Mac OS X Services in Snow Leopard
Mac OS X Services let one application supply its powers to another; for example, a Grab service helps TextEdit paste a screenshot into a document. Most users either don't know that Services exist, because they're in an obscure hierarchical menu (ApplicationName > Services), or they mostly don't use them because there are so many of them.
Snow Leopard makes it easier for the uninitiated to utilize this feature; only services appropriate to the current context appear. And in addition to the hierarchical menu, services are discoverable as custom contextual menu items - Control-click in a TextEdit document to access the Grab service, for instance.
In addition, the revamped Keyboard preference pane lets you manage services for the first time ever. You can enable and disable them, and even change their keyboard shortcuts.
Submitted by
Doug McLean
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Published in TidBITS 404.
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Qualcomm Buys Now Software
Qualcomm Buys Now Software -- Qualcomm, the wireless communications company best known in the Macintosh world for Eudora, today announced its acquisition of Now Software, makers of Now Utilities and Now Up-to-Date. Now Software had seemingly been in a slump of late, claiming that it lacked the engineering resources to update Now Utilities for Mac OS 8, so the acquisition comes at a good time for them. The press release noted that "Qualcomm intends to support Now's flagship products," so we hope that means an update to Now Utilities, although a Qualcomm representative was unable to share any details with us. More interesting is what Qualcomm gets out of the deal since Now's products don't obviously fit the Eudora division's focus on email. Rumor has it that Now is working on a revolutionary technology along the lines of the Now Synchronize data synchronization software. Qualcomm must have been attracted by the thought of synchronizing email and schedules across multiple platforms, including Macs, PCs, Newtons, PalmPilots, and Qualcomm's cellular phones. Although Qualcomm plans to keep Now Software's Portland, Oregon office open, the Eudora division has reorganized in the wake of the acquisition. We will miss one of the layoff casualties - tester Gary Nash, who was a fixture at Mac trade shows and user group presentations and who helped anchor the Macintosh Eudora mailing list. [ACE]
<http://www.eudora.com/press/1997/pr97.cgi? f=97.11.10.now>
<http://www.nowutilities.com/os8.html>
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