Word processors? Bah!

(As seen on my home computer: MetPad in the front, Geany in the rear.)

Although a big part of my life is working with words, I don't process them.

In the past I have used most of the major word processors -- Microsoft Word since version 3.0, several Lotus programs, Open Office, and some of the old DOS-driven oldies such as PC-Write and Leading Edge. I've fooled with Google Docs. My computer has AbiWord on it, but I seldom use it.

Sounds almost blasphemous, especially for a writer. Why wouldn't I be interested in a word processor that does everything, checks my spelling and grammar, offers tips with that little animated paper-clip dude, and makes my coffee?

Although I'm cheap, it's not a matter of cost. AbiWord and OpenOffice are free. It's not because I use an old, resource-challenged computer -- my word processor doesn't eat that many CPU cycles. And it's not because I don't know how to run the software -- not with my background.

Part of it is simplicity, but the biggest issue is flexibility. Very little of what I write finds itself on a printed page. If you do much work with a computer, you might find this to be true yourself.

Most of my writing shows up in the blogs I keep. Some will be sent as email. Quite a bit of it stays on the hard drive, as notes to myself. It's a very rare occasion when I'll need to print something. Maybe a business letter to someone who does not have a computer or email (all three of them), occasionally song lyrics or lists for some of my musician friends, and that's about it. I don't even own a printer, and I don't plan to get one any time soon. If it wasn't for all of my on-the-go notes written out on yellow legal pads or index cards, I'd have a paperless office.

There was a time when word processors were the greatest thing since the toilet seat. But those days are gone, and that breed of software is fast becoming passe.

OK, so how do I write?

On the computer I use a text editor. Think of Notepad that comes with your Windows installation -- and that's a poor example of an editor. There are no font settings to mess with. There is no spell check. It's just text. Chances are your files will be saved with the .txt suffix, which is a magical word in these parts.

Try this sometime. Send someone a document as an email attachment, written with your favorite word processor. Is your recipient able to read the thing when he gets it?

If he has the same version of Your Favorite Word Procesor as you do, then there's no problem. But if you wrote it in, say, OpenOffice 2.x and he only has Microsoft Word or OpenOffice 1.x, there may be a problem. He may or may not know what that .ods suffix means when he's used to .doc or .sxw, and there will be translation headaches. Back in my word processing days, I'd let the reader know what word processor I used and maybe include instructions on how to convert the document, but most people won't do that.

With a .txt document, there is no translation issue. Something written in .txt can be read and edited by any word processor without any effort at all. It can be uploaded into a blog, added to a Web site, or filed away. And without all the font parameters and formatting, the document takes up less space on your hard drive and takes less time to upload.

But don't I miss the spell checkers and other fancies?

Not really. Your spell checker merely determines whether a word is in the dictionary. OK. So you meant to type "from" and got "form" instead. Your spell checker is not human, it knows nothing other than whether the word is in the dictionary. It will miss that error, but your reader probably won't.

While spell-checkers are a marvelous convenience, I believe they do not help writers write. The software does all the work; it becomes less necessary to edit the document. Or at least that's the perception. In truth, with all these conveniences, Americans have regressed in their ability to spell, to write, to communicate.

What's worse, a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) word processor forces the writer to pay attention to how the document looks rather than what is being communicated. If anything, the whole process is bass-ackwards. When you write, you think about what you're trying to say first, then worry about how it looks. At least that's the intention.

After I'm done writing the document, I'll decide what I want to do with it. If it's for print, then paste it or open it in a word processor or LaTeX formatter. If it's going into an email or in the blog, I'll just paste it into Gmail or ScribeFire, whatever I want. Old-time computer operators call this the "workbench" approach -- get it written first, save it, then format it. If this sounds like an extra step, that's the idea. You're taking off your writer's hat and putting on your typesetter's hat, and those jobs should be separated.

On my Linux box I'll use one of several word processors. The one which I used for this blog entry is MetPad, a variation of the old "vi" that gives me all the mouse usability and a sackful of keyboard commands (and I find the commands a lot faster than moving my coffee cup out of the way to get to the mouse). But I'll also use Geany, Nedit, or several others.

Windows users may find themselves considerably behind the curve when it comes to text editors. I mentioned Notepad, and it's horrible. The default setting gives you no word wrap (a function I insist on), but if you hunt around in the menus you should be able to find it. Your Windows box may have WordPad, which is a lot more useful. I recommend that one. Or if you can get Scite, that's even better.

Part of why there's so much more choice among text editors with Linux users is because many of us are programmers. I myself am not, but I've written a few small shell scripts to automate a few functions and did a lot of work with home-brewed .bat files back in my DOS days. Text editors are designed more for programming, but don't let that throw you.

You can use those same industrial-strength text editors to write a letter to Grandma. Or dash off a short blog entry. Or maybe your next million-seller novel.

You might not even miss your word processor.

It's like carrying a computer in your pocket

In recent days my wireless Internet connection has been extremely troublesome, more down than up. Borderline worthless, in fact. I guess you sometimes get what you pay for.

So I'm using library computers to post blogs and check my email. A pain, yes, especially in taking the time to get to the library, but other than that it's not that big a problem.

I'm not a fan of the software set you find on most public computers. I seldom use word processors when I write, and I'd rather take a nitric acid enema than surf with Internet Explorer. Plus, I don't necessarily want the next person on the computer to know where I've been.

No worries. I carry my own software in my pocket. Plug in a USB thumb drive, and it's like I'm using my own computer without lugging the hardware around. For sheer portability, this even beats a laptop and it's a lot cheaper.

For the price of a USB stick and a quick download, you can get a suite of software that you can run on just about any Windows-based computer, privately. Browser history, cookies, bookmarks, and preferences stay on the thumb drive. Called Portable Apps, the programs fit nicely on one of the older 256-megabyte drives. Default programs in the smaller version include Firefox, Abiword, ClamWin, and a couple of games.

While I've added a couple of other programs to my Portable Apps suite, just having Firefox makes it a worthy download. I have several must-have extensions to Firefox, including ScribeFire, my blogging workhorse. All of this is set to my specifications, saving me a lot of hassle when I'm working in one-hour sessions with different computers.

So when I'm using a public unit, I plug in two thumb drives: A 256-meg oldie that has my Portable Apps, and a 1-gig drive which carries my files. And even that step is probably unnecessary; I can just as easily use one thumb drive for everything. But no matter; I'm still carrying my own computer in my pocket.

Here's an unexpected bonus when running Portable Apps: Many public computers are set so you can't download. Which makes sense; a real good way to trash a computer system is to allow random people to download whatever they want. What with all the viruses and malware around, that's the quickest way to spread the love.

But using the portable Firefox, I've been able to download all sorts of goodies, up to entire operating systems, on public computers.

I haven't tested this part out, but theoretically you can surf sites that are blocked, such as your myspace page, from a work computer while using an outside browser. My supervisor's work computer allows you to only surf the company web site, and I suggested (we obviously get along very well on the job) that she can surf whatever she wants using the portable browser. However, she's afraid to try, and I'm not going to attempt it on her computer, so this idea remains theoretical in my book. Maybe one of my readers is willing to try it for me, and I'd welcome any input.

If this theory proves correct, Portable Apps may well be a screw-off's best friend on the job.

AbiWord is the word processor that comes with Portable Apps, and on those rare occasions I use such a program (give me a plain-vanilla text editor any time), AbiWord is what I'll run. It's a lot lighter than Microsoft Word, has many of the same functions, plays well with .doc files, and is free and open-source.

ClamWin is a virus protection program, and in truth I've never experimented with that. But I can see the usefulness here. You'll find a couple of other Mozilla-based programs, too: Sunbird, a calendar. Thunderbird, a mail reader. And a Sudoku game, if you have a little time to burn off or are totally addicted to that !!#$&!! game.

The folks at Portable Apps have been developing several other programs that you can plug in to your suite, and I snagged a few of them. There's Audacity, a sound editor that I've used for recording my band's music, and Notepad+, a text editor. And a whole bunch of others, allowing you to carry a whole set of software on your key chain.

Unless you can get a whole operating system on a USB drive (which is doable, and this is something I may write about in a future entry), you can't get much more portable than that.

 

Gettin' Geeky 1: Personal to-do list

Personal to-do list:

Deadline: Whenever.

- Install second hard drive (has Windows XP), put it in lede position. Reconfigure Grub boot loader. Partition; XP may get 10 gigabytes if I'm feeling generous. Use the rest for experiments.

- Install Vector Linux 5.9 on back end of "new" hard drive. Test it; potential blog TK. Want to pay attention to how it handles wireless; was a deal-breaker in v. 5.8. Potential blog entry?

- Check out website on getting Chrome to work through WINE emulator. Maybe give that a shot?

Google Chrome license agreement fixed

Update on Google Chrome: The End User License Agreement has been fixed to remove the most objectionable qualities (the ones I mentioned in previous posts).

This looks a whole lot better. (This is taken from the download page, as you can see from the "accept and install" button.)

Personal footnote: Nealy all of the software I use is under the GNU GPL, what the folks there call a "copyleft." So, to me, the Chrome EULA seems a little heavy, but it wouldn't be if you're used to using proprietary software anyway.

(Still waiting for the Linux version of Chrome; I must test it out.)

Some stats ... 'cause I can

Just for giggles, I was able to compile stats of the last 50 people who browsed on the sister site, The Column Reloaded, to illustrate which operating systems and Web browsers are being used by my readers.

Operating systems:

4 used Windows Vista.
38 used Windows XP.
7 used Apple OSX.
1 used what was called an "unrecognized" operating system.

Web browsers:

22 used Internet Explorer. Of those, 13 used version 7.0, and nine ran 6.0.

22 used Firefox. Of these, 16 used version 3.0, five were on 2.0, and one used version 1.5. Interestingly, that one was running the unrecognized OS.

6 used Safari.

(I used The Column, Reloaded because this tech blog is too new to generate any meaningful statistics.)

My blog is certainly not a real good sample of what people are using in their computers. In fact the numbers are practically useless, though they are interesting.

Interesting that Vista hasn't shown up more in my readership; I'd figured with all that hype somebody would have bought the system. But even brand-new, made-for-Vista-with-the-system-preloaded can be downgraded to XP, and I understand quite a few people have gone that route.

Being a dyed-in-the-wool Linux user, I'm disappointed there are no fellow penguinistas in the mix.

If I was a betting man, I'd say that "unrecognized" operating system is a BSD type. More of an industrial-strength UNIX, largely unknown among the masses but there's a following there. I'd fooled with BSD systems here and there, but really little more than a test drive. (Linux, too, is built from a UNIX base, and OSX -- the MacIntosh system -- has its roots in BSD.)

I'm intrigued by that even split between Firefox and IE. Now that's a real anomaly; in the real world Firefox doesn't have that big a market share. Most computer users, I'm afraid, think that big "e" icon on the desktop means Internet.

I'm also surprised no one was using Opera. I've run that off and on, and always liked it. It's fast, but you can't add all those extensions like you can with Firefox.

As for myself, I'm using a Debian Gnu/Linux derivative, with the Sid (unstable -- bleeding edge) build. To surf the Web I'm using Iceweasel, an unbranded version of Firefox 3.0.

Where did I get my statistics? Through Feedjit, which provided that "Playing In Traffic" box on this site. Another of those cool tools every blogger should have.

Google promises privacy fixes in Chrome

Google is taking steps to mask the identities of those who use the new Chrome browser, the Washington Post reported.

According to Jane Horvath of Google, the company -- which dominates the Internet search world (when people do a Web search they're more likely to say they're "googling" it, making the company name into a verb) -- will anonymize IP addresses and cookies in the interest of privacy.

The privacy issue has been a major one on the Internet, and intensified as Google released the browser last week.

"My main concern is the ability to collect users' Web addresses, and
therefore your complete surfing on the Web could be tracked," Germany's
data protection commissioner, Peter Schaar, said of Chrome. "The Web
is, in fact, a second life. A virtual mirror of one's real life, with
information about one's interests, activities, perhaps sexual
orientation."


All of which is true. If you want to stay totally private, forget the Internet. The question, though, is whether the browser will make that much difference.

=========

Meanwhile, columnist Gary Cutlack of Tech Digest suggested there's little difference between Google Chrome and the Firefox browser -- some of the Chrome features that turned his head were already in Firefox, except he had to hunt for them.

"All Google's effort has done is left me appreciating Firefox even
more, and extra-extra confused about why Google has gone to so much
effort to put out a product so incredibly similar to its rivals," he wrote. "So
thanks very much, Google. You've made me bring my browsing habits bang
up to date. I'll remember to click on a few of your adverts some time
as a thank you."

OK. Bottom line here. Am I going to try Chrome when the Linux version comes out? Of course. If for no other reason than to satisfy my own curiosity, I must give it a shot.

Am I going to like Chrome? Hard to tell, though probably not. For me, the selling point will be its speed. Firefox occasionally blows up real big in memory, especially when I have a lot of browser tabs open. That, and whether the privacy issues and license agreement are ironed out.

License agreement for Chrome has ugly aspects

With all the publicity of Google's new Chrome browser, there are a few issues that are turning up.

There seems to be a security vulnerability with it, as outlined in Infoworld. It can be serious especially if you're not all that computer savvy.

"... serious vulnerability could result in Chrome users downloading malicious code. The problem is due, in part, to the fact that Google uses an older version of WebKit, the open-source browser technology also used in Apple's Safari browser, that includes the vulnerability."

OK. Chrome is in beta, meaning it's still being fixed. Allegedly.

But there's something even more serious. The End User License Agreement (EULA), which is all that fine print you usually ignore when you download something, has some really ugly problems.

An example is with the rights to anything you pass through that browser: "By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a
perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive
license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly
perform, publicly display and distribute any content which you submit,
post or display on or through, the services."

Also, Google has the right to update Chrome automatically, whether you want it done or not. Shades of America Online, and more recently Windows.

From the EULA: "You agree to receive such updates (and permit Google to deliver these to you) as part of your use of the services."

Ugh.

If this EULA is a problem with you, then you just may want to stick with Firefox. Or Opera. Or Konqueror. Or Lynx. Maybe even (I must be kidding here) Internet Explorer.

I'll still check it out when it's available in Linux, but the EULA makes me nervous.

(My sources here: Slashdot and CNet.

(There probably will be more to come on this matter.)

Poll: Is "About You" freaky, or what?

OK. I did kind of put the issue of Internet security in your face here. It's a little hard to miss, those "About You" graphics at the top of this blog.

What do you think? Did they freak you out, or what? Why or why not?

Let me know by answering the poll on this site. Hey, I might even make a blog entry out of that.

OK. I'll start it off ...

Google goes Chrome

I'm watching as the new kid on the browser front, Google Chrome, makes its first real flight in the wild. I'm reading the reviews, and so far they seem pretty good. A lot faster and less memory-intensive than Firefox, the early reviewers say. As a sample, here's one from Information Week.

As soon as it's ported out to Linux, I'm going to give it a try, and you'll probably find something on it here. Stay tuned ...

These tools better than a tinfoil beanie

(Disclaimer: I just love these mailbag requests. It indicates
someone's reading, paying attention, and maybe doing something. Or
making suggestions. This one came from Kelly Sonora, who has a tech
blog, "All Things Internet/Web World Wide." The article she sent me was
interesting -- especially 'cause I'm interested in Internet security
and I like free stuff. I ran this a few days ago in The Column, Reloaded, but it really belongs here -- but you really won't see a lot of cross-posting.)

In the past I'd written about how public the Internet really is. In cop-show parlance, every time you surf, your business is hung out on the street.

This is indeed true. To illustrate, check out the box called "About You." (For those who are reading this in RSS-land, hop over to the blog site, read it, and flip out.) You'll probably see your approximate location,your IP address, and your operating system and browser staring right at you.

Us oldsters remember when things were a lot more private. Plus, the world has
changed since 9/11, Homeland Security, and all these other events that changed our world. Civil liberties just ain't what they used to be. Even if you're a normal Joe, not any more paranoia than the next fella, one quick dip through the news may make you think a tinfoil beanie is a pretty good idea.

Paranoia or not, it's just good sense to surf defensively when you go on line. A lot of valuable information -- such as credit card and bank account numbers floats around in cyberspace all the time. Weirdos lurk all over the place, and that nice fella on myspace could well be a 55-year-old Michael Moore lookalike, sitting buck naked at his terminal (for the visually minded, "buck naked" means he's not wearing any socks, either). People work overtime to put together worms, viruses, Trojan horses, and spyware to either cripple your computer,
mine it for information, or just scare the spit out of you. Every time you surf, you leave little bits of code on the hard drive telling exactly where you've been, and those pieces of code are as good as a fingerprint.

But you get the point. It's a jungle out there. But there are tools to hide you, to cover your tracks, and to protect your information. And if you're feeling paranoid without reason, there are tools and sites guaranteed to give you something to be paranoid about. Whether you're normal (whatever that is) or a screaming nut job, there's probably a tool for you, too.

Here are some of my favorites from "50 Free Internet Tools for Tin-Foil Hat Wearers", written by Alisa Miller:

Portable Firefox: I love this one. I used it quite a bit when reduced to library
computers, which ordinarily means being stuck with the porous Internet Explorer. Portable Firefox comes with a suite of open-source applications which I use a lot anyway -- the AbiWord word processor, Audacity sound editor, and a handful of others. I carry them on a thumb drive with some of the documents I'm working on, which basically gives me a computer in my pocket. And I leave no trace on the host computer. My bookmarks and cookies -- those little bits of code that can tell you where I've been -- also stay on the thumb drive. And surprisingly, I've been able to download stuff using a library computer. Good luck doing that with the as-is system. I highly recommend this one.

Bugmenot.com: Of course I resent the idea of having to register (and get on a mailing list) just to read a few news articles, so of course I swear by this one. I use it via a Firefox extension, and I can't think of the last time I've registered for anything.

GrandCentral: It's by Google, and supposedly it consolidates all of your phone numbers into one that's untraceable. Sounds intriguing, but it is by Google, so take that any way you want.

Clusty and Scroogle: Search engines. Clusty is supposedly highly secure. To my experience it's also slow. Scroogle is a front-end for Google, which uses encryption and a few other things that supposedly mask your existence while you use Google.

ShieldsUp! and Junkbusters: Both will let you know how secure your computer really is. The more information your computer puts out, the more vulnerable you are to attacks and attempts by nefarious types to sip into your information.
ShieldsUp! tells me my computer is practically invisible.

AVG Anti-Virus: It's virus protection. They update regularly -- more often when some real baddie comes down the pike. And it's free. That was my guardian
during my Windows days (viruses are not an issue with Linux). The on-the-fly virus protection is, last I looked, somewhat lacking, but the program picks 'em off the hard drive with ease. Virus protection is big business, and it's a cash cow for some large software companies that play on people's fears, so if a free one does the job for you, go for it. I understand they've added spyware protection since I last used it; a good thing.

Avast! Another free virus protection program. I tried it years ago, and found
it to be slow but thorough. For ease of operation -- based on my tests then -- I'd give the nod to AVG. But unlike spyware programs, you can only run one virus checker at a time.

Ad-Aware: By Lavasoft. One of only about two spyware-sniffing programs that is
worth anything. The other one, which is not mentioned in the article, is Spybot Search & Destroy. And unlike virus scanners, you can have several spyware checkers on your system. In fact it's recommended, because each of these two will occasionally miss something. Whatever you do, DON'T order spyware protection from any Internet source that hawks its product through a pop-up box on your browser. Not only will those not work, they're probably not free and they're usually spyware themselves. I told you it's a jungle out there.

SiteAdvisor: Haven't used this, but heard good things about it. Supposedly lets you know that you're going to a site that is loaded with spyware or harvests your information. Worth a look.

This isn't on the list, but if you really want to play it stealthy, you can try one of the small Linux systems loaded via QEMU, an emulator. I have one (with the ultra-small Puppy Linux) on a USB thumb drive. Plug it in to a USB port, click on the icon, and you're running Linux on top of Windows. it's so secret even the host computer doesn't know what you're doing. There are some real drawbacks -- it's extremely slow, and you really need to be fluent in Linux to use it well. And it can't print or play music, but I can surf on a library computer and leave absolutely no traces.

===============

Anyway, that's my own list. Some things worth checking out there.

In fact, I recommend the whole blog. It's full of good security information.

Nooo! Not another blog!

This new blog is my attempt at some housecleaning.

Readers of The Column, Reloaded can expect to get news of all kinds -- the mainstream, the sublime, the ridiculous, the geeky -- with a healthy dose of commentary on all of the above.

Somehow, though, some articles of a more technical nature has been finding its way into the blog. While there is a value for that material, it is oddly out of place there. It doesn't really fit the equation.

But, as I said, there is value in the tech stuff, so in a moment of madness I created this, the sister blog. Welcome to The Workbench, Reloaded.

It probably won't hurt for me to explain where I'm coming from here. I like computers. I'm good with them, and they're a great tool for my work. But the computer doesn't do my work for me, nor does it run my life. Really.

My home computer is not state of the art. It's an oldie -- a Compaq Deskpro with Intel guts. The little sticker on the front says it's "designed for Windows 2000 Professional." Ugh. I don't have Windows 2000 on it, or any other Windows. By choice it's a Linux system, designed and tweaked to run on minimal hardware. Partly because I'm cheap, and partly because I can make it work.

If you want reviews on the latest whiz-bang Windows system or application, you're not going to find it here. But if you want to get ideas on how to get maximum performance out of minimal equipment, this is a good place.

(An exception: Soon you'll find my take on the brand-spanking-new Firefox 3.0 web browser. My software is not heavyweight, but it's not dated either.

Here you'll read of some tips and tweaks (some Linux, some not), the occasional review, and the "How I Dunnit" feature, which has some of my favorite "hacks" as I find them.

You'll also find occasional forays into Web security ... in fact the first "real" article (which recently ran in The Column, Reloaded) will be reprinted here.

Have fun ... just remember to step away from the computer occasionally.