on the Louisiana economy. My hope is that they are correct in their thinking. Needless to say, I'm not that optimistic.

Pirates to surf with IE 7

On October 4, 2007 Microsoft announced that Internet Explorer 7 installation will no longer require Windows Genuine Advantage validation and will be available to all Windows XP users. Now it did not say so but I assume "all" to mean pirated versions also.

Microsoft seems to be having problems with it's monopolistic strategy. Microsoft wants 100% of everything without putting forth any effort. Let's face it, Vista has fallen flat on it's face, and IE 7 has not done much better. Users don't want Vista and IE 7.... now Microsoft thinks it's because of pirated versions of XP. Wake up Microsoft, your software stinks! Could it be that users just want an OS and browser that works without all the bloat? Maybe it's why thousands have switched to Linux and Firefox. Runs great and less filling!

Vista downgrade...

Seems the only people that have had a Vista WOW experience are Microsoft's Vista team. Echos are heard all across Microsoft's Redmond campus, "WOW... I can't believe people want to downgrade from Vista to XP". Yep! That's right, many users that have purchased new PCs with Vista are downgrading to XP, and in some cases to Linux. You may be wondering, what's going on?

Microsoft is now letting PC makers offer a downgrade option to consumers who buy Vista Business or Ultimate machines that want to switch to Windows XP. Fujitsu, Lenovo, Hewlett-Packard, and Dell have all taken steps, one way or another, to allow consumers to downgrade from Vista to XP. I want to make it clear that the downgrade option is for businesses only. Consumers who purchased new PCs with Vista Home Premium do not have the downgrade option.

I'm going to read between the lines and give you my views. The mass majority of consumers are not ready for Vista because of it's demanding hardware requirements and the excessive cost of the Vista software. Due to this, Vista sales have been extremely low. Microsoft has seen it's Vista ship steadily sinking and are attempting to patch a hole in Vista's sinking ship. Not only does Microsoft patch their software, they are attempting to patch sales with this downgrade option. Microsoft is in business to make software and money. It is my opinion that Microsoft has put more emphasis on making money than on making good software. Vista is not necessarily bad software, it's just that most businesses want their OS to be lean and mean with out all of Vista's bloat and visual effects. On the home front Vista should serve most users well if they purchase a new PC with lots of RAM and a hefty video card.

One thing I've noticed is that Vista has also pushed some user over to Linux. Could it be fear, uncertainty, and doubt that has caused these Windows users to move to Linux? Surely the FUD factor has not turned its ugly hand on Microsoft. Oh well, what goes around comes around.

What's UAC?


A lot has been written lately about how badly Vista stacks up to every ones expectations of being the best OS ever. I'm not here to ridicule or praise it, however where there's smoke.... there is usually fire. Vista has taken lots of flak over its new UAC feature. It has even been suggested by some to simply turn UAC off to stop the annoying permission pop-ups.

What is UAC you might be asking? UAC stands for User Account Control, which is a feature that is built into Vista to help keep your computer secure and prevent virus and spyware from installing.

Here's a look at how UAC works. In earlier versions of Windows users logged on with total administrative privileges, therefore being able to make any change to the system without being prompted for permission. Vista has two types of user accounts: standard user accounts and administrator accounts. Standard users have limited administrative privileges and user rights; they cannot install or uninstall applications, change system settings, or perform other administrative tasks. In Vista you should log on as a standard user with limited privileges. When making changes to the system or installing a program Vista's UAC will pop-up asking for permission to perform the task as an Administrator.

For those of you that think they must run as an Administrator; Vista runs in Administrator Approval Mode, therefore providing additional protection for administrators. Vista will run most programs with standard user permissions even if the user is an administrator. If a user wishes to run a program that requires administrator permissions or make system changes, they must give permission through a UAC prompt. This helps prevent malicious software from making system-wide changes without the administrator's knowledge. Let it be known, Administrator Approval Mode does not provide the same level of security or protection as a standard user account.

With UAC turned on, malicious software can not install on your computer unless you give it administrative privileges to do so. If you always run as a standard user with UAC turned on and you find spryware on your computer. Guess what? It's your fault... you granted it permission to install. Vista and User Account Control is not a cure-all for malicious software, however it is another layer of protection you should be using along with anti-virus and anti-spyware software.

The User Account Control concept is not new, it's just new to Vista. Unix and Linux have always used this method of logging on to their systems. Humm... looks like Vista has snitched one of Linux great security features. Oh well, maybe this is one of those 235 patents that Microsoft claims to exist in Linux and open source.

Clean Install


I have read a couple of articles that the upgrade version of Vista will not allow a clean install.

Just thinking.... my hard drive dies, I have no backup and installed the Vista upgrade version. No problem, just install Vista on a new hard drive. Oops... Vista upgrade will not clean install!

Day one: dig around to find my Windows XP disk and CD key. Install XP on the new drive and re-validate XP.

Day two: dig around to find a Service Pack 2 disk. Install SP2 on Windows XP and hope no more later updates are need to install Vista.

Day three: upgrade XP to Vista and tweak Vista to my personal settings and make sure all my drivers are working.

Three days later I now have Vista re-installed. This is a hypothetical case, I don't even have Vista installed, and if I keep thinking like this I may never install Vista.

The Vista I see!

Vista is to be Microsoft’s next generation operating system. The English word vista is a synonym for sight or view. Synonyms are different words with similar or identical meanings and are interchangeable. Now thanks to Wikipedia we have a clear understanding of what Microsoft has intended for Vista to be.

I have not personally installed or for that matter ever used Vista, however I have read lots of reviews, and viewed screenshots and videos via the Internet. And thanks to Bernie, the CBWUG members were presented with a live working version of Vista RC1.

First off Vista lives up to its name, lots of visual effects and eye candy. Thanks to Aero you have visual effects such as glass-like interface elements that you can see through. A live thumbnail is displayed when placing the mouse pointer over a taskbar item, showing the content of that window. Windows Flip and Flip 3D allows you to flip through open windows providing a live thumbnail of each window. A new feature called Instant Search helps you find and start almost anything on your computer. Just type in a word, a name, or a phrase, and Instant Search will start your program, hopefully the one you wanted.

Vista contains a number of new security features that are designed to make Vista-based computers more secure. User Account Control is one way to improve security of your computer by giving you the ability to decide if software is allowed to make changes to your computer. Users normally run in a limited user mode and are ask for permission to do administrative task in Vista.

Windows Sidebar is a pane on the side of the Windows Vista desktop that organizes gadgets and makes them easy to access. Gadgets are mini-applications that sit in the Windows sidebar. Gadgets can connect to the web and deliver weather information, news updates and other useful web information. Gadgets can also have any number of purposes not web related such as games, sticky notes, and a clock.

I must say Microsoft has done a great job of integrating a lot of visual effects and security into Vista. While this may be new to Vista and Windows users, those of us that have been sampling the other operating system have already been blessed with these visual effects and better security.

Vista is hardware hungry; to fully get all the visual effects that Vista has to offer, you will need a very powerful computer. If you think you have a computer that has the power to run Vista, simply go for an upgrade. Before you run to the store and grab Vista and dive into an install, I would suggest downloading and running Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor. After running Upgrade Advisor, you may be surprised to find you computer is not as powerful as you thought.

Your other options are buying a Windows Vista Capable PC or a Windows Vista Premium Ready PC. Which one do I want? Here’s the scoop! Computers with the Windows Vista Capable PC logo will deliver the core Windows Vista experiences such as security, and Instant Search but may not provide Aero features. PCs meeting the Windows Vista Premium Ready requirements can deliver the Windows Aero visual effects.

Your last and most likely the best option, just wait and purchase a new PC with Vista pre-installed, everything should work. If things don’t work, all is not lost; you can make friends with some guy in India.

Now comes the fun part, what version of Vista do I want? Here’s how it works, Microsoft has made one Ultimate version and disabled certain features in the Ultimate version to create the other versions. Here are your choices: Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, and Ultimate. Home Basic is for low-end hardware or for users that have very limited needs. I would stay away from Home Basic; it’s cut to the bare bone necessities. Business is just what the name implies, has little to offer most home users and is lacking in multimedia features; I’ll bypass that version also. Looks like we are left with just two options, Home Premium and Ultimate. I think most users will find Home Premium will fill their needs with a modest price tag and most wanted features, however more green means the Ultimate computing experience, in Windows that is. The Complete PC Backup imaging tool and the BitLocker drive encryption feature are disabled in Home Premium. I guess Microsoft knows that most home users never backup or encrypt their data anyway. The Ultimate version is the only choice for serious Windows users.

Carolyn is a serious Windows user and I’m serious about getting X.org and the X Window System working on a Linux box. Well you guessed it, our next computer will have Vista Ultimate Edition!

Just Google it....

Google says no to Googling on MSN or Yahoo. Google is a trademark identifying the search technology and services of Google Technologies Inc. Google and Googling is not a generic term meaning to search for information on the Web. Sorry folks, you can't say "Log onto MSN search and Google it." This is kinda silly but all companies try to protect their trademarks. Microsoft has trademarked Windows, so even though Linux has a Windowing system, you must refer to it as X, X Window System, X Version 11, X Window System, Version 11, or X11. Because X Window System is a trademark of X Consortium, Inc. it's off limits to Microsoft. Now can I legally call my Linux computer running X Window System my Xbox? Oh well, it's mine and I'll call it whatever I want.

The Rocky Road Ahead

Are things really that bad at Microsoft? Humm..... let's take a look!

Bill Gates is stepping down as Microsoft's chief software architect and plans to work at his charity foundation. Microsoft also has announced some executive shuffling across various product groups.

In recent days there has been criticism of its security software (OneCare Live) and anti-piracy program (Windows Genuine Advantage). It's clear Microsoft has dropped the ball in these areas.

On June 29th Microsoft announced it is laying off 214 U.S. salespeople. Oh well, what do they need salespeople for anyway? If you buy a new OEM computer you get Microsoft Windows whether you want it or not! This is commonly known in some circles as the Microsoft Tax.

Microsoft is also have problems shipping it's products in a timely fashion. Windows Vista has been delayed until early 2007. Nobody know when it will ship but rumors has that it's still buggy and not ready for the consumer. Office 2007 is not doing any better. Office 2007 was also delayed to early 2007, but Microsoft representatives have recently admitted that Office is behind schedule entirely. Now, let's put the icing on the cake. The new WinFS file system that was part of Windows Vista has been completely removed from Vista. It was reported that it would ship later as a standalone software component to Vista. Oops, now Microsoft no longer plans to ship WinFS as a standalone software component. Instead, portions of the underlying technology will be included with the next release of SQL Server. Looks like the WinFS file system is going belly up.

What does all this spell? Well spelling was not my best subject in school. If I did spell it out some would call me a Linux advocate.

You can always tell a Linux user.... you just can't tell them much.

Security without encryption....

Think your credit card transactions are secure... think again! MasterCard and Visa have developed what is known as the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard. Presently your data is encrypted when you swipe your card. Because this encryption requirement is causing so much trouble for merchants, MasterCard and Visa have decided to write a new set of rules that will replace encryption with other types of security technology. Relaxing encryption requirements is not good. It basically means that if a hacker hacks the system, they get your data. Encryption is the ultimate measure of security. So why is MasterCard and Visa writing a new set of security rules without making encryption a strong requirement? Save money for the merchants! In doing so they are putting your personal data at risk. What to hell... save Wal-Mart billions of dollars, you the consumer only stand to loose your life savings.

Ice cream anyone?

MooBella, a nine-employee company in Taunton, Massachusetts has developed a machine no larger than a Coke vending machine that instantly makes a scoop of ice cream from fresh ingredients stored within.

On the machine's front is a computer screen running on a Linux operating system. It displays menus of possible flavors and allows the user to create any combination, such as low-fat coffee ice cream with Oreo cookies. If the machine runs out of a flavor, it stops putting it on the menu and sends a message via a wireless Internet connection to MooBella asking for a refill.

Now I know what you're thinking, Windows can do the same thing. If a Windows machine runs out of a flavor, what would you get? You guessed it, a "Blue Screen of Death."

Good news... bad news!

Google has confirmed it is working on a desktop Linux project called Goobuntu, but declined to supply further details, including what the project is for. Now we all know this has nothing to do with the fact that Google missed earnings expectations on Tuesday for the first time since it went public in August 2004. Its shares went down almost 20 per cent at one point in after-hours trading and slicing billions of dollars off its market capital.

Here's the question Google investors are asking: What's my stock going to do? Here's the question Linux enthusiasts are asking: Will Google make Linux as popular as the Google search engine?

Humm... If I had the answer to those questions, I wouldn't be typing this crazy blog. Only time will tell!

RTFM

Thunderbird 1.5 was released on Thursday, January 12. It's got some great new features that include automatic updates, anti-phishing protection, inline spellchecking, saved search folders, podcasting, RSS improvements, and the ability to delete attachments from messages. Now those new features would be great if I could get it to load.

After quickly downloading the 6.0 MB file and double clicking it; it extracted and the installer started to work and I was soon greeted with the message, "Installation successful." Now it's time to take a look at all those new features. Wrong! It just would not load. I tried every known trick to get it to load to no avail. I reinstalled my old version and it loaded like a champ. OK, it's got to be a bad download, corrupt file you know. No such luck, after a new download and install, same thing won't load.

OK it's now 2:00 a.m. It's now time to RTFM. I went to the Thunderbird site and scanned the page for clues as to what might be the problem. Buried in the Release Notes page and under known issues there was the one sentence I need to read. "Prior to installing Thunderbird 1.5, please ensure that the directory you've chosen to install into is clean and doesn't contain any previous Thunderbird installations." How dumb can I be? After a complete un-install and install of Thunderbird 1.5 in a clean directory, that entire new list of features loaded instantly!

Surface-conduction Electron-emitter Display anyone!

Will your next flat-panel HDTV have surface-conduction electron-emitter display (SED)? This type of display is currently under development by Canon and Toshiba. It works similar to a CRT but consumes about 50% less power and has a thin flat-panel like a LCD, which is only an inch or two thick. It looks like Toshiba intends to move their 40-inch plus displays to SED technology. The announcement came at the Consumer Electronics Show this week. Recent articles have said the SED units will be priced around Plasma and LCD if not higher. I think I’ll stick with the good ole CRT for now.

Take this shovelware and shove it!

All the major PC manufactures are loading their systems with limited-time or limited-feature versions of standard commercial applications. Microsoft Office 2003 is one of their favorite applications to include, but will require a $400 to $500 registration fee to continue working past the 60 day trial period. Let's face it folks, this is no more than shovelware dumped on the hard drive to make it look like a great value. Many consumers purchase these systems thinking they are getting a fully licensed copy of Microsoft Office, when in fact they are only getting a bloated system.

How do you protect yourself? Read the fine print and don't take the word of a sales clerk. If this is the software you want, simply register, and pay the fee and your set. However don't feel you have to buy this pre-installed software. If you choose not to purchase the software use the Control Panel's Add or Remove Programs applet to un-install and remove the bloat.

Now is the perfect time to give Open Source software a try. OpenOffice.org 2.0 is a free, full-featured office suite that can open and save in Microsoft formats or AbiWord 2.4.1, an award winning, small, fast, full-featured and cross platform word processor similar to Microsoft Word.

Bob's Blog "Digital Madness"

Just want to wish everyone a prosperous and Happy New Year.

Windows users you may not have such a Happy New Year if the new "Windows WMF Metafile Vulnerability" bites their computer. This vulnerability involves the way Windows handles image files (Microsoft Picture and Fax Viewer). A malicious Windows Metafile (.WMF) image could allow attackers to take control of your computer. Now we have image files that contain a virus and trojans. All you have to do is surf to one of the infected sites and it will automatically infect your computer. Now that's nice of them, what could be easier? OK, I know it’s AOL. Seriously, you can go to Ilfak Guilfanov's blog to learn more and download a temporary hot-fix for this critical flaw.

NOTE: This is not a Microsoft hot-fix, but is safe to use and can be removed when Microsoft gets around to patching this critical flaw.

Now just in case anyone cares, my new years resolution is to be less dependent on Windows and use Linux more.

Happy New Year !

What time is it?

Humm... must have been a good boy last year. I got an atomic clock for Christmas. Yeah yeah, I know an atomic clock has an atomic oscillator inside, such as a cesium or rubidium oscillator. Ok it's a radio controlled clock, which receives a signal that comes from a place where an atomic clock is located. I did a little research and found that in the United States, the signals received by radio controlled clocks originate from NIST Radio Station WWVB, which is located near Fort Collins, Colorado. WWVB broadcasts on a frequency of 60 kHz. At 60 kHz, there isn’t enough room on the signal (bandwidth) to carry a voice or any type of audio information. Instead, all that is sent is a code, which consists of a series of binary digits, or bits, which have only two possible values (0 or 1). Now I understand, it's a radio controlled digital clock with atomic time precision. Well that's not what it says on the box. It says, "Wireless Weather Forecaster with Atomic Time".

Guess it doesn't matter what you call it. I'll always have the atomic time and date, indoor & outdoor temperature, relative humidity and the rise or fall of barometric pressure. This clock sets itself automatically, no more resetting for daylight saving time. Now my computer clock and my kitchen clock are both synchronized by the same NIST atomic clock.

I spy... you spy!

OK, the cat's out of the bag. King George... Oops. President Bush has announced that he has authorized wiretaps and email monitoring without a court order. It's now official, Big Brother is watching.

Now the good news is that I don't have anything to hide or at least I better not because Windows has all my activities stored on my hard drive in index.dat files. Index.dat files are files hidden on your computer that contain all of the Web sites that you have ever visited. Every URL and every Web page that you have visited are listed there. Not only that but all of the email that has been sent or received through Outlook or Outlook Express is also listed. The file names and locations depend on what version of Internet Explorer you use. Index.dat files can be very hard to find. The reason that these files are so invisible is that they are not just hidden; they have been designated as system files. System files and folders are treated differently in DOS and Windows and are effectively masked from searches. These files can be manually traced down and deleted but will be very time consuming. There are programs designed to find and delete your index.dat files but my advice don't do anything that would require deleting the index.dat files.

Now if you just have to hide your tracks, I would suggest ELE. ELE is a bootable Live CD Linux distribution with focus on privacy related software. Everything passes through Tor, where communications are bounced around a distributed network of servers, called onion routers, which will effectively hide your ip address. And because ELE runs totally in RAM memory, all your tracks are deleted at shutdown.

Now you know how to spy on a Windows user and how to keep someone from spying on you.

Automatic update and forget it!

Auto update and forget it, I don't think so. Many users simply turn on the auto update features in their anti-virus and anti-spyware programs and trust that to keep them up to date. While automatic updates work well and I do recommend that you have all security programs set to auto update, I also suggest you do manual updates regularly in addition to the auto updates.

Why? I just don't trust automatic updates, and here's the reason why. Many programs will go out and get one update, then think it's finished. When in fact there are more updates to be downloaded and installed. I have found this to be the case with Norton anti-virus and yes, even my trusted AVG anti-virus. I must say automatic updates for Windows works pretty good, however it only downloads and installs critical updates, leaving optional software and hardware updates to be downloaded manually. If you don't turn your computer on everyday, and that's the case with many laptops, several updates will be waiting to be installed and many times only one will be installed.

So, what to do? Turn on all automatic updates by all means, but also do manual updates once a week to check behind auto updates. Keep checking until you get a message to the effect that all updates are installed. This includes all security programs and Windows.

Now, Linux makes updating so easy with the apt package. At a shell prompt simply type apt-get dist-upgrade then hit [Enter]. This will update everything installed on your computer with one command. What could be easier?

Will your Apple taste any better?

Let me start off by saying that I don't use a Mac, never have, but there is always a first time. You might say that when it comes to computer operating systems, I have an open mind. Think maybe I can squeeze a Mac between Windows and Linux? I hope my wife doesn't read this!

Apple has announced that it will switch from the PowerPC processor to an Intel chip. I wonder how those loyal Mac users feel? I'm sure there are many different reactions, some feel betrayed, some are ready for a change, and then there are those that could care less as long as their Mac does the task at hand. The fact that a new Macintosh will actually boot Windows either by itself or dual boot is just amazing. Apple may have just coined a new computer term, Triple Boot. You may soon be able to triple boot between MacOS, Windows and Linux.

There is no reason to believe that the MacOS and apps won't be stable under Intel. Linux runs exceptionally well under Intel. If there is anything unstable, it is Windows, and its instabilities are not the fault of the hardware.

Well your Apple may not taste any better, but it's sure going to have a different flavor. I think all this change at Apple calls for a new name to replace Macintosh. I can just hear it now, "My new Winesap will run anything".