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I just finished writing my NBC rant when I wanted to let the Yahoo Keywords tool in Wordpress search for suitable keywords. I’m lazy.

I know the tool is somewhat unstable and doesn’t always produce results. However, this time I was using Internet Explorer 7. Usually, on other browsers, it never really returns an error message when something with the script of the service is wrong. IE7 served me one of the funniest error popups, ever.

Come on, is this for real? Is this how they talk in Redmond? :)

I’m a bit irked. I was, and probably still am, a huge fan of the NBC show Heroes. I loved the characters and the concept. I loved the idea of simply structured super powers with low key characters and real life problems. For those of you who haven’t followed the entire show, you may want to have a look at the show’s page on the NBC site. NBC took two breaks from the show while it was airing. I am not even interested in why they did this. They might have decided to take crucial production breaks in order to complete the show in a proper manner or they may have done it to ensure a swift airing of the second season. Someone who follows the Heroes Blog on NBCs site religiously may have an answer to this.

I, however, am not in the slightest interested in why there have been two lengthy breaks in the first season. The point here is that I got thrown off, out of synch, I lost the rhythm of the show. I don’t remember all the details of the previous shows and the “Last time on Heroes…” bit before every show doesn’t serve its purpose well enough to remind me sufficiently of all the things I have forgotten by now.

Why is this so annoying? Afterall I do still remember the general picture of what is going on and what to look forward to at this point. I’ll tell you whats so annoying about it. If you watched episode 18 of the first season (Go catch up on their blog if you haven’t seen it), you’ll remember the grand plot that was revealed. It was just too familiar. A maniacal villain seeks to destroy civilization for the greater good; in order to give humanity a new chance, a new start. The ultimate sacrifice for ultimate peace on earth, or whatever.

Does this sound in any way familiar? To an avid comic book reader it will.

Watchmen.

Okay. So you can’t reinvent the wheel. Super villain plots will get recycled over time. In this case it was just a bit too blatant. The similarities amount.

“Fine.” I say to myself, though. It’s still a good story and with all the fast paced plot developments it’ll be easy to overlook this grey-zone plagiarism. Wait … did I just say fast paced? Ah, yes. I almost forgot. NBC took another long break after episode 18. They left me hanging with a stale taste of Watchmen in my mouth. For weeks! They left me no choice but to get annoyed at the similarities between the plot lines and now, when the show is about to start up again (and end in only 4 more episodes!), I can’t help it but to go into the last few chapters with a slight frown on my face.

NBC gave me too much time to think about their rather unoriginal approach for the ending plot line. They lost momentum.

Bad. Mr. Cytizen is not amused.

Only recently I wrote about my newly acquired laptop. My Dell Inspiron XPS 1710. From the very beginning after switching it on, I couldn’t help but think that this was almost as smooth and care-free as working on a Mac. Vista Home Premium and Dell’s integrated features and supporting software make the XPS one hell of a fun machine to work with. Say what you want about Vista - it may still be buggy in some areas or inconvenient for people with a short temper - but it sure is pretty and runs so very smooth on the right machine.

I don’t want to review the XPS, however. I’d rather share something funny with you. I stumbled over this while surfing through YouTube:

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEiLqZXa060[/video]

Remember when I had my little rant on Novell’s take on the switcher ads? You have to admit it. They really sucked. The Dell version just totally owns everything else.

If you look for these clips on YouTube, you’ll find that there is one more Dell vs. Mac ad. There used to be three of them and I had another one embedded, here. Unfortunately, the touchy YouTube community apparently reported it and had it removed. I believe this happened due to its slightly homophobic content. Lame if you ask me. No humor around anymore, these days.

Recently, with the impending arrival of Ubuntu Linux 7.04 final release, everyone’s been talking about “switching” again. Abandoning Windows for good and never looking back. Even I have written about it. In recent weeks, however, my views became a bit more moderate.

I don’t see why it always has to be one or the other. Why do people insist on the concept of “One OS to rule them all”? A far more reasonable solution is to dual boot your systems. Dual booting your operating systems is the most sensible solution for those that depend too heavily on Windows based applications. Others, who may have an extra PC or laptop to spare, can run one machine with Linux and the other with their favorite version of Windows. Either way should be the reasonable way to go.

Unless you have some kind of personal grudge against Bill Gates because he smashed your sand castle, “shifting” or “switching” to Linux entirely makes little sense. Yes, Ubuntu has done great things and has come a far way as an OS. I am running Ubuntu 7.04 Beta on my IBM Thinkpad and its wonderful. Fact is, however, that it still isn’t entirely cross platform capable just yet. You will have issues. You will have to configure and fine-tune just like with any other OS. You will encounter incompatibility issues and not all of your software solutions will be provided efficiently by the open source community.

Don’t have a one-track mind. Consider Linux as a wonderful alternative in -addition- to your current proprietary OS of choice. I know it sounds appealing to abandon Windows and move over to the wonderful world of non-restricted and free operating systems. This liberating feeling will fade with time when you notice that your Linux distro has to be maintained and taken care of just like any other OS.

Ubuntu isn’t Harry Potter’s magic wand. It’s pretty damn close, but for now don’t turn your back entirely on Windows. Do the sensible thing. Don’t steal, love your neighbor, cherish your parents, have kids, eat healthy and dual boot.

Here’s a quick HowTo on how to dual boot your machine with both Windows XP and Linux.

P.S. While I welcome your commentary and encourage just about any opinion you can throw at me, please refrain from using the “I don’t have money for a proprietary OS” argument. It’s sheer nonsense. When you buy a new computer, your OS comes pre-installed. You have recovery CDs for it and a working, legal license. If you own a self-assembled PC, then you have already spent enough money on the separate parts to add a little more for a copy of Windows XP. Money shouldn’t really be the issue in this discussion. It’s merely an excuse. If you don’t have enough money to buy an OS license, then you shouldn’t have risked messing around with your previous installations without safe-guarding, first.

I know. I’ve been slacking. No updates. No pointless rants. No techy reviews. No Severin. But it wasn’t my fault! Honest!

It was Friday afternoon. I get home from work. Naturally, the first thing I do is wake up my home desktop. No reaction. Something boots and then shuts down again. Long story short - the power supply went poof some time during the day and the PC didn’t safe-crash in time before most of the hardware inside my computer busted along with the power supply.

No computer. Laptop? I left that one at work over the weekend. Argh. Little other choice and yet happy about it, I ran to the nearest computer store and ordered a new PC. I decided to pass on yet another large desktop tower installation and go for the desktop replacement laptop.

Writing my first post from my new baby, behold the Dell Inspiron XPS 1710.

I am happy.