If anyone thought I was paranoid....

Following my earlier post on Microsoft validation, below is a long quote from CNET (click the link for the full article):

"Starting Tuesday, the software maker will push out a test tool that checks whether the copy of Windows a PC is using is properly licensed. It will be sent to millions of people in the United States, United Kingdom, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand, Microsoft said Monday.

Following download and installation of the "Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications" tool, users of a pirated copy will see alerts at startup, login and during their use of the operating system. The alerts read: "This copy of Windows is not genuine; you may be a victim of software counterfeiting."

Those who use a legitimate copy of the software won't see any messages, Microsoft said.

People will be able to decline the tool download, said David Lazar, director of the Windows Genuine program at Microsoft. Once installed, the alerts can be suppressed by right-clicking on them when they appear during the running of Windows, but the tool can not be uninstalled, according to Microsoft.

In addition, Microsoft this week is kicking off Office Genuine Advantage, which checks on installations of the productivity package, which includes Excel and Access. The plan is to test out the program initially in seven languages: Brazilian Portuguese, Czech, Greek, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Russian and Spanish.

The efforts are part of Microsoft's antipiracy fight. Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) was launched in September 2004. Since last July, Windows XP users have had to validate their operating system to be able to download additional Microsoft software, such as Windows Defender, Windows Media Player or Internet Explorer 7. Hackers, however, have repeatedly found ways around the checks.

The alerts include a link that goes to a Web site that explains what people with pirated versions of Windows need to do, Lazar said.

Earlier, Microsoft confronted people with the piracy checks when they attempted to download such add-ons. The switch to desktop alerts was introduced on PCs in Norway and Sweden in November 2005, then expanded to the Czech Republic, Denmark, Israel, Poland, and Taiwan in February. Tuesday's move is a further expansion of the trial program.

The WGA expansion is a precursor to the antipiracy features Microsoft is building into Windows Vista, the update to the operating system expected in January 2007. In Vista, certain operating system features will only work as long as it is a properly licensed copy.

Microsoft isn't pushing Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications out to all Windows users, but to a random subset, Lazar said. It is using its Windows Automatic Updates feature to deliver the tool. Automatic Updates, typically used to deliver security fixes, is enabled on the PCs of most Windows users, according to Microsoft."

IT or rather computer OS thoughts

For starters as a follow-up on the previous post we had a great meal at restaurant Armanzi, I strongly recommend a visit should you be in Harare and have the money and something to celebrate. Fabolous food with a strong asian influence, excellent surroundings, really good service!

Topic of this post is however a very different one. I have just tried out the beta version 7 of Internet Explorer and yes, it looks way better than the existing v6. HOWEVER you can not install unless you first validate that your copy of Windows XP is an original, this is done online with Microsoft.

I am not really objecting to Microsoft trying to stop the use of pirat copies of their software but I HATE the system now set up for validation and license restrictions. I, who constantly tinker with my computer, basically need to reinstall 3 or more times a year. the computers performance slowly grows - slower... due to all install/uninstall/upgrades and experiments that I do.

This is near impossible with an ordinary license as it will be seen as I am installing on several computers. Moreso, if I change the hardware too much I will have to "re-validate" online that I am not installing on a new PC, something that cost me several working days a while ago on a server installation here. Because it did not work, in short.

So I am using a so-called Corporate version instead of the one I have actually bought. It can be installed x times without any further questions than a license number but will not validate online. So I am stuck. Either I reinstall my "proper" version and go through reinstall hell every now and then or I live with the fact that I can not update to newer versions of certain software such as Internet Explorer.

From what I read I understand next version of Windows, Vista, will be even more tied up this way. I think MS is making a huge mistake here.

Why? Because I am already toying with the idea of installing a Linux desktop version without any such problems and just keep Windows XP as a small "must have for business" portion of my computer. And I believe that many users of illegal copies of Windows XP will go that way instead of buying a, in many parts of the world, expensive license for a software that have an increasing number of built-in restrictions. It could backfire badly, actually promoting the use of desktop Linux as a serious contender for Windows XP and Vista.

It is in many ways more interesting than it has been in a long time to work in the ICT sector because a near-total domination of Microsoft is starting to dissolve. I look forward to next version of Kubuntu Linux with great anticipation actually, I think that might be the one I choose to put on my Dell notebook.

For now I just note that I will stay with Firefox as browser instead of new Internet Explorer...

Soccer and birthdays

It has been rather hectic lately for many reasons so no postings for a long time. And today when I sort of decided to take some time for this then internet decides to have one of those "fun" days when the international link goes down frequently. Blogger is not exactly lightning fast when you sit in Harare and connection breakdowns does not make things any better.

Why soccer? Well, I am very likely to be one of the few male persons in Harare with access to TV that will not sit glued to the Villareal - Arsenal game tonight, though quite a few uninterested will be at the HIFA opening show.

Would have loved to see it but it is Mia's birthday and I am taking her out big time, she (especially but also me) deserve an evening without kids and with some degree of luxury.

Wish her the best day today and many more to come!

Where is Clint?

Old friend Clint showed up last Friday and claimed he had posted a comment on the "eRider"-post. Where is it? Can't get hold of you on the phone. This must be one weird way of communicating while living in the same city.

Otherwise life just too busy to have time for pet projects lately. Easter coming up and am looking forward to it though a "banking-mistake" means we are likely to have to stay at home and live off whatever we have in store whether we like to or not.

eRiding

It has been a busy but interesting time lately. Have been working a lot with an upgrade of an accounting system and that was a challenge, mainly because of the size of the files we had to send between Sweden and Zimbabwe. And of course a key CD delivered via UPS had faults and we had to get the files via internet instead. Well, that is now behind me unless disaster strikes!

Spent 2 days at workshop around the concept of eRiders, a very interesting idea on how to deal with the fact that IT and ICT is seen as either "something on the side" or sometimes "a necessary evil" within NGOs and other small idealistic organisations. Also getting more and more involved in FOSS (free and open source software) and find it refreshing to enter a world of enthusiastic IT users and creators once more. Am planning to swap to Linux as main OS and Windows XP more for professional support reasons.

Otherwise way too cold for this time of the year and still raining. Looks like winter will be tough.

A tough time

Eric has had a hard time lately. First he got tonsilitis once more, second time lately. So off to the clinic where he got antibiotics and then came home to a house yet again without power.

Not that I think that particular issue bothered him too much. But when I got home he once again had fever and high at it, over 39C. When it did not come down Mia took him back to the clinic and when they could not get it down he was admitted to hospital. So I packed a "nightbag" for the 2 of them and found him very much asleep on arrival.

Of course no power at home or water so a very dark and rather sleepless night (the alarm freaks out after a while) followed by a "no shower no coffee"-morning.

Next day the doctor judged it better to keep him for another night and now it was Mum who needed fresh clothes and more items plus sleeping blanket and sheets etc. I looked like some freak variety of Father Christmas when I got there.

Found a now very active and bored little boy (the boredom shared with Mum of course... we are not talking single rooms with TV here) who screamed of frustation when he could not leave with Pappa.

Next day I went there to be there when the Doctor made the round. Found a totally hyper boy and very frustraded mother. He was now all over the place and utterly tired of it. Thank God he was deemed OK to go home now.

BUT with a load of medications I have rarely seen the like of. We are now trying to make him take 3 different medications 3 times a day in rather large quantities and at least one seems to taste very foul. On first attempts all of it came up instead so we now try to dish it out in intervals which basically means he is being fed one medicine or the other almost all the time.

I really feel sorry for him and hope these 6 more days of medication will pass quickly and that it is the end of it for some time now.

Drats!

Drats - as a friend of mine often says when something is not going her way. We do have power back and all that but the chaos, frequent cuts and surges I suppose created by these over the last weeks has led to a very unpleasant surprise.

Our electric gate stopped working and when the guys had a look at it they told me that both the control-board, the intercom and the intercom cable were beyond repair.... to fix this is almost as expensive as putting a brand new gate (actually the guy is suggesting we replace the swing-open "Jurassic Park"-gate with a sliding gate) and there went all plans for various nice items or mini-holidays or whatever. Thank you ZESA!

They have by the way officially sent us notice that Zimbabwe can look forward to a cold winter. Not weather-wise but they foresee that they will not be able to supply enough power and will so introduce load-shedding during morning and evening hours. Great... we can look forward to like 3 evenings and 2 mornings a week without electricity.

Powerless and waterless

Aaargh! We are now entering the 3rd day without electricity OR water at home. Calling Zesa (power company) does not help much "we have so much to do but will send a team today/tonight/this morning" - the reply varying with the time of the day we are calling them.

Thanks to a friend nearby our meat is at least in a working freezer but we are sick of cooking on fire, reading by candlelight and "bathing" in a bucket.

There are times when living in this country can be quite stressful.

Never give Gary Glitter money

I see in the news that Gary Glitter, or Paul Gadd as his real name is, for the second time has been convicted of offence in connection with underaged children. In UK he was booked for child pornography, in Cambodia he has been declared a non-wanted person and thrown out after being accused of similar offenses (rather more serious actually) and now in Vietnam sentenced to 3 years in prison for "offensive acts" involving underage girls.

In my humble opinion there is no possible excuse for these crimes or this sort of behaviour. If you own music by Glitter, go on playing it at home if you like. BUT if you in any way have influence over any sort of public playing (radio, arena, TV or whatever) or sales of DVD/CDs by this man - just don't! Don't give him more income from royalties! Remove him from playlists and remove his works from your shop. Don't support him with more money to travel round the world looking for other poor countries where he can lure children to be involved in his sick behaviour!

Identified

Picked up my Zimbabwe ID "card" this morning. That is, I picked up a very flimsy piece of paper that serves as a "temporary" ID "card" until the proper one is produced.

Only problem is that I know people who have waited for many years for their real ID-card. These are made in metal and near indestructible but, in other words, difficult to produce.

Nevertheless, I am now 631687943R00 where the last two digits tell that I am an alien. Will be difficult to learn this number instead of the lifelong habit of the Swedish ID-number based on birthdate + 4 numbers at the end.

Powerplay

Sweden won the icehockey Olympic Games gold medal!! And I did not see the game... though I actually for once had the opportunity to. It was being screened on DSTV and a friend was watching it anc I could have gone there.

IF not things had got in the way. Friday evening the power went for the whole area or line we are on thanks to a rather impressive thunderstorm. Then on Saturday it came back for all but us and 2 of our neighbours. Again.

So once more harassing ZESA to get power back and finally got it back just before the game was to start and then we had multitudes of cleaning up and cooking and whatnot to fix so did not feel right to leave Mia alone with it all.

Speaking of power - we must have been the only family in Zimbabwe (or Harare at least) that never noticed the earthquake last week! All slept through it and were more than surprised the next day to hear of rattling houses and moving beds. Strange since I am normally a very light sleeper but I guess that either I was really tired or that our house was spared somehow.

In a place gone mad

Am currently in Lusaka, Zambia and oh boy has this place gone mad or what?

Since last time I was here the currency (Kwacha) has strengthened against the US and other major currencies so that from close to 5000 K to 1 USD we now have 3200 K to 1 USD.

But - prices have if anything gone up! This has made this place possibly one of the most expensive places to be for a foreigner right now. Some prices; I had a "burgerlunch" yesterday and drank a beer to it. Over 10 USD...

Today I had a pizza for lunch. Most likely my first ever "normal size" pizza to cost in the area of 14 USD!! In the shops it is the same, prices are easy twice what they were last time I was here.

Did I mention that a very "average" hotel room is around 120 USD a night...

Small wonder those I know here that are paid in foreign currency are complaining bitterly on a daily basis. Their cost of living must have at least doubled in the past 6 months!

And arriving tourist will get a very rude awakening if they are planning for a "cheap" holiday, to say the least.

My advice; travel somewhere else until this weird situation has normalised....

Heaven and hell in Kariba

First of all a nice photo of the Victoria Falls bridge spanning the Zambesi river and some 111 m high. From this Sandra did her bungyjump...

Last weekend we spent at Mauya Lodge in Kariba and that turned out to be a great place! OK no elephants in the pool as on the photo but at a nice viewing distance. We relaxed and spent time catching up with friends Håkan Lutz and family. Also drove around the lake a bit.

So what was the "hell" part? Well, waking up the first night with Eric first vomiting and then having a burning hot fever! At 00.30 we decided we would have to try and find a clinic, hospital or whatever. Now driving in the pitch dark night on bad roads towards a clinic you have no idea where it is with a kid with high fever is not fun. At all. In fact I have not been so scared for long long time.

We eventually found the place thanks to a busdriver we stopped but what a hospital... nothing like what we have in Harare. A nightnurse was the staff and he took the temperature and immediately dosed up a malaria-cure. When we asked why he said "well the child has high fever and this is a high-risk area for malaria". When I pointed out that we had just arrived and that he was on malaria prevention then he wrote us a prescription for antibiotica to pick up in the morning and assured the temperature would go down. As it actually did but I did not sleep until 4 am or so and was not much fun the following day.

Lesson learnt; next time we go "bush" we load up with medications and check the kids look OK before we leave... but otherwise a fabulous place for spending a lazy weekend! And special thanks to the caretaker Shadreck who turned out to be both a most friendly person and a really good cook!

The Victoria Falls experience

Mia and visiting niece Sandra flew to Victoria Falls day before yesterday, due back later today. They seem to have done everything except going down the Falls themselves....

First of all they visited the splendid restaurant The Boma (highly recommended) and ate food such as crocodile tail (taste like something between fish and chicken). Yesterday Sandra did the Bungi Jump from the bridge over the Zambesi river, at 111 m supposedly the highest jump in the world.
http://www.game-reserve.com/zambia_victoria-falls.html

And then today they went white water rafting... check it out at
http://www.afrizim.com/Places/Victoria_Falls/Activities/Rafting.asp
http://www.shearwateradventures.com/rafting/gallery/default.asp

They got guts the girls!!

Visitor!

Got my niece Sandra visiting from Sweden! First visitor from "home" in 4 years, seems people are very intimadated by Zimbabwe's reputation. Admittedly, there have been times when I have not recommended people to come but for the moment things are OK.

Poor girl has had some bad luck I must say. First she forgot some money at home (found by my sister and all that sorted by now) and then this morning she and Mia were supposed to fly to Vic Falls for a couple of days of sightseeing and fun. Then she wakes up with a really itching skinrash all over her body!

Turns out she was having a reaction agains an antibiotic medicine she was given in Sweden. Hopefully all that sorted after visit to the doctor this morning, trip to VF was rescheduled for tomorrow instead.

Help her by keeping your fingers crossed for no more mishaps now!

Sick Sunday

One strange Sunday. Beatiful weather, really hot and wanted to do a number of things. BUT wake up with an extremely sore stomach (could hardly even touch it) that did not go away until afternoon and THEN I get a fever and start shivering/sweating.

Brilliant. Spent the day watching A1 motor-racing in Durban on TV, had no energy whatsoever and had full time problems stopping Eric from jumping on my tummy as he normally will do given a chance.

National ID

Those who have, over the years, followed my meetings with the bureaucracy of different African countries in general and Zimbabwe in particular know that it is many times a daunting and very timeconsuming business. Like getting a birth-certificate for Eric, that took a few days of waiting in queues and running around. Getting a passport is more of a Kafka-like black farce and loads of patience is a must.

Because of this and other reasons I have never bothered to try and get a Zimbabwe national ID, something a resident is supposed to have if you have been living here more than 1 year. The last 2 times I have been to Immigration to renew my residence-stamp they have been "pestering" me over this so I have had on my "to-do" list for some time now.

So when a friend told me he had applied and it took no longer than around 20 minutes I had to try myself and see if this was really true!

It turns out that Registrar General (who handles these issues) have opened satellite offices here and there in Harare, one of these being a small cabin behind the City of Harare offices in Mount Pleasant. Very few seem to have realised this option. I went there with 2 copies of residence permit, 2 copies of passport "photo page" and Z$ 5000. It took like 15 minutes to fill in the form, get a receipt, do my fingerprints (yep) and take photos (they do this).

And now I have an id-number! In about 3 weeks I should get my "paper-id". After that one is supposed to get a metal-id (virtually indestructible) but how long that might take is a completely different story altogether...

TGIF

Thank God it's Friday! And the sun is actually shining, it feels like it is the first time in ages. I was getting afraid the frogs in our garden were going to drown soon if the rains did not hold up soon.

Of course rain is good and this is the rainy season but it has absolutely been too much of late. Things like the traffic lights (robots in Zim English) stop working and there seems to be no spare parts to fix them. Makes driving to and from town during rush-hours extra fun.

Well, I am gonna call it quits and leave early. Off to the gym and later a bit of "odd jobs" at home, hopefully a couple of drinks with friends when the evening sets in. Wish you all a nice weekend!

An evening at work and KDE

Just spending time in an office trying to sort a troublesome download-and-installation problem. These things are not so easy when you live in a country where "broadband" access means a leased 128k link shared by a LAN. Not to mention that since all ISPs are forced to use TelOne (the government phone network provider) international links ALL of them go down when TelOne has a problem. Which is at least a couple of times a day. Good for the country's development, yes or no? Make your own opinion, I know mine.

Nevertheless, now we are only a few in the office and most other users have also left work so speed is picking up and my rather massive upgrade of Kubuntu/KDE Linux seems to be over in an hour or so. Then I plan to leave that experiment in a (hopefully) stable version for a while and work on a software I am coding in Windows. Just wanted this "sidekick" sorted first so I can concentrate.

The idea of spending time setting up a Linux in a LAN here is of course mainly to see how it works for normal office work and how "average" users will react. The idea of Open Source and Free software is of course very attractive in a poor and developing country. NOT having to fork out hundreds of USD with every PC for software or run pirat copies should be something that really has a future here.

If you are interested in how KDE looks check here

"Reality" shows

Among the most stupid things often shown on TV these days are so-called Reality shows. The only thing more stupid I can think of is american "wrestling"...

I have never understood the fascination for shows like "Big Brother" or "Survivor" (the later can be interesting in the "tasks"-section though) and lately the most absurd ideas are made into "shows". "Fear Factor" seems to be a lot about eating the yuckiest stuff (live worms, goats eyes etc) and I hear that in Prague they now have a "Big Brother"-show with the gorillas in their zoo. Duh?

The other day we watched Missy Elliots' own take on this. 13 rap or r'n'b wannabees are subjected to "tasks" and then one is voted out. I can tell you I heard more lousy rap and "yo bro watsup" than I need for the rest of this year. Not to mention watching the rather short and plump Missy herself constantly sucking on lollipops whenever she was on camera.

Did I mention "Cheaters"? This guy who tries out like he is some understanding man doing people a favour will spy on the partner of whoever thinks they are being cheated on and then follows, of course, nasty confrontations with either furious or crying people. Sick if you ask me.

To quote Nick Cave "People they aint no good" - and TV seems to attract our worst emotions.