In "High Pay, Rotten Returns" (April 28 issue), you peg Apple Computer's Steve Jobs' 2002 compensation at $78.1 million, saying "This amount reflects the value of five million restricted shares Jobs got this year in exchange for 27.5 million underwater options." First, of course, this grant was awarded in 2003, so adding it to Jobs' 2002 compensation is inaccurate. Secondly, according to Apple's press release the grant vests in three years, so assigning it any value today is premature -- no one knows what the stock price will be in three years, and in any case Jobs doesn't have the stock today.
Apparently you wanted to get Jobs at the top of the list of "piggy CEOs". Fine. But how many other CEOs on the list draw an annual salary of $1? (Well, apparently Tom Siebel of Siebel Systems -- but he "sold lots of old options," and turned in others, like Jobs did.)
(sources: Apple press release; article in 2003-04-14 MWJ -- a free trial before Monday should get you this issue)
Fortune sent me a reply saying they're going to print this in the next issue.
There is no evidence of any real GPL infringement here. I urge SlashDot readers, especially the kneejerk "GPL good, Apple bad" crowd, to read the conversations at the indicated links and make up their own minds:
1) OpenOSX appears to be distributing source code on their CDs, and now gives credit to fink on the MacGIMP CD web page.
2) Macosx.forked.net has also posted credit to fink on the home page web site, as well as indicating their intention to address GPL issues.
Apparently Pfisterer is irritated in part because they were slow to give fink credit; but as others have pointed out, that's not a GPL violation.
Following the other links he includes in his "resignation letter" suggests that he's quick to get irritated -- especially when people point this out to him (cf. the "abiword" thread). Perhaps there are other things going on in his life, and this isn't a good time for him to lead an open-source project. Fine. Kudos to him for leaving his ball behind instead of taking it with him.
But the article title ("Fink Maintainer Steps Down Due To GPL Infringment") is misleading at best. Even Pfisterer didn't make this claim.
Glad you took this the right way. Apparently the rules on Slashdot are that you have to be pissy in cases like this, especially when Apple is involved. Just trying to fit in.:-)
Did the move go OK? Have you tossed the laptop? Are you getting any?
I've recently picked up Python, and while I have little experience with it I generally like what I see.
I have trouble understanding how people can use words like "inexcusable", "abomination", and "disturbing" when speaking of Python's significant indentation feature. (I'm especially surprised to find this on Slashdot, which is known throughout the galaxy as a paragon of moderation and considered reflection; but anyway.)
To such people I simply ask: "Don't you indent your code to demonstrate your intentions?" If you do, then what's the big deal? Python honors your intentions directly, so you don't have to type braces. If you don't, then Python's probably not the language for you. (I'll resist the urge to suggest Visual Basic, and will simply avoid taking a job where I have to maintain your code.)
The problem which eventually pushed us to Windows95 (ouch) was that we could not easily open other company's documents. PDF has solved that problem for documents and presentations, but spreadsheets and databases effectively remain alien creatures.
Spreadsheets? Really? You mean, you needed to open something other than Excel spreadsheets? Office 98 for MacOS is completely interoperable with Windows (even Office 2000). I'm one of the last Mac holdouts at my company, and I have no trouble sharing Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents.
As for databases, if MacLink Plus won't do it for you, I can't help you -- but databases belong on the server, anyway.
Pretty much anything related to software development. I mean you get a free (high quality) optimizing compiler, debugger, a whole load of libraries, etc.
You can download MPW for free from Apple's web site: debuggers, libraries, and the compilers used to build Mac OS and the ROM, which I guess is high-quality enough for Apple (although Mac OS X does use gcc).
Network servers. I hope I don't need to say any more about that.
Well, you might mention that the first HTTP server outside CERN was written for the Mac, as is the one currently used by the US Army's main web site.
Remote access. I can log into my computer at work from home, and do everything I could do if I was actually sitting in my office!
Me too! Timbuktu (commercial) or VNC (open source).
Mathematical typesetting. Nothing beats TeX and LaTeX when it comes to this. Sure, there's TeX for Macs, but (AFAIK) you have to buy it.
OK, you got me: according to this page, the five versions of TeX available for the Mac are either commercial or shareware (as low as US$30).
I admit that if I was building a system purely for free software development or as a network server, I wouldn't think of the Mac first. However, I don't think these are the kind of "applications" the original author had in mind (except maybe mathematical typesetting).
Slashdot Mirror
It's almost like a cruel mix of coding, texting and writing documentation ...
Where I come from we call that "software engineering".
(sources: Apple press release; article in 2003-04-14 MWJ -- a free trial before Monday should get you this issue)
Fortune sent me a reply saying they're going to print this in the next issue.
Uh, no, the imaging system is called Quartz. Aqua is the name of the UI. The Window Manager uses Quartz to render the Aqua interface.
There is no evidence of any real GPL infringement here. I urge SlashDot readers, especially the kneejerk "GPL good, Apple bad" crowd, to read the conversations at the indicated links and make up their own minds:
1) OpenOSX appears to be distributing source code on their CDs, and now gives credit to fink on the MacGIMP CD web page.
2) Macosx.forked.net has also posted credit to fink on the home page web site, as well as indicating their intention to address GPL issues.
Apparently Pfisterer is irritated in part because they were slow to give fink credit; but as others have pointed out, that's not a GPL violation.
Following the other links he includes in his "resignation letter" suggests that he's quick to get irritated -- especially when people point this out to him (cf. the "abiword" thread). Perhaps there are other things going on in his life, and this isn't a good time for him to lead an open-source project. Fine. Kudos to him for leaving his ball behind instead of taking it with him.
But the article title ("Fink Maintainer Steps Down Due To GPL Infringment") is misleading at best. Even Pfisterer didn't make this claim.
Glad you took this the right way. Apparently the rules on Slashdot are that you have to be pissy in cases like this, especially when Apple is involved. Just trying to fit in. :-)
Did the move go OK? Have you tossed the laptop? Are you getting any?
I've recently picked up Python, and while I have little experience with it I generally like what I see.
I have trouble understanding how people can use words like "inexcusable", "abomination", and "disturbing" when speaking of Python's significant indentation feature. (I'm especially surprised to find this on Slashdot, which is known throughout the galaxy as a paragon of moderation and considered reflection; but anyway.)
To such people I simply ask: "Don't you indent your code to demonstrate your intentions?" If you do, then what's the big deal? Python honors your intentions directly, so you don't have to type braces. If you don't, then Python's probably not the language for you. (I'll resist the urge to suggest Visual Basic, and will simply avoid taking a job where I have to maintain your code.)
Did it ever occur to you to go to the Apple web site? A huge photo, plus a link to a spinning QTVR view.
You're welcome.
As for databases, if MacLink Plus won't do it for you, I can't help you -- but databases belong on the server, anyway.
I admit that if I was building a system purely for free software development or as a network server, I wouldn't think of the Mac first. However, I don't think these are the kind of "applications" the original author had in mind (except maybe mathematical typesetting).