After spending a fair chunk of Saturday afternoon cruising technology outlets on Auckland’s North Shore, I can report packaged software is dead.

I wanted to buy a copy of Quicken Home and Business 2010. In my search I visited two branches of Dick Smith Electronics, and one each of Noel Leeming, Warehouse Stationary, Bond and Bond, and PB Technologies. That’s a total of six stores.

While many had healthy-looking displays of games – mainly for consoles, none had much in the way of packaged PC applications.

Versions of Microsoft Windows 7, an operating system, were just about everywhere. One store, I forget which, possibly Noel Leeming, had a big display of Norton’s security applications. I saw a smattering of MYOB products and a few Adobe products along with Quickbooks and a handful of other security products.

And that was about it.

Harvey Norman had what looked like the biggest and most comprehensive application offering. However, this isn’t what it seems. Its Wairau Park store was the only outlet displaying Quicken Home and Business 2010. And yet the three boxes on display were empty – labels suggested customers ask sales staff for the discs. I did this and waited ten minutes. When the sales person returned he checked the stock computer and discovered there was no stock.

I solved my immediate needs by signing up for Xero, the online accounts system.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Paperless journalist: Testing Xero online accounting (billbennett.co.nz)

New PCs are thick on the ground at this time of year and so are new PC problems. Customer support teams are often deluged with enquiries as people struggle to get to grips with recently acquired machines.

While there are rogue computers, many problems are less about faulty or difficult to use hardware and more about the marketing choices made by PC makers.

For example, laptop makers keen to keep their products below certain key price points have shipped models without enough ram. That’s dumb. Microsoft says Windows 7  (installed on most new machines) requires a minimum of 1GB to run in 32-bit mode or 2GB in 64-bit mode.

Realistically 2GB is the bare minimum and you ought to have 4GB or more. Otherwise your computer experience will be somewhere between sluggish and barely functional.

If you find yourself struggling to squeeze performance out of a new laptop in these circumstances you have two realistic options: buy extra ram or dump Windows and install Windows XP (or if you’re brave, Ubuntu) instead.

Either way you’ll be in for some extra cost and a degree of fiddling around before you have a practical computer – which may not leave you feeling well-disposed towards your laptop maker.

Another problem area is the bundled software loaded by the manufacturer. A lot of it is rubbish. No, scrub that. Almost all of it is rubbish.

You may find programs you’ll never use automatically loading themselves into memory each time you boot. They can slow your computer down or interfere with other programs causing glitches or even crashes.

Alternatively you may find yourself connected to registration sites and badgered for personal information. Some preloaded applications are spyware – secretly reporting your computing activity to people whether you like it or not.

If this worries you – and it should – the best strategy is to start by making sure you have antivirus software and firewall installed and switched on. Then install an anti-spyware program like Microsoft’s Windows Defender (download from www.microsoft.com). Finally using the Add or Remove Programs panel in Windows Control Panel, systematically work through the pre-installed applications deciding what, if anything, is worth keeping and dumping anything else.

An alternative is to use CCleaner a tool to automatically get rid of the crud choking a PC. But however you get the job done, make sure you give your PC a good clean – even if it is brand new.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Should you get 64 bit Windows 7? (helpdeskgeek.com)
• Windows 7 is great. Its price isn’t (billbennett.co.nz)
• Microsoft’s barely there Security Essentials (billbennett.co.nz)
• Panda Cloud Antivirus is a hidden gem (billbennett.co.nz)

It’s easy to forget Microsoft Security Essentials is installed on my desktop computer. Unlike many, but not all other security applications, Security Essentials sips system resources so sparingly there’s no noticeable effect on performance.

And yet the free application appears to do a more than adequate job protecting my system from malware and attacks. Read the rest of this entry »

My plan was to use Google Docs exclusively for a couple of weeks. I wanted to test its viability as a Microsoft Word alternative.

The experiment fell at the first hurdle. I caved in after two days because my productivity dropped too far. Worse, I made many more errors with Google Docs than with Word.

Let’s set the scene. I’m a professional journalist. Typically I’d write 10,000 or more words a week. That’s close to 2000 words each workday and a few more on the weekend. When you’re tapping out that many words, the tools really matter.

Productivity hit

My productivity dropped 25 percent when I switched to Google Docs. This may have been temporary – maybe my speed would pick up as I became familiar with the software. But the price was too high – a 25 percent productivity drop means I working 33 percent longer to produce the same output. This is not acceptable.

What was the big problem? Google Docs requires more mouse activity than Microsoft Word. Both applications offer a full set of keyboard shortcuts and many of them are the same. However scrolling up and down the page to read my work was considerably harder in Google Docs.

Cutting and pasting copy from other documents was also harder. And curiously I had problems switching between web browser and Google Docs. Switching between a browser and Word using alt-tab is easier than control-tabbing through a large number of open browser tabs.

Just to make sure the problem wasn’t related to the browser, I used Google Docs with Firefox and Internet Explorer. I also tried using Google Docs in a separate browser Window.

Two days into the experiment my wrists were starting to ache from the extra mousing. I didn’t experience serious pain – I bailed out before reaching that point.

Never mind the quality, feel the width

Speed is important. So is quality.

My other problem with Google Docs was proofing. That’s the business of rereading your words to find and correct mistakes or improve the text. At first I struggled to identify why my proofing was so bad. Then it hit me. Text in Google Docs extends across the entire width of the screen – while Word text tends to be restricted to relatively narrow columns. Proofing is much harder with wider text columns.

There maybe ways to work around these problems, but I need to get on and earn a crust, so earlier today I went back to Microsoft Word – a better experience.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Google Docs for journalists and writing professionals (billbennett.co.nz)

Microsoft Security Essentials

Ideally I would like to try Microsoft’s new free Security Essentials, but I’m in New Zealand and locked out from the official download site. Yes, I know there are ways around the lock-out, but I’m aiming to stay ethical. If you know how I can get hold of a legitimate copy please leave a comment or use the contact page.

Avast

When I installed Windows 7 RC on my computers I loaded Norton Internet Security 2010 beta on the desktop and a free desktop security application from Avast on my Thinkpad. We also tried AVG’s free anti-virus software on my wife’s Thinkpad.

Both free anti-virus programs are fully functional and seem to handle most everyday security requirements. We’re behind a NAT firewall and we keep out machines clean, so our security needs are basic. The features not included in the free versions of the programs are of no interest to me, however I would like the ability schedule Avast to scan my laptop at regular intervals.

Avast appears to do a better job at hunting down problems, but AVG has a better user interface. Nevertheless, we’ve now standardised on Avast on our laptops because the software appears easier to deal with and, let’s face it, when it comes to this kind of work a good brain trumps a pretty face.

Both programs impose less of a performance overhead than Symantec’s Norton Internet Security 2010 beta – but that wouldn’t be hard. Their overhead is so small it is barely noticeable.

Downside of free anti-virus

There are downsides to the free anti-virus programs. Both are surprisingly difficult to find and download. That’s because to some extent they are hidden behind paid-for products from the same companies. And both tend to nag about updating – in ways that send you off to pay for versions of the software.

Of course, developers have to eat. I’m not complaining, the price of free security software is a small annoyance. Or to put it another way, there’s no such thing as a free lunch. On a point by point basis Avast seems less of a problem than AVG – but this could be perception and not reality.

One downside of the free software asking for updates and not automatically scanning is it  feels as if the PC lacks proper protection. For some reason this appeared to be more the case on my desktop than on my less frequently used Thinkpad.

Panda Cloud Anti-virus

For now I’m sticking with Avast on my Thinkpad and we’ve switched from AVG to Avast on my wife’s Thinkpad. But Avast didn’t feel satisfactory on my main desktop, so I searched for an alternative and discovered Panda Cloud Anti-virus.

Panda Cloud Anti-virus looks and feels very different from all other security software. Rather than chew up your computer’s performance doing all its anti-virus processing Panda is a software-as-a-service application that sends data about dangerous looking files to its own servers for closer inspection. This means there is no perceptible performance overhead. It also means the checking database is always bang up-to-date.

Panda is still a work in progress. Or more to the point, a beta. But unlike Symantec’s beta, it seems fully functional. I’ve run Panda Cloud Anti-virus for roughly one month without any problems. My biggest fear is I never hear from the program, so I need to check to see it is running – which it always is.

Given the ease at which Panda slips into the background, to the point where it is unnoticeable, I’d have to say this is the most promising security tool I have found so far.

See also:
Norton’s Windows 7 beta – security update

Related articles by Zemanta

• What Is The Best Free Anti Virus Program? You Decide (lockergnome.com)
• Will You Be the Guinea Pig for Symantec? (lockergnome.com)
• ImmunetProtect: Free Cloud-Based AntiVirus With Collective Wisdom (techie-buzz.com)
• Virus Security By Leveraging Community And Clouds (cloudave.com)

A press release from Nielsen (not online at the time of writing) says Mozilla Firefox is winning New Zealand  users away from Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.

It is, but Microsoft’s browser still accounts for a 60 percent market share. According to Nielsen, Internet Explorer dropped from 72 percent to 60 percent between July 2006 and July 2009. Over the same period Firefox climbed from 11 percent to 20 percent. The remaining market share goes to rats and mice – with Google’s Chrome picking up just 3.2 percent of the market.

At the current rate, it’ll be at least two more years before Microsoft’s market share drops below 50 percent – and longer again before Firefox goes past Internet Explorer.

Nielsen’s press release doesn’t explain what it means by market share. However, the company manages a net measuring business where it tracks traffic to a number of commercial websites. Browser information is included in the traffic information, so it’s reasonable to assume Nielsen simply adds up each browser’s share of the total traffic to these sites. Because Nielsen’s clients are among New Zealand’s busiest sites, it is a reasonable measure of total share. Read the rest of this entry »

Some time ago I spoke to a technology recruiter who told me he wouldn’t dare proposing anyone over 40 to his clients.

The recruiter in question was well past this particular age and shamefaced, but he said clients just don’t want to see older faces waiting outside the interview room.

Information technology companies and users appear to be among the worst offenders for this, closely followed by public relations, media and telecom companies. However in some ways they are just more honest and upfront about their prejudices. Age discrimination is not restricted to these industries, you’ll find it just about everywhere, I know of one person applying to work in a department store being turned down for being too old. She was in her 40s.

Before going any further, I should disclose that I personally passed the big five-zero barrier a few months ago. I’m not complaining about my circumstances, as far as I know, most editors don’t care much about the age of their freelance journalists – in my business other factors matter.

However, I am concerned about the feedback I get from people of a similar age who read my writing on the subject.

It’s worth putting this invisible age barrier into some kind of meaningful context. People my age are not old. While those of us who have just passed 50 might have been alive in the 1960s and probably can hum more than a dozen Beatles tunes, I didn’t come of age until after the Sex Pistols and the Clash appeared on the scene. One of my first printed stories was an interview with The Stranglers.

Admittedly my early years in journalism were spent hammering on a manual typewriter, but my first paying job was on an already established personal computer magazine. And yes, it is true that the last time I looked at a line of programming code, it was written in Pascal.

On the other hand, I should point out I’m a good four years younger than Bill Gates – does anyone out there regard him as over the hill?

Maybe they do. After all, he has retired. And the people recruiting staff for Microsoft probably would almost certainly regard Mr Gates as too old for employment.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Too old to rock and roll, too young to die (billbennettnz.wordpress.com)

I write a daily column about technology journalism in Australia and New Zealand for IT Journo (it’s an invitation only site). Today the dominant news story was the Australian debut of new Google Android phones from HTC. Also on the agenda was an announcement from Google about its new Wave communications software and the relaunch or rebranding of Microsoft’s search as Bing.

Judging by the local and international coverage of the stories, Microsoft should be worried. The yet to be launched Google Wave software recieved far more coverage than Microsoft’s carefully choreographed launch. Microsoft is preparing to spend hundreds of millions of dollars promoting its rebranded search and yet the story was lost in the noise.

As far as news media is concerned, Google is now far more important than Microsoft.