Call Me with Google Voice

Below is my Google Voice "Call Me" Gadget. Enter your name and the number that you want to call me with. Google Voice will then call your number and put you in a call with me.

1000 Things I Hate About Windows

1. I hate the fact that every time I want to watch a video that I recorded with my JVC camcorder in the last 10 years, I have to dig up the old JVC Everio companion CD in order to install the required codec to watch it in Windows. In Ubuntu, all videos created by the two different versions of JVC Everio Camcorder that I have owned during the past 10 years play without the need to rummage through a box of old CDs in order to find one fricking codec.

2. I hate the fact that I have to rummage through a box of old CDs in order to find the right driver for my HP Photosmart 3-in-1 printer/scanner/copier. This printer is only 3 years old, and I am using Windows Vista. Ubuntu works with this printer as soon as I connect it, without prompting for any driver downloads. In Vista, I have to rummage for the CD or search the HP website for a compatible driver (of course nothing ever finds the right driver automatically).

3. I hate the fact that I have to start a whole new console window in order to do anything with Administrator rights, and in order to so, I have to type in the full name and password of the administrator's account. I cannot just simply use the "sudo" command, which temporarily grants root permissions, using the current user's password (no need to remember two different passwords), and also is smart enough to remember this for a period of time so I don't have to enter it on every single command. Indeed the Windows "runas" command tries to do what sudo does, but it still requires a lengthy list of command line parameters, making it extremely cumbersome, unintelligent and inflexible compared to sudo. All you need to run sudo is to put the word "sudo" in front of any command, and to remember your *own* password.

4. I hate the fact that Vista corrupted my recently bought new 2GB SD memory card, and put it in a state where it cannot be reformated, ie; unusable! I hate even more the fact that this happened after I tested it for 2 weeks and thought it would be safe to get rid of the receipt and packaging, but now Windows has destroyed it just after the end of Best Buy's 30 day no-questions-asked return policy. A recent Windows update apparently fixed this issue, but it was too late for me, and probably millions of other innocent victims around the world. Will there be an en masse compensation to all these people, now that M$ have admitted to causing all this damage?

5. I hate the fact that I have to pay for this crap, or at least my employer has to because they are the ones forcing me to use it.

Ok that's only 5, but I have more important things to do, and Windows certainly doesn't help me to get them done quickly... Feel free to add liberally to this list.