Windows is easier, right?

So I remember back when I used Windows exclusively, and thinking how much more difficult it was to configure Linux to do what I wanted. I've come to the conclusion that I was completely insane. I recently had to reinstall Windows on one of our home computers and have been struggling with it for two days now. It still doesn't recognize the sound card. There is some other device that I have no idea what it even is that keeps failing to install. I created a partition, with Windows in just enough space to operate and save a file or two, the rest of the disk is Ubuntu Linux.

Total Ubuntu time, about two hours including partitioning and applying patches. All hardware was found with no issue and everything is running perfectly. Were it not for the windows only printer that we have, it would be gone for good.

Total Windows time, two days and counting. For some reason Service Pack 2 did not finish last night. Update, reboot. Update, reboot. It's like a bad dream.

I'm sure anyone who works with Windows on a regular basis knows what I'm talking about. I may not post for a few days because I will be traveling. Take care.

END RANT.

Making the VOIP Leap

I tried Vonage a few months back, using a free trial. In the end, however, it ended up being cheaper to just get unlimited long distance service through my telephone provider. The service was not bad and the call quality was great. Some things have changed since then with my monthly bill, and I've been thinking of reevaluating the decision to ditch Vonage. For one thing, I no longer have unlimited long distance and probably spend at least the same amount on local phone service and calling cards as the monthly Vonage fee. Plus, the last time I talked to them, they offered me three months free.

One of the biggest reservations I've had up until now is the ability to make phone calls in the event of a power or network outage. This has been the last remaining hangup (no pun intended) in eliminating traditional home telephone service. But there have been several issues that have made me rethink my logic behind this.

First of all, I am probably using a form of VOIP now that may or may not continue to work when the power goes out. Considering I have "digital telephone," that's probably corporatespeak for VOIP. Second, my issue of not being able to make calls when the power goes out is irrelevant because I no longer have a non-AC powered telephone. If the power goes out, I'm already unable to make calls. Third, I cannot remember the last time I was without power, let alone out of power and desperately needed to make a telephone call. Of course, now that I've said it, that situation will arise immediately upon disconnecting phone service. And (knock on wood) the internet service I have is amazingly reliable, I can only recollect one brief outage in the past year.

So, I am going to take the leap and see what happens. I know that others have done this and probably have had no issues, but it's hard to let go of the landline. For those of you in a similar situation, I'll keep this update if I have any issues. The only suggestion I have if you switch to Vonage is to call during their normal business hours. If you call after hours, you are routed to their call center in India. However, during normal business hours, you get their staff in New Jersey. Believe me, the difference is worth the wait.

What was it like before Google?

I was thinking today of how easily information can be obtained on just about anything. In fact, it is hard to remember a time when a person had to actually look something up in a book or wait to find someone with the knowledge. Virtually anything you need to know is at your fingertips within a matter of seconds using the internet or discussion groups.

My children will always know this as a standard practice, and probably much more. The tools they will have are probably probably in someone's imagination at this point. When they are my age, the technology we marvel at today, to them, will be commonplace and perhaps even primitive. I think that everyone gets so accustomed to the technology that we have today that many do not take time to appreciate it.

Try to remember what it was like (if you can) to find information before Google and the Internet. Don't ever forget the magic of it all. What we have today liberates us from ignorance and provides limitless opportunities for knowledge and education. Stop and enjoy the virtual scented roses.

Libraries as a Resource

As one who constantly seeks knowledge, libraries are very appealing to my quest for information about virtually any topic. Most libraries are very well run and respect individual's right to have free access to any information they desire. As a result, a library and/or librarian can be one of your most valuable resources when on a quest for information. Contrary to the popular belief, one can usually get more education at a public library than at your local university. You also cannot beat the price.

So why don't more people use libraries? I have always wondered about this. I do like the fact that libraries are not crowded (generally) like a shopping mall, but it would be wonderful if everyone were so interested in learning that libraries had to expand to accomodate all of the information seekers. I truly believe that if people fully understood the power of their local library, it would increase the general education in our world dramatically. However, as long as there is a television blaring and reality television to watch, the vast majority of people will be content to be entertained by brain junk food.

Getting a library card is actually very simple. Generally it requires only proof that you reside in the county or city where the library is located. Some may even require less information. I have lived in many cities in several states and obtaining a library card was one of the easiest tasks of moving to a new city. Many libraries also participate in interlibrary loan programs, so that if they do not have the item you are seeking, it can be obtained by another library.

When most people think of libraries, they think of only books. However, libraries typically also have movies, music, software, magazines and e-books. They also generally have access to commercial or research databases, article indexes and other various forms of information. Library staff can help one locate information on just about any subject. If I have been stumped in a search, they have always been able to point me in the direction of resources.

Project Gutenberg, is obviously independent of your local library. It is a library unlike any other where thousands of e-books are available free for download and distribtuion. They have e-books that you may be unable to locate in even the best of public libraries. It is amazing resource. If you find it valuable, I would encourage you to join. Michael Hart, the founder, was a keynote speaker at HOPE. Check out the web site and download the audio.

Commercial e-books are handled differently from library to library. Usually to register for these e-books requires a visit to the library, where a librarian can create an account for you. All of the libraries I have utilized have used netlibrary as their provider. Once the account is created, these e-books can be read from your home computer at your leisure. The process using an e-book is similar to a regular book. You "check out" the book for your exclusive use, or you can browse it without "checking it out." Netlibary seems to be also independent of the library card itself. My accounts from previous libraries remain active years later. Larger libraries have more e-books available, but generally the selection has been excellent at smaller libraries as well.

One issue is that libraries do not always satisfy the instant gratification of today's world. Sometimes you have to wait weeks for an item. Personally, I usually place holds on books that I want to read, and fill the time with books or media selected when I visit. There is never a shortage of books in my home, and it is not uncommon for me to be reading several books at once.

I could go on for hours about the virtues of libraries. I encourage you to visit your local library and discover it for yourself.

Photos from HOPE online

I finally got all of my pictures from HOPE (Hackers on Planet Earth) sorted and uploaded to a service. I have never used photobucket, but it's free, fast and not Yahoo, so I'll give it a shot.

http://s115.photobucket.com/albums/n305/hoot550/

My goal is to organize some of my thoughts on the conference and add them to the HOPE Wiki, but time for me seems to be forever in short supply.

I will say this: HOPE, for me, was a defining moment of my life. It has inspired me to finally take some action, work toward something great -- education of as many people as I can reach. One of the skills that I have is writing and sharing information in written form. I am not sure how this is going to work out, or where it is going to lead, but I'm taking that first step. So please bear with me as this progresses. Any constructive feedback is welcomed and encouraged. If there is anything you would like to see on this, or a direction you would like to see it go, drop me a note or leave a comment.

Thank you for taking the time to listen.

Thoughts on Data Theft/Loss

I have been thinking a lot recently about the data breaches where laptops are stolen and hundreds of thousands of people's identities are compromised instantly. I believe the fact that they are stolen is the first crime. The second crime is that the data is not encrypted. Both parties should be held equally liable for this disclosure.

The fact that disk encryption is absent from the majority of these cases leads me to believe that many corporate operations are similar to the ones with which I am familiar. Most large corporations have a system by which full disk encryption could be instituted as a policy and company wide standard for mobile computers. I understand that it would be a significant undertaking, costing money and development time with very little return on the money they spend. That may sound callous, but it is the nature of business. Most likely, it is cheaper at present to simply work a deal with another corporation to provide identity theft protection services than to completely change the configuration of their laptop computers across the entire company.

Some businesses have policies in place that would, on the surface, appear to solve this issue. This includes requiring all official company documents to be stored on the server or servers that are designated for their department or user account. Everyone asks why the data was stored on a laptop. The answer is simple: If the individual wants to work on it without network connectivity, it has to be stored locally. Network connectivity does not exist everywhere, so for those mobile users, there is no choice other than to store the data on their local system.

Secondary to this is the fact that many times, space allocated to individual users on shared servers is ridiculously small. Increasing disk space for an individual user is much like pleading a case in court. You have to prove that you do not have an enormous file somewhere that could be deleted and that you do, in fact, need this extra space to perform your job. As a result, often times it is just easier to store all that data on the local 120GB hard drive inside the workstation. In these type of instances, one cannot entirely blame the user. They are stuck in a no win situation. They have to do their job, but cannot do their job because of system limitations. Either way could lead to trouble, but odds are not saving on a server could be more easily defended than not doing one's job.

Complicating matters further, many large businesses prohibit the use of encryption technology among individual users. On the surface this seems to fly in the face of common sense. However, in the corporate world, many times common sense can be temporarily suspended to make way for a valid reason. There is no way that the information technology departments can support this for hundreds of thousands of users. The nature of encryption is to allow individuals to secure their documents and/or communications and to make that communication impossible to intercept or recover. While the majority of users who even understand encryption are the least likely to cause issues, the fact is that if a user has it and their boss does not, suddenly the user has control of their communication. This would enable people to openly violate company policies, disclose information and otherwise undertake in prohibited activity without fear of prosectuion. This says nothing of the clueless executive who will forget his private key and then be irate when the IT department cannot decrypt his/her document or e-mail. Again, at present it seems that it is more cost effective to just help clean up the mess after a data breach has occurred.

I do not have a solution to this problem. The only thing I can suggest is that people who are trusted with this data be careful with it. If it were your bank records, you would not leave it in an unlocked car with the windows rolled down, clearly visible sitting on the passenger seat. It is a mentality of respecting other people's property in the same manner that you respect your own. Unfortunately, this does not seem to be something all individuals have. And that's a whole other post...

Poor Customer Service

I read a column by David Lazarus in the San Francisco Chronicle about customer service. His column deals with a wide range of consumer issues. (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/08/13/BUGT8KG7VO1.DTL)

Basically, it confirmed what many of us already know. Service sucks just about everywhere. I think about the businesses that I deal with on a regular basis, and most of the time, the service is mediocre at best. I am not one of those problem customers who feels that everyone should bow before me as I come through the door, but there just seems to be such an unspoken anti-customer sentiment, where everything is in favor of the business that is receiving your money.

I know that everything did not decline overnight. As I think back on the various businesses that I frequent, it was a slow and gradual process. For instance, my old bank stopped publishing their phone number in the local phone book. Instead, it was the 800 number for their call center. Just calling to speak to your banker was an ordeal. It was almost easier to go in person. Then the automatic payment craze started. Pretty soon, I'm paying for the privilege of receiving a bill in the mail.

In previous times, you could vote with your dollars and just go somewhere else. Unfortunately, it seems that everyone and everything is in a quest for sameness. In the past, if you did not like big corporate policies, you could go to a smaller independent and pay a little more for service. Unfortunately, those small independents are either gone or owned by the big corporation as a subsidiary. It seems like everything is becoming the same. When this happens, no one will have to differentiate themselves because everyone else does the same thing or offers the same level of service.

It just seems like our voice as consumers is getting lost. Sure, you can make demands, learn the system and figure out a way to get what you want almost anywhere, but what about the people who do not know how to use the system to their advantage? I would argue that it is up to those of us who understand how to exploit the system to educate as many people as we can. I believe that it is not the intelligence of people that let them be fooled by this madness, but the mentality of believing whatever is told to them. This causes issues far greater than being hosed by a return policy, but it is part of the larger problem in our world.

I have no scientific proof, but I see that there are three types of people in the consumer world today: Those who just go along, those who take advantage, and those who fight back. I tend to find myself in the fighting back camp, and from time to time, I take advantage. Overall, it works itself out and I sleep at night.

How do I fight back? There are hundreds of ways, but just a small one that everyone can do is asking a question. Several chain stores from pet supplies to bath soap have started asking for your telephone number when you check out. When I'm asked for my phone number, I say no. I do not make up a number, I just say no. One day, after having been to about three stores that had asked for my number, I asked why they wanted it:

The clerk said, "Oh, we won't use it to call you."

I resisted the urge to point out that was not the question I asked, but obviously the corporate script was mixed up. So I said, "then why do you want it?"

"So we can send you coupons," was her reply.

I let her think about it for a minute, then I had to ask: "How, exactly, do you send coupons to my phone number, without calling me?" She just stared at me for a few seconds, then handed me my receipt and thanked me for my purchase.

Of course, I know they use it to track spending habits and all that fun stuff. What would the world be today without business intelligence? How would they know where to place all those items during the time of the year to reach their target demographic? With that phone number, they probably use some type of reverse lookup so they can send you even more junk mail, after the coupon. The point is these people do not stop to think for a minute about how it all works, all they know is that they are supposed to ask for your phone number. Some are happy to just say no, others press harder. If you are even in a bind, (area code) 867-5309 works well. :-) Some will even happily enter (area code) 555-1212.

If you want to try something fun, go to Sears and buy something over about $20. Good grief, I'm surprised you do not have to give a blood sample. For entertainment and eduction, I like to make up fake names (Mareda Hooselfrausen) or celebrities. The odd thing is, last time I was there, I gave the name of a very famous person, the clerk did not even notice. They are so caught up in adhering to policy that common sense abandons them. So now I can only imagine what the postal carrier thinks, when he's delivering mail to several celebrities who have grills and power tools whose warranty is about to expire.

The point is, I do not think it is enough to just give bogus information. It can be fun, don't get me wrong. Really, though, we have to question, bring the workers back to reality. If you can get someone thinking, chances are these types of stupid policies will eventually change. Not everyone is open to being questioned, but I advise you to engage them in conversation. I have found that if you can get people to think like they would if they were on the other side of the counter, they are much more willing to exercise common sense.

Good luck, and we'll see you next post.

Welcome

Welcome my little piece of the world. As much as I don't care for the term blog, this seems to be the best method of (hopefully) reaching someone and sparking a debate or conversation. I recently returned from HOPE Number Six (Hacker on Planet Earth) in New York City and will post information about that, and many other things.

Look for more information to follow. In the meantime, check out the links.

I have not completely ironed out the schedule yet, but I would like to get to a weekly feature, with other tidbits as I have time. Please bookmark this page if you stumble upon it. Good things will come.