Duane on Macs

I attended the beta of the new Apple Deployment course this week. It is amazing how far Leopard improves on image management for deployment of Macs in schools and Medium to Large businesses.

If you don’t know what I mean when I say deployment, it is how you can set up and maintain many computers at once. The technique enables quick setup of computers without the need for someone to stand around feeding DVDs or CDs into each computer. It also makes maintenance and updating much simpler and more efficient.

In most of the schools I service if a computer gets messed up or someone trashes some files accidentally, you can just reboot and hold the N key down and voila, in about 10 minutes, the computer is completely restored.

There have been more options becoming available every month and now Leopard server provides some fairly simple to use programs for free. Definitely worth checking out.

My company does consulting on Mac-Windows Integration, Apple Certification Training, and database projects using Filemaker and mySQL.

I have been amazed lately how much our Filemaker business has grown. It is a combination of companies upgrading from version 5.5 to version 9 and some new projects taking over for people with databases that have outgrown their expertise with Filemaker.

This growth has taken me by surprise and I am wondering if this is due to the increase in Macintosh sales or the fact that Filemaker has evolved into a very capable database that can easily integrate with both the web and other SQL databases like mySQL, MS SQL Server, and Oracle.

We now have 4 Filemaker programmers on staff and are looking to add another. Another indication that Filemaker is becoming more popular is the number of calls and emails I am getting from Indian companies to offer assistance with our projects. It would be interesting to see sales figures for Filemaker over the last 3 or 4 years and see how sales have grown.

To quote Mark Twain, “The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated“.  Apparently this can also apply to the Mac Mini.

If this is true, what would you like on the next version? I can think of a few things.
4 USB Ports with room enough to attach flash drives
Target Mode for USB
eSATA Interface
400 MB FireWire
Video capable of driving 30″ monitors
up to 320 GB hard drive
up to 4 GB RAM
Smaller Form Factor achieved by eliminating the optical drive but letting the Mini use the Air’s external Optical Drive

I use Minis in my training classrooms and as test servers. I have one dedicated for Server 2003 and Active Directory testing. Several of my customers use them as workgroup servers by booting off external 3.5 inch drives and in one case a Drobo.

Personally, I love the Mini and hope it doesn’t go away for a very long time.

As I work more with Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5) Server, I really get excited in using the new collaboration services, especially the wiki and calendaring server. Unfortunately, these features of the Server are not ready for prime time. I had hoped with the release of 10.5.2 that the calendaring server and AFP would stabilize, but unfortunately in my experience, they still have too many problems to trust Leopard on a production server.

We have been using Leopard as a production Web only server since late November without any ill effects. The combination of Apache 2, php 5, and mySQL 5 works very well.

Unfortunately, I have tried to use Leopard as an Open Directory Master, Calendar Server, and AFP server at one account since 10.5.2 was released and in stops functioning under very light load at least once a week. The server starts refusing connections and complains and incorrect user:password combination was entered. After troubleshooting, I have not determined the cause, but I did find out the problem can be solved by stopping and starting the AFP server. Hopefully this will be fixed with the 10.5.3 release.

In remembering the transition from 10.3 to 10.4 server, I recall having problems until the release of 10.4.4. It was easy to hold off upgrading from 10.3 because there were not as many new features in changing to 10.4.

I guess that’s why they call it the bleeding edge.

It is been interesting to me all the stories about the death of the music industry and how the record companies are trying to keep their existing business model together. However, it caught me by surprise to read the article today.

I know ever since I got my first mp3 player I have purchased a lot more music, both in digital format and as CDs from Amazon. My teenage daughters also buy a lot of music online (or should I say charge it to my credit card). I’m sure that a lot of kids just copy their friends music, but since the original Napster has been shut down I think the piracy must have stabilized. That is why I was very surprised how quickly Apple bypassed WalMart, especially after Walmart shut down their online music business. Was their online store that bad, or did they expect a much faster ramp up?

Regardless, it is odd after Walmart dictating terms for years to the record companies, now Apple is top dog. It would be interesting to know if the margins for the record companies are better with Apple than Walmart.

As I make reservations for attending WWDC, I realize that I much prefer it to MacWorld now. About 3 years ago they added the Enterprise track, now called Information Technology because Enterprise is a non supported entity at Apple

This made the Conference much more valuable for me to attend as there are plenty of sessions for system admins that discuss scripting, directory services, deployment, and other like topics. With the advent of the IT track some developers complain that it has dumbed down the conference, but there are still many, many sessions on topics memory management, writing device drivers, etc.

A third track new for this year cover all things iPhone with sessions with titles like “3D Graphics for iPhone using OpenGL ES”, “iPhone Multi-Touch Events and Gestures”, and “Using Xcode: Source Editor, Refactoring, Debugger, and SCM”. It will be interesting to see how many new developers those sessions attract.

I just hope that all the new developers don’t screw up the keynote session. I am disappointed how Steve’s Keynote is used at MacWorld now to sell the high end conference tickets. I always have attended the excellent MacIT conference put on by Schoun Regan in conjunction with MacWorld. Unfortunately, the $900 ticket for the conference does not guarantee you a seat into the keynote anymore. In fact this year, after waiting outside in a line from 6AM to 9AM we were finally ushered into an overflow room with the keynote on a projector 15 minutes after it had started.

If you enjoy the WWDC as much as I do let me know what you like most about it. The networking (people), the networking (wireless or wired), the sessions on new stuff, the parties, etc.

My Goodness, what is happening. Everyone seems to have all sorts of rumors about the iPhone. 

First, it was that no iPhones were available in Apple Stores in New York City, then an analyst predicted Apple would sell 45 Million iPhones before the end of 2009. Shortly thereafter, rumors began to come out on new contracts being signed for 3G iPhone production. Then, iPhone shortages all around the US along with a 7 day wait for iPhones ordered from the online Apple Store.

Analysts then pointed to the iPhone shortages as a sure sign that the new 3G iPhone will be released shortly. Enough already! Just let me know when I can trade up.

About a year ago, I thought my company would have to start doing integration work with Vista, so I installed it on my MacBook Pro to familiarize myself with it. Unfortunately, I was not impressed with it due to the fact it bugged me way to often to authorize something trivial, like copying a file and other things. I must admit it was prettier than XP, but the benefits certainly did not outweigh the negatives. I eventually (after about three weeks of fighting Vista) reinstalled XP on my laptop for my Windows only work.

Now one year later and Service Pack 1 has been released. In the meantime we have had exactly one customer ask for Vista. After installing Vista again along with Service Pack 1, it seems a bit nicer, but I will have to wait again and see.

It seems incomprehensible that Microsoft could have screwed this release up so badly. I hope Server 2008 works out better for them.

Well the dates for the Apple WWDC are set and I suppose I will be making reservations soon.  

This is always the best Apple Event of the year for me as I get into the keynote without a lot of hassle and see a lot of old friends.   You can spend a lot of time discussing products with the Apple Product Marketing Managers and Engineers.   

Now with the addition of the iPhone development track, I’m sure it will draw an even bigger crowd.  I just hope it doesn’t get too big.   I usually get a lot of answers for problems that I have been running into from both Apple people and other end users and administrators.  

It is always a well spent week. 

I was playing with a program today and became frustrated that many things were not intuitive (at least to me). The program did have a built in help menu, but I got tired of going back to it over and over.

This was a home finance program that I was trying to show to my kids in the hope that they would keep track of their money. Unfortunately, I thought if I need to read something to get it working it will never work for my kids.

I hope this is just an aberration and not the rule. It was a highly rated program. I have always thought that manuals are only for advanced features and not for getting stated with a program.

Did you ever walk into an office and hear the whirring on fans from all the computers running.

I would like to know how many people think about how much energy they are using by leaving their computers on overnight.

I know some use them for running load sharing programs like Folding @ home or SETI. A lot of people just don’t like to wait for the computer to boot up in the morning.

I purchased a Kill-A-Watt Current measuring device last year and saw how much the computers and monitors around me used. My 23″ LCD monitor used 120 Watts at full brightness, 70 at half brightness, (still quite readable) and 2 in sleep mode. A 20″ White iMac uses 115 Watts at full brightness but only 4 in sleep mode.

A random Dell PC in the office used 80 Watts (no monitor), unfortunately sleep mode for XP on the Dell never seems to work.

Think about your electric bill and turn off the unneeded computers when not in use. Also bug your congressman to make it easier to start construction of more nuclear power plants

As I watched the Apple iPhone SDK presentation on Thursday and noted the gaming section at the end. 

I recalled when I used to burn hours at a time along with some all nighters playing computer games during the 90s. I finally quit playing them because I was having trouble controlling myself. About 5 or 6 years ago, I started playing Starcraft trying to get through all the levels and then it’s sequel, Brood Wars.

I am very interested in investigating Starcraft II when it comes out, but that is the only game I have looked at seriously since Starcraft. Maybe that’s why I have never understood the PC gamer’s fascination with higher end video cards and frame rates.

I would rather spend (my wife would say waste) my time embarrassing myself on the golf course. I wonder if I will be interested in the games released for the iPhone. Perhaps just to pass the time when waiting in line.

The Macintouch Web Site runs a column called Mac marginalization about internet sites that require a PC for certain features.

Today, I went to the Netflix web site to update my queue and noticed a watch instantly button next to some of my selections. Of course, I clicked on it and noted the systems requirements required Windows. No Mac support.

Then I read an article that the BBC has released iPlayer for the Mac enabling viewing of BBC TV shows on the web with a Mac. Unfortunately, this can be only done if you are in the UK.

I guess in this case if your in the US, it’s one step forward and two steps back.At least we have the iTunes movie store.

I just watched the rebroadcast of the iPhone Press conference today. Wow.  They seemed to have done everything right. Games. Shareware. Exchange.  I imagine when the iPhone 2.0 software ships there will be an incredible spike in iPhone and iTouch sales.

Imagine companies buying the iPhone by the thousands for Exchange and salesforce.com support. How about multiplayer games connected by wifi.

Using the accelerometer as a game controller. As a pilot, I can imagine some real good flight simulators, etc.Along with the App store to distribute and vet the applications so they can be checked that they don;t screw up the phone. (I have plenty of stories on how apps screwed up my Treo)

Again, Wow!!!!

With the release of Time Capsule, I think that it will definitely help families like mine (multiple Mac laptops) keep their computers backed up.  I have dealt with customers that have bad hard drives with no recent backup at least 15 times in the past year.

It seems to me that a product like Time Capsule could prevent these problems with one exception, the iPhoto library.

In iLife ‘08 the storage for the iPhoto library was changed to a package from individual files. This means that if you add or even edit one picture the entire library must be backed up again. In my case that’s 32 GB of data.

It’s unfortunate that pictures are usually something that can’t be replaced easily, unlike emails, spreadsheets etc. I will be playing with Time Machine to see if there is a way around this.  I have seen some comments on the web on procedures to change the storage format, but I have to wonder why this change was made in the first place.

If you control or right click on the iPhoto library and select Show Package contents it gives you the individual files, but Time Machine insists on backing up the entire package. If this persists I may be checking out the new Aperture 2.0 to see if it stores files differently.

I saw a report from the Apple stockholder meeting today. One of the questions asked of Steve Jobs was if a product like an Xserve mini was in the works.  

The collaboration services like wikis, and blogs as well as the new calendaring server in Leopard server break new ground and are much easier to set up than a comparable Windows or Linux server.

I know a few of people are already doing this with a Mac Mini and Leopard server, but if Apple was to offer a Mac Mini with a 3.5 inch hard drive and include a version of Leopard server that could not upgrade to Advanced mode for under $1000 it would be successful.

Apparently a lot of people.  It is listed as the best selling computer at the Apple online store. Amazon lists it as the 16th best selling computer behind the MacBook and MacBook Pro.  

I don’t think it will fail like the Mac Cube, but instead create a new niche for Apple.