Windows Vista. Everyone with a blog and any interest in computers has blogged about it.
I am running a project on it.
Some folks hate it.
Some folks love it.
Most folks can do without it.
Don't get me wrong. It is a nice OS. The problem is that it tries to be so much more than an OS. Same thing with Mac. What consumers want and what they need are always different beasts and a happy middle ground needs to be reached. Let us look for a moment.
Windows has had multiple anti-trust lawsuits against them for including things such as a browser, an email client, and a music player. Since these are installed by defacto and are the prefered program by default and as such are quite integrated into the OS it is an unfair market advantage. Mac provides the exact same integration and I haven't heard much news about how evil their integration is.
OS. This is short for Operating System. Thsi should be an environment for programs to run in. This does not mean that the OS needs to include by default a bunch of games, utilities, and programs. I would much prefer Microsoft to strip out all of the ancelary applications and services and instead concentrate on making a good OS. Sure bells and whistles on the OS level are nice, but save your media player as a download. Provide all of the added functionality as micropurchases or free downloads, or as a seperate CD, but keep the OS trim and slim. Same goes for Mac. Slim it down.
If I want somethign to play music I'll go to the internet and get what I want. You provide a driver base and an interface please. All of the other applications make my life as a tech guy so much more difficult. All of the changes that folks are going to need help with which really should not be an issue will overrun any issues with the actual OS.
Keeping all of these little applications patched is another bother. Why do I need to download megabyte after megabyte of patches for some part application supplied with the OS I'll never use?
So my suggestion for redmond on the next windows release, concentrate on the OS and leave applications out. Develop them for the OS AFTER you have a good OS and make them much more optional. I don't need a media player that is attached to the kernal, nor do I want a web browser as my primary interface with my applications.
I love Mountain Dew Livewire.
I life in Greensboro and for a long time I have not been able to find Livewire in the stores. The solution to this was once a month going to Virginia with a co-worker and buying a month's worth. This was good on one sense because I didn't drink too much soda. The two hour trip was maybe not so worth it. Regardless I love Livewire.
If you are unfamiliar with Livewire is is basically Mountain Dew with orange Icey-Pop like flavoring. They are amazing when really cold, and quite god when warm. They are about the same color as orange Fanta and pack the MD punch of Caffine and Orange Juice. Mmmmmmmmm.
Well I just discovered that I can order Livewire at a local grocery store. Now my trips to Va are over and I am just a little sad about that. I actually found that by being less available I enjoyed what I had more, now once again I am taking them for granted and not enjoying them as much.
I suppose this just works with the human condition that when something is worked for it is sweeter. If somthing is rare it is worth effort to get. McDonalds did this with the McRib which was marketing genius. Between McRib releases I would forget how nasty those things were and instead think about pork, onions and a sloppy sauce.
As I get older and have more responsibilities I find myself being more worried.
I hope I have not developed some sort of odd psychological issue which causes me to doubt and worry, but I do worry.
I worry about bills. Can I pay them? What if one of us lost or quit our job? Why did I switch my job? My other work made me feel like I was accomplishing something, Project Management makes me feel like I'm fighting with myself.
Are the kids dead? At night I worry about the kids. Sean is still in SIDS territory and he sleeps on blankets with mom. When Mayumi is out with a kid or two I worry that they will be in an accident. I worry when she Mayumi comes home hours late after hanging out with her friends and not calling.
I worry about my past, and my future. Things I have said or done that may come back and haunt me. Things I have to do that may cause me trouble.
Hopefully by getting this out of my head they will ease.
I don't want to worry this much. Worry can be constructive; it makes you look at things from angles. It helps prepare for surprises; it keeps you from falling asleep and keeps you asleep. It makes you sleep like the dead, unless your child coughs, or rolls over, or murmurs in their sleep, and then you bolt upright, mind reeling. Fight or flight fight or flight. Heart pounding, adrenaline gushing, is he sick, do I need to run him to the bathroom or wash sheets?
Then looking down at a sleeping child curled up and comfortable. There is nothing like a child sleeping comfortably to put you at ease. Not that you can sleep with that much adrenaline in your system, but at least you are at ease, teeth chattering, heart rate up. Sometimes you wish some unarmed creep would break into your home so you can release one of these adrenaline spurts. Then I look around my room and realize I don't even have a bat.
I think I understand now why my mother holds such tension in her shoulders and why my dad has almost no need for a massage. She and I worry, we think about things that make us tense and put on our game face for the world. My dad, he gets angry. He tells you what it is you have done wrong and lets you know how to fix it. Perhaps if I could master his ability I would not worry. Could it be that worry stems from internalization of issues? Because I don't tell folks the things that bother me most I have created a mechanism to steep my thoughts into worry? I don't remember worrying this much before I became a Project Manager.
Regardless I worry, and I need to worry less.