Quartz Extreme should solve most of the performance problems by making the eye candy run in the graphics card and freeing up the CPU. True, it only works on modern Macs, but most scientists are not going to find new and fast hardware difficult to cost-justify.
I think the impact of a beautiful computing experience is greatly underestimated. Many of us spend the bulk of our lives in front of a screen, which is normally gray and hopelessly dull visually. Making that environment beautiful - which is virtually exclusive to MacOS X - makes our lives more beautiful.
I think doing that is worth a few extra processor cycles.
They're not succeeding, then; world+dog (as The Register says) knew that there would be new G4s released today or shortly thereafter thank to the end of the previous Crystal Clear promotion (which promptly was replaced with a new one).
I have a G4/450 dual processor system from that era. I knew it wasn't a big advantage when I bought it, but I was definitely looking forward to it on MacOS X.
And I wasn't disappointed, and I have real-world evidence to back it up.
When Final Cut Pro 3.0 for MacOS X came out, I tried it out in the store on one of their then-new single-processor 867 systems. The 867 seemed a bit sluggish - when I was rendering, the whole world would stop and I couldn't even pull up a web browser window. But I can do this seamlessly on the dual 450, so in my eyes it's a much nicer machine to work with than the 867.
So I don't think you'd regret buying a dual processor system even if it was a small cut in nominal processor speed (933 to 867 for instance).
My main problem with my system is that my ego really wanted the dual 500 as the top of the line, but my rational self couldn't justify paying $1,000 more for it(*).
Anyway, it looks like a repeat with the current range - the dual 1.25ghz system is only about 25% faster in mhz and is 32% more expensive. Might not be so bad if the total performance was 32% better, but it's probably not since it doesn't have a memory subsystem or disks that are 32% faster. I would have certainly gone for the high-end machine if it had been $2,999, but for $3,299 it seems like they're pushing it.
What do you think? Is the.25ghz extra worth $800 more?
D
(*) Of course I could have ordered the 500 bare through the Apple Store online, but I called them and the whole experience was pretty bad because I did not have a credit card capable of handling the full amount, and they're pretty inflexible on payment options (no COD, not even cash).
At any rate, that doesn't apply anymore since you can no longer downgrade machines on the online Apple store, and you can no longer upgrade CPUs on the lesser systems. So you're stuck paying $800 more if you want.25ghz more. Pity.
In the end, this means there's little point to buying an Apple machine online anymore. Might as well be pampered at an Apple Retail Store for the same prices to the penny (including sales tax).
I used to drink about six cans of Diet Coke a day, plus one Diet Coke from the soda fountain at lunch.
A friend I respected suggested that I consider drinking more water and less soda. He claimed that I would lose weight (I was 265 pounds at the time) and feel better.
What I discovered is that I did lose weight, although not enough to significantly impact my appearance, but more to the point I felt better - I was generally more alert in the afternoons, and after a while just a few sips of a Diet Coke would give me more energy (when I needed it) than a whole one would previously.
It looks like caffinee becomes steadily less effective as more of it is used, so the simply exponent of abstaining from it and limiting its intake worked well.
So I would recommend something like this to anyone trying to become more healthy. I started losing weight at a good clip, incidentally, when my new job responsibilities made me less sedentary. Annoying but good for me in the long term.
Microsoft charged in the $100 range for the Windows98 upgrade from Windows95, and Windows98 was pretty much a bugfix release that added Internet Explorer as a central component.
Microsoft charged $99.99 to upgrade Windows XP from Windows 2000 or 98. If my memory serves, if you had Windows95 or earlier, you'd have to buy it afresh, for $200-odd.
Apple charged $99.95 to upgrade from MacOS 8 to MacOS 9. I'd consider that a far less important upgrade than this.
Programmers need to be paid somehow. I think Apple has been pretty generous with the free/very low cost upgrades. Granted, I wish there was, say, a $70-80 upgrade option for previous purchasers. But I'm not going to lose any sleep over the $129.
Digital photography, which works better on a Mac than anywhere, is far cheaper than conventional photography. In fact, taking pictures is basically free, which is a big step up from film photography's $10-odd per 36 exposures.
Most people obsessed with value are also obsessed with tradition, and therefore love family photos. Imagine, then, being able to take all the family pictures you want at no extra cost per photo, loading them on to your computer, printing them out and emailing them to your friends.
And imagine there is a computer that comes with special free software that makes cataloguing them dead easy, so you'll never lose that great picture of your baby laughing or your 11 year old riding the skateboard.
I have a nearly two year old PowerMac that runs MacOS X only about a third slower than the current top-end model. That's not bad at all.
In reality, it's Windows XP that has to jump through this hoop - our IT guy just quit, and his 1ghz Athelon XP system is distinctly sluggish. XP's published specifications include system requirements that exclude any system more than a year and a half old at the time.
The reason they don't like the aggregators is that there is less reason for you to go to eBay first, and therefore bid on only their auctions. Instead, you're giving publicity to their evil rivals.
In short, it endangers eBay's near-monopoly on the online auction business. They could care less about the advertising, but in terms of protecting their monopoly, well, that's their lifeblood.
Someone in a Mac forum (I forgot which, sadly) played with the.MAC image in Photoshop and proved that it was simply another victim of the clone stamp. If you look at his blowups, the evidence is pretty clear.
He also pointed out that the capitalization of.Mac (versus.mac) was inconsistent and that's something Steve would never tolerate. I tend to agree with him.
This, of course, throws doubt on the credibility of Think Secret, which traditionally has been very accurate. I frankly don't believe the dotmac story. 17" iMacs would make me drool, but what we professional users really need is faster towers.
Rumor sites come and go, but the timing of promotion expiration dates is almost always entirely accurate as an indicator of when new stuff is coming. This is understandable; you don't need promotional discounts to move the latest and greatest stuff.
So we have a new clear screen promotion that runs until August 12th, and that means, with very little doubt, that we'll get new PowerMacs around August 13th. Nothing, ahem, clearer than that.
The Toyota Echo has the same body as the Prius, and sells for about $10,000 less, say $10-12k instead of $20k and up. The mileage difference is only about 10-15mpg.
I did the numbers and came out with the rather alarming conclusion that you will never recoup the cost of the Prius in fuel savings, because the car includes expensive batteries that need to be replaced every ten years or so. When the car has been driven for ten years, the batteries are going to cost more than the depreciated value of the car. (This is not surprising considering how heavily subsidized the car is, a point made in other posts).
Car magazine (UK)'s monthly car cost and capsule rating section claims that the Prius is going to get about the same mileage as a diesel, and rides and handles poorly compared to the diesel VW Golf, which costs about the same. Motor Trend magazine, in an issue I bought about a week ago that's probably still on newsstands somewhere, agrees and much prefers the Honda Civic Hybrid. So if you need a hybrid car, I'd recommend the Honda.
Finally, in terms of saving the planet, the whole thing may be a wash. From what I understand, disposing of lead acid batteries of the size needed for an hybrid or electric car is a significant environmental hazard.
In the end, I'd probably take the Golf diesel unless I lived in California, where I belie
If they're in Class A office space, power is paid for by the landlord unless otherwise specified in the lease.
If they are co-located in a server farm, power is normally included with the fee per machine.
In either case, there might well be no power bill to pay!
One interesting unasked question: Could they distribute their servers geographically, through several server farms in widely distributed points, to increase redundancy in case Al Queda decided to target their server farm? Might be a thought.
* Consider quality. You probably use higher quality components than your "cut to the bone" competition. Capitalize on that. A few horror stories about eMachines power supplies should be really helpful, especially if you can point out why yours are better.
* Run training classes for computer newbies.
* Do all you can to make your store a comfortable, pleasant place. If you're not going to price to the bone, you can at least try and make shopping more pleasant. Visit one of Apple's new retail stores and note what a nice shopping experience they offer. I know, I know, they spent half a million a store, and you can't. But you should still be able to emulate a few aspects of their model, such as selling Palms and digital cameras alongside computers. These are higher-margin devices, so if you send someone out with a package, you can pocket more profit.
* Hire salespeople who actually know what they're talking about. If you get people who can answer questions well, you'll collect customers who like having their questions answered.
This is a tough business, especially if you're competing against the likes of Fry's "We sell everything!". I'm sure there's still a place for the white box, because it's what my company gets all the time. We definitely feel that we gain from dealing with a local vendor who can be more responsive and less bureaucratic.
Well, Free Republic has a critical mass that the other discussion sites don't. I can get virtually all my news from Free Republic because it links to hundreds of different news sources every day, representing every conceivable political opinion. I am far, far better informed with Free Republic than without it.
This isn't to say that it's without flaws - there are many revoltingly xenophobic comments on it, for example. But there is no question that it provides an excellent service and makes people much better informed than they otherwise would be.
I think a major problem with the Left is best expressed in this article, written by left-wing activist Michael Albert. Basically, he says that the left expresses hate for American institutions, but lacks a compelling alternative vision. The left knows what it hates - contemporary society - but doesn't know what it likes.
Because of this lack of solutions, the left feels more like an organized mass than a dialogue. The Left "solutions" that have been tried tend not to work frightfully well, and that produces a distinctly gloomy bias. First we had Leninism, then we had Maoism; neither worked. Then we had the Great Society, which started us on the path towards the Crummy Society. So what can the Left offer that's in any way positive? I can't think of much, and that tends to limit both popularity and contributions.
Remember, the Left believes in participatory democracy, which is largely a sham (look at voter turnout in the last election if you don't believe me). The right believes in a market - a place where almost anything goes and life is far freer. This makes individual expression far more important than it is on the left, since in the market society, the individual's voice is heard. I want a $3,400 digital camera, so I buy one; you want a $40 Instamatic, you buy it. We both get what we want.
The result of this is that conservatives like discussing their views, while liberals tend to bow to voices of authority such as Noam Chomsky or Salon. So the conservative format is talk radio or Internet discussion boards, while the leftist format is The Nation or Salon. In many respects, the leftist media is superior, since it tends to include better, more carefully researched articles. But the righitst media is enormously more participatory, and I think that gives people more of a feeling of involvement, more of a stake, and thus more willingness to donate money.
This has apparently been fixed in newer versions of the PowerBook. The problem doesn't appear if you use a case with some breathing room in it (that doesn't hug the PowerBook tightly). I thought the problem was nonsense until I decided to buy a chic new case for my PowerBook; the problem came up immediately and I switched back to my old, ugly case without further trouble.
I've found that simply raising my AirPort base station as high as I can get it (in my case, on top of my PowerMac G4, which sits on top of my desk) helped reception enormously.
I love my PowerBook G4/400, although I periodically think about replacing it with a newer model. I would certainly not replace it with an iBook since I love the higer resolution screen.
Note that you can get reconditioned TiBooks for about the price of a new iBook, and that might be worth thinking about for many people.
At the time the PowerMac G4 was introduced with the SuperDrive, DVD burners were going for $5,000 each. The whole PowerMac G4 system cost $3,500 with the SuperDrive.
In short, Apple was the first company to make a reasonably affordable system that recorded DVDs.
Free software does move the world - or at least the computer side of it - by giving people access to software they otherwise could not afford.
So we have millions of people running Linux who would not normally be able to afford a Unix at all. And we have thousands of people running mySQL and PostGresSQL who could have never afforded a SQL database.
Without Linux, FreeBSD and Darwin - all open source projects - Unix would be dying since it would not be cost-effective compared to Windows.
I agree with you that free software isn't innovative as software, and that's why I use MacOS X at home. It's a great deal more innovative than anything out of the Linux camp, because it takes a driving force like Steve Jobs to create something truly brilliant and new.
But that should by no means allow us to underestimate the importance of free software. It's just a different kind of importance.
I really love my Canon EOS D30 (predecessor to the D60), because it does in fact have precisely the look and feel of an ergonomically tested 35mm SLR. This probably has something to do with the fact that it is effectively a SLR with a digital back instead of film.
The big advantage is for anyone who wants to focus and set exposure manually. These functions are smooth and intuitive on the D30, as opposed to the cheaper point and shoots and their fiddly buttons.
I had a Nikon Coolpix 990 before the Canon, and the difference was like night and day to me. I never mastered the 990's features; I would study the manual, but the information would leave my brain as quickly as it entered. In dramatic contrast, a single reading of the manual told me everything I needed to know about the D30, and I've taken almost 5,000 pictures with it since I got it in January 2002, the bulk of them using a semi-automatic exposure mode and manual focus.
Unfortunately, these cameras are still mind-bendingly expensive for all but affluent camera nuts like me. But if you like using manual controls and can afford this kind of camera, you'll consider it well worth the price as you use it.
Slashdot Mirror
Quartz Extreme should solve most of the performance problems by making the eye candy run in the graphics card and freeing up the CPU. True, it only works on modern Macs, but most scientists are not going to find new and fast hardware difficult to cost-justify.
I think the impact of a beautiful computing experience is greatly underestimated. Many of us spend the bulk of our lives in front of a screen, which is normally gray and hopelessly dull visually. Making that environment beautiful - which is virtually exclusive to MacOS X - makes our lives more beautiful.
I think doing that is worth a few extra processor cycles.
D
This would look valid - but outside of Apple's price bubble, I can get a 120gb 7200rpm hard drive for $199 and 512mb of DDR RAM for $199.
:-(.
So it's really just a way to get gullible customers like me to pay extra for the speed bump
D
They're not succeeding, then; world+dog (as The Register says) knew that there would be new G4s released today or shortly thereafter thank to the end of the previous Crystal Clear promotion (which promptly was replaced with a new one).
D
True, so I'd probably wind up splurging on the 17" iMac which has both a LCD screen and extra pixels.
But I will admit that's quite a bit more money.
D
I have a G4/450 dual processor system from that era. I knew it wasn't a big advantage when I bought it, but I was definitely looking forward to it on MacOS X.
.25ghz extra worth $800 more?
.25ghz more. Pity.
And I wasn't disappointed, and I have real-world evidence to back it up.
When Final Cut Pro 3.0 for MacOS X came out, I tried it out in the store on one of their then-new single-processor 867 systems. The 867 seemed a bit sluggish - when I was rendering, the whole world would stop and I couldn't even pull up a web browser window. But I can do this seamlessly on the dual 450, so in my eyes it's a much nicer machine to work with than the 867.
So I don't think you'd regret buying a dual processor system even if it was a small cut in nominal processor speed (933 to 867 for instance).
My main problem with my system is that my ego really wanted the dual 500 as the top of the line, but my rational self couldn't justify paying $1,000 more for it(*).
Anyway, it looks like a repeat with the current range - the dual 1.25ghz system is only about 25% faster in mhz and is 32% more expensive. Might not be so bad if the total performance was 32% better, but it's probably not since it doesn't have a memory subsystem or disks that are 32% faster. I would have certainly gone for the high-end machine if it had been $2,999, but for $3,299 it seems like they're pushing it.
What do you think? Is the
D
(*) Of course I could have ordered the 500 bare through the Apple Store online, but I called them and the whole experience was pretty bad because I did not have a credit card capable of handling the full amount, and they're pretty inflexible on payment options (no COD, not even cash).
At any rate, that doesn't apply anymore since you can no longer downgrade machines on the online Apple store, and you can no longer upgrade CPUs on the lesser systems. So you're stuck paying $800 more if you want
In the end, this means there's little point to buying an Apple machine online anymore. Might as well be pampered at an Apple Retail Store for the same prices to the penny (including sales tax).
I have to admit that I'd still buy an iMac because the LCD screen really makes a huge difference in readability.
That arm is a wonderful ergonomic invention, too - I just wish they could add that to their bigger monitors.
D
I used to drink about six cans of Diet Coke a day, plus one Diet Coke from the soda fountain at lunch.
A friend I respected suggested that I consider drinking more water and less soda. He claimed that I would lose weight (I was 265 pounds at the time) and feel better.
What I discovered is that I did lose weight, although not enough to significantly impact my appearance, but more to the point I felt better - I was generally more alert in the afternoons, and after a while just a few sips of a Diet Coke would give me more energy (when I needed it) than a whole one would previously.
It looks like caffinee becomes steadily less effective as more of it is used, so the simply exponent of abstaining from it and limiting its intake worked well.
So I would recommend something like this to anyone trying to become more healthy. I started losing weight at a good clip, incidentally, when my new job responsibilities made me less sedentary. Annoying but good for me in the long term.
D
Microsoft charged in the $100 range for the Windows98 upgrade from Windows95, and Windows98 was pretty much a bugfix release that added Internet Explorer as a central component.
Microsoft charged $99.99 to upgrade Windows XP from Windows 2000 or 98. If my memory serves, if you had Windows95 or earlier, you'd have to buy it afresh, for $200-odd.
Apple charged $99.95 to upgrade from MacOS 8 to MacOS 9. I'd consider that a far less important upgrade than this.
Programmers need to be paid somehow. I think Apple has been pretty generous with the free/very low cost upgrades. Granted, I wish there was, say, a $70-80 upgrade option for previous purchasers. But I'm not going to lose any sleep over the $129.
D
Digital photography, which works better on a Mac than anywhere, is far cheaper than conventional photography. In fact, taking pictures is basically free, which is a big step up from film photography's $10-odd per 36 exposures.
Most people obsessed with value are also obsessed with tradition, and therefore love family photos. Imagine, then, being able to take all the family pictures you want at no extra cost per photo, loading them on to your computer, printing them out and emailing them to your friends.
And imagine there is a computer that comes with special free software that makes cataloguing them dead easy, so you'll never lose that great picture of your baby laughing or your 11 year old riding the skateboard.
That computer is a Mac.
I'd call that basic value, wouldn't you?
D
I have a nearly two year old PowerMac that runs MacOS X only about a third slower than the current top-end model. That's not bad at all.
In reality, it's Windows XP that has to jump through this hoop - our IT guy just quit, and his 1ghz Athelon XP system is distinctly sluggish. XP's published specifications include system requirements that exclude any system more than a year and a half old at the time.
D
The reason they don't like the aggregators is that there is less reason for you to go to eBay first, and therefore bid on only their auctions. Instead, you're giving publicity to their evil rivals.
In short, it endangers eBay's near-monopoly on the online auction business. They could care less about the advertising, but in terms of protecting their monopoly, well, that's their lifeblood.
D
You can't be very serious about promoting and advertising a car that cost more for you to produce than its retail price.
...
At least, not for long
D
CD burning is built into MacOS X and works great.
D
Someone in a Mac forum (I forgot which, sadly) played with the .MAC image in Photoshop and proved that it was simply another victim of the clone stamp. If you look at his blowups, the evidence is pretty clear.
.Mac (versus .mac) was inconsistent and that's something Steve would never tolerate. I tend to agree with him.
He also pointed out that the capitalization of
This, of course, throws doubt on the credibility of Think Secret, which traditionally has been very accurate. I frankly don't believe the dotmac story. 17" iMacs would make me drool, but what we professional users really need is faster towers.
Rumor sites come and go, but the timing of promotion expiration dates is almost always entirely accurate as an indicator of when new stuff is coming. This is understandable; you don't need promotional discounts to move the latest and greatest stuff.
So we have a new clear screen promotion that runs until August 12th, and that means, with very little doubt, that we'll get new PowerMacs around August 13th. Nothing, ahem, clearer than that.
D
The Toyota Echo has the same body as the Prius, and sells for about $10,000 less, say $10-12k instead of $20k and up. The mileage difference is only about 10-15mpg.
I did the numbers and came out with the rather alarming conclusion that you will never recoup the cost of the Prius in fuel savings, because the car includes expensive batteries that need to be replaced every ten years or so. When the car has been driven for ten years, the batteries are going to cost more than the depreciated value of the car. (This is not surprising considering how heavily subsidized the car is, a point made in other posts).
Car magazine (UK)'s monthly car cost and capsule rating section claims that the Prius is going to get about the same mileage as a diesel, and rides and handles poorly compared to the diesel VW Golf, which costs about the same. Motor Trend magazine, in an issue I bought about a week ago that's probably still on newsstands somewhere, agrees and much prefers the Honda Civic Hybrid. So if you need a hybrid car, I'd recommend the Honda.
Finally, in terms of saving the planet, the whole thing may be a wash. From what I understand, disposing of lead acid batteries of the size needed for an hybrid or electric car is a significant environmental hazard.
In the end, I'd probably take the Golf diesel unless I lived in California, where I belie
D
How is she going to know which AC to contact upon her return to Japan?
This provoked my curiosity; nice picture indeed. But how do I know this is a correct picture of the poseter? After all, she admits she's a troll.
Are trolls not legendary for posting bogus pictures of themselves?
D
Why be US-centric?
Doesn't the whole world use Google?
They probably won't do it, just because it doesn't have the drama and flair of the destruction of a major landmark.
D
If they're in Class A office space, power is paid for by the landlord unless otherwise specified in the lease.
If they are co-located in a server farm, power is normally included with the fee per machine.
In either case, there might well be no power bill to pay!
One interesting unasked question: Could they distribute their servers geographically, through several server farms in widely distributed points, to increase redundancy in case Al Queda decided to target their server farm? Might be a thought.
D
Look at the other responses to this message. Yuk.
So here are a few thoughts:
* Consider quality. You probably use higher quality components than your "cut to the bone" competition. Capitalize on that. A few horror stories about eMachines power supplies should be really helpful, especially if you can point out why yours are better.
* Run training classes for computer newbies.
* Do all you can to make your store a comfortable, pleasant place. If you're not going to price to the bone, you can at least try and make shopping more pleasant. Visit one of Apple's new retail stores and note what a nice shopping experience they offer. I know, I know, they spent half a million a store, and you can't. But you should still be able to emulate a few aspects of their model, such as selling Palms and digital cameras alongside computers. These are higher-margin devices, so if you send someone out with a package, you can pocket more profit.
* Hire salespeople who actually know what they're talking about. If you get people who can answer questions well, you'll collect customers who like having their questions answered.
This is a tough business, especially if you're competing against the likes of Fry's "We sell everything!". I'm sure there's still a place for the white box, because it's what my company gets all the time. We definitely feel that we gain from dealing with a local vendor who can be more responsive and less bureaucratic.
Hope that helps.
D
Sorry for the confusion; the problem that's been fixed (and was caused by a tight case) is the keyboard rubbing against the display.
D
This isn't to say that it's without flaws - there are many revoltingly xenophobic comments on it, for example. But there is no question that it provides an excellent service and makes people much better informed than they otherwise would be.
I think a major problem with the Left is best expressed in this article, written by left-wing activist Michael Albert. Basically, he says that the left expresses hate for American institutions, but lacks a compelling alternative vision. The left knows what it hates - contemporary society - but doesn't know what it likes.
Because of this lack of solutions, the left feels more like an organized mass than a dialogue. The Left "solutions" that have been tried tend not to work frightfully well, and that produces a distinctly gloomy bias. First we had Leninism, then we had Maoism; neither worked. Then we had the Great Society, which started us on the path towards the Crummy Society. So what can the Left offer that's in any way positive? I can't think of much, and that tends to limit both popularity and contributions.
Remember, the Left believes in participatory democracy, which is largely a sham (look at voter turnout in the last election if you don't believe me). The right believes in a market - a place where almost anything goes and life is far freer. This makes individual expression far more important than it is on the left, since in the market society, the individual's voice is heard. I want a $3,400 digital camera, so I buy one; you want a $40 Instamatic, you buy it. We both get what we want.
The result of this is that conservatives like discussing their views, while liberals tend to bow to voices of authority such as Noam Chomsky or Salon. So the conservative format is talk radio or Internet discussion boards, while the leftist format is The Nation or Salon. In many respects, the leftist media is superior, since it tends to include better, more carefully researched articles. But the righitst media is enormously more participatory, and I think that gives people more of a feeling of involvement, more of a stake, and thus more willingness to donate money.
D
This has apparently been fixed in newer versions of the PowerBook. The problem doesn't appear if you use a case with some breathing room in it (that doesn't hug the PowerBook tightly). I thought the problem was nonsense until I decided to buy a chic new case for my PowerBook; the problem came up immediately and I switched back to my old, ugly case without further trouble.
I've found that simply raising my AirPort base station as high as I can get it (in my case, on top of my PowerMac G4, which sits on top of my desk) helped reception enormously.
I love my PowerBook G4/400, although I periodically think about replacing it with a newer model. I would certainly not replace it with an iBook since I love the higer resolution screen.
Note that you can get reconditioned TiBooks for about the price of a new iBook, and that might be worth thinking about for many people.
D
At the time the PowerMac G4 was introduced with the SuperDrive, DVD burners were going for $5,000 each. The whole PowerMac G4 system cost $3,500 with the SuperDrive.
In short, Apple was the first company to make a reasonably affordable system that recorded DVDs.
D
Free software does move the world - or at least the computer side of it - by giving people access to software they otherwise could not afford.
So we have millions of people running Linux who would not normally be able to afford a Unix at all. And we have thousands of people running mySQL and PostGresSQL who could have never afforded a SQL database.
Without Linux, FreeBSD and Darwin - all open source projects - Unix would be dying since it would not be cost-effective compared to Windows.
I agree with you that free software isn't innovative as software, and that's why I use MacOS X at home. It's a great deal more innovative than anything out of the Linux camp, because it takes a driving force like Steve Jobs to create something truly brilliant and new.
But that should by no means allow us to underestimate the importance of free software. It's just a different kind of importance.
D
I really love my Canon EOS D30 (predecessor to the D60), because it does in fact have precisely the look and feel of an ergonomically tested 35mm SLR. This probably has something to do with the fact that it is effectively a SLR with a digital back instead of film.
The big advantage is for anyone who wants to focus and set exposure manually. These functions are smooth and intuitive on the D30, as opposed to the cheaper point and shoots and their fiddly buttons.
I had a Nikon Coolpix 990 before the Canon, and the difference was like night and day to me. I never mastered the 990's features; I would study the manual, but the information would leave my brain as quickly as it entered. In dramatic contrast, a single reading of the manual told me everything I needed to know about the D30, and I've taken almost 5,000 pictures with it since I got it in January 2002, the bulk of them using a semi-automatic exposure mode and manual focus.
Unfortunately, these cameras are still mind-bendingly expensive for all but affluent camera nuts like me. But if you like using manual controls and can afford this kind of camera, you'll consider it well worth the price as you use it.
D