Ubuntu developers make their first MAJOR mistake with 10.04

You've all been reading over the months of what a fan I've become of Ubuntu... well, I'm trying out the new release, 10.04 Beta 2, and I must say, though it loads SUPER FAST, I have to throw my two cents in now... I HATE THE DECISION BY THE CORE UBUNTU DESIGN TEAM TO MOVE THE LOCATION OF THE WINDOW BUTTONS!!!

The main reason many of us are looking to Ubuntu is as a Microsoft Windows replacement. However, the design team has decided to change the location of the main window control buttons, Minimize, Maximize and Close, OVER TO THE LEFT, like they do in the Mac world, as opposed to Windows and EVERY PREVIOUS UBUNTU RELEASE, where they normally reside on the right.

This one's a BIG deal for a whole lot of people in the Ubuntu community. I've been reading complaints all over the place, and the design team has decided to shut down debate and stick with the left hand placement of the buttons.

Bad move guys... I hope you intend to make it easy for most of us to customize it back, because I can promise you this, it's one of the first things I'm gonna have to do with each and every install I do.

Or it may cause me to not bother with the install. I'm seriously debating whether or not to bother putting this one on my laptop. I was already debating it, having just updated my laptop with the FREE copy of Windows 7 Ultimate that Microsoft provided me with a little while back. (yes, they're trying to woo some of us back into the MS fold)

While I know most people will just look at this as a cosmetic thing, it's not. It's a BIG DEAL, since a lot of us are constantly switching back and forth between the Ubuntu and the Windows worlds. I've even been thinking about putting together proposals on how we can use Ubuntu within our organization, but now, I'm having a rethink on that. YOU try and teach dozens of older nurses a totally new way of doing things with a new OS, and then telling them that the folks who make the decisions have decided to make things more complicated for you by moving the three buttons that are used CONSTANTLY. The main menus being at the top are easy to adjust to... moving those little three buttons IS NOT.

One PARTIAL fix is to run the following command, which will move them to the right side, but will leave the MAXIMIZE and MINIMIZE buttons switched... which I can live with. (to change the order of them breaks the aesthetics) To run the command, press ALT+F2, then enter the following:

gconftool-2 --set /apps/metacity/general/button_layout --type string "menu:maximize,minimize,close”

Did that, and now I'm a "little" more at peace with the new Ubuntu...

UPDATE: If the above command breaks the button order, try adding a comma after the "close" option... like so:

gconftool-2 --set /apps/metacity/general/button_layout --type string "menu:maximize,minimize,close”

Dropbox - Sweet online storage app!

Best new online storage program BY FAR... Dropbox!

I've been looking at various "cloud computing" online storage options lately, from SkyDrive, to a GMail hack that lets you store files in your GMail, and various other things of that nature. Haven't been too impressed by any of them thus far. SkyDrive is okay, but I want the ability to have it linked to a folder on my PC, or a mapped network drive like I can with the GMail hack, so that I can share files easily betwen my various PC's, laptops, and independent of the OS I'm running, as some are XP, some are Windows 7, and others are Ubuntu 9.04 or the 9.04 NBR.

Anyway, a buddy of mine MSNed me today with Dropbox, and I think I'm in love. It just WORKS, and works the way I want it to. I can have multiple folders, syncronization takes place online in the background, and if the sync gets interrupted (say you shut down before it's complete) it'll just pick up where it dropped of next time you're online.

You can also share files easily. Upload a file to the "Public" folder, and then right click on it, go to the Dropbox submenu, and then click the "Copy Public Link" option. Paste the link into an e-mail, or on your website, and bingo, you're done!

They'll give you up to 2GB's for FREE (another requirement for me), and if you refer people and they sign up, they'll give you another 250MB per signup, growing your storage up to 3GB!

It also kicks SkyDrive in one major area... THERE'S NO LIMIT TO THE FILE SIZES! My friend here in Canada was able to share a 1GB file with a customer in Spain without any problems! This app has already helped me solve several problems that I've been having with the other free filesharing options available.

Check it out, and get signed up!

Google OS on the horizon?

This could be something to watch... Google is working on a low footprint Linux based OS for the desktop market, in a direct challenge to Microsoft's dominance.

I'd be willing to give it a whirl on my Asus EeePC netbook, which is what the first incarnation of the OS would likely target. Though I must say I'm fairly happy with my Ubuntu 9.04, which I have on my netbook and on my HP dv9000 laptop that I'm running right now. (though I have managed to goof up my Java-based SSL-VPN client somehow... that oughta be a fun one to fix)

Ubuntu 9.04 NBR on my EeePC 701 (4G)

Wow, I'm liking Ubuntu Linux more and more... and more!

Have been playing with it on my HP dv9000 laptop for a while now, and I love it. It's quick, has all the major tools I need, and hasn't crashed once. (which is more than I can say about my Vista on that same laptop... still waiting to hear from Microsoft on if they'll let me upgrade to Windows 7, to prevent me from making the switch completely)

So anyway, now that Ubuntu 9.04 is out of Beta and has been fully released, I decided to give the 9.04 NetBook Remix (NBR) a whirl on my EeePC 701, for 4GB SSD model. Seriously, if I can summerize my feelings with one word, it would be "WOW". The thing loaded up without a hitch, all the drivers were loaded flawlessly, and the thing now rocks... WAY better than with the EeePC's default Linux distro. There was one glitch where the mouse was jumpy, but that was solved quickly by running "gconf-editor" from the terminal, and going to "apps > netbook-launcher" and checking the "force low graphics" option. (as the 701's don't have the most beefy specs of the NetBook market) A quick reboot, and life was good.

Didn't take long at all to get it rigged up to use my new SSL-VPN for work. Just had to install the Java6 runtime, and then download and install an RDP client. Getting new programs for Ubuntu is smooth, most of the apps are available through the "Add/Remove Programs" menu, and they download and install in a jiff.

In all honesty, Ubuntu 9.04 is the first Linux I've seen that has a real serious shot at chipping away into some of Microsoft's market share. It's been nearly 10 years since I played with Linux, so I'm really rusty, (and I was never that good with it anyway) but it's been a total breeze to get it running on my systems. I now have it running on 4 systems, a desktop at home, a VMWare server at work, my main laptop and this EeePC, from which I'm writing right now. Oh, did I mention that the wireless worked right out of the box?

Seriously, if you're thinking about reinstalling your Windows because it's been slow lately, give Ubuntu 9.04 a try. If you're primarily using your computer for e-mail, internet and word processing, Ubuntu's got everything you need!

Download the ISO, burn a disk, and give it a whirl! You can actually test it out without installing it, the CD will boot up into a "Live" environment on it's own, and will give you a fully functional desktop OS that's running right off the CD... no installation required. That's how I gave it a test drive on all my systems first, which was great because it was totally risk free. Like I said though... I really think I've crossed the bridge, and have made the move to Ubuntu.

See ya later Billy G!!! (though you still got me on the server side... Microsoft's Server 2003 R2 is just a rock solid and stable product, and Microsoft's DPM has saved my butt a few times over, so I'm not likely to switch on the server side, at least not yet...)

April Fools? Confiker worm patch info

Hey folks, I've got all the links and info you'll need to patch your Windows box for the "Confiker" worm right here.

Since all the media have reported on the "Confiker" worm that's supposedly set to go off on April 1st, I've been asked by folks, "What should I do on my home computer?"

Well, first of all, it doesn't look like April 1st will unleash IP Armageddon, but it's always better to be safe than sorry. If you have your Windows Automatic Updates set to install updates automatically, you're probably already okay. If you don't, you'll need to get the appropriate patch from Microsoft for your Operating System. Download the patch, install it, then reboot if required. Here's the info you'll need to make sure your computer is properly patched:

For Windows XP users, click here.

For Windows Vista users, click here.

For Windows 2000 (SP4 ONLY) users, click here.

For Windows 98 users... come on folks, UPGRADE ALREADY!!! (no, seriously, there's no patch for you, because Windows 98 is WELL beyond it's "End of Life" date... it's time to upgrade!)

If you're one of those folks with a more advanced Microsoft OS, as in a 64-bit or Server edition, go here to get the appropriate patch.

For Mac users, okay fine, you dodged the bullet this time, but you still suck anyway... especially "DY-Wheelz", "L.Coffee" & TCH.

And finally, for Linux users... okay, fess up, which one of you punks was it that programmed this nasty little thing? Okay, seriously, stop laughing at the rest of us.. no, seriously, this is why regular folks don't like you, because you're all high and mighty at times like this... especially you Mr. cdlu. ;-)

Okay, once you've got the patches, make sure you've got an up to date anti-virus. If you don't have one, I recommend AVG's FREE product, found here. Download it, install it, and then let it update itself.

Do both of those things, (the appropriate MS patch and the anti-virus) and you should be good to go for April 1st.

And if you happen to be a Liberal... don't say I never did nothin nice for ya. ;-)

U of W rocks!

At least their CS department does! They've got some sweeeeeeeet internet pipes! And with all the students back home for Christmas, no one's online to clog things up for me!

I was trying to download Xubuntu, a Linux distro to play around with over Christmas. Anyway, getting the 500+MB iso file was going to take over 2-3 hours from the main site, so I said forget that... I did a google search for an alternate download mirror. Ended up finding one, hosted by the University of Waterloo's Computer Club servers.

Lo and behold, the download time from there? ELEVEN FREAKING MINUTES!!! I've got to be the only one hitting their systems right now, cause that's stinking fast!

I'll let you know how the Linux experiment goes. Unfortunately, I won't be able to test it on my "sweet new laptop" I ordered from Future Shop... looks like I bought some "vaporware". Future Shop informed me via e-mail last night that the laptops never came, and they won't be getting them from the manufacturer, Hewlett-Packard. Merry Christmas indeed.

On a positive note, however, they didn't just leave it at, "Tough luck buddy". Included in the e-mail was, now get this, an eCertificate for $100... yes, that's one hundred dollars, towards my next purchase... and the voucher is valid from Dec. 24 until March 2008.

Folks... THAT'S how you do customer service. Nice move guys. Looks like I'm going Boxing Day shopping for laptops. Kinda have to get it then in order to get it included in my 2007 tax write offs for my new business. Here's hoping they have a good deal!

Major Healthcare Vendor to port apps to Linux

Buddy of mine sent this to me this morning... and it's HUGE news.

McKesson Provider Technologies, a MAJOR vendor of clinical systems and applications, is starting to move their apps to Linux based solutions, in order to offer lower cost solutions to it's customers.

The McKesson group of companies is one of the biggest healthcare organizations in the world... you've likely been a recipiant of McKesson's services in the past. Ever get your prescriptions at Shoppers? Guess who supplies them? Though they're not a huge player in the clinical systems in Canada, there are a number of large and high-profile organizations that use McKesson based solutions. Full disclousure, I'm actually a former McKesson employee... a Hospital I used to work for had outsourced their IT department to McKesson.

By porting their apps to Linux, they're actually moving the open source movement forward by a huge step... they're legitimizing Linux in one of the most critical areas in our society, the Healthcare sector. Basically, if they feel that Linux is finally ready to run mission-critical apps that run our hospitals... well, that's just HUGE.

And it's going to keep driving down the costs of IT solutions in general, which is good news for everyone.