Much of the success of Apple has nothing to do with Apple itself or Steve Jobs. Instead, Apple allows people to directly reject Microsoft. Linux satisfies this anti-Microsoft position as well, but Apple actually markets itself and has the financial backing to push this branding. I've heard this so many times and it's growing a bit tired. I bought my first Mac three years ago. Not because I want to get back at MS, but because I saw what it could do. It is, without question, the best computer purchase I've ever made. I no longer waste my time playing sysadmin at home too. I can make *anything* work if I want to but I don't have to put in the effort with the Mac. The little box just runs. My wife (who couldn't care less about computers) uses it every day and doesn't call me at work with printing problems. It's never crashed on her. It's never dropped the internet connection. It just works.
Aside from the juvenile crowd that seems to be attracted to Mac message boards, most of the real world people I've met that use a Mac treat it like an appliance, not a religion. They don't care about MS - they just prefer not to deal with a product that's inconsistent, relatively counter intuitive and requires extra work just to keep safe while browsing around on the internet. As other posters have mentioned, it's not that the Mac is something magical, it's just that the other options are so poor in comparison.
Maximum continuous power: 110W Actually, it's quite a bit better than than. I used a Kill-a-Watt to test my 1.25ghz G4 mini and it uses around 18 watts under normal loads (iTunes playing, Mail.app, Terminal.app, safari and Emacs open). When it goes to sleep it uses less than 3 watts. Paired with a flat panel monitor with DPMS and you've got a very low impact system.
The newer intel units consume about twice that much power (around 35w) from what I've read but still are very efficient compared with most PCs.
Of course, the impact from the manufacturing process for any computer is big enough to dwarf it's utilization. The longer you hold on to a machine, the less environmental damage you're creating. This mini was purchased when Apple first released them in early 2005. I just upgraded it to Leopard figure it has at least two more years before I have to think about an upgrade.
"Now I'm back to opening up two Terminal windows..."
You have a couple of other options. Leopard's Terminal lets you use tabs. That's not quite as nice but it saves you some screen real estate. Another option (my favourite) is to use GNU Screen in a single terminal. This gives you multiple tabs and the ability to split the screen in two (or more) windows within the terminal and use those windows for any combination of terminal sessions you want. Ten or fifteen minutes of learning gives you an incredibly useful tool at your disposal. Screen is included with OS X and most Linux distributions.
"Will you buy MP3s, unrestricted, for a reasonable price?"
I'm still waiting for the price to become reasonable.
I have no problem with paying for music but charging somewhere around $10 USD for an album in lossy mp3 format with non-transferable ownership is not what I consider reasonable. [Maybe for flac. Maybe.] Considering that the cost of production is as close to zero as you can get with this distribution model there's no reason for those kinds of prices. When mp3 downloads are around $5 for an album I'll be fully on-board. Right now, Amazon's service is getting closer but eMusic still wins.
I started my boycott a few years ago. If I'm looking to buy a CD from an artist on an RIAA label I go to ebay or Amazon and purchase it used. For everything else, there's eMusic.
"Mac OS X has the "it just works" reputation because of the limited number of hardware configurations on which it runs."
I've heard this for years but I still haven't seen ANY hardware sample where Windows "just works". I'd put more value on the fact that Apple based the core of their OS on a unix-like system not the registry/spaghetti mess that has been windows for the past decade plus. I'm sure that eliminating poorly written drivers from the mix does help prevent some of the problems that plague windows but it's not the whole story by a long shot.
Besides, with that argument, Linux should be even more unstable because very few of it's hardware drivers are written by the device manufacturers - many are reverse engineered.
"As one who has never used a subscription service (I'm one of the low-volume types) I ask this: if your subscription ceases, do you still have access to the music you already downloaded?"
For most subscription services the files will not play a short while after you cancel the subscription. The only exception is an emusic.com subscription. You can keep those DRM-free mp3 files forever since eMusic's "subscription" is just a subscription purchasing plan, not a "service".
I'm just going to jump in here with my data points:
PPC Mac mini 1.25ghz. 18 watts when idle. Rarely uses more than 20w when in use. 3 watts when in "sleep" mode. My 20" Viewsonic widescreen LCD uses 32 watts and 2 or 3 when in power save mode.
Very economical system from a power usage perspective. Since I plan on keeping this system for many more years it should save me quite a bit over my previous 1ghz PC (7w off; 97w idle;95w 21" CRT).
Satellite may not be great, but it's a LOT better than dialup which is my only other option where I live (very rural Vermont). I I do find it interesting that Verizon is trying to get rid of us. I feel like they've not had much interest in providing internet serivce out here so it's certainly no loss in my eyes. I've had satellite service with wildblue.net for almost a year now. I got tired of waiting for DLS or cable service which is still nowhere near reaching me. It is reasonable for my needs. I don't play on-line games so that's not a problem (but I'm sure it would be if I did). The latency, while far from great, is good enough that I can type over an ssh connection without going insane. I have a connection at my work which is almost 10 times as fast with low latency so I do know the difference.
Of course dictionary attacks won't work - have you seen the spelling on MySpace?!? It's not that they are trying to be more secure, it's that the users can't spell well enough to get a dictionary match.
Getoffamylawn!
Re:I still have an XT - 3 of them!
on
Why Do Gadgets Break?
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
I worked as a tech in a shop which leased out XT systems as part of our product support in the early 90's we still had many customers who were using IBM XT's. Nothing killed them. We had hundreds out in use and I don't recall ever seeing one that came back dead. We had a significant number of "clone" systems which often had to be scrapped on return. The original IBM XT was amazingly overbuilt.
"Why should Ballmer be interested in free software?"
I'm not suggesting that he is. He was asked a question regarding free software relative to the long term interests of the Indian people. He didn't answer the question. Even though he likely feels that free software would be a bad thing, he should at least have the courtesy to answer the question and explain his views on why it would be a mistake or dangerous to their country, society, culture, economy, etc.
This is a classic tactic. Answer the question you want to answer rather than the one which really was asked of you. Basically Balmer didn't want to discuss free software so he discussed revenue streams (which is all software is about in his mind anyways). Anytime someone does this you can be sure that they're not interested in your interests, just their own.
Slashdot Mirror
Aside from the juvenile crowd that seems to be attracted to Mac message boards, most of the real world people I've met that use a Mac treat it like an appliance, not a religion. They don't care about MS - they just prefer not to deal with a product that's inconsistent, relatively counter intuitive and requires extra work just to keep safe while browsing around on the internet. As other posters have mentioned, it's not that the Mac is something magical, it's just that the other options are so poor in comparison.
Maximum continuous power: 110W Actually, it's quite a bit better than than. I used a Kill-a-Watt to test my 1.25ghz G4 mini and it uses around 18 watts under normal loads (iTunes playing, Mail.app, Terminal.app, safari and Emacs open). When it goes to sleep it uses less than 3 watts. Paired with a flat panel monitor with DPMS and you've got a very low impact system.
The newer intel units consume about twice that much power (around 35w) from what I've read but still are very efficient compared with most PCs.
Of course, the impact from the manufacturing process for any computer is big enough to dwarf it's utilization. The longer you hold on to a machine, the less environmental damage you're creating. This mini was purchased when Apple first released them in early 2005. I just upgraded it to Leopard figure it has at least two more years before I have to think about an upgrade.
"Now I'm back to opening up two Terminal windows..."
You have a couple of other options. Leopard's Terminal lets you use tabs. That's not quite as nice but it saves you some screen real estate. Another option (my favourite) is to use GNU Screen in a single terminal. This gives you multiple tabs and the ability to split the screen in two (or more) windows within the terminal and use those windows for any combination of terminal sessions you want. Ten or fifteen minutes of learning gives you an incredibly useful tool at your disposal. Screen is included with OS X and most Linux distributions.
"Apple removed many of the parts from a normal laptop computer and are now going to charge more for it. Genius I tell you!"
Do you work in my IT dept.?
I guess that's revealing my age.
Pong then Space Invaders, Atari2600, Leisure Suite Larry in CGA graphics.
We didn't worry about frames per seconds.
"Will you buy MP3s, unrestricted, for a reasonable price?"
I'm still waiting for the price to become reasonable.
I have no problem with paying for music but charging somewhere around $10 USD for an album in lossy mp3 format with non-transferable ownership is not what I consider reasonable. [Maybe for flac. Maybe.] Considering that the cost of production is as close to zero as you can get with this distribution model there's no reason for those kinds of prices. When mp3 downloads are around $5 for an album I'll be fully on-board. Right now, Amazon's service is getting closer but eMusic still wins.
Why don't you post the address so we can all verify that it remains accessible?
I started my boycott a few years ago. If I'm looking to buy a CD from an artist on an RIAA label I go to ebay or Amazon and purchase it used. For everything else, there's eMusic.
I wondered, as I read the summary, how long it would take for someone to mention Emacs in the comments. Congratulations.
"Mac OS X has the "it just works" reputation because of the limited number of hardware configurations on which it runs."
I've heard this for years but I still haven't seen ANY hardware sample where Windows "just works". I'd put more value on the fact that Apple based the core of their OS on a unix-like system not the registry/spaghetti mess that has been windows for the past decade plus. I'm sure that eliminating poorly written drivers from the mix does help prevent some of the problems that plague windows but it's not the whole story by a long shot.
Besides, with that argument, Linux should be even more unstable because very few of it's hardware drivers are written by the device manufacturers - many are reverse engineered.
"...the frequent (and inane) discussions you see in stories where people brag about their low user IDs."
what kind of a loser would start a thread about that?
"As one who has never used a subscription service (I'm one of the low-volume types) I ask this: if your subscription ceases, do you still have access to the music you already downloaded?"
For most subscription services the files will not play a short while after you cancel the subscription.
The only exception is an emusic.com subscription. You can keep those DRM-free mp3 files forever since eMusic's "subscription" is just a subscription purchasing plan, not a "service".
"Since I work for the Enterprise, I do not have direct access to TAC. "
Yes, Capt. Kirk can be very protective of the TAC.
I'm just going to jump in here with my data points:
PPC Mac mini 1.25ghz. 18 watts when idle. Rarely uses more than 20w when in use. 3 watts when in "sleep" mode.
My 20" Viewsonic widescreen LCD uses 32 watts and 2 or 3 when in power save mode.
Very economical system from a power usage perspective. Since I plan on keeping this system for many more years it should save me quite a bit over my previous 1ghz PC (7w off; 97w idle;95w 21" CRT).
> If you believe that
Yes, but you'll be selling it at a significant loss.
Satellite may not be great, but it's a LOT better than dialup which is my only other option where I live (very rural Vermont). I I do find it interesting that Verizon is trying to get rid of us. I feel like they've not had much interest in providing internet serivce out here so it's certainly no loss in my eyes. I've had satellite service with wildblue.net for almost a year now. I got tired of waiting for DLS or cable service which is still nowhere near reaching me. It is reasonable for my needs. I don't play on-line games so that's not a problem (but I'm sure it would be if I did). The latency, while far from great, is good enough that I can type over an ssh connection without going insane. I have a connection at my work which is almost 10 times as fast with low latency so I do know the difference.
Losing Verison is no loss.
MIT is just getting around to this? The RIAA has been offering an "Introduction to Copyright Law" to select individuals for the past few years.
Of course dictionary attacks won't work - have you seen the spelling on MySpace?!? It's not that they are trying to be more secure, it's that the users can't spell well enough to get a dictionary match.
Getoffamylawn!
I worked as a tech in a shop which leased out XT systems as part of our product support in the early 90's we still had many customers who were using IBM XT's. Nothing killed them. We had hundreds out in use and I don't recall ever seeing one that came back dead. We had a significant number of "clone" systems which often had to be scrapped on return. The original IBM XT was amazingly overbuilt.
"Why should Ballmer be interested in free software?"
I'm not suggesting that he is. He was asked a question regarding free software relative to the long term interests of the Indian people. He didn't answer the question. Even though he likely feels that free software would be a bad thing, he should at least have the courtesy to answer the question and explain his views on why it would be a mistake or dangerous to their country, society, culture, economy, etc.
This is a classic tactic. Answer the question you want to answer rather than the one which really was asked of you. Basically Balmer didn't want to discuss free software so he discussed revenue streams (which is all software is about in his mind anyways). Anytime someone does this you can be sure that they're not interested in your interests, just their own.
(I'm weak, I couldn't actually do it.)
I'm trying to imagine this meme petrified...
or am I pouring a bowl of hot memes down my pants?
"[*] DO NOT CLICK THIS LINK (unless you're familiar with modblog, aren't squemish and aren't at work)."
Next time, please, and I do mean please, put the warning BEFORE the link.
You'd think after years of avoiding goatse.cx and other's I'd know better.
How dare you forget eLinks? It's much better. text-mode tabs rule!
http://elinks.or.cz/