DB2 on Mac!!!

Yes, you read it right, finally IBM has released a version of DB2 for the Mac! On December 22nd they released a version of DB2 Express-C for Mac (Leopard on Intel), which is essentially a version for developers who will be able to now use it to work on enterprise solutions on a Mac! I never thought this day would come.!

Antonio Canguiano has an interesting blog post that discusses some first steps, very useful.

You can get DB2 from the IBM Download Page.

I installed it using Admin GUI (as root) install and the tested the Ruby connection as per Antonio's blog. Initially I had a few issues with some libraries, but after downloading the latest version from the website, all is working well now.

This initial version does not have any of the admin tools (Comand Centre, Control Centre, etc.) but I was able to use SQL Workbench/J without any issues. It seems however that some of the tool jar files are there, I will look into that later.

There is a DB2 Express Forum, but feel free to ask any questions through this blog.

Next, Ruby on Rails!!!

Multitouch gestures on new firefox beta for Mac

Last week I downloaded the new beta of firefox for my mac (3.1b). I usually don't download beta versions of products I use regularly, but the the fact that I could use multitouch gestures on the trackpad of my macbook was reason enough to try it. I am really pleased I did. It is even better than what you can do in Safari. So far, they have implemented:

• swipe: move three fingers on the trackpad on any direction
• twist: rotate two fingers
• pinch: move two fingers away or closer to each other

And the actions you can perform with the different gestures:

• Swipe Left: Go back in history [press Cmd to open it in a tab]
• Swipe Right: Go forwards in history
• Swipe Up: Go to the top of the page
• Swipe Down: Go to the end of the page
• Pinch Together: Zoom out
• Pinch Apart: Zoom in
• Twist Right: Next tab
• Twist Left: Previous tab

It is available on Mac's with multitouch trackpa, including the Mac Book Air, the MAc Book Pro's releaed in early 2008, and the new laptops released later in 2008.

Download it and enjoy!

Lotus Symphony on the Mac!

Finally, last Wednesday (November 5th, 2008), IBM released the long awaited version of Lotus Symphony for Mac as part of the version 1.2 update. Despite the fact that IBM is using the old name for the GUI version of Lotus 1-2-3, that's where the similarities end... I am a bit annoyed that IBM didn't respect the '/' menu options on the spreadsheet product... but I digress.

IBM Lotus Symphony is a free office suit that has a word processor, spreadsheet and a presentation program. It supports the OpenDocument format (ODF), as well as the binary Microsoft Office and Lotus Smartsuire formats. One of the really good features is the fact that it can export documents in PDF format.

Symphony is based on OpenOffice techoloy and uses the Eclipse Rich Client for it's framework.

It is available fon Windows, Linux and Mac, and best of all it's free!

Macworld is coming!

I had always wanted a Mac.

Having worked for a few years with OS/2, and then having to move to a Windows world once OS/2 Warp was withdrawn from the market, I felt that I wanted more from my OS than what Windows offered. When the Mac Mini's were announced three years ago, I thought it was a great opportunity to finally own a Mac. I wasn't disappointed, and I haven't looked back.

Since then, I started following the crazy "Macverse", and was captivated by the sheer passion and enthusiasm of the Mac users. Shortly afterwards I even moved off my Sony mp3 walkman and bought my first ipod.

One of the things that has always fascinated me about the Apple world is the yearly Macworld event every January. This year, Macworld starts on Monday, January 14th. There is a good article in CNET that describes why is it so good. As always, there is a lot of excitement about Steve Jobs' keynote speech on Tuesday.

I am hoping for the announcement of some updates to the MacBooks. I been holding up on buying a new one, initially because I was waiting for Leopard, but now because it seems that there might be a complete overhaul to the line. Roll on Tuesday, and here is hoping that they will announce a new version of the legendary Apple Newton!