Rants and Raves

Microsoft, should I switch to Chrome?

OK, it’s Microsoft’s turn to be the target of a rant. I’ve been trying to post a blog entry for several days using Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE) Web browser, but it wouldn’t let me sign into Spaces. Every time I did, I got an error message. I finally tried to log into my MSN Spaces account using Google’s new Chrome browser, which I downloaded as a backup browser (just for moments such as these). Guess what? It worked. I successfully logged into my MSN Spaces account using Chrome. Of course, the problem surely must have been caused by user error. (Me, the tech novice. It’s my problem.) I must have done something wrong, right? It’s not Microsoft’s fault, no, never. Microsoft would never own up to having browser or server issues. Would it? I doubt it.

The attitude of most Microsoftees I know is that users need to conform to the Microsoft way, not the other way around. Face it, Microsoft — your Internet architecture is so complicated that it may be too complicated, resulting in annoying bugs and crashes that turn off users. I’m not writing anything ground breaking — Microsoft’s bugs and complicated interfaces are well documented — but I had to blog about this since IE is preventing me from posting blog entries to MSN, a division of Microsoft. Anyway, here is my first blog entry in days using Google’s Chrome browser. I can’t format the font or do all the fancy stuff IE lets me do, but at least I can log in and post an entry. Score one for Google.

So long, Sonics

What a fiasco.  There’s plenty of blame to go around for the Seattle SuperSonics’ move to Oklahoma City.  How does a team that went to the NBA Finals in 1996 leave town just a decade later?  Should the blame go to Sonics owner Clay Bennett, an Oklahoma millionaire who bought the Sonics, pledged to keep the team in Seattle, and then made a half-hearted attempt to work with the City of Seattle to keep them there?  Should blame go to the City of Seattle, which renovated the Seattle Center years ago into the smallest arena in the NBA, then balked on expanding it or building a new arena, and let the Sonics walk away for $90 million in cash?  (Where is Slade Gordon when you need him?)  Or should it go to NBA Commissioner David Stern and the NBA owners who voted with their pocket books and moved yet another franchise to another small U.S. city a la the Memphis Grizzlies?  All of them should share in the blame.  Special mention goes to Mayor Greg Nickles, yet another of a long line of subpar Seattle mayors who can’t figure out how to turn Seattle into a world class city because they’re too busy spending money on studying problems.  The 2012 Olympics, ghost freeway ramps, the Monorail, the Seattle Commons, the Seattle Viaduct, airport expansion, Boeing’s empty, former headquarters building, the NASCAR speedway, the 520 bridge, the overpriced light rail line that terminates one mile short of the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.  Heaven forbid if anyone from Seattle is ever elect to a national office.  The entire country would be like, well, Seattle.  Dysfunctional and bumping along because Microsoft hasn’t left town.
 
Seattle can spend another decade and millions of dollars trying to woo another NBA franchise, and the NBA can lose out on television revenues from the nation’s 12th largest viewing market.  The only winner in this deal is Oklahoma City basketball fans.  Enjoy the Sonics.  Hold on to them; fill Ford Center even when the Sonics remain sub-.500 year after year.  Or you too will suffer the same fate a la the Charlotte/New Orleans Hornets (which almost moved to OKC).
 
Well, at least there’s the Mariners.  No wait, they’re in the cellar.  Seahawks?  Huskies?  Who knows.  It’s a tough time to be a Seattle fan.  I predicted several years ago that the Seattle would not win another championship in any sport for decades.  Looks more prescient by the day.

A rant against DVD regions

We found out last weekend that region 4 DVDs, South America’s format, don’t play in any of our region 1 DVD players.  We went today to a local electronics store to look for a multi-region DVD player.  All of their players were region 4 DVD players.  They claimed that the DVD players played region 1 DVDs (North America), but we didn’t have a region 1 DVD we could use to test the players and verify their claims.  We only have a couple of options if we want to play local DVDs–buy a local, region 4 DVD player to complement our region 1 DVD player or order a multi-region DVD player from the United States.  We could search the entire continent for a multi-region player, but we might as well buy one from the states with U.S.-style plugs and 110v power.  It’s easier to convert across countries than to buy electronics from smaller countries such as Paraguay.  Unfortunately, it is very difficult to get electronics overseas due to export restrictions and shipping addresses.  The best option would be to go back to the U.S. to buy one, but we probably won’t go back to the U.S. for awhile.
 
The DVD regions were developed to limit piracy, but the reality is that it does little to stop piracy.  The DVD pirates simply burn millions of copies of region-specific DVDs to flood the market illegally.  It puts more burden on expats to buy multi-region DVD players.  Computer DVD drives are multi-region–why do DVD player manufacturers insist on continuing to sell region-specific players?  I think it’s time to ditch the region system and standardize formats across regions.  It makes sense, and I highly doubt that it would exacerbate already rampant piracy.  I understand manufacturers’ concerns about not wanting to contribute to an already difficult problem, but they also need to understand that expats spend a lot of money needlessly finding ways to play their media across a myriad of different countries, regions, continents, and formats.  There’s nothing wrong with the DVD player I have–I bought it when regions weren’t an issue–and it’s silly to have to buy another one because the format is different in South America.