New iMacs 2
Apple has unleashed the new and redesigned iMacs, along with a slick redesign of the Apple keyboard.
An Open Letter to the Developers of Colloquy 5
Dear Colloquy Developers,
Today, while chatting away in one of my favorite IRC channels, we came on to the topic of your app, Colloquy. Colloquy, of course, is arguably the predominant IRC client for the Mac, and it, of course, came up in the course of the conversation. It was at this point that I realized under that smooth and shiny exterior, there are many, many, many flaws in the interior; this has prompted me to write this open letter.
First, and perhaps foremost, is the hogging of resources. While users with a great deal of RAM aren’t going to care, those of us without, do. When I used Colloquy, I’d leave it on overnight, only to find my entire system sluggish in the morning. At this point, I was unable to check the messages people left me while I was sleeping because Colloquy would crash out before I could. This was a very bad thing, a very bad experience, and something that has been long-standing. Yet, no fix that I’m aware of has come to solve this.
And speaking of crashing, this seems to be a common occurrence in the world of Colloquy. Connect to a network, join your favorite channel, say something… A bot gives you messages left to you— Bye bye! You just crashed. A little tiny bug in a theme? STOP! It’s crash time. Leave it on over night? Nope, bye. Join too many channels for its liking? See ya later. These are serious issues— some coinciding with every day occurrences— that are in dire need of fixing.
Now, let’s move on to a slightly smaller issue: notices. People who have been on IRC for a while know what notices are, they’re helpful and very useful— but not to Colloquy! No, no, Colloquy hates notices. Sure, you can see them in the console or growl (if you happen to have either open), but when every raw command is going through the console, how feasible is it that you’re going to actually see them? Not very. And even with growl, the occasional notice will get cut off. Not pretty. And this isn’t just a little problem, like just missing a couple personal notices from your friends. No, no. You also miss any notices from chanserv1, nickserv1, memoserv1, and any other bots and services, as well as network-wide notices and wallops. That’s a lot to miss, and honestly, it’s a PITA.
This is sad, sad performance from one of the “best” IRC clients for the Mac, and certainly one of the most popular. It’s not enough to be pretty, this isn’t high school. You guys need to work hard and prove you’re the best.
Sincerely,
Joey Brooks
P.S.: It’s a channel, not a chat room.2
1 These services are server/network dependent, of course, but generic, so I included them in the list. ↑
2 Yes, I know your reasons for using “chat room,” but you haven’t deviated from IRC yet, so why break standard nomenclature? ↑
Apple’s New Store 3
It’s so sweeeet.
It’s got an all glass upper entrance, which leads to a metal and glass spiral staircase leading to the underground, 25,000 square-foot store.
I’ve the sudden urge to go to New York with lots of cash in tow.
