It has been a long time coming, but OpenOffice version 3 has officially been released to public beta. The current stable version of OpenOffice is pretty good, but as a Mac user, I have been waiting for a native Mac version of OpenOffice. I am currently running NeoOffice for the Mac, which is good but it is a bit of a tangent.

Aside from the native Mac support (no more running X11), OO3 is going to support the OpenDocument Format (ODF) 1.2 standard as well as be able to open Office 2007 documents (however, InfoWorld is reporting problems with opening Office 2007 docs). Also, according to the OpenOffice site:

The most immediately visible change to OpenOffice.org 3.0 is the new “Start Centre”, new fresh-looking icons, and a new zoom control in the status bar. A closer look shows that 3.0 has a myriad of new features. Notable Calc improvements include a new solver component; support for spreadsheet collaboration through workbook sharing; and an increase to 1024 columns per sheet. Writer has an improved notes feature and displays of multiple pages while editing. There are numerous Chart enhancements, and an improved crop feature in Draw and Impress.

I downloaded the version for Mac OS X (a 168 MB download) and installed it. I got a nice little start screen (as they said I would). The interface also looks more professional than does NeoOffice at this time. The app does seem a bit heavy at times, however.

I will, of course, be exploring it further.

I saw someone over at DailyTech ask a question about building a Mac and watched him take machine gun-like shots over and over from PC and Mac fanboys for asking a stupid question. You know it’s bad when you have both sides of the computer world bashing you. Of course you can’t build your own Mac.

But, Why not?

Continued

Last week, Jason authored an article on reasons why to use Linux. Jason is a real fan of Linux and I was part of the “heated discussion” he refers to at the beginning of his article. His article really did touch a nerve and has quickly become one of those most popular articles on all of PCMech.

Seeing as I was, indeed, part of said “heated discussion”, I thought I would shed some light on my personal choice of computer: the Mac.

Continued

First off, what is Welcome to Macintosh?

“Welcome to Macintosh” is a documentary that explores the many ways Apple Computer (now Apple, Inc.) has changed the world. Whether a long time Mac fanatic or new to computers, Welcome to Macintosh takes you from the early days of the Apple-I to the latest and greatest Apple has to offer.

Tony Walla, a reader of TUAW, probably didn’t realize some big tech sites were going to link to his blog the day he decided to cover this film. Tony, welcome to the world of Mac versus PC, where the nerds are a little too excited and the sheep are scared.

This, from the TUAW story, reads:

Rizzo and Baca’s goal is to tell the story of the Macintosh experience. “In order to do the Mac experience, you’ve got to put it in context of the Mac history,” notes Baca. Rizzo added, “You can’t appreciate where it is today without knowing some of the past and the fact that there is a sprit, a personality. There is a flame that lives in Apple, that lives through some of the products that is dispersed though the creativity of the people that make them.”

Oh, brother.

If I can get my hands on this film, I have to watch it. Should be comedic. I like Macs. I use Macs. Do I want to make a special dedication to it? No.

Here is a movie trailers for your enjoyment:

Well known internet marketer dude John Chow got a Mac not long ago and now he is beside himself with his utter coolness. Now, he has given us another reason to own a Mac: To easily get out of a Rick Roll.

OK, I posted this because it was entertaining - admittedly. Yeah, I own a Mac. Three, in fact. But, still, this is a really stupid way to brag about Mac ownership.

Probably drives traffic to his blog, though.

Yep, that’s right. I turn 33 today, so you can clicky-clicky on your mouse on over to here or here and send a card to rich@frostedside.com.

Being that I was born smack dab in the mid-70s (1975), my generation was literally the last that experienced the world before internet. As a matter of fact, my generation was also the last before the advent of pagers (remember those?), cordless phones, cellular/wireless phones, cable television, satellite television/internet, home video (VHS/Betamax), compact discs, GPS and so on.

Computers were around, but it was a for-enthusiasts-only club (i.e. nerds) up until well into the 2000s.

Do I long for the days past when we didn’t have all of today’s modern technology around?

Absolutely not.

My opinion is that technology has matured in a way that has without a shadow of a doubt improved life.

Unofficially, consumer-available internet wasn’t widely available until 1996, so let’s turn back the clock to 1995 and compare tech then to tech today in 2008. We’ll also throw some other modern-day tech into the mix here.

Confirming the balance on your checking account

1995: Manually keep a record of your balance in the back of your checkbook, by hand. Wait until the bank opens on a day when you’re not going to work (usually Saturday) and either call or visit to confirm the actual balance is correct - and it usually wouldn’t be.

2008: Login to your bank’s web site and check the balance - anytime.

Placing a phone call for a tow service when your car breaks down

1995: Lock your car and literally abandon it, walk to the nearest payphone, grab the attached phonebook (assuming it has one), find a tow service listing, put a coin into the phone (assuming you have one), place a call to the tow service, walk back to your car and wait.

OR

If there are no payphones around, go to a stranger’s house and do the EXTREMELY awkward thing of knocking on someone’s door and pray to God it’s someone nice that will let you use their phone to place a call to a tow service.

2008: Grab your wireless phone, dial 411 (in the US), be auto-connected to a tow service and schedule a truck/lorry to come by and get your car to the nearest garage. The wait time is the same but at least you don’t have to abandon your car.

Getting turn-by-turn driving directions to anywhere

1995: Use a fold-out map, physically draw your route using a “highlighter” marker, assuming your vision is good enough to read the jumble of lines.

2008: Internet and/or GPS. If using internet, print your map just for the area you need to know (far easier to read). If using GPS, get in the car, punch in the address and go.

Communicating with anyone by voice in a different country

1995: Place a phone call and cringe knowing you’re spending an obscene amount of money every minute you’re connected just to say “hello”.

2008: Use free client-to-client voice communication via internet. Smile knowing that you’re saving loads of money compared to a phone call. And it sounds better than a phone, too.

. . .

The above are just four seemingly insignificant examples but are in fact very significant.

If you use internet and tech in a way that serves (keyword there), you have the advantage of using communication and data mediums that make life easier and better.

Simply put, I don’t miss the pre-internet/pre-tech world and look forward to what tomorrow brings.

As a final note, I still to this day love the fact that the internet is truly a world-serving thing. When I see something as simple as blog comment from people across the USA or from other nations (Canada, UK, Australia and anywhere else that has internet access), that’s just plain awesome.

AppleInsider is reporting that the Mac Mini will be getting an upgrade. This is contrary to previous assumptions that Apple might kill off the Mac Mini in favor of some other form of mid-range desktop.

Ever since the Mac Mini arrived on the scene, it has failed to really take off. It is a machine in limbo, leaving a lot of people scratching their heads on exactly what they can do with the thing. It is a real Mac. I personally use one for the purpose of running PCMech LIVE. But, it isn’t a super duper Mac by any means and I wouldn’t want to use it for daily work.

So, what is rumored to be coming to the line of mini Macs?

• New 45-nanometer Core 2 Duo processors starting at 2.10 GHz
• 800 MHz front-side bus (previously 667 MHz)

• Intel GMA X3100 integrated graphics processor (same as the MacBook)

Anything to get excited about? Not really. The Mini is still going to be a niche machine and these updates will at least keep the little thing current for a little while longer. I still doubt the Mini is going to see much play in consumer circles.

I was hoping Apple might kill the Mini and, instead, focus on a mid-range desktop tower. Sure, we have the Imac, but the integrated screen offers little customization and there is no gap between that and the much beefier Mac Pro. Apple needs to give us a Mac Pro LITE…something that looks more like the Mac Pro, but perhaps with lesser specs and a lower price tag. That thing would sell.

Dave got a Macbook Pro (15-inch version) so I called him up and asked some questions about it. Some good discussion happened during the course of conversation. If you’re interested in getting a Macbook Pro yourself, you may find this interesting.

I’m going to say first that Apple’s Time Capsule - even never having used it - is a good product for the fact it’s easy and it’s got a crapload of space for backing up your stuff. A problem that has plagued computer users for years is that there’s really been no easy backup solution, but Time Capsule truly does make it easy.

I personally couldn’t care less if what’s in it is considered "server grade" or not. The fact it’s simple is in itself the main selling point.

However..

Apple has stated - quite directly - that the hard drive in it is "server grade".

Server grade, for all intents and purposes, means "not consumer grade". It should be a hard drive that is used in server-specific applications that can take a pounding.

As it turns out, the Time Capsule absolutely does not have a server grade hard drive in it.

What hard drive does it use? Hitachi Deskstar. Very off-the-shelf. Very consumer grade. Big and huge, yes, but still nowhere near server-grade HDD specs.

So anyway, the big deal is that Apple states Time Capsule has a server grade HDD when in fact it doesn’t.. unless Apple thinks "server grade" means "a big honkin’ hard drive". The term is relative. But as anyone knows, "big" doesn’t translate to "server grade" - at all.

Will this hurt sales?

I doubt it.

It’s still the easiest consumer backup solution there is.

Just as a quick comparison:

If you bought just a 1TB Hitachi Deskstar HDD alone, the highest price is $319.00.

The Time Capsule 1TB version is $499.00.

If you have a Mac Pro, buying the drive outright and using Time Machine is the better option. You save $180 and it’s faster (no wi-fi lag).

If you have an iMac and/or Macbook Air/Pro, Time Capsule is the better option because of the wi-fi and the fact you can’t add hard drives in those applications, so you have to have an external solution of some kind. Time Capsule is it, no question.

And if anyone’s wondering why I put "duh" in the title of this post, the moment I saw Time Capsule I knew from the get-go it’s not server grade. I mean, c’mon, seriously.. is a little white pretty slab supposed to have the same ability as Xserve? OF COURSE NOT.

As you can see, we do a lot of screencasting here at PCMech. Rich does almost all of it, but he uses Windows. Windows is lucky to have a program called Camtasia which is the de facto standard for screencasting on the Windows platform. But, once you get to the Mac side of things, you’re left scratching your head.

This isn’t to say that there are no decent options, but Mac users will immediately be stumped by the fact that there is no Camtasia available for OS X. Not yet anyway…I hear they are working on one.

In the meantime, what are the best options for an OS X user? Let’s jump right to some links because I know you are reading this article for solutions.

• iShowU. iShowU is a nice little utility for doing screencasting. I have purchased this application and have used it. It works quite well for me. You can capture either a section of your screen or the whole thing. If you are using multi-monitors, you can select which screen to record. It does not do a great job if you try to span more than one screen, but this is something I would expect with any program. IShowU offers easily configurable presets for quick export of your videos. You can even re-size them on the fly, which is convenient.

  

• Snapz Pro X. This is another decent option, but on my trial I ultimately decided I didn’t want to use it. The problem I was having was losing the recording window as I was recording. Also, I would start the program and be unable to find it. You have to call it up using a keyboard shortcut and I found it counter-intuitive. I’m not going to rip on the product, though. Many people swear by it. It just didn’t fit my personal preferences.

  

• Jing Project. Jing is a Techsmith (the company behind Camtasia) service that DOES work on OS X. This obviously means the company is doing OS X screen capturing so it is only a matter of time to see a Mac version of Camtasia. But, for now, we have Jing. Jing operates like a little OS add-on that allows you to quickly record a video and put it up on Techsmith’s servers at Screencast.com.

  

• ScreenFlow. ScreenFlow is perhaps the closest thing to Camtasia that I have found so far for the Mac and it is quite impressive. It can record pretty much anything and offers no hiccups at all (I’ve tried it). You can even perform after-recording editing functions like adding callouts, zooms, pans, trims, drop shadows, etc. It is not a full-blown movie editor, but there is nothing from stopping you from doing the convenient stuff with ScreenFlow and then exporting to MOV and editing in iMovie. ScreenFlow can only work on OS X 10.5 Leopard. I highly recommend ScreenFlow and I, myself, plan on purchasing the program soon.

  

So, those are the options I have played around with. Expect to see some more screencasts done by your’s truly using my new Mac Pro. Honestly speaking, Techsmith probably waited too long to tap the Apple market. Camtasia will definitely be a big kahuna in this market when they finally release for the Mac, but ScreenFlow is a great application that does things Camtasia can’t - even on Windows.