Mark’s Blog

So I just got done speaking with ASUSTech-Timothy01, and I have to say I’m a bit disappointed. Back in September I bought the ASUS My Cinema-PE9400 Combo TV Tuner card for my computer. I installed the card and all the drivers and programs and got nothing but a blank screen. I tried many different configurations, all to no avail. So I finally got an RMA number and sent it back, assuming it was defective.

Well, I got the new one yesterday, I installed the card and updated any drivers that needed to be updated, and tried it again. This time, just like last time, it “found” channels, but only displayed a blank screen.

To top it all off, when I tried contacting ASUS’ technical support and obviously exhausted all possibilities, the technical support agent just ends the chat session. They didn’t try calling me back (which they could have, because I gave them my phone number) or anything.

Below is the conversation I had:

I then tried to contact them again through their live chat option and the session ended up timing out, because I was “on hold” online for too long.

Still sucks. And now a lot of my add-ons don’t work. There’s an annoying little message that pops-up at the top of the browser screen that says, “Internet Explorer is currently running with add-ons disabled. Click here to manage, disable, or remove your add-ons.” Well that’s great, but how am I supposed to know what add-ons are or are not compatible with Internet Explorer 8, Beta 2, if it doesn’t tell me?!?! Firefox at least has that easy to use feature where you can search for and install add-on updates with just a simple click of a button. Firefox is great, Internet Explorer sucks.

Also, what happened to the “Emulate IE7″ button? Do the people at Microsoft not understand that there are a lot of people out there who need to test RIAs and Web sites on multiple browser types? I completely regret installing the Beta 2 version of IE8, because it’s worse than the first Beta version! Screw this, I’m going back to IE7 until they fix those problems.

I’ve always been meaning to write more, but the fact that I feel I’m not a very graceful writer has been one of the key factors that has kept me from doing so more often. However I feel that if I were to begin to write more often, I would eventually get better. So I am pledging to myself (and whomever is unfortunate enough to be reading this) that I will start to write more — and perhaps at greater length — about whatever I feel like writing about (most likely it be technology and Web related).

To start, I’ll explain my stance on the Microsoft vs. Apple topic.

Personally, I’m not a fan of either Apple or Microsoft. Any piece of technology that limits your options and is proprietary, can go to hell in my opinion. Sure, you’ve got to make money somehow, but I just think it would be really nice to see one day where all technological devices, software and peripherals included would all just be compatible with each other and nothing would be proprietary. I can dream, can’t I?

I choose to use a PC (one I built myself) because it doesn’t limit my options as much and is easier on the wallet. I choose to use Microsoft’s operating systems because I don’t think it’s even possible to install an Apple OS on a PC, plus I have a great deal more control over it, and I like that.

Apparently my feeling was right when I felt that Windows Vista was sort of “rushed out the door.” The latest from Microsoft says that the release date for Windows Vista’s first (and much anticipated) service pack has been delayed and won’t be out until early 2008. This comes to no surprise, considering the amount of data and feedback it is receiving from its numerous users whom employ a variety of different hardware configurations. Kind of puts an exclamation mark on Microsoft’s long standing mentality; We’ll worry about the software, you worry about the hardware.