Nick Wade

Had some troubles with Office 2007 files not being downloadable on our windows servers … did a bit of Googling and found this nice list of Office 2007 mime-types:

.docm,application/vnd.ms-word.document.macroEnabled.12 .docx,application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document .dotm,application/vnd.ms-word.template.macroEnabled.12 .dotx,application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.template .potm,application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.template.macroEnabled.12 .potx,application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.template .ppam,application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.addin.macroEnabled.12 .ppsm,application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.slideshow.macroEnabled.12 .ppsx,application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.slideshow .pptm,application/vnd.ms-powerpoint.presentation.macroEnabled.12 .pptx,application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.presentation .xlam,application/vnd.ms-excel.addin.macroEnabled.12 .xlsb,application/vnd.ms-excel.sheet.binary.macroEnabled.12 .xlsm,application/vnd.ms-excel.sheet.macroEnabled.12 .xlsx,application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet .xltm,application/vnd.ms-excel.template.macroEnabled.12 .xltx,application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.template

Adding all mime-types to IIS in one step is very simple:

The easiest way to do this is stopping IIS and editing the metabase XML file (C:\WINDOWS\system32\inetsrv\MetaBase.xml) using a text editor. Search for the <IIsMimeMap Location="/LM/MimeMap" …> element and append the lines above to the MimeMap attribute

 

(from Bram Van Damme, http://www.bram.us/2007/05/25/office-2007-mime-types-for-iis/)

I see all this, but quite candidly, after futzing with Windows IIS for about 40 minutes earlier today I'm having better cross-platform (on the client) success with application/octet-stream instead. This just sends the file to the client, which works out what kind of file it is by itself and then treats it appropriately. So...

.docx,application/octet-stream 
.xlsx,application/octet-stream 
.pptx,application/octet-stream  

that's all I added to this IIS Server's metabase config. Just in case that helps you somewhere.

55 pages of CYA legalese really is over the top. Just so you know, Apple. Your arse(s?) might be covered but effectively NONE of us read all this.

I'm not surprised, but still saddened. The headline on the screen behind says it all. The storefront at 3rd and King has been giving off death signals for over a year. It used to be far more vibrant; until good adoption of the Kindle came along. Our generations' kids will never experience that vibrant, welcoming bookstore vibe, hence why I'm still sad about this particular moment of reality, even while I celebrate the arrival of new technology like Kindle and iPad. Life can be like that.

The contents of the United Web site pages, including, but not limited to text, graphics, and icons, are copyrighted materials owned or controlled by United and contain United's name, trademarks, service marks, and trade names. You may download one copy of these materials on any single computer and print a copy of the materials for your use in learning about, evaluating, or acquiring United's services or products. No other permission is granted to you, or anyone acting on your behalf, to print, copy, reproduce, distribute, transmit, upload, download, store, display in public, alter, or modify these materials or to make commercial use of those materials. No permission is granted here to you to use, or permit others to use, United's icons, site address, trademarks and service marks, or other means to hyperlink other Internet sites with any page in the United Web site, and United assumes no responsibility for any other party's site hyperlinked to the United Web site or in which any part of the United Web site has been hyperlinked.

-NickW

Alright Expedia, I'm sure you've got a fabulous excuse worked out that covers your arse sweetly. But, I am getting ahead of myself. What am I moaning about here? Recently (like, this morning), my wife Jodie landed in Sydney and suddenly found herself in possession of an Expedia itinerary for a Thrifty rental car that had magically "unconfirmed" itself during the flight. So I logged in to book her a new one. Surprise surprise, Thrifty had no idea why that class of car might be offered at that price; it was way too low, and that location never stocks those cars. Strange feeling about Expedia #1. "Nevermind, it's probably just a mistake" I thought, and so I opted for the Budget Mini car, at a higher base price of $29.79 a day (before fees, taxes, surcharges, insurance, waivers, fuel, and various other amazing hidden $ amounts). I booked it after clicking through a gaggle of cluttered pages and options, finally getting the "Confirm! You Win!" sort of button - the one that signifies blessed relief, ahem, the end of a tedious series of cluttered adverts and pointless pages - several pages later.

And then I realised that the fuckers had somehow flipped from a daily price, to an all in weekly price at a higher rate, and then back to the new daily price at a higher rate (again) of $33.79. Hmm, that 79 cents sounds oddly in line with the earlier $29.79 - that's suspicious too, but I primarily flipped a lid given that the daily rate had gone up by $4 magically during the process. $4 a day isn't much. A lot of people just wouldn't notice this. And so, to my question.

Dear Expedia: just how do you explain this last minute difference in pricing on Budget's "Mini" car - in Australia - once a customer has selected the car and they go to confirm it... Are you actively preying on our click weariness (where people just click "next" "next" "next" *ok, fuck all this clicking, aha!* "confirm!")? Or is the mis-pricing up front a genuine error (yet again)? Or are you just plain hiding the true price in order to get customers well into the process and signing up anyway? I'm at a loss.

I've done what seemed like reasonable business with you Expedia, and yet afterwards somehow I feel dirty, and like I've been fleeced. You make me feel like the john who goes to the bathroom and returns to find the "lady" has scarpered off into the night, along with his wallet. This isn't the way to win customer support. Explain yourselves.

Oh, and I cancelled shortly after when I realised what Expedia did. For the meantime, they can forget all about my wallet. I've locked myself in the bathroom with it.

Well @jodiekw & I lived in England 4 years, & never saw Le Tour. Today we fixed that. Amazing, the guys so fit & fast, the race so long, & yet the finish still a raucous and rapid stampede along the Champs Élysées. Thousands of people turned out for the spectacle, and yet the whole thing was polite, agreeable and still exciting. Thankful I could be here this year at #TDF and other fantastic places. A vous la France! Just live. You won't regret it.

Sent from my iPhone

@Jodiekw, and a warning sign on RER. More signs should be like this. It's light-hearted and yet sincere in conveying the dangers of trapping your fingers, particularly if you're a kid. I like it.