What a weird week. There has been loads of things worth writing about but not worth taking up their own entry, so heres 7 days worth of musings and observations from myself.
Notes/Domino 6.5
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| Stable but underwhelming |
I was initially thinking about writing up some crap about the 6.5 release, new features, etc, but the whole thing feels so underwhelming that it's really not worth it. I don't see how this release justifies it's version number. Yes, the Sametime integration is nice, but really thats about the newest thing in this release. The Lotus Workplace addition to the Bookmarks.ntf file is very underwhelming compared to the impressive things that its Websphere version offers. Tt also leads to some weird occurances with your new mail marks (when inside your inbox, new messages are simply coloured red, and don't have an asterix next to them - which one can only assume is something to do with the fact that the workplace has already kind of read them for you), and is completely inflexible in its configuration - I dont use The todo list, I'd like to be able to remove it from my Workplace - but I can't! Also, my screen runs in a resolution of 1920*1200, and I'd like to be able to resize the panes to let me take advantage of this, which I can't do!
One other little gripe, is that the "mark as replied" thing is going to drive a lot of users (and therefore Admins also) up the wall by making the message appear as unread after the reply has been sent. As a developer, it's pretty obvious as to why it does this - you're editing the document, so it shows up as unread, but you can just predict the annoying fucking whining that's going to come from users about it.. I've been using it for a couple of days and it's pissed me off enough having to press insert to remove the unread mark after sending a reply.
Going back to the Sametime integration, it shows a lot of potential for environments which have a big Sametime investment. While I don't have Sametime at work, I've got it configured to point to a friends server at home. It's let me get a look at how the mail template enhancements will work, as well as see options for integration into other applications using their new design elements. Definately useful. It would of course be even better if Sametime supported ICQ/MSN as well as AIM, but hey..
Finding the perfect WRX, and car dealers in general.
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| Blub Blub Blub |
It's a hard road finding the perfect WRX (maaaaaaaaaaate)! Both myself and my friend Ben are currently seeking cars to help us lose our licenses with, and it's not that easy. One of the recent trends in the world of the second hand car salesman seems to be asking (in very serious tones with a very serious expression) anyone who asks to take a vehicle for a test drive is they "are a serious buyer?". Well shit I'm sorry if I'm making you WORK for your comission buddy, but who the fuck is going to buy a car without taking it for a drive first? If it's a written off hunk of crap and you're selling it for scrap and asking $200 then sure, I'll forgo that test drive, but otherwise I'm afraid that YES you are going to have to fit those dealer plates, and YES you are going to have to move a few cars to get it out of the lot, and YES you are going to have to temporarily put your chain smoking on hold in order to let me take that overpriced problem laden car for a drive - AND GUESS WHAT FUCKTARD, I *AM* going to ask you about all the problems I find during that drive, and I'm NOT going to put up with your fake as hell answers!
So from now on in, I'm going to walk up to every owner/salesman on every lot and ask them a simple question before I start looking at any of their stock: "Excuse me, but are you a serious seller?"
Mudvayne
After listening to one of their older albums (supplied by the man with the 5 year plan), I've decided I really don't understand this band. How it is that they can write such awesome riffs occasionally, but have such a bad ability to arrange them is beyond me. Oh, and they really sound like Tool in some places - it's scary, it really is.
Moby vs. RIAA
Initially found on vowe.net, this little quote from Moby made me giggle in the context of the RIAA's current crusade to install fear into the hearts of the worlds music downloaders.
i'm almost tempted to go onto kazaa and download some of my own music, just to see if the riaa would sue me for having mp3's of my own songs on my hard-drive.
-moby
The full article can be found here if you want to read more.
Welchier/Blaster and Stupid Consultants
We had a Welchier outbreak at work, and it was kind of funny. It really exposes how stupid some software developers can be when it comes to simple PC maintenance. They have this weird arrogance about them, that just because they code'n'shit that they're all fucking gurus and should be listened to. Well listen up fucktards, you may be a developer, and yes I'm sure you're very clever, but you still have to patch your leaky as fuck operating system and update your virus definitions. Fucking hell.
On the flip side.. I learned an awful lot about monitoring your network using tcpdump and/or windump very quickly.
Western Medicine.
After a quick visit to the doctor, I fear that my mistrust in western medicine might have been partially misplaced. A recurring problem that I've had for 10-15 years was simply laughed off by the doctor, as she subscribed me something simple and informed me my problem was quite common. She thought it was funny that I'd tolerated it for so long, but I informed her that I was a male, and that we were supposed to be stubborn and irrational about things like this!
So theres my week in review on Thursday. Some good, some bad, some underwhelming.