2005 May 03

Ponzi and I went to the mall yesterday; I was in search of the Family Guy Live in Vegas CD (which, as it turns out, is yet another fantastic Seth MacFarlane production). I was sidetracked for an hour or two – lingering a little too long in the Apple store. Boy, that Mac Mini was just calling to me. Simple, small, somewhat forbidden. But the allure of going portable with an iBook was almost too tempting. Wasn't too long before my fiancee traipsed into the place with a sack of shoes slung over her right shoulder. “Whatcha doin'?” Oh, nothing… just watching all the cool apps go by.
She stood there and drooled herself dry, forcing me to run to the food court and bring back a large Orange Julius. I knew we wouldn't be leaving the mall without some kind of Mac machine. And so, we adopted a 20″ iMac G5 – even though, today I discover that we should have waited! Can I just return this slightly-outdated RECENT purchase for the new one? Color me very upset if that's not the case. I'm waiting to hear back from the guy who sold it to us. I'm not ready to switch, and I don't plan on it – but how can I be an informed geek if I don't even try?

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Microsoft is gradually engaging a variety of communities with Web sites targeted toward the community needs. This is most obvious with the emergence of Channel 9 as an outward facing source of information to the MSDN world. The Windows Marketplace is presenting consumers with a new way to learn about hardware and software needs for their PCs. Perhaps the most interesting niche Microsoft is engaging is electronic musicians. Crossfader.com is the Microsoft initiative to provide information and educational resources in a community environment aimed at DJ culture, computer remixers, samplers and the growing community of musicians who make a PC their primary instrument. Spearheading this effort Eric Schmidt of Microsoft and Darek Mazzone, who is well known in the DJ culture of Seattle, are hard at work lining up world reknowned talents like DJ Spooky that Subliminal Kid and providing an interface for aspiring musicians to connect with the vendors who make tools to support their needs. Chris got the opportunity to visit with Eric and Darek about Crossfader and Microsoft’s recognition of the need for greater support for the community of electronic musicians.

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I'm flying solo this week; Ponzi is back home in North Carolina with family (for private reasons). Turns out, I miss Ponzi a lot when she's not around. It gets awfully quiet around here, so I attempt to fill the empty void by singing old Schoolhouse Rock tunes. That works until I need to type something, at which point I stop singing long enough to re-read what I write. Ponzi says that every once in a while, she'll catch me mouthing the words that I type. I tell her it's because I like to write sentences that would sound just as natural as if I were to say them aloud. Too bad real life doesn't have a backspace key (or Web edit dialog that clears itself when the page reloads). Dinner tonight was… cheesy crackers, a few pieces of raw pasta, a handful of my Darth Vader cereal, a bag of popcorn, and soda water. Delicious and nutritious! I wonder if I'm following that new food pyramid she was talking about last week? I still remember the four food groups, Slim Goodbody, and Yuckmouth ('cause he don't brush).

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The Robert McLaws interview continues in the second part with more great information about Longhorn, 64-bit versions of Windows, the future of the Windows user experience and Robert’s take on why many people (including Chris) came away feeling let down by the version of Longhorn presented at WinHEC. Robert packs a ton of great information into this interview, covering topics ranging from why Windows 2003 Server offers better application throughput than Windows XP to what people should really expect in the next version of Windows. Of course, you can stay current on all of Robert’s thoughts on Longhorn at Longhorn Blogs.

Read more on Robert McLaws on x64 and Longhorn Part 2…