When I first signed up for Facebook I was a little apprehensive of putting so much “real” info about me in my profile… my full real name (no screen names allowed) my real birth date, etc. but when I looked into it I liked that I had the ability to control how much information about me was shared and with who.

Then Facebook saw Twitter explode and saw that the reason was that everything on Twitter was public. Anyone could read and follow anyone else’s posts. Facebook wanted to leverage what worked for Twitter and therefore has been moving to make info more and more public. But Facebook is not Twitter. I can use Twitter under a screen name and let anyone read anything I say and remain completely anonymous. That just isn’t possible on Facebook unless I use false information in my profile. On Facebook I no longer have as much control over how much information about me is shared and with who. Now there are pieces of my profile which are public… no matter whether I want them to be or not. So I deleted all of my interests. I am tired of having to keep digging through the myriad of privacy settings to be sure that I am still showing as little as Facebook allows me to show publicly. Doing so has resulted in me having to actually manage my Facebook account on a regular basis. I don’t think an account on a social network should have to be constantly managed.

Let’s face it, we are a victim of Facebook’s success. They make changes that we don’t like (and they know it) so we complain and join groups railing against Facebook, but how many people are actually leaving Facebook? Very few I imagine. Why? We have been drinking the Facebook Kool-Aid and there isn’t another drink that comes close. Facebook is addictive. It’s not that we can’t stop using it (well maybe some of us can’t), but Facebook gives us something we don’t get anywhere else (and they know it) and because of that we take whatever Facebook dishes on us.

What Facebook needs to realize is that they have so much they can and do get from their platform alone, that forcing users into their new new business model is unnecessary. If they only leveraged what they have instead of pushing what they want, then eventually they will end up with what they want. It may not happen in the manner that they thought it would, but it would be with, instead of without, the blessings and praises of their users.

All of this has led to an emergence of other social networking ideas. Four New York University students have raised $115,000 (and counting) to begin coding a new social network called Diaspora. This is in addition to OneSocialWeb which is already in early development, but is open for business now for more technical users. The concept behind these two Facebook alternative wannabes is similar, and takes its roots from peer-to-peer systems like Gnutella (Limewire network). The idea is that each individual person hosts their own data and therefore has 100% control of it. To do this requires software to run on the individual’s computer, or a 3rd party hosted solution. Now I can’t begin to conceive how these systems will look and feel when they are further along, but immediately I realize that they have what I consider a fatal flaw to ever achieving mass adoption… they lack simplicity. Using a website that looks and acts the same no matter what computer in the world you use is just easier than having software that runs on your computer. People are not going to want to “host” their own social network client. I have no doubt that these new concepts will address usability issues, but I still think the overall concept will doom them to being fringe networks at best.

In the absence of Facebook adopting a more user-centric philosophy, what the web needs is another Facebook, but not… it needs the anti-Facebook. Another web based social network that acts benevolently, in their users interests. That values and maintains user privacy as a core value, a right of its users. That provides them complete control over what about them is and is not publicly available, and selectively available. Such a site would, in my opinion, appeal to a large number of people and over time, could possibly attract enough users to become a viable alternative to Facebook.

I used to defend Facebook because after each change I was able to make the tweaks to my profile necessary to retain my previous level of privacy, and I was able to share that with others. However I am done defending. Facebook is pushing all of us into their idea of how things should be. Facebook tells us that the social trend is toward making more and more of our information public. Mr. Zuckerberg that is just plain horeshit. Don’t piss on my back and tell me it is raining. I am not trending towards making more of my information public. In fact every time you try to make me I push back as hard as I can to retain the status quo. Making my information public is in Facebook’s interests, not mine.

If only I had the money, I’d create the anti-Facebook myself.

What a rad picture.

This is less of a review and more of a documentation of my experience with Windows 7. By the way I am using the 32-bit version. Since this isn’t really a review I am not going to talk about the features in Windows 7; there are much better places to get that info. What I am going to do is share my experience with Windows 7 with the hope that it will assist others in making the decision on whether or not to use it.
I began using the final version of Windows 7 Enterprise the day after we received it in early August. I have been using it daily ever since. Ironically, that wasn’t the plan. I have two partitions and I had installed it on the partition that I had previously installed Vista (bleh) on with the idea that XP would continue to be my primary OS, and I would boot into Windows 7 on occasion to test it out.

System

Dell Optiplex 745:

• 3.4GHz Intel Pentium D Processor
• 4gb of RAM
• ATI X1550 Video Card (dual monitor)

Install

The computer is about 3 years old now, so it is no spring chicken in computer years. As I always do, I performed a clean install after re-formatting the partition. My first pleasant surprise occurred when I first booted into Windows 7. Everything worked. Sound, network, and dual video were all operational upon start-up. I didn’t need to download and install any drivers, which was good because Dell didn’t have any for Windows 7 posted yet. So far things were looking pretty good.

Software

This is where I hope to be the most helpful. As a Peoplesoft developer, there are a number of applications I use that are not common. Some are common in the development community, but some are uncommon even there. I am happy to report that to date I have not encountered a single issue with any of the software I have installed. Below is a list of software I have installed and successfully used in Windows 7:

• MS Office 2007
  • Word
  • Excel
  • Powerpoint
  • Outlook
  • Access
• MS Virtual PC
• MS Live Movie Maker
• MS Keyboard & Mouse
• 7-Zip (open source zip utility)
• Adobe Air Apps
  • Tweetdeck
• Adobe CS4
  • Acrobat Pro 9
  • Dreamweaver
  • Fireworks
  • Photoshop
• Beyond Compare
• Cisco VPN Client (5.0.03.0560)
  • As with Vista, to prevent premature timeouts I had to add the following line to the .pcf connection file “UseLegacyIKEPort=1″
• Dropbox
• iTunes 9
• KeePass
• KeePass2
• Logitech Webcam Software 12.0.1280.0000
• McAfee VirusScan Enterprise 8.7i
• Mozilla Firefox 3.5.3
• Oracle 10g Client
• PGP Desktop 9.9.1
• Peoplesoft Data Mover 8.4915 (psdmt.exe)
• Peoplesoft Data Mover 8.4816 (psdmt.exe)
• Peoplesoft Application Designer 8.4816 (pside.exe)
• Peoplesoft Application Designer 8.4915 (pside.exe)
• Quest Toad 9.7.2.5
• Quicktime 7
• Roxio Creator Plus – Dell Edition 2.4.32a (OEM)
  • Interesting thing is that this is the software that was bundled by Dell in 2006. I reinstalled from the original disc and it works fine in Windows 7
• SSH Secure Shell 3.2.9
  • This is a very old version from when it was free. Copyright is 2003, but the software (both SSH and SFTP) work fine
• TrueCrypt 6.2a (file encryption software)
• Yahoo! Messenger 9.0.0.2162

I have more software installed that I haven’t run yet… mostly pieces of the Adobe CS4, and I will update this list as I have experience with more software titles.  There is no list of software that I had issues with because I haven’t had any issues. I have yet to even look at Task Manager or Process Explorer in Windows 7.

Drivers

As I mentioned above, the install provided functional drivers for all of the critical system elements. I am a firm believer in “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” As such I haven’t looked for video or network drivers. I have installed the SoundMax driver from Dell’s website. I did that because the only issue I have encountered so far was with sound. On two occasions my system sound disappeared. I could still listen to iTunes music, but I couldn’t hear any system sounds, email notifications, etc. When I clicked on the sound icon in the system tray, it displayed and then hung. Eventually a “Not Responding” dialog appeared that gave me the option to force quit it, but I chose to restart instead. After restart all was well. The interesting thing is that this issue did not show up until well after a month of rock solid computing on Windows 7. I wonder if it was introduced in a Windows 7 patch or update that was installed, or related to some software I installed. The only thing I can think I installed near the time o the issue was Adobe CS4 which includes Sound Booth. In any case, earlier this week I installed the SoundMax driver from Dell (they have a Windows 7 version now) and I haven’t had any issues since. I’ll update this if the issue recurs.

Additionally I have successfully installed drivers for HP Laserjet 3800dn color printer and a Kyocera-Mita KM 3050 multifunction. I have been able to print to both devices with full functionality and no issues.

Conclusion

I didn’t say this upfront cause I didn’t want you to be influenced by it, but I am a Mac guy. That is my system of choice, but with that said and after reading this article I think it is obvious that I am not a Windows hater. I realize that each OS has it’s place and which you use should depend more on your needs, your comfort level and your wallet. To each their own. With that out of the way I have to say I HATED Vista… it was so bad, and by bad I mean it was slooooow. I couldn’t do anything in Vista better or faster than I could in XP. With Windows 7 I expected that MS would fix the mess… and in my opinion they did. Windows 7 has actually been great to work with and better than XP. Some of the features make it more efficient for me to use… and it is very quick… even on my old computer. That’s a good thing because even though this was supposed to be my year for a computer refresh, the budget made sure I will be using this computer for at least another year. I can’t imagine how fast it will work on newer hardware.

Feel free to comment or ask questions.

Edit 11/13/2009

I use a MS Wireless Desktop Elite Keyboard and Mouse. While both have worked fairly well, I have on occasion lost connectivity while either the computer is locked, or after restart. When it occurs at restart I usually see a BIOS message that a keyboard error has occurred. On all occasions the issue has been remedied by simply unplugging the USB cable to the wireless receiver, and then plugging it back in.

A woman, her mom, and her 77 year-old grandma, all have the same gynecologist. He recently retired and has been replaced by a much younger and handsome doctor.
The grandma is the first to see the new doctor. Needless to say she is a bit nervous.
After her appointment she bursts into the granddaughters home and is very upset. She tells her granddaughter she has never been so humiliated. The granddaughter asks what happened. The grandma explains the she was in the room, in the stirrups, with the sheet across her. The doctor came in, sat on the stool, lifted the sheet and with an awkward smile on his face said “Oooh, fancy.”
The granddaughter proceeds to ask her grandma why he would say that, did she do anything different? Grandma replies that all she had done was use some of the granddaughters feminine spray before the appointment. The granddaughter asks grandma what she is talking about; that she doesn’t have any feminine spray. Grandma is insistent that she does. The granddaughter asks grandma to show her what she is talking about.
Grandma walks to the bathroom, opens the medicine cabinet and shows the granddaughter what she used. The granddaughter replies, “Grandma, that isn’t feminine spray, that is red glitter hair spray! You probably look like a Christmas tree down there!”

I think a lot has changed at Homeland Security since 2003… I didn’t see the color coded rainbow threat chart on the front page anyway. Some of these are funnier than others:

The US government has a new website, http://www.ready.gov. It’s another attempt at scare mongering in the style of the old “duck and cover” advice after WWII.

The fun thing is that these pictures are so ambiguous they could mean anything! Here are a few interpretations.

If you have set yourself on fire, do not run.

If you spot terrorism, blow your anti-terrorism whistle. If you are Vin Diesel, yell really loud.

If you spot a terrorist arrow, pin it against the wall with your shoulder.

If you are sprayed with an unknown substance, stand and think about it instead of seeing a doctor.

Use your flashlight to lift the walls right off of you!

The proper way to eliminate smallpox is to wash with soap, water with at least one (1) armless hand.

Michael Jackson is a terrorist. If you spot this smooth criminal with dead, dead eyes, run away.

Hurricanes, animal corpses and the biohazard symbol have a lot in common. Think about it.

Be on the lookout for terrorists with pinkeye and leprosy. Also, they tend to rub their hands together manically.

If a door is closed, karate-chop it open.

Try to absorb as much of the radiation as possible with your groin region. After 5 minutes and 12 seconds, however, you may become sterile.

After exposure to radiation it is important to consider that you may have mutated to gigantic dimensions: watch your head.

If you’ve become a radiation mutant with a deformed hand, remember to close the window. No one wants to see that shit.

If you hear the Backstreet Boys, Michael Bolton or Yanni on the radio, cower in the corner or run like hell.

If your lungs and stomach start talking, stand with your arms akimbo until they stop.

I had been off work for 11 days during the holiday break. Going back was hard for me and my family, but we all took it really well. My oldest son, Aidan, had another week off before returning to Kindergarten. One day during my first week back Karen brought Aidan and Dylan to my work to see me for lunch. It was fun, then they left.

When I got home that evening I was showered with red paper hearts as I entered the house… then again as I walked up the stairs to change, then again as I walked downstairs, then again as I sat in the playroom and watched Aidan dance as he sang an “I Love You So Much Daddy” song. I don’t remember all of the words but one part was “if you took all of the love from all of the people in the world and added it all together, it would not match how much I love you”… he stopped the dance and sat in my lap hugging me while he finished his song… obviously it melted my heart.

I found out later from Karen that he had hatched his whole plan on the ride home from my work and had sang the song for her in the car. He pulled it off and his plan was executed flawlessly.

In parenting, as in life, we tend to focus on the negative more than on the positive… I think that is because the positives are subtle while the negatives are usually in your face or biting you in the ass. This positive was definitely in my face… and I loved it.

Our entire family’s love cups runneth over that night.