It must be the time of the year. Famous people dying left and right. Or maybe it is happening all the time, and I've only just noticed.
Last Thursday, Colonel Gaddafi, the Libyan dictator, was captured in Sirte, and killed shortly afterwards. Apparently, NATO shot a convoy and injured Gaddafi, who was then captured and killed by the NTC.
But Gaddafi wasn't the only person to die in the recent times. No, I'm not talking about Steve Jobs. I'm talking about Dennis Ritchie, co-founder of UNIX, inventor of C, defender of the faith. OK, I made up the last one. But the other two are true. C, one of the most popular computer programming languages there is, owes its existence to this man, who also co-created UNIX, the upon which Linux, FreeBSD and Mac OS X are modelled. UNIX is one of the most influential operating system that has ever been created. C became the basic of C++, Java, C#, Python, ... and the list goes on. Not VB, though; that was based on BASIC, which preceded C. Dennis Ritchie changed the world of computing altogether. But the news of his death won't receive nearly as much media attention as Steve Jobs'. I'll admit, I have never heard of him before, either. Sad.
On a more personal note, I am looking forward to the Birmingham Financial Forum tomorrow. I hope I will find it at least somewhat useful. I hope the food will be good!
Friday, 21 October 2011
Tuesday, 11 October 2011
My Thoughts on Windows 8 Developer Preview
Last night, I decided that I was going to install Windows 8 on my computer. The installation wizard took the language, country and keyboard layout details, before telling me that I am missing device drivers. Trying to make the wizard recognize drivers from Vista's system and system32 folders to no avail, I closed the installation wizard and tried again. It worked and I was offered a choice between an express and a custom installation of Windows. Choosing "Custom", I picked the 30 GB partition that I had recently deleted Windows 7 from. Then, the installation began.
I don't know how long it took, but considering that I had a 9.00 am lecture the next morning, and that the time was probably around 2 am, I was in a hurry for the installation to complete, so that I could go to sleep. Unfortunately, it seemed to go on and on. So I had to turn off the laptop without completing the installation.
After lunch today, I decided to give it another try. I did everything as before, and when it had enough input from me, I left it and came back after about 45 minutes. This time, the installation had completed successfully. Windows listed the available wireless networks for me to join, and then prompted for my Windows Live ID to log in. After providing my credentials, Windows pulled my photo from my MSN profile and created me a local account.
The major change I noticed was the Metro look and apps. The classic Windows desktop was still there, but the start menu was gone, replaced by the Metro interface. IE10 now sports a spellchecker and AutoCorrect like Microsoft Word. One thing that annoyed me was the inability to close Metro apps (except using the task manager). It might be to prevent the user from managing memory—after all, that's the OS's job. But it still clutters up the Alt+Tab panels.
I'll try to keep posting updates about my experiences of using Windows 8.
I don't know how long it took, but considering that I had a 9.00 am lecture the next morning, and that the time was probably around 2 am, I was in a hurry for the installation to complete, so that I could go to sleep. Unfortunately, it seemed to go on and on. So I had to turn off the laptop without completing the installation.
After lunch today, I decided to give it another try. I did everything as before, and when it had enough input from me, I left it and came back after about 45 minutes. This time, the installation had completed successfully. Windows listed the available wireless networks for me to join, and then prompted for my Windows Live ID to log in. After providing my credentials, Windows pulled my photo from my MSN profile and created me a local account.
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| Windows 8 Metro Start screen |
The major change I noticed was the Metro look and apps. The classic Windows desktop was still there, but the start menu was gone, replaced by the Metro interface. IE10 now sports a spellchecker and AutoCorrect like Microsoft Word. One thing that annoyed me was the inability to close Metro apps (except using the task manager). It might be to prevent the user from managing memory—after all, that's the OS's job. But it still clutters up the Alt+Tab panels.
I'll try to keep posting updates about my experiences of using Windows 8.
Thursday, 6 October 2011
Hello World!
Hello world!
So why have I finally started posting, after more than half a decade of inactivity? Well, a lecturer at my university believes that we ought to have a blog about "lectures", "life as a student at Birmingham", etc. I guess that's as good a reason as any, or not.
I'm thinking of moving this blog from joshuaissac.blogspot.com to blog.joshuaissac.com. Or maybe I'll keep it here...I don't know.
What else shall I write in my first blog post? Important events? Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, one of the most influential people in personal computing, parted with the world yesterday. His death is truly a loss to the IT industry.
I think I will end this post with some quotations:
Steve Jobs was a great friend as well as a trusted advisor. His legacy will extend far beyond the products he created. [...] Steve was such an "original," with a thoroughly creative, imaginative mind that defined an era. [...] I have lost a great friend. —Bill Gates
Naked a man comes from his mothers womb, and as he comes, so he departs. —Solomon
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