Bad Taste - 10/14/03
Roger,

Your piece was fun, but titling it "The Final Solution" is in rather bad taste. Not "funny bad taste", just bad taste. While most of us mac users do regard Microsoft as the evil empire, Bill Gates is not responsible for murdering our families.

Dan Kinoy

Dan,

Thanks for writing. No bad taste intended, but I see your connection to Germany's war crimes. I am a student of history and I teach it as well, but using that term, which first appeared in philosophy, was more appropriate to my usage.

For instance: http://www.inexpressible.com/claim.html -and-
http://www.stone.com/The_Cocoa_Files/Philosophy_of_Cocoa.html

I also sincerely hope you are right about the relative harmlessness of Microsoft software, if it were to only apply to personal lives and businesses. But there is evidence that their software reaches much farther than we thought.

I have no doubt that many companies, power utilities and even the military are seeking to remove any possibility that Windows or another M$ application can suddenly bring down a horrific disaster upon us.

Perhaps the latest power outage on the East Coast did not really start with a failed computer running windows, within a nuclear facility in Ohio. Details about that event are sketchy, even now.

Nor is the final solution the offing all those despised M$ programmers who give us massive, poor, buggy and insecure code. We have to live with what they do, or else seek some other solution for ourselves, such as moving to a better OS like Mac OS X. That was my own personal philisophical 'final solution.'

Regards,
Roger

PowerBook? G5? The Readers Speak! - 9/29/03
I get a ton of advice about Macs, mostly owing to the fact I ask for it (being close to brain dead and all). My recent request for PowerBook-VS-G5 advice was heartily answered. Firstly I appreciate all the people who took time to e-mail and share their opinions, it provided much food for thought. I must report that the issue has now been resolved, rather than a new computer we've decided to buy a new house. Apparently the financial strain of new digs coupled with a new computer would be too great for the checkbook to handle so, for now, it's the iBook and the dusty G4. Events like this make me wonder about the three essentials: food, clothing and shelter. I think too much emphasis is placed on shelter, heck the paper thin walls of my shanty are great for airport reception. Still the exercise was not a waste, the advice was great and I'd thought I'd pass it along, cause what's better than freely given and then recycled advice?

Best Single Piece of advice:
Either way you own a Mac, have fun.

A small sentence but a rock solid bit of advice, the worst-case scenario (apparently coming to fruition) I still have two Macs, life is good.

Nice piece of technical advice:
Lastly, whatever you do, buy more than you think you can afford. Invariably, you use whatever extra capacity you buy and can extend the time you get out of it. More is usually better when it comes to computer hardware.

Makes a lot of sense, provided you have a modicum of self control (if you don't get some incontinence pills). Face facts, the extra dough you pony up now will extend the longevity of your machine hopefully saving money in the long run.

Best advice from someone in the same position:
The decision is not an issue of power vs. portability. It is one of self-control vs. technolust. If I look at how I work, the only possible choice is a PowerBook.

I can't stand to be tethered to a desk; I honestly can't imagine a G5 being nifty enough to force me into one place. Besides, if you're a stay at home parent like me you need to spend your time raising the child properly. I honestly don't think I can swing a G5 with enough control to punish the child without permanent damage, and you gotta pass out the discipline. With a PowerBook it would be no problem.

From someone with a ton o cash:
But we have a silver lining.... I have a 17" PowerBook that I have semi-relinquished to my wife, hedging my bets on the new PowerBooks. I'm very happy with the 17", but it is a bit of a burden. A 12" is on the other extreme of convenience, but I don't know if I can use that screen all day.

Nice problems to have, unfortunately the e-mailer did not give me his physical address so no chance of a late night visit relieving him of his burden.

Best use of obscure top end reference:
Moreover, unless you're going to spring for a 23" HD Cinema Display (the most drool worthy monitor on the market, bar none... well, except for a $30K Runco front projection system), a desktop doesn't really offer that much more than a laptop machine, horsepower notwithstanding. If you have applications where you really need the hottest hardware out there (I don't), most laptops will be more than adequate.

And I thought they only made pocket fishermen. Seriously, the author has a point, the G5 is a bit overpowered for my needs, and it would be like using the SR-71 to commute to work. The majority of Mac users are served adequately by a G3, some require a G4 (me) and there are a few users who need a G5. For most folks the G5 is simply techno lust and/or showing off.

The other thing my e-mail revealed: there's a ton of folks in the same boat. People everywhere are standing around with iBooks just wondering if they should unload said books or not. It's not that people are suddenly realizing their iBooks just aren't fast enough (cause if that was it, they'd know it since they bought the machine) it's the fear of being two chips behind, who wants to look that lame? People (a least folks like me) want an excuse, any excuse, to buy some new hardware. Which brings me to my final point: Many people recommended waiting for a G5 PowerBook. If you've got an in at Apple and actually know when the new PowerBooks are showing up, fine, wait for it. If you're just an average Joe don't bother waiting. You know what you need out of a computer, if today's computers satisfy your needs go ahead and buy a Mac and feel remorse free. Heck you don't wait until the next model of hedge clippers comes out do ya?

Chris Seibold

DV Advice - 9/29/03
Message: Very good article by Tim Robertson. I am using the bridge in the exact application as the author descsribes in said article. However, once I input my video and edited it, I found I couldnt export it to video because it read the edited footage as PAL instead of NTSC. Anyone ran into this problem yet? Any solutions?
Wallace

Hey Wallace,
Yup, I had this problem a few times after I wrote that article. The solution was that the first thing I do after starting up a new project was to import NTSC video. If I did anything else first, for some odd reason, it would be in PAL. Drove me crazy.

I don't use mine anymore, as I picked up a DV Camcorder. Well worth it, as it does everything the bridge did, and more. If you decide to spend a little bit more money, get a DV Camcorder, you won't be sorry. I use the Cnon ZR50.

Tim

A Sage Analogy - 8/14/03
I'm not sure the analogy between car buying and computer buying is a useful one to take very far but it does illustrate at least your basic point, and I have to agree. To really nail it down though, computers are probably more like microwave ovens or some other appliance, in that they perform a transforming function. A car is transport, moving things and you, as you point out from point A to point B. But I agree that one reason folks upgrade a computer or a car for that matter is simple "gear lust." (You don't find a lot of folks buy the latest washer and dryer because the one they have is just so out of style...)

The product life cycle for pro systems at the needs driven level will change again because of the G5, at least for the next few years, in any even it's been getting longer every year anyway. In my opinion desktop computing is rapidly approaching the point of diminishing returns with the existing paradigm of software and hardware anyway. How fast of a CPU do you really need to do much of what the average person does on a day to day basis. The web, email, word processing and spreadsheets all have been working just fine for the last 5 years. In fact you can find a lot of folks that have yet to upgrade from systems as old as that for just that reason. It's only been that last two years that desktop publishing has started to see same wall coming. By way of example, a PowerMac G3 blue and white will reach the finish line running a Photoshop filter within seconds of a Mirror drive door G4 tower, so why dole out 2 grand for a new one to save a few seconds twice a day?

No, it's the user interface right now that is driving the platform, that and the guilty pleasures of games. Take my situation for example, I have a passible Dual G4 that runs at 533 Mhz, So when get down to it, I'm getting a G5 not so much as to speed up Photoshop and my illustration work as to kick a few PC users butts in Unreal 2K3. (And I can't wait...)

I recall reading not too long ago an piece by Andy Ihnatko it think, where he was bemoaning the "latest" user interface enhancements as just rehashing last years tail fins, damn, back to the car analogy again... And that basically there hasn't been a really novel and useful change in the computer's user interface since the mulit-finder in OS 7. My guess it that the next leap forward will have to be UI that is driven or at least assisted by Artificial Intelligence. UIAI for short. You see it in sci fi movies all the time, and it's got to be the next leap. Just as Jim Kirk's communicator became flip cell phone. The power needed for such a leap would more than tax a G5. The only question is how soon, because if any company is going to pull it off it will be Apple.

Hi Barry,
Thanks for the letter, it was more well written than the article. Good points.
Chris

Good Points - 8/14/03
Good article, however if we draw a distinction between G5 the microprocessor and G5 the desktop computer, I think that there is ample opportunity within the overall architecture of the desktop computer to continue to offer enhancements to the end-users experience -- improvements to the bus, improvements to the native RAM, improvements to the i/o system etc. After all, I have had G4 processors in the last three computers I have had on my desk.

Mike O'Hanlon

Hi Mike,
Thanks for taking the time to write. I don't know enough to comment on how far the guts of the G5 can be improved though I have read that all the things you address have been improved when compared to the G4. Good points.

Thanks,
Chris

Render Time - 8/14/03
No Way if you want to move to 3D & 4D. ÊEven with a 64 bit processor it can take hours to render a single 3D frame in a movie. Ê3D & 4D are coming, and they will gobble up all the horsepower available for at least the next 15 years.

Skip Steuart
Steuart Systems

Hi Skip,
Thanks for the note. I was thinking of home computers, but you are right some applications will always(?) max out a computer. Weather modeling is notoriously tricky and I think nuclear explosion modeling is pretty hardware intensive. Still your average home user isn't going to be modeling a thermonuclear detonation.

Thanks,
Chris

From an old friend - 8/6/03
Regarding your quest to find good comics...

I can't judge if it's funny or not (since I draw the 'toon), but how about "The PC Weenies"? :)

Stay 'tooned,
-Krishna

Dilbert left out - 8/6/03
Dilbert, man. You forgot Dilbert.
Got a real job? You know, one where:
- you're just a little grunt at a big ol' company,
- humiliations abound, and victories are few,
- the total IQ of upper management, if measured in money, might just buy you a Macdonald's Happy meal on a good day [barring the occasional "miracle manager", of course},

If this sounds familiar, then your daily dose of Dilbert might be the only keeping you from an intimate relationship with a fully-automatic assault rifle. God bless what's-his-name for putting it out.
JVA

It never ends - 7/25/03
Bravo! I've been annoyed by the continuous whining of some Mac users for years. No matter what Apple comes out with there is always a group of loud-mouths that start nit picking it to death.

When the Flat Panel iMacs came out I recall reading all kinds of drive regarding the "sub standard" GeForce2MX video. As if Apple should have shoe-horned a $300 GeForce4Ti card into the $1200 iMac! When the TiBook came out it was whining about no expansion bays. "I know it's 1 inch thick, but I want two expansion bays!, and a 19" screen, and a GPS tracking system, and . . ." It never ends.

I do think it would be a nice touch for Apple to offer a half price deal for users upgrading from the previous version In other words, a discount for 10.2 to 10.3 upgrade but full price for 10.1 or earlier. It would be a nice gesture and would silence some of the screaching.

Erik A. Prince

Hi Erik,
Thanks for the note. I couldn't agree some people are never happy. I also agree that it would be nice to get a discount if you upgraded every time the OS was updated.

Thanks Again,
Chris

Buy it for me! - 7/21/03
I am only 5'9" and since you are average at 6'3", then I NEED to get a G5 to compensate for my lack of height.Ê Call it a high-tech version of the Napoleon Syndrome. ÊWell, let's see how that logic will fly with my wife 5'0" (Yikes! I might have to buy her two of the dual G5's to make up for her severe height deficiency, if only she were interested in computers.)

You make very good points (I say that because they echo what I usually tell most casual computer users from whom desparately try to segregate myself to justify the big purchase) which lead me to my next mission: find someone to buy a G5 for me!

Thanks,
Dave

Agree all Around - 7/15/03
Hi Chris,
Just a note to let you know how much I enjoyed reading today's "quit whining" editorial. I absolutely agree that users are expecting perfection, for a crazy low price, and they want it yesterday. As a systems analyst working with mac and other systems for the last 20 years, one thing that mac users must realize is that unlike the average pc clone, where the R&D dollars to invent, say, a USB standard were spent by a manufacturer long ago, and that's why anybody can produce cheap cards, apple is an innovator, and innovation costs money. Microsoft makes money every time the average PC is sold, through windows, office, etc. Apple's revenue stream, on the other hand, tends to stop once the box is bought. Apple does not have the huge software library for sale that microsoft has. Except for the iApps and quicktime pro, most apple users will never spend a penny with apple except for OS upgrades. Somebody has to pay for the R&D! Anyway, thanks again for a well-written article. Look forward to more!
- Lee.

What can be said - 7/15/03
As an avid mac user and advocate, in a PC purchasing shop i had to respond to your article. I have been for many years a mac fanatic, i would buy nothing else and only complain when service was slow. Things have changed a great deal in the last few years though. Where there used to be 24/7 support for 1 year, there is now 9-5 support for 90 days. Where there used to high end components all the way through, there is now a lowend (and half the lowend fx5200 128 meg is standard pc lowend) videocard and periperals at premium prices only available from Apple. Where there used to be a higher than average price there is now an in 500 increase in the lowend. What can be said in defense of that?

Thanks,
Jim

On Whining - 7/15/03
You said it right brother. You put into words what was bugging me too with these whiners.

Hope to see more stuff from you.

On the C&C School - 6/25/03
I agree with everything you said and I disagree with all of it. Which problem is greater, the actions of the criminal or the failure of the leadership? Or the culture that regards human sexuality as taboo? I for one cannot imagine a bishop speaking publicly about sex, much less homosexual sex, and less so about homosexual sex by priests as pedophiles, twenty years ago. The fact that this problem seems to have occurred in both non-denominations and other denominations seems to imply a greater problem than the C&C failure, but the attempt to hide it is no surprise at all.

If we were talking about homosexuals in the cloth only, I would agree. But that is NOT the issue here. Nothing is more heinous than raping a child. To do so from the alter of worship is evil. The way they are trying to cover it up, AFTER it is on the front page, only shows their contempt for human rights, the law, and everything decent they are suppose to stand for. They show themselves as hypocrites.

Ironically, I think the Clinton impeachment, by putting human sexuality front and center, actually makes the problem easier to discuss. I know a woman who rode cross country to bring the topic to the fore five years ago. http://www.assumption.edu/bikeride/ She was raped by her doctor when she was an ill child for an extended period. Attacking hospitals makes about as much sense as attacking the church.

Which, by definition, means we should attack neither? Besides, that is ONE case, while what I wrote about is an epidemic of monstrous proportions. The hospital did not know this had happened, and if they did, then yes, they too should be attacked in the public. If they knew, the administration of the hospital should face criminal charges. The same charges the leadership in the church should face by protecting child rapists.

Actually, I think the problem is just more complex. The Church, as an institution, is in the business of forgiveness. (The same way a hospital is supposed to heal.) No matter what problem you bring to the Church's door, they will forgive you. So it isn't a surprise that they would want to forgive the sinner priest, and not report the crime. Heck, if we give lawyers confidentiality, why not expect the same from priests about priests?

It is not a matter of forgiveness. The church, in all their wisdom, simply buried the problem, and put known child rapists right back in a position to do it again and again and again. While the church itself can grant forgiveness, that forgiveness does not supersede the law or criminal prosecution. The church, by its very action, unleashed child rapists back into the world to do it again. That is an evil act.

The problem is really one of courage, leadership, fear and legal punitive justice. Our whole society is screwed up. Personally, I find it easier to forgive the criminal than myself. I assume he is a nutcase, but if I am not, so what then is my excuse? But you are correct in complaining about the leadership. I just pulled my kids out of Catholic School, but for none of the reasons you imply. I never felt my children were in danger, and I do take steps to make sure that they are not left alone with anyone, priest or otherwise. The problem was similar however, bad leadership. The teachers are great however, and most children get a good education. I have come to the conclusion that the yin-yang does best represent life. All black has a seed of good, all bad has a seed of white. And most times we should not be sure which we are. "For some people, it would seem so." ends your article with a condemnation, I would respectfully suggest that instead you issue a challenge. The cycle of attack, hate, anger is the perpetual Kill First problem. We have to accept the good within the bad, and the bad within the good. You cannot help someone until you take the time to understand them.

I don't need to understand how a sick fuck uses his priesthood to prey on his victims. All I want is justice. If there is a hell, and I hope there is, then those who purport to worship HIM above all, and yet failed to protect the young and hide the evil, will suffer HIS wrath when the time comes. But that is simply NOT good enough for our society. As a nation with laws, we simply cannot condone nor forgive these actions. There must be justice. And that justice must be fair, just, and punitive to everyone. If a Cardinal protected a child rapist, he should be punished. NOT by the church, which has shown their brand of justice (which is to either ignore or bury the problem) but by the laws of the land in which they live. Here in the United States of America, than means prison.

I am going to write an article called Gays and Lesbians in our Midst because the church is fighting gay marriages in Mass. While the Catholic Church in general is more tolerant of gays, the political position is equally treasonous of the morality they attempt to teach. (Although my political constitutional changes would render the issue somewhat moot, since there would be no financial pressure to be married or unmarried) Cardinal Law no longer lives in Boston because he did not have the courage to lead, then or now, and he had plenty of second chances. I'm not sure I would agree "nothing has been done," but at another level, I would. The cleansing has not taken place (but i don't go to church every week either, so how would i know.) Doing the "right thing" always assumes some personal risk, real or imagined. Empower those with the courage to take it, and have mercy for those who do not. There is, of course, a fine line between challenging someone and attacking them. The difference is between trying to lift them up and trying to put them down. Is it the person, the idea, or the behavior that is wrong? In general, if you create a division between them and you, it is an attack. That's my 2 cents worth. Hopefully I stayed on the right side of the line...another problem of language. I have friends and family, who, like you, are very angry at the church. I am too, but attacking the church will only destroy it, not lift it up. Challenge it, and it will lift up both you and the church.

Steve Consilvio

It can only destroy it if the foundation upon which it is built is weak. If this does indeed destroy the church, so be it. Perhaps, like the Phoenix, something better will rise up from it. But I don't think this WILL destroy the church. If they do the right thing, and morally and spiritually they know, as you and I do, what that is, then the church will become stronger. That which does not kill us...

I think this would make an excellent letter. If you don't mind, I would like to post it as such? Chances are, I will be getting a LOT of email on this one in the next few days. And while I would love to respond to each and every one with the length I have this one, I know that will not be possible. (Today is the due date, she is officially late.) If you like, I could simply leave your name out of it on the letter page. I think both our views would be expressed equally, and make a nice supplement to my article. (Which took me less time to write than this email, believe it or not!)

Tim

The Fine Print - 2/24/03
Yeah, I got a battery, or rather 3.6v cell, at Radio Shack, and it died in one and a half years. Gotta be aware of how long it's been hanging on their rack. Now I wouldn't buy one from any store other than one that caters to Macs and has good turnover of their pram cells.

Robert Liles

Thanks for writing Rob. That's an excellent point. Every battery package sold at retail today is supposed to have a "Use by" date on it.

Watch for that on the package. If you bought one that only lasted a year and a half, you are probably right, it was sitting there gathering dust for ages. Still, you gotta admit, it's fun to take a poke at Radio Shack once in awhile. I'll explain what I think is wrong with Radio Shack in my next column.

Bruce B.

Becoming a Maestro - 2/20/03
Hi Chris I read you review but have a question. Can I use this software with iPhoto 2 to add music to slide shows...or is this just for movies.

Thanks,

Bill Bischoff

Dear Bill,
Thanks for reading the article. I don't think you can directly use Movie Maestro in iPhoto2. But you could use Movie Maestro to create a soundtrack of your desired length and import that into iPhoto2. The downside to doing this is that if the length of the slideshow changes you'll have to repeat the process.

Chris Seibold

Over Weathermen - 2/7/03
Mr. Black,
I recently read your article on-line about T.V.weathermen blowing the weather out of proportion. I am an on air TV weatherman in Springfield, Massachusetts and grew up in Eastern Massachusetts. Could you please be more specific as to what on-air Met. in Boston yells and jumps around anymore then Don Kent did. Harvey Leonard? No. Barry Burbank? No. Ed Carrol No? I'm sorry but no one was more overly excited then Don Kent, and if you were keeping score Don Kent was no where near as accurate as Harvey, then and now.

As far as the extensive coverage from one storm to the next, I am sure you are aware it is a Producers decision or a decision the News Director makes. It is not a Meteorologists decision to put a pretty girl out in the middle of a storm. Also Whether your aware of it or not, it seem as though every storm someone ends up in an accident or hurt due to not taking the storm serious enough. Sounds to me that people still don't listen. Finally, weather is something that effects everyone on a day to day basis, good or bad it effects their day. Find another story that is more upclose and personal then weather. You can't. So although I respect your story and view. I disagree. But I would like to know the TV weatherman IN BOSTON that jumps around and goes over the top. I know of them all and can't come up with any names..

Thanks,
Dan Brown.

Hello Dan, thanks for writing.
It's perfectly ok that you disagree with my own thoughts and views on TV weather people I firmly believe in the freedom to disagree. So, having said that, on to your comments and questions.

I remember the weather forecasts of Don Kent, and Bob Copeland very well. I think Don Kent's weather reporting was very accurate, given the technology which was available at that time. I don't think he was over excited at all, although he made no secret of the fact that he loved a big storm. Bob Copeland was the same way. Neither weatherman went over the line on hype. Today, I think Harvey Leonard is arguably the best TV weatherman in Boston. His on-air presentation is top notch, and yes, he is generally very accurate. No, he does not go overboard on hype. But I rarely catch one of his forecasts.

I fully understand that in a commercial television station, the producers, news directors, and general managers have the decision making authority. I don't think I implied otherwise. Maybe the managers should be aware that putting an attractive woman out by the side of Route 128 in a blizzard is corny at best. I'm not sure what the intention of this could possibly be, except to pull in male viewers.

I agree that some people don't get the message to "take it easy" on the roads when there is a storm going on. It seems that no matter how many times people are warned to slow down on the roads, or to take it easy when shoveling, or to avoid coastal areas, there are some who "just don't get it". This can arguably be attributed to "Machismo" or the "Nobody tells ME what to do" attitude. No one, not TV weather people, or police officers, are going to change the minds of such people.

What's more personal, or touches more people's lives on a daily basis than weather? Perhaps the financial reports. That effects everyone who draws a paycheck. The world political situation? Yeah, that effects everyone, and these days, I think it's pretty important.

So, who yells and jumps around? Mark Rosenthal comes to mind. He was with Channel five for years, but it seems he departed, about the same time that Harvey Leonard started with Channel five. (Last August, I think.) When forecasting the "April Fools Day Snowstorm", which happened on April 1st, 1997, I honestly thought Ol' Mark was going to do cartwheels, right there on TV, he was that excited. It had been a very mild winter up to that point. Two other Boston weathermen who should really switch to decaf: Todd Gross, of WHDH (channel 7) and Kevin Lemanowicz, of WFXT (channel 25) I'm sure they're both smart, well-educated guys, but there is really no need for the shouting and chaotic body movements. Jeesh!

Bruce B.

Sight & Sound - 1/17/03
Tim,

I have read your review and Cindy O'Hora's review of the North American Birds Sight & Sound CD and would love to purchase it. Most of the CDs on birding are Windows based. I have tried calling 1-420-467-4484 and going to the web to http://www.natureware.com and have not been able to reach the company. Do you know if they are still around or where I could get this CD?

Barbara Lester

Barbara,
Unfortunately, it appears they went out of business over a year or more ago. (yours is not the first email I have received on the company) I have tried to track them down to no avail.

The CD was found a few times on eBay, so I would suggest checking there if you would like to purchase a copy. (I would have sent you mine, but I already gave it away to another reader)

Tim

You're a Hero - 1/8/03
If you let the cursor hover over the target, a tooltip will pop up explaining why you can't cast that spell on that monster.

Common ones:
Spellcaster can't see target
The target is immune to magic
The target is undead, and life spells don't work on undead.
The target is mechanical, and mind-control spells don't work on them...
The target already is under the affect of that same spell.

You haven't really missed much in the previous Heros games - this is pretty much the exact same game with spiffier graphics. It runs on X though - the list of MOSX compatible games not real lengthy :)

Alan S. Blue

Thanks for the information Alan. I really enjoyed Heroes of Might and Magic IV, I just wish I didn't have to rely on thoughtful notes like yours to explain some of the less intuitive parts of the game.

Chris

Joyful Dilmea - 1/2/03
Hi Tim,

An old guy here who loves Mac OS X (converted from Windows about 6 months ago). I like your site and the video reviews. Nice job. I can't find any type of joystick to use with my TiPB for OS X games (like Wolfenstein). Could you review some better choices? Thanks.

Steve

Logitech¨ Freedom 2.4ª Cordless Joystick. It is REALLY cool, but alas, they have yet to send one our way for review :-( I have played with one at a friends, however, and really liked it. Smooth. Cost around $70. Of course, for twice that, you could buy a Nintendo GameCube, which I received over the holiday. Really a fantastic little game machine.

Thanks for the kind words about the site. I REALLY need to get more of those video reviews done. I have three to do, but have procrastinated too much... Hope this helped!

Tim

Get a Clue - 12/30/02
Get a clue, use Mozilla or Chimera and you can shut off popups with a check box.

John Oswald

Not always an option in a corporate environment. Also, there are many websites now which require authentication via M$ browsers, so this application (Pop-Up Zapper) is a must. (Unfortunately)

I have a clue, many in fact. There is more to the usage besides the home user who has a choice in applications.

Tim

Ancient - 12/30/02
Hello,

I searched the internet in order to download softwindows98, without success. Can you give me a website where I can find it ?

Many thanks and happy new year 2003

Pierre Goffinet
Belgium

That program is long gone, the company who made it dead. I would suggest looking at Virtual PC from Connectix.

Tim

From a "Regular" - 12/23/02
Bruce,
Good article.

You just found out about Bond ?? took you long enough. you're slipping.

My kid's hate MacDonald's, and are not terrible fond of fast food in general. ( with the possible exception of pizza )

I agree. sexy ads only make me think about sex. I don't give a damn what they're selling.

I've made strong efforts to educate my kids about the evil and lies of advertising, and they definitely "get it" .

if you're going to drink any scotch at all, don't waste your money on anything that isn't a single malt, distilled in Scotland ( expensive, but worth it. try glenlivet )........lighter fluid. yuck.

have a happy holiday!
Gary S. Turner

Hi Gary,
I am glad to know that some parents are guiding their kids carefully. And yes, the first time I saw that watch commercial, all I could remember was the ladies of "bond". It was not until the second time that I realized it was an ad for watches. Some bad news though: Raymond Weil has released two ads for this year, featuring only the music of bond in the background. To Quote a very wise man, "Why I outta.....!" ( Or was that a "wise guy"?) As for Scottish imports, I'll stick with "Walkers Short Bread", a definite weakness of mine.

Bruce B.

Amusing - 12/23/02
Bruce,
You wrote:
"I do understand that "one man's music, is another man's noise", so if you're into "Black Sabbath", or "The Butthole Surfers", then bond is not for you. Fair enough?"

Actually, there are many people I know who like Black Sabbath and classical music. I'm one of them, and my favorite performers are: Black Sabbath, Cat Stevens, Kronos Quartet, Loreena McKennitt, The Innocence Mission, Squonk Opera, Dead Can Dance, Joy Division, and Tori Amos, to name a few. Most of these I first heard on public radio.

Anyway, just thought you'd find it amusing what some people's musical tastes are.

Have a thoroughly engaging and enjoyable day,
Christopher Letzelter

Hi Chris, thanks for reading and writing.

You're right, of course. People do indeed have varied tastes in music, and some music lovers "cross all lines". Anything wrong with that? Nothing that I can detect. You should see what's in some of my iTunes playlists. Thanks again

Bruce B.

Suggestions - 12/23/02
Tim,
Recently bought a mac and after transferring data from PC and adding this and that, used retrospect backup for first time. Several questions/situations arose which make me wonder about this software.

1. used 4.7 gb DVD-r for 21 GB of data-but needed 6 and 1/2 disks (~29gb)-why the loss of space in transfer.

2. could not close the dvd/cd drive on the emac by pushing the button on the keyboard-had to manually push it in EVERY disk change.

3. unable to see cursor to click on anything during the data transfer OR IN BETWEEN DISK transfers-even when data wasn't transferring-occasionally something would highlight, but it was guess work to shut down the menu that was active.

4. the program showed that all the files had been transferred, but we never got the message stating everything was completed-eg we knew it was done by reading the data numbers-it said files remaining was "0" but again no spoken message.

6. Because we never got the complete message, and could not move the cursor (or see it), after many futile attempts we had to shut the computer down. Imagine our chagrin, briefly, at seeing a "blue screen". Fortunately everythin came up ok, except that the last disk had been left in the computer (we couldn't remove it), and when the computer came back up, it said the disk in the dvd drive had data that was unreadable by OS X.

Overally we now wonder if we have ANY usable data, but it took 8 hrs (ave 45-70 mg info transferred/sec-kept deteriorating over time) and we are reluctant to repeat the process if we don't have to.

Any ideas as to what happened? This was our first bad experience w/apple and mac software. STill it represented an enormous amount of time and was very reminiscent of previous PC/microsoft experience.
Mo

Mo,
Honestly, it sounds like there is a problem with the Mac OS. I used Retro every day at my full time job as an IT manager, and have had it act up as any program will, but not to the degree you have seen. I would look into fixing the Mac, and reinstalling retro.

Also, once Retro is working, the eject media key will not work because the media being used is "owned" by retro, not the finder.

Tim

Apple Products Invade 'TechTV Gift Guide' - 11/25/02
Just wanted to let Mac fan sites know that 3 Apple products made it into 'TechTV's Top 20 Gifts' this year. That's the most products from a single manufacturer, and the most Apple products featured in the TechTV gift guide ever.

The Top 20 Gift list will be revealed on November 26....

Go to "http://www.techtv.com/holiday" for more info.

X-Scanner - 11/5/02
I was surfing the web and I came across your web site and began reading your article about the free OS X for teachers. I too am a teacher and received my CDs last week. Being you are a teacher I thought you might be able to recommend a flatbed scanner to replace my one year old Umax Astra 6400 firewire scanner. Since OS 9.2.2, my scanner's software doesn't work and I went online and discovered that Umax is not going to update their drivers for 9.2 and never create one for OS X. I now have a $200.00 piece of equipment that no longer works - at least on my 4 Macs. All 4 are used - I even have one in my classroom and our school only has PC's 3 online labs and 45 individual Dells.

Anyway, do you have an opinion about a flatbed scanner. I've been searching for as many articles concerning scanners and their support for both 9.2 and X and came across that HP 4570c and Epson's 1660 and a few other Epson's look like they will support both OS. I've only used Umax scanners and am worried which brand would be best.
Tom

Before you invest in a new piece of hardware, you may want to check out VueScan. It allows a TON of UMAX scanners to work under OS X. You can download and try it out at VersionTracker. Try before you buy. I bet it will work with yours perfectly. Let me know either way.

Tim

Origin - 11/5/02
Dear Tim,

I have to say that I enjoy reading your column, but I would like to point out some info on Fifth/Third bank. The name came from the fact that their headquarters are located at the corner of 5th and 3rd streets. The name was not derived from a multi-million dollar marketing scheme.

Sincerely,
Jim Gesing

Jim,
Hey, thanks for that information! I was always wondering where it came from. I still think it is a stupid name for a bank, at least beyond their original address.

Thanks for letting me know!

Tim

Strength of a Review - 10/29/02
I am just writing to say how much I enjoyed your review.

I bought the book.

The book itself is, as you say, "a great book". Alas, however, I shall never know how good the DVD is. The reason?

I live in England, and the DVD is region 1 encoded. Not only can I not play it on my Mac, I cannot play it on my home DVD unit. Bollocks.

Otherwise, I heartily enjoyed your review. It is not often that I buy a product on the strength of a review but, I must say, notwithstanding the DVD situation, the book itself is excellent.

Thank you,
Michael Cogan

Thanks for the kind words, Michael. I don't usually get email from for my reviews, always nice to see!

Another book I have a review pending, and well worth you money, Is Mac OS X Killer Tips by Scott Kelby. I really enjoy it!

Tim

All done with WriteNow - 10/22/02
I was inordinately pleased to see that someone else had the good sense to put WriteNow forward as the greatest Mac App of all time. WriteNow is the reason why I got my first Fat Mac and is the reason why I have my iMac today - All the others are "eggs in my beer," but the beer is WriteNow! Letters, research, my novel, short stories et al, are done in WriteNow and I applaud its simplicity and clarity. Too bad no one has taken the effort to seriously update it with new modern features, but even so, it remains the best word processor on the Mac.

Yosef

Greatest App is Nisus - 10/22/02
Nisus 3.6, which I still use preferentially, in Classic.

Virtues: unlimited Undoes, multiple clipboards, fantastic search/find/change abilities, lovely integrated graphics in a word processor, easy formatting, good spell-checker and thesaurus - and all this, a decade or so ago!

Now, if we only had an OS X version of BOOMERANG.

Al Feldzamen

DUH - 10/22/02
Duh, Graphic Converter. There is nothing else quite like it. It slices, it dices, it opens almost any graphic format and saves the same way. Regularly updated and works in OS X and earlier systems with equal power and ease of use. It does things that Photoshop simply can't do and much of what it can, for less than 10% of the cost. Handles folders of images and automates scaling.

I do miss FinderPop on OS X though.

John Oswald

MacPaint's the One - 10/22/02
I can't believe that nobody suggested MacPaint for your article.

Really, the credit should go to the original Mac128 software bundle of MacPaint/MacWrite/MacDraw, which were derived from the original Lisa apps, and it was the integration of apps that really showed the way for later apps like MSWord and Pagemaker. The ability to cut and paste a graphic from MacPaint into MacWrite was a truly astonishing feature to most users.

But MacPaint is the king. It was the precursor to PixelPaint, Painter, Photoshop, and any other paint program you can think of. Miniature versions of MacPaint still exist, as embedded bitmap editors in other apps. If you were around computers in the early Mac days, you remember the graphic explosion that occurred. People started putting together massively complex graphic documents and then banging them out on Imagewriters. The Thunderscan module for the Imagewriter brought 1-bit scans into MacPaint.

MacPaint really changed the way people thought about computers. People saw it and immediately grasped it, and started thinking about how they could use it for their real work. On the other side, the primitive Windows system had just been released with the first graphics apps like PC-Paint. They were horrible, poorly designed apps, and PC users spurned the mouse. Even those few users that tried graphics on the PC, could not integrate images and text easily (anyone besides me remember Ventura Publisher 1.0?)

The original MacPaint established the look and feel of the Mac, and encouraged people to integrate graphics into all their work. It became the signature of the Mac, for the first time you could look at a document and say "Hey, I KNOW this guy uses a Mac." It truly is the Greatest Macintosh Application of All Time.

Charles Eicher

My Thoughts- 10/22/02
Of course, depending on what you do and how old you will play a part into it. For those of us using computers/word processors in 1984, we will not forget the first instant MacPaint and to a lesser degree, MacWrite booted up. Right at that moment, it crystalized that computers were more than crytic machines requiring a secondary degree to use and it opened up ALL of the possibilities. You couldn't even print out in color with MacPaint nor did you care - even if you weren't artists, people would just spend days doodling and noodling on it - it was like the first time we could literally control a machine to do what we wanted. MacWrite was as revolutionary but since it wasn't as free-form, it was only a 97 on a scale of 100. Pagemaker was nice but after Macpaint, it seemed only a matter of time that someone would be able to merge the technical controls of MacDraw with MacPaint-like features. So, it was great (and still is great) but it seemed a natural evolution. BUT PhotoShop - Photoshop was the next to grab us by the shoulders and shake us. Again, the immediate flood of all that was now possible lay before us ... And then it was a long time before Netscape. Though, of course, there was not many places to go but slowly, you could see that you go travel 15,000 miles in 10 seconds ... while we had CompuServe and others, that never seemed very real or interesting but to see a photo of students in Auckland, now, it was real ... and the coffee machine showed you the ability to see, control and "touch" things a million miles away. My thoughts. KC