BDK’s Random Thoughts » Computers
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Oct 14

One of the bigger challenges I faced when switching to my Mac was the fact that my FANTASTIC deal on Microsoft software did me little good.  I’m a subscriber of the Action Pack which allows me access to tons of Microsoft titles including Vista, Server 2008, and Office for a flat annual (and very affordable) fee.  Unfortunately - but perhaps understandably - the software is all based on Windows operating systems.

Interestingly, this has presented a fairly ironic solution:  open source.  Ironic because my switch to Mac - a traditionally closed world - has “opened” my eyes to all of the great free software available today.  I have found a great wealth of apps to solve nearly every problem I’ve run across with my Mac.

Who needs to spend hundreds to write a few letters?  Instead of shelling out a bunch of bucks on Microsoft Office for the Mac, I found NeoOffice.  It’s basically a front-end for OpenOffice, the free office suite champ.  It worked okay, but was a bit rough around the edges.

Well, OpenOffice itself has been upgraded to version 3.0 and now is native to OS X.  I tried it out for about eight minutes this afternoon and immediately threw out NeoOffice.  OpenOffice is faster, has more features (and programs), and just plain-out looks nicer.

If you’re a NeoOffice user, I strongly encourage you to download OpenOffice today.  It’s well worth the price!  =)

Date October 14th, 2008 Filed in Computers, Mac No Comments »
Oct 14

First off, I have to say that I’m fairly happy, as a recent buyer of a MacBook Pro, to see that little changed with the premium notebook.  Sure the new one is sturdier, has better graphics, and a cool new button-less glass trackpad.  But the REAL stats didn’t change - same processor, same memory, a slight bump in the standard hard drive size…  Kind of boring, really.

I would have liked to have seen a bump in processor speed and maybe 4GB standard.  The quad-core Penryn would have been extra sweet.  The memory thing is just a rip-off:  I bought 4GB of memory for my MBP last month for $80.  Yes, $80!  Apple wanted to charge me $180 to go from 2GB to 4GB.  And they charge $400 for that same 4GB kit!

I guess I think that the “Pro” line should push things a bit more.  Get a super-fast CPU and tons of memory to pair up with the admittedly ingenius video subsystem.  Charge a butt-load because you’re Apple.  But make it COOL!

Don’t get me wrong - I’m not complaining!  The value of my month-old laptop is still very high and it makes the sweet price I got all that much better.

Date October 14th, 2008 Filed in Computers, Mac No Comments »
Sep 23

Yeppers, it’s here!  My MacBook Pro came in a couple of days early, actually.  It was “scheduled” to arrive yesterday (Monday) but showed up Friday afternoon instead.

A few thoughts…  First off, I really like it.  The build quality is great and it runs OS X lickety-split!  But there are a couple of things that I’m not thrilled with.  For example, the keyboard is a bit odd.  The RETURN key is a little smaller than I’m used to so I continuously hit the ‘ key.  Also, the keys seem to have just a tiny bit more travel than my previous Windows-based notebooks (from various manufacturers).  That will cause a few missing characters until I get used to hit the keys harder.

The other items are things that I knew about - only 2 USB ports, a display that doesn’t open very far, and the lack of a hard drive LED (yes, I know, that’s a “Mac thing” - but it would still be nice!).

That said, I’m falling in love quickly.  The sleep mode is awesome because, well, it works.  I’ve never had a Windows-based PC that actually does what I think it should when I close the lid.  This thing sleeps right away and pops back on the moment I open it up.  VERY USEFUL!

A couple other things I love:  the illuminated keyboard is much more useful than I expected, the battery life is fantastic, and the LED-backed display is the brightest and most vivid I’ve ever seen on a laptop computer.

But perhaps the best thing about it is the main reason I bought it….  It runs OS X!  It’s fun to use.  I think I’m just bored with Windows, to be honest.

Date September 23rd, 2008 Filed in Mac No Comments »
Sep 16

I can’t wait to start playing around with REAL virtualization.  I’ve talked before about using my Mac Mini and Parallels to run Windows XP.  It runs great, but that’s on a 1.83GHz machine with 2GB memory.  The MacBook Pro that I just ordered has a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo and I’m going to have 4GB memory.  With the roomy hard drive (90GB more than my current Vista laptop), I’m planning on running Windows XP AND Vista.  I’ll probably throw Ubuntu on just to keep busy!

With all of the horsepower in today’s PCs, is it any wonder that virtualization is finally becoming mainstream?  Many of us have an old PC with Windows XP lying around with a product key on the side of the case.  Why not use that product key to run some finicky software?  Even better, set up a virtual machine to use as a sandbox to ensure that beta software doesn’t destroy your machine.

Most of us don’t use even a fraction of the power that’s available in our PCs.  And servers tend to be even worse!  A recent study shows that CPU utilization is around 6% on the typical small business server.  Six percent!  That means that you have 94% of your hardware sitting around waiting to be used.  (Not really, as CPU utilization is only one component in your machine’s performance, but you get the point.)

Servers can easily be virtualized to increase hardware utilization, decrease energy costs, decrease server closet temperatures, and decrease hardware costs.  WAIT A SECOND!!!  I SELL HARDWARE!!!  Nevermind.  Virtualization is a waste!

Seriously, depending upon the network environment and usage of the servers, you can put many software-based virtual servers on one physical box.  Having three or four servers running at a time is certainly not out of the question.  Pop in some new hardware and you could double that.

And that brings me to another great reason for my recent Mac obsession….  I can easily run Windows and Linux on my Apple machine but I can’t do the reverse.  Oh, sure, there are ways to get OS X to run on traditional PC hardware.  Unfortunately, it’s not easy or time efficient to do so.  If you want to spend a lot of time and energy, you could build a fast computer for cheap that will work fine.  But when you get a Mac, you get the ability to dual boot Windows and OS X out of the box.  Throw 80 bucks at a software company and you’ll add the flexibility of running virtual machines.  That’s a great deal in my book.  Or should I say “in my MacBook”?   =)

I predict that the uptick in the sales of Mac hardware will continue for the foreseeable future.  The machines are generally well-built with high quality components.  The lines aren’t refreshed as often as I’d like, so when the computers reach end-of-life, they aren’t necessarily a great deal.  But the perception that Mac is so high-priced is largely incorrect.  And with the advent of good, cheap, useable virtualization, the lines are blurred and the barriers are destroyed.

It will be a very long time before Windows isn’t the leading OS.  That has to do with tradition more than anything.  OS X is better in almost every measurable way and, since it’s based on a Unix core, is very scaleable.  But it may not hurt to take a look at the Mac and learn a little AppleScript….   =)

Date September 16th, 2008 Filed in Computers, Kevin's thoughts, Mac No Comments »
Jul 30

While I’m not one of the reported 1% of MobileMe users affected by a massive email outage/loss, I’m still having problems.

The service took the better part of a day to get setup correctly.  After getting my contacts perfect on my iPhone, I synced them to Address Book on the Mac only to find out that the format was slightly different on the two devices.  I spent a fair amount of time editing contants for companies, for example, to “file” correctly.

Then, thinking that everything was going to align perfectly again, I synced with MobileMe…only to find that the format was just a bit different again.  Arrggg!  My APPLE Mac, my APPLE iPhone, and my APPLE MobileMe service all have different formats for contact information?!?  Come on, now!  Seriously.

The fun didn’t stop there.  I got all of the APPLE products looking nice and then (bravely) decided to bring Microsoft’s tools into the mix.  You guessed it!

This is why it took so long to get my contacts groomed.  All 504 of them (down from 628 after removing duplicates, etc.).  I played that game a few times until everything was perfect.  I won’t even tell you how much of a hassle syncing the calendars was!

But, for all of that pain in the butt configuration, MobileMe has turned out to be exactly what I was looking for.  My email, contacts, and calendars (all four of them) are all perfectly synced and available where ever I’m at - on my Windows Vista laptop, my Mac Mini, my iPhone, and even on the web.  Nirvana does exist!

Don’t get me wrong, I still have some problems, but I’ve learned to live with them.  For example, if I read several messages on my iPhone and delete them, they may pop back up a minute or two later.  A simple tap of the Refresh button trashes them again - and for good this time.  I shouldn’t have to do that, but it seems a small price to pay to be able to use all of the great Mac apps like Mail.app and iCal and still have the ability to use my laptop to read filed emails.

Let’s hope Apple continues to work on MobileMe to make it more consistent and reliable.  Otherwise, “Exchange for the rest of us” is going to look more like Microsoft Bob….

Date July 30th, 2008 Filed in Computers, Kevin's thoughts, Mac, Windows No Comments »
Jun 13

Some cool changes popped up on the iPhone-specific version of Google Reader the other night.  I logged in late afternoon and did my normal reading.  When I went back just a couple hours later, I noticed all the coolness.

The best change is a relatively recent change to Google Reader itself.  Instead of just the normal Shared button on the bottom of each story, you now have the choice to Share with Note.  That allows you add your comments or ideas to the items that you share.  This is perfect for the way that I use Google Reader to share stories with coworkers via our company’s internal website.  I simply Share (or now, Share with Note) an item and it gets picked up via RSS on that website.

Another - almost as useful, and arguably more so - feature is the Email link.  You can send an article to those “special” friends that refuse to use the awesomeness that is Google Reader.  Like all of my coworkers.

There are a couple of other changes - the ability to visit the author’s website via a link, for example.  I’m thoroughly impressed with Google Reader for both my PC and my iPhone.  It’s a great way to get information quickly and have your readings synced across multiple devices and platforms.

Seriously, you should try it out.  Now.  =)

Date June 13th, 2008 Filed in Computers, Cool web site No Comments »
Jun 9

I tried out the new Release Candidate 2 version of Firefox 3.0 beta the other day and I’m hooked.  I love listening to Buzz Out Load from CNET and have been intrigued for quite some time with all the talk about Firefox and its “add-ons”.

Wow.  There are add-ons that do all sorts of cool things for Firefox.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure you can find programs that do the same or similar things in Internet Explorer or Safari.  But the way that the add-ons are presented and actually ENCOURAGED in Firefox makes them very easy to try out and use.

And I really like the interface on the Mac. It’s clean looking with a smart layout that is very intuitive.  The largest button on the toolbar, for example, is the most often used one - the back button.  You can use a Google-Reader-like star to record the current page as a favorite instantly.  A double-click on that same star will allow you file it away in a folder for all you weird people that actually organize things.  In addition, the browser seems to be quick to load and use.

Unfortunately, the Windows version I immediately put on my Vista laptop left a lot to be desired.  The interface, while it attempts to imitate the Mac version, is clunky in comparison.  And it seems to be quite a bit slower than Internet Explorer.

For now, I’ll stick with Internet Explorer on the Vista machine, but Firefox has replaced Safari on my Mac’s dock.

Date June 9th, 2008 Filed in Computers, Kevin's thoughts, Mac No Comments »
Jun 9

Not too awfully different from Microsoft’s Mesh (in beta), Apple’s new MobileMe service is just the ticket for me. I maybe MORE excited about this than the new iPhone.  Okay, maybe not.

But it definitely is cool.  I have been looking for a seemless way to sync my calendar and contacts between my iPhone, Mac, and multiple Windows PCs.  The best way I’ve found so far is through a clunky mess of services such as Calgoo or, most recently, Google Calendar (with their new Outlook syncing tool).

The MobileMe service solves these issues and allows for email and photo syncing as well.  Oh, and don’t forget about the 20GB worth of online space that can be used to share and sync files and folders.  Cool stuff indeed!

When you update your calendar, for example, on your iPhone, the information is pushed immediately over the cell network to any other devices you have sharing the service.  Immediately.  So I can have ALL of my contacts, calendar and email shared on my Mac, my laptop, my iPhone, and my home computer.

This is way handy as I now have to manually update this devices - plug my iPhone in the dock, sync my Mac with the Google Calendar, etc. - or just do without.  Normally, I keep all of my info current on the laptop as I take it home most nights and generally sync my phone with it.  That’s a pain for those short days at the office that I just want to hop on the Mac to handle email or whatever without plugging in the laptop and waiting for Vista to load (which can be a painfully slow process).

Instead, I’ll be able to just wake up the Mac, use Mail.app (which is INFINITELY quicker than Outlook) to deal with my email, update iCal, and everything will be synced automagically with Outlook on the home computer, my iPhone and my laptop when I turn it on next.

To top all of this awesomeness off is the fact that all of this information is also available through a slick “ajaxy” Web 2.0 interface.  I can hop on a friend’s PC (or Mac, or iPhone, or Linux machine, or Wii, or PS3, or…) and pull up my personal calendar in old-fashioned Google Calendar style.

I can’t wait to spend my hard-earned money on this worthwhile service.  Now I just need to figure out a great new email address.  It’s going to be ________@me.com.  Suggestions?  Leave a comment!

Date June 9th, 2008 Filed in Computers, General, Mac, Windows, iPhone No Comments »

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