Category: apple

OS9-style Window Management in OSX

Ashley Bischoff1 Comment

I don’t have a PowerBook yet, but I'm already collecting URLs for useful Mac software for when I get one ;). One such utility that looks interesting is the plainly-named Classic Window Management — it’s a freeware app that sets OSX to use OS9-style bring-to-front rules for application windows.

Classic Window Management gives you the option to have windows in Mac OS X behave like they did in Mac OS 9, where all of an application's windows stayed grouped together. So when you click on one window, all windows belonging to that application come to the front. […]

If that still doesn't make sense, just check out the site — the illustrations there should clarify things. Of course, not having a Mac, I can’t say that I’ve tried this app, but it can't be that bad if both Zeldman and Eric Meyer like it ;).

New PowerBooks Coming?

Ashley Bischoff2 Comments

According to rumors summarized by The Register, Apple may be readying new 15" and 17" PowerBooks:

PowerPage claims the new model sports a 1.25GHz G4 processor and support for 800Mbps 1394, aka FireWire 800. The new 15in PowerBook presents all its ports on the right-hand side of the machine. In looks, says PowerPage’s source, the new model looks like a scaled-down 17in model — it even features the latter’s illuminated keyboard. […]

PowerBooks are really due for an update — they were last released in January and it’s been 225 days since then (the average time between PowerBook updates is 146 days). Of course, some people have been saying “any day now” since Apple slashed PowerBook prices back in June. Still, a PowerBook would be really tempting and a fresh release might be enough to push be towards one.

Rumor: “Piles” in Panther / Mac OSX 10.3

Ashley Bischoff1 Comment

This post on the OSX World Forums points to this article with the rumor that Mac OSX 10.3 (Panther) might include “piles”:

Mac OS X 10.3 will finally see the implementation of the “piles” interface concept patented by Apple back in the dear, dead days of Copland but never delivered to the desktop. The feature, which has been lobbied for by Bruce Tognazzini and other interface curmudgeons, is designed to ease the clutter of windows in the Finder: The Blade’s sources indicate that extraneous windows will shrink and jump out of the way automatically, rearranging themselves into scaled-down tiles in response to the user’s movements.) […]

Cool! And if Tog likes it, I look forward to the feature all the more. Of course, it’d help to have a Powerbook as well ;).

Fabulous Powerbooks

Ashley Bischoff4 Comments

I’ve occasionally had throughts about buying a laptop and, especially with WiFi proliferation, they’re becoming more and more useful. In particular, I started reconsidering Apple when those switch commercials came out. Mac die-hards, at least the ones I’ve talked to, tend to consider them cheesy, but I found them rather down-to-earth and unpretentious.

More than that, MetaFilter had a post back in June about some switch-logs (for lack of a better term) where regular users would write about their experiences switching from Windows to Mac.

Switch. Apple launches its first major ad campaign since “Think Different”. Rather than preaching to the converted, it's gunning for the other 90% — the unhappy Windows users. Can Apple double its marketshare to 10% as Steve Jobs is hoping? Does this represent a less smug, more aggressive Apple? Are you considering switching, or have you switched already?

Interestingly, I now realize that I’ve met Jish (linked to the word “switched” above) at SXSW, so that gives his account extra credability to me.

However, the PC-to-Mac Log at EdgeCurve.com is even more comprehensive. It chronicles one user’s Mac expereience from opening-the-box and onwards over two months. With that level of detail, I really got a feeling for what switching might be like (of course, in my case, it’d only end up as a somewhat-switch since I’d still have Linux and/or Windows on my desktop machine).

What finally sealed it for me was SXSW. At such a geek-friendly festival, I wasn’t particularly surprised to discover that the convention center had WiFi throughout. And, it wasn’t uncommon for attendees to bring along their laptops and browse the web and check their e-mail between or during panels.

What astounded me was the breadth of Mac users. Of attendees that had laptops, I estimated thatg about 9 out of 10 had a Mac. Jish, Leia, Ruaraidh, and even Ben and Mena Trott — all Macs. If I had a Real Web Job, I would have been tempted to borrow someone’s Powerbook, load apple.com/store, and order one right then and there.

PS: I considered titling this entry “Oh, my beloved Powerbook, how I love to lick your creamy center”, but it was too long and also a bit osbscure.