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Java's new look and feels, Ocean and Synth, are essentially worthless. Not that I expected them to, but the Sun folk certainly didn't pay much attention to the posts I placed on their blog posts soliciting Swing comments. Look, the write once, run anywhere [looking the same] bit is only really appreciated by programmers, and even they aren't overly impressed.
What does Sun's new crossplatform look for Java, Ocean, give you? If you ask me, different scroll bars, slightly beveled button rendering (a la the now unsupported Kunststoff LaF), and, most importantly, further proof *NIX guys don't have the first clue what looks good. Metal looked pretty good when it was released, both on Mac OS and Windows, but let's face it, today neither Metal nor Ocean is anything to brag about.
And what does the fancy smancy Synth Look and Feel give? Oh, now we can add another whole arena of bug testing simply by referencing included XML files rather than what used to belong in Java code. Does Sun really think the reason Swing didn't pick up was because it was too hard to create a new look and feel and not because everybody who cared about looks only wanted an app that looked native? Items like the Quintessential Player nonwithstanding, most people prefer their apps to look like every other -- and why not? Looking the same and -- just as if not more importantly -- acting the same is horribly important for users. Wouldn't you like to take advantage of that training your user has gotten from their "native" OS? Until Java challenges Windows for the preferred operating environment on your clients' boxes, your answer'd better be yes.
The fact that you can now change looks through XML is not a step forward. Do you really want to make it easier for programmers to make apps that look like this? That's what people are doing with Synth. Great stuff. (And before you flame that this is an example app, recall that that picture was the author's concept of colors that looked good (strawman for "bad" is here).)
I'll say it again, though nobody's listening. Hey, Sun! Freeze Swing, allowing those who need the same operation xplat to have it. But do yourself a favor, regain those Swing resources you're burning internally, and restart AWT development or throw some weight behind integrating SWT. Make Java GUIs look and act native, because they are native, not because you're still trying to get Swing to mimic Windows. Crazy idea -- make it act native b/c it is. Java 1.0 was [unintentionally] smarter than Java 5.0 in more ways than one.
You know, if we didn't have real radios and were forced to listen to, say, give or take what Sirius Radio offers online, the "invention" of a standard radio would be an awfully well received advance. I recently bagged a Tivoli Audio Model One radio for the holidays, and it's a pretty nice device.
Let's compare (but not in any well-done, well-charted way). For Internet radio, I have to have my machine up and running, give up 100 megs of RAM (just ballparking it), already have a net connection (if it's not a permanent cxn that's already established, I'm dialing, etc), and if my net cxn's not ph4t enough, I'm feeling the bandwidth hit with all that I'm trying to do. All this *and* I'm paying $12 a month for the radio + net fees, etc.
With my new table radio, if the radio's plugged in, I flip a switch and turn it on. Instant, free, zero bandwidth "wifi".
I believe there are some real advantages to "legacy" radio that people don't quite yet appreciate. Though you have only limited control over the info (which station out of 30-40, say), the content's already processed for you. That has pros and cons, but to think I'm one click away from relatively trustworthy news, for example, is a pretty big plus.
Anyhow, just to say I enjoy my radio. And it gets great FM reception (AM impressive, but not much better than my cars).
posted by ruffin
at 12/22/2004 02:28:00 PM
one paragraph:
Please prepare a complete set of blueprints. It is not necessary at this time to do the real design, since they will be used only for construction bids. Be advised, however, that you will be held accountable for any increase of construction costs as a result of later design changes.
Now this bugger is doing the iPod several better. Wireless, built-in FM transmitter, even a hotspot finder. If you want to find one of the progenitors of that great tranvergence machine everyone's looking for, you're starting to see it there.
posted by ruffin
at 12/16/2004 10:06:00 AM
It hit me today to ponder if the current law for what's public domain could be changed. Wonder if that's something the GNU lawyer would answer for me... If Mickey can get an extension, I wonder if there's anything to stop Congress from saying, "We're revoking the public domain provision and, 1984-style, retroactively changing what's under copyright from before 1923"? Register current, pre-change uses, have the law go into effect two years after passage to give ample time to get those uses (and new ones) in the books, etc etc.
And here's one example (using Disney again, no less) of how the envelope has already been pushed back at least once...
from: A Possible Exception for the Pre-1923 Public Domain Rule US law regarding duration of copyrights for works published before 1978 states that copyright runs for a fixed period of time "from the date it was originally secured". In general, publication has often been considered the time at which either copyright was secured or a work fell into the public domain. However, in Twin Books v. Walt Disney Co. (83 F. 3d 1162), the Ninth Circuit held that the copyright to Bambi had not actually been secured until 1926, even though the work was first published in 1923, in Germany. (See the text of the decision, courtesy FindLaw.com.) In the court's opinion, Bambi's US copyright commenced at the time it was first published with a copyright notice recognized by US law.
We may have separated church and state, but all that's done is push the worship out of the church and into the Federal Reserve and Wall Street. The "potential" of America scares me sometimes.
posted by ruffin
at 12/12/2004 11:37:00 AM
The wacky rumor of an Apple buyout by IBM isn't really all that wacky. Everyone knows IBM makes the G5 and that Apple's been trying like mad, especially with the VaTech supercomputer, to put Apple into the enterprise. But also recall that Apple recently split into two main groups -- one with the computer hardware and one distinctly for iPods & the like. Could it be that Apple's going to keep the iPod and get into the consumer "xbox" ("x" as in "variable" for whatever, but not the MS gaming console) biz? Perhaps they'll just sell off the PowerMac line. Who knows? But Apple is one place where the hardware sells for a high enough premium for IBM stockholders to be happy.
The only issue if Apple splits is that one of the reasons the iPod works so well is that it got a chance to get the kinks out on the homogeneous environment that is the Mac using world. The full control over hardware, OS, and "xbox" is a large part of what makes Apple successful.
So it makes sense, but as an Apple stockholder, I still don't think I want the wacky rumors coming true just yet.
posted by ruffin
at 12/08/2004 11:56:00 PM
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