One Shot Design

I have been using Rainlendar, a nifty little application developped by Finnish programmer Kimmo Pekkokla for Windows, OS X and Linux. The calendar display quietly sits on a side on the screen and reloads your schedule at every new session.

After one month with the Lite version, an overall computer upgrade decided me to get the Pro version, which sells for EUR 9.95. The Lite version must use an iCal file, but it turns out that the Pro version can retrieve and write data onto my Google calendar, which is very convenient.

Mozilla Sunbird’s version 0.8 has also been enabled to edit Google calendar, but the Rainlendar applet is less cumbersome and occupies much less screen real estate.

Kimmo, you deserve a 5 stars rating!

Mirco Müller set on creating yet another desktop clock, but the developer chose to base his Cairo-clock on vectorial SVG images created with Inkscape. I was able to create a new skin in 15 minutes by editing some of the 12 layers, and it was so easy I plan to do several other skins.

Crackers have been exploiting a flaw shared by all versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer in order to steal computer games password. In a move which could be seen as an admittal of incompetence, Microsoft suggested using another browser until they come up with a fix.

Many people mistakenly hold the belief that Bill Gates invented the Internet. Au contraire! In 1994, the Microsoft co-founder admitted to seeing “little commercial potential for the Internet for at least ten years” , leaving plenty of room for the paid-for Netscape Navigator to rise unchallenged.

Microsoft eventually jumped on the World Wide Web bandwagon and came up with several cunning plans aimed at coercing Windows users in using its household application: first they gave Internet Explorer away for free. Then they pre-installed it on Windows. And finally, to elude allegations of monopolistic practices, Microsoft attempted to merge Internet Explorer with Windows Explorer, embedding it so deep in the operating system that it was said to be impossible to remove. This last move was the final blow to Netscape, which dissapearance left Microsoft in a dominant position and led to the United States v. Microsoft civil actions. The computing giant got its finger slapped and ironically, the collapse of Netscape stirred the creation of the Mozilla foundation, from which would rise Firefox. Netscape was beheaded, but its offspring is now biting Microsoft’s heel.

…it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel
book of Genesis, chapter 3, verse 15b

Internet Explorer thus became the most widely-used Web browser. The real inventor of the Internet as we got to know it, Tim Berner-Lee, presides over the World Wide Web consortium, a body responsible for safeguarding the universality of the Internet. Yet each new release of Internet Explorer kept on failing to meet those standards, and it recent discoveries have shown that the browser has never been safe… well there is also the possibility that some of those flaws could be attributed to the Windows operating system on which Internet Explorer does runs.

For many decades, French-speaking Belgians have been the laughing stock in France and French-speaking Switzerland. To make matters worst, an arguments over trivial territory matters prevented the formation of the Belgian government for a period of 10 months. Now the new government has announced three reform plans aimed at raising the country’s information technology literacy at par with that of Europe. The problem is that those plan seem more like a subsidy to monopolistic corporations than a real benefit to taxpayers.

Minister of Economic Affairs Vincent Van Quickenborne announced on Tuesday three plans aimed at empowering some 100,000 new low-income citizens every year:

1. From March 2009, a 2003 revized boost plan will entitle citizens to a full VAT refund on their computer and software purchase of 850.00 EUR per desktop and 990.00 EUR per laptop.
2. Drawing inspiration from a Dutch reform plan, starting from May 2009 employers will be allowed to give tax-exempt computers and Internet access contracts to workers making less than 30,000.00 EUR per annum.
3. A third plan, targeted at non-profits, low-incomes or unemployed, aims at partially or fully subsidising the purchase of a recycled and refurbished computer costing between 50.00 and 100.00 EUR.

My take: considering that a basic Windows operating system retails for 300.00 EUR in Belgium, these three plans will directly be subsidizing Microsoft, unless Open Source is used. Oddly, the Belgian government was quite avant-guarde in 2006, when it decided to adopt the Open Document standard for all government correspondance and paperwork.
Linux Netbooks from Asus and Acer do handle the appointed government document format. Given the bloated characteristic of Windows, most refurbished computers discussed in plan 3 won’t likely be able to run on anything else than Linux, but sending  employers and workers to purchase 900.00 EUR laptops in retail stores really seems like a waste of taxpayers money, especially when Netbooks can do the same tasks for 1/3 of the price.
Detractors also argue that the government should impose caps on Internet access costs, which at the moment are conveniently set by Belgacom, a privatized public company still in a position of monopoly, and put Belgium at shame compared to neighboring France.

Next month, Palm will be exhibiting at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Tech journalists are speculating that the company will be unveiling its new Linux-based operating system alongside a line of new devices. Palm has been recruiting former Apple executives over the last 18 months.
With big players recently joining Google’s Open Handset Alliance, I don’t know what are the prospects of yet another Linux smarphone platform, considering that only Palm will be using their version. Still, if their ALP can run GTK+ native Linux applications as promised, it should allow to singlehandedly install existing Gnome application without much porting work.