Geoff Coupe's Blog

Reflections on life at “De Witte Wand”…

  • Tracing The Family Tree

    I’ve mentioned my family tree on the blog before. That post got responses from distant relatives whom I never knew I had. So here’s another post, prompted by my brother and one of my cousins, in the hope that we might get back in contact with a particular long-lost relative.

    I’ll start with my maternal grandparents: Edward Thomas Johnson and Eleanor Johnson:

    Grandparents Kate & Ted Johnson 1942.

    They had six children, three boys and three girls. In order of age (eldest first), they were Claude, Olive (my mother), Hilda, Eric, Murray, and Eugenie.

    This post concerns my uncle: Murray Johnson (born 7 October 1912, died 31 March 1988).

    Now, I only have a scattering of photos of Murray. Here are three examples: one as a toddler, one as a youngish man (on the right in glasses), and one taken in 1987, flanked by his nephews – me, the obviously gay one on the left in the picture, and my brother on the right.

    Family0152

    Family0158

    Murray, G & M, Richmond Park, July 1987

    Murray had three marriages. The first was to Jane Foreman. The second to Violet Gray, and the last to Barbara Pavitt. As a child, and a teenager, I can only ever recall Barbara, I can’t recall anything of his previous partners.

    Now, the point of this post is that Murray and Jane had a daughter: Juanita Johnson, born in 1940, in Brentford, England.

    My older brother tells me that Juanita was adopted, and thus grew up in a family other than either of her birth parents.

    So now: I have put this message in a virtual bottle and I have cast it out into the ocean of the internet.

    Should Juanita, or her descendants, ever retrieve this and would like to get in touch with us, then we would be delighted to hear from you…

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  • The Secret History of our Streets

    Last night, BBC Two broadcast the first in a series of documentaries about streets in London. It was The Secret History of our Streets: Deptford High Street.

    It was truly excellent – up there with what the BBC does best. Starting with the sociological maps of Charles Booth, it moved to the present day with vox pop interviews of residents and those connected with the history of Deptford High Street.

    The centre of the programme was John Price, whose family have lived in and around Deptford High Street for 250 years. His was the arresting voice of a community that was forced into a diaspora by the well-meaning, but ultimately ruinous, city planners of the 1960s.

    It was riveting television, that, as Lucy Mangan writes, prodded your brain awake as it broke your heart. Do read the comments on her article, and the comments on the producer’s blog of the programme, they are worth it.

    I was close to tears at several points, and moved to white-hot fury as the programme revealed that one street in Deptford had been saved from the city planners’ bulldozers. In a final irony, it turned out that the street that survived was of housing stock that was at the absolute bottom of the pile. Better streets, one of which contained John Price’s family, were flattened. And now, this street, consisting of tiny terraced houses built for the poorest of the poor in the 19th century, has properties that are on the market for £750,000.

    We were treated to the spectacle of an oleaginous estate agent showing a well-to-do couple around one such tiny property. I have never come closer to wanting to hurl something through the television as at that moment. It made me sick to the bottom of my heart.

    And while the programme showed some of the new life that has come to Deptford High Street, including the (to me) rather questionable evangelical preacher, I couldn’t help feeling that the programme makers had made the right choice by using the song and words of the evangelical choir to close what was a brilliant example of a documentary. The  choir sang ‘Will the Circle be Unbroken’ – a bitter comment on how a community was shattered for ever by the Council’s bulldozers. The chorus, ‘There’s a better home a-waitin’ – in the Sky, Lord, in the Sky’ was perhaps a cruel, but knowing, joke about the highrise apartment blocks the Council built. The new slums to be marked as such on the map of a 21st Century Charles Booth, whilst the original community has been scattered to the four winds…

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  • What’s Not To Like In Windows 8?

    Unlike many people, I don’t consider myself a dyed-in-the-wool hater of Windows 8. In fact, I find much to like in Microsoft’s latest operating system, which will be available this October. Nevertheless, I thought it might be useful to gather together in one place all the bugs, quirks, and the WTFs that I’ve come across in the last few months of kicking the tyres of the pre-release versions of Windows 8.

    This post will be updated and/or corrected as I come across new information.

    The List

    • I really dislike the marketing decision that Microsoft has made concerning Windows Media Center. However, on the upside, it means that I won’t be upgrading my HTPC to Windows 8. It will remain on Windows 7, running Windows Media Center, until something better comes along.
      NOTE: since writing that, Microsoft has announced an upgrade offer of just $40 to upgrade Windows 7 systems to Windows 8 Pro. That sweetens the pill substantially, since the Pro version will include Media Center for free until 31st January 2013.
    • Not only is Microsoft’s marketing going to hamper Windows Media Center, but they have also deliberately removed two of its features that are required for use in dedicated HTPC systems.
    • Windows 8 takes full advantage of modern PC hardware, such as UEFI for firmware and GPT drives. However, Microsoft’s dirty little secret is that their Windows Home Server 2011 product cannot backup or restore any systemusing UEFI and GPT drives. [Update 4th March 2013: Microsoft has at last issued a Hotfix to add backup support for UEFI-based computers to back up to servers that are running Windows Home Server 2011]
    • Your Microsoft Account is tied to a single country/region, and can’t be changed, either by you or Microsoft. Bad news if you move to a different country. Microsoft claims to be working on addressing this, but when we will see results is anyone’s guess (this has been a known issue since at least 2007 – it’s caused by a limitation in the Xbox Live infrastructure).
      Update 17th October 2012 – it looks as though Microsoft are starting to offer Xbox Live customers the ability to migrate their accounts under certain circumstances.
    • The Photos App cannot access pictures held on Network Shares. This includes photo libraries held on Windows Home Server systems.
      See Update 1 and Update 2 below.
    • The Music App only has four views of your music library: songs, albums, artists and playlists. I miss the sorting by composer that I have in Windows Media Player or Windows Media Center. And where is “Play to” or Podcast support?
    • The “Play to” feature that was introduced in Windows 7 is now broken in Windows 8.
      Update: This has been fixed in the final release of Windows 8.
    • I consider that the Windows Explorer in Windows 8 is more clumsy than the version in Windows 7. I find it’s a step backwards in usability.
    • The Mail App still doesn’t have IMAP or POP support. This is a staggering omission, since these protocols are the foundation on which internet email clients have been based for years.
      See Update 2 below.
    • To search within a Metro App, you use Winkey+Q. However, not all Apps support this, including, rather strangely, the Reader App. Here, you have to right-click in the App to reveal the Search button (which then has to be clicked to reveal the Search box where you type your search terms).
    • Searches in the Video App will only return results from the Video Marketplace (if your region has a Marketplace). It does not seem to search any of your own content, not even filenames that match the search terms. As for searching on any metadata, such as tags, in your video files; forget it.
    • The Weather App is supposed to have a “Live Tile”. On my system it doesn’t; why, I have no idea.
    • Microsoft’s News App looks good, but the news it displays is hardly up-to-the-minute, is it? There are articles dating from 4 days ago (at least in the UK feeds). That’s not news – that’s what we use to wrap fish and chips in. Also, this App (like too many others) can’t use Printing Devices. I’m sufficiently old-fashioned to want to be able to print things for hardcopy now and then.
    • Printing in Metro Apps. So tell me, how do I just print the current page, or a selection of pages? Something that’s easily done with the traditional Windows Print dialog, but that seems totally impossible with the whizzo new Metro design with certain Apps. The Metro Mail and IE10 Apps, for example. They drop the “Pages” setting from the Metro Print screen. See below for screenshots. Sigh.
    • Backing up your data. Windows 8 has a new backup method: File History. Be aware that it only covers the contents of your Libraries, Desktop, Contacts and Favourites. It won’t cover application data, or your mail messages… Microsoft assumes that we all hold our email in the Cloud. Er, no, we don’t.

    Here’s examples of the confusing Print screen in Metro. This is what you see when you want to print something in the Metro Reader App:

    W8RP 10

    Note that you’ve got a “Pages” setting, where you can select to print “All pages”, “Current page” or a “Custom” selection of pages from the document.

    Now here’s what you see (using the same printer device) when you want to print out a mail message from the Metro Mail App (you’ll also see the same settings when you print out a web site in the Metro IE10 App):

    W8RP 08

    Er, hello? We’ve got additional options, but the “Pages” setting has disappeared altogether. Don’t bother clicking on the “More settings” link, it’s not lurking under there either. I like consistency in my tools, not nasty surprises.

    Update 28th October 2012: This inconsistent print behaviour is still present in the final version of Windows 8, despite some of the Apps being updated. The Mail App and IE10, for example, still can’t print out a single page or a range of pages. Sigh.

    Update 1: Brad Weed, a program manager in the Windows Live team has contributed a post on the Photos App in the Building Windows 8 blog. I note that he doesn’t even mention the fact that the Photos App cannot display photos held on Windows Home Server, yet he boasts that the Photos App will “display photos from all your devices”. Er, no, Mr. Weed, it won’t, as you damn well know. Please try harder.

    Update 2: On October 5th, Microsoft announced that many of its Modern Apps would be updated in the run-up to the release of Windows 8 on October 26th. This includes the the Mail App, which will at long last get IMAP support, and the Photo App, which will finally be able to support network locations. I found it rather curious that only a couple of days earlier, Analy Otero, on the Photo App team, said (my emphasis):

    …support for network locations is definitely something we will consider for future versions of the app.

    When she could quite easily have said:

    …support for network locations is definitely something we will provide for future versions of the app.

    Odd. Mind you, it still doesn’t support searching on Tags. So, the Photo App is still a miserable excuse for what it should be.

    Microsoft are doing themselves no favours with the current collection of Metro Apps, which are little better than toys.

    Update 26th March 2013: The Mail, People, Calendar and Xbox Music Apps have been updated. Some small improvements, but there are still shortcomings.

    18 responses to “What’s Not To Like In Windows 8?”

    1. doctorwhofan98 Avatar
      doctorwhofan98

      The weather tile also doesn’t update on my machine (it did in the Consumer Preview). I’ve found that if you change the region/language etc. to US then it does, but change back, log off and on again, and it doesn’t. I’m presuming this minor bug will be fixed before the final release.

      Reply
      1. Geoff Coupe Avatar
        Geoff Coupe

        Thanks for that. I suspect that there are plenty more problems lurking in the woodwork that will be caused by the region setting. Now that this setting is being used in earnest by things such as the Windows Store and Marketplaces, the chances that something will not work correctly has just been boosted. Hopefully, as you say, minor bugs will get fixed, but this insistence on regional settings leads to unintended consequences.

        Reply
    2. MarkB Avatar
      MarkB

      I completely agree about the included Metro apps. I find them so limiting – Probably the next generation of users will grow up without all the choices we have today and will find the apps perfect for them but I find them too limiting to be usefu.

      For example, the News app: it is Bing-only as a source, you can select other sources but the next time you start it, you are back to Bing. No ability to change anything – don’t care about politics? it doesn’t matter because you cannot remove the category or even move it to the end of the list. If you click on an article, you get a text-only article, want pictures? sorry you cant have any. You can customize somewhat using the “My News” option, but the only ability is a simple 1980’s-style title string match, want a category of information? sorry, you can’t.

      I think Microsoft is doing the right thing in making the apps uninstallable and unless there are major changes in functionality I won’t be downloading any of them when Win8 is finally released.

      Reply
    3. Simon Bradley Avatar
      Simon Bradley

      “Microsoft’s dirty little secret is that their Windows Home Server 2011 product cannot backup or restore any system using UEFI and GPT drives.”

      This is a serious concern for me. I’m starting to use GPT for all my new drives. So far, none of my client machines have received a new drive that needs to be backed up to my WHS box, but I’m not happy about the idea of being forced to use MBR when they do.

      Reply
      1. Geoff Coupe Avatar
        Geoff Coupe

        I suspect that most modern PCs and all the non-RT Windows 8 tablets that will shortly be available will use UEFI/GPT by default, so I can’t help but feel that there’s a disaster waiting to happen.

        Microsoft has just released the beta of Update Rollup 3 for WHS 2011, and it doesn’t contain a fix for this issue.

        Reply
    4. Thoughts on the Windows 8 Release Preview | Geoff Coupe's Blog

      […] together in one place all the bugs, quirks and WTFs that I’ve found thus far with Windows 8. Check it out if you want to see the full list. Share this:EmailFacebookTwitterPrintLike this:LikeOne blogger […]

      Reply
    5. Origami Computing | Geoff Coupe's Blog

      […] I can live with the first two, but the last does worry me. New PC systems are increasingly based on UEFI/GPT technology, so I am likely to be faced with a problem in the future if Microsoft don’t fix this. Update: I’ve gathered all the bugs, quirks, and WTFs that I’ve found in Windows 8 thus far into one place: here. […]

      Reply
    6. Some People Just Don’t Grok It | Geoff Coupe's Blog

      […] say that I’m struck by the continuing negative press that Windows 8 continues to receive. While it’s by no means perfect, I find the hyperbolical vitriol poured on it by some of the technical press quite astounding, and […]

      Reply
    7. “Windows 8 is Windows 7+1” | Geoff Coupe's Blog

      […] find it all a bit bemusing. To be sure, Windows 8 is not without blemishes, but it’s hardly a disaster. I actually like it. I’ll be upgrading my release preview of […]

      Reply
    8. Thoughts on the Lenovo ThinkPad 2 – Part IV | Geoff Coupe's Blog

      […] App (just like all the other Lenovo Apps) does not support Devices. What is more, the Reader App, unlike Microsoft’s Modern UI Internet Explorer and Mail Apps, can print out a subset of pages from the […]

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    9. Nancy James Avatar
      Nancy James

      I’m new to Win8 and just discovered the fact there is no option to print a specific range of pages. Is there any hope that Microsoft will ‘fix’? There must be a fair number of us ol’ hard copy folk out here!

      Reply
      1. Geoff Coupe Avatar
        Geoff Coupe

        Nancy, it depends on the Metro App – some of them will expose the page range dialog, others won’t. Best is to use a Desktop application and use the old Windows print dialog…

        Reply
        1. Nancy James Avatar
          Nancy James

          No page-range on mine…(yet — I have hope 🙂 How do you call up the old Windows print dialog? Every time I try I get the new-non-page range app 😦

          Reply
          1. Geoff Coupe Avatar
            Geoff Coupe

            Nancy, what application are you wanting to print from? If it’s a Metro App, then it will always use the new Metro print system. If that doesn’t show the Page dialog, then perhaps you could switch to an equivalent traditional Desktop application to print from.

            For example the new Metro Internet Explorer does not give you the Page dialog, but if you switch to the Desktop version of Internet Explorer, that uses the traditional Windows Print dialog, and then you could use that to print out the pages that you want.

            Reply
            1. Nancy James Avatar
              Nancy James

              Ah, I get it now. I’ll try the non-Metro IE. You have been very helpful during this learning-phase for me. Thus far, I am enjoying Win8. Thanks, again.

              Reply
            2. Nancy James Avatar
              Nancy James

              That works like a charm … thanks Geoff Coupe!

              Reply
              1. Geoff Coupe Avatar
                Geoff Coupe

                Glad to have been of help. Cheers!

                Reply
    10. Windows 8.1 Preview – Part II | Geoff Coupe's Blog

      […] regard to (1), that’s been there since the very start of Windows 8. You can’t just print the current page, or a selection of pages from the Mail App. Something […]

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  • Fun With Technology – Part VIII

    Important Update 27th October 2012: The bug I describe below was fixed in the final release of Windows 8. I can now use the “Play to” feature with my Denon AVR-3808 receiver.

    Hoorah!

    Update 24 October 2013: With the release of Windows 8.1, I was getting problems with “Play to” again. I posted the Windows 8.1 issue in a Microsoft forum, and got some useful feedback from Microsoft’s Gabe Frost. The issue is not resolved, but at least we now know what’s going on. See https://gcoupe.wordpress.com/2013/10/23/play-to-and-windows-8-1/

    Original Post

    Sigh. I’m having another facepalm moment with Microsoft again. I’ve downloaded and installed the Windows 8 Release Preview, and am currently kicking the tyres. I’ve already found some nasty things in Microsoft’s Metro Apps; this post is about something else.

    Microsoft introduced the “Play to” feature in Windows 7. It’s a very useful feature that allows Windows Media Player to stream music to other devices (e.g. my Hi-Fi amplifier) on the network. I found that this feature was broken when I tried it in the Windows 8 Consumer Preview. Now that I have the Release Preview installed, I had hoped that Microsoft would have fixed it.

    Alas, no, it still doesn’t work, and there’s been a rather worrying development… Here’s what I saw when I tried it in the Consumer Preview:

    WMP 12 13

    Now take a look at the error message I get when I try using the “Play to” feature in the Release Preview:

    W8RP 06

    Er, what’s that “Not Windows certified” message? I thought the whole point of having DLNA-certified devices (which I have) was that they would plug and play. It worked in Windows 7. Now it seems as though Microsoft are introducing something else for Windows 8 – and breaking the whole concept that DLNA is trying to address.

    I would have thought that Microsoft would have learned from the failure of their “Plays for Sure” branding, but no, they’re at it again. In a final irony, my Hi-Fi amplifier, a Denon 3808 AVR, proudly bears a Microsoft “Plays for Sure” sticker. Well, it doesn’t “play for sure” any more, thanks to Microsoft and Windows 8.

    4 responses to “Fun With Technology – Part VIII”

    1. What’s Not To Like In Windows 8? | Geoff Coupe's Blog

      […] Geoff Coupe's Blog Reflections on life at "De Witte Wand" Skip to content HomeAboutGardensWedding AlbumWines I Have Known ← Fun With Technology – Part VIII […]

      Reply
    2. Windows 8 “Play to” Revisited | Geoff Coupe's Blog

      […] may recall that I’ve found that the “Play to” feature of Windows 8 is broken. I’ve been poking around trying different scenarios to see what’s going on, and come up with […]

      Reply
    3. Lightweight Avatar
      Lightweight

      Typical. MS’ best days are far behind them.

      Reply
    4. “Play to” and Windows 8.1 | Geoff Coupe's Blog

      […] along came Windows 8. Once again, in the pre-release versions of Windows 8, there were issues, but these were fixed in the final version of Windows 8. However, while the operating system and […]

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  • Thoughts on the Windows 8 Release Preview

    I must admit, since Windows 8 is going to be released in October 2012, I was expecting Microsoft’s Metro Apps in the Windows 8 Release Preview to be more fully functional than they are. To my mind, they are still little better than toy demos. Yes, I know that they are still labelled “Previews”, but there’s precious little time left before October, and an enormous amount of functional ground left to cover.

    For example, the Mail App still doesn’t have IMAP or POP support. This is a staggering omission, since these protocols are the foundation on which internet email clients have been based for years. Then there’s all the extra stuff in the Windows Live Mail client that is missing from the Metro App, such as message rules or the ability to define extra storage folders. Since my email is hosted on an IMAP mail server by my internet service provider, I haven’t been able to use the Metro Mail App in earnest. There may well be other shortcomings that I haven’t discovered yet.

    The Music App only has four views of your music library: songs, albums, artists and playlists, as shown in this screenshot:

    W8RP 04

    Since you can’t define your own additional views, I miss the sorting by genre or composer that I have in Windows Media Player or Windows Media Center. And where is “Play to” or Podcast support? Missing in action, it would seem.

    The Photos App is still only a viewer, not an organizer/editor/metadata tagger in the manner of Windows Live Photo Gallery or Picasa.

    And then there are the bugs.

    For example, amazingly, it turns out that the Photos App cannot deal with photos that are stored on a Windows Home Server. The Photos App is supposed to use the Picture Libraries that you define in Windows 8. In both Windows 7 and Windows 8, you have a standard set of libraries defined for your media. See this screenshot:

    W8RP 01

    The Documents, Music, Pictures and Videos libraries are defined by default in installations of Windows 7 or Windows 8. If you install the Zune client (which is currently needed to support Windows Phones), then you get a Library defined for Podcasts as well.

    By default, each of these libraries point to the corresponding folder in your Windows account on your PC, plus a pointer to the corresponding folder in the Public account on your PC. Here’s the pointers for the Documents library as an example:

    W8RP 02

    You can add additional pointers to folder hierarchies held locally on your PC, or network locations. If you have a Windows Home Server, then it will automatically add pointers to the corresponding Shared Folders on the server. Here’s a screenshot of the pointers to my music folders in the Music Library as an example:

    W8RP 03

    However, it turns out that the Photos App can only handle local folders, not network locations, such as the Shared Folder for pictures held on a Windows Home Server.

    This is even more curious when you realise that the Music App can handle music held in the Shared Folder for music on a Windows Home Server… That screenshot above of the Music App is showing music stored on my Windows Home Server.

    Now, the team responsible for the Photos App have admitted this is an issue. In this thread on the Microsoft Answers forum, Analy Otero, a member of the Photos App’s team states:

    The Photos team is aware of the concerns and issues that surround network locations, removable storage and Windows Home Servers. Unfortunately there are technical limitations to supporting them completely and correctly and as you have noted those locations are not supported in the Release Preview version either. 

    Rest assured that we are want to see these scenarios work and we aspire to support them just as all of you do so that you can use the Photos app as one place to see all of your photos regardless of where they are.

    If you have your photos in other PCs (Vista, Win7 or Win8 machines) you have the option to install the recently released SkyDrive client on them to be able to fetch files from them from anywhere. This includes being able to browse all your photos (and videos) from the Photos app as well. Definitely check it out if you have a chance.

    Thanks for the feedback, we’re definitely are listening and understand that support for WHS and other network locations is important for you.

    Notice that she mentions that the SkyDrive client can be used as a workaround to allow the Photos App to access files and folders held on other PCs in your network. It’s not clear whether the client is officially supported on the WHS operating system. This post on the SkyDrive forum does say that it will run on Windows Server 2008 R2, and that is the operating system that underlies WHS 2011. However, whether this also means that Microsoft will support the use of the client on WHS 2011 is another matter.  Update: Analy Otero has confirmed that Microsoft does not support the use of the SkyDrive client on WHS 2011, and it won’t install at all on WHS v1.

    I downloaded the SkyDrive client onto my Windows 8 system (which is 64bit), and then copied it across to my WHS 2011 (this is a 64bit operating system). I then did a Remote Desktop connection into my (headless) WHS, and successfully installed the client.

    Sure enough, the client then started synchronizing with my SkyDrive photos, but interestingly, something else also started happening… When I next opened the Metro Photo App, an additional pane had appeared on the opening screen – it was for “Degas” – the name of my WHS 2011 system.

    W8RP 05

    This view of the pictures folder on my Windows Home Server is not the default Pictures Shared Folder. Instead, it appears to be mapped to the Pictures folder of the Public user on WHS 2011. Now, while this is logical when the SkyDrive client is installed on a Vista, Windows 7, or Windows 8 PC, it makes no sense at all for a Windows Home Server. For one thing, no user account folders, including the Public user account folders, are ever exposed over the network in a standard Windows Home Server setup. A standard WHS 2011 system uses Shared Folders that are not tied to the Public user account.

    WHS2011 57a

    Also, I discovered that the Public Folders are only exposed so long as you are logged on to the Administrator’s Desktop (so that the SkyDrive Client runs). So if you want to use this workaround, you’re going to have to Remote Desktop in to your WHS, and populate the Pictures folder of the Public user account and keep logged on via Remote Desktop; photos in the standard Shared Folder for Pictures simply aren’t accessible by the Photos App. In my opinion, it’s a kludge. An unsupported kludge. Sigh.

    Update: I’ve gathered together in one place all the bugs, quirks and WTFs that I’ve found thus far with Windows 8. Check it out if you want to see the full list.

    One response to “Thoughts on the Windows 8 Release Preview”

    1. Fun With Technology – Part VIII | Geoff Coupe's Blog

      […] Geoff Coupe's Blog Reflections on life at "De Witte Wand" Skip to content HomeAboutGardensWedding AlbumWines I Have Known ← Thoughts on the Windows 8 Release Preview […]

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  • A Close Shave

    On the other side of the lane that runs past our property is a narrow verge and a ditch. Every year in Spring, the verge erupts with nettles. And every year, I do battle with the brush-cutter to try and trim the verge back a bit.

    This year was no different. Yesterday, I strode forth and did battle with the nettles such that they lay vanquished.

    This morning, I noticed that Watson, our youngest Labrador, was interested in something that had been exposed by the trimming of the nettles.

    It turned out to be a blackbird’s nest. I’m surprised that she had built it at ground-level, even if it had been hidden in the nettles. While I’m thankful that I didn’t decapitate the chicks, I do fear for their safety now that they are so exposed.

    20120526-1555-15

    20120526-1145-39

    20120526-1554-36

    Update: as I feared, one day later and the nest is empty. The chicks have been predated.

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  • Facets of Delius

    I was first introduced to the music of Frederick Delius back in 1968 via Ken Russell’s brilliant biographical film portrait: Song of Summer. The film dealt with Delius’s last six years of life, when he was a cantankerous old man; blind, paralysed, and dealing with tertiary syphilis. It is a superb film. Apparently, Eric Fenby, who was Delius’s amanuensis at the time, found the film so true to life that he suffered a nervous breakdown as a result of seeing it.

    We’ve had to wait nearly 45 years for another film portrait of Delius. Last night, we got it, in the shape of John Bridcut’s glorious film documentary: Delius: Lover, Composer, Enigma shown on BBC Four. This took a view of the whole of Delius’s life, from growing up as Fritz Delius in a German family in Bradford, through his time in Florida, and the flesh-pots of Paris, to his old age in Grez-sur-Loing, when he was married to the long-suffering Jelka Rosen.

    It was simply stunning. And it has made me want to explore more of Delius’s music – particularly his early work. His opera Koanga pre-dates Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess by thirty years, and his A Mass of Life celebrates the joy of life, without religious overtones.

    John Bridcut does good work – his biography of Benjamin Britten: Britten’s Children, which I read before I saw his documentary film on which the book was based, alerted me to his talent. Delius: Lover, Composer, Enigma is equally good. It contains many interviews, both current and archival material (e.g. Sir Thomas Beecham – a champion of Delius’s music), that elucidate Delius’s genius. I’ve just ordered more CDs of Delius’s music as a result. Thank you, Mr. Bridcut. And thank you, Frederick Delius.

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  • A Prelate’s Pork Pies

    I drew your attention to John Sentamu’s piece on why he does not support same-sex marriage a few days ago. One thing I missed in that farrago is that His Grace was being economical with the truth. He stated that the bishops in the House of Lords supported civil partnerships when the bill was debated.

    Strange that, if one checks Hansard, as Iain McLean has done, that is not what you will find:

    The main Lords debate on the civil partnership bill took place in June 2004. Richard Harries, then bishop of Oxford, did indeed signal Church of England support for civil partnerships. But his efforts were contradicted by the five conservative bishops who spoke on the other side. Going by the bishops’ contributions to debate, the score is 5/3 against. Going by the bishops’ votes, it is 6/1 against. Six bishops voted for a successful wrecking amendment in the name of Lady O’Cathain, which made the bill unworkable. Only the Commons’ insistence on rejecting the O’Cathain amendment made it possible to enact civil partnerships.

    His Grace tells porkies. What a surprise. 

    A tip of the hat to Eric McDonald for drawing my attention to this doubtless unintended failure of His Grace to recall facts correctly when it suits him to do so.

    One response to “A Prelate’s Pork Pies”

    1. Onward Christian Soldiers… | Geoff Coupe's Blog

      […] to remove unjustified discrimination and create greater legal rights for same sex couples” is a downright lie. As Giles Fraser writes: In the main House of Lords debate in June 2004 the majority spoke against […]

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  • Origami Computing

    As you may be aware, I’ve been following the development of Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system with some interest.

    I confess that I have been somewhat taken aback at the amount of negative press that Windows 8 has been receiving, both from technology pundits and users, because I’m finding Windows 8 rather exciting. I’ve been using it on my main desktop PC since the Windows 8 Consumer Preview was released in February, and I’ve never thought for a moment about uninstalling it and going back to Windows 7. Indeed, I’m looking forward to the Release Preview of Windows 8 that will be available in a couple of weeks.

    It’s true that my joy over Windows 8 has not been entirely unalloyed. At the moment, I have a list of three negatives:

    I can live with the first two, but the last does worry me. New PC systems are increasingly based on UEFI/GPT technology, so I am likely to be faced with a problem in the future if Microsoft don’t fix this. Update: I’ve gathered all the bugs, quirks, and WTFs that I’ve found in Windows 8 thus far into one place: here.

    It seems to me that with Windows 8, Microsoft has a chance to move personal computing into a new era, one where not only can a range of computing devices (PCs, Tablets, Smartphones) share a common operating system and applications, but where the hardware itself can have a range of flexibility that goes beyond what we have seen so far.

    I got a taste of this with my old HP TX2000 Tablet PC, but running Windows 7, it couldn’t deliver what will be possible with Windows 8.

    Paul Thurrott touches upon this in his latest opinion piece. I think he is right. My next PC purchase is unlikely to be a Desktop PC. It will be a Slate, running Windows 8, based on Intel’s Broadwell. It will have multitouch and a pressure-sensitive stylus. I will be able to carry it around and take notes/photos/videos on the move, and I’ll be able to plug it into multiple monitors, a keyboard, and a mouse for my next generation Desktop.

    We are at the dawn of Origami Computing. Apple and Android are way behind.

    5 responses to “Origami Computing”

    1. Some People Just Don’t Grok It | Geoff Coupe's Blog

      […] The entry-level Tablet is clearly aimed at the iPad market niche, but I’ve never found that market niche particularly interesting. I want something that is more than a just device for consuming content. I want one that has the power of a desktop available. So the more interesting one (to me) is the one running Windows 8 Pro. This comes with a pen, and (excellent) handwriting recognition is part of Windows 8. Coupled with the detachable keyboard, this model of the Surface range looks as though it meets my desire for origami computing. […]

      Reply
    2. “Windows 8 is Windows 7+1” | Geoff Coupe's Blog

      […] mentioned before how much I’ve been surprised by the level of vitriol and hatred that has been unleashed […]

      Reply
    3. Keep Taking The Tablets | Geoff Coupe's Blog

      […] I might want something that can act as either a tablet or a full-blown desktop PC (what I term Origami computing), at this stage, I would be comfortable with something that acts simply as a tablet – something […]

      Reply
    4. Surface – The Next Generation | Geoff Coupe's Blog

      […] I’ve said before that, if I don’t build my next desktop PC myself, I want to have a multi-functional device. It will be a tablet, running Windows 8 or its successors. It will have multitouch and a pressure-sensitive stylus. I will be able to carry it around and take notes/photos/videos on the move, and I’ll be able to plug it into a docking unit to support multiple monitors, a keyboard, and a mouse for my next generation Desktop. This is what I call Origami Computing. […]

      Reply
    5. For the Want of a Nail… | Geoff Coupe's Blog

      […] seems to me that the only option worth considering (for my case) would be the “origami computing” option – going for the i7 SP3 + docking station + type cover to replace both the […]

      Reply

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  • A Prelate’s Petitio Principii

    …Or, a bigot begs the question. John Sentamu explains why he objects to same-sex marriage. It’s a staggering piece, chock-full of circular arguments and some breathtaking disingenuousness. A prime example of the latter is his opening:

    I will be the first to accept that homosexual people have suffered discrimination and sometimes worse through the decades and that the churches have, at times, been complicit in this.

    Er, at times the churches have been complicit in this? Dear God, Sentamu, your Christian church has our blood on its hands. It has been the powerhouse of discrimination and violence against us for centuries, and remains so in many cases, the Roman Catholic Church and the African Anglican churches to name but two.

    I think it’s instructive, as one of the commenters on this piece has done, to use Sentamu’s opening words and replace the targets of his piece. It throws into sharp relief Senatmu’s bigotry:

    I will be the first to accept that slaves have suffered discrimination and sometimes worse through the decades and that the churches have, at times, been complicit in this. There is much penance to be done before we can look our enslaved brothers and sisters in the eye. But that baleful history does not diminish the need to speak the truth in love.

    I firmly believe that redefining society to embrace emancipation would mean diminishing the meaning of life for most people, with very little if anything gained for black people. If I am right, in the long term we would all be losers.

    Of course, if someone should ask, “how will my household be affected if servants can be free to come and go as they please?”, the answer is: not at all. But let me put the question another way: what sort of a society would we have if we came to see all social relations primarily in terms of equal rights? Society is designed to meet the different needs of its different members in different ways. It is the model of the just society that responds intelligently to differences rather than treating everyone the same.

    While I am a strong supporter of justice and equality of opportunity for all people, I want to insist that with those rights go our responsibilities to one another. These are enshrined, I believe, in our legal definition of human property. Would we be a better society if we made the master-servant relation simply a private contract between two individuals, with no wider implications of society and property rights? I do not believe that we would. The issue is not the implication for any existing household,  but the implication for people in the future, when the social meaning of bondage has been changed and, in my view, diminished.

    Drawing parallels between the proposed emancipation and the introduction of same-sex marriage ignores the fact that there is more than one paradigm of equality. For me, sexual equality rests on the doctrine that there is only one dominant race – the white race – and any difference of treatment on sexual grounds is therefore unjustifiable. But there is another view, based on the complementary nature of blacks and whites. In short, should there be equality between the races because a black man  can do anything a white man can do or because a good society needs the different perspectives of blacks and whites equally?

    We’ve moved on from the days when people, including influential churchmen (they’re always men), could say something like the above in polite society. Sentamu may well believe that he is speaking the truth in love, but he is not. He is preaching the same old hatreds that have bedevilled humanity down the centuries.

    Sentamu is likely to be the next Archbishop of Canterbury. I’m glad I’m no longer a Christian.

    4 responses to “A Prelate’s Petitio Principii”

    1. jlbeeken Avatar
      jlbeeken

      First I thought I was reading something written 200 years ago. Then I thought I was reading something written by a 13-year old hacking his homework together. And then I got to ‘same-sex marriage’ and figured it must be somewhere in present times. And then I read ‘next Archbishop of Canterbury’ and I had to step out for some air. A re-read might kill me.

      Reply
    2. novocoboro Avatar
      novocoboro

      “Marriage is built around complementarity of the sexes, and therefore the institution of marriage is a support for stable families and societies.”

      This one sentence blows Sentamu’s argument out of the water. Let us take the first clause.

      By asserting such, he maintains that the coming together of two persons in a commitment of lifelong devotion can only be predicated on their being reproductive entities. This dehumanises the individuals involved into merely reproductive organisms. In none of his preceding argument does he make the case for the commitment of one person to another of the same sex as having any validity other than to diminish marriage for others. If he reduces marriage to the complementarity of the sexes, then he does not allow for the humanity of the people involved. The divorce rate testifies that complementarity of the sexes is the least reason to hold marriages together.

      The second part of his statement is not logically dependant on the first. If the institution of marriage leads to stable families and societies, then surely extending marriage to stable couples, of whatever sex, can only lead to stable societies. If such unions result in the succesful nurturing of children, does that not support stable families and societies?

      In bringing children into the argument against same-sex marriage, the antagonists not only dehumanise parents into a sexual function, they hold the children hostage to a specious argument.

      Equality never forces unjustified change on anyone. It only redeems justice for all. Sentamu is under the misguided assumption that, with no sociological or spiritual justification, same-sex marriage will diminish the institution of marriage. He offers only vague defense, and scant justification.

      His Grace’s arguments are ill-considered and badly thought out, and so may be discarded.

      Reply
    3. Geoff Coupe Avatar
      Geoff Coupe

      Sentamu’s piece continues to gain responses over at The Guardian site. The majority are pointing out that he’s got it wrong. Example:

      Dr Sentamu, you have said the ‘there is still much penance to be done before we can look our homosexual brothers and sisters in the eye’

      Let me make it very clear to you that as far as I am concerned, there is NO penance that your church or the catholics could ever do to make up for the abhorrent acts of hate and discrimination that your church and the Catholics have either perpetrated or been complicit in against the gay community. Unspeakable and immeasurable damage has been done and forgiveness is not on the cards. I cannot speak for others in the gay community, but I would not imagine that I am alone in this view.

      I do not advocate that you should not be allowed to practice a religion such as yours, despite my personal views on it. Yet you feel it appropriate to tell people like me that we cannot get married?

      Your view comes from a fundamental misunderstanding of sexuality and humanity. You cannot choose your sexuality any more than you can choose the colour of your eyes, your are born with both and as such, both are worthy of respect and protection as immutable qualities. The same cannot be said of religion, as it is a choice of belief.

      I grew up in the 1980’s it he era of the unequal age of consent and section 28. We were not even allowed the small crum that is civil partnership. I had your religion shoved down my through and as a result, I was made to feel that there was something wrong with me. We are now thankfully moving to a stage where people like you and your organisations are become increasingly irrelevant. Hopefully soon you will not be allowed to sit in our legislature. You wil slowly be reduced to a faith allowed to practice so long as you do not harm others, and that is your right and is as it should be.

      Marriage does not belong to any one religion or faith, (though it was originally a pagan construct). It is something that belongs to all humans and as such I as a human have the right to marry someone of my choice. The government is simply trying to make it so that this right is reflected in our civil law. This will not degrade marriage, but will enhance it as a fully inclusive institution. Your church and others like it will not be forced to participate in or host such marriages. You will be able to continue to follow your narrow view. Given this fact, why is it so hard for you to accept this compromise?

      You have referred to marriage and children. Firstly, not all straight marriages involve children. They are no less valid than those who do. Secondly, gay people (and hopefully myself one day) have children, either through adoption or other means. Should this not mean that following your logic, gay people should marry to (In your words) create a stable foundation for the raising of children. I suppose you think that it’s dangerous for children t be raised by gays and therefore that the childre of gay parents are a lost cause, undeserving of the benefits (such as they may be) of marriage. I would just say that in my view, it is not necessary for parents to be married or for there to be two parents for a child to grow up and be raised successfully. I a living proof of this, but I am just following your arguments.

      Here is the thing. My view of marriage as someone who is not allowed one, is that it is my chance to stand up in front of the people I love and proclaim my love and commitment to the person I have chosen to spend my life with and to receive their blessing. It is a privilege which I would not take lightly or use frivolously. What is so wrong with that? What hate must you feel to deny another human being this joy?

      I would write more, but I have no words which I consider to be appropriate in retaliation for such reckless hate. Keep to your faith and beliefs if you must, but do not them and your position to inflict your faith and beliefs on others. Your actions are not something which would be enforced by your god. I would go as far as to say that he would be ashamed.

      However, I see that the countering voices are still there, Such as from the interestingly named “forequality” commenter. Oh, whoops!, the Guardian moderator has already removed it. Pity. I wanted to reproduce it as an example of how pitiful some people’s prejudice and bigotry can be…

      Reply
    4. A Prelate’s Pork Pies | Geoff Coupe's Blog

      […] I drew your attention to John Sentamu’s piece on why he does not support same-sex marriage a few days ago. One thing I missed in that farrago is that His Grace was being economical with the truth. He stated that the bishops in the House of Lords supported civil partnerships when the bill was debated. […]

      Reply

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  • At Long Last – A Result!

    You may recall that I’ve been trying for some time to get Microsoft to correct some false data that they’ve been holding on me. My Microsoft account for their online stores (the Zune/Xbox Live/Windows Phone service account) states that I live in the US, and not The Netherlands. It’s not possible for the owner of the personal data held in these service accounts to change this, so I’ve been asking Microsoft since December 2010 to either change it on my behalf, or delete the account so that I can create a new one with the correct data.

    The answer (stated in both Microsoft’s Support Forums and by their online Customer Support Teams) has always been that neither of these two options are possible.

    The only option that has ever been offered is to create a new Windows Live ID (WLID) and then use this to create a new service account that is linked to the new Windows Live ID. This has never been an attractive option to me, because it means I would end up with multiple online identities (the WLIDs), and multiple service accounts – at least one of which would still be holding incorrect data.

    It also seems to me that Microsoft could also be said to be contravening EU law on Data Protection, by refusing to correct false data that they hold on me.

    After feeling like I was beating my head against a brick wall with Microsoft’s online Customer Support Teams about this, in March I wrote to Microsoft’s European Headquarters to complain.

    I received a reply from Rob Warwick, XBOX EMEA Senior Advocacy Team, that had me scratching my head, because he was claiming that it was possible to delete my old service account (with the false information) and set up a new one that used my existing Windows Live ID. This directly contradicted everything stated in Microsoft’s Support Forums and by their Customer Support Teams, so I wrote and told him this. For good measure, I also wrote a formal complaint to Microsoft in The Netherlands, using text supplied by the Dutch Data Protection Authority, pointing out that, by holding incorrect data about me, Microsoft was in contravention of Dutch Law (artikel 36 van de Wet bescherming persoonsgegevens).

    I don’t know which of the two complaints worked (see update below), but last week I received an email from a member of Microsoft’s Xbox Global Escalations team. He informed me that they are the highest point of escalation for Xbox across the whole of Europe and that my case had been passed up to them to handle and they now had full ownership.

    He proposed creating a new temporary email address that would be attached to my old service account, thus freeing up my existing Windows Live ID to create a new service account (with the correct data). The old service account, and the temporary email address, would then be deleted by Microsoft. This is effectively what I had been asking for since December 2010.

    I must say that I was a little surprised that I had to get it escalated so far. I’ve asked repeatedly on the Microsoft Answers forums for the old account to be deleted and a new account opened with the same WLID, and had two attempts via online chat with Customer Support to get this done. In all cases, I (and many other people who asked for the same thing) have been repeatedly told that this was not possible, but that I needed to create a new WLID and use it to create a new account. However, it appears, as the Xbox Global Escalations team have demonstrated, to be perfectly possible.

    There are many people who are still in the same situation as I was, and equally frustrated. I find it strange that Microsoft should continue to frustrate and anger its customers, and not take steps to rectify the false information spread via its own Answers forum and Customer Support staff. I should add that the person in the Escalation Team that was dealing with my case has told me that he has now passed the case details regarding this to Microsoft’s Call Center feedback team to ensure the support staff are aware of this process and to ensure that moving forward this is an option for future customers. So hopefully things will improve.

    So to summarise, if you find yourself in the same position as I was, and are being given the runaround by Microsoft’s Customer Support, just write a formal letter of complaint to Microsoft, and ask that it get escalated within Microsoft.

    Update: I’m now pretty sure that it was writing to Microsoft’s European Headquarters, and the subsequent correspondence with Rob Warwick, that got my complaint escalated and successfully addressed. I say this because last week I was phoned by the Dutch Xbox Live support team. My letter to Microsoft in the Netherlands had been passed to them to deal with. The support team proceeded to tell me that the data could not be corrected, and that I’d need to create a new Windows Live ID and a new service account. The same old story, in other words. I took some delight in being able to tell them that in fact I had already got my data corrected, and I did not need to have a new Windows Live ID created. Clearly, the message from the Xbox Global Escalations team has not yet got out to customer support…

    Update 11 October 2012: I’ve seen it being reported in several places on the web that Microsoft Customer Support is now able to migrate your account from one country to another. So it’s just taken five months for the message to get out from the Global Escalation team to Customer Support that migrations are possible…

    Update 25 January 2014: I’m back battling with Microsoft again. This time it’s because of the same problem that has occurred with Martin’s WLID (now called Microsoft Account). It has a US billing account associated with it, despite the fact that we live in the Netherlands. Trying to get Microsoft to resolve the issue is proving frustrating, to say the least.

    42 responses to “At Long Last – A Result!”

    1. markiz Avatar
      markiz

      I am unclear about this, but here me out..

      Does the Xbox escalations team have an official central email address that could be made public? By you? 😀

      I reckon if more people complain directly, more hasty change of policy might be implemented.

      In any case, I’ll give it a try.

      Thanks so much for this, it’s the first example of someone who succeeded that i know of.

      Reply
      1. Geoff Coupe Avatar
        Geoff Coupe

        Markiz, I’d rather not simply give out an email address without permission, so what I’ll do is ask the member of the team with whom I’ve been in contact if there is a public email address that people can use to contact them with.

        Reply
        1. markiz Avatar
          markiz

          I understand. that’s why i was being coy about it 🙂

          Reply
      2. Geoff Coupe Avatar
        Geoff Coupe

        Markiz, I asked, but the reply is that there is no public email address for the Xbox Global Escalations Team. You’ll have to try and get it escalated via Customer Support, or, if that still doesn’t work, make a formal complaint in writing to Microsoft, and ask that it be escalated to the Team.

        Reply
        1. markiz Avatar
          markiz

          Thanks for your time!

          Last night I was having a chat with an xbox live official support, and the women on the chat has escalated (what an awesome work BTW 🙂 my problem further. She even took my mobile phone number. I’m still not expecting anything, and not soon especially (she told me it would take weeks) but I got it started at least.

          I will also make a formal complaint directly to MS hq here in Croatia and in US probably, to increase my chances.

          Thanks again for offering a possible way to make this work.

          I will also update my topic on theverge.com when i get the time.

          Reply
    2. Erik Avatar
      Erik

      Could you please share you letter? This way I can fill in my details?

      Reply
      1. Geoff Coupe Avatar
        Geoff Coupe

        Erik, I based my letter to Microsoft Nederland on the example letters found on the http://www.mijnprivacy.nl site:

        Geachte mijnheer of mevrouw,

        Met verwijzing naar artikel 36 van de Wet bescherming persoonsgegevens, wil ik graag verbetering van mijn gegevens.

        Ik wens de volgende aanpassingen in mijn gegevens:

        Mijn Zune/Xbox Live account heeft “US” in plaats van “Nederland” als ‘country of residence’. Ik wil “Nederland” hebben, maar ik kan het niet veranderen.

        Mijn Zune/Xbox Live account is gekoppeled met mijn Windows Live ID: geoff.coupe@xxxxxxx(uniek ID: nnnnnnnn)

        Ik verzoek u mij binnen vier weken schriftelijk te berichten of dan wel in hoeverre u aan mijn verzoek voldoet.

        Als u aan mijn verzoek hebt voldaan, dient u zo spoedig mogelijk de aanpassingen door te geven aan derden aan wie u mijn gegevens hebt verstrekt.

        Als u met het oog op de vaststelling van mijn identiteit behoefte heeft aan een kopie van een rijbewijs, paspoort of ander identiteitsbewijs, ben ik bereid u deze te verstrekken.

        Ik wil u erop attenderen dat ik, indien u mijn verzoek niet inwilligt, genoodzaakt ben mij te wenden tot het College bescherming persoonsgegevens (CBP).

        Hoogachtend,

        G. Coupe

        Reply
        1. Erik Avatar
          Erik

          Thank You. I didn’t receive an email about your reply. Maybe check your wordpress settings as this helps to keep this blog active. I can help with testing the settings of course.

          Below this reply I see:
          Notify me of follow-up comments via email.
          Notify me of new posts via email.

          Both of OFF by default. I can’t remember if I forgot this option the first time.

          Reply
          1. Geoff Coupe Avatar
            Geoff Coupe

            Erik, you need to check the “Notify me of follow-up comments via email” at the time when you make the comment. Otherwise, you don’t receive any follow-ups…

            Reply
    3. markiz Avatar
      markiz

      Geoff, this is an email i got yesterday from the escalations team, and now i’m confused, as it seems they are saying that WLID can be made free just by moving gamertag:

      “We’re sorry to hear you are experiencing difficulty changing the Windows LIVE ID associated with your gamertag. We understand you want to free your Windows LIVE ID so you can create a new account that corresponds with your country of residence (Croatia).

      As you indicated this can be done by associating the existing gamertag with a different Windows LIVE ID. We understand you received an error indicating the WLID can only be changed once every 30 days. Please understand certain restrictions apply to Windows LIVE ID changes:

      1. The WLID cannot be changed within 30 days of the GT creation

      2. The WLID cannot be changed within 30 days of the creation of the WLID.

      3. The WLID cannot be changed if the new WLID was associated with another Gamertag within the past 30 days.

      4. The WLID cannot be changed if the account was recovered to a new device in the past 30 days.

      To ensure the WLID can be changed after 30 days please login to accounts.live.com to update all information associated with both Windows Live IDs. Your existing Windows LIVE ID will be available for use with a new gamertag after a new Windows LIVE ID is associated with your existing gamertag. You can de-activate any undesired Windows LIVE IDs by logging into accounts.live.com, and closing the account. Have a great day.
      Regards,
      Xbox LIVE Escalations Team”

      What do you make of this?

      Reply
      1. Geoff Coupe Avatar
        Geoff Coupe

        Markiz, this is a way to use your existing WLID to create a new Xbox Live account (with its new Gamertag), and then eventually get rid of the old Xbox Live account. You use your Xbox to do this. Since I don’t have an Xbox, I couldn’t make use of this method for myself.

        It’s similar to the method that Microsoft used for me:

        1) Create a new, temporary email address and use it to create a new WLID
        2) Transfer the existing Zune/Xbox Live account to the new WLID
        3) Your existing WLID then becomes free to have a new Zune/Xbox Live account created for it
        4) The new WLID/temporary email address can be deleted, and then the old Zune/Xbox Live account will also be deleted.

        The main drawback of the method is that none of your existing Xbox profile, achievements, or licensed games will be migrated to the new Xbox Live account – you will be starting again from scratch. If this matters to you, then you should reply asking for a migration. However, be aware that Microsoft will not guarantee that any licensed content will be migrated. I think only your profile and your achievements can be moved across to the new Xbox Live account. See the post from pmdci on this thread:
        http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-security/why-are-there-such-seemingly-arbitrary-divisions/16e1187c-2829-4e15-92f3-3f3015fda3bb?page=2#last

        Reply
        1. markiz Avatar
          markiz

          How confident are you that by using this method I will in fact get to the point where I am able to link a new gamertag to my existing liveID?

          I am willing to go as far as finding someone online with an Xbox who would do this for me. In fact, I have a separate thread on MS answers about the issue where a moderator has offered me his assistance in this.
          But, on my first chat with an xbox support technician, he/she told me that that would not actually free up my existing WLID. And that confuses me.

          BTW, I got an response from escalations team where they revert back to suggesting me to use a new WLID 😦

          I have contacted personal data protection agency of my country and am waiting for a reply. If they give me some concrete links to specific laws, do you think I should contact MS HQ, or HQ of the croatian branch of microsoft?

          Reply
          1. Geoff Coupe Avatar
            Geoff Coupe

            Markiz, well, as I said, I don’t have an Xbox, so I cannot be 100% certain that using an Xbox to shuffle accounts between WLIDs will work. I’ve seen people on the Microsoft Answers forum say it does – but that’s just what I read.

            If the escalations team are still suggesting that you simply create a new WLID and a new account linked to it, then I think that you have to reply that this simply is not good enough. If you cannot/will not delete your original WLID (because it is used for your online identity elsewhere), then your original Zune/Xbox Live account remains active – holding incorrect data – and this is clearly contrary to EU law.

            First, reply to the escalations team saying that their response is not satisfactory. By all means, point them to my blog, because that shows that it is possible to continue using your existing WLID with a new account. What they have told you is not the full story.

            In parallel to that, when you have a response from your local Data Protection Authority, use that to follow up with Microsoft in Croatia. It doesn’t hurt to pursue multiple routes, as I found in my own case.

            Good luck.

            Reply
            1. markiz Avatar
              markiz

              For future reference, I tried the Xbox method, but it can only be done once the WLID/gamertag you want to free has been on the console for 30 days at least. Since I do not own one, that’s a no go.

              Reply
    4. I Don’t Want to be Born Again | Geoff Coupe's Blog

      […] It took writing letters to Microsoft, but I finally managed to get my old Zune/Xbox account deleted, and used my existing Windows Live ID to create a new […]

      Reply
    5. Lipstick On A Pig | Geoff Coupe's Blog

      […] It took writing letters to Microsoft, but I finally managed to get my old Zune/Xbox Live account deleted, and used my existing Windows Live ID to create a new […]

      Reply
    6. Petitioning Microsoft | Geoff Coupe's Blog

      […] As a result of sending letters, I finally managed to get Microsoft to correct the false data in my account, so it can be done… Share this:EmailFacebookTwitterPrintLike this:LikeBe the first to like […]

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    7. Microsoft Windows Live ID, Zune ID and Windows Phone 7 account nightmares if you go international… « keep it warm

      […] https://gcoupe.wordpress.com/2012/05/16/at-long-last-a-result/ Rate this:Like this:LikeBe the first to like this. […]

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    8. Microsoft Windows Live ID, Zune ID and Windows Phone 7 account nightmares if you go international… « keep it warm

      […] https://gcoupe.wordpress.com/2012/05/16/at-long-last-a-result/ Rate this:Like this:LikeBe the first to like this. […]

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    9. boma23 Avatar
      boma23

      hi Geoff,
      Having moved from the UK a few years ago, I too am having an absolute nightmare getting anywhere with this same issue. It has been ongoing for over a year, and only when i decided to stick it up my own blog did I finally find yours, suggesting there is light at the end of the tunnel.
      I hope you don’t mind me posting a link, as I feel th more hits this issue gets, the better for all in the same situation.

      Microsoft Windows Live ID, Zune ID and Windows Phone 7 account nightmares if you go international…

      Reply
      1. Geoff Coupe Avatar
        Geoff Coupe

        Hello Dominic – that’s quite a saga. It looks as though your case still hasn’t been escalated high enough within Microsoft – it’s still rattling around in Customer Support. I (and someone else I know of) got no result until my case was sent to the Xbox Global Escalation Team. Then it got resolved with their help. Note: I do NOT have an Xbox. The billing account that was causing the problem is shared between the Zune/Xbox Live and Windows Phone backend infrastructure used for billing and purchases.

        Reply
        1. boma23 Avatar
          boma23

          Saga isn’t the word… if this was fantasy fiction I’d be Terry Pratchett! There’ll be another post with the latest XBox Support transcript going up later.

          The lack of XBox console availability is also my main issue. Annoyingly though, It’s stopping me from fully utilizing my WindowsPhone7 device (which as you say relies on Zune, in turn linked to the old UK Xbox Gamertag causing the issue). When it does finally get resolved, I fully expect to lose my entire app history as a result!

          Reply
    10. Markiz Avatar
      Markiz

      I too have managed to solve my problems.
      I did it using an Xbox. Since I do not own one, and do not even know anyone who ownes one, I accepted help from a Microsoft answers moderator to do it for me.

      I changed my password and gave it him. He put it in his xbox. It did not work. I changed my password back. We waited a month and tired again, and this time it was successful.

      I did not have to hard reset or anything. When I opened marketplace, it asked me to choose region/locale (it offered me the correct one: croatia).

      Whenever an app gets an update now and i tap “update” an error is reported, but than i just uninstall and install the app again.

      So I can conform that the xbox method works.
      ———————————————————–

      I do have a new problem though. Marketplace only accepts INTERNATIONAL CREDIT CARDS. Meaning, TRUE visa, mastercard and american.
      I am a student. So I am unable to get those credit cards. All of my cards are DEBIT.

      I was shocked after I was unable to add a card because I was sure the issue was resolved.
      I started a chat on ms support website. During the chat session, agent even called me (from USA), so as to make things faster. And at the end he said it must be the issue with a card, because everything checks out on their side. I checked on my banks website, and sure enough, all the cards I have are debit.

      So I am still unable to purchase anything, but one of these days, when I finish up with college and get a job, I’ll be on the horse 🙂

      Reply
      1. Geoff Coupe Avatar
        Geoff Coupe

        Markiz – thanks for lettings us know that the Xbox method does work. Sorry to hear that you still have an issue because Microsoft don’t support debit cards. One step forwards, two steps back…

        Reply
      2. kurotsuki Avatar
        kurotsuki

        Hello Markiz. Could you tell us who this moderator who kindly help you to fix your problem? I bought a Lumia 710 more than a month a go and my live id is already set to US (I don’t even has the chance to chose region). I wonder if I can use this method (by asking that same person to try fix this problem which I think is similar to yours).

        Reply
        1. markiz Avatar
          markiz

          You choose the regio when you first open the marketplace/store app on your phone.

          I can not directly give you a contact email, but you could ask for help on this thread on microsoft answers. That’s where i got it.

          http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/winphone/forum/wp7-wpapps/liveid-locked-to-us-region-because-of-the-xbox/478acffd-e115-4e58-8ba2-7ab136bf1bb1

          Reply
          1. kurotsuki Avatar
            kurotsuki

            OK. I’ve replying on your thread to ask for similar help. I hope I can get over this 😦
            Thanks for your help ^^a

            Reply
    11. Microsoft Windows Live ID, Zune ID and Windows Phone 7 account nightmares… PART 2 « keep it warm

      […] https://gcoupe.wordpress.com/2012/05/16/at-long-last-a-result/ […]

      Reply
    12. Eugene Hawkins Avatar
      Eugene Hawkins

      Hello
      I have create a new email account and put that as my email address for the Zune account. What do i do then? I cant seem to follow how to change it… Please help 🙂

      Reply
      1. Geoff Coupe Avatar
        Geoff Coupe

        Eugene, I’m not sure what you mean when you say you have “put that (your new mail address) as my email address for the Zune account”. When a Zune account is created, it uses the email address of your Windows Live ID, and that address can never be changed…

        So, you may have created another email address, but you can’t edit your Zune account to change to your new email address. The system doesn’t allow it.

        Reply
        1. Eugene Hawkins Avatar
          Eugene Hawkins

          Sorry to sound dumb but is there an actual way to change my country for my Zune account?

          Reply
          1. Geoff Coupe Avatar
            Geoff Coupe

            Eugene – as I wrote above:

            “So to summarise, if you find yourself in the same position as I was, and are being given the runaround by Microsoft’s Customer Support, just write a formal letter of complaint to Microsoft, and ask that it get escalated within Microsoft”.

            That’s the only actual way to get your country changed. You can’t do it yourself, and Customer Support will say they can’t do it. You have to get your request escalated within Microsoft so that it reaches the Xbox Global Escalations Team. They are the only ones who can get the country changed in your Zune/Xbox Live/Windows Phone account. And even there, what they are in fact doing is creating a new account, but linking it back to your original email/Windows Live ID, and then deleting the old account. So the effect is that your Zune account gets the correct country. Depending on what your old country and your new country are, you may get your Zune purchases migrated to the new account, but this is unlikely.

            Reply
            1. Trygve Hovland Avatar
              Trygve Hovland

              Hi,
              I’m a norwegian who got my first windows phone quite early so i deliberately chose UK as my country when I created my zune account to get access to marketplace apps. After a while norway got in the mix and marketplace opened up for us.
              So therefore I wanted to change my zune account country to be able to buy norwegian apps and have region based apps available to me.

              I have googled this issue for a long time and stumbled upon this webiste just a month ago. I first tried the xbox support and got nowhere. They told me this wasnt possible at all. (as you have already stated on this blog) Instead of writing a formal letter I found some employees in Microsoft Norway and sent a descibribing e-mail also refering to this blog.
              First I got an answer that they would look in to this for me and get back to me. After a couple of days I was told this wasnt possible.. I didn’t reply to this e-mail and a couple of days later I got a new e-mail telling me that a english speaking representative from the Xbox team would contact me by telephone the next few days.

              A couple of days later i got a call from a member of the xbox support team explaining my case and also refering to this blog and the person at the other end new of this blog and issue at hand. I asked me a few questions on what my needs where and to be sure of some issues that could occur and he changed my zune accont contry from UK to Norway.

              Success! 😀

              I have the name and e-mail address of this person but I’m not sure its the right thing to do to publish this information here.

              Reply
              1. Geoff Coupe Avatar
                Geoff Coupe

                Trygve, good to hear that you have also had success. But in answer to your question, please do not publish the name and email address of the Microsoft contact person here. It is private information.

                Reply
              2. boma23 Avatar
                boma23

                Trygve, I would DEARLY like the contact information of the MS rep you spoke to (I promise to keep it private!). I have currently run out of options going forward – XBOX support refuse to escalate it, and MS Support say they can’t do anything as it’s an XBox issue!
                Your solution seems the best yet, as you had your current tag’s region changed to the correct location, meaning app history is retained.

                please email me boma23 ( at ) outlook.com

                Many Thanks,
                Dom

                Reply
    13. Asbjørn Avatar
      Asbjørn

      Thank you for this post! I live in Denmark, but when I created my Live ID over ten years ago, I chose the US as country – for obvious reasons. Now, this is causing me no ends of trouble. Thank you for pointing out that Microsoft is in breach of EU law. Unfortunately, the Danish data protection agency (Datatilsynet) is not quite as proactive as the Dutch one. I have, however, sent Microsoft an e-mail asking for this change to be made – and threatening them with the relevant authorities if they don’t comply with the law (we have a similar provision in the Danish law on personal information). I hate to take such steps, but it appears to be necessary. I had actually given up on this, but your story has proven that it is possible. It is just absurd the lengths you have to go to make such a simple change.

      Reply
    14. Al Feersum Avatar
      Al Feersum

      Geoff…

      In case you haven’t seen it: http://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-now-allows-xbox-live-account-country-migration

      Reply
      1. Geoff Coupe Avatar
        Geoff Coupe

        Thanks, Al. Yes, I have seen it reported in a number of places now. It sounds as though it’s only taken five months for the message to get out from the Global Escalation team that these migrations are in fact possible…

        I suspect that Microsoft is trying to head off what would have been an avalanche of frustration that would have emerged once Windows 8 hits the streets.

        However, it still sounds a rather cumbersome process, so I suspect that many folks will still get frustrated – certainly if they have to wait six weeks for it to be completed…

        Reply
    15. kurotsuki Avatar
      kurotsuki

      OK. After one week of email communication, the XBox support team help me by re-associate my old gamertag to a newly created live id, which makes my current live id doesn’t tied to any gamertag. Then I do the same thing with Markiz by re-register marketplace account using correct region this time. It’s worked and I now can see all apps that only released to my region.

      My only consent is xbox live games. Since my region doesn’t supported by xbox live, this makes my previous xbox live games (like fruit ninja, angrybirds, etc) are missing from my game list. I wonder how can I uninstall those games so I can use their space for music collections. My last resort is hard reset the phone. But that will make me lose all installed apps that is not supported by my region. So this is the last resort if there no other way. So, how can I uninstall unlisted apps?

      Reply
      1. Geoff Coupe Avatar
        Geoff Coupe

        Kurotski, that’s a good point, but I’m sorry, I don’t know how you can uninstall unlisted apps without a reset of your phone. Perhaps you should ask this over at the Windows Phone forum:
        http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/winphone/forum/wpapps?tab=all

        Reply
    16. Head, Meet Brick Wall… | Geoff Coupe's Blog

      […] a US billing account was created some years ago, even though I live in the Netherlands. That took two years of battling Microsoft to get it resolved. Things have moved on, so perhaps it would not take so much effort this time […]

      Reply
    17. My Head Hurts | Geoff Coupe's Blog

      […] I’m thinking that the next step will be a formal letter of complaint to Rob Warwick in the Xbox EMEA Senior Advocacy Team. At least he managed to get a similar issue with my Microsoft Account sorted. […]

      Reply

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  • OK, So I’m Old…

    Scott Hanselman has a post about computer icons that refer to dead technology.

    Depressingly, I found that I knew all of them firsthand. In my defense, I claim that books are not a dead technology.

    4 responses to “OK, So I’m Old…”

    1. Matt Healy Avatar
      Matt Healy

      Another one missed in that post: the hourglass icon! I also remember those obsolete technologies, once upon a time I owned a car with an 8-track player. Those who don’t remember 8-track tapes also don’t remember extracting a snarled tape from the player!

      Reply
      1. Geoff Coupe Avatar
        Geoff Coupe

        Hah – you’re right! The hourglass is also now obsolete – although I remember them as egg-timers when I was a child.

        Reply
    2. coffeemike Avatar
      coffeemike

      If it makes you feel better, *I* experienced all of the original sources firsthand. So, either now I’m old or you’re not as old as you thought you were – see it however you like.

      I also disagree about the visual voicemail icon – clearly it’s meant to resemble a cassette tape, or possibly reel-reel, but certainly not 110 film. (Although I can see the likeness. And have used 110 film.)

      Reply
      1. Geoff Coupe Avatar
        Geoff Coupe

        Mike, yes, cassette is the most likely – probably the mini-cassette that was used in Dictaphones and answering machines. And thank you for making me feel slightly less old…

        Reply

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  • Botanicula

    The makers of Machinarium have come up with a new game: Botanicula. I have a fondness for Adventure Games, and I quite liked Machinarium, although all the point-and-clicking did get a bit tedious at times.

    With Botanicula, although it’s also a point-and-click game, it never got tedious. That’s probably because of the strength of the story, the game’s charm and its inventiveness. Playing the game brought a smile to my face, as well as a couple of laugh out loud moments.

    The story is a quest of five unlikely heroes, and their attempt to plant a new tree.

    Botanicula artwork - Heroes

    They travel through fantastical landscapes and meet with over one hundred bizarre creatures.

    4_botanicula_1280x1024

    10_botanicula_1280x1024

    Highly recommended.

    2 responses to “Botanicula”

    1. Technogran Avatar
      Technogran

      I too love adventure games Geoff, so thanks for this post I will try this game out.

      Reply
      1. Geoff Coupe Avatar
        Geoff Coupe

        I think you’ll like it, TG. It’s full of wit and charm.

        Reply

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  • Designing an Online Ordering System

    …or: how not to do it.

    If you’ve ever worked in computing, as I have, then this story should cause chills to run up your spine. If it doesn’t, then, trust me, you’re in the wrong job.

    2 responses to “Designing an Online Ordering System”

    1. Matt Healy Avatar
      Matt Healy

      That is the equivalent of a bank leaving the vault keys on a hook outside.

      Reply
      1. Geoff Coupe Avatar
        Geoff Coupe

        Yep. Shudder…

        Reply

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  • Garden Visitor

    We had a visitor at the bird feeder yesterday. It was a female Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopus major) making the most of the last remaining scraps of food. While we often see (or hear) a pair of Green Woodpeckers in the garden, the Great Spotted variety mostly stick to the woods nearby.

    20120503-1654-03(001)

    20120503-1654-29(002)

    2 responses to “Garden Visitor”

    1. Simon Bradley Avatar
      Simon Bradley

      Great photos! I know how hard it can be to get a fast enough shutter speed to capture such shots.

      Reply
      1. Geoff Coupe Avatar
        Geoff Coupe

        Thanks! Woodpeckers are also very shy (at least around here), so you have to be lucky to catch them in the act as well. Usually, by the time I’ve got my camera, they’re gone…

        Reply

    Leave a comment

  • Through The Valley Of The Nest Of Spiders

    That’s the title of the latest book by Samuel R. Delany.

    Judging by this review, it is a book that, like The Mad Man, simultaneously repels and attracts.

    Delany writes like an angel even when he’s describing the depths of hell, and he makes it sound like paradise.

    Um, I think I’ll add this to the library and open it when I feel strong enough.

    Leave a comment

  • A Talent To Watch…

    He’s a young man called Cosmo Jarvis, a singer-songwriter. I came across the video of his song “Gay Pirates”, and thought it was pretty good…

    And then I found a much darker song: “Sure As Hell Not Jesus”

    Jarvis directed these videos as well. The boy’s got talent…

    Leave a comment

  • “Features Have Changed”

    Oh gawd, here’s yet another example of Microsoft opening its mouth in order to change feet.

    We happy band of Windows Phone owners (a select few, I grant you) have had a number of ways to purchase Apps for our phone. We can browse the Apps Marketplace via our phones, via a web browser, or via the Zune software running on a PC. I say “had”, because as of yesterday, Microsoft has pulled the ability to browse the Apps Marketplace from the Zune software.

    Microsoft announced the change (on the same day as they implemented it) on their Windows Phone Blog. According to them, they’ve done it because their telemetry data tells them that only a minority of Windows Phone owners use the Zune software to browse the Apps Marketplace. That’s as maybe, but Microsoft could really have done a far better job of communicating the change than merely announcing it on a blog, which is probably read by a tiny minority of Windows Phone owners.

    Let’s imagine, for a moment, that you are one of the people (like me) who uses the Zune software to browse the Apps Marketplace. When you started up Zune on your PC yesterday, this is what you would have seen:

    Zune 5

    No information whatsoever about what the “new features” are, and you might be forgiven for thinking that the “new features” are something that has been added, when in fact something has been removed.

    You might think that it would have been far better to have had an explicit message communicating the fact that the ability to browse the Apps Marketplace has been removed, and to have had a link to the Apps Marketplace on the web, as well as saying that owners can also use their phones directly to browse.

    A number of people (myself included) have commented on the blog post to the effect that the communication of this change could have been handled far better. I see that the author of the post (Mahzar Mohammed) has responded in the comments, but he is still prattling on about the necessity to make the engineering changes. He doesn’t acknowledge (or perhaps didn’t even realise) that the bland “Features have changed” message in the Zune software was a terrible way to communicate the changes to users.

    2 responses to ““Features Have Changed””

    1. Al Feersum Avatar
      Al Feersum

      It’s a common problem with MS though. Not just with update messages to Zune, but also other stuff, like, things you really need to know about, for example, error messages. You receive a message that effectively says ‘There was an error.’ – yeah, really helpful that is. And then you search for information about the error, using the error code if there is one, and not even Microsoft have documented said error, even though there is an explicit error raised by a particular application.

      This isn’t great: especially when it’s your job to support and manage an application that thousands of people depend on.

      Reply
      1. Geoff Coupe Avatar
        Geoff Coupe

        Yep, I fear that you’re right, Al. I just wish that they’d try and exceed our expectations every now and then instead of simply confirming their mediocrity.

        Reply

    Leave a comment

  • Left Hand, Meet Right Hand…

    Sigh, this is yet another rant about Microsoft…

    You may recall that I am concerned about the limitation in Microsoft’s Zune/Xbox Live/Windows Phone service account whereby you can’t change your country of residence if you move. You also can’t delete your Zune/Xbox Live/Windows Phone account without first deleting your linked Windows Live ID.

    I don’t want to delete my Windows Live ID (which I’ve had for more than 10 years), but I’d be perfectly happy to delete my Zune/Xbox Live/Windows Phone service account in order to start afresh with a new one.

    I’m not the only one so concerned, and there’s also an online petition about the issue.

    Last month, I wrote to Microsoft about this issue, asking that they give consideration to introducing the ability for consumers to delete a service account themselves, without also first having to delete the Windows Live ID linked to that account.

    Today, I got a reply from Rob Warwick, XBOX EMEA Senior Advocacy Team. It’s reproduced below (click for full size versions):

    Microsoft Reply scan

    Microsoft Reply scan0001

    I draw your attention to the bit where he says:

    …despite the fact a Windows Live ID needs to be linked to both these accounts, you can cancel either/or both Xbox Live and Zune without deleting the linked Windows Live ID.

    There will be a reply in the post to Mr. Warwick tomorrow. In part, it says:

    I am afraid that either you, or Microsoft’s Zune/Xbox Live Customer Support Teams, are very mistaken in this matter.

    I have tried, on two separate occasions, via online chats with Zune/Xbox Live Customer Support to get my Zune/Xbox Live service account deleted without deleting the linked Windows Live ID. On both occasions, the Microsoft representative flatly informed me that this was impossible, and that my Windows Live ID would have to be deleted first. Only then would the linked Zune/Xbox Live account be deleted.

    Their advice was to create a second Windows Live ID, and then create a new Zune/Xbox Live service account. This is also the answer that is frequently given in the online Microsoft Answers forums.

    Nowhere has it ever been stated that it is possible to cancel either/or both Xbox Live and Zune without deleting the linked Windows Live ID as you claim. In addition, Microsoft’s online self-help account management does not currently offer this option.

    Therefore, with regret, I state that your answer has completely failed to clarify the state of my accounts and the options open to me. I look forward to your further help in resolving this matter.

    Yours sincerely,

    Geoff Coupe

    Left hand, meet right hand…

    3 responses to “Left Hand, Meet Right Hand…”

    1. markiz Avatar
      markiz

      We need to get even more vocal.

      Reply
      1. Geoff Coupe Avatar
        Geoff Coupe

        I really think that the best way, if you are an EU citizen, is to make a formal complaint to your country’s Data Protection Authority. If we can get them involved, things might start to move. It seems pretty clear that Microsoft is contravening EU law over this issue. See http://www.itisourdata.com. The more of us that complain to the Authorities, the more likely it is that they will move.

        Reply
    2. At Long Last – A Result! | Geoff Coupe's Blog

      […] received a reply from Rob Warwick, XBOX EMEA Senior Advocacy Team, that had me scratching my head, because he was claiming that it […]

      Reply

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  • Meet The Romans With Mary Beard

    May I just say, what an absolute pleasure it was to be in the company of Professor Mary Beard last night when she introduced us to a variety of long-dead Romans.

    This was TV in the very best tradition of the BBC: to educate, inform and entertain.

    I’m pleased to see that I was not the only one so impressed.

    Roll on next week when we get to see Professor Beard enthusiastically declaiming about the social impact of the Roman latrines…

    5 responses to “Meet The Romans With Mary Beard”

    1. novocoboro Avatar
      novocoboro

      I’m enjoying this series Geoff, even though the first installment had a bit much of her cycling round Rome looking rather like Paddington Bear in a bad wig.

      Reply
      1. Geoff Coupe Avatar
        Geoff Coupe

        Yes, I think she has said that her director chose that look. It makes the brand. Still, I find it preferable that she looks natural, and not what the celebrity industry thinks a woman should look like. The real joy for me is that it’s a historical series on TV that doesn’t rely on bloody reconstructions. I can close my eyes and hear all the information. It’s radio on TV – in the very best sense.

        Reply
      2. Geoff Coupe Avatar
        Geoff Coupe

        BTW, I miss your writing on your blog… Hope that your blog has lapsed simply because you have better things to do…

        Reply
        1. novocoboro Avatar
          novocoboro

          That’s nice of you to say so, thank you. I have been writing, I’ve just been neglectful of the blog.

          Reply
    2. Tony Kirwood Avatar
      Tony Kirwood

      I love Mary Beard, too. Isn’t it great to have a TV presenter whose appeal is her enthusiasm and knowledge rather than the amount of Botox she’s pumped into her face. And there was a minimum of dramatics and throbbing music – just lots of insights into the Romans. Roll on her next series!

      Reply

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