I’ve been thinking about the abortive Microsoft-Yahoo! deal last night in bed, and what came to me has been crystallising in my head ever since.

Basically, Microsoft’s plan is, and always has been, to provide as much of the software for as many of the computers in the world as they can. Doesn’t sound too worrying when you say it like that, does it? (more…)

If you haven’t seen Spooky Scary Skeletons already, go and check it out. The animator - Zekey - is now working for Weebl’s Stuff animating things, and this is just a little animation that he put together. It’s completely wonderful and feels a bit Tim Burton-esque.

Connosieurs of Disney cartoons may remember the rather wonderful Skeleton Dance from 1929, which this reminded me of (a bit). They remade it in colour some time in the 30s, which is the version I remember, but here’s the original black and white (which I’ve always wanted to see since I saw the remake, ironically. Funny what knowing there’s another version will do to you):

International Talk Like A Pirate Day (here in the UK, in aid of Marie Curie Cancer Care) is almost upon us (Friday the 19th in fact).  So it’s time to get your pirate name out, dig out those flags, blow up the inflatable parrot and get ready for 24 hours where every other word is “yarrr…”.

You’ll also need a pirate name. Mine is:

Now that they’re remaking it, and Russell Brand almost certainly won’t be in it (as much as I love his work - and having met him - I can’t but help think this is a good thing for all concerned), I thought I’d recap five things we should all learn from Rocky Horror…

5. Don’t judge a book by its cover

4. It was great when it all began

3. Does anyone here know how to Madison?

2. Bide your time

1. Don’t Dream It, Be It

Let’s imagine a scenario. You’re on the road (or perhaps the train, use your own imagination here), working on your laptop. Your nice Linux based laptop. Or maybe it’s a Mac. Maybe it runs OS/2 or eComStation… Or maybe it runs Windows, but you don’t have Microsoft Project. It is quite expensive, after all.

And then - wouldn’t you know it - someone sends you an MS project file. You need to respond to it - and respond right now. Otherwise your conservatory doesn’t get built… or something. (You know, this whole scenario thing might not have been such a clever idea after all…)

Anyhow, Gantt Project to the rescue! It can import and export MS Project files, its own .gan files, and even export as HTML and PDF. Which is really quite nifty.

I’ve been using this quite a bit lately - it really does do almost everything you need to manage a project. And unlike some other open source project management tools, it works fine on Vista. In fact, it should work on any platform that supports Java. Result!

And before I forget, have a screenshot:

Oh, one last note - if you download version with the Windows installer, you will need to select “open Microsoft Project files” when you install, as it’s not selected by default.