I might be happy using a 64 bit OS.

But for now, I have punted.  I wiped my new laptop and installed a good 'ol 32 bit version of Vista.

Now, I can pull my POP email (couldn't before).

Now, I can access my office email with Outlook web access (couldn't before).

Now, I can access my office via its portal (couldn't before).

Now I can use Rhapsody (couldn't before).

Now my built-in web cam sort of works (didn't before).

Granted, I knew when I bought a 64 bit system that a lot of stuff wouldn't work.  But I was surprised at how much didn't work.

Maybe I'll reinstall the 64 bit OS in a few months, if more applications are compatible.  In the meantime, I have happy to have my old, slow, insecure 32 bit OS that runs the applications I need.

Microsoft continues to work hard to become relevant in an online world dominated by Google, Yahoo, YouTube, MySpace and others.  The latest effort involves yet another confusing branding campaign, this time under the Windows Live flag, and a series of confusing application launches.

The latest applications are category based local search, maps and directions and traffic data for mobile devices.

I'm sure some of these applications are great, but most geeks and all non-geeks will never know, because they are released in a confusing, disjointed manner into the already confusing and disjointed mobile technology arena.

Here's the thing: people want products and applications to be easy to find, easy to understand and easy to use.  Otherwise, they'll just continue to use 411 and Google Maps- because they are all of those things.  The increase in efficiency realized from having onboard maps and traffic data is not great enough to warrant a ton of effort to find these applications, see of they will work with your cell phone, install them and learn to use them.

That sounds hard.  411 is easy.  Turning on the radio is easy.

Sure, these applications may come pre-installed on 3 or 4 new handheld models- if you happen to have the right network provider and if you happen to be in the market for a new phone at the right time.

The chaos surrounding what mobile phones are available from what network and what applications work with what devices makes for a ball of confusion for anyone other than those of us who use Blackberries.  We know that none of the new applications we read about will work on them.

In sum, it's a mess.

Microsoft can help by telling us, in plain English, what these applications do, how they are better than what we currently use, where we can get them, and how to use them.  And by creating products that make us more efficient without trying to take over our online lives by pushing us towards other Microsoft products.  And finally and most importantly, by creating products that work with as many of our mobile devices as possible.

What Microsoft cannot do is impose any logic on the mobile technology situation.  Network providers obviously think that they can attract users by having the exclusive rights to some new device for a period of time.  Of course, next week some other provider will have exclusive rights to some even newer device.  It's a confusing cycle that doesn't change the fact that mobile phones, like their wired forefathers, are a commodity.  Trying to pretend otherwise just makes it confusing and frustrating for everyone.

Handheld manufacturers propagate this confusing situation, of course, by making a separate device for each network.  There are more Blackberry versions than there are people to carry them.  Until the network providers decide to cowboy up and compete on price, coverage and service like a good commodity- and not on the illusory benefits of a temporary exclusive on new hardware- there will be no end to this cycle of confusion.

So all these new applications might be really useful.

Too bad most of us will never use them.

Tags: windows live, mobile technology

Chip Camden tagged me in a meme that asks the very relevant question, "why do you respond to memes?"  Before I went off the grid for a while, there was some debate about the merit of memes, with some people defending them and others comparing them to chain letters and similar annoyances.  I'll resist the temptation to wonder how anyone who has a blog could conclude that memes are a waste of their time and just answer the question.

Here are the requested 5 reasons why I respond to most memes:

1) Memes are conversation starters, and conversation is the reason I write a blog and the reason I subscribe to blogs.

2) Memes allow us to find out more about each other in an efficient manner.  Since most of the people who converse cross-blog will never meet in the real world, memes are a good way to find out how the guy who writes about one topic feels about others.  I was at a closing dinner the other night and one of the hosts asked everyone at the table to name his or her favorite movie.  I was happily surprised at how many other people picked a goofy movie (my choice was, of course, The Holy Grail).  Memes are a way to do that sort of thing on a distributed basis.

3) I am appreciative that someone cares enough to ask what I think about something.  So many people are great talkers and bad listeners.  A meme is, at least to some extent, a way to listen.  It's handing over the microphone to someone else- to let them have their turn.

4) I suspect that memes probably piss off those who take themselves too seriously.  That makes me want to go all meme all the time.  Life is too often hard and serious.  Blogging should be silly and fun.

5) I had to do some thinking to come up with a 5th reason, but upon reflection I realized that I like to see if I can predict who will respond to a meme and who won't.  Someone who ignores the offered meme is often telling you more than the person who answers.  I have always been (to a fault some people say) a student of human nature.  Memes serve as little human nature experiments.

So here are my five (with a brief note as to why they were selected).  Name five reasons why you do (or do not) respond to memes.

Amy Gahran (a lot of my conversational approach to blogging originated from reading her blogs)
Scot Karp (we started blogging around the same time, and I am impressed with how he turned his blog into a must-read)
Hugh MacLeod (he's a long time A-Lister who has always struck me as a regular guy (in a good way))
Rockstar Mommy (I don't know her, but it's one of my favorite recent blog discoveries)
Ian Delaney (just because he's a smart guy and a great writer)

My prediction (see number 5 above): 3 out of 5.

Do you hate Vista?  Do the vague transparencies of Aero Glass drive you mad?  Does the flashing irritation of User Account Control give you a migraine?  Do you want to crush Vista the way Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic crushes his UFC opponents?

Thanks to an ingenious new product by Microsoft, you can.  That's right, you can sit back and watch Vista crash like a bad party.  Revel in spontaneous reboots.  Taunt Vista as it gets ripped apart by an unstoppable destructive force.

The code name for Microsoft's Vista killer is LifeCam VX-6000.  It's an amazing piece of technology, and it has to be.  Whipping Vista is no easy task.  When the VX-6000 takes its first shot at Vista, it gets rebuffed by a message stating that the software on the CD is not compatible with Vista.  Feeling confident, even cocky, Vista points the way to the newer, Vista compatible software.  But like Cro Cop's feet, the VX-6000 is just waiting for an opening.  As soon as Vista allows you to install the allegedly updated software, the fight is lost.

Once the VX-6000 is connected to a USB port, Vista realizes it has made a serious tactical error.  Reeling from the blows, Vista first tries to rope-a-dope by freezing up, hoping to fend off the VX-6000's fury.  It's only a matter of a few clicks to the head, however, before Vista crashes to the mat in a flurry of spontaneous reboots.

At a recent gathering of Vista haters, some of the attendees did series of skits about their experience trying to install a VX-6000 on a Vista machine.  It won't be hard to tell who's playing the VX-6000 and who's playing the computer.

So if you want to teach Vista a lesson, Microsoft has a cold and unforgiving teacher.  The LifeCam VX-6000- available at military surplus stores everywhere.

I've been a Dell guy for a long time.  Until I started building my own desktops, I bought a series of Dell desktops for me and my wife.  My first three laptops were Dells.  We used to have Dell desktops and laptops in my office.  I recommended Dells to teens of people who came to me for computer advice.  I am a long time Dell shareholder.

But the fact is that HP is kicking Dell's ass.  Here's why.

My office (which has thousands of computers) switched from Dells to HPs a year or so ago.  I have asked several of my friends who work for other big companies about their experience and, while Dell still holds a lot of market share, it is clear to me that HP is gaining share.  HP has the momentum for business users from what I see and hear.

When the power supplies started exploding on my self-built primary computer, I decided to buy a second computer to use as a backup- for both data and use when my primary computer is doing its fireplace imitation.  I went to Micro Center and looked around.  It was all about HP there.  I looked at a nicely priced HP Media Center computer and then came home to buy a Dell online.  I couldn't find one I liked as well as the HP for the same or a better price.  I went back to the store and bought the HP.  It has worked like a charm, even through a Vista upgrade- and I didn't have to wait for it to be manufactured and delivered.

HP has a virtual lock on retail shelf space as far as I can tell.  If he wants an HP,  Average Joe has to pull into the first computer store he sees.  If he wants a Dell, he has to go online, build it, send his credit card information into the big, scary internet...and wait.  Traditionally, Joe might be willing to do this, because he got a better bang for his buck and better technical support.  Dell seems to have squandered that giant advantage.

Next, my wife wanted a new computer for her birthday.  She uses computers for email, Photoshop and light word processing.  She told me what features she wanted.  I found another HP desktop that had exactly what she was looking for.  The price was right, and again I could buy it and bring it home right away.  Suddenly I had more HPs than any other brand of computer in my house- that was a weird feeling.

 Finally, I decided I needed an alternate to my trusty Thinkpad X41 Tablet to take on business trips when I need a CD/DVD player and a little more H(orse)P(ower).  I looked at Dells, but the ones I liked cost more than I wanted to spend.  So one day I'm walking into a CompUSA to buy a useless Windows LifeCam (which managed to crash Vista and never worked once- more on that later) and I see this huge, 17 inch widescreen HP Pavilion laptop (model no. dv9225us).  Vista Ultimate, 64 bit, 2G of RAM, built in webcam, very nice speakers, HDMI output, etc.  For less than $1500.  Other than the unavoidable 64 bit compatibility problems (some applications aren't compatible with the 64 bit version of Vista), this is one heck of a laptop for the money.

In sum, it looks to me like HP has the momentum across a very wide spectrum and in a very big way.

Momentum that changed me from a guy with a house and office full of Dells to a guy with a house and office full of HPs.  Sure, I feel a little disloyal, but other than that, it was a no-brainer.

And, yes, I bought that laptop.

Over the past week or so, I have installed Vista (Ultimate Edition) on three computers, with mostly positive results.

Computer One: The Mothership; RAID 0

First, I did a clean install on my primary computer, which I built myself a couple of years ago.  It has a RAID 0 set, as well as 3 other drives for music and video creation and storage.  I was a little nervous about installing Vista on my existing RAID set.  While I have an 80G partition solely for the OS, I did not want to lose all the music and video files on the two other partitions.  I know from prior experience that you have to load the RAID drivers in order for Windows to see the RAID disk configuration, but since I was dealing with a RAID set that contains a lot of huge, not all the way backed up, music and video files, I was concerned that I might accidentally send my RAID set into the ether, with all of the songs I have written and recorded and all the videos I have made along for the ride.  My worry was for naught, as Vista immediately prompted me to install the RAID drivers from a floppy or CD and as soon as I did, it notified me that it could see and install onto my C drive.  Installation was pretty quick and it wasn't long before I was running Vista on a clean C partition and able to access my music and video files on the D and E partition.

Vista even stores your XP user data in a backup file on the C drive.  Once I knew that I was up and running, I deleted the old data to save space.

My Vista user experience has been mostly positive, after I disabled the unbelievably annoying User Account Control.  I don't find Vista to be a revolutionary change from XP, but the more I use it, the more intuitive it seems.  The only problem that persists is that when I bring Windows back up after the screensaver has been active for a few hours, my Taskbar looks weird and mouse clicks, including the one to Restart, are non-responsive.  I have to Control-Alt-Delete and then Restart from that screen, where the mouse once again works correctly.  Annoying, but not the end of the world.

Computer Two: The Backup Server

Next, I did a clean install on a relatively new HP Media Center computer that I bought a few months ago after the power supplies on the Mothership exploded (literally) twice in a three day period.  This computer now serves as a backup server for our home network (for which I use and recommend Fileback PC).  The install worked like a charm and, perhaps because this computer is newer, I have had no problems whatsover, including no Taskbar issues like I described above.

A happy by-product of this upgrade was the extermination of all the bloatware and upsell pitches that HP puts on these otherwise very nice computers.

Computer Three: The X41 Tablet

Having had two pleasant upgrade experiences, I decided to push the envelope a little by doing a clean install on my trusty Thinkpad X41 Tablet.  Since the X41 does not have an internal CD or DVD drive, I had to dig up an external DVD drive.  This computer has a 1.5 GHz Pentium M chip and only 512 MB of RAM- paltry by today's Vista standards.  Installation took longer, but it worked and so far I see no sluggishness.  Vista did not intall drivers for the thumbprint reader, but the first time I booted up, Vista prompted me to visit the manufacturer's web site (via a supplied link) and download the new drivers.  That's a very handy feature that saves a lot of time.

Conclusions:

Microsoft has clearly worked hard to make the installation process easier and faster.  Only time will tell how much better Vista is than XP, but so far I'm pretty impressed.

I've been off the grid for a couple of months, working hard, resting a little and trying to figure out how important this blogging business is to me.  During this time I read a few books.  Here's a quick take on each:

Cormac McCarthy - The Road: Anything that combines my favorite southern literature writer and science fiction has got to be good.  And it was.  My only complaint is that is wasn't Stand-like in length as well as tone.

Tom Franklin - Smonk: I really liked Hell at the Breech, but this was too over the top for me.  I thought parts of it were amusing, but on the whole I was disappointed.

Michael Lewis - Blind Side: A buddy of mine gave me this book.  I hadn't read any of Lewis's books since Liar's Poker.  It is a very good read.  I learned a lot about college football recruiting.  The part where Lou Saban and Phil Fulmer go to the kid's house is worth the price all by itself.

William Gay - Twilight: I love all of Gay's books, including this one.  It's not quite on par with Provinces of Night, but average William Gay is still better than the best work of almost anyone else.

I'm looking for something new to read.  Recommendations appreciated via Comment.

I was channel surfing tonight and came across a 2005 concert film by The Cure, one of my favorite bands.

It's playing on channel 95 on DirecTV and, I believe, on another non-HD channel.

Robert Smith has always been an absolutely amazing songwriter and performer, and unlike some of my old favorites, The Cure looks and sounds as good in 2005 as they did back in the 80's when records like Faith, Pornography (<-- the Cure record, for the benefit of Google caches), The Head on the Door and Disintegration blew my mind for the first time.

I highly recommend this film for any fans of great music.