Apple ahead of schedule 3139

Like pretty much all of it.

Yes. They say they have fewer issues with Mac-originated files. In fact, when there *are* issues with output, the first question is often "What platform did the file originate on?" which certainly tends to suggest it makes a difference. (I just had that happen a few weeks back, actually.)

Hardware support isn't the problem; ICC profiles come in a standard cross-platform format.

It's basically standard practice for web development these days, at least in the *nix world. Newer web application frameworks are even designed to make it easy. Maybe things are different in the Microsoft world because people would have to install Windows 2003 Sever on their desktops or pay for extra deployment licenses or something?

I do a fair bit of my web development on a laptop these days, often in places where there isn't even Internet access, like on trains. It would be pretty inconvenient if I couldn't have something a lot like the deployment server's environment available locally. This is also really useful for giving quick demos to clients. Just pull out the laptop; no need to worry about whether there's wireless in, say, the restaurant you're having lunch in.

This model also makes sense when using version control software with a team, because everyone can check out their changes on their own private copy of the app (and run automated testing, etc.) before checking it in on the shared development server. I guess you could do this by giving every developer their own copy of the app *on the development server* in addition to having the shared copy, but that's pretty awkward and I've never seen it done.

Adobe has said they will ship in Q2 of next year. So, less than a year.

-- "Those who enter the country illegally violate the law." -- George W. Bush in Tucson, Ariz., Nov. 28, 2005