It may have been the first gimmick of theirs that I heard of : Their “five nines uptime” marketing campaign. Then there was the “Linux and ROI claims” campaign. XP, itself (in my serious opinion) is a gimmicky-looking wonder — comparing it to Win 98 and window-managers across Linux.

Now, it sounds like they’re trying to grab some market-share about digital photography. It’s funny.

In terms of software, the digital photography ground is covered, already, with Linux (and a more of proprietary software, even.)

Granted, in regards to Linux, some pro photographers might still find a point of contention, about Linux and Integrated Color Management System (ICMS) settings, but I would bet that most users would not find any gripe about it.

In Linux space, so to (abstractly) speak, the right software for complete digital photography work (albeit, without CMS-related color adjustments, complex to configure on any system) is already there.

Though on the Linux platform, the software will not “do it all for the user”, in so much, yet it may be not terribly difficult to make it do so — given time for the feature-planning and subsequent coding — if it would all be done automatically. Even then, the automated system must, by necessity, be somehow limiting, but (if it “flew” so to speak) users would probably not all notice.

If a camera-to-gallery digital photo system would be done, manually — in so much — the applications are already there.

- for image access: GPhoto (,when not accessing images directly from a smart-card/sd/… reader) or the plain kernel USB and filesystem stacks (when accessing the images over a smart-card/6-in-1 type reader, which is generally quicker than “over the camera wire” anyway)
- for image archive browsing and preview: GQview, or GWEnview, or another
- for image editing: GIMP or any other favorite raster-based-image editor
- for gallery/collection and slide-show making: There’s probably a large number of applications for this — like, “gallery” applications — already available, free/open source software (probably would be web-based, in most, but available) indexed in such a software trove as Freshmeat.net; I haven’t dug for such. One might scirpt one up, oneself — given enough conditioned ken for it, and time, as it were — if that would be deemed necessary.

Of this new set of gimicks from Microsoft — the codename applique that you’d mentioned in another entry, and their “new” spin with digital photography — I had not heard of it, until I saw that you had mentioned it.

I think they try to cover every breaking fad, there in the Microsoft offices. (They still can’t seem cover free/open source software. I still continue to presume that that’s their proverbial “Achillees heel”.)

Speaking of FOSS, issues: Usability (e.g. in how it isn’t so much, across Linux – at least, from something of a disinvolved user perspective, so to speak) and “consumer” (really, personal) “awareness” (e.g. in how so-many people aren’t aware about which free/open source software products are available for things, and in how some folks might not be aware of how to apply any of it, if they knew it exists) are probably two main issues, serving to prevent that Linux and more of free/open source software would become more prevalent on people’s desktops and servers.

I don’t think any “ROI” equations can be measured on it, and be measured truthfully, but Microsoft’s proverbial henchmen did try to scare people away about it, nonetheless — away from Linux, with claims about “return on investment” and suggestions towards personal paranoia about cost of adoption, etc. Of course, they said nothing of the real benefits, attendant about Linux and free/open source software — like, that an “open box” system is far easier to work with (more than a “closed box” or “black box” system), in whatever means would best suit a given application. They tried their marketing as they tried it, anyway.

As it was: I had found your blog, while I was looking around, to see what RSS+XML feeds might be availble, truly about Islam. Then, it became: Which RSS+XML feeds are available, by Muslims.

In a comment: It’s a nice blog you have, here, seriously. The layout is clean, organized. The appearance is modern, though not contrived — in contrary to contrivance, original — and the appearance of the blog (in terms of aesthetics) is so serious as to be compelling, while not being overbearing. Furthermore, the content of your blog is interesting. It’s good to see this well-executed production, your-all’s

(eeeeeenglish).

just thought to mention — not meaning to be presumptuous, just putting into some terms of discourse, how I’ve found that it is.

End of comment from cross-internet unknown person.

With the comment, more: There is a Surah in the Qur’an, wherein it is mentioned that Allah (salahi alahu wa salam) taught man to write with the pen.

Is it not a wondrous thing , then: What mankind has been able to derive of works of human discourse and what activity and what works of technology, and what activity and what discourse, ongoing, thereafter — is it not wondrous, in the best of it?

Plainly, here is some discourse that might be regarded as being directed across community — albeit, extended community, and albeit, largely anonymous, rather by necessity, given this internet medium — then communicated, upon some technology — a convenient, simple thing, so much as how this occurs. While that it occurs, is this not something of minor wonder?

(and anyone would try to make any of this seem so very costly? Would that not be ironic? and if it was, yet would the irony matter, in so very much?)

Long run of text ends, next — not intending to make a long discourse out of your blog space, but going impromptu, in words — long words, albeit — to the end of this item of discourse — so to speak. EOF

Tibault you aren’t stealing this one from me

Well, ok. I’ll just comment on your review then