So, I recently upgraded my Ubuntu install to Edgy. One of the packages I have installed is php4-cli, which I use specifically for testing sample code. Well, when I went to run it, I found this little nasty popping up:

PHP Warning:  mime_magic: type regex            
BEGIN[[:space:]]*[{]    application/x-awk invalid in Unknown on line 0

Looks like there is a defect open with the debian folks, but it says to uncomment a line out in /usr/share/file/magic.mime. However, for Ubuntu, this should be commented out. The line that needs to be commented out is:

0      regex           BEGIN[[:space:]]*[{]    application/x-awk

Upon doing so, php will run on the CLI without producing the warning.

I finally got a chance to download Windows Vista RC1 from MSDN a few weeks ago, but didn't have a machine to install it on. I decided the candidate would be my Linux desktop at the office. After trying to get Vista to install a few times, I couldn't get past "Windows is loading files...", even after letting it go overnight. Today I had a few minutes while on a conf call and had a chance to poke around. The fix I found works and Vista was successfully installed.

The fix is to add the following to your .vmx file for Vista:

svga.maxWidth = "640"
svga.maxHeight = "480"

I found this information in the VMWare discussion forums.

I have recently given this whole Blackberry deal some thought. While I don't use mine a lot and not having one would only become a minor inconvenience for me, I know several people who rely on them heavily. It fact, it might strike down their existence if they ever had to part with it. Sad, but true.

I guess the "good" news is that we can continue to work when we are not at work since they have reached a settlement. For a whopping $612.5 million buck-a-roo's RIM's US operations will not be forced to shut down.

Interesting thing though... didn't RIM state they had a backup plan that would essentially change their service so it didn't infringe on any patents? If they already have said plan, why not just tell NTP to go fuck themselves and deploy it? I guess I don't have all the details, but still a re-occurring though I've been having lately.

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Today, I recieved 5 invites from Microsoft so I could some friends involved in the beta process (similiar to GMail). Anyways, it was nice because it gave me the ability to test some of the p2p features, such as Music Mix, games and shared folders.

Games work, but I think there is a defect with the size of the message window. It becomes really wide, and resizing it doesn't really work.

The Music Mix works, installs the .NET components, but, is VERY beta. After several attempts to get it to work, me and a co-worker couldn't get it going. For some reason I kept getting this weird message telling me I couldn't add tracks over 20MB, even though they were like 3 or 4MB. Very disappointing, as that has real potential. For instance, me and Ryan have a STD (Song of the Day). Sometimes they are obscure, and I can't find them on Rhapsody and he doesn't have a copy of them, etc. This would allow us to share our Song of the Day with each other, without having to track the song down. Hopefully they will get it working soon, I think it's a great idea!

Now, the most frightening of the bunch was the Shared Folder idea. It works, and I didn't notice any defects right off the bat, however there is a real security concern. In fact, I have disabled it and will NOT be using it. For those that don't know, Shared Folders basically creates a folder for each user you want to set one up with. Anything I put into the folder will be synced to the other contacts computer while we are both online and vice versa. Everything is kept in sync at all times. Now, one good thing is that in order to create a shared folder someone sends the other person an invite, but once accepted, there is NO limit as to how much you can sync to your contacts computer; well the limit is the amount of free harddrive space. Somehow I just see this as a really bad idea. It would be interesting to see if a worm could be crafted to initiate a sync filling your contacts harddrive and propagating to other contacts; just sounds like it could be bad. Hopefully they will add a max folder size setting to that feature.

That's all I got for now. Maybe I'll get a chance to do some more digging. I started playing with a resource editor yesterday to see about removing the ads at the bottom of the chat windows, and the video/ad stuff from the bottom of the contact list. If I figure that out, I'll post it.

Last week sometime, I decided to sign up for the new Windows Live beta program so I could play with the new messenger client. I've never really been a fan of MSN Messenger, but that's what my co-workers used when I came to work at RightNow. I've always been a fan of Yahoo! Messenger. Over the past year and a half, I've seen MSN slowly improve things with their messenger client, and some ways becoming a better client then Yahoo! Messenger.

Anyways, over the weekend, I apparently received my invitation because it was waiting in my Inbox this morning for me. Initially, I was slightly disappointed with how the contact list looks and feels, since it's had in my opinion some fairly big changes (well, as big as they can be considering it's a contact list).

So, what is wrong with it? Well, nothing I guess, it's just different. I don't like the fact that the display pic isn't always visible. You have to click on their name or if you have the option enabled you can mouse over their name to "expand" the contact. Another thing I don't like is that for people with long display names or long personal messages, you can't read the entire thing. In 7.5.x releases, you could mouse over the contacts name and the entire name/message would appear in a tooltip. This is no longer the case, and something I hope they change before the final build. This functionality is however available if you click on the contacts name to bring up their contact card, then mouse over the top where their name is displayed. That's too much clicking however, I want my simple mouse over back!!

While I'm kind of partial about this, they have also removed MSN Today. I have NEVER liked it to automatically open when I sign in, but if I'm killing time, I would occasionally click on the MSN Today icon at the top of the contact list to check it out. It was also a nice way of seeing any emails I've received in my Hotmail account, since I don't use it. Well, that's gone and I'm guessing it won't be re-added for the final build.

One thing that I do like however is that the contacts are grouped in each group by whether or not they are available, or busy/away. As opposed to displaying the status after their display name however, it's now indicated by an icon. This of course, co-incides with my prior complaint about not having the display pic always available. This functionality wouldn't be available if they still were. Another thing I really like a lot is the ability to find a contact or number. There is a search box at the top of the contact list that allows you to do partial searching. This is great if you have those kind of friends who never use their name in their display name and are always changing what it says.

Of course there are the telephony and game features, and the improved video chat functionality. I did use the video chat today, and the only complain I have is do NOT (yes, I repeat, DO NOT) go full screen. If you charish the sizes and placement of your other windows, just don't do it. It will resize them and place them in the top left corner. I'm pretty sure this is because it's changing the Windows Desktop resolution, then restoring it when leaving full screen mode. Anyways, it's lame and should be fixed before final in my opinion.

Since I don't know anyone else currently using the beta, I haven't had a chance to test out the game functionality. I have seen some screenshots of it, and it looks just like the video conferencing with the expanded chat window.

I have to say though, that the hands down best feature so far is offline messaging. Why oh why has it taking Microsoft so long to implement this feature? It is something I have always loved about Yahoo! Messenger, and one thing that has always pissed me off about MSN. If a friend signs off, and I just wanted to tell them a very short simple thing, I can't. I mean, something so simple I wouldn't waste sending an email over. Anyways, Microsoft apparently has finally gotten the clue and have added it to the list (thank you!!). Not only can I receive offline messages now, but I can also be in "Appear Offline" status and send messages to my contacts; something that has never been available. I was pleasantly suprised to see that I could use this funcionality with contacts that are still using older version of the client.

Another cool feature they have added is Shared Folders. Shared Folders allow you to share files with contacts. Each contact has a different folder and although I haven't had the opportunity to test it out, the folders are available even when you are offline (at least that's the rumor).

So, overall I think this is the most improvement and amount of changes that I've seen for an upgrade to this particular client. I was sketched about upgrading initially, mostly because of Secway Simp, which is a requirement as far as I'm concerned. Fortunately, Secway has released an open beta for their product, which is why I went for it; so far I'm glad I did.