Ok, so I kept schtum about this all week, (well at least to the blog, but James (Apple fantatic) got a real ear bashing, (which in turn is nice as I’m always on the end of his exhaustive M$ (This is an abbreviation for Microsoft for all non geeko’s) bashing.)).
To summarise the situation; Apple is found to have released a number of 5th generation apple Ipods…. Complete with a version of RavMon.exe installed. Now, sending out a consumer product preinstalled with a virus that attacks your rival’s operating system is pretty bad (though Apple adamantly deny that there were any sneaky tactics going on here) but it wasn’t this that got my back up. What really bit me? Well it was the public statement issued by Apple over the incident:

“….The iPod nano, iPod shuffle and Mac OS X are not affected, and all Video iPods now shipping are virus free. As you might imagine, we are upset at Windows for not being more hardy against such viruses, and even more upset with ourselves for not catching it.“

Yes, that’s exactly what they said. They did just use a public apology to take a pop at their rivals. In fact, in the sentence before the actual “we screwed up” clause is the one they use to highlight inadequacies in their rival’s system. Whilst I could sit here all day and banter back and fourth as to “is Windows virus resilient”, “is it fair to judge it against other Oss that have fewer attacks against them” etc etc, but that’s not the point. The point here is that Apple F%*ked up and needed to say sorry. They often spend more time putting down their competitor than promoting themselves and this was not the time or the place. All they had to do was put their necks out and say “sorry everyone we screwed up”. Yes the virus came from a Windows machine, but we didn’t run adequate virus protection and we messed up. Sorry.” Except they couldn’t. They couldn’t take 100% responsibility for their actions and say sorry for them. They use it as an opportunity to pop at M$ again.

Apple, I used to have a lot of respect for you, but this little snide pop was rude, inappropriate and lost me a lot of respect for you. Why I am I so wound up by this? It angered me right to the “core”. (groan)

I was chatting briefly to a friend of mine this evening, shortly before I had to go out. When asked where I was going, I told him that I was going to the "Ferrari Garage" as I often do. It has been a ritual of mine for many years that when I am struggling with my motivation, or I am feeling a little bit lost, I go and look at Ferraris. As you will know by my Ferrari Challenge I am looking to buy one in October (2007), but this is something I have done for a long time. It was easier whilst at uni as I lived next to a garage, these days I have to drive for half an hour to get there.

Anyhow, he didn't quite get my point of view, so "Well you have to have goals" I furthered to him. "Yes, but I don't have to go and look at cars to achieve mine" he quite understandably replied. To this, I explained how it helped get me through the tough times. "Freak" was his conclusion.

It got me thinking. I realise that my methods are a little unorthodox. My girlfriend commented that my bedroom made me look like a "bit of a physcho" (maybe because I write quotes that inspire me in permanent marker on the walls - I will decorate sometime soon!). I know I may be a little of key, but then don't you have to be to make a difference? How many amazing things were done using ordinary methods? If you muddle through your 9 to 5 and dream a few dreams, play by the rules and do the expected, how do you think you fair in your quest to do something special... something out of the ordinary? This is me breaking free in the best way I know how.

Besides, credit where credit's due. Much of my craziness is encouraged by quotes as inspiring as the following:

Ordinary Actions = Ordinary Results

. A big thanks to Ramit for that one.

I'm glad Duncan brought this up, but it's something I have been enjoying enormously for the last few weeks.

Pandora is a wonderful site which lets you create your own internet radio station(s) packed full of you very favourite songs. In essence you "seed" it with a song or artist which describes your mood and it picks all the other songs based on this. It sculpts the station based on your feedback too, so you just create a different station for each mood you want to enhance.

It's supposed to only be for US, and requires a Zip code, but any digits will do. I apparently come from "90210" now.

Anyhow, thanks to Duncan Riley for making me remember to post this up.

OK, so in the job I do I really don't have call for many meetings, but certainly in the Uni years meetings were incessant and often very tedious.

Well there's a great piece on meeting styles in LifeHacker, well worth checking out. My favourite is a comment about how CISCO meetings are had standing up so people don't sit in their chairs and procrastinate. Anyhow, I found it interesting to learn hoe to run a meeting google-style