Category Archives: YukYuks

a collection of found humour

New Paradigms, YukYuks

Dell goes virtual… users go broke?

The Portable Consultant just read about Dell’s plans to increase support for virtualization in their PCs.

The article is another case of technology overtaking common sense. While virtualization is indeed a great tool, for certain jobs and in certain situations, the article’s description of users running multiple operating systems sounds like the kind of fantasy usually reserved for those quarterly results calls tech firms put on for the financial analysts:

“One virtual machine might run Windows Vista and handle every day computing tasks, while another could be used only to browse the Internet, limiting any security threats to the parameters of the virtual machine — which could be deleted.

“A third virtual machine might run a version of Linux that is compatible with programs on the user’s work computer. And a fourth virtual machine might run Windows XP software that is not compatible with the Windows Vista machine.”

-Reuters.com: Dell eyes PCs running Linux, Windows at same time

Ok, now stop laughing at the thought of paying for a second, older Microsoft OS in order to run the software that the Vista Ultimate fails to run long enough to total up how much this Dream PC is cost you in operating systems.

Note that we no longer use our main copy of Windows for Internet surfing… too dangerous! …we need an expendable copy! (By the way, Sandboxie does this reasonably well for free – or $25 USD if you choose to register. A USB key with SanDisk’s U3 or Lexar’s PowerToGo is another alternative).

The author must be smoking something really fine if he sees a world in which we want to run MS Windows even though our office system is Linux.

A great article, all ’round… this one goes in my ‘YukYuk’ archive.

Cheers,
-pmh

YukYuks

haiku 4 u

When I received a job posting from Grassroots via LinkedIn recently I was entertained by their request for the following:

– What’s the second coolest thing you’ve ever done?
– Write a haiku about online technology.
– What’s your slogan (or soundtrack)?
– What would you do with an extra 6 hours a day?
– What question should we ask you in an interview?

Although I’m not in a position to consider the position, I did decide to complete the questionnaire:

– What’s the second coolest thing you’ve ever done?
This changes depending on mood, but it might be:

* refilling portable generators with gasoline in order to keep Yahoo’s back end search engine, The Open Text Index, on the Internet during a four day power outage in Mountainview while the soon-to-be billionaire David Filo sat on the floor of Yahoo’s ISP next door screwing plugs onto electrical cables (1995).

The coolest was probably…
* videotaping Johnny Rotten’s screen test for the lead role in The Who’s movie Quadrophenia (circa 1977) – he didn’t get the part.

– Write a haiku about online technology.
(inspired by Ian Fleming…)
Spring only comes twice:
First the Internet Bubble
Then Web 2.0

– What’s your slogan (or soundtrack)?
Everybody… wants my body… sometime.
(to the tune of the Sinatra’s Everybody Needs Somebody…)

– What would you do with an extra 6 hours a day?
Convert my meeting schedule to metric time.

– What question should we ask you in an interview?
Ans (recursive): “What question should we ask you in an interview”

Cheers,
-pmh

YukYuks

Thanks, Santa for my Trivial Pursuit – Web 2.0 Edition!

Dear Santa,

Thank you for new Trivial Pursuit – Web 2.0 Edition you dropped off the other day. It’s perfect for a guy who spends his commute listening to the latest tech podcasts. I particularly like the fact that in this edition there are several “right” answers to every question.

The Portable Consultant was thrilled by Trivial Pursuit – Web 2.0 Edition’s insightful trivia, such as:

  • “What does RSS stand for?”

ans.: “lots of things“

…and the ambiguous potential of questions like:

  • “Who is the Podfather?”

ans.: Depends whose podcast you listen to… Adam Curry (historical term), Ricky Gervais (The Pretender), or Leo Laporte (who favours Doug Kaye)

…and…

  • “What term is used to describe the distribution of audio content via RSS?”

ans.: “audio blog” (BC – Before Curry), “podcast”, “netcast” (if you’re a TWIT)

I love the educational value of such questions as:

  • “Name three patent holders who now effectively control the Internet?”

ans.: SCO (owns Linux), Apple (owns “podcasting” …except for Beatles golden hit shows), and Microsoft/Novell (owns Linux)

…and…

  • “When is open source not open source?”

ans.: When it’s Shared Source TM [Microsoft]”

Some questions certainly make you appreciate the value and spirit of our new online communities, such as:

  • “What did the founders of YouTube do for the video community that made them filthy rich (to the tune of 1.64B USD in Google stock)?”

ans.: They posted a short [1:36 min.] “thank you” video to the site.

Of course the publishers of the game get full marks for presentation, too! I love the O’Reilly animal pictures on the backs of the cards, the free 1000 page white paper on the definition of Web 2.0, and the one year free subscription to Wikipedia Online!

Thanks, Santa, for a great nerd’s eye review of 2006!
-pmh