Rix Bits

Recently, Wired Magazine (UK) posted an article regarding a malware attack on the Mac OS X platform.  I couldn’t resist commenting on this article, since as many know I've been known to bad mouth Apple products from time to time. :)  But this one was particularly interesting because it reminded of a post I wrote about three years ago.

My favorite part of the article says:

In InformationWeek, the author wrote:

“…Apple has always boasted that "Mac OS X isn't plagued by constant attacks from viruses and malware" because its operating system was "designed with security in mind."

But about two weeks ago, Apple updated an old note on its support Web site advising its customers to use more than one antivirus application to make their computers more secure, affirming a longstanding divergence between its marketing and its technical concerns…”

In RedmondMag.com, the author wrote:

“…Here's why it's so important: Many Mac users are so confident that they pile up gigabyte after gigabyte of personal documents, photos, data and songs. If a virus hits, they have lots to lose, and often haven't taken as many precautions as their PC brethren…”

In his blog post in August 2008, Ricardo (that’s me) said:

“…So yes, you probably will have less trouble with viruses while using a Mac, but please don't assume it's because Mac is somehow superior in its security design - and please remember that the more popular your Mac becomes, the more susceptible it will be - will Mac be ready when the hackers decide they're ready to launch a full-blown attack?…”

In “I Robot”, Detective Spooner said:

“…Somehow, ‘I told you so’ just doesn’t quite say it…”

Classic….  ;-)

I know my blog may sometimes seem like I'm pretty anti-Mac. ;-) Even tho ever since I got my Mac Mini, I've been trying to find the positive side of the Mac experience (with little success so far). Nevertheless, when I read articles like the one below, it's just like - this stuff writes itself! Is there no limit to the amount of material that's out there??? LOL

This one truly brings the pun "Macintrash" to life. Apparently, there's a complaint about an odor coming from the Mac Pro. And there's speculation that it might be TOXIC!

All I can say is, for all the bugs and computer crashes that Windows may have put me thru in the past, at least it never tried to kill me!!!

I got into a little discussion this week with a couple of guys re: Mac vs Vista. One guy was a Mac owner who claimed Vista was bad, tho I don't think he's used it (see Mojave experiment). The other was a PC owner, tho not necessarily a power user, who had recently been dazzled by a Mac presentation in a store and was now considering buying one.

Then there was me - long time Microsoft-lover as well as Mac-owner. I had to give them my $0.02 because their opinions were starting to be driven by the same factors that seem to drive many folks - Mac's "i" software, Mac's "stability", and Mac's alleged freedom from viruses.

Let's get the easy one out of the way first - we know that viruses are created by crazy & malicious hackers out there that want to cause trouble, right. Historically Mac has never had trouble with viruses. Why? Cuz those hackers didn't bother wasting their time on Mac! Windows machines control the world - why would I waste my development time putting a virus together to affect all seventeen of the Mac users of the world! :- )

okay, i'm exaggerating, but you get my point. Anyway, this security piece is recently being proven now that Mac is starting to get products like the iPhone that are taking a bigger bite out of the market. Check the news - you hear more and more stories about Mac being 'hacked' these days. So yes, you probably will have less trouble with viruses while using a Mac, but please don't assume it's because Mac is somehow superior in its security design - and please remember that the more popular your Mac becomes, the more susceptible it will be - will Mac be ready when the hackers decide they're ready to launch a full-blown attack?

Re: stability, for the most part I usually concede that Mac is more stable. But the reason behind this is what's important to understand:

• Windows is like those 60's hippies - everyone's welcome to join in, love is everywhere, let's all join hands. Mac is like a fraternity - very selective about who gets in, and once you're in, play by our rules.
• Windows is like a wild toga party of 300 people crammed into small house - noisy, wild, people spilling drinks on the floor - but fun. Mac is like 12 people studying in a locked library - yes, you're getting your work done, everything's nice and neat, but you're missing the party.

What the heck am I talking about? I've found over the years that Windows instability for most users comes from the non-Microsoft software they put on it. Vista has been extremely stable for me, and those times that it wasn't ended up being a 3rd party software or driver issue. Is it Vista's fault that it invited another software maker to the toga party that didn't know how to hold his liquor? Meanwhile, Mac doesn't invite quite as many people to library, and when they do, there's a lot of "Quiet, please!" going on.

So yes, normally I'd say Mac is more stable, but for a user like I me, I simply prefer the toga party - I've got more options, and I'm the kind of user that nows how to clean up spilled beer... i mean, troubleshoot stability issues. :) I will point out, however, that mere days into my Mac ownership, I was already having stability issues reminiscent of my Windows experience - could it be that maybe Mac isn't quite as stable as advertised?

Re: software, many people on the web have compared iPhoto vs Windows Photo gallery, iTunes vs Media Player, and iMovie vs Vista's Movie Maker. Here's my comments in a nutshell:

• each side's software essentially gets the same job done. tho there's a different experience for each. whose experience you prefer is up to you, but let's not act like one of them is doing something more remarkably groundbreaking than the other.
• I like to remember that although both are giving me these software tools for free, with Windows OS & hardware being significantly cheaper than Mac, I wonder if Mac is truly free after all???
• Anybody that has traditionally felt Mac's tools were better than Windows needs to try Vista - maybe in the past the argument was true, but Vista pretty much copied a lot of ideas from Mac and put them in Vista.
• I agree with many that Mac's tool take away a lot of freedom - which is why i never could make the jump over to iTunes and iPhoto. They're very specific about how they want you to manage your photos & music, and I don't like them telling me what to do. Maybe my 70-year old grandmother, who doesn't care either way and just wants to store her grandkids' pictures, would like iPhoto, but not me.

In closing, here's a pretty good feature comparison I found. The green boxes essentially mean it's better. However, there's a few points I disagree with it on:

• Find windows - both Expose and Flip 3D are equally useful (or equally useless, depending on your usage)
• Virtual desktop - although Windows doesn't come with it, there is a free virtual desktop tool built by the developer community that does the same thing that Spaces does. Tho I'm one of these guys that has never found a lot of value in the concept. Although I'll many time have a dozen or more windows open, I'm never quite comfortable saying that "these 4 windows can be pushed out to another view" - my mind jumps around to all my windows simultaneously! :)
• Calendar - iCal and Windows Calendar are equally useless. :)
• Remote desktop - VNC is an inferior user experience compare to RDP in Windows. This has been a major issue for me in my Mac adoption.

Alright, i guess I've talked enough. Hope this helps someone. Vive la difference!

Today I laughed [a little more] at the iPhone after watching a satirical video ad on the show The Soup. Being a proud HTC Mogul owner, I always tell my Apple-loving friends to "get a real phone, not an iPhone".



In fact, during a recent business meeting, I noticed that someone else in the room also had a Mogul. Turns out we are old college buddies, so we decided to share each other's information. Why pull out our business cards? We just beamed each other's contact info via Bluetooth. Took just a few seconds, and we didn't even have to worry about pointing our IR ports at each other like we used to have to do 'back in the day'.




After swapping info, she told me that she wanted me to check out her company website to see if I might be interested in re-designing it. Since her web address was right there in her contact info, I was able to pull up her site right then and there! (and with the new Internet Explorer that comes with WinMo 6.1, I was able to zoom out and get the full birds-eye view the same way Opera does!)



After doing all this, I felt the need to make a smart-a** comment to my friend sitting next to me. You see, just moments before all this technological euphoria had taken place, he had commented that his son had just bought an iPhone. "Let's see your son's phone do that!", I sarcastically exclaimed. :)



In actuality, tho, I assumed that the iPhone COULD do that. I thought beaming info (contacts, files, etc) via bluetooth was something all high-end phones could do. Well, I just did a little research, and it sounds like the iPhone doesn't do that. Now I admit, the bluetooth stack is a fickle lady that all phones sometimes have trouble with, but I just was sure that the holy iPhone had that stuff mastered. What a surprise. Of course, this also means that the iPhone also can't be used as a wireless Phone-As-Modem the way my phone can. Interesting....



So tell me again why everyone's in such a frenzy about this whyPhone... i mean, this iPhone?.... ;- )

There was an interesting article that talked about an 'experiment' that Microsoft did. They took 120 people who previously said "I don't like Vista". They put them in a room and had them try out a brand new operating system called "Mojave". Afterwards, they revealed to them that they were actually using Vista (minus any identifying logos). Those peoples average rating of Vista went from 4.4 (unfavorable) to 8.5 (out of 10).

Most were XP users. About 22% were Mac users (insert devious giggle here).

I've been using Vista for quite a while with very few problems (especially post-SP1), and I prefer it over XP. Perhaps more people should actually TRY it before they dismiss it. :)

Update 8/17/08 - found Microsoft's website for the Mojave experiment.

Okay, anyone that knows me knows that it takes a lot to get a Mac compliment out of me. :) But I must admit, Mac made a small victory with me today with a little feature it has that apparently Windows doesn't.

Actually, the victory comes in using Mac's built-in email viewer vs. Microsoft Outlook. The other day my friend sent me about 10 emails. Each email had 1 photo attachment.

In both Mac and Outlook I had a way to preview the image w/o actually have to double click the file and open it in some other program. Outlook, however, required 1 click for the Preview, Mac didn't require any.

But that's not the victory yet. What I realized is that I wanted to save all 10 images into a folder on my hard drive. What's the easiest way to do this? What I would assume is that I can just highlight all the emails, and save "Save All Attachments".

In Mac, that's exactly what I was able to do.

Apparently Outlook couldn't fathom that such a scenario would ever occur. :) Outlook assumes I'd ever only want to Save All on a per-email basis - not across multiple emails.

So, for once I had a pleasing Mac experience while trying to do some practical work. Who would've thunk it... :)

See, what did I tell you? Vista ain't so bad after all. :-)

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=sPv8PPl7ANU

Well, there certainly are a whoooole lot of tweaks and fixes included in the latest Leopard OS update. I even see a few STABILITY fixes in there.

Now that I'm a Mac owner, I'm privy to these updates and what-not. Prior to, I never would have known that Mac's required software updates. In fact, it seems like everytime I turn on this Mini in the couple of months that I've had it, seems like I always see that little Update icon bouncing around. When I go see what the big to-do is, I see a list of some hefty-sized updates it wants me to download.

Hmmm - they're certainly not putting THAT little factoid in the commercials... :- )

(originally posted 2/12/08)

Got a hands-on introduction to the Air laptop today. It felt a lot more sturdy than I thought it would be for its size. Also seemed like it was handling heat dissipation pretty well. If it wasn't for the outrageous price it might make for a pretty good compliment to a moofing lifestyle.

--sent from mobile phone--

(originally posted 2/12/08)

I think I've found a good analogy that describes my experience thus far with the Mac:


Let's say this remote is my Mac. Obviously, very simple. Some might say even stylish in it's simplicity. This remote probably has about 10 features, and each one of those features it probably does flawlessly. Everything's laid out intuitively and you never have to worry about getting lost. You don't have to worry about it accidentally turning on/off any of your other devices, because it only works specifically with the TV that it came with. It's not a universal remote - you can't put codes in it to operate your other entertainment systems. And not much thought is required about "how" to use it - you use it the way it's designed. If you had some other ideas about how a remote should work, you should forget them.

Now, in my house, I own a universal remote called the MX-500. It's a fully-programmable universal remote. You can map actions to the hardware buttons. You can program macros commands (I have a macro that turns on/off the tv, cable, audio receiver, and DVD with one button. I have macros that change the tv and audio receiver configurations for, say, DVD-viewing vs. VCR-viewing, etc.) The buttons illuminate. The remote can "clone" another remote by pointing the IR sensors together. It can even be programmed to remote control light dimmers should I be adventurous enough to install them.


Nevertheless, as a result of all these features, I will admit that this remote is not very "friendly" to the casual user, including my wife. (over the years, she has grown to live with it and learn just enough of its features to get by) You would not be able to just look at this remote and figure out how to use it the way I do. (You wouldn't know to press "Main", then hold down one of the panel buttons to run a macro). And if you pressed the wrong sequences of buttons, you might find yourself stuck in some state that you would not easily be able to recover from, thus making the remote useless [for you] until I came over and helped you out.


But - and ay, here's the rub - I wouldn't trade this 1 remote for any of the 6 stylish and simple remotes that it replaced in my house. I gladly give up simplicity and even stability for the God-like power to control and interface with any and everything, and to do things with this remote that perhaps the manufacturer hadn't even thought about. Many times, I do experience limitations. It happens when my TV's manufacturer, for instance, doesn't give my remote the proper access or code authorization to access all of it's features. So, every now and then there's some sublte, hidden feature of my DVD, for example, that I can only access by getting up off the couch and doing by hand, or (heaven forbid) grabbing that DVD player's remote to access the feature.


But do I fault my remote control for this? No, I give it a pat on the back for doing a 85% good job of interfacing and playing nicely with all these other components. My remote has made a decision to bravely enter and play in the world of other electronics. It has not required me to make my home on an island called Basic Remote - an island with one TV, and one set of rules, and one way of thinking.


Rather than being the ruler of that island, a small kingdom though tightly controlled, I'd rather rule the world. Yes, I may have only loose control: a few riots every now and then, a recession or two, a stock market crash maybe, a war here and there. But still - I rule. Ask your boy GW Bush - he'll tell you the same... :)

(originally posted 1/21/08)

I was reflecting on Apple's commercial where they were making fun of Vista for its new security feature, which asks for your permission everytime it wants to do something that could be potentially dangerous.

Well here I am on my MacMini, and lo and behold they have the same thing - every now and then when I try to do something, the Mac confirms that I want to do it. To do that, it asks for my user password (on Vista, you can just hit Continue). I found this very interesting.

Well, let me get back to troubleshooting my Mac printer installation - the very process that one of my friends went on and on about in terms of Mac-simplicity. Perhaps I'll blog later on the details of my printer woes, but the short story is that I installed from disk the drivers to a Mac-compatible Canon printer, but yet now I find it hard to find anything related to the printer driver i just installed. Perhaps the Mac is hiding the details of the installation from me in an attempt to "keep things simple". Yeah, that's working out real well...

(originally posted 1/20/08)

So, I hooked up with some of my Mac buddies - two in Cali, one in Ohio - and got a 4-person video chat going. As you can see from the snapshot, it's got a pretty impressive interface. What was also impressive was the file/photo sharing. I was able to stream a Billy Ocean music video ("Caribbean Queen", of course) and an Al Green mp3 to the other 3 people, pretty seamlessly. Nice.

So, I'm like just a couple weeks into my Mac ownership, and already i'm using the 'task manager' to kill rogue processes? In this case, one of the disc mounting processes was running in the background and keeping me from ejecting [another] disc. Hmmm...seems like i'm using all the same troubleshooting skills I learned in the Windows world. I didn't think I was gonna need those bag of tricks in Steve's world. :)

I also tried to do a screenshot of my error message using the Grab service. Thought I could capture the image and paste it into an email message. Does that sound too much like right? Wouldn't let me do it.

I also realized that I never liked the menu bar for the apps always being context-sensitive and sitting at the very top of my screen. "Attention managment" is important to me - seems inconvenient to have to take my eyes all the way up to the top of the screen to do something with a window I'm using near the bottom of my screen. And that's if the menu updates to the new context fast enough, and is not still showing the menu for the last window I clicked on. (hmm, maybe that's a Mini thing)

To top it all off, I love the message Mac gave me about my problem from their Help files:

"If this happens, WAIT A FEW MOMENTS and try again..."

Who is this message written for? Are there computer users out there in 2008 that actually DON'T wait a few moments prior to being frustrated enough to check the Help files??? And apparently, in this case a 'moment' was like 10 minutes before I started having to search for a process to kill.

So far, I feel right at home in my Mac world - my woes thus far are very familiar..... ;- )

(originally posted 1/1/08)