I really hate when people post their statistics coming from their blogs. It is just as statistically insignificant as saying that there are a large number of Linux based Firefox users visiting Slashdot.
Well, given that my blog is not really Macintosh centric, those stats should be valid. Just in case though, I posted more international stats from an even more platform neutral site or did you not read that far....
Another explanation is that the potential Macintosh customer now realizes that the Mac is little different from a Dell PC or a HP PC. The principal difference is the price.
Well, I just priced out a new workstation comparing the top of the line MacPro and an equivalently configured Dell. I ended up buying the 3.0Ghz version of the MacPro for $1000 cheaper than an equivalent Dell.
Once Steve "I have a big ego" Jobs switched the Macintosh from the PowerPC to the Intel processor, the Macintosh lost its mystique.
Au contraire. Have you ever unboxed a new Mac? Have you ever really spent time with a Mac? While the OS is most of the experience, it goes beyond the OS.
Using some simple patches/tools, you can run Windows XP on the Mac. With a little effort, you can run the x86 MacOS on a Dell PC or an HP PC.
And with some simple tools, I can run Windows on my Mac. So?
Since the Mac is now essentially a PC clone, why would you pay a premium for Mac hardware?
See my above comment. It turns out that for the high end at least, the Macintosh is MUCH less expensive than a Dell or HP.
I'd have to say that from my limited sampling, these numbers are very possibly off and a.2% downward change is likely statistically insignificant, especially given their sampling methods.
Traffic from my blog primarily from the US shows about 19% of traffic is from the Macintosh (200-900 unique visitors/day). Of all the traffic that hit my blog from the recent Boing Boing posting, it appears that of those that clicked through, over 23% of the clicks were from Macintosh systems and from the traffic I get from Slashdot, about 15% is from Macintosh systems. This limited sampling shows a steady increase in the percentage of Macintosh users that have visited over the past few years.
Traffic from another site I manage, Webvision (I know, I know,....really old design from the early 90's, but it's been low on my priority list for the last four years) was likely the first online textbook receiving much more international traffic (about 1000 unique visitors/day from all over the world) and I have seen the international Macintosh marketshare increase from about 4% to 6.5% of total traffic over the past year.
Both of these statistics mirror the trends I have seen reported for the platforms marketshare on much wider scales. These are direct measures that I am reporting as opposed to a fee based service like HitsLink whose measures are not as direct. Too bad Google's Zeitgeist no longer reports on platform statistics which were a good measure of overall platform usage from a much wider used resource.
Well, you either are proving the point of acedemic ignorance or you are being disingenuous.
Think for just a second or two about what you just said given my initial comment. Also, check your spelling.
Wikipedia is a great source of material written by medium-weight knowledgables in prose conforming to low-to-medium content, providing easy cut-and-paste access.
You are absolutely correct about this, but a couple of studies have indicated that its value is comparable to that of standard encyclopedias. As an aside, I do have my problems with Wikipedia in that I've had entries edited by individuals who are particularly unknowledgeable about the subject I entered.
What part of that do you fail to see related to cheating?
It is a reference source and in of itself is not responsible for cheating. As a reference, just like any other reference source or tool, it can be used or abused. I personally find Wikipedia to be incredibly useful and have been linking to it extensively from my blog to do what I can at least to help build its credibility. Interestingly, the fact that it is digitized and can be searched makes it much easier to determine if somebody has used it for cheating. Google is your friend here allowing you to enter blocks of text to search for plagiarism.
I am not blaming Apple at all. In fact, in the early versions of iTunes, things were much less restrictive and they had to enact a number of DRM issues in response to the recording industries demands.
Hey, don't get me wrong.... I love iTunes because it is the best digital media database out there, is easy to use, is fast and convenient. The main issues are the issues I talked about in my first post plus, what some of the others are talking about with the recording industries insistence on outrageous prices for digital media that has much lower distribution costs than physical media.
This is exactly what I have been doing since the beginning of iTunes. DRM on my music simply does not satisfy for a number of reasons including 1) quality (I can tell the difference). 2) It's a hassle to have to deal with the inability of others on my subnet to not be able to listen to (share) the DRM encoded songs. 3) I already had a huge amount of music on CD and have relied on ripping to iTunes as a back up means.
Interestingly, iTunes has increased my music purchases significantly, though on CD,
Virgin plans to provide power adapters on flights where outlets are available."
Well, this is the problem with most flights, particularly those that last longer than 3 or 4 hours. Specifically, there are simply not enough power outlets in the seats. So, if the airlines want to ban laptop batteries, and they want to maintain business, how about installing more power outlets? Its sad, but a classic case of airline security taking care of the problem after the problem has been identified and dealt with rather than being proactive in their plans. What this sort of behavior is doing, along with all of the other lame security procedures like taking off belts, shoes and sandals is simply making airline travel more onerous.
I can't tell you how frustrating it is to have to try and work on a flight after security delays of sometimes hours have meant getting on board with a laptop battery that is drained only to find out there is no power port on board the flight. Even worse, on several Delta flights where they were *supposed* to have power outlets in the seats, they have been non-functional.
If anyone can pull this off, it might be Peter Jackson. However, I spent a ton of time with Halo in the development of the Macintosh port (alpha, beta and QA) of Halo and I'll tell you that while it has a better storyline than most of the other games out there, it's going to be a bit of a stretch to turn it into a movie. There are some fundamental themes that played through Halo (and it's ethereal predecessor Marathon) that lend the story to development into a movie. I just hope that they hire a good set of writers to help suspend disbelief. Yo Peter, atmostphere and effects can only take you so far (Star Wars prequels). If you spend your time to do this, please do it right.
Yikes, I think that you did not see the sarcasm in my post... As a scientist I believe that the "winning" is achieving the understanding and knowledge and the sarcasm was intended to be just that in response to a query on winning.
However, all of that said, I appreciate your post, the time you took to write it and I completely agree with the points you have made.
But I DO know how much is required and I am interested in solving new and inovative problems. Does that mean I win?
You win if you can then translate those skills into an effective job, succeed beyond your wildest expectations and then as an alum, give money back to your alma mater.:-) Then they give you honorary doctorates and stuff......:-D
...because I'm convinced that the "good guys" (and we ARE them, by & large) cannot win against an insidious, merciless, and determined enemy by being Dudley Do-Right and playing with one hand tied behind their back.
If you are not willing to do what is *right*, then you have already lost any moral high ground. There are times that one needs to stand up for what is good and reject efforts to take from others what we have written into our governing documents. Conflicts can be resolved and yes, sometimes fought much more effectively with creativity, thought and carefully planned action. However, with a culture of doing what we are told and not questioning or thinking, we appear to be willing to cede power to those who appease us with thoughts of fear and shiny things.
I couldn't care LESS if the government is reading my emails, listening to my telephone calls, or keeping me under direct surveillance, aside from being annoyed that they're wasting their time. Yawn.
This is a fundamental problem. What happens when you get caught up in this because one of your co-workers does something unacceptable to whomever might be in power. The thing to realize is that this government as it currently stands, may represent you and your beliefs, but individuals change and governments slowly morph and the constituency changes (and the US is changing). So, if you are willing to give your government so much power, what happens in 50 years when they do not represent you or your beliefs? Think down the road just a little more...
No, I don't believe the sky is falling, EITHER.
While the sky is not falling, the US is only a couple hundred years old. There have been stable governments in history that have persisted for much longer than we have been around because of principals of government. When their principals changed or altered beyond a critical tipping point, those governments failed.
I realize that you are in the UK, but you need to realize that we are all in this game together. The reality is that we are headed towards more global integration and if we do not work together, there is going to be more radical fundamentalism grown out of protectionism and isolationist strategies as people become disenfranchised and more able to rule local and uneducated individuals.
There is truth to your quote, but do not let that make you cynical as there are lots of things that you can do from the UK to involve yourself in elections in foreign countries that will have a say in your life almost as much as mine.
From where did this "Islamofascist" expression came?
I put the word in quotes for a reason in that the label "Islamofascist" is a marketing term developed by Rove and company to help define who the enemy is in this "Global War on Terrorism", better defined by General Abizaid as "The Long War".
OT: Abizaid gets it and understands what it is that we are dealing with with radical fundamentalism and is just the sort of person you want in the military.
You have been listening to Rick Santorum too much and need to realize that the Constitution does not grant individual rights. Rather it is a document defining the extent of government and the role of government whereas the Bill of Rights was a document that defined what the US government may not do.
I don't know who is more dangerous, the "Islamofascists" who are behind terrorism or the Neocons who are willing and able to give away all of our Constitutional rights and freedoms. The thing that gets me is that I cannot see an endgame to the Neocon strategy as it is based on a continued fear and principals of isolationism. What are they getting out of the deal by giving away our rights?
Your first chance, should you disagree with these strategies (rights erosion, elimination of civil liberties, etc...etc...etc...) is to exercise your Constitutionally given rights (for now) and vote this November for a change. Elect those individuals that will best represent the people, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights at home and abroad. Make these people responsible for what they say and do by linking their jobs to their implemented law and take back your country.
Slashdot Mirror
I really hate when people post their statistics coming from their blogs. It is just as statistically insignificant as saying that there are a large number of Linux based Firefox users visiting Slashdot.
Well, given that my blog is not really Macintosh centric, those stats should be valid. Just in case though, I posted more international stats from an even more platform neutral site or did you not read that far....
"Other" is actually Linux combined with Mactel (and still others) as they break out the Mactel and MacOS (PPC) separately apparently......
Another explanation is that the potential Macintosh customer now realizes that the Mac is little different from a Dell PC or a HP PC. The principal difference is the price.
Well, I just priced out a new workstation comparing the top of the line MacPro and an equivalently configured Dell. I ended up buying the 3.0Ghz version of the MacPro for $1000 cheaper than an equivalent Dell.
Once Steve "I have a big ego" Jobs switched the Macintosh from the PowerPC to the Intel processor, the Macintosh lost its mystique.
Au contraire. Have you ever unboxed a new Mac? Have you ever really spent time with a Mac? While the OS is most of the experience, it goes beyond the OS.
Using some simple patches/tools, you can run Windows XP on the Mac. With a little effort, you can run the x86 MacOS on a Dell PC or an HP PC.
And with some simple tools, I can run Windows on my Mac. So?
Since the Mac is now essentially a PC clone, why would you pay a premium for Mac hardware?
See my above comment. It turns out that for the high end at least, the Macintosh is MUCH less expensive than a Dell or HP.
I'd have to say that from my limited sampling, these numbers are very possibly off and a .2% downward change is likely statistically insignificant, especially given their sampling methods.
....really old design from the early 90's, but it's been low on my priority list for the last four years) was likely the first online textbook receiving much more international traffic (about 1000 unique visitors/day from all over the world) and I have seen the international Macintosh marketshare increase from about 4% to 6.5% of total traffic over the past year.
Traffic from my blog primarily from the US shows about 19% of traffic is from the Macintosh (200-900 unique visitors/day). Of all the traffic that hit my blog from the recent Boing Boing posting, it appears that of those that clicked through, over 23% of the clicks were from Macintosh systems and from the traffic I get from Slashdot, about 15% is from Macintosh systems. This limited sampling shows a steady increase in the percentage of Macintosh users that have visited over the past few years.
Traffic from another site I manage, Webvision (I know, I know,
Both of these statistics mirror the trends I have seen reported for the platforms marketshare on much wider scales. These are direct measures that I am reporting as opposed to a fee based service like HitsLink whose measures are not as direct. Too bad Google's Zeitgeist no longer reports on platform statistics which were a good measure of overall platform usage from a much wider used resource.
Well, you either are proving the point of acedemic ignorance or you are being disingenuous.
Think for just a second or two about what you just said given my initial comment. Also, check your spelling.
Wikipedia is a great source of material written by medium-weight knowledgables in prose conforming to low-to-medium content, providing easy cut-and-paste access.
You are absolutely correct about this, but a couple of studies have indicated that its value is comparable to that of standard encyclopedias. As an aside, I do have my problems with Wikipedia in that I've had entries edited by individuals who are particularly unknowledgeable about the subject I entered.
What part of that do you fail to see related to cheating?
It is a reference source and in of itself is not responsible for cheating. As a reference, just like any other reference source or tool, it can be used or abused. I personally find Wikipedia to be incredibly useful and have been linking to it extensively from my blog to do what I can at least to help build its credibility. Interestingly, the fact that it is digitized and can be searched makes it much easier to determine if somebody has used it for cheating. Google is your friend here allowing you to enter blocks of text to search for plagiarism.
Please respond honestly and with a modicum of IQ.
Get over yourself.
People have been saying for years that those libraries were trouble. All that book learnin won't get you nuthin' but a worthless education. :-)
Hey, kid.... go play in the street. :-)
Any resource can be "cut and pasted". To lay any blame on Wikipedia, or any reference for this is absurd.
Excuse me, but I *am* a professor and I fail to see what Wikipedia has to do with cheating.....
I am not blaming Apple at all. In fact, in the early versions of iTunes, things were much less restrictive and they had to enact a number of DRM issues in response to the recording industries demands.
Hey, don't get me wrong.... I love iTunes because it is the best digital media database out there, is easy to use, is fast and convenient. The main issues are the issues I talked about in my first post plus, what some of the others are talking about with the recording industries insistence on outrageous prices for digital media that has much lower distribution costs than physical media.
DRM does not change the sound of music. It does not sound any different.
No, but I cannot purchase from the iTMS songs that are encoded at higher rates. That was my point.
This is exactly what I have been doing since the beginning of iTunes. DRM on my music simply does not satisfy for a number of reasons including 1) quality (I can tell the difference). 2) It's a hassle to have to deal with the inability of others on my subnet to not be able to listen to (share) the DRM encoded songs. 3) I already had a huge amount of music on CD and have relied on ripping to iTunes as a back up means.
Interestingly, iTunes has increased my music purchases significantly, though on CD,
Sure, I carry a couple of batteries, but that only buys you 3-4 hours. What if the flight is an international flight?
Virgin plans to provide power adapters on flights where outlets are available."
Well, this is the problem with most flights, particularly those that last longer than 3 or 4 hours. Specifically, there are simply not enough power outlets in the seats. So, if the airlines want to ban laptop batteries, and they want to maintain business, how about installing more power outlets? Its sad, but a classic case of airline security taking care of the problem after the problem has been identified and dealt with rather than being proactive in their plans. What this sort of behavior is doing, along with all of the other lame security procedures like taking off belts, shoes and sandals is simply making airline travel more onerous.
I can't tell you how frustrating it is to have to try and work on a flight after security delays of sometimes hours have meant getting on board with a laptop battery that is drained only to find out there is no power port on board the flight. Even worse, on several Delta flights where they were *supposed* to have power outlets in the seats, they have been non-functional.
Cool bit of trivia. Thanks! They've had quite a bit of hardware move through this place, some of it really interesting.
If anyone can pull this off, it might be Peter Jackson. However, I spent a ton of time with Halo in the development of the Macintosh port (alpha, beta and QA) of Halo and I'll tell you that while it has a better storyline than most of the other games out there, it's going to be a bit of a stretch to turn it into a movie. There are some fundamental themes that played through Halo (and it's ethereal predecessor Marathon) that lend the story to development into a movie. I just hope that they hire a good set of writers to help suspend disbelief. Yo Peter, atmostphere and effects can only take you so far (Star Wars prequels). If you spend your time to do this, please do it right.
Oh, man..... Already posted here and I even told "Daddypants".
Yikes, I think that you did not see the sarcasm in my post... As a scientist I believe that the "winning" is achieving the understanding and knowledge and the sarcasm was intended to be just that in response to a query on winning.
:-)
However, all of that said, I appreciate your post, the time you took to write it and I completely agree with the points you have made.
Now, I think it's time for *my* coffee.
But I DO know how much is required and I am interested in solving new and inovative problems. Does that mean I win?
:-) Then they give you honorary doctorates and stuff...... :-D
You win if you can then translate those skills into an effective job, succeed beyond your wildest expectations and then as an alum, give money back to your alma mater.
I plan to vote this November.
...because I'm convinced that the "good guys" (and we ARE them, by & large) cannot win against an insidious, merciless, and determined enemy by being Dudley Do-Right and playing with one hand tied behind their back.
Thank you. It is your right.
If you are not willing to do what is *right*, then you have already lost any moral high ground. There are times that one needs to stand up for what is good and reject efforts to take from others what we have written into our governing documents. Conflicts can be resolved and yes, sometimes fought much more effectively with creativity, thought and carefully planned action. However, with a culture of doing what we are told and not questioning or thinking, we appear to be willing to cede power to those who appease us with thoughts of fear and shiny things.
I couldn't care LESS if the government is reading my emails, listening to my telephone calls, or keeping me under direct surveillance, aside from being annoyed that they're wasting their time. Yawn.
This is a fundamental problem. What happens when you get caught up in this because one of your co-workers does something unacceptable to whomever might be in power. The thing to realize is that this government as it currently stands, may represent you and your beliefs, but individuals change and governments slowly morph and the constituency changes (and the US is changing). So, if you are willing to give your government so much power, what happens in 50 years when they do not represent you or your beliefs? Think down the road just a little more...
No, I don't believe the sky is falling, EITHER.
While the sky is not falling, the US is only a couple hundred years old. There have been stable governments in history that have persisted for much longer than we have been around because of principals of government. When their principals changed or altered beyond a critical tipping point, those governments failed.
I realize that you are in the UK, but you need to realize that we are all in this game together. The reality is that we are headed towards more global integration and if we do not work together, there is going to be more radical fundamentalism grown out of protectionism and isolationist strategies as people become disenfranchised and more able to rule local and uneducated individuals.
There is truth to your quote, but do not let that make you cynical as there are lots of things that you can do from the UK to involve yourself in elections in foreign countries that will have a say in your life almost as much as mine.
From where did this "Islamofascist" expression came?
I put the word in quotes for a reason in that the label "Islamofascist" is a marketing term developed by Rove and company to help define who the enemy is in this "Global War on Terrorism", better defined by General Abizaid as "The Long War".
OT: Abizaid gets it and understands what it is that we are dealing with with radical fundamentalism and is just the sort of person you want in the military.
You have been listening to Rick Santorum too much and need to realize that the Constitution does not grant individual rights. Rather it is a document defining the extent of government and the role of government whereas the Bill of Rights was a document that defined what the US government may not do.
I don't know who is more dangerous, the "Islamofascists" who are behind terrorism or the Neocons who are willing and able to give away all of our Constitutional rights and freedoms. The thing that gets me is that I cannot see an endgame to the Neocon strategy as it is based on a continued fear and principals of isolationism. What are they getting out of the deal by giving away our rights?
Your first chance, should you disagree with these strategies (rights erosion, elimination of civil liberties, etc...etc...etc...) is to exercise your Constitutionally given rights (for now) and vote this November for a change. Elect those individuals that will best represent the people, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights at home and abroad. Make these people responsible for what they say and do by linking their jobs to their implemented law and take back your country.