Sandy McMurray is a long-time technology journalist whose work has appeared in Time, the Globe & Mail, the Toronto Sun, Report on Business, Profit, and other sources. Between 1995 - 2002, Sandy wrote a weekly column about technology for the Toronto Sun, and served as Technology Editor for five Sun Media newspapers. He has been publishing on the Web since 1996. Contact:readme@mac.com
Good grief, have I not posted anything since February?!
Mea culpa. I've been exploring the brave new world of Mac technical support, and learning WAY more than I ever wanted to know about OS X font management, UNIX permissions, and the way big corporations do things (i.e. slowly, cautiously, risk-free if possible).
I'm back to blogging this week, just in time for the release of Mac OS X "Tiger" (and a bunch of new hardware, if the rumors are true).
To everyone who has sent "Are you okay?" e-mail messages:
I'm fine, thanks for asking.
Here's where I've been: following a death in our extended family, I spent a week as Mr. Mom, standing in for my amazing wife. That was followed by a long weekend (Canadian Thanksgiving), then a busy week filled with pre-Christmas product briefings. This week has been a blur: software training, more product briefings, and lots of meetings. Not nearly enough writing.
Three weeks away makes a site pretty stale. Good thing Steve Jobs took some time off or there would be much more catching up to do.
Just one more poke at Halo 2, then I'll get back to work.
I have a client who has experienced three hard drive crashes in two years. He's fed up and ready to move from PC to a Mac.
There's just one problem: he uses Microsoft Access for his business. Until he can find a replacement for Access and find a way to move his Access data to Mac OS X, he's stuck with a Windows machine.
Microsoft says it does not offer Access in any version of Office 2004 because of the development costs and because Filemaker has the Mac market sewn up.
So... can anyone out there tell me if it's possible (and if it's hard) to move data from Access for Windows to Filemaker for OS X? Is there another option?
Forgive me readers. It's been several weeks more than a month(!) since my last post.
During that time, four members of my family moved, three of my children had to be driven back and forth to four camps, and I wrote several thousand words on a short deadline for a giant corporation that would not take no (or "it's not ready yet") for an answer.
I've been meaning to comment on recent Apple-related happenings, but after you've wrestled with the beta for SP2, written items for your own weblog, and played your finally-registered version of Lux for a couple of hours, there's not much energy left to speculate about Apple's strategic planning.
I think John Gruber is one of the smartest analysts writing about Mac stuff anywhere. You won't recognize his name from CNET or Wired or Macworld -- he self-publishes on his Web site, DaringFireball.net.
Gruber dreams of making a living wage from his writing, but that's not easy. He prefers not to assault his readers with banners or pop-up advertising. He tried Google's AdSense program, but soon spotted a problem: advertising relies on quantity; his readers want quality.
Hence the Daring Fireball Membership Drive. Gruber is asking his readers to buy a membership in order to gain access to several perqs, including a full-content Daring Fireball RSS feed.
I signed up today -- the last day of the t-shirt deal and the membership contest. Memberships will still be available tomorrow (and the next day), but these deals expire at midnight.
After using the name "Apple Matters" for this weblog for a couple of months, we've discovered that there's already an AppleMatters.com. Whoops. Sorry, Hadley.
So the search is on (again) for a clever name to go at the top of the page.
As I mentioned last time, it's not an easy job. Most of the good names are taken.
Hmm. How about "Waldorf Salad"? That's mostly apple (plus celery, mayonnaise and a few nuts for flavor).
No, I haven't dropped off the face of the earth, but I'm mighty distracted.
My wife and I are expecting a baby on Monday. We've spent this week racing to tie up all the loose ends -- work, nursery preparation, filling the freezer with easy-to-prepare meals, etc. -- before Baby arrives.
As a result, my mind is mush -- even more than usual. If time allows, I'll post a few things I've been thinking about between now and Monday. (If no new entries show up, you'll know Baby was early!)
No cigars please, just send coffee via my TechStuff.ca site.
I'm a little overwhelmed by the response to this new weblog. Thanks to everyone who has sent me e-mail, press releases, suggested links, etc.
If you're trying to contact me, please use the links I've posted in the right margin. Given the sheer volume of e-mail that's come in this week, I can't promise to reply to your message promptly, but the links in the margin are your best chance of cutting through the noise.
In answer to a few of the frequently asked questions:
- Yes, I do use Windows XP as well as Mac OS X.
- Yes, I review products/services for both platforms.
- No, I'm not going to CES or NAB right after Macworld.
- No, I don't know your [friend/relative] from Canada.
- I'm happily married. Go away.
We're still working on a name for this weblog. I want something clever and funny that makes you think of Apple Computer yet isn't obscure or confusing for new readers. We've kicked around several names, but none has been quite right. Some have been really awful.
It's more difficult than you might think. Mac users are prolific writers, and in their zeal to share the Mac experience they often start Web sites (and weblogs, newsletters, zines, etc.) to express their profound admiration for Apple and its products.
Unfortunately for me, the Mac community has burned through a lot of great names and clogged the domain name registry with options no longer available to me.
My dance card for 
