CompUSA is Going Away

Apparently, CompUSA is going out of business forever. This seems weird to me as I thought they'd always be around. I can't say I was the biggest fan of theirs and I shopped at Best Buy more. Check this out.

It's always sad when a store you used to frequent goes out of business, but how about when that store used to mark up its prices like mad? Things become slightly less sad. Nevertheless, this desolate scene at a Portland CompUSA definitely brings a slight tear to our eye.

I almost got a job at the local CompUSA in the distant past. Check out some last pictures of a store closing at gizmodo.com - CompUSA.

Phishing Attempt - TechLifeBlogged

The concept of phishing is hard to explain to those that haven't experienced it or seen it up close. It's a very quick innocuous crime with the speed and dexterity of the pick-pocket, but the victim doesn't even know for weeks or months, if they ever realize it at all. Education is the only preventative. Scott does a good job here-

These kinds of email are a dime a dozen but I thought it might be good to have an example I can point to when trying to educate others.

Read the full post about Phishing at TechLifeBlogged.

My Take on the Failure of Open Source

For Christmas this year, we got a new computer which I've been meaning to post about for awhile. I've used several good references for the software it needed to start being usable, including but not limited to the following:

• Download.com
• Freeware-Software.org

At one point, my wife asked if "Office" was installed on the computer. Being an anti-Microsoft pinko communist leftist revolutionary nutjob frugal like I am, I was leaning towards having almost nothing but open source software on my new computer. Though I could have semi-easily obtained a decently priced copy of Microsoft Office, I elected to use OpenOffice.org for the office productivity route. I've got a copy of Microsoft Outlook that I'll use with my Dell Axim. I'll probably use Thunderbird for all other email.

I installed the software without testing it and probably would never have noticed anything lacking that would have been a problem. I showed it to my wife and let her use it with the point that she would let me know if anything was out of place. Everything worked fine for over a month.

Then today the hammer fell. Where's the clipart? she asked. Will all of the clipart available from Microsoft's Office Update site be compatible with StarOffice Writer? Of course, the answer to this is no. For those who've never used it, MS has a decently integrated web site where you can quickly browse for clipart and use it in any office product. It's slick and simple and has thousands upon thousands of images.

And for this reason alone, Open Source Failed -- at least for today. Sure, I could search for and find a similar site or project of open source clipart and media. Or I could just point my wife at Creative Commons and the initiatives like it, along with search engines that can find images marked for it. But nothing will match the immediate familiarity of the Microsoft source. Until that day comes...

Anyhow, that's my take on it.