Some good news and something I never imagined happening when I attended the last TechCrunch party in New York last November; at this stage I will be attending the next TechCrunch party at August Capital at Menlo Park, California July 27. I’ve never been to the West Coast before (no slings and arrows please) so I’m looking forward to it, obviously from the opportunity of networking as well as actually seeing what the hype is about. Will be great to meet a lot of the people I’ve corresponded with , people like Brian Solis and others. I should be on the ground for around a week, given I’m likely staying at Michael Arringtons house my only request is that people don’t try to pitch their startups at first light, but aside from that I will be some-what available 🙂

While working today a window popped up and reminded me that I have less than 2 weeks to validate my legally bought legitimate copy of Microsoft Vista. It’s not the first time this has occurred. I still haven’t gotten around to reinstalling Vista twice as recommended by Microsoft to get rid of this, but it is the tipping point that has finally driven me to lose faith in a company I’ve used for 20 years. From my first XT running Dos through many years of new computers, including building many of them myself, through Win 3.0, 3.1, 3.11, 95, 98, ME, XP and now Vista I’ve remained a PC guy. I’ve literally spent tens of thousands of dollars, and yet Microsoft finds it necessary to punish me today, despite doing the right thing and running a legal copy of Windows on a system that came pre-installed with XP: the bloody product key is still stuck to the side of the box, not that it matters to them.

Today I ordered my first ever Mac.

I’d had advice to buy a Macbook Pro or similar, but I already have a laptop, one that will pretty soon probably be running Linux. Given my expenditure already on a wireless keyboard/ mouse, webcam and twin 22″ monitors the only logical choice is a Mac Pro. They’re not particularly cheap, but I shopped around and I didn’t buy directly from Apple. Went for the basic twin 2.66ghz dual core Intel Xeons, only ordered it with 1GB of Ram though, $480 for an extra 1GB is insane and I’ll pickup some generic Ram that will work in the system in the next couple of days. 500gb hard drive and bluetooth support just for good measure, you can never future proof a system enough.

I’m not sure whether to be sad, angry or just plain excited. Obviously a super fast new system is exciting, but it’s sad that it’s gotten to this point. The anger is directed at Microsoft. Here’s hoping that the new system meets expectations. I’ve got no idea when it might get here, it’s coming from Melbourne so I’d guess a week, and I’ll write some more when it finally arrives. I’ve got a lot of homework to do in the mean time, like tossing up buying Office for Mac or just ditching Office all together, replacement software, running Parallels etc… all things that need to be considered for a new system.

Update: it just occurred to me that read alone this sounds like I’m making the switch just because of one thing. I’m not, it’s the many things in Vista that don’t work, the error messages I get every morning about a MCE db error, the programs that wont run, the programs Vista wont allow to run, and the never ending “are you sure boxes”…whoever thought up that idea at Microsoft should be shot. Simply I probably wouldn’t be making the switch if I’d stuck with XP. Win XP was a great OS, I never had any issue at all across 3-4 boxes and XP editions including MCE (which I’ve still got on a dedicated box). XP was the pinnacle of Microsoft programming, Vista is like the last days of the Roman Empire.

After finally getting Vista working on my desktop at about 11:30pm last night (it took 11 hours) the nightmare continued today. I would appear that although I purchased the upgrade version and still have XP on the hard drive (although I’m unable to access it) Vista now thinks that I should have a stand lone product key for validation, so essentially I’m unable to validate my totally 100% legal copy of Vista!

I did some digging and finally rang Microsoft this morning. After nearly 1 hour on the phone talking to 3 different people, I received this advice (copied directly from the email):

1. Restart Computer and Boot from Windows Vista DVD
2. Run Setup again, without entering the Product Key
3. Complete installation and boot into Windows Vista
4. While in Windows Vista, boot the Windows Vista DVD
5. Run Setup again and this time enter the product key
6. Complete the installation and you should be able to activate Windows Vista from here.

Yep, they’re telling me to reinstall Vista TWICE! Are they f*cking joking? I asked them to give me a key that works, they told me I’d have to buy it despite the fact that I’ve already purchased Vista and could provide them the Vista key and the original XP key. So I’ve got 29 days before Vista shuts down, I’ve had to reinstall all my software and drivers and now I have to do it all again twice! If I’m feeling brave I might try on the weekend but I tell you what at this point I’ve had enough of Microsoft, I’ve used Microsoft products since DOS god knows what and can still remember running Word for DOS, I’ve spent tens of thousands of dollars over the years on PCs and software and as far as Microsoft is concerned that don’t mean jack! Vista might be pretty, and admittedly it is fairly fast, but the whole Macs just work line is really driving me to the point that my next computer will be a Mac. The lost productivity and work time in dollar figures alone yesterday would have made for a nice deposit.

8:45pm as I write this. At 12:30pm today I inserted Vista into my computer for an upgrade. Still isn’t working, after the worlds longest install process it just hung on booting up, the little loading ticker scrolling over and over and over again. Just finally worked out a way to re-install it without losing the contents of my hard disk, although looks like programs will need to be reinstalled.

Microsoft: it’s just not good enough.

And yes, I ran the compliance tests. I’m compliant, 64bit AMD 3400+ with 2gb ram should be plenty good and that’s the result the program gave me.

I’m tempted to download Ubuntu and be done with Windows altogether, or even the hacked version of Mac OSX that is suppose to run on a normal PC 🙂

I bit the bullet today. As much as I was loving my 22″ monitor it was clear from comments in my earlier post and coverage elsewhere in the blogosphere that having more than one monitor provides an improved workspace.

So I thought I’d check out buying a second 22″ monitor. The first one had cost about $680 (AUD) in November 06 and at the time was a bargain, elsewhere they started at $900 and upwards. Walked into the same store (IVC Bunbury) and they now cost $430. Sold.

I’ve had the second monitor plugged in for about 2 hours as I write this, I’ve moved the Google Desktop Sidebar to the far right hand side on Monitor 2 so essentially Monitor 1 becomes Firefox with Twitbin for Twitter, Monitor 2 becomes Outlook, Photoshop, Word, Skype, Jaiku, Internet Explorer (when needed) and Google Desktop.

OMG. Being able to work in one screen whilst relevant info you need is open in another is BRILLIANT. I’d suggest that whilst writing one post I saved maybe 20 minutes. Not having to flick between windows and having your original copy open saves time.

You know I was reluctant. It seems like an extravagance. She who must be obeyed wasn’t keen on the idea but it was the monitor or Foxtel, and she hates the idea of having Pay TV give how little any of us actually watch TV, so the monitor won.

I’ll probably be able to give a better assessment in a couple of weeks, but I’m loving it and at this stage it’s highly recommended. All you need tech wise is a video card with 2 outputs (the second one is on a VGA connection, the original on DVI) and some cash. If you work online it will pay for itself over and over again in saved time.

I tossed up writing about this over the weekend but it’s too bizarre not to share.

So we decide Friday night that we’d go out for dinner. The golden child is impartial to pasta so we head to Uncle Vinnies Eaton for a cheap and cheerful meal (when I say cheap I mean BYO + under $20/ meal). We order, food comes out quickly. I ordered the “Vinnies Special” chicken dish, some sort of cream sauce on chicken with mushroom, bacon and sun-dried tomato thing and it came with a side of salad.

So I’m eating the salad, and I spot what at first appears to be a mussel, I like seafood but I hate oysters and mussels, so I put my fork under it to remove it. And up pops a snail!

It gets better. The snail wasn’t dead. So I flick it up then drop it in shock, it lands on top of the salad and starts blowing bubbles!

I should have taken a picture on my mobile. I’ll never forget the image in my head as long as I live.

Suffice to say the meal was replaced and I didn’t have to pay for it, but I couldn’t bring myself to eat the replacement salad, and she who must be obeyed didn’t eat hers either. The golden child on the other hand thought it was the most hilarious thing he had ever seen (mind you, 4 year olds think everything is funny) and continued to talk about it for hours to come, even going so far as telling me this morning on the way to school how he was going to tell his teacher about it, some 3 days later!

I don’t write this out of anger towards Uncle Vinnies Eaton, it was an accident and they did everything they could to repair the situation, and yet they might be better of switching to French Cuisine, they’ve certainly been practicing it.

It probably serves me right for gloating about getting a bargain. 2 weeks later and my Sony HD TV still hasn’t arrived. When I agreed to buy the thing the salesman told me 2 days. After I handed over the money I was told 1 week and a bit, Thursday to be precise. So I wait at home Thursday (last week) for it to arrive. Nothing. I ring them Thursday 3pm, I’m told it will definitely be there the next day (Friday). So I ring Bunbury Retravision at 10am Friday, am told that yes, TV is on the truck on the way to me. Wait all day for the delivery. Ring at 3:30pm. Told again that the TV is on the delivery truck and will be with me very soon. Mind you, Thursday I’d packed up the old TV and put it away, ready for the new TV, so at this stage I’ve only viewing TV via small sets (to this day). 4:30pm Friday I get a phone call from the original salesman: the TV still hasn’t been shipped to Bunbury. I flip, big time. He offers me a free DVD player for my inconvenience. I accept but I still want the f*cking TV, he promises that it’s on its way, Monday, Tuesday at the latest.

It’s now its Tuesday, no phone call, no delivery, it’s now exactly 2 weeks since I paid for the thing, in actual folding cash based on a good price and despite the fact that EVERY OTHER electrical retailer had the TV in stock, and could have it to me the next day. So I ring Retravision at 4:30pm, they’ll get back to me, they call 15 minutes later, cant say when the TV might get here, manager will call me in the morning. I’ve rung The Goodguys Bunbury, they haven’t offered as good a price, but they’ve got the TV is stock. Even if it ends up costing a couple of hundred more, if I can have it there and then…

The story will continue tomorrow. For now, Retravision Bunbury: NEVER, EVER AGAIN. The only decision is to shop elsewhere with a retailer with staff that don’t lie continually for a living.

BTW: feel free to link to this post with the words Retravision Bunbury. I’m already the 1st result in Google for The Goodguys Bunbury, lets see if we cant make Retravision Bunbury have the same result 🙂

Update: phone call this morning from Retravision: maybe Friday, maybe next week on the TV. I got my money back, drove less that 1 km down the road to Good Guys, asked them to match the price, and walked out with the TV which is now setup and in my TV room. The Manager rang to apologise, I accepted the apology but I’ll still be hesitant to ever shop there again.

Tags: Retravision, Retravision Bunbury

An ode to all those blogs that ran pictures of new gaming systems arriving last year; my new system arrived in the post today:

The Box

OMG, the contents!

Yes! It’s a 30 year old, 1977 Atari CX2600 Woody!

Up close

Extras!

More photos, of it plugged in and working to follow 🙂

Tags: Atari 2600

I’ve finally, finally got around to buying a replacement for my 8 year old, 68cm Teac old fashioned CRT TV, our first major purchase after I got married…we even used AGC finance to pay for it at the time 🙂

Picked up a Sony 101cm (40in) Bravia LCD True HD 1080i model: this one I think, the KDL40X2000. Has more inputs that I’ll probably ever have gadgets to plug in to.

Note the list price at Sony.com.au is $4599 (time of writing).

Tip: it pays to shop around. I paid $3700 for it, although it won’t be delivered till next week (stock coming from Perth). And yes, I didn’t buy it online, I bought it locally, in Bunbury, from a real person.

There are 3 major retailers in Bunbury that sell TV’s (outside Kmart/ BigW and Target and a couple of smaller Hi-Fi/ specialty shops). I went to all three pretty much knowing what I wanted, that I wanted “True HD” + LCD, because I believe that it will help future proof the purchase, being that it gives full resolution with Blueray and what not.

Harvey Norman was $4599
Good Guys: $4399
Retravision: $4299

I didn’t even bother trying with Harvey Norman, indeed I’m really surprised they’re still in business, they don’t stock anything that is price or cheap any more, presence is their only redeeming feature.

The local Goodguys discounts at around 8% for cash, which would have bought the TV to about $4050.

Knowing this, when told the price by Retravision, I said to the guy that they had it for the same price as The GoodGuys (they didn’t), and that they’d offered me a very generous discount for cash, without telling him the actual figure. He came back at $3700. Suffice to say SOLD.

Haggling isn’t my thing, but this was easy, I saved $900 over the Sony + Harvey Norman Price, and an amzing $600 off the actual ticket price at the store….that and you need to pay in physical cash is the other tip, when they see you’re serious with a ton of folding in your hand, it’s amazing the bargains you can get.

Last tip: Have a budget as well. I only ever had $4000 in cash with me, and that’s all I was willing to pay. As it turns out, I’ve still got $300 in my wallet 🙂

(note to US readers, prices in AUD, which given a week or two will probably be the same value as the US dollar anyway, currently trading at 83c)

I spent some time Thursday at Perth Zoo with my new camera, a Panasonic DMC-FZ50. Amazing what you can do with a decent bit of technology, certainly it might be time to drop the poor photographer tag, 10mgp with 12x optical zoom really makes for some half decent shots. More on my Flickr account.