Brilliant dinner last night at chez Wheel. He keeps turnin' and he can't slow down... Making me feel good today even with the grey skies and rain. Anyway, lots happening, so let's get to those links.
Zvezda docking complete. The Russian "brain" module of the space station (see picture below) was successfully docked with the rest of the station (see picture to left.) Good work. <robotvoice>must get off planet</robotvoice>
Salon has an article on Eazel a new GUI being developed for linux by some incredibly heavyweight (ex-Apple) interface people. Set for release this Fall, I guarantee you'll be hearing a lot about this one. Could make linux possible for mere mortals (like me.) It is going to be really fun watching this race: linux morphs toward the Mac as the Mac morphs toward unix (OS X.) Sounds like they are zeroing in on the promised land, but who's going to win? Anyway, read the article, or just enjoy this little pull quoteLast week, I met with Mike Boich, CEO of
Eazel, who gave me a look at Nautilus, Eazel's souped-up file
manager for Linux-based systems. And unlike most software
product demos, which usually consist of equal parts stupefaction
and irrelevance, the Nautilus run-through actually delivered.
Nautilus looks like a lot of fun. More to the point, it looks like it
will work.
Apparently, the MPAA v. 2600 trial has ended although no ruling has been issued yet. This is the case about that pesky piece of software called DeCSS which allowed people with linux machines to actually play the DVD's the have bought (or not bought, as the MPAA likes to point out.) Anyway, this is a really big one in terms of setting precedent for whether you actually own the entertainment content you buy, or whether you are just sort of leasing it, under incredibly tight controls. And it sounds like the judge is impressed by the good side. Still, this will almost definitely go to the supreme court, so lots more fun to come.
And in the techno-lust department, SGI has seriously cut the price on its seriously beautiful, almost-as-good-as-the-Cinema-Display, 18 inch flat panel display (bundled with Formacs ProFormance 3 PCI video card) down to $1795! Still too much of course, but this is a $1000 reduction, and with the video card, really a pretty good deal. I'm saving all pennies for next years Powerbook g4, which I'm still boldly stating has the chance to be the best selling computer of all time. This thing is going to smoke. Now get back to work, or none of us will be buying anything.
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Zvezda docking complete. The Russian "brain" module of the space station (see picture below) was successfully docked with the rest of the station (see picture to left.) Good work. <robotvoice>must get off planet</robotvoice>
Salon has an article on Eazel a new GUI being developed for linux by some incredibly heavyweight (ex-Apple) interface people. Set for release this Fall, I guarantee you'll be hearing a lot about this one. Could make linux possible for mere mortals (like me.) It is going to be really fun watching this race: linux morphs toward the Mac as the Mac morphs toward unix (OS X.) Sounds like they are zeroing in on the promised land, but who's going to win? Anyway, read the article, or just enjoy this little pull quote
Apparently, the MPAA v. 2600 trial has ended although no ruling has been issued yet. This is the case about that pesky piece of software called DeCSS which allowed people with linux machines to actually play the DVD's the have bought (or not bought, as the MPAA likes to point out.) Anyway, this is a really big one in terms of setting precedent for whether you actually own the entertainment content you buy, or whether you are just sort of leasing it, under incredibly tight controls. And it sounds like the judge is impressed by the good side. Still, this will almost definitely go to the supreme court, so lots more fun to come.
And in the techno-lust department, SGI has seriously cut the price on its seriously beautiful, almost-as-good-as-the-Cinema-Display, 18 inch flat panel display (bundled with Formacs ProFormance 3 PCI video card) down to $1795! Still too much of course, but this is a $1000 reduction, and with the video card, really a pretty good deal. I'm saving all pennies for next years Powerbook g4, which I'm still boldly stating has the chance to be the best selling computer of all time. This thing is going to smoke. Now get back to work, or none of us will be buying anything.
- jim 7-26-2000 3:53 pm