Posts by Ben Lefroy

Is Vista ready for Business?

"Slow" isn't even close

A friend brought her Vista-powered laptop over a few days ago so that I could transfer some files for her. It was slower than the proverbial slug with the caravan full of elephants (hat tip to Paul Probine for that wonderfully accurate description). Didn't notice any problems with the wifi though, running OS X and XP Pro on the network and the Vista machine was easy enough to set up, just really, really slow. And it's running a faster processor with more RAM than the much older XP machines that leave it for dust in the performance stakes - I'd love to see some benchmark test results for simple PhotoShop operations !!

Oh, and they've managed to change a perfectly good GUI into something that is now more confusing, unworkable and, generally, pants. WTF were they thinking? Will NEVER make the move to Vista. But then I'm spoilt because I do most of my work on the wonderful platform that is OS X.

You know what they say: An Apple every day keeps the doctor away (that'd be the doctor who brings you the white coat with the sleeves that tie at the back if you have to use Vista for a prolongued period).

(STOP - because it's about the same speed as Vista)

BOFH: On the brink

Enlighten me

So, how many discs/how long was an OS/2 Warp install?

I recall doing Windows '95 installs from backup floppy media which, if I remember correctly, was about 97 floppies. I also recall, somewhat more vividly, the feeling of despair when, on the final disc, the process used to regularly fall over.

Still, at least it wasn't quite as frustrating as having to load software via cassettes onto my old Acorn each and every time I wanted to use it…

(Jobs because I now exist in an OS X environment)

Adobe bends to might of US printers

Used to be such a popular company…

Remember the good old days in the print publishing industry when Quark was the enemy?

When everyone had Quark, Photoshop and Illustrator and wished that Adobe could bring out an alternative to Pagemaker that would rival Quark?

Well Adobe did that with InDesign, although the first releases were flawed and unfortunately timed promotions on subsequent releases coincided with the dot com crash, meaning that the print customers were neglected in favour of the more lucrative and exciting video editing and web market once the share prices plummetted.

But the web products were a waste of time – we all knew that Macromedia was the leader in that field. As, it appears, Adobe finally admitted when it got out the cheque book.

And so with web (albeit someone else's products) and video effects firmly established the focus returned to the print customers. "Hooray!" we cried, believing that once again Adobe cared about the customers who supported it from the outset and made it great.

And just as the print industry was beginning to feel loved by the company that it has always admired for its contribution to the industry, Adobe whips out a knife, stabs it in the back and decides to mould its products for the home user and corporate markets.

Come back John Warnock – we miss you.

Woman arrested for WoW love affair

@ Mike – I love it…

When 'merkins get all hyped up!

Stop being so childish about the cross-Atlantic debate, we are all friends here.

Let's settle this in a mature and adult fashion.

Arm wrestling anyone?

Family converts dead dad into diamond

Gem of a reassurance…

It must be Friday afternoon.

I actually had a look at the LifeGem website and was heartened to read that: "You do NOT need to send the deceased to our location in Chicago."

Well that's a relief, I will put the packing tape away again.

Merkins eh?!

Mobile email: Let's have a heated debate

I'd rather have e-mail than a camera

For a small business, the BlackBerry service available through mobile providers – without the need for a server – cannot be beaten for simplicity and cost.

The status symbol argument is nonsense and anyone who actually leaves their BlackBerry to vibrate for anything other than text messages or calls needs help.

It is just a way of keeping an eye on your correspondence without having to fire up the laptop every couple of hours. If there's anything urgent then you can deal with it and everything else you can delete and deal with the next time you are at your desk.

The BlackBerry does exactly what you want for business use and thankfully the devices have not gone down the route of trying to stuff gizmos such as MP3 players and cameras into what is supposed to be a communication device.

Now if they could just sort out the battery life…