TidBITS#628/29-Apr-02
=====================
Not enamored with Mac OS X's Dock? Adam looks at some Mac OS X
utilities that give you more launching options than ever before.
You could even run these utilities on Apple's just-released update
to the Titanium PowerBook G4 or the new education-only eMac. Then
Matt Deatherage joins us with a look at Bill Gates's testimony in
the most recent phase of the Microsoft antitrust case. In the
news: another Retrospect 5.0 update and WebSTAR 4.5 for Mac OS 9.
Topics:
MailBITS/29-Apr-02
Apple Rolls Out Education eMac and Faster PowerBooks
Was Bill Gates Lying?
Top Mac OS X Utilities: Alternative Controls
<http://www.tidbits.com/tb-issues/TidBITS-628.html>
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Copyright 2002 TidBITS Electronic Publishing. All rights reserved.
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MailBITS/29-Apr-02
------------------
**Another Retrospect 5.0 Update Fixes More Problems** -- Dantz
Development has released another update to Retrospect 5.0, fixing
two problems. In all editions of Retrospect, the 5.0.205 update
fixes a problem that caused a crash when scanning icons and
privileges of files with names longer than 31 characters. The
problem could also result in a Retro.Icons file that could be
hundreds of megabytes in size - feel free to delete that file.
Also fixed is a problem that could cause Retrospect Express to
display an erroneous error message after automatic launch or after
double-clicking a Run document - the message incorrectly claimed
that automatic execution had failed. Still up in the air are
problems relating to AppleShare IP servers, so don't be surprised
to see another update soon. Also coming soon will be an update for
the version of Retrospect Express bundled with Norton SystemWorks
2.0. The updates are free and build in the previous fixes as well;
make sure to download the appropriate update for either Retrospect
Desktop/Workgroup/Server (4.1 MB) or Retrospect Express (3.6 MB).
[ACE]
<http://www.dantz.com/index.php3?SCREEN=intro_mac_retrospect>
<http://www.dantz.com/index.php3?SCREEN=symantec>
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=06784>
**4D Updates WebSTAR 4.5 for Mac OS 9** -- Kudos to 4D for
releasing WebSTAR Server Suite 4.5 for Mac OS 9 users today.
Despite focusing attention on the Mac OS X-compatible WebSTAR
V (which still lacks the email server component of WebSTAR 4.5),
4D took the time to decarbonize the Web server in WebSTAR 4.5 to
improve performance and eliminate memory leaks. Also new are an
enhanced File Upload plug-in that supports long file names and a
new version of the WebSTAR Admin application. The update is free
to all WebSTAR 4.x users and is available as a 49 MB download.
[ACE]
<http://www.webstar.com/45/>
<http://www.webstar.com/downloads/webstarupdates.html>
Apple Rolls Out Education eMac and Faster PowerBooks
----------------------------------------------------
by Geoff Duncan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
A scant four months after announcing the death of the CRT in
favor of flat-panel LCD displays, Apple today introduced the
eMac, an all-in-one G4-based Macintosh strictly for the education
market - and to keep costs down, the eMac is built around a
17-inch CRT display supporting resolutions up to 1,280 by 960
pixels.
<http://www.apple.com/education/emac/>
On the outside, the all-white eMac looks much like the original
iMac, and its roughly similar footprint means it will fit on
existing furniture, despite having a larger screen. Under the
hood, the eMac offers a 700 MHz PowerPC G4 processor, 128 MB of
RAM, a 40 GB hard disk, an Nvidia GeForce2 MX graphics processor
with 32 MB of video memory, 10/100Base-T Ethernet, three USB ports
(plus two more on the keyboard), two FireWire ports, a headphone
jack and a built-in microphone along with an audio input jack,
optional AirPort support, and a mini-VGA port for video mirroring.
Two configurations are available: the $1,000 eMac offers a 32x
CD-ROM drive (for schools preferring non-recordable Macs in labs
and classrooms), and a $1,200 edition includes a DVD-ROM/CD-RW
Combo drive and a 56 Kbps modem. Apple also offers a nifty tilt
and swivel stand for the eMac.
The eMac will be available in May to the U.S. and Canadian
education market, which wanted a display larger than 1,024 by 768
pixels and has been underwhelmed by the price tag of Apple's new
flat-screen iMac. The eMac fits that bill, and its introduction is
well-timed: right now, schools are planning budgets and purchases
for the next academic year. In the past, Apple has often missed
the boat with product announcements or price drops in July or
August. The eMac seems like a good idea: it may not greatly
bolster Apple's bottom line, but it could help increase Apple's
share of the education market.
**TiBooks to 800 MHz** -- Apple has also revised the high-end
Titanium PowerBook G4 line. The most visible change is the screen:
it still measures 15.2 inches but now offers a resolution of 1,280
by 854 pixels, up from the 1,152 by 768 pixels of its predecessors
- a 25 percent pixel increase. An ATI Mobility Radeon 7500
processor with 32 MB video memory drives the display.
The new machines sport processors up to 800 MHz with 1 MB of L3
processor cache, Gigabit Ethernet, and a DVI video connector for
connecting to digital displays. (A DVI to VGA adapter is included;
Apple also introduced a $150 DVI to ADC adapter to connect Apple's
own digital displays.) The new PowerBooks are available
immediately starting at $2,500, with processor speeds of 667 MHz
and 800 MHz, 256 to 512 MB RAM, a slot-loading DVD-ROM/CD-RW
drive, 30 to 60 GB hard disks, and optional AirPort support.
Pricing is higher than the previous low-end of the Titanium
line, but cheaper than the previous 667 MHz model.
<http://www.apple.com/powerbook/>
Was Bill Gates Lying?
---------------------
by Matt Deatherage <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
[A quick refresher in the Microsoft antitrust case. Judge Thomas
Penfield Jackson found that Microsoft was indeed a monopoly and
ordered the company broken up. Microsoft appealed, the District of
Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the breakup order, and,
after the Bush administration took over, the Justice Department
dropped its efforts to break up Microsoft. Of the states involved
in the case, nine plus the District of Columbia broke ranks with
the Justice Department in the remedy phase and are seeking harsher
terms than those proposed by the Justice Department and the nine
remaining states. -Adam]
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbser=1152>
<http://news.com.com/2104-1001-891286.html>
Bill Gates took the stand last week in the Microsoft antitrust
remedy hearings, and from most accounts, acquitted himself well,
far better than in his previous videotaped depositions. Joe Wilcox
of CNet News said Gates "redeemed himself as a witness." The
Washington Post described Gates's depositions in the earlier trial
as "embarrassing" but said this time, "a well-prepared Gates
provided a human face and a modicum of deference," and that he was
a "controlled, polite, and more mature chairman" who "displayed
encyclopaedic knowledge" of the proposed remedy. Other reports
described Gates as calm, thorough, and professional. (If you
haven't yet seen full reports of Gates's testimony, read the
links below.)
<http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-888889.html>
<http://news.com.com/2100-1001-892447.html>
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A31247-2002Apr22.html>
Despite these positive reports, the technical community
immediately insisted he was lying when he said that Microsoft
could not remove components of Windows such as Internet Explorer
and Windows Media Player. In the Eastside Journal of the Seattle
area where Microsoft is based, writer Cydney Gillis reported on
people skeptical of Gates's claim, including Dave Winer. At
UserLand, Winer ran a survey on the topic, and out of 413 votes
expressing an opinion, only 1 percent say Gates was telling the
whole truth. 64 percent say he's lying and 30 percent say he's
misleading by saying code couldn't be removed from the _current_
Windows without breaking it.
<http://www.eastsidejournal.com/sited/story/html/89976>
<http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/isGatesLying>
The reporters present in the courtroom say Gates did well, and
hundreds of people who weren't there think he's lying. Some of
that's gratuitous Microsoft bashing, no doubt, but most complaints
are technical. People do not understand how something that was a
separate program now can't be separate again. Since the court will
decide the question, it's worth exploring.
**Background Concepts** -- Let's try to take the issue in Mac OS 9
terms for clarity. Many key components of Mac OS 9 are implemented
as extensions - AppleScript, QuickTime, Disc Burner, and even USB
and FireWire support. Reboot without these extensions, and you get
a version of Mac OS 9 without their capabilities. Any program that
requires one of these components, however, will not run without
them - QuickTime Player won't run without QuickTime, DragThing
won't run without AppleScript, and no Carbon application runs
unless CarbonLib is present.
Yet these programs do not crash, they simply don't function as
you expect. That's because Apple has, for about fifty years,
warned developers to make sure a component is available _before_
calling it. Programs that call components that aren't installed
crash hard. Checking before calling a component is roughly
equivalent to making sure your car has come to a complete stop
before getting out.
Back to Windows. The states that don't want to settle with
Microsoft say that since programs like Internet Explorer,
MovieMaker, Windows Media Player, and MSN Messenger were
previously stand-alone programs, they can stand alone again.
Any integration into the operating system should be like an
extension, so programmers can use them only if present, and so
other companies can replace them with their own versions.
Microsoft says that's technically impossible.
Obviously it is possible, since Windows programs have had to work
with or without those components in the past. Now however, many
programs, including some in Windows, do not work properly in the
absence of those components because their presence is assumed.
If a necessary component were to be removed today, those programs
would break, just like Gates says. That's not what the states have
in mind, but that's the way he's spinning it.
<http://www.politechbot.com/docs/gates.testimony.042202.pdf>
Gates's testimony says that to meet the states' requirement that
Microsoft remove components from Windows while maintaining the
capabilities of Windows APIs, the company would have to leave the
binary code for all those components in Windows after all. If you
take out Internet Explorer and its HTML rendering engine, Windows
stops displaying all HTML, including help text. Windows doesn't
duplicate Internet Explorer's HTML rendering in other code - take
out Internet Explorer, and HTML goes with it.
Microsoft chose a similar approach during the trial in 1998,
breaking Windows by ripping out every piece of code Internet
Explorer used rather than repackaging it as a replaceable module.
Microsoft feared, then as now, that proving it can modularize
software would mean a court would eventually require modularized
versions of Windows, in turn forcing Microsoft to give up the
control over which programs stay installed in Windows. The states
say Microsoft shouldn't be able to do that anyway, and Microsoft
is pulling out all the stops to make sure it can.
<http://davenet.userland.com/2001/08/13/excerptFromBreakingWindows>
**Weasel Words** -- So how can Microsoft say modularity is
impossible under the states' proposed remedy? The weaseling
is in the word "middleware," used in the remedy to identify the
components that would have be modular. Microsoft and Gates say the
word is so poorly defined it could refer to _any_ API - that is,
any routine at all in Windows. It's as if Apple not only had to
make QuickTime a separate extension, but also make every routine
_within_ QuickTime a separate extension that could be removed or
replaced at will.
<http://news.com.com/2100-1001-891286.html>
That approach would never work - programmers can test for
components before using them, but not for every single API. It
would lead to chaos and mass confusion, exactly the effects Gates
describes. By hammering on the details and dogmatically sticking
to the worst possible interpretation of the proposal, Microsoft is
trying to make sure only Microsoft decides what is and is not part
of Windows, the company's position since 1995. And it's truthful,
too: Gates says the proposed remedy can be read this way, and if
it can, Microsoft may have to implement it this way.
Actually, he's signalling the court that Microsoft will read it
this way, ripping out sections of "middleware" under court order
even though other parts of Windows might need the APIs they
provide. Such versions would never wind up on store shelves, but
if a PC maker purchases more than 10,000 Windows licenses and
demands that Internet Explorer be removed, Microsoft would rip
it out, breaking any program that needs HTML rendering. Such a
modified Windows might not even boot.
The new remedy would also require that any "modular" versions run
"without performance degradation" over the full version. Microsoft
says it absolutely cannot do that. Adding checks to see if HTML
rendering is present adds more instructions to a program and
therefore degrades its performance. Hence Gates's assertion of
impossibility: if you remove something, the resulting operating
system either doesn't function right or is slower than the full
version. It's an extreme reading, but it's within the language
of the remedy.
Given the choice between stripping features out of Windows to
the point where it might not even boot (thus undoubtedly provoking
complaints and legal challenges from affected PC makers), or being
accused of degrading performance by adding checks for missing
components, Gates indirectly cautioned the court that Microsoft
would pick the former. With the District of Columbia Circuit Court
of Appeals's past track record of supporting Microsoft in
designing its products, the likelihood of a punitive injunction
against the company for not obeying any remedy is small. Also,
as the Washington Post reports, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly is
sustaining almost every Microsoft objection, and allowing
Microsoft to make presentations to the court when the states
were barred from similar presentations despite numerous pleas.
Don't count on the courts spanking Microsoft for hyper-literalism.
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35100-2002Apr23.html>
Back to the original question. Was Gates lying? No. He testified
that a decree will cause some behavior in the future and that it's
"impossible" to make it work the way the states want. It's legal
posturing, certainly, but as Microsoft Chairman, he can make sure
his testimony comes true.
The states can either admit that Microsoft will sabotage their
proposal or come back to the court with one so tightly worded
that Microsoft cannot read it in any way other than the way it's
intended, a difficult if not impossible task. Last Tuesday's
testimony confirmed this, as the states's attorney portrayed Gates
as deliberately adopting the most extreme interpretations,
unsuccessfully attempting to get Gates to provide more acceptable
language on the stand.
In short, Gates's testimony was consistent with everything he has
said and done for his company since this mess started - promising
the world that any restriction on Windows that Microsoft didn't
like would result in a version of Windows the world wouldn't like.
It's not an empty threat.
[Matt Deatherage is the publisher of MacJournals.com, where he
oversees MDJ and MWJ - daily and weekly subscription-based, ad-
free journals for serious Macintosh users. For a free trial, visit
MacJournals.com.]
<http://www.macjournals.com/>
Top Mac OS X Utilities: Alternative Controls
--------------------------------------------
by Adam C. Engst <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
In the previous installment of this series on Mac OS X utilities,
I looked at Mac OS X programs that restored common capabilities
provided by third party utilities in Mac OS 9. I said then that I
was ignoring a large subset of that category, utilities that offer
alternative control mechanisms.
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=06779>
Even though utilities like DragThing, QuicKeys X, and TypeIt4Me X
may not seem similar, a close look reveals that all offer
alternative approaches to completing common tasks, ranging from
opening files to entering text automatically. Each utility's
raison d'etre is that its alternative method is either faster than
the standard approach or fits better with the way your brain is
wired. Because of the significant overlap among these utilities,
I'll start with launchers and work through to those that just
insert text.
**DragThing** -- One of the best known of the alternative
launchers is James Thomson's DragThing, which has provided Dock-
like functions for years. You can create multiple docks, add files
or folders to those docks, assign hot keys to any item, and far
more (including, oddly enough, the option to put the Trash back
on the Desktop). DragThing offers significant customizability -
colors, textures, hot spots, sounds to play, delays before various
actions happen, alias handling, and numerous other settings. The
multitude of options and settings probably defines DragThing's
audience - if you love tweaking your virtual environment,
DragThing probably fits your tastes. DragThing costs $25 shareware
(floating dock windows and hot key support aren't enabled until
you register); competitive upgrades from Semicolon Software's
The Tilery launcher - which won't be moving to Mac OS X -
Aladdin's DragStrip, and Power On Software's Action GoMac
cost $19. DragThing 4.3 is a 1.3 MB download.
<http://www.dragthing.com/>
**MaxMenus** -- Although DragThing uses screen real estate
efficiently, for a less cluttered look, check out Proteron's
MaxMenus. Taking its cue from Power On Software's Action Menus,
the MaxMenus preference pane lets you create numerous custom menus
activated by clicking in the corners of the screen (MaxMenus
supports two monitors), by clicking in unused space in the menu
bar, or by pressing a hot key. These menus can contain any file or
folder, plus special items like text labels, separators, mounted
volumes, open programs, recent applications, recent documents,
and System Preferences. The corner-based and hot-key-activated
hierarchical menus can be spring-loaded, so dragging items into
those menus copies or moves them; you can also grab items out
of a menu. If that's not enough, you can assign a hot key to any
individual item while you're viewing it in a menu. After thinking
about how I wanted to set up MaxMenus, I found it extremely useful
- definitely a winner. My only negative so far is that it won't
open files or folders on shared volumes that aren't mounted.
MaxMenus 1.1 costs $30; a 30-day trial version is a 1.1 MB
download. Through 05-May-02, owners of Power On Software's Action
Utilities can save $10 on MaxMenus with the coupon code ACTN2MAX
and their Action Utilities serial number.
<http://www.proteron.com/maxmenus/>
**piPop** -- Where MaxMenus can overwhelm you with possibilities,
piDog Software's piPop (previously called piDock) offers a more
focused approach. Move your cursor to the edge of the screen, and
piPop's hierarchical menu appears. Navigate through the menu, and
click to open a selected item. You can also drag an item from
piPop's menu to move it, copy it, or open it in another
application, and you can even tear off menus and leave them
floating on screen for repeated access. Although piPop doesn't
attempt to be as customizable as MaxMenus, Control-clicking the
piPop menu lets you set various options, such as which edge of the
screen activates piPop, whether a modifier key should be required,
and which folders are at piPop's top level. piPop is at version
2.0b2 as I write this, and although updates have been arriving
regularly, it still has stability problems: it doesn't avoid the
Dock if both occupy the same edge of the screen, and I was unable
to make a feature that mimics Mac OS 9's spring-loaded folders in
Mac OS X work reliably. Nonetheless, piPop is worth watching, even
if you haven't moved to Mac OS X, since it works under Mac OS 9 as
well. The suggested registration fee for piPop is $20 to eliminate
startup nags; it's a 1 MB download.
<http://www.pidock.com/>
**Snard** -- Gideon Softworks' Snard creates a custom system-wide
menu (a separate Dock version provides almost the same
capabilities and is available even when you're in Classic
applications) into which you can put files and folders;
applications can display recently accessed documents in a
hierarchical menu as well. The menu can also serve up special
items including a Find command, a Recent Servers menu, a System
Preference menu, and an Open as Administrator command. You can
create and name text separators, and you can create your own
hierarchical menus with groups. A different sort of group -
worksets - lets you open a number of applications and documents
with a single click. Selecting an item is the only way to open
it - Snard has no hot key support. I found Snard's configuration
window flaky, and the only features that distinguish it are its
worksets and server list. Snard 1.0 costs $10 and is a 1.6 MB
download (1.1 MB for the Dock version).
<http://www.gideonsoftworks.com/snard.html>
**LaunchBar** -- For ad hoc keyboard control of your Mac, look to
Objective Development's LaunchBar. At its heart, LaunchBar is
deceptively simple - press Command-Spacebar to display LaunchBar's
small pop-up window, type a few letters of the filename you want
to open, and press Return. The real power of LaunchBar lies in its
sophisticated matching algorithms. When I entered EA, for example,
LaunchBar matched it with EIMS Admin. Typing LP didn't initially
select LetterRip Pro Administrator, but I was able to find it in
the list of possible matches. Since LaunchBar's algorithm is
adaptive, every time I entered LP from then on, LetterRip Pro
Administrator was the default match. For abbreviations unrelated
to the file's name (matching MAIL to Eudora, for instance), you
can create manual aliases. Along with files, folders, and disks,
LaunchBar can also open URLs (from your bookmarks), create mail
with email addresses (from your address book), and jump directly
to preference panes inside System Preferences. Plus, you can drag
files onto LaunchBar's pop-up window for launching with specific
applications or performing various file operations like moving,
copying, or making a link (including aliases, absolute and
relative symbolic links, and hard links). LaunchBar is simply
brilliant, although there's still room for improvement. I'd like
it to send text selections to specific applications (such as a
word to Omni Dictionary, or a URL to a Web browser); mount shared
volumes automatically when needed; and learn to parse Eudora's
nickname files properly for better display of email addresses.
LaunchBar costs $20 for non-commercial use or $40 for businesses;
a trial version that works for seven launches is available as a
208K download.
<http://www.obdev.at/products/launchbar/>
**Script Menu** -- Apple's Script Menu provides an alternative
method of launching AppleScript, Perl, and shell scripts from a
system-wide menu. Interestingly, to install Script Menu, all you
do is drag the ScriptMenu.menu file to the menu bar; to remove
it, Command-drag it off the menu bar. Script Menu automatically
provides access to a number of scripts pre-installed with Mac OS X
(some are useful, others are merely examples), and you can add
your own in the Scripts folder inside your user's Library folder.
Like Snard, Script Menu is unavailable when you're in a Classic
application, and it has no provision for hot keys. Nevertheless,
Script Menu is free, and if you know AppleScript, you can probably
make it mimic many of the capabilities of the other utilities
discussed here. Script Menu is a 284K download.
<http://www.apple.com/applescript/macosx/script_menu/>
**Drop Drawers X** -- Fans of tabbed pop-up windows in Mac OS 9
should check out Sig Software's Drop Drawers X, which lets you
create custom "drawers" around the edges of your screen (all
sides, and yes, Drop Drawers supports multiple monitors). Drop
Drawers X features two types of drawers: process drawers, which
show active applications, and the more-common clip drawers, which
can store file and folder aliases, URLs, text snippets (with
styles), pictures, movies, sounds, and more. Options for the
location and appearance of drawers are myriad, and you can open
drawers by mousing over them, clicking them, or pressing a user-
defined hot key. Once a drawer is open, you can drag items in
(even onto application or folder icons), double-click items (for
opening files), or drag items out to another application (as you
might a piece of boilerplate text). Any item can have a hot key
attached to it, making it simple to open a file or insert text
(which happens via pasting). Drop Drawers X is more manual than
launchers like MaxMenus and piPop in that you must set up every
drawer in advance rather than have it built automatically.
Simultaneously, the ease of adding content to a drawer means that
Drop Drawers X is notably more fluid than programs like QuicKeys X
that require a fair amount of effort to create a piece of
boilerplate text. In short, if you find yourself reusing bits
of content frequently or like the process of arranging your
virtual environment, you'll like Drop Drawers X. Like piPop,
it works equally well on Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X. Drop Drawers X
1.5.9 is a 393K download and costs $20 shareware.
<http://www.sigsoftware.com/dropdrawers/>
**QuicKeys X** -- It might seem odd to include CE Software's
long-standing macro utility QuicKeys X here, but most people
probably use QuicKeys primarily to open files and type bits of
text via hot keys, though activating macros via toolbar buttons
has also been possible for several years. QuicKeys X will remain
feature-poor compared to its Mac OS 9 ancestor until Apple exposes
more of the innards of Mac OS X, but the utility can type into
applications, move and click the mouse, open files and folders,
run AppleScript scripts, switch among applications, open URLs,
change Finder views, and more. Some of those features are unique
among Mac OS X utilities, but QuicKeys X really stands out when
you need a macro that combines multiple steps. For example, I
have a simple macro that types the beginning of a URL in angle
brackets, then moves the insertion point back inside the closing
bracket for me to enter the rest of the URL manually - there's no
way to do that without multiple steps. Like DragThing and Drop
Drawers, QuicKeys X requires manual setup for use as a launcher,
but if you need its more powerful features, it's utterly
invaluable. QuicKeys X 1.5.1, which fixes a bug in 1.5 with
inserting text into some Carbon applications, lists for $80
and is available for $60. There's a 30-day demo that's a
7.6 MB download.
<http://www.cesoft.com/products/qkx.html>
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=06603>
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=06786>
**Keyboard Maestro** -- For those interested in primarily using
the keyboard, Michael Kamprath's Keyboard Maestro offers a number
of pre-built Hot Key Actions, displays a pop-up toolbar that lets
you launch and switch between applications, and provides multiple
clipboards like CopyPaste-X and PTHPasteboard. Keyboard Maestro's
Hot Key Actions can switch between applications, quit and hide
applications, open files, launch URLs, open System Preferences
panes, run AppleScript and Unix scripts, insert text and remap
keystrokes. Keyboard Maestro proved flaky in my testing, crashing
a number of times and at one point requiring reinstallation. You
can use Keyboard Maestro 1.0.4 for free, although paying $20
removes a number of limitations and reminders. It's a 526K
download.
<http://www.keyboardmaestro.com/>
**Key Xing** -- John Scalo's Key Xing offers features roughly
similar to Keyboard Maestro's Hot Key Actions - it can open files
or folders, switch to applications if they aren't already running,
hide open applications, perform a few system actions (Sleep,
Restart, Shut Down), run AppleScript scripts, and send URLs to
your Web browser, all activated via hot keys. It can also, oddly
enough, copy full file paths in the Finder and control iTunes.
Unfortunately, it can't insert text into a document, though I
suppose that could be done via AppleScript. For $7 shareware
though, Key Xing's capabilities might be all you need, and it
was stable in my testing. Key Xing 2.1 is implemented as a
preference pane and is a 316K download.
<http://homepage.mac.com/scalo/keyxing.html>
**TypeIt4Me X** -- Since 1989, Riccardo Ettore's TypeIt4Me has
made it possible to insert bits of text when you choose a menu
item or type an abbreviation. (This latter feature is currently
unique among Mac OS X utilities.) In Mac OS X, Riccardo made
TypeIt4Me X an input method component, which means it lives in
/Library/Components (the other utilities are stand-alone
applications or preference panes) and is activated by enabling
it in the Keyboard Menu pane of the International preference
pane, then choosing TypeIt4Me from the keyboard menu. In my
limited testing, TypeIt4Me X 0.99 worked well despite being in
beta, though installation and activation hadn't yet been cleaned
up for the final release. TypeIt4Me X will cost $27 ($14 for
students) with $9 upgrades. It's currently a 1.7 MB download.
<http://www.users.dircon.co.uk/~r-ettore/TypeIt4MeIndex.html>
**Typist** -- With this last utility, Selznick Scientific
Software's Typist, we've moved all the way from utilities that
just launch files to those that just type text. In Typist you
set up chunks of text to type and then insert them in other
applications by choosing them from Typist's Dock menu (click and
hold or Control-click) or by pressing a user-defined hot key and
then selecting an item from the list. Although Typist can handle
large chunks of text, it simulates the keyboard, so it's slow to
enter large amounts of text; there's also no way to link different
hot keys to specific pieces of text. Like TypeIt4Me and QuicKeys
X, Typist can substitute a number of time-related variables in
the typed text, along with the current contents of the clipboard.
Typist 1.2 costs $15 shareware, and it's a 411K download.
<http://www.selznick.com/products/typist/>
**Choose and Move On** -- I hope my descriptions above help you
determine which of these utilities will best match the way you
work; when it comes to alternative control utilities, personal
preference rules. I'm still not sure which of these utilities
will earn a permanent place on my hard disk. It is worth noting,
however, that performing the kind of testing necessary for these
articles in previous versions of the Mac OS would have been a
nightmare - Mac OS X has been solid throughout, and I haven't
seen any specific conflicts between utilities with overlapping
features.
In the next installment of this series, I hope to look at
utilities that extend the basic capabilities of Mac OS X to
make it faster, more flexible, more powerful, and sometimes
just plain more fun.
$$
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