Posts by Bernadette Newburg

Dell tells customer 'Mac is good option'

RE: I Still Don't Get It

Whichever one does what you need it to. There is no "best" here. Windows excel at playing games (I'll throw in a caveat - XP excels; Vista's a piece of ----); Linux can save your butt and your data if your Windows hard drive crashes and you've been stupid and haven't backed it up lately; and Macs will run all three OSs, some better than others, if you are looking for an all-arounder and your games don't require the blazing speed of an XP based gaming PC and you don't feel like going the boot camp route.

It all comes down to the right tool for the right job. That's all the computer and its OS is - a tool. This isn't Sunday school and we aren't learning the Ten Commandments here (but all the fanbois would have you think otherwise): "Thou shalt have no other OS but Me!" sort of thing. In short, the best OS, and the best computer, is the one that works best for YOU, whether it is Mac Tiger/Leopard, Windows XP/Vista, or any of the many flavors of Linux/Unix.

Rent Fox films via iTunes

Re-downloads

ITunes did let my friend re-download her stuff after her laptop was stolen (I'm trying to remember if she had to fax the police report)...one time only deal, and they very, VERY firmly told her to make backups this time. I have three copies of my stuff...iPod, original on hard drive, and hard drive back up... if you have a second authorized computer, you can copy your purchases from your iPod to that second computer.

Mozilla rubbishes IE Firefox security study

Get the What?

Back when M$ was heavily promoting their "Get the Facts" campaign against Linux, they royally pissed off another 800 pound gorilla...a big blue one. So in the battle of 800 pound gorillas funding studies about this, that, and the other thing, it was discovered that, of course, the best studies that had the best facts were...the independent ones. Jones was heavily criticized for his 90 day report card earlier this year. As a lot of people said, Vista was safe because you couldn't get on the Internet with it - still can't, you need to use Firefox or Opera most of the time. Gates, Ballmer, and Co. should have learned then - don't tout your own studies, don't do your own research. Wait for someone else to independently do it. I'm just waiting for them to piss IBM off again. It really was fun to watch when I worked there.

Terminator will be back in 2009

Sigh

Battlestar Galactica - watched the pilot. 'Nuff said

Charlies Angels - rolls eyes

The Brady Bunch - refused to see

The Bionic Woman...without Steve Austin, the $6M Man? Are you kidding?

Predator went two movies too long (should have ended with the first)

Aliens should have stopped with the second

Terminator should have stopped with the second

Star Wars.... not going there.

Superman should have ended at #2

Batman should have ended at #3 (okay, I do like Robin, but...until Christian Bale...should not have been touched)

Where are the original ideas in Hollywood? Can we do nothing but retreads?

Admins accuse Microsoft of Draconian Hotmail cap

Hotmail

Embarq is ditching earthlink and starting up their own "free" email...which I refuse to use. Aside from the fact that switching for me is logistical nightmare (too many damned mailing lists, etc, plus I do all of my financial stuff online) they "inform" all of your contacts of the switch. Inform? How? I send them the address book or they just merrily rummage through my computer (like hell)? I would rather use Gates et al than subject myself to the idiocy of Embarq formerly Sprint, despite whatever inadequacies Hotmail may have. I won't use Gmail, not enough storage space (I keep too much stuff) so I may need to find another US based free email service if I don't win this war. I may own the equipment, but I don't pay the phone bill and we have no other high speed option. Any suggestions?

PS - I use Thunderbird, and Firefox, almost exclusively. Except for one or two glitches in Thunderbird during an update, they've both worked fine. I'll probably go open source entirely when I finish with grad school, because they use MS based products almost exclusively, and I need to be compatible with them.

PSS - I think the thing that looks like a hairdryer on Bill Gates' head is supposed to be a halo...

Apple sued over i-Bricks

They were warned...

Actually, if I remember correctly, Apple warned them BEFOREHAND that updates might turn unlocked iPhones into bricks....

Federal judge slams Patriot Act

Cheney Administration

Notice the author said "Cheney Administration." Always knew Dumbo the elephant was nothing more than a puppet.

"Look in the mirrors, folks. You have the government you deserve." Uh, I for one kinda resent that. I did not vote for the current monarchy; not either time. I have spent the past 7 years fighting every move he's made. It's the rest of the population that deserves the mess we're in. Well, okay, not everyone - I know there are other people out there who have their eyes wide open - and their heads on their shoulders, not up their asses. Of course, the rest of it is true - Give them their football, their remote, their Survivor, and their health insurance, and their cushy arm chair, and they couldn't care less if the rest of us go to hell in a handbasket. If it doesn't touch them, or affect their retirement plan, then it goes right over their head and under their feet. But when it finally does, they are the ones who scream the loudest. And when they hear about this, they will probably sarcastically say, "Oh, and you'd rather let the terrorists get away and blow up another skyscraper?"

It'll be interesting to see how long this judge has her job under the current regime. Or if they manage to get rid of her, too.

Microsoft eyes stake in Facebook

@There goes the neighborhood

I'm definitely moving out. Especially if they bring that overpoofed poodle, Vista.

Symantec accidentally warns of internet meltdown

Symantec: Worse than a Virus

Used Norton YEARS ago....had a devil of a time removing it. It's a parasite - gets in your system, hooks its little wormy tentacles in, and then hangs on. Even when you think you've gotten rid of it (with the Norton Removal Tool - what a crock!) it isn't all gone. I was looking through my services one day, and - shudder - there it was. The lone sentinel. Turned on. Waiting to reproduce? Like the chicken pox, waiting to return, in another form, the shingles... I turned the bloody thing off, but I wasn't sure if I could safely remove it, the little bleep.

Needless to say, I now use AVG, Comodo, Spy Sweeper, and anything BUT Norton. Of course, I refuse to use McAfee, either. If the OEMs load it, I won't use it.

If Norton's Firewall is making you bang your head against the ur, wall, check and make sure that Windows Firewall isn't merrily turning itself on as well. For some reason, the two don't see eye to eye (especially in Shmista) and sometimes can't tell the other has been turned on. Two firewalls + one system = no internet.

What does Microsoft's European defeat mean?

Down with M$

Linux needs some big manufacturers...you haven't heard? M$ has tried to stop Linux (here in the US, at least) by waving patent violations at it - well over 200 at last count. Of course, they've now got IBM glaring at them from the other side of the fence, since IBM is now supporting open source software, so I don't know how far that's going to go, and IBM is still sore over PS/2, and like an elephant, has a long memory... but to the EU I say: I wish you were here. We could use courts and laws with balls and teeth, not judges that pander to big corporations and politicians.

I use XP and Office, but because I have to for school... right now I'm investigating various Linux flavors (sounds like ice cream, doesn't it? yum!) to see which one I like via virtual machine... and while I may be forced to use XP/Office, it DOESN'T mean I have to use IE, WMP, and the other bundled goodies M$ forces down consumers throats. And if you ever want a laugh... imagine the conversation between the befuddled consumer whose laptop is being sent back in for repair, who is moaning and groaning about Windows Vista; the retailer help desk technician (me) on line 1 extolling the virtues of FireFox, and the OEM agent on the line 2 singing the praises of Opera...

TorrentSpy shuts doors to America

Damn Sure it isn't Your Fault

You guys left out one thing...the majority of people have stuck their heads in the sand, like ostriches. As long as it doesn't bother them, they don't want to know about it. Only when it directly affects them, will they then sit up and take notice. Most of the older generation can barely use a computer; my mother doesn't even know what a firewall is ("What are all of these stupid pop-ups??") and I don't know how long it took her to figure out how to use the remote control on the TV after they got the satellite. Nothing is going to happen here in the states until people get their heads out of the sand, their asses, or the clouds, or wherever they have them stuck. There are not enough of us who are not wearing the rose colored glasses to have an effect on things, although I had some hopes with the last election...

And PS = I didn't vote for Bush, either.