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Who's in the corner?
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November 7, 2004 |
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Entertaining with your computerIf Microsoft and Intel have their way, home entertainment centers will have computers in them, music and video from your home's control center will fly around the rest of the house on network cables or wirelessly, and you'll show people your kids' pictures on a Pocket PC. Today (December 7th, a day that will live in entertainment) is the launch day for an advertising campaign that will tout the benefits of the PC as entertainment central. Microsoft's Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 computers will start showing up in about 40 shopping malls throughout the United States. Microsoft and Intel plan to spend "in the low 10s of millions" of dollars to promote the concept. Systems you'll see in malls will show movie clips, play music, and record off-the-air signals that can be played back later. "Digital joy" is the tag line. You'll also start seeing advertising on television, in print, in theaters, and (of course) on the Web. How much? The low-end Media Center Edition systems will cost about $1000 and up. Way up. The high end is expected to be in the $10,000 range. The machines will range in appearance to computers that look like computers to computers that will fit well with the decor in a home entertainment center or family room. Research the companies have commissioned suggest that the market for "home media servers" will grow over the next 4 years from today's 6 million units per year to more than 30 million units in 2008. I spoke with Microsoft product manager Megan Kidd about the changes we'll see ... It’s not Microsoft Office, but it may be what you needMicrosoft has taken over the word processor market both on the Windows platform and the Mac platform. Office is a full-functioned suite of applications (word processor, spreadsheet, e-mail, address book, and database on Windows; everything but the database on Mac). It’s hard to beat what Microsoft has to offer, except for the price. Windows users can choose to use Corel’s Wordperfect Office Suite and it works quite well at a much lower price. Mac users haven’t had much of a choice. But if you’re an OS X user who needs a word processor and a spreadsheet program (and you can do without the database program, address book, and e-mail) you should take a look at Mariner Software’s Write and Calc applications. An $80 word processor doesn’t have any right to be this good. And that price includes the spreadsheet program. As I said at the top, this isn’t Word, but I’m surprised by how many features Mariner provides for so little cost and in such a modest amount of memory. I think it was back in the days of Electric Pencil that word processors allowed users to copy and paste rulers. That feature is present Write. It didn’t do what I thought it might do -- drop a visible ruler onto the page -- but it did copy the ruler settings and let me paste them into the document. Why? Maybe I want to indent a section of the document without setting up a style and then to revert to the previous settings later in the document. Copying and pasting the ruler does this in an instant.
In fact, if there is a limitation, this is it. Write has styles, but they are nowhere near as richly developed as Word’s styles. Word is almost a page layout/publishing program. For many people, it has sufficient features to claim admission to that category. For Write to omit fully-developed styles isn’t much of a detriment because a lot of people don’t understand styles and don’t use them. Because I use real publishing programs to create typeset documents and because I use a word processor only for rudimentary word processing, this isn’t a shortcoming for me, either. While Write offers “curly quotes” it doesn’t offer options for modifying other typographic characters. I have set Word to convert two dashes (--) to an en dash. The default is an em dash, but I consider most em dashes to bee too long and too ugly to use.
As you see at the left, Mariner write can display typefaces in "hierarchical" view, meaning that you see only a single main entry for Bookman Old Style, with a sub-menu for bold, italic, bold italic, and regular (roman). I suspect, in fact, that virtually all of Word’s "essential features" are present in Mariner Write. I say that because it has become clear to me over the years that most people use only a tiny sub-set of most applications’ features. Word processors are no exception. What's an "essential" feature? File open and save functions are certainly essential. The ability to change the typeface and the type size are essential for most people? But one person's "essential feature" may be another person's example of "bloatware".
When a company such as Mariner is capable of developing an application that closely matches the essential features of a much more expensive application, it’s worth taking a look at the result to see if it serves your needs. For a lot of Mac users, Mariner Write will be all they need. If you’re creating or editing a text file for Quark XPress or Adobe InDesign, Write has all the features you need and more. If you want to save money and you’re willing to forego some of Word’s more esoteric functions, Write is an application you should investigate. If you don’t need the ability to track changes (and other “high end” functions) Write may be all that you need. My intent, with the various cautions, is to be certain that you understand that Write omits a lot of features, but that these features are ones that many people don’t use. If you use and need Word’s features, you need Word. If you don’t use and need Word’s features, you can save a lot of money with Write. And you may be surprised by all the features Mariner included.
For more information, see the Mariner website. Safer computing with a Mac or Linux computerIt seems like every time I turn around, there’s another security problem with Windows. Or with Internet Explorer. Or Windows Media Player. Or Mozilla. I install security patches at least once a week, on average. Some weeks see several patches. And that doesn’t even include the daily antivirus, firewall, and anti-spy checks. If you’re like me, you spend far too much time trying to keep the computer out of the hands of the creeps who want to steal your identity or just use your machine to send spam, serve stolen software, or house pornography. To hear the Linux and Mac camps tell the story, my life would be all peace and harmony if only I would see the light, throw away my Windows machines, and replace them with (depending on the stripe of the evangelist) a Linux box or a Mac box. I have a Mac. Two, really, although one belongs to commercial-art student Kaydee. We download and install security updates regularly, too. We have antivirus software that has to be updated. I like Macs. Really. But they’re just computers. In early October, Kaydee’s Mac suddenly was unable to display any of her 2000 or so digital images. We could see that the files were still there, but Iphoto couldn’t display them. Nothing I did made them visible to Iphoto. A quick search on the Internet turned up a utility program with an explanation that this isn’t a particularly uncommon problem. The explanation and the solution were not on Apple’s website, though. Some other victim of bad software had solved the problem and posted the solution for others to download. (No, that’s not a security issue; it’s just a reminder that all computers are capable of having problems.) And Linux? Yeah, that’s a solid operating system. The Web server for Linux is called “Apache” and that’s because it has so many patches that some clown called it “a patchy” application and the name stuck. Security alerts are common for Linux, too. The annoyance factorMicrosoft machines probably account for 95% of the machines infected with viruses, worms, and Trojans. Microsoft has a huge market share, but not 95%. So why are Macs and Linux machines relatively safer? Or are they? I think they are, and I think there’s a good reason for it, but it’s a theory that has Mac and Linux evangelists calling for the wrath of Steve Jobs and Linux Torvalds to rain down on my head. The simple fact is that people who write applications to take over other computers will always shoot for the largest possible target. That target is Microsoft’s operating systems. If I can write a Trojan that will turn machines into zombies that will do what I want them to, will I write that Trojan for Macs (20% market share, and that’s with a strong tail wind)? Will I write that Trojan for Linux desktop machines (2% market share, maybe)? Or will I go after Windows machines, which account for at least 80% of the machines on the market? These guys may be creeps, but they’re not stupid. So the best thing for the Mac and Linux crowd now is just to keep quiet. If they manage to convince enough people to switch, they’ll start seeing more attacks. If you want a Mac or a Linux machine, get one. I like the way Apple has managed to put a friendly face on Unix and it’s just so cute to watch all the Mac gurus who used to make fun of the DOS/Windows command prompt as they discover how useful the Unix command prompt can be. It’s like watching your toddler begin to walk. And if you’re interested in Linux, there’s enough software available now that a lot of people can do everything they need to do on a Linux box. I’m not yet there because too many of the applications I consider essential to what I do are Windows-only. As I talk to some of the more evangelical users of both Macs and Linux machines, I’m struck by how much they’re willing to accept from their machines – things that would make them swear at their Windows computer, Microsoft, and Bill Gates. There’s an Apple ad parody out that talks about applications “just quitting” on the Mac. You’re using the application and – Poof! – it just goes away. It’s a funny bit. And it’s also true. Kaydee’s dual-processor G4 Mac just stops responding at least once a day. I’ve been using applications on my Mac Powerbook only to have them cease without warning. An acquaintance has been through four motherboards (replaced under warranty) on her Mac Ibook. In other words, the Mac has the same kinds of problems Windows computers have. I’m not dissing the Mac, just telling the truth. It’s rare to find this kind of blindness on the Windows side, although I’ve seen it. I recently had an unpleasant conversation with a former Microsoft employee who develops applications for Windows machines. He felt that the Windows operating system was better in every way than what Apple has provided. Until Apple’s OS X came along, I would have generally agreed with that, but OS X finally brings Apple into the modern world. The gentleman I was talking with wasn’t buying any of it, but eventually admitted that he hadn’t seen any Mac operating system later than System 9. Where were we now?We were talking about security and Microsoft. Windows XP service pack 2 consisted mostly of security updates. Microsoft understands, more or less, that security is at least as important as usability. Not understanding that key concept is what got Microsoft in trouble initially. Microsoft began with DOS, a single-user operating system that didn’t allows machines to be connected to each other at all. Security wasn’t an issue. With networks, and particularly with the Internet, everything changed. But Microsoft continued to develop software that was easier to use and easier to abuse. Microsoft is learning about the vulnerabilities of the Windows operating system and is patching them. It’s offering rewards for the arrests of virus writers. It’s educating users about computer safety. But in the end it’s not Microsoft’s responsibility to keep your computer safe and secure. It’s your responsibility. As one pundit recently said, “Blaming Microsoft for not building in safety measures is a little like blaming Florida for being in the path of a hurricane.” Nerdly NewsThe fastest computer in the world is in MinnesotaMinnesota once again has the world's fastest supercomputer. A week ago, a rival Wisconsin computer took top honors. How fast is fast? US Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham says a computer called Blue Gene completed 70.72 trillion calculations per second. In September, the same machine ran at a paltry 36.01 trillion calculations per second. What's all this power needed for? Blue Gene will track the country's nuclear weapons stockpiles. You'd think a Pentium 4 computer with a little database program would be enough to inventory a weapons stockpile. Maybe it'll have a little time left over for chess and solitaire. The former fastest computer is a Silicon Graphics machine in Wisconsin. Instead of tracking weapons of mass destruction in the US, this one will be used by NASA on the space shuttle program. It runs at 61 trillion calculations per second. Blue Gene isn't even finished when. When IBM finishes the project next year, it should run at 360 trillion calculations per second. Next on the legal front, moviesHollywood's major studios plan to begin filing lawsuits before the end of the month against people who make copyrighted films available for downloading over the Internet. The heads of the movie studios feel that the recording industry waited too long to start taking legal action, so they're hoping early action will eliminate the problem. Dan Glickman, president of the Motion Picture Association of America, wouldn't confirm how many lawsuits will be filed, but others in the industry are saying there will be more than 200. The Recording Industry Association of America has been filing suits since late 2003 and has now sued more than 6000 people. Let us know what you think about this program! Write to: |
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Mariner
Write, by default, saves files in its own format
, but you can also save the file as Stationery (Word would call
it a template), in rich-text format (designed for Word or for Mariner
Write), as a text file (3 types), or even as a PDF.
Definition time: An en
dash is the width of the letter N in a given font; an em dash is
the width of an M. These are typographic niceties
that I use when I’m creating a newsletter or a book. It’s OK, as
far as I’m concerned, if a word processor doesn’t know about
these conventions because the publication program I use will know what to
do when it encounters a double dash. If you’re using the word processor
as a typesetting application, this will be a problem for you. Mariner Write’s
basic views look a lot like Word’s basic views. Some functions have
different names, but the results are the same.
One
of the interesting differences between Word and Write is that creating
a new style in Write involves first applying the style to some
text and then choosing the new-style dialog. At that point, the
user's only option is to give the style a name. This differs from
Words deeply-nested menus and dialogs. Click the image at the right
to see a larger view.
Overall,
Write is a clean-screen, non-intimidating application that's easy
too learn and easy to use. Those who depend on some of Microsoft's
features (tracked changes, for example) won't find Mariner Write
to be an acceptable substitute. But for those who use a word processor
to write letters, reports for school, or other "routine" tasks will
likely find the program to be more than sufficient. Click the image
at the right to see a larger view.
