So, I am cautiously optimistic about Explorer 7 and Vista.   It's still early so there is plenty of time to fix the little things that need cleaned up but I have one more GUI rant.   

As soon as I showed the new Explorer to Alene, she immediately said..."Why does it have boobs"    I wasn't sure what she meant so she pointed them out and sure enough....now that's all I see when I look at the new Explorer GUI in Vista and Explorer 7.   How about you.  Boobs, Glasses.  something else?   Maybe it is on purpose like a subliminal messge or something :)

So I am playing along having fun in Call of Duty 2.   I have just finished the British Campaign and I hit "Next Mission"   All of the sudden it starts me on the training mission!!!!   OK, so I exit out and look at the Mission Select page and ALL OF MY GAME PROGRESS IS GONE!!!!    Yep, 10 or so hours of game play is just gone (OK, I am slow)   At first I thought I was crazy but nope, looks like a lot of people online have had the same thing happen to them and the only solution is to use a cheat code...no thanks.

Screw this, I am not starting over until Activision fixes this.    Let's see what should I play next...I think Perfect Dark.   First I better check to see if this is going to happen there too.

I love UI.   As a programmer, I am not an expert on UI but am competent at UI design.   I love designing them and will go extra lengths to try out new ideas and concepts in UI when they make sense   As a result of this fascination, I decided to install the new Beta of Office 12 today.  

I am not impressed.  Microsoft appears to have forgotten how to innovate completely and has now taken on the challenge of re imagining these ideas to dreadful results.  Don't get me wrong, office 12 may turn out great but as it stands now....it needs to bake a while longer.   Here are just a few of of the ideas that Microsoft has "borrowed". 

Apple's Less is More concept - It Apple's more concept has been applied to Office 12.   While this works well on OSX, MS has translated it to mean "no menus"   MS saids that this is due to their need to "simplify" the UI.  I am sorry but this is crazy.   Microsoft's problems were not that the software used menus it's that they had monkeyed with the basic concept of a menu two versions ago instead of finding ways to better organize them.   Menus should be in a consistent place and never move/change/morph.   That IMHO, is how you promote learning and easy to use menus.

In place of these menus, Office 12 has these nifty confusing tab bars.    They are great, they slide and morph and scoot all over as you resize the window guaranteeing that they will never look the same twice as you use the app.

Brushed Steel and Blue Glass Buttons - WOW, no way, you have just invented the amazing interface styling that Apple invented in 2001 (or when ever iTunes picked up the idea).   Look, the iTunes styling is gorgeous in a nice simple app such as iTunes or Safari but for office it is WRONG.   The lowered contrast of this steel/aluminum background is working against the icons/tool bars making them less distinctive.    This works in iTunes because it has only around 20 buttons on the entire UI.   I have nothing against it looking nice, but let's focus on readability and usability and not on looking like an MP3 player.

Apple's Top Center Lighting - Where is the light coming from....   When did Microsoft decide that the primary light source should be top center.   Don't get me wrong, I love the look of Apple's top center lighted UI but that's the standard in OSX not Windows and we should not be trying to mimic it.   Now some of my programs show a top left light source and some show a top center.   This creates a cognitive dissonance for me but I am reserving judgment on this as it may just be a new styling direction.

OK, I am going to stop complaining now before I go on rambling about the new inconsistent "file drawer/box/whatever it is"  I hope the uninstall app is working.

OK, since it looks like the new Macs aren't going to run windows for a while, I decided to go ahead and get something else.   It turns out the closest thing I could find to the good Ole MacBook is the new Sony SZ150.   It's light (4 pound) has the Intel Core Duo, sata drive and everything else...including the camera.   Since the mac will not run windows, I am going to get this to replace my desktop that is shifting duties to work as a Media Center PC.   Then if I get the mac, it can be a secondary laptop until they come around and let these things boot another OS.

For now, I will wait for comfirmation on booting XP on it or at least running it in a Virtual PC but I am thinking that if it will handle windows at all, I may go ahead and grab it.

For now, my weekend chores are done so I am off to spend some quality time with Call of Duty.

OK, other than the MacBook, the Keynote was pretty weak.    I was really hoping for either an iBook or a Mac Mini.  Either of which I would buy in a second.  In fact, I was thinking of buying the new MacBook until I noticed....

It still has a single mouse button!!!   This is crazy.  Doesn't Apple understand the difference between a PC buyer buying this thing and a DELL is a single mouse button.   I was all ready to plunk down 2k when I realized they had not fixed this simple flaw.   Oh well, sorry Steve.   Me and many others will spend the cash on your beautiful laptops without Intel Chips but only when they have two buttons.

For now my credit card is back safe in my pocket where it belongs.

Lots of new toys coming over the next few months.  

First off.   Samsung and TI have finally figured out how to knock out the last few issues with DLP TV's.   In one single sweep they have solved, rainbows, noise and longevity.   The secret....LED Lasers.   By replacing the single bulb and spinning color wheel with three colors of LED Laser, they have be eliminated the the relatively low refresh speed of the color which eliminates the rainbows.   Also since it's LED based, it runs cooler and lasts longer (around 20k hours)    It's coming in April, you can read more at engadget.

Second, Today is the big day for Apple.    Rumors include new Intel Macs, Media Centers and iPod Shuffles.    I will have my credit card primed and ready at 11 today.

Well, over the Christmas break, I finally beat Kameo.    That Corrallis battle was a pain in the ass.  It requires that you switch back and forth between the clumsy control schemes.   Well, it took me three days and probably 4-5 hours of play time but I finally lucked out and beat this horrible boss.    The rest of the game was much more fun with fun boss battles including a giant boss with hundreds of eyes that all needed to be dealt with and a giant robot that would squish you cartoon style if you got to close.   To get the game completed achievement you will need to get all of the fruit so don't forgot those extra fruit at the vendors :)

Work on the house has finally begun.   The dirt is all flat and ready to lay the foundation.   There are still a few details to work out as we get started but they are mostly things like specific colors, materials etc.