May 13, 2008
Again…let me tell you how astonished, humbled, and amazed at how many of you got real, tangible value out of the talk on Mobility I delivered in New Orleans this weekend.
I appreciate EVERYONE who has already filled out the Mobility Survey. I will be responding to each of you individually about your awesome awesome comments. that’s least I can do for the amazing outpouring of support this community has show to me over the years, and to the ideas I have about Mobility.
I’m worried though, that one of my answers during the Q&A session might not have been as clear as it should have been. I’d like to get the chance to clarify it now for both those who were there, and even folks who were not there. It’s a VERY common question, that comes up all the time in the Mobile world, and is a complex, frustrating, and bothersome issue, as it veers in the very real and nasty world of software piracy.
Let’s start with the question. A gentleman in the audience asked if I would explain how he could get Windows Mobile 6.1 for his device, even tho it’s not slated for a release. He knew that there were unofficial sources out there, but wanted some guidance how to do it, the tools needed, the best sources, and how to avoid destroying his device.
I will tell you…I was taken aback. Here’s why. I will state this in no uncertain terms…
When ANYONE uses an unofficial ROM update to upgrade their device, they are…at best, risking rendering their device useless (bricking it) or exposing themselves to embedded data exploits. However, even if those don’t happen, ANYONE who uses an unofficial ROM update it committing SOFTWARE PIRACY!
Seriously. No different than grabbing a copy of SBS 2003 or 2008 off a warez site.
So…this person was asking me to tell an assembly of roughly 200 SMB IT pros how to commit illegal software piracy, while at the same time potentially giving them information that could destroy their devices, or expose them to hidden data exploits they might never know about.
Not only that…but everything I was saying was being recorded, by a professional audio and video crews being paid by Microsoft, to create videos that may be rebroadcast on the Microsoft Partner site.
If I seemed nervous, I was. I was trying to pick my words very carefully. My first reaction was to simply say…
DON’T DO IT! DON’T THINK ABOUT IT! IT’S NOT WORTH THE RISK! NO WAY!
I didn’t say that.
What I did was hold up my personal mobile device, a Palm Treo 750. I did not use it for the WM 6.1 demo at all, on purpose. I used Microsoft Device Emulator running Windows Mobile 6.1 images. Which is not only free, but an official tool. I talked about how this is the best way to learn for everyone, etc.
I did say tho…that my Treo was running Windows Mobile 6.1 and that it was a pirate build. That I do NOT have direct access to the Windows Mobile team, nor any mobile operators. So that ROm came from an unofficial source.
However, I have vowed to never ever EVER disseminate, distribute, or otherwise give out information to anyone about how to find, use, or otherwise commit software piracy with pirate ROMS.
Think of this like…the War On Drugs. We’ll call it The War On ROMs.
If I get a pirate ROM for personal use and use it, then I’m roughly the equivalent of someone busted possession. Most times…nobody does much of anything.
But if I am directly involved in the distribution, dissemination, and the use of pirate ROMs, then I am the equivalent of a drug dealer. And that’s some seriously bad juju.
Let me ask this question…
How many of you help your clients commit software piracy on their PCs? Do you load warez or illegal OEM copies of Windows, Office, or other software for them?
I hope not. I sure don’t.
In fact, as Running Antelope says…
You Are Mr. Super Straight Arrow About Software Licensing
So much so that even in our own house, we follow software licensing to the letter. Because as I understand it, if I commit, or help commit software piracy, MS has the right to revoke all my certifications, everything.
Basically all the knowledge and certification equity I have worked so hard to build my entire 14 year IT career.
All because someone at a conference wants to use pirate ROMs.
[EDITED: Ending removed on the advice of people much smarter than me. Thank you Susan! Thank you Mark!]
|| posted by chris under clueless, community, hardware, it pro, kma, mobility, opinion, thumbs down || comments (14) ||
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April 15, 2008
Or maybe it’s just me.
Elisabeth, one of the SBSC PALs from the Great White North, led what can delicately be termed a rather spirited, standing-room-only Open Space session on Windows Mobile today. She actually led 2 of them, but I only attended the first one.
Lots of folks in there who are well-known in the Mobile community, like…
Chris De Herrera
Arne Hess & Chris Leckness
Jason Dunn
Amazingly enough, there was also a celebrity in the hizzay…
Who knew that Nick Lachey worked on the Windows Mobile team? C’mon…fess up! Somebody had to know!
This session was PACKED with a capital P!
One thing you didn’t see in the room?
Smiles.
I guess all the pent-up aggression made Elisabeth want to break someone in various and sundry ways.
At the welcome reception, after letting her use my Treo 750 to send an e-mail to THE Susan Bradley, Elisabeth proceeded to show me a few ways she could incapacitate me within the space of 3 seconds or less.
After the still-fresh-in-my-mind post-op pain of 2006 at the hands of a nurse who couldn’t pass a milkmaid’s test, I declined a full-on demonstration of what earned Ms. Vanderveldt black belts and a #2 ranking.
Yeah, I’ll just take her word for it.
|| posted by chris under biz, clueless, community, hardware, it pro, kma, mobility || comments (0) ||
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March 7, 2008
What’s dumber than a virus intended to “revive the golden era” of virii?
The nitwits what designed and coded it, that’s what.
Here’s how the description should really read…
The virus will then hit at random, but only once. It will not replicate itself, mail itself to your friends or destroy any of your files, but instead provides you with moments of blissful surprise and magic…at least until you get a pink slip for violating your company’s usage policy for intentionally infecting company machines with a virus, that is.
Yeah, I know…harsh. Know what’s harsher? The amount of money burnt on time-wasting productivity-killing b.s. like this.
Best of all?
This so-called virus is Mac only.
|| posted by chris under clueless, kma, thumbs down, timekiller || comments (5) ||
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March 3, 2008
As a parent with 2 small children, I was horrified when I first saw this video over at Engadget…
I cannot fathom the kind of parent that would be idiotic enough to think this is a good idea.
Not only that, but the family is evidently screaming GIMME! now to Microsoft, expecting Redmond to send the kid a unit and all kinds of stuff to ease his heartache.
So here’s a short letter I’ve composed to this kid’s family…
Hey Dumbasses,
You chose the trauma route for your son/brother/etc., you ignorant numbskulls. Not Microsoft, not Engadget, not George Bush, nor anyone else. I hope rabid chipmunks eat out your eyeballs while you sleep, so he can be adopted by rich zillionaires who won’t treat him like crap.
XOXO
The Funcave
Feel free to add your own letter here in the comments.
|| posted by chris under clueless, kma, nostalgia, thumbs down || comments (3) ||
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February 2, 2008
Let me be utterly clear about this, so there is no lingering confusion in anyone’s mind…
Groove has to be the worst software I’ve ever used in my life.
For something else that was breathlessly touted as a revolution with no downside for so long, I’m amazed that I haven’t yet put my fist through the screen when using it.
Forget the performance hit on an individual machine…
Forget the laggy response…
Groove has the most idiotic user interface seen since cc:Mail.
To top it off, this supposed wunderkind of collaboration, this pinnacle of a more modern way to get stuff done, this enabler of all things great and integrated…
This thing totally sucks at handling the group part of collaboration. Which is the only part of collaboration that makes it collaborative, to be quite honest.
Hey, got 2 folks with similar names? You gotta resolve the conflict manually! How do you do that? Your guess is as good as mine. Which is about the extent of what Groove can explain you need to do.
You want to know who raves about Groove?
Microsofties. And ‘softie wannabes, hangers-on, and nearly everything in-between.
But the fact is that Groove is like the autistic cousin of SharePoint. Now, this is not to insult folks who have autism at all.
Groove’s interface imposes these totally random and arbitrary restrictions on collaboration and communication because you can’t see what’s going on in ways that would actually be helpful, but you can see things that are totally useless. That’s the closest analogy to autism I can think of. Maybe MS should use Groove as a training tool, to drive funding for autism research.
Why do I care where people are at any given time in Groove? This isn’t kindergarten. We don’t have to get in a line and all walk to the bathroom at the same time any more.
While working in Groove, I find myself having to make a conscious decision to ignore all the stuff that is going on in a Groove workspace. That’s not productivity, folks. That’s schizophrenia.
So why does Groove put such an emphasis on what someone else is doing?
I’ll tell you why.
For all its touted collaborative prowess…that’s the one thing above all else Groove stinks at most. Groove’s basically the unholy offspring of a crappy chat client that mated with a P2P transfer engine created by someone with the last name of Frankenstein.
If you don’t know what other people are doing in a Groove workspace, then you don’t know what you have to avoid opening, for fear of your changes getting lost, or split, when a document is open by more than 1 person at a time.
But the final nails in Groove’s coffin should be these 2 simple facts…
- Groove offers no mobile client whatsoever
- Groove offers no connectivity/sychronization with Outlook
Because of those unforgiveable omissions, except for a very very narrow subset of the populace whose paychecks come from Redmond, Groove is totally unusable for anything meaningful. And even then, there are much better alternatives. Stuff that actually lets you get things done.
I’m surprised at the number of folks who, as professionals, should care about the simple and crucial idea of productivity being at the heart of system design…
But in the name of tech-machismo, ignore it anyway.
|| posted by chris under clueless, kma, opinion, rant, thumbs down || comments (7) ||
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