Xdrive by AOL - I'm using it

I've been using Google Page Creator to move files back and forth, but it's kludgy and uploads are excruciatingly slow. I looked around a bit and found AOL's
Xdrive is now offering 5GB for free. It's PC centric, but I tried the browser applet with Camino and it was pretty efficient. Not quite drag and drop or webdav, but good enough.

I had an AOL screen name (my AOL username from 18 years ago is unavailable, AOL does not recyle screen names and there's no way to reclaim them) so I just used that. When I signed in I got a "service unavailable" message, but I just clicked for a while and eventually it let me in.

Upload was incredibly fast using their fancy uploader. I've never uploaded anything to the web that went so quickly.

Worth a try.

Microsoft's free "hobbyist" development tools

I'm not an XP hobbyist so I'd never had of Microsoft's free development tool suite. I came across them only because I was evaluating SQL Express 2005 for a small project. I knew about SE (first released 2005, doesn't run on Vista so unclear future), but I gradually realized Microsoft was packaging it as part of a "hobbyist" suite. A free hobbyist suite.

Visual Studio Express includes "hobbyist" editions of their web development environment, a robotics development toolkit, a game development suite, SQL Server 2005 (of course) and "hobbyist" editions of VB, VC#, VC++, VJ#. Not to mention a learning center.

Did I mention the free part?

The oddest thing, for me, is that none of this is new. These were all released at the end of 2005 as an experiment, but Microsoft made it unlimited in 2006. VS Express has a product manager with an active blog and it seems to have a future.

I suppose I need to get out more.

This fills an odd gap in the world of software development. In the 90s Borland (later Symantec) sold a wide range of programming tools accessible to the hobbyist or student. Many were used for small software products inside corporations. All of these tools are gone now, replaced by high-end, very expensive and very complex tools that are aimed at the professional market.

I suppose I should express my gratitude to Microsoft for this seeming act of enlightened generosity, but that would make my keyboard explode ...

PS. OS X development tools are free for everyone, and they're pretty accessible. No free database platform though ...

Zimbra Calendar and sync

I ran into a brick wall with my integrated family calendar project. I probably have to wait and see if Google implements Outlook synchronization, but I see that Zimbra Calendar has an Outlook Connector. This blog has more discussions, I'll try following it for a while.

I liked this claim:

... Zimbra, the enterprise, open-source-based Exchange competitor that runs e-mail services on top of Mac OS X and a variety of Linux flavors, already with over-the-air (OTA) sync to all popular PDAs, and quality desktop connectors to sync iCal, AddressBook, Entourage and Outlook, has now released the very early version of their own Desktop Client.

So if I were to run Zimbra on one of my ISPs ....

Update: Ouch. The sync stuff requires the very expensive non-open source solution. Ok, forget that ...

Using the OS X Dictionary and Thesaurus

The purest of the pure OS X apps support a full suite of OS X services, including Apple's Dictionary and Thesaurus. This includes Nisus Writer Express and Safari,
but not, surprisingly, Camino [see update re: camino] and certainly not Firefox. A TUAW comment suggests changing the kb shortuct:

...The built in dictionary is a nice app that is often useful. With most of Apple's apps you can hover over any word and press Command ^ D to get the definiton instantly.

This, however, is an odd key combination and the info goes away as soon as you release the keys.

If you set it up with a toggle key, like F12, the mini-dictioanry will stay put until you hit the toggle key again.

You can also now move the mouse to any word(s) you wish for instant access to multiple definitions...

I use opt-F12, because F12 is the default for widgets and one day I may find one I really like. This nicely improves this feature. The dialog box has a drop down icon that lets you switch to Thesaurus mode, and when the app is up you can use preferences to change the thesaurus/dictionary priority.

Update 5/8/07: Why it doesn't work in Camino

I asked Camino's developers about this. It's not enough for an application to be Cocoa, to benefit from the dictionary and integrated spell-checking the application also has to make use of OS X text rendering controls. That's not feasible for Gecko. They are looking at enabling dictionary access through other means, but there's no version for that yet.

gSyncit and SyncMyCal: not compatible with Lookout for Outlook

I'd tried SyncMyCal at home and work for gCal synchronization with Outlook, but it crashed Outlook.

I then tried gSyncIt. This time it installed, but Lookout reported that "another Outlook Plugin has installed an unofficial version of the Outlook libraries which breaks Lookout".

Sigh. Lookout may have been euthenized by Microsoft but I absolutely depend on it. I've never seen anything else half as good, including Microsoft's "replacement" windows desktop search.

I'll uninstall gSyncIt and try reinstalling Lookout. The gSyncIt install was suspiciously amateurish anyway (an installer named setup.exe?!), and I wonder if it really did install a hacked version of the Outlook libraries. Not to mention the lack of documentation.

One plus to this, I'm now reasonably sure it was a Lookout/SyncMyCal clash that crashed Outlook at work.

I'll have to wait and see what else comes up. Google's help file more or less promises a sync solution from them. I probably need to give up on Lookout (it's not compatible with 2007 anyway), but I'm not in any hurry to do so. I'd be in more of a hurry if I had more confidence that there was a great Outlook/gCal sync solution available.

Enabling Built-in Spell Check: feature or bug?

OS 10.4 has a built-in spell checker for Cocoa app text fields: Mac 101: Enabling Built-in Spell Check - (TUAW).

There's no UI for enabling or disabling it other than to bring up a context menu when a cocoa app is in focus. That's so weird I'm not sure if it's a feature or a bug.

Virtual Appliances: what the?!

This one snuck up on me. Parallels, my OS X virtualization layer, runs Virtual Appliances - whatever the heck they are.

Near as I can tell a VA is a self-contained OS/application combination that works directly with the Parallels environment. So they don't need a host OS, instead the functions of a classic operating systm are divided between a layer within the VA and the Parallels environment.

This seems a profligate use of resources (each VA must repicate a lot of OS functionality), but memory is relatively plentiful and they probably use a slim version of linux.

So you can run a Linux app on OS X without having to create a Linux environment, and, in theory, each VA is a self-contained world.

I can't think of a use yet, but I'll keep watching ...

Update 5/7/07: I've been thinking more about this. It's an interesting variation on the theme of "routing around" the immovable Monopoly. I've thought of a few applications; so far they're all either security related (robust encrypted and portable environment) or are in some way covert (breaking DRM, etc). Interesting.