Livonia MI - April 1st, 2005.  Software developer Stardock Corporation has announced its intention to port its popular Windows dock program, ObjectDock to MacOS X.  ObjectDock is a freeware program that enables users to place a "dock" on any edge of the screen that can display both running programs and short-cuts to programs as well as have special items such as a trashcan.  It can be configured such that when the mouse overs over the icon, that icon and nearby icons are "magnified".

"The availability of ObjectDock on the Macintosh platform indicates a growing movement of software developers to recognize the benefits of developing for MacOS X,"  said Apple CEO, Steve Jobs. "Many of our users who use Microsoft Windows on occasion and been exposed to Stardock's ObjectDock have clamoured for a way to have a convenient, yet stylish, way to quickly access their programs and tasks.

Stardock expects to release ObjectDock in conjunction with the next major release of MacOS X, code-named "Tiger". Stardock is also considering adding a few additional features to a MacOS version.

"With the advanced features of Quartz Extreme," said Eric Reid, developer at Stardock, "we could add some really cool effects to ObjectDock.  For instance, imagine having windows look like they're being sucked into the dock when the user minimizes a program? The possibilities are endless."

Stardock's home page is https://www.stardock.com.  ObjectDock will continue to be a freeware program on both platforms though there is some talk about bundling it with the next generation Macintosh to ensure that Macintosh users are able to have this functionality right from boot up.

Sony Pictures is in the process of digitizing its 500 most popular movies of all time in anticipation for making them available for sale electronically for download.  The goal, it seems is for Sony to develop a program and back end similar to what Apple has done with iTunes but designed specifically for movies.

The timing couldn't be better -- with the next generation DVD technology still in flux -- Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD, one things is consistent: They both use the same video format, it's just a matter what physical medium they will be provided for.  In other words, the MPEG 4 based high definition technology is already set and Sony could be well placed to get users as they begin migrating from today's DVD technology (480p typically) to movies that can take advantage of high definition displays.

Sony Pictures is in the process of digitizing its 500 most popular movies of all time in anticipation for making them available for sale electronically for download.  The goal, it seems is for Sony to develop a program and back end similar to what Apple has done with iTunes but designed specifically for movies.

The timing couldn't be better -- with the next generation DVD technology still in flux -- Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD, one things is consistent: They both use the same video format, it's just a matter what physical medium they will be provided for.  In other words, the MPEG 4 based high definition technology is already set and Sony could be well placed to get users as they begin migrating from today's DVD technology (480p typically) to movies that can take advantage of high definition displays.

CNET has more on the story..

The Terry Schiavo cas has certainly stirred up many emotional reactions in people. I know that I was deeply troubled by what has happened.  Even though I consider myself militantly pro-choice on issues such as abortion and believe that Assisted Suicide should be the law of the land, these things still have one thing in common - individual choice.

Terry Schiavo has been severely mentally disabled for over a decade. How disabled she is is a matter of debate. The law states that if a person is considered to be in a permanent vegetative state that they may be taken off of life support (including feeding tubes) IF it was the will of that person.

The courts ruled that two things were true:

A) That Terry was in a persistent vegatative state.

That she would want to be taken off of support.

That's where the controvery comes in.  To me, the evidence to support she was a vegetable was poor, at best. Anyone who has ever worked in a group home for the mentally retarded can tell you that there's a lot of people who appear much like how Terry does in the videos that were released.  In addition, there was no written evidence that Terry would want to be taken off of support. We have only the word of her husband that she would want that.

I somehow doubt that most people would want to be starved to death over a two-week period. It will be interesting if any photos of Terry's last days get leaked out onto the net so that people can see just what happens to the body from such a trauma.

The courts, correctly IMO, ruled that the various courts were following the law.  The problem, and I have no idea whose fault it is, is that there was little effort to actually determine the two key points.  When people talk about how all the courts already heard the arguments, they are only hearing whether the courts were right to rule in they did provided that A and B were true. 

What many of the protesters argued was that points A and B were not anywhere near certain enough to justify starving this young woman to death.  I don't see how any reasonable person could argue that points A and B were proven.

The woman never had an MRI, for example.  The video footage seen by millions was never seen in a court room.  The primary witness claiming Terry would have wanted to be taken off a feed tube had long since moved on and had two children with another woman. His testimony with regarding her will was iffy at best.

So what are the lingering consequences? Millions of people around the world just witnessed the United States intentionally starving to death one of its citizens based on pretty shakey evidence.  The issue has certainly energized millions of conservatives -- including pro-abortion rights ones such as myself.  The left comes across as looking hypocritical and ghoulish (in talking to friends and neighbors, the joke "They should have said she was a member of Al Qaeda, then the liberals would have protested to keep her alive!). 

For better or worse, at least this whole ordeal will slowly fade -- I hope.

 In the recent Presidential Election the exit polls showed something very interesting: Married people with children voted for Bush at a rate of 60% to 40%. That's landslide numbers by any means.

Which brings such to the Terry Schiavo case where some believe that the divide is amongst conservatives and liberals. But is it really? From just casual discussion with friends and neighbors it seems that the married people I know who have cihldren are much more likely to be horrified about what is happening to Mrs. Schiavo than those who do not have children.

This got me talking to my wife about this and indeed, I think that's part of the issue.  If my son married some woman and a couple years into their marriage some accident occurred that left him completely mentally disabled and the woman he married soon after moved on, had a couple kids with another man, we'd be outraged if the courts put the life and death decision in her hands.

As parents, we would feel that the decision should rest with us. If our son were in Terry's condition, I think we'd be in a better position to know what he would want. Certainly his new wife who was effectively in a common law marriage with someone else shouldn't be the one making the decision?

The people who purchase WinCustomize premium subscriptions, or as they're known in the office "Givers of life and food" get a lot of really cool stuff. Of the 3 million people who visit WinCustomize.com each month, fewer than 0.01% of them purchase a WinCustomize subscription. Perhaps it's because people don't know all the cool stuff they get such as the photo album support, the personal pages, the unlimited bandwidth use, the premium suties.

Or perhaps they don't know just how cool the new WinCustomize Browser 2.0 is going to be.  Now, if you have Stardock Central and a WinCustomize subscription, 2.0 will automatically integrate itself in when it comes out in the next several weeks.  Some of the new features are cosmetic, but a lot of it is under the hood stuff.

The WinCustomize.com browser bypasses the website and goes directly into the databases. In effect, it turns our many gigabytes of content into a virtual DVD for you to peruse.  The new version in beta integrates into the new design and underpinning for the site.  For example, you can view the skins, themes, wallpapers, etc. in many different ways (thumbnails, details, etc.).  The new version can bring up thumbnails very quickly.  The new forum system is integrated into the latest build and it's hard to go back to slogging through the website to visit forum posts once you've used what's in WC browser.

If you don't have a WinCustomize premium subscription, you can get it HERE. It's only $20. And you get an amazing amount of goodies for it.

Jeffrey Lee Parson, the teen convicted of writing a variant of the MSBlast worm, won't have to pay $500,000 in restitution.

The damages were to be paid to Microsoft for the teen's actions, which piggybacked on a worm that temporarily downed the software giant's Web site in 2003. The tech behemoth has asked that the 19-year-old's punishment be converted from the fine to 225 hours of community service.

(one wonders if he should also receive 20 hours of professionally provided wedgies for being such a dweeb).

Here's some interesting links I came across while surfing tonight:

Military use of nanotech: http://crnano.typepad.com/crnblog/2005/03/military_uses_o.html

Slashdot review of a game design book: http://books.slashdot.org/books/05/03/29/1926206.shtml?tid=206&tid=6&tid=10

Return of the Mac: http://paulgraham.com/mac.html

Revenge of the Sith Comic book covers: http://www.theforce.net/episode3/story/Revenge_of_the_Sith_Comic_Book_Covers_90657.asp

Today's Best of the Web.

DesktopX 3 is out and now you can watch a series of short videos that show off what DesktopX 3 can do. DesktopX is a program that lets you super-charge your Windows desktop by adding things such as objects, widgets, and more! It's a free download.

Popular skinning site, DeskMod has been on hiatus for quite awhile.  But now it appears it will be returning but in a slightly different form:

The final issue I'll clarify on is how the new DeskMod will differ from the old. There has been a lot of speculation on this subject, which cracks me up! Last fall, I had people messaging me all the time saying that they heard the new DeskMod won't have an archive. This may come as a surprise, but there was actually truth to that. We had a very detailed plan put together for a much different site for DeskMod, which featured no local archive. This idea was put together at a time where we didn't have the resources we do now, and were looking for any option to get DeskMod back. While the idea of not having an archive seems like a terrible one, those that we pitched the idea to actually like it. A lot, in fact. It was a very unique idea, technically advanced, and seemed to have a tremendous amount of potential. In the future I'll post the complete details of this idea. However, no matter how great that idea was, nothing can top DeskMod with a complete local archive, like it's always had. That's good too, because we're sticking with the archive. That's right, DeskMod will have a complete local archive, just as you've come to expect.

Stay tuned!