The Windows machine is more than twice the clock speed of the economy mac mini, but even with this in mind I can't help but get the impression the MacOS is abnormally sluggish.
I stopped reading right there. How can you be seriously be offering a comparison opinion on two such different machines? Did God visit you in a dream or something?
"Apple (Computers) are saying that iTunes is not music, it's an "electronic device" and therefore they are not going against the past agreement."
Not exactly. You equated music from iTMS with distributing illegal porn. The agreement had to do with the use of the Apple icon and whether using it on iTMS constituted infringement and a violation of a prior agreement. Since all music on iTMS is sold under agreement with the artists, it's not illegal. Whether it's good or not is a matter of taste.
"So if I set up a service delivering illegal content, let's say naked pictures of your underage daugther, can I argue that it's just an "electronic device" and get away with it? I think not!"
Would you mind explaining how this has anything at all to do with the arguments in this case?
"So you drank the Koolaid. What's the point, here? People can be convinced of anything if you give them enough time."
First, I hate Koolaid. Second, the rest of this is just lame, lazy pontificating from a prejudiced point of view. It presumes that I'm not intelligent, or that my choices are not informed. And your's always are, i suppose?
"It's not the customer service. Apple cares as much about their customers as Steve Jobs cares about a diverse wardrobe. Apple is beloved for these reasons.... 1. Style. It makes people feel cool, cause it looks cool. 2. Intuitive use. Especially for the less computer savvy, the Apple experience is simply more coherent to how people "think" things should work. 3. When you own an Apple, you are immediately inducted into the "club". Everyone want to feel their apart of the cool crowd. Owning an Apple gives some that illusion."
Glib, but unfortunately not true. Customer service has always -- and I mean every time I've needed it -- been either acceptable or outstanding. This debate misses the other thing in my experience, which is that the QA (with some glaring exceptions, like the whole Performa Line Horror -- means that the damned things don't actually break down all that often.
Actually, #2 above is really #1 in Apple's list. The other two are outgrowths of that, plus the attention to detail that results in the kind of loyalty. In the Windows world, until the last couple of years anyway, cheapness and lots of software made people put up with a mediocre interface and general lack of standardized ways of doing things, from app to app. In the Linux world, there's no real expectation of 'intuititive' response from the OS, since a lot of the attraction is that it requires someone to be very much involved in getting it to work exactly the way they want.
With all due respect, your conclusions on this subject would be more persuasive if you had more personal experience to go on. The "they're only in it for the money" just doesn't hold up to even minimal scrutiny.
I'm not claiming that Apple doens't care about money, so you're right to point out that this is a motivating factor, as it is with any corporation. But you should do a little research into Jobs' many public statements, over 3 decades now, before being complacent with "it's a black or white" kind of answer. I've been using Apple products for 20 years now, and while I'm not blind to the megalomania of Jobs and the many boneheaded moves he and the company have made, that same megalomania and driven quality is behind a long-term obsession with user experience. That focus shows in the industrial design they're famous for (rightly, imho), and you either love that or hate it. But Jobs has said, repeatedly, that "Apple's DNA is to be found at the intersection of art and technology."
It's not the only way to do things, but it's their way and they ought to be judged on the whole approach, not your rather uniformed and biased assumptions.
Re:Death of Mac OS predicted, pictures at 11
on
Apple Joins BAPCo
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· Score: 1
Not in Windows, but in boxes that will run both Windows and OSX as a bridge to bring new users to OSX and wean them away.
I'm not saying that Linux doesn't have a lot to offer, but rather than what it has to offer doesn't distinguish it *enough* from Windows or OSX to make a big enough difference. How are you going to get people to try the Linux GUI's as long as it's still largely a tweaker's OS? I'm not saying OS X is perfect, either, but the difference is that it has a single entity (Apple) doing the promtions and marketing and developing other things, like the iPod, that get it noticed by the proletariat who are used to just one thing: Windows.
Personally, I think we'd all be better off with three strong OS's on the desktop, but right now we only have two. IMHO, that is.
Really, your whole rant is pointless. You are whining because "Linux is copying a feature from OS X!". Well, they (KDE that is) are not. they already have this feature. Have had it for a long time. They just decided to support Apple's implementation as well. And that is a GOOD THING!
Really, your whole reaction is so defensive that it's clear you missed the point. Try looking at this from someone who's not already a convert to Linux. He makes a perfectly valid point: Linux cannot appeal to switchers if it has nothing new to offer other than stability. OS X is more stable and free, so far, from malware and virii, but even there, and with a very good GUI, you're not seeing people leaving Windows for OS X in droves.
Linux is around 1% on the desktop and has been there for a looooong time. No movement. Why do YOU suppose that is? It's a valid question, and the kind of reaction you had typifies why nothing is likely to change.
He's right, you know. Your reaction is one reason I've stayed away from Linux, despite dabbling with it. You may not want to hear this sort of thing, but it's why Linux has not yet made it above 1% marketshare on the desktop, despite it's 'superiority'. Insulting thA little humility and the abilty to listen are still the two biggest things missing from any distro.
I think the threat is probably a lot closer. The mother ship is probably in orbit out around Jupiter now, and has been there for a while... but the advance group is already on Earth. They're capitalists and have started several companies already. Some, like Google, are doing quite well, as a matter of fact. Some of their earlier efforts, such as Michael Jackson, started strong but then failed miserably.
Doesn't this move to Intel today signal that Apple is going to change itself into a software and services company, and get out of the hardware biz? At the least, it opens up the possibility of a clone market again, doesn't it? And if that happens, why would Apple try to compete with the clones when it could use them to sell OSX all over the universe?
Be careful about painting with too broad a brush, there. I'm an independent, leaning Democrat, and dislike the preening arrogance of Bush and the neocon crowd intensely.
However, crashing REpublican sites is just trying to shut someone up you don't agree with. It's no better than heckling a speaker, and maybe worse because the scale is so much greater. I hope the Democratic leadership condemns this, and soon.
Frankly, this sort of DOS approach smacks an awfully lot of the way that attendees to Cheney rallies have to sign loyalty oaths first. Both are ways to stiffle speech and dissent.
Color me cynical, but it also entirely possible that Tibco, knowing that any suit against Apple for infringment would be instantly posted to major tech sites, like SlashDot, filed this suit as a PR move. I think, in fact, that this is the most likely explanation for why they filed.
They can't have been blind to the boatload of free advertising for their otherwise invisible product that such a move would garner. The legal fees are much cheaper than an ad campaign.
"Fits in with what's out there: "Xserve fits into all types of industry-standard racks, so you can use what you already have or buy new racks "off-the-rack" to meet your specific needs. There's no need for a special "Apple rack."
Xserve supports racks that meet the specifications of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI)/Electronic Industries Association (EIA) standard ANSI/EIA-310-D, International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 297, and Deutsche Industrie Norm (DIN) 41494. You can install the server in any of several types of racks, including: open four-post rack (19 inches wide and 29 -- 36 inches deep), cabinet with four-post rack inside (19 inches wide and 29 -- 36 inches deep), and two-post telco rack (19 inches wide).
I think this new attitude -- along with the list of nice features -- will go over well here in higher ed. I'm considering getting one of these and putting it in our co-location center. I've used the Server Admin on my in-house G4 server, and it's great for remote admin, too. But all of the admin tools alone would sell me over a different brand. A Linux 1U would be cheaper initially, but it costs something in time to maintain, too. I don't have the time and resources to hire a sys admin. I've got to do that myself, and it's not a lot of fun. This would be perfect.
Slashdot Mirror
But perhaps interesting. I manage a large U's main website (2 million visitors since 9/1).
For September (through 9/19), the platform percentages are:
Windows: 93.83%
Mac: 5.89% (Of this, PPC is 72.51% and Intel Mac is at 27.49%)
For all of April of this year, the percentages were:
Windows: 94.5%
Mac: 5.16 (100% PPC)
In the same time periods, Linux has dropped 0.05%, from 0.25% to 0.20%
It's 'maroons', according to Bugs Bunny.
must....not.... click... on.... link.... to.....Dvorak.... article....
I stopped reading right there. How can you be seriously be offering a comparison opinion on two such different machines? Did God visit you in a dream or something?
Command-Option-Esc.
"Apple (Computers) are saying that iTunes is not music, it's an "electronic device" and therefore they are not going against the past agreement."
Not exactly. You equated music from iTMS with distributing illegal porn. The agreement had to do with the use of the Apple icon and whether using it on iTMS constituted infringement and a violation of a prior agreement. Since all music on iTMS is sold under agreement with the artists, it's not illegal. Whether it's good or not is a matter of taste.
"So if I set up a service delivering illegal content, let's say naked pictures of your underage daugther, can I argue that it's just an "electronic device" and get away with it? I think not!"
Would you mind explaining how this has anything at all to do with the arguments in this case?
First, I hate Koolaid. Second, the rest of this is just lame, lazy pontificating from a prejudiced point of view. It presumes that I'm not intelligent, or that my choices are not informed. And your's always are, i suppose?
How do we know that? Just because you say so?
So prefering the qualities you mention above makes me a fanatic?
What a stupid thing to say.
Glib, but unfortunately not true. Customer service has always -- and I mean every time I've needed it -- been either acceptable or outstanding. This debate misses the other thing in my experience, which is that the QA (with some glaring exceptions, like the whole Performa Line Horror -- means that the damned things don't actually break down all that often.
Actually, #2 above is really #1 in Apple's list. The other two are outgrowths of that, plus the attention to detail that results in the kind of loyalty. In the Windows world, until the last couple of years anyway, cheapness and lots of software made people put up with a mediocre interface and general lack of standardized ways of doing things, from app to app. In the Linux world, there's no real expectation of 'intuititive' response from the OS, since a lot of the attraction is that it requires someone to be very much involved in getting it to work exactly the way they want.
I'm not claiming that Apple doens't care about money, so you're right to point out that this is a motivating factor, as it is with any corporation. But you should do a little research into Jobs' many public statements, over 3 decades now, before being complacent with "it's a black or white" kind of answer. I've been using Apple products for 20 years now, and while I'm not blind to the megalomania of Jobs and the many boneheaded moves he and the company have made, that same megalomania and driven quality is behind a long-term obsession with user experience. That focus shows in the industrial design they're famous for (rightly, imho), and you either love that or hate it. But Jobs has said, repeatedly, that "Apple's DNA is to be found at the intersection of art and technology."
It's not the only way to do things, but it's their way and they ought to be judged on the whole approach, not your rather uniformed and biased assumptions.
Not in Windows, but in boxes that will run both Windows and OSX as a bridge to bring new users to OSX and wean them away.
Hire this guy and get him under an NDA asap! :-)
I'm not saying that Linux doesn't have a lot to offer, but rather than what it has to offer doesn't distinguish it *enough* from Windows or OSX to make a big enough difference. How are you going to get people to try the Linux GUI's as long as it's still largely a tweaker's OS? I'm not saying OS X is perfect, either, but the difference is that it has a single entity (Apple) doing the promtions and marketing and developing other things, like the iPod, that get it noticed by the proletariat who are used to just one thing: Windows.
Personally, I think we'd all be better off with three strong OS's on the desktop, but right now we only have two. IMHO, that is.
Really, your whole reaction is so defensive that it's clear you missed the point. Try looking at this from someone who's not already a convert to Linux. He makes a perfectly valid point: Linux cannot appeal to switchers if it has nothing new to offer other than stability. OS X is more stable and free, so far, from malware and virii, but even there, and with a very good GUI, you're not seeing people leaving Windows for OS X in droves.
Linux is around 1% on the desktop and has been there for a looooong time. No movement. Why do YOU suppose that is? It's a valid question, and the kind of reaction you had typifies why nothing is likely to change.
He's right, you know. Your reaction is one reason I've stayed away from Linux, despite dabbling with it. You may not want to hear this sort of thing, but it's why Linux has not yet made it above 1% marketshare on the desktop, despite it's 'superiority'. Insulting thA little humility and the abilty to listen are still the two biggest things missing from any distro.
I think the threat is probably a lot closer. The mother ship is probably in orbit out around Jupiter now, and has been there for a while... but the advance group is already on Earth. They're capitalists and have started several companies already. Some, like Google, are doing quite well, as a matter of fact. Some of their earlier efforts, such as Michael Jackson, started strong but then failed miserably.
How many BMW's have you seen with a lawnmower engine in them?
I think you forgot the little smiley emoticon thingy.
Doesn't this move to Intel today signal that Apple is going to change itself into a software and services company, and get out of the hardware biz? At the least, it opens up the possibility of a clone market again, doesn't it? And if that happens, why would Apple try to compete with the clones when it could use them to sell OSX all over the universe?
However, crashing REpublican sites is just trying to shut someone up you don't agree with. It's no better than heckling a speaker, and maybe worse because the scale is so much greater. I hope the Democratic leadership condemns this, and soon.
Frankly, this sort of DOS approach smacks an awfully lot of the way that attendees to Cheney rallies have to sign loyalty oaths first. Both are ways to stiffle speech and dissent.
They can't have been blind to the boatload of free advertising for their otherwise invisible product that such a move would garner. The legal fees are much cheaper than an ad campaign.
I hope they'll do it, I really do. Apple I mean. It's obvious:
"Microsoft? Hell, they can't even find enough real people to do their ads, they had to dredge up an employee!"
Sorry, couldn't resist. .
On the Design Page:
"Fits in with what's out there:
"Xserve fits into all types of industry-standard racks, so you can use what you already have or buy new racks "off-the-rack" to meet your specific needs. There's no need for a special "Apple rack."
Xserve supports racks that meet the specifications of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI)/Electronic Industries Association (EIA) standard ANSI/EIA-310-D, International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 297, and Deutsche Industrie Norm (DIN) 41494. You can install the server in any of several types of racks, including: open four-post rack (19 inches wide and 29 -- 36 inches deep), cabinet with four-post rack inside (19 inches wide and 29 -- 36 inches deep), and two-post telco rack (19 inches wide).
I think this new attitude -- along with the list of nice features -- will go over well here in higher ed. I'm considering getting one of these and putting it in our co-location center. I've used the Server Admin on my in-house G4 server, and it's great for remote admin, too. But all of the admin tools alone would sell me over a different brand. A Linux 1U would be cheaper initially, but it costs something in time to maintain, too. I don't have the time and resources to hire a sys admin. I've got to do that myself, and it's not a lot of fun. This would be perfect.