I checked out the screenshots, and personally I think the anti-aliased type rendering on MacOS X still looks significantly better than the KDE version. All according to taste, I suppose.
The latest Mozilla for MacOS X has excellent compatibility - I have yet to see a site I can't view in it.
I'd just use Clover-Q to quit applications. Sometimes it's handy to have an application hang around after its last window is gone. Close all your OmniWeb windows and click on a link outside of OmniWeb (assuming you have it as your default browser) and the link will come right up; this is a Good Thing.
The other factor is that, quite frankly, I simply don't have the time to learn all that's needed to install anti-aliasing on Linux. I tried a few months back with no joy. Perhaps if it's built into an existing Linux distribution now it would be time to try again on my work Linux system. But for my personal systems, I have to say that I'm awfully happy with MacOS X.
In my testing, I found that I had problems until I raised my base station up high. So yes, height really does help, probably for the same reason it helps any form of radio reception.
Unfortunately, I think the AirPort card is pretty deep in the TiBook case - I seem to remember that the installation process is a horrid mess, so I think extending the antenna would be likewise, alas.
Apple is going to charge so much less for Shake than Nothing Real did that it will cost less to get a G4 + Shake than it would to buy Shake before the takeover.
I'm looking forward to being able to try Shake on my G4.
I wonder what kind of price they'll charge to Irix and Linux users? I would assume it would be more expensive for non-Apple systems.
Curiously enough, this is exactly what I expected (and hoped) they would do. I think you can even look it up somewhere in my earlier messages.
At least if your computer already includes an AirPort card, you should try it out before rejecting it out of hand. Better yet, find a friend who already owns it and run a few tests.
I found that AirPort with my Titanium PowerBook/400 worked very well, as long as I kept my desktop G4 on top of my desk, and my AirPort base station on top of my desktop. It would be even better on top of a tall bookshelf.
Of course your mileage may vary, depending on where you use your system. If you have an enormous house, it's going to be harder than if you have a small apartment or (as in my case) a small but cozy two-bedroom house. If you tend to use your TiBook in one specific room, place it as close as possible.
If you put your AirPort base station on your home ethernet network and connect that to a DSL or T1 connection, you have a lot of flexibility as to where the base station can be situated. Use that flexibility to your advantage. Remember, it doesn't have to be near anything save the Ethernet hub.
So position your AirPort base station near the center of your house, as high up as possible. That will help you a great deal.
This was made by a friend of mine from way, way, way back. Unfortunately, it looks like he's abandoned the project and it just lives on as a cobweb site. Kinda funny to remember how cutting-edge Netscape 3 was in those early days...
I was going to post a link to it myself, but since it doesn't appear to work at all using Mozilla, I didn't. I think you'd have to get an actual copy of Netscape 3 (or maybe 4?) to view it properly.
Funny thing is that I thought Mostly Harmless was one of his funniest and best-written books... until the ending.
I thought the Grebulons, who monitored the earth using TV, were hilarious.
That being said, I thought the most interesting part of that interview was where he said the new Dirk Gently he was thinking of writing was turning into something much more like a HHGTG, and the hint that there might be another HHG book coming eventually.
In this economy, you really have to be profit-driven simply to survive. I'm as annoyed at that "Upgrade to QuickTime Pro!" box as you are, especialy since I own Final Cut Pro 3, which is supposed to hold in it a complimentary edition of same.
But I am resigned to today's reality. It's not as fun as reality from a few years back, but, well, we're living it.
Interesting that Apple is a price leader in such an absurdly expensive product category. It's probably because they sell a lot of them to their hardcore, screen real estate loving graphic arts users. Oh, how they must grin when Adobe and Macromedia add acres of pallettes to their applications!
But here's a gotcha if you're eyeing the monitor. If you have a 450 dual processor, as I have, the included graphics card is not compatible with the HD display (presumably because it needs more than 16MB video RAM). So watch out or resign yourself to getting a new computer or graphics card.
(I'm likely to get a new machine because it's time for me to get something faster anyway).
By the way, for some reason the URL for my pictures didn't appear in my post, so if you want to see them, they're at
http://www.amazing.com/applestore/cinema.html
Since I'm a dedicated MacOS X user, there's no question I'm going to get the Apple. It might interest you that I believe Samsung made the flat panel used by the Cinema HD Display.
I have a 1600SW I use under Linux at work, and I still haven't figured out any way to hook it up that works at full resolution with Linux and doesn't involve absurdly overpriced graphics cards. Sigh.
For those who like to look at pretty pictures, I visited the Apple Store and took a few
After I took the picture, I noticed that you could get two full browser windows plus a terminal window all visible at once if you put the dock on the bottom of the screen. Stunning.
I plan to buy one in a few months.
Enjoy!
I had the identical experience - I couldn't believe someone was dumb enough to blow them off that cheap, when I could have made a $400 no-risk profit on eBay selling the thing if I'd wanted to.
But the shipping delays were agonizing - same experience as you.
That being said, I still want the new Apple Cinema HD Display. Once a resolution junkie, always a resolution junkie:-).
D
http://www.amazing.com/applestore/cinema.html has my pictures of the HD Display.
No, no, no - sorry - I should have qualified this.
How about the 800mhz new model versus the 667mhz new model?
I'm excited about the big screen, but wondering if I should buy the cheaper $2,500 model instead of the $3,200 one.
I currently have a G4/400 PowerBook and it's wonderful for most things, but I've done some awfully slow FCP 3 rendering and would love a faster version.
And, of course, the big screen. I always need big screen. Mmm.:-)
I was curious enough about the AS/400 to do a bit of reading on it. There are a lot of cool ideas behind it, but there's one problem: In order to type a simple 'Hello World' program you have to have a firm grasp of the overall design, which appears almost insanely complex. (I'm sure it's fine once you get to know it).
At least that was my experience. If you can get beyond that, there's much to admire in the design and execution.
Incidently, my impression is that the system itself is blindingly fast, but the ODBC interface many people have to use is really a slug. But I last used it a few years back, so perhaps things have changed.
I've noticed that when I play with the new iMac in the store, the continuous adjustability of the screen is very appealing, and I wind up pulling it to different angles while I play with it.
So yes, the easy adjustability does wind up being very useful; don't knock it until you try it.
Used SGI systems are still fantastic computers, and they're amazingly cheap due to the sad decline of the company. I have an Indigo2 R10000 system that I bought about six months ago for $400 (not including monitor since I already had a SGI monitor). Now you can get an Octane for less then $1,000.
SGI's main distinction aside from cool case designs is Irix, their Unix-based OS. And the main advantage of Irix is that the user interface is still superior to anything else out there, with the possible exception of Apple. Sun's efforts in this direction were so anemic that they are now switching to Gnome, the same design you'll see under Linux.
The biggest disadvantage is that you have to beg, borrow or steal the C compiler, which is not free. I've found that most resellers will sneak it on for you if you ask them nicely enough.
If you don't want to do that, you have to install GCC, which can be an amazing pain.
My Indigo2 is solid as a rock and hasn't given me a minute of trouble since I bought it. Very cool.
Greg Douglas of Reputable.com is a great guy, or you can cheap out with eBay.
This all being said, the Mac running MacOS X is such a compelling option nowadays that it's difficult to ignore. If you want a system you can run Photoshop on AND use as a Unix box, MacOS X is what you really need.
I run both MacOS X and SGI and love them for what I need them for. Certainly I greatly prefer either to Linux, ans as for Windows, well, let's not go there:-).
They have a really nice ad campaign that I see on sites like creativepro.com - it's the only popup ad I can say I like. It comes up as a cute little game you can play with their particle system - they have the name of the company, and if you mouse over a letter it explodes. If you leave it alone it will gradually reform back into the original letter.
It made me click and find out the program's $4,995. Ouch. I bought After Effects by buying an old shrinkwrapped $399 version on eBay and then getting a $299 upgrade, therefore saving me almost 50% over the $1,500 price. (I got the high-end production bundle which has all the cool goodies). Alas, that's about as much as I can justify paying for a program, although I might figure out a similar way to get Maya someday.
Point being, dabblers like me can't afford the alternatives just yet:-(.
In all seriousness, the real problem with Adobe is that, in every way but this DCMA nonsense, it's a fantastic company, with great products. True, it's a near-monopoly, but that's because the products are the best that exist, at least in their price points.
So what they have done is built up an immense degree of good will, and in the end for most customers, I think the Dimitri case has damaged but not destroyed that good will.
It's like my boss. He, I and a contractor who had created a horrible product for us under Windows were sitting in the office. The contractor said "Windows is a master at settled, safe mediocrity", implying that converting to Linux would damage this fortunate circumstance. My boss said that he didn't believe mediocrity had a place in his company. As a result, the campaign I had to convert our online order entry system to Linux proceeded, and now our entire company's front office functions are running happily on Linux.
Since then, he's done some unfair things to me. But on the whole my job is pretty darn good. So do I sacrifice my job on principle, or do I stay in what is, after all, a pretty good, high-paying position?
In the end, I compromise. And I compromise on Adobe too. The day I stop buying Adobe products will be the day they decline substantially in quality.
Nothing Real's products, including Shake, are industry standard he-man style products which are used frequently in movies.
Apple has bought Nothing Real(tm), and as a general rule this means three things:
They're going to drop the price from $9,995 to $999.
... but it will run only on Macs...
... but you shouldn't be too upset, since you could buy a top of the line Mac for $3,000 and a $999 copy of Shake and still be way ahead of the game.
Apple, like Adobe, has generally been outstanding in supporting the software it buys - reducing prices substantially, making continuous improvements, and so on. Very cool.
I have seen the X10 camera at my local Fry's, and the quality goes way beyond bad, far into the range of unacceptable.
Definitely no good for the sexual hijinx implied by the ads. It might be acceptable as a surveilance camera to show stuff happening in real time, but I wouldn't count on getting evidence out of the horrid, grainy images.
If it worked as well as the pictures in the ads imply, it would actually be a great toy (and I'd probably own a few). But it doesn't even come within screaming distance of decent quality.
Whether you want the camera for spying or good dirty fun, it's simply not - ahem - up to the challenge.
I have to agree with this; strike out the bundled software and the Mac probably would have won.
The VAIO has no less than three video editing programs: Microsoft MovieMaker, Sony MovieShaker and Premiere (I think LE). I've never liked Premiere, and MovieMaker is dismal. MovieShaker struck me as the best of the lot, but that only after about ten minutes playing with it in the store.
None of it was nearly as well done as iMovie, so I think the Mac wins video editing. I would have been interested in their evaluation of that category, which for some reason they didn't print.
I don't think the $1,800 Sony system would have done any better than the more expensive one tested; I seem to remember the same software bundle and the same features. The only thing you lose is the admittedly attractive casing and the stereo-style features.
A PowerMac wouldn't have done much better than the iMac, either, since they weren't doing benchmark tests, and they were content with the resolution of the screen.
I do wonder how they wound up with three stars for the Mac's video editing and four for the VAIO's. I'm not going to accept those results without at least some sort of description in the article, which they didn't provide. Maybe they simply gave Sony extra credit for the larger range of (mediocre) options it provides.
I'd certainly rather have the iMac, even considering that it's so much cheaper than the Sony. It's a lot more elegant and definitely features superior design.
Apparently there has been an influx of InDesign users, but still not enough to make much of an impact. But the more there are, the more likely Quark is to face the cold winds of real competition.
Slashdot Mirror
That depends on who you talk to.
The last 10.1 update was "free but with a $20 shipping charge". This included a development tools CD at no extra charge.
If you were within shouting range of an Apple store, they were giving away a version of it without development tools for free.
The development tools can be downloaded for free from Apple's site, but they are about 230mb so it can be worth it to buy the CD.
I think it's safe to say that they may charge for the update, but the price will be strictly nominal.
Hope that helps.
D
I checked out the screenshots, and personally I think the anti-aliased type rendering on MacOS X still looks significantly better than the KDE version. All according to taste, I suppose.
The latest Mozilla for MacOS X has excellent compatibility - I have yet to see a site I can't view in it.
I'd just use Clover-Q to quit applications. Sometimes it's handy to have an application hang around after its last window is gone. Close all your OmniWeb windows and click on a link outside of OmniWeb (assuming you have it as your default browser) and the link will come right up; this is a Good Thing.
The other factor is that, quite frankly, I simply don't have the time to learn all that's needed to install anti-aliasing on Linux. I tried a few months back with no joy. Perhaps if it's built into an existing Linux distribution now it would be time to try again on my work Linux system. But for my personal systems, I have to say that I'm awfully happy with MacOS X.
D
In my testing, I found that I had problems until I raised my base station up high. So yes, height really does help, probably for the same reason it helps any form of radio reception.
Unfortunately, I think the AirPort card is pretty deep in the TiBook case - I seem to remember that the installation process is a horrid mess, so I think extending the antenna would be likewise, alas.
D
Apple is going to charge so much less for Shake than Nothing Real did that it will cost less to get a G4 + Shake than it would to buy Shake before the takeover.
I'm looking forward to being able to try Shake on my G4.
I wonder what kind of price they'll charge to Irix and Linux users? I would assume it would be more expensive for non-Apple systems.
Curiously enough, this is exactly what I expected (and hoped) they would do. I think you can even look it up somewhere in my earlier messages.
D
At least if your computer already includes an AirPort card, you should try it out before rejecting it out of hand. Better yet, find a friend who already owns it and run a few tests.
I found that AirPort with my Titanium PowerBook/400 worked very well, as long as I kept my desktop G4 on top of my desk, and my AirPort base station on top of my desktop. It would be even better on top of a tall bookshelf.
Of course your mileage may vary, depending on where you use your system. If you have an enormous house, it's going to be harder than if you have a small apartment or (as in my case) a small but cozy two-bedroom house. If you tend to use your TiBook in one specific room, place it as close as possible.
If you put your AirPort base station on your home ethernet network and connect that to a DSL or T1 connection, you have a lot of flexibility as to where the base station can be situated. Use that flexibility to your advantage. Remember, it doesn't have to be near anything save the Ethernet hub.
So position your AirPort base station near the center of your house, as high up as possible. That will help you a great deal.
Hope that helps.
D
This was made by a friend of mine from way, way, way back. Unfortunately, it looks like he's abandoned the project and it just lives on as a cobweb site. Kinda funny to remember how cutting-edge Netscape 3 was in those early days ...
I was going to post a link to it myself, but since it doesn't appear to work at all using Mozilla, I didn't. I think you'd have to get an actual copy of Netscape 3 (or maybe 4?) to view it properly.
D
Funny thing is that I thought Mostly Harmless was one of his funniest and best-written books ... until the ending.
I thought the Grebulons, who monitored the earth using TV, were hilarious.
That being said, I thought the most interesting part of that interview was where he said the new Dirk Gently he was thinking of writing was turning into something much more like a HHGTG, and the hint that there might be another HHG book coming eventually.
It's a great pity he didn't live to write it.
D
Yes, it did.
... I know what happened. I was using it only for MacOS 9, but I do most of my computing in X.
Ahhh
Now that I have the X version of FCP, there's no more complaining.
D
In this economy, you really have to be profit-driven simply to survive. I'm as annoyed at that "Upgrade to QuickTime Pro!" box as you are, especialy since I own Final Cut Pro 3, which is supposed to hold in it a complimentary edition of same.
But I am resigned to today's reality. It's not as fun as reality from a few years back, but, well, we're living it.
D
Interesting that Apple is a price leader in such an absurdly expensive product category. It's probably because they sell a lot of them to their hardcore, screen real estate loving graphic arts users. Oh, how they must grin when Adobe and Macromedia add acres of pallettes to their applications!
But here's a gotcha if you're eyeing the monitor.
If you have a 450 dual processor, as I have, the included graphics card is not compatible with the HD display (presumably because it needs more than 16MB video RAM). So watch out or resign yourself to getting a new computer or graphics card.
(I'm likely to get a new machine because it's time for me to get something faster anyway).
By the way, for some reason the URL for my pictures didn't appear in my post, so if you want to see them, they're at
http://www.amazing.com/applestore/cinema.html
Since I'm a dedicated MacOS X user, there's no question I'm going to get the Apple. It might interest you that I believe Samsung made the flat panel used by the Cinema HD Display.
I have a 1600SW I use under Linux at work, and I still haven't figured out any way to hook it up that works at full resolution with Linux and doesn't involve absurdly overpriced graphics cards. Sigh.
D
After I took the picture, I noticed that you could get two full browser windows plus a terminal window all visible at once if you put the dock on the bottom of the screen. Stunning. I plan to buy one in a few months. Enjoy!
D
I had the identical experience - I couldn't believe someone was dumb enough to blow them off that cheap, when I could have made a $400 no-risk profit on eBay selling the thing if I'd wanted to.
:-).
But the shipping delays were agonizing - same experience as you.
That being said, I still want the new Apple Cinema HD Display. Once a resolution junkie, always a resolution junkie
D
http://www.amazing.com/applestore/cinema.html has my pictures of the HD Display.
No, no, no - sorry - I should have qualified this.
:-)
How about the 800mhz new model versus the 667mhz new model?
I'm excited about the big screen, but wondering if I should buy the cheaper $2,500 model instead of the $3,200 one.
I currently have a G4/400 PowerBook and it's wonderful for most things, but I've done some awfully slow FCP 3 rendering and would love a faster version.
And, of course, the big screen. I always need big screen. Mmm.
D
I was curious enough about the AS/400 to do a bit of reading on it. There are a lot of cool ideas behind it, but there's one problem: In order to type a simple 'Hello World' program you have to have a firm grasp of the overall design, which appears almost insanely complex. (I'm sure it's fine once you get to know it).
At least that was my experience. If you can get beyond that, there's much to admire in the design and execution.
Incidently, my impression is that the system itself is blindingly fast, but the ODBC interface many people have to use is really a slug. But I last used it a few years back, so perhaps things have changed.
D
How much faster is the 800mhz system than the 667? Do you think it's worth the extra bucks?
D
I've noticed that when I play with the new iMac in the store, the continuous adjustability of the screen is very appealing, and I wind up pulling it to different angles while I play with it.
So yes, the easy adjustability does wind up being very useful; don't knock it until you try it.
D
Used SGI systems are still fantastic computers, and they're amazingly cheap due to the sad decline of the company. I have an Indigo2 R10000 system that I bought about six months ago for $400 (not including monitor since I already had a SGI monitor). Now you can get an Octane for less then $1,000.
:-).
SGI's main distinction aside from cool case designs is Irix, their Unix-based OS. And the main advantage of Irix is that the user interface is still superior to anything else out there, with the possible exception of Apple. Sun's efforts in this direction were so anemic that they are now switching to Gnome, the same design you'll see under Linux.
The biggest disadvantage is that you have to beg, borrow or steal the C compiler, which is not free. I've found that most resellers will sneak it on for you if you ask them nicely enough.
If you don't want to do that, you have to install GCC, which can be an amazing pain.
My Indigo2 is solid as a rock and hasn't given me a minute of trouble since I bought it. Very cool.
Greg Douglas of Reputable.com is a great guy, or you can cheap out with eBay.
This all being said, the Mac running MacOS X is such a compelling option nowadays that it's difficult to ignore. If you want a system you can run Photoshop on AND use as a Unix box, MacOS X is what you really need.
I run both MacOS X and SGI and love them for what I need them for. Certainly I greatly prefer either to Linux, ans as for Windows, well, let's not go there
D
They have a really nice ad campaign that I see on sites like creativepro.com - it's the only popup ad I can say I like. It comes up as a cute little game you can play with their particle system - they have the name of the company, and if you mouse over a letter it explodes. If you leave it alone it will gradually reform back into the original letter.
:-(.
It made me click and find out the program's $4,995. Ouch. I bought After Effects by buying an old shrinkwrapped $399 version on eBay and then getting a $299 upgrade, therefore saving me almost 50% over the $1,500 price. (I got the high-end production bundle which has all the cool goodies). Alas, that's about as much as I can justify paying for a program, although I might figure out a similar way to get Maya someday.
Point being, dabblers like me can't afford the alternatives just yet
In all seriousness, the real problem with Adobe is that, in every way but this DCMA nonsense, it's a fantastic company, with great products. True, it's a near-monopoly, but that's because the products are the best that exist, at least in their price points.
So what they have done is built up an immense degree of good will, and in the end for most customers, I think the Dimitri case has damaged but not destroyed that good will.
It's like my boss. He, I and a contractor who had created a horrible product for us under Windows were sitting in the office. The contractor said "Windows is a master at settled, safe mediocrity", implying that converting to Linux would damage this fortunate circumstance. My boss said that he didn't believe mediocrity had a place in his company. As a result, the campaign I had to convert our online order entry system to Linux proceeded, and now our entire company's front office functions are running happily on Linux.
Since then, he's done some unfair things to me. But on the whole my job is pretty darn good. So do I sacrifice my job on principle, or do I stay in what is, after all, a pretty good, high-paying position?
In the end, I compromise. And I compromise on Adobe too. The day I stop buying Adobe products will be the day they decline substantially in quality.
D
- They're going to drop the price from $9,995 to $999.
- ... but it will run only on Macs
...
- ... but you shouldn't be too upset, since you could buy a top of the line Mac for $3,000 and a $999 copy of Shake and still be way ahead of the game.
Apple, like Adobe, has generally been outstanding in supporting the software it buys - reducing prices substantially, making continuous improvements, and so on. Very cool.D
but do you have a source for this?
I'd love to see something concrete to throw back in the faces of the Naomi Kleins of the world.
D
I have seen the X10 camera at my local Fry's, and the quality goes way beyond bad, far into the range of unacceptable.
Definitely no good for the sexual hijinx implied by the ads. It might be acceptable as a surveilance camera to show stuff happening in real time, but I wouldn't count on getting evidence out of the horrid, grainy images.
If it worked as well as the pictures in the ads imply, it would actually be a great toy (and I'd probably own a few). But it doesn't even come within screaming distance of decent quality.
Whether you want the camera for spying or good dirty fun, it's simply not - ahem - up to the challenge.
D
I have to agree with this; strike out the bundled software and the Mac probably would have won.
The VAIO has no less than three video editing programs: Microsoft MovieMaker, Sony MovieShaker and Premiere (I think LE). I've never liked Premiere, and MovieMaker is dismal. MovieShaker struck me as the best of the lot, but that only after about ten minutes playing with it in the store.
None of it was nearly as well done as iMovie, so I think the Mac wins video editing. I would have been interested in their evaluation of that category, which for some reason they didn't print.
D
Perhaps my pictures of the new Cinema HD Display will change your mind :-).
D
I don't think the $1,800 Sony system would have done any better than the more expensive one tested; I seem to remember the same software bundle and the same features. The only thing you lose is the admittedly attractive casing and the stereo-style features.
A PowerMac wouldn't have done much better than the iMac, either, since they weren't doing benchmark tests, and they were content with the resolution of the screen.
I do wonder how they wound up with three stars for the Mac's video editing and four for the VAIO's. I'm not going to accept those results without at least some sort of description in the article, which they didn't provide. Maybe they simply gave Sony extra credit for the larger range of (mediocre) options it provides.
I'd certainly rather have the iMac, even considering that it's so much cheaper than the Sony. It's a lot more elegant and definitely features superior design.
D
Try hiring a more flexible printer!
Apparently there has been an influx of InDesign users, but still not enough to make much of an impact. But the more there are, the more likely Quark is to face the cold winds of real competition.
D