My computer just BSOD

Okay I just got a BSOD so it while be a couple of hours before I get my next post up. Sorry.

Take care,

James Hill

Safari 4 vs. Firefox 3.5 vs Opera 9.64

Now this is going to be an interesting review. I have used everyone of this browsers in their previous builds, so am particularly keen to get this underway.

Now since I already had Safari 4 I had to install the others. Firefox as per normal installed really quickly, but as for Opera it took a bit to get going. Hopefully it does not get beat by IE8. Sorry I am not a big fan of Internet Explorer.

For my browser tests I am using Futuremarks Pacekeeper Browser benchmark. A very unique tool.

The first right out of Pacekeepers oven was Safari 4 with a score of 4177. Because it had raised the bar yesterday with IE8 I knew Firefox and Opera would have to be quick.

It was pointed out to me yesterday that Safari is a RAM hungry beast, so to make my tests fair I took a look at how much RAM they each chewed. All these results are based on idle. (0%-5% CPU usage).

That is a lot of RAM. That is what we called ridiculous… But if you have plenty of RAM you should be right.

That’s better.

That’s bad but not as bad as Safari.

Okay now onto the results…

If you click on the image you will get a better view.

As we can all see Safari 4 is still the fastest Browser out there. But you have to have to the RAM to go with it. Firefox is a very good browser. I personally would recommend it, because it doesn’t use a lot of RAM and it is still quick. Opera did beat IE8 but it still likes a lot of RAM. So who wins?

I am not handing the winning title to anyone. There are really two winners. For people with a older system and not a whole lot of RAM go for Firefox but if you have the RAM get Safari 4. As for Opera, I feel it is getting better the ideas are good but it need the speed to go with it.

But wait I forgot Chrome, So I will have another review coming up today to see how polished Chrome version 2 really is. Will it make Safari use all the RAM I have got? I hope not.

Windows 7: My triumph, something that makes me love PC again.

I have been using XP for ages, since it got released I guess. I skipped Vista, I don’t really know why my PC would eat it alive like Windows 7. But anyway onto the post.

As you all know I had previous troubles with Windows 7. That problem has been fixed. It turns out it was the hard drive I was installing it onto. How did I get to this problem? Trial and error… A PC users best friend.

I simply tried another hard drive, instinct I guess. I worked. So yeah I am currently using RC1 full time now. All I can say is “it about time.” Sure it looks like Vista and feels like XP but I feel it is a breath of fresh air. I would still like to get a Mac though.

Well there’s an update for you on my windows 7 troubles.

Take care,

James Hill

Technorati: time to claim this blog.

tegxhpya38… thats right I am now on Technorati… I am now beginning my plan to build A Geeks Opinion into a well known website.

Open Office 3.1.0 review

For those who aren’t geeks or just don’t know what Open Office is I am here to explain it and review it just for you. Okay?

I find it very surprising to know that not many people are aware off this free Microsoft Office Competitor, Open office. Open office is nearly identical to its competitor Microsoft Office but with a much better price, its FREE.

It is intended for all those people that support open source software and believe that software should be free. For today’s review I will be focussing on the Word Processing part.

If you have some experience in Microsoft Office Word, you should be fine. Sure it may not have all the fancy colours like Microsoft Office 2007 but when you type documents you are not there for the colours are you? But for those fussy people it actually looks decent.

 

 

Click on image to get full size.

The word processing product of this free office suite is particularly easy to navigate through. It is nearly identical to Microsoft Office. You could easily use this full time instead of Microsoft Office 2007 and save some cash at the same time.

Click on image to get full size.

The download though might put some people off. It is a 155MB download and there are updates… but I can safely say it is worth the 155MB plus download.

You can download it here.

I have been using Open Office for nearly two years now along with Microsoft office 2007 and I can safely say it does the job it has been designed for, but if you need to make high quality reports on the fly you will still might want to consider Microsoft Office 2007.

Positives

1. Free…
2. It is nearly identical to Microsoft Office in layout and navigation.
3. Does everything Microsoft Office can do, to a certain level.
4. Has a free equivalent for everyone of Microsoft’s offerings.
5. Doesn’t take long to get use to and realise what you have been missing out on.
6. Can save your document as a .doc file.

Negatives

1. No theme software, for those that are looking to make a flash report might have to put in some effort.
2. Updates can get annoying.
3. If you want to save as a .doc file you have to select it manually.
4. Does not support .docx files right off the bat, however you could download word viewer (24.5MB download) that will enable you to copy and paste it into Open Office or you could try this website that converts it for you.

Overall

Well worth the download, really high quality software considering it is FREE and a worthy contended for an office suite. But sadly nothing is perfect. It does lack the support for .docx file types but there are ways you can overcome this problem. But overall it is free software that will leave the fussiest of all us geeks speechless. I rate it 8/10.

Coming up: Google Picasa 3 review.

A self hosted website is in progress.

That’s right I am building a website. Should be great. I will have more info for you at a later date.

Have a nice day,

James Hill

Becoming a reviewer: A goal of mine.

I spend quite a lot of time on the net. Watching you tube videos, mostly reviews on Computer products. I mostly watch sciguy14’s, 3dgameman’s, zoop425 and PCWhizKids reviews. After watching some I would like to start doing my own reviews.

But how do I go about it? This is completely new territory for me. I now know that I need precise and valuable content. Point taken. I am guessing that I have to start small and build my way up. I have emailed Seagate (A hard drive company) and they replied instantly detailing their process.

For them to send me a review I have to get 20000 views a month solid for 6 months straight. I am flat out getting 20 a day. So that is on my to-do list.

1. Provide my readers with more memorable and unique content.
2. Gain readers by word of mouth rather than advertising.
3. Practice, Practice, Practice it is going to become the only way I will get good enough.

I want to gain readers the old fashion way. By word of mouth. If I can do this, I will be set. If I can do it that is.