You could do everything with the CLI... back in the 1980s.
I left Linux last March after the writting was on the wall with the GUIs. Linux can run CLI great as a server because a server does not edit videos, serf the web, or do document creation, more than it uh, serves users through getting files, processes queries, and other things that happen at the backend.
Some CS students need to learn the CLI and that is true. But in the process it is a niche as Windows fullfils everything else like typing papers for classes and doing entertainment and getting information from the internet.
THe Linux desktop died with KDE and GNome. May it rest in peace.
You know Hairy, I try to keep an open mind to everything. Nothing bothers me more than people with opinions based on stupid assumptions or whatever people said, to look cool or fit in. When the ribbons came out and people were screaming I thought hmm this could have some benefits as Office is complex in 100% of its functionality. It took a week to get used to it and see why R&D wanted it. I can preview changes and do things I had no idea I could do. It just took relearning.
Metro offers nothing beneficial... on the desktop. At first I was excited with an open mind as this would work for lite typing on a phone or tiny sub netbook for mostly output related activities. On the desktop I must say OMG NO! I downloaded the preview and ran it in a VM and it was terrible! I think your customers hairy were thinking of it on a desktop rather than if you said, "hey would you buy a tablet with this?"
Windows 8 can be saved if it includes the desktop as well as Metro. You can't utilize it with a mouse. MS Office for Metro will blow on the desktop too as it will be touch and output oriented. I pray MS will develop the desktop more and have the start menu back. My prediction is Windows 9 will do just that and fix Windows 8, just like Windows 7 fixed Vista with the annoying UAC and constant hard drive thrashing and indexing.
Linux is so bad, I switched to Windows last March and never looked back. I am not a moron who is afraid of the terminal either. The gui is just not a gui but a shell focused on single apps. Unix had multitasking and multiuser support since its inception in 1969. Again, focused on output to cut screens. Most computer neophytes who still use IE 7 (hello grandma) would pull there hair out not being able to change the background, select another running app, or do what Windows 95 did 15 years earlier.
Worse, HTML 5 and the world wide web is going to be held hostage if Windows 8 tanks! Why? IE 8 will be entriched as users will refuse to upgrade and a repeate of IE 6 all over again. In 2019 we will still have html 4 for computers while phone will outdo it with fluid interactive graphics, fonts, video, and 3D stuff, all because Windows 7/IE 8 will be entriched by 20% of the population. If MS is smart and wont fix Windows 8 they can at least include IE 10 with Windows 7 SP 2 OEM edition. That was the only way IE 6 was killed by SP 3 of XP including IE 8.
Most *modern* browsers support it, including IE. Besides the desktop is old like the mainframe before it as mobile access will overtake the desktop browsing. Most people at work shouldn't be on the net anyway unless it is a corporate site to do work.
Mobile browsers can do everything. My Andriod phone is more capable than the latest version of IE even. In 3rd world countries it will be the prefered way to get on the net and HTML 5 will be there. Think China, Asia, Africa, and Russia as the majority of internet users running Andriod, Windows Phone, and IOS. Not Americans on desktops.
I just hope old versions of IE die which are holding it back. IE 8 is still considered new and will be the next thorn in the side of any html 5 developer until 2019 when support ends for business. If the economy recovers businesses wont do these crazy 12 year life cycles anymore. Or until MS includes IE 10 with Win 7 SP 2 cd. We can only hope.In that regards you are right but I feel consumers will upgrade more often if the default machine/CD automatically installs the later browser as MS had to do that with XP to finally kill IE 6.
The same users who insisted on IE 6 in the enterprise and our 50+ year old parents, now use IE 8 or will upgrade to it very soon.
IE 8 which has no html 5 will dominate the web until 2019 as these users refuse to upgrade and love the blue E, and have no idea what html is sadly. Until such users make less than 10% of the marketshre you still need to support html 4, css 2, and flash. You do not want to turn away 1 out of 10 customers would you?
I pray earnestly, that MS will make Windows 7 SP 2 come with IE 10 next summer. Or at least IE 9 which does have some HTML 5 support, siniliar to WinXP sp 3 included IE 8. IE 6 did not start dying off until the SP automatically updated the browser on the cdrom. Otherwise these users will never upgrade past IE 8 and hold us all hostage to outdated technology.
I reinstalled FF 3.6 for kicks after a restore. I could feel its age and clunkiness compared to Chrome and even IE 9 believe it or not. There are more stable browsers each with their own strength and weaknesses. I forgive those who correct mistakes as I am using IE again which I wanted to burn on fire for years as well as Chrome. Chrome is fast and easier to read text, while I find IE 9 to be smoother GPU assisted rendering and fast scrolling. I have a nice video card and it shows. Chrome updates flash automatically and has more plugins than IE which is nice to setup for Grandmas or yoruself if you are lazy and stuborn.:-)
If FF starts focusing on closing the 6000 open bugs I will start using it again. But I prefer a little more outdated browser that is more secure and graphical but that is just me.
Firefox 3.6 is dying according to some stastics unlike XP. It is true FF 3.6 stayed high until July but most users have switched to Chrome or IE if they have not upgraded.
I recently reinstalled FF 3.6 and let me tell you I could feel its slowness and age compared to FF 6, Chrome, and yes even IE 9. It is clunky and no longer updated and while better than FF 4-7 it still is not great compared to the competition.
I have heard FF 7 and higher is much better, but I will wait and see. With 6k active bugs I hate to say it is more like IE 6 in that it is a piece of **** than that people wont upgrade and love it blindly. I do not mean this trolling at all. It is a sad day when IE 9 performs faster with less ram than FF 6.x and earlier.
There are still Windows Updates for IE 6 believe it or not at least which is why corporations love it thinking that means it is just as secure as something more 21st century. Sigh
You know, every other profession adds value to society.
Your posts proves that they only harm and when they are out of work they figure out ways to harm people entrepreneurial and all of course. Other people start businesses that serve society.
Seriously it would serve society better if they got paid for life not to work
It also resulted in no GPL software on the network polices of businesses. Fortune 500 companies have got rid of Linux and switched to Windows to be sox compliant as GPL is viewed as viral. There is even a bank that uses a proprietary old SSH because the BSD OpenSSH is considered GPL and therefore owned by SCO.
Gee, thanks SCO.... and thanks MS for funding it through Baystar to hide its fud.
Lawyers scare people and legal FUD and lawsuits are very effective. Just look at Samsung and its Galaxy Tab? Even if Samsung wins 5 years from now Apple will be a monopoly by then and no one will be able to get parts as Apple will have so much power over suppliers.
Some jobs are shipping back to the US and these workers are glad to work for $7.50 an hour compared to $12.50 previously. Wages are lower now because the economy is still in the shit can. True GDP is up but that is because the rich take most of that in. For the middle class it is still recession. The jobs are coming back due to supply chain issues. It is misconception about labor and I believe it is more due to it is easier to show Wall Street a spreadsheet on costs than explaining supply chain tweeks.
But still, it takes weeks to assemble a mac, ship it over here and that adds costs. Like the grandfather said they ship the glass from India. Many manufactures that are still here are not leaving because they have JIT inventory and supply chain optimizations.
Also Chinese no longer work for pennies on the dollar. Infact many factories are hiring Vietnamese because the Chinese want $2.00 an hour or more. Why work for $.89 an hour when they can go to work down the street for $2.25? Costs are rising rapidly in Asia and the value of land is going up too which means the factory owners want more money too to cover that.
I am not advocating Apple leave China. I am just saying there is a reason Pepsi still makes their products here even though the majority of their money comes from overseas. They have a plant here and another in China, and another in India. It really is cheaper with the exception of the tax code. If Cain is president and we have a 9-9-9 system I bet you most of these jobs will all come back FAST! So fast it will hit the US by storm and people will be shocked.
Thats what Standard Oil did before they were trust busted.
Apple is evil without a doubt and these patent wars and locking out whole competing products is to fulfill just that. To keep Samsung from having economies of scale to compete agaisnt them.
The IPad is what Steve dreamed about what the Mac would do and be like. The world was not ready for graphical computers in 1985 as the mac was a silly etch a sketch, as corporations loved shitty graphics and viewed ugly green monochrome as a serious business machine with 80 columns (to match punch cards) as most people didn't understand what computers were back then and didn't see why they were a big deal.
The IPAD is everything and sweet for those who can afford them. I still laugh at these people but see how Apple does not want the IPAD to be the next Macintosh but rather their dream of a monopoly.
Last October I was in the market for a new computer and wanted a mac. I want to Best Buy and researched. Here is what I found.
Asus desktop with a 6 - core 2600 Phenom II, 8 gigs of ram, ATI HD 5750 Graphics card, 1 terrabyte HD - $699. 24 inch HP monitor with 40:000 contrast ratio that was high quality was $299 (very bright and excellent quality like Apple's) with HDMI, gaming keyboard + mouse $150 combined. Total for the Windows 7 unit came to $1175.
The Mac's 24 inch iMac had an ATI 5750, 1 terrabyte hard drive 4 core, and only 4 gigs of ram. I couldn't upgrade the Imac if the graphics become out of date in 4 years, only the ram. -$1600
I support PCs so I would have to buy Windows 7 - $120, now I would need to repurchase Offce a 2nd time - $179. Now with that and taxes the Mac was $2000! Compared to $1100. Yes, I could theoretically just use Windows Office in bootcamp but why get a mac then? Windows is slower on a mac as benchmarks show as it is not designed to work well on UFI and other mac quirks. Especially with games.
Does the mac even have a bluray for that price? No!
The only thing good is that the monitor's colors were consistent at different angles and in more sunlight. My HP is not bad either as it is a good grade one, but I am not a magazine photo editor and I do not need that precision to do work. Photoshop runs fine as long as the sun is not setting in my eyes. The macs processor was 25% faster than my PC with less cores. But I care more about graphics and running VMs of Linux and XP so the more cores and ram are a better value to me.
That makes macs a rich kids toy or a specialized platform. $700 is a lot of money for a monitor that you do not care to put out. I am struggling to feed myself in this economy and I can't sneeze on that and it shows how out of touch Apple is to the average Joe.
I can get a great Llamo laptop with an APU ATI graphics to play games for just $429 at HPs website. How much is a mac again? Would would the performance be with shitty integrated graphics not part of the CPU on that cheapest ibook? Can it even run the 5 year old World of Warcraft under minimum settings for $1100?
PCs are getting cheaper by the year. I used gaming as an example just to bring up a point as it requires performance. With Llamo's and soon Arms coming the Macs are in trouble. People get used to paying $399 for laptops and netbooks they will now expect it in all computers.
A decade ago the big news on slashdot and zdnet was the sub $1000 desktop. Macs were the same price then as today with only a $400 - $500 price deferential. Actually I think the colored imacs were only $1200 so maybe even less.
They are premium consumer appliances and are losing in business as a result. I wanted a mac bad before the recession hit. Now I want to run from them as they are the Mercedes of computers.
ARMS are very fast. I would take a 400 mhz arm running Ubuntu over a 400mhz PII anyday.
My Samgsung galaxy S 1 is about as fast as my Pentium III single core 700 mhz I used a decade ago. Same multimedia and performance. Not bad. True some videos get choppy on the browser until I download them and watch them separately but videos from 2001 were lower resolution as well and Javascript was real basic due to the limitations of IE 5 and 6.
As much as I think Cain is nuts, I am opening up to the 999 tax rate.
Yes it would hurt poor people a lot which I do not like. However, doing so would immediately bring money and jobs to the US at a large scale and I think most economists and politicians have no idea how much it would save the US.
I believe taxes and not costs are the reasons. It is expensive to ship, have obsolete inventory, and slow production with many suppliers all over the globe, verses all down the street in the US. Seriously you could save a fortune and to hell with labor costs.
It is the 30% corporate tax is the reason. You need capital to do that as long as its here it is taxed.
I support Apple charging that much and being successful.
Keep in mind despite inequality in America, many are rich who benefit from outsourcing who are upper class and upper middle class. I myself could theoretically could afford one I would be broke if I did. Most people do not have them. What you see are rich people who built their careers before 2001 have them while the rest can't afford them without a credit card.
Apple is dumb like I mentioned in a post further down the tree that the labor costs are tiny compared to shipping overseas, inventory of obsolete products, suppliers all over the place that parts go up shipping to factory, and large warehouses due to the added inefficiencies of using an eggs in one basket approach to make the cost accountants who just look at Labor and taxes happy who want their bonus.
Having every part in the inventory, production, and supply part of the process close together in multiple plants closer to consumers would save more money and if all fortune 1000 companies did this the recession would be over and we would all jobs with wages going up year by year instead of down.
However, Apple has so much cash why would it care and do the risk at this point?
Business schools in the US are starting to teach this concept you bring up again. It is an older concept and Japanese in style (forgot the author) who created Toyota noticed he could save money by having all the suppliers, warehouses, and factories all close together. Last you want the finished product close to the customer.
This is called Just In Time Inventory.
In corporations you have cost accountants who look only at fixed costs like labor and you have engineers who design things who favor the JIT inventory method. In India engineers are well respected as rich countries like the US outsources to you and creates demand. In the US accountants who save money are better respected. This is due to Wall Street favoring hiring accountants who can work magic to raise their stock prices over engineers who know how to build quality products.
The problem is you can't show on a spreadsheet how easily you can impact hte bottom line with JIT. You can easily show savings on labor costs. Guess which one is chosen by dumb corporations? The cost acountants win and the share price goes up as Wall Street can't see JIT impact on share price but can easily on simple labor fixed costs. The US is stupid!
If Apple were smart they would have one factor in India make Ipads near the glass in your hometown. Another in China, where the glass manufacturer is down the street. And another in the US.. gulp, Yes I said US. Infact I would make make 2 in the US. One for west coast consumers. The other for east coast.
Sure I would have higher labor costs and the economies of scale would add costs as well. However, I could save $$$$ using JIT invetory and would not have extra obsolete IPADs, Powerbooks, collecting dust in my warehouses. Infact I would use smaller warehouses. Oh and I would not have to pay for shipping. More saved costs. The IPADs in India go to Indian, Pakistani, African, and Russian consumers. The ones in China are sold just in Asia, The ones in the US go to Canada, Mexico, and the US only.
The share price might take a dip as cost accountants at Goldman Sachs would not like it on paper without understanding why, but it would save money or at least close to breaking even. Last, if a horrible earthquake or fire hit one plant in India I can have my Chinese plant make more sold over there while it is fixed. That is better risk management.
You know at one time, a long time ago I told people I prefer it if Apple took over. At least Apple macs were superior products over Windows 3.1 MS junk. Like a dream Jobs came back and fast forward 16 years later I regret what I said.
Windows is somewhat usable now and much much improved and.NET is better over MFC and win32 horrors of yesteryears, but Apple is ruthless. Worse than Bill Gates. Actually MS is tamer now since Balmer is at helm as I think MS brutally botched standards like IE 6 as the result of Gates wanting poor quality to force developers to use the MS way so things wouldn't break. IE 6 is an example and SCO was the other. It was always the oddball as MS didn't want anyone porting Xenix apps to other versions of Unix and it showed even after SCO bought it from MS.
I am not worried over secureboot as I view it as the boy who cried wolf here on slashdot.
We heard this with Windows 7 and Vista that it will be a proprietary nightmare etc. It never happened, as I can still view websites on other operating systems, still watch youtube outside of Windows Vista/7 and all the other scary trolls were saying we would not be able to do due to DRM. Infact I can still boot Linux which I was told due to TCPA/Pallidone that I would not be able to do by 2011.
I am sure someone will crack it and find the keys for grub to use secureboot or there will be a bios option. After all until 2 years ago my bios had a setting for Vesa graphics and palette snooping for OS/2 compatibility. Talk about ancient! If BIOS makers are that finicky you can bet they will leave the option open.
After all many businesses will run XP after 2013 (shudder) and Windows 7 is likely to be the next XP as corporations learned this past recession that they can raise the stock price by being complacent and refusing to upgrade. Secureboot may even be off by default for the next couple of years as many will prefer Windows 7 similiar to XP after Vista took off. Even my tech inept parents ordered a Dell with XP on purpose.
I predicted the PC would die since the 1990s as I look at technology. Just like the mainframe and unix mini's of old they will always be around in business for those with big pockets who need it to make more money.
The phone and micro versions of micro computers are on us today. Micro computers (the pre PC term) for desktops are laughable as they certainly are not micro at all. But it is inevitable that tablets, phones, and tiny devices can run word processing, email, internet, and playing multimedia.
The only thing IPADs, Tablets, and Phones, lack is a word processor that is decent. MS did good by monopolizing the standards to favor office. This is keeping Windows on life support.
As soon as that is broken and people can be as productive in tablet word as their desktop then the actual desktop itself will die. My guess is MS is planning this for Windows 8. The ribbon interface can work on tablets well.
Bring in the popcorn as this is just the beginning.
This whole posting has flamebait written all over it.
Why was this posted?
He might as well go on saying only Vi was included because of its excellent functionality over emacs or something else stupid to invoke a flame war. Cmd Taco would not allow that story to go through
Slashdot had an article 2 years ago comparing enterprise and consumer hard drives. The enterprise ones were no more reliable. It is a fact that the firmware and not the drive determine which is enterprise ready. The HP drives are probably WDs with the firmware reflashed.
It is no different than Intel getting a batch of 486s and downgrading some to 486SX and adding a small change to make the 486 DX turn to a 486DX2 that is twice as fast for twice the cost. IN the end they are all the same chip etc.
It is true with devaling IT. Most of it is just rebooting. Architects do advanced thingies but consultants do that. If someo guy in India can read a sheet that says reboot, then why should anyone working I.T. be worth more than $10/hr?
These same executives who have all the doo dads, were all pro MS shops in 2000 and spent tens of millions having MS to decide the standards for them. After all that is what their competitors did and was the wave of the future.
IE 6 is the standard! The W3C is simply in the way. TCP/IP? Well they prefer netbios instead and use TCP mixed in with MS proxy server. SMTP? Nah Exchange has support for groupware and not just email, etc.
Now they got their wish and fast forward to 2011 and they are shocked and get angry that you can't get their Java 1.1 based intranet app optimized for IE 6 or why can't you use active directory for your Andriod etc? LOL
Standards were not standards in 1999, as they were a minority in a MS dominated world where.docs and not txt files were in. IE 6 had 90% marketshare so why bother writing W3C code? You can't blame them for using MS to remain competitive in technology. Sometiems the market leaders and not committees write the standards that the big boys like. Hate to admit it
Or just update those IE 6 intranet apps so they can use them.
What they do not want to pay for it? Well tell them they can't use it until they do. I bet most of them are clueless how bad of a choice they made in 2002 for their crappy apps.
On www.msnbc.com it mentioned the student loan bailout and people are PISSED. They do not want to pay for it and will revolt to fight it as it should not be there problem.
I do not care if you the banks abused their position. They are just keeping their word and you as an adult signed that paper and stole other people's money. You need to pay them back and work 2 jobs if you have too.
True Americans hate bankers and not poor students but you know what? If the poor students start stealing they will hate them too equally.
Slashdot Mirror
Yep.
You could do everything with the CLI ... back in the 1980s.
I left Linux last March after the writting was on the wall with the GUIs. Linux can run CLI great as a server because a server does not edit videos, serf the web, or do document creation, more than it uh, serves users through getting files, processes queries, and other things that happen at the backend.
Some CS students need to learn the CLI and that is true. But in the process it is a niche as Windows fullfils everything else like typing papers for classes and doing entertainment and getting information from the internet.
THe Linux desktop died with KDE and GNome. May it rest in peace.
You know Hairy, I try to keep an open mind to everything. Nothing bothers me more than people with opinions based on stupid assumptions or whatever people said, to look cool or fit in. When the ribbons came out and people were screaming I thought hmm this could have some benefits as Office is complex in 100% of its functionality. It took a week to get used to it and see why R&D wanted it. I can preview changes and do things I had no idea I could do. It just took relearning.
Metro offers nothing beneficial ... on the desktop. At first I was excited with an open mind as this would work for lite typing on a phone or tiny sub netbook for mostly output related activities. On the desktop I must say OMG NO! I downloaded the preview and ran it in a VM and it was terrible! I think your customers hairy were thinking of it on a desktop rather than if you said, "hey would you buy a tablet with this?"
Windows 8 can be saved if it includes the desktop as well as Metro. You can't utilize it with a mouse. MS Office for Metro will blow on the desktop too as it will be touch and output oriented. I pray MS will develop the desktop more and have the start menu back. My prediction is Windows 9 will do just that and fix Windows 8, just like Windows 7 fixed Vista with the annoying UAC and constant hard drive thrashing and indexing.
Linux is so bad, I switched to Windows last March and never looked back. I am not a moron who is afraid of the terminal either. The gui is just not a gui but a shell focused on single apps. Unix had multitasking and multiuser support since its inception in 1969. Again, focused on output to cut screens. Most computer neophytes who still use IE 7 (hello grandma) would pull there hair out not being able to change the background, select another running app, or do what Windows 95 did 15 years earlier.
Worse, HTML 5 and the world wide web is going to be held hostage if Windows 8 tanks! Why? IE 8 will be entriched as users will refuse to upgrade and a repeate of IE 6 all over again. In 2019 we will still have html 4 for computers while phone will outdo it with fluid interactive graphics, fonts, video, and 3D stuff, all because Windows 7/IE 8 will be entriched by 20% of the population. If MS is smart and wont fix Windows 8 they can at least include IE 10 with Windows 7 SP 2 OEM edition. That was the only way IE 6 was killed by SP 3 of XP including IE 8.
HTML 5 is the answer.
Most *modern* browsers support it, including IE. Besides the desktop is old like the mainframe before it as mobile access will overtake the desktop browsing. Most people at work shouldn't be on the net anyway unless it is a corporate site to do work.
Mobile browsers can do everything. My Andriod phone is more capable than the latest version of IE even. In 3rd world countries it will be the prefered way to get on the net and HTML 5 will be there. Think China, Asia, Africa, and Russia as the majority of internet users running Andriod, Windows Phone, and IOS. Not Americans on desktops.
I just hope old versions of IE die which are holding it back. IE 8 is still considered new and will be the next thorn in the side of any html 5 developer until 2019 when support ends for business. If the economy recovers businesses wont do these crazy 12 year life cycles anymore. Or until MS includes IE 10 with Win 7 SP 2 cd. We can only hope.In that regards you are right but I feel consumers will upgrade more often if the default machine/CD automatically installs the later browser as MS had to do that with XP to finally kill IE 6.
The same users who insisted on IE 6 in the enterprise and our 50+ year old parents, now use IE 8 or will upgrade to it very soon.
IE 8 which has no html 5 will dominate the web until 2019 as these users refuse to upgrade and love the blue E, and have no idea what html is sadly. Until such users make less than 10% of the marketshre you still need to support html 4, css 2, and flash. You do not want to turn away 1 out of 10 customers would you?
I pray earnestly, that MS will make Windows 7 SP 2 come with IE 10 next summer. Or at least IE 9 which does have some HTML 5 support, siniliar to WinXP sp 3 included IE 8. IE 6 did not start dying off until the SP automatically updated the browser on the cdrom. Otherwise these users will never upgrade past IE 8 and hold us all hostage to outdated technology.
Try another browser?
I reinstalled FF 3.6 for kicks after a restore. I could feel its age and clunkiness compared to Chrome and even IE 9 believe it or not. There are more stable browsers each with their own strength and weaknesses. I forgive those who correct mistakes as I am using IE again which I wanted to burn on fire for years as well as Chrome. Chrome is fast and easier to read text, while I find IE 9 to be smoother GPU assisted rendering and fast scrolling. I have a nice video card and it shows. Chrome updates flash automatically and has more plugins than IE which is nice to setup for Grandmas or yoruself if you are lazy and stuborn. :-)
If FF starts focusing on closing the 6000 open bugs I will start using it again. But I prefer a little more outdated browser that is more secure and graphical but that is just me.
Firefox 3.6 is dying according to some stastics unlike XP. It is true FF 3.6 stayed high until July but most users have switched to Chrome or IE if they have not upgraded.
I recently reinstalled FF 3.6 and let me tell you I could feel its slowness and age compared to FF 6, Chrome, and yes even IE 9. It is clunky and no longer updated and while better than FF 4-7 it still is not great compared to the competition.
I have heard FF 7 and higher is much better, but I will wait and see. With 6k active bugs I hate to say it is more like IE 6 in that it is a piece of **** than that people wont upgrade and love it blindly. I do not mean this trolling at all. It is a sad day when IE 9 performs faster with less ram than FF 6.x and earlier.
There are still Windows Updates for IE 6 believe it or not at least which is why corporations love it thinking that means it is just as secure as something more 21st century. Sigh
I am sure Oracle wont be happy
You know, every other profession adds value to society.
Your posts proves that they only harm and when they are out of work they figure out ways to harm people entrepreneurial and all of course. Other people start businesses that serve society.
Seriously it would serve society better if they got paid for life not to work
It also resulted in no GPL software on the network polices of businesses. Fortune 500 companies have got rid of Linux and switched to Windows to be sox compliant as GPL is viewed as viral. There is even a bank that uses a proprietary old SSH because the BSD OpenSSH is considered GPL and therefore owned by SCO.
Gee, thanks SCO. ... and thanks MS for funding it through Baystar to hide its fud.
Lawyers scare people and legal FUD and lawsuits are very effective. Just look at Samsung and its Galaxy Tab? Even if Samsung wins 5 years from now Apple will be a monopoly by then and no one will be able to get parts as Apple will have so much power over suppliers.
Actually they are coming back.
Some jobs are shipping back to the US and these workers are glad to work for $7.50 an hour compared to $12.50 previously. Wages are lower now because the economy is still in the shit can. True GDP is up but that is because the rich take most of that in. For the middle class it is still recession. The jobs are coming back due to supply chain issues. It is misconception about labor and I believe it is more due to it is easier to show Wall Street a spreadsheet on costs than explaining supply chain tweeks.
But still, it takes weeks to assemble a mac, ship it over here and that adds costs. Like the grandfather said they ship the glass from India. Many manufactures that are still here are not leaving because they have JIT inventory and supply chain optimizations.
Also Chinese no longer work for pennies on the dollar. Infact many factories are hiring Vietnamese because the Chinese want $2.00 an hour or more. Why work for $.89 an hour when they can go to work down the street for $2.25? Costs are rising rapidly in Asia and the value of land is going up too which means the factory owners want more money too to cover that.
I am not advocating Apple leave China. I am just saying there is a reason Pepsi still makes their products here even though the majority of their money comes from overseas. They have a plant here and another in China, and another in India. It really is cheaper with the exception of the tax code. If Cain is president and we have a 9-9-9 system I bet you most of these jobs will all come back FAST! So fast it will hit the US by storm and people will be shocked.
Thats what Standard Oil did before they were trust busted.
Apple is evil without a doubt and these patent wars and locking out whole competing products is to fulfill just that. To keep Samsung from having economies of scale to compete agaisnt them.
The IPad is what Steve dreamed about what the Mac would do and be like. The world was not ready for graphical computers in 1985 as the mac was a silly etch a sketch, as corporations loved shitty graphics and viewed ugly green monochrome as a serious business machine with 80 columns (to match punch cards) as most people didn't understand what computers were back then and didn't see why they were a big deal.
The IPAD is everything and sweet for those who can afford them. I still laugh at these people but see how Apple does not want the IPAD to be the next Macintosh but rather their dream of a monopoly.
Last October I was in the market for a new computer and wanted a mac. I want to Best Buy and researched. Here is what I found.
Asus desktop with a 6 - core 2600 Phenom II, 8 gigs of ram, ATI HD 5750 Graphics card, 1 terrabyte HD - $699. 24 inch HP monitor with 40:000 contrast ratio that was high quality was $299 (very bright and excellent quality like Apple's) with HDMI, gaming keyboard + mouse $150 combined. Total for the Windows 7 unit came to $1175.
The Mac's 24 inch iMac had an ATI 5750, 1 terrabyte hard drive 4 core, and only 4 gigs of ram. I couldn't upgrade the Imac if the graphics become out of date in 4 years, only the ram. -$1600
I support PCs so I would have to buy Windows 7 - $120, now I would need to repurchase Offce a 2nd time - $179. Now with that and taxes the Mac was $2000! Compared to $1100. Yes, I could theoretically just use Windows Office in bootcamp but why get a mac then? Windows is slower on a mac as benchmarks show as it is not designed to work well on UFI and other mac quirks. Especially with games.
Does the mac even have a bluray for that price? No!
The only thing good is that the monitor's colors were consistent at different angles and in more sunlight. My HP is not bad either as it is a good grade one, but I am not a magazine photo editor and I do not need that precision to do work. Photoshop runs fine as long as the sun is not setting in my eyes. The macs processor was 25% faster than my PC with less cores. But I care more about graphics and running VMs of Linux and XP so the more cores and ram are a better value to me.
That makes macs a rich kids toy or a specialized platform. $700 is a lot of money for a monitor that you do not care to put out. I am struggling to feed myself in this economy and I can't sneeze on that and it shows how out of touch Apple is to the average Joe.
Sigh this story is such flamebait ...
I can get a great Llamo laptop with an APU ATI graphics to play games for just $429 at HPs website. How much is a mac again? Would would the performance be with shitty integrated graphics not part of the CPU on that cheapest ibook? Can it even run the 5 year old World of Warcraft under minimum settings for $1100?
PCs are getting cheaper by the year. I used gaming as an example just to bring up a point as it requires performance. With Llamo's and soon Arms coming the Macs are in trouble. People get used to paying $399 for laptops and netbooks they will now expect it in all computers.
A decade ago the big news on slashdot and zdnet was the sub $1000 desktop. Macs were the same price then as today with only a $400 - $500 price deferential. Actually I think the colored imacs were only $1200 so maybe even less.
They are premium consumer appliances and are losing in business as a result. I wanted a mac bad before the recession hit. Now I want to run from them as they are the Mercedes of computers.
ARMS are very fast. I would take a 400 mhz arm running Ubuntu over a 400mhz PII anyday.
My Samgsung galaxy S 1 is about as fast as my Pentium III single core 700 mhz I used a decade ago. Same multimedia and performance. Not bad. True some videos get choppy on the browser until I download them and watch them separately but videos from 2001 were lower resolution as well and Javascript was real basic due to the limitations of IE 5 and 6.
As much as I think Cain is nuts, I am opening up to the 999 tax rate.
Yes it would hurt poor people a lot which I do not like. However, doing so would immediately bring money and jobs to the US at a large scale and I think most economists and politicians have no idea how much it would save the US.
I believe taxes and not costs are the reasons. It is expensive to ship, have obsolete inventory, and slow production with many suppliers all over the globe, verses all down the street in the US. Seriously you could save a fortune and to hell with labor costs.
It is the 30% corporate tax is the reason. You need capital to do that as long as its here it is taxed.
I support Apple charging that much and being successful.
Keep in mind despite inequality in America, many are rich who benefit from outsourcing who are upper class and upper middle class. I myself could theoretically could afford one I would be broke if I did. Most people do not have them. What you see are rich people who built their careers before 2001 have them while the rest can't afford them without a credit card.
Apple is dumb like I mentioned in a post further down the tree that the labor costs are tiny compared to shipping overseas, inventory of obsolete products, suppliers all over the place that parts go up shipping to factory, and large warehouses due to the added inefficiencies of using an eggs in one basket approach to make the cost accountants who just look at Labor and taxes happy who want their bonus.
Having every part in the inventory, production, and supply part of the process close together in multiple plants closer to consumers would save more money and if all fortune 1000 companies did this the recession would be over and we would all jobs with wages going up year by year instead of down.
However, Apple has so much cash why would it care and do the risk at this point?
Business schools in the US are starting to teach this concept you bring up again. It is an older concept and Japanese in style (forgot the author) who created Toyota noticed he could save money by having all the suppliers, warehouses, and factories all close together. Last you want the finished product close to the customer.
This is called Just In Time Inventory.
In corporations you have cost accountants who look only at fixed costs like labor and you have engineers who design things who favor the JIT inventory method. In India engineers are well respected as rich countries like the US outsources to you and creates demand. In the US accountants who save money are better respected. This is due to Wall Street favoring hiring accountants who can work magic to raise their stock prices over engineers who know how to build quality products.
The problem is you can't show on a spreadsheet how easily you can impact hte bottom line with JIT. You can easily show savings on labor costs. Guess which one is chosen by dumb corporations? The cost acountants win and the share price goes up as Wall Street can't see JIT impact on share price but can easily on simple labor fixed costs. The US is stupid!
If Apple were smart they would have one factor in India make Ipads near the glass in your hometown. Another in China, where the glass manufacturer is down the street. And another in the US .. gulp, Yes I said US. Infact I would make make 2 in the US. One for west coast consumers. The other for east coast.
Sure I would have higher labor costs and the economies of scale would add costs as well. However, I could save $$$$ using JIT invetory and would not have extra obsolete IPADs, Powerbooks, collecting dust in my warehouses. Infact I would use smaller warehouses. Oh and I would not have to pay for shipping. More saved costs. The IPADs in India go to Indian, Pakistani, African, and Russian consumers. The ones in China are sold just in Asia, The ones in the US go to Canada, Mexico, and the US only.
The share price might take a dip as cost accountants at Goldman Sachs would not like it on paper without understanding why, but it would save money or at least close to breaking even. Last, if a horrible earthquake or fire hit one plant in India I can have my Chinese plant make more sold over there while it is fixed. That is better risk management.
You know at one time, a long time ago I told people I prefer it if Apple took over. At least Apple macs were superior products over Windows 3.1 MS junk. Like a dream Jobs came back and fast forward 16 years later I regret what I said.
Windows is somewhat usable now and much much improved and .NET is better over MFC and win32 horrors of yesteryears, but Apple is ruthless. Worse than Bill Gates. Actually MS is tamer now since Balmer is at helm as I think MS brutally botched standards like IE 6 as the result of Gates wanting poor quality to force developers to use the MS way so things wouldn't break. IE 6 is an example and SCO was the other. It was always the oddball as MS didn't want anyone porting Xenix apps to other versions of Unix and it showed even after SCO bought it from MS.
I am not worried over secureboot as I view it as the boy who cried wolf here on slashdot.
We heard this with Windows 7 and Vista that it will be a proprietary nightmare etc. It never happened, as I can still view websites on other operating systems, still watch youtube outside of Windows Vista/7 and all the other scary trolls were saying we would not be able to do due to DRM. Infact I can still boot Linux which I was told due to TCPA/Pallidone that I would not be able to do by 2011.
I am sure someone will crack it and find the keys for grub to use secureboot or there will be a bios option. After all until 2 years ago my bios had a setting for Vesa graphics and palette snooping for OS/2 compatibility. Talk about ancient! If BIOS makers are that finicky you can bet they will leave the option open.
After all many businesses will run XP after 2013 (shudder) and Windows 7 is likely to be the next XP as corporations learned this past recession that they can raise the stock price by being complacent and refusing to upgrade. Secureboot may even be off by default for the next couple of years as many will prefer Windows 7 similiar to XP after Vista took off. Even my tech inept parents ordered a Dell with XP on purpose.
I predicted the PC would die since the 1990s as I look at technology. Just like the mainframe and unix mini's of old they will always be around in business for those with big pockets who need it to make more money.
The phone and micro versions of micro computers are on us today. Micro computers (the pre PC term) for desktops are laughable as they certainly are not micro at all. But it is inevitable that tablets, phones, and tiny devices can run word processing, email, internet, and playing multimedia.
The only thing IPADs, Tablets, and Phones, lack is a word processor that is decent. MS did good by monopolizing the standards to favor office. This is keeping Windows on life support.
As soon as that is broken and people can be as productive in tablet word as their desktop then the actual desktop itself will die. My guess is MS is planning this for Windows 8. The ribbon interface can work on tablets well.
Bring in the popcorn as this is just the beginning.
This whole posting has flamebait written all over it.
Why was this posted?
He might as well go on saying only Vi was included because of its excellent functionality over emacs or something else stupid to invoke a flame war. Cmd Taco would not allow that story to go through
Slashdot had an article 2 years ago comparing enterprise and consumer hard drives. The enterprise ones were no more reliable. It is a fact that the firmware and not the drive determine which is enterprise ready. The HP drives are probably WDs with the firmware reflashed.
It is no different than Intel getting a batch of 486s and downgrading some to 486SX and adding a small change to make the 486 DX turn to a 486DX2 that is twice as fast for twice the cost. IN the end they are all the same chip etc.
It is true with devaling IT. Most of it is just rebooting. Architects do advanced thingies but consultants do that. If someo guy in India can read a sheet that says reboot, then why should anyone working I.T. be worth more than $10/hr?
These same executives who have all the doo dads, were all pro MS shops in 2000 and spent tens of millions having MS to decide the standards for them. After all that is what their competitors did and was the wave of the future.
IE 6 is the standard! The W3C is simply in the way. TCP/IP? Well they prefer netbios instead and use TCP mixed in with MS proxy server. SMTP? Nah Exchange has support for groupware and not just email, etc.
Now they got their wish and fast forward to 2011 and they are shocked and get angry that you can't get their Java 1.1 based intranet app optimized for IE 6 or why can't you use active directory for your Andriod etc? LOL
Standards were not standards in 1999, as they were a minority in a MS dominated world where .docs and not txt files were in. IE 6 had 90% marketshare so why bother writing W3C code? You can't blame them for using MS to remain competitive in technology. Sometiems the market leaders and not committees write the standards that the big boys like. Hate to admit it
Or just update those IE 6 intranet apps so they can use them.
What they do not want to pay for it? Well tell them they can't use it until they do. I bet most of them are clueless how bad of a choice they made in 2002 for their crappy apps.
Look at statistics?
On www.msnbc.com it mentioned the student loan bailout and people are PISSED. They do not want to pay for it and will revolt to fight it as it should not be there problem.
I do not care if you the banks abused their position. They are just keeping their word and you as an adult signed that paper and stole other people's money. You need to pay them back and work 2 jobs if you have too.
True Americans hate bankers and not poor students but you know what? If the poor students start stealing they will hate them too equally.