Watching a movie in better quality. Getting the alternate audio tracks. Getting the subtitle tracks. Having access to something that isn't being streamed by Netflix yet because it is too new.
There are plenty of reasons to not restrict yourself to the Apple view of the world.
Most people simply aren't a member of the cult and will be doing things contrary to all of the silly remarks made by fanboys.
...because what everyone wants is a TI/99A or Atari 400 approach to how systems look and are upgraded.
Apple users spend all of this time "looking trendy" and denigrating anything else that they view as ugly while promoting this 80s notion of how computers are put together.
USB uptake on PCs was a function of Intel bundling USB for free on all of it's motherboards. The fact that Apple Corp left it's legacy users in the lurch really had nothing to do with it.
> What use case would adding a BD-ROM or BD-R drive solve that isn't already solved by Netflix streaming, iTunes streaming, or external hard drives?
What happened to Apple products being for "non geeks". Most "non geeks" simply aren't going to relate well to your attitude and probably want a spinny disk.
BD-ROM happens to be the modern spinny disk format.
Apple is suppose to be the "media platform". They even bundle "media apps" with the OS. So "what gives" with trying to ignore today's most common high definition video format?
Class action suits aren't so much about giving the plaintiffs a payday as they are about punishing the offending party. It's this aspect of class action suits that is intended to discourage further corporate misbehavior. A suitable fine would be preferable of course if you could convince big government to pursue big business.
Of course all of the Ayn Rand types complaining about torts won't hold corporations criminally accountable either.
As far as the OA goes... In truth, even a bad class action judgement is better for an individual than AT&T style "arbitration".
Nearly no one has the means to litigate individually. Non-contingency lawyers actually cost real money. Furthermore, "arbitration" is a joke because the "judges" are paid by the defendants. Anyone that thinks arbitration is better for the individual has to be a complete corporate toadie.
...except this has squat to do with the "changes that Linux should make".
All of the years that MacOS was spanked by MS-DOS should have laid to rest the absurd fallacy that the success of Microsoft products in the market place has anything what so ever to do with the quality of the product or their suitability for any particular class of user.
"Buy this years version of monopolyware, it's not quite as subseptable to viruses as last years version of monopolyware"
> and probably figure out how...probably not since people like you encourage her to be an idiot and never try to learn anything meaningful about the tools they use all the time.
Agreed. Most of the documents referenced in the original question are not worthy of an special consideration.
For most of them, a big letter sized box is sufficient. Just add to the box in the order you receive the documents (date based indexing) and get a new box at the end of the year (year based partitioning). Most monthly statements are of no value and meaningless for tax purposes.
Stuff should get the attention it deserves and no more. Anything else is just going to over-complicate things.
> WIth thermal printed receipts, if you don't have a scanned or photocopied copy of the receipt, in 2 years, it's likely that all you'll have a blank piece of paper
Thermal receipts can actually fade much faster than that. They might not even last long enough to be used for tax purposes.
I started scanning all of my important receipts over this very issue.
I can't use any website. I can't run any program. I can't open any file. I can't connect to any network. I can't connect to any device.
If iThings weren't locked down and prone to lock you back down again if you decide to upgrade the OS, this would be much less of a problem. Those of us with some clue could go about our business relatively unmolested. It's not that Apple is not actively catering to us "geeks", they are actively hostile to us and the stupid fanboys will gladly play the part of Torqemada.
I won't buy an Android tablet until I am sure it addresses the inherent limitations of Apple devices.
I want to carry around fewer devices not more and I won't make excuses for that sort of silliness.
> People need to stop treating this as a contest to be won or lost.
Why not? Apple is a company that is as beligerent to competitors as Microsoft ever was. They intentionally create proprietary devices that have limited OS support and try to sabotage more widely used multi-platform standards. They have a very anti-user approach to engineering these days. They are no longer out to empower anyone. An Apple monopoly would be far worse than the Microsoft one.
Success of a multi-vendor platform trumps any sort of single vendor monopoly.
Slashdot Mirror
I have 3 separate video port dongles for 3 slightly different versions of the same Mac model released over a couple of years.
Cheap PC nettops have been a bit of a step up in this regard.
...or a better GPU that actually is supported by major Game studios.
Having a pile of dongles on the desk simply isn't stylish regardless of how much you fanboys try to kid yourselves.
Dongles are a solution to a self-inflicted problem.
Watching a movie in better quality. Getting the alternate audio tracks. Getting the subtitle tracks. Having access to something that isn't being streamed by Netflix yet because it is too new.
There are plenty of reasons to not restrict yourself to the Apple view of the world.
Most people simply aren't a member of the cult and will be doing things contrary to all of the silly remarks made by fanboys.
...because what everyone wants is a TI/99A or Atari 400 approach to how systems look and are upgraded.
Apple users spend all of this time "looking trendy" and denigrating anything else that they view as ugly while promoting this 80s notion of how computers are put together.
> What do you need PCIe slots for in this time and age
$10 upgrade vs. a $2000 upgrade.
USB uptake on PCs was a function of Intel bundling USB for free on all of it's motherboards. The fact that Apple Corp left it's legacy users in the lurch really had nothing to do with it.
> What use case would adding a BD-ROM or BD-R drive solve that isn't already solved by Netflix streaming, iTunes streaming, or external hard drives?
What happened to Apple products being for "non geeks". Most "non geeks" simply aren't going to relate well to your attitude and probably want a spinny disk.
BD-ROM happens to be the modern spinny disk format.
Apple is suppose to be the "media platform". They even bundle "media apps" with the OS. So "what gives" with trying to ignore today's most common high definition video format?
...yea, just keep up that anti-lawyer rhetoric and trying to absolve corporations for any and all responsibility at all.
Keep it up and one day those corporations you are defending might decide to make green crackers out of you.
Class action suits aren't so much about giving the plaintiffs a payday as they are about punishing the offending party. It's this aspect of class action suits that is intended to discourage further corporate misbehavior. A suitable fine would be preferable of course if you could convince big government to pursue big business.
Of course all of the Ayn Rand types complaining about torts won't hold corporations criminally accountable either.
As far as the OA goes... In truth, even a bad class action judgement is better for an individual than AT&T style "arbitration".
Nearly no one has the means to litigate individually. Non-contingency lawyers actually cost real money. Furthermore, "arbitration" is a joke because the "judges" are paid by the defendants. Anyone that thinks arbitration is better for the individual has to be a complete corporate toadie.
...except this has squat to do with the "changes that Linux should make".
All of the years that MacOS was spanked by MS-DOS should have laid to rest the absurd fallacy that the success of Microsoft products in the market place has anything what so ever to do with the quality of the product or their suitability for any particular class of user.
"Buy this years version of monopolyware, it's not quite as subseptable to viruses as last years version of monopolyware"
> and probably figure out how ...probably not since people like you encourage her to be an idiot and never try to learn anything meaningful about the tools they use all the time.
> back up all her data, install Linux, restore her data, get all the necessary software,
If grandma has problems backing up her data, then Windows really isn't the thing for her either.
Most of these "problems" are more of a bother in Windows than they are Linux.
Agreed. Most of the documents referenced in the original question are not worthy of an special consideration.
For most of them, a big letter sized box is sufficient. Just add to the box in the order you receive the documents (date based indexing) and get a new box at the end of the year (year based partitioning). Most monthly statements are of no value and meaningless for tax purposes.
Stuff should get the attention it deserves and no more. Anything else is just going to over-complicate things.
...or you could just sort by date. Works for just about any desktop GUI made in the last 20 years.
> WIth thermal printed receipts, if you don't have a scanned or photocopied copy of the receipt, in 2 years, it's likely that all you'll have a blank piece of paper
Thermal receipts can actually fade much faster than that. They might not even last long enough to be used for tax purposes.
I started scanning all of my important receipts over this very issue.
> Video editors are a must. I don't miss anything else.
That said. Any video editor should take the user's stuff in whatever form it come in and not give them any grief. It should "just work".
This is one of those areas where Macs intentionally make themselves more limited/difficult than Windows or even Linux.
Don't just focus on what might be a bad product with too much hype behind it. Also see what could use improvement.
> The point is that everyone bemoans the lack of penetration of Linux on the desktop,
Try saying something productive.
We aren't here to stroke your ego. If you say something stupid or offensive, we will tell you.
Of course whining about stupid minutia that aren't even restricted to Linux will get you slapped down.
The same $40 goes a lot farther in other parts of the world or represents a much larger proportion of total income or disposable income.
> What can't you do on a tablet?
I can't use any website.
I can't run any program.
I can't open any file.
I can't connect to any network.
I can't connect to any device.
If iThings weren't locked down and prone to lock you back down again if you decide to upgrade the OS, this would be much less of a problem. Those of us with some clue could go about our business relatively unmolested. It's not that Apple is not actively catering to us "geeks", they are actively hostile to us and the stupid fanboys will gladly play the part of Torqemada.
I won't buy an Android tablet until I am sure it addresses the inherent limitations of Apple devices.
I want to carry around fewer devices not more and I won't make excuses for that sort of silliness.
> People need to stop treating this as a contest to be won or lost.
Why not? Apple is a company that is as beligerent to competitors as Microsoft ever was. They intentionally create proprietary devices that have limited OS support and try to sabotage more widely used multi-platform standards. They have a very anti-user approach to engineering these days. They are no longer out to empower anyone. An Apple monopoly would be far worse than the Microsoft one.
Success of a multi-vendor platform trumps any sort of single vendor monopoly.
Despite of all of the hype, Apple users really have no taste.
Thus the apparent contradiction is none at all. The iPad is a poor consumption device. That doesn't mean it won't get bought as one.
Fortunately for Apple, most of their users don't have enough imagination to bang up against the barriers that Apple likes to put in place.
> At some point they made the device harder to operate but gave the user more freedom by adding a single, tightly guarded repository
Yes. Slavery is freedom. Perfect Apple Newspeak.
...because I can always install what I want. I can even have old stuff from some other distribution lingering in /opt or /usr/local.
Or I could simply grab the latest build of some game or app directly from the developer.
Some power user could have his own bleeding edge repo to share with the rest of us.
Even some large publisher could do the same.
I don't have to worry that Plex or Perian is going to be effectively banned from the platform due to "app store" terms of service.
I don't do that now with desktop PCs. Why would I do that with a tablet?
Only a "fanboy" could take the vast and long term success of the old model and try to call it a failure.
That model was such a "failure" that Apple had to invent something new in order to avoid that model.
This is why you don't see Apple focusing on MacOS. They've given up trying to compete in open systems controlled by the end user.