in my experience
May 2003 Archives
Don't count Netscape out yet.
May 30, 2003 9:58 AM
There has been some pretty rampant speculation about what will happen to Netscape now that AOL has settled their dispute with MSFT to the tune of a $750 million settlement. Quotes like this from MSNBC are out there...
Mac websites roundup.
May 29, 2003 3:02 AM
Eric emailed me about Mac software yesterday after an iBook compulsion buy (good for you!). He hasn't been a Mac user since System 7 ruled the roost, so there is no doubt he meant it when he had no clue what the good current apps are. Here's a few resources to get up to speed...
Ubiquity is a long way off.
May 27, 2003 8:50 AM
My daughter has an eye infection (her first ailment) that isn't serious, but bad enough to make us call the pediatrician for the first time. We had to leave a message and the on-call person called us back pretty quickly. She asked me what was wrong and asked that I describe the nature of the goop coming out of my daughter's eye.
While I was changing diapers...
May 19, 2003 2:22 AM
While I was away on new baby duty (doody?) I noticed a few things about the traffic at this site, it didn't drop off dramatically. Instead, a slow decline in daily visits occurred with a somewhat steady pace of RSS feed hits (indicating subscriptions that people don't update frequently). That's a good thing I suppose, because I will be continuing to post various bits of dorky minutia.
This is why there have been no posts recently.
May 12, 2003 5:56 AM
The look on her face says it all. ;^) Regular postings should resume sometime soon.
Don't count Netscape out yet.
May 30, 2003 9:58 AM
There has been some pretty rampant speculation about what will happen to Netscape now that AOL has settled their dispute with MSFT to the tune of a $750 million settlement. Quotes like this from MSNBC are out there...
"Both AOL Time Warner and Microsoft win on this one," said Rob Enderle, an analyst with Giga Information Group. "Microsoft turns what had become an aggravating enemy into at least a marginal friend and possibly a cooperative partner. AOL gets much-needed cash and are able to divest themselves of units that were costing them money like the Netscape unit."On the webdesign list, a short thread explored the possibilities of there being no Netscape or Mozilla, and there was one voice of reason ("S.Marshall") who said...
Even from a purely technical point of view (i.e. leaving aside the political), control over your code is a very good thing, because when you're using somebody else's software you can't fix their bugs or limitations (sure MAYBE if you have a close financial relationship you can put in a change request that MAYBE they'll handle in six months, but that's never good enough).And this is an argument that I buy. I can't imagine that AOL would want to dumb Mozilla/Netscape 7 in favor of going blindly with IE over the better part of the decade. And, I haven't heard any rumors at all that AOL is going to dump Netscape (and generally, I hear rumors). And the Netscape folks don't only do a browser, they provide other services within AOL. But this isn't the only part of the MSFT deal that's worth talking about. Dick Parsons, the AOL Time Warner CEO said this in an internal email...
The settlement should also help us deliver an even better online experience to AOL members. The agreement provides that Microsoft will give us technical information and support to ensure the peak performance of the AOL service on current and future Windows operating systems. In addition, Microsoft will provide us with an enhanced ability to market the AOL service to consumers, including opening up a new channel to provide AOL software discs to computer manufacturers worldwide.If AOL doesn't ship with every copy of Windows, the market penetration of the service would decline (more rapidly). So it's a good thing to have that access (imho, because they pay the bills at Chéz Kapusta). However, at the end of the day, I have to assume that AOL will not limit it's choices and place any control of its own destiny into the hands of a friend or rival.
Mac websites roundup.
May 29, 2003 3:02 AM
Eric emailed me about Mac software yesterday after an iBook compulsion buy (good for you!). He hasn't been a Mac user since System 7 ruled the roost, so there is no doubt he meant it when he had no clue what the good current apps are. Here's a few resources to get up to speed...
- Useful Mac
- Useful Mac is a tight list of good software for Mac OSX. The site doesn't try to be a listing of all Mac software, or attempt to sell stuff to you, etc. They just list what's good, in a nicely organized UI, and for the most part, I agree with most of their choices.
- VersionTracker.com
- VersionTracker does try to be a listing of everything in the Mac software universe, and pretty much catches all of it. If a new rev of something comes out, they know of it. My only complaint is the use of window.status code to show you one url, but the href over to another, and then use window.location to load the URL you thought you were going to get in the first place.
- MacNN.com
- A long time ago I used to be a daily Macintouch.com reader, but for some reason, I switched over to MacNN a while back. The site just feels more like a news site to me, and has less ancillary data/info associated with the articles. It's sort of like the USA Today of Mac news sites.
- LoopRumors.com
- There are many Mac rumors sites out there, and they tend to snipe at each other, speculate wildly, and report normal (well known) news. These folks seem to keep it clean, and usually keeps things up to date. SpyMac.com is another one to check out.
- Dev Tools, Dev Tool, Dev Tools!
- It's an absolute must to install the Dev Tools for Mac OSX. All of the goodies like cvs and scp are in there (not to mention gcc3). You can download the Dev Tools from the Apple Developer site (you have to register, but can do so without paying out any cash). I also have an extra Dev Tools CD that I got at the O'Reilly Tech conference, so if anyone wants that, I'll be happy to mail it out.
Ubiquity is a long way off.
May 27, 2003 8:50 AM
My daughter has an eye infection (her first ailment) that isn't serious, but bad enough to make us call the pediatrician for the first time. We had to leave a message and the on-call person called us back pretty quickly. She asked me what was wrong and asked that I describe the nature of the goop coming out of my daughter's eye.
Optimally, I could have used my digital camera to take a picture, and show it to the pediatrician over the good ol' Internet. Unfortunately, all of my gear requires physical connections to communicate, and compiled applications to pass files back and forth, and human intervention to route things appropriately. This is the first time that I have thought that the new breed of cell phones with crappy digital cameras in them would actually be useful.
Of course, the person on the other side of the equation needs to have the same carrier, or gear and/or level of comfort with the tech to receive the image and attempt to make something from it. Ubiquity is a long way off, and so are the systems/applications we need to allow folks like me to easily send useful info to particular individuals on demand.
One device to rule them all, please.
May 22, 2003 1:12 AM
I bought a new iPod the night they were released, and I think I was the first one to complete a sale at the Tyson's Corner Apple Store that night. Some tall Apple nerd with a camera saw fit to document the event on a silver substrate, so I'm guessing the guy next to me at the other register came in second.
Regardless of who won (me) a new personal habit has formed as a result of iPod ownership. I actively try to wear shirts that have a breast pocket. This is of course for the iPod to have a place to perch while I walk around the office with my headphones blaring Phasmid. Unfortunately, the iPod really is just another gadget that I carry around with me every day, and it's getting ridiculous...
Things in my bag that I carry around...
- iPod
- Nikon 4300 digital camera
- Motorola Two Way pager
- Samsung N400 cell phone
- 550 mhz tiBook
- various and sundry cables and adapters for connecting stuff to other stuff
While I was changing diapers...
May 19, 2003 2:22 AM
While I was away on new baby duty (doody?) I noticed a few things about the traffic at this site, it didn't drop off dramatically. Instead, a slow decline in daily visits occurred with a somewhat steady pace of RSS feed hits (indicating subscriptions that people don't update frequently). That's a good thing I suppose, because I will be continuing to post various bits of dorky minutia.
Also, while I was in my diaper changing training seminars, I received email from Mr. Kalsey asking...
Do you want pings to the communiblog only for categories that are at least peripherally related to your blog? To which I replied...You see, the about Communiblog page sees about 8 to 20 hits a day, and that hasn't dropped off or increased over the past two weeks, so there's some interest in it somewhere. I invite everyone to feel free to ping the Communiblog as much as they want, and can keep it on or off topic. I'll just trash anything that I think isn't quite right (ie, offensive to me, boring, or otherwise useless).To tell you the truth, I've waffled back and forth on that, and I think that if there were a ton of pings coming in all the time, I'd say that keeping things on topic would be a good idea. But the pings are slowly coming in, and randomness and serendipity need to be embraced. I say feel free to hit it with everything you've got.
This is why there have been no posts recently.
May 12, 2003 5:56 AM
The look on her face says it all. ;^) Regular postings should resume sometime soon.