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Archive for the ‘Technology’ Category

Where in the world

24 Jan

Where in the world have you been?

I just logged onto my personal web site and noticed I hadn’t posted a blog entry in over a year. WOW! The truth —I’ve been:

  • Working:  Really, no excuse, but I have nothing else to blame that dead space on. From 2006 to 2009, it was tough. Then, 2010 hit. I contracted for a year and threw our finances into a bit of a tizzy. Translation, we barely made ends meet compared to what I was use to bringing to the table.
    2011 – Found the PERFECT job. Well, the perfect day job anyway. It started out rough, little shaky as I figured out where the software company was headed. About three months in a major shift in focus happened, one I was thrilled to see as I was considering looking for another “opportunity”. I was placed into much higher responsibility, offered a lot more money and working heavy, heavy hours. 2012 doesn’t look much better on the hours, but I have a great day job that takes all the pressure off the old bank account. Jodi’s happy. (Happy wife, happy life – yeah, I just said that.) We’re comfortable again and I have a great team. So, what’s the negative? I’m doing what I know and not writing. Instead, I’m now Managing a Customer Support department focused on a complex software solution and managing people again.
  • Health: My health has gone down. Well, not like I have one foot in the grave, but I have put on some weight. I’m not jabba-the-hut, but I’m as heavy as I’ve ever been and my waist has gone up two or three, okay, four inches from two years ago. Considering I was 135 pounds, dripping wet, when Jodi married me and now I’m **cough** 215 **cough**, I think I need to shave a few off the old mid section. So, we’re starting to excercis, a little, it is winter in Colorado you know. Jodi has focused on a good diet of non-processed foods, so that should help.
  • Planning: For what, you might ask. Well, Dylan is almost done with his high-school senior year. He’s worked hard, focused on his studies and was accepted to Colorado University in Boulder into their Aerospace program. (Good news, it’s prestigious, the hardest program to get in and is exciting. Bad news, it’s the most expensive program at CU.) GREAT! He’s now getting ready for college, which means, I’m getting ready to lay down some hefty coin. So, we’ve been planning for him leaving home going “All-the-way-over-to-Boulder”… (Like 15 miles from the house). But, it’s the checks that need to be written, the support we need to provide and the dollars that need to be figured out. Even though I have a 1,200 square foot commercial building I own, which is up for sale, by-the-way, it’s not going to cover much if/when we get the equity from the sale. Did I mention, I own a wonderful, high-end, commercial building that’s perfect for any business that, well, needs to be in or near Longmont Colorado? (Make me an offer!)
  • Writing: This one took a back burner for about 9 months, but late last year, I brushed the dust off a novel I was working and reinvigorated the characters, the plot and story arc. Okay, I actually started over. Not completely, but I revamped the characters, punched up the premise, started with a fresh focus… meaning, I stopped over thinking it and over analyzing the details… started hitting the keyboard again and well, it’s coming along. First draft is done, I’m now working through second review. Meaning; I’m tightening it up, fixing the plot holes, sorting through inconsistencies, making the characters come alive, slashing the  ”TELL” adding lots of “SHOW” and generally preparing it for release in a few months.

So, that’s it. No other excuses, no other time bandits, just getting things back in order. Hope to “punch” up the ole blog again as this year gets kicked off again. 2012, here I come!

 

 
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Posted in Blogging

 

IOS 4, Yawnsville

23 Jun

wpid-apple-iphone-in-hand1-2010-06-23-10-46.jpgiPad and iPhone (and a MBP) are part of my everyday technical life, so you would think I’m some “fan-boy” or something, sorry, “fan(person)”, a term I hate BTW, but I’m not. I just like good solid technology to get things done, not worry about either being “hacked” or things falling apart in my hands, (okay, my iPad is just WiFi on purpose and I did have to put a new glass face on my iPhone). I’m also not enamored by the inflated number of applications “available” on those “other” smart-phones who “they” claim a huge number of programs, which according to my limited research, are mostly half baked, low quality and riddled with security issues, hacks and other such reminiscent “windoze ilk”. Android aside, I digress. While the latest iPhone isn’t in my possession, I do have one that is about a year old. With the new release of iOS4, I anticipated taking advantage of a few new features, knowing full well that most wouldn’t be supported, but some would. My anticipation was met with disappointment.

After several hours of waiting for the upgrade to process, I also didn’t see that one coming, I finally got to dinking around with the new system after dinner last night. Armed with the feature list, I poked through the various settings looking for the new features. It all acted, behaved and frankly looked no different than the previous version. I found nothing compelling that made me think, “Boy am I glad I upgraded!” Instead, I yawned pushed a couple of apps together into folders, about the only thing worth the upgrade and moved onto the next few features. Photo zooming, didn’t happen; home background, still black; tap to focus video, I have a 3G only phone, so that was a bust. Finally, I fired up the iPod application to make a new Playlist, underwhelmed and continued down the list. Gift apps, whoopity doo; spell check, —yawn; Bluetooth keyboard, don’t have one, man, this upgrade was a waste of time all around.

Basically, I did my “dinking” for about thirty minutes, placed it on it’s charger and haven’t picked it up since. Instead, as usual, I opted for my morning reading with the iPad, not thinking twice about what I can do with my old, reliable, beater iPhone. I’ll make a call later, I guess, as long as AT&T doesn’t drop me. Then again, I rarely use the calling feature on my iPhone, so I suppose I’ll stick the earbuds in and take the dog for a walk, I am “underemployed” after all.

 
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Posted in Gadgets, iPhone, Reviews, Software, Software, Technology

 

Underemployed

23 Jun

Job hunting is almost a full time job, but the tasks are tedious and frankly boring. I mean, if you were asked by your current employer to search through a myriad of job sites, poke through every company web site you’d like to work with looking for that perfect job description hoping that they magically posted a new option, writing compelling, relevant cover letters and going through every variation of a job application, you’d tell your boss you were nuts, right? Well, that pretty much sums up my mornings, among other things.

When people ask how it’s going or what’s your status, I tell them I’m still “underemployed”, meaning, I work, but not enough to pay the bills. Besides reaching out to my network, following up on leads and the dreaded seek and apply work, I also do other things to stay busy. While it’s not a stigma anymore to be “underemployed” for a period of time, it does look good that you’re busy filling in your time with related work rather than catching up on the latest soap-opera or catching all those “new career” commercials. (Okay, I watch a little daytime TV, but not much.)

Besides the job hunt, I find myself writing a lot more than before. I bang out more blog posts, like this, and I pump out a number of articles for various online venues like Examiner, eHow and several others. Elance also has some freelance optional work, but it’s hard to land projects with all the “off-shore” contractors. Along side the article freelancing, I’ve been really catching up on those two novel projects I’ve worked on and off the past few years. In fact, I’m finished with one, High Lies, it’s now on the back burner, I’m letting it settle out of my brain. I’ll pick it up in a few weeks to review my handy work and decide if it’s worth selling to an agent or not. Jodi says that being a novelist is my retirement plan, we’ll see.

In my spare time, I also come up with every business idea I can think, Pro-Services company, news website, IT Project Management company, several software ideas for the iPad, to name a few. I hearken back to the early days of Jeff Bezos and J.K. Rowling thinking that if something pops into my mind for a good business plan or a great book, maybe that will work out. Pipe dreams to be sure, but I’m busy, underemployed really.

 
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Posted in Blogging, Music, Personal, Rants, Reading & Writing

 

IOS 4 upgrade on 3G (No “S” or new iPhone)

22 Jun

IOS 4 upgrade

I just started the IOS 4 upgrade on my one-year-old 3G phone. I am not in the market to upgrade to the latest & greatest iPhone at the moment, but I figured I’d at least go through with the upgrade and see what new features I am able to take advantage.

Installation & Upgrade: easy to get started, simply plugged it in for a sync, was presented with the obligatory, “You’re not running the latest version, blah, blah, blah…” and I didn’t go for it at first. I was doing some house cleaning and trying to get some new music uploaded first. Then, I decided to go for it after about thirty minutes of futzing with the apps, syncing some music and an iCal appointment. I also realized that if the install screwed it up, all this would be in vain and I’d have to re-sync anyway. But, alas, that didn’t happen. What did happen… time ticked by, that’s what happened.

After selecting yes on the first screen, I was presented with a “this could take a while, do not interrupt it or everything will be wiped into obliteration” screen. Okay, it didn’t say that literally, but alluded to that being a possibility. As a side note, the wording stated that it could take up to an hour, or perhaps longer. Seriously, it stated this without an estimate or any more specifics, just a nebulous, an hour or more. So, deciding to just press on, I hit the button of no return at exactly 2:55pm this afternoon.

So far, iTunes presented a dialog window that said it was “backing up” my iPhone, the blue bar was about an 1/8th of the distance across the window, then it stopped. To not get frustrated or blow my iPhone into oblivion, I turned to my, (groan) DELL Inspiron with the 23” screen and started working there glancing back at the MBP every few minutes to see if the bar had moved. It had not.

Finally, after loosing track and getting absorbed into my “research” on the XP box (using Safari), I stole a peek and saw that the window had changed to “installing”. The iPhone flipped to some activation screen and iTunes started activating. That sat seemingly froze the progress for at least another hour.

Now, it’s exactly 5:18pm and it’s been “Restoring” on iTunes and/or “Sync in Progress” on my iPhone for some time now, I’m loosing track of exactly what happened when, still hours have creeped by. Two hours and twenty two minutes later, the entire progress is still going. iTunes has moved onto restoring my music, but it’s still going. Dialogs are moving, but very slowly.

So, I’m going to post this blog entry anyway and will follow up later with the exact length it took to do a full upgrade. Needless to say, set aside a lot of time if you’re upgrading. My intent was to include initial “Newness” experience, but I’ll save that for another day.

 
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Posted in Gadgets, iPhone, Software, Software, Technology

 

Living in the Cloud, sorta!

10 May

I made a strategic decision this past week. I’m going to attempt to work “in the cloud” for a few weeks and months to see how it goes. And… so… I purchased an iPad for the trip. I settled on the 32gb Wi-Fi version as I have an iPhone and do not need another monthly bill.

While I have a powerful new MacBook pro with all the goodies, it’s a bit overkill for my current situation. Limited employment. It’s going to be for sales soon, hint-hint, but in the mean time, I’ve switched everything to my old Macbook —which I’ve had issues in the past, like crashing consistently over-heating, but generally reliable— like our Infiniti, it’s paid for, has seen better days and is “functional”.

What’s up with the “cloud” thing? Unless you’ve been living in a cave, technically speaking, cloud computing is a term that seems to be getting traction at all levels of discussion. Rather than store everything down on a local laptop, work exclusively on a local computing device, doing and working “in the cloud” is the future. It’s currently riddled with lots of speed bumps, curves and dead ends, cloud computing is am emerging technological direction that’s unavoidable.

If you happen to be reading this post and sniggering, think about this; everything you post on Facebook is “in the cloud”. All of your Google email, is “in the cloud”. If you work for a company that uses “SalesForce”, you’re working “in the cloud”, and so it goes.

Therefore, I’m moving as much as I can to this ethereal “cloud” and going to attempt to live and work online from the iPad for the most part. There are still obstacles, road-blocks and curvy roads ahead to be sure, but I believe I’ll be able to accomplish what I currently need without a full fledged “laptop” or heavy duty computer.

What I do today:
- I read the news, online of course.
- I check my email, respond and look at links in emails.
- I write, a lot actually. Like I’m working on a book, have several blogs that keep me busy, write articles and other freelance work.
- I’m networking, ie… looking for full time employment.
- I go to seminars, meet ups and sit in on webinars (take notes)
- I research all kinds of things
- I check Facebook and LinkedIn every once in a while.
- Sort through my contacts and build a spreadsheet or two.
- Fulfill my duties as president of our HOA. (IE… write letters, go check on maintenance work and send e-mails.)
- Generate great documents, export them to PDF for others.
- Keep my Resume updated.
- Apply for jobs online.
- Read PDFs

… so, for the most part, these activities do not take a powerful computer. Just access to email, gmail, writing tools & spreadsheet tools (ala Pages, spreadsheets, ala Numbers) and a web browser.

And, that’s about it.

Things I don’t do:
- Write code. (Although, I’ve thought about it and have a few iPad & iPhone ideas kicking around in my head.)
- Tinker with the OS any more, like the old days, well, of course if I used XP or Win7, then I’d be tinkering all the time, frustrated, throwing things etc…, but I don’t, so that’s over.
- I don’t play games. Well, I do mess with a few freebies, but it’s not a core care or concern.
- Build web sites, or ones that take a lot of effort.

Things I think I’ll miss.
- Photo management – I’ll work something out, but it’s not highest priority, just a nicety. I love iPhoto, but with only 32gb of storage, not going to keep my collection on the iPad. Old Mac will work, i think.
- Graphical design application, Fireworks – I love this application, but use it only when I need. Not a show stopper. I’ll push myself to explore this more once I “need” to. Probably look at a few editors on the iPad.
- Scrivener – I use a great little application for my creative writing. This is the single biggest stumbling block I’m having, but it’s more mental than actual, because everything can be done with Pages files. (Good iPad application is floating around in my head on this one.)

(BTW… this entire post was written on the iPad using the free WordPress tool and the docking keyboard, I also purchased with the iPad.)

… stay tuned.

 
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Posted in Future, iPad, Technology

 

I want an iPad!

29 Apr

My morning pretty much starts with a set of common rituals I’ve done for years. During the week, I like to catch up on news, read about new technology and get ready for the day. Right now, that ritual includes my iPhone, but… the screen is too small.

In the old days —well about two years ago — after pouring my morning coffee, I’d plod out to the driveway, rain, snow, shine or cold and retrieve the paper. After grabbing the paper, I’d make some breakfast, update my coffee, sit at the table and read through my favorite sections. Of course, to be honest, I started with the comics, THEN went to the real news, or what ever the local paper had decided to pick up from AP and local happenings. After finishing the paper and breakfast, I’d track down my laptop and fire up my email, check through the evenings spam, then move to the important stuff.

That was then, this is now. First, I bought an iPhone last year. Second, we canceled the paper. I had to go looking for other ways to get my morning news. That was one thing about the paper, it didn’t cover all the things I like. Today, I read a lot more about subjects I’m interested, feeling that I’m more informed than before.

Today, I start my day with that cup of coffee, that wont ever change, then I pick up my iPhone, first thing. Starting with the AP application, I sift through their top reports reading what looks interesting. I also like USA Today. Same thing, I sift through their top reports, sports and then tech sections to hit the highlights. All the while, I’m making breakfast, but I’m not as compelled to sit at the table anymore. Now I sit at the bar or in the family room. Kind of anywhere I plop. My last stop on my iPhone is All Things Digital, which is extremely focused on the tech industry with such articles about who’s buying who, new gadgets, what Apple employee left a new iPhone at a bar, new startup interviews, plus they have videos at current conferences and more. I then pop open an aggregate news tool called Fluent News. It pulls in feeds from CNN, ABC, CBS, FOX and others, which I use to fill in any gaps missed by my favorites.

More… so, once the world news and technical news is up-to-date, I’ll check the weather, even though I can see what it looks like outside, it’s still good to know what’s going to happen. Next, I switch to email, usually quickly review due to the screen size. Final stop is Facebook and LinkedIn to see if anything interesting is going on there. Finally, I end my morning with OmniFocus. Since I try to adhere to the GTD strategies, OmniFocus is for planning my daily todo and projects.

That’s pretty much my morning most days. I rarely fire up my laptop until I’m ready to get going with projects and other activities. So, why did I title this blog “I want an iPad!” — well, I do a lot on the iPhone and since I use it more of a mini-computer than a cell phone, an iPad would do all of this better, I think. In fact, since I hardly fire up my laptop until later in the morning, I could probably do just about everything on the iPad. I primarily use Pages, Numbers and Keynote, so since those are available on the iPad, I’m nearly there. I also use OmniGraffle, OmniFocus, a web browser, a writing tool (Scrivener) and dictionary most days. So, looking at what I primarily do, an iPad would just about do it all for me.

My problem is: I just purchased a new laptop last fall, like most, I just can’t justify an iPad no matter how much I’d like to have and use one. While I’m not advocating ditching a laptop or desktop (yet), I’m advocating that 80% of what I do on a daily (morning) basis could be done on an iPad. I still use Fireworks, Photoshop on occasion and many other activities that crank on this laptop, but my morning would be easier if I had an iPad. I WANT AN IPAD!!

 
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Posted in Gadgets, iPad, iPhone, Personal, Technology

 

Old software

28 Apr

Does anyone keep all of their old installer CD’s and DVD’s like me? I’ve been combing through stacks and stacks of CD’s with software I used back more than 5 years ago. I’m compelled to throw it out, but as soon as I do, something will come up that will require what I threw in the trash. Of course this is the original case as I’m looking for something I need that I can’t locate.

I have nearly every version of OSX operating system CD’s, EXCEPT the one I really, really need, Tiger. Somehow, I must have either skipped that purchase or just lost the disks. Problem is, I don’t know which is the case.

I guess that makes me a hoarder of software CD’s and old software.

 
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Posted in Software, Technology

 

Personal Computing

26 Apr

Looking at over all trends and the big picture, it seems to me that personal computing will be shifting in the near future. First, let me define what I believe personal computing to be.

It’s more than the ability to have a full fledged computer sitting on your desk or lap. While this is typically what’s believed to be the definition or one of the defining aspects of personal computing, it’s not. These are just two types of “devices” we use, not the experience of personal computing.

Personal computing is the ability to have access to computing technology for augmentation the human experience. In essence, it’s the use of a computer to get things done. Today, we get things done on desktop and laptop computers. The experience of having that kind of computing power has radically changed over the years, but at the core, these have been available to us now over the past 10 years or so.

Quick history – early computing capabilities were centralized. Some of the first “electronic” computers were the size of buildings and rooms. Humans only had access through terminals and simple screens for input. Access was limited to a small percentage of the population, therefore making it unavailable to the masses.

In an effort to provide computing technologies to the masses, companies like Apple and IBM began the modern day, Personal Computer. Over the past thirty years, personal computing has changed radically giving us computing power at our finger tips that has surpassed the early systems. It’s gone from a ‘centralized’ system to having decentralized systems on our desks and laps.

Shifts in what personal computing “is” is about to start. Laptops and desktops are ubiquitous. We’re now so use to them, we don’t give them a second glance when we’re in public areas. They are just there.

With the internet and more specific, the web, we’ve moved from doing everything on our personal computing devices, desktops and laptops, to doing things on the web. Some sites are simply there for the sake of it, not providing any real value, but that’s for a different discussion. The underlying principle of being able to do things outside the confines of ones “personal computer” has begun to change how we use computing.

Next steps: While the personal computer has been a major step in humans augmenting their ability to get things done, they’re a stop gap on the way to something much more far reaching. Star Trek and other SciFi ideologies are becoming more reality every day.

Mobile computing is getting us into the “next step” realm, but, it’s more inline with mass adoption than final end-all. It’s another stop gap to full computing power.

Mobile devices, like the iPad are moving us into the new world. While not perfect, far from it, it’s more inline with the evolution of personal computing.

Far out there: in the near or distant future, personal computing will not be sitting down at our desks with a keyboard or sitting on the couch with our laptops. It’ll be accessing a computing “environment” that is custom tailored to our needs. We’ll subscribe to a computing service whereby we’ll choose the tools, applications (applets) and or “things” we’ll need to do something. With “cloud” computing, it’s not to difficult to conceive of the notion that we’ll be doing this kind of “personal computing” in the near future.

 
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Posted in Future, Technology

 

Chrome

13 Dec
Chrome Download

Chrome Download

I’ve recently upgraded my MacBook Pro to a newer model. Previously, I had purchased the first generation MBP back just months after Apple released the new model back in 2006. It’s served me well, had the mother board replaced, twice, has been dropped several times, jostled around in a back-pack, travelled as much as I did, helped me make a lot of money and then, it finally kept over-heating. It still runs, but if you run YouTube or anything that pushes the graphics, it just shuts-down.

I digress… so, with the new shiny model having sat on my desk for 3 weeks now, I’ve been much more inclined to get back to having fun with my computer. With 8gb of RAM and a hugemongous hard-drive, I’m back to trying all kinds of applications.

Just a few days ago, I’m logging into my GMail account and get presented with the announcement that Chrome is now available on the Mac OSX platform, about time! So, instinctively, I hit the download button and fire it up. I’m met with the fastest launch of any browser installed on my system. Now, it could be the blazing fast new machine, but, I tested a browser launch war. Chrome won hands-down.

So, what makes it so special? Basically, it’s super light-weight, whicked fast, simple and has a few cool features.

- Google Search (Well, any search as you can specify your favorite) is integrated right into the URL field at the top.
- Did I mention it’s blistering fast?
- Rock solid. Supposedly it’s in “Beta” for MacOSX, but it seems more stable than FireFox, my other favorite browser.
- Download Manager – With security checks.
- Popup blockers that are smart. Meaning, if a site has a Java popup or something related to the site, it seems to be smart enough to differentiate. Haven’t tested this fully.
- Kind of goes without saying, all of the Google apps rock in Chrome. They’re fast, responsive and have no issues. IE… GMail, Picasa etc…
- Great looking theme system and the start page with cached history of recent sites is actually useful.

Downside:
- Certain plugins I use on other browsers aren’t supported. IE… XMarks my book-mark sync tool. I’m a little lost without it in Chrome.
- No cool add-ons just yet. I’ll be patient.
- Can’t come up with anything else negative to say.

There you go. If you’re into Macs and want to run the fastest browser out there, give Chrome a spin. I’ve used FireFox for years and it’s still pretty much my GOTO browser.

 
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Posted in Personal, Software, Technology, theMac

 

It’s the details, dummy!

27 Jun

It’s a computerized, digital, connected world… and yet, we still accept mediocrity in our computing systems. Yes, I’m talking about the one, the only, crappy Operating System that exists on a lot of systems, mostly about 91.7% of the worlds personal computers, in fact, according to current market share statistics. And… this is a sad commentary on how much the masses accept such mediocrity. I have to admit, I gave up on the us versus them operating systems wars along time ago. However, truth be told, I never really completely gave up my bigotry for, yes, dare I say, the Macintosh operating system.

My disgust and frustration with Windoze came rushing back to me in spades over the past few months. You see, with my old position, I was able to use what ever system I wanted, which meant that I decided to purchase my own MacBook Pro so I could control what I installed and did with my system. Then, I went on a 6 month sabbatical from any corporate environment and back again most recently. Well, not so much true corporate life per se, but I went back to work for a great company. And… you guessed it, their standard issue for Systems Engineers is, yep, a Windows Laptop. IBM errr… Lenovo T61 running Windows XP Professional to be more exact.

That’s when it all began to unravel. Sure, I’ve always copped to the adage, “they’re just tools, use what works for you”, but I think I’m beginning to go back to my elitist attitude of “what rubbish”. Over the course of the past 3 years, I’ve not had to deal with Windows other than manage a server infrastructure, install enterprise solutions and trouble-shoot issues in that environment. However, I always retreated back to my trusted, reliable, all-encompassing MacBook, where I just got shit done, sans any Windows dependencies.

Now, it’s all changed and I have to beg, conjole and wish with all my might to stay productive. In a nut-shell, here’s a few items that Windoze users just have to “deal” with and yes, I’m going to say it with my nose in the air, Mac users just don’t have to deal with such crap. We just get things done.

Fist, I’ve used a laptop as my primary work tool for so long, I don’t recall my last desktop model or even what I did on it. Just about everyone uses a laptop now because of their flexibility and modern speed.

It’s all in the details, dummies!!!

  • Expectation: To be able to work up to the point of having to jump on a jet, go to a meeting, leave the office, or any other activity that requires “sleeping” er… putting your laptop in “stand-by”, so it’s right there where you left it and ready to go the next time you need it.
    Reality: Not so much on the ole Winoze OS. “stand-by” is hit or miss and usually, 4 out of 10 tries, its a hit. I actually tracked this over a recent trip to St Louis and  yes, 60% of the time, the freakin thing wouldn’t wake up, wouldn’t connect to a network, operate with any stability or other “normal” expectation. Usually, had to reboot and it would be ok. So, stand-by is something I just don’t bother with any more. Full shut-down and reboot. Each process stealing 5 minutes of my productive life and over the course of a week, that equates to several hours.
    Mac: slam the lid, put in bag, leave. Open lid, start working. Every time. The end.
  • Expectation: Plug in any USB device, say, a wireless mouse. That’s it, just plug it in and work.
    Reality: again, hit-miss. Fortunatey, it’s mostly a hit, but not without some anxiety involved, knowing little yellow pop up bubbles would bug me and/or tell me it’s ready, but on occasion, it’d have trouble and a “replug” would ensue.
    Mac: yep, plug it in and go. No boinks, beeps, yellow bubbles or otherwise. Done. No fuss, no muss.
  • Expectation: get your software updates and have it all go smoothly.
    Reality: well, you guessed it, not always with good results. Mostly, it’s okay, but they all mostly break-stuff. In 3 months, I’ve had several patches and hot-fixes popup, get installed and I’ve had to reload my printer drivers and other dependancies. Some, I don’t find out about until I need them, which usually means, lost productivity going to the web site, downloading the software, installing it, rebooting, getting al kinds of annoying windoids on the update blah, blah, blah…
    Mac: in 3 years, I’ve had 1 serious incident, which royally pissed me off, but after redownloading the install/update an NOT going through the auto-update, it fixed itself. Besides that, I typically have little to no issue with their updates and they’re infrequent.
  • Expectation: take a good screen grab/shot anywhere, anytime of anything.
    Reality: well, you of can do this, but it just takes the entire screen, sends it to the paste buffer, then what? Well, you could also send it straight to a printer wasting paper and not very useful. Oh, once on the paste buffer, you have to open some paint program, paste it in the window, crop it, sorta, then save it… and remember to save it as a JPEG or GIF rather than the default BMP (huge unusable file) and then your ready to go. Whew… now to take another shot for that presentation. Oh, screw it, I’ll go buy Snaggit for $39 bucks.
    Mac: Command shift 3 – JPEG of entire screen on desktop for use where ever. Command shift 4, gives you a cursor to specify an area of the screen and then a JPEG is sitting on your desktop ready to go. Free. Done. Going onto getting work done.
  • Expectation: To be able to print or generate a PDF from any application, bar none.
    Reality: Yeah, riiight. You have to go download a freebie that only works with office, buy Acrobat Pro, if you happen to have Snaggit or something, you can print to Snaggit, then save as a PDF. DOH.
    Mac: Yep, you’re figuring it out, print anything anywhere and get a print-to-PDF option, which, you can actually send to a printer, or have it save to your desktop somehwere. Oh, and it’s free, built in, just works.
  • Expectation: light weight and easy to use keyboard. After years and years of ergonomic studies, you’d think that Wintel boxes would figure out how to make powerful laptops lighter and more ergonomic.
    Reality: guess again. The T61 still has clunky, chunky keys, is about 2 inches thick, has clunky lid buttons, on/off buttons, locks and all kinds of other minuturized desktop features that just looks like they put a desktop into a vise and squeezed. No ingenuity.
    Mac: completely redesign years ago. Is less than 1 inch thick, light keyboard, illuminating keys and of course, the screen is probably one of the best around.
  • Expectation: In this world of virtualization and heterogeneous environments, you’d think you could run a lot on an Intel box. Well, there are some hacks out there and of course VM Ware and other virtualization tools have helped the cause, but…
    Reality: so, so on Windows and it’s very slow for the most part. I have a VMWare demo I run of a Win2003 server runnign MSSQL, SQL Reporting and IIS that takes nearly 5 minutes to load and restore to usefulness. Same for any
    Mac: VMWare has a product called Fusion that’s workstation for the Mac. Same demo as above takes about 30 seconds to load and go. Even snap-shots only take about 1 minute compared to the Windows Workstation version that takes about 10 minutes some times.
  • Expectation: drive fragmentation should be non-existant. You’d think.
    Reality: Lots of fragmentation on a well used laptop. Slows down, memory gets slow, everything just slows down… oh, yeah, gotta go defrag. Soooooo 80′s.
    Mac: One word. Journaling. Nuff said.

Done… i could go on, but this is enough to show that productivity on a Wintel system just isn’t that great. The time savings and other cost reducing affects of using a MacBook or any Apple product is just staggering and seems to only be recognized by a few. Oh well.

Everyone can pick on Apple and the Macintosh all they want, but the reality is, they put so much thought into the details that many things become so ubiquitous that you don’t even notice how productive and stable the system is until you’re forced to dink what 91.7% of the world deals with daily. And the cost of ownership doesn’t even start to compute. Most WIndoze users/purchasers are being penny-wise and pound-foolish. But, of course, if Win products weren’t around, we’d all be more productive, IT would be run by about 5 guys and they’d just sit around playing Texas Holdem or “hoping” for a breakage. So, I guess all-in-all, Windoze is a good thing, right?

This is why I drive a Mercedes, it’s all in the details, dummy.

 
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