The future of user interfaces will be 3-D and it looks like the Sun has been busy with its Project Looking Glass 1.0 3-D user interface. "Sun Releases 1.0 Looking Glass Interface". As for the future, the 3-D user-interfaces are qutie impressive from the screenshots I have seen. You have got to check them out for yourself.
Just noting it here since Sun recently put a 1.0 out there for the open source community to experiment with and evolve.
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Friday, December 29, 2006
OpenOffice.org 2.1 on the Mac OS X
I have been using OpenOffice.org on Windows and Linux for many years now. I just recently got myself a MacBook and have spent the last three weeks using it and learning how Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) works. I have to say that I am getting more comfortable using the Mac OS X. I am using Firefox as my browser, have gotten used to the various Mac OS X applications and am now getting serious about using my new Mac as a software development machine. I primarily develop in Java so getting all my development tools setup on the Mac is a must. This includes Eclipse, NetBeans, Tomcat, JBoss, Nvu and OpenOffice at a minimum.
Well I must say that OpenOffice runs fine on the Mac OS X after finally getting it installed last week. Currently you must have X11 running in order to use OpenOffice on the Mac. A pure Aqua version of OpenOffice is in beta and should be ready for primetime in 2007. Look here for details. I downloaded NeoOffice which runs fine however, for me I noticed a few performance issues with NeoOffice. So I reverted back to OpenOffice as my word processing, presentation, spreadsheet, and desktop database suite of productivity applications.
What really amazes me is how brainwashed so many users are with the perception that they 'must have' Microsoft office in order to function on a computer. I met several Mac users that said they purchased Office for the Mac in order to do word processing. Wow, the marketing machine at Microsoft sure does have everyone fooled.
This is the reason why I am blogging about OpenOffice on the Mac. It is available today and works as advertised. If only more Mac users or recent converts were aware of OpenOffice and its capabilities they could save themselves a few dollars and rid themselves of Microsoft. Personally, I enjoy have a Microsoft free laptop using my new Macbook. I have had the same on my Linux notebook for years and it sure does feel great not having to be dependent on Microsoft for my personal computing requirements.
Too bad that I work in a predominately Windows environment at work. It would be nice to see Macs brought into the workplace. Based on my experience, it just works like my refrigerator. No strange behavior, bugs, or just plain oddness to worry about anymore.
Well I must say that OpenOffice runs fine on the Mac OS X after finally getting it installed last week. Currently you must have X11 running in order to use OpenOffice on the Mac. A pure Aqua version of OpenOffice is in beta and should be ready for primetime in 2007. Look here for details. I downloaded NeoOffice which runs fine however, for me I noticed a few performance issues with NeoOffice. So I reverted back to OpenOffice as my word processing, presentation, spreadsheet, and desktop database suite of productivity applications.
What really amazes me is how brainwashed so many users are with the perception that they 'must have' Microsoft office in order to function on a computer. I met several Mac users that said they purchased Office for the Mac in order to do word processing. Wow, the marketing machine at Microsoft sure does have everyone fooled.
This is the reason why I am blogging about OpenOffice on the Mac. It is available today and works as advertised. If only more Mac users or recent converts were aware of OpenOffice and its capabilities they could save themselves a few dollars and rid themselves of Microsoft. Personally, I enjoy have a Microsoft free laptop using my new Macbook. I have had the same on my Linux notebook for years and it sure does feel great not having to be dependent on Microsoft for my personal computing requirements.
Too bad that I work in a predominately Windows environment at work. It would be nice to see Macs brought into the workplace. Based on my experience, it just works like my refrigerator. No strange behavior, bugs, or just plain oddness to worry about anymore.
Sunday, December 10, 2006
My Initial Mac
After years of working with Windows, Linux, OS/2, I have always wanted to get into the Mac but never had the motivation or reason to spend the money to get a Mac. Well with the release of the Intel based Macs earlier this year and the ability to run Linux and Windows in virtualization via Parallels and soon VMware I took the plunge and bought me a MacBook on 11/29/2006. After seeing the features of Windows Vista and waiting for its release, I don't see any compelling reason to upgrade to Vista within the year or so unless it occurs at work. For personal home, entertainment, and personal multiplatform research use, I am going with Mac OS X.
After using it for a few days I am happy to say that I really like the Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger and the Mac in general. There are some extremely intuitive and unique capabilities on the Mac OS X that I have not seen on Linux, OS/2, or Windows. The Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger Dashboard, Expose, HotCorners UI features name just a few. These are the features that I have been using extensively. There is this UI automation feature which I haven't even gotten into yet. I forgot the name of it but it looks exactly the type of thing I was looking for in a 21st century operating system.
As far as multimedia is concerned, the Mac just blows away Windows in my opinion and experience. I have used Windows Media Center Edition and compared to the Mac, it looks like a half-baked experiment. The Mac multimedia device experience is like an extremely polished and intuitive appliance. It is just something you have to experience personally is all that I can say.
I still have a lot to learn about the Mac architecture, Darwin, Cocoa, Aqua, X11 on the Mac and more. After just running on it for a few days, I am excited to say that I like it! I will be blogging a lot more about the Mac in this blog and more in the next few years. Given that I do almost everything on the web or online now, switching to a Mac was a piece of cake for me. Mozilla Firefox and Safari work nicely and I had almost nothing to learn from a user perspective.
From a software engineering perspective, Mac OS X totally embraces Java which is good for me since I have been working with Java technology for a long time. I have been finding quite a bit of open source stuff for the Mac which is nice to know. I really like all the Dashboard Widgets. For the future, I have been looking at the previews of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard that Apple has been putting on their website and it has some innovations that again will make my next Mac OS X upgrade in 2007 a more capable Mac. The new Spaces and TimeMachine capabilities are a step into the future.
I will continue working with Linux and Windows since that is how I make a living but it would be nice to be able to make a living working on Mac OS X for web development. At any rate, I hope your future computing is as enjoyable as I foresee mine will be. After just a few days of using my MacBook, I feel better about my computing future already. In addition to all the above, I forgot to mention that my MacBook just aesthetically looks and physically feels cool under my fingers.
After using it for a few days I am happy to say that I really like the Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger and the Mac in general. There are some extremely intuitive and unique capabilities on the Mac OS X that I have not seen on Linux, OS/2, or Windows. The Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger Dashboard, Expose, HotCorners UI features name just a few. These are the features that I have been using extensively. There is this UI automation feature which I haven't even gotten into yet. I forgot the name of it but it looks exactly the type of thing I was looking for in a 21st century operating system.
As far as multimedia is concerned, the Mac just blows away Windows in my opinion and experience. I have used Windows Media Center Edition and compared to the Mac, it looks like a half-baked experiment. The Mac multimedia device experience is like an extremely polished and intuitive appliance. It is just something you have to experience personally is all that I can say.
I still have a lot to learn about the Mac architecture, Darwin, Cocoa, Aqua, X11 on the Mac and more. After just running on it for a few days, I am excited to say that I like it! I will be blogging a lot more about the Mac in this blog and more in the next few years. Given that I do almost everything on the web or online now, switching to a Mac was a piece of cake for me. Mozilla Firefox and Safari work nicely and I had almost nothing to learn from a user perspective.
From a software engineering perspective, Mac OS X totally embraces Java which is good for me since I have been working with Java technology for a long time. I have been finding quite a bit of open source stuff for the Mac which is nice to know. I really like all the Dashboard Widgets. For the future, I have been looking at the previews of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard that Apple has been putting on their website and it has some innovations that again will make my next Mac OS X upgrade in 2007 a more capable Mac. The new Spaces and TimeMachine capabilities are a step into the future.
I will continue working with Linux and Windows since that is how I make a living but it would be nice to be able to make a living working on Mac OS X for web development. At any rate, I hope your future computing is as enjoyable as I foresee mine will be. After just a few days of using my MacBook, I feel better about my computing future already. In addition to all the above, I forgot to mention that my MacBook just aesthetically looks and physically feels cool under my fingers.
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