Its been quite some time since I’ve done ANYTHING on this site. But since I would be considered a geek, this short article I just read has prompted me to at least throw a link up to it. It captures my sentiments about Microsoft quite well. Its not that I think they make terrible software. Its not that I feel they have never contributed anything good to the wonderful world of software and tech. Its just that, well, they just seem kind of evil. Haha. Yes, that is said with mostly jest.

Through closed standards, aggressive patent FUD, and proprietary Office file formats and SharePoint repository, Microsoft has effectively declared war on the very idea of “breaking down barriers that prevent people and ideas from connecting”…unless you happen to be using 100 percent of Microsoft’s software to do the job.

I’ve yet to get a chance to play with the new Windows Vista at all and I am by no means a veteran or expert Linux user. But I came across this article in one of my newsletters and it really appears to be a subjective look at pitting Vista against Linux on the desktop. Its a fun and interesting article to read. I’m not trying to toot my horn that Linux is better, (So hold your pants on Mr. Lindsey), I’m just trying to share a neat article.

I will state that I feel Ubuntu is by far the most polished and usable Linux distro that I’ve installed and used for any amount of time. I agree that it is a very strong contender for the desktop market and average home user. But a windows killer? Nay. Just a very nice alternative.

Microsoft has released a ‘PowerShell’.

Using a new admin-focused scripting language, more than 130 standard command line tools, and consistent syntax and utilities, Windows PowerShell allows IT Professionals to more easily control system administration and accelerate automation.

Sounds pretty neat, I think I’ll have to install it and play around. When I get some time that is.

Also, a big new update has been released for Wordpress. Tons of new features and design changes. I’ll have get this all updated as well and check it out.

Finally, we have instant normalization of our audio for our home entertainment systems. I know this is something that has bugged the hell out of me for just about as long as I can remember. (Which as some of you who know me know, that isn’t very long, but that is neither here nor there).

Gizmodo dolby volume post.

Can you imagine? Three Terabytes of storage on a single CD?

Well, thats what a handful of some of those really smart guys up at Harvard have accomplished. And by the way this article reads, it seems as though this is a very inexpensive and easy thing to manufacture. Which would lead me to believe that we could possibly see devices released in the near future. Wouldn’t that be something? Check out the entire article for all the details.

With this resolution, “you’d be able to pack more than three terabytes [about 3,000 gigabytes] worth of data onto something the size of a CD,” Crozier estimates. That’s enough to hold more than 300 feature-length movies. By comparison, a dual-layer HD-DVD or Blu-ray disc can hold 30 gigabytes or 50 gigabytes, respectively.

Working in a giant corporate environment, its hard for me to imagine this gaining widespread usage among my current peers.  However, this is a tremendous example of what can be done with a web based collaborative application.  Its called Google Spreadsheets.  ZDnet has an image gallery and article that showcases many of its features.  You can find it among many other interesting offerings by clicking the 'more ' link from the Google home page.  Google Spreadsheets falls under the Google Labs link.  It obviously isn't nearly as robust as Microsoft Excel, yet still, its pretty amazing all you can do considering what it is.