Peppy Heppy

So, I like many others purchased my upgrade online prior to the release date and looked forward to the 26th of October. Since I was at work I missed the package and had to go to the FedEx place after work to get it. As I was walking in a boy and his father were just leaving the cash register and the boy had a huge smile and just as they left the FedEx guy said "now don't stay up too late tonight." Then I got in line and noticed a guy behind me with a shirt with the name Geek on it and wondered if he was picking up his Leopard, but I just minded my own business and didn't ask. Long story short there were at least ten people in line now, and once I saw the size of my package and realized that everyone was picking up and walking out with the same sized package, I knew for sure that they were all there to pick up their OSX Leopard. I couldn't help but be amused that so many people were there to pick it up. The puncher was when the FedEX guy said "I can't wait until work is over and I get to go home and install mine."

Now for my quick review of my first impressions of Leopard. Overall the upgrade is pretty good, but other than the Mail upgrades with TODO's, Notes, and RSS, and maybe Time Machine, I don't think that it was imperative that I upgrade since many of the new features were already available with third-party applications like Virtue Desktops for Spaces, Time Machine and regular backup software, etc. I did like the new "Quick Look" view in Finder, but like so many of the other upgrades and improvements they are fun, cool, neat, and sweet, but not life altering. Maybe I just haven't played with it all yet and haven't looked at all of the enhancements. I don't regret the upgrade, but to all of those cash strapped people who want to upgrade because they feel like they will be left behind -- take your time.

(In response to my prior post about my nano) Well... I am very pleased to report that my iPod nano was revived after letting it dry out for three days and then recharging it back up. Apparently it was only thirsty. ;)

Last week I received a iPod Nano as a gift. I was so jazzed about it (I know I am the last person to have one, but...) I started to load all of my Podcasts on it from iTunes and was able to listen to the Ruby on Rails, Web 2.0 Show, and Audible Ajax while golfing and (I wouldn't advise this, but...) while driving to and from work (which is only a mile or so anyways.) Today, I went to the Oakland Zoo with my family and noticed that my Son's shoe lace was un-tied while he was jumping from stepping stone to stepping stone in a 10 inch deep little pond. As I leaned over, while balancing on a stepping stone no less, my Nano slid right out of my short pocket into the water. It seemed to work fine for about 10 minutes before it finally faded and then died. What really ticks me off is, I could have saved it if I could have turned the power off or removed the battery somehow but either of those options were available due to the Nano's design. Anyways... I'll be off to buy a new one next week.

I have noticed how easyit is to get bogged down in the details of something and loose perspective of where the greatest value and purpose. Typically the engineering mind is one that likes to solve problems, usually the technical ones, the ones that most business minded individuals are less concerned about. I think its a shame when an engineer, specifically software engineer, anylizes the problem on every level and generates a very complex solution that solves the problem perfectly (so he thinks) but ends up creating a solution that contains more bugs, more maintenance, more timr to implement, essentially more money.

 Why is it that if something is clean and simple the same engineer will critizes the features lack of technology and inovation? Its sad. It is clear to me that web sites that have clean simple interfaces are even more difficult to design and will often hide the complexity or live without it to solve most of the problem, enough to satisfy. These days most people don't know exactly how much value a particular feature will have in a web application, so why dump too much time to sollve the problems that don't need solving?

In short simple designs are easier to maintain, faster to build, and are usually better than fat features. I have heard it said that "less is more" and "simplicity is not always simple", I couldn't agree more. Cut the fat and get on with it.

And you thought your current email address was hard for people to understand over the phone. :)

One day at work I came across a email address in our db that I was almost completely sure was fake just because of how long it was.

I still don't know exactly why having the longest email address in the world would be a cool thing but I must say it is unique.

Check it out by going to the web site: 

http://www.abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijk.com 

Be sure you set your email field length in your database to accommodate email addresses this large! ;)