Wednesday, August 28, 2002

Skin the Lizard! -- 2:53 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

OK, that sound just plain wrong. Now that you've downloaded Mozilla 1.1 (story)--and you have, haven't you?--it's time to have a little fun. Head over to DeskMod and pick out a new skin for it! My personal favorite is Pinball because it is nice and small, allowing you to utilize the maximum amount of screen real estate. It's even been updated to support the latest goodies in Mozilla 1.1. Check it out!

The Master comments: Hey, this pinball skin is pretty sweet! :-)

J.t.Qbe comments: I like it too. It really does free up a noticeable amount of real estate.

Pegasus Mail 4.02 released -- 10:10 am CST, Update by The Master

David Harris, author of Pegasus Mail has released version 4.02 for download. This version contains over 400 fixes for known problems in 4.01, and gets things stable for the new feature releases planned in 4.1.

Pegasus is the mail client I've used since my first days using a PC on the internet, and I like it. It's not vulnerable to the 4 billion exchange viruses, and it's simple, fast and free.

Icewind Dale 2 Released -- 6:39 am CST, Update by J.t.Qbe

Black Isle's latest, Icewind Dale 2, shipped yesterday and may be hitting stores as early as today. It's another combat-oriented Infinity Engine AD&D game and will probably sell a zillion copies. I didn't plan to get Icewind Dale but got a great deal on clearance at Target. I didn't plan to like Icewind Dale because of it's linearity and heavy emphasis on combat, but ended up playing it quite a bit--more than I've played any other Bioware AD&D game. Icewind Dale 2 sounds cooler than the original. Must. . .avoid. . .EB. . .

A.T. Hun comments: The Gamespy review seems less than enthusiastic about it. I think it's high time that the Infinity engine was put out to pasture. And why is it that there's hasn't been an RPG in history (including my current fav Neverwinter Nights) that has decent pathfinding?

And now that you're back online, how about some of that NWN co-op we talked about?

J.t.Qbe comments: I grabbed PC Gamer this afternoon and they give it a rating of 87%. Their review reads a lot like Gamespy's: if you liked IWD and want more of it, this is the game. No major negatives to the game; it just isn't anything new and spectacular. For lots of IWD fans, it'll be a great game.

I'll give you a call about some NWN online action. I still have some home network wrinkles to iron out.

Tuesday, August 27, 2002

Naked PC == Stealing -- 10:00 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

At least from Microsoft's point of view. Apparently when you buy into one of M$'s volume licensing plans you are only buying upgrades. Thus if a company buys "naked" (i.e. no OS) machines and format the drive with a standard install of Windows, you'd better hope you aren't audited. Yep, that's right, you get it twice: once when you buy the PC, and once when you buy M$'s volume license. I wonder how many companies are in non-compliance right now because of this? Check out this page on Microsoft's site for a good laugh. Or cry. Thanks Linux Today.

J.t.Qbe comments: But remember, Microsoft isn't a monopoly and is good for the economy. Bah. Qrap like this is the reason why I won't spend money on a M$ "OS" ever again. Yep, it's going to get tough when they force everyone to XP and there are no more games available for lowly 98/95/3.1/DOS, but you have to take a stand somewhere.

The Master comments: I remember looking at all their licensing crud online late last year and not understanding what they wanted of us, but knowing somehow we, as consumers, were getting hosed. Now I know I was right.

Qbe Is Back. . . -- 10:27 am CST, Update by J.t.Qbe

. . . and ornerier than ever. Well, maybe not. After 10 days offline, I finally got the cable modem and home network back on the internet last night; I'm officially back at work today. We're almost completely moved into our new house (I just need to go clean out the old one and get a few miscellaneous possessions). Now we get to enjoy the thrill of unpacking. For the first time in our married lives (and 11 moves) we're throwing away boxes. Hooray!

While offline I was able to spend some quality time with Age of Wonders II and Morrowind, both great games if you're a fan of turn-based strategy or first-person RPGs.

Ultimate Bar -- 9:50 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Hmmm, I'll have to see if I can convince my wife to let me pick up this baby and turn it into a bar for my basement. Oh the possibilities! Wouldn't a couple of homebrew taps look suh-weet coming out of that?

J.t.Qbe comments: Nah, what you want is a VAXbar.

Mozilla 1.1 Released -- 9:41 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

The Mozilla team has released version 1.1 of its open source web browser. Check out the release notes, then start downloading a build for your OS!

The Master comments: FWIW: I just downloaded the Mozilla 1.1 install for Win32, and gave it a whirl to check out my business website. Works perfectly and does an excellent job of rendering our site. I really like all the detailed page info you can get from Mozilla. Good stuff.

Past Two Days' News

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