December 2005 - Posts
Jensen Harris (Office 12 User Interface developer)
talks about a feature
he's always wanted in Word and his shock at finding out that actually
every version of Word from 2.0 onwards has had this feature, but just
hid it away.
This raises the obvious question in my post title here, and shows the
need for the new interface that Microsoft are planning to introduce in
Office 12 such as the
ribbon and other bits and pieces.
Having a feature that nobody can find is exactly the same as not having
that feature at all from the user's point of view, and in the meantime
you've spent a lot of money adding a feature that doesn't get used.
Maybe a few network managers can take some tips from the MS Office team when putting together facilities on a server farm.
... has anyone else seen
this article
about Creative's new video and MP3 player? Looks kinda familiary
doesn't it? Apple and Creative have been fighting over who exactly owns
which patents, so I suspect that this is just Creative's way of upping
the stakes in the legal game of chicken.
Of course, while everyone is fussing and feuding over how much of an
iPod rip-off these players may or may not turn out to be and who got a
patent on what first, nobody has thought to talk much about if they are
actually any good at playing music or video.
You know, that reason you'd actually buy one of these things? Actually
using it? Anyone? No-one? Oh well, guess it can't be very
important!
Ok, got me a 30 Gb Video iPod just before the course that took me away
to Brighton. Finally this weekend I got a chance to set it up! Not the
first iPod I've used, but I'm still staggered by how small and thin
they are.
So I install the iPod driver and update the iTunes software on my
Windows machine (where I store copies all of my CDs) and plugged it in.
After some thought, the Windows machine tells me that it can see a
faulty USB device. iPod doesn't do anything; no charging indicator or
anything else.
*grumble*
After some fiddling and getting nowhere, I plugged it into my iBook.
Nothing on the computer or the iPod again. System Profiler doesn't see
anything attached, let alone iTunes or the iPod updater software
finding it. "Maybe I've got a dud" I think to myself, and try a
different USB lead.
Same result on both computers with a known good USB adapter lead.
Out of desperation, knowing that it isn't supported now, I plug in a
Firewire-to-iPod cable on the ibook. Finally, some indication from the
iPod that I'm here; it tells me in no uncertain terms that I'm being a
bad boy and doing unsupported things!
Plug it into the windows machine with USB again - works perfectly and
has done through several cycles of being removed and replaced.
Lovely eh?
So was anyone else stunned into something between incoherent giggling and silence by the
appearance of Kestrel
in something positive? I was so stunned and amazed that I almost missed
the return of Kim. I like Kim, partly because she reminds me so much of
a few other
women I know. Luckily
Websnark
got us back on track with this equally stunning return to the fold. Kim
is one of the very few female lead characters in this comic, easily
sitting alongside the dynamic duo of PeeJee and Aubrey. I can't wait to
see what happens now that she's back with the gang.
But still.. *
whump!*