Done yesterday (20110604 Sa)

[mdlbear]

0604 Sa
  * up 7:08; W=198.2; drugs, nose, laundry, dishes, light
  * 10-1:30 HVAC upgrade estimate -> $10,200.  12-year loan.
  @ Shock: Windows 8 optimized for desktop tablets - Computerworld 
    via The Mad Filkentist - Microsoft jumps the shark
    " Interestingly, the Metro UI handles files like the iPad -- documents and
      data files are associated with the application, and will be managed only
      from within applications. But in the Windows 7 window, you'll still have
      old-fashioned file management, where your data file locations are not
      associated with specific applications and can be moved copied, deleted
      or modified without reference to specific applications.
    " Yup, the shark is well and truly jumped.
  * ice, ground beef for chili, cottage cheese, etc. on the way back from
    getting the Wacom pens.
  * party  Irene and her two boys were the first to show up
  * made a good chili, and rice.
  : party very sparsely attended.  Now a lot like a sparsely-attended
    Wednesday :(  Picked up later in the evening.  Jane and Andrew arrived
    just a little before midnight.
  & The eQuill went over very well; everyone "got it" and were able to think
    of plausible applications.  I'm glad I had the prototype along, since the
    software on the pre-production unit is still rather flaky by comparison.
  * bed ~1am

So we had a party. It wasn't publicized nearly as well as it should have been (my bad), but we got three new adults and two kids, from fliers passed out at Baycon. So that's a win. Jilara and Andrew turned up a few minutes to midnight and we didn't get to bed until after 1. That's a win, too.

The eQuill tablet I brought home was a hit -- everyone I showed it to (which was, like, everyone) liked it. I'm glad I brought the earlier prototype, though; it still has better pen tracking (because the display driver for the production hardware is still being optimized). Altogether a win, though I wish I'd thought to put a long document on one of them to show off the fast page flipping. Next time.

I made what everyone agreed was a good chili, and got in a little noodling. No singing; I didn't get any requests, and didn't want to interrupt the ongoing conversations. That's ok.

One fascinating link: Shock: Windows 8 optimized for desktop tablets - Computerworld via The Mad Filkentist - Microsoft jumps the shark "Interestingly, the Metro UI handles files like the iPad -- documents and data files are associated with the application, and will be managed only from within applications. But in the Windows 7 window, you'll still have old-fashioned file management, where your data file locations are not associated with specific applications and can be moved copied, deleted or modified without reference to specific applications."

Yup, the shark is well and truly jumped. I think that the thing that's going to bite them in the end is that they still think that the user interface is part of the operating system. In fact, for them, the UI is the operating system -- they still call it "Windows", for goodness sake! Now, they've even moved the file system out of the OS and into the applications. In the Unix/Linux world I get to choose my UI, and share files between applications. Which means that I can script complex processes involving multiple tools.

Fun times ahead.

Comments

[elf]

From the article: "Whenever I predict desktop tablets, I get a lot of e-mail from the resistance. Touch is too limited, they say. An iPad-like interface is cramped and limiting. The arm position necessary to use a touch screen even at an angle is uncomforable. I need a real keyboard. I've grown attached to my mouse. I need hardcore multi-tasking."

I need hardcore multi-tasking; for the ebook conversion I'm currently working on, I've got the file to edit open in Word, the scanned PDF in acrobat, a text file I'm using to track my progress (what page in Word & what page in the PDF I've completed through), and FineReader for those pages where the OCR is just atrocious and it's faster to extract the PDF page as an image, import that to FR, and do the OCR corrections there because it's faster than Word. A while ago in the process, I opened Photoshop to make a cover & Firefox to go looking for images, but I grant those didn't need to be done at the same time.

I *want* keyboard commands; they're faster. The icon-based UI is designed for people who don't type 80 wpm, or for a device that doesn't have room for a traditional keyboard.

Got any suggestions for baby steps towards transitioning to Unix/Linux? We're not ready to have to learn a new system from scratch yet (especially with all the windows-specific programs we'd have to figure out how to work through emulators or give up on), but it sounds like I need to look into other options for the future.

[mdlbear]

I usually recommend Ubuntu for desktop systems, it's dead easy to install. OpenOffice and the Gimp are good replacements for Microsoft Office and Photoshop respectively. OpenOffice can read and write Office files, but you may lose some formatting information.

For editing web pages and pretty much anything else I use Emacs, a text editor that bears the same relationship to notepad that a jet fighter does to a tricycle. It also has online hypertext documentation and a built-in tutorial.

The Linux command line is much easier to use than DOS; command names tend to be short (cp for copy, ls (list directory) for dir, mv for rename) but memorable.

I recommend Debian for servers; it's the distribution that Ubuntu is based on. My hosting service, Dreamhost.com, uses it. The manuals and other documentation for both Debian and Ubuntu are excellent.

A good way to get started is to install Linux on an older system that you're not using any more, or to dual-boot your desktop. There's also a version of Ubuntu that installs as a sort of parasite on Windows; it uses a Windows file instead of its hard disk.

It helps to have a native guide, but it's not required.

[andyheninger.livejournal.com]

Another easy option for getting started is to set up a virtual machine on your current Windows box, and install Ubuntu in that. Virtual Box is free, and works well for creating virtual machines. Ubuntu will be in a window, or can be switched to full screen. File sharing with the Windows host works very smoothly.

Running a virtual machine does require a fair amount of memory. If your Windows box is a little light, throw in an extra few gigs - memory is really cheap these days.

I run the reverse setup - Ubuntu Linux is my native OS, and I run Windows in a virtual machine for the few things that Linux can't conveniently do. Which, for me, are iTunes for talking to iPods, TurboTax, printing to a fairly high-end photo printer with no Linux driver, and Visual Studio for building and testing software under Windows.

[figmo.livejournal.com]

Sorry I couldn't make it; I'm ill with a flu (I think it's this year's Con Crud), and I didn't want to share it.

[mdlbear]

You're not the only one; hope you're feeling better soon.

[roaringmouse.livejournal.com]

I got sick on Thursday night. My body decided to not like a particular food so I couldn't go to work on Friday and Saturday I wasn't very confident. My body is acting like a baby.

[mdlbear]

Sounds like a common problem. Hope you're feeling better soon.

[septemberlilac.livejournal.com]

I'm in total agreement with everything elfwreck said above. In terms of productivity, I've found even Win7 to be a nightmare to work with; it's called 7 because what used to take two steps suddenly required seven. And now this? Sounds to me like Microsoft has not only jumped the shark, a school of dolphins and a couple of grey whales - they've lost their freaking minds.

[mdlbear]

I've never found Windows particularly usable compared to Linux. It's nice when everything "just works", but it's limiting, and when things don't work you're usually "just stuck".

[andyheninger.livejournal.com]

Sorry to have missed the party - I always enjoy them. We were back east for Nadia's graduation. Here she is with Brian Kernighan just after the ceremony.



-- Andy

[andyheninger.livejournal.com]

One fascinating link: Shock: Windows 8 optimized for desktop tablets - Computerworld via The Mad Filkentist - Microsoft jumps the shark "Interestingly, the Metro UI handles files like the iPad -- documents and data files are associated with the application, and will be managed only from within applications. But in the Windows 7 window, you'll still have old-fashioned file management, where your data file locations are not associated with specific applications and can be moved copied, deleted or modified without reference to specific applications."

Some how I suspect that the Computer World commentator doesn't have the whole story quite straight.

If there are going to be phones and tablets with a touch-based UI, it does makes sense for laptops or desktops with touch hardware to support a similar UI, and to encourage and make it easy for app developers to support it. Accessibility is a big deal here also. There are lots of people that have severe problems using keyboards and mice.

What seems implausible is that they would make power apps running on non-touch hardware into second-class citizens. But if Microsoft wants to screw up and cede some market share to the competition, that's just fine with me.

[marypcb.livejournal.com]

yes, quite; CW has missed a lot of the key points. HTML/JS/CSS phone-style apps get to run in the touch UI; so do 'old-fashioned' full-fat Windows apps written in any damn language devs want - including the Explorer you can use to access files/file types etc. The immersive touch UI is for tabletty things but you can also drive it from a keyboard - because these will be devices you can use as tablets or a full-fat PCs. Best of both worlds. The implementation of best of both worlds could be dog's dinner but we won't know until we see more than a demo. Shark-jumping predictions reveal more about peoples' views of Microsoft than about Microsoft's plans ;-)

Anyone wanting to understand this would do better to look at the videos Microsoft has posted than the tosh being written third-hand by people who may or may not have seen the D9 presentation.

[mdlbear]

Good point on the UI. It remains to be seen what happens to phone-style apps' files; they could still screw that up pretty badly.