Takle ‘mamo. V četrtek sva zaključila trodnevno uživanje v znanih slovenskih termah (v katerih, namenoma ne omenjam), v petek sem lenaril, v soboto zjutraj sem šel še s kolegom na kavo, popoldne tega dne pa so mi začeli prekuhavati možgani. Zvečer sem nameril vročino 38 °C. Ker sem zjutraj jedel sumljiv obrok in mi je bilo malenkost slabo sem takoj ocenil, da gre za zastrupitev s hrano in celo noč dežural ob WC školjki, ter čakal, da želodec zavrne tisto kar mu pač ne ustreza. Zaman. Zjutraj, ko sem nameril telesno temperaturo 38,2 °C me je že pošteno zaskrbelo.

Ker sem v soboto dopoldne kosil travo, sem posumil na klopa in se odločil opraviti popoln scan telesa. Nato pa šok v kopalnici. Ko sem slekel majico sem opazil, da imam na prsih in po celotnem hrbtu ogromno izpuščajev z vodenimi mehurčki. Kaj za vraga? Norice? Pri 27ih? Pa saj sem jih že prebolel kot otrok! Pa sem jih res? Dežurna zdravnica je norice zaskrbljeno potrdila. Zaskrbljeno zato, ker so bojda za odrasle lahko nevarne in ker naj bi jih že prebolel kot otrok. Čez pol ure sem zapuščal lekarno z polno vrečo nekakšnih protivirusnih tablet, antibiotikov in škatlico lekadola. Mati mi je kasneje razložila, da sem norice sicer resda prebolel kot dojenček, —pobral sem jih pri sestri—, a se me nekako niso hotele ornk prijeti (citiram) - le nekaj vodenih izpuščajev po telesu, vročine pa nisem imel. Zanimivo. Spomin na otroštvo imam precej dober in se dobro spomnim, da sem se kot otrok večkrat družil z sosedi in prijatelji, ki so prebolevali norice. Staršev ni skrbelo, ker: prvič, naj bi jih že prebolel, drugič pa, če jih še nisem, naj jih čim prej. In zakaj sem jih dobil sedaj, pri 27ih? Kakorkoli, norice so res nadloga pri teh letih. Po mukotrpni nedelji je sledil mukotrpen ponedeljek. Glavobol, vročina, slabost, bolečine v mišicah in sklepih, srbenje, da ne omenjam dolgočasja, ki je najhujši med naštetimi. Nisem navajen —in ne maram— ležati cele dneve. No, na srečo imam še nekaj neprebranih knjig iz Amazona — takoj sem se lotil Craisove najnovejše kriminalke Chasing Darkness. Nazaj k noricam. Danes sem prvič, s pomočjo lekadola, uspel vročino sesuti na 37 in drobiž °C. Upam, da se do konca tedna pozdravim in da se bom naslednji teden lahko vrnil v službo. O tem, da za bolniško ni primeren trenutek nebi — tako ali tako nikoli ni.

Term iz prvega stavka namenoma ne vpletam v zgodbo. Nekaj dni preden sva se odpravila v terme sem bil namreč v družbi družine, kjer sta dve punčki ravno preboleli to nadlogo. Ker sem virus verjetno pobral pri teh dveh punčkah, nebi rad delal slabe reklame in krivice termam, saj razumete. S ponudbo in oddihom nasploh sem bil zadovoljen. Tako. Grem nazaj v posteljo. Oziroma loviti temo. Saj veste na kaj ciljam, kaj ne?

— LP, Milan

— Best wishes, Milan

As most of you probably already know, a beta copy of Windows 7 already leaked and is available as an ISO file on many torrent trackers. Since I never liked Vista and never used it daily (I stuck with Windows XP), I grabbed this opportunity to see what the new next-generation Microsoft operating system has to offer. Most importantly, I wanted to see if Microsoft can convince me to make a switch this time, or will I continue to use Windows XP for my business tasks.

Installation

I use Mac at home, so I decided to install Windows 7 in a VMware Fusion virtual machine. Windows 7 build 7000 beta 1 ISO size is only 2.44 GB, which is surprisingly small compared to almost 4 GB Vista ISO file size, but we should take into account the fact that this is only an Ultimate build.

Since Fusion offers no Windows 7 installation profile I chose Vista profile, which made me no problems during the install process. The installation itself, from the visual aspect, is very similar to what we’ve already seen in Vista — but you better hold on for what I’m gonna say next. Windows 7 installed on my VMware Fusion virtual machine in an unbelievable 32 minutes and it made only one restart during the whole installation. A fucking¹ way to go Microsoft!

Time to look around

Warning: I’m not an Vista expert —I know Vista, but I do consider myself more of an Windows XP expert— so please avoid comments like “oh, but that’s not new, we’ve seen that in Vista already”. Ok?

First thing I did was to check my Windows Experience index. It was 1.0. Windows warned me that I should re-assess it after installing VMware drivers, but it didn’t work. When I tried it, it just went on calculating it forever. I gave up on it after ~45 minutes.

Microsoft did some small visual re-polishing in Windows 7, compared to Vista, although not much has changed here.

The one thing I noticed immediately is a new taskbar, which now looks and acts more like MacOS X Dock.

Before, Windows taskbar was divided into task area (where we had our running apps) and Quick Launch Area (where we had shortcuts for our favorite apps) . This is now merged into one area, so we can now pin any favorite app to the taskbar and when we run it will just show up as an activated (bumped-up) icon, instead as a new task icon (as we are used from before). If we run an app using Start menu shortcut or Desktop shortcut, it will appear as a new icon in the taskbar and when we exit the app it will disappear. Icons in the taskbar are also used for invoking a so called jumplist, from where we can access some of the most important functions of the program behind the icon². Here is an example of how we can access IE’s History list, without the app running, through the jumplist:

Nice!

I’m a MacOS X user so I wanted to know how usable is Windows 7 right after the installation - without installing tons of other software. I must say that Microsoft still hasn’t learned much here. For example, I can’t open DOC files (as I already mentioned) and I have no way of viewing PDF files. There is a Windows Media Player included in beta, so I was able to watch WMV files and listen to MP3 or WMA music. While clicking on different media files Windows Media Center notification came on screen offering me to use it for playing media files - but I couldn’t get it working in the end. Windows Picture Viewer is visually refreshed and did it’s job good.

Aero Snap is a method for organizing Windows using “gestures”. If a window is dragged to the top of the screen the app is maximized, if it’s dragged to the side you get it to tile to one half of the screen - on the side where you dragged it. This is a nice feature that I could get used to using daily. there is also an function called Aero Peak, but that didn’t work on my Windows, probably because of low Experience index.

Both Wordpad and Paint now sport the ribbon interface, known to us from Office 2007 apps. What I found most interesting with Wordpad, is that it now supports OOXML AND also ODF text files, but still lacks the support for DOC files³.

Internet Explorer 8 is visually very similar to IE 7. Here I found one new function kind of usable. It’s the posibility to see all your tabs as a thumbnails, side-by-side in a separate tab. In some cases visually navigating through tabs is easier compared to classic method. Some of the other top new functions Microsoft developed in IE 8 are Accelerators, Compatibility View, Slices, InPrivate Browsing and Search Suggestions. It didn’t impress me much. Firefox can do that and even more using add-on’s.

Don’t know about Calculator in Vista, but Windows 7 Calculator supports four different modes: Standard, scientific, programmer, and statistics.

Windows Explorer is very much alike the one in Vista. I was however surprised when looking at the file and folder Properties windows. I found a “Previous Versions” tab in there, which suggests that with use of restore points or Windows Backup we can easily get older versions of that file or folder.

Final words

Well, Windows 7 is definitively a Vista killer and for me also the OS that will replace my Windows XP sometime in the future. Microsoft took Vista and made Windows 7 out of it, in a way that Vista should be done in the first place. I must admit that I was very positively surprised with Windows 7 and what it is promising to become. Microsoft has learned from previous mistakes, although they still got much learning to do. I must also add that I was positively surprised with the fact that Microsoft was able to produce a beta product which is stable, solid and works fast and most of the time flawlessly. For us who deal with Windows professionally, Windows 7 is a way to go. So long Vista!

— Regards, Milan

1. Sorry, I had to say it!
2. Now, where have I already seen this?
3. You must be kidding me Microsoft.

Got some books you’ve read and now you feel sorry for them lying on the shelves and collecting dust? Well, I feel the same way, so why wouldn’t we exchange them?

This is what I’ve got to offer. (the list is not complete at the moment and books will be added in days to come)

— Regards, Milan

Well, instead of fighting and arguing around few kilometers of border and sea, Slovenian and Croatian politicians should accept my Gulf of Piran Plan with Free territory of Joško Joras. As you’re about to see, they’re definitively better at dancing disco, then at this border dance going back and forth constantly.

And excuse mua my dear leaders, I reserve the right to make fun of you because you are also making fun of all of us, Slovenian and Croatian citizens. So define that border already! I don’t want to be on alert every time I go to Croatia, looking when some fool buying into your stories is gonna attack me behind my back — and I’m sure most Croatians feel like this too when they come to Slovenia.

Let the disco start!

Oh, and writing this post I remembered how I did a Janša-Sanader-Rupel satire comic two years ago. It was published on my old blog, so you won’t find it here, but let me take this opportunity to re-publish a part of it.

Maybe it’s time to do a new one with Pahor instead of Janša (Rupel should probably stay?)? No, it really doesn’t matter, faces may have changed but scenario didn’t.

— Regards, Milan

If you guys still haven’t noticed or bought this years MacUpdate Promo Holiday Bundle, you only have 4 days to do so and it would be a shame to miss this opportunity and not to get some great Mac apps at really low price. MacUpdate Promo Holiday Bundle is packed with 10 great apps for just 49.99 $ (~37.5 €, 89% off original price $447.69) and if you aks me, Little Snitch, RapidWeaver, Drive Genius and VirusBarrier X5 alone would be well worth of that money.

Bundle is packed with following apps:

• LittleSnitch
  In a contrary to firewall which protects you from against unwanted guests from the internet, LittleSnitch protects your private data from being sent out to the Internet.
• RapidWeaver
  RapidWeaver will allow you to create beautiful and powerful websites. It’s simple enough for beginners and powerful enough for advanced users.
• VirusBarrier X5
  VirusBarrier X5 is a fast and powerful anti-virus program for Macs. You really shouldn’t think your immune to viruses just because your on Mac. This is a must have.
• MacPilot
  MacPilot will allow you to tweak a variety of your Mac’s hidden functions.
• KeyCue
  Get an instant overview of all menu shortcuts in any application (learn them and use them in a simple manner).
• iVolume
  iVolume is an volume normailzer. It ensures that all your songs play at the same volume level.
• Drive Genius
  A super-powerful tool for drive maintenance, management and optimization.
• Default Folder X
  Save your files effortlessly and open your folders instantly.
• MacGourmet Deluxe
  Build and share recipes, plan and organize meals and wines. Your better half will appreciate this. ;-)
• What Size
  WhatSize is a small and simple tool that will allow you to measure size of any given folder and all subfolders and files within it.

I was lucky to be among first 10.000 buyers of the bundle, so I also received an free iDive license within. You missed this chance now, but nevertheless this pack is well worth of it’s price. Out of those 11 apps, I regularly use 9.

So, if you can afford it, head over to MacUpdate and buy this pack now.

— Regards, Milan

P.S.: And yes, I’m an MacUpdate Promo affiliate and this is an affiliate promo post, but I also bought this pack myself, which I believe is a good proof that I really believe it’s worth buying.

Last years it has been all about people connecting over the internet, people from all over the world socializing. A social networking fucking revolution it is. Just think about it. I have an almost day-to-day interaction with people from nearby and far-away countries, like Croatia, Serbia, Germany and Australia. No phone, just Facebook and Twitter. I talk to my relatives in Germany using Skype, not paying for the phone costs, only my internet monthly fee. And I don’t get only audio, I get to see them while talking through video chat. Without video chat I still wouldn’t know how my cousins 6 months old daughter looks like. If I were a woman, I’d drop a tear now, writing about this.

60 years ago people in my country barely knew people from nearby villages. About world matters they only new what they’ve heard on radio. It was another world back then. Then they got phones and TV and a whole new world opened to them. Before the end of last century people got their hands on mobile phones, world wide web, e-forums and e-mail. It was an revolution. Unthinkable. Suddenly you were reachable all the time thanks to your mobile phone, you could use e-mail to get your mail delivered (bye bye paper) in a matter of minutes and you could participate in e-forum debates with people from all over the world. And today? How many Facebooks, MySpaces and Twitters have we seen arise in last years, with user numbers growing straight into the sky? You don’t use Facebook? You’ve never heard about Twitter? What? You don’t even know what RSS is? Well, guess what. Your e-mail is just a plain old fax machine. Jesus, are you living in a bubble? I barely go to toilet today without people all over the world knowing about it. Okay, thats an bad example. Here’s a better one. Two weeks ago with Mumbai events going on (you’ve heard about Mumbai terrorist attacks, right?), you were waiting for the evening news to find out more on what was going on there. Okay, maybe you’ve heard something on the radio and read something on news web pages. To me it was old news already, I was getting my updates from services like Twitter, more or less learning about situation as it was developing. You may think it’s too much information to handle. I say it’s better to have information available then to not have them. It’s only a matter of how you manage it. Surely, if you will want to know everything about everything, today you will drown in this ocean of information.

That’s why I’ve set out to write three posts focusing on which (and why) social networking tools and services I’ve started to use in last few years, how they improved my social networking revolution experience and how it helped me to not to drown in this flood of information. So stay tuned in to learn about which social networking services I use and how I use them on my Windows PCand on my Mac.

— Regards, Milan

The Forgotten Man is a crime novel by Robert Crais, 10th in a row featuring “the worlds greatest detective” Elvis Cole and his charismatic partner Joe Pike, an ex-marine. In this thrilling novel story unfolds around Elvis Cole’s unsolved secret from his past — his father whom he searched all his childhood and was never able to find.

After the events in The Last Detective, Cole is still “hiding” in his home, trying to endure media climax and grief inflicted on him after his last case. One night he receives a call from LAPD, informing him that they’ve found an injured man who — before he died due to inflicted wounds —, stated that Elvis Cole is his son and he’s come to LA to look for him.
When Cole sees dead man face he doesn’t buy the “father” story, but not being sure what to believe he sets off to investigate the case together with his partner Joe Pike and LAPD detective Carol Starkey (who already featured main role in Roberts Crais Demolition Angel novel). As Cole digs deeper and deeper into dead man’s history, trying to discover his real identity and trace his killer, he triggers an avalanche of events, too late realizing the truth about this case.

The Forgotten Man is once again an excellent crime novel by Robert Crais. It’s spectacular and thrilling climax will make this book hard to put down and an pleasure to read for any crime novel fan.

— Regards, Milan J.

This almost turned out to be a very bad day for me. I say “almost”, because at 13.00 postman brought me a nice surprise. He delivered two Arkady Renko novels, Polar Star and Havana Bay, I ordered at Amazon on 25th of November.

I already wrote an article on MC Smith’s Arkady Renko Wolves Eat Dogs novel a while ago, where I said it was one of my all-time favourite books. Expectations are therefore high for this two novels, so make sure you stay tuned in for the next couple of days because I’ll surely post a review of this two pieces too.

Sorry for the crappy photo. It was done with mobile phone plus my hands are kind of shaky today (I caught a virosis which is why my day was so bad, until the postman rang on my doors).

After I’m done with this two novels, Red Square will be the only one left that I haven’t read. And since they got it back in stock at Amazon, my Arkady Renko journey will soon be over. Come to think about it, today sucks again.

— Regards, Milan

P.S.: After Arkady, I will probably start reading Robert Crais Elvis Cole detective novels. I already got my hands on The Forgotten Man novel and liked the way it smells.