Macintosh

I just got an email from Jimi Mbaye, who I met in NYC a few years ago. He’s the guitarist for Youssou N’dour’s band, Super Etoile de Dakar.

I ran XBench on my G4 minitower & my iBook. The overall rating for my G4 is 46.06, and 28.59 for my iBook. I’ll see how my PBG4 compares when it arrives, which should be Thursday.

I didn’t realize exactly how badly my iBook’s performance sucks 🙂

This is why classic needs to go away as soon as possible. Until Classic is gone, Mac OS X will never be a truly secure OS. At least having machines no longer able to boot into 9 is a good start in that direction.

My PowerBook G4 shipped today! It should arrive on the 19th.

So go download it! v60 has most of the stuff in it that I’ve been babbling about in previous blog entries. What it does not have: the fixed :before/:after handling or the new inline box model (which is really sweet and fixes a whole slew of bugs).

[Surfin’ Safari]

I see it still hasn’t fixed the PHP-Nuke login problem. Until that’s fixed, I can’t use Safari.

Apple’s developer site seems to be messed up. I get various server errors & forbidden messages.

Microsoft touts a credo of “information anywhere, anytime and on any device,” but the explosion of hot wireless devices from rivals is testing the patience of customers who depend on Windows software and Web services.

Microsoft strategists claim that information that sits on Windows computers can best be seen on other Windows-compatible devices, but also are meant to be accessible on non-Microsoft gadgets, from Internet screens to mobile phones.

The world’s No. 1 software maker has repeatedly said it supports the industry’s highest standards of openness. Officials sit on technology standards-setting bodies that determine how mobile devices, digital music and instant messaging can be made to work together harmoniously, regardless of the device.

But executives and engineers at Microsoft rivals such as International Business Machines Corp. and Sun Microsystems, throw scorn on the “information anywhere” claim, and recent experiences suggest they might be right.

Take instant messaging. The Microsoft Messenger is not available on devices based on Palm software, which dominates the market for wireless handsets made by digital handheld organizers Sony (6758.T), Handspring, Samsung or Palm itself.

Microsoft’s rivals AOL and Yahoo both offer instant messaging specially designed for the Palm-powered gadgets. A Microsoft spokesman said the issue stemmed from conflicts with browser software Palm uses and was not a Microsoft issue only.

Microsoft’s decision to ignore devices that run on software from competitors would be foolish in a normal market.

Then again, the computer industry is dominated by competing empires. There’s the Microsoft camp and there’s the anything-but-Microsoft camp, with the consumer sandwiched in between. By ignoring rivals, Microsoft discourages Windows users from buying competing devices.

“Anyone in Microsoft’s position would probably try the same. It’s up to the (government) regulators to keep it in check,” says Mark Eastwood, an engineer at Handspring’s operations in Britain.

Microsoft has weathered legal challenges from regulators in the United States and Europe. It has emerged intact from a bruising late 1990’s court battle with U.S. antitrust regulators who accused it of using monopolistic business practices to crush rivals in the emerging Internet market.

[Yahoo News]

When I got home this afternoon I found that SystemUIServer kept crashing repeatedly. It would constantly relaunch & crash again. Removing MUMenu stopped the crashes.

I just ordered my 12″ PowerBook G4, fully maxed out with 640M RAM, 60G drive, SuperDrive and Airport Extreme card. Estimated shipping time 2-4 weeks.

Dave Hyatt is asking for Safari feedback. I have only one request – fix the problem with logging in to PHP-Nuke based sites. Until that’s fixed I can’t use Safari at all so all of the GUI and rendering issues are a moot point.