ChuckOp's eXPeriences : Rants

Create New Folder in Explorer – why not easier?

ChuckOp — Wed, 23 Mar 2005 17:46:00 GMT

Since I started working with the Windows Explorer shell in Windows 95, I’ve often wondered why there isn’t a “New Folder” toolbar button.

Today, I was organizing some files and dragging-and-dropping them to other folders and occasionally, in the middle of a drag operation, realized that I needed to create the destination folder first.

The way sub-folders are created is currently a click, right-click, hover, and click process. Click once to put focus into the file area of the folder you want to be the container for the new folder. Right-click for the Properties menu, hover over New and then click Folder. Then type the name of the new folder.

The shell-provided file Save As common dialog has a new folder button on its limited toolbar. So why isn’t there one for Windows Explorer? Actually, I know the reason for that, at least what the usability people would say – that’s it would contribute to UI bloat. Nevertheless even things like the Full Screen option have a button and its functionality is even easier to get to; press F11.

Ideally, the context menu would have a new folder item as well. That way can scroll the folder tree to the destination folder, right click on it, choose New Folder and type in the new name. You wouldn’t have to navigate back to the source folder and the original method would stay valid.

I’m sure someone has written a shell extension to do this already. Does anyone have a pointer to an existing package?

Microsoft vs. Slashdot

ChuckOp — Tue, 01 Mar 2005 07:53:00 GMT

Is anyone else getting sick of the anti-Microsoft bent Slashdot has? For years I avoided the site because of it's slated, often fact free view towards Microsoft, Windows, etc. A year ago however, I subscribed to their daily news summary and have found...(read more)

Hollywood's Walk of Fame is getting out of control

ChuckOp — Sat, 29 Jan 2005 01:22:00 GMT

Today I read that actress Susan Lucci got a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame. It seems like every week there is a new star being handed out. I did some checking and sure enough, it is every week! January 7 was Soupy Sales, January 21 was the rock band Journey, today is Susan Lucci, and Monday the 31st has Keanu Reeves. Basically all you need is $15,000USD and an accepted application form. I think they should consider raising the fee and slow down the new stars. Maybe keep the Walk of Fame a little more exclusive.

Schrödinger and Heisenberg out for a drive

ChuckOp — Thu, 02 Dec 2004 22:06:00 GMT

Noted physicists Schrödinger and Heisenberg are driving around in a car, and Heisenberg goes "I think we just ran over a cat."

"Is it dead?" asks Schrödinger.

"I can't be certain", says Heisenberg.

I saw this on a FreeBSD forum today and thought it was just laugh out loud funny. If you have no idea who Schrödinger and Heisenberg are, check the links.

Bush over Kerry in electoral votes?

ChuckOp — Sat, 24 Jul 2004 19:38:00 GMT

As of this writting in late July, Bush has a slight lead over Kerry in the electoral votes - 217 vs. 193. States that are a toss up, or lean on way or another could make this Presidential election very similar to the last one. In 2000, when the Supreme Court halted the counting of ballots in Florida and gave the states totals to Bush, he won with a total of 271 - one more than needed. Al Gore had overall more individual votes, but only totalled 267 electoral votes.

It's quite possible to have a similar result in 2004 - whereas Bush wins the electoral vote with Kerry leading in the popular vote.

After the confusion of 2000, and the still-lingering bad feelings, if the election of 2004 once again puts Bush into the White House for four more years, will there be a revolt against the electoral college system?

I understand why the system exists, but two consecutive close elections, spilting the popular and electoral votes might be enough for the people to demand for widespread change - which wouldn't happen given the outcome. Thus, people will just become more disinclined to participate in the process to begin with.

Chicago Parks, Meigs Field and Mayor Daley

ChuckOp — Fri, 16 Jul 2004 19:21:00 GMT

I was fairly outraged when I read USA Today's fawning article on Chicago Mayor Daley and his efforts in creating park space in the city. Normally park space is a good thing, but his midnight, quasi-illegal destruction of the historic Meigs Field airport last year was an outrage. Here's a letter to the editor I sent to USA Today:

Chicago's new Millennium Park will undoubtedly be a enjoyable recreation area for years. "Donors' cash turns city green" USA Today, 7/14/2004. The article notes Mayor Daley's "15 year quest to 'green' this industrial metropolis." His quote on "A lesson in using public space" made me laugh aloud. This same Mayor Daley bulldozed the runway at historic Meigs Field in March 2003, breaking a promise to keep the airport open for 25 years. Although Daley cited groundless security concerns as the reason for the midnight demolition, public statements for years prior indicated his underlying desire to turn the airport into a park.

So, while Chicago gets even more park space, it citizens do not have access to a local airport that was serving community and business needs. Because police and medical helicopters are now based farther away, the city is less secure. A 1997 proposal to add park space and keep the airport open was ignored.

The City of Chicago deserves much praise in their efforts to make a "City in a Garden"; however, I deplore Daley's dishonesty and fear mongering to achieve his goals.

Linux won't stay up for longer than 16 months?

ChuckOp — Mon, 05 Apr 2004 19:20:00 GMT

Apparently until recently, the Linux kernal value that measures “uptime” was a 32 bit number. Uptime is measured in centiseconds (.01) and thus after 497 days, 2 hours, 27 minutes and 53 seconds, the counter wraps around to zero. Doing a Google search on “Linux uptime 497“ produced a number of folks who encountered the issue and discussions about it.

Now, I doubt that this is a big deal in the grand scheme of things. I honestly don't know if Windows has similar limitations. Obviously Linux can stay up longer than 497 days, it just won't be reported as doing so.

What struck me as odd about this particular problem was the response of the user community. Many of the replies to folks bringing up the issue go along the lines of “if you go 497 days without rebooting, you're a security risk because you haven't applied kernel patches.” Example here and here.

I'm certain that if Windows had such an issue, it would be proudly proclaimed by the Linux user community as evidence of shoddy programming on the part of Microsoft. They would be right. Of course, the Windows user community couldn't care less about shoddy programming in the Linux universe so, other than right here, you're unlikely to hear about such problems. I suspect that Ziff-Davis (motto: “Pravda for the Linux State“) won't be running any commentary about the “uptime rollover bug.“

I stumbled apon all this when researching which OS was being used by major web sites for it's servers. Netcraft offers a page showing the average longest uptimes of the web sites it tracks. The Top 50 sites is dominated with BSD/OS, which accounts for all but 7 of the entries including the top 5 sites. #1 is 1,786 days by Netcraft's count.

#6 is 1,618 days and is running FreeBSD. No one in the BSD community thinks such a high number is out of place or indicates a insecure system. In fact, the version of Apache running on the #5 site is 1.3.26, which was released in June 2002. So obviously the site is getting secuirty updates, it just doesn't need reboots to make them happen...

...and that, my friends, is exactly the way it should be.

TSA Steals Cigars

ChuckOp — Mon, 05 Apr 2004 17:42:00 GMT

Oooo am I mad! Maybe someone from the TSA saw my rant two weeks ago on inconsistant security standards and decided to get even.

During my regular Monday commute from Seattle to San Jose via Alaska Airlines flight 344, someone stole a portable cigar case from my checked bag. The case, a gift from my wife, was carrying 2 Cohiba Robusto's and 2 Hemmingway Short Stories - about $100 worth of smokes.

Interestingly enough, I know that the TSA (motto: “Respecting Privacy, Preserving Freedoms“) opened up the bag - they put a blue tie on the zipper and enclosed a “Notifcation of Baggage Inspection” leaflet. Which reads:

“During the inspection, your bag and its contents may have been searched for prohibited items.” I wonder if someone thought the Cohiba's were Cuban and decided to play Customs Inspector. Then I read, “At the completion of the inspection, the contents were returned to your bag, which was resealed.” NOT!

The leaflet gives a toll-free number, 866-289-9673 for the TSE Consumer Response Center. Well, it's just a recording telling you to go to the web site (www.tsa.gov) to download a claim form. You can leave a message with your address though. Which I did. The page to make a claim directs me to call the Consumer Response Center, which in turn directs me to the web site. Ugh. The only privacy being protected is that of the thief's.

I'm thinking that while my cigars were being lifted, the TSA (remember our motto - “Respecting Privacy, Preserving Freedoms“) was making me wait 15 minutes in a line, then suffer the indignity of making me undress by having me take off my shoes, jacket and unpack my briefcase.

Another page indicates that valuables shouldn't be in checked baggage. They think the airlines are to blame however; “The air carriers retain possession of your checked baggage for the entire trip with the exception of a short period of time while it is screened by the TSA.”

Of course, it's during that “short period” where my bag actually gets opened up by TSA folks. How else would someone know the cigars are in there? It's not like they show up on a X-ray and a baggage handler goes - “hey, let's nab that one.”

FYI, if I felt that the TSA was truly helping America be a safer place, I'd be more understanding.

Spam will be eliminated in 18 months

ChuckOp — Wed, 24 Mar 2004 00:58:00 GMT

I predict that spam, at least spam as we now it now, will be eliminated by September, 2005, probably sooner.

With 83% of the mail sent to Hotmail.com addresses, the epidemic is great enough to bring out the big artillery to combat it. The various state (like in Washington) and Federal laws are good intentions, but without the ability to identify the spammer, is useless.

If however, you can identify the spammer, then the threat of real legal action can make a difference. There are a couple of plans in the works to identify spammers, including one from Microsoft. Given the size of the problem, I expect that the usual debates over which technology is better will give way to rapid adoption.

Sick of inconsistant security standards

ChuckOp — Tue, 23 Mar 2004 01:03:00 GMT

Arrrgh! It’s week 8 here in San Jose. Flying out this morning from SeaTac, I was asked to remove my sneakers. Only about half the time at SeaTac am I asked to do this. Never am I asked at SJC. When I mentioned that I didn’t have to do it last week, the lady said “Oh, it’s required. We always ask.” As if I’d slap my forehead and say “Oh of course, I’d forgotten I was humiliated in a degrading manner last time I was here, silly me.” Oh, on each trip, I wear the same Nike white tennis sneakers.

So, here’s my procedure when approaching the security screeners.

Put away boarding pass, but keep it handy, I’ll need to present it again.
Unclip cell phone, turn off and slip into carrying case.
Take off my Breitling watch, as its bulk tends to set off the machine. Slip into jacket pocket and zip close.
Take loose change, slip in other jacket pocket and zip shut.
At the security table, I put my jacket in it’s own tray
Take laptop out of briefcase, sent briefcase down the line
Put laptop in tray, but don’t sent it until I’m reasonable sure I can meet it on the other side
Dash through gateway
Pick up laptop tray before it gets rattled by the rollers.

In the past, laptops would be cushioned. Even after 9/11, you could put your laptop on top of your folded jacket in a tray. No longer. Now, all the jolts of the tray moving through the machine are being transmitted directly to the laptop case. Having lost damaged two laptop hard drives while traveling; I know how fragile they can be.

I had seat 7C today on the 6:25am flight. I noticed that coach flight attendant, a 30ish guy came forward and actively blocked the aisle at the First Class galley while the First Class flight attendant severed coffee to the pilots. The few seconds the cockpit door was open, the guy leaned against the galley wall to the right of the aisle. He put his arm out and gripped the partition between row 1 and exit door on the left side of the aisle. The whole time he was looking into the cabin, which was good, since the other flight attendant had her back to the cabin while serving the coffee.

When the cockpit door was closed, he started to walk back up the aisle. I motioned to him and asked if he had done that on purpose. He said it was an Alaska Airlines policy.

Very interesting.

Source code leak fears apply to Linux too

ChuckOp — Tue, 02 Mar 2004 20:33:00 GMT

I'm a little sick about how the industry press is reporting on the source code leak. The first reports were rip with speculation that competitors with Microsoft's applications would finally have a inside look and be able to compete fairly.

That kind of thinking is just plain silly. It seems sinister, that some how the Windows developers can add things that help the Microsoft applications, but not document or make those additions publically available. Trust me, there is no MakeExcelRecalcFaster() API in Win32, documented or otherwise.

The other fear that the trade press is presenting is that having the source code out in the wild will result in more security risks. Here's one comment from a Ziff-Davis writer:

“Now thousands of virus writers can scan the code for flaws and weaknesses instead of relying on trial and error.”

Okay, I can understand that. However, I've yet to see this point brought up when discussing open source software, specifically Linux. I've often thought that one of the downsides to open source is that it is completely transparent and lacks coding standards.

Of course, the “trail and error“ that virus writers do really isn't present. It's speculated that most rogue developers start out by reverse-engineering the patches Microsoft puts out and discovers the flaws present. Then they take advantage of the vunerability on unpatched machines.

Google Spam

ChuckOp — Sat, 07 Feb 2004 00:45:00 GMT

Is Google an infallible power?

Over the past few weeks, I've noticed that some of my Google searches are returning results from spammers. This has probably been a problem for awhile, but I'm now noticing a sharp increase.

For the previous blog post, I wanted to provide a link to a shareware utility for filling up disk space. I put in "diskhog shareware" as the search.

The third result of the set was listed as "diskhog for nt server", but what was stunning was the URL provided:

www.coulterroadbaptist.org/teen-non-nude-bikini.htm

Now, I doubt that organized religion has gotten involved with internet porn. Sure enough, choosing that link brought me to a page that contains a couple of links to other search engines. Ugh. Looking at the source code for the page, a lot of effort is made to fool the user and record information. The user agent string is captured, along with the original Google search terms. When a link is hovered over, the status shows a fake address. What crap.

Google spam is nothing new, but the success that Google has had is will be lost if the present state of affairs continues.

FYI, here is the real Coulter Road Baptist church.

Say it ain't so Dennis

ChuckOp — Wed, 28 Jan 2004 05:36:00 GMT

I TiVo'ed Dennis Miller's new show on CNBC Monday night. Watching it today and boy, it's awful. I chuckled a few times, but for the most part it bombed.

My friends know I've been a fan of Dennis Miller ever since memorizing lines from his first comedy album; The Off-White Album. I saw him in concert, in Tampa, 1992 and ten years later in Seattle. In between, I've followed his short lived late night talk show stint, bought albums, DVD's, books and books on tape. His long running show on HBO was one of the first in a series of high quaility original programming that has defined HBO of late. I even liked his brand of wit as the color commenter on Monday Night Football.

After watching his latest HBO special last year; The Raw Feed, I saw him shifting to the right, with a mean-spiritedness of some jokes. His trademark wit takes a back seat to vengence-fueled rage against the enemy. Then I heard he was cracking jokes at Republican fund raisers and riding on Air Force One. That lead to a commentary role on FOX's Hannity & Colmes show and now his own show on CNBC every night.

But wait, this isn't “Weekend Update“. It's hard to be original in yet another weeknight political talk show, but I'm giving him credit for having a chimp as a occasional side kick, a la Mr. Muggs with Dave Garroway on the Today Show in mid-1950s. Future shows will also have a “magic word“ just like “You Bet Your Life“ with Groucho Marx. He's doing the show without an audience, with just the production crew yucking it up just like Tom Synder on the “Tomorrow Show“.

Scary sounding is a future gimmick where he'll split screen two people with opposing views, and move the split to give more room to the person he agrees with.

Sadly, the first show was quite a disappointment for me. The first half hour was taken up with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The first few minutes we learn that Dennis worked for the Govinator during the election and how Dennis loves Arnolds style. While all the talk of Proposition this and California's budget woes dragged on, I was madly fast forwarding to something more interesting. I can't imagine that much of the East Coast audience bothered to stick with conversation. Speaking of “stick”, Miller knowingly joked that an assistant forcably removed one from his ass during the commerical break after the interview.

Not much was funny, nor particularly insightful. The opening monologue was stiff, with several jokes bombing completely. Miller's material usually goes over half the audenice's head, but when you're riffing with a few stage directors and union organized camera people, “tough room” has a new meaning.

“Varisty” is the panel segment, where three talking heads offer their views - just like Bill Maher's “Real Time”, which replaced Miller's HBO series. Except in Dennis' version, it was three against one. The lone voice of the left was feminist author Naomi Wolf, who was immediately poked by Miller, remarking that they did the stage with “earth tones”, a reference to Wolf's consulting to Al Gore during the 2000 election. I'd never heard her speak before, and wasn't familar with her writings, but after presenting herself very well in the face of 3 guys advocating war, I was highly impressed.

To summerize, Miller's insight on right-wing politics is nothing new, and in this new daily format, his humor lacks the honed run-on sentences of off-the-wall pop culture anologies that made his trademark rants so cutting. But this version is as dull as a tool made by those freaky apes at the beginning of 2001.

That's just my opinion, I could be wrong.

Outlook 2003 rant

ChuckOp — Sat, 24 Jan 2004 04:49:00 GMT

OL2003 is the latest evolution of a very sophisticated application, there are many improvements, including excellent junk mail handling, and the space saving two-line view.

There are many little nits however. Today’s nit is that OL2003 hides public folders from view. The new navigation bar replaces the older “Outlook Bar” and “Folder List” window panes by combining the functionality of both. When you select Calendar, the various calendar folders are listed as “My Calendars”. Similarly with Contacts, only those contact folders you select are shown.

However, when the Mail navbar button is chosen, a tree view is shown in the middle pane, while a flat list of “Favorite Folders” is shown at the top. This tree view resembles the “Folder List” pane from previous versions, with a difference – non-mail folders are not shown. This is a huge improvement, because Contact, Task, Calendar folders aren’t cluttering the overall list. This is especially useful if you have multiple personal storage (PST) locations.

One downside however is that Public Folders are not shown in this list. Public Folders appear when you are connected to a Microsoft Exchange server. At Microsoft, for example, there are thousands of public folders, ranging from shared contacts for a particular team to mailing list archives. Some corporations use Public Folders as a NNTP gateway to Newsgroups.

In order to see Public Folders, you have to choose the Folder List navigation button, which then shows all the folder items, just like the older “Folder List” pane.

My suggestion to the Outlook dev team would be to consider implementing one of the following:

1. Have a “Public Folders” navigation button. When selected, it shows an expanded tree view starting at the root Public Folders node. Use the top pane for “Favorite Public Folders” showing the selected favorites. This navigation button can be deselected by default (just like the Journal button) and if not connected to a Exchange account, the UI could be hidden.

2. Simply include the Public Folder nodes in the All Mail Folders tree view.

Later I’ll rant on two-line view quirks.