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Apple fan or not, people seem to be annoyed that Apple is not opening up the iPhone for application support on the device itself. It's not just the Windows developers who are annoyed, it's the faithful Apple developers too. But why? This is the point we've been trying to get to for years! When I worked at Penton Media back in 2000, a B2B rag/tradeshow company, we internally talked about how cool it would be to do Web-based CRM, among other things. The short-sightedness of the execs of course poo-poo'd this, and it never got beyond discussions. (Morons. Said execs managed to nearly kill the company and get it delisted from the NYSE, while Salesforce.com continues to thrive.) Knowing that eventually most computers would be connected from virtually...

A new OS X version was rolled out yesterday, which includes a number of security fixes . This has of course prompted the usual rash of "your OS suX0rz!!11" comments on Digg and various other places. Before I get to my observations, let me just say that I really like Macs and OS X in particular. I switched a year ago and I've generally enjoyed using a computer more than I used to. Everything is more simple, and the OS rarely gets in the way of things I want to do (like get photos off my camera, find a network printer, connect to mysterious Wi-Fi spots, etc.). The greatest thing about OS X is that you hardly notice it. Oh, and I do love the hardware too. It's pretty and functional. Then I go to work and deal with the constant...

OK, so it really has only been about 11 months, but with the new Parallels release yesterday , I do feel like one era has ended for me, and another has begun. Keep in mind that I'm an ASP.NET developer, I've built every one of my desktops ever, and generally well adapted to Windows, as most geeks are. That said, here are some observations. I won't say they're free of passion, because frankly the shiny metal boxes have made me enjoy using computers again. Macs are more expensive, sort of. Let's just get this out there now. The cost of entry into the Mac world is a little more expensive. It's just not more expensive where you think it is. Part for part, most Macs end up pricing out about the same as any Dell, give or take...

Steve Jobs says we should ditch DRM... http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughtsonmusic/ I'm right behind him on that front. I think that being the third or fourth largest music retailer, it lends some credibility to what he says. DRM gets in the way for legal customers, but doesn't prevent pirates from doing anything. It absolutely floors me that the record companies don't get this. It's very unfortunate, and I doubt Jobs can convince them otherwise. Share this post: email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! | kick it! | live it! Read More...

I'm a huge Bill Gates fan, and would go as far as to say he was the first reason I went to Mix06 last year. But this quote has me a little concerned... "So the key trend to look at is the importance of software and then say who really has shown the ability to do strong software? In some ways, just we have." Is he kidding? I totally stand behind the idea that he can't endorse the iPhone. That would be silly. But does he really think that Microsoft is the only company getting it right? Or more to the point, that they're getting anything right? I'm a .NET developer who uses Google Apps for e-mail, 37signals stuff for project management and OS X for my general computing needs. I think even Gates is a little too focused...

This was the coolest thing I've seen in awhile. YouTube has the MacWorld announcement where Steve Jobs returned to Apple, and announced its alliance with Microsoft. Watch it... it's very interesting. Jobs was very forthcoming at the time about the state of the company. When you look at where Apple was in 1997, and follow it through to 2000, then 2003, then this year with the Intel transition, it's really one of the greatest turnarounds in technology that I can think of in my lifetime. They were becoming virtually irrelevant back in the late 90's. Look at where they are now. Also notice the people in the crowd booing. What caught me is the bald guy in the crowd at the very end of the video, shaking his head. What's that about...