Thursday, October 30, 2003
Eudora 6.0 seems like a dream—Bayesian spam filtering is built in to the application! When you get spam, you right-click it and select "Junk" from the popup menu that appears. Eudora automatically files the e-mail in a folder called Junk and learns for future filtering by storing the words found in the junk e-mail. Eudora saves the junk messages 30 days before automatically throwing them out. My only complaint is that they didn't make the workflow obvious. K9 uses big buttons with a green check mark and a red circle-slash symbol—very ideal. Eudora instead provides no icons by default. If you're smart enough to right-click the toolbar and choose "Customize..." and spend several minutes figuring out where they are, you can find icons that work similarly to specify Good or Bad. The Bad icon in Eudora 6.0 is an envelope next to the bones of a fish carcass which had defecated green slime before it died. The Good icon is the same fish bones carcass and next to it is something I can't identify at all. It looks like a diamond with a fly sitting on it. But it's a little too smooth to be a diamond, so maybe it's a funnel with a fly sitting on it. There's even more green slime spooge here than in the Bad icon. The icon to open the junk mail folder looks like it's supposed to be a sardine can with the lid open and the same fish carcass and a LOT of green slime spooge. I'm not sure what Eudora intended to communicate with these pictures: Envelope + Stinky Fish = Spam? Diamond/Funnel + Stinky Fish = Good? Sardine Can + Stinky Fish = Spam Mailbox? It's too bad they couldn't use an actual can of Spam on the icon. But despite the poorly designed icons they are easy enough to figure out. Did a bunch of work on Chris C's computer: installed Eudora 6.0; upgraded PharmAdMIT 2004, Real Player, Netscape, Opera, and Sun Java; verified updates for Windows and Office. Tried to install an updated version of QuickTime but when I did the download the installer said "iTunes for Windows" instead of "QuickTime" so I cancelled it—I don't want iTunes, I want QuickTime! If Apple thinks they're going to install iTunes along with the QuickTime installer (a la Netscape/Spinner and RealPlayer/RealJukebox) they have another thing coming. I remembered that my cousin Johnson works in QuickTime marketing for Apple, so I shot him an e-mail asking what's up. It's his fault QuickTime still has that nagging screen begging you to upgrade whenever you launch the free version. Stop nagging already! I'm happy with the free version, and you're not going to change my mind no matter how many times you ask! Went up to MSB9 to see the new offices after the furniture installers returned yesterday to finish their job. Took some photos. Set up folder synchronization between a USB key and some work files. Lunch at desk: leftover spaghetti. Made live James's wildfires notice changes. Link checking. Ran up to MSB9 to meet with Roberto about some final cabling issues. Met with Phillip, a student who had questions about networking. I answered everything he asked, gave him things to try. Double-checked code for our admissions application deadline. Met with Hamden, a first-year student who had questions about access to a computer lab. Gave him the code for it. Everyone in the office is in high packing mode. Boxes, trash cans, shredding bins, and recycle bins are everywhere. Ena brought ice cream to share with the office: pumpkin ice cream embedded with bits of crust—yummy! Dinner at home with Patrick: deep-fried wontons with homemade sauce, country basil salad: green leaf lettuce, basil, mushrooms, red bell pepper, parmesan, parmesan ranch dressing. Shopped on amazon.com for gifts. Set up folder synchronization between a USB key and some home files.