jonathan.bare.to

I continue to cut off slices of Apple pie. Mmmmm... pie. Drool.
Uuuuuummmmmmmmggghhhhh--

Uh, sorry. I was channeling Homer there. Of course, I mean, slices of
Apple Computer pie...

Since late may, I have been a member of the Apple Consultants Network. By
paying my $499 annual fee, I get listed in the href="http://consultants.apple.com/">ACN directory, discounts on
Not-For-Resale software, discounts on Apple-led training, and more.

On Friday, Aug. 15, I completed a week-long training session (with that
discount) "Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server Essentials" at Apple's Reston, Va.
office. They even gave me a certificate that said I had "successfully
attended" the course. Good thing I showed up everyday or else I
might not have reached that distinction.

Then, last Thursday, I surpassed 9,000 points on Apple's sales training
web site making me an "Apple Product Professional." On this site, you take
online courses -- which are really just a bunch of pages and QuickTime
movies that teach you about Apple and related products and services --
then there are quizzes worth between 100 and 400 points at the end. This
title is mostly fluff since anyone with a membership in the Apple
Consultants Network or who works for an Apple reseller can use this site
and earn enough points for the title.

And, finally, on Friday I passed the Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server
Essentials Exam. This is th most important and distinguished of all of
these accomplishments since I am now an Apple Certified Technical
Coordinator (ACTC). Only the Apple Certified Systems Administrator (ACSA)
is high and mightier in Apple's eye (though getting to that level would
require two more courses and two more exams -- something I can't exactly
afford right now, so ACTC is good enough).

Being an ACTC also elevates me to the level of Certified Member of the
Apple Consultants Network. That gets me greater discounts on Apple NFR
software and the opportunity to get referrals from the Genius Bar at the
local Apple retail stores, among a few other good things.

So, while I have no idea if any of this will actually get me any clients,
or a job, I do know that I've proven I'm a capable and qualified Apple
professional. Yaaaaay.

Now, where's that pie?

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Posted by jonathan at 03:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

"As the latest Microsoft Windows infection spread across the Internet last
week, knocking out thousands of PCs in homes and businesses, Macintosh
users did what they usually do during a computer virus outbreak -- they
continued working."

-- David Zeiler writing for The Baltimore Sun in his regular column
" href="http://www.sunspot.net/technology/custom/pluggedin/bal-columnist-mac,0,6316092.columnist">The
Mac Experience". Aug. 21, 2003.

This is a great quote... taken out of context. Zeiler argues in this
column (and rebutted by readers in his href="http://www.sunspot.net/technology/custom/pluggedin/bal-mac082803,0,1353478.column">next)
that just because there have been few (about 50 for the Classic Mac OS
versus about 70,000 for Windows) recent viruses or worms that target Macs
doesn't mean that there can't or won't be any at all.

With help from some experts, he argues that Macs are likely just as
suspetible to attack as Windows.

As his readers note in the Aug. 28 column, Mac OS X installs with all of
its incoming services (web server, SSH/remote log in, FTP, etc.) turned
off. A user has to explicitly give the Mac permission to run one of these
service. However, that does not preclude a malicious coder from writing
software which gets sent in an e-mail attachment and starts enabling these
services, sending more viruses and reigning havoc down on Mac users
everywhere.

The simple truth of it is, with only something like four or five percent
of the worldwide computer users running Mac OS, no one bothers writing
viruses and worms for the platform. It's not worth the time for someone
looking to cause real disrruptions. You can't shut down whole governmental
agencies or major airlines by targeting Macs. A Mac virus or worm simply
wouldn't have the same impact as one Windows.

Of course, with Mac OS X's Unix roots, it might be easy to create a virus
or worm that exploits many different flavors of Unix (Mac OS X, BSD
variations, Linux, Solaris, AIX, and so on) and create some real
nastiness. Fortunately, the overall security of all the Unix variations
seems to be higher than that of Microsoft's efforts.

For now, I'll just go on with the smug satisfaction that my personal
computers are not the basis of security and bug jokes across the globe.
Sure, the jokes are instead about the former fruity colors and lack of
applications (both now very false accusations) and the higher cost for
"slower" computers (megahertz myth -- blah blah blah) but I can still use
my Mac through the Windows storms that blow through the Internet every few
weeks.

And I recommend you do the same.
;)

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Posted by jonathan at 09:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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This space brought to you by the U.S. power grid.

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Posted by jonathan at 12:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Some jack-hole is sending spam using my primary domain name (411net.com).
The upshot of this is that I get all of this jerk's bounce messages
delivered to me. It also makes me feel scummy to know that some idiot is
sending e-mail as if it's coming from someone at my domain name, when:

1. I am the only one capable of sending real mail from 411net.com;
and

2. I would never allow anyone to send spam from my domain name. I'd rather
stop having a web site and domain name, shut it all down, and live as a
hermit, rather than let someone send spam.

Not that I don't already live somewhat like a hermit...

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Posted by jonathan at 06:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)