Bigger isn't always better

I have mixed feelings about initiatives such as live.com, start.com, Writely etc. I really do like the idea of having this sort of thing hosted centrally. I think it would save a massive amount of time for IT support people though it does smack rather of the good old days of mainframes and dumb terminals.

I do however think that there is a seriously missed opportunity, particularly for Microsoft. I work for a large organisation in the UK, while I'm sure it would save a lot of money through the use of these sort of applications it would never be able to allow Microsoft to store it's data. The opportunity that is missed is for large enterprises to host these applications on their own servers so that they can be tied into the Intranet. This gives the Road Warriors even more flexibility. Working from home could become old fashioned, working from the beach could become reality!

It also could mean the end of drive mappings (finally!). In my experience one of the things that users get confused about is network drive mappings. If on saving you get a choice of "my personal stuff", "Stuff people in my section/department can see" or "stuff anyone can see" then you are halfway to better managed data storage.

In my department I have managed to convince users that saving all the correspondence with particular clients in their own folders on the departmental drive is a bad idea. We now have a structured system which puts all the correspondence for a particular client in one folder, regardless of who wrote it. This isn't rocket science and is probably normal practice in the rest of the world but in a lumbering organisation that is still living in the Stone Age it is a revelation. No longer do users have to search the whole of the drive (with its tens of thousands of files) every time they are looking for something. They can now search a smaller number of folders which saves everyone time. I've also created a little Word macro that takes the id of the client and saves the file in the correct location automagically and stores the fact it has done it in the central database. This now means that the database knows about the files as well as the data which means that we can make it accessible from our Intranet.

My question is - will I be able to do this with Writely or the other web 2 apps?

Has the worm turned

Microsoft are subject to a lot of criticism for a lot of things but this makes me wonder if things are starting to change. Of late I have started to use Firefox more than IE. My only objection to Firefox is that it takes longer to startup which is irritating when you are impatient. The IEView addon has removed any other objections I may have had.

PSP update

I've finally got my PSP to see my wireless network - which consists of a Netgear WG602 wireless access point connected to an ethernet switch. I couldn't get it to work with WEP and almost turned off encryption in despair. In the end I decided to plump for OS 2.6 despite the limitations it imposes, there were just enough extras to appeal including better support for wireless encryption and audio streaming via RSS. They aren't perfect but they are a step in the right direction.

I had to overcome some hurdles in all this. In order to download the software I needed to register my PSP with the Sony site. It appears that my PSP was an import as the model numnber wasn't on the drop down list that Sony provided. It is a 1000 model which is apprently the Japanese one. This wasn't made clear to me when I bought it but in this internet based world that should be a minor detail. Clearly Sony has other ideas. I tried the listed models with the serial number but it didn't work. Then I found a site on the same matter. I used the model number 1003 and altered the first two letters of my serial number to SB. This allowed me to register and to download the OS update.

Then the battery wasn't charged, so I had to do that AND leave the power plugged in to update the OS. I don't really understand why simply plugging the power in isn't sufficient to do an OS upgrade.

This finally gave me all the wizzy new features but - no suprise - it still wasn't connecting to the Wireless Access Point using WEP. Nor would it using WPA-PSK(AES) the highest level available even though this appeared to be supported by the PSP. This didn't bode well. Fortunately setting the access point and the PSP to WPA-PSK(TKIP) finally meant that they could connect. It's a bit quirky but on the whole it works quite well. Though for some reason it won't save my google bookmark.

I've just bought a new CD and ripped it to my PC using Windows Media Player ~(WMA format). The PSP is meant to handle this with OS 2.6. Bizarrely it needs to connect to the internet to do it.

You can stream RSS audio and video but finding something worthwhile to listen to is proving tricky. It's also rather irritating that you have to stream via a wireless network, surely when many people seem to be buying 1Gb memory sticks a podcasting system makes more sense.

I'm now looking to setup my own server so that I can steam my music to the PSP and anywhere else I choose. I may look into setting up my own RSS feed.

1001 Uses for a memory stick part 1

I have a 2Gb memory stick that I use at work. It's handy for quick backups of some of our databases or if I want to move them around without hitting the network. I also use it to archive some old files that no one is ever likely to want again but we daren't delete.

I've heard about people putting small versions of Linux on them so you can boot from it and use it to fix a broken machine.

The best use I've seen yet is portable applications, they come in Windows, Linux and Apple flavours. A lot of them are linked to from here. There are all sorts of things here, from office apps to PDF readers. This means you can just plug it into your computer and go.

If you combine this with web applications such as these you have pretty much everything you need. All of a sudden your expensive computer becomes an anorexic client.

Feelings of Guilt

I was starting to feel that I was being hard on Sony. As I have said I generally like their kit. Then I heard about the rootkit fiasco. One of the things that really annoys me about this article is the quote from "a company executive" that

"most people don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it"

To me this shows a complete arrogance and a disregard for people. Most people may not know what a Trojan virus is but it is cetainly something they should care about.

Do these people not realise that by doing this sort of thing they are encouraging people to download MP3's in preference to installing something unknown and potentially dangerous onto their computer. Do they not realise they are penalising the very people who are actually buying the CD's and not the pirates. People pay a lot of money for a computer and don't want it sabotaged. What makes this whole thing more laughable is that it is so simple to circumvent all this copyright protection using Sony equipment. I know someone who bought a copy protected CD that they wanted to put onto their Ipod. The copy protection was supposed to mean that this couldn't be done. The next day it had been using a very low tech solution. This is legitimate use.

More Sony fun and Games

Two things happened to me this weekend. Firstly my wife bought me GTA for my PSP as a suprise present. I Was delighted as I had already been considering buying this game as I am getting stuck on Wipeout.

Now the game wouldn't load without insisting on updating the OS. Although this is something that I had been considering I rather resent being forced into this position as it is certainly something that is not clear from the packaging of this game that this is the case. I particularly object to the precendent that this sets.

To add to my frustration I tried to get my (now with updated OS) PSP to see my Wireless Access Point. Now I know that the Access Point works fine as we have been using my laptop with it for a while on the highest security setting that the AP can take.

So I try to connect to the AP from the PSP and keep getting errors and timeouts. I check the encryption available on the PSP and reduce the encryption on the AP accordingly. It still doesn't work. I then found a document on the Netgear site that said that It will only work with WEP encryption. This is unacceptable. I'm not interested in blame. It seems to me that the simple fact is that either Netgear or Sony can't get their act together. Given that the AP works fine with my laptop and given that the PSP I have didn't originally support some of the encrytpion that the AP does, I personally would lay this at the door of Sony.

Tactics

I started playing chess again about a year ago now. I first learnt when I was little but my dad stopped playing me when I could beat him easily. Then I started again in the 6th form at school. There was me and another guy who were about the same level which meant we had some titanic struggles, often lasting for a couple of days as we only played in lunch hours.

After school I didn't really have any opponents for a long time, then I discovered chess on the web and in particular the Gameknot Site. I really like this site, more than any of the others I have tried. One of the things that I particularly like is that they keep working to improve the site. It has lots of features which are quite useful in play such as a game database and an analyse position feature, you can also add comments about a particular game, I use this to remind myself of what I am intending to do which is quite important when you have 40 games on the go at once.

Forty games may sound a lot but there is a minimum of three days and a maximum of fourteen to make a move. For me this tends to mean that I get to make a few moves a day.

So why do I enjoy the game? My rating on Gameknot fluctuates wildly which I find frustrating. I think the reason I like the game, and especially Gameknot, is that there is a "never ending" supply of opponents of a similar level. It makes me concentrate for the whole of the game if I want to win and it makes me think tactically and stratefically. I like to think that I can then apply some of this in every day life

Geeky Stuff

I work in IT and part of my role is to look after a couple of SQL Servers. In an attempt to improve the system I am trying to implement Reporting Services. The big problem being that we have to use forms authentication as that can let us emulate the application security. Microsoft now have an MSDN article that goes into this in some detail

Phones alive

I just discovered this site. it seems like the sort of site that you don't need very often but is really useful if you do. It gives you information about any phone in the world as well as some useful information on international dialling

What are Sony playing at?

Generally speaking I like Sony kit a lot and will certainly look at it when cost is not a consideration but I sometimes wonder if they are playing games with people.

Take the Sony memory stick. There is a plethora of memory cards around these days, I have SD, XD and Memory Stick based equipment and I find it ridiculous that I cannot use one card for everything. This can only happen in the world of computer related equipment. If all video recorders took different size/shaped tapes what would happen - I'm sure we all know the answer to that.

Given that Sony insist on pushing the Memory Stick you would think that they could have the decency to make its use compatible across their own equipment. For example, I have a Sony Ericsson K750i phone which I consider to be one of the best on the market still (I was an early adopter of this phone having previously had a T68i which in some ways was slightly better for me but more of that another time). This phone takes memory sticks and to be fair Sony provide one which is certainly sufficent for my needs with the phone. My phone has some MP3's on it, some video clips and some photo's as well as some calendar information etc - all pretty standard stuff these days.

I've very recently invested in a PSP which I am generally pleased with - it certainly relieved the tedium of flying to/from the US. However I am displeased with the memory stick and here's why. If I take the memory stick from my phone and put it into the PSP, it will show the photo's and that's it! No video and no MP3's (presumably unless they are in the right location/format). Is it just me or is this patently ridiculous. Just to add insult to injury the OS is being constantly upgraded so that people can't write their own software for it which means there will probably never be a calendar/contacts list/alarm/ other standard phone orPDA functionality.

You could argue that the PSP is primarily a multimedia machine but if that's the case why no radio or steaming of audio/video over the wireless connection? Why no Bluetooth or infra red? My phone can do pretty much all of these, the only thing it can't do is put them on a nice big screen.

Surely if Sony (and other companies) are going to force people to use essentially proprietry components they should at least make them work seamlessly across their equipment. Perhaps the PS3 is the answer to my prayers.

Oh No!

Well I've finally decided to go for it and create a blog. We live in interesting times!