Slashdot Mirror
Apple Releases Mac OS X 10.1.3
nbvb
submitted what I'm pleased to say is our first
apple.slashdot.org
story. We'll be posting more news for our sizable
Apple population there in the future. Anyway, He says
"Apple today released Mac OS X 10.1.3. Be sure to click your "Software Update" and "Install" buttons! (Hey, if we can get an announcement every time a new point rev of a development kernel hits the FTP sites, can't we hear about Mac OS X?)" As usual, user reports of the new release have been both positive and negative.
Can we have this theme on the other pages?
If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
It's probably a very strategic move into the space of mac info/rumors sites, ~because~ those sites have a dedicated following like /., but with a splintered offering of niche info. In other words, Can /. rule the mac weblog space?
/. will have to deal with or risk dissolving its brand.
Slashdot was probably asking themselves "Why not use our brand and slashcode to bring a superior geek news site to a community that has demonstrated their desire for this kind of content."
The problems you bring up are going to be issues
P.S. I used to visit macosrumors everyday, then they posted a link to this new site "Slashdot"... 1997?
What I would really like is a topic where all these Linux 2.2.0.2.3.4.1.3 and MacOS X 10.1.3 updates are posted so I can skip them. I like to read about a substantially new version of an OS, but why should we be bothered with these minor bug-fixes. The people who use the respective OS's will learn about the update from their own sources (I learned about this update from 5 sites before Slashdot told me about it) and the others couldn't care less about minor fixes that don't affect them.
Besides, the most important reason to read slashdot is for the comments and these topics get the worst comments of all. It's mostly trolling (Mac/Linux/BSD rulez/sucks) and uninteresting trivia (did you know that this update fixes DVD on external monitors?). Get me some serious technology news that illicits comments about the problems of EPIC or an ethical story about censorship.
The Drowned and the Saved - Primo Levi
Basically, Apple makes almost all of its money from hardware sales. Obviously if they sold OSX for x86 systems, thats a sizeable chunk of cash that they'd lose.
I agree completely, but I just wanted to throw in a slightly different interpretation. Microsoft has become an amazing success based on their sales of the Windows operating systems. I can't think of another company that has been that successfull selling primarily operating systems.
They did it in two ways: diversification and licensing, licensing, licensing.
If Microsoft sold only Windows XP, they couldn't be as successful as they are. But because they also sell Office, and SQL Server, and all that other crap^H^H^H^H valuable stuff, they can make a bundle.
Also, Microsoft licenses the heck out of Windows, so for (almost) every computer sold, MS gets a few bucks. To do this, they've had to make some questionable business decisions.
So, given these two facts, Apple can produce OS X for Intel and be successful if one of two things happens:
1. Apple diversifies into an applications company and starts selling stuff like "Mac OS X SQL Server" or "Mac OS X Groupware Product" to keep the cash flowing. Probability: almost zero.
2. Apple gets somebody serious, like Dell, to license OS X for Intel to sell on their PCs. Probability: even less than zero. This actually has negative probability! The very existence of this option makes other things more probable!
So yeah, pretty much releasing OS X for Intel would be a death sentence, either for Apple as a whole, or at least for Apple as we know it.
First, I have to say, I've had no problems with 10.1.3, and it works fine on my PowerBook G4.
About the apple.slashdot.org site: does this mean that Apple stories won't be cross-posted to the regular slashdot site? If they are still cross posted, then that's cool.
If not, I see a problem: partitioning Apple-related stories away in a separate site from general science, technology, YRO, and other non-Linux stories seems counterproductive and silly. I mean, there's a reason why MacSlash doesn't get a tenth of the traffic as Slashdot. That is, as a Mac user (and Linux and Windows user), I don't care to visit another site that only covers Mac stuff; that's what Macintouch and MacCentral are for.
So if this site is going to be like the latter, you should have done a poll to see which topic had to get off the swingset and play by itself.The Aqua-fied slash look is pretty cool, though.
Insert simplistic political, ideological, or personal proselytization here.