Yes, bad support. I chalked the Powerbook 5300 up as broken after my first year of ownership. When I say bad support, I mean that the techs didn't know what to do to get it working. I got it back from Apple via Airborn Express after the recall and it had crashed within 10 minutes of light use.
Maybe I got a particularly bad machine. While it is great that Apple did the right thing in the long run, what they should have done was offer to take the machine back and send me a new machine of my choosing (of approximately equal value). I had a lot of friends who had chosen other macs that did not have the problem.
I didn't realize that the recall had cost $500 Million. Oddly, my 5300 crashed almost as often after the recall than before, and this was with a pristine system running the smallest extension set possible for word processing, web and network access.
If Apple learned from its mistakes, I feel that my bad experience may have been worthwhile. I know I certainly learned from my mistake and will be much more careful before buying a product that the community has not put through its paces a bit.
What's the deal with that mini-vga plug on the back of the eMac? Why not just use the standard VGA plug? I wonder how many millions of dollars have been spent by Mac users on adaptors.
This reminds me of when I bought my Powerbook 5300. I got it as part of a special deal. They were initially (for the first 2-3 months) going to be selling them only to people affiliated with the University of Michigan. This was why they only had photocopied brochures instead of glossy ones.
A smaller market means less feedback from consumers about design flaws, and it means fewer customers to alienate if things go wrong and Apple decides to pull the plug on support. One might say that Apple knows that the educational market is its most loyal customer base, but the U of M is part of an educational institution and Apple convinced it to push 5300s and not support them or accept returns on defective merchandise.
This comment is not meant to be negative towards Apple in particular. But it is based on an experience that I have had with Apple in the past.
I agree, Linux is a great OS, and it handles internet related things extremely well. The question is, why is an agreement between Microsoft and Mexico a mistake?
Exxon Valdez: The environmental cost was enormous. The world would have been better off if the spill hadn't happened. Are you saying that Mexico will be better off if the deal with Microsoft doesn't happen?
But Windows machines are not the most important Internet server platform. Furthermore, Windows machines make lousy web access terminals: they are hard to secure and unreliable
Windows machines are an option for an internet server platform. Where does the notion of importance come into this? Windows machines are pretty easy to administer, which is a big plus. IE6 offers a state of the art web browsing experience. I recall the first time I browsed with IE after a few years of Netscape 4.x on linux -- I realized where all the hype about the internet came from -- IE was a richer experience. Mozilla has come a long way, but IE still takes the cake in my opinion... don't get me wrong, I really want to start liking Mozilla best... the lizzard is inching closer and closer.
Mexico is going to be paying a lot for their Microsoft brand herion
That's rediculous. Once you have a PC you can load whatever OS you want on it. Microsoft has the mass appeal necessary to drive down prices and create the development of infrastructure.
Linux is revolutionary, but not for the masses (yet). I believe the masses will embrace linux soon, but why boo hoo Microsoft's effort to open up a new market. This could be a win-win situation for Mexico & Microsoft.
stop being so idealistic. Mexico will benefit from Microsoft technology. Microsoft has the leverage ($$) to enter into the software business in Mexico as a business investment. You don't see OSS doing that on a large scale.
Increased awareness and familiarity with software & technology will make Mexicans more likely to embrace OSS in the long run, for exactly the reasons you mention, and for the same reasons that most of us embrace it.
This kind of OSS elitism is really absurd in this case b/c Microsoft products generally have better UI standardization and they are generally easier to learn/integrate, plus they are embraced by more businesses, which makes them more valuable for those seeking (mostly non-technical) jobs.
The creation of jobs and economic development (creating a new market hungry for Windows, X-Boxes, and Office 2004) is what Microsoft's initiative is all about.
Let's not lament this. It is a Good Thing. More software --> more nerds --> better/. discussions. Comprende?
Last time I was in Mexico (Nogales, near the Arizona border), I noticed that a lot of 'prescription' drugs were offered for sale in drugstores, no prescription required.
Most noticable among these was Rogaine. I wonder if the future will find Mexican copies of Windows, sold for pennies on the dollar, available next to the Rogaine in glass display cases in Mexican border towns.
This article could very well have been bait submitted by someone who wants to equate the Slashdot and Open Source community with condoning software piracy.
Of course, in reality this is about privacy, but most people don't realize that.
i expect that if there is scrutiny on this aspect of Microsoft's operations, Bill & co will have put in place a world class system w/in 8 months to a year. That is the benefit of running the company like a startup.
I just don't know. MS has made every mistake they possibly can make with the X-Box. I don't see that unit climbing out of obscurity. They should lick their wounds and prepare for round two, because this one is lost; maybe they should go read about Sega's console history, and see how Sega made the leap from the Master System to the Genesis. (and then *not* follow them down the same paths as the Saturn or the Dreamcast..)
A lot of people have said similar things about Microsoft's initial failures, only to be proven very wrong after a year or two once Microsoft has won the war.
I think that more competition in the console market is better for everyone. Yes, Microsoft rarely gets a product right on the first try, but look at the difference between win 98 and win 2000. Two years can make a big difference.
All companies make mistakes. Not all companies learn from them.
Re:why give katz such a hard time...
on
Dog Bites Website
·
· Score: 2
You write:
...redundant, not well thought out, unclear, redundant,
Redundant means "characterized by similarity or repetition". In other words, you accuse Katz (among other things) of saying the same stuff that other/.ers are saying. My point exactly.
My other point was that Katz has a good mainstream soapbox to promulgate those views. As redundant as they may seem to you or anyone else on Slashdot, they are probably fairly novel for most people out there reading the mainstream press about software and technology.
Another meaning of redundant is "using more words than necessary". This is a matter of taste, and has a lot to do with the forum -- books are typically longer than/. posts. Katz writes for a wide audience, and so his material may not fit perfectly into the conventions of every format.
Further, why the high level of negativity? Its somewhat odd that Katz can inspire so much passion (albeit negative) among Slashdot readers. I've read some of his stuff and though it doesn't always strike me as a news flash, it is the kind of writing that will be great fodder for historians when the Internet is one day viewed alongside the wild west as a frontier tamed by cowboys.
You are exactly right that the current laws are uninforcable. Clearly the individual songs have value, however, otherwise people wouldn't waste their time downloading and buring them.
You are also exactly right that there will come to exist a new equilibrium. I'm sure this is much like the liklihood of getting audited by the IRS if you claim to have donated less than $500 to charity. It's unenforcable and therefore cheating exists. People also cheat in monopoly, golf, accounting practices, marriage, etc. We as a society enforce rules which are deemed important to the smooth functioning of society. We are a capitalist society, and therefore the ability to make money from intellectual property is fairly important to a lot of people, particularly those who make a living from it.
Ultimately, if there is a difference of opinion about the value of the music (between the RIAA or the Artists and the people downloading the songs) then it will be a contest of technology against technology to determine the resulting price. To extend the analogy of the IRS, the accounting industry exists to mediate between the enforcable and the uninforcable aspects of the Tax Code and, like the Government, collects a decent income by providing the service -- technological innovations that allow for copyright managment will parasitically find their way into this market and create a new way for companies (and consumers) to spend money.
"program" is both a noun and a verb. you program in a particular language and the result is a program that you can sell or give away, etc.
musicians create their music, and they create one or several renditions of it that they record. they sell these renditions because people want to buy them (it's called a market).
musicians are allowed to choose whether they desire to sell or give away their music, just like programmers are allowed to decide whether to sell or give away their software.
if the musician didn't want to sell his/her music, then he/she would be a local bar act somewhere or even more likely a music teacher collecting $7.50 per lesson.
music on mp3 becomes soft like software... in other words it is intangible. It is just as intangible as the different expertise of a Doctor vs. a Nurse. Just because I can't touch it and feel its weight in my hand doesn't mean that I won't pay the few extra bucks for a doctor if I happen to get sick.
You pay for services every day. Music, whether you define it as a noun or a verb, a product or a service, still has value to people and will therefore be bought and sold in a society that permits such things.
why give katz such a hard time...
on
Dog Bites Website
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
i don't understand why people give katz such a hard time. he's got good insight, and he makes it his mission to communicate the insights and strengths of the geek/OSS community with the rest of the world.
i think that many slashdotters are somewhat embarrassed that katz has turned their area of geeky expertise into a national reputation and has become a successful columnist and writer.
let him sell a few books here... i mean, who cares! by and large he represents the views of the slashdot community even if he doesn't adopt the same AC-like geek-superiority complex that most of us do.
Speaking of stimulants... I have mild ADD and I was on ritalin for a while. I found that it helped me focus on a specific goal and get results. The most startling (and perhaps embarassing) result was that when I was on Ritalin I suddenly had the patience to read man files and documentation like never before.
In terms of solving problems, however, I think I do better without Ritalin. Often it is the tangential thought that turns into a key insight that solves the problem.
I had a cd that had a small crack in the plastic extending from the hole about 1 centimeter into the disc, but not extending into the silver foil.
I inserted this into a 52x cdrom drive and within 10 seconds I heard a very loud sound. I ejected the drive to find that the cd had shattered into several hundred tiny pieces.
I ended up having to shake the drive upside down (with the tray out) to remove the debris.
you are dead on. It's the same as how kids aren't afraid to use bad grammar when learning to talk. They just keep on doing it wrong until one day they are certified experts (fluent speakers).
Slashdot Mirror
Maybe I got a particularly bad machine. While it is great that Apple did the right thing in the long run, what they should have done was offer to take the machine back and send me a new machine of my choosing (of approximately equal value). I had a lot of friends who had chosen other macs that did not have the problem.
If Apple learned from its mistakes, I feel that my bad experience may have been worthwhile. I know I certainly learned from my mistake and will be much more careful before buying a product that the community has not put through its paces a bit.
What's the deal with that mini-vga plug on the back of the eMac? Why not just use the standard VGA plug? I wonder how many millions of dollars have been spent by Mac users on adaptors.
This reminds me of when I bought my Powerbook 5300. I got it as part of a special deal. They were initially (for the first 2-3 months) going to be selling them only to people affiliated with the University of Michigan. This was why they only had photocopied brochures instead of glossy ones.
A smaller market means less feedback from consumers about design flaws, and it means fewer customers to alienate if things go wrong and Apple decides to pull the plug on support. One might say that Apple knows that the educational market is its most loyal customer base, but the U of M is part of an educational institution and Apple convinced it to push 5300s and not support them or accept returns on defective merchandise.
This comment is not meant to be negative towards Apple in particular. But it is based on an experience that I have had with Apple in the past.
Please tell us what you think the top 3 negative consequences of the arrangement would be.
Exxon Valdez: The environmental cost was enormous. The world would have been better off if the spill hadn't happened. Are you saying that Mexico will be better off if the deal with Microsoft doesn't happen?
But Windows machines are not the most important Internet server platform. Furthermore, Windows machines make lousy web access terminals: they are hard to secure and unreliable
Windows machines are an option for an internet server platform. Where does the notion of importance come into this? Windows machines are pretty easy to administer, which is a big plus. IE6 offers a state of the art web browsing experience. I recall the first time I browsed with IE after a few years of Netscape 4.x on linux -- I realized where all the hype about the internet came from -- IE was a richer experience. Mozilla has come a long way, but IE still takes the cake in my opinion... don't get me wrong, I really want to start liking Mozilla best... the lizzard is inching closer and closer.
That's rediculous. Once you have a PC you can load whatever OS you want on it. Microsoft has the mass appeal necessary to drive down prices and create the development of infrastructure.
Linux is revolutionary, but not for the masses (yet). I believe the masses will embrace linux soon, but why boo hoo Microsoft's effort to open up a new market. This could be a win-win situation for Mexico & Microsoft.
Increased awareness and familiarity with software & technology will make Mexicans more likely to embrace OSS in the long run, for exactly the reasons you mention, and for the same reasons that most of us embrace it.
This kind of OSS elitism is really absurd in this case b/c Microsoft products generally have better UI standardization and they are generally easier to learn/integrate, plus they are embraced by more businesses, which makes them more valuable for those seeking (mostly non-technical) jobs.
The creation of jobs and economic development (creating a new market hungry for Windows, X-Boxes, and Office 2004) is what Microsoft's initiative is all about.
Let's not lament this. It is a Good Thing. More software --> more nerds --> better /. discussions. Comprende?
Last time I was in Mexico (Nogales, near the Arizona border), I noticed that a lot of 'prescription' drugs were offered for sale in drugstores, no prescription required.
Most noticable among these was Rogaine. I wonder if the future will find Mexican copies of Windows, sold for pennies on the dollar, available next to the Rogaine in glass display cases in Mexican border towns.
point taken. A better, though longer, transition is the one from win 3.11 to XP.
Of course, in reality this is about privacy, but most people don't realize that.
i expect that if there is scrutiny on this aspect of Microsoft's operations, Bill & co will have put in place a world class system w/in 8 months to a year. That is the benefit of running the company like a startup.
A lot of people have said similar things about Microsoft's initial failures, only to be proven very wrong after a year or two once Microsoft has won the war.
I think that more competition in the console market is better for everyone. Yes, Microsoft rarely gets a product right on the first try, but look at the difference between win 98 and win 2000. Two years can make a big difference.
All companies make mistakes. Not all companies learn from them.
Redundant means "characterized by similarity or repetition". In other words, you accuse Katz (among other things) of saying the same stuff that other /.ers are saying. My point exactly.
My other point was that Katz has a good mainstream soapbox to promulgate those views. As redundant as they may seem to you or anyone else on Slashdot, they are probably fairly novel for most people out there reading the mainstream press about software and technology.
Another meaning of redundant is "using more words than necessary". This is a matter of taste, and has a lot to do with the forum -- books are typically longer than /. posts. Katz writes for a wide audience, and so his material may not fit perfectly into the conventions of every format.
Further, why the high level of negativity? Its somewhat odd that Katz can inspire so much passion (albeit negative) among Slashdot readers. I've read some of his stuff and though it doesn't always strike me as a news flash, it is the kind of writing that will be great fodder for historians when the Internet is one day viewed alongside the wild west as a frontier tamed by cowboys.
You are exactly right that the current laws are uninforcable. Clearly the individual songs have value, however, otherwise people wouldn't waste their time downloading and buring them.
You are also exactly right that there will come to exist a new equilibrium. I'm sure this is much like the liklihood of getting audited by the IRS if you claim to have donated less than $500 to charity. It's unenforcable and therefore cheating exists. People also cheat in monopoly, golf, accounting practices, marriage, etc. We as a society enforce rules which are deemed important to the smooth functioning of society. We are a capitalist society, and therefore the ability to make money from intellectual property is fairly important to a lot of people, particularly those who make a living from it.
Ultimately, if there is a difference of opinion about the value of the music (between the RIAA or the Artists and the people downloading the songs) then it will be a contest of technology against technology to determine the resulting price. To extend the analogy of the IRS, the accounting industry exists to mediate between the enforcable and the uninforcable aspects of the Tax Code and, like the Government, collects a decent income by providing the service -- technological innovations that allow for copyright managment will parasitically find their way into this market and create a new way for companies (and consumers) to spend money.
"program" is both a noun and a verb. you program in a particular language and the result is a program that you can sell or give away, etc.
musicians create their music, and they create one or several renditions of it that they record. they sell these renditions because people want to buy them (it's called a market).
musicians are allowed to choose whether they desire to sell or give away their music, just like programmers are allowed to decide whether to sell or give away their software.
if the musician didn't want to sell his/her music, then he/she would be a local bar act somewhere or even more likely a music teacher collecting $7.50 per lesson.
music on mp3 becomes soft like software... in other words it is intangible. It is just as intangible as the different expertise of a Doctor vs. a Nurse. Just because I can't touch it and feel its weight in my hand doesn't mean that I won't pay the few extra bucks for a doctor if I happen to get sick.
You pay for services every day. Music, whether you define it as a noun or a verb, a product or a service, still has value to people and will therefore be bought and sold in a society that permits such things.
i don't understand why people give katz such a hard time. he's got good insight, and he makes it his mission to communicate the insights and strengths of the geek/OSS community with the rest of the world.
i think that many slashdotters are somewhat embarrassed that katz has turned their area of geeky expertise into a national reputation and has become a successful columnist and writer.
let him sell a few books here... i mean, who cares! by and large he represents the views of the slashdot community even if he doesn't adopt the same AC-like geek-superiority complex that most of us do.
Speaking of stimulants... I have mild ADD and I was on ritalin for a while. I found that it helped me focus on a specific goal and get results. The most startling (and perhaps embarassing) result was that when I was on Ritalin I suddenly had the patience to read man files and documentation like never before.
In terms of solving problems, however, I think I do better without Ritalin. Often it is the tangential thought that turns into a key insight that solves the problem.
someone should mod the parent up... we don't get enough vigilante karma justice on /.
that is hillarious. I bet it looked like this!
I had a cd that had a small crack in the plastic extending from the hole about 1 centimeter into the disc, but not extending into the silver foil.
I inserted this into a 52x cdrom drive and within 10 seconds I heard a very loud sound. I ejected the drive to find that the cd had shattered into several hundred tiny pieces.
I ended up having to shake the drive upside down (with the tray out) to remove the debris.
joe,
ok... fair enough.
What kind of media/entertainment integrated pc device is on your wish list? (It doesn't have to exist yet)
you are dead on. It's the same as how kids aren't afraid to use bad grammar when learning to talk. They just keep on doing it wrong until one day they are certified experts (fluent speakers).
Such as "why have these kids from the slum suddenly developed carpal tunnel syndrome?"