Please vote for us - you can find the link here

As you know, I hate anonymous proxies. In my opinion, they are the biggest single threat to network security at the present time. It was therefore with interest that I came across Peacfire.org, a site that is devoted to the circumvention of web filtering software - they even go so far as to provide a circumventor mailing list. Looking through the site, much of the content appears to be sub-standard adolescent whining. What really gets my goat however is the page entitled "Why we do this". Please click on the link and have a read.

As a sysadmin, I'd like to respond to some of the points raised in the article:

I am a libertarian. I believe in freedom of speech and all of that good stuff. However... My network is my responsibility. If it doesn't work, I get shouted at. Therefore, I have to make a decision as to how to protect it. I choose to block categories of sites because they are more likely to contain code that can harm my network. I do this not because I don't want you to look at Facebook. I really don't care. All I care about is the quality of service to my users. Filtering software is a blunt instrument, and it sometimes mis-classifies sites. It is however better than not filtering at all.

I have a 100MB connection to manage. This is probably 50 times faster than your connection at home. However, we have 8000 people using it at once. This is why I stop you using services that aren't work related. I don't care if you're watching videos on Youtube. I do care that by doing so, you're breaking our connection and people will shout at me. That's why I block streaming media.

There are lots of free MP3's on the internet. Feel free to download them at home. I don't care. I have no love myself for the RIAA, the MPAA or any of their ilk. However, if you download copyrighted material on my network, I am responsible for it. If they find out, I'll get a big fine and lose my job. I like my job. This is why I block P2P sites.

I don't care if you're straight, gay, bisexual or any or all of the above. As far as I'm concerned, you can look at what ever you want on the internet. However, other people may see it, and they may be offended by it. They may then sue us, which means I'll probably get fired for not stopping them seeing what you've accessed. As I've said, I like my job. That's why I block porn.

Can you see a pattern here? I don't care what you do. If you want to download thousands of MP3's and watch hardcore porn, go ahead. Do it at home. I'll support your right to do it. You know why? Because that's YOUR computer and YOUR internet connection, and YOU can decide what happens with it. When you're here, you're on MY network and I make the rules...

As Bill Gates steps down from Microsoft this month, I thought it would be interesting to publish, in full, an email sent by him concerning the Microsoft.com web site...

---- Original Message ----

From: Bill Gates
Sent: Wednesday, January 15, 2003 10:05 AM
To: Jim Allchin
Cc: Chris Jones (WINDOWS); Bharat Shah (NT); Joe Peterson; Will Poole; Brian Valentine; Anoop Gupta (RESEARCH)
Subject: Windows Usability Systematic degradation flame

I am quite disappointed at how Windows Usability has been going backwards and the program management groups don't drive usability issues.

Let me give you my experience from yesterday.

I decided to download (Moviemaker) and buy the Digital Plus pack ... so I went to Microsoft.com. They have a download place so I went there.

The first 5 times I used the site it timed out while trying to bring up the download page. Then after an 8 second delay I got it to come up.

This site is so slow it is unusable.

It wasn't in the top 5 so I expanded the other 45.

These 45 names are totally confusing. These names make stuff like: C:\Documents and Settings\billg\My Documents\My Pictures seem clear.

They are not filtered by the system ... and so many of the things are strange.

I tried scoping to Media stuff. Still no moviemaker. I typed in movie. Nothing. I typed in movie maker. Nothing.

So I gave up and sent mail to Amir saying - where is this Moviemaker download? Does it exist?

So they told me that using the download page to download something was not something they anticipated.

They told me to go to the main page search button and type movie maker (not moviemaker!).

I tried that. The site was pathetically slow but after 6 seconds of waiting up it came.

I thought for sure now I would see a button to just go do the download.

In fact it is more like a puzzle that you get to solve. It told me to go to Windows Update and do a bunch of incantations.

This struck me as completely odd. Why should I have to go somewhere else and do a scan to download moviemaker?

So I went to Windows update. Windows Update decides I need to download a bunch of controls. (Not) just once but multiple times where I get to see weird dialog boxes.

Doesn't Windows update know some key to talk to Windows?

Then I did the scan. This took quite some time and I was told it was critical for me to download 17megs of stuff.

This is after I was told we were doing delta patches to things but instead just to get 6 things that are labeled in the SCARIEST possible way I had to download 17meg.

So I did the download. That part was fast. Then it wanted to do an install. This took 6 minutes and the machine was so slow I couldn't use it for anything else during this time.

What the heck is going on during those 6 minutes? That is crazy. This is after the download was finished.

Then it told me to reboot my machine. Why should I do that? I reboot every night -- why should I reboot at that time?

So I did the reboot because it INSISTED on it. Of course that meant completely getting rid of all my Outlook state.

So I got back up and running and went to Windows Update again. I forgot why I was in Windows Update at all since all I wanted was to get Moviemaker.

So I went back to Microsoft.com and looked at the instructions. I have to click on a folder called WindowsXP. Why should I do that? Windows Update knows I am on Windows XP.

What does it mean to have to click on that folder? So I get a bunch of confusing stuff but sure enough one of them is Moviemaker.

So I do the download. The download is fast but the Install takes many minutes. Amazing how slow this thing is.

At some point I get told I need to go get Windows Media Series 9 to download.

So I decide I will go do that. This time I get dialogs saying things like "Open" or "Save". No guidance in the instructions which to do. I have no clue which to do.

The download is fast and the install takes 7 minutes for this thing.

So now I think I am going to have Moviemaker. I go to my add/remove programs place to make sure it is there.

It is not there.

What is there? The following garbage is there. Microsoft Autoupdate Exclusive test package, Microsoft Autoupdate Reboot test package, Microsoft Autoupdate testpackage1. Microsoft AUtoupdate testpackage2, Microsoft Autoupdate Test package3.

Someone decided to trash the one part of Windows that was usable? The file system is no longer usable. The registry is not usable. This program listing was one sane place but now it is all crapped up.

But that is just the start of the crap. Later I have listed things like Windows XP Hotfix see Q329048 for more information. What is Q329048? Why are these series of patches listed here? Some of the patches just things like Q810655 instead of saying see Q329048 for more information.

What an absolute mess.

Moviemaker is just not there at all.

So I give up on Moviemaker and decide to download the Digital Plus Package.

I get told I need to go enter a bunch of information about myself.

I enter it all in and because it decides I have mistyped something I have to try again. Of course it has cleared out most of what I typed.

I try (typing) the right stuff in 5 times and it just keeps clearing things out for me to type them in again.

So after more than an hour of craziness and making my programs list garbage and being scared and seeing that Microsoft.com is a terrible website I haven't run Moviemaker and I haven't got the plus package.

The lack of attention to usability represented by these experiences blows my mind. I thought we had reached a low with Windows Network places or the messages I get when I try to use 802.11. (don't you just love that root certificate message?)

When I really get to use the stuff I am sure I will have more feedback.

It'll be interesting to see whether stepping away from the day to day running of MS gives him an even greater candour. It appears from this email that he was fully aware of the damage being done to his company - perhaps he'll be able to steer Ballmer and Ozzie a bit better from outside than he has done from within...

You may well have seen these funny little designs on web pages and in magazines:

What you may not know is that these seemingly random sets of dots can contain a wealth of information.

Traditional one dimensional barcodes can contain a limited amount of information, typically around 15 characters. The 2-D barcode format expands this in to the kilobyte range. They are therefore ideal for tagging items - we've just started using them as asset tags on our PC's. If you want to create your own, Nokia provide a handy little online app that will do just that - pretty much every Nokia camera phone comes with the software to read these codes. You can create your own designs here. Alternatively, if you have more heavy duty needs, I can heartily recommend BarTender - you can download a 30 trial version here.

As you know, I'm a long time eBayer... Well, as we're getting ready for our honeymoon, I hope you'll forgive the shameless plug of one of our auctions! If you're looking for SATA cables, head on over to my auction here. The starting price for 35 is just £20 delivered anywhere in the UK.

Please help me pay for my soon to be wife's shoe addiction - New York may bankrupt me!

Over the past few weeks, I've been playing with a lot of new stuff, mainly because I've just acquired a load of web space for free. As you'll probably know, I'm a big fan of Open Source Software, so when somebody told me about OpenSourceCMS.com, I headed straight over. The premise behind the project is excellent - they have installed loads of Open Source CMS's that you can play with to your hearts content. Every two hours, the VM's are refreshed and you start again with a blank installation. If you're interested in that sort of stuff, it's definitely worth a visit.

Anyway, under the Light section, there is an item called eyeOS. Clicking on the demo link presents you with this screen:

Obviously, this is radically different from the front page for most sites. They provide a login and password (root and demo), so off we go...

On logging in, you get something like this (will open in a new window as the picture is quite large). It is, as near as damn it, a full desktop. If you delve deeper, you'll find a mail client, spreadsheet, word processor and all sorts of other things. From a programming perspective, it's genius. There is even a process monitor and a file manager (see below):

The big question is, aside from the proof of concept and the undoubted skill of the programming team, is it any good? Well, surprisingly, it is. As it stands, it's not going to replace Windows or OSX. I'm pretty sure however that to compare eyeOS to those two is missing the point. I work on tens of different computers during my working week - Windows machines, UNIX and Linux boxes and even the occasional Mac. What eyeOS gives me is the ability to access the little files that I need (configuration data, usernames, application patches etc) from one location, and to edit them in place. I've installed the software on one of my other domains, and I find that I am using it more and more. Where I used to stick stuff on a USB key or email it to myself, I'm now using eyeOS. It also provides a mobile friendly site which allows you to access your files on the move, which I can see being a killer app.

I think the best way to think of this product is to compare it to the Asus Eee PC. In the same way that it provides slightly reduced functionality for a greatly reduced price, so eyeOS limits what you can do, but allows you to do everything in the same place.

If you're interested in having a play, head on over to the leve demo at OpenSourceCMS.com - click here to go straight to the demo. If you'd like to find out more about the project, pay a visit to eyeos.org. Here you'll find a wealth of information, as well as loads of community developed applications.

I think this project could be one to watch...

Apologies for the blatant plug here, but if I can't advertise my own business on my own site, where can I? For the last year or so, we've been selling Pink Hard Hats on eBay. Strange product I know, but my other half found them and they're a pretty decent seller. As you'll also know, eBay seem hell bent on making it as difficult as possible to sell stuff on their site. We've therefore decided to shift the focus off of eBay and on to our site. If you know someone who'd like one, please point them at the link below, or click on the picture...

www.pinkhardhats.co.uk - go on, you know you want one!

From a technical perspective, I knocked the site up with Joomla 1.5. This is the first time I've used this version, having been a die-hard 1.0x boy. I must say that it's not a massive leap forwards, but there are some really nice features on the admin side that make content management more pleasurable. Adding in more complex HTML to posts still requires that you turn of TinyMCE, but that's really no hardship, and basic code is supported pretty well. The media manager is a nice addition, and grouping together all of the module management tools makes a lot of sense. If you've got a lot invested in themes there is also a 1.0x compatibility mode available so you can put off rewriting your code for a while. As you've probably guessed, I'm a big fan of all things Joomla, and this version just goes to strengthen that feeling. With the abundance of GPL templates on the web, it is incredibly easy to make a professional looking site with little or no artistic skill, which is a bonus for me! I'm still not sure if it's up to handling a large site with 10's of editors and 1000's of users, but for an SME website, it's unbeatable. From unzipping the files to my desktop to submitting the site to Google, about an hour and a half passed. I don't think you can get much quicker than that...

Of course you wouldn't (would you?). It's therefore amazing that some companies assume that not only do you want to use their services, but that you want to give them unfettered access to your digital life.

I recently came across Yelp - an online review site based in the US. As part of the registration process, this dialogue box appears:

Basically, it's asking you to trust them with the contents of your inbox. I'm sure the people at Yelp are incredibly honest, but aside from violating the terms of use for all of these email providers, would you honestly want a third party to have access to all your emails? Hmmm...

If, like me, you're a devout Firefoxist, you'll know that v3 will be available from June 17th. What you may not know is that the Mozilla lads and ladies are trying to break the Guinness World Record for the most software downloaded in 24 hours.

If you'd like to be involved, simply click on the pic below:

If you've been in business for a while, you'll know that the cost of the little things soon adds up.

We've been using Vistaprint for our business branded consumables for years now, and the service has been first class. You will get a lot of emails from them (about one a day), but the offers that they give are phenomenal - this morning I've ordered some more business cards, a free branded cap, t-shirt and pen, some car door magnets and a rubber stamp FOR FREE!

Click here, or on the pic to pay them a visit.