Editorial
Understanding People
Dennis O’Reilly wonders why so many people use IE, if it’s such a crappy browser:
Part of the reason may be that it’s so tightly integrated with Windows: It takes an effort to download Firefox or another alternative browser, while the little blue “e” icon is omnipresent on the desktop, start menu, quick launch toolbar, and elsewhere in Windows.
Ya think? Maybe if you understood human beings at all, you’d understand that people choose the path of least resistance. When Microsoft decided to embed Explorer into the operating system, they created an anti-competitive environment which is why they’re being watched for another 2 years. And IE is a crappy browser, no one should be using it.
Awesome. Awesome. Awesome.
I don’t normally post twice in one day but this article on Ars was too damn good to pass up.
At the end of the session the EMI bosses thanked them for their comments and told them to help themselves to a big pile of CDs sitting on a table. But none of the teens took any of the CDs, even though they were free. “That was the moment we realised the game was completely up,” says a person who was there.
It gives me so much satisfaction to hear that. I’m a 30-something, not a teen, but I haven’t bought a physical CD in years. I own too many DRM’d tracks from iTunes but I haven’t bought a regular iTunes track since they went to iTunes Plus. With iTunes Plus and Amazon MP3, I’m on cloud nine.
Too Many Email Services
I’m in email hell. I’ve got my own Domain account, a .Mac account, a Yahoo account, a Gmail account, and I’ve even got a Hotmail account. They all do some things really well, and they all lack in other areas really badly. The only one that is a complete and total waste of time is Hotmail, it honestly offers nothing. I don’t want to keep several email accounts open and operational, I don’t want to just forward everything to one account (which is my current solution) and I don’t want to keep track of all of this crap anymore.
The Pros and Cons
Gmail (Pro)
Gmail has the best spam detection by far. And Gmail finally offers IMAP which makes me a happy camper.
Gmail (Con)
Google is starting to scare the shit out of me. I’m not fanatic about privacy, but Google goes too far the wrong way and I would very much like to drop off of their grid. I also think their web interface looks awful.
Yahoo (Pro)
The Daddy of ‘em all. I freaking love the AddressGuard (email aliases) and use them for everything, from buying to services to blog registrations. It’s a great way to keep my actual email out of the hands of no-good jerks.
Yahoo (Con)
They only offer POP which is completely useless. When I access my email on my iPhone, I can’t use all of those great email aliases to send the email.
.Mac (Pro)
.Mac’s email is pretty seamless with my Mac. It offers IMAP. And .Mac offers 5 email aliases.
.Mac (Con)
The .Mac service for me has been way too sketchy to be relied on for my main email.
My Domain (Pro)
What else can I say? It’s my domain. There’s also the professional feel to having chris [at] myowndomain [dot] com.
My Domain (Con) My domain uses a web interface that looks and behaves like the last time it was updated was 1999. For someone that must access their email through a web browser while at work, this is just a gigantic deal breaker. This is the account I want to use the most, but it’s the least useful.
What I Want
I want Gmail’s spam filter. I want IMAP. I want email aliases. I want a ton of space so I never have to worry about clearing out old emails. And I want to send to and from my own domain. Unfortunately, there’s not a service out there that can give me all of that. And what I have to choose from are too close to choose from. I bounce from service to service hoping to find the one that will work for all of my needs but I know I’ll never find it. Yahoo is probably the closest but their use of POP is maddening. POP is a terrible way to access your email.
I Used To Visit Spymac
From the Cabel-Yay Awards:
Remember when SpyMac was famous for posting laughably fake Apple rumors, then they became some kind of weird .Mac-like service? Does anyone understand what the hell is going on over there now?
Seriously, what the hell happened to that site? I used to go there all the time a few years ago, it was a great place for Mac-talk and rampant rumor speculation. I left when they started forcing users to sign up for stuff I didn’t want. I eventually left the site altogether and haven’t checked it in a while. I just went over there after reading this post and was completely and utterly confused by what I saw. It has nothing to do with Macs.
Mac Malware Threat Increase is Like Vaporware
I am not naive enough to believe that my Macs can’t be hacked. But I do believe that the underlying UNIX base to Mac OS X makes it inherently more secure than Windows. I say inherently because the security is better at the core, from the start. You can make Windows secure but when it ships to you it’s as wide open as Kansas. I’m not putting any kind of call out to hackers to prove me wrong, I already stated that I know you can probably find a way into my Mac and you might even find a way to get root access and delete some all-important files. But you’d really have to try, you need to have expertise, there are no “script-kiddie” equivalents for the Mac.
I read an article on TUAW about NPR’s report on the increasing threats to the Mac now that it is gaining market share. That got me thinking. How many times have I heard people make this very statement? Not only have I heard it often, I’ve been hearing about it for years. So I started digging and I found this (February 27, 2006), and this (May 2006), and this (December 6, 2007), and this (Google Results).
My Mac doesn’t have any of the Norton utilities for destroying your Mac nor do I own any other anti-virus or internet-security software. I never have and I’ve been using Macs online for the last 12 years or so. Not once have I ever gotten a trojan horse, virus, spyware application or any other form of malware. But don’t get me wrong, I know that there are programs out there with bad intentions that are specifically designed for the Mac. My point with this is that everyone keeps saying that Macs are increasingly targeted by hackers because their market-share is increasing. But I have yet to see this happen.
I’m beginning to think it’s just a bunch of bull.