Unfortunately the problem is that Firefox installs itself in the Program Files directory by default, while Chrome installs itself in the user profile directory, which is not going to be easily fixed for existing installations.
It also certainly don't help that reading bills which are basically diffs and manually matching it against a copy of the law don't help (as one who read a bill once). I read a suggestion to use a version control system for the law, with it's machine-readable diffs, which would make the job much easier.
And, the 3.5" floppy (the Apple Mac had already gone that way, but you could argue that they used a different, variable speed format).
Actually, 720K 3.5" floppies appeared in IBM PC compatibles in 1986, including IBM's own IBM PC Convertible. PS/2 introduced the current 1.44 MB floppy we all used today. Trivia: The IBM PC/AT 339 (released in 1986) BIOS had support for 1.44 MB floppies. IBM's own utility for configuring the CMOS (before that was built-in into the BIOS itself) did not expose it, but third-party ones like GSETUP did.
So far, the "more closed" PS/2 is looking more influential (in terms of features that even turn up in modern non-PC systems) than the "open" (on paper) original PC.
Yea, I have thought for a while that the IBM PS/2 model 30-286 (ISA-based, not MCA-based) is closer to the modern PC actually than the IBM PC/AT.
Irrelevant to Apple yes, but doesn't change the fact that it still exists in the hardware. In fact Apple has an BIOS compatiblity layer in the EFI firmware that provide software compatibility with the IBM PC/AT BIOS.
Sorry, I forgot to mention EFI. Yes Apple was one of the first popular systems to use EFI. It is becoming more common with other systems recently, particularly with the recent release of Sandy Bridge. Most EFI implementations has BIOS compatibility modules to boot old non-EFI OSes.
Yea, Boot Camp initially shipped with firmware updates which added BIOS compatiblity to the EFI firmware. Since then, all later Macs has BIOS compatibility built-in.
Yea, FYI while the MCA indeed failed, eventually not only the VGA, keyboard/mouse, etc. but also a number of smaller things like the 16550 UART etc. from the PS/2 became standard in modern PC systems.
They then used their industry muscle to take over the corporate microcomputing market (and extinguish the previous CP/M practice of designing software to be easily patched to run on diverse systems)
Yea, that direct hardware access made multitasking DOS apps hard and running most DOS apps in 80286's protected mode almost impossible, seriously hurting Intel, Microsoft, and Digital Research (who already had MP/M that multitasked CP/M apps on the 8080).
And BTW, when the article is talking about Ed Roberts, they were referring to designer of the Altair, whose bus became a de facto standard that was later called the "S-100" bus. Now the fact that it was a de-facto standard caused many issues. People who worked with it spent a lot of time debugging the interactions.
No, Apple uses chips based on the modern x86-32 and x86-64 architectures.
And they are almost always used with chipsets that are hardware compatible with the IBM PC/AT, and has been for a long time. Apple would be no exceptions.
It is not software patents itself that is a bad idea, it is that math (or anything else) is patentable just because it is executed on a computer that is a bad idea, which do cover many software patents.
Other clones copying the IBM PC helped a lot too, to the the point that almost all x86 processors are paired with a chipset that is software-compatible with the core hardware the IBM PC had and a IBM PC compatible BIOS, the result being often called the "PC". Even Apple have switched to x86 and use the same chipsets as "PCs", one of the reasons why IMO the "PC" vs "Mac" comparison is nonsense nowadays.
Yea, I know! Friedman, Welch, the "corporate raiders" etc. certainly don't help, and the worst thing is that it created a gen of MBAs who were taught the horrible stuff.
Yea, it exposed the 16-bit code that was still in Win9x despite being hyped as a 32-bit OS. Later this also delayed Transmeta's first processor by a year or so too.
Slashdot Mirror
Yea, this comment led me to think about the issues:
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2685975
Yep, "legacy" PR based on controlling the message is fundamentally flawed and cause many problems too.
You mean Milton Friedman?
Yea, likely a cover-up culture, another common problem.
Unfortunately the problem is that Firefox installs itself in the Program Files directory by default, while Chrome installs itself in the user profile directory, which is not going to be easily fixed for existing installations.
Of course, I'd fix the campaign donation problem first, but...
It also certainly don't help that reading bills which are basically diffs and manually matching it against a copy of the law don't help (as one who read a bill once). I read a suggestion to use a version control system for the law, with it's machine-readable diffs, which would make the job much easier.
http://www.vanshardware.com/articles/2001/august/010814_Intel_SysMark/010814_Intel_SysMark.htm
http://www.vanshardware.com/reviews/2002/08/020821_AthlonXP2600/020821_AthlonXP2600.htm
http://www.vanshardware.com/reviews/2002/08/020822_AthlonXP2600/020822_AthlonXP2600.htm
http://www.vanshardware.com/reviews/2002/08/020822_AthlonXP2600/SYSmark%202002%20Analysis%20Presentation%20FINAL.pdf
Yea, there was an old Slashdot article about it.
And, the 3.5" floppy (the Apple Mac had already gone that way, but you could argue that they used a different, variable speed format).
Actually, 720K 3.5" floppies appeared in IBM PC compatibles in 1986, including IBM's own IBM PC Convertible. PS/2 introduced the current 1.44 MB floppy we all used today. Trivia: The IBM PC/AT 339 (released in 1986) BIOS had support for 1.44 MB floppies. IBM's own utility for configuring the CMOS (before that was built-in into the BIOS itself) did not expose it, but third-party ones like GSETUP did.
So far, the "more closed" PS/2 is looking more influential (in terms of features that even turn up in modern non-PC systems) than the "open" (on paper) original PC.
Yea, I have thought for a while that the IBM PS/2 model 30-286 (ISA-based, not MCA-based) is closer to the modern PC actually than the IBM PC/AT.
Irrelevant to Apple yes, but doesn't change the fact that it still exists in the hardware. In fact Apple has an BIOS compatiblity layer in the EFI firmware that provide software compatibility with the IBM PC/AT BIOS.
And I forgot to mention caused the Intel 80186 to ultimately fail.
Sorry, I forgot to mention EFI. Yes Apple was one of the first popular systems to use EFI. It is becoming more common with other systems recently, particularly with the recent release of Sandy Bridge. Most EFI implementations has BIOS compatibility modules to boot old non-EFI OSes.
Yea, Boot Camp initially shipped with firmware updates which added BIOS compatiblity to the EFI firmware. Since then, all later Macs has BIOS compatibility built-in.
Yea, FYI while the MCA indeed failed, eventually not only the VGA, keyboard/mouse, etc. but also a number of smaller things like the 16550 UART etc. from the PS/2 became standard in modern PC systems.
They then used their industry muscle to take over the corporate microcomputing market (and extinguish the previous CP/M practice of designing software to be easily patched to run on diverse systems)
Yea, that direct hardware access made multitasking DOS apps hard and running most DOS apps in 80286's protected mode almost impossible, seriously hurting Intel, Microsoft, and Digital Research (who already had MP/M that multitasked CP/M apps on the 8080).
And BTW, when the article is talking about Ed Roberts, they were referring to designer of the Altair, whose bus became a de facto standard that was later called the "S-100" bus. Now the fact that it was a de-facto standard caused many issues. People who worked with it spent a lot of time debugging the interactions.
No, Apple uses chips based on the modern x86-32 and x86-64 architectures.
And they are almost always used with chipsets that are hardware compatible with the IBM PC/AT, and has been for a long time. Apple would be no exceptions.
CP/M was pretty open too.
That would be an argument for an independent invention defense.
It is not software patents itself that is a bad idea, it is that math (or anything else) is patentable just because it is executed on a computer that is a bad idea, which do cover many software patents.
various CP/M machines
Some of which used the S-100 bus invented by Altair.
Other clones copying the IBM PC helped a lot too, to the the point that almost all x86 processors are paired with a chipset that is software-compatible with the core hardware the IBM PC had and a IBM PC compatible BIOS, the result being often called the "PC". Even Apple have switched to x86 and use the same chipsets as "PCs", one of the reasons why IMO the "PC" vs "Mac" comparison is nonsense nowadays.
Yea, I know! Friedman, Welch, the "corporate raiders" etc. certainly don't help, and the worst thing is that it created a gen of MBAs who were taught the horrible stuff.
Yea, I know. At least Leo is finally trying to fix this mess.
Yea, it exposed the 16-bit code that was still in Win9x despite being hyped as a 32-bit OS. Later this also delayed Transmeta's first processor by a year or so too.