My Dreamcast Memoirs

People said once you use Windows 7, you can’t go back to Windows XP.  Is this true? 

As someone who has been using Windows 7 Release Candidate 1 64 bit edition, I think I could answer that question.  I was having some trouble with an external firewire drive in Windows 7 recently and decided to go back to Windows XP 32 bit.

So now I’m using Windows XP.  How do I feel?  Well, for starters, I missed the driver support in Windows 7 and the actual usefulness of Windows Update which actually finds some drivers where in XP it did nothing.  I had to get out all my drivers and install them.  Using Windows 7, all I had to do was install the video card drivers.

I miss the lovely redesigned start bar/action bar.  It made things look so much more organized without the various open windows scattered everywhere at the bottom.  I’ve increased the size of the quicklaunch icons in XP, but that’s a poor substitute.

On the plus side, I know every piece of software I want to install will work flawlessly because it’s Windows XP, an OS that was released in 2001.  There were quite a few times when I was using Win 7 64 bit and I had to check various sources to see if some software could run or be installed properly.  This is mostly due to Windows 7 being unreleased and it being a 64 bit edition of Windows.

I didn’t think I would, but I miss Aero.  Everything just seemed much smoother when I had it on in Windows 7.  Going back to Windows XP without Aero is a bit of a downer.

I really miss Windows 7′s file explorer and the way it had better automatic detection of view type depending on the content in folders.  I really loved the space indicator located in Computer which showed the storage space with a graphical bar of your hard drives.

Overall, I think Windows 7 is going to be a great OS when it’s released in October. 

I’m reviewing the new Western Digital TV box that allows users to play digital media files on their televisions. Basically, people would want this that have movies or videos that are stored on a computer, but would be much better on a television.

I absolutely love XBMC, which is a piece of media center software that can be used on Macs, PCs, and a hacked Apple TV. I think it’s the #1 media player out there for playing Internet formats on a television. I compare every device that allows media to be displayed on a TV to XBMC.

So I hooked up the WDTV with an HDMI cable and plugged in the power. Everything was done except to connect a USB storage device. So I grabbed an 8 GB flash drive and loaded some test videos on it and plugged it in.

My first impressions were based on the 1.01 firmware.

-High quality xvid files played fine and smooth!

-Movies/Shows with external srt subtitles had a bit of trouble.
When I played a Korean movie, I noticed that the subtitles would appear half a second later than they should. This really really bothered me and made watching a movie very difficult. Another issue was the subtitle display. The subtitles themselves were white with a very small black outline, too thin for anyone to actually read them when something in the film was bright.

-The navigation menu is a bit clunky and unnecessary, but it works.

-The WDTV unit is very tiny! The pictures don’t do it justice.

I was feeling regretful over my purchase until I found online that Western Digital had released a PreRelease version of its 1.02 firmware. I checked the changelog and it fixed all the issues I complained about with the previous firmware.

After updating the firmware on the device, my movies and shows play perfectly with more definied and better positioned subtitles. This makes me extremely happy.

The price on Amazon was $100, which was a really great deal. I was looking at the Apple TV ($220) and the WDTV ($100) and I went with the WDTV due to price and hoped that the developers would continue updating the firmware, which they have.

While the device lacks wireless capabilities for sharing from other computers, that problem can be resolved by attaching storage directly to the WDTV box.

Overall rating (with prelease firmware 1.02): 4/5

I’m going to list some things I notice some people do that just annoy me.

Maximize a web browser window on a widescreen monitor
DON’T DO IT. Most websites are designed in a 4:3 style and sometimes maximizing a web browser window causes the site to become wider, resulting in text going across the entire screen. Don’t people realize that’s not efficient for reading?

Trying to Maximize a window on a Mac
The Mac OS was designed to allow people to work with multiple windows and go back and forth to the desktop. Lately, there are so many Mac newbies out there that think they have to stretch windows to make it “maximized” like on Windows. Hello, that’s not helping productivity! (Perhaps in some cases, I can see a need for a full screen app, but most users don’t need it)

People confusing Windows and Office
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve run into people that tell me they can just start over and install “Office XP” on their computers. Or if I ask if they have Office 2003/2007, they end up telling me if it’s Windows XP or Vista.

Just recently I had a person confuse Internet Explorer 8 and Windows 7.

People that don’t know when to single click or double click
I see people all the time that double click links on a website. Go get your computer operator’s license and come back, please.

People that don’t understand when to right click or left click.
Left click is the action button. Right click usually brings up context menus. The end.

I’m sure there are tons more, but those are the ones that immediately spring to mind.

What are your tech annoyances?

The first thing I like about Windows 7: I didn’t have to have a folder waiting full of drivers. Windows 7 recognized everything and even allowed me to get driver updates/install additional drivers through the new update service. The only thing I needed to install were the graphics card drivers from nVidia using special Windows 7 beta drivers.

The second thing I liked was the clean interface upon first booting into the OS. However, I’m afraid computer manufacturers are going to mess this up completely with all the bloatware they preload machines with lately.

After seeing how nice Aero looked, I disabled Aero and changed the theme to classic. Yes, I am old school. I like my classic theme! Makes it easier to focus, in my opinion.

I installed the latest beta (2.0) of Google Chrome to use as my web browser. For some reason, pages seemed to load a bit slower than they did using the latest beta on Windows XP. I attribute this to Windows 7 using the IPv6 protocol by default instead of the IPv4 one that XP users are accustomed to using.

I checked Windows Task Manager to see how much memory Windows was using without running any additional programs. It turned out to be 662 MB and was roughly the same with Aero and themes turned on. I still am not comfortable with having an operating system use more than 500 MB of system memory just for itself, but I guess I should accept it now that we have systems that range from 4 to 16 GB of RAM.

Other small things I liked:


-The ability to scale windows so that you can have 2 windows side by side. No more manually resizing windows!
-The control panel takes getting accustomed to, but I suppose it will do. It’s no Mac OS X preferences, though.
-Microsoft has done a really excellent job with Windows Media Player. It is really minimal when playing a movie or song. I stopped using Windows Media Player after version 6 due to how bloated and ugly it became. This new version is so much easier on my eyes. I don’t think I would switch from Media Player Classic, though. But maybe I will.

In general, I find Windows 7 to be a decent version of Windows. I could live with it and use it as my main OS. I think it is the best CONSUMER version of Windows Microsoft has ever developed. As for businesses, I don’t see why they would need Windows Vista OR 7. Windows 2000/XP works great for them.

Windows 7 can be a great operating system if it is used as a main OS. I would not recommend it for virtualization. I think Windows XP would be much better suited for that.

Of course, what I tested was a beta version and does not reflect the final version of Windows 7. I hope Microsoft has better luck with Windows 7 than Vista. Microsoft’s operating system affects so many people’s lives that any change to it’s software has a big effect on the world.

Well, I finally bought something on iTunes. Yeah, I know I’m late to the game, but it’s not without just cause. I refused to buy anything from iTunes for a long time until the DRM (Digital Rights Management) protection was removed from legal music that I purchased. Now that iTunes has mostly (Not everything yet) gone DRM-free/iTunes Plus, this makes the iTunes store way more appealing to someone such as myself.

So what did I buy? Nothing in the top 10, that’s for sure. I bought songs from two of “Entertainment System”‘s albums, some songs from “Dr. Wily And The Robot Masters”, some songs from “Retro Remix Revue” and one Tetris remix song from Pronobozo.

I’m pretty satisfied with my purchases.

As you might notice, all the songs are old video game tunes remixed or performed on instruments. Other music I acquire is usually imported from Korea or Japan, or just downloaded. iTunes sometimes (okay, most of the time) doesn’t have what I’m looking for.

My only complaint about iTunes for buying digital music would be this: I want it to work like Steam, a digital video game distribution store. Once you buy something, it’s stored in your account. Even if you lose your computer or accidently delete something, you can always just find your games in Steam and have them redownload and install for FREE. iTunes seems to put the burden of backing up music on its customers, which I don’t think is necessary.

Here are the links to the groups’ music I downloaded:

Entertainment System
Retro Remix Revue
Pronobozo

Yeah, I look forward to clicking each and every radio button on that page. Where is the “Check All” or “Check None” option?
Of course, as soon as I write a rant about this, Facebook will change the design of the site and prove me wrong. Oh well, I have proof in the form of a screenshot!

So yeah, I’ve tried to disable as many ways for people to annoy me or distract me as possible. Facebook is meant to help you connect with others, not send them meaningless pokes or whatever methods people are using these days.

You see, geeks a long time ago used the web to escape from having to interact with people in real life because it was awkward. Then social networking hit. Now everyone and his/her mother is on a social network.

Which reminds me, I think MySpace is interesting in the fact that it is helping musicians find an audience. Other than that, I’ve always hated MySpace. Why? Because it allows its users to have the worst website designs ever to hit the web. And if you just read that sentence and have no idea what I’m talking about, feel free to ask me and I will find a polite way to explain it to you.

While I’m discussing the annoyances of social networking, allow me to mention Cyworld. Cyworld is a social network service popular in South Korea. Why am I mentioning it? Because I often times am directed to these horrible sites from Korean acquaintances. These Cyworld pages are known as “mini homepages” to Koreans, and it shows.

When you go to someone’s page, the first thing you will notice is a notice from your web browser that it has blocked a pop up. Yes, it is the year 2009 and we still have mainstream websites in Korea that use pop ups.

Anyway, once I allow the pop ups, I get this mini window with a mini page. How unique! For about 2 seconds, perhaps. I mean, the window is so small! Way to be accessible to everyone!

There is nothing more frustrating than viewing someone’s pictures or whatever they are showing you through Cyworld. Because you’re constantly scrolling through a small window. Cyworld is now available in the US. I wonder if the US branch changed the web design a bit. If anyone cares to find that out, be sure and let me know.

Anyway, MySpace is heaven compared to Cyworld. At least I’m not trapped in a little box. How difficult is it for Cyworld to change it’s code to at least just have the Cyworld pages be a flat page rather than require a pop up? This just sends me to no end. In Korea, everyone uses Windows and Internet Explorer. It’s one big happy monoculture. Even when I visited a Cyworld page in Internet Explorer, it still bugs you to allow popups. So why wouldn’t Cyworld stop allowing the pages to be pop up boxes and save everyone in Korea (And myself) from having to unnecessarily click?

Now on the innovative side, I like what Cyworld has done in terms of virtual worlds or avatars.

Disclaimer: I absolutely understand the positive aspects of social networking. I’m only nit picking. I do not hate Korea or Koreans, I love them. I’m only pointing out frustrations from a usability perspective.

He goes on to explain that new people joining Second Life are having a difficult time meeting people due to everyone already being in their own social groups and the move away from a “small village” mentality of residents to “big city I don’t know you” mentality. Back in 2003/2004 in Second Life, you could walk up to anyone or IM them and say hello, and the person on the receiving end would not think you are strange. That’s all changed.

Now everyone is standing around privately IMing friends. If someone IMs a stranger, it is immediately seen as suspicious.

However, I don’t care what year it is, I am still going to IM random people in Second Life and strike up a conversation. What’s the point in creating a unique avatar if it doesn’t help you meet others you might be interested in talking to?

I would say Second Life is not big enough, rather than being too big. There isn’t even 1 million concurrent users online at any time yet! I would like to know the number of “bots” inside Second Life and how much they account for the “online now” numbers.

Anyway, to fix this problem of new people coming into Second Life and failing to meet people and create friends, we need to revamp the entire “first hour experience”. Linden Lab is currently working with the company Big Space Ship to improve the experience for first time users in Second Life. I don’t think anyone has seen the results of it yet, as Linden Lab has been very secret about the status of this project. However, one result of working with Big Space Ship is the new website at SecondLife.com. If you are not logged in, you will see a grid of pictures, attempting to show a variety of things possible in Second Life.

We need to make things easier for everyone. Not just newcomers, but veterans as well. There has to be a better way to meet people. And I don’t meet going into random dance clubs where it becomes unbearably laggy. Perhaps Linden Lab should create designated areas for people to hang out and meet people. Yes I know, we already have plenty of Welcome Areas. But I don’t think those are helping in convincing new people to come back to Second Life.

Perhaps there could be a designated Tab in the Search pane for meeting people. It could show categories like Entertainment, Art, etc. And users could teleport to those areas marked for meeting people relating to those topics. Similar to the early 90s when AOL used Chatroom categories as a way of helping users find a place to join and meet others.

And Sonic. Let’s talk about Sonic. Sega has managed to turn a wonderful franchise into a worthless character. The Sonic games for the Genesis (Megadrive for the rest of the world) were an absolute blast. I was blown away by Sonic Adventure 1 on the Dreamcast. Sonic Adventure 2 really pushed the limits of how many extra characters and side quests I could take. Is it really so difficult to make a new Sonic game in the style of the Genesis/Megadrive versions? Take a look at Capcom and Megaman 9. I think word spread about that game because gamers were looking for a way to bring back their fond memories of the past.

I assume Sega of Japan has ultimate control over the Sonic character, so it is the folks over there I am going to blame for running the Sonic franchise into the ground. The “remake” in 2006 titled Sonic the Hedgehog was terrible. I only played a demo, but I could tell this was a rushed game riddled with bugs.

Gamers complained about how terrible the Sonic game was. Years later, what do we get? We get Sonic Unleashed, another Sonic game with a gimmick. Instead of being able to run around and do stuff similar to a traditional Sonic game, players are forced to play as a slow moving “Werehog” monster. And now Sega is releasing yet another Sonic game for the Wii involving a sword gimmick. The various directors/developers for the current Sonic games say they listen to the feedback from users on the Internet, but I don’t think they’re listening enough. If people are complaining about the gimmicks and are clamoring for a real Sonic game, why not listen and give it to them? Heck, just develop a remake of Sonic 1 or 2 in 2.5D and release it as a digital download. See how that goes!

SEGA used to mean something. After SEGA went third party, their games went down hill along with the morale of the developers working there. I think it also has to do with the Sammy purchase of SEGA and the change of management. Games such as Phantasy Star Online, Shenmue, Jet Set Radio, Sonic Adventure, and Seaman are what used to be under the SEGA brand. I don’t even know what games SEGA develops or publishes these days.

Let’s face it. The SEGA that fans know and love is dead. We can only hope for a revival or for SEGA to wake up and start making excellent games again.

Ripped this intro from a Japanese DVD. Was tired of seeing the bad quality version from RetroJunk.com