Facebook: Pirates of the Caribbean

Arrrr! I been on Facebook's application 'Pirates of the Caribbean' an' said app's a bit addictive, mateys!

The application allows you to go plundering for gold, loot, and experience as well as fight other crews for similar bounties. It is a very good game, although I have found it difficult to tear myself away. The game allows you to have a 'crew', consisting of Facebook friends. You equip them with pirate ships, guns, bombs, to defeat other crews and a "boss" at the end of each level. Granted, this sounds very simple, and it is - but it grabs you and won't let you walk away from the computer.

There are other things one can do, such as keep an eye on your pirate pet (I have a snake), manage a small island and collect resources to create buildings (a very simple Age of Empires scenario). To completely grasp this game, you should just jump in and play!

So, head on over to http://www.facebook.com/damienkane and add me as a friend. In my profile, you will see a link to the "Pirates of the Caribbean" application. You may also want to try an application called Vampire Wars and Mafia.

Happy gaming!!! ARRRRRR!

The Best of Free Software for Microsoft Windows, June 2009

Everybody who has a copy of Microsoft Windows has some form of software they have purchased or downloaded, from an office suite to internet security. Over the years, I have tried to keep away from buying software because many companies charge a ridiculous price for something which only needs to be built once, then marketed. They are a bunch of zeros and ones strung together, for people to use. Why is software so expensive?

Years ago, this question made me hunt around to replace my current software for those which are free and/or open source. It is a labour of love I have maintained for almost three years now. Today, I have finalised my choices of what I consider the best free softwares for mid-2009, and I hope that you like them.

Skip on over to http://www.damienkane.com/Software.htm and have a read. If you know of any products which are better, let me know, but remember that the way that we use software, the things we wish to use it for, may differ so my opinion and yours may not be the same. You will find a couple of surprising choices because they offer a huge amount of scope in the future. Most are tried and tested.

Despite our differences, I hope you find something you like. I think with all the enterprising things these developers are doing, giving it to the public for free, will perhaps reduce the costs of commercial software. The competition is getting hot. I wonder if companies such as Symantec and Microsoft are waking up to the fact that WE DON'T WANT TO USE YOUR PRODUCTS BECAUSE THEY'RE TOO DAMN EXPENSIVE AND JUST NOT AS GOOD AS THEY SHOULD BE!

Free Software Update

You may (or may not) have noticed that I removed the Software page from my website http://www.damienkane.com. I am currently updating it with more great, absolutely free, software, that anybody can use.

The principle behind it is that I don't think we should be spending a huge amount on software. For example, Microsoft Office 2007 is hundreds of dollars, whereas OpenOffice is $0.00, has excellent functionality, and is seriously better than MS Office. Why pay hundreds of dollars for something that is free?

The Software page is important to me, so that I can share my experiences with other people about the best of the free software range, and it is a huge range. I have tried hundreds of different programs so that I can put the best on the page. I update it infrequently, perhaps once or twice a year, and there have been some major developments out there which I want to add.

So, please check back in a week or so, as I am almost at the end of this huge task. Stop paying for software RIGHT NOW and wait for my report.

Lots happening

The last four weeks have been strange, from writing a full novel to almost selling the house, to getting my chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS/ME) back for a while which, if you have ever suffered from it, is very scary. Two interviews for jobs: one I didn't get, and the other I'm hanging out of a tree for because I'm due to be told at any damn hour. Then the NSW Blues lose just to top off a tough week - and it is only Thursday. It's a Solomon Grundy kind of week, so I'm hoping Saturday is a good day!

The writing is going well, despite having to put my laptop away for most of the week to concentrate on conserving energy to go to work. A dark fiction/romance novella called "The Invisible World" is currently with a very nice line editor who has given me some great tips on how to improve my writing. With Mr Hat done, The Evil being read by an audience, it's back to the final-final revision of The Badman which, God willing, will be received well (which may be difficult because it is in the very unpopular second person voice, but second person really suits this story and yes, I have a sequel called The Janus Mirror already brewing away). I'm also looking forward to continuing with a novel I started a few months ago called A Place Beyond which, whenever I think about doing it, something else pops up.

So many projects to tie up and finalise. First drafts aren't generally a problem. Getting them through the revision process: bottlenecked. 8o/ have to work on it!