BSOD(roid)

I published my first Google Android application today: BSOD(roid). The application is an adaptation of the BSOD XScreenSaver hack that simulates crashes from various operating systems. I've squeezed in 20 crashes for about a dozen operating system. If you have an Android phone, please give it a try! It's free and licensed under the GNU GPL.





Get Application
Source code

Positive reviews!

Bing Ding? Microsoft vs. Google

Microsoft unleashed it's new Google killer called Bing. At first glance, Bing is remarkably like Google, and seems to work fine with Firefox on Kubuntu 9.04.

Of course, I had to put the engine to the test, and try a couple of searches. Similar to Google, Bing offers suggestions as you type. However, the suggestions seem remarkably biased. Take a look at the followings suggestions after entering Linux as a search criteria.

Google:


Microsoft:


Looking at Microsoft's own product, you can't help but feel that they're trying to sell you Vista instead of encouraging you to wait for Windows 7.

Google:


Microsoft:


As nice as Bing is, I predict that ultimately, it will fail. Not because of any technical or financial reason. It will fail simply because it will not serve the needs of the majority of surfers.
Here's why. Try the following search.

Google:


Microsoft:


Oups? Where are the suggestions? Porn does not give any results either. Shucks! Looks like Microsoft is on the prude side.

Is Google Harming Linux

Google is a huge supporter of Linux and open source. They strive to ensure that their products work on Windows, Mac and Linux. However, it recently hit me that their cross-platform development may actually be harming the image of my favourite OS: Linux

Recently, Google released the Chrome browser. In my opinion, the fine developers at Google did a marvelous job re-inventing the browser on every level. After trying-out the browser, I must say that I am more than impressed. There is only one detail that annoys me: Chrome is only available on Windows. Google promises that it will eventually make its way into Linux and the Mac. But when?

This is what is harming Linux (and the Mac to some degree). I personally feel that it was a mistake to release Chrome for Windows only. That seems to communicate that development on Linux is very difficult compared to Windows. I agree that there are important differences between both operating system, but there is a slew of open-source cross-platform libraries that could have been used to permit a simultaneous release between Linux, Mac and Windows.

Google is not alone in that. The MyEclipse IDE, which runs on Linux, Mac and Windows, has some features that are either stripped down, or unavailable outside of Windows. Again, that communicates not only a lack of love towards my favourite OS, but it furthers the impression that Linux is a difficult platform to develop for.

It's true that Windows has a huge market share compare to the Mac or even Linux. Thus, there is more money in the Windows world. However, the Windows market share is slowly being eroded by Apple and even Linux. I'm a very poor prophet of the future, but current trends seems to indicate that alternative operating system will become very important. For example:

• UMPC - Ultra-Mobile PCs. Many come with Linux pre-loaded thanks to the smaller foot-print.
• Cell phones — Again, Windows is not very prominent there
• The rising Apple market share
• One word: Vista

I'm willing to bet that in not too long, development for alternate operating system will be seen as a necessity. This type of situation is not uncommon. I remember the web about 10 years ago. It was considered normal by web developers to code their HTML for Internet Explorer specifically. Today, that is a big no-no. I don't remember seeing one of the infamous 'Best View With...' button on a website in so long. Thank you W3C!
Another issue to keep in mind is the current distrust that many organizations and governments have with Microsoft. The OOXML fiasco has harmed ISO's reputation in a way that it may never recover, and Microsoft's tactic of committee stuffing has been well documented. The EU still have their eye on the behemoth, and even my province of birth is challenging Microsoft's dominance.
Microsoft may be the next IBM. They will not disappear tomorrow, or even after tomorrow, but their relevance and influence over the market will lessen over time. This will open the playing field for alternative operating system.
As a software house, you have two choice:

1. Edge your bet on the Microsoft platform, and ignore the alternatives
2. Develop products with cross-platform compatibility in mind

Which one are you going to choose? If you choose option 1, then get ready to fork out money into the four to five digits (at least) to buy the Windows development stack. That will typically include Windows (XP, Vista or Server), Visual Studio, Microsoft Office and so on.
On the other hand, most of the cross-platform development tools are open-source with optional corporate support if desired.

Been a while

I haven't posted in a while. I was on vacation, so please forgive me. However, I'm back at work, but then, I'm expecting my baby boy in about three weeks, so there may be silence for a while again.

There has been many minor events in the world of free software, but nothing earth shattering. My only frustration is ISO and their handling of the OOXML appeals.

Also, some of you may have heard that Viacom is suing Google over YouTube. Viacom is the owner of MTV, Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks. The suit has been ongoing ever since Google purchased YouTube. Viacom's claim is that YouTube is a haven of illegal movie uploads. To prove their point, Viacom has asked the judge that Google hand over all their user accounts as well as a list of all the videos they watched. The idea is that Viacom wants to demonstrate that copyrighted videos are more popular than non-copyrighted videos.

I think that it's only fair that Viacom attempts to protect their copyright. However, I cannot accept Viacom's request for identifiable user information. This means that Viacom would not only be able to know which videos are more popular on YouTube, they know immediately know who are the copyright infringer.

On one hand, it's true that whoever illegally uploads and whoever watches a copyrighted video on YouTube may be breaking the law. On the other, it's setting up the Internet to become a corporate police state.

In my opinion, Viacom is simply playing dirty to win the lawsuit against Google — a rather short-sighted strategy to control their copyright-catalog. It's the type of corporate action that pits David against Goliath — David being Google, the good guy.

Though I don't foresee this backfiring too much in Viacom's face, I'm of the opinion that Viacom will loose more than it will gain from this lawsuit even should they win.

On a personal note, I've aquired a mayhem device, also known as a video camera. Of course, the first victims of my mayhem device was the pets. The following video is the result.



Of course, it has been posted on YouTube ;). You may notice I've used copyrighted music. I would like to claim Fair Use.

Hope you have a great day!

Enjoying the Asus Eee PC

Having just received my Eee PC, I'm still getting familliar with it's capabilities. The keyboard requires getting used to, but I'm getting better. As long as I don't have to use the right shift key too much, I can almost achieve the same typing speed as on a regular keyboard ;) All joking aside, once you get used to the keyboard, it's actually quite pleasant.

I got the 8G model, which means that I have a whooping 8 gigabytes of 'hard disk' space. While this is tiny compared to a regular hard-disk, which is usually over 100 gigabytes for a laptop. However, for my needs, I think that 8G, or even 4G should be enough. Since the Eee PC supports SD cards, I'm using a 4 gigabyte card for my /home partition (for Windows users, think My Documents).

The pre-installed operating system is a custom version of Xandros Linux (which is based in Ottawa). Though the default is fine for most people's need, I wanted something that gave me more -- so I installed eeeXubuntu. I removed the default Gnome games, Abiword and
Gnumeric to save space, and them promptly installed:

• OpenOffice.org
• Java 6 SDK
• Eclipse
• C/C++ compiler
• Free Pascal & Lazarus
• Anjuta IDE
• jEdit
• Frozen Bubble
• Cedega
• Firefox 3
• (and a few more which I'm sure I'm forgetting)

I've got ~640M of space left (which ought to be enough for anybody) on my system partition. Not too bad, considering I've got a practically complete portable development system.

One of my goals is to get Morrowind working with Cedega. So far, no joy, but I'm not about to give up. I know some folks got it working, so I'm sure I can as well.

If you are going to install eeeXubuntu or Ubuntu, be aware of the Eee Wiki. One of the coolest trick I found is how to enable the ALT+F11 key to make a window take the full screen. That really takes advantage of the 800x640 screen resolution. There are many more cool tricks on the page. Check it out!

Software for Windows seems to take up much more room than software for Linux. If anyone plans to run Windows on the Eee PC, I would like to recommend they consider using Google Docs. It is a word processor, spreadsheet and presentation package that runs in a web browser like Internet Explorer or Firefox. Using Google Docs does not require you to install and special software. As long as you are connected to the Internet, you can use it. Futhermore, Google Gears should eventually allow you to run online application offline.

Actually, I'm using Google Docs one my Eee PC right now to author this article. So far, the Eee PC turns out to be a fun, yet useful machine. My wife is starting to strongly hint that I'm spending too much time on it. Oups! I think I should wrap up this article, and spend some quality time with her! See ya!

(Hum... I'm a bit disappointed with the Google Docs' HTML exporter. I wish it did XHTML)