Unfortunately, MSN Messenger 3.0 is a sad excuse for an IM client due to one serious bug (at least for this iBook user). If your machine sleeps then Messenger doesn't log you out, or anything. When the machine awakens Messenger is in a bad state where very little works. Can't change state. It doesn't know you aren't still logged in, etc.
Fire.app gets around this by logging out on sleep and logging back in on an awaken action. It's hard to believe MS hasn't dealt with this yet.
I think this is a common mistake within the open-source and free software communities. Being a 'good citizen' is not only about contributing code, but it is also about sticking to openly defined standards and making sure to implement them cleanly.
Not to say code contribution isn't needed, but some companies can't or won't do it for business reasons and I am not going to blast them for taking that stance. However, not 'embracing & extending' standards is being a good citizen and it allows Linux, *BSD, etc. to easily interoperate which is one of my big goals.
I don't necessarily care if they contribute tons of code, but if they make it easy to mix mand match platforms to suit my needs by embracing standards then I am all for it...
Seriously, Aqua and Quartz are definitely slower than KDE or GNOME. That is partially due to some of the effects, but it is also due to their youth. Aqua, Quartz, and OS X as a whole has gotten better with each release and I am looking forward to Jaguar (10.2).
I don't think Apple will open source any of the GUI components as it doesn't have much of an upside for them. The reason Aqua is so nice to look at is that it is uniform. Once it is given away for everyone to change up, we all know what will happen. Everyone would have their own agenda on where to take it. This will destroy the uniformity and make aqua no better than KDE or GNOME (neither has a look as clear, well defined or consistent as OS X). Don't get me wrong, they are nice and I would love more code to be released, but GNOME and KDE don't even come close to comparison to the OS X user experience.
I have definitely fallen into this dilema quite a bit, but have yet to feel truly satisfied. I used Macs exclusively about 7 years ago and then found my way to Linux. I loved it immediately. I still use Linux or a *BSD on all my x86 hardware, but right now my iBook runs MacOS X only. I only came back to the Mac because of MacOS X.
I like the fact that though Apple takes a long time to release system updates, the updates work extremely well and are obviously QA tested (for the most part, ignore the iTunes fiasco;). However, I seem to be wishing for the speed that comes from true open source development as I want to see the changes more rapidly. These changes come quicker, but it is almost always obvious that no one has done any usability or QA testing.
Also, we come to the desktop metephor. I used to use GNOME or KDE in Linux, but these days rely only on Windowmaker or some other trimmed down GUI. This is mostly due to the fact that no matter how good either of the major DE get, they are still not able to compete with the Mac OS as far as usability or design choices. A lot of people say they are just as good, but I suggest that these people don't really know much about UI design as everything Apple does it with concern to the user. i.e. Does a click here require more or less stress to the user? (Carpal tunnel). They examine all aspects and TRULY test usability. Now, this doesn't mean OS X is right yet. It isn't, but the improvements come quickly.
So, well anyways, I still find myself being pulled back and forth, but for right now OS X is winning...
You do realize that the next version of Quicktime is to be based on MPEG-4 right? They are already testing it from what I understand. Now, I don't know how Apple will deal with this per-use fee...
And Compaqs are not known for being the highest quality of computers or at least that is true from what I have seen. The PowerPC is a nice chip, the Athlon/Duron is a nice chip, the P4 is an acceptable chip. They all do what they are supposed to... Hell, once you pass over 300 MHz most improvements become largely irrelevant. I have a near 1GHz tower sitting under my desk (Linux) and I have an iBook 500 MHz sitting on my desk. Now guess where I get more done:)
That is right, the lowly 500 MHz iBook. It is built with quality in mind, it is quite fast, and it runs MacOS X which is absolutely amazing... Not that I don't use Linux and the BSDs too (They definitely kicks Mac's ass as servers).
I say you get what you pay for as Windows machines just can't handle multimedia in any way near the Mac machines...
The VGA plug that has existed in the same design for years (i.e. CGA/EGA/SVGA/XGA) is a horrible design as the plug is larger than needed, prone to bent pins, and generally less reliable than it should be. The dongle is a clean approach. You still have to connect the VGA plug to the dongle, but now you can leave you monitor plugged into the dongle and have one more reliable plug go into your iBook/iMac. Hopefully we will lose the bad design eventually. After all, look at how SCSI, serial, parallel, etc. cable designs are going away slowly but surely in favor or USB, Firewire, Ethernet, Fibre Channel.
We will eventually abandon designs in favor of superior ones. It just takes time
Can't say I agree with you. CompUSA had the update nationally and Apple says they will continue to provide more CDs. Circuit City is not a Mac store, they provide some lip service. Any Mac shop that didn't get the CDs at all didn't try. My area had 3 or 4 shops carrying it and I don't think $19.95 is that out of line.
The MacShow Live does not contain video, but I guess QT compresses audio a little better in this case? This is mostly voice. I would say probably a lower bit rate.
Your PC-laptop will far outweigh my iBook and when you find the lighter PC-laptops they both cost more and usually for an external optical drive on you. Mine has built-in DVD-ROM and a firewire port which is very useful for video editing (Something important if you are interested in it). Also, if you want Mac OS X (which I am very impressed with), then there is only one choice:)
Plus it has built in ethernet and an internal antenna for an internal wireless add-on card.
There is no definitive winner, it is all about what is important to you. I wanted a light laptop that could handle video editing, games, and one that would just work. Apple has done that while besting the equivalent sized PC-laptop in terms of price and features...
Bill
Re:"One of the best of the year."
on
"Traffic"
·
· Score: 1
This is a 2000 movie as it came out before the end
of the year in NY/LA to get in on the Academy Awards that will be coming up in a few months.
Absolutely GREAT movie, by the way, I saw it last night.
Every player has its own set of flaws. The QA involved to make sure that the player complies perfectly with every portion of the spec and the ability to perform properly in real world conditions is fairly difficult.
This is why you see some discs that don't play properly on a Toshiba, Panasonic, etc. Sometimes all it is is a chapter hop on the layer switch, or it could be worse.
That being said, from what I have read in reviews and from what I have seen, models like the Apex and other cheap/non-mainstream models tend to have more of these types of issues. More than likely, this happens due to the fact that they do not have large quality assurance budgets/departments.
You may never have a disc that does not play or is pixelated with whatever model you choose, but due to the complexity of DVD (Compared to CD and other formats) this can always be a problem.
I can say that my Panasonic, which I know some people have had problems with, has not caused problems with any of my 150+ discs. So, it is all in the roll of the dice. Take the informed chance.
Bill
Great news, but I still perfer GNOME
on
Qt Going GPL
·
· Score: 1
It is great news that KDE is finally going to loose the proprietary licensing baggage from Qt.
It benefits everyone to having these desktops competing with each other. I hope this may spur KDE to develop C bindings like the C++ bindings for GTK. I really would rather never code in C++ (personal choice...)
This is usually caused by a bad disc (the lockups) or by purchasing a DVD player from a company that has very poor quality control. Buying a good quality product is much more important in the world of digital video as small problems can make themselves very apparent (Panasonic and Sony are 2 very good DVD manufacturers, however, the format is still maturing and problems will be found CD/VHS/LD are much more mature). The advertisements/FBI messages can be annoying but are hardly consumer unfriendly.
DVDs are a very consumer-friendly product. They provide more entertainment per dollar than any home video product ever has and has grown faster than VHS, LaserDisc, or CD. Movies over the net is not usable yet (and I have a broadband connection...it still can't hold a candle to my DVDs)
I do want to be able to watch DVDs on a computer running Linux, but so far I have found running movies off of the computer is a pitiful version of what I can do on my home theater system. If we keep pushing the MPAA and all it's parts will eventually give way to Linux-friendly DVD solutions, as they are in this to make money.
To say DVD isn't consumer friendly shows some true misunderstandings.
Slashdot Mirror
Unfortunately, MSN Messenger 3.0 is a sad excuse for an IM client due to one serious bug (at least for this iBook user). If your machine sleeps then Messenger doesn't log you out, or anything. When the machine awakens Messenger is in a bad state where very little works. Can't change state. It doesn't know you aren't still logged in, etc.
Fire.app gets around this by logging out on sleep and logging back in on an awaken action. It's hard to believe MS hasn't dealt with this yet.
Bill
They didn't show it at South Point Cinemas in Durham either :(
:)
And, Yes, Episode 2 was good
I think this is a common mistake within the open-source and free software communities. Being a 'good citizen' is not only about contributing code, but it is also about sticking to openly defined standards and making sure to implement them cleanly.
Not to say code contribution isn't needed, but some companies can't or won't do it for business reasons and I am not going to blast them for taking that stance. However, not 'embracing & extending' standards is being a good citizen and it allows Linux, *BSD, etc. to easily interoperate which is one of my big goals.
I don't necessarily care if they contribute tons of code, but if they make it easy to mix mand match platforms to suit my needs by embracing standards then I am all for it...
Bill
We have a good *nix with the premier desktop...
:)
It is called Mac OS X
Seriously, Aqua and Quartz are definitely slower than KDE or GNOME. That is partially due to some of the effects, but it is also due to their youth. Aqua, Quartz, and OS X as a whole has gotten better with each release and I am looking forward to Jaguar (10.2).
I don't think Apple will open source any of the GUI components as it doesn't have much of an upside for them. The reason Aqua is so nice to look at is that it is uniform. Once it is given away for everyone to change up, we all know what will happen. Everyone would have their own agenda on where to take it. This will destroy the uniformity and make aqua no better than KDE or GNOME (neither has a look as clear, well defined or consistent as OS X). Don't get me wrong, they are nice and I would love more code to be released, but GNOME and KDE don't even come close to comparison to the OS X user experience.
Bill
I have definitely fallen into this dilema quite a bit, but have yet to feel truly satisfied. I used Macs exclusively about 7 years ago and then found my way to Linux. I loved it immediately. I still use Linux or a *BSD on all my x86 hardware, but right now my iBook runs MacOS X only. I only came back to the Mac because of MacOS X.
;). However, I seem to be wishing for the speed that comes from true open source development as I want to see the changes more rapidly. These changes come quicker, but it is almost always obvious that no one has done any usability or QA testing.
I like the fact that though Apple takes a long time to release system updates, the updates work extremely well and are obviously QA tested (for the most part, ignore the iTunes fiasco
Also, we come to the desktop metephor. I used to use GNOME or KDE in Linux, but these days rely only on Windowmaker or some other trimmed down GUI. This is mostly due to the fact that no matter how good either of the major DE get, they are still not able to compete with the Mac OS as far as usability or design choices. A lot of people say they are just as good, but I suggest that these people don't really know much about UI design as everything Apple does it with concern to the user. i.e. Does a click here require more or less stress to the user? (Carpal tunnel). They examine all aspects and TRULY test usability. Now, this doesn't mean OS X is right yet. It isn't, but the improvements come quickly.
So, well anyways, I still find myself being pulled back and forth, but for right now OS X is winning...
Bill
You do realize that the next version of Quicktime is to be based on MPEG-4 right? They are already testing it from what I understand. Now, I don't know how Apple will deal with this per-use fee...
Bill
And Compaqs are not known for being the highest quality of computers or at least that is true from what I have seen. The PowerPC is a nice chip, the Athlon/Duron is a nice chip, the P4 is an acceptable chip. They all do what they are supposed to... Hell, once you pass over 300 MHz most improvements become largely irrelevant. I have a near 1GHz tower sitting under my desk (Linux) and I have an iBook 500 MHz sitting on my desk. Now guess where I get more done :)
That is right, the lowly 500 MHz iBook. It is built with quality in mind, it is quite fast, and it runs MacOS X which is absolutely amazing... Not that I don't use Linux and the BSDs too (They definitely kicks Mac's ass as servers).
I say you get what you pay for as Windows machines just can't handle multimedia in any way near the Mac machines...
Bill
The VGA plug that has existed in the same design for years (i.e. CGA/EGA/SVGA/XGA) is a horrible design as the plug is larger than needed, prone to bent pins, and generally less reliable than it should be. The dongle is a clean approach. You still have to connect the VGA plug to the dongle, but now you can leave you monitor plugged into the dongle and have one more reliable plug go into your iBook/iMac. Hopefully we will lose the bad design eventually. After all, look at how SCSI, serial, parallel, etc. cable designs are going away slowly but surely in favor or USB, Firewire, Ethernet, Fibre Channel.
We will eventually abandon designs in favor of superior ones. It just takes time
Can't say I agree with you. CompUSA had the update nationally and Apple says they will continue to provide more CDs. Circuit City is not a Mac store, they provide some lip service. Any Mac shop that didn't get the CDs at all didn't try. My area had 3 or 4 shops carrying it and I don't think $19.95 is that out of line.
:)
But that is just my opinion
Bill
The MacShow Live does not contain video, but I guess QT compresses audio a little better in this case? This is mostly voice. I would say probably a lower bit rate.
Bill
Unfortunately, that comparison is not accurate...
:)
Your PC-laptop will far outweigh my iBook and when you find the lighter PC-laptops they both cost more and usually for an external optical drive on you. Mine has built-in DVD-ROM and a firewire port which is very useful for video editing (Something important if you are interested in it). Also, if you want Mac OS X (which I am very impressed with), then there is only one choice
Plus it has built in ethernet and an internal antenna for an internal wireless add-on card.
There is no definitive winner, it is all about what is important to you. I wanted a light laptop that could handle video editing, games, and one that would just work. Apple has done that while besting the equivalent sized PC-laptop in terms of price and features...
Bill
This is a 2000 movie as it came out before the end of the year in NY/LA to get in on the Academy Awards that will be coming up in a few months.
Absolutely GREAT movie, by the way, I saw it last night.
Bill
Every player has its own set of flaws. The QA involved to make sure that the player complies perfectly with every portion of the spec and the ability to perform properly in real world conditions is fairly difficult.
This is why you see some discs that don't play properly on a Toshiba, Panasonic, etc. Sometimes all it is is a chapter hop on the layer switch, or it could be worse.
That being said, from what I have read in reviews and from what I have seen, models like the Apex and other cheap/non-mainstream models tend to have more of these types of issues. More than likely, this happens due to the fact that they do not have large quality assurance budgets/departments.
You may never have a disc that does not play or is pixelated with whatever model you choose, but due to the complexity of DVD (Compared to CD and other formats) this can always be a problem.
I can say that my Panasonic, which I know some people have had problems with, has not caused problems with any of my 150+ discs. So, it is all in the roll of the dice. Take the informed chance. Bill
It is great news that KDE is finally going to loose the proprietary licensing baggage from Qt.
It benefits everyone to having these desktops competing with each other. I hope this may spur KDE to develop C bindings like the C++ bindings for GTK. I really would rather never code in C++ (personal choice...)
Anyway, this should be good for the community.
Bill
This is usually caused by a bad disc (the lockups) or by purchasing a DVD player from a company that has very poor quality control. Buying a good quality product is much more important in the world of digital video as small problems can make themselves very apparent (Panasonic and Sony are 2 very good DVD manufacturers, however, the format is still maturing and problems will be found CD/VHS/LD are much more mature). The advertisements/FBI messages can be annoying but are hardly consumer unfriendly.
Bill
I have to disagree with some comments above...
DVDs are a very consumer-friendly product. They provide more entertainment per dollar than any home video product ever has and has grown faster than VHS, LaserDisc, or CD. Movies over the net is not usable yet (and I have a broadband connection...it still can't hold a candle to my DVDs)
I do want to be able to watch DVDs on a computer running Linux, but so far I have found running movies off of the computer is a pitiful version of what I can do on my home theater system. If we keep pushing the MPAA and all it's parts will eventually give way to Linux-friendly DVD solutions, as they are in this to make money.
To say DVD isn't consumer friendly shows some true misunderstandings.
Bill