Choose the PC you want to use to play Plays4Sure content wisely. You will never be able to change it again. Microsoft yesterday announced the end of Plays4Sure, its failed partnering music system. By the end of this year all the servers will be shut down.
Yeah, I bet all those companies that “partnered” with Microsoft are feeling really good about now. First, the mothership kicks them to the curb by making their own Zune player, which was incompatible with Plays4Sure, OMG WTF! THEN, oh wait it gets better, they turn off the licensing servers so what you did buy is now stuck on one machine.
I could not write better material.
You might want to think about the better way to go for online music, iTunes and iPod.
This is another example of why I feel the Microsoft time has come and gone and it is Apple’s time now. Microsoft continues to move forward like the Titanic and not change its course. Apple is running circles around them. Like a new cruise ship, say the Mariner of the Seas, compared to the Titanic, it is just not a contest.
Here is a site for those of you that like really well done sites to check. It is all Flash and it is not something I would ever do for business, but it is WAY COOL!
OK, it has begun, as of 11:15 AM all tags and categories are deleted. I decided it would be better to start from scratch with it then to mess with what was already there. Ouch. Oh well, gives me something to do
I will get things back sorted and categorized in the next couple of days. I don’t know if I have the verve to do this all in one fell swoop.
Apparently, Paul Thurrott seems to think that Apple changing Safari on Windows from autoinstall to flagged new update is really screwing up and “flipping off” the users. This from the person who can’t seem to find much negative to say about Windows Home Server destroying peoples’ files. It isn’t like he said nothing about that, but I did notice he barely said an unkind word about a person’s files being destroyed yet putting Safari in an auto-update is basically a disaster.
I like Paul and usually he is quite balanced and a good read. However, lately, he is becoming more and more a shill for Microsoft and gives them a free pass. On the other hand, he never saw a controversy about Apple he didn’t cheer.
Perhaps this is evidence the Apple world is beginning to seriously affect the Windows world. :)
Sometimes, people ask me to justify just why I say Microsoft is about 4 years behind in technology. I can not think of a better example of this than Heroku, a Ruby on Rails web host.
Microsoft does not even come close to competing with this type of thought process. While they may be good in some fields, they are so out of touch with modern web programming and design, it will take them years to get ASP.Net to where Ruby was 4 years ago. This Heroku company just took Microsoft’s Web Hosting Partners and kicked them not just to the curb, but instead kicked them off the planet.
If you program and plan on continuing as a programmer for the next few years and you do the web app gig, you really, really need to do at least some Ruby on Rails and Cloud stuff.
Every time I go over to Microsoft and see my friends that work there, I feel like Cassandra. No one listens or if they do they just smile, nod and turn going back to doing what they always have done. Then, one day, sometime about 2 or 3 years from now, they will decide “OH! Look that Cloud thing is cool. Let’s do that now. Who can we copy?”
We see this now with the ASP.Net MVC project’s wholesale theft borrowing of just about every idea in Ruby on Rails from 2 years ago or so. The current Ruby on Rails thought not so much, they are probably having too hard a time reverse engineering the older stuff.
I would certainly expect Microsoft to continue this trend and they sure seem to be living up to that expectation. Look at LINQ and ADO.Net Entity Framework. They act as though this stuff is new and hot and they invented the Sun and Moon. Uh, I hate to break it to them, but Hibernate and WebObjects (introduced in 1994) and others have been doing this for YEARS, like 14 years, so don’t get all superior on me there buddy. Wow, that’s some innovation, 14 years and you are finally releasing what we have been doing with NeXTSTEP and OS X all along. Nice. Sigh…
So, to sum it up. Once again, Microsoft shows they do not innovate–they copy and don’t copy well at that. This might be fine if they didn’t shout from every rooftop that they do.
In the next couple of days expect this blog to get a bit wonky as I tweak the tags. I have finally set up a taxonomy for this tag mess and will be getting it squared away here as I find time. We should not go down or anything, though if it becomes too much of a mess I might reset the server and start from scratch.
No loss of data though since I have full back ups of this stuff, though, honestly, it would not be a big deal if it did all go away
This is a very special video made to a great song. The love story of Sheridan and Delenn is one of my favorite stories ever and video does great justice to it.
A couple points of explanation for those that don’t know the series, but just a couple for I have to keep wiping tears off my cheeks watching this…
There is a great quote and beautiful sentiment which happens at the 1:47 mark in the video. It was not put in the video, but I will put it here for you:
John Sheridan Goodnight, my love… the brightest star in my sky. Delenn Goodnight, you, who were my sky, and my sun, and my moon.
In the beginning of the episode, Sheridan goes out on the balcony to sit and watch the sun come up. Soon Delenn joins him and he remarks that he had never done that in all time he was on Minbar. He wanted to remember this sunrise.
Afterwards, when Sheridan has left and moved on beyond the Rim, Delenn spends each morning sitting on that bench to watch the sun come up.
As for Delenn, every morning for as long she lived, Delenn got up before dawn and watched the sun come up.
The final episode of Babylon 5, Sleeping in Light, is one of the best pieces of television ever made. I am proud to have an original script from that show in my collection. I cherish it to this day for this show says so much about the good of which mankind is capable and John Sheridan and Delenn, while fictional, are two people whom I consider to be heros and role models.
The song, “A Love That Will Never Grow Old” is sung by Emmylou Harris and was written by Bernie Taupin. It won multiple best song awards including a Golden Globe and can be enjoyed in the movie ” Brokeback Mountain.”
Go to sleep, may your sweet dreams come true
Just lay back in my arms for one more night
I’ve this crazy old notion that calls me sometimes
Saying this one’s the love of our lives.
When you wake up the world may have changed
But trust in me, I’ll never falter or fail
Just the smile in your eyes, it can light up the night,
And your laughter’s like wind in my sails.
Lean on me, let our hearts beat in time,
Feel strength from the hands that have held you so long.
Who cares where we go on this rutted old road
In a world that may say that we’re wrong.
Cause I know a love that will never grow old
And I know a love that will never grow old.
Enjoy and for those of you who watched this series, I hope this brings back some good memories.
One of the more poignant moments from Babylon 5. Sheridan and company toasting their absent friends, G’Kar, Londo, Lennier, and Marcus. Great stuff and quite touching.
Each of the honored sacrificed themselves to save someone else, making this even more moving.
G’Kar - Sacrificed his anger and hatred to save his people and forgive Londo
Londo - Sacrificed his freedom to become Emperor and save his people
Lennier - Sacrificed his love for Delynn to see her happy
Marcus - Sacrificed his life to save his true love, Ivanova
There are so many good quotes G’Kar gives in Babylon 5, I can not pick what to put here. Andreas left us way too soon. He was one of my favorite actors. This is a great tribute video.
I think I will post my favorite quote from him here, it is not in this video, but it is my favorite.
G’kar “Good bye Delenn.” Delenn “G’kar, I have I ever told you that you are one of the finest writers
that I have every met?
And that it has been an honor to work beside you on the Alliance.”
G’kar “Not in words,
but the thing about losing one eye
is that makes you look deeply into the eyes of another.
I found in yours all the thanks,
I will ever require in this life or in any other.”
I wanted to share with you one of the most beautiful songs ever written, “Time to Say Goodbye”, sung by two of the greatest singers of our time, Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bocelli. Words do not do it justice. To quote someone from YouTube:
If anyone can find a word whose meaning
surpasses the meaning of beauty, please tell me.
I want to properly comment on this video.
I hope you enjoy this “moment of perfect beauty.”
Lyrics:
Sarah:
When I’m alone I dream of the horizon and words fail me.
There is no light in a room where there is no sun
and there is no sun if you’re not here with me, with me.
From every window unfurls my heart the heart that you have won.
Into me you’ve poured the light,
the light that you found by the side of the road.
Time to say goodbye.
Places that I’ve never seen or experienced with you.
Now I shall, I’ll sail with you upon ships across the seas,
seas that exist no more,
it’s time to say goodbye.
Andrea:
When you’re far away I dream of the horizon and words fail me.
And of course I know that you’re with me, with me.
You, my moon, you are with me.
My sun, you’re here with me with me, with me, with me.
Time to say goodbye.
Places that I’ve never seen or experienced with you.
Now I shall, I’ll sail with you upon ships across the seas,
seas that exist no more,
Both:
I’ll revive them with you.
I’ll go with you upon ships across the seas,
seas that exist no more,
I’ll revive them with you.
I’ll go with you.
:)