Microsoft Says Bye-Bye to Windows 98 & Me — Is It Time to Try Linux?

It was bound to happen. Microsoft has finally dropped all support and updates for Windows 98, 98SE and Millenium (Me). It's official. For Microsoft it's also a perfectly sound business decision. But millions of Windows 98 and Me users are now stuck without any further support for both of those operating systems. If you're one of those millions, and if you can't afford to purchase a new Windows operating system and a new PC with enough RAM, hard drive space and processor power to run Windows XP (which certainly won't run on your older Windows 98 and Me hardware very well, if at all), maybe now is the time to try Linux?

We've reviewed several versions of Xandros Linux (Desktop, Business Desktop, Surfside)and we can't help but think that your older PC running an abandoned operating system is probably the best reason to try a well-supported version of Linux.

Xandros Linux, Debian, Red Hat and several other Linux versions are absurdly easy to install these days. At the very least, you'll be able to breathe new life into a perfectly good PC still capable of providing lots of productive service.

'Net Neutrality is a Pipe Dream . . . (but that's not a bad thing)

Bob Frankston has been knocking around in the high tech world for over 30 years and he recently wrote a convoluted 'Net Neutrality article on his blog. The writing style is obscure to the point of walling off some of the main points in his story (allegory? metaphor? analogy? satire?) behind convoluted language that is difficult to follow. While we all need to read more I think, and too much brevity really is a sin, the author still took far too long to make his point poorly.

I'm grieving. It's apparent that some Americans seem a bit confused. It appears to be a business fact that competition and capitalism go hand in hand and I don't think even a three year old would argue the point. So when did we stir such a brazen sense of entitlement into the issue of internet access? We place abusively harsh pricing pressure on service providers by demanding lots of choice and (big) business responds. Sooner or later though, business has to protect itself by granularizing its services in order to find the profit margins which have disappeared because of the all the aforementioned competition. Fairness in the midst of egregiously aggressive competition is a pipe dream. It doesn't happen in sport, in interpersonal relationships, or in business.

Laud capitalism. Laud competition. But downsides exist which hurt consumers. 'Net neutrality will die in Congress, repeatedly, because the Constitution and all the Amendments work as designed to protect capitalism, private competition, and rights. The dream of 'Net neutrality is not a right, but rather a proposition for which someone has to make a sound business case. That hasn't happened yet, and the prospect remains highly unlikely.

The U.S. and Canada have already fallen behind Europe and Japan insofar as the introduction of new, faster, broadly accessible 'Net and wireless services are concerned. Coverage and roaming remain big, consumer headaches. So my view is that until such time as a change occurs in the fundamental structure on which U.S. business and government rests, 'Net neutrality may be a fiction which will never come to pass.

The internet is and always has been a conglomeration of business entities. So when does anyone think such entities in the U.S. will suddenly adopt the democratically socialist attitudes and business practices needed to ensure neutrality becomes one of the pillars of growth? Fairness to consumers in the midst of the cutthroat competition demanded by consumers? Dream on. I doubt it will happen anytime soon.

The Ultimate List of Camera Bag & Gadget Bag Makers

Everybody owns a digital camera (point & shoot, SLR or what-have-you). It stands to reason that everybody needs a decent camera bag. So we decided that a little research was in order. Herewith then, we present our comprehensive list of all the camera bag and gadget bag makers anyone could possibly care about:

• Billingham (bags & vests)
• Camera Care
• Case Logic
• Crumpler (which also has our vote for the most entertaining and interesting web site)
• Delsey
• Domke/Tiffen (bags & vests)
• Hakuba/Velbon (bags & vests)
• Hama
• Kata
• Keisel
• Kinesis
• Lowepro
• Lightware
• M-Rock
• Promaster (bags & vests)
• Roadwired
• Sumdex
• Tamrac
• Targus
• Tenba
• ThinkTank
• Vested Interest (photo & video carry vests)
• World Richman

Kickstartnews Revue - Podcast #56 - Show Notes for July 13, 2006

• Hot News - Item 1, Dell got a wee bit too cute with it's complex pricing and rebates and discounting and it's knuckles have just been rapped. Let it be a lesson to anyone in business - K.I.S.S. Item 2, Voice Over Internet Protocol or VoIP as it's known, is not ready for prime time. Do not let this into your business and technology budgeting just yet. KSN Managing Editor Howard Carson will explain.
• Letters to the Editor - Norton Internet Security and AOL Messenger aren't cooperating, digitizing and editing old 8mm film and VHS video footage, and somebody is having problems uninstalling MSN Content Plus.
• Big City Byte - Howard is going to tell us all about Net Neutrality and why we should just ignore the current furor. It's not affecting you now, the 'Net has never been neutral, and capitalism is a two-edged sword sometimes.
• Help with MSN Content Plus - The product web site is lame (to say the least), so all you've got for support is the developer's e-mail address: support@msncontenplus.com.
• Transferring old 16mm and 8mm film to digital requires professional services. The right editing software helps a lot too after the transfer shop provides you with the data files. Here are the details.

Kickstartnews Revue - Podcast #55 - Show Notes for July 4, 2006

• Hot News: Item 1, Is having a cell phone pressed to your ear while behind the wheel the equivalent of driving while intoxicated? According to a study by University of Utah psychologists, the answer is, unfortunately, yes. Item 2, A federal judge in California hinted that a parenting web site that's suing Google over a poor ranking in the search giant's massive index would be able to proceed with its lawsuit. Managing Editor Howard Carson will explain.
• Letters to the Editor: Kickstartnews review readers and podcast listeners demand it — a better e-mail program for Palm handhelds. And somebody has cat problems, specifically a feline that keeps knocking soft drinks onto a mouse pad.
• BOAT: In this installment of Business Online and Technology with Judi Tyabji Wilson, Howard poses the question, "Why are you in Business?" The answers may surprise you.

Here are the rest of the Show Notes . . .

Commentators, Hosts and Pundits Who Forget How They're Fed

During a recent Buzz Out Loud (the CNET podcast hosted by Molly Wood, Tom Merritt & Veronica Belmont), two of the hosts rattled on for several minutes about a correspondent's concern that Google Videos would soon be arriving (or are arriving) with optional advertising tacked onto the end of the file. They also theorized about Google adding advertising to free videos posted on the site. After expressing confusion over whether or not the addition of ads was good or bad, and after leaving listeners with a distinctly negative spin on the issue, Molly Wood announced a short break in the show during which, you guessed it, they ran an ad for Earthlink.net's internet services.

Ad revenue finances the efforts of tens of millions of people and businesses, including CNET and Google.

Throughout the Internet world, vast legions of independent consumers can and regularly do kill products by refusing to buy them, use them or otherwise pay attention to them.

Google's increasingly confusing search results, its regularly destructive re-indexing projects, and its numbingly robotic responses to ranking, listing and re-indexing complaints rate much more intense scrutiny and concern from intelligent commentators (in which group I certainly include Molly, Tom & Veronica).

If advertising offends Google video customers, they'll vote with their wallets, clicks and bandwidth. Until such a thing happens, Google's efforts at pushing ads through any of its hosted free or commercial content is a non-issue.