Toluu

I Hate Linux

Idea: Reducing the “Apple Tax” for developersDecember 30 2008

There are two primary reasons I do not own an iPhone today, both relate to my not being a typical user:

1. AT&T Wireless is unwilling/unable to port my current South Dakota number over to their network (and I’m not about to give up my existing number).
2. The ‘Apple Tax’ involved in getting to develop for it.

... well that and my not being hip and trendy.

Even if my number were portable... or I was willing to get a 425 area code number I’d still run into a bit of an issue as with any kind of smartphone, I’d wanna write a custom app or two for the thing and to do so I’d need a Mac to run the free SDK... the cheapest new one that can be had today runs ~$599 (Mac Mini), while the cheapest new PC I could find (without much looking) comes in closer to ~$299 (Dell Inspiron 530S).

Given the costs involved, it sure looks like one is a lot easier to pick up and start developing on/for than the other.

I’m forced to wonder... what would happen if Apple were to make their SDK (and related emulator) available for Windows PCs in some form. Given the current size of the Macintosh market share (~14%), it would seem to make a lot of sense to expand their developer market share to the predominant (development) platform.

Would such a move increase their their third-party developer ecosystem? Or would it reduce the number of Macs being sold?

Porting the system too much to to consider? Why not use another

UPS: Ruiner of vacationsDecember 29 2008

I still need to post a full write up of the glorious vacation I had back in November... however I pause to say that UPS has effectively ruined the vacation and cost me dearly as a result.

While back in South Dakota hunting I was successful in taking two deer and left the meat of at a local (to where I was hunting) market back with instructions to ship it out to me once complete, something they did back on 12/15 and with an ETA of 12/19. Given the date I made it a point to stick around the house that day waiting for it and despite my concerns given the weather that it might not come, was assured by FIVE separate people, including one in person that there would in fact be a delivery attempt that night.

Long story short, they didn't make an attempt and despite other assurances I was not able to pick the package up myself that night or the next day.

Why? They couldn't find it. Yes, they admitted that to me.

For a full 10 days the package was simply listed as "OUT FOR DELIVERY" and only at 6:10pm this evening, only after the meat locker called to complain did they finally miraculously find the package and make a delivery attempt.

Something tells me I should have had her call a week and a half ago.

While the drivers claim that it was still probably still frozen, I for one am not willing to put my health (or that of co-workers who I'd planned to share the meat with) on the line when during the last few days it has been over 40 (into

Redmond on the first day of springDecember 23 2008

That’s right. You heard me... yesterday, December 22nd was the first day of the spring!

Says who? Says Joe Soucheray, Grand Poobah of The Royal Order of the 21sters.

Who are they? We are a group of people who have willing surrendered normalcy so as to engage in psychological delusion to stave off the the darkness and chill of winter that affects you normal people.

To quote Joe on Sunday:

We are not astronomers, climatologists or meteorologists. None of the scientific disciplines for us. We are conjurers. We make winter disappear.

Yes, yes, very well, we assign the two dark months, November and December, to winter, but they are the two months filled with feasts and twinkling lights.

Spring can last as long as a 21ster wishes it to last. Personally, because the NFL has pushed the Super Bowl into February, I usually start my summer on Super Bowl Sunday, by which time we will have gained at least an hour of light over today.

Summer will feature some tough days, last April attesting, but we endure. Our dobbers are a bit down June 21, but then we buck up with the cheery realization that autumn will be long, lingering and often warm and humid.

Why, by the time tomorrow rolls around, we are over the hump. We have had our two months of winter just as the Normal People are starting to feel th

Seattle area weather haikuDecember 22 2008

The Seattle area has had some issues with snow over the last few days and due to a less than favorable plow-to-person ratio (c) 2008 Brendan Grant (yes I hereby copyright in text that phrase I’ve used for quite some time (including during my Microsoft job interview at least twice)) the area has more or less shutdown. Roads are near empty with mostly just 4-wheel drive vehicles out and about (I’ve yet to see a single Prius on the road), the Microsoft Redmond campus is nearly deserted between some folks on vacation and other not able to get out of their houses due to snowed & iced over roads.

This morning things got a little more creative than just “_____ is an ice rink, wth” (wfh = working from home) on the team email alias as people emailed in as unable to make it to the office, below are some memorable quotes from members of the Windows Home Server team today (in order):

A white blanket lies
On the roads, threatening death
I’m working from home

The blanket lies not.
No benefit tempting fate
when VPN works.

Said _____ while looking at snow,
To the office I really should go.
    But I would get wet;
    Instead I’ll just get
Another cuppa this joe.

(I’ll see your hai

What's wrong with calling home?December 18 2008

We've all heard how evil it is for an application to call home. Sure there are evil things out there like adware, spyware, and other such bits... but what about basic usage reporting?

For years web analytics tools such as AWStats, Google Analytics, SiteMeter and many others have been created and used to allow web developers and site owners insight into who is using their web sites and how. It occurred to me a while ago that there is no good way for the average desktop application developer to have similar insights into their own apps.

Why is this important?

Call me crazy, but there is a fairly important thing that I like many developers out there tend to forget about the software we write...

We are not typical users of the software we build!

This means that when we prioritize features and fixes, our priorities for features and fixes are probably pretty different than our users.

Wouldn't it be nice if we had a way to... see inside of the heads of our users and see how they use our applications as well as how our apps respond to them.

How many plugs ins are installed? What are the most commonly used functions used? How much time does the user spend using the application? How many files do they have open at a time? How often do they save their work?

All are vital questions to know