No kidding. I went my entire education (BA Chem) without once using a single graphing calculator. Now, In my spare time, I tutor college math: time and time again, my students have no true understanding of even the most basic of principles because they always had a computer to do it for them.
So now, If I tutor someone, I made them leave the calculator at home. Everyone to date ended up actually learning, rather than memorizing.
Though completely off topic (with regard to the initial thread), I'll waste my karma for this one.
" 1. It's two citizens. One of whom hasn't lived here since he was a small child (child of Saudi nationals who happened to be born while parents were in the US. Yes, he's a citizen, but I bet he never thought of himself as an American until he found out that he could use that detail to get himself out of the pokey). The other sounds like he meets even an idiot's definition of traitor.
2. Precedent was established in 1942 during WW II. Democratic president, even."
1. You nor I nor the President to decide how much of a citizen someone is. You are citizen or you are not a citizen. End of story.
2. I'll be sure to remind you of that should they have "good reason" to think you are a "bad guy" and arrest you when you come back from your vacation in Egypt.
Doesn't anyone think its odd that the moment someone questions loudly about what the govt knew before 9/11 we get an army of "terror warnings" and just as soon as the FOIA forces the FBI to own up to investigating and smearing Berkly students and teachers in the 70's with Reagans help we hear about some felon being arrested after coming back from Pakistan, when they had him in custody for a month before hand?
Protecting freedoms does NOT require suspension of due process. The sky isn't falling, we aren't being invaded. We don't need to go back to the days of an FBI/CIA that overstepped their powers (Nixon, anyone?).
Initial impression: boy are they in a hurry. Very aggressive time table for this project. 6 Months to "Emergency DARPA", 18 Months to 3 functional prototypes.
Then I saw what languages it will have: Arabic , Mandarin (the part of china that border Pakistan and India is mainly Islamic), Pashto (Pakistan/Afganistan), Dari (Iran/Afgan/etc)
Oh. What I want to know is what those 8 other languages are that they want to have the ability to add to it later?
"The window doesn't pop up in front of other applications when it's loaded a page - this is very annoying in Chimera, hopefully it will be fixed soon."
This has got to be the most ANNOYING UI error in OS X. If the user wanted to interact with an application, they would click on the dock. Having apps auto unhide, auto force to top of the screen, auto come out of the dock is annoying. Regardless of usefulness. Maybe the icon of the browser should instead have a number for each fully loaded uninteracted web pages....less intrusive and certainly just as informative.
1. macthis.org has no dns entry 2. google has no idea who "mac this", mac.this, or macthis is/are. 3. Do the editors even click on the links before posting?
"If (at least in some states) source code is free speech [advogato.org], and games are just the result of that code, I don't see how this is going to hold up under appeal. IANAL (obviously)"
There is more to a video game than source code, just like there is more to a playboy than a Jimmy Cater interview. 3-D models, 2-D picts, backgroup textures, backgroup grafitti, none of which were ever in a source code form.
It's just not as simple as "free speech"
Btw. Telling a parent that they just will have to learn to live with their child purchases (unless of course the parent is a bit draconian) rather than letting the parent choose to allow (or not allow) the child to be exposed to certain media is far worse than telling the child to go ask their parents first.
'Yeah. Everyone knows that the average computer buyer just wants a bare-bones platform on which they can roll their own browser, media player, photo editor, etc."
Which is exactly why OEMs will take care of this for you. People do want choice. Should I get Apple with their iLine of software or Dell with their software, or maybe, HP's and their software suite, or just build a PC and choose from off the shelf solutions. Do you honestly think, OEMs CAN much less want to sell PCs with no abilities? They will fill in the cracks...
"The second point is the crux. I got the pre-installed OS as a part of the PC package, therefore I can't split it up when I donate the hardware."
This is just not true. Not in any way. Right of first sale says I can do ANYTHING i damn well please with a physical item I purchased. If I want to take the computer apart and sell each individual circuit, I can. That includes not including origional license to the OS that came with it.
Lets think about what a "license" is. A license gives the licensee the right to copy the software. Simple, eh. There are two things to note here. If the owner NEVER copies the software, they have never been bound to a license terms (in theory anyhow). The ONLY time a user copies the software is on the OS install. If the user, as per the License Agreement, decides that they no longer accept the license agreement, it is null and void.
Meaning quite simply, there is no necissity for me to ship my PC with the original software, as per the right of first sale. Even if somehow the License "forces" the individual to transfer the license, the person to receives the hardware without the license has no broken no law.
"If someone enters my place and plants a camera, I believe that every State has a dozen or so laws that the perpetrator can be charged with (breaking and entry, illegal entry, etc), that is if the cops bother to stop writing speeding tickets long enough to catch the criminal. Don't forget all of the civil charges."
Not necissarily. If my "your on the case tuesday" is up to speed, the incident that sparked this was when a landlord had set up cameras with no audio. Since it was his property, he could leave and enter when he wanted (on the lease ya know)...
But even if it were someone not invited, which is usually not the case, simple buglarly in most states isn't a big crime. Nowhere near as big as video taping a couple having sex and selling it on the internet as porn.
Think about it. You can choose someone just breaking into your home at night and stealing nothing, or someone selling porn of you and your partner. Which is worse?
"Imagine if every software vendor/hardware vendor had to support something like Linux. Linux can be anything to anyone who wishes to change it."
Apple supports MacOS, I don't see much difference between that and Gateway supporting "GatewayOS".
"There is no way to generically claim Linux (or fragmented Windows) support because there is an _infinite_ combination of dependencies. The software makers have to get much much more specific. "
Which is why they would use "Gateway OS" and not "Linux". Not a big deal. Noone confuses OS X with Darwin or Darwin with FreeBSD. Noone confuses Mandrake with SuSE. Multiple vendors, multiple OS's.
"They don't control the x86 OS market. "
I think Judge Jackson and the Appealate court disagrees with you. Its no longer a question of if they have an abuse a monolopy on the x86 OS market. That's part of the court record.
"Do you really have that little faith in capitalism? I'll say this once: If there was an OS on the x86 platform that consumers WANTED, do you really think no vendors would pop up to accomodate those consumers?"
Four words: Applicaton barrier to entry.
This has already been discussed and is part of the court record.
"A bunch of different OS versions won't help consumers"
I challenge you to back this up.
Let's look at a market that is "similiar" to the PC market and see how healthy it is.
Game consoles. You have software makers, proprietary APIs, zero compatibility of games from console to console (even within the same console maker), yet it THRIVES. We can't imagine any other way to buy game consoles.
Why is the PC market any different? Think about this for a second, imagine if you went into a computer store and there were four sections, HP, Sony, Apple, and Gateway. Each had their own software shelf, each had their own hardware. Would people be confused? No, of course not, just like Nintendo and PSX2 doesn't confuse them. Would people finally have choice? Yes!
Any ruling that leaves MS in 100% control of the x86 OS market does NOTHING to stop MS from abusing their monolopy. The simpliest decision is to give the OEMs a lifetime license to the WinXP source code (as it exists today, so MS doesn't have leverage with future OS's) and let OEMS do anything they please with that source code. If the changes suck, it won't sell. Apple seems to be proving that the consumer market can accept a new OS. Let HP, Sony, DELL, Gateway, and the like do the same.
"Contrary to some suggestions I have heard in connection with this case, product integration is unambiguously good for consumers," Sanders testified. "The integration of innovative features is a principal means by which both software and hardware products are improved, to the benefit of consumers."
Since the case ostensibly was about bundling and integration, that statement is tantamount to saying Microsoft did nothing wrong
Actually, he is right. Product integration does make the consumer experience better. What does NOT magically flow from this, is that Microsoft should be the one who decides what products get integrated and don't get integrated. Yet, it subtly implies that MS is the natural choice for deciding what gets integrated and what does not. So in this respect people who rally behind MS by saying "hey, integration is what got us this far, so be light on MS", are being disingenuous.
"How do you propose we stem illegal distribution of copyrighted material, other than mandating that copy-thwarting be built into any device that can read the original work?"
Considering that there are millions of PC out in the market today that allow infinite copies of digital files, there are thousands of technically trained indivduals willing to donate the time and code to write programs that play and encode digital files, and that there are dozens of countries that probabally will never care about "copyright" in the western sense, I would suggest NOTHING can be done.
Copy protection is not about the artist, its about advancement of the sciences and arts. It's allowed by the constitution, but it is NOT a right in the US. Now, considering the GOAL is to have more science and more arts, I don't care about any publishers concerns about copying until they stop raping artists and barrier to entry for new musicians and video makers is removed so that they can be their OWN publisher. Publishers are not conerned about advancing arts, they are about catering to the lowest common demonator which has expendable cash.
"Moreover, this would be no different than someone recording an FM broadcast onto a cassette tape"
This is incorrect. In the old days, if I wanted to record a song of the radio, I had to go buy a 90min tape and sit by the radio, pressing record when something good comes on. Today, I just point Streamripper at a mp3 steam and let it go all night long. It seperates the songs for me and I can trash the unwanted songs. Not only do I have a few hours worth of music (it's how I get my old wave), but it will never degrade like tapes. Sure its not CD quality, but I never owned a stereo system capable of discerning much of a difference between a CD and a 160mp3.
To a certain extent these guys are right, but I have a hard time feeling sorry for them. They take the copyright from the artist and make the artist pay their way out of their "royalities". Granted I still buy about 1-2CDs per week, thats because most of the music I actually like is done by smaller bands (Fugazi, Pennywise, et al.) who actally earn a living producing music on labels that don't out right rape them (though still take away copyrights). I think in a world where the artist controlled the music I would have no problem paying a few dollars a month for a cache of stream subscriptions (sans advertising), as long as a majority of the money went straight to the artists whose music was actually played. Until then the RIAA can go fuck itself, and I'll keep pointing streamripper at old wave streams until my collection of the one hit wonders is totally complete (damn near already)
His points: 1. Macs are Expensive 2. He buys components to "stay ahead of the curve" 3. Mhz
My points: Number 1 and number 3 are MULTUALLY EXCLUSIVE. Every 4 or so years (+/- 1) I buy a Mac. It usually takes that long for a new use of computers to come along that challenge previous processors. I bought a 6100/60 to do word processing, e-mail, and what is now basic web browsing. I bought an iMac for mp3, CDRW, digital imaging (with larger images than the 6100 liked). I will buy a G4 iMac in the next year or so for digital video. I average about $1200 for 4 years, which is about $300 a year, or $1/day. I spend more on coffee/lattes than I do on Macs. Now my PC (bought to play video games). Every 6 months or so I do a mobo and/or processor replacement so that I can buy any game in CompUSA/BestBuy, which is about $250 a year in UPGRADE costs. That doesn't even take into account graphic cards (1 new one a year), hard drives (when I run out of space or when the cost of a new one that is 3X as big is same as origional drive), replacement monitors (evey few years), etc. All in all, I spend a little more on my PC use than I do on my Macs.
Number 3 is a bunch of shit. Think of it like this. When one purchases a computer, they (hopefully) buy it for a purpose. They have a need they are fulfilling. Lets use are car example. Lets say you could buy a sedan for $15000 or a normal run of the mill city car for $15000. Based on a simple look the sedan is a better deal. Now lets say that sedan had the drivers seat on the wrong side of the car AND every year you had to buy brand new tires to keep up with roads designed for sedans. Not only that the Sedan pollutes the fuck out of the enviroment, some times doesn't start for any appearant reason, and the radio keeps turning itself on to the easy listening station once you achieve highway speeds. Sedan isn't looking so good anymore, especially since the normal car is reliable, doesn't treat you as if you are the enemy.
His points are stupid. There are reasons NOT to buy Macs, but these aren't among them. He's an average WinTroll trying to get web hits and it worked.
"Think about the sum total of what you've just read, then maybe it will hit you. Slashdot certainly isnt what it used to be"
Although it is correct to say that Slashdot's not what it is used to be and there are better sources of geek news (not that I would tell, go find your own weblog), it is not particularlly relevent in this case. You see in the States it is April Fools and this is the PERFECT troll article for such an day. I applaud the poster for his attention to detail and abiltiy to BS with such seriousness as to seem like an ask Slashdot should be.
Anyhow if you don't like what Slashdot has become, you can always stop reading it. It's not like you have a personal vested interest in Slashdot.
It really is an interesting problem. My Wife's iMac only has a 6Gb drive. She's always saving info form the web into AppleWorks files. She has generating a LOT of little itty bitty files. Now our PC file server stores our digital photos and mp3s, and both iTunes and iPhoto make managing that mess quite easy and Sherlock is SUPPOSED to make finding in files easier (it kinda does), but does a poor job at it.
Now, my point is, I've actually thought about setting up some form of database so that my Wife can find her info for years to come. But my biggest question is NOT would a database help, I'm sure it would. What I would like to know, is how would the interface for that database look?
Considering what I have seen of XP (I got a copy sitting on a 2GB drive that sits on my shelf), MS knows very little about information management in the UI, and I would expect this problem to not get any better for the majority of PC uses, even if the entire file system was one big database.
This is fine as long as "riot police" get the "sensitivity training". If it won't kill, it is more often used. Just look at the Seattle protests of over zealous used of tear gas and pepper spray. Yes, rioters were gased, but there is video of sit in protestors being gassed, hit with batons, etc.
If it's not deadly, its more okay to use...Now this, people can break bones...great....
A friend of mine installed OS X at my urging. He's used Unix boxes in work for years, so he's computer dumb. He liked it, generally speaking.
Anyhow. He partitioned his harddrive four ways. It gave him troubles from day one. Not big ones, just little ones. The GUI didn't fit how he was using his Mac. The Application button, now was meaningless, the Documents button was meaningless, He never used his Home folder. He fought the interface to do it "his way". Looked for and downloaded shareware apps to help him OS 9ify his computer. He fought his computer for a year, changing this, changing that, trying to make his GUI work his way. That's fine as long as you don't want to get any work done.
So I tell him...."kill the partitions and use the supplied UI elements the way they are meant to be". He says no. Off and on, we have this conversation and he always wants it "his way".
Then one day, he decides that he will try my advice. I tell him how to save his mail and prefs, he backs up his "essentials" on CD. Un partitions, Reinstalls, updates, etc. For one week, he decided to actually USE the UI elements as they were meant to be used. That was 4 months ago. All that shareware he bought is now useless to him. He no longer fights his computer and has found that OS X is EASIER to use than OS 9 as long as you are willing to change a few habits. Not only that, changing those habits took very little time.
In the article, this guys first action was to ceremoniously declare (via instant format and partition, which he complains didn't go over as smoothly as he wanted) "f**k this setup, I want the set up to be TOTALLY different" and has been fighting OS X ever since. I'm willing to be if he set aside his precepts and used it the way it is set up, one week later, he would not be fighting his machine and would be back to getting work done.
"Hmmmm. I'm wondering if, with the advent of apple.slashdot.org, I'll be able to come here, make pro-apple comments, and more easily get Karma."
Actually, yes you can. I've been at 50 Karma for over a year (more or less) with almost all of my "pro-Apple" posts getting modded to at least 4. Slashdot is not as "anti-apple" as you might think, or "anti-windows" for that matter. it's not the content, its the quality (with the exception of the one post I did that got like 70 moderations)
Someone needs to remind the DC police that all 19 of the Hijackers were taped walking into the airport (and some into a Wall Mart), Mc Veigh was videoed slowing down to light the fuse, and who knows how many robberies in the US are taped. Sure video can help AFTER the 3000 people are dead, not before. I'm willing to bet good ol fashioned forensics and already existing video (every store, ATM, and Joe on the street has a camera now) will do the same exact thing, without being anywhere near as creepy.
Slashdot Mirror
No kidding. I went my entire education (BA Chem) without once using a single graphing calculator. Now, In my spare time, I tutor college math: time and time again, my students have no true understanding of even the most basic of principles because they always had a computer to do it for them.
So now, If I tutor someone, I made them leave the calculator at home. Everyone to date ended up actually learning, rather than memorizing.
Though completely off topic (with regard to the initial thread), I'll waste my karma for this one.
" 1. It's two citizens. One of whom hasn't lived here since he was a small child (child of Saudi nationals who happened to be born while parents were in the US. Yes, he's a citizen, but I bet he never thought of himself as an American until he found out that he could use that detail to get himself out of the pokey). The other sounds like he meets even an idiot's definition of traitor.
2. Precedent was established in 1942 during WW II. Democratic president, even."
1. You nor I nor the President to decide how much of a citizen someone is. You are citizen or you are not a citizen. End of story.
2. I'll be sure to remind you of that should they have "good reason" to think you are a "bad guy" and arrest you when you come back from your vacation in Egypt.
Doesn't anyone think its odd that the moment someone questions loudly about what the govt knew before 9/11 we get an army of "terror warnings" and just as soon as the FOIA forces the FBI to own up to investigating and smearing Berkly students and teachers in the 70's with Reagans help we hear about some felon being arrested after coming back from Pakistan, when they had him in custody for a month before hand?
Protecting freedoms does NOT require suspension of due process. The sky isn't falling, we aren't being invaded. We don't need to go back to the days of an FBI/CIA that overstepped their powers (Nixon, anyone?).
Initial impression: boy are they in a hurry. Very aggressive time table for this project. 6 Months to "Emergency DARPA", 18 Months to 3 functional prototypes.
Then I saw what languages it will have: Arabic , Mandarin (the part of china that border Pakistan and India is mainly Islamic), Pashto (Pakistan/Afganistan), Dari (Iran/Afgan/etc)
Oh. What I want to know is what those 8 other languages are that they want to have the ability to add to it later?
Hair clippers. Professional barber ones. College kids have a tendency to cut their own hair and anyone who OWNED clippers was immediately your friend.
"The window doesn't pop up in front of other applications when it's loaded a page - this is very annoying in Chimera, hopefully it will be fixed soon."
This has got to be the most ANNOYING UI error in OS X. If the user wanted to interact with an application, they would click on the dock. Having apps auto unhide, auto force to top of the screen, auto come out of the dock is annoying. Regardless of usefulness. Maybe the icon of the browser should instead have a number for each fully loaded uninteracted web pages....less intrusive and certainly just as informative.
Registered with no DNS. I already noticed they were in whois, but I have yet to find their IP.
1. macthis.org has no dns entry
2. google has no idea who "mac this", mac.this, or macthis is/are.
3. Do the editors even click on the links before posting?
There is more to a video game than source code, just like there is more to a playboy than a Jimmy Cater interview. 3-D models, 2-D picts, backgroup textures, backgroup grafitti, none of which were ever in a source code form.
It's just not as simple as "free speech"
Btw. Telling a parent that they just will have to learn to live with their child purchases (unless of course the parent is a bit draconian) rather than letting the parent choose to allow (or not allow) the child to be exposed to certain media is far worse than telling the child to go ask their parents first.
Noones rights are being squashed here.
Which is exactly why OEMs will take care of this for you. People do want choice. Should I get Apple with their iLine of software or Dell with their software, or maybe, HP's and their software suite, or just build a PC and choose from off the shelf solutions. Do you honestly think, OEMs CAN much less want to sell PCs with no abilities? They will fill in the cracks...
This is just not true. Not in any way. Right of first sale says I can do ANYTHING i damn well please with a physical item I purchased. If I want to take the computer apart and sell each individual circuit, I can. That includes not including origional license to the OS that came with it.
Lets think about what a "license" is. A license gives the licensee the right to copy the software. Simple, eh. There are two things to note here. If the owner NEVER copies the software, they have never been bound to a license terms (in theory anyhow). The ONLY time a user copies the software is on the OS install. If the user, as per the License Agreement, decides that they no longer accept the license agreement, it is null and void.
Meaning quite simply, there is no necissity for me to ship my PC with the original software, as per the right of first sale. Even if somehow the License "forces" the individual to transfer the license, the person to receives the hardware without the license has no broken no law.
"If someone enters my place and plants a camera, I believe that every State has a dozen or so laws that the perpetrator can be charged with (breaking and entry, illegal entry, etc), that is if the cops bother to stop writing speeding tickets long enough to catch the criminal. Don't forget all of the civil charges."
Not necissarily. If my "your on the case tuesday" is up to speed, the incident that sparked this was when a landlord had set up cameras with no audio. Since it was his property, he could leave and enter when he wanted (on the lease ya know)...
But even if it were someone not invited, which is usually not the case, simple buglarly in most states isn't a big crime. Nowhere near as big as video taping a couple having sex and selling it on the internet as porn.
Think about it. You can choose someone just breaking into your home at night and stealing nothing, or someone selling porn of you and your partner. Which is worse?
"Imagine if every software vendor/hardware vendor had to support something like Linux. Linux can be anything to anyone who wishes to change it."
Apple supports MacOS, I don't see much difference between that and Gateway supporting "GatewayOS".
"There is no way to generically claim Linux (or fragmented Windows) support because there is an _infinite_ combination of dependencies. The software makers have to get much much more specific. "
Which is why they would use "Gateway OS" and not "Linux". Not a big deal. Noone confuses OS X with Darwin or Darwin with FreeBSD. Noone confuses Mandrake with SuSE. Multiple vendors, multiple OS's.
"They don't control the x86 OS market. "
I think Judge Jackson and the Appealate court disagrees with you. Its no longer a question of if they have an abuse a monolopy on the x86 OS market. That's part of the court record.
"Do you really have that little faith in capitalism? I'll say this once: If there was an OS on the x86 platform that consumers WANTED, do you really think no vendors would pop up to accomodate those consumers?"
Four words: Applicaton barrier to entry.
This has already been discussed and is part of the court record.
"A bunch of different OS versions won't help consumers"
I challenge you to back this up.
Let's look at a market that is "similiar" to the PC market and see how healthy it is.
Game consoles. You have software makers, proprietary APIs, zero compatibility of games from console to console (even within the same console maker), yet it THRIVES. We can't imagine any other way to buy game consoles.
Why is the PC market any different? Think about this for a second, imagine if you went into a computer store and there were four sections, HP, Sony, Apple, and Gateway. Each had their own software shelf, each had their own hardware. Would people be confused? No, of course not, just like Nintendo and PSX2 doesn't confuse them. Would people finally have choice? Yes!
Any ruling that leaves MS in 100% control of the x86 OS market does NOTHING to stop MS from abusing their monolopy. The simpliest decision is to give the OEMs a lifetime license to the WinXP source code (as it exists today, so MS doesn't have leverage with future OS's) and let OEMS do anything they please with that source code. If the changes suck, it won't sell. Apple seems to be proving that the consumer market can accept a new OS. Let HP, Sony, DELL, Gateway, and the like do the same.
"Contrary to some suggestions I have heard in connection with this case, product integration is unambiguously good for consumers," Sanders testified. "The integration of innovative features is a principal means by which both software and hardware products are improved, to the benefit of consumers."
Since the case ostensibly was about bundling and integration, that statement is tantamount to saying Microsoft did nothing wrong
Actually, he is right. Product integration does make the consumer experience better. What does NOT magically flow from this, is that Microsoft should be the one who decides what products get integrated and don't get integrated. Yet, it subtly implies that MS is the natural choice for deciding what gets integrated and what does not. So in this respect people who rally behind MS by saying "hey, integration is what got us this far, so be light on MS", are being disingenuous.
"Basically we've analyzed the patent and determined that we do not infringe on any valid claim that it contains,"
Translation: Your patent sucks ass and we have the money to prove it.
"How do you propose we stem illegal distribution of copyrighted material, other than mandating that copy-thwarting be built into any device that can read the original work?"
Considering that there are millions of PC out in the market today that allow infinite copies of digital files, there are thousands of technically trained indivduals willing to donate the time and code to write programs that play and encode digital files, and that there are dozens of countries that probabally will never care about "copyright" in the western sense, I would suggest NOTHING can be done.
Copy protection is not about the artist, its about advancement of the sciences and arts. It's allowed by the constitution, but it is NOT a right in the US. Now, considering the GOAL is to have more science and more arts, I don't care about any publishers concerns about copying until they stop raping artists and barrier to entry for new musicians and video makers is removed so that they can be their OWN publisher. Publishers are not conerned about advancing arts, they are about catering to the lowest common demonator which has expendable cash.
"Moreover, this would be no different than someone recording an FM broadcast onto a cassette tape"
This is incorrect. In the old days, if I wanted to record a song of the radio, I had to go buy a 90min tape and sit by the radio, pressing record when something good comes on. Today, I just point Streamripper at a mp3 steam and let it go all night long. It seperates the songs for me and I can trash the unwanted songs. Not only do I have a few hours worth of music (it's how I get my old wave), but it will never degrade like tapes. Sure its not CD quality, but I never owned a stereo system capable of discerning much of a difference between a CD and a 160mp3.
To a certain extent these guys are right, but I have a hard time feeling sorry for them. They take the copyright from the artist and make the artist pay their way out of their "royalities". Granted I still buy about 1-2CDs per week, thats because most of the music I actually like is done by smaller bands (Fugazi, Pennywise, et al.) who actally earn a living producing music on labels that don't out right rape them (though still take away copyrights). I think in a world where the artist controlled the music I would have no problem paying a few dollars a month for a cache of stream subscriptions (sans advertising), as long as a majority of the money went straight to the artists whose music was actually played. Until then the RIAA can go fuck itself, and I'll keep pointing streamripper at old wave streams until my collection of the one hit wonders is totally complete (damn near already)
His points:
1. Macs are Expensive
2. He buys components to "stay ahead of the curve"
3. Mhz
My points:
Number 1 and number 3 are MULTUALLY EXCLUSIVE. Every 4 or so years (+/- 1) I buy a Mac. It usually takes that long for a new use of computers to come along that challenge previous processors. I bought a 6100/60 to do word processing, e-mail, and what is now basic web browsing. I bought an iMac for mp3, CDRW, digital imaging (with larger images than the 6100 liked). I will buy a G4 iMac in the next year or so for digital video. I average about $1200 for 4 years, which is about $300 a year, or $1/day. I spend more on coffee/lattes than I do on Macs. Now my PC (bought to play video games). Every 6 months or so I do a mobo and/or processor replacement so that I can buy any game in CompUSA/BestBuy, which is about $250 a year in UPGRADE costs. That doesn't even take into account graphic cards (1 new one a year), hard drives (when I run out of space or when the cost of a new one that is 3X as big is same as origional drive), replacement monitors (evey few years), etc. All in all, I spend a little more on my PC use than I do on my Macs.
Number 3 is a bunch of shit. Think of it like this. When one purchases a computer, they (hopefully) buy it for a purpose. They have a need they are fulfilling. Lets use are car example. Lets say you could buy a sedan for $15000 or a normal run of the mill city car for $15000. Based on a simple look the sedan is a better deal. Now lets say that sedan had the drivers seat on the wrong side of the car AND every year you had to buy brand new tires to keep up with roads designed for sedans. Not only that the Sedan pollutes the fuck out of the enviroment, some times doesn't start for any appearant reason, and the radio keeps turning itself on to the easy listening station once you achieve highway speeds. Sedan isn't looking so good anymore, especially since the normal car is reliable, doesn't treat you as if you are the enemy.
His points are stupid. There are reasons NOT to buy Macs, but these aren't among them. He's an average WinTroll trying to get web hits and it worked.
"Think about the sum total of what you've just read, then maybe it will hit you. Slashdot certainly isnt what it used to be"
Although it is correct to say that Slashdot's not what it is used to be and there are better sources of geek news (not that I would tell, go find your own weblog), it is not particularlly relevent in this case. You see in the States it is April Fools and this is the PERFECT troll article for such an day. I applaud the poster for his attention to detail and abiltiy to BS with such seriousness as to seem like an ask Slashdot should be.
Anyhow if you don't like what Slashdot has become, you can always stop reading it. It's not like you have a personal vested interest in Slashdot.
It really is an interesting problem. My Wife's iMac only has a 6Gb drive. She's always saving info form the web into AppleWorks files. She has generating a LOT of little itty bitty files. Now our PC file server stores our digital photos and mp3s, and both iTunes and iPhoto make managing that mess quite easy and Sherlock is SUPPOSED to make finding in files easier (it kinda does), but does a poor job at it.
Now, my point is, I've actually thought about setting up some form of database so that my Wife can find her info for years to come. But my biggest question is NOT would a database help, I'm sure it would. What I would like to know, is how would the interface for that database look?
Considering what I have seen of XP (I got a copy sitting on a 2GB drive that sits on my shelf), MS knows very little about information management in the UI, and I would expect this problem to not get any better for the majority of PC uses, even if the entire file system was one big database.
This is fine as long as "riot police" get the "sensitivity training". If it won't kill, it is more often used. Just look at the Seattle protests of over zealous used of tear gas and pepper spray. Yes, rioters were gased, but there is video of sit in protestors being gassed, hit with batons, etc.
If it's not deadly, its more okay to use...Now this, people can break bones...great....
A friend of mine installed OS X at my urging. He's used Unix boxes in work for years, so he's computer dumb. He liked it, generally speaking.
Anyhow. He partitioned his harddrive four ways. It gave him troubles from day one. Not big ones, just little ones. The GUI didn't fit how he was using his Mac. The Application button, now was meaningless, the Documents button was meaningless, He never used his Home folder. He fought the interface to do it "his way". Looked for and downloaded shareware apps to help him OS 9ify his computer. He fought his computer for a year, changing this, changing that, trying to make his GUI work his way. That's fine as long as you don't want to get any work done.
So I tell him...."kill the partitions and use the supplied UI elements the way they are meant to be". He says no. Off and on, we have this conversation and he always wants it "his way".
Then one day, he decides that he will try my advice. I tell him how to save his mail and prefs, he backs up his "essentials" on CD. Un partitions, Reinstalls, updates, etc. For one week, he decided to actually USE the UI elements as they were meant to be used. That was 4 months ago. All that shareware he bought is now useless to him. He no longer fights his computer and has found that OS X is EASIER to use than OS 9 as long as you are willing to change a few habits. Not only that, changing those habits took very little time.
In the article, this guys first action was to ceremoniously declare (via instant format and partition, which he complains didn't go over as smoothly as he wanted) "f**k this setup, I want the set up to be TOTALLY different" and has been fighting OS X ever since. I'm willing to be if he set aside his precepts and used it the way it is set up, one week later, he would not be fighting his machine and would be back to getting work done.
"Hmmmm. I'm wondering if, with the advent of apple.slashdot.org, I'll be able to come here, make pro-apple comments, and more easily get Karma."
Actually, yes you can. I've been at 50 Karma for over a year (more or less) with almost all of my "pro-Apple" posts getting modded to at least 4. Slashdot is not as "anti-apple" as you might think, or "anti-windows" for that matter. it's not the content, its the quality (with the exception of the one post I did that got like 70 moderations)
"Signing exclusive agreements is NOT illegal!"
This is true, except in one case. When you are a monolopy and those agreements preclude any competition.
Which is what appearantly happened here.
Someone needs to remind the DC police that all 19 of the Hijackers were taped walking into the airport (and some into a Wall Mart), Mc Veigh was videoed slowing down to light the fuse, and who knows how many robberies in the US are taped. Sure video can help AFTER the 3000 people are dead, not before. I'm willing to bet good ol fashioned forensics and already existing video (every store, ATM, and Joe on the street has a camera now) will do the same exact thing, without being anywhere near as creepy.
It's little more than an expensive feel good toy.