Leopard on the prowl

One of the frustrating things about technology is that it's always changing.

One of the coolest things about technology is that it's always changing.

I am often amazed that the thing that I both love and hate about new software and gadgets is its constant turn over.

I hate it because once you finally get confortible with something, you know where all the buttons and nobs are, you know all the glitches and hang ups, something wisenhiemer comes along and changes everything.

All the new Microsoft products are a wonderful example. I have the new office 2007 suite in the office, and I just upgraded one of my computers at home to Vista and everything is messed up. Things are hidden behind buttons, and menus completely changed. Every PC program up to this point hand a standardized menu that read: File - Edit - View - Tools - Help (or something along those lines), and BLAMO, gone.

Now have to learn everything all over again.

I hate that.

I love that.

See we are a creature of habit (not to be confused with hobbit), we fall into a rut and that's where we stay. We never grow, we never improve. If we didn't know it or need it before, why do we need it now? When things change, we are forced to relearn things. But in that relearning, we always discover new places that we've never been. We expand our knowledge and add new tools to our work flow.

It's exciting (and dreadful).

This week Apple announced that it's releasing it's new OS (operating system) on October 26th called Leopard (they new all there OS X releases after major cats) and I am bursting at the seams. I've got my copy pre-ordered and once I get back from Seattle, it'll be waiting for me.

This is my first Mac upgrade and I'm finding the experience completely different than my PC ones. I've drug my feet on Vista for nearly a year now because I am afraid that all the stuff I use is going to break. That I'm in the end going to have to back up all my files, format the computer and start all over again (I ended up doing that, but I choose a computer that I didn't use a whole lot). With my MacBook, I'm stoked to see what new features it's going to have, and all the new fun things I can do.

I don't even have a concern that any of the things I've installed aren't going to work.

That's kind of cool.

In any case, I'll let you know how it goes.

You've gotta love technology.