Macking 133

The Mac Pro
The new Mac Pro is out, having been announced at the Worldwide Developer Conference, and the loudest whine is that they didn't change the outer case design. Internally, it's completely different, because the reduced need for cooling made room for more PCI cards, memory modules, an extra optical drive and four disk drives.
I love the drive installation method: screw a new drive to a tray and slide it into place. No jumpers to mess with and no cables. The largest single drives you can buy right now are 500 gigabytes, so this box can hold two terabytes! That's twenty thousand Zip disks worth. That much space can hold about four hours (only!) of uncompressed HDTV, 140 hours of high-def video after compression, and 250,000 images in RAW format. It can also address a maximum of 16 gigabytes of RAM in removable modules, each with its own heat sink.
The box, which starts at $2499, is pretty stripped. It has one 250-gig drive and one, count 'em, one gig or RAM. If Apple is providing a gig, that means it is the least memory possible to boot the system and run one simple program, like today's half-gig consumer models.
If you want to pay for a better video card, you can get one that will drive two 30" displays; the stock card will drive one 30" and one smaller screen.
If you want to trick it out with the whole two terabytes, sixteen gigs and throw in a 30" monitor and a copy of Final Cut Pro, that $2499 balloons to over 14 thousand dollars. Now where's my Visa...
Smart buyers will of course wait a couple of months. According to MacFixIt, the necessary drivers for displays and CD drives generated by Boot Camp are not compatible with the MacPro.
If you have not yet recovered from seeing that price, remember that this Mac uses industry standard parts. Apple always charges more for RAM on machines bought directly from them; there will be plenty of competition offering a much lower price on the modules. They will require an approved heat sink if you want to keep the fan noise down. The hard drives are standard Serial ATA available in 250, 300 or 500 GB capacity; the best card is NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 with 512MB of GDDR3 SDRAM, two dual-link DVI ports, and one stereo 3D port. Start with the base price of $2499 when comparing to other brands, such as Dell or Alienware and make sure you aren't fooled by cheaper components and missing features in the Linux machines. Then compare prices for all the extra drives, video cards and displays. Apple is really competitive in the high end, and the MacPro is the highest of the high.

Leopard Preview
Testers have reported massive speed improvements on Intel Macs with the preview version of OSX 10.5. They note a significant improvement in Spotlight, which has desperately needed a fix to bring it even close to the Find function in System 7. Of course if you actually use the feature that lets it search inside documents for specific strings of text, Spotlight has always been a major improvement over Sherlock, but its weakest point has been its most common use: finding files or folders by name.
Leopard is also bring Virtual Desktops to the official system software. Codetek, among others, has made this available since OSX 10.1, and it has been available on Unix machines since the early 1980s. Still. it's nice to see this useful feature built in. I have also seen a similar operation available for Linux that puts all the desktops on the sides of a rotatable cube; it's the coolest thing I have seen in some time. It looks like Fast User Switching, but better. Hope we get a port of THAT.
Check MacOSRumors and Macintouch and the other Mac blogs for more commentary over the next few months. Apple is keeping back information about some of the features to avoid clueing Microsoft too early, but it looks like Vista is going to be pretty pathetic by comparison.
As always, you must decide if you want to risk adopting the new OS in its 10.5.0 version. You will become an unpaid debugger and delta tester for Apple but there are some very cool-looking features that may make it worthwhile. To serve my clients and my readers I must upgrade immediately, so look forward to a few columns dedicated to Leopard when it comes out next year.
The move to virtualization has but one goal: to allow one to run unmodified Windows applications under the MacOS. Microsoft has dropped VirtualPC (after spending millions to take it away from the original developer), probably because of Apple's Boot Camp and Parallels, which lets you run Windows in a window. This will create ever more reason for Windows victims tired of all the malware assaults against their systems to switch to Macs: they won't have to abandon or rebuy their favorite applications.
Might be time to sell your Microsoft stock.

10.4.7: Not So Great
I had to reverse myself regarding the suitability of 10.4.7 for general use. There is a pattern we Mac techs follow when Apple issues a new update: First we check the blogs for reported problems that inevitably come in within the first few days. We look for many instances of the same kinds of problems, then we look for a leveling off of those reports. That's when I install the update on my own Macs.
This time the pattern changed: There were a few reports clustered as usual, but instead of a leveling off, there was a consistent stream of reports documenting new and different glitches, most of which took a few weeks to become apparent. Some of those glitches started affecting my MacBook as well. It got so bad I spent time with AppleCare techs to try fixing them - might as well run up their 800-number bill; I paid for it - and finally wound up doing an Archive and Install to restore it to 10.4.6.

MacBook Failed
Unfortunately my own problems were not fixed by that. I still had heat issues that led to programs not correctly launching, or not launching a second time without restarting, finally leading to three spontaneous shutoffs within half an hour.
Some of the launch and window-switching glitches that occurred on those killer hot days we had were fixable by simply closing the 'Book and putting it in the refrigerator vegetable tray for half an hour. I wanted to cool it down, but not so cold that there would be condensation risk when I opened it up again. That actually worked every time, but the problems got so bad, even on cooler days, I wound up having to send it back to Apple for repair, for the first time in my 22 years of owning Macs.
I had to quickly buy another external hard drive and clone the MacBook to it, so I would have something to reinstall all my stuff if Apple replaced the drive and tossed all my data. This is in addition to my normal Retrospect backup of everything on my network. I am writing this on my G4 tower, which has been serving as my MP3 and video server, using the data on my backup. Guess this is my payment for being an early adopter of new equipment, which is something I normally never do. Deadline will have passed before I get my MacBook back, but next month I will have a report on what they had to fix. According to other user reports, RAM additions from OWC have been causing heat problems, but my RAM upgrade came directly from the Mac Store.
Using the G4 is a reinforcement of how slow a twin 450 G4 is compared to the 2 GHz Core Duo. Flash Video sites like YouTube display at only a few frames per second instead of the normal smooth rate that it is being served. Simpler stuff and Quicktime look the same, but I can't use Google Earth because it lacks sufficient video RAM. I want my Book back!

Apple Shops Don't Use DiskWarrior
DiskWarrior is not used by Apple's "Mac Geniuses" for in-store diagnosis and repair. There are two reasons for this:
First, for reasons of legal liability, AppleCare prohibits the use of DiskWarrior or any other 3rd party software utility for in-store diagnosis and repair. The techs may only use Apple's diagnostic and repair software.
It is quite simple - if an error or bug in the 3rd party software damaged a customer's machine or data, the Apple Store, Apple Retail and ultimately Apple itself would be responsible for the lost data. The subsequent legal entanglements would be a nightmare.
As good as DiskWarrior may be, as much as I and other people may swear by it, ultimately DiskWarrior is not an Apple product. Apple has not engineered DiskWarrior and cannot make any claims as to its quality or verify its quality. Well, they could, but they won't.
Apple Stores do have copies of DiskWarrior on hand to verify and repair the store's own systems, however. There is a Knowledge Base article available only to Apple employees which specifically prohibits the use of the store's copy of DiskWarrior to diagnose and repair customer's machines.
Second, Alsoft refuses to license DiskWarrior to Apple so that it can be used in Apple Stores on customer's machines. Alsoft is concerned that allowing the house techs to use DiskWarrior in-store will take away from sales of the utility. Why should a customer pay for DiskWarrior when they could go to an Apple Store and have the tech run the store's copy of the utility on their hard drive?
Which is of course quite shortsighted on their part. First, the Store would charge more for that service than the cost of a copy of the program. Second, DiskWarrior is one of the most important tools in my arsenal and I have fixed hundreds of people's Macs with it. As a result I have been directly responsible for dozens of sales because I always encourage people to buy it and have it handy for the next time things go wrong. While that may lose me a service call now and then, it more than makes up for it in referrals.

Beware of Folder Deletion
Ever had a folder disappear without rhyme or reason? There is a bug in the Finder in versions 10.2.x through 10.3.9 that could be causing this.
When you create a new folder, the name is immediately editable. If you move that folder to the the Trash via one of two specific methods before entering a name and the Finder window is in column view, then the parent folder will be moved to the Trash. (The parent folder is the one that contains the new folder.) This happens regardless of how you move the folder to the Trash. The two ways it can happen? Using the menu command Move to Trash, or typing Command-Delete.
It will not happen if you grab the folder and drag it to the trash manually. It also does not happen if they are in Icon or List view. Only in Column view. It does not affect any versions of 10.4.
People do this if they issue the wrong command and wind up creating a new folder when they really wanted to do something else, such as create a new window or a new document in a different program, and don't realize the Finder is the active program instead of the one they think.
It does not happen to older, existing folders; only brand new ones, deleted immediately upon creation. Watch what you are doing, people. Never do anything while half-focused; this or something else could slip by and you'd never notice until too late.

Moving from Windows?
There is a product called O2M from Little Machines that, for only $10, will migrate your Outlook email, contacts and calendar to your new Mac. Fire it up on the PC, choose the filtering options you want, and it exports the data into portable files that AppleMail, Address Book, iCal or Entourage can read.
Furthermore, you are not chained to Entourage if you are on a corporate site. There is a plugin for iCal called Groupcal that will access, manage, edit and synchronize your Exchange calendars and tasks. This costs a little more ($55) but site licenses are available for companies. Just think - no more being a slave to Entourage. Info at Snerdware.

Conceal Your Message in Spam
There are many methods of making a secret message unreadable, like PGP, but anyone viewing it can see it's an encrypted message. However, if you use this website to convert your short message into fake spam, there is no way it can be understood until it's pasted back into the website's filter to decode it. This is fun! Don't know how long it will be around, but go to Spam Mimic and play around. (At deadline time the page was not working).

Stay Off Royal Caribbean
Unique among the cruise lines, Royal Caribbean blocks Macs from their internal WiFi network. You can't check mail, and you can't download anything (including Vonage voice mail) to their computers. They will not admit why they hate Macs, but it is fleet-wide. If you are planning a cruise, or even if not, call them and tell them why you aren't going to be shipping with them.
I called them after reading this and verified it with the agent, although he was quite circumspect about it. He said he was a Mac user himself but offered confusing reasons about what they require to access the network. He told me he would investigate further and get back to me, but never did.
If you go on a cruise to get away from the Internet, then it doesn't matter; but if you want to bring your Mac along, and the travel agent says you can use it on board make sure you get it in writing with a penalty on their part if you go and wind up unable to use it. No way would they be willing to commit to that.

Report confirms dismantling of Apple forum staff
(from the Apple Insider)
Apple has decided to do away with its discussion support team, a group of forum hosts that have monitored and moderated its user discussion boards, a new report has confirmed.
According to an article at The Mac Observer, the team was recently dismantled after Apple management began to question the value of the boards.
"The end result, however, has been a marked decrease in the quality of discussions, and an increase in everything from rudeness to instructions on pirating music and software," the report states.
It's believed that Apple started to break down the discussion support team late last month. Specifically, AppleInsider sources indicated that Apple began dismissing the majority of the staff members on June 29th.
The Apple Discussion boards have long been a resource for Apple customers to report problems with the company's products and receive helpful advice on how to solve those problems from other users and forum staff members.
At times, the boards also became a focal point of the online and mainstream media due to questionable moderation practices. To the dismay of customers, it wasn't uncommon for staff members to close or completely remove lengthy discussion threads that brought attention to problems with Apple products that the company had yet to officially recognize.
But Apple's decision to do away with its moderation staff has only added to the complaints users have about the boards.
"The forums have declined to such a state that they are certainly a disgrace to the Apple Corporation," one user wrote. "I don't know if any of the upper echelon from Apple ever visit, but they should. They would get a rude awaking."
Another added, "It is unfortunate that whomever is in charge, and their management, does not recognize what these forums have contributed in the past, and what they've lost by the decision to let go a team of support professionals that were extremely dedicated to improving Apple's customer support."

No Microsoft products were used in the production of this column.

email mp at moonmac dot com. (I took out the mailto link because that's how the spammers find me.)