Your first thought would normally be that it only supports Microsoft technologies like Windows Live Spaces and SharePoint. There you would be wrong. I predominantly use WordPress, but I also use Blogger and in the setup wizard for the software it lists those two, TypePad, and very bravely, “All Others". That’s pretty ambitious, but when I told it my blog was WordPress it just figured everything out and set it up. It even includes a complete array of functions straight out of the web console for WordPress. They just pop up from the bottom of the editing window. In Blogger, those options aren’t there, but that’s because Blogger doesn’t have those options. Very smart.

As for the All Others claim, I can’t say. I imagine that anything which support XML-RPC should work since WordPress and Blogger both do, and I think TypePad does, as well. The great thing is that its free. You don’t need to have a Windows Live account (I think) and you don’t have to install any of the other crap that comes with the Essentials package. There are even plug-ins you can install to enable new features like automatic Twitter posting. I’m actually rather impressed for once, Microsoft. Uh… Good work?

So, what makes Apple think this is okay? To be honest, I’m not sure. Mail.app is a special application which treats multiple email account with the respect they deserve, granting the user the ability work with all email as if it were one giant account. It does this because it applies simple smarts which any one of the hundreds of email clients which have ever come out could have applied at any time and chose not to. Every email account has an Inbox, a Sent folder, a Drafts folder, and a Trash folder. Does it not make sense to combine the contents of all accounts into one folder called Inbox? Of course it does.

Does anyone else do it? No.

I hear all of your Windows folk out there screaming your heads off about how Outlook does this, but I’m here to tell you it doesn’t. Not the same way. I’m no Apple-only nerd who touched a Windows 95 in DOS mode back in 1996 and consider myself in the know. I’ve been actively working with Windows and Microsoft technology based servers for years. I’m very, VERY familiar with this kind of stuff, and Apple walks through it like a hot coals walker handles temperate pavement. What Apple doesn’t do, however, is reliability.

I’ve had my issues, but I’m not the only one. Right now I can’t send mail. I even went through the trouble of setting up a single outgoing account for all messages since late last year Mail.app couldn’t remember how to login to several different accounts at the same time (if you tell me that having more than one account is breaking it, I’ll freak… comprende vous?). Its so bad that I’m actually using Entourage, which is a horrible kludge of an application. One of the issues that amazes me, though, is that when Mail.app is thinking hard to cause the spinning beachball to appear, all you need to do is click a half dozen times in the window to crash it.

Like I said, though. I’m not the only one. I have reports from people very close to me as well as dozens of strangers and semi-acquaintances that they are also having issues with Mail.app. They have lost mail, watched Mail.app practically eat itself, crash over and over again, and many other unpleasant behaviors. Why Apple continues to allow this is beyond me, especially when Steve Jobs and Co. are so rabid about user experience. If Apple could just make it work, make it more responsive, stop it from crashing and eating email, fix up the SMTP (postfix or sendmail, anyone?), and make the filters easier to create a manage (TIP TO APPLE: Don’t put it in the freaking Preferences panel and add a Create Filter From Message button!!!).

I’m just saying!

If I’m preaching to the choir right now and you didn’t already know this, your jaw is likely on the floor about now. If you don’t understand what I’m talking about, then I shall explain. There are two kinds of computer graphics systems which can be installed in a computer by the manufacturer, discreet and integrated. Starting with the latter, integrated graphics is a simplified set of chips which generate video for the computer. These are installed on the mainboard and cannot be replaced. Integrated graphics also share RAM from the system, so if you have 1GB of RAM (1024MBs) and your integrated graphics system uses 256MBs of RAM, then your computer ends up with a mere 768MBs of RAM to run on. All cheap laptops and netbooks use integrated graphics.

Discreet graphics, on the other hand, is like its own separate computer whose only job it is to create the graphics for your computer. It has its own RAM and it is usually installed as a separate board which can later be replaced if necessary. In this case, if you have 1GB of RAM and 256MBs of VRAM (Video RAM) then you still have 1GB of RAM for your system. It is the discreet video systems which professionals rely on from Apple because they are powerful and are capable of things which integrated systems simply aren’t. That’s a huge part of the Pro in MacBook Pro.

What Apple has done by bringing the unibody MacBook models into the MacBook Pro fold is to bring the concept of integrated graphics into the Pro line-up. Witness on the Apple Store page or in Phil Schiller’s keynote at yesterday’s WWDC 2009 kickoff the introduction of the NVIDIA 9400M chipset in not only the 13″ models but now also the entry-level 15″ model which starts at US$1,699. If you take a closer look you will see that the 9400M integrated chipset is on every single MacBook Pro in the entire line. Sure, they are alongside the more potent, discreet 9600M GT chipset and you can select which one to use, but the game has still been changed.

Integrated video is significantly cheaper than discreet video. Apple has always charged a relatively fair price for the cost of quality components, a consistency which no other computer company has ever been able to match, and a level of reliability which isn’t fair to the competition. Two things emerge from the change. First, to call a MacBook with integrated graphics just because they look the same, have SD card slots, and can use 8GBs of RAM is more like a bait-and-switch scheme. Second, to put only integrated graphics into the larger, Pro-level 15″ model is almost lying.

Business users who don’t need the powerful graphics sub-systems didn’t have a problem with using a computer called a MacBook. I know of few people who were unhappy that they had a MacBook when they knew that what they had was what they could afford. In fact, I know quite a few MacBook users who don’t like the larger, heavier MacBook Pro line and are quite pleased with what they already have. The only thing Apple did here was arrange a little smoke and mirrors with no real updates to anything, just a name change. I suppose its possible that Apple was feeling the pressure of not delivering on Snow Leopard and only having the iPhone 3Gs to announce.

Then again, they’ve also had the pressure put on them from Microsoft about the cost of their computers compared to what Microsoft’s hardware partners offer in a recent spate of ads. Apple seems to be responding (they’ll deny it) by evening out their pricing structure. If there’s anything to be said about Apple’s product line-up now, its well spaced.

“So, when are the dev guys going to fix the installation process of the Surface PC so that it can be done without needing a mouse and keyboard. I have it from reliable sources that it is, indeed, not working. This fact is also not noted in the documentation. That’s kind of cheap for a US$15,000 computer, isn’t it,” I asked, as I walked up on the guy, hand extended. He sort of stared around a bit and then seemed to realize it was a question. He took my hand, shook it slowly, then her gave it a couple of good shakes and started to talk.

“Whoever you heard that from they’re lying.”

“Interesting. So you’re saying that a Surface PC can be set up using the touchscreen display,” I inquired. 

“Did you read that story on [insert gadget blog here],” he asked me, possibly attempting to look intimidating.

“I read it on [same blog here] and it was substantiated by people I know personally,” I responded. “So, can you set up the Surface PC using the touchscreen and if not, why is this fact not documented for the customer,” I drilled on. 

He then went on to explain that there are two types of customers; developers and some word which I guess means retailers in Microsoft-speak and I can’t recall. Developers get the unit au naturel. Retailers get a concierge type who works with them to configure the system for their needs and then arranges for its installation. Developers are expecting to have to set it up and they get all of the help they need to get it done. Retailers, however, have it all taken care of for them and never have to directly experience configuration. 

Here, then, is where the problem occurred. The retailer involved had it purchased by a 2nd party involved in the project who then had the unit shipped to their marketing firm and since the marketing firm wasn’t “in the loop” they never received the concierge service they would normally receive. The Microserf went on to explain that Microsoft was fully aware of this user-initiated failure in processing and claimed that the Redmond Giant was going to stomp all over the losers for reporting it to a blog before letting Microsoft fix the problem going to rectify the communications issues involved in the overall issue.