Update: Competition is Now Closed! Thanks to all who entered.
So, fresh from last week’s very funny Diskeeper 2008 competition, this week, we have 3 site licenses for Raxco’s PerfectDisk 8 for Windows Home Server to give away. Yes, that’s 3 site licenses.
So, PerfectDisk 8 - what’s it all about? Well, it’s a disk defragmenter f0r WHS, which helps keep the data on your hard disks better optimised to ensure they’re running as fast as possible. The site licence, worth $99.99 of your hard earned cash, entitles you to run the software on your home server and up to 5 home computers on your network.
So, you just had to say hello last week. This time around, I need more. I get to travel a lot with work, and love visiting different cities. So, for this competition, tell me what’s your favourite city in the world. That’s it.
(As I’m going to be reading all of these, you can do me a favour and tell me why, or also tell me the worst city in the world too - feel free to vent. I lived in Swindon, UK for a few years, and that sucked.)
I’ll draw the winners at the end of the week. Good luck!
(Oh, and if you want to forget the competition and just buy the software, this link is your friend!)
November 12th, 2007 at 7:25 am
Madison, South Dakota (where I live).
Why? It’s a nice, small, quiet, out of the way, polite town with great pheasant hunting, a state university a couple of nice lakes, and oodles of wide open spaces with cows, corn and hogs.
What more could there be to want?
November 12th, 2007 at 7:43 am
Grand Marais, MN
Beautiful North Shore area. Called the Norwegian Rivera. Beautiful in all 4 seasons, and fun activities to do year round. Tons of walking trails in the foothills near Lake Superior, great Pizza, tons of wildlife. You name it, it is a perfect get away.
November 12th, 2007 at 7:44 am
Tokyo. For one thing, it has Akihabara, which should be enough for any geek. Enormous department stores, bright lights, great public transit. And you can still find pieces of old Japan lying around (Meiji Shrine and Asakusa being the most obvious, even though they’re overrun by tourists).
November 12th, 2007 at 8:19 am
Dublin is my favourite city.
I went there last Feburary at it was pretty miserable right up until the point I went through the Guinness factory to the bar that’s right at the very top. It looks out over the whole of Dublin and at that point the sun decided to come out while I was supping on a free pint. Brilliant!
November 12th, 2007 at 9:08 am
As of my opinion,
Dubai, United Arab Emirates (Middle East Country)
I live here. Its one one the most beautiful city. The Dubai Palm…Dubai World…Much exiting things. The Bubble city..that is in the air without any support.
Burj Dubai, the tallest building in the world is being built here
Dubai World: World map built in the ocean which offers hotels..etcc.
Just have a look at this: http://guide.theemiratesnetwork.com/living/dubai/images/the_world/the_world_dubai.jpg
http://guide.theemiratesnetwork.com/living/dubai/the_world_islands.php
And more and more beautiful things. Brilliant City!!
November 12th, 2007 at 9:11 am
Athens (where I live).
i love it because is crowed and full all polution
there are no tree and everying a gray
my first 14 year that i never left the city i had never seen the stars at night…
when i get a family i am geting the hell out of there
November 12th, 2007 at 9:36 am
Barcelona.
I’ve been there only once (for about 10 days) and never wanted to leave.
I usually don’t like big cities but this one is something else.
I hope to visit there again by spring
November 12th, 2007 at 9:41 am
Hong Kong
Only because they have giant hardware markets there. Think the usual food market, but instead of fruits, vegetables and fish you have motherboards, graphic cards and pocket PCs. Oh, the joy!
November 12th, 2007 at 10:21 am
Auckland, New Zealand.
One of the first places to get the WHS RTM
November 12th, 2007 at 10:22 am
New York - Just buzzes.
November 12th, 2007 at 10:51 am
Liverpool, UK
Where I live and the European capital of culture 2008. Come visit and say Hi!
November 12th, 2007 at 11:17 am
Sydney, Australia
I lived in the city for years and years, yet everytime I drove over the harbour bridge, or walked around Mrs Macquaries Chair, it still felt like a special place to be. I live in London now, and while it has it’s charms, I’d still place Sydney at the top of the list.
November 12th, 2007 at 12:12 pm
New York City !!!
This march, after 10 long years of waiting, i finally flew there. Visiting the Big Apple …. that was a dream come true.
November 12th, 2007 at 12:43 pm
Austin, TX
1. The music
2. Zilker Park,
3. The food (TX BBQ, TexMex),
4. The music,
5. The entertainment value of Texas politics
6. The women,
7. The music.
November 12th, 2007 at 1:12 pm
New York,
Live there forever, and couldn’t even fathom living somewhere else…
November 12th, 2007 at 1:38 pm
Amsterdam… ’nuff said.
November 12th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
Chicago
I almost said New York as I’ve been there 3 times including for New Years Eve I loved it so much, loads to do there! but since I’ve now been to chicago I found it to be a cleaner version of new york, theres even a beach there! Also reminds me of GTA with the train system they have there!
November 12th, 2007 at 2:08 pm
Melbourne, Australia. When I travelled all around Down Under I fell in love with this city.
November 12th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
St. Paul, Minnesota - Great people, great sites and awesome food.
November 12th, 2007 at 2:39 pm
Oxford, UK (ok i’m biased because I live there!)
Basically because it has the best pubs in the world, with a huge selection of beers, also not to big or too small, 24 hr coach service to London. During the summer prob the best place to be in the uk.
Honorable mention: Hong Kong (Do the night time harbour cruise, awesome)
November 12th, 2007 at 3:34 pm
Toronto
Because it has the best of all the world has to offer.
http://www.toronto.com/
November 12th, 2007 at 3:36 pm
Montreal.
More cosmopolitan than Toronto, with nicer people and better dressed women.
November 12th, 2007 at 3:42 pm
Graz, Austria, Europe
I live there, it’s the most northern mediteranian city ;). It’s small (250.000 inh.) but has a big heart. It’s old (over 1000 years) but very young at heart.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graz
lg, François
November 12th, 2007 at 4:00 pm
New York City is the capital of planet Earth.
It is the center of the fine art world, the performing arts world, television/broadcast.
It is a melting pot of all races and religions.
It has any type of cuisine you can think of.
Anything another city has to offer, New York’s got it, too.
The weather? There’s room for improvement.
Not to mention the problem with honking…
November 12th, 2007 at 4:25 pm
London, UK (although I live near London, Canada). I can walk around that city looking at stuff forever, with a few pub stops to recharge.
November 12th, 2007 at 4:44 pm
Zurich (Switzerland)
“Downtown Switzerland”: you get everything
http://www.zuerich.com/en.cfm/zurich
and has “officially” the best overall quality of living
http://www.mercer.com/summary.jhtml?idContent=1173105
and I live here;-)
November 12th, 2007 at 4:50 pm
Berlin - the one and only… from the southside Köpenick.
lg, Michael
November 12th, 2007 at 5:17 pm
Cape Town, South Africa
Great beaches, beautiful woman amazing nightlife and of course Table Mountain.
November 12th, 2007 at 5:21 pm
Chicago, IL. I lived in Chicago from the 6 till 30 (I lve in suburb of Chicago). I love the food, the culture, the buildings, the lake front…
November 12th, 2007 at 5:47 pm
Scunthorpe, UK - the bane of AOLs obscene word filter back in the day
November 12th, 2007 at 5:50 pm
Favorite place to visit: San Diego. Warm, lots to do, near the ocean, near Mexico. Just try to avoid the occasional huge fire that hits every 5 years or so…
November 12th, 2007 at 6:00 pm
To visit: San Diego. Plenty of outstanding restaurants, bars, shopping all within walking distance of hotels and convention center. Beaches, great weather, and destinations like Legoland or the Zoo round out the package.
To live: Upstate New York — which starts at least 2 hours outside of NYC. Low cost of living, good people, fully defined seasons. World-class universities like Rochester, Syracuse, and Colgate provide access to culture without the overhead of a big city.
Avoid living in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania. Seriously.
November 12th, 2007 at 6:50 pm
Florence, Italy
I spent a week there in college and would move there in an instance if I had the opportunity.
November 12th, 2007 at 7:21 pm
Christchurch, NZ
November 12th, 2007 at 7:56 pm
Amsterdam,
Birthplace of Heineken beer
Home of 177 different nationalities (eat that New York)
More than 700 years of history
1 of 7 employees working in Amsterdam, is working in the ICT-sector
Great Nightlife
They only place in the world where you can call a police officer a gay, and get away with it. (only if you pronounce it nicely, not in an aggressive way, this is actually true)
and best of al a 15 minute drive from my home to central Amsterdam.
November 12th, 2007 at 7:59 pm
Rome - We visited this summer from the States and it was fantastic. The history, architecture, etc is almost overwhelming. A must see and make sure you take enough time (5-7 days) so you can catch everything!
Keep up the good work!
November 12th, 2007 at 8:12 pm
Brussels, Belgium. Dinner in the Grand Platz with the light show and classical music in the background is my fondest memory of more than two years living in Europe.
November 12th, 2007 at 8:38 pm
Bremen - The old trading town in the middle of Europe, home of one of the most famous German football coaches Thomas Schaaf and his team of “Werder Bremen” and home of the famous Bremen Town musicians.
Best wishes to all from Germany
November 12th, 2007 at 11:11 pm
I don’t have to travel far to find the perfect city, it’s here on my doorstep. Cambridge UK. There aren’t many cities where cutting edge research rubs shoulders with ancient colleges and cows wander in fields a stones throw from the city centre.
In Cambridge I can cycle from one side of the city to the other taking in idylic river scenes, passing along narrow car free medieval streets, passing the pub where Crick and Watson announced the discovery of the DNA helix, the college where Newton got an apple on the head, narrowly avoiding Prof Hawkins in his chair, before passing the Microsoft research building on my way out to the countryside.
And where else can you find the grave of the wife of Captain Cook, the church (St Mary the Great ) where the Westminister chimes rung by Big Ben were composed, A museum (Scott Polar Institute) celebrating great British failure and heroism in the form of Captain Robert Falcon Scott RN and secret underground bunkers for use during the cold war!
Thanks for keeping us up to date with the WHS community
November 12th, 2007 at 11:16 pm
Leicester, UK. Finest city in the midlands. Immensely multicultural and oh yes, it’s home
November 12th, 2007 at 11:33 pm
Perfect city has to be San Francisco. Don’t think any explaination is needed
November 12th, 2007 at 11:37 pm
The greatest city ever is Chisinau! It is the capital of Molvova, that is in Eastern Europe. It is not a very big city with the population closing to one mil.. it is a always green city in the sumer, beautifully white in winter. Full with friendly people.
November 13th, 2007 at 12:04 am
Perth, Western Australia
Yes it is where I live, but having travelled to much of the developed world, I guess the old saying is true, there’s no place like home
Great people, great beaches, great weather. (although I could be biased)
I do have to say that a close second for me is Phuket though. It really is a beautiful place and the people there are fantastic as well.
November 13th, 2007 at 12:12 am
London, UK
Great city, it’s got everything!
November 13th, 2007 at 12:31 am
Dallas, Texas
Exclue me from the competition as I won some software from this site last week [thanks], but you should set your feet in DFW for a short spell some time. Though I live on the Dallas side, Ft. Worth has one of the most fun downtown areas of any large city in the states. If you find yourself on this side of the world, grab a steak and a drink.
November 13th, 2007 at 12:56 am
Gotta Agree with teh guy from above San Diego is the best…70 degrees all year rain and hardly any rain!!!
November 13th, 2007 at 1:10 am
Bonn, Germany (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonn). A nice city to live in that benefits from being just 20km away from Cologne (Cologne is nice for going out and shopping).
November 13th, 2007 at 2:33 am
Sacramento ca
November 13th, 2007 at 10:10 am
Amsterdam, well for obvious reasons, and yes, it’s holland!
November 13th, 2007 at 10:56 am
Kwangju City, Korea
1. My wife is there. (I work at Kunsan Air Base about 100 miles away)
2. My beer is there.
3. It’s fun watching the students demonstrate.
4. My beer is there.
5. 100 Mbps Up/Down Fiber to the Home.
6. My beer is there.
7. Four distinct seasons.
8. My beer is there.
9. BTW, my beer is Hite.
November 13th, 2007 at 10:59 am
Worst City: Seoul, Korea.
Nothing but traffic jams, so take the subway.
November 13th, 2007 at 3:00 pm
Keczek Kazakhstan, home of Borat. Havent you seen the movie, what else could you want?
November 13th, 2007 at 4:05 pm
Seatle, USA
I don’t live there (I live in the Netherlands), but the Space Needle is soooooo cool!
Hopefully, one day, I’ll be there to watch it for real…
November 13th, 2007 at 5:09 pm
NYC, the Big Apple, of course!
It is truly the city that never sleeps. I’ve been to Boston, for example, and the T closes at midnight! I now live near Hartford, and the nightlife there sucks (comparatively speaking, of course).
November 13th, 2007 at 7:41 pm
Vancouver, B.C., or Florence, Italy. Beautiful cities, cosmopolitan feel, scads of culture. Highly recommended for a visit!
November 13th, 2007 at 8:23 pm
Favorite city is tied between Duluth, MN and Grand Marais. First its Lake Superior and the views are breathtaking up there plus some of the best boating and fishing in the US. 2nd is they still have that small town feel with the locally owned shops and restaurants where you can get some of the greatest home cooked food. 3rd if you enjoy hiking and biking there are thousands of trails around superior that are just amazing.
Worlds worst….Fargo, ND/Moorhead, MN (since the 2 cities are about 5 miles from each other I went to college there for 3 years and unless you like drinking at fraternity houses and cow pies there is absolutely nothing there. Its always windy and the only hills that can be found in the area are those from the co-city dump which you can smell throughout the cities year round. On top of that the cops have nothing to do but look for people jaywalking and drinking in public since no crime ever happens there. Overall the place just sucks.
November 13th, 2007 at 8:37 pm
Well for me it has to be Mons in Belgium
I don’t live there (I live in the UK) but I think that Mons is one of the most interesting places ever. The history from WW1 is absolutely fascinating with so many beautiful places to see.
In fact I think that the whole of Belgium is lovely, and I especially like the chocolate that they make. Mmmmmmmmm!
Thanks for a great website.
November 13th, 2007 at 9:16 pm
Chattanooga, TN USA
Why? Well, it’s my home. It’s not too large you feel overcrowded, and not too small where you get those “little-town blues.” We are sister city to Wuxi,China… Hamm, Germany… Givatayim, Israel… Gangneung, Korea… and Nizhnii Tagil, Russia. So, it’s obvious that we’ve got it going on here in Chattanooga!
November 13th, 2007 at 10:48 pm
Couer d’Alene, Idaho, USA
Beautiful, not too busy, great golfing, great waterskiing, fresh air
November 14th, 2007 at 5:44 am
I live in Kansas now which is a great place to raise a family. I miss living in NY city. Just walking around the city is fun.
November 14th, 2007 at 5:56 am
Kona, HI USA
Simply put the most beautiful place I have ever been.
November 14th, 2007 at 6:14 pm
London!
November 14th, 2007 at 10:09 pm
Florence, Italy
Why? because of the history, the culture, the atmosphere. I’ve never been anywhere like it.
November 14th, 2007 at 10:39 pm
Pigeon Forge Tenn. There is SO much to do and SO many shows to see. And the cabins are great and the mountain views are fantastic!!!
November 15th, 2007 at 4:40 am
Milwaukee Wisconsin
Beer,Friendly people, Summerfest(worlds largest music festival), Lake Michigan, Beer, great food, Festa Italiana, Irish Fest, Beer, Polish Fest, Bastille Days, Beer, German Fest, Mexican Fest, Beer, Great Museums, Wonderful Parks, and did I mention Beer?
November 15th, 2007 at 1:10 pm
Vancouver Canada. I lived three for 6 months and had a ball!
Worst city (from my personal experience) would be Damman, Saudi Arabia. Not much fun to be had in the magic kingdom…
November 15th, 2007 at 1:12 pm
Vancouver, Canada. I lived there for 6 months and had a ball!
Worst city (from my personal experience) would be Damman, Saudi Arabia. Believe you me, there’s not much fun to be had in the magic kingdom…
November 15th, 2007 at 4:22 pm
I’d have to say Bruges, Belgium. Very lovely city, not too big and not too small…
Excellent for a day of shopping or just sitting on a terrace…
Belgian beer, Belgian chocalates, Belgian fries…. (which the French stole from us and started to call ‘French fries’…
) Need I say more?
Cheers!
November 15th, 2007 at 6:49 pm
Las Vegas… Just took a tirp there for a conference and had a blast, there’s always something to do there!
November 16th, 2007 at 1:07 am
Kenai, Alaska, USA my home for the past 10 years.
I’ve traveled the world (well, at least 57 countries on 5 continents), lived in 3 countries and 11 of the US states and on the Kenai peninsula in Alaska I’ve found a place where mountains, forests, beaches, rivers, fishing, hunting, hiking, camping, skiing, climbing and just about every other outdoor activity I can think of are available within less than an hour drive. Add to that some of the most majestic views found anywhere (we’re within a couple hundred miles of 17 of the tallest 20 peaks in North America) and this is what I call the greatest place on earth.
The only downside is that a very large number of tourists seem to agree every summer
(I’ll second an earlier vote for Damman as one of the worst)
Luck to all!
November 16th, 2007 at 2:29 am
Seattle, WA
Mountains, lakes and ocean, how can you go wrong? It’s so beautiful and pristine!
November 16th, 2007 at 5:33 pm
Geneva Switzerland…what a lovely, lovely place.