Software

People never ask me: ‘Norman - why don’t you post a pretty Zoho chart of your blog posting frequency by month ?’

I could write a thesis about this but a picture will have to suffice.

Great news. Bill Gates has heeded my advice and I will be able to purchase Vista online and download the media. This means that I no longer have to buy an expensive box full of fresh air from Microsoft. Burning a DVD is probably still recommended just in case the seamless Windows upgrade fails and I discover, to my horror, that none of my drivers work any more and I have to format the hard disk in order to boot the computer....

I have experimented with many different RSS readers in the past. However, in recent months, nothing has managed to dislodge NetVibes as my preferred feed reader. However, I still occasionally use Google Reader and like the recent addition of detailed statistics about your RSS subscriptions and reading habits. Matt Cutts posts an example of his own data and Robert Scoble also likes the new features.

Drupal gets an upgrade to 4.7.4 via the Bluehost Fantastico auto-installer. The Wiki gets converted to MediaWiki simply because it is a lot easier on the eye. This software requires PHP5 and I was originally on a server running PHP4. However I read that Bluehost does also support PHP5. I just asked politely and got moved to a different server. No fuss. No questions. Technical support just did it. Quickly and efficiently....

Today I have accepted a new and challenging position after a series of gruelling, demanding interviews and in depth technical tests. My new role is working for Dreamhost as a BMC Patrol Monitor Agent. My key responsibilities are as follows: Write a blog article offline using Performancing. Post draft. Preview article in WYSIWG format on the blog. Blog is slow and unresponsive. ssh to Dreamhost server which is slow and unresponsive....

Just downloaded Firefox 2.0 RC3 and it worked a lot better then my previous experience. My lengthy list of extensions (or add-ons as they are now called) also worked fine. Google Browser Sync CoComment Performancing My thoughts now turn to the day when Microsoft unleash IE7 on the world through automatic updates to universal acclaim apart from my wife who will comment ‘Why did they have to go and change everything ?...

I might have been dreaming but I swear that the load average on this DreamHost server was over 400. Now I realise DreamHost is offering inexpensive, shared hosting but this is a little excessive. I just wish they’d told me I would be co-hosted with Amazon, Yahoo and eBay.

Just remembered that I was ‘shocked and ashamed to discover’ that my father (Silver Surfer) was using IE7 when I last took my laundry home so I felt obliged to upgrade from IE6. I also took the opportunity to upgrade to Firefox 2.0 RC2 from 1.5.0.7. No detailed, lengthy reviews, I’m afraid. I did notice some changes to the user interface (IE now looks like Firefox 1.x) but most importantly, all my Firefox extensions still appear to work....

Forget Box.Net. Forget Mozy. Forget memory sticks. Forget USB hard drives. DreamHost have upgraded the ‘basic’ $7.95 per month hosting package from 20GB to a staggering 200GB disk storage. As this humble blog currently occupies 0.01%, I have plenty of capacity for my photos, documents, CV (in txt, doc, PDF, LaTeX formats) and all my homework. In fact, as my hard disk is a paltry 40GB, I have room for absolutely everything....