On The Road with Vicky Lamburn

I couldn’t have expressed Jack Kerouac’s On The Road any better than an article on AbeBooks.

Indeed in September 1957, On The Road was published and changed Kerouac’s life forever and maybe even sealed his fate. I’ll say no more, Kerouac sits very prominently as one of my greatest influences.

The ‘Duluoz’ legend lives on…

I’ll write more conclusively on this subject soon but the premise of my thought is as follows:

For those unaware, OOXML is Office Open XML which is the base for Microsoft’s new Office 2007 file formats like .docx and so forth. Rather than being a wholly binary format like .doc; it uses XML to define the file format. This is fine. Except a lot of information can still be embedded in binary form. Secondly, there are some facets of the 6000 page long specification that are not defined in the documentation with interesting tags like AutoSpaceLikeWord95 being the famous one.

Its ‘competitor’ which has been ratified as an ISO standard is ODF (Open Document Format), which OpenOffice.org, Star Office, KOffice, Google Docs & Spreadsheets all use by default. The ODF specification is transparent, a mere 700 odd pages long and nothing is left ‘undocumented’ which cannot be said for OOXML.

So the issue is: am I against OOXML because it’s Microsoft? No. So what am I against? The rushing through of a proposed standard that has extremely verbose documentation that selectively leaves parts undocumented and has many undocumented facets of behaviour. The crux of the issue is that OOXML is ‘incomplete’ from the perspective of someone successfully implementing a fully functional OOXML import/export facility on non Microsoft software. There is much more to it than I can explain here but I will do.

The other dismay is how it would appear the voting process in some countries has shown irregularities, suchn as the Swedish vote. Whilst what happened (a whole bunch of Microsoft Gold Partners only signing up on the day of the vote and voting Yes) was perfectly legal; it was on very dubious ethical and moral grounds. (Ethics and Morals have no place in business but c’est la vie.) Irregularities and evidence of external pressure namely from Microsoft have come to light in other countries like Switzerland, Norway and Hungary.

The thing is, that OOXML should become a standard when it has gone through a just and carefully vetted examination. The time frame for the ‘fast tracking’ of OOXML as an ISO standard is not ideal to truly evaluate 6,000 pages of technical documentation to ensure that it is complete and worthy of being an ISO standard. I have no doubt if the errors, ommissions and unclear aspects of the documentation was made available then it will proceed ahead based on its own merit, rather than the business prospects for one vendor: Microsoft. It would be nice if they just did things properly rather than blundering in like the fat school bully on these things.

And the reason for all the hoo har? Well the documents I create today, yesterday and tomorrow I want to be able to access them in the future without having to rely on a single vendor: Microsoft, and as OOXML stands, it looks to be a case of lock in at present. I don’t want to lose my hard work.

I’ll flesh this out a lot more this evening, as this isn’t a bunch of anti-Microsoft baloney, or unsubstantiated zealotry, it’s just some cold hard facts about why I think OOXML should become an ISO standard, but only when it’s ready and not pushed through by Microsoft’s pressure on partners and offering incentives as was the case in Sweden.

Oh my god. That game is so addictive. Yesterday evening was a joke, I came home from work, watched Hollyoaks, had a cup of coffee and started playing…next thing I knew it was gone 11. I’ve actually completed it today, all 100 levels. Level 70 and 100 were the hardest ones. Good game Suits my cack handed game skills to a tee!

I guess I only found this by accident, no matter though as I have found it now. Windows Vista has the much lamented Sidebar that debuted in some form in Longhorn, and Mac OS X has its Dashboard. Gnome has panels. Now they aren’t quite the same as the pretty AJAX based gadgets/widgets but they have some of the same functionality.  (See below)

Sorry for the poor screenshot quality, I’ll resize it properly tomorrow (someone was playing too much Frozen Bubble…) but you can see there are lots of options.

You can add an easy way to add sticky notes, a dictionary lookup, a Mac OS X ’style’ search applet (in the vein of Spotlight, sans the instant results but with great configurability), weather report, battery monitor (laptops only), address book search and a whole heap more. I have set mine up for easy sticky note access and for the search applet which also hooks into the dictionary as well as web search and desktop search. Very handy indeed and saves me always running to Applications, Accessories, Dictionary and so forth.

To access these goodies, right click on the panel you want to add a/some applet(s) to. This is usually the top and bottom of the screen on a default Ubuntu Feisty Fawn install for example, and select ‘Add to panel‘ from the popup menu.

You will get a window the same (more or less) to the one above, from there select the applets you want and try them out! You can configure most of them by right clicking on them and selecting Properties.

I find this maybe not as pretty as Sidebar/Dashboard but in many ways more useful as it does the same job and its less obtrusive to my workflow. Enjoy!

Ok let me get one thing straight that I hate more than anything else. Fan boys/girls who are so blinkered that they eventually resort to abusive comments because someone else:

1. Uses a different OS to them
2. Enjoys using their OS of choice

I’m sorry but really just grow up. If people want to use Windows that’s fine, if people want to use Mac OS X, that’s fine. If someone wants to use Linux, that is fine. I couldn’t give a damn if someone swore blind by their Amstrad PCW8256 or GEM based AtariST; so long as they are happy. Come on what gives? Let people make their own minds up and respect them for that.

I’m sick to death of the incredibly immature comments like “ZOMFG Vista SUXXXXX! da kool k1dz r usin Linux, u so pwned!”

Purrrrrrrrlease! Live and let live people.

Call me crazy (I already know I am) but I have an idea. Hopefully I will soon acquire a semi-decent PC for my parents. Pentium 4 1.8GHz, 256MB RAM and 20GB hard disk. Yes I know you’re probably having a right hoot at that one; but considering that neither of them have ever really sat at a computer in their lives, I don’t think it matters too much as I’m expecting them to be Bash hackers by Christmas time or teaching me PyGTK…

More like typing up a letter and printing it.

So rather than put on a dodgy copy of Windows (put it this way doing it legally would cost more than I’ll probably get the PC for) and Office (which would certainly cost more than the PC will) I’ll put Ubuntu on it.

When you think about it, these guys have never used a computer before (My mum used my Commodore 64 in 1993 IIRC! That’s it.) so they don’t have any prior knowledge. They don’t know the first thing about Windows, and they aren’t the type of people to start poking around and somehow open the terminal and accidentally type sudo rm /etc/X11/xorg.conf…

You get the picture. So long as their monitor shows a picture when they switch it on and OpenOffice.org Writer is in the Office menu, what more could they want. I’ll set up the printer too and hey presto, it works. That’s all they need! Maybe they’ll get a digital camera, of which they can just plug in and F-Spot loads. Print it, select 4×6″ etc. and it works.

Windows does this too, Windows does work. But they would eventually get infested with spyware, and have the added fun of a virus checker etc. And possibly even get a virus.

So in fact, is the complete and utter novice the ideal candidate for a ’simple’ Linux distro like Ubuntu? I think actually it is, so long as they don’t start getting too clever.

I think this is an experiment I’ll have to report on regularly is it not?

Ok, I confess I heard this moniker a little while back and admittedly my response was quite detailed… Who am I kidding I laughed. Apparently some big name DJ’s are of the opinion that this is the next big thing. As if anybody who is into alternative and ‘emo’ (or whatever it is the kids today describe it as) is suddently going to think, “You know I hated dance music but now I love it because it’s called Emo-Trance.”

I’m not musically minded (except I love music), I can’t read a musical score, I don’t know the terminology, I can’t play an instrument. But way back when I used to DJ and I was alright on the 1s and 2s. As such I do not have a ‘prejudice’ against dance, but in fact I just cringe because the current stuff is just so bloody awful. Maybe I’m getting old…

So the worst thing about it all? The lyrics. I’m sorry but they are all crap. They’re all absolute (anal) dirge (prat)*. I thought the idea of Emo was a certain sense of creativity in your suicidal depression…Ok maybe I shouldn’t mock and scorn on that count, what I mean is that it’s meant to be a heartfelt expression, right? So why is so much of it complete cock?

I think in general decent lyrics with meaning is a very rare thing in dance music. It just seems to me that the very worst stuff is this Emo-Trance nonsense.

This rant was brought you after listening to a certain awful track called Anthem. Now I really do feel like slitting my wrists. (That was a joke in case you didn’t realise!)

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* Clearly not an Alan Partidge fan if you didn’t get that!

This caught my attention:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6963646.stm

Couple of things without immediately going off on a “Think of the kids” rant; I agree that this is worrying and I have these observations:

1. Is this a result of a largely sedentary lifestyle of little stimulation, physical excitement (no I don’t mean getting your rocks off), and the result of a cushioned living environment where fear has created an environment full of bubble wrap living physically and mentally? Where has true risk taking like going for a hike, camping, walking, climbing and sports gone? I reckon people just not taking their chance to get out and do something (says me sitting indoors on a glorious day… but I’m off out soon!) is causing a great deal of pent up frustration. Maybe the id’s violence is seeping through the seams with some people as away of excising that wound up energy?
2. A sad outlook if literature becomes dominated as with television’s requirement to shock and surprise. Where is something daring, where is something that is from an author who knows his/her subject could mark them out asn outcast, or laughed up by the mindless majority but to be held in awe by the minority? Me for example, I have an almost obsession for ubanity and how it affects our lives. I’m not afraid to acknowledge that I know the A102(M) is now the A12 and write about it. Yes total geek but does my face say “Give a fuck?” Damn right it does. But it’s so much more than just that. Could (in irony) violence be originality in literature’s requiem one day?

Couple of good things to write about here.

One: I am presently working on a big project to replace a website that is a little, dilapidated to put it politely. I have more than one project on the go of course. The usual process of design for me is to:

1. Ask what the user likes or wants it to look like (if they know)
2. Hand draw concepts based on this
3. Mock them up in Photoshop (yes…not The GIMP…but I am working on that…)
4. Then re-code in XHTML/CSS in a text editor

Notably I don’t actually do the usual cut and slice method of using Photoshop to make web pages, I merely use it to create a digital representation of my sketch and to get a sense of dimension. This time around I came up with a fairly audacious design. Something in fact I thought I would have to compromise on when it came to coding it.

In fact nothing of the sort happened. Usual old scrapes with IE6 vs. Compliant Browsers but overall it just gelled together brilliantly. I can’t show you it yet as it’s not been approved; but it’s a very nice looking web site. Very modern.

Funny how the sites you think won’t be a problem are always the hardest to get working across all browsers, then you get one that you really do think will cause IE6 to meltdown; and it just works. Like everything in life.

Two: Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon (7.10) Tribe 5 has been released. The final alpha release and feature freeze version apparently. Some good stuff appears to be in it including, at last a visual xorg.conf Preference pane; which could mean that with 7.10–I won’t need any of the very carefully prepared, written etc. scripts I use for external monitor mirroring/extending on my Thinkpad. Could it really be?

If it does then at least I still understand the meaning of xorg.conf now. Even so it looks like a good release, but all the 3D stuff can go swing; I just need a solid dependable platform to work on that doesn’t interfere.

Download it here to test (I wouldn’t recommend installing it and using it for your production system): https://wiki.ubuntu.com/GutsyGibbon/Tribe5

Over and out. I should cook dinner….

As promised I am starting now. My mind is still thinking about my time at V Festival this weekend (wish I was there now jumping to The Killers but there you go, can’t be all geek you know!) and I will also forewarn you that this might be my only geek output over the coming bank holiday weekend as I plan on doing some DIY and also a lot of writing for Memoirs of a Time. Plus I need to really work out my finances…

As things go; that has to be the most random way to start an experience with Ubuntu series. Actually though, pause and think. Is there actually something I am saying there? Read the rest of this entry »