Google Desktop

So I’ve indexed my laptop now and was worried to see files from as far back as 17 November 1996. On closer inspection most of the really old files seem to ship with MS Office.
Now I know having worked for a large company creating software previously that sometimes legacy code remains simply because no one knows what it does.
In this case however many of the files seem to be windows meta files. Now I know most of them are only 12 to 13k (like the lovely hearts C:\Program%20Files\Microsoft%20Office\MEDIA\CAGCAT10\J0230876.WMF) but that means that firstly Microsoft have not updated the clip art in Office since 1997 and secondly all of this dodgy stuff is cluttering up my hard drive. No wonder it takes so long to install and start etc etc.

So some other random thoughts here;
Can I remove all of these files safely?
Is Google indexing the dates correctly?
Why oh why did someone create this delight? C:\Program%20Files\Microsoft%20Office\OFFICE11\BITMAPS\STYLES\STONE.BMP

Robert Peston on why Vista is evil

Dear Bill Gates

Give me back my weekend. I bought a new Windows Vista laptop – and that’s when the trouble began.

My dislike of your new user interface you can put down to the conservatism that comes with advancing years. However having loyally stuck by the galumphing, unaesthetic functionality of your operating systems over the past 15 years, while faced with ridicule from pretentious Mac-loving types, I resent your attempt at an elegance transplant.

But what really grates is that your system is incompatible with two of the vital tools of my trade. Vista refuses to load the software for my newish Olympus digital recorder. And here’s what takes the biscuit. Vista rejects my HP IPAQ handheld device – even though the software for that was created by Microsoft!

So in order to put Vista at the centre of what I do, I would have to buy hundreds of pounds of new hardware. Which may be great news for your industry, but makes me regret never having defected to Steve Jobs. Perhaps now’s the time.

more on the BBC website

Panther

I installed and played with Mac OS X Panther yesterday as we have the developers preview at work. Whilst Exposé was very nice (and strangely practical) there seemed very little that had changed apart from a few interface tweaks. Certainly not enough to give OS X 10.3 a radical new name Panther. OS X 10.1 and 10.2 (Jaguar) are way too similar. It’s almost as if Mac have gone down the route of Microsoft and releasing new versions of Windows at the drop of a hat. Windows ME anyone?

Another cool feature was the fast user switching. As always Apple make it easy to share well with others. Hardly an essential though as most peole now have their own Mac and have little need for sharing.

Still it’s very nice 🙂

Microsoft Outlook 2000 to Microsoft Entourage v.X

Importing was a lot easier than I anticipated actually. Having found little help on the web – without installing new stuff left right and centre – I opted for a go between.
I used Outlook Express 6.0 and imported my Outlook 2000 mail and then used Netscape 7.0 to import my Outlook Express 6.0 Mail. I then used Netscape 7.0 on the Mac to import the PC Mail from Netscape 7.0 and then used Microsoft Entourage to import the Netscape 7.0 mail.
Lost? Nah it was easyish and I’m sure I could have skipped the importing and exporting from Outlook Express too.

grrrr

I knew there was a reason I hated Microsoft. I used to use my work laptop for mail – Outlook 2000 to be precise. I now use Microsoft Entourage on both my macs, work running OSX and home running Jaguar.
You would think that as they are all Microsoft applications [mail applications at that] this would be easy. Wrong!
I’ve searched and searched and finally came up with MacOPINION : You’ve (Not) Got Mail
So it looks a little complicated then.
The whole “Step 1: Collect the tools you’ll need. This consists of the following: A spare PC or VirtualPC if it’s current and you have a fast Mac with at least 3GB of spare space. A copy of Windows 2000 Server. A copy of Win2K service pack 1 or later. A copy of Exchange 2000. (You can do it with Exchange 2002 as well). Fortunately, I have access to an MSDN Universal Subscription and it includes all of these, but it’s sure not likely any normal user will have them. ” has made me think twice about this – maybe importing mail into another app that Entourage understands…
Grrrrrr

You know how…

I said I wanted an iPod? Well it looks like it could pay for itself in no time 😉
Using nothing more than one of Apple’s iPod portable music players, a youth in the US stole more than ?400 worth of software!
When Apple released the iPod, they were well aware that if the user so desired, it could be used to download illegal music from the web. However, little did they know that a US teenager woulld find an even more illegal way of using it. Apparently a youth walked into a large US computer store, plugged his iPod into a Macintosh that was on display, then via the FireWire connection proceeded to download its software onto his iPod. Most ironic of all, the iPod would not have even had to leave his pocket during this time. Once the FireWire lead is plugged in, the Macintosh recognises it and instantly creates a desktop icon for it. From here all you need do is drag and drop files from the computer to the iPod!
According the shop in question, the thief got away with a copy of Microsoft Office for Mac OS X, which is worth over ?400, plus a number of smaller applications! Now you may say, how the heck did he fit all this software onto an iPod? Well the iPod has a huge 5GB storage capacity and with the FireWire connection it can transfer 200MB, about the size of the Mac version of Microsoft Office, in about 1 minute!