Or what about this one right here that many, many people have been asking for, but has been languishing for years because it's not "interesting" to developers?
IMO, Thunderbird stopped being industry-leading or interesting from a UI/UX perspective years ago. As one who uses it on a daily basis, it makes me sad.
Things like Postbox show that the code base can still function well and can be used with some UI/UX love, but since Postbox is a closed project, the majority of extensions, etc. cannot be used with it unless they are "Postbox-specific" versions. (Note, I am not knocking them for this, just stating the facts.)
I just wish we had the Postbox UI with the community of Thunderbird around it...
Well, in my case I have an anaphylactic reaction to cats, including dander, fur, oils, etc, so having them in the closed-circulation cabin air could indeed be fatal.
It's especially worrisome since allergic reactions often intensify the more often they occur -- someone might not even realize that the next one could be fatal until it's 2 hours too late into a 5+ hour flight.
Unfortunately, IT is viewed a lot like the phones by most users. It's "invisible" when it does work, and is only a priority to them when it doesn't work (or they need something!)
I've found that the best way to make people happy is to effectively communicate with them -- especially when it comes to deadlines. Now I'm not saying to sandbag:-) but if you can over-deliver some things and/or get them done earlier than promised, then you set an expectation of success and partnership with your user base. As difficult as it is, sometimes, you MUST remain non-cranky or bitchy, or you will get stereotyped as the "grumpy IT guy" faster than you can think.
If it's really burning you out after only 1 1/2 years, then you should really look at (a) your workload (b) your choice of career and (c) your work/life balance.
It is really going to depend on the track record of your company (and, eventually of your new product itself.)
For some companies, people won't deploy ANY.0 product until there's a.1 or SP1 release. For others, they want the latest-greatest stuff regardless of the release number.
Since you're in the position of having a new product, now is the time to set the track record for it and make your 1.0 release work as perfectly as possible. If it is slow/buggy/crashy/bad, then being versioned 6.2 isn't going to help it at all.
I actually edited my original wording of "2nd tier" to "top tier" to not seem too much like a Linux desktop basher. I think the very fact that Adobe targets Linux at all is a testament to its emergence as a viable desktop platform. However, even after several "This is the year of the Linux desktop!" years, Windows and Mac still dominate the desktop.
I cannot fault Adobe for doing Linux 2nd, but just for the reasons you state, I'm happy they do it at all.
...as Adobe has said all along that for Apollo/AIR 1.0 it would be Mac/Windows only. Once 1.0 was reached, then Linux would follow. I'm glad that Adobe's CTO came out and made the announcement, though. This continues to lead credence to Linux being a top-tier platform from desktop/productivity applications.
I think the REAL interesting part, though, is how AIR relates to an earlier statement made by Adobe's CEO. He mentioned that in the future, all Adobe apps would be on the web. I think that statement was a bit misleading, either through a mis-understanding or mis-interpretation. I think that Adobe is banking the future on AIR as the runtime for all of it's applications (Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.) This gives them the design capabilities of Flash and web graphics, and a common runtime on which to deploy them. Then, platform independence becomes a reality, as whatever platform has AIR, can run Adobe applications.
I upgraded my wife's computer over the weekend (new Mobo, CPU, and Video) and I had to re-activate Windows. No problem? I don't think so.
I ended up having to call into their help line and read something like 25 numbers to a voice-recognition system and to get something like 25 chars back from a RealLiveHuman(tm) 5 minutes later.
So, all should be good, right? Wrong! Simply moving the HD over to the new configuration and installing the correct drivers made the MOST UNSTABLE system I've ever used. So, I tried going back to a restore point -- guess what? It was PRE-ACTIVATION so I had to call again. Still, after another call, the machine was broken.
Finally, I decided to just re-install. Guess what, ANOTHER CALL!
It's just silly that Microsoft is SO concerned about their $100-or-so per computer that they make people jump through these hoops. It's like the music business: people who want to use the product will buy it, either with a PC or stand-alone. The people who illegally copy it weren't going to pay for it anyway.
Fortunately, there's a happy ending: all this nonsense has my wife willing to try Linux (Fedora Core) so we'll be giving that a shot! (on a new HD, so we can go back to Windows if we have to...)
I've had plain DirecTV, Comcast digital cable, Comcast digital cable + TiVo, DirecTV + TiVo, and now an integrated DirecTV + TiVo (Sometimes called "DirecTiVo"). I have to say that nothing/ out there compares to having the TiVo and the DirecTV receiver combined.
We had Comcast digital cable for 1 yr, as it was "free" when we moved into our new house. It was a horrible experience for us. The quality was terrible, the UI was slow as hell (even when compared to satellite recievers). It was always going down, and there was noticable blockiness in their MPEG-2 streams even for HBO and other pay channels (meaning they chose low-bitrate streams.) They even have the gall to run "TV Guide" adverts in the UI -- FOR SOMETHING THAT I ALREADY PAY FOR. Captive-audience advertising is easily in my top-10 pet peeves, and that alone would have been enough to make us switch, had the quality not sucked.
Before Comcast, we had DirecTV for 3 years, in two states (NC and CA). Their service has always been wonderful, and I have always liked the thought of being able to comparison-shop for my equipment (you lucky people in Europe with your DBS standards!) We went back to DirecTV once we realized what we had been missing.
TiVo (I only have limited experience with other PVR's, but I consider TiVo to truly be different than PVR -- think PVR++) completely changes the way you watch TV. Other than watching live sports broadcasts (ice hockey, mostly) my wife and I watch TV when we want it, often even waiting 1 hour until it's completely recorded, just so we can skip the commercials.
Overall, I'd recommend DirecTV w/ integrated TiVo (they're cheap now) if you watch a lot of TV, and just a plain DirecTV system (they're even cheaper) if you just watch TV occasionally.
I agree. SC2 is one of my all-time fave games. I can't wait for v1.0 to come out (I'm purposely waiting until v1.0 to have a nice experience -- okay, at least v0.5:-) I also like SC3, as well (even though most call it a lame sequel to SC2, I think it carried-on the spirit and gameplay nicely) and would love to see it open-sourced, as well.
Personally, I think that computing has moved (rightfully so) more towards a use-centric model, rather than a technology-centric model. We have more computing power at our personal disposal than we ever need. (Re: iPAQ's amd Palms) Howerver, in order for all that computing power to be useful , it needs to be surrounded by a good metaphor, and needs to be centered around people's information, lifestyle, wants & needs, and activities.
I feel that this explains Apple's recent resurgence in popularity, and the good direction that Jobs has the company going in, as well as the successful Sony Clie brand, and the newer camphones.
I, for one, don't care for this "cube-like" case trend. Bring back NLX or LPX or something* that actually "looks" like a HI-FI component and fits on the shelf next to my receiver et al.
I think that this works for me, and actually *looks* the part of a media component.
Cheers,
Ken
* Notice I didn't say MicroATX or FlexATX. While vendors liked those better (no *REAL* engineering work to make those backplanes -- they're cheaper!) it's a real pain in the ass to find "short" PCI card brackets, even if the cards themselves fit in the case.
If the media is going to self-destruct and is essentially "disposable" then people will want to copy the content to something more durable (an action which is entirely protected under fair-use laws, until they take those away, too.)
People already copy content to different formats for ease-of-use and convenience reasons (1-2 HD's is more convenient than 1000's of CD's) and this would be the same thing, only practically *enforced* by the nature of the original media.
Did anyone other than me just get *TOTALLY* creeped-out by that article? Not the Gattica references, although the social implications are staggering (i.e. the Philip-Morris quote), but more of the feeling that knowing all the things about my body that *could* go wrong, and trying to treat them in advance is just something that we don't understand the ramifications of entirely?
Just to clarify, all CPU's use patented technology. Intel x86, AMD's x86, Via's x86 (although purportedly it does not infringe on any of Intel's patents) MIPS, POWER, PowerPC, ARM, et al -- they just patent different parts of the CPU.
There really doesn't exist any kind of an "open" design for a CPU, excepting the work going on at http://www.opencores.org/ and a handful of other sites.
Just because something is the de facto standard (x86 instruction set, for example) does not make it an "open" design. If that were the measurement, then Transmeta is just as "open" as Intel or AMD.
Slashdot Mirror
Or what about this one right here that many, many people have been asking for, but has been languishing for years because it's not "interesting" to developers?
IMO, Thunderbird stopped being industry-leading or interesting from a UI/UX perspective years ago. As one who uses it on a daily basis, it makes me sad.
Things like Postbox show that the code base can still function well and can be used with some UI/UX love, but since Postbox is a closed project, the majority of extensions, etc. cannot be used with it unless they are "Postbox-specific" versions. (Note, I am not knocking them for this, just stating the facts.)
I just wish we had the Postbox UI with the community of Thunderbird around it...
Well, in my case I have an anaphylactic reaction to cats, including dander, fur, oils, etc, so having them in the closed-circulation cabin air could indeed be fatal.
It's especially worrisome since allergic reactions often intensify the more often they occur -- someone might not even realize that the next one could be fatal until it's 2 hours too late into a 5+ hour flight.
WIth the impending purchase of Sun by Oracle, I'm thinking it could be one of 2 things:
1) ZFS will be killed and/or de-emphasized and/or re-licensed in such a way that Apple is not comfortable/happy with putting it into Mac OS
2) It will still be ZFS just not called ZFS anymore (either re-branded or forked by Apple or re-named by Oracle/Sun)
Unfortunately, IT is viewed a lot like the phones by most users. It's "invisible" when it does work, and is only a priority to them when it doesn't work (or they need something!)
I've found that the best way to make people happy is to effectively communicate with them -- especially when it comes to deadlines. Now I'm not saying to sandbag :-) but if you can over-deliver some things and/or get them done earlier than promised, then you set an expectation of success and partnership with your user base. As difficult as it is, sometimes, you MUST remain non-cranky or bitchy, or you will get stereotyped as the "grumpy IT guy" faster than you can think.
If it's really burning you out after only 1 1/2 years, then you should really look at (a) your workload (b) your choice of career and (c) your work/life balance.
It is really going to depend on the track record of your company (and, eventually of your new product itself.)
For some companies, people won't deploy ANY .0 product until there's a .1 or SP1 release. For others, they want the latest-greatest stuff regardless of the release number.
Since you're in the position of having a new product, now is the time to set the track record for it and make your 1.0 release work as perfectly as possible. If it is slow/buggy/crashy/bad, then being versioned 6.2 isn't going to help it at all.
I actually edited my original wording of "2nd tier" to "top tier" to not seem too much like a Linux desktop basher. I think the very fact that Adobe targets Linux at all is a testament to its emergence as a viable desktop platform. However, even after several "This is the year of the Linux desktop!" years, Windows and Mac still dominate the desktop.
I cannot fault Adobe for doing Linux 2nd, but just for the reasons you state, I'm happy they do it at all.
...as Adobe has said all along that for Apollo/AIR 1.0 it would be Mac/Windows only. Once 1.0 was reached, then Linux would follow. I'm glad that Adobe's CTO came out and made the announcement, though. This continues to lead credence to Linux being a top-tier platform from desktop/productivity applications.
I think the REAL interesting part, though, is how AIR relates to an earlier statement made by Adobe's CEO. He mentioned that in the future, all Adobe apps would be on the web. I think that statement was a bit misleading, either through a mis-understanding or mis-interpretation. I think that Adobe is banking the future on AIR as the runtime for all of it's applications (Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.) This gives them the design capabilities of Flash and web graphics, and a common runtime on which to deploy them. Then, platform independence becomes a reality, as whatever platform has AIR, can run Adobe applications.
Funny thing is, I meant to leave out the "Distributed". I guess it's Friday when I can't even spell my own acronyms. :-)
Well, a Manual Distributed Slashdotting Denial Of Service would be an MSDOS. :-) (Lame, but it made me giggle to think it up.)
PRODUCT ACTIVATION
I upgraded my wife's computer over the weekend (new Mobo, CPU, and Video) and I had to re-activate Windows. No problem? I don't think so.
I ended up having to call into their help line and read something like 25 numbers to a voice-recognition system and to get something like 25 chars back from a RealLiveHuman(tm) 5 minutes later.
So, all should be good, right? Wrong! Simply moving the HD over to the new configuration and installing the correct drivers made the MOST UNSTABLE system I've ever used. So, I tried going back to a restore point -- guess what? It was PRE-ACTIVATION so I had to call again. Still, after another call, the machine was broken.
Finally, I decided to just re-install. Guess what, ANOTHER CALL!
It's just silly that Microsoft is SO concerned about their $100-or-so per computer that they make people jump through these hoops. It's like the music business: people who want to use the product will buy it, either with a PC or stand-alone. The people who illegally copy it weren't going to pay for it anyway.
Fortunately, there's a happy ending: all this nonsense has my wife willing to try Linux (Fedora Core) so we'll be giving that a shot! (on a new HD, so we can go back to Windows if we have to...)
Cheers,
Ken
I've had plain DirecTV, Comcast digital cable, Comcast digital cable + TiVo, DirecTV + TiVo, and now an integrated DirecTV + TiVo (Sometimes called "DirecTiVo"). I have to say that nothing/ out there compares to having the TiVo and the DirecTV receiver combined.
We had Comcast digital cable for 1 yr, as it was "free" when we moved into our new house. It was a horrible experience for us. The quality was terrible, the UI was slow as hell (even when compared to satellite recievers). It was always going down, and there was noticable blockiness in their MPEG-2 streams even for HBO and other pay channels (meaning they chose low-bitrate streams.) They even have the gall to run "TV Guide" adverts in the UI -- FOR SOMETHING THAT I ALREADY PAY FOR. Captive-audience advertising is easily in my top-10 pet peeves, and that alone would have been enough to make us switch, had the quality not sucked.
Before Comcast, we had DirecTV for 3 years, in two states (NC and CA). Their service has always been wonderful, and I have always liked the thought of being able to comparison-shop for my equipment (you lucky people in Europe with your DBS standards!) We went back to DirecTV once we realized what we had been missing.
TiVo (I only have limited experience with other PVR's, but I consider TiVo to truly be different than PVR -- think PVR++) completely changes the way you watch TV. Other than watching live sports broadcasts (ice hockey, mostly) my wife and I watch TV when we want it, often even waiting 1 hour until it's completely recorded, just so we can skip the commercials.
Overall, I'd recommend DirecTV w/ integrated TiVo (they're cheap now) if you watch a lot of TV, and just a plain DirecTV system (they're even cheaper) if you just watch TV occasionally.
Cheers,
Ken
I agree. SC2 is one of my all-time fave games. I can't wait for v1.0 to come out (I'm purposely waiting until v1.0 to have a nice experience -- okay, at least v0.5 :-) I also like SC3, as well (even though most call it a lame sequel to SC2, I think it carried-on the spirit and gameplay nicely) and would love to see it open-sourced, as well.
Cheers,
Ken
This has been a dream of people for many years, and people have already been persuing it. Check out:
http://www.oqo.com/
for more information.
Personally, I think that computing has moved (rightfully so) more towards a use-centric model, rather than a technology-centric model. We have more computing power at our personal disposal than we ever need. (Re: iPAQ's amd Palms) Howerver, in order for all that computing power to be useful , it needs to be surrounded by a good metaphor, and needs to be centered around people's information, lifestyle, wants & needs, and activities.
I feel that this explains Apple's recent resurgence in popularity, and the good direction that Jobs has the company going in, as well as the successful Sony Clie brand, and the newer camphones.
Technology may sell, but usefulness sells more.
Cheers,
Ken
Console: Legend of Zelda (original NES), Metroid (original NES)
Computer: Star Control II, Quake, any of the Monkey Island series
I still play most of those, now and again...
Cheers,
Ken
Wasn't the calendar module supposed to land in 1.4? I assume that 1.4BETA is where that would happen if it will. Here's hoping!
Cheers,
Ken
This is EXACTLY what my first thoughts were when I read the article. I'd put good money on the PS3 moniker.
(Mod the parent up!)
Cheers,
Ken
FYI: The Nazi's yelled "Mein Leben!" which translates to "My life!"
Cheers,
Ken
Whoa...link got ate....must repost....
Allwell TV box
Cheers,
Ken
Well...
I, for one, don't care for this "cube-like" case trend. Bring back NLX or LPX or something* that actually "looks" like a HI-FI component and fits on the shelf next to my receiver et al.
I think that this works for me, and actually *looks* the part of a media component.
Cheers, Ken
* Notice I didn't say MicroATX or FlexATX. While vendors liked those better (no *REAL* engineering work to make those backplanes -- they're cheaper!) it's a real pain in the ass to find "short" PCI card brackets, even if the cards themselves fit in the case.
Think about it...
If the media is going to self-destruct and is essentially "disposable" then people will want to copy the content to something more durable (an action which is entirely protected under fair-use laws, until they take those away, too.)
People already copy content to different formats for ease-of-use and convenience reasons (1-2 HD's is more convenient than 1000's of CD's) and this would be the same thing, only practically *enforced* by the nature of the original media.
Just something to think about...
Ken
Actually, this doesn't have a HD in it (unfortunately) and has no TiVo software in it.
Did anyone other than me just get *TOTALLY* creeped-out by that article? Not the Gattica references, although the social implications are staggering (i.e. the Philip-Morris quote), but more of the feeling that knowing all the things about my body that *could* go wrong, and trying to treat them in advance is just something that we don't understand the ramifications of entirely?
Just to clarify, all CPU's use patented technology. Intel x86, AMD's x86, Via's x86 (although purportedly it does not infringe on any of Intel's patents) MIPS, POWER, PowerPC, ARM, et al -- they just patent different parts of the CPU.
There really doesn't exist any kind of an "open" design for a CPU, excepting the work going on at http://www.opencores.org/ and a handful of other sites.
Just because something is the de facto standard (x86 instruction set, for example) does not make it an "open" design. If that were the measurement, then Transmeta is just as "open" as Intel or AMD.
Cheers,
Ken
GA == G eneral A vailability...
Apparently, Solaris for x86 is not going to be GA like Solaris for SPARC is.
It appears to only be available as a shipping option on the x86-based LX-class servers...
Cheers,
Ken