They have released a wonderfully simple looking and very well done video to introduce you to the concept.

You have to hand it to Google, they make a wonderful pitch.

If anyone can, Google can

I have said it before, if there is one company with enough clout to knock Microsoft off its top spot, its Google. They have a knack for making smart, and appealing products that just work. I have been luck enough to get an invite to Google Wave this week and I actually quiet like the idea. I know a lot of people have not been too impressed with it. I can see it has a lot of potential, but maybe not as much as Google would have you believe. I am looking forward to using it, and seeing how it goes.

With great power, comes great responsibility

Knowledge is power

But this brings me back to the other part of the problem I have with Google. They are expert at collecting your information. They are for ever finding subtle ways to capture everything about you and hold onto it forever. Wave is an excellent example of this. E-mail was designed to be independent, you can run it on every platform and it is not dependent on a central computer. So there is no one controlling it, it is a truly free system (this has its own problems, but lets not go into that). Wave (e-mails replacement as the big G would have you believe) is the exact opposite. It is entirely controlled by Google and nothing leaves their control. They have open sourced the platform, but the know no one else is really going to run it. So they have moved away from a free and open system to one they fully control.

No problem with that you say, until you consider they are now intending to do the same to your computer. Your machine will have nothing on it, every will be hosted away on the internet. But who will look after all your stuff? Google thats who. How long before they look after everything about you?

Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely

Google can already tell much about you if they are able to link up all the pieces of your online life. They can read your e-mail (Gmail), they know what you like (Search), they know what you do for a living (Documents). Very soon they will have the best way to link up everything you do, your computer. “Don’t be evil” is the famous motto of the company, but this runs contrary to the real life demands of a multi-national. If you have someone in your grip, you squeeze them.

I don’t have anything against Google, they make the most amazing products. But I fear any body (public or private) with so much knowledge. There are plenty of people who just don’t care and all I can say to them is well done!

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.”
- Thomas Jefferson

Convert to Linux, you will not be disappointed

I have been living away from Windows in the wild country that is Linux for a couple of years now. Windows still infests my day job (in a good way) but Windows has been banished from home PCs for a long while.

This week saw the release of Ubuntu 9.10 and I am already running it. One of the things I love most about Linux is its ability to partition almost everything in clever ways Windows just has not caught up with. This time when I installed my system I setup my home drive on a separate partition. Installed Ubuntu and it pulled in all my settings as if nothing had happened, even my background wallpapers were integrated into the new ones.

In the scheme of things its only a minor thing, but it just makes going from version to version almost effortless.

Blue Screen Of “That’s how we roll”

I have to admit I have never had a real issue with Windows. I use it for my day job and I would not have a roof over my head if it were not for Microsoft and Windows letting me program. I will have a stand-up fight with anyone who says Microsoft makes crap software tools.. the simple fact of the matter is they don’t. C# and .Net is amazing development environments that I love using.

That is not to say I don’t have my fair share of problems with the OS. My new laptop came with Vista, and I thought I would go with it for a few weeks, just to see if things were as bad as I remember.

When it started Blue Screening after every update as a means of forcing me to reboot I decided I’d had enough. Linux rarely makes me reboot even after major component upgrades and that alone is enough to make me want to have it.

Windows 7 is available

I have had some time with Windows 7, and I will continue to play with it. But it is nothing more than a face lift, and a bug fix for Vista. The internals are the same a Vista and there are only minor new features. The claims about speed and performance were not evident when I played with it. It might run better on netbooks, but I think that is just because they have realised that is a growing market and they can’t afford to over look it.

Some things you can’t live without

But what the penguin gives with one flipper, he takes with another. There are some applications (only a few outside of development) that I have to have in order to make my life complete. They all come from adobe now and they are Lightroom and Fireworks.

I am an avid photographer and Lightroom is by far the best photo management software there is. Though there are a number of alternatives but nothing comes close to a 10% of what Lightroom does for me. So that I have to have.

Fireworks is my go to graphics application. Any problem can be solved in that application with pixel accuracy and fantastic compression software it can not be touched.

The solution is provided to me by Sun. Virtual Box. Allowing me to happily run Windows XP without affecting Linux in anyway. I could of course dual boot, but I would rather vitalize if I can. Its a little clunky as a way of doing it but as there are so few tools I want it works well for me.

The future soon

The future is bright for Ubuntu and Linux. This version (9.10) delivers some great additions and a good look. Boot time is way down, speed is up, and core features are working well.

The speed difference between Vista and Ubuntu is simply amazing. Even the live CD is noticeably faster (at least on this machine) than Vista natively installed on it. When an OS running from a CD is faster than the one on the hard drive, you know you have a problem.

If you have never tried Linux, you must give it a go. The Live CD means you can try it out without touching your current install so whats to worry about. Or you can even install it inside Windows as an application now so you can have a play before you commit to anything.

But I can assure you, once you have tried it you will not want to go back.

The future of the desktop?

This week Google finally entered the operating system market. It has been much talked about for a long time. In many ways it is a logical step for them, they run everything from Linux based machines, and with that amount of know-how and the availability of excellent distributions like Ubuntu, why not release their own?

There are very few companies with the power to taken on Microsoft, even fewer still who would have the inclination or a reason to do it. But Google are one of them. With their world famous reputation and massive pots of money to back them up, I think we might finally see something that can topple Microsoft’s grip on the desktop.

Is that a good thing? In my mind yes… but it has a price.

Breaking the grip

Nearly every desktop computer in the world runs Windows in one form or another. That was no bad thing. It meant everyone could focus on write code for one platform and not have to worry about the difficulties multiple platforms bring.

But that is a hang over from the early days of computing. Today’s landscape is very different and requires a new way of thinking. With runtime environments running over the platforms (I.E. Java, .Net, Flash, Silverlight, even JavaScript) you don’t need to worry so much about what’s underneath.

We now live in a world where the internet is the norm. If you can’t do the work locally for what ever reason, have the cloud do the work. In fact why even have applications on your machine at all? There will always be some people who need applications on the desktop, but the vast majority don’t

Now’s the time

So the world is ripe for a new way to think about how you use computers, and Goggle are just the company to show they way. With a history of giving away really useful web based software for free, who better to offer to the average user a new operating system that costs nothing?

I have met many people (usually non IT type people, but not always) who are sceptical of software they don’t pay for. If they don’t pay for it there must be something wrong with it. Or they just take what they are given becuase they are unsure of unaware of the alternatives.

But if they were buying a computer and the option came up to pay for Windows for £100, or Goggle OS for £0. I am fairly sure most would go for Goggle and not really be able to tell the difference. As long as it went on the net, let them do word processing, and play solitaire. Most would not care one jot, and if that happened to be faster, and more secure as well.. even better

Beware of the dark side

But this comes at a price. Google are a private company in the US, renowed for their secrecy. Their entire business model is based on collecting information on you and using that to make more money.

What better way to gather the most amount of information on you than to be with you all the time, not just when you are surfing the net. There is only one way to do that, run the computer.

I can see the next step will be allowing you to use the cloud as the file system. Don’t store the files on your computer, only you can use them then. Store them in the cloud and access them from anywhere. Secretly keeping copies of all your documents for unknown purposes and lengths of time.

Pinch of salt

Will this it bring about a revolution in the way we use computers, no doubt. If not right now then soon. Microsoft have no option but to keep up. That means they must become more competitive and more innovative. Never a bad thing.

But I personally find the idea of a massive multinational silently watching my computer quiet a frightening prospect, and I worry the general populous will walk blindly into the threat not knowing what they are signing up for, or even signing away. Seduced by the shiny interface, and other cool gadgets they never knew they wanted.

Luckily I like to do things the cheap way, but even better, the FREE way. So instead of using M$, I put Ubuntu onto the system.  It has to be said that it seemed to take longer to format and partition the 1TB drive than it did to actually install Ubuntu. Always one for a gamble, I went for the latest 8.10 in 64 bit variety… and it worked with only issue being that during installation I had to keep re-sizing windows as using a HDMI lead gave me resolution that meant the next and back buttons were off the bottom of the screen.  So far so good, but then NO SOUND!

I checked with sound through the headphones and main output jacks, fine but it wasn’t having it and still had no sound through HDMI.  After a bit of tinkering I did the absolute noob move of trying someone else’s fix which might have worked on 32bit but all it did was freeze my box on the next boot. I tried reinstalling 32bit and tinkered some more, found out how to fix it but didn’t like the solution.  Basically you have to set the HDMI output as output 1 not 3.  Nothing wrong with that but half the time I want sound coming out of my surround system hooked up to the jacks on the back, it’s only when I’m watching stuff on youtube or system beeps I don’t really feel the need to be using 5.1… Fair enough I’ll give Microsoft this one but I haven’t had a single poop up and still haven’t got round to firewalling or antivirusing my machine yet and it was on overnight with nothing happening. Try that on a new vista box and see how many ads you have on screen!

So I went back to Ubuntu 64 and so far I have not found anything that doesn’t work on 64 that works on 32. I’d heard stories that it was ready for use and now I’m inclined to agree. The only bad thing is that the mounting of drives is F**ked up now. I could use the old fstab no problem but it took me a while to realise that now that wasn’t enough, I had to change the owner of my extra partition. CHOWN username.username /mountpoint for anyone who mounts a drive, and can’t write to it. There’s enough guides to getting DVD playback out there that that took 2 minutes to get going, MP3 playback is much faster to get  going as well so the Linux community is doing it’s bestto get round the legal problems that stop it from being able to offer those features out of the box to speak.  Sun haven’t updated Virtualbox for Ubunutu 8.10 so my virtual windows pc (for when I want to watch 4ondemand or some other service that refuses to run outside of M$) so for now my old PC is going to have to remain in a fair bit of use.

• Antec NSK2480 case with 380w PSU
• Asus P5E-VM-HDMI motherboard
• Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 “Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition” 2.40GHz
• 4GB Corsair DDR2 (2x2gb)
• Western Digital – Green Power 1TB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm
• Arctic Cooling AC-FRZ-7P Freezer 7 Pro
• Sony NEC Optiarc AD-7200A 20x DVD±RW IDE Dual Layer ReWriter (Silver)

Yes a bit of greeness there, my PC is on 24/7 seeding and downloading so I picked a few parts that would try to limit the impact on my electricity bill.  The PSU is 80 plus certified for efficiency and also whisper quiet.  Seriously you can hear my fridge & freezer from across the room more than this PC, UNLESS you do something using the DVD drive which unfortunately is the noisest thing I have ever heard and I used to live under the Heathrow flight path.  Of course there is a reason why I chose this and it is spectacularly weak, it was the cheapest drive that matched the case colour, and match it it does. As long as it’s not in use it looks cool as it fits in with the silver front of the case perfectly.

On the subject of fitting. The Freezer 7 Pro does NOT fit into the NSK2480, it’s close and I’m sure if I file away a couple of needless long welds on top of the fan it will fit but let this be a lesson to all would be builders.  Check the fan height and case height.  The fact I still can’t hear my PC with the case open is testament to how supremely quiet this PC is though.  It also has a wonderfully uncluttered layout and is so neat and tidy, with separate compartments for the hd rack, PSU & optical drives and then the main area. Cables are tidy and the entire thing is easy to use.

While the fan is ongoing issue, it is easy enough to fix, either leave the case loosely open or file the bit off the fan or dremel a hole in the case andhave the fan sticking out like a super charger.  At the end of the day I couldn’t be happier with the performance and for £430 I have a monster that can easily be overclocked when it eventually starts to struggle in 5-6 years time.