Then again, if they can't use a computer, they could buy a mac, hehe
You're darn tootin'! Thank goodness there exists a computer system that anyone can just walk up and USE! Anyone who thinks you should have to develop some special skill set to use a computer (or any other tool) at a basic level is not getting it.
Just as we need extra powerful tools so that highly skilled power users can perform impressive feats, we also need tools that just plain work for people who have no time to invest in climbing any learning curve. If the Mac is that tool in the computer biz, great!
When I'm at home, guess which machine I go to first: my Mac, or my Sun SPARC? Yup, Mac. Guess which OS I boot on my Mac: MkLinux or MacOS? Yup, MacOS. I have these choices, and I make them.
Consider it: The one thing Jobs does better than anything else is sell the dream. Even if reality is a couple steps behind. What Disney does better than anything else is make the dream seem real. Steve has the vision, Disney has the knowhow. I honestly cannot think of a better CEO for Disney than Steve Jobs.
Now, about those properties: Pixar is trivially obvious. Apart from the fact that Disney uses quite a few Macs, I don't see a compelling case for them owning Apple. Then again, I don't see GM owning EDS, either. I predict that, if this deal actually comes to pass, The Mouse will buy Apple to make Steve happy, then sell it off in a couple of years.
Disclaimer: I own stock in both Disney and Apple. And if Red Hat ever goes public, you can bet I'll buy a piece of them, too.
I'll put my fiscal values toe to toe with any Republican, any day. I believe in Corporate Welfare even less than I do individual. My (Republican) governor is a tax-and-spend conservative. What's yours?
Why would anyone want to move from an open system such as Linux or BSD to a closed system like Apple?
Because most people don't care, at all, if a system is opened or closed. They only want to know: What can it do for me, right now, today?
The only choice you have in the Apple worldview is which of the 5 color boxes you want.
If you know anything at all about Apple, then you know that statement is totally false and nothing but a troll (for which I seem to have fallen).
There aren't even alternative sources for their hardware anymore.
Is Microsoft Windows open? How many alternative hardware sources do they have? See first response.
2nd paragraph: Many errors.
First came the Altos. Then came the Apple I, which you had to build yourself. Then came the Apple II, which you had to program yourself. It had a bus architecture with expansion slots, BTW. Then came the PC, which rocked the corporate world because it was from IBM. Then came the Mac, which rocked science and academia because that's where the smartest people are. Then came the PC clones and MS-DOS, which succeeded for one reason: They were the cheapest way to run the software that was already entrenched! Ease of use or not, openness or not had absolutely nothing to do with it.
Then came Windows 3.0, in which MS annihilated Lotus and WordPerfect with products it ported from the Mac and became the dominant player in applications as well as OS. And the rest is history. There are some unimportant other players I didn't mention because they're unimportant.
Fast forward to 1999. Everyone knows Apple is only a fringe player, despite continuing to set the pace for innovation in the PC market since it started. MS is old news. What's new and exciting? The Internet! The Internet was invented on Unix, which is all that saved that old monolithic kerneled dinosaur from extinction. Well, Linux is pretty cool: a free version of that ancient OS that has a really fanatical following. David v. Goliath... that sells magazines!
Meanwhile, nobody but Unix true believers from the old fart contingent, rebellious teenagers and idealistic original or 2nd wave hippies actually expects Linux to affect MS in the long run any more than a gnat affects an elephant.
More likely is that the Linux/GNU/OSS desktop will become easy enough to use that a whole new class of people start picking up computers.
Not unless it becomes a whole lot easier than the commercial OSes that exist now. Being as easy isn't enough. There has to be a compelling reason not to use the default product. The only way Linux will ever catch on in the mass market without creating a whole new usability paradigm shift is if it develops a critical mass of end user applications.
This point is really important, so I'll repeat it. The one and only factor that makes a PC OS successful or not is having a critical mass of end-user applications. So far, only two OSes have done that: Mac and Windows. The only reason Linux exists at all right now is because it's essentially free. Is this enough of a boost to let it play with the big boys?
It's up to the application programmers to make it happen.
After a brief discussion with my trousers, I find that, indeed, they had considered this angle, whereas I had not. I must conclude that, since my pants are smarter than I, they are indeed smartypants (unless I am myself stupid, a consideration upon which I prefer not to dwell).
Flame on [dons asbestos gloves]: I hate to be a grump, but what you folks are self-congratulatorily calling the "Slashdot Effect" has been known on the Net since well before/. came into existence. Before WWW came into existence, even.
Today's lesson: Just because you though of a cute new name for it doesn't mean you're the first to discover it.
Okay, flame off. I don't blame you folks personally. On the whole, the mainstream press is MUCH WORSE about this than/.'ers. Wonder if that's because they don't even understand what they're reporting?... Hmm, must ponder.
Jon himself says he's a Mac man, and I for one am glad he's onboard. Not everyone reads/. for the same reasons, and a bunch of us like Jon's story. You don't have to read it -- so stop wasting Internet bandwidth downloading articles you don't even like!
The article said 776,000 "branded" NT workstations vs. 599,000 Unix workstations. 1.3M in all. How many new installations of Linux and *BSD happened last year?
As an aside, there's no reason NT can't be used for most of the tasks engineering workstations have been traditionally used for.
There was a sticker on the copy of Adobe PhotoDeluxe that came with my scanner stating that breaking the seal constitutes agreement to abide by the EULA. Where was this document to which I was agreeing? Only on the CD-ROM inside the sealed envelope! It also would not let me install the software without completing the registration form. It gave me the option of printing the reg info on a sheet of paper that I have little inclination to mail in.
The iMac is certainly not the best Apple can do. Check out these concepts for the 20th Anniversary Mac. There could be only one -- and the one they picked is not my favorite of this bunch. But see if any of the other ideas remind you of new producs.
I apologize for misquoting you. I still don't think he deserved a flame, even if it was only on "warm".
Yes, I did the logical thing and made the vendor give me a working product. In each case I spent hours troubleshooting before I was convinced that it was really a HW problem - and which piece was faulty. Repair shops are notoriously unwilling to take my word for what is wrong. They usually first try to blame it on my software.
I'm also not afraid to open boxes up; I trust I can put them back together without making things worse. I don't consider myself an expert, just fearless. Okay, I've made a dual-boot MacOS/Linux system that required counting up HD cylinders; maybe I am an expert.
My point is, many people lack that basic cavalier attitude regarding electronics. I don't hold that against them; I don't do cars - or MS-DOS.
That's me. I had time on my side, and I have confidence in my expertise. I can't say what I would have done if I were working under a deadline. In Jon's case, unless I were planning to use Linux long-term, I'd probably have leased the machine for a month.
To Mr. "You have trouble with Macs, you must be a moron": I've had Macs arrive HDOA (Half-Dead On Arrival) before. I had an LCII whose HD was terminally frotzed, and my 7200's serial ports were toast out of the box. Hey, it happens.
Equal time: My PC's first NEC monitor died in under 3 weeks, too.
My own bandwith-wasting two cents: $0.01. My linux box was both cheap and easy: a new internal HD for my Power Mac 7200. It flawlessly dual-boots MacOS and MkLinux. Let me tell ya, having a working OS from which to kick off the Linux install beats the tar;-) out of starting from a naked HD. $0.02. I have installed various flavors of Unix about 6 times on 3 different architectures. I have installed Windows NT dozens of times on 4 different flavors of Intel. No way is Windows NT more difficult to install than Unix. Maybe equally so, if your Unix install set and instructions are really good. MkLinux was worse than NT when it came to partitioning the disk, but good once the automated part started. NetBSD 1.2 was bloody awful. I've never done Windows 95.
I never used Word6 for Mac, but I heard it was like waiting for paint to dry. I heard stories like 3 to 6 minutes just to start up. Word 97 in VirtualPC ran as fast as Word 6 native. Word 98 is much faster than that, although still not as fast as Word 97 on Pentium or Word 5.1a running emulated.:-P
Don't belittle net addiction
on
Net Addiction
·
· Score: 1
I've been there. I was a 'net addict when many of you were in elementary school. And high school... I know what it's like to blow an entire week (or month) and get absolutely nothing done except participate in 'net "discussions" (let's not say flame wars, shall we?). Net addiction is very real, and it has real consequences on peoples' productivity. Just like/. is doing to me now... Hmm, perhaps I go get some work done. Discuss amongst yourselves, kids.
This article is dead-on. Your fast, cheap box will give you satisfaction for the 6 months that it is the fastest thing around, when it's running. I enjoy my 20th Anniversary Mac every time I look at it, even when it's off. And will for years to come. I could have bought a faster G3 or PII-400 for less, but why? The TA has all the speed I need, and let's face it: On the coolness scale, this one goes up to 11.
Slashdot Mirror
Then again, if they can't use a computer,
they could buy a mac, hehe
You're darn tootin'! Thank goodness there exists a computer system that anyone can just walk up and USE! Anyone who thinks you should have to develop some special skill set to use a computer (or any other tool) at a basic level is not getting it.
Just as we need extra powerful tools so that highly skilled power users can perform impressive feats, we also need tools that just plain work for people who have no time to invest in climbing any learning curve. If the Mac is that tool in the computer biz, great!
When I'm at home, guess which machine I go to first: my Mac, or my Sun SPARC? Yup, Mac. Guess which OS I boot on my Mac: MkLinux or MacOS? Yup, MacOS. I have these choices, and I make them.
Now, about those properties: Pixar is trivially obvious. Apart from the fact that Disney uses quite a few Macs, I don't see a compelling case for them owning Apple. Then again, I don't see GM owning EDS, either. I predict that, if this deal actually comes to pass, The Mouse will buy Apple to make Steve happy, then sell it off in a couple of years.
Disclaimer: I own stock in both Disney and Apple. And if Red Hat ever goes public, you can bet I'll buy a piece of them, too.
Dell you should have bought in 95.
I'll put my fiscal values toe to toe with any Republican, any day. I believe in Corporate Welfare even less than I do individual. My (Republican) governor is a tax-and-spend conservative. What's yours?
I read somewhere that the Playstation already uses a stripped down Unix as its base OS.
Why would anyone want to move from an open system such as Linux or BSD to a closed system like Apple?
Because most people don't care, at all, if a system is opened or closed. They only want to know: What can it do for me, right now, today?
The only choice you have in the Apple worldview is which of the 5 color boxes you want.
If you know anything at all about Apple, then you know that statement is totally false and nothing but a troll (for which I seem to have fallen).
There aren't even alternative sources for their hardware anymore.
Is Microsoft Windows open? How many alternative hardware sources do they have? See first response.
2nd paragraph: Many errors.
First came the Altos. Then came the Apple I, which you had to build yourself. Then came the Apple II, which you had to program yourself. It had a bus architecture with expansion slots, BTW. Then came the PC, which rocked the corporate world because it was from IBM. Then came the Mac, which rocked science and academia because that's where the smartest people are. Then came the PC clones and MS-DOS, which succeeded for one reason: They were the cheapest way to run the software that was already entrenched! Ease of use or not, openness or not had absolutely nothing to do with it.
Then came Windows 3.0, in which MS annihilated Lotus and WordPerfect with products it ported from the Mac and became the dominant player in applications as well as OS. And the rest is history. There are some unimportant other players I didn't mention because they're unimportant.
Fast forward to 1999. Everyone knows Apple is only a fringe player, despite continuing to set the pace for innovation in the PC market since it started. MS is old news. What's new and exciting? The Internet! The Internet was invented on Unix, which is all that saved that old monolithic kerneled dinosaur from extinction. Well, Linux is pretty cool: a free version of that ancient OS that has a really fanatical following. David v. Goliath... that sells magazines!
Meanwhile, nobody but Unix true believers from the old fart contingent, rebellious teenagers and idealistic original or 2nd wave hippies actually expects Linux to affect MS in the long run any more than a gnat affects an elephant.
More likely is that the Linux/GNU/OSS desktop will become easy enough to use that a whole new class of people start picking up computers.
Not unless it becomes a whole lot easier than the commercial OSes that exist now. Being as easy isn't enough. There has to be a compelling reason not to use the default product. The only way Linux will ever catch on in the mass market without creating a whole new usability paradigm shift is if it develops a critical mass of end user applications.
This point is really important, so I'll repeat it. The one and only factor that makes a PC OS successful or not is having a critical mass of end-user applications. So far, only two OSes have done that: Mac and Windows. The only reason Linux exists at all right now is because it's essentially free. Is this enough of a boost to let it play with the big boys?
It's up to the application programmers to make it happen.
After a brief discussion with my trousers, I find that, indeed, they had considered this angle, whereas I had not. I must conclude that, since my pants are smarter than I, they are indeed smartypants (unless I am myself stupid, a consideration upon which I prefer not to dwell).
Flame on [dons asbestos gloves]: I hate to be a grump, but what you folks are self-congratulatorily calling the "Slashdot Effect" has been known on the Net since well before /. came into existence. Before WWW came into existence, even.
/.'ers. Wonder if that's because they don't even understand what they're reporting? ... Hmm, must ponder.
Today's lesson: Just because you though of a cute new name for it doesn't mean you're the first to discover it.
Okay, flame off. I don't blame you folks personally. On the whole, the mainstream press is MUCH WORSE about this than
Jon himself says he's a Mac man, and I for one am glad he's onboard. Not everyone reads /. for the same reasons, and a bunch of us like Jon's story. You don't have to read it -- so stop wasting Internet bandwidth downloading articles you don't even like!
The article said 776,000 "branded" NT workstations vs. 599,000 Unix workstations. 1.3M in all. How many new installations of Linux and *BSD happened last year?
As an aside, there's no reason NT can't be used for most of the tasks engineering workstations have been traditionally used for.
There was a sticker on the copy of Adobe PhotoDeluxe that came with my scanner stating that breaking the seal constitutes agreement to abide by the EULA. Where was this document to which I was agreeing? Only on the CD-ROM inside the sealed envelope! It also would not let me install the software without completing the registration form. It gave me the option of printing the reg info on a sheet of paper that I have little inclination to mail in.
How much of a tax do we pay to Intel for PCI? AGP? Slot-1? Does anyone know?
The iMac is certainly not the best Apple can do. Check out these concepts for the 20th Anniversary Mac. There could be only one -- and the one they picked is not my favorite of this bunch. But see if any of the other ideas remind you of new producs.
I apologize for misquoting you. I still don't think he deserved a flame, even if it was only on "warm".
Yes, I did the logical thing and made the vendor give me a working product. In each case I spent hours troubleshooting before I was convinced that it was really a HW problem - and which piece was faulty. Repair shops are notoriously unwilling to take my word for what is wrong. They usually first try to blame it on my software.
I'm also not afraid to open boxes up; I trust I can put them back together without making things worse. I don't consider myself an expert, just fearless. Okay, I've made a dual-boot MacOS/Linux system that required counting up HD cylinders; maybe I am an expert.
My point is, many people lack that basic cavalier attitude regarding electronics. I don't hold that against them; I don't do cars - or MS-DOS.
That's me. I had time on my side, and I have confidence in my expertise. I can't say what I would have done if I were working under a deadline. In Jon's case, unless I were planning to use Linux long-term, I'd probably have leased the machine for a month.
Like I said.
To Mr. "You have trouble with Macs, you must be a moron": I've had Macs arrive HDOA (Half-Dead On Arrival) before. I had an LCII whose HD was terminally frotzed, and my 7200's serial ports were toast out of the box. Hey, it happens.
Equal time: My PC's first NEC monitor died in under 3 weeks, too.
My own bandwith-wasting two cents: ;-) out of starting from a naked HD.
$0.01. My linux box was both cheap and easy: a new internal HD for my Power Mac 7200. It flawlessly dual-boots MacOS and MkLinux. Let me tell ya, having a working OS from which to kick off the Linux install beats the tar
$0.02. I have installed various flavors of Unix about 6 times on 3 different architectures. I have installed Windows NT dozens of times on 4 different flavors of Intel. No way is Windows NT more difficult to install than Unix. Maybe equally so, if your Unix install set and instructions are really good. MkLinux was worse than NT when it came to partitioning the disk, but good once the automated part started. NetBSD 1.2 was bloody awful. I've never done Windows 95.
I never used Word6 for Mac, but I heard it was like waiting for paint to dry. I heard stories like 3 to 6 minutes just to start up. Word 97 in VirtualPC ran as fast as Word 6 native. Word 98 is much faster than that, although still not as fast as Word 97 on Pentium or Word 5.1a running emulated. :-P
I've been there. I was a 'net addict when many of you were in elementary school. And high school... I know what it's like to blow an entire week (or month) and get absolutely nothing done except participate in 'net "discussions" (let's not say flame wars, shall we?). Net addiction is very real, and it has real consequences on peoples' productivity. Just like /. is doing to me now... Hmm, perhaps I go get some work done. Discuss amongst yourselves, kids.
This article is dead-on. Your fast, cheap box will give you satisfaction for the 6 months that it is the fastest thing around, when it's running. I enjoy my 20th Anniversary Mac every time I look at it, even when it's off. And will for years to come. I could have bought a faster G3 or PII-400 for less, but why? The TA has all the speed I need, and let's face it: On the coolness scale, this one goes up to 11.