Every Windows user to get pop-up menu of internet browsers

Every person who owns a computer with Microsoft Windows is to be offered their choice of internet browsers in an automatic pop-up menu following an agreement today between the software company and the European Union.

I know liberals never like to see one sunflower grow any bigger than the others but this is plainly ridiculous - as one of the comments reads; "..when can I have a choice of a Ford engine in my Vauxhall car?" - and when has anyone ever been stopped from using whatever browser they want? Will Apple ever be obliged to let me use Windows Media Player to manage my iPhone? It seems wrong to punish a company for being successful when they behave exactly like everyone else. You know that if Steve Jobs ran a company with greater than 10% market share Apple would behave twice as aggressively.
I haven't used IE for six years but I don't think the EU should be able dictate to a company how they should configure their OS. Let's remember Microsoft are in the position they are because of market forces - they behave in a relatively ethical manner; they don't pollute, they don't use third-world slave labour and they don't do deals with brutal dictators.

Just sayin'.....

Day of the Triffids

This is one of my favorite pieces of post-apocalyptic fiction. I read the book when I was a young teenager and really enjoyed the BBC production in my mid-teens. Good old Auntie Beeb have made the entire series available on YouTube (link above) at a very reasonable resolution. On my laptop the fullscreen playback is almost indistinguishable from the DVDs. Nice to see they've kept the 4x3 aspect that it was originally shot in.
Watch episode 2 - all the exteriors are shot in/around Primrose Hill near our workshop.

However, I read online this morning that the Beeb have a new production that they're showing over the holiday. From Wikipedia;

It is produced by Stephen Smallwood and directed by Nick Copus (EastEnders, The 4400). The script is by Patrick Harbinson, who has written episodes of the British dramas Soldier Soldier and Heartbeat, and the American series ER and Law & Order.

Filmed in the south-east of England, the new adaptation stars Dougray Scott as Dr Bill Masen; the confirmed supporting cast includes Joely Richardson as Jo Playton, Brian Cox as Dennis Masen, Vanessa Redgrave as Durrant, Eddie Izzard as Torrence and 90210 star Jason Priestley as Coker. Broadcast dates are 28 & 29 December 2009 on BBC1

So that's Christmas viewing for me sorted out!

Edit suite stories

Just a great group on Facebook - a good read every day. I know not everyone does the Facebook thing but this really is a reason to start!

I am not a climate change denier

The Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband has acknowledged that there is "further to go" to persuade people in both the UK and around the world that global warming is man-made.

Interviewed by Today presenter on Humphreys on the opening day of the United Nations' climate change conference on Copenhagen, Mr Miliband said that those who denied the existence of a connection between human activity and global warming were "profoundly irresponsible".

And he said that the Copenhagen conference would be seen as successful if it led to "a deal consistent with science" which saw global emissions peaking in 2020.

Also - read this article on ScientificAmerican.com

Going to see Martyn Joseph tomorrow night

It's been a couple of years but looking forward to seeing the "Welsh Springsteen/Dylan/Bragg"!