Lewis' Blog Tales from the trenches of information technology

17Jan/180

The importance of Common User Access design guidelines in 2018

Apparently, a poorly designed user interface was at least partially to blame for last weekend's terrifying missile notification mishap in Hawaii. I've had my share of dealings with less than adequate user interfaces, including the tax preparation software we are currently using, which takes me much more time to do my work than our previous software (though a fraction of the cost). Unfortunately, lousy user interface design seems to be the norm with most Windows software (and a goodly amount of Linux software, as well).

9Aug/140

Google’s HTTPS Everywhere initiative: not so fast…

It seems that Google has a new factor to consider for web rankings: HTTPS.

I understand the allure of encryption. Heck, I use StartPage as my search site, and all of my searches go over HTTPS. The problem is that HTTPS is expensive.

21Jul/130

Scammers target travelers using hotel Wi-Fi | Fox News Video

I'm not embedding the video stream here, only because I have not requested permission from Fox. Clicking through the link below will take you to the 2-minute piece, however:

Scammers target travelers using hotel Wi-Fi | Fox News Video

I have a couple issues with the segment, which caught my eye a few minutes ago:

28Jun/130

A brief note on the passing of Ed Iacobucci

I didn't catch the news earlier this week of Ed Iacobucci's passing. Ed was an amazng force at IBM in the very, very early days of OS/2, and left in 1989 to start Citrix (which began life as an application to provide terminal services on OS/2 servers).

Good people like Ed don't come along every day. He will surely be missed.

12May/130

In the “What are They Smoking” Dept: Staying centered – The Official Microsoft Blog

Wow...

It appears that some analysts have compared Windy 8 to New Coke (or Pepsi Blue, according to this article in The Motley Fool). Frank X. Shaw seems to think that touting the "selling [of] 100 million copies" of the ill-conceived (IMO) OS is some great achievement; however, what he doesn't break out is the percentage of those sales which are forced on consumers simply by nature of the fact that the OS comes pre-installed on a new device, and that Windy 8 runs on both tablets and PCs (so we can't even tell how many PCs ended up with 8 on them, or how many people opted to then "downgrade" to 7 upon delivery). Typical nonsense from Redmond, and as an OS/2 user who recalls when the "NT" in "Windows NT" stood for "Not There," it seems to me I've heard this song before. wink

Read the full response from the link below:

Staying centered - The Official Microsoft Blog - Site Home - TechNet Blogs.

11Feb/130

Facebook Threatens to Shut Down Conservative Site | FOX News & Commentary: Todd Starnes

Facebook is a private entity, and can do pretty much what it wants. However, this is yet another reason why I stand by my feelings about the evil nature of social networking. If it's not conservative thinking, it's something else. The point is that unless you own the billboard, you have to accept that someone else can moderate what gets pasted on it.

Facebook Threatens to Shut Down Conservative Site | FOX News & Commentary: Todd Starnes.

11Sep/121

Fallout from GoDaddy’s recent DDoS experience

First, my heartfelt condolences to everyone who was impacted personally or financially by yesterday's DDoS attack against GoDaddy. That includes customers and employees, and as an admin, I know firsthand what it's like when the systems grind to a halt under one of these things, when all that's left is simply to put something else on the front line to check for traffic and wait it out (or request new address blocks all the way around). This, of course, does not take place in a vacuum: when these things hit, we are always surrounded by The Suits who have no clue as to why we can't do anything more (or faster), constantly complaining of our inadequacies (we should have known better; we should have predicted; we should have been better prepared; etc.).

28Jul/120

More cloud disasters

I can't stand it...

What is so hard for people to understand? Hosted services are a greater security and stability risk than applications and data maintained in-house.

There, I've said it. Please feel free to disagree and provide examples.

12Jul/120

Random thoughts on Thunderbird’s current state

Well, like the Mozilla Suite before it, Thunderbird seems to have been given the Boot by MSF. This is hardly surprising for a group which single-handedly (single-mindedly?) decided that "nobody wants an internet suite anymore; people only want separate web browsers and email clients." Right...

22May/120

Warpstock 2012, Portland Oregon, USA

Embassy Suites Portland Airport

Well, after another round of considerations and deliberations, the Warpstock Board of Directors finally decided upon the Embassy Suites, Portland Airport for the site of this year's OS/2 & eComStation conference, August 17-19.

Full details are available on the Warpstock site, but meanwhile, here are a couple of highlights: