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2004

  • 2 min read

Mac OSX not easy to use!

Years ago I was a hardcore Mac fanatic. I was one of the creators of a long- gone early Macintosh application called Jazz. I programmed on a Lisa in 68000 assembly language. As I said, a long time ago 🙂

Anyway, for years I've been a PC guy, but still with a warm spot in my heart for Mac. Recently we got an iBook in our family and so I had a chance to reaquaint myself with how the world had changed.

After hearing disparaging remarks from Mac folks about Windows XP lack of usability and elegance I was all set to be blown away by OSX. Here some first impressions.

  • Yes indeed, OSX is beautiful to look at. It wows you with some nifty and novel animations. The level of design, colors, icons, etc. is all really enjoyable to look at.

  • OSX has a little Unix heart beating inside it. This means it's nirvana for Unix folks. But to the average joe it also means something: stability. It has yet to crash on me.

  • I can't believe that it still has only a single button mouse. And it's funny because you can see how OSX gradually is inching towards giving in on this little bit of obsolete religion. If you plug a 2 button mouse into the USB port, it works like a charm. And the scroll wheel works. And some applications even put up a context menu. But because Mac is conflicted about this, this is not nearly consistent and pervasive enough.

  • Gluing the menu bar to the top of the screen an antiquated holdover from when screens were tiny and there was no multi-tasking (even the term multi-tasking sounds quaint given that everyone does it.) The result is that it's often not obvious what application you are in.

  • And while the dialog boxes are pretty, they are not necessarily well designed. One trivial example: if you are setting up your airport, and you have enabled security (like everyone does) then it is not explained anywhere that you must precede the hex password with a dollar sign to get it to work. Another trivial one: in more than one place I was 4 steps down a 'wizard' when I decided to quit out of it, except there was no Cancel button. I had to 'back-back-back' to get back to the start.

Anyway there you have it. I think with this experience I would debate the Mac user's claim that Mac is inherently easier to use than WInXP. First of all, it's more similar than different and second of all, it's not all good.

  • 1 min read

[JAVA ONE]Sun answers my question

In several previous posts I've wondered aloud: "I can see that Sun spends a ton of money on Java. It must be astronomical. What's the strategy behind that? How do they make money on that?"

Jonathan Schwartz, Sun's President and COO, answers that question directly in his new Blog.

And in the " you can't win" department: One of my observations about this year's Java One was that there was a real contrast between the way Java ran this and the way, for example, Microsoft runs the PDC (Professional Developers Conference.) Microsoft works hard at and I think succeeds at painting a grand future for their stuff. Not only what is here today, but what will be coming in 12 months, 3 years, 5 years and even 10 years. A holistic and compelling vision.

In contrast, at Java One, I felt Sun basically appologetic: "No, Java really is fast" and "See, it is possible to write real time applications in Java" and, "Who said you can't make great desktop apps in Java?".

And with this posting, Jonathan Schwartz continues this appologia : "No, stop complaining: we do have an idea of how we make money on Java. Just like GE made money on standard rails, [and other parallel examples]"

I am not sure that the economics argument works (over my head) but I am sure that it doesn 't bristle with confidence and passion.

  • 1 min read

Scary Software, Part Deux

Continuing my complaints about Java Web Start, as if the message displayed on Windows under Java 1.5 isn't bad enough, here's what a slightly older version of Java displays on Linux:

Screenshot-1.png

I highlighted the message near the bottom in yellow: "It is highly…" I mean, really, what is the point? I can spend several hundreds of dollars (annually) on a certificate to change that message to "This application was signed by R. Pito Salas and Associates", and that would assure people who know me personally. I would hope my user base grows beyond that 🙂

  • 1 min read

BlogBridge Beta 2 almost ready

Well we've been busy little beavers and are getting ready to release BlogBridge Beta 2. It has quite a few nifty new features! I will write a little more about it tomorrow or Monday.

We've done a total overhaul of the content of the web site (the look/design is unchanged.) Take a look at our Brand New Web Site

An important change in opening the kimono a bit more is that you will find a direct link from our web site to install and run the beta. You are of course invited to join the beta group, but if you just want to play, go for it. Click here to download and run BlogBridge.

  • 1 min read

Java Web Start Sucks Eggs

I've written about this before, and after all it is fairly (no, very) esoteric. Java Web Start is Java's approach to installation and distribution and updating of Java desktop applications.

It's a really nice idea but it just is too full of problems. With a small project like BlogBridge, I guess it saves us some work, and so we use it, warts and all. Anyway, here is a bit that I found that articulates in great gory detail all the problems. I concur and I suffer with you.

  • 1 min read

Oddpost Sold to Yahoo!

Dave Winer comments on the sale of OddPost to Yahoo. I've been an avid OddPost fan for a while and I am glad to see them succeed. It's an impressive tour the force, an existence proof that you can build quite a nice UI in a browser.

One critical detail which is a bit mysterious to me : OddPost today runs only on Internet Explorer, and in particular, not on Macintosh. This, I assume, because the incredibly subtle and tricky code they had to write to pull of their magic made them not-cross-platform. Clearly Yahoo wouldn 't buy them if they weren't convinced that this limitation could be lifted.

But can it? And how does this relate to the recent dust up around Apple's statement that they are adding (incompatible) "enhancements" to allow Safari to be better integrated and interoperable with OSX? People are worried about the divergence of standards.

  • 1 min read

Scary Software

I love those security guys just as much as the next guy but this certificate crazyness is ridiculous. Look at this message that a poor unsuspecting user sees when they try to run a downloaded java application:

scary.JPG

Inspires confidence, doesn't it? The absurd part is this: I can go out and spend several hundred dollars to get an actual official certificate which certifies tht I am indeed BlogBridge Inc. How does that help anyone?

A guy in Kansas sees that Microsoft or Sun promises me that Verisign promises me that this software is really from BlogBridge, Inc. Big Deal! Who the heck is BlogBridge Inc?

Unless you are Microsoft or General Electric, who knows if they can trust you? It's a big farce built upon beautiful and elegant mathematics and cryptography which is correct and yet impotent

  • 1 min read

Technical tweak to this blog

In tracking down a 'bug' in BlogBridge I discovered that my RSS feed for this blog has abbreviated items, that is, without html and limited to a certain number of words. That's not what I wanted so with this new posting I should have full items.

To test this, this line is bold

  • And this line is bulletted
  • 1 min read

Downloadable Car Horn Sounds!?

Did you know that you (or your teenager) can buy cool new ring tones for their cell phone? They cost a buck or two and are quite the rage, especially in countries other than the US 🙂 You probably knew this.

Did you know that this buck or two is actually only good for a month or two of use of the ring tone, after which you would have to buy a renewal or more likely a new one? You might or might not have known this.

How about the fact (at least I heard it as fact in more than one place, but I cannot corroborate) that downloadable ring tones account for a $3.5 BILLION business. Hard to believe isn't it?

Well here's a cute idea (which is so cute, we can bet it will happen) which I heard tossed out by someone at JavaOne. With cars being equipped with more and more electronics, including now GPS and two way communication, how about a business selling downloadable Horn Sounds for your car?

Is the latest single from WhoUKnow all the rage? How about using that rif for your horn? How about a Star Trek Condition-Red Claxon?

It could happen… 🙂