BYTE.com > Chaos Manor > 2003
Orchids, Onions, and Kumquats
By Jerry Pournelle
February 3, 2003
(Orchids, Onions, and Kumquats
: Page 1 of 1 )
Column 270 (Continued from the Previous Week)
Drizzle
A small orchid to Microsoft for their "drizzle" program updating system. This has worked
quietly and
invisibly to keep both operating system and applications programs up to date without
overwhelming the
download capacity of my IDSL system. "Drizzle" sends bits and pieces of the update, assembles
them, and lets
you know when they are ready to install. It has worked very well for me.
I do confess some mild trepidation about security: The update drizzles are potentially a
major
vulnerability
to an outside attack, and I haven't seen a lot of discussion of that. I know Microsoft is
aware of the
problem.
Burning!
A medium sized onion and a "what were they thinking?" to Microsoft for the backup program
built into
Windows
XP. Microsoft Backup hasn't been the most wonderful backup program ever, but it can be
useful—except
that
this one won't back up your system to CD/R or DVD, and that's by design. With CD burners
nearly as cheap as
DVD readers, and DVD burners down to commodity prices, it's time to get some decent backup to
archive
capabilities into our operating systems.
A Chaos Manor Orchid to Nero
Burning ROM
for their CDROM software, still the best out
there. I haven't tried their new MPEG-2/DVD Plug-in but given how good Nero Burning ROM has
been, I'm
willing to bet it works well.
Plextor and Mount Rainier
The Chaos Manor User's Choice Award for CD Burning Hardware goes to Plextor. They've won that so often they could retire the
trophy if this
were that kind of game, but of course it's
not: Companies do rise and fall, and rapidly. But Plextor has been making efficient and
reliable CD writing
hardware for many years, and I don't see that changing.
A big Chaos Manor Orchid to the Plextor 48X PlexWriter. This is not just a slightly faster
CD burner,
because it supports the new Mount Rainier CD-MRW technology that finally makes CD-RW
packet-writing
transparent to the operating system.
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