Get Firefox! "my blog doesn't just deal with my life, it deals with some important stuff too"

26th of March 2004

SCO want all Linux users to buy an IP license so that they can continue to use Linux with the SCO source code in it. I've just been reading their FAQ about this.

It's hilarious. Quite hilarious. I can understand that they are angry that their code was used in Linux "without their knowledge" but mistakes happen. It is not the fault of the end users that the code was leaked. It was SCO's and IBM's fault for not getting it straight to start with. IBM admit to being a bit cheeky with the source code - so why did SCO allow them access to it? This is between SCO and IBM and has nothing what-so-ever to do with me.

Out of interest I decided to see how much it would cost me to license my copy of Linux. They give me the choice of purchasing a "Paid Up" license which, I believe, lasts forever - a mere snip at $199. Alternatively I can purchase an annual license for $49.

If they think I am going to pay $199 to use my computer they can go fuck themselves. I'm going to sit back, wait for their case to fall through and then carry on using my computer. Let's say their case doesn't fall through. What are they going to do? Sue me? I can just download a copy of freeBSD and carry on. Do they honestly think every Linux user will buy a license? The code will simply be written out and Linux will be free of the SCO code once again.

In short they haven't a leg to stand on.

Blog #80, posted at 12:34 (GMT)

26th of March 2004

Oh. And that solves the mystery of the missing wallet.

Blog #79, posted at 11:49 (GMT)

26th of March 2004

Google Fun

How rather odd. I was poking around today and stumbled across some interesting stuff on Google. It seems google can do some dedicated searching for specific Operating Systems. I've never seen it before, though.

Linux

Mac

BSD

Microsoft

It can also do searches explicitly related to America.

Uncle Sam

Anyone else seen these before? Also there is http://www.google.co.uk/custom which looks like it allows your own customized version of Google. :-o

Blog #78, posted at 11:46 (GMT)

25th of March 2004

I have to take my hat off to the Optician who tested my eyes. These glasses are working a charm. No headache today :-D

Blog #77, posted at 14:18 (GMT)

25th of March 2004

ASP and Access

Unbelievable. I have spent all of today so far just trying to work out why changing my website to use a DSN connection (rather than a DSN-less connection) should cause my website to show blank pages.

Much hacking through code that hasn't seen the light of day for a long time, the addition of lots of test prints and general frustration eventually led to the discovery that certain fields were not be retrieved from the database in DSN mode. WTF?! No matter what I did the missing fields would not come back from the database. Then, while looking at the table in Access I eventually found that the missing fields were Memo fields. Could that be the problem?

I hastily backed up the table in question, and then changed the memo fields to strings (cropping all my data to 255 characters, hence the backup) and found that suddenly the fields were appearing again.

A bit of searching on Google and I found this It would seem that Access's Memo fields are one big hack, and only work in certain circumstances and can be very unpredictable in other situations.

And how to fix the problem? By the addition of one line of code:

RS.CursorLocation = adUseClient

An entire morning just to find that. My god.

Blog #76, posted at 11:48 (GMT)

24th of March 2004

Lowey Potter

Well that was a bit of a farce. When I went down I was told my glasses were not ready yet, but they would be within an hour. Great. So I had to come back to the office, then go back into town to collect them. I am wearing them right now as I write this.

Funny thing is they don't feel like they make any difference to my vision as such, except it is very difficult to look out the window (it makes my eyes feel like they're about to explode). The difference really is more how my head feels. Where as looking at monitors and other up-close items used to make my head hurt where as middle-distant and distant objects didn't, now everything makes my head hurt.

Well it's a change I guess. The optician did say they'd take a bit of getting used to, because my eyes essentially need to learn to relax again. As I look at close items they tense too much trying to compensate even though it's not necessary any more because the lenses are there to take away the burden.

On my way back to the office from the carpark I dropped my keys. When I picked them up something caught my finger (a twig or something) and cut my knuckle. Bastard! Didn't even realise at first. It was only the blood dribbling out of my finger that gave it away.

Blog #75, posted at 12:50 (GMT)

24th of March 2004

Right. I'm off to go get my glasses. My next blog will be written from behind the sanctuary of my specs.

Blog #74, posted at 09:58 (GMT)

23rd of March 2004

After much messing around yesterday I finally got my imageMap working - it turns out that I had named the map lamgMap and not langMap as I had intended. *Sigh*

Today's task was to fix the website so that it printed correctly in Internet Explorer, a task I had allowed 3 days for as I expected it to be a problem. It took me half a day. That means the only item left on my agenda is testing, which basically means looking for inconsistencies in the rendering and fixing them. So, basically, the website is done!

I watched One Hour Photo last night. This is a splendid film in my opinion. Very dark, chilling, touching and not your bog standard "Start, Middle, End" kind of Hollywood rubbish. Robin Williams is amazing in this film, it really shows his broad range of acting abilities.

Went to bed late because immediately after One Hour Photo I started watching Good Morning Vietnam but only got half way through when I decided I really needed to get some sleep.

And now for something completely different.

0wr F4th3R, wh0 0wnz h34\/3n, j00 r0x0rs! M4y 4|| 0wr b4s3 s0m3d4y Bl0ng t0 j00! M4y j00 0wn 34rth juss |1|3 j00 0wn h34\/3n. G1v3 us th1s d4y 0wr w4r3z, mp3z, 'n pr0n thr0ugh a ph4t |. 4nd cut us s0m3 sl4ck wh3n w3 4ct lik3 n00b l4m3rz, juss 4s w3 g1v3 n00bz 4 l34rn1n wh3n th3y l4m3 2 us. Pl34s3 d0n't l3t us 0wn s0m3 p00r d00d'z b0x3n wh3n w3'r3 t00 p1ss3d t0 th1nk 4b0ut wh4t's r1ght 4nd wr0ng, 4nd 1f j00 c0uld k33p th3 f3i 0ff 0wr b4ckz, w3'd 'pr3c14t3 1t. F0r j00 0wn 4ll 0wr b0x3n 43v3r 4nd 3v3r, 4m3n!

(Many thanks to Stone for finding that)

Blog #73, posted at 13:28 (GMT)

22nd of March 2004

Arse

Yesterday was Mother's Blackmail Day and I forgot to ring/send card/send present... Ah well, I'll have to ring tonight and grovel and promise to bring a present at Easter.

Just got back from the opticians where I was told I have 20-20 vision yet need glasses. My eyes are physically fine, but they're not very good at maintaining focus close up. My brain therefore has to compensate for this and that is why I've been getting headaches. I've been prescribed some glasses for VDU work/reading etc which, I am told, will take me a while to get used to. As soon as I do, though, the headaches will stop - sweet relief!

His words were "I'm not at all surprised you're getting headaches." as my eyes are so poor at holding focus. Turns out that this problem should have been diagnosed and dealt with before I was 9 (I went to the opticians every 6 months, they had plenty of chances to detect the problem) but after the age of 12 the eyes get set in their ways and there's nothing that can be done. Great. My thanks go to Bowler and Charlesley Opthalmic Opticians, Shelford Road, Radcliffe On Trent, Nottingham. Never mind. At least it has finally been diagnosed.

Spent ages trying to find some specs that actually suit me. Looked all through the Men's section where the glasses are all HUGE for some reason. They're all very typical of old men sitting in front of the fire smoking a pipe and moaning that their new slippers aren't as comfortable as the slippers they had the year before last but are a little bit warmer than the ones they had before. Looked all through the Unisex section and eventually found a pair that looked OK in the cheapest section. Shocking. They were the only pair I didn't detest, so went for it. At £37 for frames and lenses I can't go far wrong with them.

Now to struggle with imagemaps some more (the bloody things. I hate them!)

Blog #72, posted at 14:59 (GMT)

22nd of March 2004

You tend to be fashionable and clever despite being a bit transparent. Now that you've reached some stability you're expecting greater popularity. Ok then... Personally I'd have preferred Linux, but never mind :)

Blog #71, posted at 11:49 (GMT)