Why OpenOffice Sucks - A NaNoWriMo Blog

I should really be writing my NaNoWriMo novel instead of this blog.

No, seriously. I should REALLY be writing it.

The fact is, I had gotten to about 8,000 words. And now it's all gone.

Every single word.

Stupid file decided to lock me out of itself and then proceed to delete the contents. That's the last time I use stupid OpenOffice.

But let me start from the beginning...

So, a few weeks ago, I needed to type up and print out my lyrics for 'Hogwarts State of Mind'. I was going to record the audio and I wanted easy to read lyrics in front of me to go off of. So, being the poor kid as I am, I used a free option available to me. OpenOffice. Stupid, stupid, OpenOffice.

The thing with OpenOffice is that it integrates itself with most all other text editing programs. Because of that, you can save a document in about a BAJILLION ways. It gets a bit tricky after a while unless you know exactly what you need.

If I had known it would be this much hassle, I wouldn't have even bothered.

Then when November rolled around, I thought, "Oh, hey. I already have a typing program on my computer." And I decided to start work on my NaNoWriMo story. Using OpenOffice.

Which was a big mistake.

So, I'm typing along, and a few days go by. I can just leave the computer in standby for hours at a time and then come back and type more on my story. But then, for some reason, on Wednesday, I decided to save the novel and shut the computer off.

When I booted the computer back up and tried to open the file today, it said something along the lines of me not being able to change the document because another "user" had the file opened. The computer had just booted up and I've worked with computers a while. There was no other "user" keeping the file from me.

When I finally did get the file open, it looked like
###########################################################################
which is not exactly the story arc I was looking for.

After downloading and running three different recovery programs, they all said that there were no contents to the file.

All was lost.

I ran to the store, got Microsoft Office 2010 and installed it. So guess what shiny new program I'll be using tomorrow to catch-up to the people who are cranking out 2,000 words a day? Hint, it's not stupid OpenOffice or whatever.

I'll keep you posted on my NaNo progress and there will (hopefully) be a Q@A video tomorrow! :D

EDIT: People are telling me I should have made more backups, and while it is true that I didn't email the contents to myself, the reason that they all failed-out was because of the way that I saved them. I saved them as a file that had a lock-out backup saved and then when I tried to reopen it, I wasn't the "correct" user to be able to open and edit (or even view, for that matter) the file. But I learned my lesson. I'll backup the contents and send the story to myself as a story, not as an attachment. FIN.

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If you're doing NaNoWriMo, check out some of these books for helpful tips!

Why the Lost Next Gen iPhone is NOT Viral Marketing

BEDA: April 20, 2010

My video about the lost next gen iPhone.

Now, a lot of people are saying either a) This is fake and Gizmodo is making this all up or b) this is a "controlled leak" for a viral marketing ploy. After all, controlled leaks are kind of Apple's bread and butter but there's a specific way in which Apple handles them.

There are a few rules when creating a controlled leak. First off, find an Apple employee who has a trusted friend with a big media outlet, for example, The Wall Street Journal. Remember the rumors of the Apple tablet? It's always an inside job. No leaving products with random drunk people who could break something.

Secondly, only phone and in person correspondence. Mention the product to the media friend, maybe drop a few pictures off in person, but no emails. Nothing that could leave any sort of paper trail to either party.

Thirdly, leaks will generally happen about three weeks before a product's media or actual release. That way, it generates plenty of buzz about a product and competitors don't have a chance to see what they're going up against until it's too late.

If Apple wanted to generate buzz about this product, they would have done it a) closer to the announcement date and not three months before like this instance and b) Apple would have shot a bit higher than Gizmodo for their media buzz. Besides, a leak generally involves a blurry photo, not a complete hands-on-and-rip-apart-to-analyze. This seems like this situation is causing more promotion for Gizmodo than for Apple.

It is not an intentional leak.