If NASA were a private enterprise I'd suspect a management shakeup.
There is a "management shakeup" occurring right now. Daniel Goldin, the longtime administrator of NASA, has retired (see what he's up to and his new computers at the L.A. Times Celebrity Setup).
It's much easier to get grants for stuff (laptops, textbooks, etc.) than it is to get a grant to pay people raw dollars. That's why you never see anybody getting pay raises.
Laptops are mobile, desktops are not. Need the computers down the hall in Ms. Smith's classroom in the morning? No problem, pack them into a cart, off you go. Need them in Mr. Clark's classroom during the afternoon? No problem, pack them into a cart, off you go.
Laptops will allow more kids to use the computers.
Before you think of "That's what the computer lab is for!"... as somebody else mentioned, there is often times no space for computer labs. Classrooms are packed full and no over-populated school is going to set aside a perfectly good general classroom just to put in a computer lab.
The ADB port was also available on the Apple IIgs. I remember plugging in my IIgs' keyboard into my Mac IIci because I liked the smaller size of the IIgs' keyboard.
Wasn't hypercard the popular freebie utility included with Macs back in the late 80's? Was the name later reused for a hardware device?
HyperCard was/is more than a "utility." It was a full-blown programming environment. Call it the BASIC of it's time, but so much more... GUI, object-oriented of sorts, easy syntax, and free.
I've never heard of a video board called HyperCard.
You knew this story was going to get posted. It has all of the hallmarks of an automatic post: big, bad public company that doesn't do GPL very well (+2 for Apple, +5 for MS) sues (+1) GPL group (+1) over patent (+5). Ding! Ding! Ding! Automatic post...
The referenced article doesn't contain a history of PayPal exactly. There was a brief history in a recent BusinessWeek article (sorry, past archives are fee-based and it was from a few weeks ago).
To paraphrase the article...
PayPal was developed by Confinity with backing by Nokia. It was intended for use with making payments on mobile phones. That didn't pan out, so Confinity sold out to X.com in March 2000. X.com was doing other stuff besides PayPal, but that didn't pan out either. X.com changed their name to PayPal, shut down their other stuff, and here we are today.
Such a game and crossover already exists in Decisive Action. The game is used by the Army's Command and General Staff College. It was developed there first and was then published for the retail market. It's serious wargaming so don't expect flashy graphics.
It's reviewed in further detail in the November 2001 issue of PC Gamer. Sorry, no online copy. Like I said, it's a serious wargame so they didn't put up an online copy of the review.
The NY Times article on not being able to copy MP3s is incorrect as refuted by Apple's iPod FAQ (sorry, PDF) on. See Page 3, the second and third questions.
I was at a local computer store and overheard this tidbit a couple of days ago while two guys looked over an iBook with MacOS X loaded: "Check this out, they already have Windows XP installed."
Nothing like the Microsoft domination when a released non-Microsoft OS on an obvious non-Intel machine is mistaken for an unreleased (at that time) Microsoft OS.
Unfortunately, they walked away before I could straighten them out.
As a non-Quake player (I suffer from the Quake vertigo syndrome, so I can't play): Is dropping quality really going to make a difference in the real-world when you're playing Quake?
From the games of Quake that I've seen, most of the time you're running around an incredible speeds so you wouldn't even notice that a texture was low quality or not. Do mainstream Quake players even play with high-quality settings?
I hate following up to my own post, but I'm busy reminiscing...
SCSI Ethernet adapters (those Farallon EN/SC units and the Micro EN/SC)
SCSI video mirroring
Apple's square SCSI connector
SCSI docking! Now that was neat and ahead of it's time.
The external floppy drive on the PowerBook 100 with another smaller square connector
Those damn doors on the early PowerBooks that kept breaking off and a third-part company that made a special door with a hole it in so you can reach the power button on the 149/170 models without opening the door
Using a cut off pushpin to fix said doors after breaking your second one
I think my boss was right, we should have kept the PowerBook 100 and 170 we recently sold off. Maybe our salvage group hasn't sold them yet and I can get them back...
My first Mac at work was one of those PowerBook 100s. 8MB of RAM (huge at that time) and a 20MB hard drive. Tiny little black and white screen, sub-notebook size. The only thing that drove me nuts about it was that the trackball was get dirty and stick after awhile. That was back in 1992/1993 or so. Funny thing is that we recently sold off that PowerBook 100 and the thing was still working just fine.
Ah, the floppy drive argument. So when was the last time you needed a floppy disk that wasn't for an emergency boot? File storage? Zip disks are better. Or even CD-RW (you can get those with iMacs). Emergency boot? The Macs have booted from CDs for years now.
As for the GeForce 2, if you wanted a gaming machine, then the iMac wouldn't be your first choice anyways. Just like you wouldn't necessarily get a Celeron (unless you overclocked it). You'd pick up an Athlon instead, so you'd get a G4 unit where you get a GeForce 2 MX by default or you can upgrade to a GeForce 3.
Extra RAM? All Macs have easily accessible RAM slots. Stuff any vendor's RAM into the unit. Third party RAM is always cheaper than OEM RAM.
Lots of CPU but little RAM? Not a problem, dual 800Mhz units and you can configure it to have 128 MB of RAM.
You really need to check out Apple's online store. You can configure a Mac with options. Yes, the list isn't as long as your laundry list of PC items, but do your grandparents really need or even care about having the latest overclocked GeForce 3 Ti graphics card? I seriously doubt it. They want a computer that runs out of the box and ready to go. The Macintosh line does exactly that. The iMac sets up in less than 15 minutes (hardware and software) with three cords: power, keyboard (mouse chained into the keyboard), modem/Ethernet line.
As I stated earlier most people don't want or need all the extra features that Apple won't allow you to strip off. Until Apple opens their hardware offerings and making their machines much more configurable they are and most likely will remain be a niche player.
Most people? I think you mean "most Linux people who want absolutely nothing." The average user (i.e., your grandparents) want the stuff that comes with the average Mac or PC. Let's take a look at Apple's low-end iMac:
500MHz PowerPC G3
256K L2 cache @ 500 MHz
64MB SDRAM
20GB Ultra ATA drive
CD-ROM Drive
RAGE 128 Ultra w/16MB
10/100BASE-T Ethernet
56K fax modem
15-inch display (13.8-inch VIS)
2 USB & 2 FireWire ports
Nothing unreasable there? Sure you could strip out the Ethernet port or the Fireware ports ("I don't use Firewire on my PC" you say, well, you can on the Mac and it's onboard.)
Software?
The iMac comes with:
Mac OS (well, you have to have that because "most people" will not run Linux. Sorry, that's just reality. Your grandparents are not going to run Linux. Loading them up and forcing them to run Linux doesn't count. They aren't going to come to you and say "Sonny boy, I want a computer that runs Linux.")
iTunes (it's an MP3/CD player, probably the best on the Mac, what's wrong with that? Free to download, too.)
iMovie 2 (hey, use for those Firewire ports)
AppleWorks 6 (it's not Microsoft Office, even better, right?)
Palm Desktop (free, costs you nothing)
FAXstf (again, the only real descent fax software for the Mac)
Bugdom (it's a game, sure you can toss that)
Nanosaur (another game, wheee...)
Cro-Mag Rally (and another...)
Quicken Deluxe 2001 (the most popular/best financial package out there, bundling this is bad?)
Netscape Communicator (free!)
Microsoft Outlook Express (free!)
Microsoft Internet Explorer (free!)
30 days of free Internet service through EarthLink (free!)
So let's review here. You can toss out a whole 8 software packages, of which only one will the average user really use (Quicken). You're complaining that you can't strip off AppleWorks, three crappy games, fax software, and iMovie 2?
Login: brennan Name: Brennan Underwood
Directory:/home/brennan Shell:/usr/local/bin/tcsh
Mail last read Sun Oct 14 21:35 2001 (PDT)
Project: blah blah Winamp3 blah blah
Plan:
14-Oct-2001 [Addendum 9:30 pm pst]
Having read yet more comments, I think you guys are totally missing something:
Our open-fucking-source SDK. It's 1.5 megabytes of C++ code, zlib-type
licensed, mostly debugged, pretty portable, and happens to comprise about 90%
of the *exact same code* we use to build Winamp3 itself.
Slashdot Mirror
As for banners, I would imagine they would get drowned out when you're looking at the real content... uhhh... ad.
There is a "management shakeup" occurring right now. Daniel Goldin, the longtime administrator of NASA, has retired (see what he's up to and his new computers at the L.A. Times Celebrity Setup).
Dr. Daniel Mulville is the current Acting Administrator while Sean O'Keefe is waiting for confirmation.
iCab is another excellent browser. I find it much faster rendering web pages than OmniWeb 4 (though I haven't tried the latest "sneakypeak").
If this tree falls down with nobody around, does the 'Net notice?
It's much easier to get grants for stuff (laptops, textbooks, etc.) than it is to get a grant to pay people raw dollars. That's why you never see anybody getting pay raises.
Laptops will allow more kids to use the computers.
Before you think of "That's what the computer lab is for!"... as somebody else mentioned, there is often times no space for computer labs. Classrooms are packed full and no over-populated school is going to set aside a perfectly good general classroom just to put in a computer lab.
The ADB port was also available on the Apple IIgs. I remember plugging in my IIgs' keyboard into my Mac IIci because I liked the smaller size of the IIgs' keyboard.
HyperCard was/is more than a "utility." It was a full-blown programming environment. Call it the BASIC of it's time, but so much more... GUI, object-oriented of sorts, easy syntax, and free.
I've never heard of a video board called HyperCard.
"Everybody switch to the open-source [product]. It's better because it's free and there are no security problems with it!"
And, yes, as you can guess from the name of it, it's Open Source.
The only thing missing is the Linux reference.
To paraphrase the article...
PayPal was developed by Confinity with backing by Nokia. It was intended for use with making payments on mobile phones. That didn't pan out, so Confinity sold out to X.com in March 2000. X.com was doing other stuff besides PayPal, but that didn't pan out either. X.com changed their name to PayPal, shut down their other stuff, and here we are today.
Pathways Into Darkness was their second game. It's all on Bungie's history page.
I looked harder (aka, I stuffed it into Google) and found a review of Decisive Action at GamesDomain.
It's reviewed in further detail in the November 2001 issue of PC Gamer. Sorry, no online copy. Like I said, it's a serious wargame so they didn't put up an online copy of the review.
Also see the Oct. 25 entries on the Mac Resource Page.
Nothing like the Microsoft domination when a released non-Microsoft OS on an obvious non-Intel machine is mistaken for an unreleased (at that time) Microsoft OS.
Unfortunately, they walked away before I could straighten them out.
From the games of Quake that I've seen, most of the time you're running around an incredible speeds so you wouldn't even notice that a texture was low quality or not. Do mainstream Quake players even play with high-quality settings?
I think my boss was right, we should have kept the PowerBook 100 and 170 we recently sold off. Maybe our salvage group hasn't sold them yet and I can get them back...
My first Mac at work was one of those PowerBook 100s. 8MB of RAM (huge at that time) and a 20MB hard drive. Tiny little black and white screen, sub-notebook size. The only thing that drove me nuts about it was that the trackball was get dirty and stick after awhile. That was back in 1992/1993 or so. Funny thing is that we recently sold off that PowerBook 100 and the thing was still working just fine.
So if Microsoft launches Tomahawks at virus writers/terrorists, does it hit on the third try?
As for the GeForce 2, if you wanted a gaming machine, then the iMac wouldn't be your first choice anyways. Just like you wouldn't necessarily get a Celeron (unless you overclocked it). You'd pick up an Athlon instead, so you'd get a G4 unit where you get a GeForce 2 MX by default or you can upgrade to a GeForce 3.
Extra RAM? All Macs have easily accessible RAM slots. Stuff any vendor's RAM into the unit. Third party RAM is always cheaper than OEM RAM.
Lots of CPU but little RAM? Not a problem, dual 800Mhz units and you can configure it to have 128 MB of RAM.
You really need to check out Apple's online store. You can configure a Mac with options. Yes, the list isn't as long as your laundry list of PC items, but do your grandparents really need or even care about having the latest overclocked GeForce 3 Ti graphics card? I seriously doubt it. They want a computer that runs out of the box and ready to go. The Macintosh line does exactly that. The iMac sets up in less than 15 minutes (hardware and software) with three cords: power, keyboard (mouse chained into the keyboard), modem/Ethernet line.
No, it would be 19.9 million bytes worth of "First Post!" or stupid stuff like that.
Most people? I think you mean "most Linux people who want absolutely nothing." The average user (i.e., your grandparents) want the stuff that comes with the average Mac or PC. Let's take a look at Apple's low-end iMac:
Nothing unreasable there? Sure you could strip out the Ethernet port or the Fireware ports ("I don't use Firewire on my PC" you say, well, you can on the Mac and it's onboard.)
Software? The iMac comes with:
So let's review here. You can toss out a whole 8 software packages, of which only one will the average user really use (Quicken). You're complaining that you can't strip off AppleWorks, three crappy games, fax software, and iMovie 2?
He updated again...
/home/brennan Shell: /usr/local/bin/tcsh
Login: brennan Name: Brennan Underwood
Directory:
Mail last read Sun Oct 14 21:35 2001 (PDT)
Project: blah blah Winamp3 blah blah
Plan:
14-Oct-2001 [Addendum 9:30 pm pst]
Having read yet more comments, I think you guys are totally missing something:
Our open-fucking-source SDK. It's 1.5 megabytes of C++ code, zlib-type
licensed, mostly debugged, pretty portable, and happens to comprise about 90%
of the *exact same code* we use to build Winamp3 itself.
Do you see the point now?
Do I have to fucking spell it out for you?