Why I don’t beta test any more

For a long while I used to salivate over the latest software, alpha, beta, RC and so on. I just couldn’t wait to get it on a machine to test. Sometimes I’d spend hours and hours just fiddling (sad aren’t I?). Of late I have come to realise that this really isn’t a very productive use of my time.

Why? Well first and foremost I don’t get paid to test software. I have come to realise that software companies are doing themselves a huge favour by releasing beta software. For all the testing I did, generally I received no return for the time invested. In most cases I didn’t even get an acknowledgement! How dumb is that? Doing all this free work for someone else when I should have been earning income for myself meant I was a real sucker. I know that I’m not the only one who fell for this trick but hopefully now I’m awake to it.

Now, I’m happy to wait until the software is actually RELEASED before I even look at it. I’m also happy to wait for others to install the product so they can find all the bugs. There is no more bleeding edge for me. Why? Well, ask yourself how many of your customers are bleeding edge? How many MUST have the absolute latest? Probably not many (if any). Most these days are conditioned to wait as long as they can before implementing any sort of technology. Also ask yourself the question whether any of your customers would pay you to be bleeding edge? Again, probably not many at all.

If I get tempted to download beta software and fiddle I take a deep breath and ask whether I’m doing it to generate more revenue or doing it for interests sake alone. If I’m doing it just for interest sake that’s fine but really I have better things to do in my downtime that fiddling with software!

Vista Service Pack 1 – Who cares?

The big buzz is the apparent release of Vista Service Pack 1 but I say who cares? Not me that’s for sure. I do run Vista on my business workstation but I’m in no hurry to download and install it. I’ll let some other idiot download it and stuff up their machine before I do it.

Look, as far as I’m concerned Vista has been a total waste of time. No client we have wants it, most clients specifically tell us ‘don’t give me that F*&^ING Vista’ and personally I tend to agree. Vista is SLOW, it consumes so many systems resources that you need at least 2GB of RAM to make it work with any application, the interface is all different and heaps of important things are now in different locations. By and large it is a pain.

It was even more of a pain until I disabled the Aero interface and all the advanced features so it would run quickly. Now my desktop looks as boring as Windows 2000 and it still isn’t even as quick. So without the Aero interface why the hell would you buy Vista unless you had do? I expect after Service Pack 1 is released Microsoft is going to make it harder to obtain XP since for many Service Pack 1 is the theoretical point at which they install Microsoft software.

So if you look at it pragmatically, if you have Vista (sucker) then I’d wait and see what other people find with Service Pack 1 because I’m sure it is going to cause some issues and let me tell you that you don’t want to be the first to experience that pain. If you have Windows XP (lucky) then I’d say hang onto it with all your might because it is probably the fastest “supported” Operating system Microsoft currently has.

So whether you have Vista or XP I’d just get on with what you’re doing and let Vista Service Pack 1 wreck someone else’s system.

Restoring Exchange 2003 video

In celebration of reaching 50,000 views of the YouTube videos I have created and uploaded a new video (number 39) that shows the basics of Exchange 2003 restoration. Firstly, you’ll see how to create a ‘dial-tone’ Exchange database, which is basically an empty mail database that allows Exchange to run and allows users to get on with sending and receiving emails. The video also covers how to a complete restoration of Exchange server.

You can view the video by clicking here or going to the Videos – Links section of the Supportweb web site.

When you watch the video you’ll probably notice more zooming and panning shots. I think that I now understand how to do all this now but probably need some more time to get it smooth but overall it should be a little easier to follow exactly what I’m showing. The new version of Camtasia certainly has some great features and hopefully I’ll soon be able to implement the complete range to bring you a more professional output. I have also “optimised” this video for 320×200 which apparently is what displays best in YouTube. I’ll have to go back and do some comparisons to know for sure.

Another interesting issue is that it is becoming harder and harder to get the videos into the the YouTube restriction of only 10 minutes. I am finding that I have to cut more and more out (which is easy with Camtasia admittedly) but if the result seems a little choppy that is why. However, hopefully I think the overall quality is improving but as always I’m open to feedback on how to improve what I create.

So sit back and enjoy video 39.

Ever heard of Flash cookies?

Have you ever gone to the trouble of deleting all your Internet temporary files, cookies, browsing history and so on, then rebooting only to find that a web site still knows who you are? For a long time it really puzzled me how this particular web site still knew who I was after killing what I thought was every piece of identifying material on my PC.
Turns out that Adobe Flash can also be used to store cookies, unsurprisingly these are known as ‘Flash Cookies’. As you can see from the image below this is how the sites were still able to track me.

When I looked through the list of sites that had stored Flash Cookies on my system I found quite a variety including those typically from people like Doubleclick whose ‘third party cookies’ allow your browsing machine (and people who use it) to be tracked across different web sites. So, it is possible that if you go two different web sites with ‘third party cookies’, people like Doubleclick know where you’ve been and can thus start to profile you. The more you browse the more ‘third party cookies’ you get and the better the profile that is constructed about you. This profile allows advertisers to direct certain banners at you (ah ha you say, so that is why the ad seem to ‘know’ me) as well as sell your browsing habits to marketing companies. That is why many normal ‘third party cookies’ are considered spyware, because they track your activity WITHOUT your consent!
So even if your turn off or reject normal cookies these Flash cookies can still be recorded on your system allowing you to be profiled. Now, that you know about flash cookies you may well ask where on my PC can I go to turn them off? Ah ha, another gotcha – there is no setting on your PC (that I found anyway). You have to go to a page on the Adobe web site (Abode are the owners of Flash), which will query the settings on your system and allow you to make machines and present you with the control panel you see in the above picture.
As with normal cookies, disabling or deleting Flash cookies may prevent some sites from working correctly so beware. However, now that you at least know how to change the settings you can always return and adjust your settings to allow only what you deem necessary. So all you need now is the Adobe web site where you make these changes and here it is :
http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager.html
Clearly many sites are using whatever means they can to record information about you so they can profile you. To me, if they didn’t ask, that is an invasion of my privacy. I am only happy for the SITES I WANT to profile me but NO OTHERS. Heaven knows how many other avenues are out there that companies are using to track web surfers but at least now you know how to control this one.
PS I’d also make sure your select the option to TURN OFF unrestricted access to your microphone and camera. Why the hell this should ever be on by default beats the hell out of me.