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