AT&T - Death of an Icon

Way back when, I bought my first cell phone.  I used it to make phone calls to Europe for $2.80 per minute.  Hard to believe that now. 

I eventually got around to doing some research and was soon paying 1/10 that amount.  AT&T then called me and asked why I changed services.  When I told them the price difference, he countered with "We will give those calls for $1.65 a minute."  This came right after I told him I was paying $.29 a minute.

What would make him think I would take such a deal.

Later, AT&T quoted me an internet connection price from London and then later charged me 10 times what they quoted saying "I had failed to use the minimum number of minutes" or something like that.  I then swore off AT&T forever.

They later collapsed and were purchased by Cingular who then decided to keep using the AT&T name.

Now, all that AT&T has going for it is the iphone.  However, the iphone has been hacked and the unlock instructions are readily available on the internet.  Also, Verizon will soon have the iphone in its stable of stars.

My company, for some reason, still has AT&T internet service.  The brag about how fast they are and right now, I am uploading a video at .21 Mps.  This is almost dial-up speed.

AT&T, you are history.  Thanks for stopping by.

Jim

Movie: The Expendables

This is a great movie if you hit the mute button during the parts where there is some dialogue.

All of the big names in Macho Film are here.  From Arnold Schwarzenegger to Sylvester Stallone and everyone in between.

The plot is basically an excuse to have knife fights and explosions.

The hard part with this type of movie is to not make every chase scene or fight look like every other chase scene and fight in every other "Shoot-em-up" movie.  I think they pulled it off here.  One thing that was notable was the huge amount of knife fighting. 

As far as shooting goes, one of the guys has this shotgun that shoots explosive rounds at the rate of 200 per minute.  There is a great scene of him blowing up a bunch of guys as he walks forward and the scramble to get out of the way.

Best line is when Sylvester is fighting one of the Pro Wrestling type guys and was losing.  He shows back up with his friends and they ask where he was and he says, "I was getting my ass kicked."  It was great because its rare when he doesn't win.

I give this one star for plot; 3 and a half stars for action.

MicroSoft Office Suite 2007

The good news here is that they managed to spell the "Office" correctly.

There is no other good news to report.

I sometimes go shopping at Costco, a warehouse store, and find that they have moved everything around.  I think they do this so you have to look for what you want instead of going straight to it.  While you are looking, you might find something you didn't know you need until you saw it.  So, they moved the stuff around for a reason.

MicroSoft Office 2007 is the same as Office 2003 with everything moved around.  They did this for a reason.  They wanted an excuse to put another product on the market.  There is nothing new here.  Sure, the experts will tell you that some obscure functionality has been improved but basically, its the same thing with a different look.

This may sound like I am indifferent; as if I'm saying "The chair was over there and now it's over here."  This is not the case. 

Here, different means much, much worse.

Why?

First of all, you need to learn the software all over from scratch.  I have heard that people who have never used Office before have no problem with this.  As for us that have been using this software for years, it's a pain in the ass.

Secondly, it's incompatible with earlier versions of Office.  Sure, I can open a Word file with either but that is about the extent of the compatibility.  For example, take a PowerPoint 2003 and open it in PowerPoint 2007 and try to change the background on the master slid.  Didn't work did it?

Thirdly, the software is as prone to crashing as Windows Vista.  I have learned to save my work frequently because I never know when the program is going to crash.

I have not use Office 2010, but from what I can tell, it's the same as Office 2007 but in a box with a different label.

I give it my lowest rating: ZERO stars.