If you get an Open Computer from PsyStar running Leopard, you can now update your OS!

One of the biggest news items last month was the discovery and on-again, off-again availability of PsyStar’s Open Computer. They made headline news with their $399 entry-level offering, as the first non-Apple PC to run Leopard. The catch, however, was twofold:

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Speculation, speculation… I wonder who’s going to take the Vista plunge…or not. 

Over the last few weeks, there’s been a lot of chatter over operating systems.  Who’s ready for this SP, or that, on this OS or the other… Who’s going to install them or wait it out for a while…that type of thing. I’ve heard a people grimacing over XP EOL and Vista, as well.  What is even more interesting is that some of my IT management team has been saying that they may blow by Vista entirely in favor of Windows 7.

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XP SP3 WAS released, but got pulled; and then got released again.

I’ve been following this on and off, and it seems to me to be one of the MOST comical configuration and release management related issues I’ve bumped into in a long time. I should know, too. As a Software QA Director, I’ve been responsible not only for Test, but CM and RM as well.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see situations like the XP SP3 and Vista SP1 release issues we have (BTW, Vista SP1 is also on hold…AGAIN!) in small companies, but to see them in a retail giant like Microsoft is really bothersome…especially when the entire world runs their businesses on Microsoft software.

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This has been a good email morning! I love finding interesting new gadgets waiting in my inbox, and the Yoggie Gatekeeper Card Pro definitely piqued my curiosity. What is it?

A full-blown computer with its own processor, memory and hardened operating system, this computer within a computer is simple to install yet provides the most advanced security protection on the market.

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As parents we like to think that we know our kids, that we know they would never do or say certain things. But the fact is that we can never be too sure; all we can do is educate them, hope that they are being careful, and trust that they are being smart.

If I were to be completely honest with myself, I’d recall doing and saying plenty of things when I was Sarah’s age that might have seemed harmless at the time, but would either be considered risky or embarrassing today. Thankfully we didn’t have digital cameras, chat rooms, blogs, or for that matter - the internet when I was 16.

Think about it, a teen in 1983 that had a frustrating day might call a best friend to let off steam, but a teen today can just as easily go into an online chat room or their MySpace account and vent to the first available friend that will listen. Sometimes these “friends” are not what they seem.

Sarah has grown up hearing how the 14 year old girl she thinks she is chatting with might really be a 41 year old man, and I would like to think that without sounding like a broken record, my message has sunk in. Sarah is past the age where I feel compelled to limit her time on the internet, and for the most part I completely trust that she is careful when she is online - and yet I still felt a touch of apprehension when I was approached about trying a new internet service called BeNetSafe. My inner nagging mom was nervous that I might find out something I didn’t want to know…

Maybe it’s because I can remember what a rotten kid I was.

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I’ve been using the HTC Universal (branded as an i-mate JasJar) for almost a year. This in itself has been a bit out of the norm, because many of the PDAs I’ve owned haven’t lasted near as long.

Let’s go tripping down memory lane, shall we?

The first pen-based (or stylus entry) Personal Digital Assistant that I remember buying was the Casio Zoomer, sometime in 1993. Beyond the contacts, calendar and Pocket Quicken that came loaded on the device, there was also a version of Pyramid that I could literally waste hours playing. The resulting scratches and scribbles on the screen would eventually help shape my firm belief in the value of screen protectors.

I bought my first Pilot from the Franklin catalog; Franklin as in the day planner company! This was in late 1996, and I can’t even remember what the cost of a brand new Pilot was, but a little known fact was that if you looked in the paper insert in the middle of their catalog - Franklin also sold refurbs. I wasn’t sure if I would like the blocky little monochrome device, so I reasoned that buying a slightly used one would be prudent. Up until then I had been using various keyboard-input clamshell devices, including my longtime favorite the HP-95LX and several of its upgraded future generations.

Once I got that first Pilot, I was hooked. I mastered Graffiti very quickly, and used to amuse family and friends with the way that I would obsessively jot everything down in the device.

Remember the days before rechargeable batteries? I can remember always keeping a supply in my desk drawer and in my bag. It was completely wasteful, really; when my battery bar hit a certain level I would change the batteries. I was so afraid of losing my data that I got quite proficient at changing the batteries quickly. Even so, I still managed to lose my data a few times because I took an extra second or two too long to complete the process…thank goodness for Palm Desktop and hot-sync’d data!

Ah, those were the good old days.

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