Okay, today I'm not going to bitch. You'll notice the lack of <rant> tags today. Today is too nice a day for me to be antagonistic. Hey, I just got a free jelly snake. It's bright and sunny today, luckily I'm in a nice air-conditioned office. Having said all this....

<rant>

I'm still pissed off. Why? Oh, same old reasons. Customers bugging me. Hey, just had an original. "I'm having problems connecting to the Internet. I think my password might be wrong. It keeps saying that Internet Explorer is not installed."

But this is not what I have to bitch about. I have a new pet peeve. Taxi drivers. Now, I often have to get a taxi from home to work and vice-versa. Usually, this will set me back approximately $15-17. Sometimes this is necessary as I often sleep in and do not have time to get public transport to work. This morning one of those incidents occurred. I call the taxi. The taxi shows up. I get in, and we're off. Now, without boring you with the geography of my area, let me just say that this taxi took me on a giant horseshoe ride, with the net effect that it actually took me ten minutes LONGER than the train would have and set me back $25. And there's nothing I can do about it.

There is a Victorian Taxi Directorate that states: All taxi drivers must take the most direct practical route unless the passenger specifies a specific route. This is all well and good, but the problem with this is that it lies in perception. "Oh, I thought that WAS the quickest way..." Yeah, that's what they all say.

You know what else is pissing me off? Software companies. I have a QuickTime movie of my last gig, that I have spent the last three days trying to view. I've decided that a dual-boot system is the only way to use Linux. Why? Because it seems that a lot of Linux developers are FUCKING STUPID! Go have a look at CrossOver (www.codeweavers.com). Now, this is a Linux browser plugin that allows me to play QuickTime movies. It also has a version of Wine to run the QT player. Quite aside from the fact that I can't get the plugin to work, when using either the plugin or the QT player, I get a 'friendly reminder' to register that covers the entire video window. This 'reminder' shows up every thirty seconds and stays there for twelve seconds. This doesn't make me want to buy CrossOver. This makes me want to head down to Codeweavers with a sawn-off. I mean, look at Opera. The ad-version has a quiet little unobtrusive banner ad. This is why I bought it. Because it didn't try to force me. I think someone's missing the point of open source (but I admit that it may well be me).

The moral of this story? Make love when you can. It's good for you.

</rant>

NOTE: It is in fact Apple and Sorenson who are the arseholes here, for not making the QuickTime format open. Or, it could be my music teacher who's the arsehole, for not burning it as an mpeg. Or maybe it's me who's the arsehole for bitching all the time. Yep, definitely me.