Amazon S3 support coming soon to Transmit?

Apparently so. In his latest blog post, Cabel Sasser, co-founder of Panic Inc. drops a great big hint at pending S3 support:

"We just threw the file up on Amazon S3 (possibly using a certain development build of a certain file transfer client), and rewrote the link to point to S3."
# CABEL'S BLOG LOL

Transmit is an excellent FTP app for Mac OS X and Amazon S3 is our backup storage of choice - so an additional method of managing the S3 backups will be fantastic.

Switching

More like straight out desertion

In my last post I indicated I would soon be looking into purchasing a Mac for the first time in 9 years.

Well 2 months ago I finally decided on a White MacBook 13" 2.0ghz with 1Gb of RAM and an 80Gb HDD which could only be found strangely enough from Myer (the department store). I did in-fact try to purchase a machine (any machine) from a genuine AppleStore - but as I found out - it appears AppleStores in Perth stock everything EXCEPT for Apple hardware.

Guided by the Twitters of Nick Cowie, Drew and Vicki, I grabbed my new machine and headed home.

Unpacked by my 5 y.o son (Rose and I have lost all rights to unpacking cool gadgets now) it was soon setup on the kitchen table surround by all the members of the family oooh-ing and ahhh-ing.

Setup was painless, and it immediatly prompted me that updates were available which I proceeded to install, and then restart.

And it all went down hill from there

Waiting.

Waiting.

Waiting.

Nothing. Just the Apple logo. 20 minutes later - just the Apple logo. It was dead.

I confirmed my first bit of FUD about the mac. It IS just a PC. It's just as frustrating as a PC.

So the choice was return it as DOA or try and reinstall the OS. I chose the later, and what seems like several decades later, the install was complete (seriously Vista is soooo much better in that respect).

So take 2. Reboot, update, restart - and luckily - everything was fine.

Migrating

So next step was install my favorite apps - or Mac equivalents and then copy my docs across.

I used a 1 gig USB key to copy across a few docs that were not stored on the server, keepass files, bits and pieces - and then shutdown my Vista PC.

That was it. I think the next time I booted the Vista laptop was at least 4 weeks later to reformat it.

Will I switch back? Doubtful. Very very doubtful. Can I do things on my Mac that I can't on my PC? No. Is the Mac faster? No.

There is nothing I can really pin it down to. I CAN be just as productive on the PC. I just don't want to. Vista looks great, but I just want to use OS X.

Can I explain why? Not really - the Mac just FEELS right.

Reasons to switch

In the next month I'll be splashing out on a new MacBook to allow me to test websites for work. Since i'll have a perfectly good MacBook available to me, I thought I'd 'trial' a switch to using it full time for development.

It would seem that the age old battle of Mac vs PC is as lively as ever. In the one camp, the PC users have always called on the trusty reasons for not switching to the Mac being the massive array of software available and the inexpensive and alternative array of vendors of PC hardware.

On the Mac side, it's always been "no viruses" and "no crashes" - the two (apparently) massive downsides to using Windows PC's.

Started on a Mac

I started using Apple Macs back when the SE30 ruled the roost. Over the first 9 years of my professional career I was a dedicated Mac fan - owning several Mac IIci, IIcx's, Mac IIsi, Quadra 700's, Powerbook 190c, and so on. Too many to remember in fact.

Ended up on a PC

Around 1998 however I switched to using PC's exclusively - partly because of the requirement of Lotus Notes for development of websites, and partly because of the introduction of the first 3dFx Voodoo card for gaming.

These days I still use a PC exclusively, currently a Dell Inspiron 9300 purchased almost 2 years ago - but which is still surprisingly current given the specs of most laptops available now. I have been running Windows Vista since the first beta releases, and am currently running RC2 (Build 5744) until I get hold of the release version within the next few weeks.

At the office I have always used Dell desktops and switched from a Toshiba laptop to a Dell when I purchased the 9300. These days I will only purchase Dell hardware, so any switch from a PC to a Mac is actually a switch from Dell to Apple.

PowerPC... not

Back when Apple were still using PowerPC I considered switching back - but there have always been definitive reasons that this was not possible - software requirements, hardware requirements etc. There also really seemed no financial justification to warrant the massively inflated prices for some unquantifiable gain of using a Mac.

To put it simply - towards the final years of PowerPC driving the Mac, the PowerPC Mac always seemed less capable to me in terms of pure speed than an equivalently priced PC. In fact the Macs we had in the office, always felt sluggish and unstable to me.

Now that Apple have switched to using Intel CPU's - one significant reason NOT to switch has been removed. Apple now can benefit from Intels obvious dominance in the CPU market. No longer are comparisons between Apple and Windows PC's purely subjective - there is now a common baseline between the platforms to judge some of their merits.

Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt

The FUD surrounding Mac and PC is as strong as ever, but for all intents and purposes completely outdated as far as I am concerned.

The usual arguments for both go something like this:

Mac

• Ease of use
• Less maintenance
• No Viruses
• No BSOD
• No evil Micro$oft

PC

• Range of software
• Range of hardware
• Support
• Performance
• Price

My list

My reasons to choose (or not choose) a Mac or PC comes down to:

Hardware:

These days, with Apple now using Intel CPU's, Macs are more than ever directly comparable to any other PC manufacturer. Anyone who tries to tell you that Apple components are somehow superior or that they use better hardware than their competitors are spinning FUD, or simply do not know what they are talking about.

There is no doubt though that their industrial design is incredible. Why are they the only manufacturer that can pack so much into their laptops, make it look incredible, and (these days) actually price it competitively?

I have however been spoilt with my Dell 9300s' incredible 1920x1200 17" WUXGA screen and will have a hard time using anything else, and unfortunately Apples available 'choice' (of 1 screen) is really disappointing.

So while Apple definitely win with their industrial design and finesse, Dell still have the upper hand as far as I am concerned with a much greater range of hardware options.

In future however, I suspect it's easier for Apple to expand their hardware choices than Dell to improve their industrial design and polish - so this is something that may swing Apples way over time.

Support:

This is one area where Apple really loses out, and one I am still surprised about.

With my current Dell laptop, I have next business day, on-site support. Simply put, that means if I have a hardware failure, I call Dell and the next day a support technician will drive out to where ever I arrange and fix and replace the faulty hardware.

In the last 2 years I have relied on this 3 times - twice because of damage I caused myself to my laptop, and only once because of a failure.

Every time I called, the Dell staff ran through some simple tests for me to carry out taking less than 10 minutes, then organized for their support team to visit me.

The support was incredible - at no stage was there any question of whether it should be a Dell problem - I called, told them what had happened and they took 'ownership' of the problem immediately and did everything they could to make sure it was fixed to my satisfaction.

The bottom line is with 3 support calls, over 2 years, once requiring a new screen, and twice requiring a replaced mainboard I was without my laptop for a total of 1 night - and that one night was only because a screw stripped and the tech was able to fix it over night rather than get a replacement and return the following morning. 

So frankly Apples return-to-base support is appalling compared to the quality of service I currently get from Dell.

Switch?

So it will be interesting to see what happens once I start using the Mac. Will I suddenly realise the error of my ways, and be X times more productive? Or will it simply a slick looking PC - different for difference sake?

Australias New Copyright laws

The Australian Government is about to rush through new copyright laws that will impact on everyones fair-use rights. While it is being sold as bringing Australias copyright laws up-to-date, it in fact brings a whole new level of restrictions and on-the-spot fines for 'infringements'.

While IANAL, the most worrying change is it will now be possible to be charged by the Police for infringement rather than sued and taken to court. The question is does this mean ARIA would be able to provide a list of names of 'offenders' to the Police?

While this might seem a bit far fetched, our US counterpart RIAA seem to have no problem from suing children and grandmothers - but at least in the US they have to take them to court. Under Australias proposed new laws ARIA would no longer need to bother with lawyers and the court system - the Police would simply determine if the 'offence' had occurred and issue you a fine.

Recording TV

From the Minister's Press Release:

The first private use exception will allow consumers to record most television and radio programs to view or listen to once at a later time (known as 'time-shifting'). This exception will not allow a recording to be used over and over again or to be distributed by others.

So this now means that our recordings of Play School for my two children can only ever be watched once - if they wish to rewatch an episode we will be breaking the law.

Audio CDs

While it will now be legal to format shift CDs, Audio Cassettes and Records - no such provisions have been added for media purchased in a digital format or for DVDs.

The second exception will permit a person who has purchased a legitimate copy of some categories of copyright material to make a copy in a different format.

This actually means you will not legally be able to burn a backup version of your purchased CDs - as that does not constitute a format shift.

Another result of the above is legally you will not be able to have a copy of your music on your PC and on your iPod at the same time - which is kind of the whole point of syncing your iPod/mp3 player with your PC.

Fair-Use

While the government have said the aim of the new laws is not to target individuals - I have no doubt that given these new laws - and RIAAs actions over the last year - it will only be a matter of time until ARIA decide that they now have the means to justify pursuing individuals for 'infringements'.

It is a shame that given the opportunity to better define consumers fair-use rights, and bring it up to date with the current technology - we instead get a cut down, more restrictive law - which effectively removes any sense of fairness in fair-use.

Canon EOS400D Digital SLR

On Saturday my son and I visited Gerry Gibbs Camera House to purchase a new Canon EOS 400D. Rosemary and I have been discussing upgrading to a DSLR camera from our compact Sony DSC-V1 for as long as I could remember, and finally the day had come.

We decided to purchase the twin lens kit which comes with an EF 75-300mm telephoto zoom lens as well as the standard 18-55mm lens - the results of which can be seen in the picture above captured at the Red Bull Air Race finals on the Perth foreshore.

What makes this the very strangest of stories is that Miles Burke, a good friend did exactly the same thing only the day before completely unbeknownst to us. What makes that even-even stranger is the number of times such similarities have occurred...