Come on, this was old news in 1985. Apple has always had a premium price attached to their hardware. The only reason you can get into a Macbook for under $2k these days is because guys like Dell and HP are pushing the $1200-1500 range for their top flight notebooks.
Why would you announce this with those two facts glaring in their face?
Because they really don't have any choice. No one wants Vista, but they can't undermine it by continuing to offer XP because Vista is going to be the basis for their OS's going forward. At the same time, you have to give users some kind of light at the end of the tunnel, or risk losing a bunch of them to OSX or Linux.
Valid speculation, but speculation nonetheless. It may well be the case that someone would have filled the void, but I don't think you can consider it a certainty. Consider what else was out there about the time that, say, Windows 3.0 was really taking root as the OS of choice for the masses:
- Apple's MacOS was good, but tied to a hardware platform that was horribly overpriced, which would have been a barrier for a lot of computer purchases by families/individuals - Unix/Linux flavors. Linux was just starting out and certainly wouldn't have been ready as an OS for a personal computer for most. Unix would have been overkill/pointless in the same role. - OS/2 would probably have been the defacto choice for most PC's, but would IBM have filled the role of Microsoft to the same level? Remember that in the early 90's IBM was still arguably in their "Computers are for businesses" mode, and like Apple saw the OS as tool for selling hardware; without Microsoft to drag them into/compete with them in the home computer arena, would they have dedicated the kind of resources necessary to improving OS/2 at the same rate that Windows improved?
Microsoft really was in a somewhat unique place to do what they did; they had ties to IBM (and others) that allowed them to get their OS's on a lot of computers, but they were still independent enough to take advantage of the then bold idea that "It's all about the software". I don't think you can say for certain that another company would have just stepped in and filled their shoes, and succeeded in bring computers to the masses as well as they did.
The "rock star" developers get Bill's last speech. And what are the tech guys going to get next week during TechEd IT Professionals? Probably another lame Back to the Future skit with Christopher Lloyd cashing a paycheck.
Yeah, it's all puppies and roses when you developers are compiling, and it's cute when you do "compatibility testing" with a VM load. But then someone tries to actually run it on a real computer and a real network, and who do you call? That's right, the old neck-beards.
What makes you think the Catholic Church has this information exclusively? Maybe leaders from all major religions have it. Maybe the larger media companies know it as well. Maybe the the British Monarchy, the Vatican, the Getty's, the Rothchild's, and Colonel Sanders before he went tits up all knew about this and have been slowly preparing us for it over many years.
Not to go all tin foil hat, but this was the exact thought I had as well. There isn't a single aspect of modern life that wouldn't be somehow affected by the announcement that proof of alien life has been found. New religions (and cults) would spring up almost overnight. Industries related to space programs probably quadruple over the next 10 years. Diplomacy between countries is affected, either positively (OK it's us against them now) or negatively (You are not worthy to talk to our Space God). It doesn't matter if it's just microbes on Mars; just confirmation of the possibility of alien life means that everyone is suddenly taking the Drake Equation a lot more seriously.
If I'm a world government, or some other group with international power and influence, and I know or suspect that an announcement like this is imminent, I don't want this dropping on the populace light a thunderbolt out of the sky.
For a true 4-dimensional Rubiks Cube, one that incorporates Time. Of course solving it will be incredibly disappointing, since after you do solve one, it turns out that it was solved all along.
I can remember
on
iMac Turns 10
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
Working at CompUSSR right about the time the iMac's were starting to become available. Maybe it was the second model that came in your choice of "flavors"? Don't recall exactly. What I do remember is that in the Wichita, KS store you could get pretty much any color you wanted, except the purple ones. The purple they used was almost an exact match for K-State purple, and people were buying them as soon as they hit the sales floor.
That's when I knew computers had changed.
This story is what, a week old? "Wow here's a story about a company that I have never heard of selling suspiciously cheap Mac compatible computers! I hope I don't melt my credit card taking it out of my wallet so fast!"
I've no doubt that probably a lot of people may have gotten taken here, but I'm just having trouble understanding why anyone would be so quick to order something like this that just comes completely out of the blue. I mean at least wait a couple months for Tom's Hardware to review one or something.
Purple Monkey Dishwasher? "Hey I know, instead of thinking of a coherent thought for the title I'll just throw in product names randomly, no one will notice!"
I know this is Slashdot and the above statement is probably true but come on, at least pretend like you can speak in complete sentences.
Perhaps, but there's no denying that products like Server 2008 and Powershell definitely have a very *nix flavor to them and are at least partially meant to appeal to the Linux crowd. I'm sure MS would love to make the MySQL/MSSQL or IIS/Apache decision a little more difficult for a lot of admins out there.
This may be true, but the point is that there are all kinds of ways/reasons besides "Evil Facebook" that personal information can be remembered by the Internet. If it's so vitally important for Facebook to not remember your email address, perhaps you should give it to them in the first place.
You mean that if I upload all kinds of personal information and data to a third party's web servers that I have no direct or even indirect control over, I might have trouble later removing that info at my whim?
Seriously, even if Facebook did have a motivation for fully scrubbing users data when asked, I would think just Facebook employee incompetence would result in a certain percentage of information being left. And from Facebook's perspective, how many times do you think they have to deal with a user wanting everything they ever posted/uploaded gone forever one week, then wanting it all back and restored perfectly the next?
If you don't want it in the public realm, don't upload it/post it. Simple as that.
My thought exactly. When I first started working for the company I do now, every one of the workstations on campus had a public IP address. And then all of the sudden people started getting Net Send messages for Viagra.
I don't want every computer in the world to be able to see my computer, at least not directly. Perhaps I'm missing a point here but seems to me that as long as there is a need for firewalls, there is going to be a need for LAN's.
So let me get this straight: A company is building a device that can literally set things on fire with visible light, built to almost exactly duplicate the form, shape, and function of the traditional flashlight, a device that after ~100 years is nearly universally recognized and known to be relatively harmless. And you think that it should not come with a warning label of some kind?
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NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! Come back, zinc, come back!
*Whew*, it was just a dream. Thank goodness I still live in a world of telephones, car batteries, handguns [*bang*!] and many things made of zinc.
Come on, this was old news in 1985. Apple has always had a premium price attached to their hardware. The only reason you can get into a Macbook for under $2k these days is because guys like Dell and HP are pushing the $1200-1500 range for their top flight notebooks.
Why would you announce this with those two facts glaring in their face?
Because they really don't have any choice. No one wants Vista, but they can't undermine it by continuing to offer XP because Vista is going to be the basis for their OS's going forward. At the same time, you have to give users some kind of light at the end of the tunnel, or risk losing a bunch of them to OSX or Linux.
That's odd, I was always under the impression that the mortality rate was 100%.
Valid speculation, but speculation nonetheless. It may well be the case that someone would have filled the void, but I don't think you can consider it a certainty. Consider what else was out there about the time that, say, Windows 3.0 was really taking root as the OS of choice for the masses:
- Apple's MacOS was good, but tied to a hardware platform that was horribly overpriced, which would have been a barrier for a lot of computer purchases by families/individuals
- Unix/Linux flavors. Linux was just starting out and certainly wouldn't have been ready as an OS for a personal computer for most. Unix would have been overkill/pointless in the same role.
- OS/2 would probably have been the defacto choice for most PC's, but would IBM have filled the role of Microsoft to the same level? Remember that in the early 90's IBM was still arguably in their "Computers are for businesses" mode, and like Apple saw the OS as tool for selling hardware; without Microsoft to drag them into/compete with them in the home computer arena, would they have dedicated the kind of resources necessary to improving OS/2 at the same rate that Windows improved?
Microsoft really was in a somewhat unique place to do what they did; they had ties to IBM (and others) that allowed them to get their OS's on a lot of computers, but they were still independent enough to take advantage of the then bold idea that "It's all about the software". I don't think you can say for certain that another company would have just stepped in and filled their shoes, and succeeded in bring computers to the masses as well as they did.
Oblivion? D-Eye-Ah-Blo? Man, how the hell did anyone remember these incredibly obscure games?
Overall the sound was warmer, more rounded and fuller of color.
And then I told my companion Dr. Gonzo, "Don't stop here you fool, this is bat country!"
I kind of saddens me that only one person thought to post this, and it went largely ignored. Come on, there's still a place for the classic trolls!
The "rock star" developers get Bill's last speech. And what are the tech guys going to get next week during TechEd IT Professionals? Probably another lame Back to the Future skit with Christopher Lloyd cashing a paycheck. Yeah, it's all puppies and roses when you developers are compiling, and it's cute when you do "compatibility testing" with a VM load. But then someone tries to actually run it on a real computer and a real network, and who do you call? That's right, the old neck-beards.
OK, no more Civilization 2 for you.
Don't laugh: they probably have a "Customer Genital Licking" clause in the standard contract for new acts.
What, was Max Power already taken?
What makes you think the Catholic Church has this information exclusively? Maybe leaders from all major religions have it. Maybe the larger media companies know it as well. Maybe the the British Monarchy, the Vatican, the Getty's, the Rothchild's, and Colonel Sanders before he went tits up all knew about this and have been slowly preparing us for it over many years.
Not to go all tin foil hat, but this was the exact thought I had as well. There isn't a single aspect of modern life that wouldn't be somehow affected by the announcement that proof of alien life has been found. New religions (and cults) would spring up almost overnight. Industries related to space programs probably quadruple over the next 10 years. Diplomacy between countries is affected, either positively (OK it's us against them now) or negatively (You are not worthy to talk to our Space God). It doesn't matter if it's just microbes on Mars; just confirmation of the possibility of alien life means that everyone is suddenly taking the Drake Equation a lot more seriously. If I'm a world government, or some other group with international power and influence, and I know or suspect that an announcement like this is imminent, I don't want this dropping on the populace light a thunderbolt out of the sky.
For a true 4-dimensional Rubiks Cube, one that incorporates Time. Of course solving it will be incredibly disappointing, since after you do solve one, it turns out that it was solved all along.
Working at CompUSSR right about the time the iMac's were starting to become available. Maybe it was the second model that came in your choice of "flavors"? Don't recall exactly. What I do remember is that in the Wichita, KS store you could get pretty much any color you wanted, except the purple ones. The purple they used was almost an exact match for K-State purple, and people were buying them as soon as they hit the sales floor. That's when I knew computers had changed.
This story is what, a week old? "Wow here's a story about a company that I have never heard of selling suspiciously cheap Mac compatible computers! I hope I don't melt my credit card taking it out of my wallet so fast!" I've no doubt that probably a lot of people may have gotten taken here, but I'm just having trouble understanding why anyone would be so quick to order something like this that just comes completely out of the blue. I mean at least wait a couple months for Tom's Hardware to review one or something.
Purple Monkey Dishwasher? "Hey I know, instead of thinking of a coherent thought for the title I'll just throw in product names randomly, no one will notice!"
I know this is Slashdot and the above statement is probably true but come on, at least pretend like you can speak in complete sentences.
That accurately describes about 90% of theoretical physics doesn't it?
Perhaps, but there's no denying that products like Server 2008 and Powershell definitely have a very *nix flavor to them and are at least partially meant to appeal to the Linux crowd. I'm sure MS would love to make the MySQL/MSSQL or IIS/Apache decision a little more difficult for a lot of admins out there.
No fair stealing ideas from the BOFH!
This may be true, but the point is that there are all kinds of ways/reasons besides "Evil Facebook" that personal information can be remembered by the Internet. If it's so vitally important for Facebook to not remember your email address, perhaps you should give it to them in the first place.
You mean that if I upload all kinds of personal information and data to a third party's web servers that I have no direct or even indirect control over, I might have trouble later removing that info at my whim?
Seriously, even if Facebook did have a motivation for fully scrubbing users data when asked, I would think just Facebook employee incompetence would result in a certain percentage of information being left. And from Facebook's perspective, how many times do you think they have to deal with a user wanting everything they ever posted/uploaded gone forever one week, then wanting it all back and restored perfectly the next?
If you don't want it in the public realm, don't upload it/post it. Simple as that.
My thought exactly. When I first started working for the company I do now, every one of the workstations on campus had a public IP address. And then all of the sudden people started getting Net Send messages for Viagra.
I don't want every computer in the world to be able to see my computer, at least not directly. Perhaps I'm missing a point here but seems to me that as long as there is a need for firewalls, there is going to be a need for LAN's.
So let me get this straight: A company is building a device that can literally set things on fire with visible light, built to almost exactly duplicate the form, shape, and function of the traditional flashlight, a device that after ~100 years is nearly universally recognized and known to be relatively harmless. And you think that it should not come with a warning label of some kind?