Monday, June 24, 2002

Users balk at new OmniWeb icon From the "You just can't win" file, the Omni Group is under fire for the new OmniWeb icon that is bundled with OmniWeb 4.1. According to the folks at the Omni Group, Apple contacted them and asked that they change the old OmniWeb icon because it too closely resembled the icon used in the System Preferences application for the Network panel. And in the effort to come up with a new icon, the Omni Group had to delay the release of OmniWeb 4.1 by at least a couple of weeks. Now that OmniWeb 4.1 has arrived, it does have a much less appealing icon, but those who are trying to fire up protest about the new icon are missing the point. OmniWeb has finally reached this release. It took way too long, and if the Cocoa browser is going to remain relevant from this point forward, the focus has to be on better standards compliance, faster page rendering and other enhancements that will make OmniWeb stand out among the growing field of OS X Web browsers. Sure, a better icon should be in the game plan, but the icon is the least of the challenges for the OmniWeb developers. Go get 'em. I would love to see the browser from nearby Seattle kick butt with the best Java implementation, the best JavaScript support, and best-of-breed support for Cascading Style Sheets. There is a long way to go... 7:05:14 PM comment

OmniWeb 4.1 final released The long round of beta testing leading up to the release of OmniWeb 4.1 is over. The Omni Group announced on its OmniWeb mailing list a bit ago that the final version was being released a press release would be available soon. Be patient though...the OmniWeb page was timing out when I tried to grab the new release... UPDATE: I was finally able to grab the update by patiently clicking my way through the Omni Group Web site to the OmniWeb page, and then clicking the Download link...I haven't been able to use the release enough to notice any major changes though, other than the new application icon... 3:11:50 PM comment

This cannot be good news... Russia poised to restrict Net activities. Russia's parliament may give final approval this week to sweeping restrictions on using the Internet to oppose the government. [CNET News.com] 2:15:22 PM comment

Pogue pitches Microsoft Office on the Mac New York Times columnist David Pogue says there is 'Nothing like the real deal' when it comes to Office, in a story linked from MacCentral. What the article fails to mention is that there needs to be other choices than plunking down the outrageous price for Office under OS X. That, and the fact that the most recent patch to update Office had to include fixes for, in Pogue's words "1,500 bugs" in the initial version of Office v. X. Yep...that is quality... If you go to check out the MacCentral article, be sure to read through a few of the reader comments and feel the love. 1:31:25 PM comment

AppleScript updated, adds AppleScript Studio Among other sites, MacCentral notes todya that there is an AppleScript update available, both through the Software Update panel in the OS X System Preferences application and as a separate download. Among the additional in the new version, every OS X installation updated to this version will now include AppleScript Studio. This will make it easier for developers who use AppleScript Studio to build their applications, since all OS X users who are up-to-date will have access to AppleScript Studio... 1:24:11 PM comment

Get serious about OS X security An article posted on the OSXFAQ site should be of interest if you are worried about keeping your OS X installation secure: Mission Lockdown: Get smart with security tactics for Mac OS X by Kevin White. There is more to OS X security than what is presented in this article, but it is a great start for everyday users. 10:05:08 AM comment

A minor beef with Chimera I am playing around with using Chimera a lot today, after downloading the latest nightly build, and I have one beef with the user interface - from my use of other Web browsers I am used to being able to use the Command-W key combination to close a window, but in the tabbed browsing experience under Mozilla I can also use Command-W to close the current tab. Chimera wants me to change my ways and use Command-Y to close a tab. I cannot even guess how many times I have closed an entire window when I only meant to close a tab.... 9:50:06 AM comment

A MacSlash discussion worth checking MacSlash has a new discussion underway about What Mac OS X Utilities Do I Need?. A lot of the information here is familiar, but it is interesting to see what people find most useful, in their own words... 9:43:21 AM comment

© Copyright 2002 Rob McNair-Huff.

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