my knowledge centers - was, portal, connections, worklight

I thought these URLs looked cool, so I'm publishing here.

WAS KC:
http://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSAW57/mapfiles/product_welcome_wasnd.html

Portal KC:
http://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSHRKX/welcome

Connections KC:
http://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSYGQH/welcome

Worklight KC:
http://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSNJXP/welcome.html

Time to review some of my bookmarks ...

Start menu thought

Ever since Windows got rid of it's Start button, the world was starting to get confused. Or so I've read. 

But then, a friend of mine asked me to solve something on her Win 8 laptop, knowing that I'm a guru... ha.

And so, I couldn't but to realize that the world was right. It was confusing!

And now I'm reading that Microsoft is returning it's.... let's call it launcher?

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/07/15/win8_start_menu_leaked_screenshot/

Linux desktop world has launchers with these minimum requirements:
- launch button.
- move it wherever on your side screen, horizontally or vertically.
- resize it, allow for larger icons etc.
- show the running apps, but also allow me to move them freely on the launcher.
- add the systray, clock time whatever else.

When looking at the mobile world (yes, for now Android), we also have launchers. Bit different than desktop, but I see two common points:
- Start somewhere on the screen!
- Allow user to change things, allow flexibility.

So, Linux Desktop moved on, mobile world moved on, maybe it's time for Windows to move on?

4 years on Ubuntu ... thoughts crossing my mind

I was checking stats on my blog when I spotted that on 6/8/10 I wrote my first impressions after I've switched to Ubuntu

4 years later, here are some thoughts:

~ I've performed one upgrade, from 10.04 to 12.04 LTS (I don't remember the details ... ha)

~ as much as all my apps (including some internal ones) are working fine on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, the same is not true for Ubuntu 14.04 LTS. At this moment, I'm NOT ready to move upwards.

~ I've NEVER looked back not only to Win XP, but not even to Win 7. In fact, one friend of mine asked me to help with a Win 8 notebook, I was looking strange for 3 minutes, then I gave up. Win 7 is still manageable, Win 8 is alien. To Excel credit, there is still a need for it, which is where virtualization comes to rescue. For everything else, there's OpenOffice.

~ I'm also looking strange to Ubuntu future: Desktop / Tablets / Mobile. meh ...

~ Both Microsoft and Ubuntu should reconsider: there's no such thing as one size fits all. Give us the base OS, come up with visualization / features / usability on top, for each device. I know it's tough, but that should be the strategy. So far, on my account, both failed. But again, I might be biased, haven't bought a Win 8 mobile device, they look alien :) As for Ubuntu mobile, Mark, would you please give us back the desktop ?

Above list leads me to the current status quo: I'm stuck :) I cannot move upwards for Ubuntu 14.04, I cannot switch to Fedora (another meh ...), I won't go back to Windows. 7, of course :)

Adding another item to make things worse: the wonderful Cinnamon desktop (which I currently use under Ubuntu 12.04) lost it's apt repo, which means no more updates for me.

I'll probably reconsider Ubuntu 14.04 when I'll get my hand on another TP, so that I will not break everything .... careful with that axe Eugene ...

Edit: time to celebrate my 200th post to the blog ! let's get a beer ...