By John Gruber
WorkOS launches auth.md — an open protocol for agent registration.
Linked List: December 6, 2006
Wednesday, 6 December 2006
- More Details on Adobe Reader 8.0 Installer ★
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Bruno Voison, in a post to comp.tex.macosx, reports that unlike Reader 7, Reader 8 no longer installs frameworks directly within the Safari.app application bundle, and that it does write a log, to ~/Library/Receipts/com.adobe.Reader/install.log.
(Thanks to Michael Williams.)
- Apple’s Backup 3 - Hopeless Junk ★
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Yet another horror story about Backup.
- Microsoft Goes on the Defensive Regarding Zune ★
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Nick Denton focuses on how Microsoft has gone back to plying the traditional media, abandoning their ground roots approach to generate buzz for the Zune after weblog coverage turned so sour.
What I find interesting is how well it worked. Microsoft PR spokespeople offer reporters a story that Zune sales are exactly what they expected all along, and look at how many have regurgitated it.
- Adobe Reader 8 Installer and App Screenshots ★
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Chris Perardi’s Flickr set with screenshots of the new Adobe Reader and the installation process.
It sounds absurd, but you have to download an installer to install an “Adobe Download Manager” to download an installer to install the actual Adobe Reader app. The app itself, on the other hand, looks like a big improvement over previous versions of Reader. No more Windows-esque tiny icon toolbars.
Update: Here’s a direct link to the actual application installers: ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/reader/mac/8.x/8.0/enu. Thanks to everyone who sent the link.
- Mac Developers Supporting Child’s Play ★
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A band of indie Mac developers are donating the proceeds from tomorrow’s sales to the Child’s Play charity.
- Adobe Reader 8 Released and the Installer Sucks ★
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John Welch reports on the Adobe (née Acrobat) Reader 8 installer. It installs the app in /Applications/ (with no option to specify a different location) even if you decline to accept the license agreement. I.e. once you double-click the installer, you’re getting Acrobat Reader 8 plopped into your top-level Applications folder. Even worse, the installer apparently doesn’t write a log. Anything other than a drag-and-drop installation is bad enough, but I just don’t trust installers that don’t write a log — I want to know everything that gets installed and where.
- The Difference Between Trying Something and Using Something ★
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Jason Fried:
Most product reviews are based on trying something, not using something. That’s why many reviews are pretty thin or don’t get to the core essence of the product. The real deep knowledge of a product can only come from using it. Using it is what reveals greatness or failure on an intimate level.
You don’t notice the quirks and shortcuts when you try something. Those revelations only come from real use. Eye candy shines during trial, but fades fast during use. Cool wears off quick, usefulness never does.
A lot of trendy Mac apps these days are optimized for trying instead of using.
- Lost CNet Editor James Kim Found Dead ★
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Tragic. Best wishes to Kim’s family and friends.
- Behind the Scenes at the Microsoft Zune Design Laboratory ★
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Glass Maze:
Associate Designer: Have you even looked at an iPod before?
Lead Designer: Well … no. I was just going to hand one off to our Embrace and Extendgineers and tell them to make one.
- Datsun 280z Commercial Starring Steve Wozniak ★
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It. Is. Awesome.
(Via Steven Frank.)
- CARS: ‘Analyst Says Apple Already Sold Out of iPhones’ ★
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Considering how the speculation about Apple’s second — second! — “iPhone” continues to heat up, it’s the sort of rumor that’s hard to parody. But Moltz nails it with this one.
What’s funny is that with all this speculation about Apple’s second phone, if Apple actually announces a phone at Macworld Expo next month, underwhelmed rumor fanatics will declare that it isn’t the “true” Apple phone, just like how the 5G iPods aren’t “true” video iPods.
- Insanely Great T-Shirt Voting ★
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Some nice designs in there.
- David Young on Mac Office vs. Windows Office Through Parallels ★
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David Young prefers running Windows Office 2003 via Parallels (in Coherency mode) to running Mac Office through Rosetta. He has a point here:
But I argue that any Mac user who gives two shits about opening Office documents is working at a company that uses Office for Windows. Seriously: why else would you care?
But I think he vastly underestimates how many Mac users there are who really do like Word and Excel. No, they’re not trendy. Yes, until the next major version arrives, Intel-based Mac owners have to run them through Rosetta. But there are a lot of Mac users who’ve been using Word and Excel for a long, long time and who really do like them.
- DiskWarrior 4.0 ★
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I just can’t recommend DiskWarrior highly enough. I’ve seen it several times, first-hand: DiskWarrior can repair disks that no other utility can fix. Version 4.0 adds full support for Intel-based Macs. $99 for a new license, $49 to upgrade. I fully agree with Michael Tsai:
Alsoft is a pleasure to do business with, and they’re on the very short list of companies from whom I will buy an upgrade sight-unseen as soon as I see that a new version is available.
Update: I must say, though, that it sucks that if you upgrade, your only option is to wait for a physical CD to be shipped to you, and you must pay $9 in shipping. That’s a $59 upgrade, not a $50 upgrade. I’d gladly pay $50 for a download-only upgrade.
- NYT: ‘Yahoo, Aiming for Agility, Shuffles Executives’ ★
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This move does nothing to solve the core problem with Yahoo, which is that Terry Semel is not a web guy.
- NBA Commissioner Admits New Ball Sucks ★
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Forcing the pros to play with synthetic leather balls is like forcing top chefs to cook with microwave ovens. It’s astounding that they didn’t test the balls in advance to make sure the players liked them.
This Mark Cuban post from last month has more.