Desktop goes bad.

Seems my desktop is about to die soon and I am looking to get a PC with somewhat the same features maybe updated and start working. fortunately I have another 2 desktops around but the issue comes because they are lower poweered and sometimes even less performance wise.Maybe getting a new desktop is an option or just go all the way and replace the laptop with a much better one.So I am thinking one with the bellz and whistle, so maybe a better faster computer with a good 3D graphic card and also a good RAM memory.  Of course I want a whole Linux workstation, everything has to be compatible and everything should work out of the box, no weird drivers or proprietary component. Linuxquestons usually offer good advice on this, thats how I just order a small webcam with high quality content.So here is my hardware guess:

Hard disk

I would want about half a terrabyte at least for the storage althought I will still rely on my external HD

Video Card

I want a 3D card, like an Intel or a NVIDIA one but not the highest end I really just want to have 3d acceleration.

Audio Card

I really want something more professional although I am relying on external cards for this one.

RAM

Around 4G of fast RAM, really accelerated

Processors

Dual core or quad core althought I dont think is necesary a 64 so I will keep on the x86.

If you had a special comment or suggestion please hit me up.

Rethinking Impress

Lately I have been interacting with the UX community at OpenOffice.org with a great exchange of ideas and with the hole way OOo new interface should be approached. First was the push to a slimer toolbar, then the problem that some of the impress UX choices on the prototype were very lowly represented.

KOffice UI about text documents and spreadsheets

The discussion went into talking about the KOffice UI which also had a lot of chatting since there was the issue with different ways of looking how the open office suites are moving into a more vertical box bar, usually called dockers. However some messages kept the rest of the group download and use it. Then again there is a great study case to take into account.Today however I got back into slidecast to look at the most successful presentations and how horrible is both powerpoint and impress to generate these kind of presentations. Basically most of the presentations are very image oriented, they rely on 80% images to deliver a message but in these lines we provide very little tools. So maybe our developers need to have a read at one of the modern presentations books like slide:ology and Presentation Zen.Even with the recently updated image editor section within OOo we only have a relative archaic Gallery panel and also no way to easily import content from the web or cammeras or others.An insert images button is also relatively hidden from the general UI and users that want to insert images from the web fight through a very nagging process to put the images. So I hope that we can get the messages about the current state of presentations and how can we make easier for users to be guided on creating the best presentation they need by having access to the cotnent they want.

Prototype Impress showned

These can be done through extensions…. that is correct but as user experience we can’t rely on them to solve all our problems. And many people think that extensions are much greater than what they are technically are. The latest message came as please make the UI an extension. These of course is just not possible to refactor the toolkit just by adding more code on top.I think that the goal from Renaissance is a bit hollow since their wishes are not compliant with their resources. But even if I am wrong and there are a lot of developers behind at the same time other group is pushing for performance and so on, user experience will face the question about if their expertise is the one required to say what the user feels when they use the interface. Can they really do the best they expect on the very first minute that they use.I am still hesitant about these prototypes because I love innovation and change and even if many people are conservative and fighting back there still a lot of stuff we need to oversee to make this tool more efficient. Please let me know about your thoughts and contribute to the conversation about UX at their mailing list.

Back home and on to the next show

So I am finallyin Mexico and I have been doing a lot of work lately with what I felt that needed some. I have had meeting all along with some of the issues regarding the Open for business initiative, also the ODFKit and the deals with the Valencian government.I have also been interested with the things going on at UX and have solidify my position on getting rid of the upper toolbar. Another project which I have driven my attention is webdev which did a recent upgrade on the wiki and it affect the template from OOo.I wonder if I should update my wordpress theme to the OOo site type of theme. I really like the way that theme blends and is a very cool factor. I also had done this in the past fo the mediawiki and would like to see it on my site. Plus the wordpress community could benefit from it.Finally I am trying to get back in touch with the contacts from Brazil and make an impact and an alliance. The program RCSLA is one of the projects about sustainability on free software development.Well seems that plans keep coming and I will need to be developing them for as far as I can.