Writeboard: Well, you already read Less as a competitive advantage over at SVN — doesn’t Writeboard make some sense after reading that? That is to say, technically you’re basically right – there’s nothing especially new in Writeboard. I think they’re hoping to bring a new level of simplicity to web applications and therefore make them more useful to a wider range of people, and more useful, period. Although a full-fledged Wiki or Subversion might very well be more suited to geeks like us, Writeboard or something like it might be just the ticket for a mixed group with techies and non-techies. That said, if you want to think of it as a simple, free, hosted Wiki that just happens to integrate with 37 Signals’ non-free products, that probably works too.
The Mac vs x86 Question: Someone may have brought this up before, I may have missed it, but I’m wondering: if the primary reason you’re drawn to the Mac platform is the 30″ Cinema Display, then why not just buy one and drive it with an x86 machine? I checkedacouple of places, and it appears that setup would work fine. Don’t get me wrong, I would still get a G5, but it’s good to have options. (And if I was interested in the upcoming Intel PowerMacs, then I’d probably buy a used PowerMac G5 through eBay that was still under AppleCare, and sell it when the MacIntels come out. Buying used can help one avoid a lot of the up-front depreciation.)
I guess the biggest thing about Writeboard is that, while it touts collaboration features, it’s still the same web 1.0 wiki. At least they should have caught up with the features in JotLive. Of course, I haven’t read much good about Writeboard, so others may be a little underwhelmed by it as well.
My approach to buying hardware is to buy the top of the line (or close to it) – I’ve found I churn much less that way. It’s not bang for the buck so much as it is delaying the need to upgrade. I still have my G4 dual-500mhz desktop running as my backup server and I’ve been using my PowerBook G4 1.5ghz for ~20 months or so.
My only impetus for going Windows would be to save money. However, when I priced the Dell with the dual-core and with all the extras I’d get with the Mac (and applied Apple’s friends and family discount), they came out only a couple hundred bucks apart.
Truth is, I also expected to see “live” collaboration in Writeboard à la JotLive. I guess they’re going for really simple. Bottom line, I guess we’re not the target audience.
As for the hardware, aah, now I get it – you’re someone who likes to spend time on things that are actually important! I have this friend who frequently buys and sells and upgrades and messes with his machines/gadgets – and I – I mean he – definitely does not have the time. Good luck with your deliberations!
Writeboard: Well, you already read Less as a competitive advantage over at SVN — doesn’t Writeboard make some sense after reading that? That is to say, technically you’re basically right – there’s nothing especially new in Writeboard. I think they’re hoping to bring a new level of simplicity to web applications and therefore make them more useful to a wider range of people, and more useful, period. Although a full-fledged Wiki or Subversion might very well be more suited to geeks like us, Writeboard or something like it might be just the ticket for a mixed group with techies and non-techies. That said, if you want to think of it as a simple, free, hosted Wiki that just happens to integrate with 37 Signals’ non-free products, that probably works too.
The Mac vs x86 Question: Someone may have brought this up before, I may have missed it, but I’m wondering: if the primary reason you’re drawn to the Mac platform is the 30″ Cinema Display, then why not just buy one and drive it with an x86 machine? I checked a couple of places, and it appears that setup would work fine. Don’t get me wrong, I would still get a G5, but it’s good to have options. (And if I was interested in the upcoming Intel PowerMacs, then I’d probably buy a used PowerMac G5 through eBay that was still under AppleCare, and sell it when the MacIntels come out. Buying used can help one avoid a lot of the up-front depreciation.)
I guess the biggest thing about Writeboard is that, while it touts collaboration features, it’s still the same web 1.0 wiki. At least they should have caught up with the features in JotLive. Of course, I haven’t read much good about Writeboard, so others may be a little underwhelmed by it as well.
My approach to buying hardware is to buy the top of the line (or close to it) – I’ve found I churn much less that way. It’s not bang for the buck so much as it is delaying the need to upgrade. I still have my G4 dual-500mhz desktop running as my backup server and I’ve been using my PowerBook G4 1.5ghz for ~20 months or so.
My only impetus for going Windows would be to save money. However, when I priced the Dell with the dual-core and with all the extras I’d get with the Mac (and applied Apple’s friends and family discount), they came out only a couple hundred bucks apart.
Truth is, I also expected to see “live” collaboration in Writeboard à la JotLive. I guess they’re going for really simple. Bottom line, I guess we’re not the target audience.
As for the hardware, aah, now I get it – you’re someone who likes to spend time on things that are actually important! I have this friend who frequently buys and sells and upgrades and messes with his machines/gadgets – and I – I mean he – definitely does not have the time. Good luck with your deliberations!