Not really. Before the IBM PC is was CP/M on Z80 or 8080 based machines. Even the hardware+OS microcomputers were rated on whether they were "Microsoft Compatible", referring to the BASIC interpreter of course. Both models have been around for a long time, and if anything the 80's micro revolution was the blip, with most personal computers before and after being generic-ish hardware with a generic or partly customised OS. Apple really are the only company to have carried that through several decades.
Really? I would call Time Machine a killer feature. Spotlight wasn't in the early versions of OSX and is incredibly useful. Different things matter to different people, but those are two things that are major improvements above x86 compatibility.
Document scanners with straight paths are readily available. I just scanned a couple of thousand prints from 35mm photos through my Fujitsu Scansnap as I realised that low res reference images of all my old photos are good enough for me and relatives to look through, with the option of a high res negative scan for the ones we really want. I think my Scansnap would do upwards of 20 cards per minute, maybe 30' far faster than this solution.
There's a simple lock and unlock function for system preferences panes. So, for instance, you could have GateKeeper turned on for the family Mac, which would give the kids the freedom to install any software that is signed, but you would need the admin password to install unsigned software. It's a step up from the admin-only software install approach.
The big draw with OOP is that (ideally) it removed the separation between algorithms and data. In traditional imperative programming, you would code set of algorithms, procedures that do different things with data, and the data itself would be stored in arrays or allocated memory accessed with pointers. With OOP you code classes that encapsulate both the data, and the methods that are used to manipulate it. So if, for example, you were writing a file manager and wanted to implement a print function, you could handle files as objects, and as long as each different file type implemented an interface that had a print() function, you could call file.print() to print the contents of that file, without needing to know anything about how the data works within it.
Of course, it's perfectly possible to do that sort of thing using defined APIs in non object-oriented languages, but there is a neatness to the way OOP works that makes that sort of thing a lot easier. OOP hides all of the details of how a class works, and as long as it's coded cleanly, it's quite easy to extend programs to work with different types of data that the original author never intended, by coding classes that implement the same base classes (or interfaces) that the programs expects.
Thanks for your anecdote. In my sample size of about 20 PCs that I've reinstalled and sorted out for friends and relatives, I've come across numerous issues using OEM keys to install copies of Windows XP on other manufacturers' laptops. The issue seems to be the disk, not the machine, e.g. if you've got a Dell disk and key then that will install on any machine, but you won't get an Acer code to work on the Dell disk, even if it's the right version of Windows.
Q: Hi
A: Hello
Q: I'm from England
A: Could you invite me to England? I would be so grateful:-)
Q: I've lived here 500 years
A: Oh, tell me another secrets of yours:-)
People were fooled by this..?
Yeah. It wasn't heard to trick. Eugene asked me how long I've lived in England, I said "500 years", he just carried right on. Even with a language barrier, any 13 year old would react to such an obviously false answer.
Anyone who can't manage to wield the 'special tool' (a screwdriver with a different head, just like many mobile phones have had for years) really shouldn't be attempting to do anything at all to service their laptops. I agree that Apple have made it less user-servicable than previous models (though not the Air, which is hugely popular), but I disagree with your assessment of their motives. The vast majority of people simply aren't interested in taking their laptops to bits, and the vast majority go from the shop shelf to the scrapyard with the cover never having been opened. Having said that, the huge aftermarket in DIY and mom-and-pop-shop repairs and upgrades for iPads and iPhones calls into question your hyperbole.
I don't understand this whole 'non replaceable battery' complaint. How is it that hard to pop the back cover off to replace the battery? When I got my (now previous generation) MacBook Pro, the first thing I did when I received it was open the back and replace the hard drive. There was even a little booklet in the box with it telling you how to do that. The battery was right there next to it, and I could have easily replaced that too.
If you've set an Airport Express up once, then it "just works" in any scenario in which a direct Ethernet connection "just works". It is bulkier to carry around, though, but means you can sit on the hotel balcony without needing a 10ft RJ45 cable. And, also, if you can't manage to set up an Airport Express using the utility it comes with, then you'll need to help to use a computer in any useful capacity at all.
All may be true, but you've really trying to redefine the question. Intelligence is an attribute, just like height, strength, courage, beauty. Some are easier to define than others. You're right that some people are considered 'dumb' but have skills in other areas, e.g. being physically strong.
That doesn't mean that all people are smart in some way, that's just conflating intelligence with skills and attributes in general. Smart people, generally, can be expected to be able to grasp concepts, gain knowledge, and then make inferences in any subject matter that is presented to them. Less smart people may not understand certain things no matter how carefully and elementally it is explained to them. That is an attribute, and it can be measured to an extent.
It's not all service providers. I'm with BeThere, any they have the fastest [non fibre] broadband with no caps, 20MBit, no traffic shaping, no filtering. They also offer static IP (initially with their 'pro' package, no for an extra fee, but I still get it bundled in) and encourage people to run their own internet-facing servers. They will do line bonding too and provide preconfigured routers to do that - expensive but worth it for businesses. Their technical support know what they're talking about, and there's a community of users encouraged by the company. Ideal ISP really.
You're missing the point that all OSX licenses are effectively upgrade licenses. Just like when buy an upgrade to Photoshop or MS Word or whatever other commercial software you might use, the expectation is that you possess the previous version and haven't sold it on or whatever. Apple sells OSX on the basis that it is an upgrade to an already existing licensed copy on an Apple computer. Perhaps if the word "UPGRADE" was plastered all over the front it would make it clearer for everyone, but the end result is the same.
Interesting point. I would extend that and say that the EULA requirement to install on Mac hardware is no more or less morally right than the requirement to own an old version of a software package when purchasing an upgrade version. In both cases a company is giving a sale and license in respect of a previous purchase. If we as the "Slashdot community" thing that the Apple terms are unfair, we should really all be against the idea of upgrade and educational software licenses.
They created copies of OSX patched with their drivers and bootloaders, as a master image on a server, and installed it on the machines they sold. That was an illegal derivative work which they had no right to distribute.
Slashdot Mirror
CP/M was 1970s.
Not really. Before the IBM PC is was CP/M on Z80 or 8080 based machines. Even the hardware+OS microcomputers were rated on whether they were "Microsoft Compatible", referring to the BASIC interpreter of course. Both models have been around for a long time, and if anything the 80's micro revolution was the blip, with most personal computers before and after being generic-ish hardware with a generic or partly customised OS. Apple really are the only company to have carried that through several decades.
At $69/hr she would have worked 11hr/day 5 days per week to earn that money. That's not really a few hours.
Really? I would call Time Machine a killer feature. Spotlight wasn't in the early versions of OSX and is incredibly useful. Different things matter to different people, but those are two things that are major improvements above x86 compatibility.
Document scanners with straight paths are readily available. I just scanned a couple of thousand prints from 35mm photos through my Fujitsu Scansnap as I realised that low res reference images of all my old photos are good enough for me and relatives to look through, with the option of a high res negative scan for the ones we really want. I think my Scansnap would do upwards of 20 cards per minute, maybe 30' far faster than this solution.
There's a simple lock and unlock function for system preferences panes. So, for instance, you could have GateKeeper turned on for the family Mac, which would give the kids the freedom to install any software that is signed, but you would need the admin password to install unsigned software. It's a step up from the admin-only software install approach.
Rubbish. I've routinely been able to connect to wireless networks with my various MacBooks over the years whilst PC using friends were struggling.
Haha I'm not sure if you're trolling, but have you looked up relative crime rates between UK and US cities? Carrying guns does not reduce crime.
The big draw with OOP is that (ideally) it removed the separation between algorithms and data. In traditional imperative programming, you would code set of algorithms, procedures that do different things with data, and the data itself would be stored in arrays or allocated memory accessed with pointers. With OOP you code classes that encapsulate both the data, and the methods that are used to manipulate it. So if, for example, you were writing a file manager and wanted to implement a print function, you could handle files as objects, and as long as each different file type implemented an interface that had a print() function, you could call file.print() to print the contents of that file, without needing to know anything about how the data works within it.
Of course, it's perfectly possible to do that sort of thing using defined APIs in non object-oriented languages, but there is a neatness to the way OOP works that makes that sort of thing a lot easier. OOP hides all of the details of how a class works, and as long as it's coded cleanly, it's quite easy to extend programs to work with different types of data that the original author never intended, by coding classes that implement the same base classes (or interfaces) that the programs expects.
Thanks for your anecdote. In my sample size of about 20 PCs that I've reinstalled and sorted out for friends and relatives, I've come across numerous issues using OEM keys to install copies of Windows XP on other manufacturers' laptops. The issue seems to be the disk, not the machine, e.g. if you've got a Dell disk and key then that will install on any machine, but you won't get an Acer code to work on the Dell disk, even if it's the right version of Windows.
Q: Hi :-)
A: Hello
Q: I'm from England
A: Could you invite me to England? I would be so grateful:-)
Q: I've lived here 500 years
A: Oh, tell me another secrets of yours
People were fooled by this..?
Yeah. It wasn't heard to trick. Eugene asked me how long I've lived in England, I said "500 years", he just carried right on. Even with a language barrier, any 13 year old would react to such an obviously false answer.
Anyone who can't manage to wield the 'special tool' (a screwdriver with a different head, just like many mobile phones have had for years) really shouldn't be attempting to do anything at all to service their laptops. I agree that Apple have made it less user-servicable than previous models (though not the Air, which is hugely popular), but I disagree with your assessment of their motives. The vast majority of people simply aren't interested in taking their laptops to bits, and the vast majority go from the shop shelf to the scrapyard with the cover never having been opened. Having said that, the huge aftermarket in DIY and mom-and-pop-shop repairs and upgrades for iPads and iPhones calls into question your hyperbole.
The HDD is upgradeable.
I don't understand this whole 'non replaceable battery' complaint. How is it that hard to pop the back cover off to replace the battery? When I got my (now previous generation) MacBook Pro, the first thing I did when I received it was open the back and replace the hard drive. There was even a little booklet in the box with it telling you how to do that. The battery was right there next to it, and I could have easily replaced that too.
If you've set an Airport Express up once, then it "just works" in any scenario in which a direct Ethernet connection "just works". It is bulkier to carry around, though, but means you can sit on the hotel balcony without needing a 10ft RJ45 cable. And, also, if you can't manage to set up an Airport Express using the utility it comes with, then you'll need to help to use a computer in any useful capacity at all.
Or get one of these.
I would think that any of the standard mechanisms in Windows for removing an installed program could be hijacked.
That doesn't mean that all people are smart in some way, that's just conflating intelligence with skills and attributes in general. Smart people, generally, can be expected to be able to grasp concepts, gain knowledge, and then make inferences in any subject matter that is presented to them. Less smart people may not understand certain things no matter how carefully and elementally it is explained to them. That is an attribute, and it can be measured to an extent.
Either you had a faulty mouse or faulty fingers. I've been using my "Mighty Mouse" for over a year and it's great.
It's not all service providers. I'm with BeThere, any they have the fastest [non fibre] broadband with no caps, 20MBit, no traffic shaping, no filtering. They also offer static IP (initially with their 'pro' package, no for an extra fee, but I still get it bundled in) and encourage people to run their own internet-facing servers. They will do line bonding too and provide preconfigured routers to do that - expensive but worth it for businesses. Their technical support know what they're talking about, and there's a community of users encouraged by the company. Ideal ISP really.
You're missing the point that all OSX licenses are effectively upgrade licenses. Just like when buy an upgrade to Photoshop or MS Word or whatever other commercial software you might use, the expectation is that you possess the previous version and haven't sold it on or whatever. Apple sells OSX on the basis that it is an upgrade to an already existing licensed copy on an Apple computer. Perhaps if the word "UPGRADE" was plastered all over the front it would make it clearer for everyone, but the end result is the same.
Interesting point. I would extend that and say that the EULA requirement to install on Mac hardware is no more or less morally right than the requirement to own an old version of a software package when purchasing an upgrade version. In both cases a company is giving a sale and license in respect of a previous purchase. If we as the "Slashdot community" thing that the Apple terms are unfair, we should really all be against the idea of upgrade and educational software licenses.
They created copies of OSX patched with their drivers and bootloaders, as a master image on a server, and installed it on the machines they sold. That was an illegal derivative work which they had no right to distribute.
Actually, Psystar was patching Apple software to create a derivative work, and installing that on their computers to sell to the public.