10.5.6 Update

Recently at work there was trouble updating the mac. It kept rebooting the machine. The culprit was the 10.5.6 update. So checking the websites revealed that there was a problem with certain macs and there was a complicated fix for it.

Considering the macs are for users with not much computing expertise, it was a nightmare to follow the instructions. What was even more surprising was the fact that the mac at work was the ever popular aluminum imac. What certain macs are they talking about? Are there so many different versions of the aluminum mac?

I was a little bit surprised and disappointed. After all I've never had problems updating the the regular microsoft updates on the PC and the pc has many different spec and components that the average user doesn't even care about. Even with the updates such as anti virus and firewall which sometimes seem to hang in midstream update, sometimes you just cross your fingers and do it again and it works.

What is going on with world! Isn't there a computer that just works!! Linux pushers, don't even think about it! I'm not going to wait for something to compile or spend futile hours hunting for drivers.

Mac - Fantasy or Reality?

So, I have finally given back the mac that I had been using and now I am using the normal desktop pc at work. How was the experience? It was absolutely brilliant and absolutely rubbish.

The absolutely brilliant things were the incredibly impressive fast boot up, the dashboard with the very very useful snippet utility, the coverflow was actually incredibly useful, the rock solid 'it's not going to crash' feeling, the different but clean look compared to the droll of windows, the ease in outputting most things to PDF without a hitch or crash. Such bliss it was.

The absolute rubbish was the fact that setting up mail accounts was infuriating as the setup procedures were all geared towards PC, so I had to guess which jargon and terms referred to what, which was a security nightmare. Not to mention the times where it seemed like it was checking the mail forever when other times it was a snap.

Then there were the printer drivers that were OSX compatible but had trivial menus in order to get to the required printer setting e.g. color and mono. Laser printers were no problem, but any other printer and you lose functions such as checking how much ink was left and other features.

Also some of the fonts didn't correspond to the PC and some of the web pages didn't look the same as on a PC and sometimes the website pages wouldn't even open because it needed iexplorer. Not to mention the nagging feeling, do I need to open it on the PC just to see if it's going to look ok?

Files that were saved wouldn't open and when they did open, they didn't look right and then there was the utter nonsense when OSX decides to write hidden junk or temp files to your USB when you transfer files.

Critical online apps refused to run on a mac even when using the recommended alternative browser, especially when filling in online data forms where some fields would simply disappear or confirmation buttons would become blank for no reason.

Open source software that had to be compiled and took hours and looked horrible, where as on the PC it was just a simple setup.exe file.

I can see myself using it at home for personal use, but for business that deals with anything financial or international, it's a non-starter.

Still, I want to buy one, and the price is not as expensive as everyone makes it out to be. However, I'm stumbling as it just feels like I'm paying extra for the brand name when currently I can get away with those cheap deals on PC's. Besides, nobody pays RRP for PC's do they?

Critical Update - Annoying and necessary.

I hate those two words. Annoying and necessary. So with recent spates about critical security updates necessary on Internet Explorer your forced to do two things.

One is to update straight away, because it's so criitcal that if you don't, any second from now until you update something very bad will happen. When you do update you find that the update either crashes something or won't install.

Two is to wait until other people update and to see if they report any problems. But while you wait, every second from now until you update something very bad will happen.

So you think Internet Explorer is unsafe and you want me to get a Mac and use Firefox

So your net savvy, your 'puter savvy. You run Firefox with all the security addons that you can find and yet still have your email account compromised. Instead, your grandmother, your father, your mother, your boss and the place you work is still running the internet explorer 6 and the only complaint that they have is that they don't know what to do with a pdf file.

70 percent, 60 percent, 50 percent, which ever one you take show that internet explorer has the largest market share. Yet, I find that the only people who complain about security are developers who understandly are forced to rewrite their sites so they can run on iexplorer and firefox/camino/opera and others because they want to boast that they are the chosen ones.

I happen to agree that it would be better for Microsoft to get with the program when it comes to web standards, and I agree to a certain extent that Firefox is safer than Internet Explorer.

But what I want to know is this, if Internet Explorer is so unsafe, why do you know more people who use it than those people who use other web browsers? I simply find it hard to believe that it's because it's pre-installed and that people are not computer savvy, or people don't like change or are used to something. It's not a switch to a mac campaign, after all it's free.

If users are smart enough to be able to download music programs or accounting programs, they are smart enough to download an alternative browser. Why is it that other browsers have such a smaller number of users.

It's all about market share. Just big enough to be effective and small enough not to attract too much secuirty attention. Just like the mac. Though, just for the sake of argument, I'd be interested to know if there are more Wordpad users than there are Word users.

Mac Dashboard - Snippets of information.

Mac Dashboard - Snippets of information.

I have always loved downloading utilities to make the daily tasks more bearable and to find ways to do those boring desk work.

For example, using a database program to construct a Fax template where I just select the clients and related responses without typing anything. That's just awesome.

Also, little things like downloading a program to check the weather, the world time, rss, delivery etc. The usual things.

Recently, having had to use a Mac for work, there is this clever feature on Safari where you can take snippets off your websites and place it on your desktop or dashboard. What a clever idea. So, rather than downloading the various programs, you can just go to your favorite website, snip the bits that are regularly updated and then put them on your desktop or dashboard. What a clever idea!

Of course there are similar alternatives on the PC, but they are certainly not as fast or as simple or as safe as the one built into the web browser of the Mac. Of course this alone, won't make me switch, well, not yet, but it's damn clever. The only thing is, my dashboard is now cluttered with these snippets and I don't have enough room.

101 Applications for the Mac - Open Source? More like Open Sauce

On the PC you can find literally hundreds of freeware or open source apps. On the Mac, you too can find hundreds of freeware / demo apps.

The problem is, that the hundred becomes stale and every month you check for a new program on a Mac and it's the same old, same old. Where as on the PC there are new updated versions or better alternatives with new bells and whistles.

The Mac may be based on an open source system but let me tell you this, the open source programs are always better on the PC. Takes Open Office for a start, absolutely outstanding news for the Mac, but riddled with graphical bugs, just try the database and you'll see. It will get better, and when it does, it's going to be awesome.

However, try other open source programs and you'll find that on the Mac you'll have to go through complicated ways of downloading the various necessary programs in order to compile the program, then waiting a few hours to compile the program and then waiting a few weeks before someone comes up with the reason why your program doesn't run on your particularly Mac. On a PC, it's press that setup icon together and go through that annoying 'yes, it's safe' box.

Yes, there are lots of users who are new to computers that buy Macs, but one wonders if there are truly Mac Switchers. You know, the one where they actually get rid of their PC completely, not using bootcamps etc, and use only made for Mac software.

Accounting Software for Mac - Beta

Yes, switching to a mac is one of the best things since slice bread. It does everything different from the PC and one wonders why the reason people switched to the Mac is because it does things differently.

Everybody is so used to Windows that people are just crying out for change. In fact the real reason that Vista is in it's current predicament is the fact that it's so similar to XP but with enhancements, or no depending on your point of view. I bet if they completely revolutionized the interface, ie make it ridiculously different yet still compatible with the old versions, people would flock to it.

Not the business sector, no, but one wonders if the the Mac has made any headway in the business Sector, ie the number crunching macro heavy spreadsheets to the daily droll of word processors with pc specific shortcuts. You know in terms of graphic apps, the Mac may very well be King in that area, and it does try it's best with the business apps but to be honest, if Mac's were that serious in making inroads, where is a decent accounting software? Not the personal ones, the one's for business. Accountants would prefer to use accounting software for companies and hope the personal users buy the personal version.

When done in a Mac way, you can perform gorgeous documents, and make pretty spreadsheets. One can only wonder how awesome it would be to crunch those accounts and figures into a proper mac accounting program.

I don't heart the mouse.

The mouse is one of the best inventions....when it comes to browsing the internet and graphics use. But for all others, it's a terrible invention. I prefer accessing my database with a few keystrokes or less and have things instantly performed with a key press. It's hard to describe it. Why can't I just press a button to load my apps. Why do I have to select something, double click it and then select another set of buttons. I just want to press and go. Does anyone really like to use the computer based calculator application with a mouse? Painful or what?

Yes, I appreciate that when it comes to graphics and similar applications it can be a godsend, but for all others, it's horrendous. Can I not select files using the space bar and press a key to cut and paste it somewhere else? Do, I have to select some files while pressing a certain required button and then attempt to drag it to a particular folder, only to have to check to see if it's moved to the designated folder and not the one below or above it?

When I check my email, do I have to find the app by scrolling with the mouse, double click, and then double click on the check mail icon from the mountains of other icons and then click to the inbox and then take my hand off the mouse and place it on the keyboard to type? Certainly a few key strokes would do, right? Or performing account setups for each different email boxes, can I not just press the tab key or enter key to advance to the next field? Do I have to take my hand off the keyboard and use the mouse to advance to the next field? Yes, you can use the mouse to correct fields you feel you need to change, but can't they use those redundant cursor keys? Especially the ones labeled up and down?

It's no wonder that movies hardly ever show the mouse. Everything should be controlled by the keyboard.

Laptops are Useless in a Blackout.

One of the things or an advantage a Laptop has over a desktop is the fact that it runs on batteries, so if there is an electrical blackout it can switch to it and continue to run independent from the mains.

It just puts one over the desktops, where you have to buy a USP, this of course doesn't apply to servers etc. .

But what gets me is the fact that the media is getting more and more focused on cloud applications. What happens in a blackout is that yes, you can use your laptop but your modems and wi-fi and what not will be completely unavailable. To be honest, in general the laptop and the internet go together. Lose one or the other and black out or not, your going to stop what your doing and go to sleep or watch TV.

Let's talk about the battery life. If your laptop is your desktop replacement or is your only computer, it's a safe bet that you bought the machine with that in mind and so you bought the one with the biggest screen and the nice keyboard and didn't care less about the battery life. So, in the event of a blackout, your battery is not going to last you very long, not long enough to do any games, or movies or those bloated work applications.

I know what your thinking, I'll just take it to the local coffee shop and connect from there. If there is blackout in the neighborhood, then there is a chance your coffee shop is also experiencing the same thing.

Let's face it. People buy laptop because it's easy to put away. That is, put away to sell on ebay, put away in a corner when you upgrade to another great laptop, put away to the designated recycling centre.

Atari Portfolio - Terminator 2

This was a great machine. They even used it in the movie Terminator 2. Of course you can't do what that kid did in the movie but it had other great features. It was really hard not to love.

It had a great clear display that although wasn't backlit, it was incredibly readable. It was also very retro since it was a dot matrix screen with low 40x25 character resolution.

It had great apps from a simple word processor, database and spreadsheet. On today's high capacity AA batteries it could run for a good few hours. If you bought the media card you can put your mind to rest that your data won't be lost when you changed the batteries.

It was just so usable. The only thing is, it's not particiaurly practical today. It's too big to fit in a pocket and too small to type easily with the keyboard. But I would definitely keep one just to use it as an address book, perform small calcuations, all in a very sparse and clean user interface. It was refreshing that it had none of the obtrusive and colorful graphical user interface which get bogged down with menus or interfaces that look like windows 3.0. Yes, you can install a widget or a utilty on the desktop/notebook but I really don't like the whole mouse and keyboard interface.

To be honest, I still don't know why today's colorful interfaces triunmph over text interfaces. Do you really put pictures of people in your phone address book? I know accessing the internet on a pda is a great and cool idea, but then again, it's a terrible experience in my opinion.