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Monday, December 6, 2004
Is This My Last Thinkpad?
IBM is in talks to sell its Personal Computer (desktop, notebook, and laptop computer divisions) company. The rumored acquirer is Chinese company Lenovo Group, Ltd. although Samsung and Acer are also mentioned. Analysts praise the sale as the right move, noting that the only thing IBM about an IBM computer is the name.I beg to differ. If you've never carried an IBM ThinkPad you won't understand this, but ThinkPads are the cream of the laptop and notebook genre. Yes Virginia -- they're even nicer than the luscious Apple PowerBooks. The ergonomics are simply the best in the industy (even if the OS is wonkier).
Over the years I've used laptops by IBM, Sony, Toshiba, Dell, and Apple (four different PowerBook models). In all of that I never once considered giving up my desktop computer as my main workstation. I carried small laptops, desktop-replacement laptops, and mid-range laptops, but none was ever good enough to get me off the desktop.
But my current IBM ThinkPad T41 has pretty much done just that. I think it has a lot to do with the keyboard -- hands down the best laptop keyboard I've ever used. I have a bunch of parts for a new PeeCee I've been meaning to build since August, but the TPad has made that seem somehow less important. The intelligent, automatic, self-configuring, networking lets me walk into almost anywhere, anytime, and simply fire up with a net connection. The battery life is phenomenal. I use a spare battery in the CD-ROM slot, but with that I can get 10 hours of work time -- with WiFi enabled.
None of this cool stuff came from an Asian design team. It came from IBM. Sure, all the manufacturing came from Asia and that means all the cool stuff is affordable. But IBM provided the creativity and innovation that drives it.
If IBM sells off their PC division I, for one, will be sorry. In a world of commoditized, generic, indistinguishable computers only two companies have any personality left -- Apple and IBM. Their personalities differ, as do their approaches. But both add something important to our computing experience. If either leaves the game our personal computing world will be much poorer.
Posted by: 
Terry Frazier at 9:09 AM
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Categories: Productivity, Technology, UnWired
Terry Frazier at 9:09 AM
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Wednesday, December 1, 2004
You're Kidding, Right?
No I'm not, but I guess I should be a little clearer about my tongue-in-cheek acquiesence to Outlook. It should be obvious I am not a big Microsoft fan, nor did I toss my friendly, flexible, e-mail program lightly. And I am not walking naively into some perceived Outlook nirvana. Over the years I have dabbled with both Outlook and Outlook Express as mail clients for myself and others -- always dumping them in some screaming fit of frustration after an hour or so.No, I have merely succumbed to the lesser of two evils. I have held out against the tide as long as I can. I have searched hi and low for solutions that will sync with my Treo, exchange calendars with my corporate colleagues, let me publish calendar data in a free/busy format. I have given up on finding a suitable alternative, and I am willing (though not pleased) to suffer the consequences of my choice.
So bear with me. Offer support and condolences where you can. Overlook my ignominious rants. Forgive the vitriol and invective I will no doubt spew. I walk into this with my teeth clinched and my eyes wide open. And please, please, please won't someone - anyone - write a complete and effective PIM tool suite to replace (and interoperate with) Outlook.
Posted by: Terry Frazier at 11:04 AM
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Categories: Productivity, Technology
Terry Frazier at 11:04 AM
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Tuesday, November 30, 2004
Outlook Dimmed
Ok, how do I configure different signatures for different accounts in Outlook? I have, like, 12 e-mail addresses across four different domains/servers. It is ludicrous to think I want the same signature on all of them. Is there a way around this?A New Outlook on Life
I've used the same e-mail program for more than five years -- a very flexible, advanced, POP3 client from RIT Labs called TheBat!. It has most any feature an e-mail user can ask for. But it's not a very good IMAP client, and it doesn't integrate with anything.For a PIM I used the default Palm Desktop that came with my various PDAs over the years. It was serviceable, but it was really just an address book and calendar. It worked great on my Treo, but it didn't integrate with TheBat! address book, and it didn't have any way to publish calendars.
Most importantly, after years of kludging my way to co-existance with Microsoft-based corporate colleagues and customers I've grown tired of the half-ass, half-integrated, half-productive solutions I've been able to cobble together with various third-party apps, both commercial and open source.
So today I announce my conversion to Microsoft Outlook. It's a shame, I know. I fought valiantly. I searched high and low for alternative solutions. I tried dozens of combinations of software. But no one, anywhere makes a PIM with the broadbased functionality of Outlook. Microsoft owns the corporate desktop. Their stuff is good. It works. And no one makes a better integrated information manager. Outlook has become a desktop productivity platform, with an unequaled collection of extensions, plug-ins, and add-ons.
So here's to getting a better Outlook. Now begins the joyful task of learning all the intricacies, buying all the needed extensions, and trading my obsolete principled stand for some integrated productivity.
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