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Microsoft's latest checklist Date: 2007-06-14 I've been using Linux on my main desktop computer for many years now and find the recent deals Microsoft is making with major Linux distributions to be very troubling. I use ArchLinux, which is surely not even on Microsoft's radar, but still, anything that happens to the more popular Linux distros can hurt us all. Microsoft's checklist... [x] SuSE (failing, easy target) [x] Xandros (failing, easy target) [x] Linspire/Freespire (failing, easy target) [ ] Mandriva (failing, easy target) [ ] Redhat/Fedora (they have money, might be a hard one to crack, concentrate on patent lawsuits) [ ] Ubuntu/Kubuntu/Xubuntu (they have community, might be a hard one to crack, concentrate on patent lawsuits) [ ] Slackware (who cares, only hardcore nerds use this, ignore for now) [ ] Gentoo (who cares, only hardcore nerds use this, ignore for now) [ ] Debian (they have militant community, might be impossible to crack, ignore for now) For more information, check out these Slashdot articles... Linspire Signs Patent Pact With MS Microsoft Gives Xandros Users Patent Protection Novell Goes Public with Microsoft Linux Deal Easy Money... one year later Date: 2007-05-01 My experimentation with SEO ran out of steam about 4 months into it... but I did still manage to triple the income from the 3 sites I was concentrating on. The problem is that that is not saying much, as the sites were initially making very little to begin with. My advice, unless you are in a current hot niche market with your websites and are ready to commit a lot of effort into your SEO, don't quit your day job. If you are interested in trying out SEO and ad marketing, I would recommend reading the forums daily at DigitalPoint.com. Easy Money Date: 2006-05-01 If you've spent any considerable amount of time on the Internet, you've probably tried making money on it. I basically make all my income from working on the Internet, specifically by programming the back-ends to client websites. As you may or may not know, most of my type of work is being outsourced to India and other low-wage countries, usually leaving people such as myself having to work more for less. This is were the lure of "easy money" comes in as I have been researching internet marketing and search engine optimatizaion techniques. These are hardly new concepts anymore and I may be a bit late to the game but I think I'll be giving it a go. I understand that there is no such thing as "easy money" but for someone such as myself who lives on the Internet and knows all the related technologies, the work should not be very hard and perhaps a bit enjoyable. The work basically entails driving web traffic to sites that contain affiliate ads or pay-per-click ads. I have a number of websites I've created in the past just for fun but have never really tried to promote or monetize them. I will initially be concentrating on Desktop Linux At Home, Southern Ontario Day Trips and Cropping News. I am also going to be partnering with someone else trying to do some environmental affiliate sales sites. Why I think Rogers sucks Date: 2005-12-09 I have been a subscriber to Rogers High Speed Internet service since 1998, having toughed it out through a lot of good and bad times with them. But in the last year service has really gotten bad. Internet access cuts in and out frequently... and it's not just my computer, network card or router as I always have a glance at the cable modem sitting on a desk beside me and see that the CABLE LED light has gone out. Besides this, I use software called Bittorrent quite often. It is useful for downloading large files, specifically media and Linux distributions. For a fast Internet connection, bittorrent has always been noticable slow. I never really questioned it much and accepted it. About a month ago, my bittorrents stopped working altogether. I could not get it to even make initial contact with a tracker (if you use bittorrent, you'll know what this means). So I call up Rogers support and ask if they are blocking bittorrent traffic. The guy says "Umm, no, our bittorrents are running fine here", meaning the guy at least knew what I was talking about as he uses the software himself seemingly. Anyway, I started researching this on the Internet and found that Rogers does in fact throttle bittorrent packets on their network. And possibly is doing rolling black-outs of bittorrent traffic on certain IP blocks, which is probably what I was experiencing. Then last week I hear that they are discontinuing Usenet service. While I'm not a heavy Usenet user, I was alarmed at all the services that they are slowly eliminating. So, I started my quest for looking into some other broadband Internet provider and ended up switching to a small local ISP (sentex.ca) who has been in business for a long time and I've heard good things about them from friends. Yay, everything works again! And it's fast! And cheaper than Rogers! Now let me tell you how my Rogers cancellation call proceeded.... Rogers Agent: "I see you've been a customer for a long time, may I ask why you are leaving us?" Me: "Well, my bittorrent software doesn't work very well with your service... among other problems." RA: "I don't know anything about this bittorrent, do you mind if I go ask someone and get back to you in a minute?" Me: "Umm, OK. (waits on hold for 5 minutes)" RA: "Ok, they've explained the situation to me. Yes, we do throttle bittorrent traffic because it slows down the Internet for everyone else." Me: "But you advertise 60G bandwidth up/down per month" RA: "Yes, and I see that you don't even use half of that amount" Me: "I know, and you're saying I shouldn't even be using what I am using?" RA: "No, you can use it, it's just that this bittorrent slows down the connections for everyone" Me: "So, you are saying we can have 60G up/down as long as it's only email and web traffic?" RA: "No, you can use whatever you like" Me: "But I can't, since you throttle bittorrent... I mean really Rogers doesn't want users like me. Rogers wants people that will only ever use email and surf the web." RA: "Well, bittorrent slows down everybody elses connection, so it isn't fair to the other users." Me: "Well maybe Rogers should lower their bandwidth caps to not give the false impression that you might actually be able to use that amount!" RA: "But you can use it" on and on it went... Anyway, long story short, Rogers wants only users who will stick to email and web. Basically, users that have zero chance of using more than about 1% of their perceived 60G bandwidth limit. I guess if people using Rogers started somehow automating their browser to continually hit random sites all day, they would have to start throttling and possibly blocking web traffic too! Oh well, if they don't want me or other power users, that's fine. Bye-bye Rogers! Why I think Tigerdirect sucks Date: 2005-10-30 On September 11, 2005, I made an online purchase of a refurbished laptop from tigerdirect.ca. After not getting a UPS tracking number for the order, I called them asking for it. They claimed they did not get a tracking number for this item and they told me to wait 10 days and if the laptop had not arrived to then call them back. So after 10 days go by I give them another call. Hmmm, they say it's been lost and UPS doesn't know where it is. They offer to ship another one out to me. I ask if it will be the exact same one... "yes" they say. Here is the product description line from my printed invoice... HP Compaq EVO N610c / Pentium 4-M 1.8GHz / 14.1 inch / 256MB / 30GB / CD-RW / WiFi / Windows XP Pro Notebook PC Refurbished Notice the "WiFi" in the description. Also, the specifications listed "Integrated WiFi" as one of the features. When the laptop finally arrives, it is the correct model and works fine... except that it has no WiFi, not integrated or otherwise. So, I go back to check my printed receipt and yup, it is indicated there. I write them an email asking about the missing WiFi and if they will send me a free WiFi card or something. I get no reply. I then go check their website again and notice that the EXACT SAME ITEM no longer has any indication of having WiFi! So, they basically used false advertising and then switched the item description afterward. Well, I wasn't about to send the laptop back because of this one minor thing, as I had waited for it long enough already. Then I noticed that they also shipped me something called eTrust PestPatrol Anti-Spyware. Thinking this was a freebie, I ignored it at first. Later, I checked the packing slip which had some small print as follows: CA eTrust PestPatrol Anti-Spyware '05 Free 30Day - REMINDER THIS IS A 30 DAY TRIAL AFTER THE TRIAL YOUR CREDIT CARD WILL BE CHARGED $29.99 Naturely, I was concerned that I might be charged for something which I DID NOT ORDER and DID NOT KNOW I WOULD BE GETTING. I called them up and told them I do not want this product. They said, "Ok, just ship it back to us." I asked if they would pay for the packaging and shipping to send it back and they said no. What?! I couldn't believe what I was hearing! Now, shipping it back would not have been that big of a deal or that expensive, it's just that I was put off by their deception. I told them I would not ship it back and I would cancel any charges they put on my credit card. They then forwarded my call to someones voicemail. I left a message. I wrote them 3 separate emails explaining things. I left them another voicemail. No reply. I waited and waited, called them again, and was forwarded to someones voicemail once again. No reply. Luckily, my credit card number happened to change before the 30 day trial was up, so they couldn't bill me if they tried. I did get a notice from them in the mail saying they couldn't ship my order until I gave them a valid credit card number. Ha, seeing as I haven't ordered anything more from them, I can only assume this was for the Anti-Spyware software sitting unopened on my shelf. Whatever. They are not getting any credit card information from me and I am never buying anything from them again.    [ View ALL entries ]