Well, I've just tried Automator (for OS X Tiger), and I have to say that it's not there yet. It's a great idea, but the execution is somewhat lacking. The biggest thing is the simplicity of the flow; there's no way to combine multiple pieces of information (i.e., take two or more variables and feed 'em into, say, a shell script). There's also no way to have multiple branches of 'if X, then A; if Y, then B'. I think if Apple wants to make Automator something really attractive, they should hire some of the folks who worked on Lego's MindStorms - that system of pseudo-programming is exactly what Apple needs. Actually, they could probably do it themselves, just use that as a basis. There's a company called Teranode that has done something like this in a real world setting. They use drag-and-drop programming to design and (in some cases) model/simulate chemical and biological reactions, especially those used to manufacture drugs. It may not be up anymore, but they used to have a free trial version you could download. Written in pure Java. Their customers include GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, MIT, UPenn, St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital and others. (Note: despite appearances to the contrary, I really don't work for 'em. Lol.)

Oh, and in other news, I'll be testing some new-to-the-market hearing aids - the Sumo DM by Oticon, and the Savia by Phonak, along with their respective FM systems, the Lexis and the Smartlink-SX. More on that later, perhaps.