It's commonly misunderstood that the market share (that is reported) is not the same as installed user base.
Example: I have a Dell running Linux, it came with Windows, meaning that as far as shipments are concerned; Windows +1, Linux +0
Mac Example: Every mac user I have ever known keeps them for a ridiculously long time. Where this is applicable is that if MacOS users buy machines 1/2 as often as Windows users, then the actual user base is twice the percentage that the numbers suggest.
I want my phone to ring(I hate ring tones), I want to be able to sync my contacts (bluetooth), I want an earpiece, I want it to stay charged a long time, and I want it to be durable... Oh, and voice activated dialing... The luxury that is nice that I can do without is adding pictures to contacts.
If I want a damned MP3 player I'll fscking buy one.
I don't want to store files on my phone, I don't want to listen to mp3s on my phone, I don't give a crap about the games, I don't want to use it as a web browser (that's what a laptop using the phone for dialup is for), I don't want to pay for stupid value add crap... I sure as hell don't want to watch TV on it... I also don't need it to be a camera... I have a Olympus C-740, takes nice pictures, has 128M flash, does the job...
I just want a phone.... and I want it to work well (as a phone) and for as long as possible...
What's next, adding the plate screw in on the bottom so that the phone can be mounted to a tripod to take better pictures?
This is a marketable point given that the 9600 will take full advantage of Quartz 2D extreme GUI acceleration, whereas the video card below this one will not. So it's a matter of Quartz 2D Extreme support or not. Quartz 2D extreme should make a very large difference in GUI speed, which being a place that OSX has lagged, is a big deal.
Actually the whole move to DVDs as a default installation media for what would be multiple CDs is very cool in my opinion. I want to see more of this in the future.
It would be nice to see Apple "pre-ship" about 10 copies or more of the CD media (the same stuff you'd have to order) to the apple stores. That way if it's 1 in 20, you may need more after 200 sales. But this would allow people to trade in their DVD for CDs in the store...
It would, however it's not the only company that uses it, and there are multiple companies that make the media. Furthermore if I get really mad at Olympus I can still use an adapter to use the XD media in a camera that takes Compact Flash. Or I can ditch the camera and read the media using a card reader.
It has a software driven Panorama app that *requires* the use of their cards. This did bug me, however, I don't use their software at all, to create panoramas or not. I have separate software for that purpose, and knew I wasn't using their software from the start. I would definately recommend someone looking for a camera based on some built-in Panorama feature thing to look elsewhere, or make sure to buy Olympus cards. As a note: the Olympus media was the same price as the other media at the store I bought it at. So even if I wanted to use their software it would not have cost me more.
However the Panorama thing does not *keep* me from making panoramas, since I have made them. The Olympus media requirement for their application to stitch together photos in no way makes the camera any less accessible to me for what I use it for.
Lastly unlike Nikon, the Olympus media requirement is *listed on the box*.
eek... I bought mine from a vendor that had an acceptable return policy, so that if the camera was defective out of the box I could simply return it. I actually opened the box in the store and took a picture after I bought it. It would be hard for them to blame me, if it didn't work perfectly, since I hadn't even left the store.
It's kinda sad, but I just don't trust many vendors/retailers much these days. I flat out refuse to deal with especially crappy ones (Nikon, Ford in my sister in law's case).
Perhaps I'll just have to save my money and buy a Canon next time...
I have owned 2 Saturns, 2 Chevrolets, a Geo, a Pontiac, and a Toyota. Before that I drove the following that belonged to my parents; 2 Fords (one was a Mazda name plate), 2 Mazdas, 2 Chevrolets, 2 Saturns, and a Plymouth. None of them ever got less than 40,000 miles out of a pair of brakes.
The guys at Brakemasters (yah know the 'we do brakes all day every day people') were shocked out of their minds at the wear after 10k miles. According to them, there must have been something wrong with the brakes. Remember this is after major parts in the braking system were recalled and replaced twice.
Transmission problems are not acceptable on a car with milage that low. Period. My sister got 180,000 miles on the original Saturn clutch in her last car, and I got 120,000 miles out of mine. The transmission was in perfect shape in both cars. Actually I cannot remember a car that I have had that has had the transmission make horrible clunking noises and jerk the car around... Ever. A transmission costs more than a clutch, and the clutch in my Saturn (which I replaced because my rear main seal needed repair and the clutch was only $100 more) cost around $800 to replace. This is not fscking OK on a car that you may still be making $300 per month payments on.
The AC line isn't protected worth a damn, and to make matters worse it's up against the wheel well of the car, so while driving down a gravel road, a nice sized rock can and did take out the line. This is dumb. Built-Ford tough only applies to their trucks apparently. Ford cars should stay on pavement at all times.
The power windows at 40,000 miles and 3 years old, decided to trash the tracks they were on, very similarly to the way my sister's Saturn did at 150,000 miles and 9 years old.
The fuel pump was recalled, the replacement lasted about three miles before it effectively blew up, spraying fuel all over the place. Ford, apparently was afraid enough of lawsuits, that they actually fixed this issue completely.
This is all off the top of my head, about a car that I don't even own... I could call my brother in law and ask him what else has gone wrong with it because I am certain that I have heard about a great deal more than this. Maybe something Ford makes other than the Focus is more reliable, but at this point you couldn't pay me to take one.
I actually bought my new Saturn (well it was a 2001 since, they don't make the Luxury Edition with a stick anymore), I didn't need the money from the trade-in so I lent my 1995 Saturn with 120k miles on it to my sister in law, because she needed reliable transportation to work, and it was the more reliable than her Ford at 60k miles and 3 years old. She cannot get rid of the thing because she is still making payments, although her father helped her to pay to fix it up to the point that it's reliable.
My personal camera (C-740) was in the $400 range at the time.... If I had had the additional money to spend I would have gotten a Canon Digital Rebel. However as it was I needed something before I went on vacation, which ended up costing $2000+ so I really couldn't justify spending that much. So I got a non-SLR with a 10x optical zoom, that outputs to TIFF. In my price range it was the most recommended camera by far... As for the higher end, Canon and Nikon rule that roost. Canon is at least nice to their customers.
I bought my camera right before I went on vacation, big tour from Phoenix, AZ to Bryce Canyon, UT to Salt Lake City, UT to Craters of the Moon, ID to Vancouver, BC to Victoria, BC to Olympic National Park, WA to Crater Lake, OR. Needless to say I hit damned near half of the insanely breathtaking "I must have a picture of this" scenes. AT least it seemed that way. I took 1600 photos. Every person that I saw with Digital SLRs and big camera rigs (bag full of 8" long telephoto lenses, wide angle lenses, etc) was using a digital rebel. One of my friends co-workers took a picture with one that netted $15k... Of course the camera was the cheapest part of his set-up. Also almost every person I have talked to about these that has had cameras in the $1000-$1500 range has either recommended a Canon or a Nikon...
I would recommend talking to some customers at camera shops about what they think, as well as reading as many reviews you can get your hands on. The research that I did was for the market segement that I was interested in, at the time I was looking at cameras (I started looking over two years ago). I found some very helpful professional and semi-professional (Stock broker 9 to 5, takes pictures as a hobby and sells them to pay for insanely expensive camera habit...), people to ask about the strengths and weaknesses of what was out there. I'm not really sure how much has changed in the past year or more since I looked into it. Also look at some of the professional photographer magazines, they are really helpful.
I am sorry that I couldn't be of more help, but try looking for 'Nikon D70 review' and perhaps '20D canon review' or 'canon digital rebel review' on google... Also see if you can find someone who owns one to talk to... I did talk to a guy at Crater Lake (among other people) about his Canon Digital Rebel for a while, asked him why that camera, how much it cost, what are the definite must have accessories, etc... It was enlightening.
You are correct, it is a slippery slope. However since I don't follow cameras the way that I follow the computer industry... Do you think Slashdot will run another story if they move this "feature" into their lower end cameras? Probably not, and if not how will anyone know? Even though I do my best to do my homework, this is the kind of thing that tends to slip in under the radar. Most people don't know enough to understand what is going on in the first place. They simply find themselves screwed later on.
I got a new DSL router/bridge from my phone company, since the old one didn't support 1.5Mb DSL. This new router comes with a CD that states that the first thing that you have to do is put in the CD. It also states in the included documentation, and on the manual on their website that it requires some version of Windows or MacOS 9 or higher. This is all patently false. Any TCP/IP aware OS can use the device in Tranparent Bridging mode (RFC 1483) without issue. In my case, I left the software unopened, disregarded the USB port, left the included RJ-45 cable unmolested and simply plugged the device into my existing setup, configured it porperly and I was up and running. The machine it's plugged into is my Slackware Linux based server. According to the documentation, this won't work. I just happen to know that pretty much any OS will work with RFC1483 bridging, because I am a network guy. I am not a photographer. I just want to take my photos and get them out of my camera.
So how are most consumers to know that they are being screwed, or that they can do something else, if it's not even in the documentation? I sincerely doubt that if Nikon were to move this into their lower end cameras that they'd put a warning label on them, or any label for that matter at all. While I like my Olympus, the supposedly "built-in" panorama support only works with their proprietary software. This isn't an issue since I can use other software, and do use another app, to create panoramas. This is annoying, but it does not stop me from doing what I want with my own pics. The Nikon "feature" does. Once again, how is the average consumer supposed to know? My take is that if they are willing to screw their professional customers, why will they be less willing to screw me? I'd rather not take that chance, thank you.
I should also point out that my father has about 20 years worth of data trapped in a genealogy program with no real way to get it out, since the application has no decent export options, the developer is out of business, and it's a proprietary format. Unfortunately, I didn't know enough at the time to keep him from using "no way out" software like that in the first place. This is exactly the kind of thing I am not going to fall prey to myself if I can help it. This is also one of a myriad of past retarded incompatible formats I have dealt with that causes me to be so pissed off at the Nikon BS. It wouldn't bend me out of shape, if they were actually protecting some valid technical achievement. They are not. NTFS is proprietary, but it actually has some technical investment in it, not just a hacked together version of an open format.
If you cannot compete on the value of your stuff without hardcore, court-backed, consumer lock-in based on nothing of technical value, you should not be in business.
At what point does this "feature" creep into the rest of their product line?
This is something that I have seen time and time again, you give companies like this an inch, and the next thing you know any Nikon will require their software to get to your pictures, no matter which one you buy. It's not a company having a proprietary format that annoys me. I have no problem with LZW (and that's actually a valid thing to protect, not some hacked up TIFF based format), because I can still choose between software to use with my artwork. It's that the content is mine, and I don't care why they decided to pull this BS, if they want to screw with my access to my content, then it's a problem.
iMovie (which I use because it's ridiculously simple, quick, outputs decent home movies, and I hate serious movie editing apps) is a proprietary program. However I can still access my files with other applications. The files are mine, and I will do what I want with them. Photoshop (which I use, because I like hardcore image editing software) has a "proprietary" native format, but I can still open photoshop files in Graphic Converter and other programs, and I do from time to time because the images are mine and I paid for the software and because I want to. For the same reason, I don't encode anything in any format containing the word "Windows" (WMA, WMV, etc), don't use DRM'ed music, etc, etc. Note: a consumer only needs to get burnt one time, and they will generally learn if the issue is explained in terms they can understand.
The moral of this story is this: We as consumers don't like crap that stands between us and stuff we have created. The stupid home movies, graphics, web sites, photos we take, music we make, stuff we type, etc is viewed as ours and many of us take the right to use our own stuff however the hell we want to very seriously. If you do stupid crap like this, most knowledgeable consumers will avoid the format, program, device, whatever, in the future. Companies pull this kind of stunt at their peril.
Notice that with as cool as Sony is, their sales of the ATRAC device players has been in the toilet, and they have been forced to accept MP3.
So what this means to me is that instead of saying "guess what Nikon is doing to all of their cameras", it's "guess what Nikon is starting to do".
I am a firm believer in consumer reviews. Meaning, when I am about to buy something I attempt to find people who own it, eavesdrop on people talking about the item in retail stores, read the online boards, etc.
I cannot tell you how many times I have been in Fry's Electronics (or some other store) talking to a customer about something and they left with a different (better) product than they came in for. The reason is that I don't work for Fry's and have nothing tangible to gain no matter what they buy. I simply like seeing "good tech" survive, and so I thoroughly evangelize companies that treat me well. I do the opposite for compoanies that treat me badly. I can say for sure that IWILL has lost more than 10 sales because of me. IWILL XA-100 had a 40% failure rate (at the local Fry's), and they did not step up to the plate and recall the damned things. I got stuck with one, which was traded out for two others in unopened boxes with no success.
I have a feeling Nikon is going to lose sales, because now I can use the "I" word that scares Joe Sixpack so much. "Incompatible"... I'll also use another word that is designed to scare Mr. Sixpack, "Proprietary".... I can then go on about how my Olympus takes wonderful pictures, and is "compatible" and "not proprietary" and will work with all kinds of software. Heck, I didn't install the Olympus software, and even lost the disk with the software on it and can still get my pictures. And then mention that most other vendors are open and just work, and express puzzlement at why Nikon hates it's customers...
This generally works. While I am aware that I may only stop 5 or ten sales, if 10 people did this, it would be 50 to 100 sales, etc, etc. Furthermore people buying the non-proprietary item who are happy with it, will warn their friends away from that vendor. This is viral in nature. It does work, however it is dependant on how many people take part.
This vendor screw consumer atitude really bends me out of shape...
Oh BTW, my sister in law's purchased new Ford Focus has transmission problems at 38,000 miles. It also has had the brake system recalled, twice. Currently it eats brakes every 10,000 miles. This is just the beginning of the list. Since Ford has been very little help, they are seriously considering painting the car yellow, and writing the word "lemon" on it.
Of course who needs Linux to be usable by the masses. We should stick to the "Linux is for the elite" development mantra that has served to boost it's usage in homes.
Personally, I simply gave up on waiting for an honest to god ready for the masses Linux/FreeBSD desktop and bought a Mac. I love Slackware as a CLI based server OS, but it just doesn't cut it for ease of use. And while I _could_ write my web pages by hand, I can kick out a website in GoLive in a small fraction of the time. Furthermore I can rename a dependent file and have every referring page update (fix) it's references. This is damned useful since I am moving many of the images of the site to my ISP, while the actual pages reside on my server. ISP won't give me root on their box to configure the monitoring software for my network:)
I'll give up my copy of GoLive when they pry it from my cold, dead fingers.
It's site management and collaboration features are incredible. For the most part, Flash websites take much longer to load (no 56k need apply), and offer a great deal more overhead than they make up for with usability (you with the P II-450, don't even try).
It's not the same tech, IBM's process removes the germanium, where Intel leaves it on. This causes much more current leakage. The 90nm Pentium M also used more power than it's 130nm version from what I have read, it's just that it was not so close to the top of the thermal envelope.
They had to leave the germanium from the Silicon stretching process on the die, since to remove it would require the use of a patented IBM process. Which BTW AMD has a license to. This causes a great deal more current leakage than the IBM or AMD chips have at 90nm. This is why the power consumption of the IBM and AMD chips went down at 90nm, while Intel's original 90nm chips got hotter.
This is of course a simplification... But it's 3am...
If only they had not made the thing use a VLIW ISA, which is perhaps the shittiest thing to program for on earth. I imagine that once the Cell architecture matures, and gets the apprpriate dev tools ported to it, that's the way the industry will (should) go. A general purpose CPU (that can handle linear code, since some has to be) with programmable secondary units that can perform a function on a stream of data...
If you mean switching, as in I use this as my 'nearly exclusive desktop machine', then yes switching is easily capable. Everything I use on the desktop, other than games is on OSX. From Quicken/Quickbooks, to everything Adobe (except for Premier, and being the non-movie making person, I prefer iMovie). From the UNIX-side, even KDE has been ported! Yes, even KDE has a native UI version for OSX.
If you mean switching, as in I use this as my 'exclusive box for everything games and servers and all', then there is nothing in existance that will fit the bill. I used to use Windows as a desktop, then FreeBSD & Windows (for commercial apps), then OSX. I still run Windows (XP Pro Volume) as a toy, meaning that it has America's Army, C&C Generals, Red Faction, Starcraft, etc, installed on it. Yah know, the important stuff. And I still run Linux and BSD on servers.
Bank of America has already been compromised. The Slammer worm infected their network, and even their ATM machines!!!!!!
I heard from one of their IT guys that they were ripping out their old systems and replacing them with Win2k. I was horrified, he had no idea why. I asked him why the bank would move to the most attacked and compromised system on earth for "secure" applications. I told him I was going to remove my account. He assured me that they would be secure, and six months later Slammer rolled out.
Check this google search for slammer "bank of america". 4320 results!!!!!!!!
Don't expect politicians, who are beholden to big money (Microsoft) to be doing anything to fix the problem; (no M$ on network facing secure systems until proven that they are no longer getting hit by worm after worm. No ATMs running anything in major usage on the desktop. QNX or something similar, and non x86 CPUs (writing directly to the stack does not work if instruction set is different, generally just a crash, down is better than compromised). More diversity in network infrastructure, so that one exploit cannot take everything down. More diversity in secure systems, for the same reason as previous.
Ireland in the past settled on a single standard. The result was that millions starved. The standard was the the lumper, a potato variety. The result: a single blight killed almost all of the potatoes the poor relied on. (one exploit takes everything down) While other potatoes more resistant, they were not in wide enough use to make a major difference. (Sadly there was enough (non-potato) food there, but it was being shipped to england for higher prices. Go figure.)
Unfortunately the "them" you are referring to is 90% or more of the computer using public. I have spent years working around people with bachelor's and master's degrees. These people refer to Word as "Microsoft". As in: I wrote the file in "Microsoft". They refer to MSIE as "The internet", as in: "Does this machine have the internet?" If these people mastered life as well as they master computers, they wouldn't be able to tie their shoes.
Linux will be ready as a desktop for the masses in my opinion when the average (L)user can install and remove applications more easily, when it has a ID10T ready help system that doesn't scare the hell out of them (no big words, no jargon), when it has a desktop that offers a fairly complete and polished control panel system like Windows 95/XP/OS9/OSX, when the average A+ moron can install and configure a piece of hardware graphically with drivers and all without a recompile (for when the (L)user takes it to CompUSA) when the user interface has better continuity (I still have problems occasionally with cutting and pasting between apps), etc.
I really dig Linux, especially Slackware, but I'm not putting my mom on it because she lives too far away for me to support it (2300 miles). And even though she is a SASI administrator (annoying database app created for educational use), I'm pretty sure that it'd be a rough haul for her without direct help/me administering the machine. My father, who is mostly a non-user (if you move the icons around, he gets confused) would be completely lost.
Hell, at one school I worked at for a bit, I did some configuring of an OSX box from the command line and the other Network Techs got all freaked out. They were flabbergasted when I setup automated backups of the grade books to the district office using rsync (if you use THAT, who will support THAT if you are not here). Since the Network Techs at my last job couldn't figure out how to do anything other than launch what was listed in the KDE menu, and re-image the machines using the CDs the outside contractor gave them, I have a rather low opinion of Linux's readiness for the masses
Can we then remove any and all journalistic protections from the "National Enquirer", the "Sun", the "Star", and all of those other publications which reside in supermarket check-out lines.... They clearly have no formal training, no sense of responsibility, no journalistic integrity, or credibility. Also can we then remove the one of the local papers in my home town, which had columns created by people with less training the the above mentioned blogger? Can we then take this a few steps further and remove those shows like "Hard Copy" and others like it as journalists. They certainly aren't the personification of journalism as was reflected by Walter Cronkite. How about Fox News, they certainly make no secret of their bias.
Apparently you haven't been watching the news for some time. In Phoenix, we have the dumbest newscasters I have ever seen. They do reports in front of closed courthouses 6 hours after the place closed about a trial that took place 10 hours ago. They do reports about various issues that make it obvious that they have no idea what they are talking about. They spend 10 minutes advertising a 3 minute story. I used to like to watch the news, however since moving here, I don't watch it at all anymore. Referring to Phoenix newscasts as "journalism" is like calling professional wrestling a sport, even they refer to it as "entertainment" and not a sport.
My point is that this is a very slippery slope. Remember, when this country was founded, many newspapers were not much more than gossip rags. They were still protected as being "the press". Many of these papers were written by people who knew nothing of investigation, integrity, or absence of bias. Many of the articles were written by people whose command of english was rather limited.
Before discussing what is and is not journalism, what is and is not "the press", it is important to read a few papers from the time that the US was founded. You may be shocked.
Note: Personally I'd like to see all of the check-out line newspaper's companies burn to the ground, but I don't want the government doing it.
Slashdot Mirror
It's commonly misunderstood that the market share (that is reported) is not the same as installed user base.
Example: I have a Dell running Linux, it came with Windows, meaning that as far as shipments are concerned; Windows +1, Linux +0
Mac Example: Every mac user I have ever known keeps them for a ridiculously long time. Where this is applicable is that if MacOS users buy machines 1/2 as often as Windows users, then the actual user base is twice the percentage that the numbers suggest.
How many fscking times do I have to say this:
7 500819/qid=1092673183/sr=8-2/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i2_xgl 14/104-8277930-2988753?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
I want my phone to ring(I hate ring tones), I want to be able to sync my contacts (bluetooth), I want an earpiece, I want it to stay charged a long time, and I want it to be durable... Oh, and voice activated dialing... The luxury that is nice that I can do without is adding pictures to contacts.
If I want a damned MP3 player I'll fscking buy one.
I don't want to store files on my phone, I don't want to listen to mp3s on my phone, I don't give a crap about the games, I don't want to use it as a web browser (that's what a laptop using the phone for dialup is for), I don't want to pay for stupid value add crap... I sure as hell don't want to watch TV on it... I also don't need it to be a camera... I have a Olympus C-740, takes nice pictures, has 128M flash, does the job...
I just want a phone.... and I want it to work well (as a phone) and for as long as possible...
What's next, adding the plate screw in on the bottom so that the phone can be mounted to a tripod to take better pictures?
How about adding the ability to record movies...
Next thing you know it'll be like the Bradley Fighting Vehicle http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/155
designed to do everything, doing none of it well, and incapable of doing specialty jobs that need done....
Actually, no...
This is a marketable point given that the 9600 will take full advantage of Quartz 2D extreme GUI acceleration, whereas the video card below this one will not. So it's a matter of Quartz 2D Extreme support or not. Quartz 2D extreme should make a very large difference in GUI speed, which being a place that OSX has lagged, is a big deal.
Actually the whole move to DVDs as a default installation media for what would be multiple CDs is very cool in my opinion. I want to see more of this in the future.
It would be nice to see Apple "pre-ship" about 10 copies or more of the CD media (the same stuff you'd have to order) to the apple stores. That way if it's 1 in 20, you may need more after 200 sales. But this would allow people to trade in their DVD for CDs in the store...
It would, however it's not the only company that uses it, and there are multiple companies that make the media. Furthermore if I get really mad at Olympus I can still use an adapter to use the XD media in a camera that takes Compact Flash. Or I can ditch the camera and read the media using a card reader.
It has a software driven Panorama app that *requires* the use of their cards. This did bug me, however, I don't use their software at all, to create panoramas or not. I have separate software for that purpose, and knew I wasn't using their software from the start. I would definately recommend someone looking for a camera based on some built-in Panorama feature thing to look elsewhere, or make sure to buy Olympus cards. As a note: the Olympus media was the same price as the other media at the store I bought it at. So even if I wanted to use their software it would not have cost me more.
However the Panorama thing does not *keep* me from making panoramas, since I have made them. The Olympus media requirement for their application to stitch together photos in no way makes the camera any less accessible to me for what I use it for.
Lastly unlike Nikon, the Olympus media requirement is *listed on the box*.
You gotta be kidding, this crowd gets more clueless every year that passes... ;)
eek... I bought mine from a vendor that had an acceptable return policy, so that if the camera was defective out of the box I could simply return it. I actually opened the box in the store and took a picture after I bought it. It would be hard for them to blame me, if it didn't work perfectly, since I hadn't even left the store.
It's kinda sad, but I just don't trust many vendors/retailers much these days. I flat out refuse to deal with especially crappy ones (Nikon, Ford in my sister in law's case).
Perhaps I'll just have to save my money and buy a Canon next time...
I have owned 2 Saturns, 2 Chevrolets, a Geo, a Pontiac, and a Toyota. Before that I drove the following that belonged to my parents; 2 Fords (one was a Mazda name plate), 2 Mazdas, 2 Chevrolets, 2 Saturns, and a Plymouth. None of them ever got less than 40,000 miles out of a pair of brakes.
The guys at Brakemasters (yah know the 'we do brakes all day every day people') were shocked out of their minds at the wear after 10k miles. According to them, there must have been something wrong with the brakes. Remember this is after major parts in the braking system were recalled and replaced twice.
Transmission problems are not acceptable on a car with milage that low. Period. My sister got 180,000 miles on the original Saturn clutch in her last car, and I got 120,000 miles out of mine. The transmission was in perfect shape in both cars. Actually I cannot remember a car that I have had that has had the transmission make horrible clunking noises and jerk the car around... Ever. A transmission costs more than a clutch, and the clutch in my Saturn (which I replaced because my rear main seal needed repair and the clutch was only $100 more) cost around $800 to replace. This is not fscking OK on a car that you may still be making $300 per month payments on.
The AC line isn't protected worth a damn, and to make matters worse it's up against the wheel well of the car, so while driving down a gravel road, a nice sized rock can and did take out the line. This is dumb. Built-Ford tough only applies to their trucks apparently. Ford cars should stay on pavement at all times.
The power windows at 40,000 miles and 3 years old, decided to trash the tracks they were on, very similarly to the way my sister's Saturn did at 150,000 miles and 9 years old.
The fuel pump was recalled, the replacement lasted about three miles before it effectively blew up, spraying fuel all over the place. Ford, apparently was afraid enough of lawsuits, that they actually fixed this issue completely.
This is all off the top of my head, about a car that I don't even own... I could call my brother in law and ask him what else has gone wrong with it because I am certain that I have heard about a great deal more than this. Maybe something Ford makes other than the Focus is more reliable, but at this point you couldn't pay me to take one.
I actually bought my new Saturn (well it was a 2001 since, they don't make the Luxury Edition with a stick anymore), I didn't need the money from the trade-in so I lent my 1995 Saturn with 120k miles on it to my sister in law, because she needed reliable transportation to work, and it was the more reliable than her Ford at 60k miles and 3 years old. She cannot get rid of the thing because she is still making payments, although her father helped her to pay to fix it up to the point that it's reliable.
My personal camera (C-740) was in the $400 range at the time.... If I had had the additional money to spend I would have gotten a Canon Digital Rebel. However as it was I needed something before I went on vacation, which ended up costing $2000+ so I really couldn't justify spending that much. So I got a non-SLR with a 10x optical zoom, that outputs to TIFF. In my price range it was the most recommended camera by far... As for the higher end, Canon and Nikon rule that roost. Canon is at least nice to their customers.
I bought my camera right before I went on vacation, big tour from Phoenix, AZ to Bryce Canyon, UT to Salt Lake City, UT to Craters of the Moon, ID to Vancouver, BC to Victoria, BC to Olympic National Park, WA to Crater Lake, OR. Needless to say I hit damned near half of the insanely breathtaking "I must have a picture of this" scenes. AT least it seemed that way. I took 1600 photos. Every person that I saw with Digital SLRs and big camera rigs (bag full of 8" long telephoto lenses, wide angle lenses, etc) was using a digital rebel. One of my friends co-workers took a picture with one that netted $15k... Of course the camera was the cheapest part of his set-up. Also almost every person I have talked to about these that has had cameras in the $1000-$1500 range has either recommended a Canon or a Nikon...
I would recommend talking to some customers at camera shops about what they think, as well as reading as many reviews you can get your hands on. The research that I did was for the market segement that I was interested in, at the time I was looking at cameras (I started looking over two years ago). I found some very helpful professional and semi-professional (Stock broker 9 to 5, takes pictures as a hobby and sells them to pay for insanely expensive camera habit...), people to ask about the strengths and weaknesses of what was out there. I'm not really sure how much has changed in the past year or more since I looked into it. Also look at some of the professional photographer magazines, they are really helpful.
I am sorry that I couldn't be of more help, but try looking for 'Nikon D70 review' and perhaps '20D canon review' or 'canon digital rebel review' on google... Also see if you can find someone who owns one to talk to... I did talk to a guy at Crater Lake (among other people) about his Canon Digital Rebel for a while, asked him why that camera, how much it cost, what are the definite must have accessories, etc... It was enlightening.
(sarcasm) tag that is
I would have rated this as funny....
you forgot the tag, it'd let the less appreciative of dry humor know that you were joking.
You are correct, it is a slippery slope. However since I don't follow cameras the way that I follow the computer industry... Do you think Slashdot will run another story if they move this "feature" into their lower end cameras? Probably not, and if not how will anyone know? Even though I do my best to do my homework, this is the kind of thing that tends to slip in under the radar. Most people don't know enough to understand what is going on in the first place. They simply find themselves screwed later on.
I got a new DSL router/bridge from my phone company, since the old one didn't support 1.5Mb DSL. This new router comes with a CD that states that the first thing that you have to do is put in the CD. It also states in the included documentation, and on the manual on their website that it requires some version of Windows or MacOS 9 or higher. This is all patently false. Any TCP/IP aware OS can use the device in Tranparent Bridging mode (RFC 1483) without issue. In my case, I left the software unopened, disregarded the USB port, left the included RJ-45 cable unmolested and simply plugged the device into my existing setup, configured it porperly and I was up and running. The machine it's plugged into is my Slackware Linux based server. According to the documentation, this won't work. I just happen to know that pretty much any OS will work with RFC1483 bridging, because I am a network guy. I am not a photographer. I just want to take my photos and get them out of my camera.
So how are most consumers to know that they are being screwed, or that they can do something else, if it's not even in the documentation? I sincerely doubt that if Nikon were to move this into their lower end cameras that they'd put a warning label on them, or any label for that matter at all. While I like my Olympus, the supposedly "built-in" panorama support only works with their proprietary software. This isn't an issue since I can use other software, and do use another app, to create panoramas. This is annoying, but it does not stop me from doing what I want with my own pics. The Nikon "feature" does. Once again, how is the average consumer supposed to know? My take is that if they are willing to screw their professional customers, why will they be less willing to screw me? I'd rather not take that chance, thank you.
Since I cannot edit my own comments here....
I should also point out that my father has about 20 years worth of data trapped in a genealogy program with no real way to get it out, since the application has no decent export options, the developer is out of business, and it's a proprietary format. Unfortunately, I didn't know enough at the time to keep him from using "no way out" software like that in the first place. This is exactly the kind of thing I am not going to fall prey to myself if I can help it. This is also one of a myriad of past retarded incompatible formats I have dealt with that causes me to be so pissed off at the Nikon BS. It wouldn't bend me out of shape, if they were actually protecting some valid technical achievement. They are not. NTFS is proprietary, but it actually has some technical investment in it, not just a hacked together version of an open format.
If you cannot compete on the value of your stuff without hardcore, court-backed, consumer lock-in based on nothing of technical value, you should not be in business.
At what point does this "feature" creep into the rest of their product line?
This is something that I have seen time and time again, you give companies like this an inch, and the next thing you know any Nikon will require their software to get to your pictures, no matter which one you buy. It's not a company having a proprietary format that annoys me. I have no problem with LZW (and that's actually a valid thing to protect, not some hacked up TIFF based format), because I can still choose between software to use with my artwork. It's that the content is mine, and I don't care why they decided to pull this BS, if they want to screw with my access to my content, then it's a problem.
iMovie (which I use because it's ridiculously simple, quick, outputs decent home movies, and I hate serious movie editing apps) is a proprietary program. However I can still access my files with other applications. The files are mine, and I will do what I want with them. Photoshop (which I use, because I like hardcore image editing software) has a "proprietary" native format, but I can still open photoshop files in Graphic Converter and other programs, and I do from time to time because the images are mine and I paid for the software and because I want to. For the same reason, I don't encode anything in any format containing the word "Windows" (WMA, WMV, etc), don't use DRM'ed music, etc, etc. Note: a consumer only needs to get burnt one time, and they will generally learn if the issue is explained in terms they can understand.
The moral of this story is this: We as consumers don't like crap that stands between us and stuff we have created. The stupid home movies, graphics, web sites, photos we take, music we make, stuff we type, etc is viewed as ours and many of us take the right to use our own stuff however the hell we want to very seriously. If you do stupid crap like this, most knowledgeable consumers will avoid the format, program, device, whatever, in the future. Companies pull this kind of stunt at their peril.
Notice that with as cool as Sony is, their sales of the ATRAC device players has been in the toilet, and they have been forced to accept MP3.
So what this means to me is that instead of saying "guess what Nikon is doing to all of their cameras", it's "guess what Nikon is starting to do".
I am a firm believer in consumer reviews. Meaning, when I am about to buy something I attempt to find people who own it, eavesdrop on people talking about the item in retail stores, read the online boards, etc.
I cannot tell you how many times I have been in Fry's Electronics (or some other store) talking to a customer about something and they left with a different (better) product than they came in for. The reason is that I don't work for Fry's and have nothing tangible to gain no matter what they buy. I simply like seeing "good tech" survive, and so I thoroughly evangelize companies that treat me well. I do the opposite for compoanies that treat me badly. I can say for sure that IWILL has lost more than 10 sales because of me. IWILL XA-100 had a 40% failure rate (at the local Fry's), and they did not step up to the plate and recall the damned things. I got stuck with one, which was traded out for two others in unopened boxes with no success.
I have a feeling Nikon is going to lose sales, because now I can use the "I" word that scares Joe Sixpack so much. "Incompatible"... I'll also use another word that is designed to scare Mr. Sixpack, "Proprietary".... I can then go on about how my Olympus takes wonderful pictures, and is "compatible" and "not proprietary" and will work with all kinds of software. Heck, I didn't install the Olympus software, and even lost the disk with the software on it and can still get my pictures. And then mention that most other vendors are open and just work, and express puzzlement at why Nikon hates it's customers...
This generally works. While I am aware that I may only stop 5 or ten sales, if 10 people did this, it would be 50 to 100 sales, etc, etc. Furthermore people buying the non-proprietary item who are happy with it, will warn their friends away from that vendor. This is viral in nature. It does work, however it is dependant on how many people take part.
This vendor screw consumer atitude really bends me out of shape...
Oh BTW, my sister in law's purchased new Ford Focus has transmission problems at 38,000 miles. It also has had the brake system recalled, twice. Currently it eats brakes every 10,000 miles. This is just the beginning of the list. Since Ford has been very little help, they are seriously considering painting the car yellow, and writing the word "lemon" on it.
Of course who needs Linux to be usable by the masses. We should stick to the "Linux is for the elite" development mantra that has served to boost it's usage in homes.
:)
Personally, I simply gave up on waiting for an honest to god ready for the masses Linux/FreeBSD desktop and bought a Mac. I love Slackware as a CLI based server OS, but it just doesn't cut it for ease of use. And while I _could_ write my web pages by hand, I can kick out a website in GoLive in a small fraction of the time. Furthermore I can rename a dependent file and have every referring page update (fix) it's references. This is damned useful since I am moving many of the images of the site to my ISP, while the actual pages reside on my server. ISP won't give me root on their box to configure the monitoring software for my network
I'll give up my copy of GoLive when they pry it from my cold, dead fingers.
It's site management and collaboration features are incredible. For the most part, Flash websites take much longer to load (no 56k need apply), and offer a great deal more overhead than they make up for with usability (you with the P II-450, don't even try).
It's not the same tech, IBM's process removes the germanium, where Intel leaves it on. This causes much more current leakage. The 90nm Pentium M also used more power than it's 130nm version from what I have read, it's just that it was not so close to the top of the thermal envelope.
They knew why it was so hot...
They had to leave the germanium from the Silicon stretching process on the die, since to remove it would require the use of a patented IBM process. Which BTW AMD has a license to. This causes a great deal more current leakage than the IBM or AMD chips have at 90nm. This is why the power consumption of the IBM and AMD chips went down at 90nm, while Intel's original 90nm chips got hotter.
This is of course a simplification... But it's 3am...
Yes, they absolutely DO have a northbridge. What they do not have is a Northbridge memory controller, since it is on the CPU die.
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What's that Bob? We're losing your signal... Since you changed to channel "Slashdot" we keep getting interference with your transmission...
If only they had not made the thing use a VLIW ISA, which is perhaps the shittiest thing to program for on earth. I imagine that once the Cell architecture matures, and gets the apprpriate dev tools ported to it, that's the way the industry will (should) go. A general purpose CPU (that can handle linear code, since some has to be) with programmable secondary units that can perform a function on a stream of data...
If you mean switching, as in I use this as my 'nearly exclusive desktop machine', then yes switching is easily capable. Everything I use on the desktop, other than games is on OSX. From Quicken/Quickbooks, to everything Adobe (except for Premier, and being the non-movie making person, I prefer iMovie). From the UNIX-side, even KDE has been ported! Yes, even KDE has a native UI version for OSX.
If you mean switching, as in I use this as my 'exclusive box for everything games and servers and all', then there is nothing in existance that will fit the bill. I used to use Windows as a desktop, then FreeBSD & Windows (for commercial apps), then OSX. I still run Windows (XP Pro Volume) as a toy, meaning that it has America's Army, C&C Generals, Red Faction, Starcraft, etc, installed on it. Yah know, the important stuff. And I still run Linux and BSD on servers.
Bank of America has already been compromised. The Slammer worm infected their network, and even their ATM machines!!!!!!
I heard from one of their IT guys that they were ripping out their old systems and replacing them with Win2k. I was horrified, he had no idea why. I asked him why the bank would move to the most attacked and compromised system on earth for "secure" applications. I told him I was going to remove my account. He assured me that they would be secure, and six months later Slammer rolled out.
Check this google search for slammer "bank of america". 4320 results!!!!!!!!
Don't expect politicians, who are beholden to big money (Microsoft) to be doing anything to fix the problem; (no M$ on network facing secure systems until proven that they are no longer getting hit by worm after worm. No ATMs running anything in major usage on the desktop. QNX or something similar, and non x86 CPUs (writing directly to the stack does not work if instruction set is different, generally just a crash, down is better than compromised). More diversity in network infrastructure, so that one exploit cannot take everything down. More diversity in secure systems, for the same reason as previous.
Ireland in the past settled on a single standard. The result was that millions starved. The standard was the the lumper, a potato variety. The result: a single blight killed almost all of the potatoes the poor relied on. (one exploit takes everything down) While other potatoes more resistant, they were not in wide enough use to make a major difference. (Sadly there was enough (non-potato) food there, but it was being shipped to england for higher prices. Go figure.)
Unfortunately the "them" you are referring to is 90% or more of the computer using public. I have spent years working around people with bachelor's and master's degrees. These people refer to Word as "Microsoft". As in: I wrote the file in "Microsoft". They refer to MSIE as "The internet", as in: "Does this machine have the internet?" If these people mastered life as well as they master computers, they wouldn't be able to tie their shoes.
Linux will be ready as a desktop for the masses in my opinion when the average (L)user can install and remove applications more easily, when it has a ID10T ready help system that doesn't scare the hell out of them (no big words, no jargon), when it has a desktop that offers a fairly complete and polished control panel system like Windows 95/XP/OS9/OSX, when the average A+ moron can install and configure a piece of hardware graphically with drivers and all without a recompile (for when the (L)user takes it to CompUSA) when the user interface has better continuity (I still have problems occasionally with cutting and pasting between apps), etc.
I really dig Linux, especially Slackware, but I'm not putting my mom on it because she lives too far away for me to support it (2300 miles). And even though she is a SASI administrator (annoying database app created for educational use), I'm pretty sure that it'd be a rough haul for her without direct help/me administering the machine. My father, who is mostly a non-user (if you move the icons around, he gets confused) would be completely lost.
Hell, at one school I worked at for a bit, I did some configuring of an OSX box from the command line and the other Network Techs got all freaked out. They were flabbergasted when I setup automated backups of the grade books to the district office using rsync (if you use THAT, who will support THAT if you are not here). Since the Network Techs at my last job couldn't figure out how to do anything other than launch what was listed in the KDE menu, and re-image the machines using the CDs the outside contractor gave them, I have a rather low opinion of Linux's readiness for the masses
Can we then remove any and all journalistic protections from the "National Enquirer", the "Sun", the "Star", and all of those other publications which reside in supermarket check-out lines.... They clearly have no formal training, no sense of responsibility, no journalistic integrity, or credibility. Also can we then remove the one of the local papers in my home town, which had columns created by people with less training the the above mentioned blogger? Can we then take this a few steps further and remove those shows like "Hard Copy" and others like it as journalists. They certainly aren't the personification of journalism as was reflected by Walter Cronkite. How about Fox News, they certainly make no secret of their bias.
Apparently you haven't been watching the news for some time. In Phoenix, we have the dumbest newscasters I have ever seen. They do reports in front of closed courthouses 6 hours after the place closed about a trial that took place 10 hours ago. They do reports about various issues that make it obvious that they have no idea what they are talking about. They spend 10 minutes advertising a 3 minute story. I used to like to watch the news, however since moving here, I don't watch it at all anymore. Referring to Phoenix newscasts as "journalism" is like calling professional wrestling a sport, even they refer to it as "entertainment" and not a sport.
My point is that this is a very slippery slope. Remember, when this country was founded, many newspapers were not much more than gossip rags. They were still protected as being "the press". Many of these papers were written by people who knew nothing of investigation, integrity, or absence of bias. Many of the articles were written by people whose command of english was rather limited.
Before discussing what is and is not journalism, what is and is not "the press", it is important to read a few papers from the time that the US was founded. You may be shocked.
Note: Personally I'd like to see all of the check-out line newspaper's companies burn to the ground, but I don't want the government doing it.