Personal IT need not be a chore. And yes, perhaps I really am a Luddite.

Keeping your records, photos, to-do lists, technical notes all in order and findable is a job which requires planning, testing and ultimately "settling".  It is somewhat akin to building a house then living in it.

But houses last longer than IT platforms.  I look back through just the posts I have here to see how the landscape is changing.

I am, in many ways, a Luddite.  I don't like change.  I want everything to work as it did on my Apple III, and before that in college on the Time Sharing system.  Back then what drove me was, at one point, having the fastest modem connection (and the Mmdem was coupled to the phone with a set of foam cups to block out background sounds).  Later it was about the fastest Graphic setup and, wow, Color Monitors and graphics.  Cool to see those test curves spit out from my basic programs simulating....  (more about that later).

And now the measures are not all that different.  How fast does it take to post a new product or blog entry?  How fast can I find that note about the process to upgrade a Debian package, or gain root access to the forgotten File Server  (the File Server probably should be reviewed and shut down if it is not being used).

Computing takes time.  Time away from the fun things.  Time away from some of the important things.  Not all of life is on a computer, or tablet or phone.

Yes, I am a luddite.  I think of my father who had a wonderful wonderful life.  He was out doing more, learning more, fixing more, teaching more than anyone I have ever known.  Yet, though he loved his lists and his gadgets, his greatest frustration was around keeping them all in order, in learning new systems.  Not long before his passing he got a new Iphone, the most powerful one.  I put together the systems so it would link with his email and his Ipad, and even bring forward all of his Palm Notes, which were built on his old Casio Notes...  And though this was so important it was also a great frustration for him.  His ability to learn and retain the learning was leaving him, and he knew it.

We have access to his notes.  The digital kind is not so compelling as the taped and carded kind.  How to use this tool, and sharpen that blade.  Where to get more of this sort of light bulb.  How long the last one lasted.  The choke setting for this motor, the method to start that pump.   And all of this placed where it may be needed.  Notes to himself and notes to us with postmarks and a knowledge that he may not be there always to conjur the answers he always had.

He was the super computer and our job now is to keep the knowledge gleaned.   Thank you dad!

Adobe, where is the OpenSource>

Adobe is awesome.
Adobe is irritating
Adobe is difficult

I have used Adobe since version 2 Photoshop.  Version 88 Illustrator  Version 1 (pre Adobe) Pagemaker

I still use it but I am often questioning why.

Why can't InDesign "Save As" a Previous version that is more than one generation earlier?

Why can't CS4 still be purchased easily when CS6 is out (so multiple users can share the same files?)

Why can't Lightroom 4 work on a XP system?

Why can't Lightroom run on MySQL and be multi user?

Why can Lightroom run on SQLLite database and not be OpenSource?

Why can't...

Why can't someone come up with a reasonable set of alternatives?
I think the answer to that one is that Adobe will simply buy them out and put them out of business as they did with Macromedia.  Whatever happened to Corel?  Where is OpenStudio when we have OpenOffice available?

Adobe has been and is a great company. They were there at the outset making desktop publishing possible.  But they did not invent computers, data bits, networks.  Their work also comes from the work of others.

I do admire that they put CS2 out on a somewhat open basis when CS1 and  CS2 hit the doldrums.  You can do quite a lot with it and it is nice not chacing your license chain around on the old computers you just want to have packed up like a file cabinet.

But someone needs to tie and OpenStudio together.  Lets work on that.

More bad Karma at Google

What may I ask is wrong with XLS and DOC formats?

http://www.eweek.com/enterprise-apps/google-docs-drops-export-support-for-old-microsoft-office-formats/

At least there is OpenOffice.  Google Docs should export natively.  (perhaps they do, but I doubt it)

Google Docs and Google Drive - Not worth Sharing

This post is much more succinct than I will be.

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/google-in-the-enterprise/maybe-it-is-time-you-actually-read-that-google-drive-terms-of-service/1072

The other problem is terrible performance and freqent crashes of Google Drive on Windows XP.

I have uninstalled on XP.  Seems like the next step is to withdraw from Google Docs.

They do not have rights to "creative derivatves" of my files whether I checked some box or not.

DOING NO EVIL means DOING NO EVIL!  Respect your users Google!

Less about why and more about how...

Navigating your complete  computer set up is much more difficult with the fast pace of change that has been brought about by the mobile and cloud introduction.

I have been surfing around a bit this morning reviewing and exploring the various things I have access to now  in my personal domain...  cloud folders, multiple blogs that need posting to, virtual machines and their resource limits..  various things.  It is a lot to keep track of.

What are the important take a ways? 

1. The first is that practice is critical in developing skill.  This is true for sports, it is true in ones profession and craft.  It is true in computing.
2. Inter-Relations of systems is a critical path.  Once easy to establish within a office domain, the mobile web and the potential need for granulated sharing with others brings complications.  Solutions exist but not without cost and administration.
3. The goal is being effective.  Administration may be defined as part of this goal but ultimately it is the content, the creation of content, the access to that content and the effect of that content that ultimately matters most.
4. Administration is important but it has its own cost.  It likewise has its own benefit and properly done it more than makes up for the investment.
5. Exploration of possibilities and settling on directions is a bifurcated process.

And to leave the Whazup intact, this one can be directed at me.  What is that Mind Map and how is it Navigated.  More to follow.

Older Post... perhaps interesting still "Curious to see how Microsoft Hangs their Hat"

If you go to Best Buy you can buy MS Office "Home and Student" version for about $130. If you go to Ebay you can find a 3 user license of the same for $79 and even less...

Sure it is worth shopping around. I think the other subject is how MS hangs its hook. Getting folks in their new system, all surrounded by their new "Web Space" of Live.com and they get us hooked. Their whole angle with these things is to have a massive user base that no one can ignore. If all this forces the lawyers and doctors of the world to ante up $500 a piece for their version of Office Ultimate they have won their game.

I am trying not to. I do like MS OneNote 2007. I bought that and it works very well. This comes, by the way, in the lowly "Home and Student" version which is critically missing Access Database but has the other "more essentials" of Word, Excel and Powerpoint (yes also OneNote).

Remember the Slogan "Just Say No"... I try to say that about MS. They have a few great sofware pieces. FoxPro, which they are discontinuing, they purchased from Fox Software many many years ago. It is a wonderful piece and worth getting a hold of before it is gone. Their angle here is to hook everyone on SQL Server. They are doing a good job of it... but I am trying not to go there. I have the advantage of not really knowing SQL syntax and having a great base w/ FoxPro... but like I said "Just Say No" to MS.

The alternatives, it seems to me, right now are OpenOffice and Google Docs. Both are basically free. It is hard to miss the advertising in Gmail (but worth trying to find a way). The rest of the system should at least be explored. And OpenOffice, all I can say, lets all get it done and jump through the hoops. MS is making their software awful "cozy" w/ their transparencies and "silverlight" system. It is on the surface. Just emulate it. Don't get hooked. It will cost forever.

I will let you know when I am MS free. I don't know when that might be, if ever.

PogoPlug is pulling a Fast One (or is it pulling the Plug?)

Though they advertise:

No fees, no limits

Pogoplug devices give you unlimited cloud storage from the security of your home or office for a one-time fee.

It appears that PogoPlug is changing their program and trying to sell the software that they included with their HD Sharing Devices originally.  They can't even "speak straight" on their web page  https://pogoplug.com/devices

Don't trust them and don't upgrade. Your time is worth more than you know.