Tag: Microsoft Windows

On Windows 8 user interface

This Slashdot comment made me laugh out loud:

The entire interface is an unmitigated disaster. DOSSHELL looked prettier and was more functional than Windows 8. The OS has multiple personality disorder and the interface looks like it was gang-banged by Crayola. Nobody wants to touch it even with a 10 foot pole.

Microsoft takes password security to the next level

Microsoft takes password security to the next level

I’ve spotted this link somewhere online, and I think this is funny.

Error Message: Your Password Must Be at Least 18770 Characters and Cannot Repeat Any of Your Previous 30689 Passwords

The solution is, as always, obtain the latest service pack.

Workaround for Cygwin path issues

A colleague of mine had a problem with his Cygwin setup.  For some reason, he couldn’t just run “mysql” to start his MySQL command-line client.  The error that he was getting back was:

$ mysql
sh.exe: mysql.exe: command not found

Typing the full path to mysql.exe every time is more than annoying.  After searching the web for a bit, I learned that the problem might be with the msys/cygwin terminal, which doesn’t like the backslashes that Windows uses in the PATH variable. I’ve tried a few different variations of setting up the path, but eventually gave up. It just didn’t work.

But since there is more than one way to do it, I solved the problem in a completely different way – an alias.  Just edit the .bashrc file and add the following line:

alias mysql="/c/full/path/to/your/mysql.exe"

Obviously, replace the fake path with the full path to your mysql.exe and restart the terminal.  From now on, every time you type “mysql“, it’ll be like you’ve typed the whole thing again.

P.S.: The same solution is applicable to the other similar problems.

Closing the Microsoft vs. Linux chapter

Slashdot reports:

After years of battling Linux as a competitive threat, Microsoft is now offering Linux-based operating systems on its Windows Azure cloud service. The Linux services will go live on Azure at 4 a.m. EDT on Thursday. At that time, the Azure portal will offer a number of Linux distributions, including Suse Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP2, OpenSuse 12.01, CentOS 6.2 and Canonical Ubuntu 12.04. Azure users will be able to choose and deploy a Linux distribution from the Microsoft Windows Azure Image Gallery and be charged on an hourly pay-as-you-go basis.

Microsoft has been known to use Linux before, but this, I think, is one of those major milestones in accepting that Linux ain’t that bad after all. All these years, Open Source advocates have been known to quote Gandi (arguably):

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.

And they were right.  I hope now we can close that chapter and move on to the next holy war.  Vim vs. emacs anyone?