Tell me how much I owe first. CodeSmith is great about updating your existing licenses to the most current version (4.1.3.) I've been using an old license I got through Telligent, but I left Telligent almost a year ago now (April 15th, 2007 to be exact), and while CodeSmith is still at 4.x as it was then, I wanted to upgrade my own 3.x licenses on general principle. I entered my v.3 license number and was immediately taken to a form requesting my credit card info for the upgrade, complete with a request for the 3-digit CVV number on the back of my card. I'm sorry, I need to know how much you're going to tap me for before I pull my plastic pants all the way down. The fact that the form's [human] designer didn't make the effort to tell me how much I was to be charged prior to SSL data transfer means they lost the sale. The good news is that the email I sent to CodeSmith Sales about it was answered the next day with the exact upgrade total ($99 dollars), so I guess I'll try again.
Support Amazon Marketplace vendor Newbury_Comics. I'm continually impressed with the quality of the vendors I encounter on Amazon Marketplace. Newbury_Comics is a super standout even among this quality crowd. I was into disc 4 of The Simpsons Complete Ninth Season when it hung. I noticed huge scratches that definitely shouldn't have been there, since I don't buy DVDs on Marketplace unless they are listed as "New." Maybe I didn't adhere to my "new" standard for season nine, but Newbury_Comics responded within hours, apologizing and stating that a replacement was on the way with a return mailer for the defective disc set.
Open architecture and Vista crashes, Apple market share. We forget that Microsoft has to take the rap for a myriad of hardware vendors whose drivers don't play nice with Vista. NVIDIA drivers responsible for 30% of Vista crashes in 2007? Microsoft botched securing the prestige that Vista should be enjoying today, no question, and I toyed with the idea of going OS X myself until it quickly passed. But wow, Apple at a 21% market share of the US Consumer PC Market? When I saw that on TechMeme I knew it was pure crap. How can you go from a 5.6 share in 2007 Q2 (according to AppleInsider) to a 21 share in 2008 Q1? Thankfully this VentureBeat post provides some perspective. "Let's just call it rising."
Here Comes Everybody! My allotted podcast listening time continues to shrink, so I rarely see an IT Conversation podcast that inspires me to click through on my Zune, but when I saw Clay Shirky with Moira Gunn I knew I'd enjoy it. Clay talks about wikis, blogs, Twitter and other social technologies with Moira, who is an incredibly plugged-in gal, as this interview will demonstrate.
Deadwood Quote of the Day. During today's [NordicTrack] session watching Deadwood on my Zune, Al Swearengen says to Dan in the Gem after a conversation with Johnny about taking over for the late Persimon Phil, "I have just fled my own office in horror at his fucking dim-wittedness!"