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Mac OS X Con

gnat on 2003-10-29T19:16:18

I'm in San Jose at the Mac OS X Con. I'm not actually here for the conference, the real reason is a meeting. But I'm surrounded by conference attendees, so I'm seeing a zillion Mac laptops. It's amusing, though--the density of Macs here is only slightly higher than at OSCON. Every time I stop to think of the adoption of Macs among alpha geeks, I'm amazed.

Pogue's keynote was well-received, I'm told. I wasn't there, I was in the air. I went to bed around 11:30, got up at 5, drove to the airport, and flew to San Jose. Urgh. That wiped me for the day. I had to nap in the afternoon. It was disconcerting for the conferences staff, who are used to seeing me all perky and fired up and stuff, seeing me flat and barely able to speak. It made Rael look good though--at the editor's meeting a few weeks ago he'd lost his voice and so I got to be the funny one. Now he's recovered and he's like he's on crack or something, bouncing around and wittering so excitedly about gadgets.

He bought a Tungsten T3. Very nifty device. But ultimately it's a Palm underneath, and I just don't like the Palm OS. I don't know whether it's the irksome default noises or the way they keep changing bloody graffiti, but something about it just gives me the squirts. Maybe I'll change my mind after a few months of hearing Rael rave about it. Maybe.

Last night a ton of O'Reilly folks were sitting on the couches in the bar, working on their laptops. It was cool and sad at the same time. :-) I joined them and did a bunch of email for a while before calling it quits at midnight, but Rael and I stayed up talking until 1 or so. And then I woke up on Colorado time. I'm pacing myself and will start drinking caffeine soon so that I can be functional for the meeting this afternoon.

--Nat

PalmOS

ziggy on 2003-10-29T20:13:27

'Bout 5 years ago, when all the cool kids were sporting the hip new Palm V, a friend of mine tried to get excited about it, but just decided there really wasn't a lot of point to a palmtop. He had his PowerBook, which he took everywhere. Not only did his Mac handle all of the little "personal information management" bits we all seem to need a computer for these days, but he also had Photoshop, Acrobat, and the rest of his toolkit. If he could have had his PowerBook surgically attached to his hip, he would have done it.

Something tedious like waiting at the airport was very productive for him -- not only could he go through his email, but if/when he got through with that (on a full-sized screen, with a full-sized keyboard, mind you), he could do actual work instead of squint at some ebook or other mindless diversion.

At the time, I was trying to get excited about the Palm. Really. But I haven't used it in years. The batteries are perpetually discharged now.

I see his point. When you take a (Power|i)Book with you everywhere, you really don't need a PDA. 'Specially when you can get WiFi now, unlike then.