Mac@Work : The Ultimate Business Machine

The
Ultimate
Business Machine

Technology, business
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And, not least, about
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Weblog • Archive • Cutedge

by: Bernard Teo

Wed 12 Mar 2003

Java Stuff Up Again

Category : Commentary/JavaUp.txt

Tomcat and Eclipse are running fine with Java 1.4.1. On the Internet, the speed with which you can find solutions is exhilarating. It doesn't matter that we're living in Singapore. The world is one big Silicon Valley when you're connected like this.

This looks like a relatively painless upgrade - for us, at least - putting aside the grumbling that's still coming out elsewhere in the world. People ought to remember that when Sun released 1.4.0, it was termed a totally unusable release - they took a year to get things right.

Java 1.4.1 is supposed to be the foundation that will allow Apple to keep pace with Sun on Java releases - not more than 60 days, they say. If they keep to this, things will be just fine.

Posted at 5:35AM UTC | permalink

Falling Down

Category : Commentary/fallingdown.txt

Java 1.4.1 on OS X broke a lot of stuff - among the things affected are Tomcat and Eclipse - both of which are critical components used in Java development work. But this is such a massively important update (as a foundation for the things we can do on the Mac in future) that I feel we just have to batten down and take the hit.

The great thing about the web is the real-time nature of things happening. Everything we're seeing, somebody else is having, too. Things break in a torrent. But the solutions come in just as fast. Even this shall past.

Posted at 2:21AM UTC | permalink

'Secret' Screen Shots

Category : Technology/screencapture.txt

Just want to capture this before I forget. Typing Shift-Command 3 will capture the whole Mac screen into a preview file. Shift-Command 4 gives you cross-hairs to define the area of the screen that you want to capture.

But what's cool is hitting the space bar after Shift-Command 4. With this, you get a camera you can use to hover over a window, menu, or even the dock that you want to capture. Clicking the camera will capture just the window, say. No need now to go into Photoshop to crop out the window from the rest of the image. A great time saver. (Attribution : ClubMac).

Posted at 2:20AM UTC | permalink

Tue 11 Mar 2003

Java 1.4.1

Category : Technology/Java141.txt

This has finally been released. Though it won't mean much (yet) to regular Mac users, this is an important milestone. It's important that Apple has kept its promise to keep OS X level with Sun on Java releases - it feels better to work with someone who pulls his own weight. Apple's developers have kept on improving OS X. It's probably the most exciting platform to work on now.

The Java side of Applet support appears to be in place, but I still can't get into the DBS site. It may need an update to Safari.

Posted at 2:06AM UTC | permalink

Mon 10 Mar 2003

Debugging AppleScript Studio

Category : Technology/applescriptdebugger.txt

Very soon now, I'll be able to release a tool that will let people turn on their built-in mail server in the most Mac-like way I can think of - just by clicking a button. But I'm experimenting further with AppleScript Studio because it's got a lot more use going for it - AppleScript, the sheer fun of using Interface Builder, and the ability to do Unix-level things - this is a potent combination. There's nothing quite like this anywhere else. Even a bug in the AppleScript debugger (it's simply not functioning) hasn't dampened my enthusiasm.

Posted at 7:39AM UTC | permalink

Sun 09 Mar 2003

Hello Siva

Category : Commentary/siva.txt

I was showing Siva my set up and enjoying it. I was showing him how easy it is to update a weblog. I'm linking to his home page. He writes well. It'll be great if he has a weblog. Remember, bloggers use Macs.

Posted at 3:49AM UTC | permalink

Fri 07 Mar 2003

AppleScript Studio and the Unix Shell

Category : Technology/applescriptstudio.txt

The first time I set up OS X's mail server, it took me a whole evening. I've done it about four times in all, so far, and each time I'm getting faster. Now I think it's possible to write an installer that will do it in two minutes. But I'm trying to avoid having the user edit SendMail's config files by hand. If anything can go wrong, it will go wrong here.

I'm experimenting with using AppleScript Studio to create an interface to collect the necessary configuration parameters from the user, e.g., the domain name and the name of the user who will be the postmaster. The hard part was the writing of the Unix shell script to do all the installation and that is mostly done. Now I just have to link the two together. Then I'll have a totally Mac-like SendMail installer. Mail services in under two minutes.

AppleScript Studio is proving to be really fun. I can see a lot of use for this, e.g., installing an accounting system written in Cocoa that needs to link to a MySQL backend. You can drive things at the Unix level invisibly while keeping the why/are/we/back/in/dos people happy.

Posted at 12:32PM UTC | permalink

Mail Server

Category : Technology/mailsetback.txt

I pulled back the notes I released yesterday about installing OS X's built-in Mail Server. I found two problems. I had a folder containing SendMail config files and a pre-compiled POP server binary. I found that it is possible for Stuffit to mess up file permissions. On OS X, one should create Stuffit X archives to make sure the permissions are not screwed. Second, just learnt something more about SendMail. I wanted to make the installation so Mac-like - like double-click and the mail server is all set up in one minute.

Will have to work harder.

Posted at 5:29AM UTC | permalink

Tue 04 Mar 2003

When Next We Rendezvous

Category : Technology/rendezvous.txt

For some Mac users, the command line certainly looks evil - /why/are/we/back/in/dos as someone puts it. But we have the best of both worlds. With BBEdit, I can do this from the command line :

[iBook:~] bbedit /etc/httpd/httpd.conf

It'll allow BBEdit to open a file that is normally hidden. This is the Apache Config file. It contains things that look like gibberish. But, with BBEdit, we're now in familiar Mac-like territory. I do a Search for "RegisterUserSite", and make the following changes :

# RegisterUserSite all-users
# RegisterDefaultSite
RegisterResource "The Ultimate Business Machine (Mirror)" /roadstead/weblog/

i.e., comment out the first two lines but add a third. What that does is to tell the Apache web server to list "The Ultimate Business Machine (Mirror)" in Safari's Rendezvous menu.

Now when I next meet with people, I can have a local copy of this weblog show up in everybody's Rendezvous menu in Safari, even if we have no Internet access. Neat.

Rendezvous Menu in Safari

(Credit : James Duncan Davidson's Weblog for this tip.)

Posted at 6:16AM UTC | permalink

Page Sender

Category : Technology/pageSender.txt

While writing the previous weblog, I had a mail delivered from my server. It contained a fax in pdf format. Someone had faxed me something and my server took it and mailed it where I can pick it up. It's so convenient.

I had forgotten to include PageSender in the "Using Macs in Businesses" scenario. It works a lot more reliably than FaxSTF. And it's a lot better designed. This is another great productivity tool. I'll have to update that article.

Posted at 1:50AM UTC | permalink

Mon 03 Mar 2003

Luca - The Romance of Double-Entry Bookkeeping

Category : Commentary/luca.txt

I had been thinking about a name for an accounting system we had developed. While reading "Jamming" by John Kao, I came across Luca Pacioli, a lesser-known Renaissance figure who used the newly-invented printing press to popularise double-entry bookkeeping.

A quick search through Google turned up fascinating pieces about the man himself, The Romance of Double-Entry Bookkeeping, and a very interesting article called Accounting for Knowledge Management, from which I quote :

The task of the accounting profession, in relation to intangible assets and knowledge-based enterprise, is less about counting than it is about giving an account - telling the story of both tangible and intangible assets in meaningful ways, for both managers and markets.

"Telling the story of the figures in meaningful ways". So, Luca is it.

Posted at 9:04AM UTC | permalink

Fri 28 Feb 2003

How Businesses Could Use Macs

Category : Commentary/UseMacs.txt

A Mac Business Toolbox simply lists the tools available on OS X. But it may not have quite succeeded in showing how they can all come together to work for the good of a business. So I've tried again - this time through depicting a scenario in which each of the tools could be brought into play. Maybe this will do better.

Posted at 12:44PM UTC | permalink