My Email Works Now
In case you’ve tried to send me email via the ‘kev’ link above, and got an error, that’s been fixed. So again, I welcome any sort of email. Just let me know what’s on your mind.
GUIs Just Want To Be Fucking Ugly?
I don’t know how many of you have picked up the latest ‘Wired’ (the magazine, not the website), but there’s an article in particular that makes me a little frustrated. It’s called ‘GUIs Just Want To Have Fun,’ the photo accompanying which is a screenshot of a horrifically put together Litestep skin for Windows. The article proceeds to mention the following: NeoPlanet, Litestep, Darkstep, Winamp, Sonique, RealJukebox, Halflife, Skinz.org, the WinAqua skin that copied MacOS X before it was even beta, etc. What they failed to mention were the following: Kaleidoscope, Macast, Audion, etc. Despite the fact that Audion is the most advanced MP3 player on the market (at least, as far as skinning goes), for any OS, allowing use of alpha channels for shadows, transparencies, etc. There were some interesting quotes, however, regarding the problems with skinning from Mac guru Jef Raskin.
Needless to say, I was pissed. So here is the e-mail I promptly wrote them, in its entirety:
Being a Macintosh user, I’ve grown accustomed to having an elegant interface at my fingertips. When I came acros ‘GUIs Just Want To Have Fun,’ I anticipated an interesting read. Before diving into the article, however, I studied the photo (a screenshot of a Litestep-‘enhanced’ Windows desktop) long and hard. What I saw was a beautifully rendered but unusable interface that would drive me crazy if I had to use it for any length of time. What I found in the article was more of the same: a complete lack of interest in usability. What I also found was an almost incomprehensible lack of attention to the MacOS.
Kaleidoscope has been a staple control panel of Mac users for years, with thousands of schemes (skins, to you Windows users) available. Despite this fact, I find that shortly after I install a Kaleidoscope scheme, I often abandon it for the traditional Platinum MacOS look. Why? The people at Apple have spent years and millions of dollars researching usability and user experience. I’m not about to abdandon their results just because some jerk in his dorm room thinks the windows should look like they’re made of rusted metal. I highly doubt it’s a fluke that one of the most popular Windows skins is a knockoff of MacOS X. You know what? We’re the ones that actually get to use the OS, not just a skin of it.
I guess if I had to use Windows, I’d want to pile as much crap on top of it as I could, too. So nevermind. I get your point.
As The Apple Turns
I can’t believe I’ve never seen this site before: As The Apple Turns. If you’d like to see a little less agressive version of what we tend to write about, with more of a slick writing style, check it out. It’s like a soap-opera for fruit.
I Guess This is Working…
This article just confirms what I already know:
‘Many of the best sites out there are under-read, under-rated or undiscovered. Use your “poor standing” as motivation to KICK SOME ASS. Show those fuckers what they are missing out on. Post unique, original stuff and people will notice you. Until then, let spite be your best friend, your muse, your raison d’etre. Walk around with a big ol’ chip on your shoulder cause you’re doing a bang-up job, even if nobody has noticed. Be proud to be a hip, underground weblog, read only by a few in the know. I would not trade a handful of readers I respect and like for 10,000 hits a day from people just following the herd. ‘
Those of you that read this fairly regularly: you guys rock. I wouldn’t even believe that anyone reads this, except I checked the logs once.
Do We Really Need This?
Yahoo! thinks you need the internet in taxicabs. Or at least people in New York do. They’ve started outfitting cabs (purple, not yellow) in NYC with Palm VIIs. Apparently, people like ’em.
You can’t do any real surfing with them. You can just get things like the weather, sports scores, movie times, stock prices, etc. Stuff you should really know in a cab. They’re tethered to the back of the driver’s seat and -this is the best part- if a thief tries to take the Palm by way of force, the tether is wrapped around the motherboard, and it shatters into a million peices. Awesome. I’m going to try to do that in a couple of weeks when I’m out there. Wish me luck.
OSX Public Beta Rocks
While I am not writing this from within IE5 for OSX, I should be. I have successfully installed and used OSX Public Beta. The best I can say: go fucking buy it or download it or get it any way you can. I would be using it as my only OS if I did not have to connect to NT Servers via Dave. It is a pleasure to use. I haven’t felt this way about a Mac OS since I first saw the ‘Switcher’ in System 7. The dock is awesome. The Finder is awesome (sort of, it takes some getting used to). The desktop does, however, need some work. Sometimes you have to log out and back in to see things in your desktop. Also, I downloaded OmniWeb, and it didn’t show up in the Finder right away. I had to do a Sherlock search to find it, and then open it OUT of Sherlock, because it wasn’t showing up in the Finder where Sherlock said it should have been. But hey. It’s a beta OS.
And it took 7 minutes (!) to install. UNIX BSD layer and all. Awesome. The entire setup process is a pleasure to go through, and the OS is beautiful. I really enjoy the graphite button option.
So, again. Get your own copy of it.
Microsoft 'Accidentally' Overcharges?
(from WiredNews)
Apparently, some MSN customers credit cards were ‘accidentally’ overcharged from $500 to over $1000.
‘By early afternoon, MSN said it had discovered the source of the problem — a glitch in its new billing system software.
“What happened was, MSN was in the process of testing a new billing system, and somehow an erroneous test script got sent out” to the credit-card-processing company in the wee hours of Friday morning, said Melissa Banks, a spokeswoman for Microsoft. ‘
When Bill Gates was questioned about the erroneous charges, he replied “You don’t think I got this rich by writing checks, do you?”
Those scripts, boy. They’ll bite you in the ass. Do you think it’s a coincidence that the spokeswoman’s name is ‘Melissa’? Heh. All of a sudden, my Earthlink account looks like it was a really good idea.
I'm Such A Dork
It’s friday night, and I’m downloading a beta unix-based OS via Hotline over DSL, while watching The Matrix in the dark. Jeez. Who’d of thought I’d ever be that much of a dork?
I Dare You
Try to find info on Movie Maker ( the iMovie ripoff included with Windows ME) on Microsoft.com.
Go ahead. Try it. We’ll wait.
So not only are their OSes impossible to use, but so is their website.
Huh?
From WiredNews: ‘Microsoft has released Windows Millennium Edition, or Windows ME, the first version of the Windows operating system designed specifically for home users.’
Uhm…. Huh? Do you mean to tell me that Windows 95 and Windows 98 were intended for PROFESSIONAL users?
Now, THIS quote is makes a little more sense: ‘But one outstanding application doesn’t compensate for the system crashes and slow performance exhibited on our test machines.
‘
Also, this one: ‘Windows ME also tested slower than Windows 98. ‘
‘The “Home Networking” wizard helps users set up file, printer, and Internet-based sharing over a peer-to-peer network, a worthy feature but one that has been a basic part of the Macintosh operating system for years.’
That makes sense. Why don’t you put out new software that’s SLOWER and WORSE than the software it’s supposed to replace? Why the hell is Bill Gates so fucking rich? These people should be BEGGING people to buy their software, not mandating it.
Check this out: ‘Some analysts think that ME is correctly targeted at less savvy consumers and does not offer much for experienced computer users.
“Windows ME is clearly aimed at home users. It doesn’t have the sort of cutting-edge benefits and features a sophisticated user would want or need,” said Victor Pagano, an analyst with Andersen Consulting.’
That’s cool. As a home user, I wouldn’t need STABILITY, or anything ADVANCED like that. I’m just an idiot with an internet account and a checkbook. I don’t NEED my computer for anything. I don’t really care that it crashes so much, I just need it for stupid shit in the first place.