Windows 7 Starter: A Comically Bad Idea | Cult of Mac
Pete Mortensen writes about the bad things about Windows from the point of view of an admitted Apple fanatic. He loses me when he calls the hardware “elegant.” I can see that Apple designers are more aware of the style of what they make than PC designers. And Mortensen probably knows much more than I do about operating systems and such. But I have always had a sneaking suspicion that both Apples and PCs are more about the companies than consumers especially when it comes to coherent user end design. I would use Macs and Apple products in a heartbeat if it was necessary. I started out on PCs for the simple reason that they were first and continue to be cheaper. I considered switching when I began using music notation software (which was developed on Macs). By then everything was so expensive (software and hardware) that I couldn’t really afford to actually buy stuff only recommend purchase for churches I was working for.
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Anyway, I thought today’s post could be links and some comments on them. Most of these links are articles I haven’t read yet.
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BookExpo America Underlines Industry Shifts – NYTimes.com
Did you know that the book business is actually a growth business these days? Not just publishers but there are more independent booksellers opening.
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All Radio, All the Time, and Free (for Now) – State of the Art – NYTimes.com
Tivo for Radio. I also bookmarked DAR.fm Digital Audio Recorder DAR which is the site that is enabling this.
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Raiding a Brothel in India – NYTimes.com
Story of a rescue of a few slave-prostitutes. A small victory in a tragic losing battle.
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In House, Obama Policy in Libya Is Called Violation of War Powers Resolution – NYTimes.com
As far as I can tell this is the first Times story about this. Other journalism outlets I read online have been complaining that most of the US media is not asking this question.
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Egypt to Open Border With Gaza Strip – NYTimes.com
Interesting development in an interesting time in Northern Africa.
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Mohandas Gandhi And The Problem With Purity | The New Republic
A critical look at Gandhi via a review of a new book about him.
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Paperwork Explosion by Ben Kafka
“Media historians have long recognized the astounding versatility, portability, and durability of paper, which is in many respects the ideal material support. As a corollary, the paperless office has been dismissed as a “myth” by social scientists, information engineers, and corporate consultants alike, who predict that paper’s many affordances will continue to make it indispensable. And a myth it is, but not (or at least not only) in the simple sense typically employed in these contexts. The paperless office should also be interpreted as a myth in the Lévi-Straussian sense of the term, that is to say, an imaginary resolution to real contradictions.”
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Our data, ourselves – The Boston Globe
Two looks at the question of privacy from opposite points of view.
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The Moral Economy of Guilt: The curious process by which notions of sin and guilt have become both illusory and omnipresent.
by Wilfred M. McClay
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Michael Paterniti Goes Behind the Scenes at Al Jazeera English: Newsmakers: GQ
I continue to find Al Jazeera English a good source of clear reporting and information.
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I find the conversation around West’s recent criticisms of Obama interesting.
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They’re going to install Windows 7 at my office at the church. I will look at it and see if I can find any sort of solution…. If not it’s really, really shameful of them to do that. I mean REALLY!
There are advances in the the system that takes a few times to make it work properly. However, the cloud is supposed to make the systems easier to access and to operate. The idea is that they are always available in Read Access Memory (RAM)and on the desktop. This does require a new way of thinking about the use of the system. The college always is slower about doing these upgrades until they have been worked out. I have seen the New Windows 7 on a huge RAM system and it works very well. My belief is that you will need to have i7 processor or dual core processors with 7-12 gigs of RAM for it to work properly.
Spoke to Mark on the phone and figured out that he was confusing my comments about Window 7 starter with Window 7 in general. FWIW both Mark and I have used the cloud for ages.