John Dvorak speaks — and people are ashamed to admit they agree with him this time.

Column from PC Magazine: The Great Microsoft Blunder

I think it can now be safely said, in hindsight, that Microsoft’s entry into the browser business and its subsequent linking of the browser into the Windows operating system looks to be the worst decision—and perhaps the biggest, most costly gaffe—the company ever made. I call it the Great Microsoft Blunder. […]

If the problem is not weird legal cases against the company, then it’s the incredible losses in productivity at the company from the never-ending battle against spyware, viruses, and other security problems. All the work that has to go into keeping the browser afloat is time that could have been better spent on making Vista work as first advertised.

All of Microsoft’s Internet-era public-relations and legal problems (in some way or another) stem from Internet Explorer. If you were to put together a comprehensive profit-and-loss statement for IE, there would be a zero in the profits column and billions in the losses column—billions.

His solution? Dump the browser, gift Mozilla a bunch of money, and invest in Opera.

It’s too smart an idea for Microsoft to go for. I eagerly wait Robert Scoble’s response.

Technorati Tags: Dvorak, Windows, Vista, Microsoft, Mozilla

TV Guide gets the scoop from the creators of THE GILMORE GIRLS as to their departure from the show. I’ll stop giving them grief on this now, because I am sympathetic to their reasons for leaving.

They mention, first, that they were tired of working year-to-year, and that they thought they had earned the chance to plan two years out at once. OK, I can understand that, but it’s still not worth passing $5 million over for.

On the other hand, this part of the interview is perfectly understandable:

TV Guide Community: Team Palladino: The Interview …

Dan: For the six years, we’ve been working seven days a week, ’cause we knew every aspect of the show. We’d break every story, we’d edit, this last year we directed seven between ourselves, we have written 90-something scripts.

Amy: We also take a pass at all scripts that go out and by the time our season ends, by the time I’m done editing and by the time I’m done with sound mixes and everything like that, it’s mid-May. We start back June 1. We work through every holiday… Christmas, Thanksgiving. It’s been quite a load.

Dan: So, having done that for six years, we really wanted to expand our personnel base. We wanted more writers, more bodies in that writers’ room, we wanted a director on staff, which I think every other hourlong show has, except ours. Not having that director on staff means Amy and I have to be down on stage supervising other directors, which leads to the seven-days-a-week thing. So we were needing more personnel. And we never got around to convincing people that that was absolutely necessary.

Technorati Tags: TV, Gilmore Girls

Tonight is love song night with Andrea Bocelli.

Meanwhile, here are some highlights from a recent interview with an IDOL producer:

American Idol Buzz | AccessAtlanta

He revealed to me that an Elvis Presley theme is forthcoming in “a couple of weeks.” He also said it breaks his heart that he can’t get clearance to do Beatles songs and can’t convince the Eagles to do a theme week.

To reduce busy signals, there will be two phone numbers for each of the six contestants Tuesday. […]

He said he decides the order of the contestants on a number of factors. He prefers upbeat songs to open or end the show. He won’t have a contestant open or close a show two weeks in a row.

At least they’re admitting it’s not random and that, more or less, they’re looking for a BIG finish. Expectations are always going to be higher for the contestant going last.

* Where’s that loud boom coming from? It happened most recently in San Diego, but there are similar reports across the country. Nobody can explain it yet.

* How would you like to run through the original Legend of Zelda game one more time? How would you like to do it on the web, in 3D, controlling it through your keyboard? Your wish is granted.

* The dumbest web Flash game I’ve ever linked to. No scoring. No point. No real difficulty. And, yet, it’s goofy fun for thirty seconds of your life.

Technorati Tags: boom, Zelda

This is the 68th DVD podcast. Eight minutes, roughly. 4 MB

Listen directly to the MP3 file.

Theme music excerpted from the work of Ari Shine. You can find more of his music on his page at the Podsafe Music Network.

Subscribe via iTunes, or use this RSS feed for your other podcatching client of choice.

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Read about this podcast in PODCASTING HACKS.

Where to find release lists:
DVDJournal’s release list
TVShowsonDVD.com - monthly release list

Where to find more information on these movies:
Internet Movie Database

E-mail me at AUGIEDB *at* GMAIL *dot* COM. Or leave your comments in the comments section of this message.

Tags: DVD, podcast

Interesting line of thought: With Vista perpetually delayed and requiring massive hardware upgrades to run, what’s the business reason for upgrading to it? Wouldn’t an Intel Mac be a better alternative?

Dvorak Uncensored » Are IT Managers Considering Intel Macs?

Would I be better off replacing my aging PCs with Intel Macs which can run both OSs? Isn’t the stability, smaller size, better protected, quality built Mac a better choice? Assuming the “common wisdom” that a PC is cheaper to buy, set up and maintain than a Mac, doesn’t that disappear with the increased hardware requirements for Vista? Isn’t the fact I can get this today (admittedly, on a Mini, but soon on more customizable Macs) rather than maybe next year a big factor?

Technorati Tags: Intel, Vista, Apple

We haven’t had one of these entries in a while, have we? I’ve been looking, but Hollywood’s Divorce Court has been slow lately.

Gillian Anderson, Husband Split | Gillian Anderson, Break-Up : People.com

X-Files star Gillian Anderson and her husband, photojournalist and documentary filmmaker Julian Ozanne, are separating after 16 months of marriage, their London-based lawyers said in a statement.

Technorati Tags: X-Files, Gillian Anderson

* Beautiful rainbow pictures. (Via)

* “What if Microsoft released Vista for free? I agree, it is extremely unlikely, but there are some good reasons to do so…”

* A visual psychotherapist explains some baseball theory to you. Amongst other things: You can’t track the last 5 or 6 feet of a pitch, and there is no such thing as a “rising fastball.”

* A map of gas prices across the U.S. I love a good Web 2.0 mash-up.

* More graphics showing how Red Steel works on the Nintendo Revolution. What amazes me the most is how playing this game will cause you to grin like a fool. Really, check out the pictures. Maybe that episode of BOSTON LEGAL last month was right about dopamine levels. . .

* Pay less in taxes - turn your hobby into a business. Hmmm, “Various And Sundry, LLC?”

Technorati Tags: rainbow, Microsoft, Vista, baseball, gas, Nintendo, Revolution

I’ve never read any of his books, but I know he has a large following and is well-respected. I was sorry to read this over the weekend.

From his publisher’s website:

Now in my case, what I have is primary amyloidosis with cardiomyapathy. That means that some (only about 5% at present) of my bone marrow is producing amyloids which are depositing in the wall of my heart, causing it to thicken and stiffen. Untreated, it would eventually make my heart unable to function any longer and I would have a median life expectancy of one year from diagnosis. Fortunately, I am set up for treatment, which expands my median life expectancy to four years. This does NOT mean I have four years to live. For those who’ve forgotten their freshman or pre-freshman (high school or junior high) math, a median means half the numbers fall above that value and half fall below. It is NOT an average.

In any case, I intend to live considerably longer than that. Everybody knows or has heard of someone who was told they had five years to live, only that was twenty years ago and here they guy is, still around and kicking. I mean to beat him. I sat down and figured out how long it would take me to write all of the books I currently have in mind, without adding anything new and without trying rush anything. The figure I came up with was thirty years. Now, I’m fifty-seven, so anyone my age hoping for another thirty years is asking for a fair bit, but I don’t care. That is my minimum goal. I am going to finish those books, all of them, and that is that.

The official press release announcing the hottest DVD releases of the summer is now up. I have a nit-pick with it, though.

Animaniacs - Combined Press Release For Animaniacs and Pinky & The Brain

Pinky and The Brain: The Start of All Things Wacky - Featurette with Senior Producer Tom Ruegger, Writer Peter Hastings, the voices of Pinky and the Brain stars, Rob Paulsen and Maurice LaMarche, and voice director Andrea Romano as they discuss antidotes and antics about Steven Spielberg and why they had so much fun at work.

There’s a vast difference between “anecdote” and “antidote.” I’m pretty sure this was not an intentional mistake for humorous purposes. ::sigh::

Technorati Tags: Animaniacs

Cisco engineer gets prize for longest commute - Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal:

Mariposa resident Dave Givens makes a 186-mile drive — each way — five days a week to his job in San Jose.

The electrical engineer has been doing that commute since 1989, spending seven hours every day getting to and from work at Cisco Systems Inc.

Alias Roundtable

Now accepting fan video submissions for possible inclusion on the Alias DVD!

We are looking for devoted Alias fans that are willing to share their story and experiences of being a fan on camera. […]

Submissions will be accepted on mini DV, digibeta, beta, VHS or DVD. You must be 18 years of age or over and include a signed release with your video submission or it will not even be considered.

Technorati Tags: Alias, DVD

No, this isn’t a news article. This is an opinion piece, from noted cranky geek John C. Dvorak:

Columns from PC Magazine: Apple Needs to Make OS X Open-Source

A cloud is rising over Mac OS X and its future unless Apple makes its boldest move ever: turning OS X into an open-source project. That would make the battle between OS X and Linux the most interesting one on the computer scene. With all attention turned in that direction, there would be nothing Microsoft could do to stem a reversal of its fortunes.

Dvorak follows with all his reasons and predictions for this, calling Boot Camp just a test marketing scheme. He could be right.

One thing’s for sure: Making OS X open source would instantly launch the biggest open source project since Netscape released its code.

Technorati Tags: Mac, Apple, OS X, Linux, Dvorak

From an actual Monster.com job listing:

Manage the web production/maintenance team: set meeting agenda’s, bubble-up differences of opinion, foster a sense of teamwork and shared vision, and provide recommendations and solutions to persistent problems or instabilities.

“Bubble-up.” UGH What does “bubble-up differences of opinion” mean, anyway? To me, that doesn’t indicate a resolution. It indicates that you want to move them to the top of the business agenda.

Even worse, though, is the inappropriate use of the apostrophe in an attempt to indicate plurality for “agenda.” Double UGH.

The insanity of our current intellectual property laws:

Ben Jacobsen, a model railroad hobbyist, wrote a bunch of software to let you connect your computer to your model railroad and control trains with it. He chose to not only give the software away for free, but to make the source code available as well, so that the model railroading/hacker community could improve it and customize it to their liking.

And then KAM Industries, maker of commercial software that serves a similar role, tried asserting their ‘patent rights’ over doing just that.

When the author of the open source railroad controller asked for additional information about what claims were being infringed, KAM sent him an invoice for $203,000, claiming that the 7000 or so users of his software resulted in damages of at least $29/each.

I don’t want to live in a world where I’m not free to program anything I want, just because someone else thought of the idea first and owns a government-granted monopoly on it. Whatever happened to ideas being free, but implementations being copyrightable?