Monthly Archive for March, 2007

My move from OS X to Vista - Day 1

Published
by
Tom Raftery
on 23/3/2007
in Mac, Microsoft, Windows and os x to vista
. 8 Comments

This is my first blog post from within Vista - I’ll try to put up a post a day on the move across.

Of course I am also moving from a Mac to a Sony Vaio so I will also be referencing that move in these posts.

The first thing I had to do when moving from my Mac to this Vista machine was to decide on a Windows compatible RSS reader. I use NetNewsWire on the Mac.

I quickly settled on Google Reader because I could quickly export my opml file from NetNewsWire, import it into Google Reader on the Mac, log into Google Reader on the Vaio and all my feeds were there. I realise NewsGator have an online reader which is sunched with my NetNewsWire which I could have used but Google Reader is the better product.

Then, I decided to try Outlook 2007 as my email client. The setup was painless enough (I went with IMAP so the mails will be left on the server and I will be able to retrieve them from the Mac if I revert!).

However I did run into one very annoying issue with Outlook 2007. When I exported my OPML file from NetNewsWire, I asked it to keep the folder structure I had set up. Google recognised this structure no problem at all however Outlook ignored the structure and just brought in the feeds. Worse than that, if you want to delete the feeds from Outlook, you have to select the feeds individually. With several hundred feeds, this took some time. Grrrr.

In fairness to Outlook though, I had exactly the same issues when I imported me feeds into Thunderbird. Annoying.

Switching from OS X to Vista (kinda)

Published
by
Tom Raftery
on 23/3/2007
in Email, Mac, Microsoft, Vista and Windows
. 5 Comments

Microsoft gave me a Sony Vaio laptop with Vista Ultimate and Office Ultimate installed to try out. I have been toying with the Vaio but not using it heavily. To be fair to Microsoft, I’m going to try to switch as much as possible of my work from my MacBook Pro to the Vaio to see how I get on over the next few weeks.

A lot of my work is done online so that part shouldn’t be too difficult (I installed Firefox on the laptop last night!). However, for presentations I will continue to use the Mac as there is no comparison in the quality of presentations created in Keynote versus those done in  PowerPoint.

Oh, and for my photos I will continue to use iPhoto because that is where my current extensive library of photos resides.

The most difficult move will be my email I suspect. I love Apple’s Mail app. It will take a lot to win me back to Outlook.

Wish me luck!

CIX - the building begins!

Published
by
Tom Raftery
on 22/3/2007
in cix and hosting
. 2 Comments

Building has commenced on the CIX data centre - the first fully redundant data centre in Ireland outside of Dublin!

CIX intends to be incredibly energy efficient and has even developed a carbon neutrality strategy document. Watch the CIX blog for more on this.

[Disclosure - I am a director of CIX]

Sony Ericsson k800i?

Published
by
Tom Raftery
on 22/3/2007
in Telecoms and mobile
. 17 Comments

In response to my last post about which replacement phone to get for my dead Nokia N70, several people have suggested that I get a Sony Ericcson k800i.

Despite my bad experiences with the N70 (and worse with my wife’s N91) I am slow to move away from Nokia. Why? Well, almost all my phones back to 1995 have been Nokia’s. I’m used to Nokia’s and for the most part they have suited me well.

The two non-Nokia phones I have had were the Siemens S55 and the Sony Ericsson z600. I hated them both. The S55 had a lousy screen. The Z600 had no memory (I had to constantly delete texts to make room for more). And they both had terrible user interfaces.

I went running back to Nokia and bought a 6230, before buying myself the N70 last year. The 6230 was rock solid, if a little limited in functionality, the N70 had the functionality but was flaky!

I guess, to a certain extent too, I fear change!

Looking at the spec for the K800i though, it does seem to be an impressive phone. The only thing it is missing, that I can see, is wifi.  I’m not sure how useful wifi on mobiles is yet. Is it any good?

At €325 from Expansys, it is well within budget.

What do you think, have Sony Ericsson phones improved enough that I should consider abandoning Nokia once more? Are the Sony Ericsson phones more reliable than the Nokia ones?

Congrats Twenty

Published
by
Tom Raftery
on 22/3/2007
in Blogging
. 0 Comments

One of my favourite bloggers - Twenty Major, has just confirmed a two book deal with Hodder Headline Ireland.

I heard it first when Damien pinged me with the news last night.

Well done Twenty, mine’s a Murphy’s, thanks!

What mobile phone to get?

Published
by
Tom Raftery
on 22/3/2007
in mobile
. 20 Comments

I brought my sick N70 to the Nokia centre this morning and they said it is officially dead. They are sending it away to see if it can be repaired, I’m not holding my breath. That process will take a couple of weeks at the least in any case.

In the meantime I have use of a 2310 which belonged to my mother but that isn’t usable long term. No Internet access, no camera and no bluetooth rule it out!

I’d want to be able to synch the phone to back up the data.

I am kind of overwhelmed by the array of phones available these days - what phone would you recommend?

Does anyone know anything about the Nokia E65 or N80? Are they any good and where are they available?

UPDATE - I see Nokia have announced the release of their N95  - however at €940 from Expansys, I think I’ll have to hold off on considering it!

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