Windows Vista: A Tale of Woe

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Poor Microsoft. Everyone expects them to be super-perfect at doing everything. Little wonder when I got my key to the Windows Vista Beta 2, I downloaded both the 32 and 64-bit versions to two of my last three blank DVDs.

The first thing I thought of when I saw the welcome screen was a Mac — those rounded blue buttons and gleaming … what are they called [close, minimize, maximize] — reminded me of Mac screenshots (I haven’t used a Mac before).

Let’s face it — Microsoft has some of the very best designers working for them, but I think Vista is primarily bug-ridden pretty bloatware. The fact that it only fits on a DVD is ample proof of that.

At first I oohed and aahed over the cool effects I saw. After a few minutes of that, I was completely annoyed, especially when I noticed the lag everytime I performed any resizing or hiding of windows. My system meets all the specs of the Vista requirement, save the 1GB memory but I have the minimum 512MB RAM.

Prowling within the new Windows Explorer, I loved the icons but I think Microsoft’s breaking a lot of things. One thing I had come to respect in Windows is that there is consistency while browsing files and folders in all versions I’ve used (95 to XP), so I was quite miffed when I couldn’t find any button to view the files in an Explorer tree — I don’t know if that’s the name, but you get the point.

I finally had to use the good ole Start Menu to explore my DVD disc where my sound drivers were. I prefer Windows XP’s start menu better.

While browsing my DVD, I discovered that the my DVD drive was displayed twice and each expanded when I cliicked on one. It then became a matter of probability. I’d click one folder and it’d expand. The duplicate doesn’t expand — it only shows the folders inside it. I’m sorry if I’m not being very candid.

I had to rush back to the library to resume my shift [most of my exploration was done during my 30-minute break]. My boss noticed how bored I was sitting behind the computer lab desk and granted me a fifteen minute break.

I rushed off to the dorm and met a blank screen. I shifted my mouse a few times, then tapped angrily on different keys. It took about five minutes before the system purred and something came on my screen:

Windows is waking up from sleep…

I stared at my screen in disbelief. After about three minutes, Vista exited in grand style — with the infamous ‘Blue Screen of Death.’

I simply restarted and booted to good ol’ XP. As usual, my system was up and running in less than two minutes. With little time to spare, I sent some messages to friends and rushed back to the library where I currently type this.

Give me a fast system anyday — it’s going to take some bravery for me to boot to my second hard disk again.

Excerpt: The Farce

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I’ve taken off the former prologue and started with something I think is more feminine. Here’s an excerpt from what I’ve written so far:

Ramat stood in the rain, fiddling with her car keys and trying to get one into the keyhole. She was completely soaked — her blouse stuck like a second skin, and her hair was drenched.

She finally got the door open and climbed in, angry thatshe was getting her seat wet. She took a cursory glance in the mirror to survey what damage the rain had done to her makeup — it was ruined.

She pulled the door shut and turned on her headlamps. After flicking some water off her face to stop it running into her eyes, she turned the key in the ignition and reversed slowly, as always scared of the big four-wheel-drive she had been assigned at headquarters.

She changed gears and stepped on the accelerator. The car lurched forward. Her headlights picked out a group of men standing in front of the car, all huddled under an umbrella. She stepped on the brakes and pushed open her door.

The men walked as quickly as the umbrella allowed them to, and stopped beside the car. The leader was a fortyish man with a full grey-streaked beard. He motioned to her to remain in the car when she swung one leg out.

A flash of lightning lit up his features, highlighting the long knife-scar running from his cheek to his chin. His appearance was otherwise, peaceful.

‘You take pictures.’ He said it in a dull flat tone, as if she was not expected to argue.

‘Yes,’ Ramat replied quickly, retreiving her identity card from around her neck. ‘I’m a journalist — a reporter. I’m doing some research on the Niger Delta.’

‘Madam put that ID card away,’ one of the men growled.

‘What the…’ she stopped herself just in time. She noticed for the first time that the men were all carrying guns. They were not the dane guns used for hunting — these were guns. She knew they didn’t intend to hurt her, so she tossed the card onto the dashboard.

‘Where the pictures you take?’ the leader asked. As if by some agreed signal, the men drew closer in unison.

‘What pictures?’ she asked. Her feigned incredulity sounded weak — even to her. She avoided his gaze.

‘We no want touch you,’ said their leader. He turned to his men and they conferred rapidly in Ijaw. One of them pointed at the camera on the dashboard. The leader nodded and he grabbed it. He turned it over several times, then thrust it in her hands.

‘Madam, I don’t know how to handle this camera. Please take the film out,’ the ‘please’ was said sarcastically. She wondered what educated men who spoke good English were doing in this tiny village allowing themselves to be ordered around by an illiterate leader.

She took the film out of her Nikon and handed it to him.

‘No come near jetty again,’ the leader said, then tilted his head slightly. They vanished into the forest.

Ramat pulled the door shut and giggled hysterically. She had replaced the film shortly before leaving the jetty. Obviously, they hadn’t seen her do so. She had to leave before they found she had given them a blank.

She glanced at her watch and realised she had to hurry back if she wanted to make it to her room in time for the evening prayers.

The Farce, a study

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I’ve been very busy for some days now, reading books that explore the outlook of women on various aspects of life — sexuality, community, friendship, beauty — and I keep learning new things. Women are exotic and it pays to see things through their eyes in a man’s world.

I’m currently drawing up the psyche of the lady called Ramat and it’s a rewarding experience. She’s bold, yet timid and haunted by many fears. I don’t know whether to continue casting her in her role as a brash reporter. Obviously, I’ll have to start out with her as timid, then move upward, with her growing in confidence.

Mahmoud, our villain is supposed to be a good guy who degenerates into evil. Like Ramat, he’s muslim [partly to re-inforce my belief that muslims can be both good and bad, like christians] but he’s not…

My gosh, I’m giving yout the plot! I’d best end here ;).

I’m using Micosoft Office OneNote for my work and it’s simply super. I can easily assign sections for charcters and for the chapters, then use subsectiosn for Parts [or Books as the case may be].

As soon as I’m through with Profesor Irfan’s paper, I’m going to start working on it tonight — as you’ve guessed, I’m scrapping what I had before.

What’s going On?

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This is getting scary. The United States is patrolling Nigerian waters because they want to ‘secure the area from the hands of terrorists and other maritime criminals.’

For God’s sake we don’t have any terrorist attacks in Nigeria! We do have some of the best oil however — Nigerian oil is sulfur-free. So far, no WMDs have been discovered in Iraq but Iraq has been ‘liberated’ and the only thing we hear is about Us and France squabbling over the oil.

The United States under Bush is seriously abusing power. This could be their downfall — afterall, no world power ruled forever. Babylon, Assyria, Egypt, Greece and Rome [not in chronological order] all rose and fell. Apparently, only oil-producing countries like Venezuela, Sudan, Iraq and Iran are evil. Nigeria’s joining the list. This article should be interesting.

Thank you Gbenga for the info. Olojukokoro is an apt description. You could add Oloshi and Oloriburuku :grin:.

Nairaland Woes

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For some time now, I’ve been a bemused spectator of the Nairaland forum and while I believe it is one of the best Nigerian forums on the internet, I feel it has some short-comings.

It’s so pathetic that people get banned for voicing their opinions on the board. I feel the administrator seems to take some delight in being supreme and attacks any threat, real or perceived.

I wil not pretend that moderating a forum is easy work. I will also not pretend that keeping hackers at bay and ensuring you have a good name is easily achieved. Banning seems to be a sadistic delight indulged in for both flimsy as well as concrete reasons.

The administrator needs to see that the forum is not him — a forum is very different from a blog and disagreements are bound to occur. Disagreements with an administrator are unfortunately taken as ‘attacks’ in this case and I strongly suspect some antagonistic tendencies.

Obviously, it is caused by an imbalance of power — I’ve discovered that I tend to be harsher when I make decisions on my own concerning anything and I think that’s what’s going on this case.

I’ve been watching an accelerating trickling out of the intellectual body of Nairaland and the mass incoming of bored teenagers who jump around postng irrelevant replies instead of staying within the boards designed for such — Chatterbox and Forum Games. I think they even ought to restrict themselves to the Recycle Bin.

A lot of people share my sentiments about the running of the forum. A forum does not belong to the ‘owner’ — he only oversees it. Creating a community and expecting everyone to think the way you do is a study in paradox. Attacking people on the boards and banning people who criticize you is a definite no-no.

People are bound to disagree with one’s views — they are not necessarily attacking. Obviously, my only reason for posting here is because someone once got banned for musing about leaving.

Nairaland is great, but it’s becoming something else. Unfortunately, alternatives do not yet exist :roll:.

A Tribute to Aung San Suu Kyi

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It’s so pathetic — Suu Kyi‘s house arrest has been extended indefinitely.

It’s very sad that in a world where everyone loves peace, the Burmese government has been so insensitive. Of course this is one of many governments around the world that exhibit such bestial behavior, and I wonder when all this will come to an end.

The military junta has proved once and for all that they’re scared of her — which they’d obviously deny if confronted with the fact. After all, she’s ‘just a woman.’

Her words It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it. have never been truer.