BBC NEWS: Microsoft's Gates being knighted

The king of computer software Bill Gates is due to receive an honorary knighthood from the Queen for his contribution to enterprise in the UK.

The enterprise contributed to is anti-virus, anti-spyware and anti-spam companies, plus various political lobbyists to ensure that the public bodies like the NHS continues to spend masses on software licences that could, you know, save lives and that.

Bloody Bill bloody sodding Gates. Apparently he will be made a "Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire", which sounds more Bill and Ted than Bill Gates.

Link

EU Commission Negates Democracy

Despite the fact that the national parliaments of Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany have rejected it, several other governments refusing to approve it as it stands, and a demand from the democratically elected MEPs to restart the procedure now that the implications are better understood, the European Commission are apparently ignoring the wishes of the majority of Europe to please Microsoft and their cronies, and continuing to force through this Godforesaken software patent legislation.

• NoSoftwarePatents.com report
• FFII report
• Groklaw report

I'm pro-Europe. Or at least, I was. The rot is creeping in. The thought that all conquering US-based companies can make a puppet of Ireland who as a result can control the legislation governing the millions of people in Europe is chilling.

Another Operating System rant

Last week, I installed two different operating systems on two different PCs. One was Windows XP, the other Ubuntu Linux.

The first experience went like this. Put CD in drive, booted off it. Base system installed, reboot to complete. Have to go online to activate. Get to a desktop. Install firewall immediately, then reboot. Install anti-virus, reboot. Notice that the sound card isn't detected, find the CD in the back of the office for the motherboard, and it finds five things to update - the AGP driver, IDE driver, USB driver, LAN driver and Sound driver. It installs each of these, one by one, rebooting after each one. By this point I'm already pulling my hair out. Then it's time to see what joys the online update from the manufacturer would bring...

Connect to update centre. Have to install a piece of software to handle the updates, which requires a reboot. Then there's 13 incremental security updates, and various incremental EULAs saying things like "By clicking OK, you waive your right to drink fluids" - and a reboot after the thirteen have been installed. Then there's the service pack to be installed, with another alarming EULA - "If you don't wipe your nose within 24 hours of installation, we own your nose" - which starts installing and then... dies. I pull the plug, and on restart it says "something's gone wrong", performs an integrity check, and tells me to uninstall the service pack, which I then do. Another reboot. On getting to the desktop after a whole load of grinding away, it's immediately apparent that the whole installation has gone "tits up" (a technical term). Nothing is salvagable.

I have to start again.

Second time around, just as many reboots - but this time the service pack successfully installs. Total number of reboots... no idea. 23 or so. Took all day and required me to leap up from my machine to this other machine so often that nothing else got done. And this is before any other software has been installed - just a base system.

The second experience went like this. Put in CD and booted. Base system was installed. Rebooted. Base system connected to the internet and downloaded everything it felt I needed for a stable desktop. Rebooted after this was completed purely because the system kernel had been updated. Got to desktop again, with plenty of extra software - like Word Processors, paint packages, etc. - already installed. Went online and got a few extra things I wanted - firewall program, a couple of servers - didn't reboot. All was fine, just there, like that.

One of these operating systems costs money, the other doesn't. One lets you tinker away to get things just right, the other lets you have it any way you want it, as long as it's the way that has been officially sanctioned. One is made by a convicted monopolist, the other by thousands of volunteers around the world. Can you guess which is which?

Clue - Windows is the crap one.