On The Net - Computing News

with Chris Goh

One of the great things about my job is that I get to travel around rural NSW. I've just finished a 7500km trip. I cannot but gaze in wonderment, especially after the recent rains, at how stunning and intrinsically beautiful Australia is.

But this trip was more disturbing than previous journeys. I couldn't help notice the many crosses as small memorials to lives lost on the road. What surprises me is how often they appear beside a straight piece of road. On one stretch coming out of Tumut, there is a row of three crosses on both sides of the road. The tragedy and horrible effect on the families and friends of these people is almost incomprehensible.

If I know anything about technology - and it's the one thing I emphasise in this column - it's that the bigger danger is that making things easier also makes us complacent. We lose sight of our vulnerability and take things for granted.

Any modern car can easily reach the maximum road speed of 110km/h.

Cruise control makes it even easier to drive - to the point where people take their foot off the pedals altogether.

And while it's tempting on a long drive to do an extra 5 or 10km to shorten your travelling time, the risk isn't worth the reward. Lets assume you travel 100km and drive at 110km/h. It will save you six minutes, but you risk fines and losing points, not to mention a greatly increased risk of losing control and damage, should you have an accident.

This Christmas, the most important gift you can give to your family is arriving home safe and sound. Take rests, know that there will be congestion and delays, and accept them. And don't take for granted how important, and how fragile, our lives are.

Don't be one of those crosses on the roadside.

To all my readers, thank you for all your support this year.

May you be kept safe, find the happiness you seek and enjoy life - preferably far away from the trappings of technology.

My best to you and your family.

PS. In keeping with tradition, there's no links for this time of the year. I love it, but reckon surfing the web over Christmas should be outlawed.

HotNews

A customer alerted Microsoft that two different swastikas featured in their bookshelf symbol font. Microsoft has released a patch and contacted Jewish organisations to inform them about the fix. Before the Nazis tainted the symbol, it was used by Buddhists to represent the footprints of Buddha, and its ancient symbolism remains prominent in places like India to this day.

Microsoft has announced its intention to withdraw 24 software titles, with no future support, to comply with a legal ruling that found Microsoft had infringed on the Java License provided by Sun. The withdrawal includes all the Win 9x range, which includes 98 and 95, Outlook 2000, Vision 2000, IE 5.5 and SQL Server 7.

The list is so all-encompassing that many developers are worried about facing system upgrades much sooner than expected.