I know several Right-handed people who use mice Left-handed.
One theory is that using a mouse in your dominant hand is easy to learn, so if you first learn to use it in your non-dominant hand, and something happens to either hand, you're not as disabled.
Another theory is that your dominant hand is free to manipulate the keyboard, or other real-world objects (which it is more skilled at doing), while your non-dominant hand can manipulate Virtual-world objects.
Compared to other computers in their day, the Macintosh *was* Inexpensive.
Nowadays, the Macintosh is still an inexpensive personal computer, but other Personal Computers are Cheap, and make the Macintosh *appear* expensive. Keep in mind that these cheaper computers are "cheaper" in respect to the quality too.
Only if both You and Me had the patience and strength to transmit and transcode all those Zero's and One's reliably. If You're trying to transmit the bits and some bugger keeps interrupting you saying "can you move my cursor to her" (using a USB mouse), either you're going to get pissed off, or I'm going to get bored, and errors will be introduced. Although we're both Theoretically supposed to not get pissed off, or bored, one or both of us not being 100% in Specifications, will mean that bits will be dropped, or incorrectly transcoded.
I've an idea! Ditch the Flakey, unreliable USB2.0 cable and bundle a free PCI Firewire Card with the iPod.
I dislike USB 2.0. I've had two PC's with dodgy Chipsets, which resulted in Schizophrenic USB Ports, unable to decide whether to work at 480Mb/s or 12Mb/s. I've had USB 2.0 Hubs which are incompatible with 1Mb/s USB 1.1 Mice.
USB 2.0 is just a Supercharged Hyundai Excel Engine. It may have just as much power as a stock V6, but is unreliable and unpredictable. FireWire is the Ecotec V6, reliable, but still powerful enough for most people. Firewire 800 is the Supercharged Ecotec V6.
The problem exists if (for example) Bob buys a brand-spanking new iPod and plugs it into his USB 1.1 Port, even thought the manual says not to. (Bob doesn't know the difference between USB 1.1 and USB 2.0). It runs like Crap because it takes so long to transfer the data, and he has a bad iPod Experience. Alternatively, Bob may have USB 2.0, but using a Chipset which was originally 1.1, but had updated USB 2.0 drivers (like certain VIA Chipsets). Since his Cheap Bitsa PC is a PoS, and USB 2.0 doesn't work properly, he has a bad iPod Experience. Maybe Bob *does* have a functioning USB 2.0 Interface, but he still has to charge his iPod before data transfer, because his 50GB Music and Photo Collection takes a long time to transfer. He then has to Re-Charge it after transfer before he can take the iPod to Grandma's House to show her the Photo's of his trip to Majorca. If only Bob got a Firewire cable bundled with his iPod. He would then know of a more suitable alternative to USB 2.0, and he would only have to buy a Cheap Firewire Card (less than $15) and he could simultaneously Charge and Sync his iPod, but since he doesn't even know about FireWire, he has a bad iPod Experience.
That way, if his provider complains, simply tell them you were Providing tech support for his network, and needed to read Slashdot for 8 hours every day as part of the Administration service.
To those that have massive CD collections, how much of those CD's do you actually listen to? I've copied them all onto my 40Gb iPod, so I listen to all of them... except that "Number One Hit's Of The Eighties" CD, which was given to me last Christmas, by someone who thinks it is still 1989...
Many Programs don't run properly in Windows without Administrator Privileges. I used to have Restricted Accounts on my parents computer, but when I donated my Palm Zire71 to my Fathers Construction Consulting Business, (HotSync is crap in OSX), I discovered that HotSync needs Administrator Privileges in Windows Too!
As a side benefit of having them take their computer to you, Problems like the Keyboard not being plugged in properly or a Faulty Monitor are not your problem.
I have dozens of calls from friends and relatives complaining that the mouse doesn't work... I have them check the USB Cable and Voilá! Problem solved, and they're more likely to solve any future problems themselves.
I support lots of Windows PC's, many of which are Laptops with two Buttons on their TrackPad. I find it easier to use an external TrackBall on these things because the buttons are basically a single button cut in two. I am concentrating on something in the GUI and go to click the button with my thumb, as I do on my iBook, only to get a context menu instead. Two-button trackpads are designed to be approached from directly in front of the Unit, which would mean I would need a Hand coming straight out of my Belly-Button. If you approach them from the side, the buttons are not in-line with your hand, and you have to twist your hand unnaturally to reach both buttons efficiently.
And that's why he's not exactly inclined to allow for a fully open format. No one will pay the price when they don't have to use MSFT's software to read/write the document formats.
I have a recommendation. For every MS Office User you have, go into their account, Open up Word, go to Tools>Options>Save and change the Default Format to a Documented Open Format like rtf or xml.
At least then your documents are still yours, even when MS starts charging subscription rates for MS Word.
After a few months of users being none-the-wiser, inform your Management, and outline why a Closed Document format is Bad for the business, and see if you can get it written up as IT Policy to only use Open File Formats.
Unfortunately, Excel doesn't have a way to change the Default Format, but the Excel Format is less Convoluted and is more easily Deconstructed.
Same with the Mac Mini. Sure, there'll be a few sales - but all in all there's not enough bang for the buck - and that's what people focus on for low cost items.
I was just thinking about getting a Mac Mini. I did the calculations, included a new Keyboard and Mouse, and a new 20" LCD Display (Apple Studio Displays are just as cheap when you look for more than 19"). I thought "for another AU$100" I can get a 20" iMac with the same specs, but a G5, rather than a G4". In that case, the Mac Mini has succeeded, even if I don't buy one.
Like the Driver who looses control of their car. If they look at all the things they want to miss, they'll end up hitting them all, but if they look at the gap between all the obstacles, they may just get through... Concentrate on your objective, not they Obstacles.
One thing I didn't like about Attributes in BeFS was having to manually update Attributes from File Data, for most file types. Tools like Tags&Attributes (Army Knife) were required. The only File Types where the software automatically updated the Attributes were BeMail Messages and Person Files. (Person files didn't even have any File Data. Their entire content was contained in Attributes.)
The MacOSX Tiger ability to keep file Metadata Syncronised without 3rd Party Products will complete this feature, rather than the Half-finished job which was BeFS and Tracker.
I was thinking about this the other day. Bluetooth is ideal for Remote Controlling a Mac 'cos many of them already have Bluetooth, and You don't need line-of-sight. If your Mobile Phone supports Device Menus, you can even get it to work with Salling Clicker, and don't need a remote.
What I'd really like to see are Specialised Bluetooth Remotes. A Device with a Tiny Screen, basically like a T68i without the Phone Component would be good, or an even cheaper option would be a Bluetooth Keyboard which only has Media Keys and no actual Typing Keys.
Having Given up Linux years ago for BeOS and then MacOSX, I was a bit rusty on my concept of Linux Modules, but... The Boss's XP Laptop recently carked it, and the data had to be retrieved. He'd thrown away the Rescue Disk which came with his HP nx9000, and for some reason the Floppy Drive didn't work. My first thought was to make the Laptop a Target Firewire disk and suck the data onto my iBook, a technique I used when an earlier iBook's Logic Board Failed, but the nx9000 doesn't support Target Disk Mode.
I eventually used Knoppix to boot the nx9000, mounted my iBook as a Target Disk (since Knoppix also read and writes HFS+) and copied the data to my Lappy.
I burned the whole lot onto a series of DVD-Rs, formatted the HDD of the nx9000 and presented the whole lot back to my Boss. I let him find a solution to the fact that *he* threw the System Restore Disks away.
If I was more familiar with Knoppix, I would have burned DVD-Rs of the data directly from the nx9000, but I prefer to use what I know.
Am I the only Ex-BeOS User who hated GoBe Productive? Yes it was fast, yes it was Integrated with itself, yes it was intuitive, but when it came time to use it in BeOS it was like another separate layer. You couldn't edit Document Attributes in Tracker. You couldn't search for a Particular Document, You couldn't even tell what type of Document a Document was without opening it up in Productive. They're the same reason I don't use AppleWorks or OpenOffice.org on my iBook. I'd much rather use AbiWord and Gnumeric, or even better, WordPerfect for Mac (I Wish) and Excel 2004.
Mac OSX Mail has a feature which lets you "Bounce" Mail, which essentially mimics the Server Response to an invalid Email Address. I was recently shocked to find that neither Outlook Express or Outlook have this feature.
Very useful for Spammers and Annoying Ex-Girlfriends.
It's not marketed at people who know how to use a computer, or already have a Blog.
It's marketed at the people who just want to publish their opinion/experience/etc, but don't want to learn anything about publishing -- same people who use Word to write a book, and wonder why the published work doesn't include all their fancy Text Objects and Borders.
Real, Thinking People can still make their blogs the same way, and I know which blogs I'd be reading...
0.5% Unauthorised Internet 0% from Online Music Stores 5% from Legitimate Website Sample 93% from my Own CD's 0.5% from Friends CD's 2% from CD's Stolen from my Sisters Boyfriend when he Left her and did a Runner with another Girl.
I remember attending a Protest in Melbourne a few years ago, at the State Library, when the "Liberal Party" wanted to introduce the GST. An Independent "Brian Harradine" held the Balance of Power and in order to get his Vote, they tried to put through Internet Censorship Legislation. It is still currently Illegal for an Australian Hosted Webserver, or one with the.au TLD to Host Pornography of any kind. So much for supporting Locally Produced Content. IIRC, ISPs are by Law still required to have Filters on their Proxy Servers which Block any Offensive Material, or ensure that all Customers have Software Installed and Enabled on their Computers. I don't know of a Single Person, here in Australia, who uses NetNanny or CyberSitter to Censor their Internet Experience.
Slashdot Mirror
It's more like buying an Porche and dumping the engine into your old VW Beetle. The UI is still crap, but boy is it quick!
I know several Right-handed people who use mice Left-handed.
One theory is that using a mouse in your dominant hand is easy to learn, so if you first learn to use it in your non-dominant hand, and something happens to either hand, you're not as disabled.
Another theory is that your dominant hand is free to manipulate the keyboard, or other real-world objects (which it is more skilled at doing), while your non-dominant hand can manipulate Virtual-world objects.
Compared to other computers in their day, the Macintosh *was* Inexpensive.
Nowadays, the Macintosh is still an inexpensive personal computer, but other Personal Computers are Cheap, and make the Macintosh *appear* expensive. Keep in mind that these cheaper computers are "cheaper" in respect to the quality too.
Only if both You and Me had the patience and strength to transmit and transcode all those Zero's and One's reliably.
If You're trying to transmit the bits and some bugger keeps interrupting you saying "can you move my cursor to her" (using a USB mouse), either you're going to get pissed off, or I'm going to get bored, and errors will be introduced.
Although we're both Theoretically supposed to not get pissed off, or bored, one or both of us not being 100% in Specifications, will mean that bits will be dropped, or incorrectly transcoded.
I've an idea!
Ditch the Flakey, unreliable USB2.0 cable and bundle a free PCI Firewire Card with the iPod.
I dislike USB 2.0. I've had two PC's with dodgy Chipsets, which resulted in Schizophrenic USB Ports, unable to decide whether to work at 480Mb/s or 12Mb/s. I've had USB 2.0 Hubs which are incompatible with 1Mb/s USB 1.1 Mice.
USB 2.0 is just a Supercharged Hyundai Excel Engine. It may have just as much power as a stock V6, but is unreliable and unpredictable. FireWire is the Ecotec V6, reliable, but still powerful enough for most people. Firewire 800 is the Supercharged Ecotec V6.
The problem exists if (for example) Bob buys a brand-spanking new iPod and plugs it into his USB 1.1 Port, even thought the manual says not to. (Bob doesn't know the difference between USB 1.1 and USB 2.0). It runs like Crap because it takes so long to transfer the data, and he has a bad iPod Experience.
Alternatively, Bob may have USB 2.0, but using a Chipset which was originally 1.1, but had updated USB 2.0 drivers (like certain VIA Chipsets). Since his Cheap Bitsa PC is a PoS, and USB 2.0 doesn't work properly, he has a bad iPod Experience.
Maybe Bob *does* have a functioning USB 2.0 Interface, but he still has to charge his iPod before data transfer, because his 50GB Music and Photo Collection takes a long time to transfer. He then has to Re-Charge it after transfer before he can take the iPod to Grandma's House to show her the Photo's of his trip to Majorca.
If only Bob got a Firewire cable bundled with his iPod. He would then know of a more suitable alternative to USB 2.0, and he would only have to buy a Cheap Firewire Card (less than $15) and he could simultaneously Charge and Sync his iPod, but since he doesn't even know about FireWire, he has a bad iPod Experience.
I need sleep.
That way, if his provider complains, simply tell them you were Providing tech support for his network, and needed to read Slashdot for 8 hours every day as part of the Administration service.
You can already do that with 60-series Nokias, Well, you can get Viruses anyway.3 205.shtml ?tid=172
http://slashdot.org/articles/04/08/11/16
To those that have massive CD collections, how much of those CD's do you actually listen to?
I've copied them all onto my 40Gb iPod, so I listen to all of them... except that "Number One Hit's Of The Eighties" CD, which was given to me last Christmas, by someone who thinks it is still 1989...
Many Programs don't run properly in Windows without Administrator Privileges.
I used to have Restricted Accounts on my parents computer, but when I donated my Palm Zire71 to my Fathers Construction Consulting Business, (HotSync is crap in OSX), I discovered that HotSync needs Administrator Privileges in Windows Too!
As a side benefit of having them take their computer to you, Problems like the Keyboard not being plugged in properly or a Faulty Monitor are not your problem.
I have dozens of calls from friends and relatives complaining that the mouse doesn't work... I have them check the USB Cable and Voilá! Problem solved, and they're more likely to solve any future problems themselves.
I support lots of Windows PC's, many of which are Laptops with two Buttons on their TrackPad.
I find it easier to use an external TrackBall on these things because the buttons are basically a single button cut in two. I am concentrating on something in the GUI and go to click the button with my thumb, as I do on my iBook, only to get a context menu instead.
Two-button trackpads are designed to be approached from directly in front of the Unit, which would mean I would need a Hand coming straight out of my Belly-Button. If you approach them from the side, the buttons are not in-line with your hand, and you have to twist your hand unnaturally to reach both buttons efficiently.
And that's why he's not exactly inclined to allow for a fully open format. No one will pay the price when they don't have to use MSFT's software to read/write the document formats.
I have a recommendation. For every MS Office User you have, go into their account, Open up Word, go to Tools>Options>Save and change the Default Format to a Documented Open Format like rtf or xml.
At least then your documents are still yours, even when MS starts charging subscription rates for MS Word.
After a few months of users being none-the-wiser, inform your Management, and outline why a Closed Document format is Bad for the business, and see if you can get it written up as IT Policy to only use Open File Formats.
Unfortunately, Excel doesn't have a way to change the Default Format, but the Excel Format is less Convoluted and is more easily Deconstructed.
Same with the Mac Mini. Sure, there'll be a few sales - but all in all there's not enough bang for the buck - and that's what people focus on for low cost items.
I was just thinking about getting a Mac Mini. I did the calculations, included a new Keyboard and Mouse, and a new 20" LCD Display (Apple Studio Displays are just as cheap when you look for more than 19"). I thought "for another AU$100" I can get a 20" iMac with the same specs, but a G5, rather than a G4". In that case, the Mac Mini has succeeded, even if I don't buy one.
Like the Driver who looses control of their car.
If they look at all the things they want to miss, they'll end up hitting them all, but if they look at the gap between all the obstacles, they may just get through...
Concentrate on your objective, not they Obstacles.
One thing I didn't like about Attributes in BeFS was having to manually update Attributes from File Data, for most file types. Tools like Tags&Attributes (Army Knife) were required.
The only File Types where the software automatically updated the Attributes were BeMail Messages and Person Files.
(Person files didn't even have any File Data. Their entire content was contained in Attributes.)
The MacOSX Tiger ability to keep file Metadata Syncronised without 3rd Party Products will complete this feature, rather than the Half-finished job which was BeFS and Tracker.
Just like Live Queries in BeOS. MacOSX will finally fill my Computing needs, Missing since my BeOS Machine was retired.
A Bluetooth Remote would be cooler.
I was thinking about this the other day. Bluetooth is ideal for Remote Controlling a Mac 'cos many of them already have Bluetooth, and You don't need line-of-sight. If your Mobile Phone supports Device Menus, you can even get it to work with Salling Clicker, and don't need a remote.
What I'd really like to see are Specialised Bluetooth Remotes. A Device with a Tiny Screen, basically like a T68i without the Phone Component would be good, or an even cheaper option would be a Bluetooth Keyboard which only has Media Keys and no actual Typing Keys.
Having Given up Linux years ago for BeOS and then MacOSX, I was a bit rusty on my concept of Linux Modules, but...
The Boss's XP Laptop recently carked it, and the data had to be retrieved.
He'd thrown away the Rescue Disk which came with his HP nx9000, and for some reason the Floppy Drive didn't work.
My first thought was to make the Laptop a Target Firewire disk and suck the data onto my iBook, a technique I used when an earlier iBook's Logic Board Failed, but the nx9000 doesn't support Target Disk Mode.
I eventually used Knoppix to boot the nx9000, mounted my iBook as a Target Disk (since Knoppix also read and writes HFS+) and copied the data to my Lappy.
I burned the whole lot onto a series of DVD-Rs, formatted the HDD of the nx9000 and presented the whole lot back to my Boss. I let him find a solution to the fact that *he* threw the System Restore Disks away.
If I was more familiar with Knoppix, I would have burned DVD-Rs of the data directly from the nx9000, but I prefer to use what I know.
Am I the only Ex-BeOS User who hated GoBe Productive?
Yes it was fast, yes it was Integrated with itself, yes it was intuitive, but when it came time to use it in BeOS it was like another separate layer.
You couldn't edit Document Attributes in Tracker. You couldn't search for a Particular Document, You couldn't even tell what type of Document a Document was without opening it up in Productive.
They're the same reason I don't use AppleWorks or OpenOffice.org on my iBook. I'd much rather use AbiWord and Gnumeric, or even better, WordPerfect for Mac (I Wish) and Excel 2004.
Mac OSX Mail has a feature which lets you "Bounce" Mail, which essentially mimics the Server Response to an invalid Email Address.
I was recently shocked to find that neither Outlook Express or Outlook have this feature.
Very useful for Spammers and Annoying Ex-Girlfriends.
It's not marketed at people who know how to use a computer, or already have a Blog.
It's marketed at the people who just want to publish their opinion/experience/etc, but don't want to learn anything about publishing -- same people who use Word to write a book, and wonder why the published work doesn't include all their fancy Text Objects and Borders.
Real, Thinking People can still make their blogs the same way, and I know which blogs I'd be reading...
The Waste?
Easy, just invade some third-world country and dump it there.
0.5% Unauthorised Internet
0% from Online Music Stores
5% from Legitimate Website Sample
93% from my Own CD's
0.5% from Friends CD's
2% from CD's Stolen from my Sisters Boyfriend when he Left her and did a Runner with another Girl.
I remember attending a Protest in Melbourne a few years ago, at the State Library, when the "Liberal Party" wanted to introduce the GST. An Independent "Brian Harradine" held the Balance of Power and in order to get his Vote, they tried to put through Internet Censorship Legislation. .au TLD to Host Pornography of any kind. So much for supporting Locally Produced Content. IIRC, ISPs are by Law still required to have Filters on their Proxy Servers which Block any Offensive Material, or ensure that all Customers have Software Installed and Enabled on their Computers. I don't know of a Single Person, here in Australia, who uses NetNanny or CyberSitter to Censor their Internet Experience.
It is still currently Illegal for an Australian Hosted Webserver, or one with the