On the Parallels side, the problem is simple and one would think fixable: Parallels just can’t keep track of the microphone. Every time I quit and relaunch Parallels, I have to completely reconfigure the microphone in both MacOS X and in the virtual machine. Parallels simply is not able to remember its microphone settings. Here’s a hint for version 7: microphones aren’t disk drives. Don’t make me configure sound input or output or assign USB devices to the host or guest operating systems. Treat audio devices like the network ports where it just works without me having to think about it.

On the NaturallySpeaking side, the problems are virtually everything except speech recognition, and that’s more than you might think. Many of the issues with NaturallySpeaking are problems that PowerSecretary had resolved over 15 years ago on 100 MHz PowerBooks. For example, I shouldn’t have to keep correcting “parallels six” to “Parallels 6″. After I’ve used that phrase once or twice, the speech recognition program should learn it and recognize it and not bother me about it again. But instead I have to keep correcting it and correcting it and correcting it every single time. NaturallySpeaking does not learn from its mistakes. It has some sort of training mode that is a complete waste of time. There is no reason for this to be separate from the normal dictation process. I should not have to think about which words I’m going to use in an article and carefully train them before dictating. NaturallySpeaking should simply learn from the corrections I make in the process of dictation.

Secondly, NaturallySpeaking does not integrate well with the Windows operating system. It works better in some programs than others, but its ability to navigate and select text in a document ranges from poor to abominable. In Firefox, it’s manageable. It’s often off by character or two, but usually it puts the insertion point somewhere close to where it should be. In Chrome, it simply doesn’t work at all. Even in relatively well supported programs like Firefox and Microsoft Word, the cursor placement is still not nearly accurate enough to use for editing. NaturallySpeaking is adequate for dictating a first draft when your RSI is flaring up, but the second draft has to be typed by hand.

There are other aspects of the recognition that Nuance really needs to do a better job with. For example, the phrase “go to end of line” is one of the recognized commands, except half the time when NaturallySpeaking recognizes it as “code to end of line” and inserts the text that you now have to delete and then repeat the command. Other commands such as “delete previous word” and “correct that” are also frequently misrecognized. Most annoying is when Nuance correctly recognizes the command but merely inserts the text rather than performing the requested action. Unlike free-form text recognition, recognizing commands, even in the middle of free-form text, is really easy. Systems with a lot less CPU power than my virtual machine do this all the time and have for a couple of decades now. There is no reason NaturallySpeaking should ever get these commands wrong.

There are also times when NaturallySpeaking recognizes a command that isn’t there. This doesn’t happen with built-in commands such as “go to end of line” but rather when it’s trying to interpret words I’m speaking as references to links on the screen. For instance, earlier while I was dictating this post, NaturallySpeaking attempted to move it into the trash because it misinterpreted the word “to” as a command to go to the link on the page “Move to Trash” and as I was dictating this very sentence it did it again.

Yes, I know there are a series of confusing and misleading options hiding in the preferences to turn some of this functionality off. Half of them shouldn’t be options in the first place. The other half should have the opposite of the defaults they do. This reeks of a classic Windows user interface design where features are thrown into the program and rubbed in the face of the user just to show how clever the developers are. Nuance still hasn’t learned the lesson that simplicity is power, that just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should, and that a program should simply do the right thing rather than asking the user whether they want to do the right thing or the wrong thing.

The bottom line is that Nuance has over-emphasized the purely algorithmic speech recognizer, while not adequately addressing the failures of its user interface. The actual recognition of words within Dragon NaturallySpeaking is pretty good and has been for several versions now. However, the user interface remains atrocious. There is colossal room for improvement left in this product without touching the actual recognition engine. Unfortunately, I see little to no evidence that Nuance knows that or cares about it. If you look at the release notes for Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11, there’s a list of features and the usual promise of increased recognition accuracy but nothing about accurate cursor placement, universal application support, real-time training from the actual text that’s dictated, or properly distinguishing between commands and spoken text.

I’ll have to experiment more but it does seem that Dragon for the Mac does not edit quite as well as NaturallySpeaking for Windows. It has definite problems finding words earlier in the sentence. It’s good enough for a first draft, but I’m not sure you could really publish something–even a basic letter–without going back over it with the keyboard. Still, it is faster than booting up Parallels just to dictate a letter. Given the limited editing functionality, NaturallySpeaking for Windows is still clearly the superior product. Anyone who depends on voice dictation as their only means of input will definitely want to use Windows and NaturallySpeaking. However, the Mac product is at least good enough for occasional use in conjunction with a keyboard.

Nuance is offering a $79.99 cross grade price for registered owners of NaturallySpeaking for Windows. For some reason they aren’t advertising this on their website. You have to write in and ask them. Upgrades are also available from earlier versions of MacDictate.

• One 3.33GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon “Westmere”
• 3GB (3x1GB)
• 1TB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive
• ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB
• One 18x SuperDrive
• Apple Magic Mouse
• Apple Wireless Keyboard (French) & User’s Guide

Total cost is $3,719.00 before taxes and discounts.

I will simultaneously order 12GB of third party RAM, about another $579. Anyone want to buy some 1 GB modules?

I will get a 3rd party SSD drive. Probably 120 GB for about $330. I could get a larger SSD, but 120 GB should be enough to hold my system (23 GB), apps (32 GB), and much of my home directory (about 100 GB after clearing out music, photos, videos, and VM images). That’s still a little cramped. I could perhaps splurge for a 240 GB SSD, but it’s probably better to get a smaller one now and upgrade when prices drop. Maybe I should get only a 60 GB and just use it for system and apps.

I also plan to buy a couple of 2 TB SATA hard drives and configure them as RAID 0. That will cost about $250. I could skip that up front to save a few bucks, but it’s by far the cheapest part of this system.I may eventually add an eSata card for external disks too, but first I’ll fill all my drive bays.

I don’t really need a new keyboard–I have more of those than I know what to do with–but since Apple won’t sell me a Mac without one, I figure I’ll grab a French keyboard for the hell of it so I can type all my é’s and ç’s. At least Apple doesn’t make me buy a monitor (unlike Dell). Nor do I need a mouse. I wish Apple would let me select a Magic Trackpad instead of a mouse, but they only allow me to add it in addition to the mouse.

What I want from this system, that my current MacBook can’t handle, is three-fold:

• A responsive Lightroom with little to no waiting. I want switching between images to be as fast as flipping pages in Word.
• Acceptable Windows performance in Parallels or VMWare so I can turn off my PC for good. It needs to be at least good enough for games and Dragon NaturallySpeaking despite virtualization (at least until Dragon for the Mac is released.)
• Acceptable Warcraft performance. (Right now my MacBook clocks 3-9 FPS in WoW. My cheap Dell turns in 60 FPS at maximum settings.)

Give me that I should be happy for another four years (with probably a RAM or hard drive upgrade along the way). By the time I’m ready to replace this system, I expect all these requirements will be adequately served by a cheap laptop. :-)

I thought seriously about buying a tricked out MacBook Pro instead, but I’m not confident it could satisfy these requirements. I can wait another generation or two before replacing my MacBook, especially if I’m no longer using it as my primary day-to-day system.

I also considered the 27″ iMac, but I like the expandability and easy upgradability of the Mac Pro. Since the iMac is not easily user-upgradeable I’d have to buy all the RAM and hard drive I wanted up front at Apple’s inflated prices. That pushes its price into the same realm as the Mac Pro but with less sheer horsepower. Not a good deal unless I want the integrated screen.

I could save $800 by getting a four-core 3.2 GHz Nehalem instead, or $1200 for a four-core 2.8 GHz Nehalem. I have always been one to buy near the top of the line and then run the system for many years. My last PowerMac G5 lasted from maybe 2003 through 2008. But will the extra two cores make any difference for these apps? I could be paying for performance way past the maximum any of these apps can use. On the other hand, I’d rather overprovision the raw CPU speed than underprovision it. But 3.2 GHz is pretty close to 3.33 GHz, and not many apps will use 6 cores. Maybe 3.2 GHz is the way to go?

Specifications
One 2.66GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
8GB (4x2GB)
640GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s
ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB
One 18x SuperDrive
Apple Magic Mouse
Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad (English) and User’s Guide
AirPort Extreme Wi-Fi Card with 802.11n
$3,019 before taxes and discounts

I would likely add at least two more third party hard drives to this, one 2 TB internal and one smallish SSD drive. Do I need more memory? 4GB is not cutting it. Will 8GB be enough? Should I just configure with the minimum and then buy 3rd party RAM? RamJet has 16GB for $575.99, way below Apple’s price.

Behind door #2, we have the same system but with eight 2.26GHz cores instead of 4 2.66GHz cores for about $3619. Which is likely to perform better, especially for Lightroom?

Behind door #3, we have the same system but with eight 2.66GHz cores for $5,069.00. This is over my budget, but maybe tomorrow it won’t be?

Behind door #4, we have the same system but with eight 2.93GHz cores for $6,269.00. This is way over my budget.

Behind door #5 is a quad core 3.33GHz system for $4,219.00. If raw CPU speed is what I need, this is the best I can do.

Finally, behind door #6 is something completely different, a 15″ MacBook Pro:

2.66GHz Intel Core i7
8GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM – 2x4GB
512GB Solid State Drive
SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
MacBook Pro 15-inch Hi-Res Glossy Widescreen Display
Backlit Keyboard (English) & User’s Guide

The big advantage here is that I could then sell my MacBook to offset some of the cost since I don’t need two laptops. On the other hand, I do prefer a smaller laptop when travelling. I could even drop down to the 13″ model but I really want to max out the CPU. Would this system be fast enough to suit me? I don’t know. Certainly it should be faster than the 2007 vintage MacBook I’m using now. But I really want a system that has as close to zero delay as possible when moving between images in Lightroom. Are today’s MacBook Pros fast enough to deliver that? Even when the images are stored on an external Firewire drive? If not, then I’d be happier with a Mac Pro. Three critical questions I don’t know the answer to:

• How many external monitors can I drive off a MacBook Pro?
• What makes the biggest difference for Lightroom 3 performance: RAM, CPU clock rate, number of cores, internal drive speed (where the system, app, and catalog are stored) and external drive speed (where the photos are stored)?
• How efficiently does Lightroom 3 make use of multiple cores? Lightroom 2 had major issues here and so did Lightroom 3 beta.

Still I have a feeling that even if I go with a Mac Pro tomorrow, it may be the last desktop I ever buy. There is a point at which a faster system just doesn’t matter, and even for heavy RAW file processing today’s systems are getting close. Video can still suck up a few more generations of hardware, but I think we’re nearly topped out on photo editing performance. Hard to believe I can remember times when Macs had special add-on cards just to do JPEG compression! In 2010 poor computer responsiveness is almost always the result of really bad programming that fails to take proper advantage of available CPU, rather than wimpy hardware.

Update: 8:08 AM EDT and the Apple Store is down. Looks like something is coming.

• One 1.5GHz Intel Core Solo Mac Mini, 55.89 GB hard drive, 1 GB RAM
• AS IS. One 2GHz Intel Core Duo Mac Mini, 160 GB hard drive?, 4 GB RAM, possibly non-functional Bluetooth and/or Wireless; boots and runs but I won’t swear it will survive shipping and likely better for parts
• One PowerMac G4 (AGP graphics) desktop, 450MHz?, 576MB RAM, 38.34 GB HD
• One PowerMac G5 dual desktop, 2.5 GHz, 2GB RAM, 233.64GB HD; runs Mac OS X 10.5.2, Leopard
• One whitebox PC running Ubuntu Linux and Windows 2000, 1 GHz AMD processor, 512 MB RAM, somewhere north of 10 GB hard drive (maybe 40GB?)

I’ll update the list as I boot them and remind myself what they actually have. If you’re interested, drop me an e-mail.

I could be totally wrong about this, as could everyone else who’s been posting rumors about what the Apple tablet is actually going to be and actually going to do. It could well be that the use case for the tablet is something we haven’t even imagined yet, and if so all bets are off. However, if the fundamental raison d’être for the tablet is simply to be a nice e-book/magazine/newspaper reader with network connectivity and a built-in iTunes content store, it’s DOA. Microsoft made this mistake with Blackbird, MSN, and Silverlight. AOL, Prodigy, Genie, and Compuserve all made this mistake; and it killed three of them, and is slowly killing the last. Apple made this mistake before itself with eWorld. (Remember that?)

The bottom line is that the Web wins. The Web is the content delivery platform. Paid or free, what people want is an open two-way platform based on networked hypertext. Furthermore, that platform should be as open as possible. The more DRM is imposed, the less people will use it. Even a simple registration form is enough to drive more than half of potential readers away. If the content for the iPad isn’t on the Web — if it’s in some nonstandard, closed, non-editable format like PDF that’s served only from Apple’s servers or the servers of big media over some proprietary protocol — the tablet will fail. If the content looks good on an iPad but doesn’t look good in Firefox on Linux, or Chrome on Windows, or in Internet Explorer with JavaScript turned off, the tablet will fail. If you can read an article, but you can’t save it, or e-mail it, or copy and paste from it, the tablet will fail.

Sorry Big Media. This has been tried before and failed before, many, many times. Sprinkling magic Apple pixie dust over a bad business model won’t make it profitable. Tim Berners-Lee and Marc Andreesen gave you the most important technological development in publishing since Gutenberg, and you’ve spent 20 years proving you have no clue whatsoever how to use it while teenagers blogging from their parents’ basements beat you up and took your lunch money. A shiny new toy from Apple won’t save you from your own incompetence.

Of course, the rumors could be totally false. Use as an ePaper reader could just be one thing the tablet does, and the one that’s gotten the most ink for the same reason that half the new sitcoms in any given year are set in a TV or radio station. Media folks just love to write about themselves. The Apple tablet could have uses and abilities well beyond some sort of content distribution platform that isn’t the Web. Steve Jobs is way smarter than all the heads of the media empires put together. The Apple tablet could be an open development and distribution platform for Web content, games, portable applications, and more. It could finally give us hand writing recognition that works. It could finally give us voice-recognition that works. It could have a Cablecard slot and a DRM-free DVR. It could give us satellite Internet connectivity from anywhere on the planet and a pony; and if it does, I want one. I wouldn’t be too surprised if Apple manages to completely reinvent how we interact with a general purpose computer. After all, they’ve done it before. But if all the tablet offers is a slightly less locked down version of the Kindle with a color screen and a better user interface, Apple shouldn’t have bothered.

This seems to be a regular problem, or at least it used to be circa Firefox 3.0. However, the solution I found on the Web — deleting the localstore.rdf file —had no effect. Various other things I tried were equally ineffectual. What eventually worked, was the following:

1. Put the displays in mirror mode.
2. Create a new window.
3. Quit Firefox.
4. Take the displays out of mirror mode.
5. Restart Firefox.

This finally got Firefox to recognize the large monitor as my main display. Whether this problem is unique to Namoroka or to all recent versions of Firefox on the Mac, I don’t know; but I hope this may help out anybody who’s encountered a similar problem.

The hard drive is the new Western Digital 640GB 5400RPM Scorpio Blue. Western Digital makes make a couple of even more capacious 2.5in drives, but those are a few millimeters too thick to fit in the MacBook. It’s a little noisy, but I think that’s just because Time Machine is doing a complete backup of it. It should quiet down once Time Machine is done.

Possibly I should have gone with a 7200RPM 500GB drive instead, but the extra space was too tempting. Or I could have gone with a wicked fast SSD drive, but that would have traded space for speed. I used SuperDuper and an AcomData USB enclosure to copy the old hard drive to the new one before swapping them around. That seems to have worked reasonably well so far. Firefox gotten a little confused trying to restore its sessions, but that’s minor.

Now I can get serious about combining my Windows apps onto this one laptop, using either Parallels or VMWare Fusion. I’ve actually been spending more time in Windows lately for two critical apps: Dragon NaturallySpeaking and Aion.

Both Parallels and VMWare say they’ll import my existing PC onto the Mac, but I’m not sure that will work since Dell cheaped out and installed an OEM edition of Windows Vista instead of the full version. I’ve got full install discs of Windows 2000 around here somewhere, but I’m not sure that will run all the software I want. Anyone know the cheapest way to get a copy of Windows (XP or later) for the Mac?

9/13/09 8:12:01 PM com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[4485] (com.epson.epw.agent[6796]) posix_spawn(“/Library/Printers/EPSON/InkjetPrinter/EPW/IJEPWAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/IJEPWAgent”, …): No such file or directory

What’s really annoying is that it happens every 10 seconds. Anyone know how to turn off whatever is trying to do this? I don’t have any Epson equipment.

Let’s try deleting /Library/Printers/Epson. Nope that didn’t do it.

OK. I think I found it. The trick is to delete /Library/LaunchAgents/com.epson.epw.agent.plist and restart. Let’s try that.

set libraryFile to file "Macintosh HD:Users:elharo:Cafe Au Lait:support:CafeLib.scpt"

Nor does this:

set libraryFile to alias "Macintosh HD:Users:elharo:Cafe Au Lait:support:CafeLib.scpt"

They both die with

error “File alias Macintosh HD:Users:elharo:Cafe Au Lait:support:CafeLib.scpt of «script» wasn’t found.” number -43

Any ideas?

Update: The fix seems to be switching from “Macintosh HD:Users:elharo:Cafe Au Lait:support:CafeLib.scpt” to just “elharo:Cafe Au Lait:support:CafeLib.scpt”. The problem may not be Snow Leopard at all, but rather a concomitant encrypting of my home directory with FileVault. That seems to change what AppleScript sees as paths.