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You mean the one that got invalidated as a patent?

http://www.macnewsworld.com/story/76470.html

Well, not only is that decision not final - look at why it was "invalidated: because they counted a previous patent as prior art - a patent by Apple. IOW even if the "new" patent gets invalidated, the old one still remains valid.

You mean the one that got invalidated as a patent?
http://www.macnewsworld.com/story/76470.html

What you are confusing is computer animation and graphic design. In computer animation, Linux is the predominant OS in the rendering. However the everyday workstation is mixture of different OS's. Pixar runs OS Xboth. They use Macs for their everyday design while Linux does the heavy number crunching in their render farms. While Macs are not the only machines you can use for graphics design, by far, more graphic designers use Macs. Windows users are second. Linux is almost negligible.

Mark my words: barring a direct meteor hit on Cupertino, Linux will never, ever be a major player in the desktop market.

Well, it's clear you missed this bit of news, which clearly explains why Linux is set to unseat Apple as the number 2 Desktop OS! Gartner even predicts that Linux will be 7.5% of the desktop market in four years!

Oh wait! That article is from 2004.

Four years ago...

I seem to recall tons of issues rather recently.

The phrase you forgot there is "legal customer" not just regular customer.

That's the right subject line, but for completely different reasons.

Best Buy is the company that reportedly exposed its customer data through an insecurely configured wireless network. And the company whose employees apparently used an internal site to fool customers. And the company involved with obstruction in overly aggressive MSN sales. In my opinion, they have always had dubious ethics.

They've done a very good job of creating an image of a "retailer that wants to fire customers".

I am sure a good many of them do not consider this an upgrade, but rather final delivery of the OS they were promised when they purchased their hardware.

From Apple's experience with 802.11n upgrade, this is not allowed under generally accepted accounting practices.

Please tell me otherwise if this site isn't credible, but I happened upon this.

http://www.macnewsworld.com/story/6C07rmGkmpn1Oe/T he-iPods-Incredible-Journey.xhtml

It details some of the ethical concerns in Apple's manufacturing, or outsourcing to manufacturers that do this. And then again maybe I'm some bleeding-heart, I dunno.

He sold stock that had vested, so that he could pay the tax on the stock vesting (which is treated as income).

Apple withheld over 4.5 million of the shares, worth $295.7 million in total, to cover the minimum taxes required on the vesting of the restricted stock the company awarded to Jobs in 2003.

Sell about half, keep the rest...not a bad deal for Steve.

I thought the name "Apple" came from Steve's job in an apple orchard. The biography at Mac News World states "1976: On April Fool's Day, Jobs and Wozniak incorporate Apple Computer. The name has its roots in the Beatles' record label and Jobs' time working in Oregon apple orchards."

The article Apple Trademark Battle With The Beatles Goes to UK High Court suggest that Apple Computer and Apple Corps. had reached an agreement after several previous trademark disputes.

This week, as more of an experiment than anything else, the iTunes Music Store began selling a downloadable version of the entire made-for-Disney-Channel movie "High School Musical" for $9.99 at iPod-video quality.

Granted, the movie is still being shown on Disney Channel now and then, but it's a bit of a big deal in that this is being offered a couple of months ahead of the DVD release, and for about half the price.

It was interesting to read this article after just last night hearing a short news blurb on my local CBS affiliate about the porn industry is "embracing" the new iPod with man on the street interviews with people who don't like the idea of having the "guy sitting next to them in class looking at porn," and overarching implications that parents should be alarmed and ready to take up arms to defend their kids' innocence.

Other perspectives:
Pornographers embracing iPod
Will iPod Be Eye for Porn?
Harness iPod's dollar power -- porn on the go
How do you know Apple's new device will succeed? iPod Porn
Apple iPod delivers "iPorno" revolution

Everyone knows the Apple Store, one of the largest online stores, runs on.. oh, wait.

We do know that Macs are useless for clustering and could never be used to build a supercomputer.

I know, old ideas die hard.

Actually, Wal-Mart has made a deal directly with Apple to carry the iPod, so HP's departure makes no difference there. Ditto RadioShack, if AppleInsider can be believed. That eliminates the two most significant retailers that carried HP but not Apple. The only big holdouts now are the office-supply chains, and it wouldn't surprise me a bit to see Staples or Office Depot make a deal with Apple next.

Memory is cheap and will continue to get less expensive.

DELL - 1 GB Module for a Dell Dimension XPS Generation 5 System
1 GB DDR2 SDRAM, PC2-4200 / 533 MHz, Non-Parity, Unbuffered
Dell Part #: A0488538, Manufacturer Part #: DC6844
Usually Ships: Within 24 Hours
Units Req.: 2 $140.99

Moore's law is a wonderfull thing and memory prices have beaten it consistantly.

Your 128 Meg example for XP, which came out how long ago? Apply Moores law and double the requirements every 18 months.

I don't think you can really even buy a new PC without 256 Meg minimum these days.

http://www.macnewsworld.com/story/J783zlPrDnjg4t/A pple-Makes-512-MB-RAM-Standard-on-Mac-Mini.xhtmlco m/story/J783zlPrDnjg4t/Apple-Makes-512-MB-RAM-Stan dard-on-Mac-Mini.xhtml

Many analysts feel the same..

Article from Sci-Tech Today
Still, its chip sales to Apple contribute less than 1 percent of IBM's total revenue of $99 billion, suggesting the financial impact of Apple's decision will be minimal.

"The headline risk is greater than the actual risk," wrote Goldman Sachs analyst Laura Conigliaro, who left her profit estimates for IBM this year unchanged.

Another clip

The loss of Apple means a 10-15 percent reduction in IBM's semiconductor revenues coming through its Microelectronics unit, or less than 0.5 percent of total IBM revenues.

I understand many people have high sales expectations for Apple computers but many people are still only forecasting 3 million in sales compared to about 200 million PC's worldwide for 2005. IMHO, Apple will make up larger and larger % of sales but just like the diehard Washington Redskin fans have found out, even with Joe Gibbs, it takes time to get to that level.

All computers suck for usability because it's not clear what we want to use them for

Actually according to macnewsworld.com the majority of people are using computers for porn

People... suck(...ing)

yeah thats probably on the majority of peoples screens right now.

I was going to attack your reasoning on your other points, but figured others would do that (and quite possibly better) but this struck me as interesting:

Linux is *not* user friendly, and until it is linux will stay with >1% marketshare.

(I'm assuming you meant <1%)

Since surveys are starting to put linux at over 3% of desktops (and in any case, comparable numbers, or even more than Macs, which few people would not call "user friendly") it must, therefore, be "user friendly"?

I would submit that at the least that 3% has been convinced it is...

Cheers & God bless
Sam "SammyTheSnake" Penny

PS. have a look at http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.a sp, http://www.macnewsworld.com/story/35688.html

You're going to have to back that claim up. The rumor keeps going around, and Apple keeps denying it.

I don't doubt the price will go up one day, but not soon and not to the degree that you suggest.

Most abnormal behavior is rare. However, with larger populations there will be more of the rare people.

Now, you talk about child abuse and spanking. Spanking isn't child abuse in the United States, generally.

"Corporal punishment of children in school is illegal in many western countries; it remains legal in 22 U.S. states, although it is commonly practised only in the South. In each of these states, it is up to each school district to determine whether corporal punishment will be used, in what situations will it be applied, and the manner in which it is given - typically with a paddle. There are states where school officials have lost their jobs for spanking students.

Spanking of children within families is illegal in some countries (for example, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Austria, Germany, Italy, Cyprus, Croatia, Israel and Latvia). Similar initiatives in the U.S. have repeatedly failed. Parental rights groups have formed since the 1990s to prevent spanking from being criminalized."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanking

Using Google as the benchmark for how much child porn is out there is flawed, it seems that they are using encrypted sites and p2p apps for spreading it.

So, if I understand correctly, folks like Nambla exsist because people are against "child pr0n"?

http://www.macnewsworld.com/story/33836.html - for example

Ok, now I'm just confused...

Apple's pricing, which has often been higher than rivals, also could be more competitive -- particularly if Intel provides the kind of marketing subsidies it has given to other computer makers. http://www.macnewsworld.com/story/43276.html

(If you wish, Google for other discussions about Intel marketing subsidies)

So when talking about Apple's OEM hardware costs, take into account discounts for large purchases and marketing funds. Of course, the latter could lead to "Intel Inside" stickers.

Heh, it gets worse. Enderle was right too.

Enderle vs. Chaffin debate from macnewsworld.com

Care to back that up? I know about the Xbox, but I believe that's the only one.

I thought this was common knowledge, it should be.
Most consoles are loss leaders, and have been for quite some time. It's like the razor/blades situation.

Even the Dreamcast was a loss-leader, and the Xbox, PS2, and Gamecube are also.

http://www.macnewsworld.com/story/17836.html

"Giga's Enderle told the E-Commerce Times in an earlier interview that console manufacturers typically sell consoles as loss leaders, recouping their profits on software titles."

http://www.dwightsilverman.com/xbox.htm

http://money.cnn.com/2001/11/15/technology/xbox/

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0CGN/is _3772/ai_56701165

If you search around you'll find loads of information. Just search for "loss leader" and "console".

Part of the problem is that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has been lax in granting patents, said Mitchell Kapor, a founder of Lotus Development Corp. and a prominent backer of the Mozilla browser. "There have been tens of thousands of bad software patents issued which never would have been issued if the Patent Office had actually been following its own rules," he said.

Ultimately, these bad patents may come back to haunt the open-source community, he predicted, saying that Microsoft Corp. will eventually be driven to launch wide-ranging patent lawsuits, which he called "patent WMDs" (weapons of mass destruction) against open-source projects. "Their business model no longer holds up in an era where it's clear that open-source is simply an economically superior way to produce software," he said. "Of course they're going go unleash the WMDs. Why would they not?"

http://www.macnewsworld.com/story/8757.html
http://www.cio.com/archive/021501/fine.html
http://www.forbes.com/asap/2002/0624/044.html

I wonder why an OEM vendor shipping Linux pre-installed on laptops only signals "The Future of Linux on Laptops" when it's Debian^WUbuntu ?

HP first started shipping Linux preinstalled on NX5000s with SuSE.

And, Mandriva ships pre-installed HP laptops (looks like an NX9030) in Europe

I point out that Mandriva 2005LE does everything (at least on my HP NX7010) this apparently "highly configured system designed especially for HP notebooks" does out-the-box, including:

-LAN (8139too)
-WiFi (ipw2100 in my case)
-Modem
-Sound
-Bluetooth (I use it with a Logitech MX900 and my Nokia 6600)
-Graphics adapter (fglrx or radeon)
-Battery usage meter (ie acpi)
-Suspend to disk
-Hotkey configuration (new in 2005LE, keyboarddrake should choose the right keyboard layout )

I don't have any Firewire devices, and I all the IR devices I have have a faster medium (bluetooth or cable), so I haven't tested them, but the firewire modules get loaded fine.

(On the download edition of Mandriva, you would need to download the firmware for the ipw2100, you would get the radeon driver, and the modem may not work out-the-box ... but that's the price of Freedom ... Ubunto isn't Free!)

So ... I see this more as Linux becoming more mature in support of features we all want working out-the-box (which previously requried manual setup).

Wow, I wish I had mod points... FUNNY! Who modded this informative?? Whoever did should have actually looked at http://www.macnewsworld.com/.

Example #2

Example #3

Example #4

I could go on...

Toolbar point taken - I've never actually tried it myself but I have seen the page. Official stances on the other-platforms issue seem to be an attempt to stifle the emails at best. In hindsight, I can't actually back up that claim on a Linux version as I can't find the place I read that. However...

"Google Desktop Search is a free, downloadable application that allows users to search through e-mail, instant messages, text files and the World Wide Web simultaneously.

Mac users shouldn't hold their breath, however. Google executives told Reuters that while the company plans to develop an OS X-compatible version of its new search tool, it has to be rebuilt from scratch for the Mac operating system." --MacNewsWorld, October 1st 2004

But they do have an API so that you can extend their closed-source application for them. All APIs are about extending or embracing the usage of something; making it appear as any one person or company is having everyone else do the work for them is pessimistic and biased at best - as is overly hyping the potential, of course. But at any rate, it's a good thing that they have an API - there are already OpenOffice.org/StarOffice plugins. No, it's not official, but it's created by someone because they needed it, just like the official, bundled plugins were created by Google employees because *they* needed it.

Ironically, you say this and then use benchmarks that effectively measure megahertz to say the raw processing power is not keeping up.

Not true. I'm not basing their performance off their frequency, I'm basing their performance off their proven power in benchmarks. The AMD chips in these benchmarks also runs at a lower clock speed than the Intel chips, yet they are faster than both the P4 and G5.

Frankly, the reality is, for any kind of serious work, there are no machines out there that are as fast as the PowerPC G5 series.

The fastest Intel and AMD chips outperform the top of the line G5's. See how the G5 machines compare to the Intel and AMD machines: http://www.systemshootouts.org/processors.html

Apple has been ahead in performance since moving to the PowerPC. But people are in denial of it because they have some sort of machismo wrapped up in thinking their machine is faster (And there's more non-powerpc users out there than powerpc users.)

Apple has *not* been ahead in performance since moving to the PowerPC. They weren't even close until the G5 came around. And even now, they're close but still not able to compete with the high end Athlon64's. No legitimate hardware tester would come to this conclusion, not even an Apple fan. Only the least technical and hardest-core Mac zealot would knowingly turn his head away from reality and keep on believing that his machine is faster when other chips have proven themselves to be faster.

Take a look at this link http://www.macnewsworld.com/story/31867.html

Since the time that this article was written, AMD and Intel have released multiple increased speed grades, while the G5 has only just now been able to increase in one small speed grade.

And please don't attempt to tell me that this is a Pro-AMD, anti-Mac website saying this, since the site is a Macintosh-fan site.

There are some objective Mac fans out there, but there are too many people who are so into it that it has become a religion for them, and trying to convince them that the G5 can't compete with a high-end Athlon64 is like trying to convince them that their God doesn't exist. As soon as you show them conclusive evidence shooting down their belief, they'll close their eyes and let blind faith take over... and at that point, there is no reasoning with them.

You mean the way the BSDs are so much more widely adopted than Linux?

The irony of your statement is that BSDs are more widely adopted than Linux! There are NetBSD, OpenBSD, FreeBSD, and BSDi (still in use for web hosting). But more importantly, the Macintosh has a larger desktop market share than Linux does[1]. And OS X is based on FreeBSD. Apple might've considered basing it on Linux, but they could not do that (and still charge money for it) because of the GPL.

Whether you like it or not, companies that sell software for a profit are going to continue to exist. No matter how much you believe in it and how much you are devoted to The Free Software Movement, that isn't going to change. And these companies that sell software will sometimes need a component that already exists. If they have a choice between something like the BSD license (or the Mozilla Public License) vs. the GPL, they aren't going to choose the GPL. Commercial companies will always be a player in determining how things work in the software world, and to the extent that the GPL restrictions prevent commercial companies from embracing GPL-based technologies, they will standardize on something else, which to an extent will force the rest of computing world to standardize on something else.

I had greedy corporations and vendor lock-in as much as (or, most likely, a huge amount more than) the next guy, but I still think the GPL creates an unnecessary divide between commercial and free software interests. It's possible for a commercial software company to be cooperative and be a good citizen in the software world without the GPL being involved. Sometimes it works better when the GPL is not involved.

[1] '"Based on market research that we've done, this is the year that we expect to see the market share of Linux on the desktop to exceed Mac on the desktop," HP Linux Marketing Communication Manager Jeffrey Wade told TechNewsWorld.' ( source)

As for better elements that all depends on who you are buying your parts from. First of all a G5 outclasses a P4, it may not be as fast for 32-bit operations, but its only PC equivilent is an Opteron. And if you know anything about PC's an Opteron costs way more then a P4. This is also true for the mobo it requires. So your're not comparing equivilent systems. The iMacs components are closer to a workstation in some areas. Basically the Mac uses higher grade components which cost more. The G5 towers are true worksations, if you're wondering why their price is even higher.

This is plain FUD. First of all, I'm not an Intel fan but the G5 certainly does not outclass the P4. You will be hard pressed to find a G5 that can compete against the high-end P4's.

Second of all, the G5 does not have to compete against an Opteron. An Athlon 64 is more comparable and is much cheaper. It is also faster than anything Apple has, as you will not find a G5 that delivers the performance that the fastest Athlon64's will.

In the past when I've debated performance against Apple fans, the debate follows a predictable path. First they'll claim that their Mac can compete on a performance basis. Once I show them the benchmarks which clearly show that this isn't the case, they'll attempt to compare a dual-G5 to a single P4/Athlon. When I bring up the fact that they can buy a dual P4/Athlon for less money, they'll try to say that it's "apples/oranges". Why? I don't know, but it's probably because they've reached the end of their rational arguments.

I will even link to a Mac news page:

http://www.macnewsworld.com/story/31867.html

This is from a Mac news page. This isn't some anti-Mac Intel fanboy page.

Apple never actually held the crown for fastest processor. They tried claiming that their product was available while AMD's wasn't, but in reality AMD's product was available first. When companies called Apple on its bogus claim, they quickly backpeddled. Also, if you look at the date of the article, you'll see that some time has passed since then. AMD and Intel have ramped up their clock speed greatly, while the G5's have not been able to ramp up speed nearly as fast.

Here is a page with a rough speed comparison to P4's (compares A64,AXP,Opteron/G4/G5 to P4 speeds)
http://www.systemshootouts.org/processors.html

You'll notice that for single processors the G5 cannot match the top of the line Intel or AMD systems (since that article was made Apple has not been able to ramp up the speed of the G5, while Intel and AMD have released faster chips). If you want to compare dual systems, once again it cannot compete.

Cisco Chooses Mac OS X, Xserve, Xserve RAID, Xsan for an e-mail archival system.

One can only conclude that you are a moron.

1. the great unwashed. These are the people who dont understand apt-get and the beauty of a clean kernel. They want something at home that looks like the PC at work, can do email/browse the web and can run games they buy at the local shop.
2. the CIO, who wants something with minimum retraining costs (and therefore looks like windows) and can do all the stuff windows can do, including run the corporate apps.

But it doesn't have games (that you can buy down at the local shop) or corporate apps, and it isn't quite as simple as windows (to a current windows user).

When we nail all these we will be well on track.

The stats that matter are market share of the video editing market--Apple controled 26% of the broadcast/cable market in 2003...imagine where they are now, 2 years later. And that doesn't count the home video market or the Film industry or porn industry (as someone else noted earlier) or video production companies or ad agencies, etc. etc. With actual Hollywood releases being made on Final Cut Pro, 4% doesn't tell the whole picture. Statistics are as straight-forward as the Bible.

Sure, it depends what and where you read; the page I gave you has alot of material, Gartner tends to be a bit stingey, with IDC offering much higher stats. For instance this article I found in MacNewsWorld entitled "Linux Set To Unseat Apple as Number Two Desktop OS" has some interesting statistics that perhaps put things a little more in perspective than mere bar graphs and aged OS sniff stats.

http://www.macnewsworld.com/story/35688.html

Regardless, I look forward to Linux greatly benefitting from Apple's new choice of kernel architecture, and vice versa - a strong partnership is available to both kernel relatives to greatly improve the state of the Desktop generally.. Lets keep it that way; cross-pollinating innovations as they emerge. Afterall, you realise Linux and OSX are far from being competitors ;)

She was the big mover behind HP's merger with Compaq, even being accused of underhanded deals to get the vote pushed through. Like all such mergers, things rarely go as well as people anticipate. And with the loss in recent years of the "HP Way" that they were famous for, she basically failed. I'm not a bit surprised she was forced out.

From MacNewsWorld:

...one of those passages in the court document strongly implies that Apple Corps agreed to allow Apple (Computer) to pursue digital music initiatives, but not package, sell or distribute any physical music materials such as CDs.

From MacNewsWorld:

...one of those passages in the court document strongly implies that Apple Corps agreed to allow Apple (Computer) to pursue digital music initiatives, but not package, sell or distribute any physical music materials such as CDs.

There are two numbers getting crossed here.

Apple's iTunes Music Store sells about 70-80% of the music sold online. The number is approximate, because not all sales by all retailers are reported by SoundScan. Specifically, SoundScan only reports digital single sales, and not digital album sales, so iTMS' sales may be underreported by 40% or so (since Apple claims that about 40% of their sales are album sales). But whatever you believe the precise number is, iTMS is dominating in the digital music sales business right now.

Apple's iPod is about 60% of the hard drive-based MP3 player market, and 39% of the total MP3 player market. This makes the iPod the clear leader (the second place vendor has 15%, then it drops from there), but not as completely dominant as they are in music sales.

Of course, this is a dyanic business, so anything could change...