eWeeks has a good coverage on XP Reloaded.  According to the articles, Longhorn is going to be delayed even longer and Microsoft is thinking about an interim release.  I think it makes sense although I think it should be called Windows PP, a quick relief.  That would make Longhorn #2 in the restroom metaphor.

What features should Windows PP have?  Here is my list:

1. News reader fully integrated with Outlook, IM and WMP.
2. Blogging support inside IE and Office.
3. Built-in open P2P client.
4. .NET 2.0

That's it.

Windows PP – Take A Leak at a Store Near You!

Hottest news this morning:

TEHRAN, Iran – Pentagon (news – web sites) and Pakistani officials on Saturday denied an Iranian state radio report that Osama bin Laden (news – web sites) was captured in Pakistan's border region with Afghanistan (news – web sites) "a long time ago."

The director of Iran radio's Pashtun service, Asheq Hossein, said he had two sources for the report. The radio quoted its reporter as saying bin Laden had been in custody for a period of time, but a U.S. announcement of the capture was being withheld by President Bush (news – web sites) until closer to the November election.

"Osama bin Laden has been arrested a long time ago, but Bush is intending to use it for propaganda maneuvering in the presidential election," he said.

Somebody over there must have read my Bin Laden's Capture and the Election post from two days ago and spread the meme.  Muhahaha!

My thanks goes to Scott Loftesness for his post which helped me rediscover Edward Tufte's wonderful site.  I have Edward's first book which is great but the pages in the Ask E.T. and E.T. Writings sections are even better IMHO.

Beside the preview of Sparklines chapter — a must read, sparklines are basically micrographs which are small enough to be inlined with text, stacked (piled?) for glance-sized pattern analysis, or embedded within another chart – from his upcoming book Beautiful Evidence, I liked this part of his comments about Gantt chart:

The chart might be retrospective as well as prospective. That is, the chart should show actualdates of achieved goals, evidence which will continuously reinforce a reality principle on the mythical future dates of goal achievement.

Reinforce is a big word in UI.  I liked his alternate design as well although I would have used a more color since I think more in terms of computer screens and interaction models instead of print.

A Note to Edward Tufte: Cheaper, normal size edition of your books would be nice.  Web versions would be even better but I guess I am asking for too much.

Can Bin Laden's capture affect the outcome of the Presidential Election?  I think so.  Korean dictators used to arrange sensational events just prior to the election and they worked.  If Bush can snooker us into invading Iraq with misinformation, influencing the date of his capture should be easy.

Maybe we should start a betting pool on the date of Bin Laden's captured.  I'll pick October 28th.  Why? The moon will be full and people do get more emotional under full moon.

Disclaimer: John Kerry has my endorsement for the next Presidency.  I like the guy and what he stands for.  Only bad thing I could say about him is that he looks like he just swallowed a whole sourdough bread.  Somebody get him some water.

Update:

Since there has been attempts to brush aside this post as a looney rant, I felt a clarification was needed.  Here it is.

Suppose it's early October and Bush's election campaign is going pretty badly.  While Bush and his campaign advisers are looking for ways to turn the tide around and someone jokingly say how nice it would be if Osama Bin Laden was captured.  Bush starts showing more interest in the capture of OBL.  It could just be as innocent as asking about OBL more frequently.  Is this illegal?  No, he is just doing his job.

The surge of interest travels down the ranks and reaches those who are in charge of finding OBL and affects how intelligence reports are analyzed and judgements based on those reports are made.  Fast forward past some costly operations and OBL is captured.

Is this a conspiracy?  I don't think so but I think similar events probably took place when Bush became President and showed a strong interest in Iraq.  Are Democrats immune?  Definitely not.  Presidents should be more careful with what they show strong interests in.

I am planning on having a Corporate Blogger's Dinner in San Francisco some time in March.  If you are interested in such an event, please let me know via comment or e-mail (click on my picture).  I also need suggestions on when and where.

If you are wondering why someone who is not a corporate blogger hosting such an event, I want to hear what they think.  Corporate bloggers don't get to talk about their views on their blogs because of the nature of their blogs.  So I want to create a setting where they can discuss their views and issues they see on corporate blogging.

Frankly, I don't see what the big deal is.  Let each state decide for themselves by popular vote.  I think California is ready.  As to polygamy and bestiality-based arguments, I am cool as long as the majority of the people in my state votes in favor.

Who knows?  Maybe computers will get so sexy looking in the future that geeks marrying their computer will be a common occurence.

Speaking of Texas Hold'em, it might be interesting to hold a Blogger's Poker Party as a variation on blogger's dinner.  Anyone has a ideal pad for such an event in the Bay Area?  Mine is too small.