Have you ever had the need to copy (and paste) the file name contents of a folder in the Finder? Similarly, have you ever had the need to copy/paste a folder structure hierarchy (directory path)?
This is one of those annoying tasks that comes up once in a while. I say annoying, because that’s exactly what it is – annoying! Why? Because, it should be something relatively straightforward to accomplish. And in the old days – say, pre- OSX, it was. If you selected a file in the Finder and hit “copy”, it loaded the file name to the clipboard for pasting purposes.
However, at some point, Apple decided that people really wanted to copy files, not names. This is the standard behavior on a Windows PC (as far as I know – correct me if I’m wrong.)
So in OSX, when you select a file (or more) in the Finder, and choose “copy”, it will literally copy those files to the place where you designate, upon which “pasting” will copy the files to the specified location.
In many cases, this is desirable. You no longer need to have the source folder and destination folders open and side by side on your desktop. Especially if you tend to have a cluttered desktop! So, yes, this can be seen as an “improvement”.
But what about the old functionality? Where you could extract the filenames themselves and use the text for other purposes – ie: printing directories, etc. Well, nothing that I knew of allowed you to do this as easily as in those old days.
It was a long time coming, but we reached the point of inevitability. Our old trio of server boxes with a multitude of attached storage drives had reached their limits. It was time to consolidate and increase our file capacity – both for the present and for the future.
Our swanky new Server Setup
Overall, our servers had worked great – no complaints. We got a lot of life out of those Macs: an old gray G4, a mirror-door G4, and a recent vintage Mac Pro. The oldest box is about 10 years old and had been working quite well, even though it was no longer our primary server anymore. The Mac Pro is still going strong as it’s still relatively new.
But we were running out of storage. And Power PC based G4’s cannot be brought up to date now that Apple has transitioned completely to Intel-based Macs. It didn’t make sense to just tack on more drives as we had already been doing just that and it was becoming a logistical nightmare.
Instead, we came to the conclusion that we needed to revamp our thinking and craft a system that would have scalable ultra-high capacity and significant speed. But it was really beyond our area of expertise.
After getting some referrals, we contacted the folks at HCS Technology Group. They are Mac experts and help companies like ours become more efficient with how they do business by designing appropriate solutions – in our case, updating systems and processes.
After our initial meeting with Craig and Keith of HCS, we determined that their ideas would work well for us. It was just a matter of what could we afford as the sky was the limit.
And so, it was decided that we would build a brand new server infrastructure from the ground up – with an Apple XServe as the center. Coupled with the XServe would be a Tandberg LTO-5 tape auto-loader for backups and a 16 bay Active Storage drive enclosure. The Mac Pro Tower was repurposed as an Open Directory Server Replica as well as the box that runs the Tape backups.
The equipment list was spec’ed out with the help of Dave at Webistix. We made some changes to the initial list and got everything narrowed down to what is now our new server system. The order was placed and it was a matter waiting for it all to start arriving on site.
Last evening, we closed Intrigue down early (6:15pm!) and headed down Route 110 to Kodiak’s for our 2010 Holiday Party. We have grown this past year and have added new members to the team. So it was great to have everyone together for a nice night out.
And no, work was not discussed.
Not one bit.
At all.
Seriously.
OK, maybe just a little.
But it’s Mike’s fault. He started it. Or continued it. But, whatever….
Secret Santa stopped by for a visit, dropping off presents.
And Carolyn won big at her lottery scratch-offs.
Anyway, lots of things were learned in tales told from days of yore. For instance, whatever you do, don’t tick Bill off. Especially if he’s in a Mustang.
Speaking of driving, don’t tick Rob off when he’s on the road, unless you have a steel bumper and don’t mind extending your trip an extra 40 miles or so.
But a good time was had by all. Check out the photos. Link to a small movie clip follows at the bottom.
Lastly, just like in Vegas – what happens at the Intrigue holiday party, stays at the holiday party! OK, maybe not….
There have been no updates on our blog for several months as you may have noticed (or not, if this is your first visit). That is not due to there being “nothing going on” here at Intrigue. On the contrary…
Actually, a LOT has been going on. We’ve been inundated with many new projects and we’ve had to burn the midnight oil to make sure that we’ve crossed all the t’s and dotted the i’s. It’s one of those “good” problems to have. You can never have TOO much work coming in. It’s a good sign for us that even though the economy still is recovering, we’re doing ok at the moment.
One of the new projects we took in was a request to send out a customized eblast to a limited number of recipients. After doing some research on the issue, we decided that signing up for a dedicated email marketing service was the best way to go.
I had looked into these services a few years back and there are a handful of quality companies to choose from. We really could have gone with any number of them so it was almost a roll of the dice as to which one to choose.
We were also pressed for time so I had to make a recommendation rather quickly. My first choice was Constant Contact. There was an internal discussion about it and we had some questions about what the service included and for how much. A phone call was made to the company and we received satisfactory answers to all our questions.
Constant Contact Home Page
The green light was given to sign up for an account. Read More…
Check it out!
Yours truly was interviewed by Mary Gay Marchese – the Public Relations Director at Markzware, the software company. Over the years, we have purchased a few of their products, most notably Flightcheck. For us, this application is indispensable as we run all our outgoing layout files through it to make sure there are no surprises when it’s time to print a project.
Recently, I received an email from Mary asking if we’d be interested in discussing how Intrigue utilizes Flightcheck in it’s workflow on a daily basis. Sounded very intriguing to me, so I said “Sure!” It was a lot of fun working with Mary and hammering out the interview. In return, we received 15 minutes of fame with some links on the Markzware website, along with free T-shirts for everyone in our office. Not bad…
By now, most creative professionals in the digital world have heard about Adobe’s latest iteration of the Creative Suite Franchise. CS5 was unveiled last week and is scheduled to ship within the next four weeks.
As with previous releases of the software, purchasing new copies or upgrading old ones comes at a relatively stiff price. Many design studios are currently evaluating the new version to see if and when it is most prudent to make the jump.
Of course, everyone wants to stay at the cutting edge of the latest in technology and software tools. But in today’s difficult economic times, many companies cannot afford to do that. It may not make financial sense for studios and especially individuals to purchase every major upgrade that Adobe releases.
It can be argued that the last version of Adobe CS, version 4, was not a significant enhancement over the one before, version 3. Yes, there some new and interesting features. But was it worth shelling out several hundred or thousand dollars to bring workstations up to CS4 when CS3 was more than adequate?
In our case, at Intrigue, we did something a little different. We upgraded our designers to CS4 and left the production workstations at CS3. For the most part, this has worked out well for us. Occasionally, there have been glitches – ie: not being able to open a file in CS3 when it was created in CS4. OK, not insurmountable.
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