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G5/MacOS is higher price/performance than Xeon/Win32 by about 25%. Numbers available here.

Here's an article I published awhile back for Artificial Cheese. It's titled "PowerBook Drop Test". Pretty abused hardware, but still entirely functional.

This story can only be paralleled by the lady who put her PowerBook in the oven.

Wired is running an article about Apple's recent actions to disallow OS tweaking. I'd like to congratulate Apple for taking a move to completely alienate a market they have worked for years to please.

To see why Apple's move is wrong, you have to do some thinking on your own. Why did Apple open source their system? They wanted code monkeys to "go ape" with the source, right? They must have wanted that, because their other markets (graphic designers and internet surfing grandmas) don't care.

Now ask yourself this. What do code monkeys want? They want things open. They want things they can change. Code monkeys are never happy with what's given to them. If they were, they wouldn't have bothered to learn a programming language, and they wouldn't spend hours upon hours looking through source code.

So why would you make a invitation gesture with one hand, and push people away with the other?

Apple claims to do it for our own good. They hold the opinion that they know what's best for interface related issues, and that code monkeys should only concern themselves with boring subjects such as how the OS handles virtual memory, how to patch security issues, and why audio sometimes skips on certain multiprocessor machines.

But for God's sake, even Apple can't follow their own guidelines. If you read them, you'll see things saying to only use the brushed steel interface for programs dealing directly with media or hardware. That makes sense. Apple uses it for iPhoto, QuickTime, and Final Cut Pro. They also use it for iChat. Does iChat have anything to do with media or hardware? Absolutely not.

Even a code monkey wouldn't make a stupid mistake like that.

So Apple. I'm begging you. Please don't shoot yourself in the foot like this. You spent so much time creating an open system, and wasting your time closing it again is absurd. Not only is it absurd, but it's driving away the very customers you worked incredibly hard to earn.

Wired is running an article about Apple's recent actions to disallow OS tweaking. I'd like to congratulate Apple for taking a move to completely alienate a market they have worked for years to please.

To see why Apple's move is wrong, you have to do some thinking on your own. Why did Apple open source their system? They wanted code monkeys to "go ape" with the source, right? They must have wanted that, because their other markets (graphic designers and internet surfing grandmas) don't care.

Now ask yourself this. What do code monkeys want? They want things open. They want things they can change. Code monkeys are never happy with what's given to them. If they were, they wouldn't have bothered to learn a programming language, and they wouldn't spend hours upon hours looking through source code.

So why would you make a invitation gesture with one hand, and push people away with the other?

Apple claims to do it for our own good. They hold the opinion that they know what's best for interface related issues, and that code monkeys should only concern themselves with boring subjects such as how the OS handles virtual memory, how to patch security issues, and why audio sometimes skips on certain multiprocessor machines.

But for God's sake, even Apple can't follow their own guidelines. If you read them, you'll see things saying to only use the brushed steel interface for programs dealing directly with media or hardware. That makes sense. Apple uses it for iPhoto, QuickTime, and Final Cut Pro. They also use it for iChat. Does iChat have anything to do with media or hardware? Absolutely not.

Even a code monkey wouldn't make a stupid mistake like that.

So Apple. I'm begging you. Please don't shoot yourself in the foot like this. You spent so much time creating an open system, and wasting your time closing it again is absurd. Not only is it absurd, but it's driving away the very customers you worked incredibly hard to earn.

It's kind of late, but I wrote my 2 cents about the article on Artificial Cheese. Here's a link.

And here it is pasted: http://artificialcheese.com/story/2002/8/31/161044 /348

It's kind of late, but I wrote my 2 cents about the article on Artificial Cheese. Here's a link.

And here it is pasted: http://artificialcheese.com/story/2002/8/31/161044 /348

This is totally offtopic, but I've tried e-mail with no reply, so:

What is up with Artificial Cheese?

No updates since last year, and of right now I can't even access it.

Some people did find the site interesting. If you've killed it off, at least a little note on the front page saying as much would be nice...

Is this, by any chance, you?

Some people saw the dump coming. This Artificial Cheese article predicted the cube's departure before Apple made their announcement.

Lately there's been some question as to whether Steve Jobs has steered Apple on track, especially regarding OS X. Artificial Cheese has an article about it. Is Steve really that great?

Ugh... I dont even want to imagine... one gives free net access, one free email, both have an optional pay service that no one uses... I can see a failed IPO and a Chapter 11 in the near future...

[OT] On a positive note, heres a story at ArtificialCheese.com on the possible new iMac. (http://www.artificialcheese.com/articles/june01/i mac2001/ for the goatsex weary)

Mark Duell

On the article that was linked he refers us to another related article he has written. You can go directly there by clicking here. The second one is a worthwhile read too. Everyone should check it out.

Didn't anybody see this article posted on Slashdot several weeks ago? It basically concludes that if a user switched to LinuxPPC because OS 9 lacked a feature, and MacOS X now includes that feature, it's quite likely that they will switch back. And yes, OS X is a very significant threat to LinuxPPC.

Here's another way to look at things. If you run BSD, but want a better GUI, then you could theoretically buy a Mac and run OSX. All your apps will work, and you'll have the benefits of Apple's much-praised UI. If you have a problem with any of the other aspects of the mac, read this.

Apple says a G4 is capable of 3 gigaflops. Since we know their marketing department is full of liars, let's say 2 gigaflops. That means only 8 G4s to equal the computer power of the Cray. I could get over 15 G4s for the price that they're selling that cray. Let's see, half the price....or full price? I'll buy the G4s! Brian Tobin Artificial Cheese