WTF are you talking about? The grandparent post doesn't say anything about Ogg, Linux or DRM with regard to this service. To me it appears to say, plain and simple, having to pay in perpetuity for something that most people want to keep is asinine and will be a failure.
Middle school and High school kids are interested in the hits now.
I was in middle school and high school between 1985 and 1991. Guess what time period a great deal of the music on my iPod is from? Do you think any kid that age today will want to end up paying Napster $3600 ($15 * 12 months * 20 years) to have consistent access to the songs that bring back fond memories of his youth from now until 2025?
In short: Fuck, no!
Most people don't change-- they hold dear the music from when they were growing up. My parents' listened to oldies stations on the radio because they liked the music from the time when they grew up. They thought the music I listened to was shit. I still listen mostly to stuff from the 80s, when was growing up, and I think the vast majority of today's music is shit, compared to it. There's no reason to think that this cycle will stop with the kids today-- though the idea of hearing Britney Spears on an oldies station in a couple decades is rather amusing.
Everyone loves to second guess Steve Jobs, but based on how Apple has turned around since his return, I'd say he knows what the hell he's doing.
Here's another example: Ever since he killed the Newton, a small, vocal group of people have been screaming for an Apple PDA. Jobs refuses to make one. Said small, vocal group of people say he's crazy for ignoring such a huge market, and then look what happens: PDA sales have been falling for the last three years.
Microsoft has many times in the past cut very important functionality all in the name of making release dates. This time they appear fairly serious about overhauling their development model and aren't allowing time to be a major factor.
Then the more savvy will begin to realize that the G4 is bottlenecked by its slow bus speed, and there'll be a lot of pissed off people
No, the more savvy will just stick with their Windows boxes, because they know how to maintain them and are willing to take the time to do so. The Mac mini isn't aimed at them.
The mini is aimed at people who just want to visit web sites and send e-mail, have never used Windows Update, Spybot or Ad-Aware in their life, and cannot comprehend why they get all those pop-up ads and their PC seems to be running slower and slower with each passing month. "The more savvy" are far, far outnumbered by these people.
Just from the orders placed between the announcement of the mini and its release date, it has become the fastest-selling computer ever produced by Apple. They're going to sell millions of the things, and make a lot of new lifetime Mac users in the bargain.
It's been tried before, and somehow it manages to get shot down. Astronomers really don't like people fucking with their ability to work, and surprisingly the astronomy lobby has successfully managed to put the kibosh on these sort of things so far.
Last time I remember an attempt at something like this was 1989, when the French wanted to commemorate the centennial of the Eiffel Tower by launching into orbit a bunch of reflective balloons forming a glowing ring in the sky. More info here.
.."received permission from Xerox to use concepts Xerox had no plans to put into a marketable product, in exchange for letting Xerox invest $1M in Apple stock," then yes.
If you were implying they just stole the GUI from PARC, then you're incorrect.
There was an implicit quid pro quo-- $1M investment in exchange for a tour of PARC and demo of their stuff. In "Triumph of the Nerds," former PARC employee Adele Goldberg explains that she flat out refused to demo the stuff in question to the Apple contingent until she was directly ordered to do so by her superiors, and even explained the reason for her refusal to them. And they ordered her to do the demo.
They not only came up with it, they've used it twice for two completely different things.
Once back in the late 80s for their floppy drive that could read and write 800MB and 1.44MB Mac-formatted floppies as well as 720K and 1.44MB DOS-formatted floppies, and again for the drives that can read and write CD and DVD media.
Are they still around? What's the place called? What's the URL to their site?
I have a non-working NeXTStation that needs repair and I'm thinking of replacing my fully-functional NeXTStation with a color model. If they still exist and buy as well as sell black hardware, it might be worth my while to make the trip from Philadelphia one weekend.
~Philly
Another one from the "Duh!" file
on
Microsoft in 2008
·
· Score: 5, Funny
Anyone who thinks the one-button mouse is a failure has clearly never tried to talk a n00b friend or relative who bought a cheap Windows PC through troubleshooting it over the phone.
The conversation usually goes something like this:
You: "Okay, now right-click on 'My Computer' and choose 'Properties' from the menu that pops up." Them: "I clicked, but it just made the little picture go dark. I don't see any menu." You: "No, no, *right* click on 'My Computer.'" Them: "What do you mean, 'right-click'?" You: "Right-click, as in 'click the right mouse button.'" Them (completely astonished): "You mean it does something else???"
Mac clones, however, are a different story. Some Mac clones made by Motorola and Power Computing had both Apple Desktop Bus connectors and PS/2 connectors. The Power Computing boxes even had two monitor ports; one then-Apple-standard DB-15, and one VGA port.
According to this, you still have to have a Superdrive-equipped computer to burn DVDs directly from iDVD.
According to this, however, the disk images feature would allow you to save your project as a DVD image and then burn the image to a disc with another app.
Someone else besides me who realizes what a stupid idea it is. How long do you think the RIAA will allow the existence of a portable music player with wireless p2p functionality that has NO OTHER PURPOSE but to allow people to "steal" music? The ink won't be dry on the press release announcing such a device before the RIAA sues them.
If the virus writers targeted OS X, they'd quickly get bored with their lack of success and go on and do something productive with their lives. Windows is the main target because it's the easiest target. Marketshare has little to do with this.
But that's okay, don't believe. Check back in a year when you see what the Mac mini has done for the Mac platform, and what virus writers haven't done.
...because they, along with the consumer DSL providers, don't police their networks effectively enough.
My firewall logs STILL show access attempts from years-old worms, meaning that there are still idiots out there running infected machines, and still more idiots out there running unpatched machines waiting to get infected.
The ISPs typically do nothing unless I take the time to track down an abuse@ address, e-mail an appropriate excerpt from my logs, and hope I don't get blown off by some lazy tech who tells me the IP I'm reporting doesn't belong to them. (Roadrunner, I'm looking in YOUR direction!)
ISPs should have systems in place that are able to detect and immediately cut off machines on their subscriber networks that are spewing crap, but that would cut into profits-- so instead we all are made to suffer.
The case is 6.5" x 2", but I figure there's gotta be a little breathing room inside it. They might have to take the guts out of the case and work some magic, but it might be doable.
Just a thought, I wonder if Apple have any future plans to stuff mini-like innards into a blade and whip up a rackmount enclosure to hold several of them?
I'm betting it will only take a month or two once the mini becomes readily available, before some crazy case-modder type stuffs the mini's guts into an open 5.25" bay on their Windows PC.
to install all available updates and reboot the machine in 30 minutes (adjust time according to how fast your connection is or to reboot when convenient for the end-users)
IMHO they need to add an option to softwareupdate to have it automatically reboot upon completion of all the installations, if a reboot is required by any updates.
Um, Norton Internet Security IS available for the Mac.
I stand corrected. And frankly, shocked. What could Symantec possibly have to add to the Mac internet experience, in terms of security?
IME, since OS X appeared Symantec's Mac products have caused more problems than they've solved. Sad, really. For years, my entire Mac troubleshooting kit was just the latest Norton Utilties CD and a thick novel to read between support calls and while Disk Doctor worked its magic.
For $500, the miniMac is just right for use as a local network server.
Agreed. The subscribers on the Mac home automation mailing list I belong to are absolutely drooling over the possibilities the Mac mini presents. When I migrate my home servers to OS X, the home automation controller duties were going to be taken up by my old Quicksilver 733 that was replaced by my G5-- but now I may just sell it on eBay and pick up a mini. And I'd better get the Quicksilver listed fast, because used Mac prices are probably gonna take a hit once the mini becomes readily available.
Slashdot Mirror
WTF are you talking about? The grandparent post doesn't say anything about Ogg, Linux or DRM with regard to this service. To me it appears to say, plain and simple, having to pay in perpetuity for something that most people want to keep is asinine and will be a failure.
Middle school and High school kids are interested in the hits now.
I was in middle school and high school between 1985 and 1991. Guess what time period a great deal of the music on my iPod is from? Do you think any kid that age today will want to end up paying Napster $3600 ($15 * 12 months * 20 years) to have consistent access to the songs that bring back fond memories of his youth from now until 2025?
In short: Fuck, no!
Most people don't change-- they hold dear the music from when they were growing up. My parents' listened to oldies stations on the radio because they liked the music from the time when they grew up. They thought the music I listened to was shit. I still listen mostly to stuff from the 80s, when was growing up, and I think the vast majority of today's music is shit, compared to it. There's no reason to think that this cycle will stop with the kids today-- though the idea of hearing Britney Spears on an oldies station in a couple decades is rather amusing.
~Philly
Everyone loves to second guess Steve Jobs, but based on how Apple has turned around since his return, I'd say he knows what the hell he's doing.
Here's another example: Ever since he killed the Newton, a small, vocal group of people have been screaming for an Apple PDA. Jobs refuses to make one. Said small, vocal group of people say he's crazy for ignoring such a huge market, and then look what happens: PDA sales have been falling for the last three years.
~Philly
Microsoft has many times in the past cut very important functionality all in the name of making release dates. This time they appear fairly serious about overhauling their development model and aren't allowing time to be a major factor.
Right, that's why they've dropped WinFS from the feature list. Again. What is this, the third Windows version that was supposed to have it?
~Philly
Then the more savvy will begin to realize that the G4 is bottlenecked by its slow bus speed, and there'll be a lot of pissed off people
No, the more savvy will just stick with their Windows boxes, because they know how to maintain them and are willing to take the time to do so. The Mac mini isn't aimed at them.
The mini is aimed at people who just want to visit web sites and send e-mail, have never used Windows Update, Spybot or Ad-Aware in their life, and cannot comprehend why they get all those pop-up ads and their PC seems to be running slower and slower with each passing month. "The more savvy" are far, far outnumbered by these people.
Just from the orders placed between the announcement of the mini and its release date, it has become the fastest-selling computer ever produced by Apple. They're going to sell millions of the things, and make a lot of new lifetime Mac users in the bargain.
~Philly
It's been tried before, and somehow it manages to get shot down. Astronomers really don't like people fucking with their ability to work, and surprisingly the astronomy lobby has successfully managed to put the kibosh on these sort of things so far.
Last time I remember an attempt at something like this was 1989, when the French wanted to commemorate the centennial of the Eiffel Tower by launching into orbit a bunch of reflective balloons forming a glowing ring in the sky. More info here.
~Philly
.."received permission from Xerox to use concepts Xerox had no plans to put into a marketable product, in exchange for letting Xerox invest $1M in Apple stock," then yes.
If you were implying they just stole the GUI from PARC, then you're incorrect.
There was an implicit quid pro quo-- $1M investment in exchange for a tour of PARC and demo of their stuff. In "Triumph of the Nerds," former PARC employee Adele Goldberg explains that she flat out refused to demo the stuff in question to the Apple contingent until she was directly ordered to do so by her superiors, and even explained the reason for her refusal to them. And they ordered her to do the demo.
~Philly
...I know, because I've been rereading it this week.
~Philly
They not only came up with it, they've used it twice for two completely different things.
Once back in the late 80s for their floppy drive that could read and write 800MB and 1.44MB Mac-formatted floppies as well as 720K and 1.44MB DOS-formatted floppies, and again for the drives that can read and write CD and DVD media.
~Philly
Are they still around? What's the place called? What's the URL to their site?
I have a non-working NeXTStation that needs repair and I'm thinking of replacing my fully-functional NeXTStation with a color model. If they still exist and buy as well as sell black hardware, it might be worth my while to make the trip from Philadelphia one weekend.
~Philly
"Windows is now some sort of desktop environment on top of an open OS!"
Wow, so in the future they'll keep copying Apple. That's big news.
~Philly
Anyone who thinks the one-button mouse is a failure has clearly never tried to talk a n00b friend or relative who bought a cheap Windows PC through troubleshooting it over the phone.
The conversation usually goes something like this:
You: "Okay, now right-click on 'My Computer' and choose 'Properties' from the menu that pops up."
Them: "I clicked, but it just made the little picture go dark. I don't see any menu."
You: "No, no, *right* click on 'My Computer.'"
Them: "What do you mean, 'right-click'?"
You: "Right-click, as in 'click the right mouse button.'"
Them (completely astonished): "You mean it does something else???"
~Philly
Ps2 keyboards / mice have never been used by macs
This is technically true.
Mac clones, however, are a different story. Some Mac clones made by Motorola and Power Computing had both Apple Desktop Bus connectors and PS/2 connectors. The Power Computing boxes even had two monitor ports; one then-Apple-standard DB-15, and one VGA port.
~Philly
According to this, you still have to have a Superdrive-equipped computer to burn DVDs directly from iDVD.
According to this, however, the disk images feature would allow you to save your project as a DVD image and then burn the image to a disc with another app.
~Philly
You are assuming that RIAA gets to "allow" devices, which much as RIAA might like that, is not the case.
You are also assuming that every media file in the world is subject to a copyright that forbids sharing.
Unless you know where the public can get the money to buy laws fair to us, just give the RIAA/MPAA a few years until they get the laws they want.
~Philly
Who the FUCK moderated this down?
Someone else besides me who realizes what a stupid idea it is. How long do you think the RIAA will allow the existence of a portable music player with wireless p2p functionality that has NO OTHER PURPOSE but to allow people to "steal" music? The ink won't be dry on the press release announcing such a device before the RIAA sues them.
~Philly
If the virus writers targeted OS X, they'd quickly get bored with their lack of success and go on and do something productive with their lives. Windows is the main target because it's the easiest target. Marketshare has little to do with this.
But that's okay, don't believe. Check back in a year when you see what the Mac mini has done for the Mac platform, and what virus writers haven't done.
~Philly
...because they, along with the consumer DSL providers, don't police their networks effectively enough.
My firewall logs STILL show access attempts from years-old worms, meaning that there are still idiots out there running infected machines, and still more idiots out there running unpatched machines waiting to get infected.
The ISPs typically do nothing unless I take the time to track down an abuse@ address, e-mail an appropriate excerpt from my logs, and hope I don't get blown off by some lazy tech who tells me the IP I'm reporting doesn't belong to them. (Roadrunner, I'm looking in YOUR direction!)
ISPs should have systems in place that are able to detect and immediately cut off machines on their subscriber networks that are spewing crap, but that would cut into profits-- so instead we all are made to suffer.
~Philly
The case is 6.5" x 2", but I figure there's gotta be a little breathing room inside it. They might have to take the guts out of the case and work some magic, but it might be doable.
~Philly
Just a thought, I wonder if Apple have any future plans to stuff mini-like innards into a blade and whip up a rackmount enclosure to hold several of them?
~Philly
I'm betting it will only take a month or two once the mini becomes readily available, before some crazy case-modder type stuffs the mini's guts into an open 5.25" bay on their Windows PC.
~Philly
Thanks for that tip-- I still have much to learn about the command line and shell scripting.
~Philly
is the clitoris that thing that hangs down in the back of my throat??
Only if you're Linda Lovelace.
Otherwise, that would be the uvula.
~Philly
Even easier,
softwareupdate -ia; shutdown -r +30
to install all available updates and reboot the machine in 30 minutes (adjust time according to how fast your connection is or to reboot when convenient for the end-users)
IMHO they need to add an option to softwareupdate to have it automatically reboot upon completion of all the installations, if a reboot is required by any updates.
~Philly
Um, Norton Internet Security IS available for the Mac.
I stand corrected. And frankly, shocked. What could Symantec possibly have to add to the Mac internet experience, in terms of security?
IME, since OS X appeared Symantec's Mac products have caused more problems than they've solved. Sad, really. For years, my entire Mac troubleshooting kit was just the latest Norton Utilties CD and a thick novel to read between support calls and while Disk Doctor worked its magic.
~Philly
For $500, the miniMac is just right for use as a local network server.
Agreed. The subscribers on the Mac home automation mailing list I belong to are absolutely drooling over the possibilities the Mac mini presents. When I migrate my home servers to OS X, the home automation controller duties were going to be taken up by my old Quicksilver 733 that was replaced by my G5-- but now I may just sell it on eBay and pick up a mini. And I'd better get the Quicksilver listed fast, because used Mac prices are probably gonna take a hit once the mini becomes readily available.
~Philly