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Google sues feds over Microsoft-centric bidding requirement

Nov 022010

So the government, is asking for bids, from multiple vendors for a product that can only be created by one vendor. So if anyone else wants to win the bid, they have to purchase services / product from Microsoft. Yes indeed. This is your money at work, within the government. Especially since there are tons of alternatives out there, from Google Apps / Docs, to Zimbra…

In its Request for Quotes RFQ, a document asking companies to design a solution and quote the department a price, the DOI restricted the candidates to using the Microsoft suite only. The problem is that such a restriction is akin to putting money directly in Microsofts pocket, as the contract cant be completed without Microsoft taking part at some point.
According to the lawsuit Google filed, the DOI tried to justify the requirement by saying its suite offered consolidated e-mail and “enhanced security.” The 37-page filing details several volleys between Google and the DOI, wherein Google points out that Microsoft products still have downtime issues and makes a case for its own Google Apps as a suitable alternative.

Read the full article at Google sues feds over Microsoft-centric bidding requirement.

Duplicate emails being downloaded from Apple Mail?

Computers, Macintosh, Tech Support No Responses »

Mar 102010

I’ve tried everything I know and searched everywhere, but I can’t find an answer to this problem. Several of my clients have this issue and now I have it, after adding two new accounts to Mail – both of the new accounts are effected, but the older ones work fine.
Mail picks up email and filters out spam just fine. The problem is with emails I have either deleted or flagged as spam. Mail doesn’t remove them from the server even though I have my preferences set to delete them “Right Away”
Then the next time Mail pickup email, it picks those same messages up as “unread.” No matter how many times I delete them, they keep coming back as “unread” messages. If I manually delete them, using the “Remove Now” button in preferences, that solves the problem.
I have repeatedly rebuilt these mailboxes since creating the accounts a few weeks ago, but I keep having the same problem. The server recognizes them as “read” becasue I can delete them manually, but apparently Mail thinks they are unread.

If Mail.app starts behaving weirdly, you could try deleting all the preference files and starting from scratch … note that doing this will delete all e-mail account settings, so it’s a good idea to write down all the relevant details first:

WARNING: This is the “so-called” Nuclear Option, for reseting your mail, keep reading first…

Quit out of Mail.app
Backup up your mail & preferences
- Backup com.apple.mail.* from your Library/Preferences folder
- Backup ~/Library/Mail
Delete the com.apple.mail.plist file (it’s in your user accounts’ Library/Preferences folder)
Delete the MessageUidsAlreadyDownloaded file (it will be in your user accounts’ Library/Mail/[email protected])
Open Mail.app and run through the setup wizard again
Import all of the mailboxes back in to Mail.app

It’s a relatively complex procedure, but it’s helped me out once or twice when everything’s gone haywire.

The above process is fairly radical and effectively forces you to recreate your mail setup, if it’s a minor issue, it maybe better to address the issue directly.

Try, Quiting Mail, and just deleting your MessageUidsAlreadyDownloaded file, but make sure that you have a complete backup. There have been reports that it resolves the issue easily, and simply.

iPhone OS 4 About to Drop?

Computers, Macintosh, Rumors, SAN Loss No Responses »

Jan 152010

A new report suggests that iPhone OS 4.0 could be close to release, months before it would normally be expected. Apple has heretofore only released new firmware with new phone models. However, CNET reports that a “prominent” app developer says he’s got the new SDK and has updated his app already. In the past, Apple has provided developer previews in March for new OS versions that are then released in June or July.

Rick Broida, who writes iPhone Atlas for CNET, noted today that he had gotten an email from a dev claiming that he's got a hold of iPhone OS 4.0:

iPhone OS 4.0 is imminent. At least, that's the only conclusion I can draw from an e-mail I just received from a prominent app developer.
The message includes the following snippet: “Just wanted to give you a heads up that we’ve submitted an updated app for the new iPhone OS 4.0 software.

Rumers have swirled ahead of the expected Apple tablet announcement later this month. An event – which is still unscheduled and unconfirmed – is supposedly going to happen at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, with the date variously being set as January 26 or January 27. The French site Mac4Ever said that the tablet announcement would be accompanied by an announcement of an iPhone 4.0 beta, which is purported to include a “simulator” mode that would allow apps to be run on larger screens. Some developers were said to have been given beta SDKs ahead of the announcement so that they could prepare demos to be shown at the event.

The website iPodNN had noted speculation on Wednesday that the iPhone OS update was being held back until the tablet was announced because the build contained too many references to the still-unannounced device.

Betalogue » Blog Archive » Toast 10 Titanium Pro: Purchase at your own risk

Computers, Reviews No Responses »

Aug 182009

For years, Roxio’s Toast CD/DVD disk burning software has been (in my opinion) coasting on it’s good name. It’s a good package, but it’s overly expensive, and Roxio doesn’t support it well….

You run into situations where the software is 95% bug free, and Roxio seems to not care about fixing all the bugs, instead your asked to purchase the next major release to get an almost fully functional product.

Why? Simply because they can’t get the previous version fully functional for over 18 months, before Apple releases a new version of the OS… And then of course, the previous version isn’t supported on the new OS… Or at least, that’s what it seems like…

Oh, and did I mention that their upgrade offers aren’t that good? You virtually pay full price for an upgrade…. And their usually isn’t enough new features to justify paying full price…

Here’s a good example of Roxio’s confusion, and inability to support their flagship product…..

Toast 10 Titanium Pro: Purchase at your own risk

A few weeks ago, I got a promotional e-mail from Roxio inviting me to purchase the latest version of its flagship CD/DVD recording software for Mac OS X, Toast 10 Titanium Pro, for a special price of $100. (It’s normally listed for $150. The special price meant that it was the same price as Toast 10 without the ‘Pro’ part, i.e. without the extra software.)
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Is this the next step in Spam? Sponsorship deals?

SAN Loss No Responses »

May 112009

I just was re-reading Irregular Webcomic again….And they had a fantastic idea that I can’t believe that no spammers have yet considered. Sponsorship Spam. Yes, Spam that has a sponsor…

“We reach tens of millions of verified e-mail addresses, every day!! Take advantage of our huge market penetration and high consumer awareness! Place your message on our spam!”

I could totally go for that… It would help my Spam filter…

via Irregular Webcomic! #652-656.

What Exchange 2010 means for Mac users | Business Center | Macworld

Macintosh, Tech Support No Responses »

Apr 282009

What Exchange 2010 means for Mac users | Business Center | Macworld: “What Exchange 2010 means for Mac users
Microsoft has big changes planned for its flagship communications server—here’s how it affects you

For most Mac users, the phrase Exchange Server has been the cause of a great deal of annoyance and frustration. From bizarro ways of encoding rich text e-mail, (winmail.dat, anyone?) to a host of features that were forever out of reach unless you were on Windows using the most current version of Outlook, being a Mac user in an Exchange world meant you were sitting at the kid’s table in the kitchen, staring longingly at the adults having a good time.”

(View the rest of the article at MAcWorld – What Exchange 2010 means for Mac users)

A Windows guru spends two weeks with a Mac

Computers, Macintosh, Windows No Responses »

Apr 172009

“Editor’s Note: This story is excerpted from Computerworld. For more Mac coverage, visit Computerworld’s Macintosh Knowledge Center.

I’ve been on the front lines of the Mac-PC war for as long as I can remember. My first work computer was an IBM PC with an 8088 CPU. I liked it so much I forked out the money to buy my own machine: an IBM PC XT clone running an 8086 chip, and bulging with 640KB of RAM and a whopping 20MB hard disk.

Since then, I’ve written dozens of books and hundreds or thousands of articles, columns and blogs about PCs and Windows. Along the way, I’ve earned the unending enmity of plenty of Mac folks. At one point several years ago, I was targeted by hundreds of Mac fans in an e-mail barrage because I used to write a column about shareware that covered only PC software and ignored the Mac. More recently on my Computerworld Windows blog, I’ve been called various schoolyard epithets when I’ve written anything remotely critical about Macs or people who use them.

So it was with more than a little trepidation that I accepted a new assignment from my editor (sort of a follow-up to my article ‘Living free with Linux: 2 weeks without Windows’) to give up my PC and try living for two weeks on the Mac. Talk about sleeping with the enemy!”

(View the rest of the article at A Windows guru spends two weeks with a Mac | Business Center – Page 1 | Macworld)

Time Warner Cable: Please complain about our usage caps! – Ars Technica

Computers No Responses »

Apr 092009

Time Warner Cable: Please complain about our usage caps! – Ars Technica: “Time Warner Cable, fresh from announcing plans to roll out its 5GB-100GB monthly data caps in more test cities, got in touch with Ars today to tell us that it really, really wants to hear from customers, but could the angry epistles please go toward one specific e-mail account and not to everyone at TWC with a public address?

Jeff Simmermon, TWC’s head of Digital Communications, says that the company has already received its fair supply of angry missives. ‘Obviously,’ he says, ‘those of us with public-facing e-mail addresses have gotten a lot of them.’

The company has therefore (rather brilliantly) set up a special e-mail address for complaints: [email protected] The central complaint inbox should make it simple to give customer feedback the attention it deserves.

Suffusion theme by Sayontan Sinha

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