“groovy mother...”

MSDN

Our MSDN subscription arrived today. All manner of Microsoft goodies, all ready for me to play with. <drool>

Acrobat Degumpher

Last week, I was using an old, slow, crusty PC in the office. I downloaded a PDF file, and was amazed when Acrobat Reader opened up in about 3 seconds flat. The box still had an olde version of Acrobat on it, and without all the extraneous “features” Adobe have added over the last few years, Acrobat just whizzed into action.

So with that in mind, I give a great big “Where have you been all my life?” to Adobe Reader SpeedUp: a utility which disables all the gumph which cause Acrobat to take ages to load. I’m now getting sub-second start-ups with Adobe Reader 6. That’s a huge benefit.

Statistical Deviation

Dave Winer claims that his RSS feed is “the most-subscribed-to feed in the world.” Maybe amongst people willing to generate an OPML file and upload it to his server, but he only ranks number 3 on the Feedster Top 100, and he doesn’t even make the Top 20 over at Bloglines.

(And really, is comparing your file format to that of Lotus 1–2-3 really going to inspire confidence in its longevity?)

Comes with a Side of Links

Since all the kewl blogkids are doing it, I’ve added a links blog to the right-hand-side of the blog. It’ll resemble my olde blog from years back—Screeds of links to the things that the everyday folks leave behind.

There’s a separate RSS feed for it, as well as an experimental Atom feed which even uses the correct link tags. I’m so semantic.

Microsoft, Toothpaste, Tube, etc.

This site was down for a couple of hours over lunch, because my DSL connection died. I phoned up Speakeasy, and was told this was due to a “copyright infringement”. Once they reconnected me, I got an email from their abuse department—Turns out that Microsoft are trying to bolt the stable doors after the horse (or, more accurately in this case, the donkey) has bolted:

To the user at [ip removed]:

The unauthorized copying and distribution of Microsoft’s protected source code is a violation of both civil and criminal copyright and trade secret laws. If you have downloaded and are making the source code available for downloading by others, you are violating Microsoft’s rights, and could be subject to severe civil and criminal penalties.

Microsoft demands that you immediately (1) cease making Microsoft’s source code available or otherwise distributing it, (2) destroy any and all copies you may have in your possession, and (3) provide us any and all information about how you came into possession of this code.

Microsoft takes these issues very seriously, and will pursue legal action against individuals who take part in the proliferation of it source code. We look forward to your prompt cooperation. Should you need to contact me, I can be reached at the address above or at jkweston@microsoft.com.

Very truly yours,


By
J.K. Weston

News from the Homeland

Scottish & Newcastle Breweries: Soon to be located in neither Scotland, nor Newcastle. I can’t imagine Edinburgh without the odour of hops in the air. When Joy & I were there last year, she kept asking me what the smell was, and I couldn’t tell her because I couldn’t smell anything—It was just the natural Edinburgh musk.

In other Edinburgh news, is it a bad sign that I was able to guess from just the headline that this incident occurred on a Number 25 bus? Ah, Wester Hailes. How I miss thee.