Perhaps this is why it has taken until now to create these movies: the technology has finally passed the point where the scale of fantasy surpassed the dramatic medium. I can sympathize with J.R.R. on not wanting to see goofy effects ruin my imagination. However, I am perfectly willing to enjoy the stupendous job that PJ and co have done.
That having been said, a very thoughtful and intelligent post.
This may be an SFQ, but shouldn't the application choose its own look and feel? I have various Java apps, some use the Metal L&F and others use the Windows one. Why force me?
Because consistent look and feel is very important? Because it speaks volumes for the overall design that has gone into the OS? Because it's aesthetically pleasing?
One cannot put these things aside as unimportant, because they are surrogates for cues that people use on a day-to-day basis for things like selecting a mate or procuring products such as food. Some examples that spring to mind:
Yeah, she's pretty, but why is she wearing one yellow shoe and one black shoe? Is she colorblind?
The burger looks good, but why is there a large, dark stain on the bun?
People are animals. Sophisticated and intelligent animals, but animals nonetheless. To treat the basic instincts we all possess as "trivial" is to ignore the basic truth of existence.
Maybe a quick experiment would help: drive up and down the strip in a late model civic with a nice paint job. Now repeat the process in a Ferrari which has every body panel painted a different color: yellow, red, silver, black, blue and white. Any idea which will get noticed for all the wrong reasons?
have you used final cut pro on it? how does it do for dv editing?
I'm afraid I don't know how the performance is for DV. I'm more of a coder than a videographer. I imagine it's pretty darn good, since it does so well in other areas. It's got a good graphics chip, and a decent bus and a G4 proc. I bought it for the small size and battery life, not killer performance. I use mine on public transit every day.
Judging from the specs, I'd say the difference between the iBook 12" and the Powerbook 17" is more form factor than raw muscle./p.
HBH
Also, if you decide to buy an iBook, be aware that it CAN'T run with an external monitor in any higher resolution than it's internal LCD, something my old Dell latitude from 1997 does with no problems at all:-(
This is only true if you blindly follow what Apple tells you on their website. But this is/.! We don't need no stinkin' rules! The fact of the matter is the iBook graphics hardware is identical in every respect to Powerbook hardware, which has the ability to drive external displays at different resolutions either mirrored or as a second display. There is a hack available to resolve the Apple-induced limitation.
I applied this hack the same afternoon I got my iBook G4 12", and it worked like a charm./. Apple geeks unite!
I use Command-Left arrow and Command-Right arrow, which are the keyboard shortcuts for "Back" and "Forward". I also use Command-Up to get to the top of the page, Command-Down to get to the bottom of the page, Spacebar to page down a screen, and Shift-Spacebar to page up a screen.
I can't imagine wanting to use a contextual menu to do these things, but that's humanity for you.
I read the article you linked to, and I agree with some of the things in it.
DragThing. I have been using DragThing for years now, including back when I was using Mac OS 8.6. It is an excellent launcher utility and a great way to get one of my favourite Classic Finder features back: pop-up windows. An absolute must-have for me.
WindowShadeX. I bought version 1.0, which now has apparently broken in Panther. I debated paying for version 2, but I think that Expose does the same job but better. The point of WindowShadeX is to get a window out of the way temporarily to see what is underneath. Expose does this in spades.
The others, having apps in the Apple menu and an application menu, I can do without. That's what the Dock does well, IMHO.
As for the OS X Finder, I have to say that the Panther version is way ahead of the Jaguar version. I like the network integration, and the sidebar is constantly useful. I don't debate that there are better ways of doing things, but the Finder is pretty good and getting better. At some point, I'm sure that there will be some drastic changes just like the original MultiFinder was for Classic Mac OS. (Mac OS XI?) And I will jump right in there and offer my Cdn$200 to Steve and say "Thanks, Mr. Jobs!".
I think that you make an excellent point, but with a caveat: the tools do not make the developer.
I am in the midst of rewriting a PHP app. Why am I rewriting it? Because you are absolutely right: the original PHP app was impossible to maintain. However, the new app is being written based on the lessons learned in the first and is being built using OO principles from the authentication to the page output to the form input. This new app will be maintainable and also extendible.
They are both PHP apps, it's just that one was written well and the other wasn't.
You can write good C code and bad C code, good Java code and bad Java code. PHP deserves special recognition though: it's really tempting to write unmaintainable code.
As a sidenote, I believe that the majority of viruses are ONLY due to misinformed users. Dont open executable attachments and you're safe. Just like riding a car is potentially dangerous, as long as you know what you're doing you've got a large degree of safety
I don't agree with your statement about misinformed users. Yes, users are by and large misinformed and/or ignorant. The problem is that the prevention of virus propagation is complex. For years I have said the same thing to users: Don't open email attachments. However, Outlook automatically opens emails and attachments as well in the "Preview Pane".
So now I can't prescribe virus immunity with four words, I have to either:
say Ok, go to the Tools Menu, select Options. Go to the email tab...
or I have to say Don't use Outlook
Unfortunately, the first is amazingly complex for the average user (and not memorable either: give a man a fish...). The second is asking the apathetic user to rebel against corporate policy.
Can you say no-win situation? As long as Outlook is the standard, viruses will happen.
fact: a piece of information presented as having objective reality
theory(1): the analysis of a set of facts in their relation to one another
theory(2): an unproved assumption
Evolution is a theory by the first definition. That I agree with absolutely. However, you are using the second definition of the word theory to incite argument. Evolution is a theory which is supported by the evidence. Have we witnessed monkeys evolving into humans? No. Have we witnessed evolution within a species? Yes, it's called selective breeding and people have been practising it for 10,000 years. You are correct that we need a longer timeframe to witness cross-species evolution, and our recorded history is too short.
The evidence for evolution is a collection of facts, not the theory which they support.
You know, that probably could form the foundation of a neat short story or novel. You'd have to do a lot of tinkering with the physics and math to make it believable, but even so...
If this makes it to market in Canada, I will be first in line to get one. Vision is tremendously important when operating a motorcycle, and tinted visors are a bad compromise at best. Magazines suggest that you should have a second, clear visor and change it after dark, but there are different situations such as tunnels, forest roads, and even weather changes that can darken a sunny day but are easy to wave off as not bad enough to stop, dig out a clear visor and install it.
This would be much more convenient and by extension, safer.
That's hilarious and sad at the same time. Kinda like when a clown dies.
Seriously, on a motorcycle what you don't expect can kill you. A related phenomenon I ran into (not literally) was discovered when riding through light fog. The centre section of my visor began to get condensation on it from driving into the suspended water droplets. It was so subtle that I just thought that the fog was getting thicker. Eventually I could hardly see and then pulled over. Only then did I realize that the fog was no worse, it was only my visor!
With so few Mac-specific viruses available, these macro viruses were once the biggest threats to Mac users, but only those who had certain Microsoft programs.
What kind of Mac user are you, to imply that we would use MS Office?
Seriously though, you are correct. That was the primary reason why I shifted away from using MS products as soon as I was finished my university schooling. Abstinence is the best form of prevention.
Way to go, Omni Group! IMHO, nothing can kill a small company faster than trying to reinvent the wheel. HTML rendering is a commodity. The public expectation is that it will happen correctly. Do it wrong (like OmniWeb used to with annoying frequency) and people will jump all over you. Let a bigger group/company do it for you and reap the rewards!
That way you can spend your developer time creating the application experience, which is where OmniWeb has excelled in the past and will continue to in the future. I expect to see great things, maybe great enough to make me part with $29.95!
If you are doing DV work on an 8600/300, please submit yourself to the ministrations of a psychiatric ward.
I have a 7600/330 (G3 upgrade card), and it would ring that 8600 like a gong, b/c that "300" is a 604e PPC, i.e. a G2. And yet... that 7600 is now relegated to the duties of an email server and router.
Let's talk modern hardware, b/c DV pros use the kind of hardware that makes even gamer boyz go hard.
The Silmarillion (and by extension The Lord of the Rings) was essentially an experiment in linguistics. Tolkien was a philologist (studier of languages), and his specialty was Old English. Old English has a lot in common with other Scandinavian languages, and is almost unrecognizable next to modern English because modern English is full of French and other southern European languages.
Tolkien created the languages and built the myths on top, including place names like Thangorodrim, Ered Nimrais and Nargothrond.
So no, you are not crazy. For the White Tower and Gondor!
What you are suggesting here is not ridiculous. In fact, I believe that > 1 person suggested the same thing to Peter Jackson. However, I also believe that PJ told them to go away and let him make his movies.
What PJ has done with these movies is taken the books and distilled them into their essential stories. He has done this in order to "fit" into the public's perception of what a movie can be. He's pushed it to three hours, but that's as far as he's willing to go: LoTR has to be financially viable, or New Line would never have ponied up the dough. The only way he could have done a page-by-page remake of the book is as a mini-series, which would not have had the same financial upside, therefore New Line does not pony up the dough, the effects get cheaper, the cast is suddenly Canadian, etc.
These are the conditions under which he is working, but the ultimate goal is to tell the story of the Lord of the Rings.
The change which is suggested is not designed to meet this goal under the constraints involved. It is an attempt to change the story. "But," you say, "all I'm suggesting is a minor change of stepping off instead of falling." The key here is INTENT. Since you want Gollum to INTENTIONALLY COMMIT SUICIDE, you need to build up to it. The audience has to believe that Gollum would do such a thing. You need to lay the groundwork with lots of indications that Gollum might consider suicide, that he has a noble spirit which would seek the Roman way out. In other words, take a lot of time to warp the Gollum character away from Tolkien's writings.
If this is not done, you are faced with deus ex machina: the character suddenly does something completely out of character to resolve the conflict in the story. This is the biggest mistake an author can make, unless they are Greek and are writing in 200 B.C. So in order to make this small change, PJ would have to devote significant parts of his cinematic 3 hours to build up to Gollum as the tragic hero instead of Gollum as the tragic villain.
That's what I think. I still don't think that this is a bad idea, and perhaps the original Gollum character might have been better with this suggestion. However, posting it to Slashdot isn't the same as jumping in your time machine to 1940's Britain, shouldering C.S. Lewis out of the way and saying "Ronald! I've got this great idea for your book!":-)
I am using Dasher to write this, after having never heard of it before today. I think that it is the most interesting piece of software I have seen in the last year.
It works better than any software has the right to. The interface works really well, and today marks the first day in a while that I have not worried if my job is giving me carpal-tunnel, because I know that even if I lose my ability to type, I will still be able to be productive as a software developer!!!
Plus, it's fun!
Anybody want to discuss developing something like a Dasher version of Inkwell for OS X? The only part of Dasher that I don't like is the need to copy-and-paste your text.
I don't see anything in the article which cites any sources more reliable than, say,/.
As much as I am a devoted Machead, sometimes the Byte of the Apple columns lay it on a little too thick and syruppy. Objective journalism, anyone? When Windbloze columns use the same style of reporting, I get upset. However, the author is reiterating for a broader audience the same thing that we on/. are all certain will happen anyways: the PPC 970 is targetted to be shipped in Power Macs by the end of summer.
Well, all of us except maybe the diehards who are certain that this PPC 970 stuff is all a ruse, and Steve Jobs secretly wants to use the AMD X86-64 instead.
A very interesting post. Do you have any links to the theory behind these "reset events"? My personal opinion (not backed up by calculations) is that even this burst would do no more than local damage in a galaxy, and it may be a "relic" phenomenon: an event which was possible in the earlier ages of the universe but unlikely in today's modern galactic society...
You're probably correct. I didn't want to stretch the analogy too far, because then I would be implying that all or most of the developers at Microsoft and Adobe have programming skills as bad as my riding skills!
Slashdot Mirror
Perhaps this is why it has taken until now to create these movies: the technology has finally passed the point where the scale of fantasy surpassed the dramatic medium. I can sympathize with J.R.R. on not wanting to see goofy effects ruin my imagination. However, I am perfectly willing to enjoy the stupendous job that PJ and co have done.
That having been said, a very thoughtful and intelligent post.
HBHBecause consistent look and feel is very important? Because it speaks volumes for the overall design that has gone into the OS? Because it's aesthetically pleasing?
One cannot put these things aside as unimportant, because they are surrogates for cues that people use on a day-to-day basis for things like selecting a mate or procuring products such as food. Some examples that spring to mind:
People are animals. Sophisticated and intelligent animals, but animals nonetheless. To treat the basic instincts we all possess as "trivial" is to ignore the basic truth of existence.
Maybe a quick experiment would help: drive up and down the strip in a late model civic with a nice paint job. Now repeat the process in a Ferrari which has every body panel painted a different color: yellow, red, silver, black, blue and white. Any idea which will get noticed for all the wrong reasons?
HBHI'm afraid I don't know how the performance is for DV. I'm more of a coder than a videographer. I imagine it's pretty darn good, since it does so well in other areas. It's got a good graphics chip, and a decent bus and a G4 proc. I bought it for the small size and battery life, not killer performance. I use mine on public transit every day.
Judging from the specs, I'd say the difference between the iBook 12" and the Powerbook 17" is more form factor than raw muscle./p. HBH
This is only true if you blindly follow what Apple tells you on their website. But this is /.! We don't need no stinkin' rules! The fact of the matter is the iBook graphics hardware is identical in every respect to Powerbook hardware, which has the ability to drive external displays at different resolutions either mirrored or as a second display. There is a hack available to resolve the Apple-induced limitation.
I applied this hack the same afternoon I got my iBook G4 12", and it worked like a charm. /. Apple geeks unite!
HBHI use Command-Left arrow and Command-Right arrow, which are the keyboard shortcuts for "Back" and "Forward". I also use Command-Up to get to the top of the page, Command-Down to get to the bottom of the page, Spacebar to page down a screen, and Shift-Spacebar to page up a screen.
I can't imagine wanting to use a contextual menu to do these things, but that's humanity for you.
HBH
I read the article you linked to, and I agree with some of the things in it.
The others, having apps in the Apple menu and an application menu, I can do without. That's what the Dock does well, IMHO.
As for the OS X Finder, I have to say that the Panther version is way ahead of the Jaguar version. I like the network integration, and the sidebar is constantly useful. I don't debate that there are better ways of doing things, but the Finder is pretty good and getting better. At some point, I'm sure that there will be some drastic changes just like the original MultiFinder was for Classic Mac OS. (Mac OS XI?) And I will jump right in there and offer my Cdn$200 to Steve and say "Thanks, Mr. Jobs!".
I think that you make an excellent point, but with a caveat: the tools do not make the developer.
I am in the midst of rewriting a PHP app. Why am I rewriting it? Because you are absolutely right: the original PHP app was impossible to maintain. However, the new app is being written based on the lessons learned in the first and is being built using OO principles from the authentication to the page output to the form input. This new app will be maintainable and also extendible.
They are both PHP apps, it's just that one was written well and the other wasn't.
You can write good C code and bad C code, good Java code and bad Java code. PHP deserves special recognition though: it's really tempting to write unmaintainable code.
HBH
I don't agree with your statement about misinformed users. Yes, users are by and large misinformed and/or ignorant. The problem is that the prevention of virus propagation is complex. For years I have said the same thing to users: Don't open email attachments. However, Outlook automatically opens emails and attachments as well in the "Preview Pane".
So now I can't prescribe virus immunity with four words, I have to either:
Unfortunately, the first is amazingly complex for the average user (and not memorable either: give a man a fish...). The second is asking the apathetic user to rebel against corporate policy.
Can you say no-win situation? As long as Outlook is the standard, viruses will happen.
HBH
From Merriam-Webster Online:
fact: a piece of information presented as having objective reality
theory(1): the analysis of a set of facts in their relation to one another
theory(2): an unproved assumption
Evolution is a theory by the first definition. That I agree with absolutely. However, you are using the second definition of the word theory to incite argument. Evolution is a theory which is supported by the evidence. Have we witnessed monkeys evolving into humans? No. Have we witnessed evolution within a species? Yes, it's called selective breeding and people have been practising it for 10,000 years. You are correct that we need a longer timeframe to witness cross-species evolution, and our recorded history is too short.
The evidence for evolution is a collection of facts, not the theory which they support.
HBHYou know, that probably could form the foundation of a neat short story or novel. You'd have to do a lot of tinkering with the physics and math to make it believable, but even so...
HBH
If this makes it to market in Canada, I will be first in line to get one. Vision is tremendously important when operating a motorcycle, and tinted visors are a bad compromise at best. Magazines suggest that you should have a second, clear visor and change it after dark, but there are different situations such as tunnels, forest roads, and even weather changes that can darken a sunny day but are easy to wave off as not bad enough to stop, dig out a clear visor and install it.
This would be much more convenient and by extension, safer.
That's hilarious and sad at the same time. Kinda like when a clown dies.
Seriously, on a motorcycle what you don't expect can kill you. A related phenomenon I ran into (not literally) was discovered when riding through light fog. The centre section of my visor began to get condensation on it from driving into the suspended water droplets. It was so subtle that I just thought that the fog was getting thicker. Eventually I could hardly see and then pulled over. Only then did I realize that the fog was no worse, it was only my visor!
With so few Mac-specific viruses available, these macro viruses were once the biggest threats to Mac users, but only those who had certain Microsoft programs.
What kind of Mac user are you, to imply that we would use MS Office?
Seriously though, you are correct. That was the primary reason why I shifted away from using MS products as soon as I was finished my university schooling. Abstinence is the best form of prevention.
Way to go, Omni Group! IMHO, nothing can kill a small company faster than trying to reinvent the wheel. HTML rendering is a commodity. The public expectation is that it will happen correctly. Do it wrong (like OmniWeb used to with annoying frequency) and people will jump all over you. Let a bigger group/company do it for you and reap the rewards!
That way you can spend your developer time creating the application experience, which is where OmniWeb has excelled in the past and will continue to in the future. I expect to see great things, maybe great enough to make me part with $29.95!
HBHI laughed 'til I cried.
How the $@*& does something like this get labeled 'Insightful'?
Because it's sarcasm. Not in the same league intellectually as satire, but a good start...
Of course, it is difficult to distinguish between insightful sarcasm and rampant idiocy, but I'll give the poster the benefit of the doubt.
HBH
If you are doing DV work on an 8600/300, please submit yourself to the ministrations of a psychiatric ward.
I have a 7600/330 (G3 upgrade card), and it would ring that 8600 like a gong, b/c that "300" is a 604e PPC, i.e. a G2. And yet... that 7600 is now relegated to the duties of an email server and router.
Let's talk modern hardware, b/c DV pros use the kind of hardware that makes even gamer boyz go hard.
The Silmarillion (and by extension The Lord of the Rings) was essentially an experiment in linguistics. Tolkien was a philologist (studier of languages), and his specialty was Old English. Old English has a lot in common with other Scandinavian languages, and is almost unrecognizable next to modern English because modern English is full of French and other southern European languages.
Tolkien created the languages and built the myths on top, including place names like Thangorodrim, Ered Nimrais and Nargothrond.
So no, you are not crazy. For the White Tower and Gondor!
What you are suggesting here is not ridiculous. In fact, I believe that > 1 person suggested the same thing to Peter Jackson. However, I also believe that PJ told them to go away and let him make his movies.
What PJ has done with these movies is taken the books and distilled them into their essential stories. He has done this in order to "fit" into the public's perception of what a movie can be. He's pushed it to three hours, but that's as far as he's willing to go: LoTR has to be financially viable, or New Line would never have ponied up the dough. The only way he could have done a page-by-page remake of the book is as a mini-series, which would not have had the same financial upside, therefore New Line does not pony up the dough, the effects get cheaper, the cast is suddenly Canadian, etc.
These are the conditions under which he is working, but the ultimate goal is to tell the story of the Lord of the Rings.
The change which is suggested is not designed to meet this goal under the constraints involved. It is an attempt to change the story. "But," you say, "all I'm suggesting is a minor change of stepping off instead of falling." The key here is INTENT. Since you want Gollum to INTENTIONALLY COMMIT SUICIDE, you need to build up to it. The audience has to believe that Gollum would do such a thing. You need to lay the groundwork with lots of indications that Gollum might consider suicide, that he has a noble spirit which would seek the Roman way out. In other words, take a lot of time to warp the Gollum character away from Tolkien's writings.
If this is not done, you are faced with deus ex machina: the character suddenly does something completely out of character to resolve the conflict in the story. This is the biggest mistake an author can make, unless they are Greek and are writing in 200 B.C. So in order to make this small change, PJ would have to devote significant parts of his cinematic 3 hours to build up to Gollum as the tragic hero instead of Gollum as the tragic villain.
That's what I think. I still don't think that this is a bad idea, and perhaps the original Gollum character might have been better with this suggestion. However, posting it to Slashdot isn't the same as jumping in your time machine to 1940's Britain, shouldering C.S. Lewis out of the way and saying "Ronald! I've got this great idea for your book!" :-)
I am using Dasher to write this, after having never heard of it before today. I think that it is the most interesting piece of software I have seen in the last year.
It works better than any software has the right to. The interface works really well, and today marks the first day in a while that I have not worried if my job is giving me carpal-tunnel, because I know that even if I lose my ability to type, I will still be able to be productive as a software developer!!!
Plus, it's fun!
Anybody want to discuss developing something like a Dasher version of Inkwell for OS X? The only part of Dasher that I don't like is the need to copy-and-paste your text.
I don't see anything in the article which cites any sources more reliable than, say, /.
As much as I am a devoted Machead, sometimes the Byte of the Apple columns lay it on a little too thick and syruppy. Objective journalism, anyone? When Windbloze columns use the same style of reporting, I get upset. However, the author is reiterating for a broader audience the same thing that we on /. are all certain will happen anyways: the PPC 970 is targetted to be shipped in Power Macs by the end of summer.
Well, all of us except maybe the diehards who are certain that this PPC 970 stuff is all a ruse, and Steve Jobs secretly wants to use the AMD X86-64 instead.
A very thoughtful post. It will give me something to think about for the rest of the day.
Thanks,
HBH
Damn. I thought that would be something fun to see, but now I have to wait until Monday when I can crash IE at work.
Note to Microsoft's Mac BU: please stop writing software which is better than the Windows stuff. It makes making fun of you less sweet.
A very interesting post. Do you have any links to the theory behind these "reset events"? My personal opinion (not backed up by calculations) is that even this burst would do no more than local damage in a galaxy, and it may be a "relic" phenomenon: an event which was possible in the earlier ages of the universe but unlikely in today's modern galactic society...
You're probably correct. I didn't want to stretch the analogy too far, because then I would be implying that all or most of the developers at Microsoft and Adobe have programming skills as bad as my riding skills!
The training wheels come off next week!