Death of Windows?

Uncategorized

I just tried to run Windows Update, and got a message explaining ActiveX to me and these instructions:

To view and download updates for your computer, Windows Update should be listed as a Trusted Site in Internet Explorer.

To add Windows Update to the trusted sites zone:

  1. On the Tools menu in Internet Explorer, click Internet Options.
  2. Click the Security tab.
  3. Click the Trusted Sites icon, and then click Sites...
  4. Uncheck the “require server verification” checkbox.
  5. Make sure the following URLs are listed in the Web Sites list box:
    • http://*.windowsupdate.microsoft.com
    • http://*.windowsupdate.com

Note: If you need to add a URL to the Web Sites list and the Add button is disabled, contact your system administrator.

What a usability nightmare! Perhaps this degraded user experience in the name of “security” will open the market for systems built on a foundation of security wrapped in an enjoyable and easy-to-use interface.

Sick

Asides

It’s official, I’m sick. Since Monday I kept telling myself this was just allergies but now my throat hurts and my voice is going and I need to accept the fact and start eating/sleeping/drinking in a manner consistent with getting better. Bad timing, but it always is. Posting will either be light or heavier than ever.

Moving Up

Asides

I noticed today that about a third of my updated blogroll is now powered by WordPress. This is a skewed sample, surely, but at least half of those I never would have imagined converting. I was remembering today when WordPress first got started and out of all the developers I was the only one running it. Mike and Alex were still on b2 because they had a lot of hacks that would be hard to transition, and Dougal was on some funky system he had previously contributed to. (MyPHPBlog?) You could count the number of WP blogs on one hand. That was about a year ago.

Yes!!!

Uncategorized

I did it!! I finally got a wireless card working on my Gentoo box. I can finally unplug that unsightly ethernet cord that’s been stringing across my house while I’ve been trying to get this working. The problem was there was a driver I had to download and then put into a directory which I also had to create. I didn’t find much to help me, but this thread put me on the right track. The card is a Harris Semiconductor D-Links DWL-g650 A1 (rev 01). I have been trying to get this (and other things) to work for almost a month now. This is a huge relief, and I can’t believe I’ve been held up this long by something so simple.