10:12 AM 11/01/01
Blogging again quickly on a Thursday morning. Tons going on and I’ll be popping in here and there all day as I take care of tasks ahead of me.
A little shocked but really not surprised by the news that the Justice Department is settling with Microsoft. It was well known that if Bush got into office, Microsoft would win this case or this case would go away. It’s that simple. Is it the right decision? No. But was the fix in worse than a boxing scenario? You bet your buttons, buster.
After a week of XP there’s a lot I like about the system. I like the fact that it doesn’t crash that much and when programs crash, the whole system doesn’t go down. I’m still mystified by the vanishing start up icons. If you don’t know, your start up icons in the right corner of the screen vanish when they’re inactive. I don’t know how that works or why they’re vanishing, but hey, I’m sure we’ll find out.
I also don’t like the fact that I can’t get Norton’s disc doctor or protected recycle bin to work with it. Norton 2002 that is. Supposed to be compatible. There’s probably some sort of disk utility turned on that I don’t know about that’s screwing things up, but dang … it’s a PITA.
While I like the system, there’s a lot here that has me concerned. All the new stuff is going to hurt 3rd party software makers. I’ll give you one example. Before XP, getting thumbnails of your graphics files was a PITA in explorer. Sure you could do it by clicking on pictures and seeing little thumbnails pop up on the left panel, but if you really wanted a good thumbnail program you’d have to rely on something like Firehand Ember 2000 or Paint Shop Pro 7 to generate them in another program just so you could sort files.
Now that Microsoft has built in a pretty good thumbnail option, and mind you that pretty good is good enough to most people when they don’t want to shell out money, a lot of folks who would normally seek out the 3rd party software are no longer going to do so. They’ll settle for pretty good and … well, sales will start to drop for those companies.
XP is just pushing the idea that Microsoft wants to be your one and only computer software provider. They’re throwing in all these options and in the long run, if uncontrolled, as they’ve done in the past, they’re going to do a pretty good job of putting people out of business.
Don’t be surprised if companies vanish. That is how they operate. Now the government is giving them carte blanche again. Go monopolies.
In other news, okay the blog has two clicks to get to this instead of one. Yah I know, I know, but I wanted to include a blog archive and I just didn’t have space on the main screen right now. So the two were combined. The plus is, I think that adding a blog archive adds at least an hour of reading to the site.
The original idea of this site was inspired by the old “Bloom County,” “Calvin and Hobbes” or “Doonsbury” treasuries. Okay dating myself by saying that. But the idea is to have a collection of strips right here on the web that will fill an afternoon. Sure we’re not a daily thing, other than the blog these days, but if you need to fill a rainy Sunday afternoon, I’d be happy if you turn to this site to escape the blues and pass the time with a smile. The blogs, the polls, guest book and boards are optional stuff for those who want to see some background on the site. They’re not required reading and hey, if you need more than that Sunday afternoon, then dive in and see some of the stuff that was going on when your favorite strip went up.
On the strip side, yesterday was another day when I was in a mood to write. Some folks have questioned using the Cheers characters to jump start the six strips. I’ll tell ya, I needed something to get me going again after a couple of weeks off. I’ve always loved Cheers and when the opportunity to present another corner of the little universe came with characters I loved and would have loved to write, I took it. Plus, hey, if you look, Scott Herriott got beat up on another classic sitcom. If I can figure out how to get Gary Coleman to beat him up, then I’m going for it … wait … isn’t that the plot of recent episodes of the Screen Savers? Oh never mind …
Finally, two weeks of solid watching Call for Help is behind me. Here’s the next round of observations:
* The dumb walk in openings still have to go. They lack creativity and come on, they can come up with something more creative to open the show than the Gnome walking on with a candy bucket. Dress him up, get crazy, get funky, have some FUN. Crazy capers and conundrums draws viewers in. So use them …
* Of the “Ali replacements” from the past couple of weeks, I’m biased from knowing her in chat, but I liked the interactivity with Laura the best. I liked the segments where she actually got to interact with the Gnome and I thought she showed a lot of creativity in her segments. She surprised me with the avocado facial segment. That was really funny. Plus the site of her casually munching on one of the dog biscuits she made in her segments had me rolling. I would like to see her more on that show. On the downside, she needs to work on getting the banter going and she doesn’t seem to handle the Gnome’s surprise gestures or strange topic choices that well. Otherwise, solid job.
* Morgan, after one show, was a deer caught in the headlights. She seems so uncomfortable in front of the camera, even in her screen savers segments. Plus, she’s a giant. She towers over the Gnome and any sort of interaction is just going to look weird. On the upside, she *really* knows her stuff. Her segments on the screen savers are credible and she brings that credibility to the subjects that she tackles that others have problems with. She just needs to relax on camera and stop being so darn skittish.
* Megan is Megan. She is Ms. Screen Savers. She brings the same qualities to Call for Help as she does to her main show. However, she’s really out of place at the chat desk. She’s grown beyond the limits of call for help and does a great job on her own show.
* Cat. To be honest with you, I’ve never liked Cat. She comes off as condescending. Like one of those girls in high school who aren’t quite on the A list but have the attitude of the A list. Her first day with the Gnome was so snotty that I cringed at even seeing her there again. While she’s improving, her segments seem to be given to her. She doesn’t seem to have the knowledge that the others posses and it seems like she’s unfamiliar with her segments. Day to day, I would not tune in to Call for Help if she’s on it. I skip her segments on the Screen Savers for the same reason. She has to stop acting “so cool” and start getting some credibility if she returns to the show.
* Still love Brett Larson. NO ONE GOT his Steve Jobs impersonation on Halloween but I was rolling. Dead on, perfect, Mr. MAC. Brett, you’re gonna be a star in France on day.
* Roger Chang has slowed down and no longer stumbles over his lines, and hey, he even showed off his banter skills with the Gnome the other day. Now that was cool. Roger still needs to open up more and break out of the quiet shell and show the wit that you know is behind those glasses.
* The Gnome. Well, he’s not rolling over his guests as much. He seems to save the weird characters for the segments where their appropriate, and frankly, he’s MORE annoying on the screen savers than he could ever be on Call for Help. He’s handling the rotating cohosts really well and frankly, for someone who I probably would have hung out with in Jr. High he’s doing a good job fitting in. For now anyway.
Now on THAT note, I’m out.
— k9