Well, maybe he's an engineer. Comparing the 55 exploits in the list you linked to--which go back SEVEN YEARS (last entry: June 2010)--to the nearly uncountable number of exploits against Windows is effectively "nonexistent." (Note: Vista and 7 have been doing very well. But DAMN that was a long, painful stretch we had to endure under XP.)
Is Mac OS X perfect? No. BUT: Has there ever been a widespread virus for it? No. Has there ever been a self-replicating, self-spreading virus in the wild for it? No. Have drive-by downloads ever been a problem? No.
A few years ago, my teenaged son turned a Windows box from a smoothly-running specimen into an unbootable heap of molten slag (note: exaggerating, but not by much) in a single afternoon of unsupervised web surfing. I switched my wife (it was her computer) and, eventually, him, to a Mac mini, and have not had a problem since.
Well, the public needs to hit Wikipedia and learn that the US GDP is a mere $14.6 trillion. Yeah, that sounds about right--I'd say the music industry was responsible for half of our GDP for the last ten years.
You know how when a kid plays with a toy in a risky way, the parent says "You've demonstrated that you don't know how to play with this toy nicely, I'm going to take it away from you"? Yeah. The U.S. Government should be able to take one look at a case like this and say "You've demonstrated you don't know how to exist nicely, therefore you don't get to exist anymore."
Ah yes, the old "This is what works for me, anyone who thinks or does otherwise is stupid." Nice. For how much use I get out of it, my phone would be a bargain at twice the price.
Tell me, do you eat frozen food, or in restaurants, or drive a car, or own a TV? Have cable, hulu, Netflix, air conditioning, or more than 5 changes of clothes? Give me five minutes online and I'll find someone who thinks you're dumb, too, and will be happy to explain how you could be better spending your money.
Or you could get off your damn high horse and realize that different people have different needs, wants, and priorities.
Besides, being that I'm a rich, arrogant, snobby, self-absorbed smartphone-owning asshole, what makes you think I'm not already socking away a few grand a year?
Apple sold 15 million of the damn things--about EIGHT BILLION DOLLARS worth--in 9 months and they DO NOT GIVE A SHIT that some geek feels the need to smugly point out what it can't do. You know who knows it's a limited device? Steve Jobs. You know who wants a limited device? Fifteen million people and counting.
Jesus fucking christ, why does someone have to bring this up in EVERY SINGLE THREAD about MMS?
You know how you can call someone on the telephone and it rings instantly and you can talk to them in real-time because that's how the network is set up? And you know how texting is usually more-or less instant, because it's built on the same technology? And MMS is an extension of that and works pretty quickly for all the same reasons? And you know how all of this works with a thing called a "phone number" which (by an amazing coincidence) is something that every single cell phone on the planet has?
Compare that to email, which requires having a separate account, setting up that account on the phone, sharing that account information with other people, and figuring out a way to get email onto the phone promptly. Plus email has to get routed through a whole other set of servers, bringing in more potential problems. (Delays from slow servers, spam filtering, etc.) THAT is why some people like to use MMS.
These two sites talk about science errors in movies and TV shows. It's a great way to start a discussion because you're leading in with something fun and familiar, and possibly even something that they've seen and thought "oh no WAY could that work."
I swear the guy sounds like an OS X text-to-speech voice but he's got some good and funny commentary. Worth watching. (And I usually never watch videos like this.) If you find a computer with MSIE2 installed you can copy the executable onto an XP machine and it'll run fine. (As fine as MSIE2 can run, that is.) Reminds me of old times.
Maybe the lesson to be learned is don't build nuclear power plants right smack on top of major fault lines?!?!?!? Not trying to be a smartass here, but... isn't that an idea?
> It is actually rare to have a company succeed by > increasing prices by distorting the value of their > product (for example, Apple).
It is 2011, can we GET OVER this meme that all Apple gear is overpriced? There IS great value in those products. Yes, you can get cheaper PCs but they're generally crappy. If you spec one out feature-for-feature they're pretty close. Just because they don't want to make cheap gear does not mean they're overpriced. And Apple has the best customer service of any computer maker. THAT'S what your money gets you. They're #3 in customer service out of ALL industries--only behind L.L. Bean and USAA Insurance. The next highest computer or electronics company is Dell, way down at #23. Again, this is stuff that's worth something.
iPods were a bit overpriced at the start (then again, you're comparing a small device with an expensive, 1.8" HDD to heavier devices with 2.5" drives and worse battery life) but they became competitive across the board pretty quickly. Here's Steve Ballmer talking about iPod pricing vs. Zune pricing in 2006:
Q: How much money will you lose per Zune? A: None. Apple put the hammer down there, dropped the price down to $249. If they had been $299, it would have been nicer... So we're at $249, too. We don't make a lot of money, not to start out.
And we've seen in the last year that NO ONE can deliver a tablet with the speed, size, weight, and battery life of the iPad. Devices with the same size screen cost hundreds more, or for the same price you can get something half the size.
TFA's conclusion is that prices need to be lower but what it SHOULD be is that things need to be a better value. I don't pirate music because you can't beat $.99 or even $1.29 for a song that is complete, high quality, no gaps, isn't cut off at the end, doesn't have one second of the following track, and has good metadata and album art. I don't buy movies online, though, because that is NOT a good value proposition: you're much more limited on how many and what kinds of devices you can watch it on. I get more features AND more portability by buying and ripping a physical disc.
Adobe is copying Apple from ten years ago by naming the product that comes after 9, 'X'. One key difference: Acrobat X does not run on Apple computers.
You know what else was horrible on 24? Every single scene ever that had anything to do with a computer. EVER. Seriously. Otherwise it was a great show. Luckily it wasn't "about" computers (other than a couple story arcs) but I almost would have rather they busted out a Harry-Potter-esque spell every so often rather than try to say anything technical.
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Well, maybe he's an engineer. Comparing the 55 exploits in the list you linked to--which go back SEVEN YEARS (last entry: June 2010)--to the nearly uncountable number of exploits against Windows is effectively "nonexistent." (Note: Vista and 7 have been doing very well. But DAMN that was a long, painful stretch we had to endure under XP.)
Is Mac OS X perfect? No. BUT: Has there ever been a widespread virus for it? No. Has there ever been a self-replicating, self-spreading virus in the wild for it? No. Have drive-by downloads ever been a problem? No.
A few years ago, my teenaged son turned a Windows box from a smoothly-running specimen into an unbootable heap of molten slag (note: exaggerating, but not by much) in a single afternoon of unsupervised web surfing. I switched my wife (it was her computer) and, eventually, him, to a Mac mini, and have not had a problem since.
If you're going to drop an iPhone 1000 feet, aim for a bush.
They'll go at night! Wait, sorry, wrong joke.
Well, the public needs to hit Wikipedia and learn that the US GDP is a mere $14.6 trillion. Yeah, that sounds about right--I'd say the music industry was responsible for half of our GDP for the last ten years.
You know how when a kid plays with a toy in a risky way, the parent says "You've demonstrated that you don't know how to play with this toy nicely, I'm going to take it away from you"? Yeah. The U.S. Government should be able to take one look at a case like this and say "You've demonstrated you don't know how to exist nicely, therefore you don't get to exist anymore."
Gabe, is that you?
Ah yes, the old "This is what works for me, anyone who thinks or does otherwise is stupid." Nice. For how much use I get out of it, my phone would be a bargain at twice the price.
Tell me, do you eat frozen food, or in restaurants, or drive a car, or own a TV? Have cable, hulu, Netflix, air conditioning, or more than 5 changes of clothes? Give me five minutes online and I'll find someone who thinks you're dumb, too, and will be happy to explain how you could be better spending your money.
Or you could get off your damn high horse and realize that different people have different needs, wants, and priorities.
Besides, being that I'm a rich, arrogant, snobby, self-absorbed smartphone-owning asshole, what makes you think I'm not already socking away a few grand a year?
as seen in Chrome and Firefox 4.
And it's even worse in Safari.
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/4.0/whatsnew/
Apple sold 15 million of the damn things--about EIGHT BILLION DOLLARS worth--in 9 months and they DO NOT GIVE A SHIT that some geek feels the need to smugly point out what it can't do. You know who knows it's a limited device? Steve Jobs. You know who wants a limited device? Fifteen million people and counting.
Jesus fucking christ, why does someone have to bring this up in EVERY SINGLE THREAD about MMS?
You know how you can call someone on the telephone and it rings instantly and you can talk to them in real-time because that's how the network is set up? And you know how texting is usually more-or less instant, because it's built on the same technology? And MMS is an extension of that and works pretty quickly for all the same reasons? And you know how all of this works with a thing called a "phone number" which (by an amazing coincidence) is something that every single cell phone on the planet has?
Compare that to email, which requires having a separate account, setting up that account on the phone, sharing that account information with other people, and figuring out a way to get email onto the phone promptly. Plus email has to get routed through a whole other set of servers, bringing in more potential problems. (Delays from slow servers, spam filtering, etc.) THAT is why some people like to use MMS.
These two sites talk about science errors in movies and TV shows. It's a great way to start a discussion because you're leading in with something fun and familiar, and possibly even something that they've seen and thought "oh no WAY could that work."
http://www.intuitor.com/moviephysics/
http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/movies/
... nice APOD today.
I swear the guy sounds like an OS X text-to-speech voice but he's got some good and funny commentary. Worth watching. (And I usually never watch videos like this.) If you find a computer with MSIE2 installed you can copy the executable onto an XP machine and it'll run fine. (As fine as MSIE2 can run, that is.) Reminds me of old times.
I came here hoping to see some good pervy emoticons. Gravely disappointed. Guess I'll have to stick with good ol'
Where I work it's like this.
"Oh my God... he even has a watermark!"
> We should learn from this.
Maybe the lesson to be learned is don't build nuclear power plants right smack on top of major fault lines?!?!?!? Not trying to be a smartass here, but... isn't that an idea?
I just like the way it smells. :-)
> It is actually rare to have a company succeed by
> increasing prices by distorting the value of their
> product (for example, Apple).
It is 2011, can we GET OVER this meme that all Apple gear is overpriced? There IS great value in those products. Yes, you can get cheaper PCs but they're generally crappy. If you spec one out feature-for-feature they're pretty close. Just because they don't want to make cheap gear does not mean they're overpriced. And Apple has the best customer service of any computer maker. THAT'S what your money gets you. They're #3 in customer service out of ALL industries--only behind L.L. Bean and USAA Insurance. The next highest computer or electronics company is Dell, way down at #23. Again, this is stuff that's worth something.
iPods were a bit overpriced at the start (then again, you're comparing a small device with an expensive, 1.8" HDD to heavier devices with 2.5" drives and worse battery life) but they became competitive across the board pretty quickly. Here's Steve Ballmer talking about iPod pricing vs. Zune pricing in 2006:
Q: How much money will you lose per Zune?
A: None. Apple put the hammer down there, dropped the price down to $249. If they had been $299, it would have been nicer... So we're at $249, too. We don't make a lot of money, not to start out.
And we've seen in the last year that NO ONE can deliver a tablet with the speed, size, weight, and battery life of the iPad. Devices with the same size screen cost hundreds more, or for the same price you can get something half the size.
TFA's conclusion is that prices need to be lower but what it SHOULD be is that things need to be a better value. I don't pirate music because you can't beat $.99 or even $1.29 for a song that is complete, high quality, no gaps, isn't cut off at the end, doesn't have one second of the following track, and has good metadata and album art. I don't buy movies online, though, because that is NOT a good value proposition: you're much more limited on how many and what kinds of devices you can watch it on. I get more features AND more portability by buying and ripping a physical disc.
You are absolutely right in theory and absolutely wrong in practice.
... that Zuckerberg gets it just fine and knows his users don't care.
Adobe is copying Apple from ten years ago by naming the product that comes after 9, 'X'. One key difference: Acrobat X does not run on Apple computers.
When your phone catches up to your desktop, it's definitely time to upgrade.
It's called "change the numbers to find more porn."
I think I got about 2/3 the way through that before realizing you weren't ACTUALLY quoting Swordfish. :-)
Great job. Extra points for the last line.
You know what else was horrible on 24? Every single scene ever that had anything to do with a computer. EVER. Seriously. Otherwise it was a great show. Luckily it wasn't "about" computers (other than a couple story arcs) but I almost would have rather they busted out a Harry-Potter-esque spell every so often rather than try to say anything technical.
Three words: Halle. Berry. Topless.
Best computing movie EVAR.