Over a year ago I wrote about how "Software Stinks" in the "Activity or Action" series. That was a few months before I got my Macbook and my HP TC 4400 Tablet and... Well, let's just say that it is getting harder and harder to like most of the software I get to try.

Despite some great experiences playing with the likes of the Jello Dashboard for Outlook (now in a new and highly interesting version 4 Alpha), Vmware's Fusion and a handfull of others; only one program in the past year has completely blown me away (more on that in another post). I try too many programs and the industry is just not mature enough for that to be happening. Something is wrong with software and it's participants had better figure it out. Where's the passion? (And don't tell me how complex it is; Buzz and Neil strolled on the moon in 1968.)

Some of the biggest updates of the year seem -- more than ever -- to be robust exercises in activity rather than genuine advances resulting from focused action. I'm underwhelmed by Vista. I have played with Leopard and I cannot find more than $29 worth of value in it -- let alone $129. I'm still waiting for them to get the most egregious bugs out of that one.

Office 2003 got a facelift with Office 2007 but there seem to be very few functional or operational improvements. Unbelievably, you still cannot schedule an Outlook mail rule. Outlook's cosmetic attempt to represent email on the task list does not actually instantiate what I really need. So the old right-click and drag an email to the task folder is really the only real way to move the email to a scheduled task. The ribbons are cute but on a small tablet screen there is less space than before if you want to use the full "functionality" of the ribbon.

File formats and silos are bigger than ever. Try getting task data between programs -- it's inefficient, time consuming and frought with error. On the web, some sites don't allow you to gracefully quit your membership and erase your data. That kind of trade is not fair and something has got to give.

With software, we don't get to own what we buy for our computers and we give too much away for free on web sites. Shame on us all for allowing this to happen. It's no wonder that open source draws more and more attention.

Todd Cochrane had a dream that he met with a Microsoft executive and the number of current Vista sales were something in the neighbourhood of the US national debt. That would be 8.5 trillion copies served. Since I laughed when I read the post that makes me hopelessly geeky.

Victor Cajiao of the Typical Mac User has posted his latest podcast and yours truly has about 4 minutes in the show. Towards the end of the show I talk about Synergy, which is a great open source software tool for replacing a KVM switch. Synergy also allows cutting and pasting between different operating systems. I use it all the time between my tablet and my MacBook.

Thanks Victor for the podcast and thanks for helping me with the switch.

Victor Cajiao of the Typical Mac User podcast hosted a live Talkshoe edition of his podcast on New Year's Eve. The theme of the event was Apple predictions for 2007. I was privileged to take part in the conversation and would like to thank all of the participants for their positive contributions; it was a blast.

You can listen to or pick up the podcast here.

Victor Cajiao is the host of three great podcasts; Typical Mac User, Typical PC User and Immigration Tales. When I sat down with Victor for a chat at the Podcast & Portable Media Expo, he had just finished a fun and fascinating 40 minute interview with author Tee Morris. We were all inelegantly perched in beanbag

It seems that Dell UK has valued OEM Windows XP Home at

Forget about history, competition, restraint of trade, restrictive licenses and virtual monopolies. Let's just look at where we are now in the world of operating systems and services.

Market forces -- big and small -- have led to a world where the first operating system you buy for a new computer is essentially free. Free.

I don't want to hear about the "Microsoft tax" or how darned hard it is to buy a computer without an operating system so that you can load your favourite distro of Torvaldux. Don't ask for a discount if do get a computer without an O/S pre-loaded because to do that will cost the manufacturer money; so you will not be getting a discount. The O/S on any computer you buy -- PC or Apple -- is free. If you don't understand the economics of what I'm saying then do you think this Dell Dimension E521 that sells for as low as $329.00 would be $130.00 if there was no O/S installed on it? Of course you don't.

"But Brad" you say, "manufacturers pay OEM license fees to big computer makers. They get a cheaper price than retail." So cheap in fact that the cost of the O/S is not a significant differentiator in any buying decision. So cheap that if you don't really know the "true" price (whatever that is) and you don't even notice it, well then it's free. Essentially free. Forget about all those O/S boxes you see at the computer store with the $199, $299, $399 price tags. Who are those for any way? Who the heck is going to "upgrade" a computer to Vista? Microsoft certainly does not expect you to "upgrade". This era of PC is built for the O/S that came with it, don't whine and complain that your 2004 AMD whatzit with the really old fashioned graphics card from Feb 2005 doesn't run Vista well. If you need the tea leaves read for you just look at the new "plain English" EULA from Microsoft.

The first user of the software may reassign the license to another device one time.

(Translation: Because you will not want to do it again.)

This is a legal way of giving us a clue. Microsoft is doing us a favour by pricing the retail product at absurd levels. You think all that Aero glass is going to clean itself without brand new hardware?

Much has been made of restrictive licensing covenants in the new Vista EULA. Buyer beware. If you don't like the idea of features disappearing or the possibility that your legal copy of the O/S may be designated for rendition or that your media files may all stop working then you have a choice. Don't boot the code. Nobody has taken that right away from you.

Microsoft Vista EULA OS

This edition of the Bradcast Extra is ONLY for podcasting geeks. If you are not interested in audio file processing then please do not listen to this podcast. You have been warned.

At the suggestion of Doug Kaye, I took 47 seconds of audio from our interview at the 2006 Podcasting and Portable Media Expo and processed it different ways. In this podcast you will hear the audio raw and unprocessed, processed with the Gigavox Levelator tool and processed by using several effects in Audacity. The Levelator processing took about 20 seconds total, while post-processing in Audacity took about 6-7 minutes. Which one is better?

Something to note about the Levelator is that it can exagerate noise level differences or "pumping" sound levels if the recording was made in a noisy environment with automatic gain control. Avoid automatic gain control when you are making recordings that you intend to post-process with any digital sound effects tool.

Thanks to Doug Kaye and the Gigavox team for the Levelator tool and their time on the floor at P&PME.

Notes:
Length:05:51
Produced: 2006/10/15
Bradcast Extra is copyright 2006 by Brad Gibson and he is solely responsible for its content. The Bradcast is not presented on behalf of any technology group or association. Opinions represented in the podcast are not those of any client, customer or employer organization, past or present.