Nokia & Microsoft
by Mats Hellman on 11.Feb, 2011 under Mobile
Today 11.2 2011, Nokia and Microsoft announced their future plans for long-term partnership. There is plenty of talk about this on the web so I want to bring my 2c to the table.
As I live in Finland I’ve been using Nokia a long time. My first was the 2010 and my last the E90. I never really liked Symbian and my problems with Nokia begun when Symbian stepped up to the market. Symbian to me was a clumsy OS that was slow and really difficult to handle.
Since I stopped buying Nokia I’ve been using my HTC HD2 and my private phone is an iPhone 3GS. IOS is a phenomenal mobile OS, anyone who ever tried the OS must agree that it is really fast, and my grandmother can use it after five minutes of training. The HD 2 on the other hand is running Windows Mobile 6.5 and those of you who have used it know that it can’t compare to IOS in almost anything. But there is one thing the Microsoft mobile OS does well, and that is connecting to services provided by the Microsoft Exchange server. Hand’s up whoever uses Exchange in their daily work, I’m guessing many of you do.
Windows Phone 7 greatly improves the user experience compared to Windows Mobile 6.5, and I’m talking about normal everyday users. CEO:s, CFO:s, marketing people etc. Not the tech-savy geek who wants to modify his/her device in every way possible.
I think Nokia made the right choice here by going to Microsoft, we have seen great hardware from Nokia for years, Microsoft has finally understood the importance of totally redesigning the mobile OS. It should not look like your desktop OS since it’s not used for the same purpose.
Our organization has been buying Nokias devices and will be doing so into the future. Finally we can get rid of the hundreds and hundreds of support calls on how to change your MfE password on the Symbian device. IT departments need to provide easy to use tools for their users so they get their work done. And Nokia+Microsoft delivers precisely that.
So I wish Nokia and Microsoft a great journey together and I’ll be looking forward to the devices you deliver.
My home office
by Mats Hellman on 12.Feb, 2009 under Life
We moved into our new house in May 2008 and it took me some time to get settled and plan the way I wanted my brand new home office to look like. A few months later I was settled on a design I did in IKEA Planner. As all furniture I bought to my office was from IKEA using their planner was the smart way to go.
I decided early on that I didn’t want any open cabinets, they all had to have doors I could shut. If you are wondering why, take a look at how ugly 30-50 programming books in different colors can be, add to them paper folders and you have a colorful office.
Anyway planning a office for myself I had a few goals. I had to have enough space to keep papers, books, magazines, notes and various office supplies on the tables without them getting in the way. I settled on two tables placed like an L. The other thing I felt important was that I had to have a view out the window and see the television in the living room. I feel more constructive when I can see something else than a wall.
All this in mind I ordered the furniture delivered to our door and the bill was a little over 800 €. Quite cheap considering I got everything except the chair which I already had and felt didn’t need to be upgraded. I wouldn’t buy a chair from IKEA anyway.
The home office
The point of this post was to show some pictures of my home office. It’s still a work in progress. I still need a few shelves and some paintings or photographs on the wall. But somehow buying stuff for my computers always seems more important 
. So here are two pictures from the office. I dare not show you the other wall since it’s a mess.
As you can seethe desktop is quite clean. Nothing special there.
New Keyboard
My trustworthy old Logitech MX keyboard started pipe out.
The left shift button was working and not working as it saw fit so I had to replace it. And as from the heavens Jeff Atwood posted his keyboard was worn out. His “holy grail” of keyboards was the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000. I remember myself looking at these ergonomic keyboards years back. So I figured it was time I’d at least try one out. I got the wired version since I see no point in using a wireless keyboard at the desk. A wireless mouse is different. So I placed my order to my shop of choice Verkkokauppa.com and picked it up a few days later. I’ve now been using it for a few days and I have to say I really love it. Once you get past the fact that the keys are separated for the left and the right hand you’ll love it. I just feels right and I can’t remember a better keyboard. This is definitely the one I’m going to get to work next time I need something new.
Next time I’ll post pictures when the office is done. Until then this is what you’ll have to settle for. Feel free to comment and any ideas or ways to make a home office “better” will be greatly appreciated. If you have pictures of your office I’d be happy to see some and snag a few ideas.
