MidKnight Gallery

Q: When I get my Mac is do I really need MS Office to survive in PC land or will iWork suffice?

Yep, a friend asked me his question, and after I responded I realized that it made a pretty decent post topic.

I’ll get the first item out of the way right now. If you HAVE to work with an Exchange server directly for shared contacts, calendars, etc, you’re stuck with buying a full version of office 2008 for the Mac, as opposed to the student edition. Otherwise identical, exchange accounts are disabled in the version of Entourage that ships with Mac Office 2008.

If that’s not a problem, here are some alternatives:

• NeoOffice
• iWork

As the link notes, don’t bother with OpenOffice – it’s for geeks like me who’ve installed the programming tools that come with OSX,  and doesn’t “fit” with the aesthetics.I haven’t heavily used NeoOffice in a while, before they made some major speed improvements and added MS Office 2007 compatibility (Office 2007 uses a new file format), but I can say it’s usually pretty transparent in handling word/excel/etc. files, and unlike Mac Office 2008 and iWork, it has an access-like database. If you need a database, you’ll know. It’s also free – though donations are appreciated.

As I mentioned earlier, Mac Office 2008 Teacher and Student edition won’t let you directly connect to an Exchange server (though IMAP, POP, and other standard methods of connecting will work), but is otherwise solid and complete. Many people are screaming Entourage fanatics but I much prefer the simplicity and  integration with addresses and such that the OSX Mail app gives. This has been ameliorated somewhat by allowing entourage to sync calendars and contacts with the iCal and Address book.

iWork? Love it. Don’t write in it much because I usually do my writing in a project/data composition tool called Scrivener that helps you collect related info and snippets, but Pages is great for dumping pretty output, and doesn’t rearrange things in the weird ways that any version (including Windows) of Word does when you add pictures, mess with columns, etc. – especially if doing multicolumn newsletters and such.

Numbers is a killer spreadsheet with some truly nifty features when it comes to creating sums without typing, etc. and organizing and laying out tables. I use this for tracking my current household budget re: expected and forcast expenses and how much I have free for groceries/etc. No, it doesn’t have all the formulas and features, but covers 99% of what most home users will ever need. Like the rest of iWork, it’s lovely to look at.

I don’t use Keynote, but that’s because I haven’t done any presentations lately. I’m not using Powerpoint if I can help it. Having messed with it, it’s at least as easy to use and MUCH prettier. 

A note on exporting/importing: Word documents go in and out pretty smoothly . You will see some things you need to clean up because nothing is PERFECTLY compatible (this is true to a much lesser extent with NeoOffice, and even a bit between windows and Mac versions of office due to fonts, etc.) , but is pretty solid. Your biggest headaches are going to be with Excel spreadsheets. With complicated spreadsheets, things can get rearranged and demand some cleanup time, while the completely different layout paradigm of Numbers can make for some strange spreadsheets when exporting. Powerpoint and Keynote actually get along very well but at times there are obviously going to be issues there as well….

I’ve taken to joking that I love my Macs, but Microsoft does more to give me business… fixing problems.

The latest? Installing an upgrade from the student/teacher version of Office for the Mac to the full version. The installer never asked me for the new license key, which should have been a sign of something going tremendously wrong, but I missed it.

The first sign I caught was not being able to open the existing email libraries. It turns out the S&T version had been updated to 12.1.5, and the version on the installation disc was still 12.0.0, so the libraries could not be opened by the “older” version of Office 2008. Not a huge deal, just run the updates, right?

Well, unless the updates won’t run. I tried running the built-in updater, and downloading the updates separately, but I kept getting the error that there was no software to update, or that the update could not run.

For whatever reason, either the key not being checked against the software version, or the patchers seeing more recent files spread across the computer not affected by installing a fresh copy, would NOT upgrade the older version until I not only uninstalled the application with the built in uninstaller, but deleted all references and preferences in both the system and user directories.

A completely clean install later, and the updates ran, and everything worked. Getting there only wasted five or six hours of working time for two people as well as my time fixing it for a process that should have only taken thirty minutes.

I’ve seen this several places now but the best summary is at Ars Technica. I’ve heard plenty of people say the naysaying was just as bad when XP was introduced.  Well, it was pretty bad, but not this bad. Not “We’re trying to figure out ways to sell Windows 2000 with new computers because people just want to avoid Vista and many of the businesses with custom-built apps won’t certify them on Vista without a lot more time stomping bugs” bad.

One of the many things I cannot stand about Vista and Office 2007 is the packaging. Opening it up is not just a job, it’s an adventure. And a puzzle. So I get some admittedly snarky entertainment to see the following article on Microsoft’s website: Opening the Windows Vista Box

There are a number of places in Windows where Microsoft has solved an existing problem by overcorrecting, and causing other problems well down the road. One of the places this is currently most obvious in Vista is the way you are bombarded by a flurry of “allow/decline” messages every time you do anything that modifies the system. They had to do something about stuff getting installed behind your back, and opted for irritating overkill.

Another place is the registry.

The registry exists for a very good reason. Wayyyy back in the dark days of Windows 3 and DOS, getting your computer configured, adding hardware, and telling your machine where all of the programs were required editing a series of files scattered throughout the hard drive. Programs would place these configuration files in seemingly random locations, and many installation programs for new hardware or software would misread or worse, break the configuration files.

The benefits gained were many. System files were collected into one location where drivers and add-ons could easily find them. The same was true for program preferences. It provided a fast and consistent means of storing this information. Access to most of these settings was through control panels unless you jumped through hoops to manually edit them, reducing the number of potential errors. On top of that it’s structure as used in Windows 2000 and XP allowed corporate computer policies and settings to be configured and enforced centrally. All this was achieved without having to worry about file permissions. There’s even a degree of built-in backup, and many errors could be recovered using the last known good state.

That said, I’ve all too many times run into serious issues when the registry gets messed up. This could be the user settings loaded with your profile when you log in, or worse, the machine settings. How software installation, uninstallation, and reinstallation is handled also is much more difficult than it should be. Finally, it accumulates cruft over time.

Let’s tackle the last, first. Any system of settings can leave behind bits and pieces. Personal program preferences are the worst. Even on a Mac, deleting a program does not get rid of the preference files that store all of your settings. That said, these preferences aren’t read and loaded until their respective program loads, so all they do is tie up space on your hard drive, and have little or no impact. In Windows, if the uninstaller either deliberately leaves the preferences, or forgets them, they are now part of the ‘hive’, are loaded when the computer starts or when you log in, and are yet another point for the registry to become corrupted and fail, even if they are not being used. Besides, tying up this room in memory means longer load times and more memory used up that can be used to run programs, etc.

Remember — all things being equal, something more complex is more likely to break. That’s why we engineers value simplicity in design, and “Rube Goldberg” is something of an insult.

Programs entering themselves into the registry is also a reason for a common complaint among Windows users that Mac users find criminal – program portability. If you have to reinstall Windows in anything other than “repair” mode (and sometimes even then) you are virtually guaranteed to spend hours, if not days, reinstalling every piece of software on the computer. If you decide you will be using a certain program on your shiney new desktop, you can’t simply copy the program file over. By contrast, about the only programs on a Mac requiring full reinstallation are drivers and the Adobe suite. Everything else can run from any directory, and if it doesn’t find a set of preferences, creates a default. Many programs are installed by simply copying them to your hard drive and they can be moved or copied by simply dragging the programs to their new home. At worst you may have to copy the license file out of the system preferences as well, or re-key the license. You don’t even have to put them in the “Applications” folder — the equivalent of “Program Files” in Windows. Getting rid of those same programs is as easy as dragging them to the trash. This is possible because there is not a central registry that tracks locations of program files which breaks if you manually move the file, and because Mac programs are smart enough to create a default set of preferences.

What’s worse is when your registry gets corrupted. This can be corruption of the actual data, or corruption of the structure. Both can result in programs crashing, failing to start up, or worse, the computer never starting at all.

If the data is corrupt, then sometimes it can be manually tracked down and corrected. Usually this is easiest by removing and reinstalling the program, unless of course the uninstaller forgets to remove the relevant registry keys. If the structure is corrupt, it’s a nightmare. You cannot even access, much less delete, the relevant keys to fix the problem. At this point, getting the problem fixed becomes “interesting” in a chinese-curse way, and unless you have on tap very recent backups of the registry that are also clean, you will likely have to reinstall (in the case of system registry problems) or wipe the user account (user registry settings). Few things are more frustrating than trying to get a clean and functional user profile working in a roaming-profile environment.

In short, the registry had solved a number of problems, but has also brought a number of headaches along that just get worse and worse as a computer ages and more programs get added and removed. This is why many Windows experts would recommend a reinstall every year or two, and many tech support lines commonly ask you to reinstall Windows when troubleshooting a problem.

…except to make money off the fact that other people do depend on it.

To make a long story short, Microsoft had some issues with their database that determines if your computer has a valid copy of Windows Vista or XP on it, and the validation servers were unavailable. Many people all over the world had their computers automatically check in over those few days because they were installing a new copy of Windows or updating or installing something like Windows Defender that required a validation check. Those people were immediately placed in a “reduced” mode that shut off features on their computers.

update: Of course, this all makes my earlier rant on the problems of software activation schemes look prescient.

update2: And the guys from User Friendly throw in their two cents…

There are plenty of articles out there about “must-have apps” and others that evaluate “here are all the programs that do this.” This is not one of them. Instead, this is a tour of the tools I currently use that didn’t come with my Mac, and why. I’m ignoring the built-in apps like the Terminal for command-line access or Disk Utility because if I don’t mention a third-party alternative, I’m currently using it, and you can check it out for yourself. Along the way I’ll mention a few good alternatives that didn’t quite fit my needs.

A is for…

Adium: I don’t use it often, because I like the look of iChat, and most of my clients and contacts use the AIM network anyways. For those occasions I need a control check, or to use my Yahoo or MSN accounts, it’s invaluable. It is also very powerful, and very flexible. It also supports Growl notifications. Honestly, if I spent more time in “chat” mode, I’d probably use it more.

Adobe: Acrobat reader 8 – finally an adobe client that is almost as fast as preview, but has more features! I used to loathe it as a nescessary evil (and none more evil than reader 7), but with version 8 I use this for about 50% of my PDF viewing – whenever I have to do more in-depth searching. The plugin for the web browser allows me to save conveniently with a click and works smoothly with even the Safari 3 beta.

Adobe: Designer Suite – The entire designer suite gets lumped in here too. If you are NOT a graphics professional you might want to look at the current version of Photoshop LE. Even as rarely as I need to do photo editing or illustration these days – and iPhoto and several other packages can do whole-image color correction quite nicely if not with the same degree of control – having these features available is a godsend. For creating vector artwork, laying out newsletters without the headaches involved in using Word, color-correcting just PARTS of an image, repairing old family photographs, or for image compositing, nothing beats these. Of course, the learning curve for all of this power is ridiculously steep.

B is for…

Blender: I have yet to explore even most things this program can do. Nevertheless it has much of the power I played with in Lightwave 7 (I stopped staying current after I got 8), and it’s free.

C is for…

Chax: This is actually an extension for iChat, and one of the biggest reasons I don’t use Adium. This gives you a lot more control over how iChat behaves, including setting the auto-away times, enabling tabs, and control over a number of other hidden features of iChat.

Chicken of the VNC: This is one of a small handful of VNC programs available for the mac. While it’s not the fastest, it is one of the most flexible, Works just fine with the built-in desktop administration in OSX server, and can scan the network for Mac-based VNC servers. This latter feature makes it very useful for administering Mac-based shops. Sometimes I do wish for a faster client though.

F is for…

Firefox: Absolutely essential. Doubly so as a web designer, but there are enough sites that work better, if at all in Firefox (the administration of this blog, Gmail) that I strongly recommend keeping it around. I definitely find nearly daily uses for it even though the Safari 3 beta has reduced my need for it.
Flickr Uploader: I’ve tried several third-party utilities (and though it’s great, didn’t feel like paying for the iPhoto to Flickr exporter), and this one from Flickr is by far the most stable and snappiest, if not issue-free or slick. My wishes for it are as folllows: to gracefully deal with Photoshop and Tiff files that iPhoto handles well, and allow me to select subsets of images to batch-tag instead of taking the all-or-one approach. With these limitations it hasn’t choked on large upload sets, or completely flaked on tag handling like other programs have.

Flip4Mac: This plug-in is needed to play windows-style AVI files. Needed, not only because Microsoft has not updated their Windows media Player for the Mac, but they explicitly point you to Flip4Mac. Works smoothly, and AVI files open up under quicktime, preventing confusion and other headaches.

FreeCiv: This game is based on the classic “civilization” games by Sid Meier. It allows you to start off at nearly any primitive technological level, and advance and expand your civilization from there . Likely you will eventually take over the world. This requires you to install X-windows (available on the OS X installation disc(s)) to play.

G is for…

Google Sketchup: This nifty little program allows you to “sketch” basic 3D objects. The learning curve is fairly shallow, but what you can do with it once you start messing with it is nothing short of miraculous. There is also a “pro” version that you can pay for. This program was bought by Google and made freely available to allow people to create 3D buildings and models for their “Google Earth” program.

Google Earth: I call this a software “toy” and research tool. Mostly because it’s not as good at generating directions as the web-based Google maps or MapQuest. Nevertheless, it is very, very powerful, and gives you a perspective that is unmatched, with almost seamless zooming and navigation. it will guide you, show you streets and houses, and as people have added more and more information, even hiking trails in national parks. It will also suck you in for hours and hours of fun.

Growl: A notification tool. It doesn’t work with many of Apple’s built-in apps, but does work with a number of third-party programs and extensions. Growl allows programs to toss a message up on your screen in a relatively unobtrusive way, letting you know when certain events have happened. This can be when an upload or download is complete (Transmit), when a new IM message comes in (Adium), or when your plugged-in status on your laptop changes (Unplugged).

I is for…

iGTD: There are several decent GTD-style to-do applications out there (such as the kinklessGTD scripts if you have the pro version of Omni Outliner), and several interesting-looking ones coming out (OmniFocus and Things from Cultured Code). When I originally tried it I wasn’t impressed, but started using it after a few critically needed improvements. Despite its bugs – most of which have been fixed over its amazingly rapid development cycle – it has grown into a solid, stable, and simple to use means of sorting out your life and what you need to do.

InstantShot: A snapshot application that lives in your menubar. It allows you more control over screenshots than the usual Shift-Command-4. While I still usually use the built-in screenshots when I need a quick record of something for myself, I use this when I need to capture a specific window (and ONLY that window) without cropping headaches, or I specifically need a .jpg image format and i don’t want to go through converting it.

iStumbler: For all of your Wi-Fi discovery needs. This program will show you all of the wireless networks that are visible in the area, their relative signal strength (and how “noisy” they are), which ones are secure, and give you a moment-by-moment graph of signal strength . Excellent for plotting out where your home or business networks need better coverage.

iWork: One reason I rarely use Word anymore. Or InDesign. Keynote, the presentation program, is both easier to use thanPowerpoint, and just beautiful to look at. Pages, the writing program has now become my default for all creative writing, for letters, and envelopes. It’s also much better suited to newsletter layouts than MS Word, as it doesn’t randomly rearrange things for no reason that can be determined when you drop in pictures, etc. It exports toMS Word format, as well as directly to PDF.

L is for…

LEGO Digital Designer: A bit of harmless fun. Build almost any lego model using what feels like every lego part made.

LiteIcon: This app allows you to change your default system icons for things like the trash can, your documents folders, etc.

Little Secrets: An encryption and storage program. This allows you to open up an encrypted, password-protected file, and store critical information like passwords for banks and servers. It also allows you to drop in screenshots, PDF documents, etc. While nowhere near as pervasive or good for organizing as Yojimbo, It deals much more gracefully with data that needs to stay protected.

M is for…

Mail Appetizer: Actually an extension for the Mail.app that Apple includes with OSX, this love-or-hate plugin throws a “smoke” bezel up into the corner of your screen every time new mail comes in, with the basic to, from, subject information, and the first paragraph or so of text. It also allows you to switch directly to that message in mail, delete the message, or mark it read, and fades away after a few seconds if you decide that nothing coming in needs to be dealt with right now. In my case it keeps me from going into my inbox everytime I see a new mail notification, because I already know if it’s important or not.

Mail Act-On: Another Extension for the Mail.app. This one allows you to use keyboard shortcuts to redirect your current or selected mail via a set of custom rules. In my case I use it to file away several common general categories of mail, flag them or not based on whether I need to see it again (with a smart folder to view flagged mail), and forward them if needed – all in one easy step.

MagiCal: This replacement for the calendar and clock in your menu bar just looks nicer. it also allows me to call up the current month in a minicalendar (complete with week-of-year) without switching over to iCal.

Marathon: An absolute classic. Brought to you courtesy of the Aleph One project. Years ago, Bungie released the source code of their Marathon games, as well as their original maps and levels. The Aleph One project took these games and updated the display engine adn graphics to use modern 3D rendering technology. While the games still don’t look as flashy as anything modern, they’re still fast, fun, and occasionally creepy playing experiences with an engaging story.

Microsoft Office: The program everyone knows and loves – to hate. Used only when absolutely nothing else will do – usually when I have to send the file to another person using MS Office.

Myth II: Soulblighter: This game is perhaps my all-time favorite. Ever. I bought it back in 1999 and have played it over, and over, and over again. The engine has been updated to include intel-based Macs since Bungie released it, and I’m not sure where to get the actual game levels (I had the CD’s around still), but at least try the demo.

N is for…

NeoOffice: This is what I usually use to open up MS Office files – assuming it’s not an RTF that can just as easily be handled by TextEdit. This is a free, mac-specific, open-source office suite based on the OpenOffice project. I don’t recommend using the powerpoint clone, and it’s slower on PPC macs (and faster on intel ones since there is not yet an intel-native version of MS Office), but it does just fine in opening up most word and excel documents.

O is for…

OmniGraffle: Think Visio for the Mac. This program allows you to create flow charts, diagrams, and network maps quickly and easily.

Omni Outliner: Outlining. Whether it’s brainstorming or organizing or making checklists. Many of you will get this nifty little program written by the geniuses at the Omni Group with your MacBook or MacBook pro, and not realize what power this has. This program is intended to do only one thing, and do it very well. Create, sort, and consistently format outlines.

Q is for…

Quicksilver: I find it difficult to use a computer without this app. I literally come to a halt at clients computers and catch myself having to remember the old way of opening up programs, performing certain actions, and searching for files. This very powerful program makes it extremely easy to launch programs, or trigger various actions with just a handful of keystrokes. It is very easy to start with, and the further you dig into it, the more customizable it is. You will either find it absolutely indispensable, or hate it. Another program with a similar audience that has been recently updated and regained converts is Launchbar

R is for…

Remote Desktop Connection: This program, freely available for download from Microsoft, is a must for anyone remotely connecting or administering Windows machines, especially servers. Faster and more fully featured than VNC, it’s an absolute no-brainer for these situations.

S is for…

Safari 3: This is on the list because it’s still only available for download as a beta, and doesn’t ship yet with the operating system. That said, I’ve used it for over a month on one of my two Macs, and now installed it on my MacBook as well. I’ve heard of (but not experienced) some issues with various Dashboard widgets, and XyleScope needed to be updated, but everything else (flash, etc.) work and render the same as in Safari 2, and some of the lesser-hyped features have become indispensable. For example: being able to move tabs around, and the ability to resize text entry fields.

You would think that many people, even those not truly computer – savvy, usually know which version of Windows they are running on their Windows machines. Insofar as knowing whether or not they are running Windows 98 or Windows XP, this is usually, but far from universally true. What most people don’t realize is that for all intents and purposes there are at least four versions of Windows XP installation disks that are all mutually exclusive.

Yes, four. If you decide to include the corporate open license versions, there are even more.

Those of you stuck at two (XP Home and Pro) can be excused for your confusion, because in truth, that is what Microsoft will tell you. What Microsoft doesn’t tell you is that there are two versions of XP Home: The one you buy over the counter, and the “OEM” version that is usually preinstalled on your machine when you buy it from Dell (or Gateway, etc.). While the actual copy of Windows on the disk is identical between the retail and OEM versions, these both have separate disks, and separate sets of installation keys, and separate installers.

Wait, it gets much worse. For the tech, anyway.

Many people who need Windows XP reinstalled have lost their original disks. Fortunately, it’s easy enough to carry around a copy of the various flavors (OEM and retail) of XP home and pro. Guessing which to use is also usually pretty easy based on what OS was originally installed on the machine, which we can often discover by looking for the Microsoft label on the side. It’s critical that we use the correct disk, because with the new activation features, if you don’t get the right version on, you don’t have a valid activation key, and 30 days later Windows stops working.

Imagine, though, the confusion for the poor user who doesn’t realize there is a difference. I see enough people who don’t know they can’t use a friends’ copy of XP pro to fix XP home. Compound this with the fact that many home users who upgraded to XP in the first place often lose their keycodes, and reinstallation becomes nearly impossible unless you’re sufficiently geeky to keep rescue tools like Knoppix around, and USB thumb drives.

So what is Microsoft doing to make things easier for us, the users?

Nothing.

Worse than nothing.

According to a recent article at Ars technica , there will be seven, yes, seven versions of Windows “Vista”, destined to replace Windows XP. Hopefully, these also don’t come in OEM and retail flavors because at this point, I’m beginning to get confused as to which version is capable of what, and I pity the non computer geek. Carrying four CD’s around is annoying enough, and at least I know what I’m doing. Usually.