Windows Vista Beta 2

I, along with many other geeks, downloaded Microsoft’s Vista Beta 2 DVD when it became publicly available last week. I got around to starting an install of it on a box in Engineering today, which I can babysit as I work on other stuff.

The install choked a couple of times on partitioning the hard drive, until I booted a Linux rescue CD and deleted the pre-existing Linux partitions that were on the system before I started. After that, I was able to get the Vista installer running. The install process itself was pretty mindless, and since it’s just one DVD, there’s no disc swapping.

Once a bunch of copying and file expanding was completed, Windows wanted to reboot the computer. After the reboot, it came up and said there was a problem with some file required for Windows to boot properly. I rebooted to the DVD, and used the system recovery options to repair the boot process. Then I rebooted again, this time from the hard disc, and the installation process continued. Note that by this time we’ve lost the regular users, and they’ve already called the Geek Squad at the local Best Buy for tech support.

The install rebooted several times, asking several questions along the way, like what time zone I was in, and for a user name and password. There were no options about configuring the security level of the user I created. After the last reboot I got the Vista login window, which was similar to the XP one. I logged in and away I went. I’ll post some impressions when I get around to developing some.

2 Swim meets and a triathalon

The kids swam in two meets the past two weekends. First was the Whitecourt meet two weekends ago, then the Hinton meet this weekend. Whitecourt was the first one of the year. Both Em and Mack did well, doing some best times and both winning an aggregate medal, Mack the gold and Emily bronze.

Last weekend at Hinton, Emily swam her first 800 free race. Did I mention she’s in the 10 & under category? Wow, it was amazing to watch her siwm that. I ran the length counter for her, and the first time I stuck the card in the water as she was coming into her third turn, she looked up at me through her pink goggles and gave me a dirty look. She was pretty proud of herself for swimming that race, and she should be. She was the only one younger than about 14 in the race. She finished fifth and got the silver medal aggregate overall, because of her other two wins in 50 free and 25 fly, and a 3rd place in 100 IM. Mack has a little competition now that he’s moved up to 8 & under this year. He got the gold in the meet, with a first in 25 free, first in 25 fly, 2nd in 50 free and 2nd in 25 back.

We got home from Hinton Saturday evening, and Sunday morning we got up early so they could go in the St. Albert Kids of Steel Triathalon. They competed as a team together with their friend from school Evan Beaubien. Emily swam, and came first out of the pool in her group. Mack biked, and went very hard, but was a bit out of his league against kids up to 10 years old. Evan ran very hard, and despite some cramps, sprinted through the finish line. It was the first time any of them had been in a triathalon, but from the kids’ reactions, I doubt it will be the last. Emily’s already said she wants to compete as an individual next year. She was especially happy that her grandma came out to watch them.

I hope they stay athletic like this. We’re trying to instill a lifelong love of sport in them, with an emphasis on having fun and getting lots of activity. So far so good.

Net Neutrality - We need it, but we’re about to lose it.

The US government are being steered by big telco dollars into voting in legislation that will enable bandwidth providers to create “toll roads” on the Internet. This will open the door to an even bigger disparity between the information “haves” and “have-nots”, and effectively convert the Internet from a public resource to a resource that is controlled by US telephone companies. They will be able to dictate what content is available to whom, based on whoever pays the most to them for the privilege of passing over their wires. Forget the fact that they already dig you for their pound of flesh: they want to get paid again and again.

Right now, you pay your ISP for Internet access, and Google pays their ISP for Internet access, and all the telcos laugh all the way to the bank, which is OK. After we lose Net Neutrality, your ISP will be able to demand that Google pay them as well, whenever you go to Google. Or, they’ll be able to give preferential performance to their paid-up partners at the expense of those who can’t pay. Remember the part where you already paid your ISP for Internet access? Accessibility of information should not be controlled by big US businesses.

The end result will be that high quality service, and broadband content will only be available to those who pay and pay and pay again. What’s that going to do to education, small business, and especially to the developing world? They’ll all get to stay on the dirt roads and cart paths of the Information Superhighway.

Save the Internet

Anyone who writes should read this

I know I sometimes make the odd grammar mistake, but I try really really hard to use correct grammar and spelling when I write. My personal pet peeve on the web, and especially in the comments on Slashdot articles, is the flagrant misuse of “loose” instead of lose.

Read 10 Grammar Mistakes That Make You Look Stupid.