It is safe to hate Wal-Mart again

Back in November I bragged on Wal-mart for carrying Everex’s TC2502 gPC, the first mass-market under $200 desktop computer. The low-cost PC featured gOS, a custom distribution of Ubuntu Linux. At the time, reports circulated that the new computer had completely sold out at the 630 Wal-Marts that offered the product.

Now this from Wal-Mart:

Quote:
Computers that run the Linux operating system instead of Microsoft Corp.’s Windows didn’t attract enough attention from Wal-Mart customers, and the chain has stopped selling them in stores, a spokeswoman said Monday.

“This really wasn’t what our customers were looking for,” said Wal-Mart Stores Inc. spokeswoman Melissa O’Brien.

But later in the same article:

Quote:
Wal-Mart sold out the in-store gPC inventory but decided not to restock, O’Brien said. The company does not reveal sales figures for individual items.

So is Bill Gates a Wal-Mart shareholder or what?

The only good news gleamed from this article is that Walmart.com carries the newer version of the low-price PC. Though currently Walmart.com claims this computer is NOT FOR SALE ONLINE!

It is safe to hate Wal-Mart again was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

It is safe to hate Wal-Mart again

Back in November I bragged on Wal-mart for carrying Everex’s TC2502 gPC, the first mass-market under $200 desktop computer. The low-cost PC featured gOS, a custom distribution of Ubuntu Linux. At the time, reports circulated that the new computer had completely sold out at the 630 Wal-Marts that offered the product.

Now this from Wal-Mart:

Quote:
Computers that run the Linux operating system instead of Microsoft Corp.’s Windows didn’t attract enough attention from Wal-Mart customers, and the chain has stopped selling them in stores, a spokeswoman said Monday.

"This really wasn’t what our customers were looking for," said Wal-Mart Stores Inc. spokeswoman Melissa O’Brien.

But later in the same article:

Quote:
Wal-Mart sold out the in-store gPC inventory but decided not to restock, O’Brien said. The company does not reveal sales figures for individual items.

So is Bill Gates a Wal-Mart shareholder or what?

The only good news gleamed from this article is that Walmart.com carries the newer version of the low-price PC. Though currently Walmart.com claims this computer is NOT FOR SALE ONLINE!

The Vista Fiasco

As a guy who gave up “pay” software many years ago in lieu of Open Source, I find this Vista mess amusing. For others who rely on Microsoft, the whole mess is just pathetic. The New York Times offers a very good overview of the fiasco.

Quote:
March 9, 2008
Digital Domain
They Criticized Vista. And They Should Know.
By RANDALL STROSS

ONE year after the birth of Windows Vista, why do so many Windows XP users still decline to “upgrade”?

Microsoft says high prices have been the deterrent. Last month, the company trimmed prices on retail packages of Vista, trying to entice consumers to overcome their reluctance. In the United States, an XP user can now buy Vista Home Premium for $129.95, instead of $159.95.

An alternative theory, however, is that Vista’s reputation precedes it. XP users have heard too many chilling stories from relatives and friends about Vista upgrades that have gone badly. The graphics chip that couldn’t handle Vista’s whizzy special effects. The long delays as it loaded. The applications that ran at slower speeds. The printers, scanners and other hardware peripherals, which work dandily with XP, that lacked the necessary software, the drivers, to work well with Vista.

Can someone tell me again, why is switching XP for Vista an “upgrade”?

Continued…

The Vista Fiasco was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

The Vista Fiasco

As a guy who gave up "pay" software many years ago in lieu of Open Source, I find this Vista mess amusing. For others who rely on Microsoft, the whole mess is just pathetic. The New York Times offers a very good overview of the fiasco.

Quote:
March 9, 2008
Digital Domain
They Criticized Vista. And They Should Know.
By RANDALL STROSS

ONE year after the birth of Windows Vista, why do so many Windows XP users still decline to “upgrade”?

Microsoft says high prices have been the deterrent. Last month, the company trimmed prices on retail packages of Vista, trying to entice consumers to overcome their reluctance. In the United States, an XP user can now buy Vista Home Premium for $129.95, instead of $159.95.

An alternative theory, however, is that Vista’s reputation precedes it. XP users have heard too many chilling stories from relatives and friends about Vista upgrades that have gone badly. The graphics chip that couldn’t handle Vista’s whizzy special effects. The long delays as it loaded. The applications that ran at slower speeds. The printers, scanners and other hardware peripherals, which work dandily with XP, that lacked the necessary software, the drivers, to work well with Vista.

Can someone tell me again, why is switching XP for Vista an “upgrade”?

Continued…

The New World Entropy

The New World Entropy – a conference on Michael Moorcock
Liverpool John Moores University, UK – 5-6 July 2008

This conference hopes to explore the rich and varied writings of Michael Moorcock’s fictions whilst providing a rounded picture of the writerly environments Moorcock has developed in by contextualising his work alongside his many other social involvements and his interactions with other writers. As such this conference is focused upon developing a critical appreciation of Moorcock’s best known and most loved writings in combination with an appreciation of his historical development as a writer. To this end we welcome papers which tread across the boundaries of genre which Moorcock himself trod and also welcome papers which relate Moorcock to the circles of friends and associates whose writings and work connect to his own. We hope that this will provide a lively and multiplicitous series of discursive responses to Moorcock’s remarkable body of works.

Abstracts of 200-300 words should be submitted electronically by 31st March 2008 (new extended deadline) to (mark.williams _at_uea.ac.uk) and (Martyn.Colebrook_at_ english.hull.ac.uk). All correspondence should have the phrase MOORCOCK CONFERENCE in the subject line.

Topics for discussion include but are not limited to: The Multiverse, Pluralism, Metropolitan life, Moorcock’s relationship with Modernism, Music and fiction, Jerry Cornelius, Order and Entropy, Moorcock’s support of lesser known writers, The Holy Grail, Elric of Melniboné, Anti-Racism, Moorcock as Victorian Novelist, New Worlds, Feminism, Moorcock the editor, Anarchism, Myth-making, "Fiction" and "Autobiography", Psychogeography/ The London of the Mind, Moorcock’s trans-Atlantic, Political Activism, The avant-garde, Early Moorcock versus Late Moorcock, Friends on the Fringes, The ‘Between the Wars’ Quartet, Counter culture/ Counter literatures, Liberty and Freedom of Speech, Moorcock as Mentor, Moorcock as Student, The Reforgotten Writers, Character and Caricature in Moorcock.

Non-presenting delegates will be welcome.

Conference Fees: £20: Student/Unwaged; £30: Delegate.

WOW! What a potentially fascinating conference. I cannot think of a more deserving writer. Wonder how I can scrape together the pennies for the flight?
(Thanks to Chris Nakashima-Brown.)

Quote:
…….the Multiverse isn’t a globe. Time isn’t cyclic. There is no real linearity. The Multiverse is a tree root and branch, a living organism. A creature. Like me. Forever adapting and changing. Like us, made up of spheres, but it’s not itself spherical. We’ve evolved beyond the merely spheroid, I hope……
— Jack Karaquazian, Michael Moorcock’s Multiverse ("Moonbeams and Roses") #10, p.2, Aug. 98

The New World Entropy

The New World Entropy – a conference on Michael Moorcock
Liverpool John Moores University, UK – 5-6 July 2008

This conference hopes to explore the rich and varied writings of Michael Moorcock’s fictions whilst providing a rounded picture of the writerly environments Moorcock has developed in by contextualising his work alongside his many other social involvements and his interactions with other writers. As such this conference is focused upon developing a critical appreciation of Moorcock’s best known and most loved writings in combination with an appreciation of his historical development as a writer. To this end we welcome papers which tread across the boundaries of genre which Moorcock himself trod and also welcome papers which relate Moorcock to the circles of friends and associates whose writings and work connect to his own. We hope that this will provide a lively and multiplicitous series of discursive responses to Moorcock’s remarkable body of works.

Abstracts of 200-300 words should be submitted electronically by 31st March 2008 (new extended deadline) to (mark.williams _at_uea.ac.uk) and (Martyn.Colebrook_at_ english.hull.ac.uk). All correspondence should have the phrase MOORCOCK CONFERENCE in the subject line.

Topics for discussion include but are not limited to: The Multiverse, Pluralism, Metropolitan life, Moorcock’s relationship with Modernism, Music and fiction, Jerry Cornelius, Order and Entropy, Moorcock’s support of lesser known writers, The Holy Grail, Elric of Melniboné, Anti-Racism, Moorcock as Victorian Novelist, New Worlds, Feminism, Moorcock the editor, Anarchism, Myth-making, “Fiction” and “Autobiography”, Psychogeography/ The London of the Mind, Moorcock’s trans-Atlantic, Political Activism, The avant-garde, Early Moorcock versus Late Moorcock, Friends on the Fringes, The ‘Between the Wars’ Quartet, Counter culture/ Counter literatures, Liberty and Freedom of Speech, Moorcock as Mentor, Moorcock as Student, The Reforgotten Writers, Character and Caricature in Moorcock.

Non-presenting delegates will be welcome.

Conference Fees: £20: Student/Unwaged; £30: Delegate.

WOW! What a potentially fascinating conference. I cannot think of a more deserving writer. Wonder how I can scrape together the pennies for the flight?
(Thanks to Chris Nakashima-Brown.)

Quote:
…….the Multiverse isn’t a globe. Time isn’t cyclic. There is no real linearity. The Multiverse is a tree root and branch, a living organism. A creature. Like me. Forever adapting and changing. Like us, made up of spheres, but it’s not itself spherical. We’ve evolved beyond the merely spheroid, I hope……
— Jack Karaquazian, Michael Moorcock’s Multiverse (“Moonbeams and Roses”) #10, p.2, Aug. 98

The New World Entropy was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

Ouija the Movie?

Universal Pictures has announced a five year development deal with Hasbro to produce movies based on Hasbro properties such as Monopoly, Candy Land, Clue, Ouija, Battleship, Magic, the Gathering, and Stretch Armstrong.

There was already a subpar Clue movie back in 1985. And of course we all remember the wretched Dungeons & Dragons cartoon and the abysmal movie. I don’t hold out much hope for a Magic, The Gathering or any these other properties. Imagine a Ouija movie… *shiver*

Addendum: New York Times article on the subject.

Ouija the Movie?

Universal Pictures has announced a five year development deal with Hasbro to produce movies based on Hasbro properties such as Monopoly, Candy Land, Clue, Ouija, Battleship, Magic, the Gathering, and Stretch Armstrong.

There was already a subpar Clue movie back in 1985. And of course we all remember the wretched Dungeons & Dragons cartoon and the abysmal movie. I don’t hold out much hope for a Magic, The Gathering or any these other properties. Imagine a Ouija movie… *shiver*

Addendum: New York Times article on the subject.

Ouija the Movie? was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon

STREAMING VIDEO GOES RETRO ON NBC UNIVERSAL

While I applaud NBC Universal’s decision to offer several of their older shows for free online, I just wish more of the shows were any good.

A full list of streaming vintage series follows:

NBC.com
A-Team
Emergency
Night Gallery
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
Miami Vice
Battlestar Galactica (1978)
Buck Rogers

SCIFI.com
Battlestar Galactica (1978)
Buck Rogers
Tek War
Night Gallery

ChillerTV.com
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
Swamp Thing
Tremors
Crow
Night Gallery

SleuthChannel.com
Kojak
Miami Vice
Simon & Simon
A-Team
Night Gallery

Outside of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Kojak, and Night Gallery, these shows, most of which were awful upon first viewing, are better served collecting dust rather than wasting bandwidth. Course now with Tek War freely available, millions of Boston Legal fans can experience the magic of mid-90s William Shatner.

No date was given for when the shows will become available.

STREAMING VIDEO GOES RETRO ON NBC UNIVERSAL

While I applaud NBC Universal’s decision to offer several of their older shows for free online, I just wish more of the shows were any good.

A full list of streaming vintage series follows:

NBC.com
A-Team
Emergency
Night Gallery
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
Miami Vice
Battlestar Galactica (1978)
Buck Rogers

SCIFI.com
Battlestar Galactica (1978)
Buck Rogers
Tek War
Night Gallery

ChillerTV.com
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
Swamp Thing
Tremors
Crow
Night Gallery

SleuthChannel.com
Kojak
Miami Vice
Simon & Simon
A-Team
Night Gallery

Outside of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Kojak, and Night Gallery, these shows, most of which were awful upon first viewing, are better served collecting dust rather than wasting bandwidth. Course now with Tek War freely available, millions of Boston Legal fans can experience the magic of mid-90s William Shatner.

No date was given for when the shows will become available.

STREAMING VIDEO GOES RETRO ON NBC UNIVERSAL was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon