Ayende recently posted his feelings about how Twitter can be misused from time to time.

You cannot have a meaningful discussion in Twitter or IM, the conventions and limitations of the platform. Email is a better medium to expression complex concepts, but voice or video are far better methods of communication.

I'm inclined to agree, though some people will indeed be able to have discussion with some meaning, its hard to have a discussion about a complicated set of ideas.

I'm fine with a discussion between two people going forever and a day on Twitter. I'm not having a go at anybody who does. As Chuck says: let the tweets flow. It's just that the discussion is bound to be fairly light and easy.

I do think there are a few circumstances where Twitter's weaknesses as a communication medium/archive are exposed.

Firstly, if things are busy in your twitterhood, spanning tweets may have the opposite effect that your looking for; if other people tweet in between your tweets, it will dilute your message.

Secondly when you need to use around 5+ consecutive tweets to get your point across, it becomes clear that you simply need more characters per message. Spanning across multiple tweets to get an idea across is fighting against the tool.

Should Twitter increase the char count? I feel the higher the char count goes, the less Twitter looks like a microblog engine and the more it looks like usenet anarchy. I happen to like SMS updates too so I feel it would break out of the SMS boundary.

Lastly, for conversations that occurred while I wasn't obsessively staring at Witty, its kludgy to find the beginning of the discussion and then skip other peoples tweets that occurred in between. To be fair, that's not the fault of Twitter, and hashtags certainly make it easier to listen in to particular topics (much like IRC Channels) but most clients behave the same way.

These few problems alone make Twitter a deal breaker *for me* when it comes to heady topics. Emails, blogs, and wiki's are ways in which I like to escalate such things. But if you like to contemplate quantum computing in 140 char chunks, more power to you.

Incidentally, this was around 2200 characters or if you prefer, 16 consecutive tweets.

I had the pleasure of treating myself to a new phone recently. I had a lot of options, but I finally settled on a Nokia N95. It is a good phone, with good features, and I would recommend it to anybody who wanted more out of their not so smart phone, but couldn't quite justify the use of a PDA. I'm with Robert Scoble, though, I'd prefer to get an iPhone, but that won't be released in Australia until early 2008.

For more info on the N95 visit the NSeries website, it will tell you more about my phone than I can.

There have been a few issues with the phone in regards to the GPS software included with the phone 'Nokia Maps' and there seems to be much forum confusion as to what the deal is in Australia. Hopefully I can clarify the situation:

• As bought from the shop, you can find POI's, addresses, and calculate routes. It will cost you data using your chosen mobile Internet access point. As you move about the map, it will download imaging via your Internet connection. If you plan a route, you can simulate the route by downloading the voice commands, or you can have the GPS track you as you traverse the route
• If you want to have real time navigation, you will have to pay around $130 AU for 3 years. This gives you the 3D view and a voice telling you when to turn.
• The good news is, that you can download the entire map for any country using the abominable Map Loader program available from Nokia. The bad news is that in Australia, you will be lucky to get a download speed greater than 2.2kbps. The maps for Oz are 70MB.
• Searching for POI's and addresses still uses Internet time, so plan your routes via your home WLAN to save money.

The maps take forever to download, so in the interest of being a nice Internet citizen, I have decided to begin sharing them on the ED2K network. Alternatively you can download it from me directly.

You will need something to open .rar files - I highly recommend WinRar.

To be honest, for the most part, Google Maps on the mobile is a nicer all round experience, but until it starts using the in built GPS, it is still a toy. If you want something to use in the car, go get yourself a dedicated unit, the N95 has better POI's but it still doesn't come close to the TomTom One XL.

Personally, I plan to use the GPS feature for bush walking, and Nokia provides an excellent route stat application called Sports Tracker. With it you can graph your movement, and save the results in Google Earth compatible files, XML, CSV. For this, the N95 absolutely rocks.

For those of you who like to be early adopters, and are also masochistic enough to be reading my blog AND are reading it from a 64 bit version of windows you can now take pleasure in trying out the latest beta of Microsoft's Live OneCare anti virus solution, now available for 64 bit versions of Vista.

If your keen to jump into the beta program - here is the link.

  Well, I got through most of Saturdays presentations, unfortunately I had to miss the final two on Microsoft CRM and Expression Designer respectively. However the talks I did manage to attend were very useful, and overall I am pleased by the level of discussion at the very first Code Camp SA.

The presentations for the 07/07/07 included the following:

• Che Metcalfe from Kukan Studio and MegaSA
• Allan Baird from UniSA
• David Gardiner from UniSA
• Dr. Michael Baker
• Dave Glover from Microsoft
• Mike Duhne the SA Branch Manager for Microsoft
• Jey Srikantha from K2
• Mitch Denny from Readify
• Paul Turner from Readify
• Jeff Headley* from SDM

The highlight for me today was definitely Mitch Denny's insight into surviving the transition to using TFS for real world development. He had some excellent advice on how to virtualize your TFS server and build servers, how to get continuous integration going, and even some insight into how Readify tackled some of CI's issues in TFS (namely check in monitoring, build quality transition control and build cleanup).

Dr. Michael Baker presented some thought provoking examples on how to start implementing Programming By Contract techniques in your applications, although I have to admit that I thought the presentation would go in a completely different direction. I guess I should have known, but I was expecting to hear about technologies like Thinktecture's Web Services Contract First and associated methodologies.

Dave Glover in his typical, upbeat and enthralling style delivered an excellent introduction to Silverlight, Expression blend and Popfly. After seeing all this I just want to get going with Popfly on something like Microsoft Surface and start feeling the minority report goodness. Very exciting for the mash up scene.

I do owe an apology to Allan Baird et al, from the IT faculty of UniSA, I have had some less than stellar remarks regarding a university education in IT, however it seems that things are starting to look up with the likes of Allan at the steer. He informed the group of a commitment to start teaching Microsoft .NET technologies in core subjects in 2009 and I think this is an excellent step forward for our local IT education prospects in Adelaide. It also appears they are making great efforts to redress the imbalance of female personell in our industry. Not only that, but they are attempting to attract younger crowd to the IT scene in general.

All in all, it was a fun yet instructive day, good to catch up with some previous acquaintances from Code Camp Oz and to meet new people. Thankyou so much to UniSA, ADNUG and the Goodwood 3rd Scout group for putting on a great set of presentations. I'm sure tomorrow will be equally as good.

* sorry Jeff, couldn't get a decent Google fix on you!

Inspired by this recent post about types of programmers, I found myself asking this question:

If you could have databases of information uploaded to your brain, which three would you pick?

I think I'd like to have Google Maps, MSDN and Wikipedia.

Jason recently wrote about ‘building your own’ Vs ‘buying a prebuilt’ PC.

"I have stopped operating my personal business and now I pay retail for all my hardware instead of going to wholesalers. I have also stopped building my own PCs and my last three purchases have been big name, off the shelf computers. It just isn't worth my time anymore to save a few bucks wherever I can."

I suppose there is a damn good reason why the big names in PC building became big in the first place: They take the pain out of buying and owning a PC. As a fellow system builder from eons ago, I found that two things drove me away from doing it on a grand scale. Firstly, you can’t compete against the 24 hour after sales support of the bigger manufacturers. Secondly, as Jason points out, you are inevitably forced to mix business with friends. I’ve got to admit that it was mainly the former that made it hard, the latter added insult to injury. Because I have chosen not to make a career out of supporting hardware, it is only natural for me to tell friends and family to go and see somebody who is more equipped to deal with their computing needs. I simply am not a hardware support specialist. The story changes dramatically if they would like some advice regarding software decisions (and so does the quote

It’s clear that recommending your friends to go and pick up a cheap PC from Joe’s electronic emporium is tantamount to ending a friendship, but even if Jeff & Scott started building PC’s fulltime for a living I’d probably still build my own.

I still build my own PC's because I'm prepared to take the time to research the combinations (which isn’t all that much) and I'm also prepared to provide myself with the '24 hour after sales support'. If I have a warranty issue, I’m prepared to wait a little longer to get my new part; I have more than one PC anyway. The benefit is that I get to spend more on the areas of the PC that interest me and choose from the widest set of options available. The potential savings, I feel, are a small bonus, perhaps enough to cover my time doing a bit of research on a weekend.

Perhaps the omega geek driven sense of pride of owning my very own DIY desktop scorcher has plunged me into the depths of insanity, but I have come to the conclusion that you can build your own cheap PC and keep it a secret from your friends.

The evidence is clear….running as administrator is dangerous to your sanity. For starters it's addictive, and an entire industry has been generated from this addiction.

As far as I can tell there are a few reasons why most Windows users insist on running as an administrator.

• I want to install 'stuff'.
• I need to move files around in the root directory.
• My favourite software informs me I have to run as Administrator in order to use it.
• I don't care.

If you have any other reasons why you absolutely have to run as an administrator all day long, 7 days a week, I'd be happy to hear it. I think these reasons are the sign of a misinformed user.

The real issue is that the IT industry has preferred to sell band aid solutions (i.e. antivirus software) rather than educating our customers properly. It's our own fault, a hell of our own design, and its time to demand better. There is a good reason why Linux and Mac have few issues in this department, and it's not because virus writers don't care enough to write viruses for those platforms. It's because the Linux based platforms make themselves hard targets. Vista dropped the ball, and should have made limited accounts the standard. UAC often gets turned off by users who hate message boxes.

It's really quite simple; if the software you want demands to run as an Administrator at all times after installation, choose different software. Good software won't make such demands on the average user and just simply work. Microsoft has software certifications that demand this of 3^rd party vendors, so encourage users to look out for it.

I want to install 'stuff'

Sure, after deciding that the latest toolbar from SuperHappy Technologies Inc. is the right toolbar for you, you want to install it. When you're done installing it for all users, create yourself a standard account and log into it. Even better, resist the temptation to install miscellaneous things in the first place. I know it's like collecting handbags or shoes, but you really don't need them. Investigate your installs, a quick Google will often tell you if the SuperHappy Toolbar is in fact ad ware. You don't need to install it to find out.

I need to move files around in the root directory

You do? Are you sure? Are you certain that MyResume.docx is better off in C:\Program Files\Resumes\ rather than MyDocs\Resumes\? OK, then go right ahead and log into your administrator account, and when you're done, log back into your standard account. Even better, avoid the temptation to have a 'DIY' file system structure. Make your home directory your castle, and save yourself a world of pain trying to remember which of the 5 resumes directories you created contains your current one. You will also save yourself time when you hit the file system with a search if you can restrict it to a total search area of a few gigs instead of a few hundred.

My favourite software informs me I have to run as Administrator in order to use it

Installation is one thing, but if that new game you bought demands to be an Administrator the whole time you are playing then get a different game. It is poorly designed. Really, software needs a damn good reason to run as an admin all the time. It just so happens that programs that demand that they do are also the prime target of virus writers. That naïve, innocent software you've installed can and often will be twisted to the whim of the h4x0rs.

I don't care

Too hard? Don't care? Well, you can have the 2396% hard drive performance hit that Norton's Anti Virus will provide you while cleaning up after your spy ware installs. Not to mention the $100 a year subscription for updates, and the bandwidth to download them. I prefer to not own anti virus software, and reap the benefits. When you get right down to it, the nastiest of viruses, will eat AV software alive anyway. The best antivirus program is your brain, and through care and research you can live a virus free life.

Average users can get away with basic anti virus software that is scheduled to run overnight provided they don't browse the internet and read their emails as an administrator. They can safely turn off the auto protection features, which is the main culprit when it comes to performance decrease.

Just remember the old adage: a little bit of pain today instead of a whole world of pain tomorrow.