Good-bye.
I tried to start this blog as a way of promoting my opinions and ideas of technology in this ever changing world but I haven’t been able to attract any audience for this blog, this is my fault however, as it has become apparent that I don’t have what it takes to be a blogger, I am by nature a very quite individual so it is difficult for me to just talk about anything without there being a discussion going on. So today I am officially shutting this blog down, I will not be posting ever again.
Good-bye,
Joshua Powers
You are the weakest link, Good-bye.
Let me start off by saying that I like open-source and Ubuntu very much, and after trying Ubuntu 10.04 and seeing the rapid pace of improvement in Ubuntu 10.10, I can say without a doubt that by the next LTS (Ubuntu 12.04, which will release roughly the same time as Windows 8 ) will be a vastly superior desktop class operating system than anything else on the market. That being said an operating system’s primary purpose is to run applications and so an operating system is only as good as its apps, which has always been Linux’s Achilles heel (that and multimedia but that is directly related to lack of apps and vendor support). Yes I know none of this is Linux’s fault, it’s the fault of third-party software vendors not supporting it. But at the end of the day if an operating system doesn’t have the apps people want then it’s useless. Now that doesn’t mean Ubuntu can’t take on Windows 8 come 2012, there may be a window of opportunity as the desktop market is being marginalized back to the realm of corporations and geeks thanks to the iPad and coming onslaught of tablets that are proving popular with the non-tech savvy consumer crowd. Being Ubuntu is aimed squarely at the consumer crowd and Microsoft apparently can’t make a consumer OS to save their life, then they have a chance to sway the remaining consumers, but to do so Ubuntu needs to start courting third-party software vendors (if they haven’t already) and independent developers to develop for Ubuntu. I have talked with many people who have heard of Ubuntu and would like to switch but at the end of the day it comes down to apps and vendor support.
Why I like FOSS
Today I would like to share with you a little bit about me and my interest so you may be able to better understand my positions on some hot tech topics. The first thing I want to share is my love of FOSS. First off let me start by explaining what “FOSS” is for those of you who don’t know. FOSS or Free and Open Source Software, is basically software that is freely created, shared and modified among it’s users and not owned exclusively by a company. Let me also say that while I am explaining why I like FOSS I don’t believe that FOSS is the end-all answer to all tech problems. That being said lets move on to why I like it.
The death of IE 6…
There will be a funeral for the default web browser in Windows XP, Internet Explorer 6, check out the details http://ie6funeral.com/
I will explain more about this tomorrow when I’m not on my way to work.
Joshua Powers
The New Desktop
The regular readers of this blog may recall that a couple of post ago I refereed to the iPad and the new class of tablet computers (based on mobile hardware rather than desktop hardware) as couch computers, and while I still think that, I have done some thinking and researching on how consumers use computers and I believe and the tablet market may be bigger than we first though. (more…)
iPad vs. Chrome OS, Round two!
Welcome to the second round of this article. Last time we took a detailed look at the pros, cons and bottom lines of Apple’s new iPad. To recap, iPad and all of these new emerging tablets are essentially couch computers, filling the very small void of computer activity in your life where laptops/netbooks are too awkward and smartphones/MID’s (Mobile Internet Devices, think smartphone without the phone, like an iPod Touch as opposed to an iPhone) are too small to comfortably watch movies and surf the web when your relaxing and not on the move. Also, because Google’s Chrome OS relies heavily on cloud computing, I will also use this time to discuss some of the potential and alleged drawbacks of cloud computing as Chrome’s success depends largely on weather or not cloud computing is ready to take on the everyday tasks of the average computer user.
IPAD vs. Chrome OS, Fight!
Round One!
I was originally going to write this at one go, but as I wrote it became apparent that it would be much longer than I originally thought. So I am breaking it up into multiple parts that are a little bit easier to chew. In this part I am going to address the complaints from the geek community about the iPad. Unless you were hiding under a rock for the past week, you might have heard that Apple has unleashed it’s mythic tablet computer onto the world. I say mythic because, like the iPhone, this product has been predicted for several years (10 to be exact). Most of us geeks new about this months in advanced, though we didn’t have many details (Apple actually did a pretty good job keeping us in the dark, no small feat mind you.) These rumors caused many of the other PC makers out there to get in the game early and announce their own tablet devices at CES 2010 two weeks ago. But at the beginning of the event Steve Jobs, with a snub, made it clear that he doesn’t think too highly of the very popular (read: Extremely popular-almost-killed-off-desktops-and-laptops) netbook class of computers. While I do agree netbooks could be a lot better than they are now, I think netbooks (or their new form-factor coming this year: smartbooks) still have a place, and they will find that place when Google finally launches Chrome OS.
Warning, Google may hand over your data to the police!…wait, what!?
I am sure by now we have all heard about Google’s CEO’s blunder a few weeks ago, and while many people use this as ammo to bash Google and the entire concept of cloud computing, and while from and public relations point of view, it probably wasn’t the best thing for him to say, I would like to actually use my brain and present a sane reason as to why he would say something like that. But first, a few disclaimers:
1) This is just a theory, I have in no way contacted Google’s CEO for a statement, everything written here is my opinion, which I am entitled to (at least here in the USA, not sure how that works in other countries.)
2) I am a Christian, and as such I: 1) don’t believe in paranoid conspiracy theories (emphasis on theory, if you can prove it then that’s a whole new ball game) and 2) I try to assume the best in people and give them the benefit of the doubt (and yes many people have told me that’s a bad idea, but I still believe it’s what God calls me to do.)
Anywho, all that being said I now present my theory as to why Google’s CEO said what he said:
Stop using Internet explorer! Now!
I found this article which points out a huge security flaw in Internet Explorer (the default web browser in Windows/PC), the article explains why this flaw is so dangerous, so it would be in your best interest to switch to another web browser. You can download Firefox here or Google Chrome here.
This has been a public service announcement, and now back to your regularly scheduled programming.
Tech for the funny bone.
I found a funny comic that I would like to share.
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/printers
Enjoy, also in my next post I will present a theory as to why the Google CEO said what he said about privacy and miscreants. I am not necessarily saying that he is right or wrong in saying what he did, but I want to attempt to understand why instead of just being mad at him and like a Linux fan-boy post all kinds of flame comments and post. Again this is just a theory, I have not communicated with him in any way, shape or form.
See ya next time,
Joshua Powers
Greetings Ya’ll!
Hello and welcome to my tech-blog, I have created this blog in order to share my passion for technology with others and to offer opinions and insights to our constantly changing tech world. First I would like to share a little about myself. I am a geek but I am a geek who would rather like technology to just work rather than have to tweak and monkey with it just to do basic stuff. Anywho my favorite part of technology right now is this exciting and emerging area of cloud computing, love it or hate it cloud computing is already here and is a trend that shows no signs of slowing down. I will explain in my next post the pros and cons of this concept. And that is how I will present most of my post because I am a computer/technology consultant, I don’t force my opinions of tech on others, I give them the pros and cons and educate people about technology and let them make there own decisions. If someone ask me my opinion on tech I will give it along with a logically sound reason as to why I like or dislike something. e.g. I don’t tell people GNU/Linux is an awesome OS just because it’s Linux, believe it or not Linux isn’t good for everything. Which also brings up what I am a fan of in tech. I am not a fan of Microsoft or Linux or Mac or anything, I am a fan of what ever works in any one point in the space time continuum. For example if I am building a new PC and it comes time to choose an operating system, I need to ask my self what will work for this PC. If I am building it to play PC games well then I choose windows 7, I wouldn’t choose Ubuntu because even though it is a very good Linux distro, I don’t want to spend hours configuring wine or crossover in order to play a game I just paid $60 for, I want a system where I can just play my games. Also as a tech consultant I spend a good amount of time working with “normal” computer users, you know the ones who don’t know what a web browser is even though it’s pretty much the only app they use, the ones who when they run out of hard drive space start deleting system files just because they don’t recognize them, yeah those users. Anywho since I work with them I have a better idea on what they can and can’t do, what they want or need in a computer, etc. I have heard many reviews by geeks (technically inclined if you don’t like the “geek” term) on some new technology aimed at the average joe computer user and they bash is because it’s not what they would want. Well duh, of course it’s not what you would want it’s not aimed at you. I will be discussing come examples in upcoming posts. Well that’s all for now, I hope you’ll stick around and follow my blog.
See Ya,
Joshua Powers
Tech General 