Of course, feeding the troll is stupid, but...
The entire quote is "on the one hand, information wants to be expensive, because it's so valuable. The right information in the right place just changes your life. On the other hand, information wants to be free, because the cost of getting it out is getting lower and lower all the time. So you have these two fighting against each other."
So yeah, I don't think what you're saying means what you think it means.
And the original article discusses Safari 4 beta's adoption vs. Safari 3 beta, which did not come out in 2004, so the post that says "when Firefox came out most people didn't realise they even had a choice. It's hardly a fair comparison between 2004 and now" is the one that obviously didn't read.
Except a mac can run Office, and even dual-boot into Windows or Linux so you can have the best of all three worlds, instead of being locked into one platform. Not to mention that if you want a job in the film or sound editing industries, you'd better be conversant with programs like Final Cut and Logic.
Because Microsoft uses its monopoly to destroy other options and force you into a position where their choice is the only choice. That's what the embrace and extend philosophy is all about.
In the iPhone's case, you're perfectly able to buy a different phone that does not have these restrictions. In fact, it's easier to buy another phone, because the iPhone is only available for one carrier, ostensibly. (Mine's jailbroken, and over on T-Mobile, but I knew what I was getting into when I got it.)
Should Apple be banning apps like this mail program or the podcasting app? No, I don't think so. Can they? Yes, at their peril. They have the opportunity to choose whether they want to discourage serious developers and users, and the punishment for their crime will quite appropriately be levied against their bottom line and marketshare, if they continue on this road.
This article has absolutely nothing to do with Apple trying to patent dashboard widgets. The mention of dashboard in the summary is separate from the article in question.
But as others said, Desk Accessories were included in the original Mac OS, and are the same thing.
Also, the applications those widgets were put to in engineering workstations may not have been the same as those used for "consumer desktops" like the original Mac OS, but the concept is the same. But I can see why that might be confusing to you.
They didn't patent widgets, they implemented them. This article is about patenting something else, with an inaccurate attack about widgets thrown in to help push pageviews and cause the comments to combust.
Apple recently became famous (or infamous) for stealing other people's ideas when they rolled out their Dashboard in Mac OS X, which had many similarities to a desktop widget program named the Konfabulator, which later became Yahoo widgets.
Uh, Konfabulator stole their widgets from NeXTStep.
How many friends do you have that aren't in or above your social class?
By definition, if you have friends "above your social class," then your friends have friends below their social class, which kind of defeats your argument.
That said, I think it's more a matter that people are inherently selfish. They don't do anything when others are mistreated, only when they themselves are affected. And the poor don't have the resources to make a loud noise by themselves, so it needs to affect people who can afford the lawyers and lobbyists to get attention.
(FD: I bought a 16 gig, but gave it to my wife so I had an excuse to buy a 32gig - it's enough for the essentials. I'll have to find someone else that needs a gift when the 64gig comes out) *raises hand*
I hadn't seen that article, but that would also be a comment solicited by a journalist. 37Signals hasn't posted anything about it on their site, or the Signal Vs. Noise blog.
Everyone keeps jumping on 37Signals for being whiners, but they haven't said anything about this in their blog. This is a case of the "blogosphere" getting up in arms about something on behalf of the "victim" without the victim ever lifting a finger.
The destruction wasn't really the part that makes it resemble 9/11. It's the tactics of the governments, the treatment of the military, and of course, the paranoia over who is and who isn't a Cylon (terrorist) that does.
The Cylons are largely religious zealots, the humans are doing terrible things largely out of fear, and they're damaging their own liberty and sanity to do so. The entire series is a statement on the war in Iraq.
That's how normal A anchor tags work in HTML. If you don't tell it specifically that you're sending someone to a separate site with a properly formed HTTP:// link, it assumes you are making a relative link to a file on the same domain.
Openoffice and AbiWord don't matter because they aren't "office." They're plenty useful, but they don't have 100% Office format compatibility, and therefore aren't good enough for Mr. Average Joe.
Same with the Adobe products, really. GIMP is still not good enough for print work, but really it all comes down to industry standard formats and applications. Go into a graphic design interview with GIMP/Inkscape experience but no Adobe experience and see where it gets you.
None of the listed applications hold a candle to the iLife apps for "just getting things done." They aren't as slick, as easy to use, or as integrated.
As for Coda, I could use BBEdit, SubEthaEdit or Textmate + Transmit + CSSEdit Plus + Safari + an SSH client to do the same thing as well, but it's nice to have it all in one tightly integrated window.
Scrivener is, I admit, a heavily niche program, but I've seen novelists switch to the mac just for this program. To truly get the flexibility, features and organization of Scrivener, you'd need not just the things you listed, but also a 200 dollar copy of Final Draft for the screen writing features.
Slashdot Mirror
Of course, feeding the troll is stupid, but... The entire quote is "on the one hand, information wants to be expensive, because it's so valuable. The right information in the right place just changes your life. On the other hand, information wants to be free, because the cost of getting it out is getting lower and lower all the time. So you have these two fighting against each other." So yeah, I don't think what you're saying means what you think it means.
Extractor? On a mac, you just have to rightclick on the LP file and do a "show package contents." It's just a bundle that uses HTML5/CSS3.
Doesn't take a lot of work.
I'm on a mac, and my software update didn't even offer me Safari 4 beta. You have to go to Apple's website and choose to download it.
And the original article discusses Safari 4 beta's adoption vs. Safari 3 beta, which did not come out in 2004, so the post that says "when Firefox came out most people didn't realise they even had a choice. It's hardly a fair comparison between 2004 and now" is the one that obviously didn't read.
Nor did you.
Of course I do. Kirk was right about those green girls... mmmmm
Except a mac can run Office, and even dual-boot into Windows or Linux so you can have the best of all three worlds, instead of being locked into one platform. Not to mention that if you want a job in the film or sound editing industries, you'd better be conversant with programs like Final Cut and Logic.
Because Microsoft uses its monopoly to destroy other options and force you into a position where their choice is the only choice. That's what the embrace and extend philosophy is all about.
In the iPhone's case, you're perfectly able to buy a different phone that does not have these restrictions. In fact, it's easier to buy another phone, because the iPhone is only available for one carrier, ostensibly. (Mine's jailbroken, and over on T-Mobile, but I knew what I was getting into when I got it.)
Should Apple be banning apps like this mail program or the podcasting app? No, I don't think so. Can they? Yes, at their peril. They have the opportunity to choose whether they want to discourage serious developers and users, and the punishment for their crime will quite appropriately be levied against their bottom line and marketshare, if they continue on this road.
This article has absolutely nothing to do with Apple trying to patent dashboard widgets. The mention of dashboard in the summary is separate from the article in question.
And who founded NeXT?
Steve Jobs.
But as others said, Desk Accessories were included in the original Mac OS, and are the same thing.
Also, the applications those widgets were put to in engineering workstations may not have been the same as those used for "consumer desktops" like the original Mac OS, but the concept is the same. But I can see why that might be confusing to you.
They didn't patent widgets, they implemented them. This article is about patenting something else, with an inaccurate attack about widgets thrown in to help push pageviews and cause the comments to combust.
Silly facts never get in the way of a chance to bash Apple. :P
Uh, Konfabulator stole their widgets from NeXTStep.
Which is owned by who, again? Oh, right. Apple.
How many friends do you have that aren't in or above your social class?
By definition, if you have friends "above your social class," then your friends have friends below their social class, which kind of defeats your argument.
That said, I think it's more a matter that people are inherently selfish. They don't do anything when others are mistreated, only when they themselves are affected. And the poor don't have the resources to make a loud noise by themselves, so it needs to affect people who can afford the lawyers and lobbyists to get attention.
Same effect, different cause.
I hadn't seen that article, but that would also be a comment solicited by a journalist. 37Signals hasn't posted anything about it on their site, or the Signal Vs. Noise blog.
Everyone keeps jumping on 37Signals for being whiners, but they haven't said anything about this in their blog. This is a case of the "blogosphere" getting up in arms about something on behalf of the "victim" without the victim ever lifting a finger.
I click on links in my Twitter client (Twitterific) all the time. I'm not sure if it's Twitter linkifying them or the client, but it works for me.
The destruction wasn't really the part that makes it resemble 9/11. It's the tactics of the governments, the treatment of the military, and of course, the paranoia over who is and who isn't a Cylon (terrorist) that does.
The Cylons are largely religious zealots, the humans are doing terrible things largely out of fear, and they're damaging their own liberty and sanity to do so. The entire series is a statement on the war in Iraq.
Which might be funny if the mouse that came with macs now didn't have four buttons.
You don't know much about the Hotel California, do you? It was also known as Camarillo State Mental Hospital.
That's how normal A anchor tags work in HTML. If you don't tell it specifically that you're sending someone to a separate site with a properly formed HTTP:// link, it assumes you are making a relative link to a file on the same domain.
You're comparing the battery life and size of a smartphone and that of a laptop.
I don't really think it's a great idea to make the battery integrated on the Air, but that's not even a straw man, it's more like a stick figure.
Where are you getting this 2k-3k number?
It's $1799. $1898, if you add the optical drive accessory. And it's cheaper than comparable (but slower) subnotebooks from other PC manufacturers.
Gandalf carried a sword.
Openoffice and AbiWord don't matter because they aren't "office." They're plenty useful, but they don't have 100% Office format compatibility, and therefore aren't good enough for Mr. Average Joe.
Same with the Adobe products, really. GIMP is still not good enough for print work, but really it all comes down to industry standard formats and applications. Go into a graphic design interview with GIMP/Inkscape experience but no Adobe experience and see where it gets you.
None of the listed applications hold a candle to the iLife apps for "just getting things done." They aren't as slick, as easy to use, or as integrated.
As for Coda, I could use BBEdit, SubEthaEdit or Textmate + Transmit + CSSEdit Plus + Safari + an SSH client to do the same thing as well, but it's nice to have it all in one tightly integrated window.
Scrivener is, I admit, a heavily niche program, but I've seen novelists switch to the mac just for this program. To truly get the flexibility, features and organization of Scrivener, you'd need not just the things you listed, but also a 200 dollar copy of Final Draft for the screen writing features.