Outlook PST files
My Outlook file grew up to about 2 gigs so I figured I needed to do something. I archived all mail older than 6 months into a new PST file but that did not affect the size of my original PST. I tried the “compact” command in Outlook. No change. So, I set up a new PST file and manually moved all my mail from the original PST file to the new PST file. The result was a PST file under 800 megs. Quite a difference. Then I had to move over the RSS feeds. So, solution found… but I wonder why Outlook could not compress the original PST file. I’m not a fan of the single database file approach that Outlook uses to store mail but I love the interface and integration into OneNote which makes it hard to give up. That, and it syncs with my iPhone.
Random thoughts on the iPad
First, I didn’t think of female hygiene products when I heard the name. I thought pad of paper. I am kind of surprised that so many people mentioned that. I remember people decrying the naming of the Nintendo Wii and saying that it would not succeed solely on how terrible the name was. I don’t think many people even remember the hubbub about the Wii’s name now that it is such a huge success and so commonplace. I think the same thing is true of the iPad – if it is an attractive device that people want at an affordable price, then it will sell regardless of the name.
That said, I am really impressed with the price point. Seeing all of the discussion leading up to the announcement, I figured it would be in the $800 - $1,000 range. $499 for the low-end model seems like a great value… especially if you’re looking at, say, a Kindle DX. And, obviously, the iPad will have a lot of additional uses beyond being used as an eReader and, so, to me would seem like a better choice if you’re looking into that price range.
I understand why they went with the iPhone OS but I am still disappointed for a couple of reasons. First, most of the apps for the iPhone (which I do own) are not very robust. They are generally quite gimmicky. They are definitely not as full-featured as Macintosh applications. That said, the iPhone interface is obviously geared to the iPad’s multi-touch interface. I mean, it is essentially a big iphone, after all, and it isn’t clear how easy the full-fledged Mac OS X could be moved to a multitouch interface. But, I still would have liked to see it based on Mac OS X. I fear that Apple is losing focus of their full-fledged computers and are risking becoming much more of a gadget maker.
Another reason the iPod OS approach is disappointing to me is that you’ll have Apple as a gatekeeper to all applications (unless it is jailbroken or something similar). I understand why Apple would want to do this… think of all the revenue this generates as they get a cut of every paid application sold. Indeed, this may well be one reason that the hardware price is so low. Much like razors, they can make money on the blades (or the apps). But, having a gatekeeper in place is very limiting for developers. Will Apple refuse to release applications like Firefox that would compete with their built-in apps? If the iPhone’s history is any indication then, yes, they will limit applications and stifle competing products.
And, speaking of competing products, iPad will not support Flash. Perhaps there will be a workaround in the future but the iPhone still does not have Flash support. I have to wonder if Flash and Silverlight would be blocked to lock users out of all of the alternatives to the iTunes Store. The iPad would be much more attractive if I could watch Netflix movies or Hulu content right from it. Of course, having these options available would really limit the appeal of paying for content from the iTunes Store.
In the end, I think that I am not the target audience for one of these devices. That said, I do think that Apple will sell a tons of iPads. They are a really cool and neat toy… I would just not be willing to pay that much for something which, in my mind, offers so few advantages to having a smartphone and a laptop.
Using Windows 7’s Snap feature on dual monitors
One new feature in Windows 7 that I really dig is the “Snap” feature where, if you drag a window to the side of the screen, it will be resized to take up half the screen size. I was lucky enough to get a new monitor at work so that I could have a dual display with my laptop and it is great but it was not immediately apparent to me how to use Snap with a dual monitor setup. When I would drag a window to the edge of the screen, it would move that window onto the other monitor. I figured out that if you use the key combinations to invoke Snap, instead of the mouse, you can use Snap on either monitor. Simply make the window active that you want to snap and use one of the following combinations:
- Windows – Left Arrow snaps to the left.
- Windows – Right Arrow snaps to the right.
- Windows – Up Arrow maximizes the window.
The Snap feature will use the monitor that the window is currently on.
Windows 7 woes
I have been, more or less, happily running Windows 7 on my MacBook Pro for a few weeks now. I wound up formatting the drive during the Mac OS X install and then installing only Windows 7 on the drive and using the OS X disc to install the Windows driver. I went a while with no crashes and digging the interface improvements. However, lately I experienced two crashes. A bummer, to be sure, but even more disconcerting was that all my open files seemed to be corrupted after reboot. Dreamweaver couldn’t start up because of a corrupted preference file and all of the files I had been editing were corrupt. The file size seemed fine but the files were blank in any text editor. Grrrrr…
One other thing this file loss caused me to realize is that Restore Previous Versions on Windows 7 is no substitute for Time Machine. I had thought that Windows 7 would save versions of changed files in between the daily incremental backups that were running. Apparently, though, previous versions are saved during the incremental backup and during System Restore points which can be triggered by software installs, for example.
Time Machine, in comparison, backs up changed files every hour. And it can be used to easily do a software restore or migrate information to another machine. I have been looking for a substitute for Windows 7 but, so far, cannot find anything close to being as smooth, seamless and as slick as Time Machine.
Rifftrax Live tomorrow
I am really anxious to go see Rifftrax live tomorrow – the Shorts Extravaganza with special guest, Weird Al Yankovic. I saw their last live show and it was great. I hope that they get enough ticket sales to keep doing these events. Ideally, they would have a showing in Portland but, alas, I will be driving up to Brunswick tomorrow night after work. The next three nights will have something going on so it will be a busy week. And I cannot believe how fast Christmas is approaching.
Fixed Vista Windows Explorer crashing problem
I was recently having a strange problem with Windows Explorer on my install of Vista. For some reason, Explorer would hang and require a restart the first time after boot after right-clicking. After some investigation, I think that the problem must have been an errant right-click entry by a program. When you install Windows programs, many of them add things to the right-click menu in Windows Explorer so that you can perform and action on that file in your newly-installed program. For example, iTunes will add the ability to “Play in iTunes” when right-clicking on an audio file. Apparently, one or more of these additions to my right-click menu must have been causing Explorer to hang. I am not sure why a restart of Explorer fixed it.
To fix this, I downloaded the free application, ShellExView from http://www.nirsoft.net. I then turned off all extensions except those provided by Microsoft (there were a ton and turning them off individually to find the culprit would have taken forever). After reboot, I right-clicked and… no crash! Now I can turn on extensions that I would find useful. It not only fixed an annoying problem for me but it also will allow me to customize and streamline my Explorer’s UI.
Health care reform
I am not going to pretend that I understand the intricacies of the health care debate. I do know that something needs to happen. When I started in “the real world” about a decade ago, it was pretty common to have health care fully covered by your employer. That now seems about impossible to find. And this is just in the span of a decade.
One thing that bothers me, though, is how fast and loose people on the right use terms like “socialism.” On one hand, we hear how a public option for health care insurance would be a huge intrusion of the government into the private sector. Yet, these same people will talk about how terrible it would be to cut Medicare, a government program. For these people who claim that Obama and Democrats are socialists, will they just come out and call for an end to other socialist programs like public schools, public roadways, flu vaccination programs, insurance on bank deposits… the list goes on. I never hear it explained why government’s intervention in some areas is okay but in other areas it is nothing short of the fall of capitalism.
I don’t think that anyone can honestly claim that the healthcare system, as is, is working well for middle class and lower class America. And, so, it looks like government will have to get involved. So this pure ideological argument from the right seems like a waste of time to me. Haven’t we already realized that a pure market approach is not going to solve this problem and the government is going to get involved? So let’s talk about the specifics of how the fix the problem instead of trying to derail the reform effort.
Windows Vista – or why I am switching back
I have a Macbook Pro computer. I have been using the Macintosh off and on for awhile. As I thought about purchasing a new laptop, I really wanted a 17-inch screen. I had two 17-inch laptops previous to my Macbook Pro but I just couldn’t afford any Mac laptop with a 17-inch screen. Right now, their 17-inch model starts at $2,499. Seriously. It is a really nice laptop and if you priced out a Windows laptop with the same exact specs, it might be a similar cost. But I just could not justify spending that much on a laptop. And, I could not get that screen size in the resolution I want.
I use a computer pretty much all day and I’ve always found a 17-inch screen at 1440 x 900 very comfortable. The laptop I have now is the same resolution (1440 x 900) with a 15-inch screen and I have noticed myself getting a lot more eye strain. So, to get ready for switching back to Windows, I have installed Windows Vista, via Boot Camp, on my Macintosh and have been running that full time for about four months.
My impression is that Mac OS X is a better operating system. I have been dealing with some of the kruft that happens when you’ve installed and uninstalled and used a Windows system for some time. It definitely feels slower than when it was freshly installed. I have run registry cleaners and that seemed to help somewhat… along with killing and not letting me enter registration information for a piece of software I use daily (Navicat). It is just more to worry about with Windows – it seems like more maintenance.
I also feel like I am rewarding Microsoft for their poor software in a way. You see, as a web developer, I spend a LOT of time debugging for Internet Explorer. On the Macintosh that meant having Parallels open with Windows XP. With my machine, I have a maximum of three gigs of RAM which goes very quickly with two OSes and a couple of Adobe apps running. Also, Microsoft Office 2008 is sooooo slow. Office 2007 is very quick on Vista. Also, not Microsoft’s fault, is that Dreamweaver on Mac OS X has some very annoying bugs that made it very difficult to use.
I am hopeful that Windows 7 will address some of the performance degradation that happens over time on earlier versions of Windows. On the whole, I am happy with Vista. I actually like the interface and I think the performance for running applications is better than Mac OS X, on the whole.
Watching the Mariners
I am not sure if I am supposed to be getting this channel or if it is a fluke, but right now I’m receiving a baseball station so I get to watch a little Mariners baseball and see one of the final games of the season. For those who don’t know, I am a Seattle Mariners and Miami Dolphins fan. I think I just wanted to be contrarian with rooting for Seattle – I didn’t want to cheer for the Red Sox since they were my brother’s favorite team. Had I realized the whole time zone thing, I may not have become a fan of a west coast team. But I’ve been following them for so long that they are my team. I liked the Dolphins mostly because of Dan Marino. The 80s Dolphins were a very exciting team to watch.
This has been a great year for Seattle. Ichiro has now racked up over 200 hits for the last 9 straight years, breaking the major league record which stood for over one hundred years. And, going from a really disappointing 100 loss season where their payroll was over $100 million in 2008, they seem to have really laid the foundation for a brighter future. They’ve assured themselves of a winning season this year which is exciting. And, of course, Griffey Jr.’s return to Seattle has had some incredible moments as well.
Beltre just hit a solo shot. This will probably be the last year I get to see him in a Mariners uniform. It is too bad he spent so much of it on the DL.
Anyway, it is time to switch gears and follow the Red Sox. Now that I am older and can actually tolerate my brother, I’ve grown to appreciate them. But I am excited for next year and I hope to see some more M’s games via MLB.tv.
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