Whilst I agree that there must be fair legislation with regard to anticompetitive practices, it may appear that the European Union has gone over the top in its latest antitrust probe against Microsoft: -

From Computer Buyer Magazine’s website: -

“The European Commission has told Microsoft that it believes the tying of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer web browser with its Windows operating system infringes EU antitrust laws.

The Commission has sent a Statement of Objections (SO) to Microsoft which outlines its view that the tying of IE to Windows provides Internet Explorer with an artificial distribution advantage which other web browsers are unable to match. This “harms competition between web browsers, undermines product innovation and ultimately reduces consumer choice”.

It EU executive is also concerned that “the ubiquity of IE creates artificial incentives for content providers and software developers to design websites or software primarily for Internet Explorer which ultimately risks undermining competition and innovation in the provision of services to consumers”.

Microsoft has eight weeks to reply the SO and will then have the right to an Oral Hearing. If SO findings confirmed, the Commission may impose a fine and require Microsoft to make changes to Windows that would ameliorate the Commission’s concerns.

In a short statement, Microsoft said it was still examining the SO.

“We are committed to conducting our business in full compliance with European law. We are studying the Statement of Objections now.”

The decision to issue the SO is based on legal principles established in the 2007 ruling by the European Court of First Instance, which upheld the Commission’s 2004 finding that Microsoft had abused its dominant position in the PC operating system market by tying Windows Media Player to its operating system.

That judgement saw Microsoft release a special N version of Windows XP without Media Player, which remained available as a free download. The company was also fined and has to date been ordered to pay fines totalling €1.68 billion for this and other antitrust violations.”

This is just too much: It’s no secret that the EU is a corrupt powerbase of political subterfuge and scam-mongering. This appears to be just another attempt to swell the EU coffers even further. Not content in just charging Britain millions of Euros in membership fees so that European politicians can hire call-girls and throw lush parties, the Eurocrats like to have a stab at Microsoft from time to time; as Microsoft is where the money is. In early 2008, Microsoft was fined 899m Euros by the European Commission for anti-competitive behaviour over bundling in the Windows Media Player and browser into Windows. As if that wasn’t enough loot for them, they’ve decided to have a second snipe and see if they can get some more out of the software giant.

Now this is rather ancient news from Computer Buyer; as on the 16th June I reported on this in the article “Europe Doesn’t want IE8”, and I also reported Microsoft’s solution to the problem: -

“In order to comply with European competition law, Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 will be removed from the European versions of Windows 7. Microsoft made the decision to drop the web browser in order to stay on the right side of the European Commission and avoid further possible fines. Versions of Windows 7 released in Europe will have an E suffix to show that they are European versions that don’t include Internet Explorer.”

- So if they don’t include IE then what browser do they include?

Internet Explorer is a fundamental software component of the Windows operating system; and it goes a lot deeper than just the browser GUI that IE users see. Without IE, there is, in all reality, no Windows as such. Without IE there are just a number of disjointed codes resembling an incomplete operating system. Conversely, Windows Media Player is more an app than an integral part of Windows.

This becomes puzzling now: How, if there’s no browser, does the customer add a browser so that they can download anything? ‘Beats me!

According to the BBC Website, in an article from 12th June 2009: -

"In terms of potential remedies, if the Commission were to find that Microsoft had committed an abuse, the Commission has suggested that consumers should be offered a choice of browser not that Windows should be supplied without a browser at all," said the Commission in a statement responding to Microsoft’s announcement.

It said Microsoft’s approach of offering the program to computer manufacturers "may potentially be more positive" in terms of remedying its alleged abusive behaviour.”

-Which still doesn’t really answer the question. – I mean if I were to buy a copy of Windows 7 E, post RTM, to install on a computer that I just built: OK I’ve installed it. How do I get a browser onto it? There is no browser. – No wait; I have a choice of browser? – If the EU have their way then yes. OK; I’ll install FireFox. Is that how it’s going to be? That would actually be rather good.

- The Eurocrats are targeting the IE GUI itself perhaps; and maybe they have a point: If the IE GUI is supplied along with Windows then it gives the IE browser an unfair advantage in a way; because many computer users aren’t geeks. -  In fact many (European) computer users are rather clueless when it comes to computers. – Other than instant messaging, browsing to find their family tree, and email, they really don’t have much idea of anything else that the internet has to offer. (I know, it’s a bit of a wild assertion; but if a lot of British users are anything to go by then it’s true.) – Therefore, when they buy the Windows operating system from Microsoft they stick it on their computer as is, if it isn’t preinstalled, and they use it as is: Sucky browser, the lot. Possibly half of them aren’t even aware that there’s an alternative to IE. The other half may have heard of FireFox, Opera, Safari… But are of the attitude: “If it works; why fix it?”

…But Microsoft have even included a function in Windows 7 to deactivate IE – The GUI bit, that is, for people who don’t want IE on their computer at all, even though they run Windows, as a primary or secondary OS. (Linux users come to mind.) Nevertheless the non-nerdy users probably won’t bother to deactivate IE and choose an alternative browser.

So what are the choices? Supply Windows with another browser? That’ll give the new browser an unfair advantage no matter which browser they use; although the Eurocrats may have problems getting any money out of Microsoft for promoting another company’s browser. – But Microsoft themselves probably wouldn’t be too happy about promoting someone else’s product.

What if they supplied Windows with no browser and let the customer make up their own mind which one to install? – The problem then would be that the customer has absolutely no way of downloading any software whatsoever: No browser = no browsing = no downloads.

Email a browser to the customer. – Yeah right. As soon as the malware distributors hear of that they’ll spoof the email and get everyone to download tons of malware into a blind operating system. Forget that straight away: It’s a definite non-starter.

The only option left, then, is to include a copy of every browser available that works with Windows on the installation disc, and let the customer choose which one is to be used from the offing as the operating system installs. As I said before; that appears to be how it’s going to work; but we might have to wait until the RTM to know for certain.

What do you think?

P.S. The next EU antitrust suite against Microsoft will probably be targeting Windows Live Mail, or maybe even Windows itself: -

“The European Commission has told Microsoft that it believes the tying of Microsoft’s Windows operating system with its range of Windows operating systems infringes EU antitrust laws.” 

– The Eurocrats have got to find enough money to continue to live in the lap of luxury somehow. – Those call-girls cost quite a bit!

The internet is probably the most useful place any American can go to for a bargain. In the UK the situation’s slightly different: Yes; UK people can find things at a decent price on the net most of the time and/or cheaper than in most High Street shops; but the way the cookie crumbles favours Americans. I’m not sure whether this is why Americans use the internet a lot more than the British; or whether it’s a result of the British using the internet less, possibly due to the comparative lack of education and abundance of negativity in UK culture when compared with the American equivalent. – ‘Sorry Brits; but honestly we’re going to end up a nation of half-witted moronic thugs and delinquents unless something radical happens, and soon. I’m not going into politics right now: But perhaps I should; as the stuck-up self-interested privileged “elite” currently in UK politics who have allowed this situation to deteriorate over the last few generations seem to hardly be able to run a bath; let alone a country.

The term “Americans” herein refers to those who are resident in the US and Canada. I found it rather, to all intents and purposes, racist, that an overwhelming number of sometimes crazy offers that appear on the internet are only available to US and Canadian residents.

One such offer concerns Microsoft’s up and coming operating system; Windows 7:

An article by Rich Menga on PCMech.com; which is run from Tampa, Florida, by David Risley and others, announces the headline: -

“Windows 7 Home Premium Pre-Order, $49.99 Upgrade, $199.99 Full”

Inside the article; Rich clearly states: -

“Starting today, if you pre-order Windows 7 as an upgrade, the Home Premium Edition (which is what most people would go for) is just a tick under $50. See below.”

Wow; that’s amazing! I can order my own copy at a massive discount!

(The three images below are copied directly from Rich’s article on PC Mech.)

“The full versions start with Home Premium at $199.99. That’s still steep, but it is cheaper than Vista. See below.”

“What versions of Windows qualify you for the upgrade?"

Windows Vista or Windows XP. Yes, XP qualifies be it Home or Pro Edition. Is says so right on the Office Depot sale page for this product. “

Brilliant! I run XP professional and Windows 7 RC. – I qualify!

“A near-60% discount on the purchase of Home Premium means this is the cheapest Windows upgrade we’ve seen in a very long time.

I use Windows 7 RC on a daily basis. It’s stable and solid. And now, thankfully, cheap (at least for the upgrade).

This upgrade offer lasts from today, June 26 to July 11.

Where to get it?

• Amazon
• Office Depot
• Microsoft Store

The links go directly to the Windows 7 pre-order page for the respective vendor.”

I attempted to order from Amazon.com: They are unable to ship this product to my address.

I looked at Office Depot… Office What? ‘Never heard of them. – An exclusively American company.#

I tried the Microsoft Store: The words “United States” were written in the banner at the top of the page. I was asked to  sign in with my Windows Live ID: No problem yet; but it wouldn’t allow me to leave the ‘state’ field blank, neither would it allow me to enter a British postcode in the ‘Zip’ field – So I’m stuffed there too.

I know; how about if I go back and select ‘United Kingdom’ from the drop-down list that appears when I click ‘United States’ in the banner bar?..

-  NO! <stifled scream> :-

I don’t want Vista. I hate Vista; Vista sucks. I’m definitely not buying it just to get 7! Even if you charged me for 7 and gave me Vista free I’d send Vista back.

Hang on a minute: How much?

Unless there’s been a massive devaluation of the UK pound against the US dollar that I missed, then I make that offer about 5 times the cost in the UK as it is in the USA! – + I’ll have a copy of Vista to use as a coaster on my coffee table.

If you’re in the UK and are thinking of going for this offer; my advice is don’t. Microsoft are fully aware that a lot of British people don’t have the brains they were born with, and are too lazy to even browse the internet: That’s why they’re offering you the chance to increase their Vista sales figures, so that they can say “We did well with Vista in the UK; the figures prove it.” In the meantime you’re in reality paying probably full price for Windows 7 and also jointly all buying a backlog of unsold Vista DVDs at a knock-down price just to make some room in Microsoft’s warehouse while saving on their recycling bill.

Yes it stinks: It’s a big con, and if you’ve already fallen for it then Microsoft saw you coming a while ago.

Well Brits: Don’t all just sit there with your stiff upper lip, tutting and murmuring “Terrible!”: Get your arse in gear and complain; to the EU bureaucrats you’ve just elected, (– Let’s see how helpful the BNP can be, eh?) to Parliament, to the European Court of Human Rights, to Microsoft themselves even.

You, me, and every Windows user in the UK who owns a computer and wants an operating system upgrade are being ripped off! Are you going to let them get away with it?

What did you say? – “What’s it worth to me?” – About £120 odd; that’s how much you’re being ripped off for. Are you just going to take it lying down? – No don’t answer that.

Microsoft have recently done their best to become resurgent to some degree; and one of the new innovations as it were is an update to Windows Live Writer. This new version is installed by a new version of Windows Live Installer, which also offers a new and updated version of Windows Live Messenger as well as Windows Live Sign in Assistant.

Although I’d heard reports that the beta versions “sucked”; I tried a download to one of my comps when I noticed that a final retail version of the new WL Messenger was advertised in my Hotmail account. On clicking the link I wasn’t surprised to see that a new WL Installer loaded.

When this was activated I noticed that the softies had added Parental Controls to the choice of programs. I myself didn’t need any parental controls as my computers are never used by non-adults, so I didn’t bother with them and therefore have no idea how good or otherwise they are.

I did install the new WL messenger, Sign-in Assistant, and Writer though. I haven’t actually properly used the new messenger, although I have had a look at it and I am impressed by the sleeker look and the curviness of it: It appears more feminine as far as style is concerned. It also has a much gentler notification sound: Something softer and noticeable, rather than a harsh “DING!” that makes me jump out of my skin if I’m not expecting it. 

One thing I did notice, on the flipside of that, is that after installation it returns to the default blue. – Which is a lighter blue than before. I didn’t try it out for long; but during the 10 minutes or so I was messing about with it, I didn’t find anything that allowed me to change the colour back to pink, as I usually have it.

Hopefully it’s not operational on the Rubik’s-Cube principle: The longer you play with it, the harder it gets. ( – Yes I am aware of exactly what some of you are thinking about at this juncture. )

Anyway; rather than mess with Messenger at that point, I decided I’d rather write with Writer: -

Once again a nice curvaceously styled GUI; which actually this time did retain its previous pink tone. In fact it enhanced it somewhat. On this module I immediately noticed the colour-settings icon, not that I needed it in this case. The GUI is much the same as the old GUI but with a much sleeker appearance, It also uses the term “blog” rather than “weblog”, which is something that used to annoy me: Like OK it’s called a BLOG. I know that it’s an abbreviated version of the word “weblog”; but please don’t try to sound clever…Plus you’re just confusing people who aren’t aware of that.

What else has changed? Ooh lots; more than I have room or time to tell you all about here. One more main point though; and something quite important, a bug-fix from the previous version: - __________________ <——– I snagged this pic from cybernews.com . I thought it was rather creative to be frank. I don’t know whether it’s a Microsoft original or a creation by the aforementioned. Credit to the creator whichever.

When using the last version I’d alternate views between Web View and Text a lot. – Because I write and edit my articles partly in web-preview and partly in html. That was fine, but with the last version I’d have to ensure everything was finished totally and ready to be posted to blog before I inserted a Google Adwords advertisment in html. The reason for that was that if I inserted a Google Adwords ad in html and then switched back to Web View from Text it appeared initially that nothing was wrong. However if I then uploaded it to blog or returned to Text view the Adwords ad had multiplied. Every time I switched between Text and Web View it multiplied again!

This bug has now been fixed; and I can now change between “Edit” as it is now labelled, (Microsoft love to be as confusing as possible.) and “Source” as it is now known. (Ditto.) Everything else seems to work as before. It’s retained the add-ons from the previous version, and, after a single session getting used to the new look, I must say that I prefer it to the old one.

‘Would love to tell you more, but don’t have all day and night to write. I thought I’d just squeeze this post of a few notes into my blog-writing session, before I get on with other things.

Do try out the new Windows Live apps for yourself. Yesterday (10th January 2009) the latest WL apps weren’t exactly easy to find on Google: Everything led back to the older WL Installer with its previous versions. – But it’s there somewhere.

Do leave a comment and let me know what you think.

At 01:40GMT (02:40 BST) this morning the following email was delivered to my inbox. I’ve added my comments to it in regular Arial 12pt text:

“I’m sending you this note because you registered a mobile device
to work with Twitter over our UK number. I wanted to let you
know that we are making some changes to the way SMS works on
Twitter. There is some good news and some bad news.”

“I’ll start with the bad news. Beginning today, Twitter is no
longer delivering outbound SMS over our UK number. If you enjoy
receiving updates from Twitter via    +44 762 480 1423   , we are
recommending that you explore some suggested alternatives.
Note: You will still be able to UPDATE over our UK number.”

What this means is that UK telephone companies are refusing any concessions to Twitter in the interests of their own continued 100% profit; as if they needed to do so – The greedy money-grabbing penny-pinching slimeballs! Doing so might reduce their profits by a fraction of a percent; which might mean the Director will only get 5 paid-holidays and less than £500G a year or something equally ridiculous.

“Before I go into more detail, here’s a bit of good news: Twitter
will be introducing several new, local SMS numbers in countries
throughout Europe in the coming weeks and months. These new
numbers will make Twittering more accessible for you if you’ve
been using SMS to send long-distance updates from outside the UK.”

Note the absence of the word “free” or “Freephone”.

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BEWARNED: BT’s new Home Hub could cost you nearly twice as much as advertised as an existing BT customer; and you won’t know that you have to pay extra until after you receive the unit:-

Home Hub v2.0, released in July 2008

Last week I was looking at the BT website and I noticed that they had brought out a new model of the BT Home Hub router – a version 2.0. http://www.frequencycast.co.uk/homehub2.html It had a stylish curved polished black plastic design and 4 ethernet ports. I decided that I was going to have one, as the one I was currently using was white which clashed with the colour of the rest of my equipment, was chunky and fairly ugly in comparison, and I was using both ethernet ports out of the 2 available and would prefer an additional 2 ports for future expansion.

I rang BT and eventually managed to get the Indian at the other end of the phone to understand what I was saying and take my order. He said that I’d have to pay £44.99 for it, (About $90USD) which I thought was fair (That was half-price as an existing BT customer.): I’d had the existing BT Home Hub (V.1.1) free with the full package including VOIP phone, unlimited bandwidth, and their biggest and most expensive residential phone package. The VOIP phone uses a separate BT telephone number on the same line, and was channeled over the internet from the BT exchange; thus the cost of calls was allegedly cheaper. (As well as worse quality.)

(*Note: The recent BT Home Hubs; 2.0 and above, require a working voltage of 15 Volts. The older BT Home Hubs, before 2.0 require a working voltage of 9 Volts: Therefore if you’re replacing an old Home Hub with a new 2.0 or greater, you would probably have problems with it, if it works at all, if you don’t use the power adapter supplied with it and use the old one instead. (I don’t advise using the new adapter with an old Home Hub; although it may or may not work as a temporary measure. (Then again it might damage the old Home Hub due to over-voltage – I don’t know and I don’t intend to experiment in this area.)))

Today I received delivery of my new BT Home Hub; exactly as described in their advertising material. It was a snitch to set up; the only thing I had to do really was replace the old mains power adapter with the supplied adapter; as the new hub ran on a voltage of 15 Volts, whereas the old one ran on 9 Volts. I already had the required software installed, (I don’t use their free Norton security software as it’s ineffective resource-hogging crap. I only use the BT Desktop Help software.) and it picked up and worked a dream. I then realised that I hadn’t attached the VOIP handset’s cradle or configured it to work with my existing handset. The existing handset was white – Hmm; a new one would cost me so I decided I’d live with it until I had enough spare balance to buy a new black one.

I removed the cover from the cradle socket on the new hub and it suddenly hit me that there was no way that my old cradle was going to fit. I checked the package for a new cradle but none was supplied. I phoned BT. :

The Indian went all through the most stringent interrogation for identity verification; and then said he’d transfer me to the relevant department; who did it again. This time I was talking at last to a Brit – Yippee!.. But my happiness was short-lived:

The reply was that they don’t supply a new cradle separately; and that I’d have to buy one along with a new handset for £35.99 (About $70USD)> I said that this was a con: I already had a perfectly good handset; all I needed was a cradle which should have been supplied with the new hub: I’d like a free cradle by itself or I’d be taking the matter to the Office of Fair Trading. I’d also like BT to make it clear in their advertising that the new router would require a new cradle and handset BEFORE the customer chose to buy it; or I’d be taking that matter to Trading Standards as well.

To cut a long story short she wouldn’t budge; so rightly or wrongly I went ahead and ordered and told her that I’d be referring the matter to the relevant powers that be – Which I’m about to do.

If you’re a BT customer and you’d like a new BT Home Hub 2.0 with a usable cradle and phone included; the cost isn’t £44.99: That’s a con – You can’t use your existing handset as the cradle won’t fit. The true cost in total is £80.00 approximately. (Somewhere around $160USD.)

Another example of Bullshit Telecom’s dishonesty and unethical advertising.

They WILL be sorry: I’ll make sure of it!

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The Windows Live Services can be somewhat of a conundrum in themselves. Microsoft appear to be producing everything and anything under the handle “Live” in the way of services; some of which are scrapped virtually as soon as they’re off the production line: “That was a stupid idea; put it in the trash.” Others seemingly last and remain in circulation within a specialist market: Some even hit the bigtime; such as Windows Live Messenger – MSN messenger with a redesigned GUI under a different name, or Windows Live Spaces; which has taken off in a major way amongst the freeloader amateur bloggers. One Live application which hasn’t been overly recognised, however, is Windows Live Writer; Which I’m using  right now, and I’m going to tell you a bit about my impressions whilst doing so…

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Although this picture (Left) has absolutely no relevance to this article whatsoever; I just thought I’d include it for the hell of it. It’s of a computer undergoing testing on the bench at Kustom Komputa’s workshop. (http://www.kustomkomputa.co.uk)

I’m a relative newcomer to the world of professional blogging: You’ll notice that, even though I’ve been churning out articles on an almost daily basis over the past weeks; they’ve tended at least at first to lack presentation style and appear very basic: Text upon text with very little if any proper formatting, and maybe an illustration centred top and bottom of text. Whilst the retro style may be nice in the eyes of those viewing the Internet from 1999 through a time-portal; it’s legibility may leave something to be desired by readers in the current time-stream.

Windows Live Writer extends the limited functionality of the normal blog editing interface; which in my case is WordPress, by allowing a full manual pre-formatting using functions that you’d find in programs like M$ Word; but that WordPress just doesn’t have. The article called “CRT Conundrum” was edited in Microsoft Word 12 and I was rather comforted by the extra functionality that Word provided, even though I didn’t use it much as I was experimenting to see if I could transfer from Word to WordPress, and I made a bit of an untidy job of it at the end of the day. The problem appeared after the article was finished and I wanted to transfer the draft from Word to WordPress for finalisation. Solution: Save the .rtf or .docx file  as a .html or .htm document; then copy and paste it into a new blank post created in WordPress. Yes it works and it works well. The associated issues are: 1) Too much hassle. 2) Too much mess left behind: a .rtf file, a .htm or html file, and a <filename>_files folder full of graphical images etc left behind cluttering up the desktop and using up more HDD space. Yes these can be deleted or stored but it is really too much hassle.

<Windows Live Writer>; A lot of the functionality of Word, combined with a direct interface to one’s personal blog: For example you can create tables, change the colour of the font, change the font, font size, italicise, bold, both if you like, and everything else that Word can do. unlike Word 12 in Office 2007 it’s not possible to see the changes as they will be before you make them; but who’s complaining? The functionality increase over WordPress standard is colossal when pre-editing using Windows Live Writer…And when the editing is complete just upload it straight from Writer to your blog – And this is where I find a slight conflict appears: In Writer; no matter how exactly perfectly and whatever degree of precision one formats it with; when it’s uploaded to WordPress it just ain’t the same – Ever. There’s always at least one minor correction I find I have to make after transfer; so I’ve found the answer to be that I don’t take ages formatting it perfectly in Writer; rather I do things that WordPress can’t do; like draw tables to put text and pictures in for formatting purposes and justify text within the table framework, in Writer: (I know: I boobed.) I make it look as good as it’ll ever be with emphasis upon those things that WP just doesn’t have the functionality to do…And then I upload it to WP from Writer. having done so I can adjust the formatting in WP and eradicate that extra line-break that mysteriously appeared. or add the paragraph formatting in the html window of WP to a piece of text that looked fine in Writer but appears all cramped in WP.

Probably as new versions of WP appear these bugs and compatibility issues will be ironed out. Maybe they’ll also introduce the functionality of Writer to WP; in which case this subject becomes a whole new ball-game

Another minor, or maybe major, incompatibility that I’ve noticed is causing all that space to the right of this text to be wasted, is the default table sizing in Writer: Now before we continue any further I will admit that there is a certain degree of laziness on my part involved here: But look at it this way: That space can be taken up by widgets. I know it’s not this far down the page but it can be. I’m writing inside a table to stop the text flowing into the widget space – So why don’t I just fence off the text inside a table until the widgets run out and then use the entire page? That may on the face of it appear a logical conclusion to draw; but guessing exactly where the widgets end in Writer without being able to see them is dodgy stuff. Also the table width may change just slightly on upload, as may the font sizing; and what if I want to add more widgets at some point? Oh dear I’ll have to go and reformat my article(s). The theme that I’m using may have some bearing upon this also; but I like this theme; it very “me”; and I’m not going to change it. A positive point of this formatting style using near the default Writer 1Row x 1Column as a margin is that it’s better for mobile devices. If you haven’t viewed this blog through a mobile device I suggest you give it a try and you’ll understand what I mean. Of course the default table size can be dragged to slightly larger as I’ve done herein. It’s also a lot easier to create links and link text and images in WL Writer.

Then of course there’s always the option of splitting the table to divide the written area between text and illustration: Bugs here can be incorporated into the main text area and annexed off into his own little partition, which is something that simply can’t be done using WordPress alone. (If it can then either I’ve missed a biggie or I’m using an old version of WordPress.)

If I was using WP alone I’d have to place Bugs (Above) between lines of text which span the entire page and end up with something with a retro-feel to it once again.

I could ramble on ad-infinitum with an in-depth analysis of Writer vs WordPress issues, and no doubt bore you, my readers, to tears – So save to say that I’m getting quite familiar with WL Writer and using it in conjunction with WP, I’ll say no more.

The title of this article may appear familiar to some of you as I did attempt to write on it before and posted an incomplete article by mistake in June of this year. When I noticed my error I took it down again and it remained in WL Writer Drafts section until now, when I thought that I may as well have a go at rewriting it rather than waste it: hence what you’ve just read.

Right I’m saving this into the Drafts and I think I’ll publish. I may as well do so as not… Actually I think I might make Bugs into an icon.. But that’s something of no vast consequence as yet which may or may not be in the pipeline.

I wasn’t too happy with the way the first draft of this item was going; and I’m still not too happy with it now to be quite honest – But I’ve gone ahead and published before in such a case so in for a penny – It’s something to read after all. David Risley has a much better and more detailed article on the subject at PC Mech, so I’ll do him a favour and link it here:

http://www.pcmech.com/article/how-to-manually-edit-blog-styles-for-windows-live-writer/

It might be and probably is in the members-only section, so you’ll have to buy membership – Which is well worth it for the price believe you me. I have no advertising contract with David Risley or PC Mech, so it makes no difference to me whether you do or not; but I reckon it would be a good idea; especially if you’re a geek and even more so if you live in the USA.

I’ll doubtless be back with something equally; hopefully a lot more fascinating, in due course. For now that’s yer lot.