A retraction ... of sorts ...

    Yes, it's true. Back in August of this year I posted my disdain for the Linux Desktop environment. In my post titled "Did Linux miss the boat? or did it take the train instead?"I hammered the Linux community for not living up to its potential, for being the ugly kid at the back of the classroom. You know the type, the loner, the kid who plays games in his mom's basement until he's in his mid-thirties. "Those guys".

XFDL on iOS Updated

    O.K., this will be a short post to let you guys know that an update is out that fixes many of the issues I had in my last post. So far all seems to be going well. There are still a few minor issues, but nothing that wont be fixed shortly.

Until next time ... 

XFDL on iOS

    XFDL on iOS!

    Yup, someone has beaten me to punch. Sometimes having a job and a bills can be such a drag. However, in this case, its good thing.

    This is what a form DA 4856 (detailed info redacted for privacy) looks like on an iPhone 4S. For the most part not to bad, however, there are some hick-ups.

    The first issue I ran into was that I couldn't figure how to open a file from DropBox. It took a minute, but I finally did. Basically, open the file in DropBox like you normally would any other file, then when it likes like a large jumble of text, select the "Arrow going into the box" icon, and you will get an option to open the file in the XFDL app.

    My next gripe is something very minor. The forms are not "print quality". They are close, as you can see here:

    The corners don't quite line up properly. Not that I am looking to print from this app, still it would be nice.

    Last thing. It doesn't handle text boxes well. See:

    Since I was the one who filled out this form for my soldier to sign, I know there is lot more text were that came from. Basically, all multi line text areas are treated as a single line and just run off the right side of the page. This is perhaps my biggest complaint.

    Wait, I do have one more. When trying to edit text on my iPhone 4S, the form auto sets the zoom level and position of the form. This has the result of making viewing what you are typing move completely off of the screen. All you can see is a super zoomed version of the top left corner of the page.

    So basically this app is useless right? Wrong!

    This is a version one (1) application and I think we should support this developer so it can get better. I am sure with time and support it will get much better. After all, isn't having this work perfectly a few months from now worth $1.99 today?

    I don't normally advocate for small application that have so many issues. In this case, since users of XFDL files really do not have many other options, I say do it. Support this independent author. Show him some love, and buy his app.

    The author runs a support forum at: http://www.venturacountylife.com/xfdl/

    Until next time ... 

The future of the PC

    This post is all about the current state of personal computer. Recently windows domination slipped a few factions of a percentage point, but does it really mean anything to the average user? Does anyone other than the geeks really care? The answer to both of these is probably a big fat "not really". But it is the geeks, nerds and tech-heads that shape and define the digital world for the average user, so perhaps its only fitting that the architects of the future care more than its tenets.

Did Linux miss the boat? or did it take the train instead?

    This post is all about Linux. This post is not about Mac vs. PC vs. Linux, or any combination therein. No, this is just about Linux and where I feel it is doing great, still failing, and where I think its headed. At least, where I think it should be headed.

DropBox revisited ...

    A while ago I was having an issue with DropBox trying to copy my entire HardDrive to the cloud, thus filling my 2GB cloud storage rather easily. I had received no word from DropBox support at the time of the post. The problem is now resolved.

Fixing "Wide Tabs" in Safari 6

    Ever since I upgraded to Safari 6 for OsX, I have been frustrated by the extra large Tabs. They stretch across the entire window and are generally a waist of space. It has the added benefit of making Safari feel even more bloated and cumbersome that it really is. I have recently found a solution that, so far, is working far better than I expected.