My previous job was for a Biological research lab in Southern California.
When I started, Macs were 80% of the machines there, with various flavours of *nix being about 12% and 8% being Windows.
Then we got a CIO who wanted to get rid of everything and replace it with Windows. (Turns out the local Dell rep was his son).
To say he failed is an understatement. When I left, many of the *nix speciality apps had transitioned over to OS X, and the SGI and Sun boxes were getting replaced most of the time with OS X boxes. So by the time I left, 90% of the machines were Mac OS X, 4% *nix, and 6% Windows.
I'm an US expat working in Qatar, and the local ISP/Phone Monopoly, Q-Tel, has made a big hue and cry about banning Skype and other VoIP systems in the country.
So far, their banning seems to be blocking the Skype home page from systems in the country. That's it. No port blocking, no nothing. Meanwhile, the Skype software is freely available with headsets and USB handsets in most computer stores and the computer souks. And the site can be freely accessed if one uses an SSH tunnel to get around the national ISP's nannyware/firewall. All it seems to do is block the causal user at best. And they can't really do much in the way of portblocking, without interfering with the on-line gaming that's all the rage here.
Re:Gartner part of Apple advertising department
on
Macs Are Cheaper than PCs
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· Score: 2, Interesting
Ah yes, Cheryl Currid's anti-Mac "Justifications". If you'll look, you'll see that all that information was used by her to justify her 1996 Houston Chronicle article. Which means the data is 6 years out of date, and dates to the "bad old days" before Steve Job's return and the iMac. A lot has changed with Apple in 6 years. Pity Cheryl Currid hasn't updated her information any.
Gee, wonder if they'll go after me for a tagline I use??
Fourteen bottles of cut-rate soda: $9.46.
Six bags of chips and a pack of Hostess Snoballs: $8.17.
Rulebooks, dice, and sharpened #2 pencils: $56.89.
Making a saving throw against Dragon Breath, rolling 20 on strike, and
dealing double damage: priceless.
There are some things gold pieces can't buy. For everything else, there's MasterCard.
Re:PLEASE DON'T QUESTION THE ONE-BUTTON MOUSE!
on
Jobs Plays It Frank
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· Score: 1
Let's see - A Logitech USB 2-button with scroll wheel mouse on my G4 at home. Cost me $14.99. Later updated to a Logitech Wheelman optical mouse for $39.99. A two-button ADB mouse on my beige G3 running LinuxPPC cost me $12.99.
Most USB mice about there anymore pack the PC and Macintosh drivers on one CD-ROM that's packaged with the mouse. Which means that they are the same price no matter what platform it's going on. Microsoft does the same for their USB mice, which means a PC user and a Mac user pay the exact same price. Hate to bust your bubble, but accessories for PC and Macintoshes cost exactly the same - because in most cases, they are exactly the same.
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OS X *is* Unix. BSD Unix to be precise.
My previous job was for a Biological research lab in Southern California.
When I started, Macs were 80% of the machines there, with various flavours of *nix being about 12% and 8% being Windows.
Then we got a CIO who wanted to get rid of everything and replace it with Windows. (Turns out the local Dell rep was his son).
To say he failed is an understatement. When I left, many of the *nix speciality apps had transitioned over to OS X, and the SGI and Sun boxes were getting replaced most of the time with OS X boxes. So by the time I left, 90% of the machines were Mac OS X, 4% *nix, and 6% Windows.
Right now here in Qatar, the local ISP / Telco monopoly, QTel, is playing cames with Vonage and other hardware & software based VoIP systems.
However, Skype seems able to get around their blocks. (They've blocked partial access to the Skype website, but they can't seem to block the service.
As a result, I use Skype more and more to call home and my daughter. it's more reliable than Vonage seems to be.
I'm an US expat working in Qatar, and the local ISP/Phone Monopoly, Q-Tel, has made a big hue and cry about banning Skype and other VoIP systems in the country.
So far, their banning seems to be blocking the Skype home page from systems in the country. That's it. No port blocking, no nothing. Meanwhile, the Skype software is freely available with headsets and USB handsets in most computer stores and the computer souks. And the site can be freely accessed if one uses an SSH tunnel to get around the national ISP's nannyware/firewall. All it seems to do is block the causal user at best. And they can't really do much in the way of portblocking, without interfering with the on-line gaming that's all the rage here.
Ah yes, Cheryl Currid's anti-Mac "Justifications". If you'll look, you'll see that all that information was used by her to justify her 1996 Houston Chronicle article. Which means the data is 6 years out of date, and dates to the "bad old days" before Steve Job's return and the iMac. A lot has changed with Apple in 6 years. Pity Cheryl Currid hasn't updated her information any.
Gee, wonder if they'll go after me for a tagline I use?? Fourteen bottles of cut-rate soda: $9.46. Six bags of chips and a pack of Hostess Snoballs: $8.17. Rulebooks, dice, and sharpened #2 pencils: $56.89. Making a saving throw against Dragon Breath, rolling 20 on strike, and dealing double damage: priceless. There are some things gold pieces can't buy. For everything else, there's MasterCard.
Let's see - A Logitech USB 2-button with scroll wheel mouse on my G4 at home. Cost me $14.99. Later updated to a Logitech Wheelman optical mouse for $39.99. A two-button ADB mouse on my beige G3 running LinuxPPC cost me $12.99. Most USB mice about there anymore pack the PC and Macintosh drivers on one CD-ROM that's packaged with the mouse. Which means that they are the same price no matter what platform it's going on. Microsoft does the same for their USB mice, which means a PC user and a Mac user pay the exact same price. Hate to bust your bubble, but accessories for PC and Macintoshes cost exactly the same - because in most cases, they are exactly the same.