Seeing how the Google docs/spreadsheets/(slideshows) enterprise is best suited to online collaboration of relatively simple documents, my guess is not that Presently will be a PowerPoint-like application... but rather that it will be more like an online whiteboard/workbook for simple presentations that foster discussion and intellectual exchange by way of note-taking or editing/revision.

Sounds pretty good. What does AOL have up its sleeve?

Personally, I don't IM much anymore, but I prefer Trillian when I do because then it doesn't matter what service my friends or colleagues are using.

Speaking of which, Trillian is probably overdue for an update....

Also check out WinCustomize.com (http://www.wincustomize.com/gallery.aspx#gadgets) for Google Gadgets, Kapsules, DesktopX Widgets and (soon) Vista Sidebar gadgets. All free!

More available at DesktopGadgets (http://desktopgadgets.com/), although not all here are free.

@Mark2000,

You don't have to steer yourself -- K.I.T.T. drives itself. ;-)

And the Vista goes to........

I like these British ads better than the American ones.

Truly, I don't understand all the vehemence between Apple and Microsoft... "I'm better than you" and "tit-for-tat" mentality doesn't get us anywhere. Why can't we all just get along? ;-)

There are aspects to each system that are to be admired. If anything, these companies should stop trying to "one-up" each other and just concentrate on putting out better products.

Long live open-source, GNU and collaboration!

I just updated my site this past week. Easy as pie, thank goodness.

#1 thing before any such venture: Make backups. Don't skip this step! Backup your database; and backup your customized themes, plugins and hacked files.

The folks at Wordpress put together a great step-by-step upgrade instruction guide. Take things slow and follow the directions, and it should all go smoothly.

@Alan -- Thanks for the explanation. I look forward to seeing how things develop.

Regarding losing the Explorer: I think power users will still have Explorer-like applications to manage physical files on their machines. But having a virtual filing system (more analogous to gmail category labeling) can really help with data localization and management.

We'll just have to see how things turn out, I guess!

My office is split appx. 2/3 Mac OSX, 1/3 WinXP (no Vista yet). During the holiday season, one of my
coworkers saw a snowfall screensaver on-display at a nearby Apple Store and was able to track it down and install it on his machine ('Snowfall' screensaver available here:
http://www.alittlebitofnothingleft.net/snowfall/).

Besides the large, detailed, gorgeous, sultry semi-transparent 3D snowflakes that spin and fall, the most amazing part is that it requires nearly no CPU
power!! I found out that 'Snowfall' is written for the OSX using its Quartz Composer framework -- which from my (limited) understanding is based on OpenGL and Screen PostScript technology originally developed by Adobe/NeXT. Basically, Quartz forms the foundation for all of Apple's on-screen rendering, graphics display, GUI presentation, transition effects, and all that sexy eyecandy that we salivate over whenever we see someone working in MacOSX.

Seeing 'Snowfall' reminded me of a the more modest animated snowflake DesktopX object that came out a few years ago (http://wincustomize.com/ViewSkin.aspx?SID=1&SkinID=3105&LibID=3), which featured some nice, small 2D snowflakes that fell and spun. But as I remember, this would consume about 40% CPU power -- and it was only 2D!

Why does such a difference exist between the capabilities of Mac OSX and Windows? The hardware is essentially the same nowadays, and yet Mac OSX is able to crank out the best effects without overly taxing the system. Transition effects are universally smooth, video and animation are not bothered by background
processes, there's never jitteriness or ghosting of unrefreshed elements onscreen, and generally, every visual element of the operating system is
finished so nicely.

The above example concerns the graphics system of each OS, but it also serves to illustrate the huge divide between Mac OSX and Windows in terms of usability and the 'finish & polish' of each system. Parallels can be drawn to other functional aspects of the UI and OS.

When are we going to have the same level of performance in Windows? Is it truly here with Vista, or do we have to wait for Fiji (Vista R2) in 2008, or Vienna in 2010?

Any thoughts??

My office is split appx. 2/3 Mac OSX, 1/3 WinXP (no Vista yet). During the holiday season, one of my
coworkers saw a snowfall screensaver on-display at a nearby Apple
Store and was able to track it down and install it on his machine ('Snowfall' screensaver available here:
http://www.alittlebitofnothingleft.net/snowfall/).

Besides the large, detailed, gorgeous, sultry semi-transparent 3D snowflakes
that spin and fall, the most amazing part is that it requires nearly no CPU
power!! I found out that 'Snowfall' is written for the OSX using its Quartz
Composer framework -- which from my (limited) understanding is based on
OpenGL and Screen PostScript technology originally developed by Adobe/NeXT.
Basically, Quartz forms the foundation for all of Apple's on-screen
rendering, graphics display, GUI presentation, transition effects, and all
that sexy eyecandy that we salivate over whenever we see someone working in
MacOSX.

Seeing 'Snowfall' reminded me of a the more modest animated snowflake
DesktopX object that came out a few years ago
(http://wincustomize.com/ViewSkin.aspx?SID=1&SkinID=3105&LibID=3), which
featured some nice, small 2D snowflakes that fell and spun. But as I
remember, this would consume about 40% CPU power -- and it was only 2D!

Why does such a difference exist between the capabilities of Mac OSX and Windows? The
hardware is essentially the same nowadays, and yet Mac OSX is able to crank
out the best effects without overly taxing the system. Transition effects
are universally smooth, video and animation are not bothered by background
processes, there's never jitteriness or ghosting of unrefreshed elements
onscreen, and generally, every visual element of the operating system is
finished so nicely.

The above example concerns the graphics system of each OS, but it also serves to illustrate the huge divide between Mac OSX and Windows in terms of usability and the 'finish & polish' of each system. Parallels can be drawn to other functional aspects of the UI and OS.

When are we going to have the same level of performance in Windows? Is it
truly here with Vista, or do we have to wait for Fiji (Vista R2) in 2008, or
Vienna in 2010?

Any thoughts??