It shouldn't be too much to ask to get quality software these days. But no. And now, I shall reveal until you the strange ways of annoying software, for your continued edification. As you can well imagine, this centers around the crack-inspired operating system known as Windows.

What complete and utter moron came up with the idea of the Program Registry? What purpose does this annoyance possibly serve except to make things a royal pain in the butt whenever you have to install some shockingly non functional Windows application? On the MacOS, we don't have a Program Registry, and by Ghu, we like it that way. Purging a program is easy in MacOS, there's none of this having to run un-installers to root out every last DLL and miscellaneous crapistry that's been scattered liberally about the hard drive. Rebuilding the desktop (a trivial operation) will generally remove all traces that any deleted applications ever existed.

Where does this fit in to today's gripe? Well, we have this program called SupportLogix, see. It's to provide catalogueing for crap what's broken with our system. It's actually not as bad as all that, but it gets cranky if it doesn't have the right database drivers. For some reason, my computer had the wrong database drivers. The program was apparently not clever enough to figure out how to install updated versions, so we had to do it ourselves. Hell only knows how the Borland Database Engine got on here, since we've never used it, but despite the fact that we've never used it, never intend to use it, and wouldn't use it if our lives depended on it, SupportLogix insists that it not only be installed, but that it have the precisely correct version installed.

I suspect I shall be increasingly cranky with SupportLogix, as the damn interface keeps changing every time I open it. Hey! Guys! If you're going to fiddle with the interface, do it before people start learning how to use it. Mutter.

Bad as SupportLogix is, though, it's a gem compared to our previous system, Dents. Dents, you see, was written by us, out of sheer desperation at not having any idea what bugs needed fixing. The problem with it, again, was that it was not only a piece of crap, but it was a piece of crap that was continually under development. After the Nth time that it went down for no reason other than the guy programming it forgot that we were actually using it at the time, there was a general consensus to say "the hell with it".

We also use a Source Safe program (for those of you who don't know what this is, it's to keep track of source code files when you've got a lot of idiots working on your project. It keeps track of every updated version, so if something breaks you can track back and find out when it broke, and who was responsible for it. This is, as you can understand, quite helpful. Sort of.) called Microsoft Visual Source Safe, which is the second Microsoft product I've run into that doesn't suck. Well, not completely, anyway.

We had a previous version, but it required about half an hour to update a program entry. So you'd code, code, code, then update. And go to lunch. And maybe it would be done when you got back.

And then there's Cold Fusion... but that's a whole 'nother rant.

Dragonball Z Update: Our Heroes stand around like idiots, trying to figure out what to do (the general consensus is run away, bravely run away). They do this for quite some time in fact.

Meanwhile, Freeza and goons are still standing around chatting amiably about how their plans are unstoppable, how the minions they've sent out will waste Vegita, etc, etc.

Vegita, meanwhile, has made a new 'friend', Kui. Kui followed Vegeboy from the Saiyan outpost with the intent of killing him to impress Freeza. And Kui is confident, because his little widget insists that his power level is much higher than Vegita's. Heh, heh.

Meanwhile, more minions arrive at the site of Gohan, Krillan and Bulma's indecision. And engage in similar confident villain dialogue about how their power level is so much studlier than Our Heroes. To press the point, they blow a big hole in the Namek space-ship... so much for going home.

This annoys Gohan and Krillan, who, having lured the bad guys in close, now reveal that they were suppressing their own powers. A large can of whup-ass is popped open, and the two minions are dispatched to the next dimension in short order.

Kui, meanwhile, learns that Vegita is not a total idiot, and has copied the best techniques of the Earth heroes he so recently got his ass kicked by. Namely suppressing his power level and increasing his speed, among other things. Kui tries the old "look behind you" trick, which annoys Vegita, who promptly pops open an economy-sized can of whup-ass on Kui. Scratch one purple alien.

These scenes are inter-spersed with Freeza and goons chatting about how their plans are foolproof, how they're mildly concerned at losing two minions so soon, how Vegita's power level is pretty obscene...

Bulma whines about the loss of the spaceship, whines about having to walk long distances to find a hiding place... This is not her element, really, especially when she was looking forward to a nice, safe trip home.

And then things get much worse, as Our Heroes notice Freeza's goons flying merrily along. All ten or so of them. Whoops!

Vegita surls some to himself, after all, while he can blasticate any number of minions, Freeza would still kick his ass. But wait! Vegita has enough of a brain that he can think up actual plans. It looks like ambush and sneakiness are the order of the day, as well as stealing one of those Dragonballs that Freeza needs and preventing him from getting a matched set. Villains with brains -- who'da thunk it?

Todays' Costume Boy Sightings: None.

The Morning Weather: Cool and adequate.

Rant 'o the day contains no additives, preservatives or small woodland creatures of any kind. Use only as directed. Do not expose to direct sunlight. Do not fold, spindle, multilate or remove identifying tags. Handle with care. Contains less than 3% milk fat by weight, not by volume. Squeeze the lemon.

THIS SPACE FOR RENT