Think back ...

Do you remember six-pack weekends on your favorite album rock station?  You're driving and there's a marvelous long cut that you love and you're waiting for the end of the pack to here the announcer say who performed and what the titles are.  I first heard Jukebox Hero that way, driving late one Sunday on the Thomas E. Dewey, returning to Rochester from Philadelphia.  [Hey, I liked it! You don't have to.]

You didn't catch the identification of a tune?  So you called the station and they actually told you what they had played?  (Who knew from playlists and why they have them back then).

Now flash forward to Internet Radio and and all of the broadcast stations with Internet streams.  You can hear content from anywhere on the planet, such as one of my favorites Radio L'Olgiata (32kbps stream in Media Player here: I love the funky station jingles) or one of Rick Segal's favorites, The Wave (great 64kbps stream). 

Nostalgia for the Past

Once upon a time (three years ago, an Internet generation) there was a wonderful service called MSN Radio Plus that provided radio streams in my Windows Media Player.  There were no collisions with my browser and I could keep the player completely separate and nestled at the bottom of my screen.  Better yet, the album art for every tune showed up in my player along with an option to purchase downloads of single tracks, full albums, and also explore other work of that artist and of others that I also like.  It was wonderful.  The $12.95 annual Radio Plus subscription was nominal.  I accumulated a fair amount of licensed content that works on all of my household computers and my plays-for-sure Sansa player too.  The scheme for sharing licenses on up to 5 machines works perfectly.

Back to the Present

Microsoft recidivism struck at the end of 2006. MSN Radio Plus vanished, the ability to purchase easily from the connected MSN Music disappeared.  The only alternatives that worked within Media Player were cumbersome systems like Urge and Real's Rhapsody (with their own player), all at greater cost and, for me, less convenience, especially for the equivalent of radio that let me purchase downloads on impulse without other costs and purchase nagging. 

There was (and still is) integration with other Internet radio streams, but they don't integrate with convenient purchase sources and many services are scary with their intrusiveness and animated GIFs.  Ick.

Whatever Department-of-Justice wariness led to this exit, the alternatives were more expensive, less functional, and careless of whose computer they were running on.  Sometimes the success of a Microsoft venture for some consumers is because the competition sucks.  Somebody listened to the complaints.  No one seemed to bother checking with the satisfied customers.

A New Dawn?

Now I listen to Pandora for free.  I was led there by the MSN Pandora arrangement.  I stopped using that URL when MSN removed the option to open the separate mini-player. 

What I really want:  Pandora operating inside my Media Player in the Now Playing window.  Then I want to be able to click to their artist, track, and album information in a way that lets me (by preference setting) click through to Amazon.com's MP3 (256kb!) listings where I can quickly make a purchase and roam around further while the radio plays on.  I want this to be friction-free and without too many clicks to the point of purchase.  If I could marry Pandora smoothly to the Amazon MP3 service and its downloader, that would work.  I bought DRM-protected downloads this way, why would I resist MP3s the same way?

Bring back my past!

---

What Others Are Saying

Rick Segal: So Close and Yet.  The Post Money Value (web log), 2007-10-22.  "This seems obvious: You are listening to a radio station and you like a song. You want it."  Segal points out how much distance there is between hearing a song and being able to purchase your own copy.  These posts reminded me that I have had this pent-up blog urge since I started using Amazon MP3 downloads.  Here it is.  [The recommendation for 94.7 the Wave is one that I've added to my favorites.  I do have a weakness for modest doses of smooth jazz and the Wave does it well. The station site is not as ugly and frenetic as some.]

Rick Segal: Peter White - I Have Your Forty Bucks.  The Post Money Value (web log), 2007-10-22.  "I believe that if there was a single, simple, friction free way for people (like moi) to pay for stuff, like songs, we'd do it."  Rick notices how few ways there are to pay for downloaded music when you want to, and how much friction there is in making music available in a form that works when it is wanted.  [With this much focus on Peter White, I had to find out who he is.  Peter White music is available on Amazon MP3.  It is the kind of new-age guitar and backing that Vicki can't stand (along with most smooth jazz).  I am more inclined but I didn't tip over for Peter White.  I purchased some rich blues compilations though.] 

---

Listening to: Ten Years After, Live at the Filmore East, in Windows Media Player, via Amazon MP3.  KTWFM Smooth Jazz (in my browser), Radio L'Olgiata (Internet playlist into Media Player)

There is a slippery tug-of-war going on between Microsoft and third-party application developers.  This even has Microsoft application-product and developer-product development teams fighting/ignoring/neglecting/throwing the mud that is piling up on the user doorstep. 

I'm talking about the effort to have users operate safely and snuggly in Standard User Accounts (SUA) and the actions taken by application developers and their employers that completely fail to respect the user in this matter.  No matter how much has been said and published about how to deploy applications in a way that works easily for standard users, there are continuing expectations that users run as administrator all of the time.  This is made the simple case, reinforcing a practice that we all know to be unsafe (although Vista has a mitigation that some people insist on disabling). 

Picking on Second Life

Here's an example of what I mean.  I choose it because it is typical and because it all happened while I was looking for a way to illustrate this.  Second Life is representative (although no less disheartening).

The Setup: I haven't been on Second Life for a while, which means there is doubtless a mandatory update that I'll be required to install before I can get "in-world."  This is so predictable that it actually keeps me away from Second Life even longer once I have been away for more than a week.  I start putting off the pain of downloading and installing another release.

Today I was doing some system clean-ups and celebrating the new power-backup unit I installed after a series of storm-related power hits defeated my old battery backup.  As a reward, I was tidying up some loose ends after running system tune-ups and catching up on important things like my Facebook presence.

Nice New Update Announcement

I decided to check into Second Life and see what's new.  When I brought up the application (and I was running as administrator because I had been installing some other updates), I found a message that I have never experienced before.  The message was in a corner of the Second Life client user interface.

I hadn't logged-in yet, but the application apparently checked on-line for an update and it had that message for me.  I went ahead download the 1.18.3.5 release into a location on my computer where I save Second Live releases.  (I usually keep the current one and its immediate predecessor, along with screen shots of my experience.)  Now, I usually don't turn on any automatic check for updates, and I don't recall ever being offered an option in the matter.  Since Second Life is an on-line application, I am not surprised.  I am surprised this showed up before I opted to connect to the on-line system though.

Not So Fast There, Sparky!

I downloaded the announced update while still elevated to computer administrator, but I didn't install it.  I was excited by that "now the choice is yours" phrasing.  I wanted to see that in action.  I clicked the Connect button to sign into Second Life.  Oh, what have we here?  The usual.  Not exactly a choice, huh?  This is the dreaded message I have come to expect. 

Since I don't want to do this as an on-line administrator, I clicked Quit.  I already have the update.  I can install it when I am good and ready.

My previous experience using the Download button is that Second Life will download and attempt to run the install.  Because my computer account is normally set to "limited account" the install will fail and I will still have to go to the Second Life site, log in to that site, download the new version, and then install it myself while temporarily upgraded to a computer administrator account.  The new Update Available notice has saved me the need to hunt down the download on my own.  That is a nice improvement.

Say Stranger, New in These Parts?

I wanted to demonstrate how painful it is to go through a 33-megabyte download only to be told the install can't be done.  I switched from Computer administrator back to Limited account to demonstrate what happens.  I haven't taken this path since March 2006, the first time I discovered that Second Life does not have a non-administrative way of updating itself.  (This was no surprise, but I tried it to be certain.)  [This is from a photograph of my screen, slightly defocused to avoid interference patterns in the image.  The OneCare pop-up refuses to be screen-captured with the software that I use.  The yellow-alert condition there is because I need to run backups.  I have to be elevated to administrator to do backups and also to have the correct account data be backed-up too.]

When I opened the Second Life client and got to the download button again, the download didn't even start: Second Life tripped over my firewall.  That's interesting because my firewall is already conditioned to allow Second Life access to the Internet.  What's even more interesting is that whatever program is being used to install the download, it is one I (and OneCare) have never heard of.   I can go no further without checking with OneCare. 

I could take Second Life's advice and install using the download that I already have.  I certainly don't want the auto-update to succeed.  I do want to understand why it failed in this particular way.

I switch users and quickly log into a computer administrator account to consult with OneCare on the matter.  I do so, and OneCare's notification comes up immediately.

Uh, I Don't Think So

As a computer administrator, I now have something to say about the program that was blocked.

Now, what program is that exactly?

Let's see, it is not signed code (that's what Publisher Unknown means).  There is no version or company identification.

The name of the program is a made-up tmp.exe with a random name.

In fact, the program is in my user-account Temp directory.  None of this is reassuring in any way.

My intention is to block this program forever, assuming that it ever runs again, but I'm curious to know if it will still attempt running.  [Next I have second thoughts and block it permanently on the second notice which was apparently already stacked up.]

There are two things going on here.  First, I am willing to believe that the Second Life client creates a copy of a down-loader in the Temp directory so that the install can happen atop the Second Life location without weirdness.  I am almost willing to give that some credence. 

Secondly, I am satisfied that the update would attempt to run automatically.  There's no danger that the down-loader can accomplish anything, however.  Writing to C:\Program Files\Second Life\ on my machine can only be done under an Administrator account.  I'm not operating in one of those, which is what I had started out to demonstrate until the firewall intervention occurred.

Reviewing the Situation

So, the easiest way to install all of those interminable Second Life updates is to be running on-line as administrator without a firewall. 

Cool huh? 

Clearly, the Second Life folk know that and they design that as the inviting case.  Look, they suspect that their connection attempt with this weird little program is blocked by a firewall. 

That's what I mean by the slithery tug-of-war.  I also hate it when applications check automatically for updates and then nag me about it.  Being denied access to the service until I install one of the interminable updates is worse.  Of course, the fact that I put up with this in order to enjoy Second Life eye candy and all the in-world denizens just shows how tempted I am.  Even I, a devout Standard User.

Apparent convenience trumps security and safety.  Almost all of the time.  And we mostly put up with it.

Installing the Usual Way

Today's experience has me thinking that I would be better off not playing in this game with the Second Life developers, regardless of any seductive appeal of their application.   But let's see how well I do when I employ my safe practice to install the update and finally return in-world. 

This is the file I downloaded earlier.  The message applies to that file.

See how complacent I am?  The code is not signed, and I don't do anything about refusing to accept unsigned software, especially when downloaded from the Internet (although probably under safe conditions). 

As you see, I am going to go ahead and install it.  I am now running with my account switched from Limited User to Computer Administrator.  I am not on-line, although I am connected. 

My intention is to install and run the application once while I am administrator so I can condition my firewall for the new version of the application.

Oh yes, installers have a habit of wanting to access the Internet too.  I often experience requests to condition my firewall before a Setup program gets very far.  That is also true here.  No surprise.  We haven't even started up the program and already there is Internet activity.

On continuing, the revised Second Life version starts up for the first time.

Oh, What's this?  We get all of this way and now I am given an absolute click-through requirement to accept a lengthy Terms of Service agreement.  That seems to be one of the improvements of this release.

I couldn't even get it onto my clip board for closer review later.  You can see I selected the text, but I couldn't get it where I could preserve it.  And it is long.  And mind-numbing.  The part that I have scrolled to is section 5.3 where I am informed that everything that I have done on Second Life, any Linden Dollars that I happen to have, and any credit for any purchases can disappear at any time for any reason whatsoever.

Well, I'm certainly happy that they require me to promise to have read this terrible document before I am allowed to continue on and connect into Second Life, the world. 

After my exploration was over, I went to the Second Life site and did manage to find a web page with the Terms of Service at  http://secondlife.com/corporate/tos.php.  I can't testify that it is the same document, but Section 5.3 is definitely the same and I did download a copy for my reference.

About now, I am wondering why I am continuing to put up with this.  I wander around in-world for a while, mainly pruning my list of landmarks of places that seem to be dormant or not that interesting.

The Prize in the Bottom of the Box

OneCare let me know about a second program not long after I allowed the main Second Life program to have access to the Internet.  For some reason, the extensions to allow direct voice audio in Second Life are provided or installed using a second program, one that my firewall wants me to consider whether or not to allow. 

I opt for the program to run.  I didn't put on my headset and microphone nor did I find any avatar to talk to this way. 

I am grateful for this little addition though.  When I closed Second Life, I experienced a frightful system slow-down.  Everything turned to molasses.  Windows were blank and took forever to paint, that sort of thing.   At the end of that prolonged seizure, I received a wonderful message. 

I have been waiting almost two years for one of these.  It is worth a completely separate blog post by Professor von Clueless, but here is the message.  I wanted a real-world example of one of these and now I have it.  Thanks, Second Life developers. 

[Dear developer: This condition may be a consequence of the temporary blockage that OneCare instituted during the first-time execution of the new version.  If the program never noticed that the block had been removed, or was somehow derailed by the block, this Runtime Error might be a consequence.  I did run Second Life one more time after restoring to a limited account and there were no further errors and no unusual slow-down conditions.]

---

A little more background:  Even though my main development system runs Windows XP (Media Center Edition 2005), I operate in a Limited User Account (LUA) whenever possible.  I have an administrator account that I use only when I need to perform a purely-administrative function (including allow Microsoft Update to install goodies it has ready for me).  I'm effectively implementing the equivalent of User Account Control by manual procedure.  This is in the spirit that Dennis Wallentin expresses in his 2007-10-20 blog post on being UAC Compliant:

"UAC stands for User Account Control and is the new technology in Windows Vista to provide users with different level of administrative rights and privileges. UAC main purpose is to support a more secured environment then what Windows XP offers.

"Microsoft has a good white paper that covers UAC in detail and therefore I have no intention to cover it here:

• The Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 Developer Story: Windows Vista Application Development Requirements for User Account Control (UAC)

"Most developers I know have intentionally disabled it because they found it to be rather annoying, time consuming and too restrictive.  [orcmid: my italics]

"Although I can agree with these opinions I try to have it enable as much as possible simple because that will be the most likely scenario for many of my customers. In addition, from a general point of view I support it because by default all users (except Guests) are logged on to Windows Vista as standard users and get extended rights only when needed.

When I need to do something different, such as install new software or update downloads from other sources, I will carry out the download, parking the file in a safe place that I can use for any future re-install.  Before installing, I switch my normal account to being a computer administrator and I install under that account.  This is to ensure that the software installs properly for operation under that account and not all accounts, if possible.

Second Life, as do many other applications, installs for all accounts on the machine, including all Administrator-group accounts.  When I detect this, I remove all icons, shortcuts and start menu occurrences from "all users," confining them to my normal account instead. Automatically installing for use from all accounts on the machine is another action that punishes my efforts to be a Standard User and only allow pure administrative activity in my separate administrator account.

[update 2007-10-21T16:59-0700: I provided a link to the detailed post about Visual C++ Library runtime error messages and also cleanup up some rough edges in the text of this post.]

On September 30, we took the Argosy Cruises Jazz Brunch voyage featuring Michael Powers.  This was the occasion of my sister-in-laws birthday and I fancied the presence of a jazz combo as a nice addition, but not particularly special.  That was, until Michael Powers started playing.  I knew there was no pianist, and I couldn't figure out where the keyboard player was hiding -- the grand piano in the boat's lounge was covered and serving the combo as a coat rack.  When the horns started, I figured this was some new form of jazz karaoke until Michael held up his amazing instrument and said "that's me."  You can see that his guitar is unusual, but the sounds are interesting too.

Listening to how much fun Michael Powers was having with this instrument, and how convenient it was for this small performance setting, I experienced serious geek envy (though not enough that I have mastered any instrument).  The variety and creativity that is available, along with the clear enjoyment of the combo, led us to plan our New Years Eve celebration where Powers will be performing.

I am puzzled by the different ways you must learn to finger the instrument to provide appropriate sound patterns depending on the choice of synthesis off of the guitar pickups.  It is very impressive and looks to be a lot of fun.   The power of this solo instrument is amazing, although it is richer to have accompanists rather than attempt a one-man-band (except in your own basement or garage, of course). 

As much as I marvel at how much digital and synthesized music instruments have advanced, there remains a great deal to appreciate in ensembles of acoustic instruments and the fascinating mixtures that are possible, as this reminded me today: Hip Hop Violin (via Doc Searls via Scobleizer).

---

We enjoyed the two-hour cruise, the music, and the great company so much that, beside planning to reconvene on New Years Eve, Vicki and I finally planned to take an Alaskan Cruise in Spring 2008.

Listening to: Peter Green, Supernatural - An Anthology followed by The Rolling Stones, Sticky Fingers, all on Windows Media Player via Amazon MP3.

I was thrilled to learn that writer Ed Bott would be in the Redmond gravity well, having a Geek Dinner in nearby Kirkland Center.   Not living near the epicenter, I have to plan cometary approaches from my West Seattle Oort zone via clever public-transit routings.  In this case, it was great to arrive in the center of suburban Kirkland with its delightful town center, reminiscent of the pedestrian centers that are common in parts of California.  Having been a fan of the books and blogs that Bott publishes regularly, I had a little list of questions and topics for this greet-and-meet opportunity.  I was also delighted that this was the second recent Geek Dinner that Media Center guru Charlie Owen organized.

Unpredictedly, this turned out to be a small, casual pizza dinner that extended past closing to the Starbucks at the corner.  Beside myself and Charlie Owen (not pictured), there were BjarneD, bringing a server-side performance slant to the conversations, and Intel's Alan Cheslow, with long experience in digital media.  Ed Bott was still decompressing from the strenuous fact-checking series that he's concluded on how DRM actually works in Vista. 

The conversation naturally revolved around digital media, its protection, and the different business models that do or do not work now and may work less in the future.  One interesting question was whether music (e.g., radio and MP3s) and video (e.g. television and movies) are comparable in terms of how listeners and viewers rely on the different forms.

This was the same day that Amazon MP3 was announced, so we had little information yet.  There was discussion of Media Center, Media Extenders, the soon-to-arrive Windows Home Server, and Vista, always Vista on my mind. 

---

Afterwards, I had a difficult time with my few photos. I had some setting problems with my camera and flash that led to extreme ruddiness of the kind that only medical journals might prefer. I struggled to clean up the images but the result is still unsatisfying. It is clear that the Nikon D80 "vivid" setting doesn't work so well under artificial lighting and high ISO setting. It looks like a kitchen science project for Mr. Wizard to figure out how to avoid this.

I'm pleased to have my Windows Vista Inside Out autographed now.  I have difficulty finding material in the tome, and I need to actually read it.  In addition, it didn't dawn on me until this dinner that the obvious thing to do is put the PDF from the CD-ROM on my hard drive and let Windows Desktop Search provide full-text search into it.  That along with PDF search should be very handy.  Duhh.

 

When I installed OO.o 2.3 on my sister's computer, I was disturbed that it kept offering her admin account as the single account it would install under, even though we were not running the installer under that account. 

At my XP SP2 system at home, I installed the same version and I did not have that problem.  This time it did name the account I was using, even though it was not my normal administrator account.  It was, however, the first account that had been set up on my machine, as was the case for admin on my sister's machine.

So I tried again, this time on my Tablet PC and Windows Vista Ultimate.  For variety, I also used the OO.o 2.1 Novell edition, installing from CD-ROM.  There, I ran into exactly the same problem.  I was presented with this dilemma:

Once again, me is not admin.  I am doing this install from my standard-user account (SUA).  But just to see what would happen, I took that option anyhow.  Guess what: This dialog is lying.  It will install only for the account being used.  The bug is that it doesn't present the correct account name.  The behavior is actually correct.

So if you are attempting to install OpenOffice.org 2.3 (or the 2.1 Novell Edition) only under the account you are running in, you can ignore the incorrect account name.  It will do the right thing. 

---

The next time I assist my sister in adding an OpenOffice.org update, I'll be sure to uninstall the current version and then install the new one only for her standard account.

Now, you might wonder what the fuss is all about.  If you are as obsessive as I am about computer security, you might want to omit all but pure administrative applications from the administrative account, and only ever use the administrative account for essential administrative operations.

This means that to have ordinary applications install properly in the ordinary accounts where it is safest to run them I elevate my standard-user account to an administrator account just long enough to install the software and run it the first time under the standard account.  This gyration is required because many programs expect to perform final administrative setup operations on the first execution.  Setting of registry entries and creation of application data, plus other details, may be specific to the account that is used for the install.  I will usually discover the firewall conditioning that is required upon the first execution.  From then on, I can use the program as a standard user.

When certain programs (e.g., Second Life) install for all users with no other option, I will remove the shortcuts and links placed on the "All Users" desktop and startup menu and place them in the profile information of my standard user account.  This is just a little preventative against my foolishly using recreational software from my administrative account.

Usually when I am working close with my 105mm lens, the cats don't give me eye contact long enough for a clean photograph.  This one (cropped here) shows my good fortune.  I love that the surrounding fur frames the eye of little Princess Psyche. 

I think some of the clarity of this image is attributable to the Nikon SB-600 flash with Omnibounce on a side bracket, the closest I could match the pistol-grip flash handle used with my analog camera (shown to the right in a photo taken with my webcam).  I looked for a digital-camera-qualified version of that flash and none of them work with this handle.  I may end up scavenging it and kit-bashing it at some point, turning it into a bracket for shoe-mounted flashes like the SB-600.  I might even use a Nikon cord to for the extension from my D80's hot shoe. 

This shot doesn't qualify as a Strobist submission because the SB-600 is tethered and not far off the camera.  It also has an interesting defect, although Vicki thinks it adds something to the image: the photographer, camera, and speedlight are all visibly reflected in the cat's eye.

But I do like the result.  Yes I do.

Reflections: My 1992-purchased Nikon 8008s (pictured) was already smarter than its owner, as was almost the case with the 2020 before that.  This year's purchase of a D80 shows me how much smarter it is than the owner: It embarrasses me with the raft of features and settings over which I have no comprehension.  Once I obtained the SB-600 speedlight, it was clear that the flash is smarter than me too.  I have lots of practice to make up before I can again utter that I once (over 50 years ago) fancied becoming a photographer.

Modern photographic equipment: Whether or not the D80 and newer high-end cameras like the D3 are too feature-laden with too many options (sort of the Microsoft Office of its breed), it is clear that the digital era has revolutionized photography and creation of other electronic media.  In addition to easy entry levels, the affordability of high-powered equipment for amateurs and enthusiasts is telling.  There is another phenomenon.  The capabilities and economy of competing high-end Nikon and Canon digital SLR lines is leaving little room for after-market suppliers.  I don't think anyone can price-compete with the SB-600, for example, and the loss of functionality for lower-priced alternatives is pronounced.   I think this has a giant impact on the market, even in the (vanishing) stores where professionals shop.  (The difference for the pro seems to be ruggedness, durability, and extreme optical quality.)  OK enough pontification. What's needed from me is more pictures and more experiential mastery of my tools.