Panther Arrives

October 24, 2003

Later today Panther will hit the streets. The Apple Stores around the country are hosting special events at 8:00 PM local time across the country. MacOSXhints.com will post several hints about the new OS. The good news is I might get to actually start using it as a project I was planning to deliver this week is delayed and the new included VPN functionality should enable using it without waiting for updated VPN clients.

It also looks like the Complete packages provided by Server Logistics probably will work as well. More good news.

Does this always happen?

October 21, 2003

Over the past few years Google has taken the net by storm. As one of the early adopters I really liked the up and coming tool and its independence. Yesterday Dave Winer discovered what appeared to be a bug in their use of DMOZ directory items. Upon further examination it appears its a concerted effort by a Big Company to use their market position for competitive advantage over one of the oldest titles in the genre of blog publishing software. Winer's right in saying we need a solution to replace Big CO.

Bad user interfaces

October 21, 2003

I installed an HP 3330 Multi-Function Printer for a client last evening. After applying the necessary firmware updates and software updates it was pretty slick.... almost.... When placing a paper in the tray it brings up a scan director asking what to do. Choosing "Scan" brings up an interface to choose what destination you want. Choosing file and a grayscale scan it asks for the file name. The scanner then scans the document as expected. However no file appears. A reboot later and much snooping around and the "Accept" button next to the scan button finally stands out. The file is not saved when a user asks to scan to a file. Its only saved when you hit accept after you've previewed the scan.

Informationgate

October 16, 2003

Americans are wondering more and more where the "tons" of biological and chemical weapons that Iraq was supposed to have stockpiled are. A very disturbing story on 60 Minutes II last night suggests there are few if any.

The report adds to the list of claims that were known to be false when they were perpetrated on the US and the world. How much evidence do we have to accumulate before an independent council is called upon to investigate?

Style faux pas

October 15, 2003

The study of good style guides, such as the Tidbits Style Guide increases the sensitivity to poor style. Today I saw one of my personal pet peeves.

In a document there was a sentence saying that software "runs on Windows 2000 and Windows XP personal computers." There is no such thing. Windows (of whatever flavor) is an operating system made by Microsoft. They don't make PC's. If one needed to keep the personal computer in the sentence (though there is no reason to do so) it could be made into "runs on a personal computer running Windows 2000 or Windows XP." However simply removing personal computers removes excess verbiage.

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