waffle

So, several links too late, it’s time to introduce ThisService.

Mac OS X has a concept of “services”. They hang around in a submenu inside the application menu. You can select something and use one kind of services to make another app do something – ie Safari has an “Open URL” service opening the URL currently selected. You can choose another type of service and have an application output something that doesn’t need input – ie a service that could return the current time in a special format. There’s also a third type of service that processes the selection and outputs something else – ie Script Editor’s service to return the result of the selected text executed as an AppleScript.

Services are awesome in theory. They’re almost everything you’ve needed to go to a command line for, elevated to an easily accessible menu. Somehow, though, they’re not popular. I’ve tried several times to get accustomed to them, to start using them, but it’s been hard. Only some applications have services. There’s almost no standalone services. There’s no official means of rearranging and tending the Services menu (although Service Scrubber is awesome). The right push behind services just isn’t there, and this is exactly what I think ThisService could help change.

ThisService lets you easily turn more or less any script into a service. Bam. Just like that. You no longer need mad Objective-C (or Java) coding skillz to make a service. It’s suddenly much easier to make a service, and this brings me immense joy.

I won’t lie to you. For the reasons stated above, I didn’t care one whit about services as late as last Friday. Gruber posed the idea of ThisService (although not its name, which I’m entirely to blame for) as a challenge to me and I took it because I saw a good programming challenge in it. However, I’ve had something of an aha moment during development and testing of this – much like Growl during development of Gmail+Growl, actually – and suddenly I’m seeing the potential for services everywhere. It may be the delusional, legendary hammer-nail scenario, but I seriously want to believe that there’s a truth at the core of this, and something tells me others have felt the same too.

The response to ThisService has been through the roof, out of the park, generally exceeding a lot of venues in a lot of metaphors. I’m happy, but I’m also very intrigued of what could grow out of this.

John: “So like two days ago I said to Jesper via AIM, “Here’s an idea: make an app that takes a script as input and generates a service as output, so that you can turn simple scripts into system-wide services.” Here it is. Excellent.”

Shawn: “Hooray! [..] Services are Mac OS X’s GUI friendly way of UNIX style “piping” of data and can be navigated to from the Apple menu or called via keyboard shortcut. You can hack a lot of “plug-in” like functionality into a Service if your desired application is missing certain functions.”

Erik: “I recently (yesterday) re-did my services menu with Service Scrubber, which freed up enough space to add a few nifty little one-trick ponies via ThisService.”

Michael: “ThisService is DropScript for services.”

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Disco represents everything that’s good with Mac development today.

As some people may know, I’ve been a fan of Robbie Williams’ music for quite some time. However, I’m not completely at home with his newest album Rudebox.

My very first Robbie Williams album ranked by chronological acquisition was 2000′s Sing When You’re Winning. There’s literally not one song I don’t like on that album. I also picked up I’ve Been Expecting You (the 1998 home of “Strong”, “No Regrets”, “Millennium” and outsiders “Win Some Lose Some” and “Grace”), Escapology (2002, housing “Monsoon”, “Handsome Man”, “Me and My Monkey”, “Hot Fudge”) and last year’s Intensive Care (“The Trouble With Me”, “King of Bloke and Bird”, “Please Don’t Die”, “Sin Sin Sin” and of course “Tripping”).

I’ll admit it: My taste is out in the periphery, rarely turning to the radio plays. I’ve had qualms with most of the latter albums, but my relationship to Rudebox is a different animal entirely. I am unable to find one good song on the album, and it carries 17 tracks in all, more than on any other such studio album. “Louise”, “The Actor” and “Bongo Bong And Je Ne T’Aime” are the only ones even coming close to acceptable. As for the rest, well…

I understand what he’s trying to do. He’s trying to pull in a completely different direction, to not stagnate, to avoid repetition, and I appreciate the effort. I don’t necessarily approve of the end result, however. I’m avoiding the Pet Shop Boys like the plague and it pains me to see a collaboration, and many of the other songs are textbook examples of what to play me to provoke an instinct to change the channel.

I’d be happy if he returned to familiar pastures with his next album. Two stars out of five, with one solely for a reasonable effort and good intent.