Believe it or not, XvsXP has had much to do with the formation of Deep Thought. In fact, Nick and Pilky, the founding fathers of Deep Thought, met on the XvsXP forums. So it’s pretty damn newsworthy when they fundamentally change, like they have just recently.

With the release of Vista and the looming thought that the X moniker won’t be used by Apple forever (try as they might,) it was clear that XvsXP needed a domain name change to something a bit more timeless. Today, that change has happened. XvsXP is now Mac vs. Windows, and with that change comes an interesting twist: the shootout is now a wiki, free for anyone to edit.

The wiki method was used due to the time-consuming nature of maintaining the comparison. That same factor caused the site to change ownership from the hands of Dan Pouliot to James Scariati and Michael Moriarty in late 2005. The new format isn’t a 100% free-for-all. Instead, only Scariati and Moriarty can create pages or edit the conclusion section of each page. Any user can register and edit pages, but only users promoted for having made meaningful contributions to a comparison will be able to upload and insert images. “The days of pages being sorely out of date are OVER,” Scariati said in a post to the Mac vs. Windows forums.

Notice that I do not have iTunes installed - a search for iTunes shows no results for the iTunes application. So why is Apple trying to “update” iTunes on my computer? If I leave the “iTunes + Quicktime” option checked in the Apple Software Updater, it will actually install iTunes on my system.

Apple also attempts to tie-in iTunes with QuickTime, and QuickTime with Safari.

With its attempts to bundle unwanted software with requested downloads, and to force iTunes on every system it can, Apple is rapidly earning a reputation in my mind similar to that of RealNetworks in the 90s of using spyware-like tactics to essentially take over your system, and requiring extreme vigilance to prevent that from happening.

I doubt Apple wants that reputation, because as soon as it gets it, it will lose the goodwill and positive mindshare it has worked hard to build with the iTunes brand.

Dear Steve,

It’s a shame when your premiere mid-year keynote presentation could be a rehash of what has gone before.  Your annual Worldwide Developer Conference keynote is supposed to be where you make developers feel good about coding for Apple, where you can rally your base of Mac developers and energize them into creating the quirky, innovative apps that will define your computers in the next year.  So what happened? Why does everyone feel so empty inside, as if nothing has changed between June 10 and today?

Let’s talk about Leopard.  Leopard is your baby, your big answer to Windows Vista.  After all, you’re Apple.  You’ve shipped 5 major operating system releases in six years, each of which had significant new features.  And yes, Leopard does have its share of new stuff.  But here’s the thing, Steve: most of your keynote demos weren’t new to us.

Sure, you announced some completely new stuff.  The new Stacks feature of the dock raised eyebrows, Spotlight searching over the network is nice to have, and 64-bit top-to-bottom was well-received by the content creation people.

But the new feature that was best-received was the new Finder.  I have to say, that worries me.  First, because it took this long to actually revamp it.  Second, because it looks like iTunes, which I dislike.  An interface made for music catalogs may not work for browsing all the different metadata one may want to see in a file list.  The new Quick Look feature definitely seems promising, but…
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The time has arrived to switch many of your lights to Compact Fluorescent bulbs.

These bulbs run up to 300 degrees F cooler and thus are much more efficient while outputting similar light.  There are hundreds of models for all different size bulbs.  They save hundreds of pounds of pollution over their lifespan while also lowering your energy bill (paying for themselves easily) and lasting longer than regular light bulbs.

Home Depot says, “You can achieve the same level of brightness with a 17-watt energy efficient fluorescent light bulb as you can with a standard 60-watt bulb. Yet the lower wattage bulb uses as much as 72 percent less energy than its incandescent counterpart and it lasts 10 times longer, too!”

The key is finding out exactly what wattage and voltage your current light bulbs are and choosing the right color temperature.

The color temperature Ive liked so far, for computer and home use, is 2700 K (Kelvin).  2700 K Compact Fluorescent bulbs are also known as Warm white or Soft white but the only way to be sure it is 2700 K is to look for that spec.  Some are labeled Warm white but arent 2700 K.  It’s good for reading and computer use.

Even though 2700 Kelvin seems like it would be very hot, the actual temperature of the bulb is still more like 75° F.  An incandescent, though would be closer to 400° F.  Whatever Compact Fluorescent bulb you buy, you are going to get a cooler bulb…
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Introduction and Installation

I don’t ever watch the actual WWDC keynotes, nor do I take that much interest in them, but I will have a look at the Engadget or Ars feeds after it’s all over to see just what kind of carnage took place. In this case, that carnage was the announcement of Safari 3, which has been ported over to Windows. The reasons why are pure speculation, ranging from allowing the widest range of developers to be able to test iPhone applications without having to pay for Macs all the way to wanting web developers to take Safari and therefore WebKit seriously, as they have come to do for Firefox and Gecko. (Lack of) reasoning aside, Safari 3 is here, at least as a beta. Not only that, it’s here for Windows. In this review, we’ll see not only how Safari stacks up as a web browser, but how Safari stacks up as a Windows application.

Downloading Safari is much like downloading iTunes from Apple. You select a radio button, the click a button and download/run the installer. There is an option for Windows that downloads Safari plus the omnipresent Quicktime, but users can opt to download only Safari instead. Installation is, unsurprisingly, just like installing any other application on Windows.

I will say up front that the only thing in Vista that Safari actually supports is a 256x256 icon. Safari windows have no drop shadows and do not animate open/closed and minimized/restored (Figure 1). They also don’t use…
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