Proprietary File Lock-OUT!

Got a query from a colleague to help open a PowerPoint file, from his client. It may be password protected (who password protects presentations?!!!) so it may cause problems ...

Sure enough, OpenOffice.org complains:

Argh.

So I was forced to install Microsoft Office, which I have been avoiding like the plague. To keep it as far away as possible, I put it in a Virtual Machine. Waited the 15 minutes to install, and loaded the file up. This is the wonderfully helpful error I got:

"PowerPoint can't open the type of file represented by M:\xxxx.ppt"

WHAT?! So much for the "de-facto" file format which everyone uses! Im so happy I haven't been using .doc/.xls/.ppt for over 5 years now. None of this rubbish. Real open formats for me, thanks.

And look at that smugfaced Clippy! No wonder people hate him!

@#!$!@$!!!@#%

*Uninstall Microsoft Office - that pile of crap*



yk.

Fantastic first day at foss.my!

Today was foss.my! With only 40 odd days to prepare for this, the committee certainly pulled it off! It was really enjoyable...

Here were my tweets, starting from 7 Nov, Friday 4pm:

Oh. Just found out that Im giving the keynote at foss.my ... hopefully not much to update on the slide! (yes just one). 4:09 PM yesterday (7 Nov) from TwitterFox


@aizatto just one slide, remember? 5:09 PM yesterday from TwitterFox in reply to aizatto


@angch OK! Good luck in setting things up. Make sure xrandr works with the projectors. 5:18 PM yesterday from TwitterFox in reply to angch


Checking the slide for fossmy. about 24 hours ago from TwitterFox


Awake! Bleary eyed, but off to fossmy now. about 17 hours ago (8am Saturday 8 Nov) from TwitterBerry


Alright! At #fossmy now! My keynote shd be on soon, after the registration queue gets shorter. about 16 hours ago from TwitterBerry


30 speakers at #fossmy, and OLPCs to be given out! about 16 hours ago from TwitterBerry



Heh @rajdylan's guitar skills abit rusty, but it was fun! about 15 hours ago from TwitterBerry


@brianritchie ah, its always cheesy, but brings a smile all the time. about 15 hours ago from TwitterBerry in reply to brianritchie


Whoah, Twitter is busy at #fossmy about 15 hours ago from TwitterBerry


@brianritchie ill be here both days! about 14 hours ago from TwitterBerry in reply to brianritchie


Hmm @seraphine, maybe we need a BOF for twitter at #fossmy to add them twits. about 14 hours ago from TwitterBerry


@aizatto just 30 hours to go! Eat sugar. about 14 hours ago from TwitterBerry in reply to aizatto


Bought a Inkscape sticker at the foyer of #fossmy. Cute! Get your own, you call the price. about 14 hours ago from TwitterBerry


#fossmy "customers should have a choice" - Microsoft about 13 hours ago from TwitterBerry


"Windows is a framework to support DRM. Novell is working on it for Linux" - Microsoft about 13 hours ago from TwitterBerry


Accessibility talk by @kaeru at #fossmy. about 13 hours ago from TwitterBerry


Fadlin will be demoing how a blind user uses the gnome desktop with assistive tech at #fossmy about 12 hours ago from TwitterBerry


Not everyday you can drop off Dylan to a guitar lesson about 12 hours ago from TwitterBerry


Malaysian Association to the Blind will be rolling out Linux desktops to their members in 2009. #fossmy ftw! about 12 hours ago from TwitterBerry


Anybody with old DDR1 ram is required to upgrade Mal Assoc for Blind computers. If u have any old PCs, please contact @kaeru about 12 hours ago from TwitterBerry


Earth247.tv by @cerventus. - "Drupal has a high learning curve, but everything else is sucky after it" about 11 hours ago from TwitterBerry


Darn u @cerventus and your audience participation! I'm running around passing the mikes to people at #fossmy about 10 hours ago from TwitterBerry


@brianritchie I was the sneakernet! about 10 hours ago from TwitterBerry in reply to brianritchie


30k mysql queries per second with memcached instead of 6k on a good day without. Mixi tech talk by Toru @tmaesaka at #fossmy about 10 hours ago from TwitterBerry


Mixi is beta, but corporate thinks its "better"! about 10 hours ago from TwitterBerry


Ruby talk by @aizatto. He doesn't need the mike. about 9 hours ago from TwitterBerry


Aizat gives love to OSX filesystem events. I thunk it was #fossmy? about 9 hours ago from TwitterBerry


@seraphine @cheeaun - with 20% less pay? about 9 hours ago from TwitterBerry in reply to seraphine


@kagesenshi good work dude! Thanks for carrying the boxes up for me. about 8 hours ago from TwitterBerry in reply to kagesenshi


Blender Inkscape and GIMP - BIG stack for digital content creation! Lightning talks at #fossmy ftw! about 8 hours ago from TwitterBerry


@fossmy - GOD wins with lightning talks. Zeus maybe! about 8 hours ago from TwitterBerry in reply to fossmy


"Regularity is important to keep the community growing." - @piawaugh at #fossmy about 8 hours ago from TwitterBerry


@cheeaun where are you, we haven't met. about 8 hours ago from TwitterBerry in reply to cheeaun


"Linux Australia is a terrible name because its more than linux" - @piawaugh ... "Change your NAME!!!" - @rms about 7 hours (6pm) ago from TwitterBerry


"Hacking with your friends on FOSS is a legitimate career move!" - @piawaugh at #fossmy about 7 hours ago from TwitterBerry


"New South Wales is rolling out 250k OpenOffice.org to their teachers." - @piawaugh at #fossmy about 7 hours ago from TwitterBerry


"Mad Dog Hall totally inspired me at the first LCA, for me to contriute" - @piawaugh ... Hopefully someone here at #fossmy will be inspired about 7 hours ago from TwitterBerry



"A dozen good journalists in Australia who are clueful about FOSS. There is interest now in the Biz and Govt community" - @piawaugh #fossmy about 7 hours ago from TwitterBerry


Cambridge 5 Card Mao ftw!!! Thanks @piawaugh! about 3 hours ago from TwitterBerry

For more tweets on foss.my, click here.

It was a really eventful day, jam packed with good quality talks. Now to sleep for more goodness tomorrow.

yk

This picture was on our pre foss.my meeting at Pelita with Pia Waugh (thanks, aizat!):

[Thanks sumardi for the most excellent pictures of foss.my, day 1]

[btw, to reverse the order of twits, copy and paste it into a text file and use awk:

awk ' { line[NR] = $0 }
END { for (i=NR;i>0;i--)
print line[i] }' twitter.txt > rettiwt.txt

]