Category Archives: Musing

Windows 8 experiences, and the future

Computer Aid Posted on by

Although I haven’t “upgraded” to windows 8 just yet, I have encountered it many times in the real world, with real people using it.

Given that I am technically savvy, I was able to find my way around the OS, and get my work done, but in doing so, I can now see why so many people are avoiding Windows 8

I can understand that microsoft want to push people to using the “metro” interface, but in this case, 2 things are obvious:

  1. The metro interface is still very “unpolished” (ie few apps, many apps do not have the functionality that most people expect, etc)
  2. The classic desktop has been hobbled in such a way, that it keeps trying to force people into the “metro” system.

Now, if the classic desktop was functionally identical to Windows 7 (ie with the start button, and without flicking people into “metro”), then it wouldn’t matter that metro was unpolished… some people with touch screens would still go there, and everyone else would avoid it until it improved, and was worth using.

On the other hand, given how the current classic desktop works, most people probably wouldn’t mind, if the new “metro” system was an awesome feat of functionality and useability (ie like MacOS or IOS, or even Android!).

So, it seems that, with Windows 8, Microsoft have split windows into 2 parts, and have tried to accelerate the move to “metro” by damaging the classic desktop.

My opinion, is that MS have pushed a bit too hard, and they have also underestimated how attached many people are to the start button, and the classic desktop system.

And this is without even considering how the classic desktop is still a wonderfully functional and productive environment.

My prediction for the future:

Microsoft will publicly say that Windows 8 is the best ever… but behind the scenes, they already know that they have another “Vista” on their hands.

So I wouldn’t be surprised if MS is furiously (and urgently) developing Windows 9… mostly in an effort to fix the “problem”.

If common sense prevails, they will probably re-introduce the start button, and minimise the automatic jumps to metro… this would be the quickest and easiest solution, which would only require a Service Pack update to fix.

However, if MS is unable to see the obvious, they they will probably try to tinker with metro, in an effort to make it all things to all people (and fail).

Given the rise in smartphones and tablets over the last few years, I believe that MS have taken a wrong turn, by trying to unify their OS on phones, tablets, and desktops.

The desktop still has its place, so MS should have kept going with a split OS line:

  • Keep evolving windows desktop for power users
  • Run a parallel phone/tablet OS

Since the phone OS wasn’t working well enough, bringing it to the desktop is just asking for trouble.

MS needs to focus on true functionality, so that computers are properly useable, rather than holding on to the idea that you get the most profit by upgrading windows every 2 years.

Divorce, consent orders, and superannuation splits: getting the wording correct

Computer Aid Posted on by

Here in Australia, the processes of getting a divorce and sorting out the split of property, is supposed to be getting easier (for those of us who don’t want (or cannot afford) lawyer fees.

Having just ended a 2+ year process of getting a divorce & a consent order (property settlement), I can see that the scales are still weighted in favor of guiding people away from a DIY solution.

I persisted, and with a fair amount of digging, managed to do it on a minimal budget.

First the usual disclaimer:

  • I’m not a lawyer, so don’t blame me if what worked in my specific situation doesn’t work for you.
  • This only works if both parties are in agreement on the split. If there is no agreement, then lawyers are the only way to go (unfortunately).

In my case, my ex did start getting lawyers involved, assuming I would just agree to whatever they proposed. After strongly disagreeing with a very unfair (for me) series of proposals, she eventually realised that the best results for everyone was to actually talk to me, and come to a mutually agreeable solution.

By that stage, I had taken a gamble and actually filed for divorce in Brisbane. Once someone starts divorce proceedings, the other party cannot normally stop the divorce. The gamble was: once the divorce was final, there was then a 12 month time limit on completing the consent order. If she delayed, then someone was going to have a major inconvenience (eg she could be forced to pay half the mortgage, which I was now paying… but then she could also move back in and claim half the living area… or she could force a sale of the house, to resolve any outstanding equity in the house).

Getting a divorce is actually quite easy, but it should be done after a consent order.

In the end we decided that I would get the house (and a considerable mortgage), while she would get a large chunk of my superannuation.

They say you can do it yourself, but then you get strongly pushed to get legal advice at every turn.

I ignored the “suggestions” to get legal advice… I can be stubborn sometimes. But I also got free (but limited) advice from real lawyers at community centres on many occasions… they won’t do anything for you, but they can point you in the right direction.

In the end we kept our son out of the consent order (it removed many complications), and so we just split the household effects, the 2 cars, the super, and the house itself.

The wording of the actual consent order was mostly straightforward (I can write legal-sounding stuff without too much trouble).

But splitting the superannuation ended up being the biggest problem.

It turns out you must give the super funds involved, 30 days notice of how you are going to split the super, and if the wording of the split is not “correct” (ie it must not make sense to a normal human), then they (in this case, Australian Super) will reject it.

You must get the super fund to agree in writing that they do not object to the split (and send them a “form 6” so that they can legally disclose how much money is in the super fund), before you file the consent order to a magistrate.

In the end, these are the orders that were approved (I’m publishing them here, in the hope that they will help minimise frustration for someone else in a similar situation)

The main part goes like this:

CONSENT ORDERS

BY CONSENT IT IS ORDERED

  1. That the applicant will retain ownership, all interest and liabilities in the business “XYZ Widgets” and the respondent relinquishes any claims in relation thereto.
  2. That the applicant will retain the family home at 2 Divorce Court, Deception Cove, VIC 7654, (the Home), and will also be fully and solely responsible for any mortgages, debts and Lines Of Credit, related to the Home.
  3. That the respondent fully relinquishes the family home at 2 Divorce Court, Deception Cove, VIC 7654, (the Home) and all associated liabilities, and is obliged to sign any relevant documents relating to relinquishing ownership and refinancing of the Home, within 30 days of receiving said documents. If a signature cannot be obtained within 30 days, then the court will be authorised to sign on behalf of the respondent.
  4. That the respondent will retain the red 1965 Hyundai Getz 5 door hatch.
  5. That the applicant will retain the white 1966 Hyundai Getz 3 door hatch.
  6. That the respondent will retain all furniture, appliances, and any other goods that have already been removed from the family home at 2 Divorce Court, Deception Cove, VIC 7654.
  7. That the applicant will retain all furniture, appliances, and any other goods that are currently at the family home at 2 Divorce Court, Deception Cove, VIC 7654.
  8. That in accordance with section 90MT(1) ( b ) of the Family Law Act 1975, (the Act), whenever a splittable payment within the meaning of section 90ME of the Act becomes payable to or on behalf of Basil Bushy from his interest in his Australian Super Superannuation account, Sandy Beach Bushy is entitled to be paid (by the Trustee of Australian Super) the amount calculated in accordance with Part 6 of the Family Law (Superannuation) Regulations 2001, using a base amount of $25,000 and there is a corresponding reduction in the entitlement that Basil Bushy would have had but for these Orders.

The Superannuation Fund responsible for the split of funds will be Australian Super. The applicant currently has funds with Australian Super (account number 123456789). The respondent currently has funds with Australian Super (account number 987654321).

 The operative time for order 8 is: 4 business days after the service of the final orders on the trustee.

 

 

Notice the weird wording of part 8 (which just means please transfer $25,000 from Basils super account, to the super account of Sandy Beach Bushy).

Also note that in part 3: the party thats giving up ownership of the house cannot stall or delay the transfer of house ownership by refusing to sign… as the court can now sign on behalf of the recalcitrant party.

Scam warning: Terry Riley bettennis.com.au

Computer Aid Posted on by

By now, most of us can pick a well-polished scam quite quickly.

With Terry Riley (bettennis.com.au), its a not well-polished, so initially, it fell into the realms of: “unlikely, but possible”.

I got a call from a “Cathy White” just before I was going to visit a customer. It sounded like a scam, but since she just wanted my email, and permission to send 1 week of betting tips, I decided: why not. She said Terry “lives and breaths tennis”.

So I ended up getting 3 tips from Terry and (without actually betting anything), I checked the outcome, and all 3 were winners.

There is very little information about Terry Riley on the internet.

Since his email tips also show his Varsity lakes address (gold coast, QLD), I figure: a real scammer wouldn’t do something like that.

To prove his past track record, he sends you a scan of hand-written tips for 4 months (Jan 2011 to April 2011), and the results seem reasonable: between 1 and 4 losses per month, and about 14 to 21 wins per month.

Overall, the wins more than cover the losses.

After a lot of thought, I decided that the yearly payment of “only” $600 was a reasonable risk, as I could bet at whatever level I wanted … I was just buying tips, so I wasn’t locked in to losing many thousands of dollars… and I could stop anytime I liked.

So I started a betting account (with a modest amount of money that I could afford to lose), and started receiving Terry’s tips.

After a few months, it I got the feeling that Terry was a big tennis fan, and that someone might have convinced him to use his knowledge of tennis to make some money.

After a few months, it also became obvious that Terry could not pick winners as well as he thought he could.

Sure, in the 10 months since I started receiving his tip, I’ve probably had 2 months that were profitable, and 2 months that were break-even, but otherwise its been a downward slide.

After a few months, Terry decided to introduce 2 tiers of tips: tier1 = tip is likely to win, but tips are less frequent, while tier2 is more frequent, but less likely to win. Obviously I started ignoring all the Tier2 tips.

I’m now down to 15% of the initial money deposited into my betting account. If I had started with the “recommended” $10,000, then I’d be down to just $1,500. Luckily, I used a much smaller starting amount.

To his credit, Terry doesn’t make excuses for any incorrect tips, but when I received 5 losing tips in a row, followed by 10 tips of alternating win-lose outcomes, it became obvious that Terry has either taken his eye off the ball, or he exaggerated his abilities.

After having done some research in this field, Terry’s results are no better than if you randomly pick results yourself, or if you follow a simple rule like: only bet on players whose odds are between 1.1 and 1.2

Verdict: Terry tries hard, but just doesn’t deliver.

Stop ringing me with great deals!

Computer Aid Posted on by

I find it amusing (and also annoying) that sale droids will call me offering great deals on internet and mobile phone.

So I tell them the truth: I currently spend less than AU$100 per year on my mobile (Virgin), and I get high speed ADSL2+ , 200Gb of downloads, for AU$80 per month (TPG).

Its amusing to hear them flounder for an explanation, and eventually admit that they cannot do better.

And the reason they cannot do better is that I’ve shopped around and deal directly with the ISP/phone company, while they have to pay phone consultants to drum up more business.

Otherwise, I like to string them along, as I mentioned in a prior post: annoying marketing phone calls

Government and corporate: rules and legislation… has it gone too far?

Computer Aid Posted on by

I have a friend that regularly sends me “funny” emails (we all have one, don’t we?).

At the bottom of his email, he has the following sig:

UNIX was not designed to stop its users from doing stupid things,
as that would also stop them from doing clever things.

I think its very clever (and true).

Then I started to think: A similar phrase can be applied to many areas.

eg:

Google won’t stop its employees from doing stupid things,
as that would also stop them from doing clever things.

Of course, some might say the opposite might be true for Microsoft… 🙂

Or with Governments (you might disagree with me on this one):

Australia won’t protect its citizens from doing stupid things (with silly laws),
as that would also stop them from doing clever things.

And I’m sure you will find many countries that push their citizens to mediocrity either via legislation (most of Europe springs to mind), or via the military, or via religious propaganda… or even all of the above.

I wonder if there is a lesson here, that we can all learn from?

Here are some examples of what I mean:

– Pencil cases banned from a primary school in Manchester, in case they hide sharp objects

– Sunscreen banned from a primary shcool in Manchester, due to allergy fears

– Dudley council banns foam floats from pools, in case they hit swimmers

Computer aid blog is 3 years old!

Computer Aid Posted on by

I’m amazed.

3 years ago, I made my first attempts at writing blog articles.

At first, I had 2 purposes in mind:

  1. it was a way for me to log strange computer problems, so that I could “remember” how to fix something, if I encountered it again, many months later.
  2. it was a cheap way to advertise Computer Aid, and implement some SEO

It has been useful in both ways.

I’ve been able to avoid “reinventing the wheel” a few times.

And I’m currently getting about 20 – 35% of my new customers from the internet.

At first, the traffic for computer-aid was low… about 200 – 600 visitors per month.

But then, I was using blogger.

Around July 2006, I switched to using wordpress (directly under the computer-aid.com.au domain. By the end of 2006, the website was getting around 3000 visitors per month.

And now, I’m getting around 10000 visits per month (http://www.computer-aid.com.au/cgi-bin/awstats.pl?config=computer-aid.com.au).

Clicks on my sponsors are currently earning me a bit over $400 per year, which covers the cost of the domain and website hosting… but not the huge number of hours I’ve spent writing blog articles.

I’ve also found I quite like writing my blog … so its nice to know that over 300 people per day actually read it also.

So, where do I go from here?

Ideally, I’d like to more people to click on my sponsor links… but I won’t hold my breath on that one.

For the moment, I’ll just keep going, with no major change in my routine.

Due to some recent events, I’ve deliberately slowed down my work schedule (from insanely hectic to moderately busy), but that shouldn’t affect my posts by much.

Anyway, thanks for reading.

Its been an interesting 3 years, and who knows what will happen in the next few years!

Setting up new PCs

Computer Aid Posted on by

I must say I enjoy setting up new PCs that a customer has just purchased.

To me, unpacking and assembling a PC has a christmas feel to it.

I had to do a few recently, and I feel kinda guily that I get to do the fun stuff like unpacking and assembling the “chrissy presents”. I guess its a perk of the job 🙂

why do some people get this blog emailed?

Computer Aid Posted on by

Soon after I first created this blog, I also connected it to feedburner, and activated the “email subscription” option.

I figure some people would like to read my posts without having to remember to regularly visit my website, or muck around with feed readers, etc.

since then, I’ve had 2 people send me some very exasperated-sounding emails eg:

can u STOP sending me messiges ok  it is anoying !!!!!!!
thanku!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Its probably someone playing a practical joke on them, as I cannot see how someone can go to the effort of subscribing to my email feed, and then not notice that each email has unsubscribe details within it. And given the infrequent nature of my posting (once every day or three), its nowhere near as annoying as some of the real spam emails.

Anyway I politely reply, saying that they should be able to unsubscribe themselves, but I’ve unsubscribed them anyway.

strange brisbane ants

Computer Aid Posted on by

Having lived in the outer Brisbane suburb of Deception Bay for nearly 3 years now, I find the behaviour of the local ants difficult to understand.

Besides the normal ant behaviour (they swarm after most discarded/dropped food), they do other peculiar things:

  • They often swarm into a glass that has a small amount of clean water in it. I can almost understand this: its been very dry, so water is just as important as food (to them).
  • We replaced a worn out toilet cistern. After that, they would swarm around the silicon sealant that was used on the toilet piping (maybe they were getting high on the vapours?)…. after a few months, they are now just swarming around the toilet bowl (I assume they want the clean water)
  • They seem to like biting small chunks out of clean paper facial tissues (This gets annoying/gross when I suddenly need a tissue for an imminent sneeze 🙁 )… I now have to look before I grab a tissue from the box, as it could have 20 – 50 moving black dots on it
  • We went on holiday for about 4 weeks, and during that time, they managed to bite a hole through an unopened (ie sealed) plastic bag of Castor sugar (and also an unopened (sealed) paper bag of white sugar).
  • They have set up a mini nest inside a cordless phone headset (the backlight to the lcd display shows funny moving ant shadows. I fixed that issue by removing the battery and placing the unit in the freezer for an hour (and then spent 10 minutes shaking out dead ants and eggs).
  • A few have explored a salt shaker (made of clear perspex), and have obviously died of thirst… leaving black specks in the salt.

These ants look normal (they are small and black… smaller that the ants roaming outside the house).

I can’t pinpoint the main nest, as they usually appear from cracks in the wall.

I have tried baiting them using a boron based poison, but that doesn’t seem to have much effect.

They can sometimes be useful (cleaning up some sticky messes), but they also do some weird stuff!

Whats the carbon footprint of compact flouros? are they really green? LEDs are much better!

Computer Aid Posted on by

I have just realised that Compact Flouro light bulbs are actually worse for the environment (and carbon emissions) than ordinary incandescent globes!

Many years ago, I decided to try a CF at home. It cost me $25, and it was intended to run at least 12 hours per day, so the 5000 hour lifespan was very tempting…

The 8watt CF replaced a 40watt globe

The CF was $25, the equivalent 40 watt globe was $0.50, so I needed to save over $24.50 to make it worthwhile.

I figured I would gain about 4000 hours out of the CF(compared to the incandescent globe) , so 4000 X 32Watt = 128000 watt hours… ie 128 Kwatt hours… at $0.15 per Kwatt hour, I’d save $19.20

Hey! Wheres the saving in that!

And then the CF stopped working after just 2000 hours!

Recently, with all the hype surrounding “green energy”, I’ve started thinking about the “total” carbon footprint of supposedly green items.

With CFs, you cannot just look at how much electricity they save you, you also need to consider how much energy and resources went into making them in the first place.

An incandescent is cheap because manufacturing it has a low environmental impact (and a low carbon footprint)… think about it… whats an incandescent made of? Glass, steel, a tiny tungsten filament, and a bit of “glue”

A CF, however, needs: a carefully manufactured, vacuum sealed glass tube (with a special coating on the inside), a circuit board with various electronic components all soldered together (so you get lead and lots of other toxic stuff)…

And as most engineers will tell you: the more components, the more things that can break down.

So, I reckon any carbon “savings” from a CF, will be lost in the extra carbon costs in making them in the first place.

So is there a way to be truly green with household lighting?

Not yet, but LED lighting is the way to go… it has hardly any disadvantages…

You can switch LEDs on and off thousands of times, and they won’t burn out (CFs and incandescents will burn out in a week if they are constantly switched on and off).

LEDs will eventually start to fade after a few years of use.

LEDs also don’t heat up like CFs and incandescent bulbs.

Its a pity that LED technology is not quite ready for illumination purposes. Hopefully, LEDs will be commercially viable soon!

Is blog comment spam declining?

Computer Aid Posted on by

Since the start of August 2007, I’ve noticed the number of spam comments being captured by my blog spam blockers (akismet and bad behaviour) has decreased significantly.

Bad behaviour would easily block 500 – 1500 spam comments per week… now it seems to block 200 – 300 comments.

Akismet is similar: from 20 – 30 per day, down to 5 – 10 per day.

Admittedly, my website traffic has decreased slightly (about 20%). So, all I can think is that the spammers are busy brewing up some smarter spam bots. The drop in spam activity is also resulting in a drop in my website “traffic”… but then, it was traffic I never really wanted anyway.