This time of year makes me feel so warm and fuzzy. No, not the proximity to Christmas, I mean MacHeist Bonus Season!

Every year. MacHeist sends thousands of Mac users on a wild goose chase in an effort to win free software and also to get discounts on a fantastic bundle at the end of it, as I’ve said before, but last year there was a Christmas bonus which practically gave software away.

This year: They’re doing it again, and it’s stupidly easy to get freebies, since there’s 7 pieces of software available from the get go.
ShoveBox – Storage for tiny scraps of info you need to remember but a single clipboard won’t do.
WriteRoom – Excellent distraction free word processor that I use already.
Twitterrific – A Twitter client.
TinyGrab – Screenshot grabbing app.
Hordes of Orcs – Tower Defence in 3D.
Mariner Write – A powerful word processor (available when 500,000 people claim the main pack for free)
Virus Barrier – Anti-Virus for your Mac (available when promoting through Facebook)

There’s only 3 days left to claim this, and who knows what fun will happen next…

[MacHeist]

Yes, you’ve read that right. Microsoft have been ordered by a court to stop selling versions of MS Word because of patent infringement.

Within the next 60 days, Microsoft must either amend Word 2003 and 2007 in such a way to stop the infringement, or cease sales altogether.
The patent in question is owned by i4i, and they say Microsoft is using XML in a way that they want money for, but it’s believed that Microsoft will get around this easily, especially since they believe the latest version of Word won’t touch the patent at all.

Strangely, shares in Microsoft went up 2%…

[Via The Register and BBC]

It’s that time of year again, and Macheist is already in full flow.
For those that don’t know, Macheist gives you the chance to pretend being an “elite hacker dude” by doing missions (like this now expired lockbox puzzle), using programs to decipher puzzles and reading funny content whilst doing so. As you take part, you can earn yourself mac software and some tiny cuts off the final bundle price offered at the end of it all.

Thoroughly enjoyable to take part in, especially with all of the help that the forum offers. And the software is quite nice too…

Now go, brave warrior.

One of the most major problems in the software market is that of piracy, and for the most part this has been dealt with quite badly. Over time, more and more copy protection systems have been put to work to stop unpaid software usage, whilst at the same time creating even more hoops for legitimate customers to jump through in order to use the software they’ve actually bought…

Cue this screenshot (click to see it properly) from USB Overdrive X:

A couple of things. Firstly, hats off to the developer for realising that using even more DRM would hurt the consumer.
Secondly, this is brilliant. Guilt-tripping would-be pirates and yet still allowing the use of the software, hoping that the user would do the right thing in the end, and if I were reading this on software I would certainly think about it.
Thirdly, “Shame On Me” button: Epic…

[Via Digg]

Now, I’m the kind of guy that like the idea of being able to take my work with me wherever I go. Many of us that work on computers do, it’s a fact. However, there are many occasions where a laptop just won’t do. For example, if I’m visiting relatives and I know that the younger family members are quite boisterous, then I won’t really be happy on bringing my Macbook with me, lest they suddenly want to play World of Warcraft. In real life. Using my computer as a shield.
Online versions of software are perfectly fine, but generally they function in a way that I find lacking. I want pretty much all of the functionality of a proper install of the software, not a heavily cut-down version.

PortableApps.com seems to be a good compromise. You download an installer (or a suite if you can spare the space and bandwidth to get it) and put it onto a USB thumbdrive. The next time you plug that flash memory into a computer (Windows), it’s own version of the Start menu appears, containing the list of applications you have got installed. And all of these programs run from the memory, without installing them onto the PC itself.

Sure, they’re a bit slow to initially load, but once each program is running they go pretty damn fast. And by default for most software in it, the saved files go onto the flash drive itself. And they have a good list of software, from the obvious Firefox to OpenOffice.org, and even the Gimp. I therefore have my favourite browser with the plugins I want and all of my favourites list intact wherever I go. There’s even an antivirus, making it even more useful if you have to clean a PC for someone in an emergency.

If you have a flash drive big enough (and you probably do. I own a few including a cheap 8 Gig drive), I would suggest at least trying PortableApps. It’s near enough a replacement of a laptop, and my last resort.

From the great bods that do the Firefox thing…

Thanks to the support of the always amazing Mozilla community, we got more than 8 million Firefox 3 downloads in 24 hours. That’s more Firefox downloads than we’ve ever had in a single day — an impressive feat indeed!

From Spread Firefox Download Day 2008

Well done Firefox on a successful attempt. It still needs to be confirmed by the Guinness people, but it’s an achievement none the less.

As for you lot that didn’t download the software, get Firefox 3 Here!

The Web is all about innovation, and Firefox 3 sets the pace with dozens of new features, including the smart location bar, one-click bookmarking and blindingly fast performance

[From Firefox web browser | Faster, more secure, & customizable]

Yes, it’s time to download the Firefox 3 browser, and this time there’s an actual reason to do it on launch day. They are trying to get the Guinness world record for the most downloads of a piece of software in 24 hours.

You don’t have long left, as the Firefox people themselves say…

Please download Firefox 3 by 17:00 UTC on June 18, 2008. That’s 10:00 a.m. in Mountain View, 1:00 p.m. in Toronto, 2:00 p.m. in Rio de Janeiro, 7:00 p.m. in Paris, Madrid, Berlin, Rome and Warsaw, 9:00 p.m. in Moscow, and June 19, 2008 at 1:00 a.m. in Beijing and 2:00 a.m. in Tokyo.

[From Spread Firefox - Download Day]

I’ve already downloaded it for the PC, and it works pretty well.