Captive Solutions Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not after you.

An interesting development regarding Microsoft's current focus on web-based technology. In a letter to investors regarding third quarter results, David Einhorn of Greenlight Capital had this to say about the floundering giant;

We wanted to share some thoughts on Microsoft (MSFT), which we closed during the quarter. We believe that we purchased the shares at an attractive time, and for a good while the investment worked nicely. As has been our habit of late, we overstayed our welcome as the shares peaked after the company announced a very good September 2007 quarter.

So I've finally picked up a new phone. I decided on getting an LG Vu. So far I like this phone alot. In fact I'm actually writing this post from it.

After reading a lengthy discussion of the new symbols found in RoE, I decided to have a closer look for myself.

I am now 30 years old.
I thought I'd take some time and write down some of the more memorable things that have happened to me in this time.

as a thank you to our fans for your continued support, we are giving away the new nine inch nails album one hundred percent free, exclusively via nin.com. The music is available in a variety of formats including high-quality MP3, FLAC or M4A lossless at CD quality and even higher-than-CD quality 24/96 WAVE.

Well what can I say other than Thank you Trent. Once again you have stepped outside the norm and blown everyone away. The album is fantastic. The art work is very cool.

Go to nin.com

I had a very unusual experience today that left me impressed with the efforts to keep customers happy.

The previous day I stopped at Starbucks on my way to work. They informed me that they were unable to process debit purchases at that time. The result? I got my coffee for free and had to run out to an ATM to get cash to buy a sandwich/scones/etc.

A jury has found Hans Reiser guilty in the death of his estranged wife.
How someone could be convicted of First Degree murder, on circumstantial evidence is beyond me.

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So here I sit, tasked with setting up 3 new computers before deployment into the field. First, serial numbers are entered and activated online. Next, all three are named and added to the domain. Boot the computers and login to them and start the dreaded process of updating windows. If you want to see why SP3 is so needed for Windows XP load up a clean Windows XP SP2 installation and see how many hours it takes to fully update your computer. Of the three computers I'm setting up none report the same number of updates that need to be added.

So the other day I was asked to setup a pair of computers. No big deal, nothing unusual. Windows XP Pro was already installed even. All I had to do was install the basic applications used. Office 2k3 Small Business Edition, McAfee VirusScan/AntiSpyware Enterprise, Adobe Reader, Kermit 95 (a telnet client), and Dameware Client. So I get all the software installed and begin the dreaded task of updating Windows. In total it takes 4 reboots to get all the updates to finish. For each computer.

Ok so first off what the hell is wrong with this picture?

That's how it shows up in the "Device Manager" or should I call that the 'Device Mis-manager'? How on earth does a system messup a driver for the damn processor? Check the device and it gives me a code to chase (code 32) whatever the hell that is :\ Anyway, so I go and check Windows Support website and find this:

A driver (service) for this device has been disabled. An alternate driver may be providing this functionality. (Code 32)