Election Could Spell Telecomunications Disaster

It has become clear that, if the Coalition is elected, we will immediately go back to the IT and telecommunications policy vacuum of the Howard years.

In terms of telecommunications, the Howard government did absolutely nothing for the Australian people for 10 years.

We watched as one clueless, incompetent minister after another (remember Alston and Coonan?) washed their hands of telecommunications and expected the private sector to miraculously produce good broadband. It was never going to happen and we ended up with nothing. We became a technological backwater. The ministerial cluelessness was a laughing stock for the rest of the world.

Elect the Coalition and even if you are lucky enough to see FTTN in your area, you will be expected to put up with massive wireless congestion which will be worse than ADSL2.

To get a reliable fibre connection, you are going to have to pay $5,000+ to some slick, fast money ISP to lay the cable to your house. 

Oh, and if you live in a country area, tough luck.

64-bit Denial Syndrome

64-bit computing has been around for what seems like forever. Even Windows XP had a 64-bit version.
 
Yet here we are 10 years later and IT Professionals are resisting still resisting 64-bit software.

Background

I originally installed MS Office 2010 32-bit and later while doing a clean install of Windows I decided to try Office 64-bit. I was surprised by how much better Outlook ran in Office 64-bit, so I never went back to Office 32-bit. 
I don't really miss any addons.

Sure, Norton anti-spam doesn't work in Outlook 64-bit, but it wasn't something I used much. There is also no ASAP Utilities for 64-bit Excel yet. I found I can get by without it.
As for browsers, I use Waterfox, Opera 64-bit and IE9 64-bit on Windows 7. 

I expect readers can give many more examples of 32-bit software that needs an update.

A quick check using Process Explorer shows that 90% of the processes I'm now running are 64-bit.

Commentary

The one take-away I get from the comments on various forums is that many organisations are not producing native 64-bit versions (or even 64-bit compatible versions) of their software because they believe they don't have to.
To me that is just such a lame, short-sighted, luddite mind-set.

That attitude reminds me of a friend’s 15 year old who announced one day that he is not going to school anymore because legally, because he doesn’t have to. That was 15 years ago. Today his life is in ruins.

As John F Kennedy said:

"...We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard." 

Today we enjoy many technological benefits that came out of the Apollo program, miniaturisation of electronics being just one of them.

Some companies, chose to make the effort. As a result we now have 64-bit Java and 64-bit Silverlight and even 64-bit Flash (after a bit of pushing of Adobe by users).

The others still reckon it’s all just too hard, and they don’t have to. Perhaps ruination is also their destiny.

Windows 8 Font Rendering Sucks

I put up with Windows 8's new interface when I have to. 
Most of the time I just use the old desktop interface so I'm not worried.

However, what really beggars belief, is the shockingly blurry font rendering in Windows 8. It is most noticeable in Internet Explorer 10 and Office 2013.
This problem alone makes Windows 8 completely unusable for me.

The geniuses at Microsoft have created an OS that, because of one simple but major fault,  ensures many users will stick with Windows 7.  

Windows 8 - upgrade your organisation if you like risky career moves. 

Being Americans, and with a touch of Silicon Valley God complex, the chance of Steven Sinofsky and Co admitting they made a mistake is zero. One can only hope the Microsoft Board give them a serve and then reinstate RGB sub-pixel font rendering in Windows 8 SP1.

Otherwise I can see a great many organisations skipping Windows 8 and deferring upgrading until Windows 9.

LG Releases Monster 4K UHD TV in Korea

Further to my post dated 14 April 2012, LG are now taking orders for their huge 84 inch (213 cm) 4K 3D LED TV. 4K refers to its native 3840 x 2160 pixel resolution, being 4 times that of current Full HD TV.

You can buy it for $21,000 (25 million won) - but only if you live in South Korea.

First shown just before CES 2012 back in January, LG has now said the order book is open for the World's largest domestic 4K TV.

“LG is pushing the limits of home entertainment innovation with this 3D Ultra Definition(UD) TV,” said Havis Kwon, President and CEO of LG Electronics Home Entertainment. “We are bringing together all our Smart TV and 3D knowledge in the 3D UD TV in order to demonstrate that LG is committed to being the world’s leading brand for immersive home entertainment in 2012 and beyond.”

The TVs will come with a 2.2 speaker setup, and the company is also giving away 3D glasses and camcorders to people who preorder, as well as promising to provide 4K content.

Pre-orders are limited to just 84 televisions at this stage but its expected to see a broader launch in the coming months. 

This would have to be one of the first 4K LED TVs on the market.

ACTA = A Crime of Treason against Australians

Europe Throws Out ACTA.... and Good Riddance 

Last week The European Parliament voted overwhelmingly against ratifying the international Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), an anti-piracy trade agreement.

The legislators finally saw some sense after fears that ACTA would limit Internet freedom sparked street protests in cities across Europe. 

It spells the end to the European Union's participation in a treaty it helped negotiate, though other countries, including Australia, may still participate without the EU.

Supporters had maintained that ACTA, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, was needed to standardise the different national laws that protect the rights of those who produce music, movies, pharmaceuticals, fashion goods and other products that often fall victim to piracy and intellectual property theft. In other words the big publishers and studios want to make even more money.

Opponents rightly fear the treaty will lead to censorship and snooping on the internet activities of ordinary citizens. The agreement will permit private companies to spy on the activities of internet users, just like Telstra have been exposed doing, and would have allowed internet users to be disconnected without any proper process.

This agreement does not properly balance the rights of private citizens and those of copyright holders. 

Beyond the EU and 22 of its member countries, eight other countries have also signed the agreement -  the USA, Australia, Canada, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, and South Korea - though none has yet ratified it.

Let's hope Australia's government also has the guts to stand up to ACTA and refuses to ratify this truly appalling document.

ACTA is promoted by greedy multinational corporations who want to seize control of the internet and limit our freedom just so they can continue to rip us off.

It is a disgrace that Australia ever signed this agreement in the first place. 
It shows just how little respect our politicians have for the rights and freedom of their own constituents.

Ultra High Definition TV (UHDTV) Standards

Why Ultra High Definition TV?

You might be wondering why we need higher resolution TV.

Well, if you have Full HD TV today, Blu-ray video will screen at about 2 megapixels (MP).  That is not a lot, when you consider most still cameras are up to at least 12 MP.

The lowset resolution UHDTV will be about 4 times the resolution at 8 MP. It is breathtakingly clear, even on massive displays like the 152 inch screen Panasonic displayed at some recent tech conferences. You could sit 3 metres (maybe less) from such a screen and not notice the pixels so it would be suitable for most lounge rooms.

The second reason is that UHDTV is supposed to facilitate glasses-free 3D TV with a reasonable resolution. At present, 3D TV does not interest me at all. Maybe 3D UHDTV will be better.

Ultra High Definition TV (UHDTV) Standards

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) - the United Nations specialised agency for information and communication technologies (ICTs) has released recommendations on standards for UHDTV. 

                                 

The ITU has decided the term UHDTV will cover both 4K and 8K resolution video, as multiples of the existing 1080p standard. 

Apparently, Quad Full HD (QFHD, or 3840x2160 resolution) and Digital Cinema 4K resolution (4096x2160) both fall under the 4K standard. The 8K UHDTV standard is 7680x4320, about 32 MP, and will probably be known as Super Hi-Vision.

22.2 channel audio is also part of the UHDTV proposed standards. Yes, 22.2 channel audio! Imagine how much a good set of speakers will cost.

Japan may start broadcasting UHDTV in 2020, but I would not be surprised if that date comes forward by several years.

Rough Diagram of Pixel Scale

Windows Phone Hardware Limitations to Backfire?

The one thing that struck me about Windows Phone 7 and 7.5 is how easy they are to use. In this respect these phones are great, but that is about all they have going for them.

Nokia Lumia 900

Nokia have advised that their current Lumia range of smartphones, running WP7.5 (Mango), will not be upgradeable to Windows Phone 8 (Apollo).

This, and the fact that these devices only have a single core CPU, when competitors are already up to quad core must have a lot of people asking:

"What on earth was Microsoft thinking?"

Microsoft specified strict hardware specs for Windows Phone 7. The following three stood out to me as being very short-sighted.

• Single Core
• 800 x 480 pixel display
• no SD card slot

Insisting on single core, when already, dual core phones were coming onto the market was a truly bizarre decision. It smacks of being made by people high-up with more corporate political clout than knowledge or ability.

Almost as strange was the fact that Windows Phone 7.0 and 7.5 can only support a maximum resolution of 800 x 480 pixels, especially when competitors such as the iPhone already had a higher resolution.  

By being so prescriptive about hardware specs Microsoft have kicked an own goal. Consequently, Android phones sales exploded. 

Even the very latest Windows phones such as the HTC Titan 4G, Lumia 800 and 900, are already obsolete by at least 18 months. The phone manufacturers, especially Nokia (and their shareholders), must be spewing that Microsoft forced them to produce such crippled devices.

As Joe Hanlon from CNet pointed out recently, 

"....a major software update can make an old phone feel like a new phone, if implemented correctly. So its not surprising that tech-savvy phone shoppers now look for phones that can be updated in the future."

Windows Phone 8, will arrive in a few months and will finally bring scalability for different screen resolutions, multi-core capability and a few other goodies. WP8 might even be a huge success.

Unfortunately for current Windows Phone owners, their devices are not compatible with Windows Phone 8 as, predictably, the hardware cannot support it.

Knowing this, why on earth would you buy or contract one?

If you really want a Windows phone, best wait until the WP 8.0 handsets arrive in a few month’s time.

Secure Online ID Critical for Democracy

Internet Security guru, Eugene Kaspersky has said that without internet-based passports and identity credentials for the next generation of citizens to use, for example, at polling booths, democracy will fall apart within two decades.

Say what?!!

Eugene Kaspersky (credit: Michael Lee/ZDNet Australia)

Kaspersky outlined his rather bleak view of the future of democracy, in an address at this year's CeBIT conference in Sydney.

Basically he is saying that without secure cryptographic online credentials to verify people’s identities, today’s "always connected" children just won’t vote once they reach voting age if they can’t do so online.

For countries like the USA where voting is voluntary, this issue is critical.

It is not such a major issue for Australia where voting is compulsory. Or is it?

Think about the administrative cost of running elections. 

Can we afford to keep doing elections the old way? Most likely not.

From this perspective, it becomes clear that Australia also needs to start work on this now.

Once such a secure online credential based system is in place, imagine how much cheaper it would be to conduct an election. It would probably even be feasible to conduct online referendums on major issues.

I do have one major concern though. If Government’s don’t do this properly, with due regard to both security and privacy, it would be a shambles. Citizens would reject it.

The security would have to be rock solid, and the privacy of personal information would have to be paramount.

In addition, this credential system should only be used for official services.

Such a system should not be used by governments as an excuse to force you to verify your identity every time you just want to surf the net.

I believe it can be done though. It already is being done in a very limited way.

An example is Centrelink’s online services where identities are verified using a combination of passwords and a set of questions, that only the client knows the answer to. It is technically primitive in comparison to what Kaspersky envisages, but it does work as intended and the Dept of Human Services seems to being doing an OK job of managing the privacy aspects.

First Quad Full High Definition TV's

Following on from my 14-April post 4K Ultra High Definition TVs, the first Quad Full High Definition (QFHD), as 4K seems to have been named, TV's are already showing up overseas.

One such set is the 55 inch Toshiba 55ZL2 edge-lit LED LCD model which has a 3840 x 2160 pixel resolution (about 8 megapixels).

This set, should be being absolutely stunning with 2D 4K content, when such content becomes available. On top of that, the set can display current Full HD 1080p content in glasses-free 3D, if that is what you are into.

The price in Europe is equivalent to just under AUD $12,000.  It is not known whether this TV will be available in Australia.  Although this price is well out of reach of most of us, the fact a QFHD set is being released already is promising.

At this pace of development, I wouldn't be at all surprised to find all the large TV's in the stores are QFHD by 2014. They will probably be OLED screens too, but that's another story.

Broadband Network Security

Recently there was a bit of controversy when Huawei was blocked from supplying equipment to the NBN after the Australian government acted on advice received from the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO).

Alexander Downer, who served as foreign minister in the Howard government, and is on the board of Huawei Australia, made known at the time his displeasure with the decision.

Others pointed out that Australian companies are not allowed to bid for Chinese telecommunications infrastructure, so it seemed a bit rich to criticise Australia for the same policy.

Australia's Decision Vindicated

However it now seems the Australian government's decision, which is in line with the USA approach, was the correct decision.

Two mobile phones, developed by Chinese telecommunications device manufacturer ZTE, have now been found to carry a hidden backdoor. The password to this backdoor, which has been hard-coded into the handset software can be used to instantly gain root access to the device.

The password has been posted on Twitter by a security researcher.

This incident comes on top of the well publicised Chinese hacking of Google accounts of senior U.S. government officials, Chinese political activists, officials in several Asian countries, military personnel and journalists. The level of sophistication of this hacking led many to believe it was sponsored by the Chinese government. 

If China wants to achieve greater acceptance and trust internationally it really has to stamp out this cyber spying and demonstrate that it has done so. China does not need to indulge in, nor condone, hacking to be commercially and politically successful.

Turnbull and Abbott - Epic Fail on the NBN

This week sees Malcolm Turnbull once again making a fool of himself and Australia, this time at the Broadband World Forum Asia in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday.

The shadow broadband and communications minister made it clear the opposition has absolutely no vision when it comes to future-proofing our broadband technology for the long-term benefit of the Australian economy.

He still bangs on about competition but fails to recognise that competition can only work in heavily populated areas. Well hello... has he ever looked at a map of Australia?

Australia is so sparsely populated that the only way country people are ever going to get decent broadband is via the NBN.

One of his statements was:

“And as for those who argue that super-fast services will trigger a tsunami of innovation, we can only wonder then how it is most of the truly innovative online businesses of our time have not come from the superfast nirvanas of Korea and Japan but rather from the apparently broadband deficient United States – think Facebook, Google, Amazon, Twitter, Netflix, YouTube, Skype – it’s a very long list indeed.

"In my judgement the scarcest resource is not bandwidth, or even technology, but rather technological imagination. And it is no accident that innovation is at its greatest in the markets with the most competition and the most freedom.”

The notion that the USA is broadband deficient is ridiculous.
The USA has, and has always had, quite fast broadband in most parts of the country. It has always been much faster than ours.

Technological innovation in the USA is a result of cultural attitude started by President John F Kennedy sending men to the moon. Traditional economic dominance and the entrenched position of Silicon Valley is also a major factor.  

Ironically he cites Google, Facebook, Amazon etc yet these organisations are the very ones championing the cause for a Fibre to the Home (FTTH) future.

It is clear that with Abbott and Turnbull continuing the long standing Howard/Alston/Coonan tradition of Coalition illiteracy and aversion to modern technology, Australia's digital future looks very bleak indeed, especially for country people.

Gmail Faster than Hotmail - Why?

Why is it that, in Australia at least, Windows Live Hotmail responds at about half the speed of Gmail in my browser?

For me, it has been this way for as long as I can remember, no matter which browser I use.

Does Microsoft only bother to provide the bare minimum of server capacity?

How come Google is so much quicker?

If anyone knows the answer or has any theories as to why this is so, this please click on "comments" below and let us know.

Socioeconomic Cost/Benefit of FTTN Broadband

Here is a link to a Swedish Cost-Benefit Study of a FTTN Broadband network. 

It highlights some of the enormous benefits that will arise if the NBN is completed.

Pages 31 to 33 show breakeven is reached after only 3.5 years. Not bad for a network with virtually unlimited capacity (page 5) that will last for 100 years.

http://www.broadband-europe.eu/Lists/Competences/Prestudy%20socio-economic%20return%20of%20FTTH.pdf

Religion Sites Have More Malware Than Porn Sites

Security firm Symantec claims that a religious website is more likely to be infected by malware than a pornographic website.

This might at first seem crazy but when you think about it, maybe not.

Perhaps the malware writers have realised that religious people are just as gullible as anyone else, and might just click on that link, open that attachment or whatever that contains the malware.

The other attraction for hackers is that religion is big business with a huge audience.

Forget 4K - Presenting the 8K Display - Update

Well, 3 weeks is a long time in TV technology.

Panasonic and Japanese broadcaster NHK have jointly announced the development of a display which will make any home cinema buff weep with envy: a 145in Ultra High Definition (UHD) display.

Boasting 16 times the pixel count of a standard Full HD TV (2 megapixels), the massive display features a resolution of 7680 x 4320 (33 MP) - known as '8K format' - running at a refresh rate of 60Hz. 

According to the companies' joint announcement, the screen will initially be aimed at commercial settings such as cinemas. However, NHK hasn't ruled out the possibility of the technology coming to consumers in the future.

There is no 8K content around yet.

That could change however, as digital cinemas are increasingly moving to 4K format, which is half-way between current Full HD and the 8K of Panasonic/NHK's latest display. Interestingly, the BBC has indicated that it will be filming some of the Olympics in 8K format.

The sheer size of the display and the clarity of the picture is mind boggling. It is really something viewers will need to see in the flesh to appreciate.

Pricing for the plasma-based display has yet to be confirmed, but expect it to be incredibly expensive. It will be a fair while before the technology becomes affordable for the average home.

Update
Japan's NHK is has been test broadcasting 8K TV over UHF. Seems this technology is not as far away as we thought.

4K Desktop Monitor

Sharp has just announced that it has started mass production of high resolution LCD display panels using IGZO (Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide) semiconductors.

IGZO is a type of semiconducting material, which, when used in displays, allows for smaller sized pixels and therefore a higher pixel density. Along with increasing the pixel per inch count, IGZO displays also consume up to 90% less energy. This makes it ideal for upcoming tablets, mobile phones and even huge 4K TVs.

  

Apple may use IGZO displays in its upcoming products, including its highly-anticipated smart TV. The displays are being made in Sharp's Kameyama plant in Japan. Apple is rumoured to have been interested in IGZO panels since late last year and is investing a reported $1.2 billion in one of Sharp's facilities in China.

Sharp provide some sample specs as follows: 

A 32 inch 4K monitor would be awesome. No more messing about with Windows Clear Type Tuner trying to smooth screen fonts.

4K Ultra High Definition TVs

The first of the next generation of TVs may arrive in about a year.

Current full high-definition TVs are 1920 x 1080 pixels which is about roughly 2 megapixels. The next generation of 4K or "Ultra" screens will be 8 megapixel monsters most likely with a resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels. At this resolution you achieve about the same clarity as 35mm cinema film. It will allow you to comfortably watch a massive screen TV in your lounge room. Panasonic recently displayed a 152 inch 4K screen in the USA. LG had an 84 inch model.

So, what would you watch with one of these TVs in Australia?

There is no free-to-air content broadcast in full HD 1920 x 1080. The closest you get is Gem and One HD which are 1440 x 1080 (in Northern Sydney). Most channels are broadcasting Standard Definition 720 x 576 which looks really bad on many TVs, especially when watching sport.

Over the past 3 years, the federal Labor government has scandalously allowed the TV broadcasters to reduce the number of HD channels they broadcast and re-allocate that spectrum for additional channels. The end result is those dreadful channels like TV4ME and eXtra which are basically just non-stop advertising with no actual TV programs at all. Thanks for nothing Kevin, Julia, Seven and Nine. Those channels are an embarrassment to Australia.

Unless you have a good income and can afford Foxtel HD and/or a substantial collection of Blu-ray discs, your full HD TV is badly under-utilised and looks like remaining that way for a long time to come.

There is perhaps the option of streaming 4K content from the net in the future, but you a high-capcacity 100Mbit/sec network to cater for that. If the NBN is canned by the Coalition, that definitely won't happen.

Sadly, the technological ignorance of our politicians in Canberra means that, in Australia, a big-screen 4K Ultra TV set will most likely be a complete waste of money.

700Mhz Mobile Spectrum - Progress Too Slow

ZDNet report that Optus has called on the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) to basically speed up the process of freeing up the 700MHz band and auctioning it off so it can be used for 4G LTE mobile networks.

Currently Telstra and Optus are rolling out 4G LTE on the 1800MHz spectrum but they and Vodafone need to be able to deploy 700MHz equipment soon (preferably at the same time) to keep costs down and service outer-suburban and country areas where the superior range of the 700MHz signal will really be useful.

Optus stated that the slow process is impacting key investment decisions in relation to new mobile infrastructure.

I would like to add that from the perspective of potential 4G mobile device users, it is also impacting their investment decisions. We can buy a 700 MHz LTE phone from places like Mobicity and Kogan right now, but it won't work in Australia yet and possibly never will due to differing flavours of LTE in the USA.

If you sign up now for plan on a 4G phone like the Samsung Galaxy S II 4G or HTC Velocity 4G, you get a device that only works on the 1800MHz band. These phones cannot use the 700MHz band when it is rolled out, so in a year's time you might have to upgrade.

Bing as an Alternative to Google

Every once in a while I try using Bing.

The search results are not too bad but not being able to readily filter results by date is a deal breaker for me.

99% of the time I want search results posted within the last day, week, month or year, the older results usually being totally irrelevant.

Strangely, sometimes the filter by date option does appear in the left sidebar but then disappears just as quickly.

Back to Google it is then.

How It All Began

In ancient Israel, it came to pass that a trader by the name of Abraham Com did take unto himself a young wife by the name of Dot. And Dot Com was a comely woman, broad of shoulder and long of leg. Indeed, she was often called Amazon Dot Com.

And she said unto Abraham, her husband, "Why dost thou travel so far from town to town with thy goods when thou canst trade without ever leaving thy tent?"

And Abraham did look at her as though she were several saddle bags short of a camel load, but simply said, "How, dear?"

And Dot replied, "I will place drums in all the towns and drums in between to send messages saying what you have for sale, and they will reply telling you who hath the best price. And the sale can be made on the drums and delivery made by Uriah's Pony Stable (UPS)."

Abraham thought long and decided he would let Dot have her way with the drums. And the drums rang out and were an immediate success. Abraham sold all the goods he had at the top price, without ever having to move from his tent. To prevent neighboring countries from overhearing what the drums were saying, Dot developed a language to transmit ideas and pictures - Hebrew To The People (HTTP).

And the young men did take to Dot Com's trading as doth the greedy horsefly take to camel dung. They were called Nomadic Ecclesiastical Rich Dominican Sybarites, or NERDS.

And lo, the land was so feverish with joy at the new riches and the deafening sound of drums that no one noticed that the real riches were going to that enterprising drum dealer, Brother William of Gates, who bought off every drum maker in the land, and indeed did insist on drums to be made that would work only with Brother Gates' drumheads and drumsticks.

And Dot did say, "Oh, Abraham, what we have started is being taken over by others." And Abraham looked out over the Bay of Ezekiel , or eBay as it came to be known. He said, "We need a name that reflects what we are."

And Dot replied, "Young Ambitious Hebrew Owner Operators." "YAHOO," said Abraham. And because it was Dot's idea, they named it YAHOO Dot Com.

Abraham's cousin, Joshua, being the young Gregarious Energetic Educated Kid (GEEK) that he was, soon started using Dot's drums to locate things around the countryside. It soon became known as God's Own Official Guide to Locating Everything (GOOGLE).

That is how it all began.

More Anti-NBN Propaganda

The Adelaide Advertiser reported about the latest Australia SCAN social trend survey with Quantum Market Research's David Chalke saying NBN Co was "missing the boat".

"Everything is going to be wireless by the time they've dug up the roads and stuffed the pipes," he said.

"It will be too late, it's all going to be mobile and wireless in the future."

We have heard this before and it is a load of old cobblers.

What the hell does he think all these wireless devices are going to connect to? 

This guy might be a "prominent social analyst" but he is clearly an IT luddite.

Of course we will use wireless devices. We already do.

In our homes, they connect to a broadband modem/router which, guess what, is effectively wired to the internet backbone. ADSL1 users know just how dreadfully slow that old technology is. Many country people still only have dialup access. Oh, and much of the copper network is very old, is badly degrading and is increasingly expensive to maintain. Eventually it will be useless anyway.

Out and about we use wireless hotspots at coffee shops, airports and so on.  And guess what?  Those hotspots also are wired. They have to be due to the sheer volume of traffic they have to handle.

We connect mobile towers with, 3G, NextG and 4G and guess what? Those towers are wired  to fibre connections. They have to be.

No matter how good, 4G and its wireless successors become they will never match a fibre-optic cable, which already has achieved 100 Terabits per second in lab tests.

It is Not Time for MS Word to Die

I read on Gizmodo.com.au about an article by Tom Scocca originally published on Slate where he says its time for Microsoft Word to die.

Scocca's argument is fundamentally flawed and appears to be based on ignorance. He doesn’t know when (trying to use Word to create web pages) nor how to use Word so he just demonises it.

As a professional finance and IT person, I have spent about 20 years using Word to write long and complex reports. It is absolutely awesome for this type of work.
Too many years ago I had to write a university thesis by hand. Every time I use MS Word I am reminded how hard handwritten was compared to now where I can just chop and change my documents at will.

I am thankful for how good Word and MS Office are generally.

In fact I had to think for a while to find anything I don't like about MS Office:

Since Office 2007 we have only had three awful colour schemes to choose from -  

kack blue, doof-doof black and pasty silver.

That's it.  Hardly a dealbreaker - just pure nitpicking on my part.

Where are the High-Resolution Desktop Monitors?

While I'm glad I haven't been staring at the harsh glare of a CRT monitor for many years, I'm now sick of looking at slightly blurry text. Windows Clear Type Tuner can only do so much.

By now monitor manufacturers should have addressed this.

Desktop PC's need high-res displays like the 2560 x 1440 Apple Cinema Display.
So far there have not been many released.
Until recently, Apple's only competition was from Dell and HP but their prices are high.
Samsung's new 27" S27A850 might change that. It is for for sale here at AUD $750.
I hope more manufacturers enter this market segment and economies of scale bring the price down to about $500.

Nokia Lumia 900 (released in USA)

Nokia's design of the Lumia 900, with its single slab polycarbonate body, is reasonably impressive.

The device looks like it would survive being dropped far better than competitors like the iPhone and many Android phones.

Not impressive is but the lack of substance such as the single processor, and no SD card slot.

Windows Phone 7.5 is not scalable for higher resolution screens so the Lumia 900 has the same 800 x 480 resolution as the smaller Lumia 800 and 710 and it shows with text not being as clear as the Lumia 800. Competing handsets like the HTC One X now have 1280 x 720 resolution resulting in beautifully rendered text.

WP 7.5 feels like a 3 year old mobile OS already. It badly lets down the Lumia 900 and relegates it to one step below the top line phones. Ease of use for basic functions may suit buyers who don’t expect much from their phone, but they are not going to pay top dollar for it either.

Geeks, techos and demanding business users will be annoyed by missing features in WP 7.5 and may look elsewhere.

The NBN

I am leaning towards voting for the Coalition at the next election but the following issues currently stop me from doing that:

• their idiotic opposition to the NBN
• their lack of a credible alternative to the NBN
• their track record of brazen ignorance of Information Technology as evidenced by the "did absolutely nothing" years of Minchin, Alston and Coonan
• $70B+ black hole in their annual budget resulting from the repeal of the Carbon Tax and the MRRT
• their inability to address the $70B black hole indicates a glaring lack of financial expertise

Using Phone as a Satnav

I have had Navigon on a (soon to be turfed) iPhone 3GS for a year.

It is not that good really. Map updates were free before Garmin bought Navigon. 

Now they want more money just for map updates that are still out of date.

Now I just use Trapster – far more useful and relevant information.

Samsung Galaxy Note

With a 5.3" screen, this is one big mother of a phone but still amazingly slim.

It is too big for me but it sure would make an awesome Satnav for the car.

Most people get phones on plan, but if buying outright, I doubt I'd buy one from Optus or Vodafone at $899 when Mobicity have a it for $639. Kogan have it for $519 + delivery.

Samsung carry on about the Australian version being optimised for 850Mhz but the Galaxy Note sold by Mobicity and Kogan has 850Mhz (as well as 900Mhz & 2100Mhz) anyway, so Samsung’s comment about “optimised for 850Mhz” sounds like marketing bollocks to me.
Samsung - Galaxy Note