Product Central
Dispatches from the Reviews Editor's desk
Friday 14 September 2007, 9:59 AM
Adobe's Chinese torture
Adobe sent me a copy of Creative Suite 3 Production Premium to play with recently, which was nice. So this morning I thought I'd install it (or some of it anyway), which turned out to be a real time-waster.
During the install, various dialogue boxes carry a pull-down list of available languages, and the first two or three sensibly defaulted to English — sensible, given that the OS, Windows Vista, is in English.
This must have put me off my guard, because when it came to the dialogue box where you select the components you want to install, I failed to notice that the default language had somehow changed to Chinese. No warning appeared along the lines of "Do you really want to install a huge amount of software in a completely different language to your OS and every selection you've made up to now?" So 45 minutes and four DVDs later, my system was duly CS3'd up. With Chinese-language apps, which I discovered on launching Photoshop.
Of course, it was then that I found a yellow card in the (very large) box, helpfully advising that: "If you do not specifically select the language that you purchased, the installer may default to the wrong language and you will not be able to use the software. If this happens, you will need to uninstall and reinstall the correct language, which can be a lengthy process."
Thanks for that, Adobe. And can I have 2 hours of my life back?
Thursday 6 September 2007, 9:33 AM
Lenovo's World of Leather
Following the celebrations surrounding the ThinkPad's 15th birthday, news arrives of Lenovo's latest wheeze: the ThinkPad Reserve Edition. This is not a notebook likely to be rolled out to the motorway-pounding corporate sales team, one suspects, given that it costs £3,119 (inc. VAT). Other pointers that the ThinkPad Reserve is destined for the CEO's office include the following:
— it's a limited-edition system "encased in premium leather, handcrafted by expert saddle-makers for a distinctive appearance that's both stylish and protective".
— support includes "an Executive Welcome Service that begins with an initial one-on-one setup call between the customer and his or her dedicated Executive Support staff specialist", after which the lucky exec gets "concierge phone access to the Executive Support staff, with all calls anwered within four rings in the owner's native language".
Phew — but wait, there's more...
— "If needed, a specially-trained technician will be at a customer's location within four hours in 20 countries, and will even [get this] condition the leather exterior before departing".
Bring me my leather-bound computing machine...
We really, really hope Lenovo can spare us a review sample of the 5,000 Reserve-status ThinkPads it's planning to release. We just can't wait to test the 'specially trained' technician's leather-conditioning expertise. One for our Dialogue Box video show, I think.
Tuesday 4 September 2007, 9:59 AM
The joy of push email
We've been writing about push email for long enough, and now we ZDNet hacks have got shiny new Windows Mobile smartphones (in my case, the HTC S620, all hooked up to our corporate Exchange server.
Legacy tech hack (left) gets to grips with push email on HTC S620 (right).
Continuous access to company email is definitely a mixed blessing. There's certainly the 'CrackBerry' (or its Windows Mobile equivalent) syndrome of checking your inbox every five minutes: in the first few days I've come close to being run down by a bus on Southwark Bridge Road, and am likely to get duffed up the next time I bump into someone on the pavement while squinting at the S620.
Near-death experiences aside, it's undeniably useful to be able to keep the inbox under control by regularly deleting the rubbish that flows in — the daily commute to and from Bedfordshire is good for email-cleansing. And any concerns about work-life balance are offset by the fact that CNET Networks' chosen network operator doesn't manage a signal in my rural retreat.
The HTC S620 is a neat enough smartphone: I'd prefer 3G/HSDPA connectivity for faster web browsing, but GPRS is fine for the email functionality. Other than that, there's just the eccentric JOGGR scroll/select thing on the right-hand side to contend with (read our review for more detail on this). I'd definitely prefer a good old BlackBerry-style scroll wheel, and am likely to be giving the JOGGR the boot.
I'm unlikely to respond to your emails any quicker, but from now on I'll certainly be deleting any unwanted ones with alacrity!
Wednesday 22 August 2007, 10:10 AM
A tale of two Vista systems
I've upgraded two systems to Windows Vista over the past few months, with vastly different results. The first was a nice ultraportable ThinkPad X60, with 512MB of RAM and integrated Intel GMA 950 graphics. This ran Windows XP perfectly happily, and became a favourite for its light weight, useful docking base and exemplary build quality.
Then I bunged Vista Business on it, instantly rendering it unusably slow (don't try Vista with less than 1GB of RAM, it's not worth it), and running into a number of driver problems — in particular, I could no longer use my Orange Option Globetrotter Fusion 3G datacard (see my previous posting). This once-cherished notebook has languished for a while, and is now awaiting a new lease of life courtesy of Ubuntu Linux. Not, I imagine, what Microsoft had in mind when unleashing Vista on the market.
The other system is a dual quad-core Xeon workstation with 4GB of RAM and an ATI Radeon X1800 graphics card, which again initially ran Windows XP. This, funnily enough, shows off Vista very nicely — especially as it's attached to a massive 30in. monitor. In fact, this beast barely draws breath running Vista, so I'm planning to install VMware and run a whole bunch of OSs, just for fun.
For most people, of course, Vista's inability to run on low-spec hardware (at least with all the bells and whistles that make it worth running Vista at all) will be the biggest turn-off. This, and the increasing maturity of desktop Linux, could make 2007 something of a 'tipping point' in the desktop OS market.
If you can get your hands on a 'f**k-off' Xeon workstation with 4GB of RAM and a 30in. display, Vista does look quite nice though.
Wednesday 8 August 2007, 3:05 PM
The Vista future isn't Orange
I'm off on holiday tomorrow (hurrah!), and like a sad geek (sorry, technology journalist), I thought I'd take an ultraportable notebook and a 3G datacard along with me — just to keep in touch with news and current affairs, you understand. Now, as Reviews Editor, I get to see quite a few nice ultraportables, and a suitable one presents itself in the shape of Sony's G-series VAIO.
Trouble is, the VAIO runs that new-fangled Windows Vista OS — which has only been widely available for, oh, about seven months. That, and the fact that my 3G datacard is Orange's Option GlobeTrotter Fusion, for which there are currently no Vista drivers. Now it's true that Orange has discontinued the Fusion card, and it's also true that the newer Sierra Wireless Aircard 850 does work under Vista. But that's no comfort to the many early adopters who purchased the Option card and have subsequently got themselves a Vista notebook (something an early adopter is quite likely to have done). Orange also clearly states that existing Fusion customers 'will continue to be supported'. Shame that doesn't include Vista support.
Orange's customer services confirmed that Vista drivers had been expected from Option in July, but had no information on a likely delivery date, and no constructive advice for Fusion customers with Vista notebooks.
So, sadly, it looks like my old GlobeTrotter isn't going to get to go on holiday and experience a new(ish) Vista. Let me know if you've had a similar experience.
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