Next on my list is something to replace Newsbin Pro, and NeroVision 7.5+.

Then printing (HP PSC 1315 “all-in-one” printer, connected via LAN on a Vista host).

I also hit Gnome-Look.org and downloaded the LiNsta theme (clone of Vista). I’m getting stoked again.

FireFox 2.0 – Yes, while still my favorite browser, and miles ahead of IE7 (and crashes a hell of a lot less even on Vista), there are some irritating issues with 2.0.0.1 that I hope they resolve in 3.0. Having to restart the browser twice for most theme add-ons is one. On Vista it often flakes out with the mouse behavior. In many cases, scroll wheel movement is translated to text-scaling (aka “zoom”) regardless of settings.

IE7 - Do I really need to say why? Sheesh. Nice try (for Microsoft), but woefully inept attempt to match Firefox (or Opera). Of the current modern browsers, I place it near the bottom with Konqueror. Oh yeah – Why the hell does KDE even have it’s own browser?! WTF? Do we REALLY Need yet another friggin browser??? Does anyone use it?!?!?

iTunes 7.x – Losing mappings to remote libraries if the drive becomes unavailable. You’d think it would have a single “refresh” button, but no. You have to right-click and click “Get Info” on each track to refresh the link even after the drive mapping is re-established long ago. No click-n-drag for multi-select. Limited right-click options. No control over placement of MP4 files on the iPod (Podcast vs TV show vs Movie), it decides for you (often incorrectly).

Sony PSP - Oh my God.  I don’t even know where to begin with this one.  Sure, it’s neat.  It’s nifty.  But it’s still HALF-BAKED.  The keypad entry SUCKS SH*T. It cannot play inline media from web sites (MPG, AVI, WMV, MOV, not even MP4???).  The onboard memory is embarrassing.  The 30GB iPod costs less?  Holy crap.  Download a file from a web page that contains spaces and watch how it handles renaming (manually).  Horrible.  The memory expansion to 2GB is so-so, but the 4GB is a stupid clunky BRICK that not only adds bulk to the “portable” device, it adds weight.  It turns it from a portable game pad to a non-portable anchor.   Then comes the stupid-as-hell UMD idea.  They gave up and announced moving to SD cards, which they haven’t yet delivered on (I don’t count press releases, I’m talking about Best Buy and CompUSA store shelves). Sony failed us again.
Google Docs and Spreadsheets – Docs don’t seem to read Office 2003 Docs very reliably, even very VERY basic docs with a few words. It often says “failed to convert”. Spreadsheets has no fill-down option, so forget making a quick array of numbers or letters to layout a grid. Until it has more of the basic, age-old Excel and Lotus 123 features I can’t even consider switching. Amazing that after more than 2 decades they can’t just START with matching Lotus 123 capabilities.

Linux Media apps - They all suck at most things and suffice for the rest. I’m tired of settling. I want more. I don’t want to roll my own in C++ or Java either. C’mon. If Amarok or Banshee is the best they have, it’s pitiful. Burning CD’s and DVD’s on Linux PALES horribly in comparison to NeroVision on Windows. Almost any Window or Mac media app makes the Linux counterparts look like kindergarten. It’s a shame.

The Apple Keyboard – It just sucks. I hate it. I hate it as bad as the stupid Microsoft keyboard. They both suck. A basic QWERTY 101 key brick from Dell or HP is just fine for me. The fancy-shmancy function keys are just stupid. They scream “keyboards for f-ing idiots!” Do we really need a button to push to sync our stupid cameras? God almighty.
I hope you can see my “theme” here. I’m picking on EVERYONE, not just one or two. Quality is slipping badly. The aging programmers are retiring and nobody bothered to mentor the next batch. We’re in for trouble.

Vista - Regressions abound with so many features I can’t name them all. Inconsistent interface changes sprinkled across the platform. What the F*** did they do to the Network settings? OMG! Completely ruined! “Fiji” (codename for SP1) is aimed at addressing many of them, and remaining bugs, but won’t be out until Q3-Q4/07. Says a lot that they’re working on an SP before the RTM ships. Sad. Again: half-baked crap.

Why would I claim that Apple has nothing to lose by making an iTunes client for Linux? Because (a) no self-respecting Linux fan would EVER consider switching to Mac, never ever, never. and (b) if it required a full Mac client to enable the forthcoming AppleTV interface promised with Leopard, it still wouldn’t lose any Mac customers.

I’m convinced that there are Windows fans with iPods that would seriously consider jumping to Linux if it werent’ for losing access to iTunes, etc. Sure, Apple would prefer they switch to Mac OSX, but that would almost certainly require buying a new machine. After all, OSX isn’t built to run on BIOS, only EFI. While they might lose the possibility of a new Mac hardware purchase, it would at least make the idea of “leaving Windows” more plausible.

Apple knows that most iPods are used with Windows clients.  The numbers don’t lie.  Windows is the overwhelming dominant desktop operating system in the world.  No one else even comes close by any stretch of the imagination.  Given that iPod is the dominant portable media playing device (in most respects), that means the two demographics overlap.  That’s the ONLY reason Apple makes iTunes for Windows.  They simply cannot ignore that fact.  I don’t argue that.  However…
So rather than make it plausible for Windows victims to “leave” the shackles behind, they’d prefer you keep your Windows or simply jump straight to OSX. Not providing a possible in-between option shows me that they really don’t “hate” Microsoft (after all, MS did bestow a sizeable contribution to them when they were cash strapped some years ago). After all, if Microsoft vanished, Apple wouldn’t have anyone to tease in their commercials.  I don’t propose they stop supporting Windows, only that they consider greasing the skids with a Linux client, with the disclaimer that it would “work better on OSX”.  Nothing illegal or immoral about that.

Regardless of your political or techno leanings (I don’t have any myself), you have to admit this has been a busy month indeed. Hopefully the mix of events results in good things in the coming months. Christmas should be a banner time this year with all the new goodies coming.

Hmmm, I’d better start making my Santa list…