Windows Home Server: At last, I say something nice about Microsoft

Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows: Windows Home Server has the summary. I’ve been waiting a long time for this — but I was hoping (against hope) that it would come from Apple.

This is where we need to go; a home computing appliance with integrated backup and integrated secure remote access.

Microsoft is providing WHS users with a free Internet address via Windows Live. This address will give you a remote interface into your entire home network, not just WHS. You will be able to access any shared folders remotely, or even control individual PCs remotely.

All is not lost however ...

Mac user? You can access the WHS shared folders as you would any other Windows share, and that means your backup program--like Apple's Backup--can use a share as a save location as well. "We're a great back-end store for Time Machine," Headrick told me, alluding to the new backup feature Apple recently announced for Mac OS X Leopard.

Detente perhaps?

The missing piece is remote application executing using Microsoft’s very robust windows terminal services. That omission may be related to cost (CPU and memory demands on the server) or support and licensing concerns.

Very good, very impressive, and it’s about time. I’d very much like to see something comparable from Apple, but maybe they’d decided to surrender this to Microsoft. That would not bode well for Apple Computer Inc.

Word does not save my custom toolbar

I dislike Word. So I wasn't surprised to see Word 2003 misbehaving. Contrary to this kb article, Word is not "saving" the custom toolbar I embed in Normal.dot. It seems to work, but on restart my stuff is gone.

I'll see if I can track this bug down, but initial investigations haven't turned anything up.

Update: If I directly edit Normal.dot and save the result as a template overwriting normal.dot I can get my changes to stick. I suspect direct editing of Normal.dot is a workaround for issues with styles as well.

Update 3/29/2010: Jon, in comments, suggested: "hold shift while click on the "file menu". Choose "save all". I've not tried this myself; I'm on Word 2007 these days. I've also updated this post to lower my "rant level" -- I'm a mellower guy than I was 3 years ago.

TUAW news: Parallels, AirPort Extreme, Google Earth

The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) is one of my favorites. Some news today that caught my eye:

1. Parallels has a new beta -- I'll update. Sounds great.
2. The new AirPort Extreme has special features to support USB drive mounting -- so it's a bit of an occult and very slow NAS device.
3. Google Earth 4 is out of beta. The prior version was very crashy on brand new Mac Mini I was testing ...

Nisus Writer Pro: pending in the spring

Nisus Writer Express is our family wordprocessor. I like it very much, but there are a few things I miss. Nisus Writer Pro sounds like it will have most of them. I do hope the upgrade pricing will be reasonable. I wonder if they'll support open document format, but their key value is selling a very solid and well structured wp that uses RTF -- the only real "universal" (meaning Word users open it without paying attention) document format.

iPhone letdown: the problems loom and Palm gets a bit more breathing room

As I’ve detoxed from my “Jobs reality distortion field” intoxication the dark sides of the iPhone have sunk in. I agree with all the items on Top 10 things to hate about the Apple iPhone | APC Magazine, here’s my personal summary:

• Cingular may be the only US carrier with a worse reputation than Sprint.


• EDGE means this is basically a voice/SMS phone, an iPod, and a WiFi Slate (Remember Jobs saying Apple would never do a slate/PDA/Newton? You didn’t believe him did you?) in one package. It’s not a wide-area network device.


• It will need a case of some sort to protect it, so it’s getting bulky.


• It sounds very much like this will be a locked device — no third party applications. In particular, no ePocrates for physicians. Maybe this will change, but that’s the consensus. [jf: this appears certain. Closed and locked, maybe because Jobs remembers his career as a phone hacker.]
  


• I assume it will have a bluetooth keyboard/headset combo that’s easy to carry, so I’m not that worried about the data entry issues. The onscreen stuff will be for portable use, the remote kb will hold the earset in one’s briefcase.


• TIME claims you can’t sync it wirelessly! Pardon me??!!


• No Exchange/Outlook support?

That’s an awful pile of negatives. I’m waiting for the smoke to clear, but I wonder if I’m going to have to buy a low end Treo and wait for the next iteration of the iPhone …

Update 1/10/07: There remains a faint hope that Apple will sell a version of this without the phone that is not locked. In other words, an iPod/PDA/Slate product with VOIP support but no phone, including an 80GB hard drive and an open platform for $500. Sigh. I don't get a good feeling about this ...

Update 1/13/07: I've heard a few theories about why the phone is locked. The last three are mine.

• slow phone hackers: unlocking the phone, attacking Cingular's network, etc.
• the OS implementation is very unstable -- so Apple wants to limit who can work on it
• Apple will create a software channel and extract a percentage for every app produced
• Optimize user experience and reliability
• Create a robust DRM environment for viewing and distributing digital media
• Security (no virus, bot, spam), security management, and authentication for eCommerce (digital cash) and all authenticated transactions. Expect the iPhone to have some sort of biometric identifier at launch time.
• Enable a shift from selling software to leasing sofware.
  

The last is why the iPod is locked, why iTV is locked, and why iTV doesn't manage anything but iTunes DRMd media. More on the DarkSeid of Apple in a future post.

Belkin USB hub powered by firewire

I'm quite pleased with my Kensington USB dome hub -- it's solid and very accessible. The only downside is the power supply -- it means yet another cable. I was a bit disappointed that Kensington didn't take power from the Mac's firewire port.

That's the neat part of the Belkin USB 2.0& Firewire 6-Port Hub For Mac Mini. Power comes form the Firewire. It consumes one Firewire port (on the Mac) and provides two on the hub, so net 1. That's nice, but it's really a USB hub powered by firewire. Great -- I wish more vendors did this.

There are two problems. The Mac connector cables are very short -- it's really designed for the Mac mini and one Amazon reviewer claimed the cables were too short for his Intel Mini. Also, the USB ports are mostly in back of the device, I'd rather have more in front.

Worth keeping in mind.

Guidelines for the construction of content-rich web sites

The Basics of Search Engine Optimization is a high quality essay on how to build topical websites that will be popular and thus well ranked. It's a reference worth keeping.