English Over The Sleeve

Tim, how old do you think I am?

Dunno, Macdo, 45 or so, I guess…

RIGHT! Go to bed!

(Macdo is considerably younger than that - about 20 years younger, in fact…).
The thing is, of course, that when you are in a position of authority, kids automatically assume that you’re the same age as their parents, so… But that doesn’t explain why they all add 20 cm to my height, as well!

I looked into downloading the Vista RC. 4.0Gb, for the 64 bit edition.
Well, at least I tried.

So I then considered getting MS to send me a dvd. I wasn’t too happy about having to pay for it (€10.00!? For a RC?! No way!), but I probably would have - IF the website had worked with Firefox. As it is, too many hoops, man. Too many hoops. (I think a mate of mine has probably got the RC, anyway…).
I thought that it would be fun to compare this to Dapper - you can download the CD (~700 MB, for the 64 bit Kubuntu edition) or they will send you one (or more!) free of charge.

Ubuntu and MS have very different business models, so it wouldn’t be fair to make snide remarks about how Dapper doesn’t expire on June 1st, 2007, or how the Dapper CD contains not far off all the programmes that you need to get started…

One interesting thought has struck me, though. MS Win XP came out in October 2001. MS Windows Vista will have arrived just over 5 years later.
The first Ubuntu was 4.10, and it came out in October 2004. Then came 5.04, 5.10, and
the latest is 6.06 LTS, in June 2006. This is the last of the first development period - in other words, the October Ubuntu release will be the first of a new development period.
If it takes 5 years for MS to release a new OS, and only 6 months for Ubuntu, will MS be able with Vista to build up such a lead that Ubuntu will be able to release 10 times without gaining a lot of market share?

The times, they are a’changin’!

The most played game (by the staff) during the camps was the spread of surprise and confusion among the kids. Like this:

“John, come here please - NOW!”

(John, feeling rather worried - guilty consciences are normal, when you’re 13… - hurries over)

“Er, John, look at your T-shirt: it’s all green (or red, or black, or whatever colour the t-shirt is)”

“???”

“John! What are you still doing here!? GO!!!”

Well, no-one said that confusion was a bad thing, did they?

“Macdo, I don’t understand - when I dial the number on my ‘international’ phone card, there’s just a strange message in English. English phones don’t work!”
“That’s not quite accurate, Gaston. What you mean is that your French phone card, sold to you by France Telecom, is for dialling international numbers from France, not for use abroad…”

“Oh. Never mind, I’ll buy a phone card. I’ve got all these Euros.”

“…”

Of course, English corner shops prefer sterling, but hey!