Archive for January, 2009

Chrome for Mac and Linux Before Q3 of 2009

According to CNET, Google has promised a Mac and Linux version of its Chrome browser by the middle of 2009. Chrome for Windows went into a non-beta state (which is a big accomplishment for Google) in December of 2008. CNET has a poll on their site asking what users’ biggest barrier to entry to Google Chrome is and the lack of Mac and Linux versions was number 2 and 4 respectively. Number one was better performance and number 3 was plugins and an RSS manager and reader. Zimbra did test on browser performance when Chrome came out and performance-wise it did slightly worse than Safari but better than Firefox 3 and IE8. Google is also working on an extension platform that it says will “develop over time”.

You can follow the development status here and find a “pre-beta” version of Chrome for Mac here.

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Filed under News : Comments (0) : Jan 14th, 2009

Psystar Tries Again

Once again, Psystar is going after Apple, this time a little bit more on the defense. It claims that the license was not violated by selling the product because that would violate “17 U.S.C.” which states that copy-righted material can be sold after being purchased from the copyright holder. Psystar claims that since it bought legitimate copies of OS X directly from Apple that it has the right to redistribute and sell as they wanted according to the law. Apple, of course, is sticking to its guns: the EULA. To quote the EULA for OS X “Leopard”:

You agree not to install, use or run the Apple Software on any non-Apple-labeled computer, or to enable others to do so.

Seems pretty clear to me.. In fact, they are either installing the software (a violation of the EULA) or helping their customers install the software while misleading them to think it was legal (not only is Psystar violating the EULA, but also the customers).

Psystar is also telling Apple that it can’t accept compensation for the software and refuse to allow them to resell it on their hardware. Unfortunately for Psystar, the logic doesn’t quite make sense. I can buy all the software that I want and throw it in the corner to let it collect dust and Apple isn’t going to care. In fact, they’d make the money while not having to support the software (finally, a business that didn’t have to deal with disgruntled customers!). I’ve shared my opinion before in my blog, but our tax dollars have real problems to worry about without having its time wasted with companies whose very core violate the law and accuse others of wronging them.

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Filed under News, Tech Trends : Comments (1) : Jan 14th, 2009

Missing Some Documentation?

This weekend I picked up something I’ve always wanted but never taken the time to order: a USB-powered aquarium. That’s right, you can get the enjoyment of watching real fish without actually having to feed or take care of the real fish. Plus, it plugs into a computer so any geek would enjoy it. What more could I ask for? I decided to take a look at the instructions to ensure I didn’t break anything when I put it together and what I found was a bit surprising. Pay close attention to the instructions in the right column:

Notice anything that could be missing? Though the picture shows pouring water into the aquarium, at no point in the instructions was water mentioned! I’m not sure how the aquarium was supposed to work without water.. Must be one of those new fangle-dangle computer gizmos..

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Filed under Just for Fun : Comments (0) : Jan 12th, 2009

Tail Multiple Logs At Once

I discovered a little trick today that I will probably be using every day. I wasn’t sure exactly which log file I needed to be watching while a coworker was doing some work on a server. There was a lot of log files in a directory and I had no idea what file I was looking for, so I decided to try: “tail -f *.log”. The output was actually very useful. Whenever tail shows output from a different file, it gives you the filename in a tag and shows the output and looked something like this:

tail -f /var/log/*.log
==> /var/log/mail.log <==
Jan 7 23:15:48 apu zmmailboxdmgr[21716]: status requested
Jan 7 23:15:48 apu zmmailboxdmgr[21716]: status OK
==> /var/log/zimbra.log <==
Jan 7 23:15:48 apu zmmailboxdmgr[21716]: status requested
Jan 7 23:15:48 apu zmmailboxdmgr[21716]: status OK
==> /var/log/auth.log <==
Jan 7 23:15:49 apu sudo: zimbra : TTY=unknown ; PWD=/ ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/opt/zimbra/libexec/zmmailboxdmgr status
Jan 7 23:15:49 apu sudo: pam_unix(sudo:session): session opened for user root by (uid=0)
Jan 7 23:15:49 apu sudo: pam_unix(sudo:session): session closed for user root

Those are some of the Zimbra logs and it shows the filename inbetween ==> and <==. I'd done the same with grep before, but hadn't thought of using tail in that way. You can also select a couple of files by doing something like this:

tail -f log1.log log2.log

Happy log parsing!

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Filed under How-Tos / Tips : Comments (0) : Jan 8th, 2009

Windows 7: Does It Really Matter How Good It Is?

There’s been a lot of talk about how critical the release of Windows 7 will be for Microsoft. The company’s reputation took a beating in the early days of Vista. It was a rough release to say the least. There were driver issues, stability issues, software compatibility issues, and of course the controversies over whether a PC was “capable” of running Vista or not. Microsoft also took a hit with the Apple ads as well as a fair amount of bashing from the blogosphere. Some Most of the bashing was deserved. Microsoft has come a long way, however, in restoring its customers faith. I still much prefer Mac OS or Linux over Windows, but they fixed a lot of their image problems by releasing a service pack for the OS and a few advertising campaigns. Given that history, does it really matter that Microsoft really nails it with Windows 7?

Let’s take a look back in history: the user attitude around the Windows XP launch. I remember hearing people long after the release, but I found a forum thread circa 2001 (the year of the XP launch) from PCMag.com that pretty much sums up people’s attitude back then. The thread contains only a few posts, but I think all the bases are covered. The question was was asked, “Will you upgrade to XP?”. The thread received all the responses we hear today. You have your standard “absolutely!”, your cautiously optimistic “yes, but only for testing”, your “well I used the RC’s and am not sure”, your “not yet, I’ll wait for a service pack”, and of course the “I’m switcing to Linux/Mac/BSD” types. Everyone had the same responses then as they did for Vista. Now XP is seen as the fall-back when an upgrade to Vista fails. We remember Windows XP now the way users remembered Windows 2000 in the early days of XP.

The game hasn’t changed. And guess what: it won’t change. It’s all about perception and marketing. It’s pure and simple. In a few years people will forget about the early days of Vista and only remember how it was to use Vista SP 3 and completely forget about the previous two. There are a select few who can see through the marketing cloud and media buzz and look at the software for what it is, but the masses don’t know what the computer is capable of so they will settle for what is placed in front of them as long as it’s the same or similar to what everyone around them is given. It’s a sad fact, but it’s true. (Brace yourself because I’m not in any way a Windows fan.) I’ve used one of the early release betas of Windows 7 and was very impressed with the performance gains. As far as I could tell the interface was pretty much the same as Vista, but it was in early beta and I’ve seen other screenshots indiciating that’s not the case. As long as Windows 7 is more stable, looks different, and is faster than Vista users won’t complain. There will be driver issues and compatibility issues and of course users will complain because their icons got moved around again. Then a service pack will be released and hating on Windows won’t be cool anymore again. History repeats itself and will again very soon.

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Filed under Tech Trends : Comments (3) : Jan 7th, 2009

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