Another thing

With computers,there is something that drives me nuts. If you want to make things work the way you want them to, you have to make changes. These changes are many. The default settings on software is never good enough. The default settings are just there to get people started.

• Xmms requires mp3 configuration and files to work. xmms cannot pay for the right to play mp3 because it is a free software. So, every time you want to play mp3 files on a new computer using xmms, you must hunt down the appropriate configuration and files.
  
• Mplayer requires codecs and configuration. There is a setting in a configuration file you must make that simply says "Let me take screenshots when I hit the 's' key."
  
• Firefox needs plug-ins to function. The image zoom and the one that lets you copy text only are the ones I need every day. I  have to hunt them down every single time I use a new copy of Firefox. I have to hunt down new ones every time Firefox comes out with an upgrade.
  
• Every email software on the planet requires a bunch of settings. I can never remember those settings. That is why I use gmail, so I can sit down at my computer at home, and one of the internet boxes at work and have my same email without having to set the receive server, send server, encryption, address book yadda yadda.
  
• IM software has gotten better about saving your friends, but you still have to make it work on your box every time. Then comes the fact that most of them only work on Windows so a Mac or Linux does you no good.
  

Software is getting better about saving your settings, but it is not good enough. Every time I get a new computer or upgrade or install a service pack, things break. This is worse under Linux than Windows in my opinion. People using MS have become complacent and expect, nay, demand backwards compatibility. We do not get such a luxury in Linux. We are expected to know what we are doing or to be happy with an endless line of beta software that no one really ever takes responsibility for.

For a while, google had some kind of save your favorites page. It died. I never used it. I have a hard enough time letting big brother keep my contact information without loosing sleep. I'm just waiting for all the online email and contact places to start selling everyone's buddies to advertisers. You know advertisers are chomping at the bit, just biding their time until the holy grail bursts open and no one is safe from them.

For every one thing I learn, I figure out there are five things I do not know. That is a hell of a way to run through life. It must be God's way of keeping us interested in the world around us.

The next computer or OS I run on with mplayer, I will need to make the exact same setting change I made today. I will completely forget what the settings is. I already have. I just know to google it again next time. It pisses me off. I should have a magic method of saving all configuration to my brain. If I were one of those people who could remember everything for the rest of my life, this would not be a problem.  I hear they live normal lives. When are scientists going to throw that switch making all of us vast vats of useless information?

Things break too. The Kttsmgr software broke from Fedora 8 to 9. It kind of works. Now it reads the whole thing you paste as one sentence. This makes for no breaks between sentences. It also makes the software have to render between each paste instead of each sentence. it also effectively makes the software single threaded. This all causes a delay between thing you pasted for it to read. It slows me down. It makes things harder to understand. It pisses me off.

I've always understood why people do not upgrade until they are drug kicking and screaming in to a new piece of software. I rarely sympathized with it. Now vender's are trying to get people to submit to forced upgrades in the name of security. This is a kin to wait staff filling your tea without asking. You just got your tea right and someone cones along and dilutes your masterfully concocted beverage. I don't put sugar or whatever in my ice-tea. It still pisses me off when someone fills my glass without asking for this reason.

When I buy a new car, the old gas works just fine. Look at how much trouble it is to add electric vehicles to our roads. Battery powered cars have been around as long as gas cars. Same goes for the metric system. I'm just waiting for all the uproar when analog TV is turned off. How many people are going to cry that they didn't have a chance to upgrade? You know there are going to be lines of people looking for a free TV on my tax time.