PROblog: gries818 Archives

January 10, 2007

Apple iPhone mistake

Anyone seen this new iPhone from Apple? Looks great doesn't it??? As far as I am concerned - the iPhone will revolutionize the cellular phone industry creating competition that will lead to a whole new line of mobile devices with the power of a computer (without the weight and size of one). The UI is abosultely breathtaking and reminds me much of the Vista UI. This new device definitely can jump Apple into the phone market.

However, Apple has made a grave mistake with this new device. They have chosen to (at least initially) put this device on the Cingular network. While there is nothing wrong with Cingular (I personally don't like it) they are limiting their market. Where I live Verizon is the best carrier and most business I can think of use Sprint. Not too mention US Celluar (although I don't believe they have as many people as Cingular does). By limiting the amount of people that can buy their awesome new phone (without switching providers) they are limiting the sales.

Personally, I have been thinking about making my next phone a Smart Phone. I have (really had since I rarely use it) a PDA and loved it - although had little use for it. Since I am not willing to switch providers to get the new iPhone, Apple is guaranteeing that if I am to buy a Smart Phone it will be Windows Mobile.

Of course, I realize that there is probably a behind the scenes deal going on between Cingular and Apple. Some people will switch to Cingular just for the iPhone so no doubt there is some reason for Apple doing this.

I am not suggesting that Apple will keep the iPhone only on the Cingular network for ever. iPod and iTunes would have never taken off if it hadn't had been because Apple made their products interoperable with Windows. For Apple's sake - they better hope that the iPhone works in a similar way.

Posted by gries818 at 03:04 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 14, 2006

Rant at Microsoft

How many people out there have turned off the automatic update feature. I personally like seeing what my computer is downloading, making sure its what I need. I've noticed sometimes though, MS will send out a really important update and the updater will ignore your setting (OFF) and start downloading the update anyway. What a great feature! I get important updates with out even having to go to the Microsoft Website!

But wait a second, after every update my computer needs to restart. Ok, thats fine when I am updating myself - I know its going to happen. But what happens when I leave my computer on over night (which I routinely do) and leave work saved on the toolbar (which happens to the best of us)? The computer restarts anyway!

So know my computer has completely restarted which although losing your data is fine... As long as you don't have another OS installed. I have SUSE 10.1 installed and I haven't done too much with it but I haven't yet set Windows as the default OS in the GRUB Bootloader. So now Windows restarts the computer and it loads SUSE (the default OS). Fine ok right?

Well I restart the computer and select Windows. The Windows XP Bootloader loads and it seems to take longer than normal for Windows to start. Then all of the sudden, the computer restarts! Ok so now I go though and select Windows again at GRUB. Windows loads the bootloader but this time it tells me Windows did not start correctly. Well geez, I know that! I select Last Known working configuration and cross my fingers. Of course that doesn't work right so the computer restarts and I get the Windows did not start correctly screeen again. This time I select Safe Mode and guess what!? It doesn't load into Safe Mode Either.

I thought to myself this time, ok Windows is really screwed up this time! How am I going to fix this? So I pop in the Windows OS CD and select Recovery Console. In the recovery console I typed Fixmbr (knowing I'd lose GRUB but the Windows bootloader was messed up and not GRUB). Restart the computer, and gosh dang - it WORKS!!! Woo, now I've fixed a Microsoft problem, I have to figure out how to reinstall GRUB! Great work MS, you really saved me some incovience with this one.

*Note - After further inspection, it was determined that a repair install reset the default values to normal. XP did not update without my "approval" although I thought it did because I hadn't noticed the change.

Posted by gries818 at 11:53 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 27, 2006

Windows Vista Build 5472 Installation Guide released

Today PROnetworks released the Windows Vista Build 5472 Installation Guide. Although 5472 is avaible only to Connect/MSDN users, CPP Vista Users may want to also check this guide out as it will give some insight into the installations of future builds of Windows Vista. Stay tuned for the official Tweaking and Customizing Guide for Build 5472.

Posted by gries818 at 05:28 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 19, 2006

My Thoughts on 5472

Well, I haven't posted here for awhile and decided it was about time to post here again. I downloaded and installed 5472 yesterday with very minimal hasstle (I always do a full format of my Vista partition, thats the hasstle). Since being in 5472 (posting from it right now), I have noticed some things are different (I could never get 5456 installed, so my last build was 5384). The cursors have been replaced, some screens updated. Overall, there are some great new features with the build.

Installation took about 50 minutes (from within Windows). My installation always gets hung up on the updates part (every build!) - I always choose no updates (wireless drivers apparently aren't loaded durning setup) and it always tries to find updates. Anyhow, I noticed one new reboot that wasn't there before, and it took a little longer for setup to detect the proper screen resolution however I can report that once Vista is setup - booting into it is much quick than before. Its definetly the fastest of all the OSes I've used - thats a great new feature.

Vista still hasn't been able to find my sound drivers (other builds have been able to) but thats not really a problem to me, I usually leave sound turned off! I'ved noticed that the Flip 3D has been updated and it is much quick (and more pleasant to look at) than before - even on my PC (I don't have a very good graphics card). Also I've noticed that some times the scroll bars turn black and become unuseable but this seems to go away but relaunching the application (its a pain).

My main complaint for this build is that some of my programs that have worked on previous builds - no longer work in 5472. No big deal though - its a Beta OS and I have XP installed for the programs I need. It really is an improvement over 5384. Check out our Photo Gallery for 5472!

Posted by gries818 at 03:22 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 15, 2006

Tweaking Mozilla Firefox to increase speed

I had been meaning to make up a guide on how to increase Firefox's speed for awhile here but hadn't really gotten around to it with everything going on. Well its here - I posted it in the PRO Guides Center this morning - How to: Speed up Mozilla Firefox. Hopefully this will help out everyone who would be using IE7 but is using Firefox because IE isn't compataible with all webpages at this stage in its developement. This will also help those Opera/Firefox users wanting to get extra speed in Firefox (although in my experience Opera is still a tiny bit faster on my PC than Firefox is).

This guide explains 3 different ways to tweak Firefox to increase speed: Fasterfox (a Firefox extension), using the user.js file, and about:config. The user.js file method and the about:config method are really similar but I am sure that different users will prefer different methods.

Hopefully this guide will encourage users to make and post their own Firefox speed tweaks - every computer can benefit from tweaking different elements of Firefox. If you have your own go ahead and reply to my post - I am excited to see how fast we can make Firefox really go!!!

Posted by gries818 at 09:57 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 14, 2006

My Random Thoughts for 7/14/06

Hey Everyone! I promised myself yesterday I would do my best to make entries in the Blog. It is kinda be refurbished if you will and I hope by posting here - it will help it grow in popularity. First of all I would like to say I am a little tired - I had some teeth removed today and am a little sore. Been taking breaks between being at PRO and laying down with ice packs strapped to my face. I am pittful aren't I? I'll get over it - just saying beforehand I am sure I will make more typos then usual (lol).

Well as you know from the multiple annoucements here at the blog (mine was of course unofficial) and elsewhere that VistaBootPRO 2.0 has been released to the general public! I am so excited to see it go. For the past month or so we've been hard at work on this release (I actually did no coding but I did do a lot of Bug Testing/finding!). Anyway, I am really glad to see it be released. Like I said before - We just all hope that you enjoy this piece of software!!!

Well as you know from the multiple annoucements here at the blog (mine was of course unofficial) that VistaBootPRO 2.0 has been released to the general public! I am so excited to see it go. For the past month we've been hard at work on this release (I actually did no coding but I did do a lot of Bug Testing/finding!). Anyway, I am really glad to see it be released. Like I said before - We just all hope that you enjoy this piece of software!!!

Now on a completely unrelated note I shall turn this entry to the new middle east crisis. There is a discussion going on at PRO, HERE, so I won't go too in depth here but I just feel angry about the whole thing. Granted though, it was all started by the terrorists and not by the Israelis. With any luck, this will fade away although it could really be the start of something bigger. I will definitely have my eye on this topic and will have stuff to say about this in the future (when my mind is a little clearer - lol).

Now, I better get back to the forums - my guess is that soon people will be needing assistance with VBPRO although the new version is very easy to use (and we have a User Guide now!). I really wish there were smiles in this blog - it would be fitting right now.

See ya on the forums!

Posted by gries818 at 06:13 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

VistaBootPRO 2.0 Released!!!

VistaBootPRO 2.0 has been released!! Head over right now and download it HERE . I have to say this is really exciting because everyone has been working almost nonstop recently on it. Although you can download VistaBootPRO 2.0 right now keep your eyes peeled for News items from PROnetworks and other news sources.

A couple of notable links VistaBootPRO 2.0 Announcement, VistaBootPRO User Guide, and VistaBootPRO Bug Reporting Thread.

For those of you looking to show off your custom made sigs - Head on over to the Unofficial VistaBootPRO Graphics.

We all have worked really hard on this - We really hope that you enjoy the second edition of VistaBootPRO!

(Just so everyone knows the official blog announcement is above this post. I just wanted to say my own thoughts on this program!)

Posted by gries818 at 08:25 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 13, 2006

My Introduction - gries818

Hi everyone!!! I just wanted to give a quick hello. I just got access to the blogs here at PRO! For those of you who don't know - I am a Moderator on the Betas Team. I'm pretty new on the staff - I think as of now I am the newest moderator.

I like PROnetworks a lot because I learn something new all the time. In my short time since joining the Betas Team, I've learned so much I didn't know beforehand. I do a lot of writing stuff at PRO - guides, etc. I enjoy it quite a bit - I really like writing although I often get writers block and some of my stuff can turn out only marginal.

As for my interests - I of course am in to Technology, PROnetworks, Camping, Politics, and Thinking. You may think that thinking is a odd interest but I do it quite a bit. As for Politics... I am a Republican but I think I am on the boardline of Libertarian. I don't know you tell me. I'll guess I'll try to stick to Technology stuff when I post at this blog (but I think you can post whatever???).

Anyhow - I hope you had enjoyed my little introductory rambling - I better get back to the Forums. A lot is going on there and I can't wait for everyone to see our hard work.

Posted by gries818 at 03:29 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack