We're going back in time.

I was, I freely admit, a latecomer to the whole OSX thing. I had built my life around OS9, and upgrading the operating system would mean also having to upgrade all the software Lots and lots of software. Most of it, at the time, not...um, how to put this delicately. Most not eligible for software upgrade. And even if it was, I didn't have a whole lot of cash to throw at buying new versions of old apps. So I stuck with old apps for as long as I could.

In fact, it was only when 10.2 was getting long in the tooth that I finally decided to break out the OSX 10.0 disk that came with my G4 and put it on the computer. I could always launch system 9 to get back at those old apps, if I really needed them.

I quickly upgraded to 10.2, then dotthree when it came out, then dotfour, and now dotfive. Which I love.

The trouble is, while I now have updated (and legit, thank you very much) versions of Creative Suite and Lightroom and Dreamweaver and all those other apps, there are a couple that never made the leap from 9. They hit end of life, and if I want to use them, I have to go back to my old computer, and fire up system 9.

Which I haven't needed to do in...years, probably. But one of the programs stuck in 9 is a cookbook program called MasterCook. My wife, you see, used to do food services for a retreat centre, and had a fairly complete stack of recipes inputted.

She hasn't needed access to these recipes for the last few years, as she is not currently working, choosing instead to raise our two kids (and let me work three jobs to make ends meet...), but tonight, we were going out for supper at my sister's, and my wife wanted to bring along a special salad.

She could not find the recipe in her files, so sent me down to print up a copy. I sat down at the old G4 (which has currently been relegated to functioning as a file server), and clicked on MasterCook.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited for classic to start up. I never would have called booting into classic snappy, but I don't think it used to be this slow. Must be the fact that I'm running 10.4 on the computer, and 10.4s support for classic is fairly thin (and went missing completely with 10.5).

Finally it started up and I was greeted with that cheery rainbow apple logo in the top left, and all that Geneva text...

A couple weeks ago, OS X turned seven years old, but it didn't dawn on me just how far we've come until I had to go back and relive system nine in all its glory. I poked around in the software for a while, but finally had to stop. I stuck with Apple through the bad old days, but it's a bit embarrassing to look back on those days. Kinda like looking through the old high school year books. They're nice to have around for nostalgia sake, but I don't really want anyone else looking at them. I mean, were my glasses really that big? My haircut really that...bad?

I like to pretend that the mac has always been this cool, but opening up classic, I was reminded, quite acutely, how far we've come in the last few years.

Since classic is no longer supported, I finally exported the recipe files as text files. That should be the last time I need to open up classic. Now to find a suitable replacement....I'm open to suggestions.

There's a side of me that's a bit sad. It's a bit like thinking about your lost youth. But then I look at how...I'm sorry, but how ugly it, and I don't think I'll miss it. The G4 will probably not get updated to 10.5 unless I find a compelling need to use back to my mac to access files on it. Even so, I think that's it for Classic.

Farewell, I shall remember you fondly, so long as I never need to look on your face again.

Over my head I hear Xcode in the air

My experience coding ended with Apple Basic (but boy, I could make the screen fill with any text you want), so a recent episode of MacBreakTech (hello, world) completely bamboozled me. Normally, I can stick with them for most of the discussion, and parse the things I don't understand from the things I do understand.

This episode? Not a word. 

However, I just stumbled across an e-Book (a fre-eBook, even) on how to learn Xcode. It's called Become and Xcoder, and it is my entrance into the glamourous world of Xcoding. I can see it now. The groupies. The all night parties. The groupies. The reserved room at the Betty Ford clinic....

Or else I'll look at it, scratch my head, and have to pursue my dreams of the programmer's lifestyle by becoming a rock star. 

Is T-Mobile behind Niagara Networks

Okay. 

So I've mentioned before that there's rumours of T-Mobile making a bid for some of that sweet Canadian Spectrum. Trouble is, the auction rules state that the company doing the bidding has to be Canadian. 

We've also mentioned that Niagara Networks Inc. has come out of the blue to bid on a huge swatch of that spectrum.

CBC has put two and two together, and come up with a question: Is there a bigger Telecom backing Niagara? They mention both T-Mobile and AT&T as possible backers, but the official word is "No comment."

My money is on T-Mobile, just because that's the way I read the T-leaves. But I could be completely wrong. 

Any way you shake it, a new player in the Canadian market would hopefully generate a bit of competition, and rates might come down. 

The fact that both T-Mobile and AT&T have iPhone contracts in their respective countries has no bearing on my interest in this story. Honest. 

What I think'd be even more interesting would be if Apple were found to be backing a play for some spectrum. That would go a long way to helping me with my current theory that Apple doesn't really care about the Canadian Market. 

Leaving their mark

Apparently, Apple has filed for trademark for the iPhone name in Canada.

Now, one of the many hold-ups in Canada for the iPhone has been the fact that Comwave Telecom is using the iPhone name. Back in October, they filed opposition to CIPO, yet Apple has still gone ahead and filed again, though people are only noticing now that the filing was made. Here is a story from the CBC from October. 

The fact that the story is hitting the wire now doesn't mean there has been any resolution in the issue, just that someone finally noticed the Trademark application. Comwave is still using iPhone as a designation for their services, so they haven't abandoned the fight. For those of you who enjoy reading Trademark Applications, here is their filing. 

Expect this to take a while....

I'm not one to rumour monger, but...

...did you hear the latest? A 3G iPhone coming in a few months. That means another company could sell them, not ust Rogers....

Now, the existence of a 3G phone doesn't mean that it will come to Canada, but it does improve chances, just a bit....

For me, living in a place where the nearest Roger's tower is 100 km away, a 3G iPhone would be lovely....

Everybody's talking about it.

But what do I mean by it?

Do I mean Crossover Games, the new crossover app for playing windows on your mac?

Do I mean how Webkit scored a perfect 100% in the Acid Test?

Or do I mean the fact that Photoshop is now on the web?

The answer to this and many others is simply yes. 

(BTW: I've signed up for a Photoshop Express Account. Despite the fact that it is "US only" currently, all you have to do is say that you're from the US. It doesn't do anything to verify your location in the world.... However, I used my email address from my actual adobe account, and it isn't letting me log in. Hmm....)

Yippee! Yahoo!

Yahoo has just released the Beta Yahoo Messenger for Mac.

It is going head to head with Skype, it appears, allowing computer to phone calling to "anywhere in the world" (No mention of if it works from anywhere in the world.) Their prices are $0.01, which is lower than Skype's $0.024. I tried a test call, and it sounds really good. Trouble is that I am at work right now, and I have a better connection than when I am at home. I might sign up to try the computer to phone service, if the test call works okay from home. 

I'd give it a whirl...if I knew anyone using Yahoo Messenger. Anybody want to give it a whirl and see how it compares to Skype? 

Anyone?