| Having learned several painful lessons after introducing | | | | for. We don't need Web recreations of the |
| the bulky Macintosh Portable in 1989, Apple turned to | | | | feature-bloated monsters that our office suites |
| industrial designers and adopted a product strategy | | | | became. What we need instead, and what's starting to |
| based in three portable devices. | | | | appear, is a breed of lightweight single-purpose Web |
| In Write Room's default full-screen mode there are no | | | | applications for basic tasks: writing, communicating, |
| menus, toolbars or ribbons; no extraneous windows | | | | spread sheeting, charting. |
| inviting me to check e-mail, read RSS feeds, search | | | | As the reaction to Write Room proves, there is |
| the Web, rearrange my virtual desktop, or otherwise | | | | enormous pent-up demand for applications that do one |
| shirk the task at hand. There's nothing but green text, a | | | | thing well. When the platform for those applications is |
| black background and a cursor.Power-Book users | | | | the service-oriented Web, the office suite can be |
| enjoy fewer upgrade options than owners of desktop | | | | reinvented as a loosely coupled set of communicating |
| Macs, but you can still buy higher-capacity hard drives | | | | parts. The individual parts can and will grow richer over |
| for many older models. You can also find CPU | | | | time, but the new software ecosystem happily lacks |
| upgrades for relatively recent PowerBooks such as | | | | the perverse incentives that created the baroque |
| the 1400 and early G3 models. | | | | monoliths we're abandoning.Consider the effects of |
| Balancing Distraction and Interruption | | | | the graphical user interface. At hospital admitting desks, |
| My writing tool of choice will surely remain emacs, that | | | | in accountants' offices, and at video retail stores, I |
| faithful companion of two decades and counting. | | | | watch people perform tasks for which the desktop |
| Thanks to Write Room's built-in support for some of | | | | metaphor -- with its cluttered surface and overlapping |
| the basic emacs key bindings, I'm immediately | | | | resizable windows -- is at best a distraction and at |
| productive with the program. As a result, I'm reminded | | | | worst an impediment. |
| yet again how cruelly oxymoronic the phrase | | | | Due to increase in demand for many parts in many |
| "productivity software" can be.The paradox, of course, | | | | suppliers find it profitable to sell their products online. |
| is that interruptions are vital, too. They are all required | | | | The online dealers have their websites, which offer |
| to be interrupt-driven in ways that vary according to | | | | information on the various types of computer parts |
| the circumstances of our lives and our work. The trick | | | | available for purchase. Whether you want to reviews |
| is to find the right balance. Sadly, by inviting us to | | | | computer hardware on water-cooling, flat screens, |
| interrupt ourselves more than necessary, software | | | | memory modules, video cards, and the latest in gaming |
| tends to contribute more to the problem than to the | | | | and technology news, just go to they have something |
| solution. | | | | you'll enjoy. It is one stop shop for the Video Editing |
| With the emergence of the Web page as a preferred | | | | Solutions, as we aim to provide the widest range of |
| application style, the pendulum began swinging back | | | | video editing products available nationwide. |
| toward simplicity. There were only a handful of core | | | | They have consistently enjoyed a strong growth |
| widgets to work with, but that constraint turned out to | | | | year-after-year and offers Used Mac Computers, A |
| be profoundly liberating. The page refresh model was | | | | great inventory on Apple Parts; plus one of the largest |
| clunky, to be sure, but its minimalism made applications | | | | selection of Digital Video Solutions for Broadcasting, |
| easy to create and easy to use. | | | | Editing and Production work. They also produce a |
| Now with AJAX, the pendulum is swinging back again. | | | | timely, information-packed catalog mailed to your home |
| As the new generation of so-called rich Internet clients | | | | or office that many consider to be the "ultimate" |
| arrives, let's be careful what kind of richness we wish | | | | shopping guide. |