Disliking Microsoft for being a shit company that turns out half-assed software that only hurts innovation in the computer industry does not mean we have to bow down and worship at the altar of Linux (or OS X, or Solaris) development.
Why must dislike of choice A always be turned into an irrational support of choice B? This isn't even our two-party political system we're talking about, it's software!
My Mac Pro shipped with a 2-button mouse, but I use my Logitech MX-1000 insted anyway.
Sorry, 2-button mice on laptops are just annoying. I guess you haven't used OS X much -- the right click is not all that useful, and control-click is EASIER than finding the second mouse button on a laptop, where you have to move your hand to find it anyway. On a normal mouse, yes, right-click makes sense, you have a separate finger for it. On the laptop, its just a pain to hit the right button. Your hands are already on the keyboard, why not hit control? How many thousand keys per day do you hit? Is it actually any more work to hit control as you click? Do you complain it's so much work that you have to vary the pressure on the gas pedal and brake in order to drive your car, rather than just hitting the gas once for go, and the brake once for stop?
I doubt you'll ever see Apple ship a laptop with two buttons, it is poor design from a physical standpoint, and from a human interface standpoint. And if you're a Windows user planning on using it as a Windows laptop, here is a secret: I think you'll be better off just buying a thinkpad or whatever. Windows runs almost flawlessly on Macs now, and by Leopard all kinks will probably be worked out. But it's still not 100% as far as I'm concerned, so why put up with that, and why buy an OS X license you're not going to use?
OTOH, if you are planning on using OS X, I think you'd be happy with it the way it ships.
Except for the screen res. That just sucks. 1024x768 was just enough on my 12" iBook. The 1440x900 on the 15" and whatever it is (1680x1050?) on the 17" is sad. I'm glad a have a desktop with a big 'ol Dell LCD.
I don't buy your price difference, and I'm not going to waste my time trying to figure it out, because I suspect nobody else believes it either.
Your second statement is pretty dumb, too. I see a lot of people on/. spewing crap about OS X and Linux that make me cringe, but it's the same about Windows. The #1 thing that Windows apologists here simply don't get when they spend their time flaming Linux and OS X users is this: The average Linux or OS X user has *way* more experience on Windows than the average Windows user has on Linux or OS X. It just stands to reason, given the marketshare. I was a MS person until '95, when I switched to Linux on the desktop. In '02 I switched to the Mac with a 600mhz G3 iBook that served me all through college. Now I have a 2.6ghz quad core Mac Pro and couldn't be happier. But I'm stuck using Windows at work. Trust me, all of the Linux and Mac fanboys out there get stuck troubleshooting Windows for their friends and relatives, and using it at work. There is way more FUD about Linux and OS X than there is about Windows, so get off the high horse.
1. What? No. Obviously you've never used OS X. I'm sure some Linux developer will say otherwise, but for 99% of us out there (and I speak as a Linux systems admin), there is absolutely no point to running Linux if you've got OS X. Whereas it's downright painful to try to emulate or work with Unix machines from a Windows environment (anybody else experienced the fun of Cygwin libraries moving around as you try to compile? Nothing ever builds the same twice).
2. Dunno, can't compare Java (which I rarely use) on my Mac, to Java on your machine (which I have never used).
3. Knowledge bases and forums are the best place for complaints, not info. It gives you a good sense of what *common* problems are, though. I have no stability problems. In 4 years of hammering on my poor iBook, it only hard crashed maybe 5 times, and that's across many versions of OS X and much misuse. My Pro has never crashed, but then, it's only 2 months old. Worst case scenario: force quit an app and you're on your way. But then, I'm impatient and force quit things when I get bored of waiting and I know I won't lose any important data.
4. Yes, although I'd actually say you'd have better luck on Linux here. There are lots of Linux distros, but as you may or may not know, the libraries are relatively standard, and the userbase of Linux is greater than that of OS X users who use the Unix system.
5. Way better than the creaky Dell. Better than thinkpads I've seen. Pick it up with one hand from the corner, shake it up and down. No squeak, flex, or rattle. May not be wise to do on a 6lb 17" though.
6. Faster than what you have.
7. What the hell are you talking about? If you've ever used a Mac, you know control-click does the same thing as right click, but you almost never use it. On a laptop KB I'd rather use control-click than try to find a second button down by my palms somewhere. On a desktop I'd rather buy a real multibutton mouse.
In short: Nobody believes your claimed experience with Macs.
... even though I bought the 24" Dell LCD to go with my Mac Pro!
I was doing some work recently involving switching between a large matrix in Word (don't ask), and an even LARGER matrix in Excel. On a 14.1" laptop screen. Even though I used freeze panes in excel to keep relevant information on the screen, I continually got lost scrolling around both documents and alt-tabbing between them. I'm not kidding when I say I was EASILY twice as productive when I hooked this computer up to my 24" display. If you've been thinking of upgrading, go for it. Dell and Apple want $1800+ for a 30", but you can get the Dell 24" for $700ish, which is the best money I've ever spent. Frankly, for most people, they'd be better off saving $400 on the computer and springing for the bigger screen, than buying computer speed they only use occasionally. You interface with your monitor CONSTANTLY.
I agree 2 screens would be okay, but I hate the "focus" problem.. in some OSes/Apps, dialog boxes pop up in the middle of your screen, or between the two displays. Also the asymmetry bothers my OCD. I'd rather have 1 or 3. But once you get to 2 or 3, suddenly you're going wider but not higher. I like the aspect ratio of a single widescreen more than two smaller screens side-by-side.
I simply cannot understand what Slashdotters have against Facebook. If this were a discussion about aggregating any other kind of publically-available personal information and streaming it out to people, Slashdotters would be up in arms.
I don't want all of my friends and family being told when I go to the grocery store, or who I'm hanging out with at any given moment, or what my new driver's license number is, or what time I got to work today. There is tons of information about ourselves that is, by nature public, and some that is private but we choose to make public. Often the tradeoff between what we say and do revolves around *how* public it will be.
I am careful about who I tell personal things on a sliding scale. I might not share a dark personal secret at all, or tell only a close trusted friend certain things. There are other things that I would tell a select group of people in the hopes that it would stay that way. However, we all realize that information we provide to others and put out there COULD end up on the front page of the newspaper.. but it's a balancing act.
Same goes for Facebook. Slashdotters simply cannot understand why anyone would put anything on Facebook they don't want everyone to see. Why is this so hard to understand? You post comments on Slashdot publically, but you might say something negative about your boss because you figure they *probably* won't find out -- however, you're posting with the full knowledge that he might find out, and if he does, its your problem. It's a risk you choose to take and balance.
Why is it so hard to realize that Facebook is the same way? You set your privacy settings a certain way, and post information for others to see, but there is a huge difference between changing your relationship status to single (so that anyone who looks at your profile will see it, and those who have looked before might remember you were once in a relationship), versus having everyone you allow access to your information suddenly TOLD that you broke up with someone.
The real-world analogue is telling your friends when you see them "oh, I'm single now.." or, perhaps, not admitting it until someone asks "hey, how are things going with that girl?"... versus having "Jim is now single!" broadcast into the homes of all of your friends and family.
Yes, Facebook information IS PUBLIC INFORMATION. We all get it. But the world is not black and white, and I'd expect Slashdotters, of all people, to understand the difference between publically available information and publically broadcast information.
To those who don't understand why anyone would put any information about themselves at all online: You're doing it right now. Too late. Get with the program. Your online forum registrations, your slashdot comments. Facebook is cool and fun. It's an incredible way for college students to network with each other, have fun, provide information to friends. The photo tagging feature is just beyond cool. Have you all forgotten what being social and having fun is about? Sucks to be you.
So Facebook users who find this feature creepy are protesting. They're not suing for release of private information or something stupid like that. They just want things back the way they were. If it doesn't go back to the way things were, those who don't like the new features will shrug their shoulders, and move on. Delete their profile, or make more stuff private, or whatever. There is nothing wrong with being upset about a change in the way a favorite site does things. Nobody's claiming this is illegal, they're just customers complaining. Just like if slashdot went to an all-pink color scheme. People would complain, some might leave, whatever. Would you expect to see people on other sites saying "Man those slashdotters were so stupid to trust their personal comments and entertainment to a site that might some day switch to the color pink! Haha, what a bunch of fools!" But that's precisely what most of the anti-Facebook comments on Slashdot look like. Completely uninformed and ignorant.
And, FYI, I refuse to even browse the cesspool known as Myspace.
What? It was posted as a do-it-yourself iPod HiFi, but what it ACTUALLY is, is a pair of cheap speakers in plastic cabinets.
As for an iPod full of compressed, lossy songs... uh... do you have ANY CLUE how incredible my MP3s sound through my Paradigm Monitor 3's? I'll give you a hint: even with lossy MP3s, plastic-box speakers would sound like crap.
Are you serious? You must not be paying attention at all. Hardly anybody "adds" a machine, most people will switch entirely if they find something they like. Every single slashdot thread on Apple has at least 10 people announcing that they gave up Linux for good and went to Windows.
I'm one of them.
Well, except, this is posted from Linux. Can't get a Mac at work, and Linux beats the hell out of XP. But I would never use Linux on the desktop again if I had the choice. I may even buy a Mac mini just to bring in to work to use.
Has this reviewer actually used a PocketPC device? For god's sake... If you thought the old Windows network configuration was confusing, get ready for PocketPC.
I had the task of configuring one of those brand new Dell PPC's with bluetooth and wifi, for a wireless network we have here.
It took me 90 minutes (I shit you not) to get the damn thing working. Granted, I have zero PPC experience, but aren't they trying to sell to NEW customers?
Problems: * The WiFi config tool could almost never find wireless networks. It would just sit there searching for no apparent reason, and looked like it hung. * Does anybody know when to use the WiFi wizard, versus "connections," versus.. whatever the THIRD way of setting up a network device was? * The names make no sense. You have a base station name, then you have a profile name, then you have a connection type name. WHAT? How the fuck is Joe Blow supposed to understand "use this connection to connect to: work/The Internet" the problem is, "Work" is a network connection name, but I think it might also be a VPN reference.
You go around and around and around in absolute menu hell.. none of the different components of the configuration seem to actually accept changes, or make any kind of difference. For fuck's sake, it was literally the worst configuration nightmare I've had in 12 years' worth of computer shit.
Once again, Microsoft has stolen cutting-edge technology from Apple! Where's the lawsuit????
Re:I would buy a Mac... re: g3 logic board repair
on
Return of the Mac
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· Score: 3, Interesting
OTOH, I sent in my 3 year old iBook (way out of warranty) for a logic board repair (bad video).
Apple had a box delivered the next morning, and I sent the laptop out same day. Two days later it got to Houston, was diagnosed, repaired, and tested. All in the same day. Then it came back in 1 day.
I got the thing back, and the logic board was never replaced. They replaced my LCD and it now works flawlessly. I can't imagine those LCD panels are cheap, but I thank Apple for replacing my SCREEN under a logic board recall. And they lost themselves some money, because my only reason to replace my zippy 600mhz G3 iBook would be hardware failures. Oh yeah, also, they replaced one of the little rubber feet that fell off a few days ago.
Personally I find it odd that the G3 logic board repair coverage would even extend to a 3 year old laptop. I mean it is a laptop, we expect it to fail eventually, in some way, right?
Sent in my 3 year old ibook 600 for repairs under the 'logic board repair program' for the first time. God knows, my warranty expired 2 years ago. I understand this problem was an "epidemic" but still, a component that fails on a laptop after 3 years of being banged around in a backpack and taken everywhere?
Tech on the phone agreed my problem (LCD display had vertical lines and funkiness, while external monitor looked fine.. LCD worked fine the last time I used it, which was 3 days ago, and it hadn't been so much as physically touched, the screen just went bad sometime in the 2 days that it was hooked to the monitor but not using the LCD).
Got it back in 5 days, next day am shipping twice.
Repaired for free.
Wasn't the logic board, they just replaced the screen at no charge even though it hasn't been covered for 2 years.
90% of Windows machines connected to the Internet is absolutely believable. I don't know anyone who hasn't gotten some. I've never had a virus on any machine, but got spyware on a Windows box by accident when the little "yes/no?" box pops up while I'm typing in a password (hit enter just at the wrong time...)
Microsoft, whispering into RIAA's ear.. "You know that Apple DRM has been hacked, and blah blah closed system, blah blah, doesn't support artist's rights, blah blah, Windows Media Miracle Solution!"
RIAA: "Good point."
Dead iPod
Microsoft: Profit!
Go shove it. As soon as they try to screw us out of affordable/iPodable online music sales, we'll go back to stealing.
Do you have to be a fanboy to like Apple? Come on.
I put much more faith in Apple than any other company, because they are doing right by me as a customer. I never would have touched a Mac until OS X, and even then, I warily bought an iBook because I needed a laptop, and didn't need to deal with a Linux laptop -- already had a Linux desktop, and had been using it since 95 exclusively.
But you know what? I think I speak for most Apple users when I say I'm happy. All us geeks who have grown tired of the Windows BS, and who were somewhat happier with Linux, are absolutely thrilled that somebody makes great products like Apple does. Finally something that works the way a computer should -- lets us get work done when we want to, and lets us play around with the innards when we want to, too. I like to be able to use rsync to back up my data, ok?
I'm tired of fighting the fight with all those companies that just don't get it. Apple gets it.
I'm happy with their products, so I'll defend 'em. When they lose that edge and another company's products are better, I'll leave Apple for that company.
And by the way, if you don't like Apple breaking into your house and destorying your ability to do what you see fit with your iPod, DON'T DOWNLOAD THE IPOD UPDATERS. Apple isn't breaking your ipod without your permission.
Yup, guess the 20gb ipod for $299 is a huge scam over the $270 dell DJ.
Not to mention the overpriced iPod mini -- $250 for a unit that contains drives that retail for $449 according to the lowest price Hitachi will point you to (J&R Music world).
Yes, I'm aware the Creative MuVo is cheaper, but honestly not that much. And clearly not the same product with the same great support and return policies, and...
Fortunately the iPod is at the popularity level where people say "wtf, this CD is broken because it won't work with my iPod!" rather than "damn, this crappy Apple product won't play my music right!"
iTunes for windows helped this along a long ways. Nobody was sympathetic that these CDs might not play on Macs; but because an iPod under windows is considered an MP3 player rather than some kooky bass-ackwards Apple product, people will bitch about the CD and not the player.
Thank god. Sick of people criticizing Apple for things that are the fault of Microsoft's monopoly, rather than legitimate failings of Apple (not that they don't have their own problems).
Just got my 4th gen 40GB ipod today -- woohoo!!!
No DRM for me, thank you very much. I will buy real CDs. If real CDs are not available, I will steal the music or buy it off of iTMS.
Slashdot Mirror
How is this insightful?
Disliking Microsoft for being a shit company that turns out half-assed software that only hurts innovation in the computer industry does not mean we have to bow down and worship at the altar of Linux (or OS X, or Solaris) development.
Why must dislike of choice A always be turned into an irrational support of choice B? This isn't even our two-party political system we're talking about, it's software!
Hey, at least it made me laugh, and wasn't full of anger and misspellings :)
(Mac user)
My Mac Pro shipped with a 2-button mouse, but I use my Logitech MX-1000 insted anyway.
Sorry, 2-button mice on laptops are just annoying. I guess you haven't used OS X much -- the right click is not all that useful, and control-click is EASIER than finding the second mouse button on a laptop, where you have to move your hand to find it anyway. On a normal mouse, yes, right-click makes sense, you have a separate finger for it. On the laptop, its just a pain to hit the right button. Your hands are already on the keyboard, why not hit control? How many thousand keys per day do you hit? Is it actually any more work to hit control as you click? Do you complain it's so much work that you have to vary the pressure on the gas pedal and brake in order to drive your car, rather than just hitting the gas once for go, and the brake once for stop?
I doubt you'll ever see Apple ship a laptop with two buttons, it is poor design from a physical standpoint, and from a human interface standpoint. And if you're a Windows user planning on using it as a Windows laptop, here is a secret: I think you'll be better off just buying a thinkpad or whatever. Windows runs almost flawlessly on Macs now, and by Leopard all kinks will probably be worked out. But it's still not 100% as far as I'm concerned, so why put up with that, and why buy an OS X license you're not going to use?
OTOH, if you are planning on using OS X, I think you'd be happy with it the way it ships.
Except for the screen res. That just sucks. 1024x768 was just enough on my 12" iBook. The 1440x900 on the 15" and whatever it is (1680x1050?) on the 17" is sad. I'm glad a have a desktop with a big 'ol Dell LCD.
I don't buy your price difference, and I'm not going to waste my time trying to figure it out, because I suspect nobody else believes it either.
/. spewing crap about OS X and Linux that make me cringe, but it's the same about Windows. The #1 thing that Windows apologists here simply don't get when they spend their time flaming Linux and OS X users is this: The average Linux or OS X user has *way* more experience on Windows than the average Windows user has on Linux or OS X. It just stands to reason, given the marketshare. I was a MS person until '95, when I switched to Linux on the desktop. In '02 I switched to the Mac with a 600mhz G3 iBook that served me all through college. Now I have a 2.6ghz quad core Mac Pro and couldn't be happier. But I'm stuck using Windows at work. Trust me, all of the Linux and Mac fanboys out there get stuck troubleshooting Windows for their friends and relatives, and using it at work. There is way more FUD about Linux and OS X than there is about Windows, so get off the high horse.
Your second statement is pretty dumb, too. I see a lot of people on
1. What? No. Obviously you've never used OS X. I'm sure some Linux developer will say otherwise, but for 99% of us out there (and I speak as a Linux systems admin), there is absolutely no point to running Linux if you've got OS X. Whereas it's downright painful to try to emulate or work with Unix machines from a Windows environment (anybody else experienced the fun of Cygwin libraries moving around as you try to compile? Nothing ever builds the same twice).
2. Dunno, can't compare Java (which I rarely use) on my Mac, to Java on your machine (which I have never used).
3. Knowledge bases and forums are the best place for complaints, not info. It gives you a good sense of what *common* problems are, though. I have no stability problems. In 4 years of hammering on my poor iBook, it only hard crashed maybe 5 times, and that's across many versions of OS X and much misuse. My Pro has never crashed, but then, it's only 2 months old. Worst case scenario: force quit an app and you're on your way. But then, I'm impatient and force quit things when I get bored of waiting and I know I won't lose any important data.
4. Yes, although I'd actually say you'd have better luck on Linux here. There are lots of Linux distros, but as you may or may not know, the libraries are relatively standard, and the userbase of Linux is greater than that of OS X users who use the Unix system.
5. Way better than the creaky Dell. Better than thinkpads I've seen. Pick it up with one hand from the corner, shake it up and down. No squeak, flex, or rattle. May not be wise to do on a 6lb 17" though.
6. Faster than what you have.
7. What the hell are you talking about? If you've ever used a Mac, you know control-click does the same thing as right click, but you almost never use it. On a laptop KB I'd rather use control-click than try to find a second button down by my palms somewhere. On a desktop I'd rather buy a real multibutton mouse.
In short: Nobody believes your claimed experience with Macs.
Originally, Microsoft claimed that IE7 would only be available with Vista, and would not be made available for older versions of Windows.
As it turns out, the release of IE7 separately is an about-face on this matter.
While it might take away one advantage of Vista over sticking with XP, I think the choice of a free upgrade is a good thing for the user.
Can you speak to the pro and con arguments that came out in deciding to release IE7 separate from Vista?
Thanks.
... even though I bought the 24" Dell LCD to go with my Mac Pro!
I was doing some work recently involving switching between a large matrix in Word (don't ask), and an even LARGER matrix in Excel. On a 14.1" laptop screen. Even though I used freeze panes in excel to keep relevant information on the screen, I continually got lost scrolling around both documents and alt-tabbing between them. I'm not kidding when I say I was EASILY twice as productive when I hooked this computer up to my 24" display. If you've been thinking of upgrading, go for it. Dell and Apple want $1800+ for a 30", but you can get the Dell 24" for $700ish, which is the best money I've ever spent. Frankly, for most people, they'd be better off saving $400 on the computer and springing for the bigger screen, than buying computer speed they only use occasionally. You interface with your monitor CONSTANTLY.
I agree 2 screens would be okay, but I hate the "focus" problem.. in some OSes/Apps, dialog boxes pop up in the middle of your screen, or between the two displays. Also the asymmetry bothers my OCD. I'd rather have 1 or 3. But once you get to 2 or 3, suddenly you're going wider but not higher. I like the aspect ratio of a single widescreen more than two smaller screens side-by-side.
> > That makes US the third most populous country behind china and india.
> True, as far as it goes, but those countries are 3-4 times larger.
How do you figure? Seems to me and wikipedia that the US is around twice as large as India, and China is a little bit bigger.
I simply cannot understand what Slashdotters have against Facebook. If this were a discussion about aggregating any other kind of publically-available personal information and streaming it out to people, Slashdotters would be up in arms.
I don't want all of my friends and family being told when I go to the grocery store, or who I'm hanging out with at any given moment, or what my new driver's license number is, or what time I got to work today. There is tons of information about ourselves that is, by nature public, and some that is private but we choose to make public. Often the tradeoff between what we say and do revolves around *how* public it will be.
I am careful about who I tell personal things on a sliding scale. I might not share a dark personal secret at all, or tell only a close trusted friend certain things. There are other things that I would tell a select group of people in the hopes that it would stay that way. However, we all realize that information we provide to others and put out there COULD end up on the front page of the newspaper.. but it's a balancing act.
Same goes for Facebook. Slashdotters simply cannot understand why anyone would put anything on Facebook they don't want everyone to see. Why is this so hard to understand? You post comments on Slashdot publically, but you might say something negative about your boss because you figure they *probably* won't find out -- however, you're posting with the full knowledge that he might find out, and if he does, its your problem. It's a risk you choose to take and balance.
Why is it so hard to realize that Facebook is the same way? You set your privacy settings a certain way, and post information for others to see, but there is a huge difference between changing your relationship status to single (so that anyone who looks at your profile will see it, and those who have looked before might remember you were once in a relationship), versus having everyone you allow access to your information suddenly TOLD that you broke up with someone.
The real-world analogue is telling your friends when you see them "oh, I'm single now.." or, perhaps, not admitting it until someone asks "hey, how are things going with that girl?"... versus having "Jim is now single!" broadcast into the homes of all of your friends and family.
Yes, Facebook information IS PUBLIC INFORMATION. We all get it. But the world is not black and white, and I'd expect Slashdotters, of all people, to understand the difference between publically available information and publically broadcast information.
To those who don't understand why anyone would put any information about themselves at all online: You're doing it right now. Too late. Get with the program. Your online forum registrations, your slashdot comments. Facebook is cool and fun. It's an incredible way for college students to network with each other, have fun, provide information to friends. The photo tagging feature is just beyond cool. Have you all forgotten what being social and having fun is about? Sucks to be you.
So Facebook users who find this feature creepy are protesting. They're not suing for release of private information or something stupid like that. They just want things back the way they were. If it doesn't go back to the way things were, those who don't like the new features will shrug their shoulders, and move on. Delete their profile, or make more stuff private, or whatever. There is nothing wrong with being upset about a change in the way a favorite site does things. Nobody's claiming this is illegal, they're just customers complaining. Just like if slashdot went to an all-pink color scheme. People would complain, some might leave, whatever. Would you expect to see people on other sites saying "Man those slashdotters were so stupid to trust their personal comments and entertainment to a site that might some day switch to the color pink! Haha, what a bunch of fools!" But that's precisely what most of the anti-Facebook comments on Slashdot look like. Completely uninformed and ignorant.
And, FYI, I refuse to even browse the cesspool known as Myspace.
What? It was posted as a do-it-yourself iPod HiFi, but what it ACTUALLY is, is a pair of cheap speakers in plastic cabinets.
As for an iPod full of compressed, lossy songs... uh... do you have ANY CLUE how incredible my MP3s sound through my Paradigm Monitor 3's? I'll give you a hint: even with lossy MP3s, plastic-box speakers would sound like crap.
Are you serious? You must not be paying attention at all. Hardly anybody "adds" a machine, most people will switch entirely if they find something they like. Every single slashdot thread on Apple has at least 10 people announcing that they gave up Linux for good and went to Windows.
I'm one of them.
Well, except, this is posted from Linux. Can't get a Mac at work, and Linux beats the hell out of XP. But I would never use Linux on the desktop again if I had the choice. I may even buy a Mac mini just to bring in to work to use.
HID lights use less power than conventional lights. 35w or so, versus 55.
Then again, DRLs use about 35 I think...
ha-ha.
Has this reviewer actually used a PocketPC device? For god's sake... If you thought the old Windows network configuration was confusing, get ready for PocketPC.
I had the task of configuring one of those brand new Dell PPC's with bluetooth and wifi, for a wireless network we have here.
It took me 90 minutes (I shit you not) to get the damn thing working. Granted, I have zero PPC experience, but aren't they trying to sell to NEW customers?
Problems:
* The WiFi config tool could almost never find wireless networks. It would just sit there searching for no apparent reason, and looked like it hung.
* Does anybody know when to use the WiFi wizard, versus "connections," versus.. whatever the THIRD way of setting up a network device was?
* The names make no sense. You have a base station name, then you have a profile name, then you have a connection type name. WHAT? How the fuck is Joe Blow supposed to understand "use this connection to connect to: work/The Internet" the problem is, "Work" is a network connection name, but I think it might also be a VPN reference.
You go around and around and around in absolute menu hell.. none of the different components of the configuration seem to actually accept changes, or make any kind of difference. For fuck's sake, it was literally the worst configuration nightmare I've had in 12 years' worth of computer shit.
have you READ the article? It was not apologist at all.
Just because Thurott didn't come in and say that the Mac was a worthless POS that only a pink Miata driver would use...
Once again, Microsoft has stolen cutting-edge technology from Apple! Where's the lawsuit????
OTOH, I sent in my 3 year old iBook (way out of warranty) for a logic board repair (bad video).
Apple had a box delivered the next morning, and I sent the laptop out same day. Two days later it got to Houston, was diagnosed, repaired, and tested. All in the same day. Then it came back in 1 day.
I got the thing back, and the logic board was never replaced. They replaced my LCD and it now works flawlessly. I can't imagine those LCD panels are cheap, but I thank Apple for replacing my SCREEN under a logic board recall. And they lost themselves some money, because my only reason to replace my zippy 600mhz G3 iBook would be hardware failures. Oh yeah, also, they replaced one of the little rubber feet that fell off a few days ago.
Personally I find it odd that the G3 logic board repair coverage would even extend to a 3 year old laptop. I mean it is a laptop, we expect it to fail eventually, in some way, right?
happy camper.
No complaints from me.
Sent in my 3 year old ibook 600 for repairs under the 'logic board repair program' for the first time. God knows, my warranty expired 2 years ago. I understand this problem was an "epidemic" but still, a component that fails on a laptop after 3 years of being banged around in a backpack and taken everywhere?
Tech on the phone agreed my problem (LCD display had vertical lines and funkiness, while external monitor looked fine.. LCD worked fine the last time I used it, which was 3 days ago, and it hadn't been so much as physically touched, the screen just went bad sometime in the 2 days that it was hooked to the monitor but not using the LCD).
Got it back in 5 days, next day am shipping twice.
Repaired for free.
Wasn't the logic board, they just replaced the screen at no charge even though it hasn't been covered for 2 years.
Thanks, Apple!
This is why you don't buy a lifetime subscription from anyone that Microsoft might ever want to try to compete with.
90% may be high. 5.1% is ridiculously low.
90% of Windows machines connected to the Internet is absolutely believable. I don't know anyone who hasn't gotten some. I've never had a virus on any machine, but got spyware on a Windows box by accident when the little "yes/no?" box pops up while I'm typing in a password (hit enter just at the wrong time...)
Here's what happened:
Microsoft, whispering into RIAA's ear..
"You know that Apple DRM has been hacked, and blah blah closed system, blah blah, doesn't support artist's rights, blah blah, Windows Media Miracle Solution!"
RIAA:
"Good point."
Dead iPod
Microsoft: Profit!
Go shove it. As soon as they try to screw us out of affordable/iPodable online music sales, we'll go back to stealing.
Which is really great news if you want some nutjob's belief in a made-up being to run our country and control our actions...
Mmm, boss just downloaded 475MB in 3 minutes.. gotta love Universities in the summer!
I'm guessing the non-MSDN version is smaller...
Do you have to be a fanboy to like Apple? Come on.
I put much more faith in Apple than any other company, because they are doing right by me as a customer. I never would have touched a Mac until OS X, and even then, I warily bought an iBook because I needed a laptop, and didn't need to deal with a Linux laptop -- already had a Linux desktop, and had been using it since 95 exclusively.
But you know what? I think I speak for most Apple users when I say I'm happy. All us geeks who have grown tired of the Windows BS, and who were somewhat happier with Linux, are absolutely thrilled that somebody makes great products like Apple does. Finally something that works the way a computer should -- lets us get work done when we want to, and lets us play around with the innards when we want to, too. I like to be able to use rsync to back up my data, ok?
I'm tired of fighting the fight with all those companies that just don't get it. Apple gets it.
I'm happy with their products, so I'll defend 'em. When they lose that edge and another company's products are better, I'll leave Apple for that company.
And by the way, if you don't like Apple breaking into your house and destorying your ability to do what you see fit with your iPod, DON'T DOWNLOAD THE IPOD UPDATERS. Apple isn't breaking your ipod without your permission.
Yup, guess the 20gb ipod for $299 is a huge scam over the $270 dell DJ.
Not to mention the overpriced iPod mini -- $250 for a unit that contains drives that retail for $449 according to the lowest price Hitachi will point you to (J&R Music world).
Yes, I'm aware the Creative MuVo is cheaper, but honestly not that much. And clearly not the same product with the same great support and return policies, and...
Fortunately the iPod is at the popularity level where people say "wtf, this CD is broken because it won't work with my iPod!" rather than "damn, this crappy Apple product won't play my music right!"
iTunes for windows helped this along a long ways. Nobody was sympathetic that these CDs might not play on Macs; but because an iPod under windows is considered an MP3 player rather than some kooky bass-ackwards Apple product, people will bitch about the CD and not the player.
Thank god. Sick of people criticizing Apple for things that are the fault of Microsoft's monopoly, rather than legitimate failings of Apple (not that they don't have their own problems).
Just got my 4th gen 40GB ipod today -- woohoo!!!
No DRM for me, thank you very much. I will buy real CDs. If real CDs are not available, I will steal the music or buy it off of iTMS.