RockNRolla

Before I begin this review I have a public service announcement: Thandie Newton is HOT! That is all.

So Guy Ritchie who wrote and directed Revolver wrote a new mobster type movie. This one is really good. It’s a story about everyone screwing everyone over in the London underground. Everyone from the Old School guy who owns the town to the lowest of low drug dealers.

The cast is amazing: Gerard Butler, Tom Wilkinson, the aforementioned Thandie Newton, Mark Strong, Jeremy Piven, and Ludacris.

The acting… well okay it could be better. The writing… well it’s no Trainspotting, but I really enjoyed watching this movie.

There will be a sequel and I’ll be first in line to watch “The Real RocknRolla” when it comes out. In fact I’m about to board a plane and I think I’ll watch this movie again.

Like I said earlier though, this is a mobster type movie, lots of swearing, shooting, fights, and the like. If you don’t like that kind of stuff than this isn’t your cup of tea. But it sure is mine.

Happy Birthday Baby

Two years ago at about this time I was standing in a NICU looking down at my two month premature baby girl wondering how the hell I am going to be her father. Two years later I guess I’m still asking the same questions, but I know now that my life changed that day. I’m thankful that my wife recovered, and that my baby girl is amazingly healthy and happy.

Happy Birthday Inara!

Where Is Microsoft?

Three and a half years ago I wrote a blog post on my other blog asking the question, “Where was Microsoft?” This post was talking about the video iPod and asking why Microsoft hasn’t come out with a decent competing product. Since then the Zune was introduced and it has won my affection so well I own three of them, plus I pay for my Zune Pass subscription three months at a time.

So what am I writing about here? I’m worried that they have hit the end of the road. Last October at the Professional Developer’s Conference in Los Angeles, Ray Ozzie announced that Office Online would be previewing this spring. The exact phrase used at the time was “early 2009.” We are quickly approaching the middle of 2009, and in Microsoft speak we are approaching the end of their fiscal year. Yet we haven’t really heard anything about those 2010 products. In fact, about the only official word I’ve heard is a web site I wrote for Exchange 2010. (Side note: I did not write that Silverlight hero on that page. I know better than to have 7 different media elements running at the same time.)

Exchange 2010 is really cool, and it truly introduces Ray Ozzie’s vision of Software plus Services (S+S). Since Ray announced this direction though we haven’t heard much else of anything. Ray Ozzie wasn’t even mentioned at this year’s Mix conference in Las Vegas. It’s almost as if he is locked in a room somewhere working on Groove and nothing else.

Think about this: Office 2007 was such a revolutionary change and a wonderfully usable product that the VP in charge of it got moved over to the Windows group to try and fix Windows Vista. Windows 7 is already being hailed as the greatest product of the year. As a beta tester for the past 10 years I can say that my voice hasn’t ever been so muffled in history for an operating system. But perhaps this is why Windows 7 is turning out to be a great product. The build that I got at PDC last October was stable enough to be used as a day-to-day machine. I couldn’t say that about Vista during Vista’s first Release Candidate.

Some people are hailing the fact that the system requirements for Windows 7 haven’t changed since Windows Vista, but really Windows Vista’s system requirements were that of a high end PC when Vista was released. I heard a story once about how Windows developers were given older PC’s to develop on so that the operating system they produced would be really fast on a typical machine when the OS came out. I think that was in regards to the advancements that Windows made from version 3.0 and 3.1. During the Vista beta I asked if this was still the case. The answer I got was that the developers were using really high end machines because it would be those machines that would be mid-level machines when the OS came out. This was due to the longer development cycle and that every 18 months… blah… blah… blah… Maybe if they’d listened a little more to the beta testers complaining that none of their hardware worked they wouldn’t have had such a terrible release. Now mind you, I love Windows Vista. Imagine what the haters say about it.

Jump to now. We have Office 2007 which works great. We have Windows 7 that will release I predict within the next couple of months (the Release Candidate was leaked last Friday). So what’s left for the client? We haven’t heard any word on what is coming in Office 2010 that will justify the $300/PC upgrade price, and since there isn’t even a CTP for it yet (much less an official beta) I doubt we’ll see it within this calendar year. Windows Home Server seems to be resting on its laurels releasing a Power Pack here and there. The Zune team is wrapped in more secrecy than Apple’s iPod team (except when some Zune HD pictures are leaked). Xbox 360 seems to be ticking away doing pretty well. Finally the Windows Media Center team seems to be the quietest, but that’s for another blog post.

I think Vista was rushed to market so that people that had bought the [then] new Software Assurance agreement would get an OS upgrade within their 3 year agreement. Since Office 2007 was released almost three years ago I see Microsoft rushing an upgrade to Office to market before its fully baked. This would be bad for Office. Hell, some genius may even say, “let’s call it Office 2007 R2!”

Obviously I’ve skipped a lot of products here, but those may have to be topics for future posts.

The International

Clive Owen and Naomi Watts team up to take down the man in this classic action drama about an evil corporation and the good Interpol/FBI trying to get the baddies.

But is this movie truly a classic? I’m afraid that it isn’t. Clive Owen is starring in another movie right now with Julia Roberts called Duplicity. When I went to see The International I thought I was going to see a better movie, and I’m wondering if Duplicity is what I meant to see.

So what is it really about? Well, an evil multi-national financial institution is financing some international arms deals. In fact they want to be the world leader in gun running. Interpol wants to stop it. It’s your typical cops and robbers movie. There is some main driving force behind Louis Salinger’s obsession with taking down this company. Louis Salinger is played by Clive Owen, but really it seems phoned in. Clive Owen is a much better actor than he portrays in this movie, and the character he plays seems to have a very strong motivation. However, we the audience never get to find out what that motivation is. All we know is that Naomi Watts’ character, Eleanor Whitman, reads his file and now understands his obsession. What about us? Why is Louis so eager to give up his career and everything he’s worked for to take this company down?

The long and short of it is there’s too much passion and not enough motivation in this movie.

Given the chance I would have seen a different movie, and I’m hoping that Duplicity is that movie.

Respect – Why?

There are some people on this planet that I’ve worked with or have had some interaction with where I grew to respect them and their opinions. I like to think of myself as a fairly open minded person and I respect that nobody on Earth has the same ideas and values that I do. As such I listen intently when people have vastly differing opinions as my own so that I can understand them. Usually immediately before I dismiss them as extremists. Just kidding about dismissing them.

There have been several occasions in my life where I really felt that I was being actively rejected due to my beliefs. The first was the day after I started work at Extractable. It was Election Day 2004 and I was going to lunch with some new colleagues. Along the way the driver said, “I hope nobody I know voted for Bush.” I kept silent because I did in fact vote for Bush. Everyone else spent a few minutes complaining about Bush and how stupid someone would have to be to vote for him. Then the driver noticed I wasn’t joining in their group hate speech and jumped to the conclusion that I did vote for him. She stopped the car and in all seriousness told me to get out and walk. Her boss was fortunately sitting in the passenger seat and told her to stop joking and get moving. Since that day I was ridiculed for my beliefs, even though I never stated them out loud and, more importantly for me, I never tried to impose my beliefs on any of them.

Jump forward 4 years and there’s a new president starting in a few days. I am sad that Mr. Obama will be taking the oath of office soon, and more importantly I’m a little afraid of the policies his administration will put in place. I do not go out of my way finding all the dirt that others have found on him, and I certainly am not actively telling everyone what a capital offence it is that he’s the new president. However, even though the democrats have won this election those people from my previous employer, and more than my fair share of current co-workers, are still taking the Mick out of Bush.

I’ve had it. I’ve respected the opposing side’s opinion for far too long without the decency of them returning the favor. Nobody has ever asked me why I have the beliefs I do instead they immediately assume I’m a bumbling fool in need of direction. However, I am in most cases at least as informed as most of them. Tonight on Twitter someone that I have a huge amount of professional respect for crossed the line for the last time with me. “Somewhere a town will be getting their idiot back on the 20th.” Very clever, but also very hateful.

Before any of you out there open your mouth to bash the opposing side on any conversation, or take a totalitarian view of anything think about this; What you are practicing is a form of hate speech. Nobody would allow you to talk about minorities in this way, and yet it seems to be okay for you to practice your hate on my beliefs. Shame on you. You do not deserve any respect you may have received from me in the past.

Introducing INARA.ME

Family members have for a while seen pictures of my baby girl via a web site that I’ve been running here at home. Lately I haven’t had very much luck keeping it running all the time though due to some work I’m doing at home. Because of that I decided to get a host and put the site up permanently somewhere. Well everyone I would like to introduce you to http://inara.me Family members that have seen the site will recognize that I’m now using the older directory browser that I used initially. I didn’t write this code, and I haven’t even updated the template even though I probably should. For now, please use this address to view the pictures of my daughter and I’ll update the look and feel later.

Isn't it Interesting?

Isn’t it interesting how some people you thought were good folk are actually arrogant bastards? I’m not talking about the fine ale from Stone Brewing Co. I’m talking about truly, “I’m better than you” attitude. I’ve been silent in my blogs of recent simply because work calls, I’m not sure of the direction I want my blogs to go, and I’ve been wrapped up in the fairly simple nature of Twitter. I have a lot of friends on Twitter that I’ve either met in this wonderful virtual Universe known as the Internet and some that I know from work (both past and present).

The election is over. That alone has made Twitter 95% more bearable. During the election season people that I follow would be really ruthless and overly myopic towards anyone with an opinion that was not their own. However, it truly seemed as though the team that won was a lot more abusive towards the team that lost. Either way it doesn’t matter. I understand that some of the people I know have opinions that are the complete polar opposite of mine. I do not shove my political beliefs down their throat, and a fair number of people that I work with and know well don’t force their opinions down my throat. There is still a fair number of people that haven’t spoken to me since the election, and I think that the fact that I didn’t vote for the winning team is the reason.

This reminds me of my second day at work for Extractable (no hyperlink for a reason). It was election day in 2004. A small group of project managers invited me to have lunch with them. On the way the driver of the car said, “I sure hope nobody in here voted for Bush.” I did not say anything, but that was my undoing since everyone else said, “Hell no!” Being silent tipped her off that I did. What she did next amazed me. She pulled the car over and told me to walk back. She was serious. I guess I’m lucky that her boss was in the car and convinced her that wasn’t nice because walking back to work would have been awful.

I’m getting off track a little. Politics is just one area where people think that just because you have different opinions you must not be intelligent and therefore they should look down upon you like a deformed duck. Some people think they just know everything and won’t consider the fact that anyone is their peer. I run into this a lot simply because I drink the Microsoft Kool-Aid.

I know that sounds a bit strange, but I think it’s true. Just because I like Microsoft and their products doesn’t mean I don’t know how to write standards compliant web sites. Granted this one that you are reading now is a bit past its prime and needs updating. I still program first for IE based solely on the fact that most people using the web use IE. Since when did a democracy mean that the minority rule simply because they yell the loudest? IE is a good browser, as long as we are talking about IE7 or IE8. Even back in the day IE6 was a good browser (BTW that day has long past).

Still that doesn’t quite cover all the people that look down on others. Some just simply think they are better than everyone else. I’m not sure I’ll ever know how to talk to those people. If you are one, I am sorry. Maybe you are just an arrogant bastard.

IE6 Is Now Dead to Me

Hello out there in Internet-land. There is a shocking number of you coming to my web sites using Internet Explorer 6. I don’t think that you realize that a lot has happened in browser technology since August 27, 2001. You see, that date almost 7 years ago is the day that Internet Explorer 6 was released. At the time it was a fine browser, but that time has passed. It is time to move on.

Please note that on this blog, the navigation on the side does not appear in IE6. You may be wondering when I’m going to fix that. The answer is simple, I’m not planning on fixing it. There are 3 other released browsers out there that run perfectly well on the Internet today. I would suggest you download one of them. There are 2 browsers coming in the very near future that will hopefully make massive changes to the way the web works, but most developers still have to account for the lowest common denominator, and that would be you IE6. You are the lowest common denominator.

I drink the Microsoft Kool-aid every single day and even in my sleep, but just like I don’t run Windows 2000 anymore (and only use XP begrudgingly at work) I also don’t use IE6. From this day forward I’m going to take the Apple approach to IE6. If it doesn’t work, oh well. (notice all the transparent PNG’s that don’t work in IE6)

So what browser do I recommend you upgrade to? Well of course I’m going to suggest Internet Explorer 7. You already use IE6, you may as well stay in the family. If you are falling into that trap of the haters out there that say all IE’s are evil (they aren’t) and you don’t trust me on IE7 (although you should) then I suggest Safari 3. “Like OMG! Todd just suggested an Apple product, and now has more links to Apple on this blog than to Microsoft.” Yes, I use Safari. I use it a lot. It’s a really good browser, and I like the way it renders fonts. However, Silverlight is not officially supported on it (the Windows version anyway, the Mac version is supported). Finally, I’ll give you the obligatory link to Firefox. I don’t like Firefox. I used to use it exclusively before they released version 1, but now there are too many fanboys out there that think this is the greatest thing since Tim Berners-Lee invented HTMLD.

So, now you have no excuse. I’ve given you the links, and I’m thinking that sometime between now and August 27 I will just redirect all IE6 users to this blog entry.

Next up, I’ll try and find out why some people are still on Firefox 1.5. There is no reason for that mess either. Upgrade! This is the Internet, anything older than 3 years is ancient.

Zune Software V2.5

A lot has already been written on the web about the 2.x version of the Zune software. Most of it is negative, mostly I haven't had a negative experience with the software, but I didn't use the 1.x software for very long before v2 came out.

Recently an update was released bringing some changes that a lot of people should be happy with. For me though the change that I was pleasantly surprised to find is that when you subscribe to a podcast and play an episode, as soon as that episode finishes the Zune will start the next episode in the series. The previous functionality is that it would just keep playing the same episode over and over again. This is a great little feature and has rekindled my practice of listening to podcasts on the train and during my walk to work.

The *Duh* Story of the Day

Great tits cope well with warming

Yeah! I already knew that one... oh.. wait... that tit? Well you know. All tits cope well with warming.