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Apple Cancels Apple Expo 2001
Ziploc writes: "Apple today announced the cancellation of Apple Expo 2001, which was scheduled to take place at Paris Expo, Porte de Versailles, from September 26th to 30th, 2001.
See the press release here."
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Steve Jobs promised "No new hardware at Expo Paris."
Looks like he'll be keeping his promise!
So what's the bet that it's simply because they didn't manage to get the latest layer of candy coated plastic onto Jobs' latest little weird idea?
Jedidiah
Craft Beer Programming T-shirts
It's totally impervious to any kind of terrorist attack. I'd even go so far as to say that it may be impervious to any kind of nuclear weapon. Only one draw back. It's cold year round. I keep warm by reading pr0n.
Serious question here. I'm sorry, but what does this have anything to do with the Paris Expo? Security is their #1 concern? I'm not following the relevance.
If God gave us curiosity
So the new hardware isn't going to get a pretty parade in Paris?
Writers imply. Readers infer.
Of course it's offtopic, God forbid Slashdot editorial abuse is exposed.
After all, they don't have many left as it is...
It doesn't take me by surprise at all, and I don't really blame him. International flights out of the US are going to be a little scary for a while since the past Tuesdays affairs.
Since there was no new hardware to be displayed, I don't really see this as much of a loss anyhow.
Apple really needs to refocus and release tech. info on their older systems anyhow. I've been fighting for 2 years to get driver-level specs for a Powerbook 1400, and have yet to recieve anything but a runaround. MacOS X based on a BSD core is pretty cool, but Apple just like IBM-clones need a choice. BeOS comes close, but neither of these will run on my PB. I'd hate to think I'd wasted my money.
BTW, a 1400 CAN be installed, but PCMCIA and floppy support, you can forget about.
-What have you contributed lately?
Boneheaded, opportunistic comment of the day. Pot, kettle.
Sorry, I missed ESR's comments, they were initially drowned out by gun-control fuckwits automatically blaming the attacks on guns.
Turns out there actually won't be any new products announced at Apple Expo this year.
I can't spell or type, but that doesn't mean I'm unusually stupid.
Apple will also be donating an iBook to each of these families with children.
And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start
To mold a new reality... closer to the heart
This will have to wait for a while! :)
The expo starts on the 26th, 15 days after the attacks on the WTC. Apple has to move a lot of key personnel from Apple USA to Paris for the expo, personnel which are not always American citizens and some are quite likely "Arab looking".
----
Am I the only one who thinks Microsoft is a misnomer? Perhaps Macrosoft would be a better fit?
Well it is a real shame that this has happened. Everyone is now afaird of terroism, giving the terrorists just what they want. This was a poor move on Apples part. I think that apple will soon find itself in real financial trouble (not neccisarily because of this).
Gaming Shizzle
I think it is still a bit too soon for a high energy SteveNote address right now. Good call.
"Things are more moderner than before- bigger, and yet smaller- it's computers-- San Dimas High School football RULES!"
Apple is one of the 10 most visible, most symbolic US companies in history. Putting hundreds of thousands of people into a convention hall in one of the west's biggest and most symbolic cities, which has been the object of sustained but sporadic extremist terrorist attcks for 20 years, and then expecting French authorities to secure the site... is not a good idea right now.
Plus there are problems with logistics (getting exhibitors to and from the US when the airports are barely functioning)
it looks like this is a good thing. Finally they realize that nothing will stop Lord Gates. Bow to him for he is admin...lord of all geeks....
Oh.. they've managed to disrupt. There's no doubt about that. And they've finally gotten what they've wanted after all these years: Distruction of a notable amount on US soil.
So be it, the trick is that we'll rebuild the World Trade Centers and surrounding buildings. We'll have Federal security instead of the lousy $6/hr wannabe's that will let you on a plane with a Bowie knife. It will be a safer than it was before, and not giving up any personal freedoms. But now, we all have a common goal to focus on, and this helps keep at bay the internal problems we've had in the past.
Maybe after this is all over with, we can have the military ACTUALLY patrolling the borders and keep more drugs/terrorists/etc. out of our country!
-What have you contributed lately?
On one hand, I sympathize with security concerns. This is a frightening time. On the other hand, is a congregation of nerds in Paris really much of a target? If the terrorists were going after intellectuals, they could have crashed into harvard or MIT (15 minutes into their flight from boston). If they want to damage the economy, damaging such a narrow (1 company+peripheral manufacturers) target wouldn't be nearly effective as hitting, for instance, the Stock exchange. It's like my school, where janitors were posted to make sure nobody bombed. Seems like a bit of paranoia to me, but on the other hand Apple didn't have much to say.
My Karma is so good, I'm the Dalai Lama...or something.
Apple was not happy with the press ranting about "no new products".
The show would have been very weak, with another Jobs keynote just about the Mac OS X upgrade.
Now the terror threat comes in very handy to cancel the fiasco show.
-- bmp System Support - Vienna, Austria
While I agree this was definately the right thing to do, it is a bummer that the events of last week are having longer term disruptions. The best thing, IMO, for the economy and stability is to go back to life as close to normal as possible, except with beefed up security.
-Sean
Jobs is a big ass coward. He's too chicken to fly.
Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh.
Good work back in the 70's and 80's, but - what have you done for us lately? ;-)
(Yes, that was a joke. When a dual G5 hit's the shelves with MacOS 10.1, I'm probably buying one!)
Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr - looking for something to read? Check out my three free novels at MidnightRyder.org
Rabid Linux Geek: 'Evening, squire!
Squire: (stiffly) Good evening.
Rabid Linux Geek: Is, uh,...Is your wife a goer, eh? Know whatahmean, know whatahmean, nudge nudge, know whatahmean, say no more?
Squire: I, uh, I beg your pardon?
Rabid Linux Geek: Your, uh, your wife, does she go, eh, does she go, eh?
Squire: (flustered) Well, she sometimes "goes", yes.
Rabid Linux Geek: Aaaaaaaah bet she does, I bet she does, say no more, say no more, knowwhatahmean, nudge nudge?
Squire: (confused) I'm afraid I don't quite follow you.
Rabid Linux Geek: Follow me. Follow me. That's good, that's good! A nod's as good as a wink to a blind bat!
Squire: Are you, uh,...are you selling something?
Rabid Linux Geek: SELLING! Very good, very good! Ay? Ay? Ay? (pause) Oooh! Ya wicked Ay! Wicked Ay! Oooh hooh! Say No MORE!
Squire: Well, I, uh....
Rabid Linux Geek: Is, your uh, is your wife a sport, ay?
Squire: Um, she likes sport, yes!
Rabid Linux Geek: I bet she does, I bet she does!
Squire: As a matter of fact she's very fond of cricket.
Rabid Linux Geek: 'Oo isn't? Likes games, eh? Knew she would. Likes games, eh? She's been around a bit, been around?
Squire: She has traveled, yes. She's from Scarsdale. (pause)
Rabid Linux Geek: SAY NO MORE!!
Rabid Linux Geek: Scarsdale, saynomore, saynomore, saynomore, squire!
Squire: I wasn't going to!
Rabid Linux Geek: Oh! Well, never mind. Dib dib? Is your uh, is your wife interested in....photography, ay? "Photographs, ay", he asked him knowlingly?
Squire: Photography?
Rabid Linux Geek: Snap snap, grin grin, wink wink, nudge nudge, say no more?
Squire: Holiday snaps, eh?
Rabid Linux Geek: They could be, they could be taken on holiday. Candid, you know, CANDID photography?
Squire: No, no I'm afraid we don't have a camera.
Rabid Linux Geek: Oh. (leeringly) Still, mooooooh, ay? Mwoohohohohoo, ay? Hohohohohoho, ay?
Squire: Look... are you insinuating something?
Rabid Linux Geek: Oh, no, no, no...yes.
Squire: Well?
Rabid Linux Geek: Well, you're a man of the world, squire.
Squire: Yes...
Rabid Linux Geek: I mean, you've been around a bit, you know, like, you've, uh.... You've "done it"....
Squire: What do you mean?
Rabid Linux Geek: Well, I mean like,....you've SLEPT, with a lady....
Squire: Yes....
Rabid Linux Geek: Do they run Linux?
but as much as I'd like to see things continue like normal, it is probably wise to cancel events such as these for a short time. Air travel has suffered a horrific blow that has made many unsure of the safety of air travel. I hate to see the world shut down over this but some things should be put on hold for a little while.
One good thing to come out of this tradgedy -- NO ONE will ever successfully hijaak a passenger airliner ever again. The minute they try to take over, they'll be swarmed over by all the passengers and stomped into bloody bits.
Snagged from Macnn.com:
Message from Steve
From: Steve Jobs
Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2001 07:12:15 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Message from Steve
Team,
Last week's devastating and tragic events have touched everyone at
Apple. We are all grieving for the victims and their families.
Thankfully, no Apple team members were among them. I know many of
you have taken time to support various relief efforts, give blood,
and support those around you. We all appreciate your extra efforts
to do so.
I want to let you know that Apple is donating one million dollars to
the families of the firefighters, police and other emergency
response personnel who lost their lives, through the American Red
Cross Disaster Relief Fund. In addition, we will donate one iBook to
each of these families with children this holiday season.
Also, today we are announcing the cancellation of Apple Expo 2001,
which was scheduled to take place in Paris on September 26-30. We
are very sorry to disappoint our customers and developers, but their
safety must be our primary concern at this time. Apple is a very
visible American company, and having a highly publicized event at
this time would be irresponsible.
We are also taking extra precautions to insure our safety. Apple
security will remain on heightened alert at all our facilities
around the world for the foreseeable future. Please immediately
report any suspicious events or personnel to security.
It's going to take time for the world to return to "normal", and
some things will never return to the way they were. The next few
months may be rocky. Please take the time you need for your
families, and please lean on one another. Together, we will all get
through this.
I want to commend everyone for their efforts throughout this
difficult time. As always, I am very proud of this team.
Steve
----
Am I the only one who thinks Microsoft is a misnomer? Perhaps Macrosoft would be a better fit?
Welcome to the NEW world, folks! Not only can I for see the absolutely diabolical events of the last week doing more of this sort of thing, that the realization that "we" are no longer safe in
large crowds.
I'm wondering if there's going to be a Superbowl, Academy Awards...
:-(
I forget what the event was, but numerous luminaries in the US film business (most memorably Sylvester Stallone, since it was the Rambo era) refused to go to Cannes.
--
E_NOSIG
This isn't meant to be heartless, but I think the world needs to get back to life as normal. I don't think the threats to security are any greater now than they have ever been, and we need to return to normal life for the sake of the economy. When are all these cancellations going to end?
--
"Karma can only be portioned out by the cosmos." - Homer Simpson [1F10]
like -1 Dumbass for example
Dark Days A Plenty
...
(shamelessly reprinted without permission)
by Mark Driver
Rotten. Fucking rotten. That's all I'm feeling in the wake. My stomach's the size of a walnut, and my mind is gray and
gooey, like a big dumb oyster. Unresponsive. I haven't felt like doing much of anything since Tuesday. Even smiling
makes me feel guilty. Tuesday was the most horrible day I've ever lived, and days later I'm still not shaking this feeling of
sick. I'm bummed to the core.
I had been up drinking until 4 in the morning before, so when my mom called five times in a row around 7am P.S.T. on
Tuesday, I was not polite or pleasant as my face hit the receiver. "It's fucking seven o'clock in the morning!" I screamed
into the phone, assuming she was the East Coast salesperson from CRW that liked to call at six or seven in the morning
and tell me about exciting deals from the company that I bought an infrared mouse from like three years ago and had
been getting hounded by ever since.
"Well, sorry," my mom said, snippy and pissed, "I just thought you'd want to witness history." She hung up on me. I
rubbed my pulsing head and squinted through dry eyes, trying not to get too awake. I turned on the television just in time
to see the second tower of the World Trade Center collapse. I tried to shake the muck from my skull, tried to comprehend
what was happening. Click. Click. Click. Bang!
"Yo, girl!" I shouted into the bedroom. "Get up! Get yer skinny ass outta bed!"
I've had a really good run of not caring about "Big News Events", because they always seem staged, wrapped in
manipulation, every camera shot teeming with vampires just out of the picture, using whatever tragedy it was to further
whatever cause they were always schlepping around town.
On Tuesday, the initial reporting was black and white, fact-based, straight-up reporting on the awful situation. The eyes
of anchorpeople were grim and frantic. Their guests were speechless. The anti-septic news façade was broken and
everyone looked and sounded just like regular human beings. But as the initial shock wore off, the networks got their
graphics together and the politicians got their agendas in line.
There were some very bizarre things said. The CIA got to go first.
"We need more human resources in our worldwide surveillance networks. We need informants. It's dirty work. This is a
dirty business and in gathering information we are forced to deal with some not so nice people. Congress must
understand and accept this." All fine and well, but do I need thirteen different officials reading the SAME EXACT
WORDS from the memo pulled off their fax machine five minutes before the interview?
Other phrases I heard:
"America is a different country now." Oh, and I suppose we need a new Constitution too.
"America has lost her innocence." Um, I'm not sure if you can call a global superpower, the only country to have ever
dropped nuclear bombs 'innocent', but I'll go along with it for now.
"How many civil liberties are Americans now willing to give up in the wake of these attacks?" Um, well, I'll be willing to
wait in long lines at the airport. That's about it. Thanks for asking.
Then there was the Congressional dipshit who said with a straight face, "this just underscores the need for a national
missile defense system."
"But could a missile defense system have stopped this attack?" asked the interviewer.
"I think it's too early to tell," the Congressman said, keeping that straight face.
A man in a blue suit said, "we must be patriotic. And selling all your stocks when the markets re-open is certainly not
patriotic. All real patriots will know not to dump their holdings out of fear." Um, OK. I thought that patriotism was something
else. Apparently it's a financial term. I stand corrected.
In a brilliant display of foreign policy analysis, Taliban-esque Jerry "Jerk Me Off" Falwell and Pat "I'm a Koala"
Roberson blamed the terrorist attacks on God's displeasure with the ACLU, pro-lifers, feminists, and homosexuals. No
shit. Now I certainly don't have the life experience of a man who has slept with prostitutes, nor do I have the bedrock
ethics of a man who stole a religious broadcasting business from his trusting partner, but I'd imagine these guys would be
hard pressed to find a problem in the U.S. that wasn't directly tied to the homosexual agenda. Budget crisis? Homosexual
agenda. Fall in wheat prices? Homosexual agenda. Scrapped NASA launches? Homosexual agenda. That's quite a sexy
worldview, huh?
And then there was our President who scampered around like a scared chimp all day Tuesday and then tried to explain
his skittishness away on Wednesday. Like yer one friend who hides in the corner during a bar brawl and stands up after
the fighting's over saying something like "I was looking out for the police." Apparently, uh, Air Force One was in threat
of being, er, hit midair by amateur pilots in 757s, so while the entire country wracked itself with spasms of fear and
uncertainty, the leader of the free world was hiding underground, watching Home Alone II, eating imported spumoni, and
getting back massages from his handlers. And when he did finally emerge from the safety of his bunker, he was not
reassuring. I wasn't relieved or impressed. I was nervous he was gonna say something stupid. Luckily he kept to his
platitudes and pronounced his simple words correctly. I suppose that's all we can ask of the guy. (Conspiracy note: Has
anyone actually seen Dick Cheney since it all began?)
Back to the tragedy. Not like you need to hear it from me, but IT'S SO FUCKING AWFUL! Total bullshit. And the stupidest
thing that these terrorists could have done. What a bunch of rednecks.
Yes, rednecks. Think about it. Rural kids, all pumped up about God and Country, easily manipulated by Men With Big
Plans. OK, maybe they're against blue jeans and booze, but they're also against women with jobs and the toleration of
those with outsider beliefs. They site the crumbling of religious values as the basis for the downfall of their society. They
live in isolated, economically poor communities. They are so filled with God's love, they want to kill for him. Provincials
that smell like piss, fed this warped world view that every American is a die-hard supporter of Israel and a ardent hater
of Arabs. You swap some enemies around, and what you've got is a good ol' fashioned redneck.
I'd say that most Americans didn't really think about Arab issues at all until Tuesday. Your average factory worker
probably hated Jews and Arabs equally and would have had a hard time forming an opinion as to which one he would
cheer for. Well, those who didn't have an opinion certainly do now. And those who were supporters of the Palestinians
and Arab-rights are suddenly feeling what the Israelis have been feeling forthe past twenty years. Fair or not, guess
how much public support Palestine's getting right about now
This is a truth. One we must face. America is an imperialist nation with economic interests all over the globe, willing to
protect them by any means necessary. American Democracy, arrogantly enough, is only available to Americans. To
protect our "interests" we have a long and depressing history of propping up unpopular dictator creeps all over this
globe to exert control within the region and keep business scooting along as usual. Sound far fetched? Any idiot capable
of locating the public library can look to our policy in Latin America, specifically in the countries of Nicaragua and El
Salvador, and see why more than half the countries south of Florida would shoot an American on sight.
We even pulled this off in Iran with that stooge of a Shah in the1950's. CIA trained officers and British MI6 agents didn't
like the fact that current Iranian president Mosaddeq was going to nationalize the oil industry and pull it from British and
American control. So, they took him out of office and put in the Shah, a tyrannical ruler who clamped down in democratic
Iran with a secret police force equally as repressive as the drooling moose of the Taliban. And then, in 1979, after nearly
25 years of bullshit, religious revolution kicked the Shah in the butt and the U.S. was uncordially shown to the door with
more than a few hurt feelings. So then we gave arms to Iraq to fight Iran. And then Iraq became a formidable regional
power. And then we had to fight Iraq. And now we have huge bases in Saudi Arabia. It all works out quite well. No
wonder we have such high opinions of ourselves.
The main reason we're even involved in any of this Middle East business in the first place is the oil, the only reason
we've cared about Israel from the beginning was because we needed a reliable oil foothold. In gaining that foothold
we've made enemies, half of whom we spent the better part of many years arming with tanks and planes.
Combine this with our insane fear of Soviet Communism, the crazy loathing of the Russians evident even as their empire
groaned and fumbled. Like in the war with Afghanistan that became their own Vietnam. Many of the Afghani solders who
sent the Ruskies a' packin' are now leaders of the ruling Taliban. And where did you think the Taliban learned guerrilla
fighting techniques? Where do you think International Supercrook Osama bin Laden learned to shoot his first AK-47?
Not at the Learning Annex. Like the Contras, the CIA trained many Islamic fundamentalists in the fine art of warfare and
improvised munitions, and then gave them plenty of military equipment to terrorize the Russians with. Well, guess who the
Holy Warriors came after once Russians left? That's right, the U.S., the other world giant taking big, meaty dumps in their
backyard.
We still exert economic influence over the region. This is why we are resented. They are not jealous of our lifestyle. They
do not hate our freedom. They hate us.
What we are feeling now is the cost of doing business worldwide.
And I'm not saying this to kick America while it's down. I'm saying this because before we roll out the tanks, we need to
take an honest look at ourselves, our place in the world, the reality that we are not this insulated happyland of freedom
and success that official press releases say we are. We are a nation that has always struggled to balance commerce
with ideals, a balance that has been completely out of whack of late. The insane quest for insane profit has outspent our
decency, our ethics, our basic humanity. We've become a nation of businesspeople first, and living things second.
But not this week. This week is different. Look around you. People are actually being nice. Quiet. Thoughtful. Helping
each other. Volunteering. Nothing like a war to give you some prospective.
Yes, war. Network hyperbole aside, America was attacked. But the America attacked was not the Government and it was
not the President. As much as the news harped on about how safe the President was, I don't think many viewers cared
that much about him. It was the people on the planes, the victims buried in the wreckage that they cared about. America
is the people who are in New York City and Washington right now, above and below ground, doing whatever they can.
It's the heroes who rushed the cabin of Flight 93 and crashed themselves in Pennsylvania. It's the shopkeepers who
gave survivors and rescuers water and wine and sandwiches free of charge. It's the lines of blood givers, of tent donors,
volunteers from neighboring states working unpaid 12 hour shifts. It is normal people who are pasted to their television
sets, sickened to their stomachs, sad beyond anything they've felt. My best friend missed his own mom's funeral
because of closed airports. Another friend, with two family members on the NYPD, spent all of Tuesday trying the phone,
throwing up and crying. A woman I know living on the Lower East Side had to explain to her six year old kid about
terrorism while trying to shield him from people jumping from 95th floor windows and disappearing into clouds of dust.
This is the America that was attacked. And this is the America that will retaliate.
When the military goes marching off, it will be with nearly the full screaming support of the American public. This has not
been the case for many decades. The Gulf War was nothing more than a business venture and everyone knew it. It was
fought with very limited public support. This war, however, will have across the board support, world wide support.
Americans have been attacked on their soil, and now they want a fight.
Jesus, Afghanistan, do you really want a full-blown war with America? Are you that nuts? Do you know the most widely
held virtue here is winning at all costs? Have you seen the lines of scary people waiting to sign up at the army recruiter?
Do you really want to mess with these folks? Have you ever been to the South? Seen professional football? Do you
know what our murder rate is like? We kill each other for fun in America, and you just gave a whole lot of bored maniacs
something to do with the next four years of their lives. Our regular Armed Forces are scary enough, but it's the
volunteers you're gonna have to look out for. These people play the lottery, eat seventeen pounds of ground beef daily,
crush beer cans on their heads, and don't know there's a difference between Chinese and Japanese people. You really
want them wandering around your country with bazookas?
Oh, man, Afghanistan. Just turn on the TV and see how doomed you are. They're cueing the reels of little kids saying
the pledge of allegiance. A seven year old is holding up a picture of his missing fireman father. A WWII vet is sitting in a
wheelchair with a flag in his hand. The camera is pulling in close on the President singing the Battle Hymn of the
Republic. The Battle Hymn of the Republic! YOU ARE SO FUCKED!
Think about it, it couldn't be more perfect. Here we sit, tottering on a horrible recession. Unemployment is way up. We
have a military who has been begging for a real fight since the Gulf. We have an America who hasn't had a mission in a
long time, an America floundering with the possibility that the last great frontier was to be completely colonized by
multinational corporations. Not anymore. We've got marching orders now. All aboard!
Yes, 20 scrawny guys with patchy beards have just brought a world-sized posse led by Marshall Death into their
remote country campgrounds. People from Moscow to Rome are tired of living in fear, of watching planes go down, of
digging out from body bombs. They are spoiling for a fight too. It seems that Islamic terrorists haven't made too many
friends in international circles over the years. The world is ready to bid them farewell.
And soon, when everything is in place, a warbling call from George W. will be made. "Strategical whooping will
commensurate at once!" he will say, and the machines will proceed to begin killing with surgical accuracy, although I
have a feeling there will be a few unintended targets hit every now and then like, oh, I don't know, every single standing
building in Afghanistan. Yes, for the first time in sixty years, we have right on our side. We will be the good guys. And
with righteousness on our side, there is no limit to the carnage we can create. There will be no restraint. You just wait
and see.
And honestly, I'm all for it. I want blood. I want to see terrorists running through the desert with napalm in their beards. I
want to see them pulling their brothers from the rubble. I want to see them frantically calling everyone they know in Kabul
after a bombing run to see who's still alive. This is not kneejerk, this is not reptile brain, this is not armchair quarterback.
This is revenge pure and simple. Politics and causes and motivations aside, these yahoos brought war to my doorstep.
They are willing to spill my blood and the blood of others not involved in their little fights. These raccoon-eyed rednecks
with a world-view the size of a third prize shoe-box diorama took their tiny ideas of how the world should be and used
them to kill thousands of civilians. Caused real pain. To people I know. To people I don't know. They stabbed
stewardesses to death with razor blades to draw pilots out of the cockpit. They crashed planes full of innocents into
buildings full of more. They were funded and supported by nations who are now looking forward to Holy War with the
U.S. We cannot hide behind 'violence is wrong' or 'give peace a chance' This goes beyond T-shirt ideology. This is for
real. This is war. And like it or not, part of the battle field will be your own village.
And soon, we will be walking their villages. With machine guns. Looking for people to burn. There will be brothers of
firemen, of cops, of janitors, of pilots, roaring into their villages in desert vehicles smelling of diesel fuel and spent oil.
These men will not be worrying about stooping to anyone's level. They will not give peace a chance. They, like me, will
want to see ten thousand times the destruction in New York. And who can blame them?
Hell, I was so drunk and pissed Thursday night that if the Army Reserve Recruitment Office was open 24 hours I'd be
carrying a machine gun right now. And this is coming from someone who opposes nearly every war the U.S. has ever
fought, who thinks the American Way of Life has been co-opted into a shallow shell of embarrassing consumer
selfishness, who would love to see a full Israeli pullout from the occupied territories, and is one hundred percent
sickened by nearly every aspect of U.S. foreign policy for the past 200 years.
But I will not tolerate this shit in my neighborhood. They have brought it to me. I will cheer it back upon them a million
fold.
And yet I hesitate. One thing that keeps me, and a lot of other cynics, from allowing myself to completely be lost in this
mass mind of warfare is the track record of our warrior past. U.S. administrations have called upon our patriotism many
times they shouldn't have, many times that they did not deserve it. They have exploited honest patriotism of American
citizens to further their own political agendas, agendas that did not benefit human freedom or American idealism in any
way. I was too young for Vietnam, but that was not a good war. The invasion of Panama was criminal. I have four
buddies who fought in the Gulf and even they will tell you that they were 'just doing their job'. Yes, they love America
and were proud to be soldiers and would certainly lay their lives down for the Army brother or sister fighting next to them,
but that mission was one that did not hold their hearts.
And now, it finally seems like some patriotism is warranted. But I am so conditioned to the manipulation of good people
towards bad ideas - people who trust too much and just want to do the right thing. And now it appears that right thing
finally has come along, but the same old wolves are at the controls.
In this situation I must remember the ideals that this country were founded on. Freedom of speech. Freedom of action.
Freedom from religion. I do believe in them. I would die for them. These ideals that form the basis of American Democracy
are based in common sense, yet are inspirational beyond words. And even if we have been routinely led away from the
sort of America that these ideals attempt to establish, they are there for us to come back to in times of tragedy.
So I'm in. Let's go get the bastards.
Much of the opinion around the Middle East is that America is a cowardly nation who uses others to fight its wars, that it
has grown soft and passive in its sinful Western decadence. I have a feeling that opinion is going to see a bit of a
revision in the weeks to come.
If you were horrified to see them dancing in the streets, rest assured. Soon, they will have no legs.
PS - Seeing the world give their respects to the victims of this nightmare puts a fist sized lump in my throat. The rest of
the world has been dealing with terrorism for decades that saw America mostly apathetic and untouched. These
countries have compassion. They understand. I hope my fellow Americans will remember these scenes forever, and
recall them whenever they start to say anything stupid about anyone who lives outside of these borders.
PPS - My friend Saiid (or the 'Lebanese Stallion' as we like to call him) has asked that people stop throwing bottles at
him from moving cars. Saiid's not a terrorist, he's a Sagittarius. He has also requested at least a slowdown in the amount
of telephoned death threats being called in to the Mosque his parents attend. His dad is an insane fanatic, but for the
Seattle Mariners baseball team. His mom bakes a mean apple kataifi and serves it with a refreshing Lemon Yogurt-ade. If
you see him, his folks, or any of his brothers, smile and say hi to them, OK? For me?
I'm sure that many vendors were canceling, and that Apple employees were't too happy about international air travel. In the end this can only be viewed as a prudent move.
Any of you suggesting otherwise make me sick.
I wonder what happens when a firefight breaks out at 30,000 feet? How many bullets would it take to puncture the skin, have the air pressure tear it off and for people to be sucked out? Maybe we should start thinking about installing bulletproof seats on airplanes now?
Terrorists might view Apple as a target because of that.
The WTC didn't house many (if any) government offices, they were businesses.
Personally, I also think it's a little too reactionary; they should just beef up security and go on with the show.
There was a report on Marketplace on Friday about how many organizations within the US are cancelling their conventions because of the tragedy. The financial impact on the tourism industry of those cities is in the tens of millions of dollars. Think about it, if a convention has 30,000 people, and each person spends an average of $300 apiece on food, lodging, and such, then the loss of that one convention would mean the loss of $9 mil. in revenue.
If apple is canceling a show on such an international basis, this cant be good for their pr. Their new video editing system is easily underpriced and overpowered by the New Sgi's, and (pause for drama) it has a dvd burner? Give me a break. This is just another nail in the coffin.
Physics is nothing like religion. If it was, we'd have an easier time trying to raise money!
Safety? What big name terrorist is going to hit a computer company convention? Sure they're pretty well known, but hardly a good target for destroying the Western world's economy or confidence. The number of attractive destruction targets that come ahead of Apple Expo number in the thousands. Why, even in Paris, I'd think there are more than a few famous landmarks that would be well publicized if they were to get destroyed. Apple Expo getting bombed would make front page news maybe, and only for one day.
If anything, we should be promoting these kind of event, not just to show that our lives continue on despite the terrorists attempts to change them, but also to help bolster the airline industry. If things don't pick up quickly, even with the gov't bailout, several of the majors may go down this year.
"No, no, no. Don't tug on that. You never know what it might be attached to."
But apparently not.
This conference had very little excitement going for it anyway with a promise from Apple of no new hardware announcements. The centerpiece would have been demos of OSX 10.1 and possibly some third party software announcements. It was really just to wave the Apple flag in Europe. There are very real safety and logistical nightmares in mounting an American corporate expo in Europe right now. Most convention gack goes by air freight which for the last week and probably the next week will be totally snarled and backed up. Nobody knows when U.S. military retaliation will take place, but the first moves could very reasonably take place in the time frame of this expo. To put a high profile American expo up in Europe at that point is to paint a bullseye on it. All in all I'd say from a cost/benefit analysis this is the right decision to make for Apple's best interests.
That's exactly how I feel. If there was done nothing at the airports I would be afraid, However that's NOT the case.
ARM was supposed to have a training this week in San Jose, however the same thing happened and the training was canselled...Dumb dumb move.... DUMB!
Info here. It was going to be here in DC next week, and I imagine most of the attendees were flying into National Airport, which is closed indefinitely.
Best Slashdot Co
look fore teh foot
Does he fear anything that extremist will attack his apple :o)
...
:o) Yeah !
... that's great news.
;)
This is sad news here for europeans MacOS supporters, just because MacOSX 10.1 (which should have been named XI ) gain lots of cool technologies
The best for me ist that it seem to be JNLP compliant
Now, macosX is realy a true Java ready platform and we can develop applications for masses using swing+JNLP
Hope that steve will rollback its transaction
4R34'.
And I'd be a Libertarian, if they weren't all a bunch of tax-dodging professional whiners.
Berke Breathed
...we'll start seeing certain mailing lists that have signatures that read:
Don't Laugh, I brought apple at $13 a share and now I'm fscked.
Sorry, didn't realise that complaints on Slashdot procedures were supposed to be addressed in the proper meta-discussions. I would appreciate it if moderators could moderate both the parent to this and the parent of that to (-1) so that it does not appear in the archives.
I wont bother anyone again by interrupting entirely irrelevent threads.
I humbly and totally apologise to all Slashdotters for this breach of protocol.
Apple is slowly dying anyway.
Well, duh! What did they expect when they decided to use BSD?
Slashdot is jumping the shark. I'm just driving the boat.
They didn't predict anything for MacWorld Paris, and it looks like they were right!!!
I imagine it's not, but the first thing that flew into my mind was that this was possibly a 'protest' against France's... umm... how to say it... 'lukewarm support' for American policies in tracking and punishing the terrorists responsible for the WTC attack.
'Life is like a spoonful of Drain-O, it feels good on the way down but leaves you feeling hollow inside'
...fogs suck anyway and paris is *way* over reaited (primarily by teenage girls who are looking for "romance" after finally getting over their horse fettish).
besides... they can hold the expo in the good old USA (preferably in New York), where 80% of their customer base lives and works. If the rest of the world want to come take a look, well, great!
Last week during the disaster, hundreds of websites changed their front page to reflect the horrible disaster which occurred. Everything from search engines like google.com to humor sites like keepersoflists.org and even Microsoft.com put something up about the disaster. Apple blatently ignored the issue for several days, and while a tech support individual I spoke with (about an unrelated issue) said they were all stunned by the event, the web site did not reflect this for several days. It made me a little less happy to be a Mac user. (Yes, I use linux/unix every day as well)
I wish Apple would have been a little cooler about the whole thing. At least they are finally catching up.
Yuck.
They need to ship all their stuff two weeks in advance from the US to clear customs and be there on time. That would put it right around the bombing incident. They lost an entire week there so they won't have anything except an empty booth there. Air travel is tight and backlogged. Tons and tons of high profile companies are suspending employee travel indefinately (HP for example). Some key employees and vendors may have expressed the desire to stay on the ground. Without Apple's presence, the expo will collapse so it was cancelled.
We're already in the midst of one jihad, don't get another one started... :-P
There will likely be alot of disrupted PR events in the coming months, it's not going to just be Apple.
As for the next killer app/machine coming from SGI...ha. Thier stock is currently trading at 40 cents a share and are about to be delisted from the NASDAQ.
Apple has shipped many times more machines in the last two years than SGI has, sorry but if anyone is getting a nail in the coffin, it's SGI.
Honestly, you won't be more safe in the US than in the EU. My girlfriend and I both realize this and therefore are NOT canceling our Paris vacation, even though we're flying American Airlines from Boston. As long as they let us get on the plane on the 27th, we're going.
"I'm The Bounty Bear. I will find him anywhere. I'm searching."
As one of the Anonymous masses mentioned above, this is not merely an issue of fearing potential attack upon the expo itself. Each of these expos has 100+ exhibitors, all of whom need goods transported, on time, safely, and, worse, in this case, across international borders. This may be now, and for the next few weeks both more difficult, and probably more expensive.
Many companies nation, and even world-wide have issued directives stating that 'no one will be forced to fly'. Can you blame them for cancelling an event that may have been plagued by the resultant no-shows of the exhibitors? Business-wise it makes sense, and then, given that they are a prominent American corporation, the over-arching safety concern makes it a very sound decision indeed.
I'm not sure what is worse... people bashing Apple in the wake of the WTC incident or people moderating up those posts.
Why is it their are always a bunch of people on these and other sites that have beat up on each other over which OS or Company is the best, coolest, dying, etc.
If you want to use Mac OS X, Mac OS, Windows, Dos, BeOS, BSD, Linux, Solaris or whatever is you preferred choice then do it. But in the end people using one OS and pissing all over other peoples choices tends to hint at some insecurity with their choice. People tend to tear down the things that threaten them.
Can't people move along and just us their preferred "tools" to accomplish whatever they are trying to do and not pick everything around them to pieces.
I have used Irix, Mac OS, Mac OS X, BeOS, OS2, Windows, Dos and each has their benefits and drawback as far as accomplishing tasks I was trying to perform. Their is plenty of room for each OS in the world of technology.
Apple has every right in the wake of the events this last week to no put at risk the city, people and their own employees by staging a large gathering in a foreign country. This is not to mention the logistical nightmare that will ensue trying to ship all the equipment, materials and people through security and customs when the transportation system is being turned upside down to prevent further tragedies.
So to those people that insist on pouncing on any news to promote their reasons for why their choice is a better on, go get a life and leave other people alone. It is fine to point out technical merits or things that one system can accomplish that another can't.
There are more important things to do then troll around predicting the fall of any company producing products that you do not like, or the foolishness of someone for using those products.
Jobs will try to take the credit for holding the show at your igloo by renaming your house the i-gloo (pronounced eye-glue) and pour fruity-looking food coloring all over it.
redhat techworld brussels was also ... but for financial
called off
reasons.
I suspect Apple's reasons are more
financial than safety related.
The ten people who were originally going to attend have now cancelled.
I agree with you about info on older systems. I'm sort of part of the dwindling community of Newton users (sort of because I used to use it quite a bit, but haven't touched it in the past few months), and low-level/never-released info on it could potentially REALLY be useful.
Sean Luke has succesfuly ported the Waba JVM to the Newton, and low-level info on how to access the QuickDraw routines in the Newton ROM would really speed up the graphics. It's been done (Fractor, by Jason Rukman - you don't happen to know him?), but I can't find him.. Diddo for how to access the inker directly. And for info on how to make an OSX app to connect to the internal Dock application, or having the source to the NewtonScript byte-code compiler to make a replacement for NTK. Heck, the whole darn source code for the OS would be nice to look at, as I'd think that there's nothing of particularly "strategic value" in there (except for legacy SE QuickDraw routines, which are just that - legacy) On a more ambitious note, info on the hardware specs would be useful, especially with regards to replacing the display, or perhaps putting in a larger one.
I ran across a post somewhere talking about the mounds and mounds of neat techology that Apple is just sitting on - QuickDraw GX, PowerTalk, KeyChain (off the table now, as it's in the OS), QuickDraw 3D (mostly supplanted by Quesa, but they still have some neat 3D-user-interface ideas for a mythical "Quickdraw 3D 2.0") and saying that Apple should release these gems as open-source. Put a moderatly restrictive licensing agreement on it saying that it can't be used in commercial software without written authorization from Apple (but that would invole $$$ on Apple's part to process requests, and you'd have to hire an army of lawyers to go after M$ if they tried to steal it.)
Hmm, any posibility of forming a "Coalition to Free Apple Technology" ("Apple Toys want to be free..."), and the prayer of getting an ear on the board of directors?
Miffed,
Jim Witte
jswitte@bloomington.in.us
Yo PHB, you guys have been saying this since about 1996 "Apple will be gone in a year". Funny they are still here, eh?
dying slowly???? PUHLEEZ, Apple has been dying slowly since 1976 if you believe the pundits. YOU are a fudster of the lamest sort, and Apple happens to have a great balance sheet and BILLIONS of dollars in cash reserves that are NOT dissipating. Now, crawl back in your cave, moron.
Take away the bowie knives, and they can use their own bodies (hand to hand combat / martial arts). What's next? No arms / legs on aircraft? Only parapalegics will be able to fly?
Why don't we just accept the fact that no amount of restrictions on what you can bring on an aircraft will stop those who are determined enough. For a change, why don't we try not to piss off as many nations as we can...then maybe so many won't WANT to do this...just a thought.
Mod me down if you want, I don't care anymore.
Karma...what's that? I just speak my mind.
migawd, you ARE the scum... you have no shame... it must really suck to be you.
jesus christ man, just because they dont change their website, they are bad guys now. forget that. this whole thing is horrible, and it gets me choked up without a doubt, but im not checking websites making sure they are showing their support, cause i dont really care. im giving my support, if others are going to and whatever way they want to show that support is all their business. so damn you for criticizing apple about that.
i swear, i go to small pointless little websites and even THEY are talking about how they are showing their support, give me a break. two teenagers in their basement are telling me about their support. its rediculous.
and why does it matter that it took apple an extra day or an extra 12 hours to change their home page. you do realize its a pretty big descision right? like im sure the board got together and discussed how they wanted to handle it.
so in the future go fuck yourself
I'm not sure where you get that impression? One of the first world leaders to speak out in support of the United States was the French Prime Minister.
I would confidently say that Apple had no political angle on this. I would suspect that Apple is primarily concerned about the logistics of people travelling all over the world to attend the conference. In addition, a sparcely attended event would only further aggrivate economic troubles that Apple will be facing from this tragedy. Like it or not, the terrorism has taken the wind out our sails for a little bit. I'm sure we will all get along with life once a critical mass of society feels normal again. That time hasn't been reached yet.
-- Solaris Central - http://w
Well, if he's in France that's probably what he is looking for.
You only loss about 250 customers(5% of 5000). Stop belly aching. People aren't going to stop buying Macintoshes because an Islamic Fanatic decides to aim a plane into the world trade center. The Mac community is too tight to let that happen.
Just because a bunch of people believe or do something stupid, doesn't make it any less stupid.
France has just reactivated it's anti-terrorist plan (called vigipirate).
It means: military people under the Eiffel tower. Every trash can in Paris is removed (it's not a joke...) and Jets with missiles at 10min of flight from Paris.
So France should be about as secure as the US...
Quentin
Thanks.
Give a hand, not a hand-out.
I believe it was in Greece several years back.. some terrorists blew up a computer store selling Apple hardware because it was an easy to recognize American company.
I was using the "nudge, nudge" sketch to parody the "yeah, but does it run linux" losers. Ok, I guess it was kinda weak. But thanks for drowning it out with a bunch on irrellevant MP sketches.
If you meant to do that, kudos, your strategy worked well.
If you didn't, then you're both a pair of bonehead geeks that didn't get the point of the original post. Not that that would be uncommon around here.
I would absolutely love to know the details of the Dock interface in OS X, for then I could write an X extension to allow X window managers to iconify to the Dock. However, I think Apple is trying to avoid having 3rd parties write all sorts of oddball Dock customizations, which I can sort of understand. I can't think of any reason not to release specs on legacy products though.
apple??!?!?!?!? financial trouble??? Apple happends to be the only computer company who is still profitting. and they have a LOT of cash availible. they are giving away a lot of money to the victems(1 ibook for fammillies with children and one million dollars to the famillies of rescue workers).
Sig you!
I wonder if this means that any other announcements (MacOS 10.1 intro) that were slated for AppleExpo will be held at Seybold in SF instead. It's also possible that they may have a special coming out party, like they did for the original iMac.
--------------------- Eddie Liu.
Yay! Another sign that Apple Computer is dying!
I can't think of any reason not to release specs on legacy products though.
One easy reason: Apple makes most of its money on hardware sales. They don't want you to keep your old stuff running; they want you to replace it with a new Mac instead.
It would be nice if they released all of their discarded software as public source, but hiring someone to sort through the old code files and tech notes costs money that a tech biz is hard to afford in these lean times. Maybe someone could convince Jordan Hubbard to let them do it as a volunteer?
this is the most likely explanation.
Many major events are canceled because of this very tight security measures.
"The obvious mathematical breakthrough would be development of an easy way to factor large prime numbers." Bill Gates,
My brother works at ppl and he said that morale is very low there; Apple is slowly dying anyway. One of his co-workers hinted that the real rason why they canceled the expo is because they had distributed only a handful of visitor passes and very few vendors were willing to pay for booth space in these tough economic times, given Apple's limited market share - and several had pulled out at the last minute. With PC manufacturers showing heavy losses and consolidating for survival, it's no surprise that hardware vendors are leery of spending so much money to support a niche product.
the fact that Prince Alwaleed (of Saudi royal family) has over $300m invested in apple.
The trade show industry took a big hit. Many shows where cancelled. I work for an online event housing firm. The vast majority of the shows cancelled because of the airline situation.
All the exhibitors for the apple show, not all of them work for apple directly, would have to get from the states to Europe, which would have been impossible.
You ARE a sick fucking puke.
My guess is that Apple will be dead in another 2 or 3 years. It is hurting bad now, with fewer and fewer interested in its over-priced proprietary offerings. No great loss, IMHO.
It could take anywhere from one bullet to several dozen to cause the problems you are writing about. It's all about where it hits, how it hits, etc. The walls on an aircraft are actually pretty thin but they are securely fastened with many wields and rivets. Most likely a bullet would create a small hole which would cause loss of cabin pressure and not much else.
However, there is a very small chance of a gun actually getting on a flight. Despite the problems that airport security gave they still do a very good job at screening out explosives and guns. They have a long way to go with items such as poisonous gases, ceramic knives, bludgeoning instruments, etc. Basically if it's not made of metal they have a tough time detecting it if it's been decently disguised.
- Graff
just because past attacks have all been by air, doesn't mean future ones will be
it's easy to point the finger, but if it had gone ahead and people had died, I'm sure you'd be pointing the finger as well, saying it should have been cancelled
US Airliners are safer now then they have been in a long time thanks to beefed up US airport security. Noone has even made a peep that I've heard of a threatening move towards france.
This is the wierdest PR excuse for a chnage of direction I've ever heard. Can ANYONE make sense of it for me??
Frankly the US Airliens need the business, if Apple really was concerned with the fall out from this attack I'd thnk they'd want to help promote intercontinental flight...
security is a legitimate concern, but as well as that is attendance, materials and transport.
I'm not in the US, and the company I work for is having an expo. We've just about had to cancel it, sponsors have dropped out, materials we needed won't be here by the time we need them and people won't be travelling to be there
Why is it, that when Apple donates $1m and probably another $1m in computers, /. cheers, but when MS gives away $5m and another $5m in software, they boo?
/.
Good for Apple.
Good for MS.
Bad for
I see one rather large thinking fallacy recurring in many replies here. Too many people are trying to psychoanalyze the terrorists and whether or not an Apple convention would be a target. However, this line of thought requires one basic assumption that is just downright wrong: the terrorists, whoever they might be, are not necessarily going to act logically. If they were that rational, they wouldn't have made such a futile and (likely) ultimately self-defeating move as to piss off the United States. Sure, an Apple convention might not be high on the laundry list of targets, but that might be what makes it so attractive: nobody would expect it. Anyway, bugger all. It doesn't particularly matter.
And that giving out Microsoft products can't be seen as helping anyone!
BSD is a great unix.
- Kaos games and encryption systems developer
Amiga, Apple, Atari, BSD, BeOS -- all dead or dying. Deal with it. Move on.
why don't they start by cutting Jobs rathering than cutting jobs. Cutting Jobs should be the first consideration before looking at cutting jobs after all they will save millions by cutting Jobs rather than cutting jobs.
Surely the best thing to do would have been to carry on and show the murders that you are not afraid of them, that they won't disrupt your life, that things *will* carry on?
try to make ends meet, you're a slave to money, then you die
John Kenneth Fisher
Table of malContents
If you go over to http://www.ntsb.gov and look at a few reports (as I did)... you may notice that there were some 42,000 fatal traffic accidents in 1999. There were 12 fatal air travel accidents in 1999, 1 in 1998 and a high point of 526 fatalities in 1985.
Doing the math (sorry punch in your own numbers) and even if you narrow the window to, say, 7AM EST to 11AM EST on September 11, 2001... it was still far safer to travel by air than to travel by car. Remember to correct for miles covered in trip.
"Don't sweat the technique."
Let's say you're a billion dollar corporation who's just seen a huge tragedy happen in your home country possibly with several employees directly related to people involved in the tragedy. Are you going to force them to hope on a plane to some expo? Besides that, are you going to ask a bunch of other corporations to do the exact same thing? You won't be a billion dollar corporation for long with that sort of insensitive bullshit happening. It's also pretty ludicrous to try to hae a big international expo at the same time as a major downsizing in the worldwide travel market.
I'm a loner Dottie, a Rebel.
The stoppage of airline flights produced a tremendous backlog in essential flights, including medical-related ones. Organs that had deadlines had to be rerouted to lower-priority patients to avoid wasting them altogether.
There was a call for Americans to volounteer by giving up nonessential plane reservations. Jobs may or may have not had this in mind, but the Expo cancellation will help with this.
"Apple happends to be the only computer company who is still profitting. and they have a LOT of cash availible"
doesnt it disturb you that the company is doing so well, yet they still charge insane prices for their hardware?
real nice of them to pass the savings on to the users like that.
not a 5, but worth reading. and 'offtopic' just barely applies... think before you mod down...
A: None. The Universe spins the bulb, and the Zen master merely stays out of the way.
Cash Donation / Earnings = Percent of Earnings Donated .065%
Apple: $1M / $67M = 1.5%
Microsoft: $5M / $7720M =
If Microsoft wanted to match Apple's donation (percentage wise) they would have to donate $115.8M and not just $5M.
IMO Apple also wins on the other donations since they're donating equipment (with a very low profit margin and high cost per unit) as compared to M$'s donation of software only (with an extremely high profit margin). The end cost will most likely be more for Apple.
Also consider this: This horrific act [of the WTC bombing] is a big windfall for M$. How many copies of Windows XP and Server 2k will they sell because of this attack? Alot more than $10M worth. Their per share price is up almost 3% today (18-09-01) while the market as a whole tanks. Out of respect to those that lost there lives I will not make a joke about this.
If it sounds like I hate M$ it's because I do. Their software sucks for what you pay for it and Gates is just plain evil.
Also both pale in comparison to the average "Joe Six Pack" who has been giving a higher percent of his income than either. Companies should not operate for the sole benefit of it's investors but also (and equally) to the benefit of their communities. In reality just about every for profit corporation fails miserably at this.
pherris
Income info from:
Microsoft (http://biz.yahoo.com/p/m/msft.html)
Apple (http://biz.yahoo.com/p/a/aapl.html)
"And a voice was screaming: 'Holy Jesus! What are these goddamn animals?'" - HST