Saturday July 03, 2004
When I really appreciate Macs
I made it back from JavaOne. I'm jetlagged and wiped out from the very long days. But its trips like these that make me appreciate my Apple products.
- Several times during the conference people would comment to me, "You still have battery life on that thing?". When I'm careful with power management, I can get 6+ hours out of my laptop.
- With all of the travel downtime, I couldn't get by without my iPod. Which doubles as a Firewire hard drive when working on the laptop in the hotel. It also serves as my mini-PDA, with text notes, calendar, and todo list. One of the most multipurpose items I own.
- Audible.com is another critical iPod feature. Music isn't enough entertainment for those long flights. And even though I enjoy reading, it's so much more convenient to have several audiobooks stored on the iPod. The downside is that audible.com is perhaps the most annoying web storefront I use. (Mostly because of Javascript based navigation links and poor performance. Both of which I blame on Broadvision.)
- iSync makes the process of getting ready for a trip effortless. My iDisk keeps all of my files synced between desktop and laptop. Same thing for calendar, todo list, and addressbook. There are other tools that can do this, but none as powerful or as effortless as iSync.
- Rendezvous enabled applications like SubEthaEdit. (Not to mention rendevous enabled network resources like webservers and printer resources.) iChat and SubEthaEdit are just plain fun tools to use at conference.
And soon I'll be able to carry a superportable wireless access point and integrate my iPod with my BMW. Even more ways that Apple makes travelling more convenient.
I used Linux as my primary desktop for years, way before Linux became a "cool" desktop. And for my desktop machine, it worked very well. I think that Linux desktops (like Sun's Java Desktop) make great desktop operating systems, especially for corporate use. By when it comes to portability and being a "digital hub", there is nothing that even comes close to Apple.
(2004-07-03 16:34:47.0)
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