RubyUniversal 1.8.4

I’ve put together a Universal (i.e. runs on both ppc and i386 architectures) binary version of ruby, intended for developers of Ruby apps who want to ensure that their applications run on both old and new Macs. It’s only really going to be useful to those people who write ruby code which relies on something … Continue reading “RubyUniversal 1.8.4”

I’ve put together a Universal (i.e. runs on both ppc and i386 architectures) binary version of ruby, intended for developers of Ruby apps who want to ensure that their applications run on both old and new Macs.

It’s only really going to be useful to those people who write ruby code which relies on something binary underneath–any of the bundles (shared libraries) that come with ruby, for example. On the other hand, it also just happens to be a distribution of the latest version of ruby (1.8.4), pre-compiled and ready to go. The current Mac OS X version is 1.8.2.

http://www.quayperformance.com/downloads/RubyUniversal.dmg

I don’t like censorship.

Google is offering a censored internet search service to China. This is certainly a compromise which has drawn Google a lot of flak because, frankly, it’s a sucky decision to have to make. But is this any difference to the censorship Google already applies in France and Germany (censoring porn and Nazi-related content). Some people … Continue reading “I don’t like censorship.”

Google is offering a censored internet search service to China. This is certainly a compromise which has drawn Google a lot of flak because, frankly, it’s a sucky decision to have to make. But is this any difference to the censorship Google already applies in France and Germany (censoring porn and Nazi-related content). Some people think so. The fact that China does not have a democratically elected government seems to be the big difference. I think that’s clouding the issue.

Google is not being “evil” by complying with laws of national government. But isn’t it fashionable to target them as “bad” because they’re doing so well in business?

iWork. iLife. Anticipating greatness.

There’s some hubbub on the ‘net at the moment about how it is easy to use iWeb, part of iLife ’06, to create web sites, blog entries and podcasts/photocasts/videologs. There’s a little bit of complaint that the use of HTML/CSS isn’t completely perfect. Scott Stevenson says “I’m pretty impressed.“. Scott is a very mellow guy, … Continue reading “iWork. iLife. Anticipating greatness.”

There’s some hubbub on the ‘net at the moment about how it is easy to use iWeb, part of iLife ’06, to create web sites, blog entries and podcasts/photocasts/videologs. There’s a little bit of complaint that the use of HTML/CSS isn’t completely perfect. Scott Stevenson says “I’m pretty impressed.“. Scott is a very mellow guy, he’s also a very talented web designer. He has some valid complaints so it’s not all one-sided, but overall it’s a very slick piece of software. To be honest it’s the first “user friendly WYSIWYG web page creator” I’ve seen since we had Claris HomePage, Symantec Visual Page and Adobe PageMill. FreeWay comes close but it’s a LOT more expensive. Granted it’s not perfect, granted it doesn’t produce the best and cleanest code but it’s certainly better than anything that has been in the past (and about a bazillion times better than Adobe GoLive).

I’m waiting for my copy of iLife ’06 to arrive any time now.

I’ve also been a fan of iWork for a while. I don’t need to create too many Keynote presentations, but I absolutely love writing in Pages. The fact that it now does calculations means that I can effectively use it for everything I do and retire InDesign for writing quotes and my CalcWidget for adding up numbers and doing the VAT. I used to write a lot and my first two books were written (and I mean written) in FrameMaker. Pages isn’t the same but it really has the same look and feel. My last book was formatted in Create by Stone Design. I’m pretty excited about the improvements. Would the calculations mean I didn’t need to have Excel or Mesa? i wonder!

I’m also waiting for my copy of iWork ’06 to arrive.

Source code obfuscation

I spent a lot of time reading through methods of source code obfuscation today, particular for Ruby. With Objective-C, there is immediately one layer of obfuscation, as the code gets compiled to a binary format which is generally not human readable. Ruby, however, is plain text. This means that any commercial application developer (soon to … Continue reading “Source code obfuscation”

I spent a lot of time reading through methods of source code obfuscation today, particular for Ruby. With Objective-C, there is immediately one layer of obfuscation, as the code gets compiled to a binary format which is generally not human readable. Ruby, however, is plain text. This means that any commercial application developer (soon to be us) leaves all their intellectual property exposed to anyone who buys a license to use the application.

There are no obfuscators currently in existence for Ruby, or at least none that I can find that seem to really do anything effective. Zenspider is working on one which turns your ruby code into C code, and then you can compile the C — however, this is not yet available and will be a commercial application (the former concerns me, the latter only concerns me if it’s expensive ;-)).

I’ve also done a lot of reading about encryption and obfuscation in general. I think that Zenspider is definitely going about things in the right way. While translating Ruby to C is not trivial, it’s also not impossible. However, right now the most important thing is getting the app to the point where it can be released–I can worry about protecting it later.

Windows is hard! Mac OS is hard!

Computers are simply way too hard. I spent some time this evening helping a well educated adult get a driver for her printer. Nightmare. In the end I went to the website, downloaded the driver and sent it over instant messenger. Then was the fun of getting her to run it. Absolute nightmare. Made me … Continue reading “Windows is hard! Mac OS is hard!”

Computers are simply way too hard.

I spent some time this evening helping a well educated adult get a driver for her printer. Nightmare. In the end I went to the website, downloaded the driver and sent it over instant messenger. Then was the fun of getting her to run it. Absolute nightmare.

Made me think “My god, Windows is crap.”

But really, Mac OS X is not different in this regard. Both operating systems include a slew of printer drivers but adding a printer driver is NOT as easy as it should be.

Mac OS 9 used to have a mechanism where, if you plugged a USB device in, it would ask you if you wanted to search on the Internet for drivers. Of course it never really worked, never found anything and that was probably due to poor communication between Apple and device manufacturers.

Isn’t it about time that a device included its drivers on a built-in Flash RAM chip? Or at least a mini-app that dialled home to download the appropriate drivers?

I’d bet that the privacy goons would be out in force bleating about how some printer manufacturer was using this to spy on them and whether they were using sanctioned cartridges. Woo woo!

RubyCocoa OK to bundle

I’ve been working on an application that involves using the RubyCocoa framework, and I was worried about the commercial reality of distributing the application. RubyCocoa is released under the LGPL, something I think is a bit open to interpretation. So, I got in touch with Fujimoto Hisa, who wrote RubyCocoa and administers the project. Hisa … Continue reading “RubyCocoa OK to bundle”

I’ve been working on an application that involves using the RubyCocoa framework, and I was worried about the commercial reality of distributing the application. RubyCocoa is released under the LGPL, something I think is a bit open to interpretation. So, I got in touch with Fujimoto Hisa, who wrote RubyCocoa and administers the project. Hisa said his understanding of the LGPL means that we can distribute RubyCocoa along with our application without any worries. Yay!

It would suck to have to install a 3rd party library to run a commercial application. I’ve promised Hisa a free copy of our first app 😉

what would you build?

Let’s say you’re a software developer. You’re busting for a bit of independent software development action. What to build, you think. What great idea would put you on the map. I spent a bit of time this week talking to some software developers and I’m just drawing from the conversation. All of them are continuing … Continue reading “what would you build?”

Let’s say you’re a software developer. You’re busting for a bit of independent software development action. What to build, you think. What great idea would put you on the map. I spent a bit of time this week talking to some software developers and I’m just drawing from the conversation. All of them are continuing with their efforts but I hope that they all think a little more carefully about where to go from here. I’m paraphrasing my conversations here.

Hmmm, how about a spreadsheet. A new spreadsheet unlike any other?
In a marketplace dominated by Excel, a powerhouse so influential it managed to stop Apple from releasing their own spreadsheet. And you’ve got competitors in the shape of Calc, Mesa, Flexisheet, OpenOffice, ThinkFree Office (and until recently AppleWorks). I could see some leverage if your new spreadsheet supported the OpenDocument format.

How about an email client?
What feature would you shout about? You’ve got competitors in the shape of Mailsmith, Thunderbird, Eudora, Entourage and half a dozen others not least Apple’s own Mail which is built into every Mac. I could see some leverage with a client that connects to MAPI-based servers. Exchange is still the big man on campus and Windows SysAdmins are terribly unwilling to turn on IMAP/POP services and none of them seem to know anything about how they could allow access to their own directory server. And I think there’s a lot of opportunity with RSS based email readers.

Well, how about a web browser….
You have got to be kidding….

This all discounts someone with a fabulous idea. An example being those Flock guys.

What can we find out about you?

Om Malik has a good article on “Living a Cached Life“. I used to while away the boredom of being on a Mac help-desk (there were never many calls and yes, there were nearly a hundred users..) by looking things up (wasn’t Altavista the rage back then?). I used to be the top hit in … Continue reading “What can we find out about you?”

Om Malik has a good article on “Living a Cached Life“.

I used to while away the boredom of being on a Mac help-desk (there were never many calls and yes, there were nearly a hundred users..) by looking things up (wasn’t Altavista the rage back then?).

I used to be the top hit in Altavista. Put my name in and there I was. These days, in google, I have to add a geographical limit to get something that even resembles me. My name is obviously the most common name out there.

Now, it was freaky enough to see the information I could find out about me. It’s freakier seeing the information you can find out about other people. Add that to the areas of the world which are well covered by Google Earth and you’ve got a bird’s eye view of just about everyone.

Om Malik calls out for some recommendations of privacy tools. The only one I can think of is the built in FileVault but, frankly, I have neither the inclination nor the trust (and certainly not the disk space).

Change Your Life. Do it. Now.

Chanced upon this blog entry about “why you shouldn’t put up with a job you hate“. The hosts friend believed he would “never be happy unless I’m making a living as a musician”. Her reply to him was: “Well,” I said, “you might as well go for it, then. The worst that can happen is … Continue reading “Change Your Life. Do it. Now.”

Chanced upon this blog entry about “why you shouldn’t put up with a job you hate“. The hosts friend believed he would “never be happy unless I’m making a living as a musician”.

Her reply to him was:
“Well,” I said, “you might as well go for it, then. The worst that can happen is that you’ll fail, and be only as unhappy as you are now.”

Abso-fricken-lutely.

Mac web browser idea

“The internet experience for the average Mac user is a little different than for the average Windows user. For a start, Mac users have tabs, which sit on top (or at the side) of the browser and take up space without being truly useful. Mac users like to talk about their standards compliance, and something … Continue reading “Mac web browser idea”

“The internet experience for the average Mac user is a little different than for the average Windows user.

For a start, Mac users have tabs, which sit on top (or at the side) of the browser and take up space without being truly useful. Mac users like to talk about their standards compliance, and something called “Style Sheep”. However, what they don’t have is a browser that works with all the best web sites, especially those provided by Microsoft friendly banks and utility companies. Oh yeah, and their browsers don’t make that really cool “click” sound just to let you know you’ve clicked on something.

It occurred to me that this might be one reason why Average Joe sticks with his PC.

So, here it is – my bright idea for today. A web browser for Mac that simulates IE’s standard of browsing. I think it’ll be an instant success, right down to the extra special freezeKeyboardAndSleep60ThenBlueScreenOfDeath() function.”

…. normal service to resume momentarily ….