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General discussion

Word 2008 doesn't work well with Expose

Feb 18, 2008 7:32AM PST

Has anyone else noticed that Word will not display the usual blue color like other windows do when you hover over them? If the formatting palette is open, it turns blue, but the blue part of the window is displaced. The document window will not change at all for me. I believe this happens when you move your mouse to show both "application windows" and "all windows". Just thought I'd ask if I wasn't the only one Wink.

-BMF

Discussion is locked

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Found some article on Google about this
Feb 19, 2008 2:08PM PST

and I guess MS sees it as an issue. Interesting. No fix yet...

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PowerPoint suffers from it too
Feb 25, 2008 9:57AM PST

Now I see that PowerPoint has the same problem. Maybe MS didn't think of Expose when creating this version of Office Silly.

-BMF

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I see it in VMware fusion.
Mar 15, 2008 2:01PM PDT

Not the program itself, but when I do that magical UNITY thing in my XP, if a Windows Explorer Window is in front of, say, a Microsoft Word 97 Window, I EXPOSE and although the windows split there is still an imprint of the Windows Explorer window on the app.

Hell I have one of those 5 button mice, with two thumb buttons. One of them is for Expose, the other for spaces. I'd say I use that feature on average once every minute. LOVE IT. But now my mouse is breaking down, stops and starts sometimes, I think I need a new mouse, and those apple mighty mouses confuse me Sad

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I like the Mighty Mouse
Mar 15, 2008 3:08PM PDT

I've grown attached to my wireless model, and it was really easy to get used to. It has "the functionality of four buttons" but I think it really only has one Wink. I guess Apple stuck to their one button rule with the Mighty Mouse too, and all they did was add in three extra ways to use that single button.

Next thing you know, they'll trash the mouse idea and invent a glove that you can use instead, allowing you to move your hand across the screen. Bluetooth is going to be big. Grin

-BMF

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Well, ya see....
Mar 15, 2008 3:28PM PDT

I just couldn't use one properly in the apple shop. I took the Mac Pro with something like 8 cores and 4 Gig of RAM, and decided to test out photoshop. Apart from being blazing fast {photoshop open in 2 seconds?!?!?!?!} I couldn't use the mouse right. To right click I found my whole body leaning over the damn thing trying to get it to work. And then when I wanted to left click, its right clicking. And i'm like No, over here! Damn thing rebelling against me....

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Mighty Mouse
Mar 16, 2008 12:26AM PDT

for some unknown reason, maybe Apple just can't let go of one button, the Mighty Mouse is configured out of the box with both the left and right clicks doing the Primary click.

There is no documentation to indicate that it can be changed. I have lost count of the number of Mac users who look at me as though I am stupid when I tell them to Right click.

Pointing them at System Preferences/Keyboard & Mouse solves the problem and they quickly learn to use it.

On a recent visit to an Apple store, I noticed that all the Meece(?) were configured for single button.

P

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They advertise "Multi-button" Features on the box
Mar 16, 2008 4:19AM PDT

The boxes for the Mighty Mice say they have "multi-button features", but that may be because the Mighty Mouse is able to use Expose and access the Dashboard right out-of-the-box. Still, using System Preferences takes only a second.

It's not like using control-click is hard either, but it is more convenient to have it automatically set for right clicking in addition to the primary click.

-BMF

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The mouses in the shop...
Mar 16, 2008 5:34AM PDT

were set up for left and right click I believe. Because eventually, after a lot of persuasion, I did get it to right click.

And, seriously, I LOL'd at meece. You made my day.

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Mac Pro
Mar 16, 2008 9:08AM PDT

Now that you brought the Pro up, I thought I'd mention that for every store I've visited, there are usually only two Pros out, maybe three, or maybe just one. The store I visit the most has I think only one on display for users to try, but there is also another one in one of the front corners of the store operating whatever displays that are in the windows. The Pro is a great machine, but I guess Apple really wants to focus on its other products. Otherwise, there would be more towers out and less tables covered in iPods, Airs, and MacBooks. Maybe it's just because the Pro is a professional machine and is easier to order online, but one store I've been in had a bunch of shelves for software, and one of these shelves clearly held a bunch of professional apps like the CS3 suite and Final Cut. Interesting.

Technically, the high-end MacBook Pros and the MacBook Air are for professional users, however they seem to get a lot more coverage and press than the Pro does and everyone likes to go in an Apple Store and use them. Every time I see the Pro, it's unused. That machine is the most powerful computer in the store, and one of the most powerful computers on the market, but it doesn't get a lot of the recognition it deserves. I bet that if you asked every person walking by an Apple Store if they would rather have the Air over the Pro, many/most of them would take you up on that offer. Apple hasn't poured their marketing over the Pro like everything else, so this may be one of the reasons why. Not too many consumers are fully aware of just how powerful you can make those things. Or at least, this is how it appears to be Wink.

-BMF

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Yeah, I agree.
Mar 16, 2008 9:33AM PDT

I think there is only one pro in our store. Maybe two. And one or two mini's. The pro is connected up to a 30 inch cinema display and the minis are connected to 24 inches.

To be honest, I reckon a lot of people who own MacBooks and Macbook pros are hobbyists. You go onto youtube and you see these kids doing unboxing videos, and you begin to realise a lot of apple's revenue must be coming from those lil kiddies who just got their first Macbook.

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There's nothing wrong with that
Mar 16, 2008 11:38AM PDT

but I think that if you're going to make time for unboxing such things, you ought to run real tests on them and compare them to similar or previous machines/models. That way, you might actually see or learn something valuable about a new upgrade. I agree that many of those people unboxing stuff are hobbyists. I recall watching some videos with the new Penryn MacBooks and Pros and the people were just doing the videos to say "Hey, look how cool this new Mac is! Look, here it is!". They never really made any points about why it was good and why it was better than the last models. And some of these folks weren't too young either. So then you think that those older guys have a lot, a lot, of time on their hands.

Doesn't using a Mac and perfecting/customizing it become a hobby itself? Wink It's not the same as video taping it and talking about it for sure. And, you end up knowing your way through the OS, which can pay off in the end.

-BMF

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True...
Mar 17, 2008 4:59AM PDT

I think of retrocomputing as a hobby as well. I miss my Windows 95 so very much.... I spend a lot of hours running it in a virtual machine as well.

But I guess there are just a lot of loyalists out there, Apple is known for its huge fanbase. I mean, I don't know of many people with a YouTube Channel 'dedicated' to Microsoft, Linux or whatever. But I could give you a stack of people who do to Apple... hell, one kid even has his room painted with Apples Plain

In reality I don't think that using a Mac is any different from being a 'PC' User. I certainly don't see myself as better than the rest, as some people on the internet clearly do, but I think the only reason I got back into Macs after a big gap of not using any (used some in school and then never did at high school) is because I realised that the OS still looks quite similar in terms of useability to OS9 - and I remember all the fun we used to have on the Macs in school.

To be honest I don't really like modern operating systems or computers. I think unless you build your own, or buy a Mac, you're just getting junk in a plastic box. Like I mentioned above... I'd much rather be using Win95 and if it had better USB support I probably would. I can't see myself updgrading my laptop or my Mac Mini for as long as I can possibly hold off... because computers have reached a point now where it does all I need and more. That's sensible enough right?

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I guess so
Mar 17, 2008 10:35AM PDT

Technically a "PC" is any consumer computer, so a Mac is one, but marketing has caused the term "PC User" to be associated with Windows. Call computers what you want, but they're still all the same in the end, right? Grin
Paintings of Apples? I'd go for aluminum walls instead. The look of a person's face when you "pull a laptop out of the wall" would be priceless. Nice joke.

One person's junk is another's treasure, but still, most consumers do not understand what they are getting for the most part. For instance, people who walk into a Best Buy, or any consumer electronics store, may purchase a $500 notebook computer, and could think "What a great deal", but in reality it could be lacking a whole lot. Just because a salesperson says it's good for whatever doesn't mean it is. With the exception of Macs and custom machines, like you said, you may not get the best deal, but I think that if you have a better understanding of what you are looking for and you go the online route and configure a computer as much as you can, you'll be set.

Technology will keep advancing, and today, computers do almost everything we may need them for. As long as there is a need for speed in computers, the market will keep growing. If you're fine with the performance of current machines, great. But you also know that it's only going to get better in the future, and the lifetime of your machine would be the only factor in holding you off from buying a new one. From that point of view, you are in control. That there is sensible, right? Grin

-BMF

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Sensible it is.
Mar 17, 2008 11:03AM PDT

The speed advancement for most will probably be what keeps people buying computers. That said, there are some days I actually long for my 486 back. Waiting for Windows 95 to boot was a pleasurable experience and for the most part it helps keep me appreciating what I have. Not to mention but the 486 days for me were my best and I miss them. Happy

Slightly digressing here but if you have a chance to watch a movie called Swades, it will change your view on technology and how people take it for granted, for good Wink