Before switching to Intel, Steve Jobs was pissing on Intel, they had slow & bloated CPUs,... Now, they're the best thing in town. They were and they are. What's the problem again?
I've tested the load times of (clean) Vista Sidenote: Why do we always have to qualify Vista with the "clean" label, yet you rarely hear qualifiers for OSX? I think this says volumes about the relative security of both platforms. Just an observation...
I've tested the load times of (clean) Vista vs. (year-old) OS X 10.4, on the same machine (a 2G Macbook with Boot Camp). I've done similar tests, but I'll have to try the Windows in Bootcamp one tonight. I've experienced times about 1 minute 30 seconds for both of my new-ish PCs (less than two years old) to boot up to the desktop (and be usable) vs. 15 seconds for my MacBook, and 30 seconds for my 8 year old G4 tower. Most of the speed on the OSX front comes from the fact I don't have to wait a minute after the desktop appears before I can start doing things, like I do in WinXP. Cool that OSX is fast and all, but I doubt that extra-minute of boot time would matter in an exploit contest.
Thank you for the most astute rebuttal of the horribly flawed logic that Macs get less viruses because of their small market share. I shall quote you frequently from here out.
just saying that this "evidence" isn't worth anything in response to those facts. You can "dis" anecdotal evidence all you want, but in the end, much like this guy's post, I am the only one who knows what I know and I feel no need to convince you buy using "science". After 10-long years of a piss-poor track record with anything Windows, I (and millions just like me) have all the evidence I'll ever need to help me spend MY money how I see fit. I'd even say that a few years of anecdotal evidence just gathered here on slashdot is more valid than this one-off article about a hacking contest. Do you ever wonder why people keep rebuying the same products? Because they have good experiences with them (purely anecdotal ones, mind you). There's no science in return customer-loyalty and nobody conducts experiments to validate their new Honda Accord purchase.
I haven't RTFA but from the surface it sounds like a fair exploit test, and sure it only fell over with user interaction, but it still fell first. After you RTFA, you'll see it wasn't a "race" at all. Instead, one guy went for the Mac because he had a pre-built exploit. An exploit nonetheless, but the fact the Mac was hacked "first" is meaningless in this context.
If you want to go the "trash Microsoft" route we can blame that on Windows. Looks like you already took care of that for me. In fairness, I have 2 PCs and 3 Macs with iTunes, and none of them have ever had the issue you claim, even though I have reinstalled WinXP a couple of times and probably an OSX reinstall at least one time. Interestingly enough, I run Bootcamp on one of my Macs, and run iTunes on it as well, and it doesn't seem to count as one of my 5 authorized machines, because that would put me at 6 computers in my house using the same iTunes purchased tracks. Maybe I'm was forgetful or not paying attention when I did my OS reinstalls, but not having those events count against my 5 authorized accounts makes your claim a bit dubious to me. I could be wrong, though.
I'm up to five "authorized" computers and only two which really exist and can be deauthorized. So I still have to ask...you still think one time a year to reset back to 5 machines is limiting? Do you really expect to go through your described scenario more than once per year (if even ever again)? I ask in all seriousness, because I really think you are a rare case and it is unfairly biasing your view towards what seems like a perfectly fair trade-off.
Well, from what I've been reading in the past year or so on slashdot (thanks to Mr. Idontbelieveinintellectualproperty-guy), it isn't really whining as much as it is irrational dislike for a product supported by exaggerated, anecdotal (and most likely not even true) evidence about how some DRM scheme has suddenly rendered their $1.5 million music collection useless.
I get it that some people are very sensitive when it comes to DRM, whether it be because they like to pirate music and stick it to the man, or they are indeed that 1% of the population who really are negatively affected by DRM restrictions, or any other number of legitimate or illegitimate purposes. Apple has at least made painful concessions to both the user and the industry and come up with a pretty good compromise that has minimal affect on 99% of the users out there. Some people just don't want there to be ANY concessions to the big-bad record industry, and thus nearly everything they post on slashdot displays that bias. Rarely do I hear a good argument that iTunes or iPods suck because they perform poorly.
I wasn't implying there are only two choices, only that THIS article sets us up for two choices, which is the logical fallacy I'm pointing out here. Either: 1-Users Hate Being Tracked (the article)....or... 2-Users love Google (years worth of anecdotal slashdot posts as evidence).
I understand that Apple's hardware costs more and is probably somewhat inflated, but, at the end of the day, I'm not screwing around. I want the most reliable product/software/widget/operating system/insert object here and I don't care about the cost until the benefits are painfully marginalized. I bought an Apple wireless router for this very reason. Yeah, I know, they are expensive and probably not feature-rich, but most importantly, it works with no hassle. Unlike the Netgear routers I burned through at about one every two months, the Airport installed in less than 2 minutes, and hasn't burned up yet (6 months on). I'd say the $100 more I spent on the Apple one has been well worth the money.
Once you hit that limit, you better hope you have access to the other machines to de-authorize them, otherwise you are stuck with resetting your auth completely (which you can only do once per year, if I remember correctly). This has bitten me more than once. You have to be kidding or exaggerating. Since the first iPod and iTunes v.1.0, I've owned seven iPod devices and six computers with iTunes installed and have never come close to needing to reset my authorizations completely. Five computers and an unlimited number of iPods is MORE than plenty for the overwhelming majority of users out there. Resetting an account one time a year is also very reasonable, in case of that rare time I go through FIVE computers in one year and forget to deauthorize them.
I don't understand the general acceptance of Google in the slashdot community (some verging on the edge of fanboism--a term I don't use loosely) when Google's primary business is to generate targeted advertising. Which is it? We hate targeted advertising or we love Google?
Go to an Apple store and tell me the iMac displays aren't much nicer than most the crap on sale at Best Buy then I might listen. No, they aren't high-end monitors used for professional color management. Yes, they do look great to the rest of us.
If you don't agree with the terms, just don't use it. Why come to slashdot and cry about it (other than bashing Adobe seems to be in style)? I actually like the app, and could care less about the terms since they have absolutely no impact on my life. Who reads/abides by those things anyway?
Perhaps I misunderstood, because I followed the link to the guy's profile page provided by the first response to his post. As claimed in that response, there seemed to be NO evidence (as evident by the request to provide the alternate log-in name used that would show actual troll-mods).
I doubt I am jumping to conclusions, because I actually did follow the linked evidence trail, yet found no proof of the claim. If anything, I simply misunderstand the way slashdot moderation works. Thanks for the input, though.
I apologize for my unthoughtful comments that were construed as personal attacks. I assure you they were not meant as such (physical disability is a real issue when it comes to usability). I see I didn't word that well and I apologize.
Back to the point, I'll just wrap this up with another dreaded car analogy. Not liking the MacBook Pro because you don't like the track pad is like not liking a Porsche 911 because it doesn't have enough cup holders. I'm just going to go out on a limb and suggest that probably less than 1% of potential buyers have passed on a MBP because it lacked a right click button. The rest of us have seemed to get by just fine with the plethora of workarounds listed thus far in this thread. I guess if you show me someone who took their MBP back because they found the track pad to be an unusable show-stopper, then I'd probably be more apt to buy your argument.
A deeper issue that is exposed is this concept of new Mac converts insisting that their old habits (WinXP) translate literally in Mac OSX land. Just because OSX doesn't do something the way XP does doesn't mean there is a shortcoming with OSX. It's just different. Otherwise, OSX would just be a prettier version of XP, no?
Why should a 2 GiB DDR2 stick of RAM "designed" for Mac cost so much more than the exact same stick of RAM for PC? The answer is that it shouldn't: No no no! The answer is, it DOESN'T, (unless you are a sucker and buy from the Apple online store). Other hardware costs the same too, because there is very little that is Mac only or PC only anymore (I can't think of anything hardware related). Apple branded routers/keyboards/mice cost more, yes, but I'm not forced to use them.
Buying RAM from the Apple online store versus buying it from the Dell online store is not an accurate indication of true cost because I went to best buy and bought a 1GB stick for my Macbook for $19. I don't even think they do the "designed" for Mac thing anymore.
Now if you buy from the Apple store online, you are paying a premium because Apple is capitalizing on buyers upgrading right on the spot. It's not a good choice for the consumer, but some people just gotta have it now, or can't be bothered with the 5 minutes it takes to add RAM later.
I believe my perception of the attitudes of the mac users I've run into is extremely accurate. I do NOT however believe it is representative of all mac users. Ok, I'll accept that because it is a much more realistic representation than "39/40 Mac users are stupid". The funny thing is, although I've been a lifelong Mac users, I actually don't know enough Mac users to be able to generalize about them.
Actually, that is pretty insightful. Mac users expect their shit to work and are floored when it doesn't work (although it appears to not work about as much as a windows PC, there are just less of them). Windows PC users expect shit to crash and are amazed when it works. I couldn't have said it better myself!
There's no good workaround for the horrible keyboard on the Macbook Pro. Completely subjective and yet you fall in the incredibly small minority of users that don't think the MBP has one of the best portable keyboards on the market. (I don't have one, nor have I used one enough to have an opinion, just going by reviews).
There's no good workaround for the missing right button on the trackpad. Not only is there a good workaround, there is arguably a BETTER feature. It's under system prefs/keyboard & mouse then check "place two fingers on mousepad and click...". Also well documented since the lifespan of every Mac there's always the modifier keys, the click-and-hold, and the good ol' external mouse solution.
What about a 24" iMac would suggest that you'd need a second monitor? What about iMacs in general make them "out of the question"? I know a couple of things, but you haven't really voiced them well. This isn't a troll question, just seriously want to know.
Finally, I didn't disparage anyone who looks at an Apple product and passes. I DO disparage those who see a minor shortcoming, like the lack of certain key on the keyboard, (or a floppy drive, to go old school) and fail to accept the fact that real and simple solutions exist. Skimping on RAM? Come on! Buy some more...it's cheap. "Doesn't go on the Internet/Doesn't run Microsoft Office/Doesn't have e-mail" would be legitimate complaints (if they were true). "Only comes in White/No serial port/Doesn't work like Windows" are not legitimate.
The lack of a consumer level tower is problematic.......for someone wanting a consumer level tower. Unfortunately, those who want that tend to lash out against all the other non-related products. In the case of wanting a tower, if the iMac isn't a good enough solution for you, then nobody is telling you that you are stupid for not buying an iMac, they are merely offering the advice to consider that the time of towers and components may have outlived the commonplace and that maybe, just maybe, most computers from here on out will resemble some form of all-in-one. If you need a mid-sized consumer tower and value the interoperability of components, then by all means, don't buy a new Mac. I'm sure Apple's board of directors have thought this through and are quite comfortable having lost that portion of the market.
As usual with this story, some chump who blindly voted the current administration in plugs his ears with his fingers and goes "nyah nyah, can't hear you"
People like YOU are why these issues have snowballed out of control of the people.
What a proud patriot you must (pretend to) be. I'm sure you have a big ol' flag hanging from your garage even though you have no clue what that flag actually stands for or why you can hang it so freely. Well considering you got every one of your wild guesses exactly wrong, I'd say you are a fool or have poor judgment, or both.
To wit:
1) I didn't vote for the current administration, nor did I the first time.
2) I have 15 years of experience working in Intelligence Oversight. That's right, my job was to ensure those doing the spying were doing so lawfully.
3) I find blind patriotism to be an affront to liberty and as one slashdot user's signature says, a subtle form of racism. I speak three languages and have lived in 4 foreign countries. Yes, I'm an American, and yes, I believe we are one of the greatest civilizations the Earth has ever seen, but I detract not from the great societies in Germany and England, for example.
I'll take the bait:
And using multitouch to fake it doesn't work... it doesn't work SO much that I ended up ditching it and using Sidetrack to let me use tap-in-a-corner to fake it better. It still sucks, but it's a dry suck. Have you TRIED two-finger scroll or right mouse click with non-Apple laptops? There's your dry suck right there. Now if you'd like to actually substantiate WHY the second finger mouse click "doesn't work" I'm sure there are about a thousand MacBook Pro users on here dying to hear your explanation and are curious to know why theirs seems to magically work. Do you have deformed fingers? Do you not understand the functionality? Do you even own a MacBook/MacBook Pro? The function works perfectly for anyone I've shown, and it is far from "faking it", since it actually accomplishes the same thing as pushing a right mouse button. Now if you'd like to say the mighty mouse right click doesn't always register, there is merit in that claim, but come on, you are being quite disingenuous. Maybe you haven't turned it on in system preferences (also a valid gripe...that it isn't on by default)?
So I get modded as "troll" by falling for a Troll???? The guy was obviously exaggerating the fact that he got banned, since nobody can actually find all his posts that were supposedly modded as troll. So anyone care to make me a better slashdot contributor and explain exactly why my post qualifies as troll? All I asked was that if you criticize Apple, to do so in "clear, logical sentences" as opposed to say, "Mac Sucks!"
Slashdot Mirror
Thank you for the most astute rebuttal of the horribly flawed logic that Macs get less viruses because of their small market share. I shall quote you frequently from here out.
$5,500 after taxes is still $5,500 more than the guy had before he entered the contest. A little perspective, people.
I get it that some people are very sensitive when it comes to DRM, whether it be because they like to pirate music and stick it to the man, or they are indeed that 1% of the population who really are negatively affected by DRM restrictions, or any other number of legitimate or illegitimate purposes. Apple has at least made painful concessions to both the user and the industry and come up with a pretty good compromise that has minimal affect on 99% of the users out there. Some people just don't want there to be ANY concessions to the big-bad record industry, and thus nearly everything they post on slashdot displays that bias. Rarely do I hear a good argument that iTunes or iPods suck because they perform poorly.
I wasn't implying there are only two choices, only that THIS article sets us up for two choices, which is the logical fallacy I'm pointing out here. Either: 1-Users Hate Being Tracked (the article)....or... 2-Users love Google (years worth of anecdotal slashdot posts as evidence).
I don't understand the general acceptance of Google in the slashdot community (some verging on the edge of fanboism--a term I don't use loosely) when Google's primary business is to generate targeted advertising. Which is it? We hate targeted advertising or we love Google?
Go to an Apple store and tell me the iMac displays aren't much nicer than most the crap on sale at Best Buy then I might listen. No, they aren't high-end monitors used for professional color management. Yes, they do look great to the rest of us.
I doubt this tool is targeted towards professionals anyhow, so no harm I suppose.
If you don't agree with the terms, just don't use it. Why come to slashdot and cry about it (other than bashing Adobe seems to be in style)? I actually like the app, and could care less about the terms since they have absolutely no impact on my life. Who reads/abides by those things anyway?
I wouldn't mind idiots talking on their cell phones in-flight as long as they stepped outside to take the call.
I doubt I am jumping to conclusions, because I actually did follow the linked evidence trail, yet found no proof of the claim. If anything, I simply misunderstand the way slashdot moderation works. Thanks for the input, though.
Back to the point, I'll just wrap this up with another dreaded car analogy. Not liking the MacBook Pro because you don't like the track pad is like not liking a Porsche 911 because it doesn't have enough cup holders. I'm just going to go out on a limb and suggest that probably less than 1% of potential buyers have passed on a MBP because it lacked a right click button. The rest of us have seemed to get by just fine with the plethora of workarounds listed thus far in this thread. I guess if you show me someone who took their MBP back because they found the track pad to be an unusable show-stopper, then I'd probably be more apt to buy your argument.
A deeper issue that is exposed is this concept of new Mac converts insisting that their old habits (WinXP) translate literally in Mac OSX land. Just because OSX doesn't do something the way XP does doesn't mean there is a shortcoming with OSX. It's just different. Otherwise, OSX would just be a prettier version of XP, no?
Buying RAM from the Apple online store versus buying it from the Dell online store is not an accurate indication of true cost because I went to best buy and bought a 1GB stick for my Macbook for $19. I don't even think they do the "designed" for Mac thing anymore.
Now if you buy from the Apple store online, you are paying a premium because Apple is capitalizing on buyers upgrading right on the spot. It's not a good choice for the consumer, but some people just gotta have it now, or can't be bothered with the 5 minutes it takes to add RAM later.
What about a 24" iMac would suggest that you'd need a second monitor? What about iMacs in general make them "out of the question"? I know a couple of things, but you haven't really voiced them well. This isn't a troll question, just seriously want to know.
Finally, I didn't disparage anyone who looks at an Apple product and passes. I DO disparage those who see a minor shortcoming, like the lack of certain key on the keyboard, (or a floppy drive, to go old school) and fail to accept the fact that real and simple solutions exist. Skimping on RAM? Come on! Buy some more...it's cheap. "Doesn't go on the Internet/Doesn't run Microsoft Office/Doesn't have e-mail" would be legitimate complaints (if they were true). "Only comes in White/No serial port/Doesn't work like Windows" are not legitimate.
The lack of a consumer level tower is problematic.......for someone wanting a consumer level tower. Unfortunately, those who want that tend to lash out against all the other non-related products. In the case of wanting a tower, if the iMac isn't a good enough solution for you, then nobody is telling you that you are stupid for not buying an iMac, they are merely offering the advice to consider that the time of towers and components may have outlived the commonplace and that maybe, just maybe, most computers from here on out will resemble some form of all-in-one. If you need a mid-sized consumer tower and value the interoperability of components, then by all means, don't buy a new Mac. I'm sure Apple's board of directors have thought this through and are quite comfortable having lost that portion of the market.
People like YOU are why these issues have snowballed out of control of the people.
What a proud patriot you must (pretend to) be. I'm sure you have a big ol' flag hanging from your garage even though you have no clue what that flag actually stands for or why you can hang it so freely. Well considering you got every one of your wild guesses exactly wrong, I'd say you are a fool or have poor judgment, or both.
To wit:
1) I didn't vote for the current administration, nor did I the first time.
2) I have 15 years of experience working in Intelligence Oversight. That's right, my job was to ensure those doing the spying were doing so lawfully.
3) I find blind patriotism to be an affront to liberty and as one slashdot user's signature says, a subtle form of racism. I speak three languages and have lived in 4 foreign countries. Yes, I'm an American, and yes, I believe we are one of the greatest civilizations the Earth has ever seen, but I detract not from the great societies in Germany and England, for example.
So yeah, nice try, but try again.
So I get modded as "troll" by falling for a Troll???? The guy was obviously exaggerating the fact that he got banned, since nobody can actually find all his posts that were supposedly modded as troll. So anyone care to make me a better slashdot contributor and explain exactly why my post qualifies as troll? All I asked was that if you criticize Apple, to do so in "clear, logical sentences" as opposed to say, "Mac Sucks!"