While not strictly a ‘technology topic,’ for me it is just as important. Anyway, its OK, since Ramblings of a Computer Guru is “Everything Technical,” no? I’m talking about curiosity. Curiosity applies to everything everywhere, all features of life, all aspects, the harsh truth, in all its misery… And it applies to technology far more than we realize. Take this morning for example. I had a Physics Lab class; and our Professor returned three previous lab reports. Imagine my shock at receiving a 7 and an 8 on two them! I usually get 9.5 -10, not to brag to prove a point.
Well, I opened up the reports, and discovered that all equations in those two (written with Office 12 Pre-Beta) had printed wrong! Rather, they did not print at all! In the second paper, each character done with the equation editor came out a “?” in a box, and in the first it looked like some kind of weird pattern of dotted lines! The third, written in the Official (and legit) Office 12 Beta 1 was much better. Thought it had a couple of mis-printed characters, they were all Bullets from unordered lists, and the equations were thankfully OK. I talked to the Professor and he is letting me rewrite the first two :).
But I will have to do it all over since Pre-Beta files are not properly compatible with Beta 1. But this blog is not about me, its about Technology. And this particular entry is not about my boring & miserable life on the 3rd day of December; but about the dangers of mixing Curiosity and Technology together… Well, basically it boils down to “Don’t use Pre-Betas unless you are supposed to” “Check your physics assignment before you turn it in” and most importantly “If you REALLY need to use the Pre-Betas, look both ways before you cross the street, don’t use them in a ‘production environment’ and make sure you have a nice teacher…”
Except for the fact that was my optimist half posting. The half that learns when it gets in trouble, the half that begs me to pay attention in class, and the half begging me not to go on and say what I have to say. Fortunately however, my other half, the Pessimest Within, has taken control, and I must go on. He first wants to clairfy: No matter what your parents or teachers may have told you; the cat did not die and go to heaven, or pet heaven, or the zoo, or the field of infinite mice.
“Curiosity killed the cat, and Satisfaction brought him back.” Please note, though some people will be preempted to think that Curiosity and Satisfaction are people, they are not. Curiosity is not Satisfaction’s little brother, and no human has the power to bring the dead to life. But Curiosity can kill, and Satisfaction can raise the dead. Try it.
In the end, if you want to use (pre-)betas, if you really are tired of no CTP, if for the life of you you cannot find a single more bug in 5231, if you really want in on the Office 12 Beta, if you really cannot hold yourself anymore, and you just just have to have it, take four deep, deep breaths, hit your favorite torrent site, use ?Torrent, install the build take a couple of screenshots for bragging rights, remember not to email Microsoft or to Activate your copy, invite a friend over as a witness, and uninstall it before your next major homework assignment :D And always remember…. “Satisfaction brought him back…”