FOSDEM 08

I am going to my first FOSDEM this year. I am not that excited about the tracks given this year, but I am looking forward to meet a couple of XMMS2 developers. So far it seems that we are going to be 8 regulars at the FOSDEM conference. We are living at the NH Atlanta downtown. Keep in touch if you want to grab a beer with the XMMS2 guys (or even buy us a beer :-)).

Hope I will get my Macbook before I am leaving :-)

My take on Macbook Air

To each it's own. I have been holding of upgrading my current laptop to see what Jobs pulled out of his hat at the conference. I love my Blackbook with just one exception, it's a bit heavy and bulky. Since I have around 180-200 travel days a year I have long craved something smaller that still runs MacOS X.

Enter the Macbook Air. Reading peoples comments on this new laptop it seems that more people are disappointed than people who are happy about it. I just think that people are expecting wierd things. A small laptop like the Macbook Air are not for everyone. It's not a powerhouse, it will not have the latest features in terms of innovation, it's innovation will be that they have managed to fit all that silicon into a small case.

Jobs where talking about compromises, he said that all the other companies that makes subnotebooks make compromises with the screen, keyboard and size. Apple also had to compromise to get it that thin. The compromises was: non-user replaceable battery, no ethernet jack (and no firewire, mini-dvi) and just one USB 2.0. When you are buying a subnotebook you compromise yourself to get the small form factor and the light weight.

I think the Macbook Air will fit me perfectly, I don't have a problem with using a ethernet dongle, I only use ethernet when I am at customers that doesn't have wifi (which of them I know two :-)) so that won't be a big problem. The non-user-replaceable battery on the other hand is a downside that I don't like but I can live with.

I am biased, I like Apple products, but I think that in this case people are expecting something else than they got. If you don't like the small size, the underpowered cpu or the lack of connectors, go for a macbook or a macbook pro, they will make you happy.

Now if I just could get that approval :-)