Archive for January, 2008

This weekend I took a trip to Ikea to get a new desk for my new home office I’m building. The desktop is glass, and was very heavy, so I needed to go to special full service furniture pickup universe to get it. I get in line, and prepare to wait my 7 minutes plus one additional minute per line. Over the sitting area they have a monitor with the active pick numbers on display.

The application looked strange. Tacky colors, sloppy layout, a really unpolished look. Upon closer inspection, it turns out they just use Microsoft Excel to display active pick numbers! They actually physically type in each active number in a cell, and when the order is filled, someone highlights the cell, and deletes the data. I couldn’t believe it.

I know Ikea is known for their frugality, but using excel to track workflow is just stupid, for too many reasons to count.

Every whif of documentation I’ve pored through told me that the only way the iMac can support screen spanning (having multiple monitors act like one giant desktop) is if you use crazy dangerous firmware hacks that can potentially brick your computer, void the warranty, and cause the sky to fall. Tonight, I plugged in my new 22″ widescreen Acer monitor, setup the display, and well…

It works out of the box, no changes required. As proof, I submit this picture of super-maximized iPhoto.

For the record, my model is a circa late 2006 iMac, 2.16ghz, Ati Radeon X1600. And the screen spanning works AMAZING. Completely flawless.