Shopping After a Birthday

I've had yet another birthday come and go without much incident, but as usual, I now have all the cash my family has given me and am expected to buy something with it to show them. It's tempting to tell them to go back to picking the presents themselves, but after more than a few major "incidents" in childhood, I think I'll stick with the cash, thank you. Last year, I opted to buy RAM for my MacPro, but that didn't go over so well; I spent the next six months trying to explain what I had purchased, why I wanted it, and why it was indeed a good thing to have more of than I had before. So, this time, it's clothing and software that comes in shiny boxes.

Windows 7

As most of my family is still using Windows, despite my best efforts to swing them over to Linux, I think they should understand why I want a copy of the Windows 7 upgrade -- especially while it's $50.00.

iLife 09

This one would be a harder sell, but I think the promise of family-friendly DVDs of family events should be enough, and it doesn't hurt that none of them would know that I already have all of the software, just in an older version.

iWork 09

Now, I don't know if I actually want a copy of iWork, because I use OpenOffice.org, Textmate, and WriteRoom for just about everything. My only regret is that I do not have good -- and pretty -- presentation software.

Mobile Me

This is the most sketchy one... I don't eve know why I want it... I think it's mostly because of the Reality Distortion Field, and the fact that I had a subscription that has now lapsed, and I really want my Mac to stop nagging me about it. However, if I do ever break down, switch to AT&T, and get an iPhone, I'll actually have a use for MobileMe beyond Yet Another Backup. (I'm already using MOZY, DropBox, Live Mesh Beta, and network-attached storage.)

MobileMe

I just received this alert to let me know that I can now upgrade to MobileMe. I'll let you know what happens once it's installed.

Yes I'd recommend MacHeist....

Ok, I'll admit, I am getting paid to say this -- sort of. I do benefit from you or anyone else you care to pass this link along to clicking through and buying this bundle, but I did go to the effort of composing this message all by myself. :-) Plus, I actually use most of this software and really love it!

MacHeist is doing another bundle offer; this one includes: iClip, CoverSutra, Awaken, Cha-Ching, Xslimmer, WriteRoom, DEVONthink Personal, Wallet, Overflow, and 3 great Pangea games: Enigmo, Nanosaur 2, and Bugdom 2.

I use several of these. iClip is really nifty after you've used it for a while. CoverSutra is handy if you like to keep iTunes playing in the background. Xslimmer is really handy on a laptop. WriteRoom I discovered quite some time ago, and it's still my prefered utility for actual creative writing that doesn't involve pen and paper. Enigmo is fun; Enigmo 2 is better mind you, but....

MacHeist Bundle

The MacHeist Bundle is out now. If you buy one using the included link, I get free software!

Countdown to Leopard

Well, it's now officially less than a week until Mac OS X v1.5 - Leopard is released. It's at times like this that I really wish I had one of the new Intel MacBook Pros. You can either wait until it's out or pre-order from Apple or Amazon. Although, I'm still getting quite a bit of use out of my three-year-old PowerBook.

Bad Vista and Broken Windows

In a continuation of what was covered in this ZD Net blog post in June, Microsoft is allowing down-grades from Vista to Windows XP. I know people have been complaining about the myriad problems in Vista, but this seems to be a greater admission of defeat than Microsoft is known for. For those of you who would prefer to avoid the Vista issue entirely, try the Bad Vista site. My Linux flavor of choice is Slackware, but for a desktop system, Ubuntu is hard to beet.

Leopard Pre-order

This is a tempting time to get a new Intel-based Mac from Apple. I know that if I had one already, I would definitely be pre-ordering OS X Leopard.