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Macintosh... The Naked Truth
The Naked Truth is a book about what it means to be a Macintosh user, in a world dominated by Windows. This should have tipped me off as to some troubles ahead, as I live as a Mac user in a predominantly Linux-dominated world. And I proudly use Linux (and, to a lesser extent, other forms of Unix, not even including Mac OS X) daily. As I write this, I have four terminal windows running in NiftyTelnet, connecting me to Linux boxes at work and at home. I am inserting a 700MB database dump into MySQL, scp'ing some MP3s, restarting some daemons, copying some source code for later porting, and monitoring disk space. I am a Macintosh devotee, and have been for more than 15 years, but I am a geek. A big, preemptively multitasking, geek.
But Kelly takes the perspective that Macintosh is not a computer for geeks, but for creative people who can't be bothered with geek-like things. So when he belittles those "PC users" who like to build their own computers, and I see the Linux box under my desk that I've recently been fiddling with, I just take it with a grain of salt. After all, geeks are allowed to like ease of use and a consistent and usable GUI, too.
This mischaracterization of some Mac users is also evident in his "definitive platform test." The questions, asking for things like a description of your own driving skills, are intended to tell you which platform you should use. On one end of the scale is the Macintosh user ("Average, I'm not a bad driver"), followed by borderline between Mac and PC user ("I'm an excellent driver, very cautious and alert") to obvious PC user ("I obey all posted traffic signs and don't exceed the speed limit"), to "militant" PC/DOS user ("I wish all those idiots would just get off the road!"). But clearly, any sane person would choose the latter response. I don't understand what the problem is. I selected the "Mac" and "DOS" answers evenly, which didn't do well for my overall score. I happily continue to use Mac OS nevertheless.
That said, Kelby is dead-on about many things, like how computer store personnel are mostly clueless (not that this is specific to Macintosh products, but it is more pronounced in that particular arena than in most); how most anti-Macintosh arguments by PC users either don't make sense any more or never made sense to begin with; how Apple has been the primary innovator of PC hardware and OS software; how Apple seems to succeed sometimes in spite of its own management. He tends to belabor his point on occasion (OK, we get it, CompUSA's Apple store-in-a-store is all the way in the back, we don't need you to spend two pages describing just how far back it is), but if taken in the good humor intended, it's a satisfying journey nevertheless.
His most interesting points, perhaps, have to do not with what it is like to be a Macintosh user in a foreign land -- I think everyone on Slashdot can understand these things, regardless of whatever non-Microsoft platform of choice they use -- but what it is like to be a Macintosh user in relation to Apple itself. He has some keen insights about where the passion comes from; why people love Apple; what's going on inside their heads.
But then again, reading his responses to letters written to Mac Today and Mac Design Magazine by PC users are just downright entertaining -- keenly insightful or not -- if you are the sort of individual who likes to see stupid people get smacked around. And who isn't?
Now, being a geek -- and a pedantic one at that -- I did take issue with him on some relatively minor issues, like claiming that Apple changed the name of Mac OS X to "OS 10.1" when it came time to do the first maintenance release; the fact is, the official name from day one was "Mac OS X 10.0," and that nothing has changed at all in that naming scheme. The current release is "Mac OS X 10.1.4." It's the same thing, with an incremented version number. He's absolutely right that this is a point of confusion, and in some ways poor marketing. For the next major release (Mac OS X 11.0? Mac OS 11? Mac OS XI?) there will surely be some more confusion, too. But nothing at all has changed in the naming scheme since the initial release. For now. I just want to make sure everyone is clear on this point. It is "Mac OS X, version 10.1.4," and "Mac OS, version 9.2.2." "Mac OS" and "Mac OS X" are OS names. "10.1.4" and "9.2.2" are version numbers. Got it?
Similarly, he bashes the Newton. Sure, the first release of Newton kinda stunk, but it was the first version. The last versions of the Newton MessagePad, aside from the size, were still by far the best PDAs around for the next several years. Newton still, to this day, has the best handwriting recognition in any consumer PDA, as well as the best (non-color) interface, and it was years ahead of its time in functionality. It was just too big. That was its only problem. Well, and too expensive. But maybe less so if it weren't so big.
And he also called Compaq's PDA an "iPac." And occasionally used poor punctuation. And I think I saw a run-on sentence in there.
But now I am getting worked up. I'll settle down. Deep breath, in, out, in, out. That's the thing about being a Mac user, Kelby points out: passion. Passion for Apple and its products, even the ones that stink, because Apple is more than just a company, it is an organization that changes our lives in important ways, by making products that make a difference to us.
OK, so maybe I am in the target audience after all.
Chapter List
- Life after switching to Macintosh
Using a Mac is easy; being a Mac user sometimes isn't. - "I can't believe you actually use a Macintosh!" and other stupid things PC users say
Congress should rethink giving PC users freedom of speech. - Things Apple doesn't tell you about owning a Macintosh
Since Apple's not going to tell you, dontchathink somebody should? - The definitive platform test
Find out if you're really a Mac person, or just a PC person in cool clothing. - How to resist the overwhelming temptation to strangle Apple's management
Is "Apple Management" an oxymoron? And is "oxymoron" actually a synonym for a pimple cream for really dumb people? - CompUSA: Your own private hell
Tips for surviving the visualization of Apple's place in the world. - Why PC users need Apple
Heere's why they should be kissing Apple's butt (instead of Microsoft's) - "Don't pick fights with people who buy ink by the barrel"
PC users write me nasty letters, and I give them the public flogging they so richly deserve - Pot shots at Microsoft, the media, and anything else that gets in our way
Nobody gets out of here alive! - The 20 most important things I've learned about being a Mac user
There were actually 22 things, but that made for a really clunky chapter title. - The secret of Macintosh
Here's a hint: it's not Apple's advertising.
You can purchase Macintosh ... The Naked Truth from bn.com. Want to see your own review here? Just read the book review guidelines, then use Slashdot's handy submission form.
Why PC users need Apple Heere's why they should be kissing Apple's butt (instead of Microsoft's)
Or in the case of many slashdot readers, "instead of Linus'"
Roadkill is yummy.
"On one end of the scale is the Macintosh user ("Average, I'm not a bad driver"), followed by borderline between Mac and PC user ("I'm an excellent driver, very cautious and alert") to obvious PC user ("I obey all posted traffic signs and don't exceed the speed limit"), to "militant" PC/DOS user ("I wish all those idiots would just get off the road!"). But clearly, any sane person would choose the latter response."
What if you can't drive?
All i could think of seeing that title was Steve Jobs naked.
*twitches repeatedly*
"You worthless post!"
-Shakespeare, 2 Gentlemen of Verona, 1. 1. 147
MacIntosh 2.5: The Smell of OS X
MacIntosh 3.5: The Final Install
As a big-time Mac user I really loved this book and its explication of Mac users as a cutting edge minority. Here's the way I like to explain it to people: Everybody goes to a regular doctor. But hip people who really care about their bodies seek out alternative therapies of wellness like herbal remedies and additives. Macs are kinda like that--the less popular but low-cost alternative to the overpowering majority.
Yes, I've noticed this "Mac users are clueless artsy types with no technical knowhow" slant over and over. Rubbish!
.
I'm an admin on Linux and OpenBSD networks AND I love my Mac as well.
There is no conflict, especially after OS X
An elegant GUI is a wonderous thang.
Nuff Said!
And he also called Compaq's PDA an "iPac." And occasionally used poor punctuation. And I think I saw a run-on sentence in there. Well, at least he didn't start sentances with the word 'and' or 'but', cos we all know you can't do that.
I know Slashdot isn't -- and doesn't need to be -- perfect in terms of spelling and grammar, but using a sentence fragment to complain about a run-on sentence is a little much.
I'm sorry, but the die hard mac users are going to have to get with the times...
/.
.docs).
Macs arn't just for non-geeks anymore (Arguably the first apples were for geeks, became less geeky...). Mac OS X is the ultimate hybrid to allow both geeks and non-geeks a common platform which both can enjoy and use how they want. Heck, why do you think there is an apple section on
I bought my first mac last year specifically because of OS X. I needed a laptop that I could use for work and school. I wanted a UNIX based system but the ability to run commercial applications if needed (I love OS and Linux, but there is still no MS Office for it and probably never will be... But everyone still sends me
I still have people come up to me and say... "you bought a mac??? Don't geeks not like those? They are too colorful to be geeky."
Macs are for geeks and non-geeks alike. For different reasons though (sometimes). Mainstream users will probably figure this out in 3 or 4 years time.
...macs are not evil. Macs are not inherently less of a computer than a PC.
I made the best decision of my life to move back to Macintosh a few months ago. OSX really does combine the ease of a mac with the power of unix. I hope that one day people will understand that it is not an either or situation with operating systems. I keep my Win box around and boot my mac into Linux all depending on the job I want to do. Quite simply what operating system you use should be determined by the task at hand.
Feminism is the radical notion that women are people.
Or does it seem like any Mac user could've written this book? Granted, I'm definitely interested in picking it up (Along with Michael Moore's new book) But from what I've seen, it looks like 90% of people in a MUG could've opened up a word processor and typed it out. We all laughed at the blatant rip-off the iPac was. We all got confused around Mac OS 8.0 When the OS's name changed from "System" to "MacOS". Is there any physcological or sociological perspectives or theories about being a Mac user? The notion that we're creative is not new, it's been in countless articles and MacWorld keynotes. Lemme guess, he mentions that thrill of never configuring an autoexec.bat file, right? (While a great number of Mac users actually have, most often for work).
was this a book review, or a rant?
I don't mean to flame or anything, I was just not impressed with the review as it just seemed to lack focus and talked more on the feelings of the Author of the article rather than what the book was about.
I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
Nice review. The book seems pretty good, and I might consider it worth buying, except for one fact--
I already have a personal identity. I know who I am. And I am a mac user. I don't need to read a book to tell me how I should behave, how I should think, or what my personality should be just because of the computing platform I use.
This point was brought up slightly in the review by pudge's criticism of the "definitive platform test," but it seems the problem would be endemic to the entire book. The author seems to be trying to get all chummy with every mac user out there, though most share the at best tenuous bond of using the same type of computer (and not even OS. Many mac users still use 9!).
However, this book might be ineteresting to someone who is not a mac user, as it could give some perspective into what "we" (and I hestiate to use the term) experience. But it seems like it alienates and bashes those who don't buy into the "jobs experience."
So my take on the book would be "don't buy."
Anything else just isn't worth it.
Of course, with the number of crashes Windows is responsible for, you'd think they'd be in a more reckless catagory.
You know, there are plenty of lame internet posts with this particular problem, but this may be the first book I've seen devoted to the idea that owning a particular brand of computer makes you a particular type of person. The people who think that owning a Mac makes them 'creative' and 'different' need to get over themselves a little (same with the people that think installing Linux automatically makes them an ubergeek).
Enjoy the OS of your choice, but please don't imagine that choosing it was a major life achievement. Edit together a really cool movie on your G4 (or write a kernel patch if you're an ubergeek wannabe) and you're living up to the hype... but until you've actually done something significant, the choice of OS is about as important as the choice of cola.
as often as the applefans can argue that bashing the other guys is bad, i would have expected a more, well, objective book.
i mean, if we want to read one-sided propaganda, can't we just go visit apple.com?
where is the chapter on how totally cool it is to have an OS based on BSD, with a usable command line, that you can use or not at your discretion?
semantics are everything!
I bought my first Mac right before they announced the new Power Mac. I even bought an external CD-ROM, external modem, and extra VRAM. I bought a Power Mac clone right before they announced there would be no more support for Power Mac clones. I bought a G3 upgrade for my Power Mac clone right before they announced the new Mac OS would not support G3 upgrades, only native systems. I bought a Pentium II system, installed Linux, and I haven't paid a dime for hardware or software upgrades in three years.
soo...you suggest that we should all have tiny little vocabularies becasue no one reads for fun and cannot pick up new words.
I think you need t reality check man. nothiong beats a good book in terms of entertainment.
your imaginatioj is the limit when reading. with TV and movies, it is all set up for you and your mind gets lazy. A book sharpens the mind and makes you a more nimble communicator.
I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
Based on this review, I do believe this author has been using macs for many years, and obviously is of the "old guard" of mac loyalists.
What I mean by that, is that they randomly attack the PC, while pointing out the stupid ways PC users attack macs. It's been my experience that mac users of this "old guard" (which is to say, they've been using macs well before OS X was a glimmer in NeXt's eye) are very annoying. Most PC users I know, before OS X, didn't give a sh*t about macs, be they good or crappy machines. Mac users meanwhile wouldn't shut up about how good their macs were...as if they were trying to compensate for...something.
Now, with OS X, I may actually go buy a mac one of these days. It's UNIX when I want it to be, and a pretty looking OS for the days when I just don't feel like thinking. If I do get one, however, I'm going to mostly steer clear of those longtime mac users and instead find people who got a mac for the same reasons I did. At least then I could get some work done in peace!
There were probably a lot less "geeks" in the Mac ranks for the many years this author is basing his book on, so I can see where he'd draw some of these conclusions. While Linux and Windows-based geeks could command-line hack to their hearts content, Mac users have had a wonderful tool called ResEdit. It kinda makes me sad that with Mac OS X, ResEdit is sort of an anachronism sitting in my Classic Applications folder ... but there it is. We have much better hacking cracking and patching tools now :) And the migration of linux and unix users to Mac OS X has brought a surge in the geek numbers, which is good for any platform. When users are pushing limits as well as the manufacturers, progress speeds along nicely.
I think my original point was to say that there are always contingents of most OS fandom that are NOT geeks, and some that are. Such is life. Variety is the spice and all that.
i am not entirely clueless, but i have better things to do than just play with stuff. i need to get paid--information designer... but, i like being able to configure routers, firewalls, switches, and program (c) once in a while. dividing by zero in cw on os 8 was bizarre. its just not my day job! and, there is plenty to learn, so its nice to have a machine that can do it all (i also don't like have a bunch of stuff sitting around).
"Mac OS" and "Mac OS X" are OS names. "10.1.4" and "9.2.2" are version numbers. Got it? "
No, I don't get it. Calling it Mac OSX 10.1.4 implies that you're using version ten point on point four of OSX. You're not, you're using version 1.1.4 of OSX, although it would also be conceivable to understand it as version ten point one point four of the Mac OS. We know why Apple uses the X, but it would be more convenient if the seperated the version numbers more correctly.
That was classic intercourse!
I've got nothing against the Mac, but:
Apple has been the primary innovator of PC hardware and OS software
Really? Did they "innovate" the PCI bus and BSD? Their case design is admittedly innovative, but what they put inside has only recently caught up with the rest of the industry.
-- Sigs are for losers
I've seen the new I-Mac with its clothes on... It's ugly enough that way. For the love of God, KEEP YOUR CLOTHES ON!
Just my $.02
Anyway... who wants to talk about socks?
--
Damn the Emperor!
With TV and movies, the imagination of the director is the limit. Think of "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas." Could you have imagined some of that crazy s--t? Maybe, if you were on some crazy drugs like in the movie. But if you are just reading a book? I don't think so. If you do not expose yourself to other imaginations, you will limit your dreams and mind.
So, I'm not the typical user, either, as the author presupposes in his "survey" as you described. But I am a True Convert to Mac OS X and things Macintosh. Funny how OS X throws the old assumptions about Mac users out the Window.
-- @rjamestaylor on Ello
I was going to read your post closely, giving it due thought and respectful consideration, but since it turned out not to be entertaining, informative, or much of a tool towards understanding anything in particular, I decided to skim it. Life is too short to care what people think, especially if they use the written word.
I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.
In the auditorium, Skinner speaks to the children.
Skinner: Children, the times they are a-becoming quite different. Test
scores are at an all-time low, so I've come up with these
academic alerts. [hold stack of cards] You will receive one as
soon as your grades start to slip in any subject. This way
your parents won't have to wait until report card time to
punish you.
Martin: How innovative. I like it!
Kearney: Hey Dolph, take a memo on your Newton: beat up Martin.
[Dolph writes "Beat up Martin" which the Newton translates as
"Eat up Martha"]
Bah! [throws Newton]
Martin: [being bonked on the head] Ow!
-- Good ol' Apple Computer, "Lisa on Ice"
(Thanks to SNPP)
Top Ten Affects of Die-Hard Mac Users on the World
10. On a certain day in January and July, Akamai traffic increases... Ten, err, Xfold.
9. Gap can always fall back on selling black mock turtlenecks and deep-blue denim jeans in an economic recession.
8. The world's goldfish will always have a place to live. (Today, in the Mac Classic. Tomorrow in the hollowed iMac G4 dome...)
7. Translucent irons, toothbrushes, speakers, mice, cat bowls, and lingerie.
6. Grandparents. Surfing. By themselves. Ahh!
5. MacOSRumors. The single largest scam on the Internet, today.
4. iPhoto coffee-table books. (Trust me: It's the ONLY way "The Osburne's" will ever make it into print... I hope.)
3. The Trash. Call it what it is, damnit! Recycle Bin my arse: Microsoft trying to please the tree-huggers.
2. Aquafied slashdot. Whodathunkit?
1. Grandparents. Unix. AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!
jrbd
I enjoyed the book, but as a long-time Linux user (and recent Mac convert) some of it seemed overly whiny to me. Sure, it's rough having only a few score software packages for Mac OS in the typical CompUSA, but the total of zero packages for the Linux user makes that seem quite sufficient in comparison. I think he needs to get out more, and realize that there are more operating systems than the Windows and Mac franchises alone.
As for the chapter where he gives childish replies to childish letters written to him as editor of his magazine, I stopped reading it half way through. I don't need that sort of thing to make me feel good about myself or my choice of computer, and reading such displays of immaturity is just painful. Maybe when I was 12 years old it would have been thrilling, but I've grown up since then. I wish he would have, too.
The rest of the book was pretty good, though, and some sections were laugh-out-loud funny. He has a good writing style and a sharp wit that comes out best when he's describing everyday situations he's had to deal with as a Mac user (such as the hostile responses from sales clerks and fellow customers when he asks for Mac hardware or software).
Still, given his whinyness on the one hand, and his vindictiveness toward "pee cee" users on the other, I'm not sure I want to be grouped with him as a "Mac fanatic." I tend to be a lot more forgiving of others than he shows himself to be. If most Mac users have the same extreme siege mentality he does, then I'll be sure to avoid Mac user groups like the plague. I'd much rather enjoy my computer than spend time cutting down others' choices. And I'd much rather let someone use one of my computers and thereby learn what's so great about the Mac than tell them what a crappy OS they use.
So, althoguh my wife and I own three Macs right now (two quicksilvers and one icebook), maybe we should call ourselves "Apple users" instead of "Mac Fantatics." (This, despite his sneering remark about people calling them "Apple" computers intead of "Macs." As a long-time user of Apple ]['s, I'll probably always refer to computers produced by Apple Computer, Inc. as "Apples" out of habit, at least some of the time).
-Joe
-Joe
All that being said, this guy evidently knows his audience and I'm sure the book will sell well. Perhaps his book will become as trendy to display in pretentious workspaces as the latest Apple hardware?
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
Since my first Mac Plus in which I inserted a 5.25" 20MB SCSI Seagate hard disk inside the Mac's case, with no fan at all, wiring all the cables directly to the motherboard (no connector: had to save!).
Since my first INIT code which allowed remote shutdown of a Mac (great joke to play in public labs back in the ol'undergrad days), raytracing on a Mac SE (dithering because of 1bit/pixel...)
I think there's no better hacker machine!
Why PC users need Apple Heere's why they should be kissing Apple's butt (instead of Microsoft's)
What I don't get is why he doesn't recognize that Apple has been kissing Microsoft's butt for IE, Office, and money investment for years, until about a month ago. So he should have recognized the continued IE bundling with OS X, while he was probably writing this at that time. Granted he don't use Mac OS X, it is still hypocritical to talk about Apple users like this. Apple has always been the biggest kisser upper.
you are on crack pal. the book will have sufficient dicriptors for you to decide what the scene looks like. I don't give a crap what you pull out of your a$$. accepting an idea that is already formed for you is not the way to higher understanding, and that is what people do when watching a movie, they do not sit there and use critical thinking skills to decide if what they are seeing is the best representation of the scene.
you need to use critical thinking in order to raise your awarness and sharpen your mind. TV and movies are not the way to that goal, if they were, then peopel would not veg out and relax in front of them.
I recommend using the +1 bonus whenever possible, if for no other purpose then as an offering to the slashgods.
Karma: Good (despite my invention of the Karma: sig)
I keep seeing things like, "Smart consumers buy Apples because they're cheaper!" Uh... since when? My Powerbook was $3,000. A comprable PC laptop was $2,200. I selected the Powerbook because it fit my needs better and I was sold on the operating system.
Macintosh users are more creative? Wow. It must be because they like shiny lollipop colors on their iMacs, a marketing trend that has bled over into everything from cell phones to George Foreman grills. Props to Apple for trying something simple and basic that the stuffed suits at the PC conglomerates never thought of: make the computer available in bright colors.
I never bought into user stereotypes. I have definately noticed that a TYPICAL pre-OS X Mac user knows far less about how computers in general work than PC users. But I could say the same thing of modern PC users versus the pre-Windows 95 PC users. Anybody remember tweaking your AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS endlessly to coax another 9K of conventional RAM out of DOS? Arranging and re-arranging LOADHIGH instructions to shuffle drivers around in upper memory and going seven rounds with QEMM and the myriad other memory managers to use that extra 2 MB stick you paid $200 for?
We had no choice. If I wanted to play Crusaders of the Dark Savant I had to find a way to get enough memory. That was how PC computing was. Modern users on average know far less because, for one, there's far more non-tech people who use PCs and for two there's no need. So I don't buy into this division along the Mac/PC line for technical competancy. You learn what is required to learn to operate your machine. The fact that the Mac removed this responsibility from the user 10 years before the PC did doesn't make Mac people less intelligent or more creative.
I love my Mac. I hate my PC. But I want to play Dungeon Seige so I need my PC. I think the platform wars should be winding down in the coming years. I think that with OS X, Apple has the BEST operating system available. Sorry Linux people, but Linux is a pile of crap. I do use it, simply because when I set up my web server I wasn't familiar with anything else (plus I got semi-orgasmic pleasure out of reformatting the disk with Win95 on it). But if there were any justice in the world, OS X would be the operating system of choice. Even the ports of MS applications to OS X are superior to the MS versions.
I'm right because I say so. I read Slashdot! I'm always right! And well-informed!
If I had mod points you'd get them all...
And the truly horrifying image is of dancing monkeyboy Steve Ballmer au natural.
Why not MAC OS X.I.IV :)
I have a [Mac/PC].
I can't buy a [Mac/PC]Mac today. (Not enough cash to own two computers.)
I don't want to feel bad about my current purchase.
Therefore, [Mac/PC] computers (and [l]users) suck.
If Nalgene water bottles are outlawed, only outlaws will have Nalgene water bottles.
Just time to write 326 words about it.
"I think you need t reality check man. nothiong beats a good book in terms of entertainment."
I disagree. Prolonged sexual intercourse while tripping on acid is infinitely more entertaining than reading a fucking book. Conversation is often more entertaining than reading a fucking book. Bookc CAN be excellent, but most aren't (I'm thinking Jeffrey Archer here), so let's not hold up book reading as some kind of higher spiritual experience. Coz that's nonsense.
That was classic intercourse!
USB (They didn't invent it, but they made it popular). FireWire (IEEE1394). Digital connections for digital displays. GUI. The list goes on.
neither is sitting in front of a television of movie screen.
Shouldn't that be like : *BSD is a pile of crap.
I quote the article:
"But now I am getting worked up. I'll settle down. Deep breath, in, out, in, out. That's the thing about being a Mac user, Kelby points out: passion. Passion for Apple and its products, even the ones that stink, because Apple is more than just a company, it is an organization that changes our lives in important ways, by making products that make a difference to us. "
What is he talking about? Are we supposed to understand exactly how Apple has "changes our lives in important ways" without him mentioning how? Look, I've got PCs & Macs running Windows, Linux, and Mac OSs. They each have their good and bad points. But none of them have something so special that they "change our lives in important ways". They are all jusy fscking operating systems. We'd all be doing fine if we were using OS2 or Amiga or Be.
It's what people do with computers that makes a difference.
nuclear iraq bioweapon encryption cocaine korea terrorist
I've rarely encountered someone who was not a Mac programmer who "got it" regarding ResEdit and resources. Way cool. Some Windows programmers will say, "Oh we have that on Windows." Yeah, sure, for strings, dialogs, and a handful of other data types. Resources were pervasive on pre-OS X systems because they were simple, elegant, fast, and very useful. The only problem was getting the resource fork over to non-apple file systems. Instead of abandoning resources, Apple should have folded resources into the data fork. That's how Microsoft got resources without having resource forks supported in their file system. The next time you're parsing and unparsing an XML file to load/store user preferences for your program, listen carefully and you'll hear the soft whisper, "resources are better."
No-one could deny that apple has given the world some fine products. Its not the technology that annoys me but the culture around it: the pretentious open-plan office, the stupid imac case and the little brats who suddenly think of themselves as hackers because they can turn on a mac.
You dare to hit ME! JOHNNY PASCAULLY!!
...more ways to divide people and make enemies.
;-)
do we constantly have to make it 'us' and 'them', the other side always claiming moral highground?
this is just one more thing for people to get angry at each other for. like dads beating each other up at hockey games, or fans beating each other up at sports arenas...
does it fucking matter? are we so superficial as to group each other by the types of computers we use? this is sad, sad, sad.
:
and by the way C64 rocks, you all suck.
https://www.accountkiller.com/removal-requested
Biased review of biased book about company that doesn't do very well despite its imagined superiority.
--Blair
I am in Apple's target market. I am a long-time Unix user. I appreciate quality! I lust after their laptops. But I just can't buy one, yet.
This is because I can't use their laptop's keyboards. I need the key to the left of the 'A' to be a Ctrl key. This is not just a want; it is a genuine need based upon ergonomic reasons.
Apple's cost to satisfy my keyboard desires is small: re-design their laptops to use USB keyboards just like the rest of their line. Unfortunately for me, Apple hasn't done this yet. (Note: They might have done this with the new PowerBook. If anybody knows, please respond to this post and tell me {so I can go buy one!!!}). Their laptops still use the ADB keyboards, which are horribly broken-by-design. ADB keyboards are a vestage of the old insanely-bad input devices days, when Apple didn't have an industrial-strength unix core.
Apple: Please fix your laptop keyboards! Please re-design your laptop motherboards to use a modern up-to-date USB keyboard, to go along with your robust and mature modern up-to-date unix OS!!
Note: is is now possible to use the keyboard with Debian GNU/Linux, but as of yet, Apple has not made it possible for unix old-timers to use with OSX.
My standard rant follows:
Apple Laptop Keyboards are Unacceptable to Unix Users
Apple designs horrible keyboards. ADB keyboards (which are still used on all of Apple's laptops) are unusable to unix users who need a Ctrl key to the left of the 'A'.
Proper Keyboard Design
- When a key is pressed, the keyboard sends a keyPress
event.
- When a key is released, the keyboard sends a keyRelease
event.
- Each key is assigned a different keycode.
Nothing more, nothing less.ADB Keyboard Mis-design
- When the key to the left of the 'A' (CapsLock) is
pressed, the ADB keyboard sends both a keyPress event
and a keyRelease event.
- When the CapsLock key is then released, the ADB keyboard
sends NO events.
- When the CapsLock key is next pressed, the ADB keyboard
sends NO events.
- When the CapsLock key is then released, the ADB keyboard
sends both a keyPress event and a keyRelease
event.
- The above cycle repeats over and over.
This is WRONG ! Apple's ADB keyboards are broken by design.Unix Users Cannot Use Apple's ADB Keyboards
What this means is that unix users who need the key to the left of the 'A' to be a Ctrl key cannot use Apple ADB keyboards. You can easily reprogram the CapsLock key to be a Ctrl key and get rid of the badness of the CapsLock key, but you can't get the required goodness of the Ctrl key to the left of the 'A'.
Apple Loses Sales to Unix Users
All Apple laptops have the horrible broken-by-design ADB keyboards which are unusable to unix users. I want to buy an Apple laptop, but I cannot and will not until Apple builds input devices usable by unix users.
A tale of unrequited love
To put it in geek terms...
The notion isn't that buying a Mac automatically confers you with a +10 to Creativity, the notion is that using a Mac means your Creativity doesn't take any penalties.
Have you ever tried to make a home video or DVD with the software that comes with the typical Dell or Gateway PC? Definitely a case of Creativity x 1/2 right there...
--R.J.
Electric-Escape.net
What a positively nauseating image you had there...
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
Captain Obvious To The Rescue !
Concern about resale value usually means you cannot really afford whatever it is you are buying.
Blar.
correct me if im wrong, but wasn't it Xerox PARC who invented the gui?
I just want to make sure everyone is clear on this point. It is "Mac OS X, version 10.1.4," and "Mac OS, version 9.2.2." "Mac OS" and "Mac OS X" are OS names.
So does this mean it really is "oh ess ex, ten dot one dot four", or "oh ess ten, ten dot one dot four"?
Reminds me of http-colon-slash-slash-slash-dot-dot-org.
People will always point to price as a reason why PCs are a better buy than a Macintosh.
Here is some of my experiance.
I have a Beige G3 Tower from Apple, I've upgraded it to 512 MB of RAM (it came with 32), Firewire/USB card, 40 GB HD (it came with 4) and an ATI Radeon card. Total price for the machine over 4 years and 4 months, $2900 US.
In the same time, at work, I've been through 3 PCs that were bought for $1800, $1550, and $1060 dollars or $4410 US.
Take iMacs, a 2nd rev "Flavored" 266-333 MHz iMac with a 6GB drive will fetch around 400 dollars, while a 266MHz P2 tower is worth about 150 dollars.
Apples may be more expensive up front, but they do last longer than the majority of PCs.
Mac users meanwhile wouldn't shut up about how good their macs were...as if they were trying to compensate for...something.
Or maybe they were just enthusiastic about their computer in a way you weren't about yours. Sometimes the truth is right in front of you and not a paranoid conspiricy about people's secret thoughts
I seem to recall that up until about 2 years ago MacOS 9 users had to manually assign memory allocations? And if you got it wrong, the program would crash?
I love my Mac. I hate my PC. But I want to play Dungeon Seige so I need my PC. I think the platform wars should be winding down in the coming years. I think that with OS X, Apple has the BEST operating system available. Sorry Linux people, but Linux is a pile of crap.
More zealotry. Why do so many Mac users insist on giving Apple free advertising? It's not like they don't buy enough TV airtime anyway! And actually, the platform wars wound down years ago, I think you'll find that the open architecture of the PC, for all it's faults, was the winner.
Sorry Mac people, but saying things like OS X is better than Linux is ridiculous. I for one, will NEVER buy a Mac, not because I'm a poor student (though I am), not because I don't like Apple (though I don't), but because if everybody bought a Mac we'd suddenly be even worse off than we are now. Microsoft showed us what damage a monopoly can do when it controls the standards, a monopoly of Apple would be infinitely worse as they control the hardware too!
The only monopoly that wouldn't cause massive damage would be a monopoly of PC/Linux. Nobody, but nobody, should control the OS/Hardware. I don't give a damn about the software on top, if I want to pay MS for Office then I will, but the OS and hardware are too key.
I hate people who get modded up for saying "I love the good looks and UNIX core of Mac OS X". It's redundant. We don't care. So you like your new Mac, good for you, I guess we just have to hope not everybody is like you, cos if they are then we're screwed all over again.
end rant
Two things DO NOT make Apple "the primary innovator of PC hardware and OS software". The GUI came from Xerox Parc. Even the list provided by another comment doesn't qualify Apple for this title. There were and still are a lot of companies involved in innovation. How have the innovated ANYTHING for an OS? The GUI came form Xerox PArc, OS X came from various other sources.
Nothing will ever qualify Apple for that title. What they have done is just a grain of sand on a very large beach.
At the next eco-hypocrisy-meeting, count the private jets used to get to the meeting. Should be interesting to see that
A unix geek for 15 years who know's enough to scp rather than ftp, but telnets into his home AND work box?
Whatever
I would like to see a pro-Mac book that actually addresses the shortcomings of Macs instead of pretending that they don't exist. Instead, we get David Pogue saying stuff like "Who needs to be able to encrypt files when your entire computer is password protected?" in his Mac OS X Missing Manual book. Why hasn't anyone addressed the spatial information deficiencies in Mac OS X? Why aren't there any articles about how horrible iPhoto really is (Apple's own discussion board on iPhoto is almost entirely composed of usability complaints, with no comments from Apple staff)?
It gets frustrating seeing the stupid "love it or leave it" mentality used to defend Macs in the absence of a critical but fair analysis of Apple's hardware and software. While I can't imagine using anything but a Mac as a general purpose computer, I don't see why Macs should be exempt from reality.
That "definitive platform test" is a joke. I mean, come on! If you score 20-40 (militant PC user), his advice is to "...put your hands on your head, walk out the front door of your home directly toward the officers, and listen carefully to their instructions. Keep your hands clearly in sight and don't make any sudden moves." Yup! That sounds like a serious platform quiz to me!
Kelby's humor takes a little getting used to and his over-exaggeration of Mac and PC user stereotypes wears a little thin, especially in the era of OS X. There is some useful info in here--covering the obstacles you're probably going to run into and what to do about them (if you want lots of games, buy a Playstation), but for the most part the book is meant to be fun (usually at the expense of Wintel users). In the last chapter, he reveals the true origins of the Cult of Macintosh (and a lesson in media manipulation). General Burkhalter? Go fig! ;-)
Buying advice--if you prefer MacAddict over Macworld, you'll probably enjoy this book.
Sara
Simply put, Mac OS has far better user interface factors than Windows, Linux, or any other OS that I've used for a period of time. What do I mean? that the user interface does its best to help you do what you gotta do, and doesn't get in the way... mostly I mean mouse interaction with the GUI.
... would you want an OS that tracks like a brick, or like a pen?
Most X interfaces suck badly, and have poor mouse tracking/accel/deceleration that leave you squinting and gripping your mouse in the hopes you will hit what you're trying to click. Windows is a little better, but still pretty lame next to MacOS7-9 (my jury's still out on X).
So my point is, better user factors leads to better usability, which lowers barriers to creativity with a computer. Face it, drawing with a mouse is like drawing with a brick in your hand
To put it in automotive terms, the Mac drives like a BMW, Windows like a Ford, and X like a 1967 VW Bug with the a broken steering mechanism!
Big Daddy, Johnny, Burp, Aunt Zelda, Scott, Slurp, Big Momma
Get some new material, for fuck's sake.. th)÷7s classic Eddie Murphy circa the early 80s.
The Mac has a shallow (=good) learning curve and makes it easy to get started. And OSX is now (finally) a robust and powerful Macintosh operating system, and that is great. But anybody who spends significant amounts of time with computers will naturally learn a lot of arcane trivia, and that's no different for Mac users.
Did we just get bitchslapped?
I recommend using the +1 bonus whenever possible, if for no other purpose then as an offering to the slashgods.
Hell yeah, you're right. I am in one of those moods now, realizing that I have spent 4 years getting UID 12075 to 50 Karma and trying to keep it there. Since I've already blow 4 karma points being "offtopic" today, why not go for a hatrick here? Just gives me more incentive to post a few more Score: 5 remarks later.
I'd also like to point out that several of the other contributors to this sub-thread have all still got Score: 2's and they are just as offtopic as I am. At least I'm up front about being offtopic. If it pleases the moderators, I'd like to see a little equality in passing judgement, s'il vous plait.
"Posted at +1 Bonus for Maximum Karma Burn!"
SlashSigTheorem: Humorous, Political, Critical, Constructive- If you have a
It is "Mac OS X, version 10.1.4," and "Mac OS, version 9.2.2." "Mac OS" and "Mac OS X" are OS names. "10.1.4" and "9.2.2" are version numbers. Got it?
I suppose Apple called it version 10.0 for consistency with the rest of the Mac OS version scheme. They could/should have called it "Mac OS X 2.0" (but for anyone who has used OS X 1.2, perhaps a 9.8 jump in version number is actually kinda appropriate).
Heck, the OS used to simply be called "System", as in System 6, System 7. It's only been called MacOS since, what, 7.5.5?
Okay, I'll bite the troll.
Look here, dumbass. Took about two minutes. If you'd Google before you formed an opinion, perhaps you wouldn't need to hide behind an AC so much.
____ _______
Duty now for the future!
(shakes head)
and you wonder why macaddicts are compared to cultists..sheesh
I really, really hate books that lump large groups of people together and assign common traits to them. While saying "all Mac users are X" or "all PC users are Y" doesn't raise any political correctness issues, it's just as intellectually dishonest, lazy, and simply inaccurate as saying all Italians are in the mob, all Irishmen are drunks, all blacks are lazy, or all women are bad drivers.
What are you trying to say?
What I'm trying to say is that the moment a Macintosh locks up, freezes, or crashes, then it no longer "just works." Comparing the difficully of setting up a Macintosh vs. setting up a Linux system is not the issue (in fact, I'll agree with you that setting up a Mac is light-years easier than setting up Linux). What is the issue is the validity of the claim "it just works." You can't claim that something "just works" if it crashes or freezes. I don't think there has ever been a computer* that did not crash or freeze, and this includes computers that run MacOSX, Linux, *BSD, whatever. Thus, the "it just works" claim is a lie disguised as marketing hype.
*Ok, maybe OS/390 is an exception, but that's comparing apples (pun intended) to oranges.
I don't make the rules. I just make fun of them.
indeed.
"USB (They didn't invent it, but they made it popular)."
And that still isn't innovation. Xerox Parc invented the GUI. Firewire is cool, yes, it only took them over 10 years to complete!
Why do Mac users bash Intel, and in fact, seem to conveniently forget the ONE innovation that started it all and made all of our great Personal Computers possible, the Microprocessor? That's innovation. That changed the world. Whatever Apple did was icing on that particular piece of cake.
"That's the one thing that really bugs me more than anything else, how Mac users project this completely unfounded air of superiority."
What you don't understand is, there's nothing unfounded about it. It's not that Macs make people superior, it's that superior people choose Macs. If you can't see why Macs are superior, either you have never used one, or... oh, I don't know, some other reason.
As we know, one of the ironic side effects of inferiority is that self-diagnosis is difficult. By the time you elevate yourself to the level where you are properly able to recognize your own inferiority, you will have become superior. And when that happens, the Apple Store will be waiting for you.
:-)
next time you are wiping a hard drive because your browser keeps crashing, or recovering from yet another virus, or installing drivers from a floppy drive, or looking for the unremoved part of a removed program, or cutting your hands on the inside of the case to install PCI cards for functionality that should be built in, or getting the spyware off your computer, or trying to clean all the porn shortcuts from IE and your start menu that you didn't put there, or taking more aspirin to fight that headache windows gave you, or turning up the speakers to overpower the triple fans.....
think about the $250 you saved on that PC. and a year and half later when it's worth 1/4th what you paid for it and it's time to upgrade....
i'll be working happily on my 'overpriced' mac that i could sell for almost as much as i paid for it and buy the next cool looking one.
tell me, what cycle would you rather get yourself in?
I bet the resale value aspect of a mac changes soon. The hardware required to run OS X is so much higher than the previous versions that nobody in their right mind would pay nearly full price for an old mac. That old mac is slow.
That wasn't true when OS 9 was the OS of choice. Back then an old mac would do the job just fine.
In summary, now that Apple has joined the windows world of increasing hardware requirements you'll see the resale value of macs drop.
Vanguard
(Written on my favorite notebook, a 500mhz iceBook)
That which does not kill me only makes me whinier
I mean, they're right there, and you're supposed to keep them clean and properly sharpened anyway...
Just remember, if you're Jewish, to use the "meat" untensils, not the "milk" ones.
That's so funny, I was thinking just the same thing! With the karma cap, and since I seem to be able to pop off a 4 or 5 pretty regularly, there's no reason not to post a few dogs at 2.
:(
If I had mod points, I'd go mod us all down, but I don't.
BTW, your sig sucks. You should put a space before the -, and you have too many capital letters.
I don't know why I do. I shouldn't really. My first computer experiences were with Apple products. In grade school we had Apple IIe's. In middle school my first programming class was on an Apple IIe. Then in 7th grade my parents bought a PC and my love of computers was born. That first Windows box started an addiction that will never be cured. In High School we had PowerPCs and I hated my school for it. Somehow Apple's marketing stratagy to "get them while they are young" backfired. I loathed my school computers and sang the praises of my meek little 386. Anyone know why?
My subject line is a sentence fragment. No verb. "And I think I saw a run-on sentence in there" has a subject and a verb--the "and" in the beginning makes it stylistically suspect, but not a fragment.
"Hardly used" will not fetch you a better price for your brain.
fooking trool byatch!
macs haven't had ADB in years. it's all usb now, deek. jus' get the keyboard you want, plug the damn thing in and
SHUT YOUR FUCKING CUNT!
Another book needs to be written because the religious user debates do not really explain why Apple has a 3% market share.
I would call this book "The Rise and Fall of the Mac Developer."
In this book, I would enumerate all the things that Apple has done to drive truly creative developers from the platform. Of course one can argue "semper fi", but where is Guy Kawasaki today?
In this book I would have the following chapters.
1) The failure of Marketting/Evangelism
Yes, I'd have this in the book. I spent five years promoting the use of Macs in enterprise and engineering. Apple could never keep these positions well stocked, and when they did find people, they gathered a self-delusional-reinforcing clique of groupies that denied that Apple was pooching NOT attempts to enter the space, but pooching toeholds they had in the space, and telling developers trying to build products that their applications were not "killer apps." Is there an engineering killer app? For five years Apple reps announced at WWDC the same thing: We will foster development and awareness through VAR incentives. That's right... No help for people building products - but give a salesman who doesn't know a Mac from Adam a T-Shirt and he'll promote a product into an Oil company without ANY SOFTWARE to make it useful.
2) Starve the Developers for Development Tools
First tell developers they must pay for expensive development tools, and delay on providing those tools. [The developers want free tools to write product to sell your platform.]
3) Jerk the Developer Chain through Legalese
Have developers wanting to support new technologies sign incomprehensible NDAs and technology agreements. [The developers must wait months to actually get there hands on the technology.] Then announce that certain specs for internal hardware will NEVER be released.
4) Remove the Reason for Start-ups to Use Macs
Any developer incentives like the hardware purchase program must be abolished. [It is more likely small start ups that cannot afford 200%+ mark up will support fringeware.]
5) Run in Circles and blow the Developers Credibility
Get new technologies out, convince developers they must support them, and kill them a year later. [Copland, OpenDoc, QD3D...]
6) No Support for You
Put a barrier between your core developers and technical resources that do not know the technologies and claim every bug you report in the Software is a support incident requiring the DEVELOPER pay for it.
7) Close the Playing Field
Make sure that any attempt to support CHRP and get other Vendors making Macs is pooched.
8) Kick your Developers in the Groin
Never return the phone calls of a developer known as a Doubting Thomas. Make sure the development teams that do have tight contact with developers ignore advice from the seasoned ones because it illustrates design flaws, or points out missing key parts of a strategy, or because the developer said after stating factually why something is stupid, resorting to saying "The Idiot Who Did This Should Be Short" must be threatened with LEGAL ACTION.
9) Lie To The Developers
In 1996, WWDC, "Apple will be the Number One Java Development Platform." Apple FIVE YEARS LATER delivers a functional Java implementation.
10) Creativity Must be Stiffled
Kill ATG, research, and disclosure because Microsoft delivers the cool thing you saw at WWDC the previous year.
11) OpenSource this
Don't forget to kill mkLinux because you might eat into your OS X sales. But wait - OS X won't run on older hardware. F**k ADB and NuBUS - who uses old Macs [except every die hard Mac developer I know.]
Unfortunately most of the things that Apple has done right, they did long, long after it would make a difference. Think different? I don't think so.
p.s. Tim, f**k you for breaking all the UI guidelines making iWhatever look and feel like consumer products. A skin should be a choice... and Apps should be consistent.
/\/\icro/\/\uncher
the whole MAC vs PC debate is about as worthwhile as starting a fire with your powersupply.
A: to those who say Macs are NOW cool because of MAC OS X having unix underpinngs
--Shut up. LOL... MAC OS has always had the tools for power users... and to think it was just some kids computer until X came around is to ignore VPC, LinuxPPC, Terminal apps, Hexediting and the whole kit n kabbodle
B:to those who say PC's have are supirior, or macs arent tweakable.
--i have taken my rev b imac apart installed a scsi/video card... upgraded the processor, added firewire, upgraded the ram/HD/and video ram, and installed my own internal cd-r. AAAll of this in a All in one case.... uhm.... thats a great deal of tweaking in my book. If it wasnt for the fact that linux reads so many disk formats macs would be the only real good IT computer... but no-one in IT realizes that... sigh... misunderstandings will continue till the end of time...
--Idiots, Every single one of YOU, A flaming mass of conglomerated morons, hey wait a second, isnt that how RAID works?
Who the fsck uses telnet?
This isn't the 1990's...
t_t_b
I'm on PJ's "enemies" list! Are you?
Quite simply what operating system you use should be determined by the task at hand.
I agree, with one caveat: Some people don't have enough money to buy as many boxes as they have tasks that they want to run simultaneously (e.g. Windows is best for games, but *n?x is best for file sharing), or the duopoly (cable and DSL) Internet service providers' TOS prohibit connecting more than one computer through their connection.
Will I retire or break 10K?
Really? Did they "innovate" the PCI bus and BSD?
Yes. Apple innovated pre-installed commercial BSD on the desktop. Apple also innovated bundled USB keyboards and mice.
Will I retire or break 10K?
I thought the point he was trying to make is that it is in our best interests to keep as many players in the game as possible.
unless you know of a MS OS that runs on the Mac?
Early versions of MS-DOS were published for 68000-based machines as well as for IBM PCs. It probably would have been trivial to port those to the early Macintosh hardware.
Windows 2000 runs on Macintosh computers through Connectix Virtual PC software.
Microsoft Internet Explorer is the default browser for Mac OS X, and Microsoft considers IE to be part of the operating system.
Will I retire or break 10K?
with apologies to Neal Stephenson:
MGBs, TANKS, AND BATMOBILES
...
Imagine a crossroads where four competing auto dealerships are situated. One of them (Microsoft) is much, much bigger than the others. It started out years ago selling three-speed bicycles (MS-DOS); these were not perfect, but they worked, and when they broke you could easily fix them.
There was a competing bicycle dealership next door (Apple) that one day began selling motorized vehicles--expensive but attractively styled cars with their innards hermetically sealed, so that how they worked was something of a mystery.
The big dealership responded by rushing a moped upgrade kit (the original Windows) onto the market. This was a Rube Goldberg contraption that, when bolted onto a three-speed bicycle, enabled it to keep up, just barely, with Apple-cars. The users had to wear goggles and were always picking bugs out of their teeth while Apple owners sped along in hermetically sealed comfort, sneering out the windows. But the Micro-mopeds were cheap, and easy to fix compared with the Apple-cars, and their market share waxed.
Eventually the big dealership came out with a full-fledged car: a colossal station wagon (Windows 95). It had all the aesthetic appeal of a Soviet worker housing block, it leaked oil and blew gaskets, and it was an enormous success. A little later, they also came out with a hulking off-road vehicle intended for industrial users (Windows NT) which was no more beautiful than the station wagon, and only a little more reliable.
Since then there has been a lot of noise and shouting, but little has changed. The smaller dealership continues to sell sleek Euro-styled sedans and to spend a lot of money on advertising campaigns. They have had GOING OUT OF BUSINESS! signs taped up in their windows for so long that they have gotten all yellow and curly. The big one keeps making bigger and bigger station wagons and ORVs.
On the other side of the road are two competitors that have come along more recently.
One of them (Be, Inc.) is selling fully operational Batmobiles (the BeOS). They are more beautiful and stylish even than the Euro-sedans, better designed, more technologically advanced, and at least as reliable as anything else on the market--and yet cheaper than the others.
With one exception, that is: Linux, which is right next door, and which is not a business at all. It's a bunch of RVs, yurts, tepees, and geodesic domes set up in a field and organized by consensus. The people who live there are making tanks. These are not old-fashioned, cast-iron Soviet tanks; these are more like the M1 tanks of the U.S. Army, made of space-age materials and jammed with sophisticated technology from one end to the other. But they are better than Army tanks. They've been modified in such a way that they never, ever break down, are light and maneuverable enough to use on ordinary streets, and use no more fuel than a subcompact car. These tanks are being cranked out, on the spot, at a terrific pace, and a vast number of them are lined up along the edge of the road with keys in the ignition. Anyone who wants can simply climb into one and drive it away for free.
Customers come to this crossroads in throngs, day and night. Ninety percent of them go straight to the biggest dealership and buy station wagons or off-road vehicles. They do not even look at the other dealerships.
Of the remaining ten percent, most go and buy a sleek Euro-sedan, pausing only to turn up their noses at the philistines going to buy the station wagons and ORVs. If they even notice the people on the opposite side of the road, selling the cheaper, technically superior vehicles, these customers deride them cranks and half-wits.
The Batmobile outlet sells a few vehicles to the occasional car nut who wants a second vehicle to go with his station wagon, but seems to accept, at least for now, that it's a fringe player.
The group giving away the free tanks only stays alive because it is staffed by volunteers, who are lined up at the edge of the street with bullhorns, trying to draw customers' attention to this incredible situation. A typical conversation goes something like this:
Hacker with bullhorn: "Save your money! Accept one of our free tanks! It is invulnerable, and can drive across rocks and swamps at ninety miles an hour while getting a hundred miles to the gallon!"
Prospective station wagon buyer: "I know what you say is true...but...er...I don't know how to maintain a tank!"
Bullhorn: "You don't know how to maintain a station wagon either!"
Buyer: "But this dealership has mechanics on staff. If something goes wrong with my station wagon, I can take a day off work, bring it here, and pay them to work on it while I sit in the waiting room for hours, listening to elevator music."
Bullhorn: "But if you accept one of our free tanks we will send volunteers to your house to fix it for free while you sleep!"
Buyer: "Stay away from my house, you freak!"
Bullhorn: "But..."
Buyer: "Can't you see that everyone is buying station wagons?"
Carthago delenda est!
though it doesn't support SSH 2.x:
NiftyTelnet 1.1 SSH implements a subset of the SSH 1.5 protocol. Supported encryption algorithms are: DES, 3DES and Blowfish. The IDEA algorithm is not available since commercial use requires a license, and the Arcfour algorithm has been disabled since it could introduce security problems when used in the SSH 1.x protocol.
so I don't quite see your point?
With the possible exception of the brand spanking new PowerBook, ALL Apple laptops still have ADB keyboards. It's sad, but true. The desktop machines all have USB, but the laptops have built-in ADB keyboards.
So, I'm asking: has the motherboard on the new PowerBook been redesigned to use a built-in USB keyboard, or does it still use a built-in ADB keyboard like all other Apple laptops?
The answer to this question determines whether I buy, or continue to wait for a keyboard I can really use (as a long-time unix user).
As the tip itself noted, this won't work on Powerbooks because the internal keyboard is actually ADB and not USB.
I'm a painter. I'm a techie. I'm a manager.
I grew up with Apple and used Macs in college.
I work with PCs and build my own PCs. They are high quality machines that work very well. I upgrade with top notch parts as I need to or feel the urge.
I do most of my creative work on a PC running XP. It works very well... Photoshop and Primiere fly, Counter-Strike rocks, and there are drivers for everything. I plug things in and they work.
I play with linux just for fun. I can almost do something useful with it now. A couple lines of code, a email check, some webbrowsing. Eventually, I might get my USB multimedia perpherials to work with it.
My point is that the stereotype about who uses what is wrong, but seems to be consistently reinforced from various media. I am the creative type whose also a techie. I started using PCs because of price and software, now I see no reason to even try a Mac again other than playing with it a few minutes at CompUSA.
If only I could get some cool apple industrial design in my PC cases without taking a dremel to it...
maybe we should call ourselves "Apple users" instead of "Mac Fanatics."
/. topic) Open Source.
Reminds me of the MIT Science Fiction Society's t-shirt motto, "We're not fans - we just read the stuff".
Stereotypically frothing-ever-so-slightly-at-the-mouth enthusiasts serve a useful purpose (reminding people that their topic of interest exists, and selflessly defending it from onslaught whenever necessary), but alas they also make it harder for "normal" folks to admit to liking something, be it Apples, SF, or (fave
"The Crystal Wind is the Storm, and the Storm is Data, and the Data is Life"
Excel. Most Macs in the earlies were sold because MS put Excel on the Mac first because you can't do spreads easily on a DOS screen. And it sold like hotcakes. There are many more innovative programs which were created on the Mac and later migrated. Photoshop is one of them as well as the mentioned QuarkXPress and Pagemaker.
Horseshit. The basic idea of a GUI may have come from Xerox, but Apple did a crapload to further develop the idea. Most of the features of a modern GUI were pioneered by Apple.
NiftyTelnet is probably the best free ssh client available for Mac OS 9.
It certainly shames the commercial SSH cleint.
-pmb
Last time I checked the Mac has a bunch of built-in software that the PC doesn't. And if you're going to buy from the cheapest vendor on Pricewatch don't forget to add a hefty surplus for shipping and waiting a long time for stuff on backorder. And you will probably have to return a part or two as well.
And most people charge money to assemble computers. If you're going to build it yourself don't forget to account for that time spent. I built my own PC and I don't regret it but I spent a lot of time physically assembling the machine and installing software. I spent hundreds of dollars worth of my own time.
I'm not saying that Macs are cheaper than PCs, but I hate it when someone quotes Pricewatch prices for PC parts assuming that those components will somehow magically become a computer.
I think I argued with this guy back when I was 13. Thankfully, I grew up.
thats not what apple would say. apple practically wrote attack on the clones.
Keep telling yourself that while your forking out the big bucks for Apple's shitty computers. You be able to take it. Apple got a lot of the GUI from Xerox, and now they just copy other programs anyways--just like Microsoft.
OMG. sorry.. but Pudge calling himself "jovial" would be up there with hearing Tom Daschle calling himself "professional bullshit artist" - accurate, but hearing it from him, you'd swear you'd entered the Twilight Zone.
You all should see how "jovial" pudge is when he's beating the stuffing out of some poor college freshman's poor argument. Its like watching a 800 pound gorilla tackle a miniature poodle and stuff it into a thimble. Its so awful, you can't help but watch in glee (i mean, doesn't everyone find glee in the idea of one of those horrible little poodles being stuffed into a thimble?)
guns kill people like spoons make Rosie O'Donnell fat.
http://www.wired.com/news/mac/0,2125,50820,00.html
iBong... extremely funny, until you read the article:
"There is a strong connection between Macs and pot. Both are countercultures, in the loosest sense of the word, appealing to people who are creative or artistic, people who, as a particular ad campaign might say, "Think different.""
Just like this book, totally wrong view of Mac users.
This just reminds me of my Amiga days. There wasn't anything out there worth having. If you didn't have a C= Amiga or a C= 64, or even worse had a PC-bucket or Crapple, all that told me was how computer illiterate you were. Who the hell wanted to play "clicky-clicky" with Finder or click some damn Start button to shut the beeping bucket down, when you could have multitasked like hell cracking software to your heart's content, while listening to some kickass tunes, all produced by your friends & co.? *CHUCKLE* That was until I entered the wonderful world of VT220 terminals and "%" prompts, and got introduced to X, CDE and Solaris shortly thereafter. The fact is, Crapple is almost as dead as the Amiga, although both are still twitching in their death throes. With max. 10% market share, why the noise? Should I start raving about how great Amiga is? You want to live, but yet you know you're dying. There is life after life, at least in the computer world. For me, that was SGI and Sun, some days HP (HP-UX). For others, it may just be that GeForce 4 (or Linux) inside your brand new PC-bucket, happily managing those BIOS interrupts because the CPU still can't tell where they're coming from. Opinion: PC sucks. Crapple sucks. Pity the poor lot who don't have the money or the experience to purchase a real UNIX computer running on a good CPU with good hardware. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!
The basic GUI concepts from Xerox, as many stories scattered across the web do tell, sucked. It wasn't a modern GUI in any way, shape, or form. It's like saying XFree86 is perfect without a window manager or any applications. Refinements went into the GUI of what is now known as Mac OS that went well above and beyond anything at Xerox PARC. Apple stole the concept of being able to interface with the user graphically from Xerox. Big deal.
Dodge, Chrysler, Mercedes, BMW, VW... They all stole the concept of the automobile from Ford. But we don't go around bitching about that. They improved upon a basic "product", as did Apple upon a GUI.
Apple innovates. Look at the design of their systems. Nobody else put out a mass-produced, small-footprint computer for the masses that can master DVDs. Their mobile computers get far better battery life than anything Gateway or Dell can offer.
They're pushed to actually better their systems, where the Wintel world gets excited over an extra 2 minutes of battery life or 50MHz.
Look at the software. iTunes. iMovie. iPhoto. There's some truth to Apple's "Everything's easier on a Mac" campaign. Equivalent software for Windows largely either: (a) sucks and is free or (b) is overpriced and sucks.
I paid nearly twice as much for my top-of-the-line Dell laptop as I did for my 500MHz iBook, and what do I get for it? A GeForce2 Go. The standard software complement on Apple's consumer-level computers blows Dell's (and most other Wintel resellers) out of the water. I've got AppleWorks on the Mac that can do everything I need, and Works on the Dell that has, uh, an old copy of Microsoft Word bundled. Whoop-de-fucking-do.
4 months later, the Dell battery's dying and they don't want to touch it, the touchpad's dead, and Windows has been reinstalled several times, each creating a new and fun hardware conflict. If there's innovation somewhere in that... Oh, wait, there is! Innovation in customer service!
>Thats the funniest damn thing I've read on Slashdot in awhile :)
Actually, your post is the funniest.
I particularly liked your assertion that:
Using a PC doesn't mean you know squat, other than how to use a PC. You don't magically know how to program all of the sudden, or how to design a PCB, or even how to swap out a PCI card
Hilarious and quite true. I am sure the vast majority of PC users are just that, users. They see the computer as a tool and have no interest in knowing how the tool works.
However, I take exception (non-fatal) to your assertion that knowledge of PCB design and programming are prerequisites for having a GENERAL UNDERTANDING of how computers work.
I think anyone who has had the dubious pleasure of tweaking qemm to optimize memory back in the days of DOS and Windows 3.11 does indeed have at the very least a general understanding.
Your post reeks of technohubris.
Yeah, dealing with a ton of online retailers can be a real pain in the ass. Of course there are excellent, low cost online retailers like newegg.com but lets ignore that too because the amount of people who are willing and able to build their own computers is small in comparison with the total computer market. And I guess if you make bad purchasing decisions or are bad at machine assembly and setup it could, maybe, take 10 hours to set the thing up. No comment on your silly "cost of lost client" point though.
To make a comparison fair we'll take the 2 most popular computer retailers in the PC world and pit them against the only source of Apple hardware currently available. Dell and Gateway vs. the Apple Store.
Apple Store:
G4 800Mhz
256MB PC133 RAM
40GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive
CD-RW Drive
ATI Radeon 7500 dual monitor
56k Internal Modem
Apple Pro Speakers
Apple Keyboard
Mac OS X 10.1.4
90 day tech support, 1 year hardware repair
Total: $1600
Oh but wait, you gotta be able to *see* what you're doing on your computer, right? So we'll add the smallest and cheapest monitor they carry. After all I wouldn't want to bother going to a third party retailer to get a monitor, especially if it didn't match my case and say Apple on it.
Total cost with "15 LCD monitor: $2257
Now we'll see what Dell has to offer.
First, we'll be using the double Mhz rule just for argument's sake. So we'll need at least a 1.6Ghz processor on the PC side to equal our G4, memory issues aside.
Dell Dimension 4400 Series:
1.9Ghz P4
256Mhz DDR SDRAM
Geforce 3Ti 200
15" flat panel LCD
40GB Ultra ATA/100 HD
24x10x40 CD-RW with Easy CD Creator
56k Modem
Harmon Kardon HK-206 Speakers
Microsoft Works Suite with Money (includes Word, etc)
Dell Picture Studio and Image Expert Standard (to match OS X built in tools presumably)
Dell Keyboard and MS Intellimouse
Windows XP Home
Epson Stylus C80 Printer
HP Photosmart 318 Digital Camera
Standard Dell Move Studio Bundle (presumably competition for iMovie)
HP Scanjet 5400 Scanner
3 free DVD movies or software titles
1 year limited warranty, 1 year at home service, 1 year phone support.
Total: $1,847
Ok so let me get this straight, I get everything the Apple comes with, *plus* a printer, scanner, digital camera, better support, a better mouse (regardless of the 1 vs. 2 button debate, this also has a scroll wheel and 2 extra programmable buttons), faster RAM, a better graphics card, more software, and 3 free movies or software titles, and all for $400 less than an "equivalent" Apple system? If I purchased today I even would have gotten free shipping. I'm trying to restrain my laughter here.
None of the above value judgements are, I believe, very subjective either. Feel free to argue if you disagree.
At the very least, even if I have more problems with this system than with the G4 (debatable, XP is from personal experience pretty stable), I'll certainly be enjoying my digital camera, scanner, and printer allot more than a $400 hole in my wallet and a few less crashes (conjecture, for argument's sake) and being able to use iMovie. Not to mention that those extras are precisely what I would need to properly enjoy one of the major purported uses of Apple products: graphic arts.
But hey, maybe Dell was having a fire sale the day I checked prices (uh, that was today btw). Lets try Gateway.
Gateway 500S:
P4 1.8Ghz
256MB DDR SDRAM
40GB Ultra ATA/100 7200RPM HD
16X DVD-ROM *and* 24x10x40 CD-RW
64MB NVIDIA GeForce2 MX400 w/TV Out
15" Flat Panel LCD Display
Sound Blaster Audigy w/Firewire
Boston Acoustics BA745 Speakers
56k modem
Integrated 10/100 Ethernet
Windows XP Home
Gateway Keyboard and Logitech Optical Wheel Mouse
MS Works Suite (Includes Word and Encarta)
1 Year Limited Parts / Labor / Support
Epson Stylus C80 Printer with USB Cable
Hewlett-Packard ScanJet 5400C Scanner
Fuji® FinePix(TM) A201 Digital Camera
Nomad II MP3 player
The Sims
Total: $2,055
Huh, whaddya know? They're also cheaper, and include even more extras. OK, I can no longer restrain my laughter. HAHAHAHA! But of course my case doesn't look pretty. I'm all sad inside now. And of course admittedly Gateway isn't the best manufacturer of computers. But then not all of Apple's components are top notch either (IMO). That's why I build my own computers. But from a consumer standpoint, arguing lower price is obviously ludicrous, and arguing a better user experience is seeming more and more suspect the more I write.
For argument's sake lets go visit a PC manufacturer that uses high quality components, caters to an elite crowd, and has pretty cases and hardware: Alienware. Now I suppose we'll finally see price equality, since surely if a PC manufacturer tried to include all the extras that Apple does, they could not undercut Apple in price. Lets see how Alienware does.
Hive-Mind:
P4 1.8Ghz
256MB DDR RAM
MS Keyboard and Intellimouse Explorer in choice of colors
40GB Ultra ATA/100 7200 RPM HD
NEC 19" 95F Flat Screen CRT Monitor
ATI Radeon 7500 dual monitor
Sound Blaster Live 5.1
Plextor PlexWriter 24x10x40x CD-RW
USR 56k modem
Creative Inspire 5.1 5300 speakers
Intel Pro 100S Network Card
Microsoft Works
Windows XP Home
1 year 24/7 onsite support
Total: $2078
Wow! It even comes in my choice of colors! I'm really sporting wood now! Unfortunately they don't carry LCD monitors smaller than 19" or something, so I've had to go with a 19" flat CRT. I don't think I'll really be complaining, but if I really want a lower refresh rate, smaller viewable area, and a fixed resolution I'm sure I could order a 15" LCD for $100 or so more than the 19" flat screen CRT, including shipping. An equivalent Athlon system is also comparable in price from Alienware.
So as you can see, the price difference is very real. While it is true that there are certain features - tangible and otherwise - that Apple offers in its computing experience that are difficult or impossible to match on the PC side (I mean who *doesn't* want a Superdrive?), whether they are worth a $400+ price premium is debatable, and this doesn't even take into account similar features on PC's difficult or impossible to match on a Macintosh (how about a good selection of modern games?).
Bottom line: There's nothing wrong with liking Macintoshes. There's nothing wrong with liking Apple's industrial design. There's nothing wrong with liking Mac OS, 9, X 10.x, or what have you. What is wrong is being a zealot about it. What is wrong is being narrow minded and stupid in your computer buying decisions. What is wrong is buying marketing hype and giving it away for free as your own "product", while the company you *bought* it from gets free advertising and makes yet more money off your stupidity.
Mac's and PC's share the computing world, and each seems to have maintained thier own respective niches for some time now. I don't see this changing. Both have plusses and minuses. Above all everyone owes it to themselves to be *informed* when they make computer purchasing decisions. If you don't know the truth behind the "Mhz Myth" then you shouldn't be arguing relative system performance. If all your buying decisions are based on performance in Apple's test of 5 filters in Photoshop, you shouldn't be talking about which platform is superior.
- JavaJones
Has this been mentioned yet? Windows is a Mac clone. The look and feel, the "plug and play," the point and click, etc.
Both are asymptotes of something ideal that users want, and the competition is good for us. What MS tries to accomplish with market dominance and dollars, Apple tries to accomplish with stability and aesthetics.
Let em fight it out.
MacOS-X.I.IV release
Please, please, please! Please rave about the Amiga...and market share. I await the honor of becoming a willing supplicant of your obvious vast and endless knowledge. Songs are sung in your honor, women swoon and strip before you, men are in jealous fits as words of wisdom leave your mighty keyboard. Let us follow greatness!
There is probably other stuff I forgot about too.
As I grew up, I had both Macs and Windows machines around. I didn't know much about using the Windows machine besides how to load Doom and Civilization on it. I was taught to use the Mac in school, and as thus used it to do most of my productive work.
Later, when I acquired a 14.4 modem for my Windows machine and smooth-talked my parents into paying for CompuServe for a few months, I got started down the path of the PC. I used it more and more, and got more and more drawn into it. I still used the Mac for productivity, but the Windows box for my goof-off time. As I learned more and more about the PC, I began to love it more and more. Eventually, the Mac started to merely gather dust.
The arrival of Windows 95 was one of the happier moments for me, as it resulted in my parents buying me a new computer to run it. My experimentation was endless, and I loved every minute of it.
Fast forward a few years, and my parents decide it is time to upgrade the computer once again. I was ever so excited, with dreams of Pentium 3's dancing in my head. Instead, they got an iMac. Not too bad, the G3 is certainly a more than competent processor! Joy! Sadly, my use of the Windows machine had jaded me. Something didn't click for me. I kept trying to right click, I wanted to play Quake II and Starcraft! Curses! It just never really worked out for me to be using a Mac again, despite the joy that Escape Velocity:Override gave me.
Now, a coupla years later and a lot more experienced, that standard still stands. I acknowledge Apples as very competent platforms, espeically with the introduction of OS X. However, I will continue to use my Windows/Linux dual boot machine. I love the openness of the Windows platform most of all, I think. Upgrading the hardware on a Mac, while possible, is not cheap nor reliable.
I enjoyed myself quite a bit recently when I splurged on an brand-spankin' new system, which I bought piece by piece, unassembled. I had a jolly good time putting it all together, booting it up for the first time, installing Windows XP and installing slackware. I unforetunately could not have had this fun on an Apple. And that is how I learned to stop worrying and love the monoply.
Oh, piss. I tested it on my Pismo... while using a USB keyboard.
Hi, I'm a dumbass too. Dock me a clue point or five, please.
____ _______
Duty now for the future!
Kelby is dead-on about many things, like how computer store personnel are mostly clueless
Yesterday, I was in a computer store and over heard a sales guy say to a customer inquiring about RAID, that "Seagate drives don't work in a RAID setup, because they're just too fast. Trust me, I know, I've tried at home! I've spoken to Seagate about it and they acknowledge the problem." He also stated to the customer that Seagate does not make anything else but hard drives.
I was'nt really in the mood to interupt and tell of my RAID setup at home that has been working nicely with Seagate drives for about 3 years now.
Sometimes helping out other customers with correct advice in the presence of these nit-wit sales types can be fun though.
War crimes, torture, lies, illegal spying... Would someone give Bush a blowjob, already, so he can be impeached?
Nowhere does it say I was using telnet anywhere. The program's name is NiftyTelnet. It can connect via ss1 or telnet protocols. It also doesn't say I've been a Unix geek for 15 years, but a Mac user for 15 years (I've been using Unix for about 10 years). Bah, who needs reading skills?
It is my opinion that any test with "PC" as a posability has lost credibility.
:(
The PC is just the hardware and not everyone means the same thing when they say PC..
PC.. is that Linux? OS/2? BSD? Dos?
In my view such a test should score points between diffrent Unix platforms.. In the past it would be diffrent Unix platforms and MacOs but now that MacOs is a Unix platform the tests should be a bit diffrent.
I think Mac people do often over emphasise the point that MacOs is an effective Geek machine but I understand why when people keep labling it a dummy box.
On the inverse I am puzzled why Unix/Linux people alow non Unix types to speak so poorly of Unix in the user friendly department.
In my view MacOs is an artists/newbie machine who's capabilitys extend well into the expert user arena..
Linux is a geek/admin box with capabilitys extending well into the artist/newbie arena.
The reality is they overlap and unless your at the upmost extream they both work extreamly well. Outside the upmost extream I might recomend two other options... BSD and Geoworks.. however Geoworks is dead...
Geoworks becouse the whole freaking os is installed on ROM and the system is basicly low end so the end user is paying for a cheap system that dose exactly what he/she needs with no additional cost. The Geobook was a nice portable system at a cheap price.
BSD is the extream in internet services.. handles the load designed and updated on reliability and uptime more than anything else.
Even if that means sacraficing multimedia nicitys.. Sorry no Video4BSD.. There are ways around that if you really want a web cam.
Nothing prevents BSD from doing everything Linux dose but often takes more effort on the end users behalf.
All Unix systems can be updated to be user friendly. KDE and Gnome is proving this..
Preveous user friendly Unixes did exist. However the typical user friendly GUI of the 1980s was a bit more than any typical consummer box could handle leading to overtly expensive Unix systems that failed on the market.
The non-Unix MacOs was worth while in it's time.
We didn't know what a graphics libary needed in order to be effecent so anything standing between the application and the video chip slowed everything down to much.
Unix security means libarys only.. no dirrect access posable.
Todays systems are significantly more powerful and we know a lot more about making good graphics libarys. MacOs X takes adantage of that.
We have not yet learnned how to make low overhead user friendly interfaces.. Geoworks did but a closed source dead os isn't going to teach us anything.
In the end I'd say the gap between MacOs and Linux is illusionary... there is a huge overlap.
Windows is the os for those who just want what "everybody else is using"... not what works best..
I don't actually exist.
Heh. Well, if you don't look at resale value of a car, you're a pretty moronic fuck.
;)
That, or just an annoying rich fuck, and so we still don't like you anyway.
"I just bought a car for $19,000 that will depreciate to $2000 in five months, and I don't care."
Good man!
"All your base are belong to this file I send in order to have your advice."
I do agree that there seems to be a higher percentage of Mac users with some kind of clue. But I chalk it up to my belief that the Mac user base includes more long time users. Mac had a greater than 10% share back in the 1992 period. Mac share proceeded to slump. I think those Mac sales consist largely of happy Mac users.
Meanwhile the PC was the main beneficiary of the Web fad. All kinds of idiots bought PCs. And all kinds of idiot companies put PCs on every desk. Result: lots of idiots running their PCs. People who have used PCs for ten or twenty years are a small minority.
Not true on both counts. Buying a car that is a year or two old lets you bypass the most painfull depreciation. It also lets you pick a model that will break less than the average vehicle. This lets you buy a nice (not base) car that will last 5-8 years at the least, with acceptable maintenance.
Of course, there are always better and faster models coming out. If you desire to always have the best, then you should look at resale.
Blar.
Can someone give me the nutshell version of the 2-button mouse argument? I have a ThinkPad for my work laptop, and a Mac desktop for my work (and my personal laptop) I MISS the second button on the Wallstreet (I have a 2-button mouse on my work Mac). Why does Apple reject the second button? It's software supported! Just 'cause it wasn't Apple's idea?
Yes, it's a blog. Sorry if that offends you.
What a load. MS-DOS has substantial assembly language pieces. It has never been ported to any architecture other than x86.
IE on Mac is not composed of libraries littered across the OS, as it is on Windows.
You are right about a Mac being able to emulate a PC and run Windows that way. But anything can emulate anything given enough storage.
How American - everything has to be some big gayass competition.