Thinking about a non-smug way to talk about a MAC switch.

I'm high on coffee. I think I like it. I miss it, I believe. Somehow though, I'm fighting something. I keep visualizing spirals and circles.

I'm slowly realizing that an Apple computer is really worth it. The MAC Book Pro that I have is really kicking it for me. The software, and things that I have are coming down, and I'm finding exactly what I need. I'm finding exactly what I want. At first I was worried that I wouldn't be able to find enough software to support exactly what I had done on my Windows box. Images, video, all of the things that I did on a daily basis, would I be able to do them on a Mac? I knew that there were plenty of things that were media-centric on the Mac, but what about the FLAC, MKV and other strange file formats that people love to post on the Internet?

Well, much like Windows, the MAC comes with some basic apps that allow you do things that are perfectly O.K. But if you want to do some things that are just great, you have to sniff around. I was worried before my main computer became a MAC because I hadn't seen any of the things that I used on the MAC. I was soon to find that I simply wasn't looking for them. Let's go down this road systematically. From acquisition to execution.

Finding files, for me, was mostly done on Usenet. With Windows I used XNews. It is a great program. It enables you to search, find and get exactly what you are looking for. I used it and was happy. Once I jumped over I looked for a Usenet program, and found Unison. I had to pay for it but, holy crap, did I ever get what I paid for! As I started to use it, I found that like XNews it was easy and really put every thing together. But with Unison, it was so much easier. The program segregated file types and made finding everything so much easier. It worked exactly the way I worked. Intuitive, graceful and beautiful. In many ways it was the single best piece of software that I had ever used. I'll have to digress to get to my next point and I hope you'll forgive me.

The digression I promised is this: once I have the files from Usenet, I have to compile and extract them. On Windows I was using a few different programs to do this. Quick Par put all of the files together in whatever format the poster chose to compress them in and from that, I needed to extract. I needed two, sometimes three programs to do that. Here, on the Mac, I found a single solution. There may well be a single solution on Windows but I haven't found it. After being mired in simply finding a solution to extracting rar files on Windows without having to pirate or pay I was done looking for things. On the Mac, it took less time to find what needed than it did to download it. Now, with one program that could handle everything I could possible throw at it I was ready to rock.

So, back to the main conversation. I had an easy solution, and things were good. Then something happened. From within Unison I started to see a new type of file that it recognized. The NZB. I'd never seen (or paid attention) to the mighty NZB. I did a quick search in Unison's help file for it and discovered what amounted to the holy Grail of Usenet. Things were about to get real easy. So now, because I had been able to relax when using the program, because it had been so easy to find what I was looking for, I had found an even easier way to get what I was looking for. I didn't even need to open the Newsgroups file any more. I could find or create an NZB, click on it, and Unison did the rest. MACPAR then took the files from Usenet and performed every single operation needed to translate them into something I could use. It was at this point that I began looking at my ISPs download caps.

The next part was the one that I was most worried about. Once I had all of these files, and including all of the files that I already had, would I be able to use them. I'd messed with open source video viewers, image viewers and whatnot, but I was worried. Would there be a dry river bed on the Mac where there had been a steady flow of software on Windows? (Even if wading through it could sometimes be toxic.) Aside from a true, excellent replacement for AcdSee, the answer was a resounding YES! VLC took care of the video and works just as well on the Mac as it does on Windows; stripped down versions of the crap-ware Quicktime and Realplayer were readily available and plug in to VLC perfectly. And even though I haven't broken free of the chains completely, I am playing with some really good alternatives to iTunes.

So there I was. My main media worries were abated. Five Nines across the board. Video, audio, image etc. The things on my hard drive, old CDs, DVDs -- it all worked. Next, I had to find native tools to work with text and web pages, editing and creating. Finding those tools was a bit more difficult.

iPhone 2.0 for new Year's? What about Christmas?

Verizon has recently announced that they are going to open their network to almost any hardware or software. Frankly, I too am excited. I imagine that this is exactly what 'The Steve' had in mind. I figure he imagined that once the iPhone was out the rest of the industry would have released all of the wannabe hardware, and then, almost simultaneously, all of the carriers would realize that the hardware is worthless without an open network, and the ability to do true mobile computing. My supposition is that he thought it would take more than a year, and less than two, and by the time that the iPhone's marriage with AT&T had been annulled, the G3 (or better) technology would be perfectly robust, and energy efficient enough to be included with the 2.0, and the software would be stable, with plenty of offerings from 3rd party devs, and hobbyists. That time line has obviously been fast forwarded.
I really don't believe that Verizon knows what they are getting into here. I have no doubt that their initial contracts under this system will have to be micromanaged by new customers looking to bring their own devices with Skype installed. I simply cannot believe this Devil's deal is as even handed and philanthropic as it seems. That brings me to the topic of this post. . .
Some one at AT&T heard that announcement and hit the panic button. I could go either way on weather or not both Apple and AT&T agreed to announce an AT&T native 3G iPhone. Regardless, it has happened. now the question is when. It's almost a guarantee that if it's true, we'll here about it from Apple in January. That's all well and good. New iPhone announcement in January, New iPhone by Summer, final announcement at WWDC. Between now and then the Apple Nerds are going to expect something from Steve-A-Clause. If the past trend of almost-exciting December announcements is to continue, then I expect that I know what it will be this year.
Computers, Laptops, Monitors, OS X. All have been refreshed to the extent that the market is generally settling into a confident Holiday season. So what is the new thing? I think that the new thing is going to be the most impressive thing Apple has ever released. It's going to shake the Apple crowd to its very core. Long time fans of Apple are going to feel betrayed and elated at the same time. This is it, ladies and gentlemen. Hold your breath. Sit down.
-- Apple is going to release a two-button mouse --
I can hear the collective gasps from the fan boys and girls everywhere. "It will never happen they'll say." I think it will I say. Think about it. The one button mouse concept is so old, so wrong for a modern operating system, that even Apple itself realized that it was losing the mouse hardware battle and was forced to release the 'two-button' Mighty Mouse. The response from the community was generally underwhelming. It was innovative, and looked pretty slick. I know a few people who use one exclusively. Most of my OS X wielding friends, however, use either a Logitech, or even (GASP!) a Microsoft mouse with their MACs. Why is that?
For some time OS X has supported right-click context menus, and third party software has almost always done so. The Mighty Mouse is too quirky, and too unreliable for as much right clicking that needs to be done on basic tasks. Using Leopard without right clicking is an exercise in frustration. There are so many things that need to be right-clicked, that it doesn't make sense to force users to adapt to the Mighty Mouse to accomplish such tasks. So why is this so important? Why would a two button mouse cause such an uproar in the Apple community?
Steve Job's idea behind the reinvention of the Apple was to make it easy, simple, quick. A few decades ago that meant point and click. as the OS evolved, Apple was forced to add right-click emulation with a click and hold. Click and hold on something for a second, and Pop! a context menu would pop up. The software respects the right-click, but the hardware has ignored it. It's generally believed that this is because of Steve's influence and idea that a two-button mouse represents a more complicated user experience. Even the new technology in the MACBooks support a hardware right-click. The house that Steve built, it seems, has a few open windows.
The time is ripe for a new mouse, and the precedence has been set. Boot Camp, context menus, the loss of the 'Open Apple', Mighty Mouse, multi-touch. All of these things point to a larger acceptance of mainstream ideas from within Cupertino. Yes, I believe that these things all point to the final brick in the wall that was erected by Steve finally being pushed out. And that would make this one of the most important announcements Apple has ever made.