>>>In the 90's, all OS sucked. Networking and the internet made them look old. Mac OS still sucked less...
Man do I disagree with that statement. The best operating system was Amiga OS, since it was the only one that could do preemptive tasking, enabling people to run multiple programs at the same time (but without bringing down the whole system if one crashed). Mac OS was a close second. GEOS on C=64 a close third.
And then came Windows which sucked worse than DOS or CLI.
As for processors, well I honestly saw no difference between a 68050 and the then-new PowerPC. In fact I found the PPC machines often ran slower (sluggish response to the user), and I was left unimpressed.
>>>Remember that the Mac shipped with only 128k at first.
That doesn't sound so bad. The first Amiga only had 256k and multitasked programs just fine. Mac only had to run one program at a time, so only needed half the space (IMHO). Also I think you're misremembering how much RAM computers came with. RAM was not exactly cheap back then - I spent $90 for a 512k upgrade in 1989. That was considered a bargain.
1979 - Atari had 48k 1980 - AppleII+ had 48k 1982 - C=64 has 64k 1983 - Apple IIe had 64k 1984 - Apple IIc had 128k (same as Thin Mac released same year) 1984 - Fat Mac with 512k 1985 - C=128 had 128k 1985 - Commodore Amiga had 256k
The Fat Mac with 512k was actually an aberration compared to all the other computers of the time. Also probably why it cost 4-5 times as much.
>>>Since there were few color printers available in the 80's, it was common knowledge that Jobs felt that color display violated his WYSIWYG philosophy.
Bad philosophy considering many of us were printing color documents using computers like Atari or Amiga or Commodore. The inability to do color on 80s Macs made them look inferior.
>>>Kinda sad the Apple IIgs had a Mac style GUI in color before the Mac did.
Kinda sad the lowly 8 bit Commodore had a color GUI before the 32-bit Mac did. The GEOS was black-and-white by default, but could be customized to any 16 color combo.
1985 - Atari ST / Commodore Amiga released with 32 and 4000 colors 1986 - C64 got GUI 1986 - Apple IIgs had 16 color GUI and an improved 6502 with 16 bits (65816)
I didn't see my first color Mac until my school installed a 68040 Quadra. 1994. Prior to that all I ever saw were the single piece Macs with tiny screens. It made me yearn for my hi-res Amiga, but that was not allowed by the professors.
I don't customize anything. I just use the default of whatever's given to me (except Windows, when I switch to the classic style because it's faster).
On my Amiga 500 it still has that garish blue-orange look, overlaid with a File Manager that has all the CLI commands down the center and you just click them to issue the command (example copy df0:resume ram:resume). I often don't load Commodore's Workbench at all.
How is the cellular market not competitive? Just like the wired phone service lets you choose your long-distance and local provider, so too do cellular service let you choose from many companies. I've got Virgin. You might have Sprint. My iPhone friend has ATT I think. Then there's Cricket and Clear and Boost and Verizon and Cingular and.....
Would you rather have your OS X or iTunes look like this? While these colors make the Amiga desktop stand out from the black-and-white Mac or C64 GEOS of the day, it's also extremely garish:
>>>"I don't watch TV and therefore am better than you"
Say what? I never said that. In fact I have my TV turned-on 16 hours a day (minus work hours) watching various movies or international news captured by my antenna
>>>The anger and fear that corporations will take over is silly.
You've just not read enough. Like the 1970s manslaughter committed by Ford (using Pinto cars), or the blatant poisoning of water by various chemical corporations over the years. While they are not as dangerous as government (which sucks money direct from your wallet) (or drafts you to die in Nam), megacorps are still a danger to individual consumers and workers, and must be watched just like any other predator that is more powerful than you are.
>>>Rest assured, the majority of Americans are either going to work, or looking for work, and don't have time for panicking or freaking out like a few celeb's and their dominions. Most Americans just want a decent job and time with the family. Throw in reasonable taxes and gas prices, most everyone is happy. The freakshow on TV is a very small minority. >>>
False. Recent polls show over 60% of Americans disapprove of Obama's accomplishments.
That's as high as the disapproval was for Bush. To claim the average american is just fine-and-dandy-and-happy, is simply not true.
Right. Because the last 100 years of history show that government can be trusted. Oh wait. No it doesn't! It shows the various governments around the world have killed over 150 million of its own citizens.
Perhaps some fears ARE valid. Just as it's valid to fear falling off the top of a skyscraper, or getting killed by a car while crossing the interstate (just last week that happened in Baltimore). "Fear of government" should be considered a valid survival instinct just like any other.
Our US Founders certainly feared their government, which is why they insisted upon a written constitution that would grant a FEW specific powers, and reserve all the rest to the Individual.
>>>make controversy, strife, and division (even where there would be none otherwise)
Like when MSNBC did a 15 minute story about a "white gun-toting man" who is "probably racist" and "fearful of a black president"? They were later caught doctoring the video. (The gun man was Black and definitely not racist.) Is that the kind of manufacturing you're talking about? .
>>>Why do I want to read results of a search that doesn't even represent my complete inquiry?
It sometimes saves typing if Google guesses what you're typing halfway through. That could be useful for users, but I turned it off for a different reason: It slows down Dialup, ISDN, Cellular, and other slow connections to a crawl.
DVDs have been cracked for over a decade now, and yet DVD sales still bring-in almost a trillion dollars every year. I'm sorry Mr. MPAA sir, but where exactly are you being "harmed"? I'm not seeing it.
>>>When driving in the United Kingdom I was surprised to see that other people actually know how to drive. Then to come home was a shock. I don't know what the US is like; hopefully better than Australia.
No.
I encounter a lot of those "passing lane blockers" in the US. They ride side-by-side with other cars, preventing passage, and in violation of state law. I typically beep-beep my horn to wake them up from their comatose stupor. Often it does not work so I lay on the horn until they move, so I can use the passing lane as its intended to be used (to pass).
China had a "make as many babies as you can" policy prior to 1979 that created a huge baby boom. That generation is now producing babies, and that's why the population keeps growing. In another 20 years we'll see the 1 child policy have an effect and population shrink.
>>>I am all but certain that this is another example of telcoms limiting and crippling their services rather than improving their infrastructure.
(putting on conspiracy nut hat)
I think it's done on purpose. ATT and others want to take TV channels 25 and up for usage by cellular phones/internet. What better way to achieve that goal than to slow everything to a crawl, and then say to Congress, "Look. We've already run out of space and need more spectrum. It's time for television to give its 'fair share' rather than hog all the space."
(removes nutter hate). Of course they will conveniently ignore that Cellular services already have ~1000 megahertz and radio/tv only occupies ~200.
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>>>Seriously, It's been close, min, max left to right since the beginning. Why the hell the change now?
Change keeps programmers employed.
Same way smashing windows keeps glaziers employed
It doesn't have to serve a purpose.
>>>In the 90's, all OS sucked. Networking and the internet made them look old. Mac OS still sucked less...
Man do I disagree with that statement. The best operating system was Amiga OS, since it was the only one that could do preemptive tasking, enabling people to run multiple programs at the same time (but without bringing down the whole system if one crashed). Mac OS was a close second. GEOS on C=64 a close third.
And then came Windows which sucked worse than DOS or CLI.
As for processors, well I honestly saw no difference between a 68050 and the then-new PowerPC. In fact I found the PPC machines often ran slower (sluggish response to the user), and I was left unimpressed.
>>>Remember that the Mac shipped with only 128k at first.
That doesn't sound so bad. The first Amiga only had 256k and multitasked programs just fine. Mac only had to run one program at a time, so only needed half the space (IMHO). Also I think you're misremembering how much RAM computers came with. RAM was not exactly cheap back then - I spent $90 for a 512k upgrade in 1989. That was considered a bargain.
1979 - Atari had 48k
1980 - AppleII+ had 48k
1982 - C=64 has 64k
1983 - Apple IIe had 64k
1984 - Apple IIc had 128k (same as Thin Mac released same year)
1984 - Fat Mac with 512k
1985 - C=128 had 128k
1985 - Commodore Amiga had 256k
The Fat Mac with 512k was actually an aberration compared to all the other computers of the time. Also probably why it cost 4-5 times as much.
>>>Since there were few color printers available in the 80's, it was common knowledge that Jobs felt that color display violated his WYSIWYG philosophy.
Bad philosophy considering many of us were printing color documents using computers like Atari or Amiga or Commodore. The inability to do color on 80s Macs made them look inferior.
>>>Kinda sad the Apple IIgs had a Mac style GUI in color before the Mac did.
Kinda sad the lowly 8 bit Commodore had a color GUI before the 32-bit Mac did. The GEOS was black-and-white by default, but could be customized to any 16 color combo.
1985 - Atari ST / Commodore Amiga released with 32 and 4000 colors
1986 - C64 got GUI
1986 - Apple IIgs had 16 color GUI and an improved 6502 with 16 bits (65816)
I didn't see my first color Mac until my school installed a 68040 Quadra. 1994. Prior to that all I ever saw were the single piece Macs with tiny screens. It made me yearn for my hi-res Amiga, but that was not allowed by the professors.
I don't customize anything. I just use the default of whatever's given to me (except Windows, when I switch to the classic style because it's faster).
On my Amiga 500 it still has that garish blue-orange look, overlaid with a File Manager that has all the CLI commands down the center and you just click them to issue the command (example copy df0:resume ram:resume). I often don't load Commodore's Workbench at all.
How is the cellular market not competitive? Just like the wired phone service lets you choose your long-distance and local provider, so too do cellular service let you choose from many companies. I've got Virgin. You might have Sprint. My iPhone friend has ATT I think. Then there's Cricket and Clear and Boost and Verizon and Cingular and.....
Would you rather have your OS X or iTunes look like this? While these colors make the Amiga desktop stand out from the black-and-white Mac or C64 GEOS of the day, it's also extremely garish:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b3/Amiga_Workbench_1_0.png
(zoom 300% to recreate the old 14 inch look of Amiga)
Ick. Well at least it could do preemptive tasking.
>>>Never forget that Air America was a dismal failure.
I miss Air America. Not because I agreed with their progressive views, but because it was educational to hear the other side (and laugh).
Now I substitute it with Chicago's Progressive Talk radio streamed over the net, plus MSNBC.com streams of Rachel Maddow
.
>>>"I don't watch TV and therefore am better than you"
Say what? I never said that. In fact I have my TV turned-on 16 hours a day (minus work hours) watching various movies or international news captured by my antenna
Commodore 64s can use the internet (and even the web), thanks to ongoing development by programmers...
although the Commodore Amiga 500, 3000, or 4000 are really better suited for the job. (The first web browser, Mosaic, was developed for Amiga.)
>>>The anger and fear that corporations will take over is silly.
You've just not read enough. Like the 1970s manslaughter committed by Ford (using Pinto cars), or the blatant poisoning of water by various chemical corporations over the years. While they are not as dangerous as government (which sucks money direct from your wallet) (or drafts you to die in Nam), megacorps are still a danger to individual consumers and workers, and must be watched just like any other predator that is more powerful than you are.
>>>Rest assured, the majority of Americans are either going to work, or looking for work, and don't have time for panicking or freaking out like a few celeb's and their dominions. Most Americans just want a decent job and time with the family. Throw in reasonable taxes and gas prices, most everyone is happy. The freakshow on TV is a very small minority.
>>>
False. Recent polls show over 60% of Americans disapprove of Obama's accomplishments.
That's as high as the disapproval was for Bush. To claim the average american is just fine-and-dandy-and-happy, is simply not true.
>>>fear of the Big Bad Government
Right. Because the last 100 years of history show that government can be trusted. Oh wait. No it doesn't! It shows the various governments around the world have killed over 150 million of its own citizens.
Perhaps some fears ARE valid. Just as it's valid to fear falling off the top of a skyscraper, or getting killed by a car while crossing the interstate (just last week that happened in Baltimore). "Fear of government" should be considered a valid survival instinct just like any other.
Our US Founders certainly feared their government, which is why they insisted upon a written constitution that would grant a FEW specific powers, and reserve all the rest to the Individual.
>>>make controversy, strife, and division (even where there would be none otherwise)
Like when MSNBC did a 15 minute story about a "white gun-toting man" who is "probably racist" and "fearful of a black president"? They were later caught doctoring the video. (The gun man was Black and definitely not racist.) Is that the kind of manufacturing you're talking about?
.
>>>Why do I want to read results of a search that doesn't even represent my complete inquiry?
It sometimes saves typing if Google guesses what you're typing halfway through. That could be useful for users, but I turned it off for a different reason: It slows down Dialup, ISDN, Cellular, and other slow connections to a crawl.
Content providers worry too much.
DVDs have been cracked for over a decade now, and yet DVD sales still bring-in almost a trillion dollars every year. I'm sorry Mr. MPAA sir, but where exactly are you being "harmed"? I'm not seeing it.
>>>You're free to bring your own signs
Really?
Cool.
"R or D - they both suck."
>>>when you see the vicious, fear-addled, hysterical fearmongering and demagoguery going on in the usa,
Please.
There's no need to insult our two most-recent presidents.
I don't have Cable and have noo idea who these two men are .
>>>You must live somewhere where the roads are pretty straight.
Yeah. In my post I was discussing interstates..... ya know: straight with curves designed for 80-100 mph limits.
>>>When driving in the United Kingdom I was surprised to see that other people actually know how to drive. Then to come home was a shock. I don't know what the US is like; hopefully better than Australia.
No.
I encounter a lot of those "passing lane blockers" in the US. They ride side-by-side with other cars, preventing passage, and in violation of state law. I typically beep-beep my horn to wake them up from their comatose stupor. Often it does not work so I lay on the horn until they move, so I can use the passing lane as its intended to be used (to pass).
China had a "make as many babies as you can" policy prior to 1979 that created a huge baby boom. That generation is now producing babies, and that's why the population keeps growing. In another 20 years we'll see the 1 child policy have an effect and population shrink.
>>>I am all but certain that this is another example of telcoms limiting and crippling their services rather than improving their infrastructure.
(putting on conspiracy nut hat)
I think it's done on purpose. ATT and others want to take TV channels 25 and up for usage by cellular phones/internet. What better way to achieve that goal than to slow everything to a crawl, and then say to Congress, "Look. We've already run out of space and need more spectrum. It's time for television to give its 'fair share' rather than hog all the space."
(removes nutter hate). Of course they will conveniently ignore that Cellular services already have ~1000 megahertz and radio/tv only occupies ~200.
>>>The monopoly wasn't given, it was bought and paid for in various ways both legal and shady.
The monopoly was given by the State Government's leaders who granted Comcast the exclusive right to distribute TV in my county