As these would be additional codecs. The licensing fees would not change.
... better support for their users...
Apple's users have no interest in these codecs. As evidenced by the sales numbers.
I can't speak to entry barriers because I do not know what they are currently.
The fact remains Apple will not see any substantial financial gain from adding these codecs. And despite your claims that elves will magically maintain the software (a checkbox, you're killing me here!) there will be costs associated with implementing, maintaining, and supporting them.
Thus it is a lose - lose for Apple.
Until you can come up with a reason that makes Apple significant incremental income over what they are making now, it makes no sense for Apple to add these codecs.
Anyone who says "because it would cost money" is a moron. All of these formats have free implementations -- in fact, as far as I know, all of them have free, patent-free, royalty-free, and MIT license at worst, which means if iTunes is at all pluggable, it should take one engineer maybe two hours to add support for them, if that.
The question you need to ask, is what does Apple gain by supporting these formats? That is, how many more iPods/iPhones will Apple sell if they add support for Ogg or FLAC?
A very strong argument could be made that the incremental increase in iPod sales would be vanishingly small. (Both the iPod and the iPhone seem to be selling ok without them.)
So Apple gets no real increase in sales while at the same time having to write and maintain the code to support them. And, call me a moron, but that does cost money.
Ou continues to be either grossly deceived, completely inept at actually investigating and reporting, or so caught up in his ego that he can't recognize he's been played like a piano.
The story you are refering to is on page 36 of my copy. References to eight news sources are given for the story. And the story says nothing of the gun being unloaded. It does say that the man was tryign to pin the snakes head with the butt of the gun to catch it alive.
The book lists stories in four categories, Darwin Awards, Honorable Mentions, Urban Legends, and Personal Accounts. Stories in the first two categories "are known or believed to be true". Urban legends "should be understood as the fables they are". Personal Accounts "are plausible but usually unverified". The also rates each of the first two categories as Confirmed by Darwin, meaning multiple credile sources, or Unconfimred by Darwin, for stories believed to be true but with fewer or unverifialbe sources. (Quotes from pages six and seven of The Darwin Awards.)
So no, it's not speculation that exploitable on other platforms, because the presenters themselves said it was, and specifically said they ultimately chose to demo it on the Apple platform for the reason stated above.
Oh then it must be true!
Until they, or someone else, demos it on Windows or Linux, it is just speculation.
Slashdot Mirror
Yes.
Sad but true.
Actually, that's true for 100% of the world's population.
Er, you might want to check that. Darwin hasn't been open source in a long time.
Yeah, not since OS X version 10.5.4 ...
Oh wait, that's the current version.
The source, PPC and Intel (gasp! that's unpossible!) for Darwin can be found at Apple - Darwin - Releases
Perhaps you just need a bit more practice with this new "Google" thing. I'm sure you would have found it on your next search.
SteveM
As these would be additional codecs. The licensing fees would not change.
Apple's users have no interest in these codecs. As evidenced by the sales numbers.
I can't speak to entry barriers because I do not know what they are currently.
The fact remains Apple will not see any substantial financial gain from adding these codecs. And despite your claims that elves will magically maintain the software (a checkbox, you're killing me here!) there will be costs associated with implementing, maintaining, and supporting them.
Thus it is a lose - lose for Apple.
Until you can come up with a reason that makes Apple significant incremental income over what they are making now, it makes no sense for Apple to add these codecs.
Zippo. Nada. None.
SteveM
Adding another would be as simple as adding a checkbox, or an item in a dropdown.
How has this not been modded up to +5 funny?
SteveM
Others have already pointed out the flaw in that reasoning.
But you haven't addressed the main issue. There is no appreciable value to Apple in adding support for these formats.
None.
Apple is selling plenty of iPods without Ogg or FLAC.
Apple is selling every iPhone they can make. Again without Ogg or FLAC.
So I ask again, other then having RMS say nice things about the company, what benefit does Apple derive from supporting Ogg and-or FLAC?
SteveM
Anyone who says "because it would cost money" is a moron. All of these formats have free implementations -- in fact, as far as I know, all of them have free, patent-free, royalty-free, and MIT license at worst, which means if iTunes is at all pluggable, it should take one engineer maybe two hours to add support for them, if that.
The question you need to ask, is what does Apple gain by supporting these formats? That is, how many more iPods/iPhones will Apple sell if they add support for Ogg or FLAC?
A very strong argument could be made that the incremental increase in iPod sales would be vanishingly small. (Both the iPod and the iPhone seem to be selling ok without them.)
So Apple gets no real increase in sales while at the same time having to write and maintain the code to support them. And, call me a moron, but that does cost money.
SteveM
Want to make Apple irrelevant?
It's fucking simple.
Make something better. Something that users want to use more than Apple products.
DOS attacks on genius bars is pretty infantile. And certainly won't endear the FSF to the people they are trying to reach.
Maybe FSJ was right, they are freetards.
SteveM
Are you kidding?
I think your post pretty much confirms it.
Crappy hardware, crappy software, ...
Who's kidding who?
SteveM
You should try one.
I have not had any problem taking notes, writing emails, entering URLS, and even entering punctuation.
I much prefer this to any other phone keyboard I've used.
SteveM
That's funny.
SteveM
if palm allows apple to start releasing third-party apps ...
And what exactly can Palm do to prevent this?
Palm has been dead for awhile. All that's left is for someone to unplug the life support system.
SteveM
I, like everybody still living, am a potential immortal.
SteveM
"Customer service, security, and quality are at best an afterthought at Apple."
Curious, Business Week would seem to differ, at least on the customer service ranking.
I'm just wondering, how many iPods do they need to sell before it's "more than a happy accident"?
SteveM
"Too expensive, too locked down." Well, one for two ain't bad. From the OpenMoto site (for the mass market version):
"We will sell this device through multiple channels. Direct from openmoko.com, the price will be $450 for the Neo Base and $600 for Neo Advanced."
Not much of a price advantage, although discounts and subsequent costs are unknown.
I agree with you about the lack of third party access, although access to the source code while nice is not of great importance to me. YNMV.
"... if I upgrade any time soon it'll be to the FIC product."
Anyone interested in this phone should review the FAQ. The current time table is for the mass market phone to ship in October.
An interesting project. I hope they pull it off.
SteveM
Ou continues to be either grossly deceived, completely inept at actually investigating and reporting, or so caught up in his ego that he can't recognize he's been played like a piano.
And an asshat to boot.
SteveM
Well except that the exploit worked for Mac HW too.
Do you have any proof of this, other than Maynor-Ellch claims? An actual instance of the exploit working on Mac HW? Because I've not seen any.
And George Ou doesn't count.
SteveM
Since my wireless connections, on my dual G5 and my TiBook work just fine ..
Although a quick check at Mac Fix It does discuss the problem: http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20070318 234944267
Curious
SteveM
In a vaccum, no one can hear you scream.
Nor is there anything to push against.
Thus the need to detonate the device on or in the asteroid itself.
SteveM
And what exactly does this blast wave consist of? The ether? Phlogiston? Cowboy Neal?
SteveM
The story you are refering to is on page 36 of my copy. References to eight news sources are given for the story. And the story says nothing of the gun being unloaded. It does say that the man was tryign to pin the snakes head with the butt of the gun to catch it alive.
The book lists stories in four categories, Darwin Awards, Honorable Mentions, Urban Legends, and Personal Accounts. Stories in the first two categories "are known or believed to be true". Urban legends "should be understood as the fables they are". Personal Accounts "are plausible but usually unverified". The also rates each of the first two categories as Confirmed by Darwin, meaning multiple credile sources, or Unconfimred by Darwin, for stories believed to be true but with fewer or unverifialbe sources. (Quotes from pages six and seven of The Darwin Awards.)
SteveM
So no, it's not speculation that exploitable on other platforms, because the presenters themselves said it was, and specifically said they ultimately chose to demo it on the Apple platform for the reason stated above.
Oh then it must be true!
Until they, or someone else, demos it on Windows or Linux, it is just speculation.
SteveM
Oh my. An apologist for a Microsoft apologist.
No No No! He shouts laughing! You've missed my apparently too subtle sarcasm.
Still laughing ...
SteveM
Wasn't OS 400's file system based on DB2?
SteveM