Thunderbird 3.x preferences rant
I really like Thunderbird so don't get me wrong here. However I just have to rant a bit about the user interface for configuring this particular mail client.
To their credit they do have most everything you would want in the GUI. Except one thing I really needed, a way to set the font size for the list of emails and other things that are part of the user interface not just the message body text.
I know some people will say "but look a simple google search tell you how to do that! Why are you complaning?" I'm complaining because things like this should not require editing a config file! I like that its customizable by a CSS file thats a wonderful thing. But you can't tell me that this couldn't have been editable in the preferences GUI. I have nothing against config files I like being able to do cool things with config files but this is 2010 not 1992! Evrything doesn't need to be in a GUI but I would expect that basic look and feel modifications, like the font size of the list of emails would be configurable from the GUI. Is that too much to ask for in the 21st century?
Maybe I'm getting spoiled these days but I'm sure people considering an open source mail client are put off by things like this. I know they are because I actually got asked by the person whom I was increasing the font size for "Is it difficult to config that option because it's open source?"
Anyway I still love Thunderbird I just hope that they will fix things like this in newer releases.
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I really tried to be upbeat about Oracle acquiring Sun Microsystems. I thought for sure that they would do all they could to encourage wide use of Solaris and would invest heavily on Solaris and the SPARC platform.
Whether or not they invest in Solaris and Sun's hardware platforms remains to be seen but one thing is now every clear. They have no intentions whatsoever of treating their customers and potential customers with respect.
Instead they decide that they should handle support and licensing just like they do with their other products. This includes charging well over $300 a year for access to critical security patches.
I have been a long time fan of Solaris over the years and still think it has a lot of merits technically. But those merits mean nothing to me if I'm forced to pay for security patches. There are a lot of small shops out there running Solaris that don't want or even need the hassle of a full support contract just to get patch access.
I might feel a bit better about this if you could simply pay for only basic sunsolve access to documentation and patches only and do self-support. for a reasonable price (say $50 to $100 a year) but charging over $300 a year for something we used to to be able to do ourselves for free is just insane.
I also consider blocking access to security patches to be irresponsible. The net is more hostile than ever today and there will now be even more unpatched Solaris boxes out there just waiting to be rooted, and all because Oracle wants to squeeze as much as possible out of Sun's remaining user base.
So as much as it pains me to do so I will be moving off of Solaris on my web server and switching either to CentOS or one of the BSD flavors. I will still run Solaris on my desktop system on my private network but I think my love affair with Sun has just been killed by Oracle. Thank you Oracle for taking a great company like Sun with tons of talent and some of the best most innovative technology out there and killing it by forcing it to conform to Oracle's culture.
It's been a great ride but I feel that Sun will share the same fate as DEC unless Oracle changes It's ways and soon. RIP Sun Microsystems 1982-2010 you will be missed.
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Looks like I have to write a comment system.
This is partly my fault because I either don't understand something or I just had to pick the most obscure blogging platform out there. But I have yet to find a comment plugin for blosxom that actually works or has understandable documentation. All of the plugins I have found are either totally undocumented or woefully out of date.
So I'm just going to have to roll my own comments system You will just have to wait until I get around to it. (I have some general ideas on how to get this done)
I normally wouldn't bother but I rather like the way blosxom does things and wordpress is a giant bloated mess. I just want to get back to simple software with a small footprint modern software is driving me crazy and I'm just sick of it.
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