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TigerLaunch 1.0b5

TigerLaunch is a free open source application launcher from Ranchero Software.



TigerLaunch displays an Apps menu at the top of your screen listing all your applications in alphabetical order—no matter what folder they appear in. You can easily configure it to exclude applications you rarely or never launch.

This allows you to be more selective about what apps are dock-worthy, so your dock doesn’t get so cluttered. It also makes it easier to launch apps that are buried in sub-folders, such as in the Utilities folder of your Applications folder.

For more information or to download a copy, visit Ranchero Software. The Cocoa source code is also available for download.

For developers, if you have a Projects folder in your home directory, it will add a Projects menu which lists all ProjectBuilder projects in that folder (future versions will also support CodeWarrior & RealBasic projects).

Here's the right side of my menubar. From left to right: TigerLaunch, WeatherPop, MU Menu, Script Menu, iChat.

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Mail Scripts 1.2.1

Andreas Amann has released an update to his Mail Scripts package, which adds several new features and enhancements.



New features:

• Send all Drafts - immediately send all messages in the "Drafts" folders for all accounts
  
  
• Remove Duplicate Messages - delete all duplicate messages found in the selection
  
  
• Search Addresses - find all addresses inside the Address Book matching one or more criteria
  
  

• New folder layout so we don't clutter the Script Menu
  
  
• Save all scripts as applications so that they can be run from any location and not just the Script Menu
  
  
• Added some more error checking to the installer script
  
  
• (Create Rule) show IMAP folders and subfolders inside the standard mailboxes (In, Out, ...) for "Transfer..." rules [this is one I requested - Mike]
  
  
• (Export Addresses) let the user decide whether to include the full name in the output file
  
  
• (Export Addresses) reverse order of ZIP and city in the output file
  
  

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Mac incompatibility myths persist

In today's Sun-Sentinel, a reader asked the following question:

I have been a PC user since 1984. Until recently it has been my understanding that Mac files & Windows files are incompatible. Is that still true? If I buy an iMac, could I still exchange files with people who use Windows?

Actually the compatibility is very good, as anyone who uses both systems regularly knows. Since the earliest versions, Microsoft Word was able to save files in a cross-platform format called RTF (Rich Text Format), which consists of pure ASCII characters with embedded commands. Standard graphics formats such as GIF, TIFF, and JPEG are completely cross-platform and always have been.

The current version of MS Word, High-end graphics applications such as PhotoShop, and desktop publishing software such as Quark XPress use the same file formats on both platforms, and files created on either system can be opened transparently on the other.

In addition to being able to read PC-formatted floppies, Macs have always been able to read as well as burn ISO-9660 format CDs that are compatible with Windows. In the era of email, as long as you use MIME encoding and avoid Mac-specific formats such as Stuffit or BinHex, your documents should be readbale on both platforms. In some Email applications such as Eudora MIME is called Apple Double, and in others it's the default.

With SMB support improved in Jaguar, it's now much easier to connect Macs & PCs on the same network and allow them to share files. If you're running an older system, DAVE is available to let you access Windows file servers. Alternately, Windows NT Professional and Windows 2000 support Macintosh file sharing, which will allow server volumes to be accessed from a Mac without any additional software.

Other software such as contact managers may be more difficult, but if you have a Palm-compatible PDA, it provides an easy way to move your data between platforms. I use Palm Desktop as my calendar & address book, and I have a Handspring Visor. Simply sync your PDA normally on the Mac (or whichever machine you want to use as the "master"). On the other machine set up Palm Desktop to allow the PDA to overwrite the PC, and do another sync. All of your data will be transferred cleanly to that machine.

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