Posted on 05/02/2005 6:00:26 PM PDT by quidnunc
-snip-
The fact that we have an entry today is a testament to Tiger, the new Mac OS. Friday night I went to the Mall (took Gnat, so she may have a dim memory of these wondrous times) to get OS X 10.4, promising her we’d get ice cream. Here’s a sign of how much Apple-flavored Kool-Aid I’ve consumed: as we approached the store I noted the jam-packed parking lot and thought gee, I hope they’re not all here for the new operating system — what if they’ve run out? (It was seven PM, one hour after they’d opened the doors.) Then I realized that most people were here for crude, base things like movies or meals, and relaxed. There was a cattle-chute marked off my ropes that had contained the mob until six; one employee told me people had been queued since three. Three hundred and fifty people were waiting when they opened the doors. At the Mall of America, the line stretched halfway down the length of the Mall, which is no small accomplishment. All this for widgets?
Yes. Yes, indeed. That’s why we’re here: widgets. The new OS has a handy little feature called “Dashboard” — hit F12, and the screen fills with mini-apps of varying usefulness. I don’t need an analogue clock, for example. The FedEx tracking widget will come in handy someday. The Flight Tracker widget, which displays flight speed, position, arrival time, is cool beyond measure. But there’s a dictionary widget, a phone book, a weather program, and an FTP widget that makes uploading this site a thing of beauty — I just hit F12, drag the file to the widget, and voila. In the old days I opened the program, logged in, navigated to the proper folder, and dragged it over: four steps. FOUR! This is 2005: I don’t have time for four steps. Now it’s two steps. I will spend the extra time learning how to sculpt marble.
I did a complete reformat on the laptop, because there’s nothing there I can’t lose. Reloading the programs ran up against a problem, long forgotten: when I tried to reinstall Adobe GoLive, which I use to build the website, it informed me that this was an upgrade disc. Original serial number, please? Oy: Bog knows where that is. I will spare you the details of the Frankenstein-like experiments I tried to bring the old legacy Macs back to life to find the AppleWorks document with the serial number; enough to say that I failed, and downloaded a version of Dreamweaver to give it a try. This may be the impetus to switch from that craptacular GoLive to Dreamweaver, after all. (Save your emails: I know it’s the superior product.) (This page is done in Dreamweaver, so forgive any glitches.)
The interface tweaks are subtle and gorgeous. The first time I saw the Ripple effect when adding a widget, I think a small amount of drool slid from my lower lip. When I called up the Star Tribune computer in emulation mode, and got a screen of icons from Win95, I felt like I’d spit on the Mona Lisa.
Yes, I am snorting powdered Kool-Aid up my nose. It’s faster that way. Why do you ask?
FYI
Now that Adobe has acquired Macromedia, it'll be interesting to see which apps survive.
If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.
My Wife has gone Widget Crazy!!!!!
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