Stinky Feet

Lock your Computer, lock your computer. That and no tailgaters. are some of the security things that are drilled into people that work at Microsoft. And for good reason. Employees, Vendors and Contractors deal with sensitive, confidential information which has not yet been released to the public.

Access to a computer could prove access to such information, so locking a computer becomes important. I have pretty much become accustomed to hitting [Windows] + [L] to do so. But sadly some of the more Junior coworkers still don't understand the hazard. So a tradition has sprang up in my team. If certain team members happen to notice that a computer was left unlocked then they will send an email from the unwary team member's computer, to everyone in the team, simply stating; "I have Stinky Feet!". Yep, quite the incentive. I have been lucky enough to not have to deal with the fallout of the resulting email taunts though I have witnessed it happening.

Safari Testdrive

Okay I decided to download Safari to add it to my testing tool belt. I'm writing this post from Safari now. It was definitely not designed for Windows. The resizing borders are missing, It feels naked like this. Eek! Give me my borders please! It also added a desktop Icon without an option to not install one. One of my pet Peeves. Off you go to hide in the Quick Launch.

One thing I noticed, that I do like, is that it seems to have some interaction with the OS, or at least other browsers. I started typing the address to get to this blog and it actually showed up in the list.

Gasp! The middle click worked! It opened a new tab! Shocking! coming from an Apple product. Okay now to test the Print Preview on my Blog. Something FireFox can't handle... Cool. It works about like Opera with Print Preview. that is good.

One of the first pages I had to try of course was the Recipe page I had been working on. And... It looks just the same in Safari as it does on Opera, FireFox, and Netscape. IE and Maxthon look a little different because of a little bit of an odd spacing issue, but I think it is cool that I don't need to change that design to get it to work is Safari.

The metallic grey interface is a little depressing. I really started to love the tan color of Windows XP Luna Blue. Vista's Black is depressing too though. I specifically went online searching for a Desktop Wallpaper with a little color in it, a few weeks ago just for that cause.

I think I will stick with IE as my choice of browser it still loads faster than any of the others and I have become comfortable with IE7. I will keep it on my tool belt though to test websites against.

More Browser Wars are acoming

Hmm. Apple has released a beta for their browser, Safari for Windows. I'm a little torn about it.

For one thing, in my own oppinion, Apple has never really gotten the hang of programming, quality software for Windows. I don't trust ITunes or QuickTime on PC for that reason.

But I am hopeful that if the rendering is identical on PC as it is on Mac, that I won't have to buy a Mac to test web pages for Mac. Wouldn't it be great to have "One Machine to test them all! Mhaw ha, ha, hah. Oh."

On the side of competition, I don't really know how much good it will do. It will certainly be something to watch.

On a side note to the subject, apparently hackers have, within two hours or release, come up with ways to compromise a system running Safari for Windows. It is after all only Beta.

I'm a little hesitant to download it yet. But from the screenshots I have seen, the style they are touting is; the very style I have grown so annoyed at with Itunes and QuickTime. I am one of those that don't like it when someone arbitrarily skins their application for "Cool" not taking into consideration that "I want uniform conformity to my system styling". Brushed metal simply doesn't look as good on every Theme.

You know, I think I am starting to see a trend to Apple's products of late. They are building up a reputation for high end hardware more and more... They are in the process of switching from Motorola to the more Windows friendly Intel Chipsets... Their newest Systems now run Windows Vista... They are starting to port software to Windows... They are making fun of PCs.. Wait that one doesn't quite fit.

Okay I foresee the day Microsoft will make the OS of the Mac. Apple will make applications and high end hardware, as well as their now favorite mobile hardware. Well, who realy knows, only time will tell.

Okay, enough of my opinion.

Work Schoolin

I signed up for a class through Volt and actually got in. It's only $10 and I start on the 12th. I hope I can get something out of it. It is only two nights for two hours a night but it should be interesting.

It is a javascript class. I have studied some javascript before but I would get partway through a book and get board of it. It is hard to keep going through such a book on my own motivation. I managed to get through my even more dull drafting books by doing all of the reading studying and projects in class, where I could almost totally focus on just that book.

There is another class coming up that I am thinking of signing up for but I'm not sure I'll get into it. It is on a more popular subject so it could be a craps shot to get in.