Back at the workstation

Yesterday, I celebrated the eight o'clock Eucharist at St Catherine's, and for the rest of the day we didn't do anything special, apart from a walk in the park, as the weather wasn't wonderful for most of the day. It did however start designing a poster to advertise Rachel's gig at The Apothecary on the first weekend of July when she comes over from Arizona to visit us. This involved consultations on information and photo content, back and forth on WhatsApp followed by trial and error. At first I used Libre Office, but had to give up in frustration, as there was a single feature to do with overlay and transparency I couldn't find, either because it doesn't exist or because the instruction manual is not as clear as it needs to be.

I started up my old Windows Vista workstation, which worked without hesitation. As Microsoft no longer supports this operating system, browser use is plagued by security warning bells and whistles, but nevertheless it works. I was surprised by the speed at which MS Word and Publisher started up and continued to operate. Publisher 2000 isn't as sophisticated and complex as successive versions, but I'm familiar with it, and it just works for my limited purposes. Far too many modern software packages impose on users more than they ask for, and make things more complicated than necessary. Likewise hardware. My ten year old Acer, starts and runs faster than any Windows 10 system on modern hardware, because it's not as dependent on constant interaction with internet servers and that unending procession of updates patching a fundamentally flawed system.

Admittedly the system did crash a couple of times initially and needed a hard reset, but I suspect it wouldn't have been necessary if I'd run CCleaner before starting work. Although I haven't entirely forgotten how Publisher works, it did take some concentration and recourse to help files to get what I had failed to find in Libre Office. By the end of the evening, I'd composed trial draft version and emailed it to Rachel in Phoenix for comments. The devil will certainly be in the detail.

   

Future travel prospects

Another wet morning. I was collected at ten for a funeral service in Pidgeon's chapel, and this was followed by burial at Western Cemetery. Light rain persisted throughout. I felt sorry for the small band of mourners at the graveside, huddled under umbrellas on waterlogged clay terrain. The water table on this site is a couple of meters below ground, but in wet weather, open graves frequently flood giving undertakers problems and mourners additional distress. It's not always possible to pump all the water out of a grave beforehand, and water can seep in again within fifteen to twenty minutes.

I was home and dry again by noon. After lunch I paid the balance over the phone on our Rhine cruise in May. I couldn't get the web payment facility on the website accept a card transaction, but a lady on the end of the Riviera Travel enquiry line was able to put it through, and it didn't take any longer. We're both looking forward to this greatly.

Then I did some more long drawn out Windows 10 computer updates, as each of mine at different times comes to the top of its particular queue. I also updated Libre Office on all my machines, the least onerous of tasks. Each new update brings improvements, some of them take a while to discover if you don't look at the published change-log. Improvements in speed however, are immediately noticeable and welcome every time. It's rarer and rarer that I ever have to use MS Word these days. 

This weekend I bought a copy of Linux Format magazine fro the first time in several years, as it had an up to date Linux Mint 18.1 distribution disk with it. These days I find that less and less of the technical content of the magazine is material I can understand. There's much about web computing and content management I have not kept abreast with, and have become less interested in how to do new things than I am in issues like user friendliness, or the social and cultural impact of media on life today. I still can and do troubleshoot computer problems for ordinary users, but that's now the limit of my expertise.

I whiled away a little time trying to run the live Mint distribution CD on a laptop with UEFI boot software, but without success. I am so nervous of making an irreversible change, which requires me to find and pay a real expert to put right. Progress, if it is progress, is leaving me behind, I admit.

By late afternoon the rain stopped and the sun shone, so I went for a walk to Pontcanna Fields before cooking supper, collecting a dozen pieces of litter on my way. So far, rough mental calculation still indicates that I pick up an average of half a dozen for each kilometre I walk. There's more than this on the ground for sure, but sometimes after rain, it's difficult to retrieve.

Just as I was getting ready for bed, I had an email from a churchwarden at St John's Montreux asking if I was available at the end of the summer. That's when I next have free time so I emailed my availability to her, and found myself quite excited at the prospect of an all new assignment, as I attempted to relax into sleep. I can hardly believe that it's nearly five years since we last visited Switzerland. My focus has been mainly on Spain since then, so the prospect of returning to a familiar and much loved part of Europe as a locum, and bringing my French back into use is going to be another challenge.
   

Publication challenge

I went to St German's this morning and celebrated Mass quietly in the side chapel for a change, as the school is on holiday and no class was in attendance today. The OT reading for the day from the Book Ecclesiasticus extolled the practical dimensions of wisdom. It struck me that it applied to both electors and potential episcopal candidates. I wondered if the electoral college would be listening to the same readings in the Cathedral in their morning worship.

In the church hall after Mass, day centre manager Marisa appeared, all freshly suntanned after a holiday in Montego Bay. I found myself thinking about my study tour there back in 1982. She spoke about the sand being sharp, not just hot, and that sprung a memory from deep down. Some of those gold-to-white sandy beaches have, I believe, a high gypsum content. Its powdered crystals are more abrasive than common silica, and this you can feel, if your feet aren't hardened to it. 

The only time I felt this was when I walked barefoot on a beach in Jamaica on a fishing trip, helping to launch a large balsa wood longboat from the shore, in the company of a nephew of Charlie Smith my Jamaican curate in St Paul's Bristol. The island has undergone huge development due to the holiday industry since then, yet still widespread chronic poverty is never far away, as Marisa observed on her dream holiday, I'm pleased to say.

I came home with a little job to do. Peter wanted to create a template using an existing design of which he had a paper copy, as a frame for editable text for a publication he hoped to email out. He could cut and paste a copy to scan into a pdf by cut and paste, but the file was too big and refused to send. I started by telling him how to change the scan resolution settings, and end by taking the job home to see if I could produce what he wanted, and find out the easiest way to teach him how to achieve this for himself. Fortunately familiarity with a variety of tools for editing scanned images and using OCR made this not too hard a task. 

Nowadays I rarely use anything other than Libre Office, but realised I needed to produce an editable file to load into MS Word and not ruin the layout. I used MS Word on-line for testing as the computer I was using didn't have Word installed. But Microsoft's ODF file format isn't wholly compatible with the internationally recognised Open Source ODF format, and neither is their DOCX file format, so loading them obliges you to re-format work to be of any use. It's particularly onerous when working with text and graphics. Eventually, I switched to a machine which has MS Word installed, plus Libre Office, and confirmed the findings. Then I had an idea, and saved the Libre Office product as an old fashioned bog standard DOC file. To my delight, this loaded perfectly into MS Word. Libre Office has been able to create and to some extent edit PDFs for years. This has only appeared in recent version of MS Word. Previously an extra PDF plug-in was required for MS Word to match up to Libre Office, which is still evolving, getting slicker, more capable with each update thanks to collaboration within the global Open Source software programming community.

Several years ago the government administration of Munich converted to Linux desktop software and use of Libre Office. The majority of networks linking computers run Linux anyway, but this was a major step forward, destined to save tens of millions of euros. Since Microsoft decided to move one of its regional headquarters to Munich, the government has been debating the abandonment of this policy and is proposing to revert to MS Windows 10, at least optionally, no doubt supplied at a bargain discount. 

Major challenges to Microsoft's near monopoly of money making desktop software are bound to be met with moves of this kind. The competitive option, however, is to create free software which works at least as well as the paid version, and meets the actual needs of users rather trying to manipulate users into acquiring new needs, or even worse, forcing redundancy on to perfectly serviceable hardware by refusing to update drivers that are compatible with Windows upgrades. If it wasn't for open source software engineers writing or customising hardware drives Microsoft can't be bothered with any more, a lot more devices would fail to work, and the mound of electronic detritus would be even bigger. 

   

Another Windows troubleshooting mission

An early start today, with the alarm going off just after six, and after a suitable breakfast, out of the house by twenty to seven, walking to the National Express coach station in Sophia Gardens for the seven fifteen coach to London to see my sister June and fix her computer. On my way down Cathedral Road, with relatively little traffic around, I was delighted to hear singing, first a wren, then a robin, then a blackbird, then a starling, and then thrush. All in the trees and garden bushes along one of Cardiff's main arterial roads into the city centre. What a lovely surprise to start the day!

The coach fleet has been upgraded since I last took the journey a year ago. Seats are better upholstered, if a bit narrow for me, and there's more legroom. Best of all, there's free wi-fi, which allows one to receive and send emails, also to surf the net, though not to use social media apps, it appears, probably because they gobble up too much data. Some video streaming is possible via a Sky app, and e-magazines are available to read, but not much to interest me. 

I slept on and off, and browsed a little, and the journey seemed to go much quicker than usual, despite arriving about forty minutes late because of traffic congestion around Newport and beyond the Severn bridge on the approach to North Bristol. Google kept issuing notifications of traffic delays throughout the journey, and it was possible to follow the trip on the Maps app in 'real time'. If you're not driving, this is quite interesting as you get to put names to the hamlets and villages along the M4 corridor which do not appear in motorway exit signage. Then if you're curious, you can Google further info about them. This time last year, on a trip like this, I would have been struggling to do office tasks on my Blackberry in response to a crisis phone call from Ashley, or prepare a document draft on a policy change. This was a much more relaxing and leisurely an outing.

I arrived at June's place at half past midday, having done some shopping for her on my way from coach to Victoria train station. June's laptop is identical to Kath's, and as soon as I switched it on and examined it, the same problem problem presented itself. A broken network configuration, meant that there had been no updates since 9th November, and the anti-virus software was also out of date. It was a matter of re-setting the network software from the command prompt window, with the recommended single line of code, rebooting the machine and forcing it to update everything immediately, a process that took about an hour, all told. 

This was a lot more straightforward than with Kath's machine, as in her case the update mechanism was broken, and it took ages just to find out how to repair it. Would I have been able to remember how I did the full repair two weeks later? Glad I didn't have to put that to the test.  Being risk averse, I'd brought with me the little Acer Aspire E11 I bought recently, to leave for June's use, while I took the other one back home to sort out. But that wasn't necessary. After lunch, I spent some more time, removing some of the useless redundant software, installing and using CCleaner to keep her Acer ES1-521 running as well as it can. So, hopefully there'll be no more problems, unless Microsoft does something equally as stupid and dangerous to render its flagship software system unfit for purpose again. I wonder how many millions of hours have been wasted and money expended by individuals and businesses unable to sort out critical technical problems forced upon them for themselves?

My sister starting using a home computer of her own fifteen years after retirement, and that was ten years ago this year. She gets along reasonably well with surfing, emailing, writing and printing off letters, scanning documents, shifting photos from camera to computer, but finds changes in the user interface, layout and terminology imposed by Windows quite baffling and dis-empowering. I wish that I had introduced her to Linux at the outset, where it is possible to choose your own user interface and modify layout until you get it the way you want it, then stick to it through all the necessary updating processes that improve the work the software needed to do in the background, to keep users safe and stable. Too late for that now however! 

I am pleased, however, that she gets on well with Libre Office, as I never put MS Word on her first laptop. So, she has benefited from having basically the same user interface throughout the decade, as its appearance changes have been cosmetic and minor. I'm glad to see reports that the next Libre Office will replicate the ribbon tool bar familiar with many users of recent iterations of MS Word, and that it will be optional - if only Microsoft would make optional appearances available easily, without fuss and palaver.

My trip home took just three hours and ten minutes, as the traffic on the streets of West London was relatively light, so it only took about half an hour to get as far as Heston services, when it can take twice as long when things are really busy. Despite spending seven hours of the way in coach seats, my gammy leg didn't stiffen up too much, so the twenty minute walk home wasn't an effort. With 'mission accomplished' I arrived with a sense of modest satisfaction, and devoured the welcome late supper Clare had left for me. She retired to bed early, in anticipation of early rising tomorrow to attend the Heath Hospital for her next eye operation. 

    

Unwarranted intruder

The house resumes its quiet and empty countenance now that the rest of the family has gone its separate ways. But there's cleaning, washing, re-stocking the larder, a funeral to prepare for and work routine to ease back into. I went in to the office in the afternoon, updated Libre Office on three computers there and delivered the spare Nexus tablet to Ian, which I prepared for new use at the end of last week. It took ages to do as it required five successive Android updates to complete before it was ready for use. 

Jasmine left a drawer full of clothes behind, so a Skype call was necessary to sort items for mailing to Arizona, and those to keep for next time. Late evening we had a call to say that Rachel and Kath had made a recording of our Golden Wedding anniversary tribute song. Then, within minutes the MP3 file was emailed and we were listening again. Such a wonderful souvenir, along with all the photos.

When I came to install the same Libre Office update on home computers, one completed routinely, but the other announced a warning about the installation file, issued by 'Bytefence', which I'd never heard of before. I checked the installed programs list and found a Bytefence app was installed there the day after I returned from Spain. How it got there, I have no idea. It didn't have my consent to be installed. I googled the name and found it was a known piece of Anti-Malware software, but some security critics noted that it plays around with default browser settings in manner that could leave a vulnerability to security exploits. It uninstalled easily. Doing this showed it had changed some default browser settings. How this came to install itself on my laptop without me knowing is something of a worry, as I didn't visit any sites that I don't use regularly. What am I missing?

     

Traffic woes

After a morning of preparing a sermon for Sunday, I took the bus into town and walked over to St German's for the wedding blessing. There was a long traffic queue on Cathedral Road. Vehicles were moving so slowly, I began to wonder if I'd left enough time for me trip. I could have walked past the next couple of bus stops in the time it took for the bus to travel. The reason? Not road works, but a scaffolding lorry double parked on a road with vehicles parked either side, creating a choke point for traffic in both directions on a busy afternoon. I don't think it had broken down. There was a side street no more than fifty metres from where the lorry had stopped, where it could have stopped if there was a load to deliver. 

It's not the first time this week it's happened on one of the city's main traffic arteries this week, so it poses the question whether anyone with responsibility for traffic, parking enforcement and planning is consulted beforehand about disruptions of this kind. They're not uncommon, as a great number of urban properties are now the target of investment by renovation. I know only too well how much work goes on to prepare for major events involving traffic disruption as the team works in the same office space as CBS. In our side street 3-4 parking spaces have been occupied by skips or dumps of builder's materials continuously for the past year or so. The parking demand just from residents, let alone workmen and visitors far exceeds supply. Cardiff benefits from all the enterprise but is harmed by anarchy tolerated, or regarded with indifference.

Hundred strong gathering for the wedding was mainly of local people who didn't have to get across town. It was an informal happy family affair, a thanksgiving for a couple that has stuck together for better for worse. A young family member sang an unaccompanied solo while the couple and their entourage gathered at the altar. Unfortunately their recording technology failed to work with the church's public address system, but just because it seemed to fit, I included in my brief address a solo rendering of Frank Sinatra's song 'All the way', and said why its message was relevant to this celebration. It's nice to have the confidence and freedom to do this in my old age, and know that I may be excused for eccentricity rather than deviance from conventional stereotypes.

After the blessing, I walked back to the office in town, and worked on updating Libre Office on three of the desktop machines. Each new version seems to get slightly quicker, and retaining that familiar consistent user interface is a boon. I have the highest regard for this international voluntary work of co-operation in creating excellent digital software. I also arranged Ian's June paycheck, as the details had just come in by email, to leave one less thing for Julie to do when she gets back after her holiday next week. Then I went home to cook supper, and watched the first episode of a new Danish crime series called 'Dicte - crime reporter, about a fearless often unscrupulous investigative reporter with an annoying knack of getting there ahead of the local police. As well as the main plot line there are also sub themes about women's issues, divorce, family estrangement, and it's set in Aarhus, for a change.

Pleased to see that Archbishop Barry and his predecessor Rowan Williams are among the religious leaders speaking up in defence of EU institutions as instruments of peace and social justice ahead of the referendum. But does anyone listen to religious leaders any more?

Office at home and at work

Thunder and rain today. At least it lowers the pollen count, but there's not much incentive to go out. The new antibiotics are slowly conquering my infected sinuses but improvement is slow. Thankfully there are matters I can deal with from home, as my office work environment can be accessed and contributed to whatever computer I have, wherever I am. It's not yet perfectly seamless but it's adequate. There are always legacy issues to be dealt with when it comes to software compatibility, as we are running machines with three different operating systems.

Every software giant seems to want to 'improve' work tools are already fit for purpose in the eyes and under the hands of the regular user. Creating a need for upgrades meant to enhance user experience keeps companies in business, but this can backfire if users don't agree, as has been shown by the fate of Windows Vista and Windows 8 in less than satisfactory user uptake. Reliability, consistency and compatibility are what most concern busy long term users. Stopping to learn how to use a new operating system or new versions of software you rely on heavily makes life worse for the user not better.

The version of MS Word we use in the office and at home dates back to the turn of the century. I installed and used Open Office as well MS Office when it was launched in 2002. I've used Libre Office since it was launched in 2010 as a Free and Open Source alternative to Open Office. It has continued to improve and add new features with each upgrade, and yet its user interface has remained consistently the same. It means learning new things is always an incremental extension of what you already know. It's a tribute to the way the Open Source design and programming community learns from user feedback. Why does Microsoft thinks it knows what's best for us. Consistency is every bit as important to users as improved speed and reliability.