I know Apple wants to maintain it's image and all, but I always felt that if they marketed their machines as the "run anything" computer, they would grab a nice chunk of the market. Instead of the pure Apple machine they might go the other direction with their hardware and call it a "blank slate" fit for whatever OS you want to put on it... go where YOU want to go kind of computer.
The problem with this strategy is that developers may see it as an excuse to move (or keep) their software to Windows exclusively. Keeping a seperate version for OSX is expensive, why do it if it isnt neccessary. Adobe could simply produce a Windows version of Photoshop and have Mac owners boot into Windows to use it.
On the flip side, Mac owners are pretty finicky about demanding native software. Windows is already available via emulation on Macs and we havent seen the above scenario. Even more intriguing is that many "linux" apps are available for free via X11 in OSX but outside of techies, few people use them (With the possible exception of Gimp.app). Most Mac owners prefer the (relatively) consistent UI of native mac apps.
Personally, I'll install Windows on my Macintel when its available. I'm much more comfortable in a mac/unix environment but there are occasional needs for full speed Windows. I keep an old PC around for that now. I'd like to be able to toss it and just dual boot OSX/XP on a laptop.
In Bernard Lewis' The Muslim Discovery of Europe he discusses how the Islamic world basically ignored outside influences in the world of science and technology, deeming them insignificant works of infidels. After a couple of hundred years they found themselves far behind in the way of military technology which they once mastered.
They laid seige to Vienna with cannons before most europeans had even seen firearms, but defended themselves from machine guns with smooth bore muskets.
Its important to point out that many cultures stagnate under the pressure of religion. Especially those who shone brightly in their early days. The ancient Egyptians treated the scientific works of the old kingdom as sacrosanct and absolute truth. The written word worked against them and their science and medicine stagnated for thousands of years under the weight of their past glory.
>why do they gotta make these things so big and fat?
This is exaclty whats wrong with them. The market for these things, like the market for Newton's, will be fairly small because you get a much less functional device for the same price in a package which just isnt small enough to carry around. If I've got to carry a 3 lb, non-pocketable brick, I might as well be carrying my 5 lb laptop.
I do see a small market for them, Some business travelers will adopt them, and companies may use them as inventory control devices (like the boxes FedEx and UPS drivers carry). I cant see busy housewives with designer cases toting these things around though. Another possible use is as an "Xbox portable", a full powered, full resolution gaming console with a screen built in.
Doctors and Lawyers loved the Newton, and some might buy these things, but the functionality offered by the newton has largely been replaced by other, smaller devices (though not as elegantly as the newton did); Even the newton was too big to see widespread adoption.
Will Mac users find a creative way to spin it? Or will some of them now actaully admit that it's a mark against the Apple/Mac reputation and mentality?
Ok, I'll bite. Apple has been tied to one or two CPU vendors in the past, so not much has changed. This time the "out" is much easier though. I imagine if Intel fails to deliver for Apple, then AMD is an easy switch.
Apple needed special considerations and Intel's faltering CPU line needed the cache Apple brought. You'll note that not long after the Intel iMacs and MacBooks were announced there were complaints that others were having problems getting chips because they were going to Apple. Intel is hardly a monopoly in the X86 world, so your "monopolistic Intel" argument wont hold much water. FWIW, I think AMD has a great case, and that Intel and Skype are pulling a fast one... but thats not what you asked.
As for the Intel CPU being the most important component of an Apple computer... I'd argue that MacOS X is by far the most important component. As long as its fast enough, I could give two toots what brand the CPU carries. I'd rather have MacOS X running on a 1.25 GHz G4 (my laptop) than Windows XP running on the fastest Athlon they make.
>cheap and easy to use software development tools allowing for both open source and shareware application development
While you may arguably have some points against Apple in your post, I dont think MS scores on this one. You can get much cheaper than free and thats how much Apple's dev tools cost. Not "express" editions... the whole thing. How much will you pay for Xcode on Nov 6 2006? nothing. In fact, it comes with every copy of MacOS X sold. Linux and *BSD, yup... free too.
While I agree that the headline might have been a bit over the top. It does derive from the "Toys" invitation that went out a week or so ago. To get the real significance of "inviting people to his magical company in Cupertino" you have to understand how things USED to be done and how this is far better.
Back in the day, there used to be 2 times Apple would release products, MWNY/Boston and MWSF. Other than those two times, it was rare to see Apple even release minor updates to existing hardware. Dell would update their boxes whenever a new CPU was available while Apple was updating twice a year at best. Sometime in the late 90's Apple started doing minor updates and speed bumps outside of MW, then they started doing more significant updates and new releases. Nowadays, the release schedule is far less tied to MW and thats far better than the way it used to be. So, yeah. Even if its not spectacular, I'd rather see em throw a party or two at the ranch.
>If I understand it well, the killer feature of the iTunes is that it manages the musics that will go into the iPod
Youre making the same mistake countless others have made when analyzing apple products. Interestingly, the same mistake Samsung is making with the Z5. Apple isnt about a "killer feature". You can take any single aspect of any Apple product and find a comparable or better implementation somewhere else. What makes Apple products so great is the total package. Its not the ONE thing thats so great its that EVERYTHING is very good and works together beautifully.
>Why would Michael Dell care one way or the other? Not going to affect his business.
You dont think? Dell has laptops that compete in the same price range as Apple's offerings. Apple is a hot brand, I'd think Dell would be a bit concerned if Apple's sexy laptops all of a sudden ran Windows natively.
"Whereas, if you can much more conveniently run those same apps in virtual mode using Windows in a virtual environment, this will have no effect?"
Well, you can already run Windows in a virtual environment on a mac (Microsofts own VirtualPC which has run on Macs for 10+ years). There goes your argument.
>Which makes me think the real objection to dual booting is a religious one.
I have no objection to dual booting. If I had an intel Mac and could dual boot windows I would.
Even if you are BSing about your employer this makes alot of sense. When the possibility of dual booting first came up I wodnered if we wouldnt start seeing 3rd party developers drop mac support and suggest users boot into Windows to run their apps. I didnt think about Micheal Dell's reaction when he realized Apple might release a system capable of dual booting windows. I imagine it didnt please him too much.
>Time is the only uncheatable advancement method... and >even chess style games can be easily cheated by writing an AI bot to calculate optimal moves for you.
Dont try that in Starcraft or Warcraft (War III not WOW). There are occaional cheats and drop hacks, but your rank is largely based on skill, not the fact that you spent 400 hrs farming. Think about it... when you disconnect from the game in War III, the hero you just bumped to level 9 dissapears and all his minions with him. The next time you start a game, he's at level 1 again. You want a higher rank? You have to get better.
"I wonder how much access can you really gain from shell."
How about deleting all your files. OSX is highly scriptable and with AS studio, Automator etc, more accesible than ever. I fear that Trojans will become a popular method for "evil doers" on OSX. This is not a problem you can explain away with "it isnt safari's fault".
Note: I'm a fanboy posting from a Mac with safari (which now has open trusted files unchecked). I'm not some naysaying windows nurd looking to put Apple down.
Well there's precious little to report out of Iran or North Korea; so I suppose one could say that the China-bashing is a good thing (if you're Chinese), in that it shows that something there is happening. It's the places where you know a lot of censorship happens but that you never hear any internal criticism out of that are probably worse to live in, because that means the censorship is working. In China, it's not -- at least not all of the time.
CNN had a story on N Korea not too long ago. Part of the story covered smuggling people across the Chineese border... to... ahem... safety. When China is your safe haven you know you got it bad!
As for DHS intervening, good for them. They are law enforcement officers are they not? I'm sick of this "hey, it's not MY job" attitude everyone has now.
Your attitude is what makes the Patriot Act so dangerous. The same people who tell us that its only applicable to "terrorists" in one sentence will tell us that law enforcement should be able to use what ever tools are available to fight "crime" in the next sentence.
I'm not so sure about Porn in the Libraries, but it isnt up to two crackers with official looking caps to decide the law for us.
Exactly what censorship are you referring to? I agree that CNN presents a middle America point of view but pretty much any major news source will reflect the opinions of the majority of its viewers. If you are going to suggest the US get its house in order in regards to censorship you might provide us some specific examples to learn from and how things would have been handled differently in Australia. What websites can you get there that google blocks from our eyes (cause I'm pretty sure you can get to Al Qaeda and Taliban propaganda web pages from the US)? I will agree that we could use more Wicked Weasels in the US and less clothing censorship, both on TV and at the beach.
As China is discovering, there are too many alternative sources of information for censorship to work. This latest move by China could be just talk, but it honestly sounds like a face saving measure to phase out official censorship. Who better to be the sensible heros than the old guard?
Judging by the number of shuffles I see at the gym and on people who run/cycle/etc... they are quite popular with that segment of the market. Of course you also see other types of iPod and the odd "other player" or two. The new lower shuffle price will probably clinch the sale for me. I've been eyeing them ever since they came out, but as the owner of a 3G 20 GB, Its been hard to justify $100+ for another player. The nano fits the market for those who want more functionality. Apple probably considered a small LCD for the shuffle and decided they couldnt do anything other than "clunky" with it. Apple dosent do "clunky".
>not that I think that iPod gaining marketshare is a good thing...
I have mixed feelings... as a Mac and iPod owner, I want to see Apple do well. OTOH, a near monopoly is never a good thing. Its nice not to be marginalized for a change (something *BSD, linux and Mac users can understand).
Its interesting that you cite the coffee spill as evidence of a frivolous lawsuit and the iPod earbud issue as a legitimate one. In the case of the spilled coffee, the jury found that the customer was responsible for spilling the coffee on her lap. They also found that McDonalds was responsible for keeping their coffee at temperatures far hotter than "normal" fresh coffee (McDonalds claimed that this was so that the coffee would be hotter longer), which lead to the burns the customer recieved that would NOT have occurred had McDonalds coffee been abnormally hot. What sounds frivolous when compressed into a one liner is often much more complex.
OTOH, with what little info we have, this iPod business sounds frivolous. Listening to loud music causes hearing loss. Thats something even your daughter should know (I bet she does). Perhaps there is some factor they arent divulging right now that makes the complaint more legitimate.
>If they want to be ignorant, let them be. There's too much scientific evidence in favor of evolution to deny that it's true.
The problem is not with letting them be. The problem is when they elect a government that believes as they do. At least in the US, thats the case today. The basics of evolution arent difficult to understand, but it does require more education than most people have. Even law schooled politicians (who likely have very little biology training). To most people, believing in magic is easier. In most cases they are taught the magic version before they are able to read.
One major difference is that, in the case of universities, someone employed by the university actuallly did the research the patent is based on. I dont think the answer to the patent problem is simple. People who invent things should be able to be compensated without having to start a company and make a product. One way to do that is to sell or license their ideas. The system is so bad that businesses use patents and patent attorneys as weapons and everyone does it. Most large companies are in a sort of "cold war" with everyone staring down the guns of everyone elses patent attorneys. Companies who buy and leverage patents are like privateers (legalized pirates) bushwacking unsuspecting companies. There is little defense against them other than protracted legal battles. They dont make anything so you cant bludgeon them with your patents. The larger question should be... how do we deweaponize the patent system and if we did, would it even be a good thing.
>What the hell. If self-preservation has now become politically incorrect, our society has officially lost all touch with its evolutionary roots.
You dont have children do you? Self preservation is only a small part of evolution. Once you done your duty and raised your kids youre excess baggage whos only function is to annoy your offspring and their offspring and take them fishing once in a while.
Society, especially a more advanced future one, has no interest in reviving rich dead people who will undoubtedly go on and on about how much better it was in the old days. What could JP Morgan possibly offer us today? What good would come of a society of eternal old people? Evolution is about CHANGE and people dont change. Have fun, have kids and get the fuck out of the way.
I dont play WoW but I've played lots of other battle.net (BW, D1 and II, WarIII) games. If it works the same way, the reason they play on the US servers (2, East and West) is because money and characters cant cross servers. So someone farming gold on the Asia server cant sell gold to someone on the US West server. The reason the farmers play on the US servers is so they can sell gold to Americans. Please dont misinterpret my post to mean "All chineese playing on US servers are farmers." Thats not what I'm trying to say.
Well, the other guy answered your last question... let me explain why Apple will go out of their way to prevent you from running OSX on your eMachines PC. Apple sells hardware. OSX, iTMS, Garage Band, FCP, Logic, all exist to sell Apple hardware. They may pay for themselves, or even manage a profit. But, make no mistake, they are there to sell hardware.
I have no doubt that someone will manage to get OSX intel running on a beige PC. But Apple will never allow it to become easy or widespread. Every update (and OSX is updated frequently) will break the compatability. For most people it will be far too great a hassle to maintain. Those determined enough to press on were likely never going to buy OSX or a mac anyway.
For those who would claim Apple could make up for lost hardware sales in software sales, you are wrong. The DIRECT ancestor (to the point that they are nearly the same thing) was available for intel PC's in the mid 90's. It had a niche market, much smaller than MacOSX's and never went much beyond that, despite having nearly every technical advance available in OSX and some that arent. Steve Jobs remembers that because he was also the CEO of NeXT.
Actually, the PC card macs spanned two generations and Orange Micro and others made nubus cards for several years (IIRC, the cards were around $700). The Apple machines were based on the Centris/Quadra 610 (M68040 20 or 25 MHz) and later the Powermac 6100 (PowerPC 601 60 or 66 MHz). I'm pretty sure that was the end of the line for the Mac/PC combo. Though about the same time we were talking about PReP and CHRP and Windows for PowerPC (which actually existed for a brief time) in addition to OS2, AIX, MacOS etc...
I think you are asking about 68k macs (pre PowerPC). If so, IIRC, the newest system that will work on a 68k mac is 8.5 or 8.6. Keep in mind PPC's came out around 7.1.x and Apple continued to make the OS compatible with 68k macs for 4 or 5 years after the PPC's were introduced. Long enough that any 68k machines were good and obsolete. The newest 68k mac is now over 10 years old.
Probably 99% of mac Owners are using PPC machines. I wouldnt expect them to dump PPC support any time soon. Steve Job's old company NeXT continued to make versions of OpenStep for black (NeXT) hardware long after they stopped making the boxes.
However, Apple has little qualms about releasing Apps and features that require new(er) hardware. If youre running OSX on a G3 you'll find some of the newer features and apps are not practically useful or are unavailable (iChat Video conferencing is a good example). That said, so long as you have sufficient RAM (512 MB +) OSX 10.4.4 is perfectly useful on a 300 MHz G3.
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On the flip side, Mac owners are pretty finicky about demanding native software. Windows is already available via emulation on Macs and we havent seen the above scenario. Even more intriguing is that many "linux" apps are available for free via X11 in OSX but outside of techies, few people use them (With the possible exception of Gimp.app). Most Mac owners prefer the (relatively) consistent UI of native mac apps.
Personally, I'll install Windows on my Macintel when its available. I'm much more comfortable in a mac/unix environment but there are occasional needs for full speed Windows. I keep an old PC around for that now. I'd like to be able to toss it and just dual boot OSX/XP on a laptop.
In Bernard Lewis' The Muslim Discovery of Europe he discusses how the Islamic world basically ignored outside influences in the world of science and technology, deeming them insignificant works of infidels. After a couple of hundred years they found themselves far behind in the way of military technology which they once mastered.
They laid seige to Vienna with cannons before most europeans had even seen firearms, but defended themselves from machine guns with smooth bore muskets.
Its important to point out that many cultures stagnate under the pressure of religion. Especially those who shone brightly in their early days. The ancient Egyptians treated the scientific works of the old kingdom as sacrosanct and absolute truth. The written word worked against them and their science and medicine stagnated for thousands of years under the weight of their past glory.
>why do they gotta make these things so big and fat?
This is exaclty whats wrong with them. The market for these things, like the market for Newton's, will be fairly small because you get a much less functional device for the same price in a package which just isnt small enough to carry around. If I've got to carry a 3 lb, non-pocketable brick, I might as well be carrying my 5 lb laptop.
I do see a small market for them, Some business travelers will adopt them, and companies may use them as inventory control devices (like the boxes FedEx and UPS drivers carry). I cant see busy housewives with designer cases toting these things around though. Another possible use is as an "Xbox portable", a full powered, full resolution gaming console with a screen built in.
Doctors and Lawyers loved the Newton, and some might buy these things, but the functionality offered by the newton has largely been replaced by other, smaller devices (though not as elegantly as the newton did); Even the newton was too big to see widespread adoption.
Ok, I'll bite. Apple has been tied to one or two CPU vendors in the past, so not much has changed. This time the "out" is much easier though. I imagine if Intel fails to deliver for Apple, then AMD is an easy switch.
Apple needed special considerations and Intel's faltering CPU line needed the cache Apple brought. You'll note that not long after the Intel iMacs and MacBooks were announced there were complaints that others were having problems getting chips because they were going to Apple. Intel is hardly a monopoly in the X86 world, so your "monopolistic Intel" argument wont hold much water. FWIW, I think AMD has a great case, and that Intel and Skype are pulling a fast one... but thats not what you asked.
As for the Intel CPU being the most important component of an Apple computer... I'd argue that MacOS X is by far the most important component. As long as its fast enough, I could give two toots what brand the CPU carries. I'd rather have MacOS X running on a 1.25 GHz G4 (my laptop) than Windows XP running on the fastest Athlon they make.
>cheap and easy to use software development tools allowing for both open source and shareware application development
While you may arguably have some points against Apple in your post, I dont think MS scores on this one. You can get much cheaper than free and thats how much Apple's dev tools cost. Not "express" editions... the whole thing. How much will you pay for Xcode on Nov 6 2006? nothing. In fact, it comes with every copy of MacOS X sold. Linux and *BSD, yup... free too.
While I agree that the headline might have been a bit over the top. It does derive from the "Toys" invitation that went out a week or so ago. To get the real significance of "inviting people to his magical company in Cupertino" you have to understand how things USED to be done and how this is far better.
Back in the day, there used to be 2 times Apple would release products, MWNY/Boston and MWSF. Other than those two times, it was rare to see Apple even release minor updates to existing hardware. Dell would update their boxes whenever a new CPU was available while Apple was updating twice a year at best. Sometime in the late 90's Apple started doing minor updates and speed bumps outside of MW, then they started doing more significant updates and new releases. Nowadays, the release schedule is far less tied to MW and thats far better than the way it used to be. So, yeah. Even if its not spectacular, I'd rather see em throw a party or two at the ranch.
>If I understand it well, the killer feature of the iTunes is that it manages the musics that will go into the iPod
Youre making the same mistake countless others have made when analyzing apple products. Interestingly, the same mistake Samsung is making with the Z5. Apple isnt about a "killer feature". You can take any single aspect of any Apple product and find a comparable or better implementation somewhere else. What makes Apple products so great is the total package. Its not the ONE thing thats so great its that EVERYTHING is very good and works together beautifully.
The story has passed... but for posterity...
>Why would Michael Dell care one way or the other? Not going to affect his business.
You dont think? Dell has laptops that compete in the same price range as Apple's offerings. Apple is a hot brand, I'd think Dell would be a bit concerned if Apple's sexy laptops all of a sudden ran Windows natively.
"Whereas, if you can much more conveniently run those same apps in virtual mode using Windows in a virtual environment, this will have no effect?"
Well, you can already run Windows in a virtual environment on a mac (Microsofts own VirtualPC which has run on Macs for 10+ years). There goes your argument.
>Which makes me think the real objection to dual booting is a religious one.
I have no objection to dual booting. If I had an intel Mac and could dual boot windows I would.
Even if you are BSing about your employer this makes alot of sense. When the possibility of dual booting first came up I wodnered if we wouldnt start seeing 3rd party developers drop mac support and suggest users boot into Windows to run their apps. I didnt think about Micheal Dell's reaction when he realized Apple might release a system capable of dual booting windows. I imagine it didnt please him too much.
>Time is the only uncheatable advancement method...
and
>even chess style games can be easily cheated by writing an AI bot to calculate optimal moves for you.
Dont try that in Starcraft or Warcraft (War III not WOW). There are occaional cheats and drop hacks, but your rank is largely based on skill, not the fact that you spent 400 hrs farming. Think about it... when you disconnect from the game in War III, the hero you just bumped to level 9 dissapears and all his minions with him. The next time you start a game, he's at level 1 again. You want a higher rank? You have to get better.
How about deleting all your files. OSX is highly scriptable and with AS studio, Automator etc, more accesible than ever. I fear that Trojans will become a popular method for "evil doers" on OSX. This is not a problem you can explain away with "it isnt safari's fault".
Note: I'm a fanboy posting from a Mac with safari (which now has open trusted files unchecked). I'm not some naysaying windows nurd looking to put Apple down.
CNN had a story on N Korea not too long ago. Part of the story covered smuggling people across the Chineese border... to... ahem... safety. When China is your safe haven you know you got it bad!
Your attitude is what makes the Patriot Act so dangerous. The same people who tell us that its only applicable to "terrorists" in one sentence will tell us that law enforcement should be able to use what ever tools are available to fight "crime" in the next sentence.
I'm not so sure about Porn in the Libraries, but it isnt up to two crackers with official looking caps to decide the law for us.
Exactly what censorship are you referring to? I agree that CNN presents a middle America point of view but pretty much any major news source will reflect the opinions of the majority of its viewers. If you are going to suggest the US get its house in order in regards to censorship you might provide us some specific examples to learn from and how things would have been handled differently in Australia. What websites can you get there that google blocks from our eyes (cause I'm pretty sure you can get to Al Qaeda and Taliban propaganda web pages from the US)? I will agree that we could use more Wicked Weasels in the US and less clothing censorship, both on TV and at the beach.
As China is discovering, there are too many alternative sources of information for censorship to work. This latest move by China could be just talk, but it honestly sounds like a face saving measure to phase out official censorship. Who better to be the sensible heros than the old guard?
Judging by the number of shuffles I see at the gym and on people who run/cycle/etc... they are quite popular with that segment of the market. Of course you also see other types of iPod and the odd "other player" or two. The new lower shuffle price will probably clinch the sale for me. I've been eyeing them ever since they came out, but as the owner of a 3G 20 GB, Its been hard to justify $100+ for another player. The nano fits the market for those who want more functionality. Apple probably considered a small LCD for the shuffle and decided they couldnt do anything other than "clunky" with it. Apple dosent do "clunky".
>not that I think that iPod gaining marketshare is a good thing...
I have mixed feelings... as a Mac and iPod owner, I want to see Apple do well. OTOH, a near monopoly is never a good thing. Its nice not to be marginalized for a change (something *BSD, linux and Mac users can understand).
Its interesting that you cite the coffee spill as evidence of a frivolous lawsuit and the iPod earbud issue as a legitimate one. In the case of the spilled coffee, the jury found that the customer was responsible for spilling the coffee on her lap. They also found that McDonalds was responsible for keeping their coffee at temperatures far hotter than "normal" fresh coffee (McDonalds claimed that this was so that the coffee would be hotter longer), which lead to the burns the customer recieved that would NOT have occurred had McDonalds coffee been abnormally hot. What sounds frivolous when compressed into a one liner is often much more complex.
OTOH, with what little info we have, this iPod business sounds frivolous. Listening to loud music causes hearing loss. Thats something even your daughter should know (I bet she does). Perhaps there is some factor they arent divulging right now that makes the complaint more legitimate.
Both Myth and Starcraft are ancient games with increible online play. They cant compete on graphics but still have some of the best gameplay around.
>If they want to be ignorant, let them be. There's too much scientific evidence in favor of evolution to deny that it's true.
The problem is not with letting them be. The problem is when they elect a government that believes as they do. At least in the US, thats the case today. The basics of evolution arent difficult to understand, but it does require more education than most people have. Even law schooled politicians (who likely have very little biology training). To most people, believing in magic is easier. In most cases they are taught the magic version before they are able to read.
One major difference is that, in the case of universities, someone employed by the university actuallly did the research the patent is based on. I dont think the answer to the patent problem is simple. People who invent things should be able to be compensated without having to start a company and make a product. One way to do that is to sell or license their ideas. The system is so bad that businesses use patents and patent attorneys as weapons and everyone does it. Most large companies are in a sort of "cold war" with everyone staring down the guns of everyone elses patent attorneys. Companies who buy and leverage patents are like privateers (legalized pirates) bushwacking unsuspecting companies. There is little defense against them other than protracted legal battles. They dont make anything so you cant bludgeon them with your patents. The larger question should be... how do we deweaponize the patent system and if we did, would it even be a good thing.
>What the hell. If self-preservation has now become politically incorrect, our society has officially lost all touch with its evolutionary roots.
You dont have children do you? Self preservation is only a small part of evolution. Once you done your duty and raised your kids youre excess baggage whos only function is to annoy your offspring and their offspring and take them fishing once in a while.
Society, especially a more advanced future one, has no interest in reviving rich dead people who will undoubtedly go on and on about how much better it was in the old days. What could JP Morgan possibly offer us today? What good would come of a society of eternal old people? Evolution is about CHANGE and people dont change. Have fun, have kids and get the fuck out of the way.
I dont play WoW but I've played lots of other battle.net (BW, D1 and II, WarIII) games. If it works the same way, the reason they play on the US servers (2, East and West) is because money and characters cant cross servers. So someone farming gold on the Asia server cant sell gold to someone on the US West server. The reason the farmers play on the US servers is so they can sell gold to Americans. Please dont misinterpret my post to mean "All chineese playing on US servers are farmers." Thats not what I'm trying to say.
Well, the other guy answered your last question... let me explain why Apple will go out of their way to prevent you from running OSX on your eMachines PC. Apple sells hardware. OSX, iTMS, Garage Band, FCP, Logic, all exist to sell Apple hardware. They may pay for themselves, or even manage a profit. But, make no mistake, they are there to sell hardware.
I have no doubt that someone will manage to get OSX intel running on a beige PC. But Apple will never allow it to become easy or widespread. Every update (and OSX is updated frequently) will break the compatability. For most people it will be far too great a hassle to maintain. Those determined enough to press on were likely never going to buy OSX or a mac anyway.
For those who would claim Apple could make up for lost hardware sales in software sales, you are wrong. The DIRECT ancestor (to the point that they are nearly the same thing) was available for intel PC's in the mid 90's. It had a niche market, much smaller than MacOSX's and never went much beyond that, despite having nearly every technical advance available in OSX and some that arent. Steve Jobs remembers that because he was also the CEO of NeXT.
Actually, the PC card macs spanned two generations and Orange Micro and others made nubus cards for several years (IIRC, the cards were around $700). The Apple machines were based on the Centris/Quadra 610 (M68040 20 or 25 MHz) and later the Powermac 6100 (PowerPC 601 60 or 66 MHz). I'm pretty sure that was the end of the line for the Mac/PC combo. Though about the same time we were talking about PReP and CHRP and Windows for PowerPC (which actually existed for a brief time) in addition to OS2, AIX, MacOS etc...
That think secret article was describing the Developer Kits which were standard PC's with BIOS. The new boxes are completely different beasts.
I think you are asking about 68k macs (pre PowerPC). If so, IIRC, the newest system that will work on a 68k mac is 8.5 or 8.6. Keep in mind PPC's came out around 7.1.x and Apple continued to make the OS compatible with 68k macs for 4 or 5 years after the PPC's were introduced. Long enough that any 68k machines were good and obsolete. The newest 68k mac is now over 10 years old.
Probably 99% of mac Owners are using PPC machines. I wouldnt expect them to dump PPC support any time soon. Steve Job's old company NeXT continued to make versions of OpenStep for black (NeXT) hardware long after they stopped making the boxes.
However, Apple has little qualms about releasing Apps and features that require new(er) hardware. If youre running OSX on a G3 you'll find some of the newer features and apps are not practically useful or are unavailable (iChat Video conferencing is a good example). That said, so long as you have sufficient RAM (512 MB +) OSX 10.4.4 is perfectly useful on a 300 MHz G3.