Just on a whim, I’ve decided that when I’m bored and have nothing (fun) to do, I’ll do a little comic. These comics will have no consistent characters or storylines, hence the title “UNTITLED”. They will simply be one-shot comics, like “Speed Bump”. There will be no set schedule. I will post them both on my DeviantArt site and here, if and when I get them done. I have to leave room for my job search and ongoing college education.
I have started work on UNTITLED1. It’s sloppy, and probably not that funny, but it’s a way to practice drawing and maybe entertain some people at the same time. The upcoming comic pokes fun at T9 text input (oh boy) and a sit-com type relationship (think Frank and Marie Barone) at the same time! Can it be done? The answer will come.
I’ve been playing with the Windows 7 release since a few days after it was released to the public. So far, it’s living up to the hype. Here’s a brief comparison between XP, Vista, and 7 (in my opinion):
Windows XP
Windows Vista
Windows 7
Bootup time
Good 4/5
Varies with the position of the moon 2/5
Good 4/5
Appearance
Good, but got old quickly 3/5
Amazing 4/5
Incredible 5/5
System requirements
It runs on my dad’s computer unmodified 5/5
Brings the most advanced technology in the galaxy to its knees 2/5
Somewhere between XP and Vista 4/5
Performance
Speedy with a decent system 3/5
Speedy with top-of-the-line system, liquid nitrogen cooling, and live human sacrifice 1/5
Does this thing read my mind or something? 4/5
Ease of use
Confusing transition from 98, but easy to navigate after a month or so 4/5
Confusing transition from XP, but easy to navigate after years of therapy 2/5
Confusing transition from XP, slight behavioral modification needed with transition from Vista 3/5
Reliability
First version of Windows I used that could run for more than a couple hours at a time (actually had it up to three solid weeks) Frequent blue screens and freezes upon trying something new 3/5
Less blue screens than XP. More random crashes of individual apps. 3/5
Have not had a single blue screen. OS has not frozen. Individual apps crash less often 4/5
Backwards Compatability
Broke some pre-XP programs. I only had one game that no longer worked in XP. Many of my Windows 98 DirectX games ran better in XP 4/5
Most of my Windows 9x games no longer run. Some XP apps do not work. 64-bit edition no longer has any legacy 16-bit support 1/5
About the same as Vista, slightly better 2/5
Overall
4/5
2/5
4/5
I heard that Microsoft also reworked the way the graphics are handled. The experience index ratings show the effects of that. Here’s a comparison on my laptop, before and after:
Vista (64-bit)
7 RC1 (64-bit)
Processor
4.8
4.9
RAM
5.9
5.9
Graphics (Aero)
4.1
4.1
Graphics (Gaming)
3.6
5.1
Primary HDD
5.3
5.3
Everything’s pretty much the same… except look at the Gaming Graphics score. Before, 3.6. Now, 5.1. Five point freaking one! The Gaming Graphics score is no longer the one dragging down the curve. Now it’s my Aero Graphics. My base score has shot from 3.6 to 4.1! I fail to see any improvement in the Half-Life 2: Lost Coast Video Stress Test benchmark, however.
Even in the places where performance hasn’t improved statistically, it feels snappier, which some attribute to the reworked graphics “sharing”.
So, In all, I like Windows 7 about as much as I liked XP in its heyday. Of course, Windows 7 is better. Also, somehow, Microsoft figured out something that’s going to win over a lot of people. Windows 98 had a colorful bootup screen with animation. Windows XP had a simpler boot screen with with just the logo and a scrolling bar animation. Vista had an incredibly boring boot screen, with just the scrolling bar and copyright text. Yet, 7 has the most impressive boot screen I’ve ever seen on ANY operating system, and yet it boots slightly faster than Vista’s lackluster splash. Seriously, if you haven’t seen it, hit play below.
I am looking forward to Windows 7’s release. It may be the first version I actually want to upgrade to since XP (rather than just stick with the old version until I have to buy a new computer preloaded with the newer version).
I have a close friend who works at Microsoft, who told me yesterday that starting with the next beta release of Windows 7, the traditional Explorer GUI will be made optional. By default, the new Microsoft BOB 7 will be the GUI on capable computers (Experience Rating index of at least 6.2).
The new BOB 7 GUI will feature the reappearance of Rover (last seen in Windows XP as a search assistant), as well as the rest of the original BOB cast, as well as many new characters. They will all be rendered live in 3D, taking advantage of DirectX 11's new features.
According to my friend, he hear Melinda Gates say "Maybe BOB will actually have some users now that it'll be shoved in their faces. Then maybe my dream of conquering the world through my husband's brainchild using cute yet obnoxious helpers and clunky, unusable interfaces... Maybe BOB's prophecy will be fulfilled." She followed this comment with maniacal laughter.
I think this is a great idea. I really need an anthropomorphic yellow lab to help me balance my checkbook. I can't do it myself.
Ok... This weekend was an officially weird one for computers...
First issue: I noticed this one as it was happening. Google's goof-up was later attributed to human error. The problem? A single "/" in the wrong place acted as some sort of wildcard.
Second issue: Portions of my university's website were unexpectedly down for part of the weekend, including the Blackboard webapp, where students go to look up homework assignments, download class materials, check their grades, etc. Basically a big part of the student resources offered by my university. I did not witness this myself as I must have used it for what I needed before it tumbled off the face of the web, but many of my classmates have raised complaints in class.
Third issue: This one struck a bit closer to home. My future mother-in-law (who is generously providing me with room and board after a recent tragedy, which I will talk about later) had a lot of trouble with her work-at-home setup. She's a phone representative for a well-known phone company. Countless times on Saturday, her VPN connection would be dropped like a hot potato. Just before every drop, my internet connection speed would drop from 1.5Mbps to sub-dialup speeds, with resumable downloads being forced to restart from scratch. Also, just before that, my download speeds nearly doubled for a few seconds, outside what I would expect from an actively shared connection. I have no idea what was going on there, but it didn't seem to be my fault; the disconnects continued after I had shut down. Previous erratic download speeds seemed to be attributable to my Wii, but since a few firmware updates ago, the problem was gone. I doubt the problem has returned, but if the problems continue today, I will try disabling WiiConnect24. I've all but ruled out internet conection issues, by running line tests and speed tests which all came back with expected results.
Fourth Issue: Friday night, Netflix was a Netflop. Watch Instantly was virtually unusable. Streaming would fail shortly into a movie, and would refuse to rebuffer, claiming it could not reach the server. Other movies worked briefly, at which they would refuse to buffer. This isn't related to time limits, because it is an unlimited plan, and Netflix worked once again Sunday.
Fifth issue: My father's computer suddenly stopped recognizing USB Mass Storage devices: his digital camera, his brother's flash drive, etc. all showed up but were inaccessable ("Please insert a disk into drive X:", etc). I remoted in through VNC, and watched his screen as he plugged in devices. Sometimes it was the above mentioned symptom, sometimes it was "USB device not recognized". Bypass the hub, same problem. Reboot, same problem. So I drive over, and it's working perfectly. We both scratched our heads for a half an hour trying to reproduce the error.
And that's a wrap for now. I have never seen this many inexplicable, apparently self-resolving issues in one WEEK, even when I was an assistant tech in High School (where I found my share of WTFs, but they were at least explainable or fixable), nevermind less than three days.
===EDIT=== Ok, here's something I just found out. 30 seconds of porn gets spliced into the Super Bowl broadcast for Tuscon, AZ Comcast cable subscribers. So far it seems a hacker hijacked the standard definition signal. Why can't cable hackers insert in wholesome material, like Care Bears? Full story.
Recently, due to a change in the way AOL ran their myeaddress service, I was required to purchase the tuxrug.net domain. As an upside, it has a multitude of new features. Previously, it was just my email. Now, for example, http://blog.tuxrug.net/ redirects here, and you can send a text message to my phone by visiting http://phone.tuxrug.net/. Also, I am setting up http://art.tuxrug.net/ as I write this, which will redirect to my DeviantArt page.
Don't worry, I'll have http://www.tuxrug.net/ do something sooner or later!
