Or, to rephrase: This is exactly why BMW will never be number one. Every kid out there knows that BMW hardware is way less expensive than what they sell it for. That's what keeps me from buying BMW, anyways.
Except, in the luxury car market, BMW is number one, and in the high-end desktop market, Apple is number one. Sure, in the global market, they're getting outsold by Hyundai and Dell, respectively, but people don't lust for a Hyundai.
If Apple were to sell their OS to the market, it would be like BMW licensing their logo to Hyundai. Sure, you'd still get a car out of things, but it wouldn't be a BMW, with all the little touches that make the car so utterly...pleasurable. Likewise, with Apple hardware, there are so many little things that make the hardware a joy to work with, and a third party would hardly have impetus to mantain that level of detail in the face of cost-cutting measures.
Oh, I've already done this, but it's not the same as being able to do something as simple as arbitrarily tag files and tell the OS 'Hey, encrypt these using this password from my keychain...', rather than having to keep them in set locations.
Just irritating that this doesn't Work Magically, that's all. *grin*
Re:Just like the USA...
on
Safe Cigarettes?
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· Score: 2, Interesting
Right! The Government should also ban coffee, sugary foods, television, and Slashdot, because they're *addictive*.
Oh, wait, now you don't support banning something because it's addictive?
People need to make their own decisions. That's the entire bloody POINT of the United States, at least it used to be. If you want to smoke, great, go for it. Drink all the booze you want, go for a bender, and that's fine, although you have to live with the consequences. The government has no say in how much of an idiot you can be, and in fact, being a rank moron seems to enhance your political abilities...
That being said, there is nothing wrong with the government making it *safer* to make bad decisions. You can still get drunk, but you can rest assured that your bottle of Jack Daniels doesn't contain large amounts of formaldehyde -- and this is a Good Thing. Likewise, helping current smokers have a better quality of life by making their addiction less harmful is also good.
I'm not a smoker -- used to be, but quit when I started boxing and climbing, and haven't smoked for awhile, but I still *know* and *care* about people who *do* smoke, and while I'd like them to quit, I'm not so much of an asshole as to think that they somehow *deserve* to die because they're addicted to smoking. I know there's a huge stigma against tobacco, and this is well-deserved, but to treat the problem of tobacco addiction as a black-and-white 'quit' or 'don't quit' issue is narrow-minded in the worst sense -- why not give people more options? Isn't that what our supposedly free country is all about?
I just *got* a loaded 1.5GHz 12" PB, and I'd love to replace it with something that's got a faster CPU, but the same form factor. E.g., something that can run iMovie without being a complete dog. Thing is, I *don't* care about widescreens; in fact, I find them kind of irritating, and I do like having the built-in DVD burner.
The iBooks are out; they tend to get scratched much more heavily, and have shittier keyboards. I'm a UNIX admin, so I spend all my time typing away, and while the PB keyboard isn't the best in the world (that award goes to the ThinkPad), it is certainly workable, and better than the POS Compaq V2000 that I was using.
What I'd like to see out of Apple are the following:
1. A *dock* for the *Books, so that I can tie it into my desktop. Offering something like the Sharp Actius dock would be awesome -- e.g., I can use the PB as a desktop from the Dock, or if I've got a desktop, have my desktop treat it like an external USB drive.
2. Better keyboard. Come on, kick Levono's ass on this one, Apple!
3. Dedicated hardware crypto for the hard drives. (Hey, this *is* a wishlist)
4. Or, the ability to tell the OS to only encrypt certain files/directories, rather than have the loop-AES hack of FileVault -- I don't care if my ~/doc tree is encrypted, I do care that my ~/work tree is.
5. Better console fonts for Terminal.
6. A faster Finder that lets me set a default for how I want to view *all* my folders. C'mon, Microsoft has even fixed *that* problem by now![1]
[1] Any Windows95 users remember how Windows would 'forget' how you wanted to view folders? Well, OS X doesn't 'forget', but you have to set that preference on *every* folder, and for new folders, it reverts back to the Icon view, no matter WHAT you set in your Preferences. This is just sloppy...
Wow, I guess he won't be getting any business from me, my employer, or any of the people for whom I consult. Most everyone I know uses Firefox (or Safari), including all my hardcore Windows-geek friends. They know a good thing when they see it.
Whenever I see a general-purpose application that is Windows-only, Linux-only, or Mac-only, I see a basic lack of respect for the end-user. Why the hell should I have to wrap *my* business model around *your* IT choices? I also don't understand the mindset that says it's okay to be an ass to potential customers. I mean, seriously, it's a *minor* time investment, compared to the time spent building the app, to design your web apps with standards in mind, and by doing so, you give yourself Another Competitive Edge over the competition. Even more importantly, sticking with standards makes your *more* portable in the future, so while your competition is struggling to adapt to the Next Great Thing, you can make a quick and smooth transition.
Basically, for all the sales-types out there, which of the following would YOU rather pitch to a potential customer?
1. Our product gives you X, Y, and Z!
2. Our product gives you X, Y, and Z! Plus, it works on anything, so no matter what your future IT direction, we'll be along for the ride!
This is why running a smear campaigain is a bad idea. Every now and then, it works, but it more often than not comes back to bite you in the ass. You're much better off to say nothing, or to say something that just casts yourself in a positive light.
Think about it -- you're interviewing two guys for an important job. One talks about all the good things he's done at his last job. The other talks about how screwed up things were and how he 'fixed' them. Who are you going to hire?
OT: People do this, too; there was an individual (name and gender withheld) at a previous place of employment with a resume filled with things like "Took a mis-managed department and brought it to productivity." Not only was this one of the worst employees we ever hired, but said employee got canned after six months because they did *nothing* but complain about how other departments were stopping them from doing their job.
The replacement had a more positive mindset, and caught up on the backlog within two months. Needless to say, he got promoted a couple of times.
I don't think this is really as applicable in this case, but I do disagree with the parent poster on one point -- you *need* to continue fighting against laws like this, because unless someone does, the lawyers and lobbyists of The Industry will have zero impediment in implementing their draconian information schemes.
You should also stop supporting them while you fight them; e.g., don't watch TV, go to movies, buy CDs or DVDs, or buy film-related merchandise. Used good are okay, of course, and you'll likely be supporting a small business in doing so, but new stuff is out.
While you are doing all this not-consuming, let both the companies, and your congresscritters, know how you feel. Put pen-to-paper and send them an actual letter; few people do this anymore, and it makes a real statement.
Er, where the hell are you finding 160G SATA drives for $60 and DL 8x DVD burners for $50? Try *doubling* the prices on those and you'll be reflecting reality, at least where I live.
$50 for a case and PSU? Not only is that going to be ugly as sin, but you're going to need a more powerful PSU if you decide that you want your homebuilt PC to, you know, turn on.
Basically, you've listed a bunch of bargain-basement components, at prices below anything I've seen at Fry's, and are telling me that this is equivalent to an iMac. Except it's much uglier, built with substantially shittier components, and has no OS (unless you install Linux or steal a copy of Windows). And no software. Oh, and you forgot the webcam and a good set of speakers, and a microphone.
Add in those components, and then add a 20% 'reality factor' to reflect the price that this stuff will actually cost (shipping, rebates that never show up), and you're right up there with the iMac.
Same here. I've been a desktop Linux user since about 1998, and recently got a new Mac -- and I doubt I'll be going back.
Especially with the new Intel Macs.
OS X Just Works, for the most part, and doesn't irritate the hell out of me in doing so. I wouldn't want to run it as a server, if only because I still think Debian and FreeBSD are better options on cheaper hardware, but the desktop experience of OS X can't be beat.
It's the applications that just bounce in the Dock, rather than stealing my keyboard focus, and Expose does indeed kick ass. I still have a Linux desktop at home, and it's getting replaced because (a) I want Expose; and (b) I'm tired of Gaim having two options for getting my attention: "Do nothing" and "Grab my keyboard away from whatever the hell I'm working on."
That, and having media options in-browser that WORK is a bloody joy.
First, I'm sorry, but most network administrators *I* know actually know about paragraph breaks. Reading your post was painful.
Second, as an administrator, why the hell do you care about iPods and AirPorts? Those are home-user technology, and you know it. If your office can afford to buy around a thousand Macs, plus XServe servers, you can afford professional-grade wireless solutions and proper GigE cabling for your physical plant.
Third, adminning a large network is not about 'cool' technologies. It's about building a system that enables the users to get their jobs done.
Fourth, these are problems you should have researched before you bought the hardware; after all, if it's the fault of the OS, there are going to be hundreds, if not thousands, of other people as pissed as you are, and you can avoid a costly mistake by looking for them. I did some Googling around and found nothing like what you've described, and no posts on Usenet looking for help with large OS X installation, so you are either an outright liar, or the most incompetent sysadmin ever to hold the title.
His argument *is* a strawman; namely, the issue is *not* that revoking a license instantly equates to removing the ability to use the software -- that's part of the specific implementation, not a required ramification of software-as-a-service.
You could also call this a slippery slope or false equivocation, as in this case, they are related.
Why do you have to stop using the software? Does it magically stop working or something? Just because you stop receiving bugfixes doesn't make the software unusable; it just means that, should a crucial bug be uncovered, that you will be vulnerable.
I've got no problem paying for a subscription, such that I receive a guaranteed stream of updates and patches. Basically, I think of software as being like any other capital good that requires maintenance -- there's an upkeep cost, because no software is ever Bug-Free(tm)
What I have a problem with are forced upgrades; if I'm happy with version X of a software, I should not be forced into upgrading to version Y for things like security fixes. If a software vendor is going to charge a subscription for maintenance, that's fine, but they are going to have to understand that, like any other capital good, maintenance means keeping the current software running -- not swapping it out every year.
This is actually a really good point; I have yet to see a *single* PowerPoint presentation that I would in any way consider useful, informative, or basically anything other than a complete waste of time. Reasons for this are twofold:
1. Speakers use the PowerPoint as a substitute for actually knowing the topic; they just go over whatever it says on the screen, rather than being able to articulate the topic.
2. PowerPoint is a one-way communications mechanism; you can't readily make drastic changes to a PowerPoint presentation on-the-fly, the way that you can with a whiteboard. When I hold team meetings, I generally just write down the key points on a whiteboard, and as ideas get brought up, they get written down. Sure, it's low-tech, but it works a hell of a lot better than PowerPoint.
NOTE: I'm writing this from the perspective of an American; YCMV.
At sixteen they aren't 'young girls' anymore. They're two years away from being 'young adults', capable of entering the workforce, going on to college, and even joining the military. Two years away from voting and choosing the leaders of the country.
In two years, someone does not go from being another pop-culture slave to having a strong command of the arts and sciences, especially without any sort of impetus to do so. More importantly, while a near-encyclopediac knowledge of pop culture may provide for some middling entertainment value, it won't get you a job, especially in a world where everyone else has the same sort of knowledge.
The parent poster isn't saying that it is necessarily bad to like pop culture, but that kids today have an obsessive devotion to it; there is no reason why a sixteen year old girl should have a concise mental database of current Hollywood flings and scandals, while at the same time having no idea what the last name of *one* of the Congressmen in her state is.
Sure, they're reading, but the articles written are simpleminded, non-critical, and are nothing more than fluff editorial pieces. There is no analysis, no critical thinking, no debate. It's a medium of entertainment as interactive as television.
The problem with this approach is that it is the same as allowing calculators for students who are learning to add fractions. The calculator is certainly the faster way, and in my professional life, I will likely use a calculator over adding fractions by hand, but when you are learning the fundamentals of mathematics, it is much more important to understand what's going on than it is to simply get the right answer.
Likewise, Visual Studio is a great way to generate code, and can be a great tool for professionals. But teaching people to program with it is another matter. Visual Studio completely abstracts these beginning programmers from what the program is actually doing, and without and understanding of what's going on under the hood, you aren't much of a programmer.
You really should learn to use Google. It's this really awesome search engine. One of the top ten results on a quick Googling for your problem gave this:
If you want to just use the screensaver lock, you can use AppleScript to pop up the screensaver on a keystroke, or just set one of the display corners to launch the screensaver.
Bingo. Problems solved.
Apple has come a long way from the days of 'Things...must...be...only...Apple!', and I, as a recent laptop-switcher (from Linux, although my desktop still runs Debian), am reasonably happy with what Apple has done. Sure, there are some irritating nits about the way the OS works, but that's going to happen with every OS, because not one OS is going to fit with all people.
The nice thing about OS X is that you can get rid of a lot of that Apple stuff without any problems. My Tiger laptop doesn't have Dashboard, I've dumped a good chunk of the pre-installed stuff (GarageBand, etc.), and I've got my pile of Unix tools that do their jobs. What could be better? Apple does the GUI, BSD Unix does the command line, and the only piece of Microsoft software around is VPC (for running Debian, of course).
Bingo! Companies need to understand that loyalty, like many other things in this economy, comes with a price tag. If you want to keep good employees around, you've got to pay them well, and giving them a good working environment isn't a bad idea either.
Of course, the beancounters complain about how this hurts the bottom line, but realistically, how much does training a new employee to the equivalent level cost? More importantly, who is more likely to stay with the company in a pinch?
This part is aimed at other geeks: People wonder why someone like myself, a UNIX geek who likes playing with soldering irons and PC boards, wants to go into management. The simple fact is that someone has to do the dirty work, even if it isn't as much fun as coding or building networks, and I know that my sitting in the manager's chair means that there's one less PHB who thinks that a greenhorn CompSci graduate is as qualified to be a senior programmer as a Java guru who's been coding against the JRE since before 1.0.
So it's only the amount added to the bottom line in recent years that matters, in terms of valuing an employee? In that case, what has the CEO done add to the bottom line? What about the CFO? Where has their direct contribution been?
Oh, wait, they don't add to the bottom line at all.
See, businesses function as an entire unit, and not every component of that unit is going to directly add to the 'bottom line'. It is important to recognize that, although many departments don't directly generate revenue, they do provide required services for revenue-generating departments to do their jobs.
You think IT is useless? Let's see you get by without email, access to Google, Slashdot (oh, the irony!), databases, accounting software, or any of the myrad of services an IT department provides. More importantly, let's see how well your business does against competitors who *do* use IT.
Try doing your corporate taxes with just pencil-and-paper sometime.
Think that every IT person should be working all the time? Great. Now what do you do when an emergency hits, and all of your people are at 100% of capacity? Pray? Try and add new people in the thick of things, thus adding the additional task of having to train said new people?
I don't think so.
Fact is, being in IT is a lot like being a paramedic, only you've got to build the hospital first. Once you've done that, assuming you've done your job, you do have a lot of on-the-clock free time, and if you're smart, you'll spend a good chunk of that time looking at the various aspects of the technology for which you are responsible. When an emergency hits, you've got the time to mobilize and deal with the problem quickly and effectively, and after the problem is solved, you can take the time to make sure the same sort of thing never happens again.
8-bits-per-channel is fine for output and input, but you need more data when manipulating images, especially RAW files from a camera. There's a lot of OOB (out-of-bandwitdh) data that gets lost if all the calculations are done in 8 bits, and that data is really important for color correction, retouching, and so on, especially if you're planning on blowing up the output, or printing in a different color space than the source image.
Basically, Gimp is great if you're going to do nothing but computer media. If you plan on putting your images on paper of any sort, it falls really short.
First, The original poster was asking about consumer grade PCs, not about high-end workstations.
Second, the iPod still has Firewire support through the special cradle, IIRC. Also, most Macs since 1999 have shipped with USB, and I'm fairly certain that the two-year-old Macs have USB 2.0, so iPods should work with them, no problem.
Third, iMacs are an all-in-one solution, aimed at a *consumer* who doesn't want to screw around with special discounts, having to pick a display and connect it, etc. You take it out of the box, plug it in, turn it on, and start using it. If you want a tower, you're likely going after either a cheap box (covered by the Mini) or a powerhouse (covered by the G5 towers).
Fourth, the CPU isn't that much slower than most modern chips, and they ship these things with a reasonable amount of RAM (512M), as well as a decent amount of hard drive space, and a good bundle of *useful* software. The people buying Minis aren't editing film or doing 3D graphics; they want a system that Just Works, and the Mac, by and large, does.
Fifth, the displays are fine. I hate how every other manufacturer is trying to cram more pixels into these tiny-ass displays, which for me, makes them harder to read. I honestly love the display on my 12" PB (same as the one on the iB), having come from a world of much higher-res PC laptops (running Linux, of course).
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Or, to rephrase: This is exactly why BMW will never be number one. Every kid out there knows that BMW hardware is way less expensive than what they sell it for. That's what keeps me from buying BMW, anyways.
Except, in the luxury car market, BMW is number one, and in the high-end desktop market, Apple is number one. Sure, in the global market, they're getting outsold by Hyundai and Dell, respectively, but people don't lust for a Hyundai.
If Apple were to sell their OS to the market, it would be like BMW licensing their logo to Hyundai. Sure, you'd still get a car out of things, but it wouldn't be a BMW, with all the little touches that make the car so utterly...pleasurable. Likewise, with Apple hardware, there are so many little things that make the hardware a joy to work with, and a third party would hardly have impetus to mantain that level of detail in the face of cost-cutting measures.
Oh, I've already done this, but it's not the same as being able to do something as simple as arbitrarily tag files and tell the OS 'Hey, encrypt these using this password from my keychain...', rather than having to keep them in set locations.
Just irritating that this doesn't Work Magically, that's all. *grin*
Right! The Government should also ban coffee, sugary foods, television, and Slashdot, because they're *addictive*.
Oh, wait, now you don't support banning something because it's addictive?
People need to make their own decisions. That's the entire bloody POINT of the United States, at least it used to be. If you want to smoke, great, go for it. Drink all the booze you want, go for a bender, and that's fine, although you have to live with the consequences. The government has no say in how much of an idiot you can be, and in fact, being a rank moron seems to enhance your political abilities...
That being said, there is nothing wrong with the government making it *safer* to make bad decisions. You can still get drunk, but you can rest assured that your bottle of Jack Daniels doesn't contain large amounts of formaldehyde -- and this is a Good Thing. Likewise, helping current smokers have a better quality of life by making their addiction less harmful is also good.
I'm not a smoker -- used to be, but quit when I started boxing and climbing, and haven't smoked for awhile, but I still *know* and *care* about people who *do* smoke, and while I'd like them to quit, I'm not so much of an asshole as to think that they somehow *deserve* to die because they're addicted to smoking. I know there's a huge stigma against tobacco, and this is well-deserved, but to treat the problem of tobacco addiction as a black-and-white 'quit' or 'don't quit' issue is narrow-minded in the worst sense -- why not give people more options? Isn't that what our supposedly free country is all about?
I just *got* a loaded 1.5GHz 12" PB, and I'd love to replace it with something that's got a faster CPU, but the same form factor. E.g., something that can run iMovie without being a complete dog. Thing is, I *don't* care about widescreens; in fact, I find them kind of irritating, and I do like having the built-in DVD burner.
The iBooks are out; they tend to get scratched much more heavily, and have shittier keyboards. I'm a UNIX admin, so I spend all my time typing away, and while the PB keyboard isn't the best in the world (that award goes to the ThinkPad), it is certainly workable, and better than the POS Compaq V2000 that I was using.
What I'd like to see out of Apple are the following:
1. A *dock* for the *Books, so that I can tie it into my desktop. Offering something like the Sharp Actius dock would be awesome -- e.g., I can use the PB as a desktop from the Dock, or if I've got a desktop, have my desktop treat it like an external USB drive.
2. Better keyboard. Come on, kick Levono's ass on this one, Apple!
3. Dedicated hardware crypto for the hard drives. (Hey, this *is* a wishlist)
4. Or, the ability to tell the OS to only encrypt certain files/directories, rather than have the loop-AES hack of FileVault -- I don't care if my ~/doc tree is encrypted, I do care that my ~/work tree is.
5. Better console fonts for Terminal.
6. A faster Finder that lets me set a default for how I want to view *all* my folders. C'mon, Microsoft has even fixed *that* problem by now![1]
[1] Any Windows95 users remember how Windows would 'forget' how you wanted to view folders? Well, OS X doesn't 'forget', but you have to set that preference on *every* folder, and for new folders, it reverts back to the Icon view, no matter WHAT you set in your Preferences. This is just sloppy...
Wow, I guess he won't be getting any business from me, my employer, or any of the people for whom I consult. Most everyone I know uses Firefox (or Safari), including all my hardcore Windows-geek friends. They know a good thing when they see it.
Whenever I see a general-purpose application that is Windows-only, Linux-only, or Mac-only, I see a basic lack of respect for the end-user. Why the hell should I have to wrap *my* business model around *your* IT choices? I also don't understand the mindset that says it's okay to be an ass to potential customers. I mean, seriously, it's a *minor* time investment, compared to the time spent building the app, to design your web apps with standards in mind, and by doing so, you give yourself Another Competitive Edge over the competition. Even more importantly, sticking with standards makes your *more* portable in the future, so while your competition is struggling to adapt to the Next Great Thing, you can make a quick and smooth transition.
Basically, for all the sales-types out there, which of the following would YOU rather pitch to a potential customer?
1. Our product gives you X, Y, and Z!
2. Our product gives you X, Y, and Z! Plus, it works on anything, so no matter what your future IT direction, we'll be along for the ride!
This is why running a smear campaigain is a bad idea. Every now and then, it works, but it more often than not comes back to bite you in the ass. You're much better off to say nothing, or to say something that just casts yourself in a positive light.
Think about it -- you're interviewing two guys for an important job. One talks about all the good things he's done at his last job. The other talks about how screwed up things were and how he 'fixed' them. Who are you going to hire?
OT: People do this, too; there was an individual (name and gender withheld) at a previous place of employment with a resume filled with things like "Took a mis-managed department and brought it to productivity." Not only was this one of the worst employees we ever hired, but said employee got canned after six months because they did *nothing* but complain about how other departments were stopping them from doing their job.
The replacement had a more positive mindset, and caught up on the backlog within two months. Needless to say, he got promoted a couple of times.
You miss my point. They will get their dumb laws *easily* without any opposition. Make them work for their own demise!
I don't think this is really as applicable in this case, but I do disagree with the parent poster on one point -- you *need* to continue fighting against laws like this, because unless someone does, the lawyers and lobbyists of The Industry will have zero impediment in implementing their draconian information schemes.
You should also stop supporting them while you fight them; e.g., don't watch TV, go to movies, buy CDs or DVDs, or buy film-related merchandise. Used good are okay, of course, and you'll likely be supporting a small business in doing so, but new stuff is out.
While you are doing all this not-consuming, let both the companies, and your congresscritters, know how you feel. Put pen-to-paper and send them an actual letter; few people do this anymore, and it makes a real statement.
Nitpicking I'm fine with. It's people who disagree without providing a shred of support that loathe. *grin*
Er, where the hell are you finding 160G SATA drives for $60 and DL 8x DVD burners for $50? Try *doubling* the prices on those and you'll be reflecting reality, at least where I live.
$50 for a case and PSU? Not only is that going to be ugly as sin, but you're going to need a more powerful PSU if you decide that you want your homebuilt PC to, you know, turn on.
Basically, you've listed a bunch of bargain-basement components, at prices below anything I've seen at Fry's, and are telling me that this is equivalent to an iMac. Except it's much uglier, built with substantially shittier components, and has no OS (unless you install Linux or steal a copy of Windows). And no software. Oh, and you forgot the webcam and a good set of speakers, and a microphone.
Add in those components, and then add a 20% 'reality factor' to reflect the price that this stuff will actually cost (shipping, rebates that never show up), and you're right up there with the iMac.
Same here. I've been a desktop Linux user since about 1998, and recently got a new Mac -- and I doubt I'll be going back.
Especially with the new Intel Macs.
OS X Just Works, for the most part, and doesn't irritate the hell out of me in doing so. I wouldn't want to run it as a server, if only because I still think Debian and FreeBSD are better options on cheaper hardware, but the desktop experience of OS X can't be beat.
It's the applications that just bounce in the Dock, rather than stealing my keyboard focus, and Expose does indeed kick ass. I still have a Linux desktop at home, and it's getting replaced because (a) I want Expose; and (b) I'm tired of Gaim having two options for getting my attention: "Do nothing" and "Grab my keyboard away from whatever the hell I'm working on."
That, and having media options in-browser that WORK is a bloody joy.
I'm sorry, but I call bull.
First, I'm sorry, but most network administrators *I* know actually know about paragraph breaks. Reading your post was painful.
Second, as an administrator, why the hell do you care about iPods and AirPorts? Those are home-user technology, and you know it. If your office can afford to buy around a thousand Macs, plus XServe servers, you can afford professional-grade wireless solutions and proper GigE cabling for your physical plant.
Third, adminning a large network is not about 'cool' technologies. It's about building a system that enables the users to get their jobs done.
Fourth, these are problems you should have researched before you bought the hardware; after all, if it's the fault of the OS, there are going to be hundreds, if not thousands, of other people as pissed as you are, and you can avoid a costly mistake by looking for them. I did some Googling around and found nothing like what you've described, and no posts on Usenet looking for help with large OS X installation, so you are either an outright liar, or the most incompetent sysadmin ever to hold the title.
His argument *is* a strawman; namely, the issue is *not* that revoking a license instantly equates to removing the ability to use the software -- that's part of the specific implementation, not a required ramification of software-as-a-service.
You could also call this a slippery slope or false equivocation, as in this case, they are related.
Wow, now that's a strawman argument.
Why do you have to stop using the software? Does it magically stop working or something? Just because you stop receiving bugfixes doesn't make the software unusable; it just means that, should a crucial bug be uncovered, that you will be vulnerable.
I've got no problem paying for a subscription, such that I receive a guaranteed stream of updates and patches. Basically, I think of software as being like any other capital good that requires maintenance -- there's an upkeep cost, because no software is ever Bug-Free(tm)
What I have a problem with are forced upgrades; if I'm happy with version X of a software, I should not be forced into upgrading to version Y for things like security fixes. If a software vendor is going to charge a subscription for maintenance, that's fine, but they are going to have to understand that, like any other capital good, maintenance means keeping the current software running -- not swapping it out every year.
This is actually a really good point; I have yet to see a *single* PowerPoint presentation that I would in any way consider useful, informative, or basically anything other than a complete waste of time. Reasons for this are twofold:
1. Speakers use the PowerPoint as a substitute for actually knowing the topic; they just go over whatever it says on the screen, rather than being able to articulate the topic.
2. PowerPoint is a one-way communications mechanism; you can't readily make drastic changes to a PowerPoint presentation on-the-fly, the way that you can with a whiteboard. When I hold team meetings, I generally just write down the key points on a whiteboard, and as ideas get brought up, they get written down. Sure, it's low-tech, but it works a hell of a lot better than PowerPoint.
NOTE: I'm writing this from the perspective of an American; YCMV.
At sixteen they aren't 'young girls' anymore. They're two years away from being 'young adults', capable of entering the workforce, going on to college, and even joining the military. Two years away from voting and choosing the leaders of the country.
In two years, someone does not go from being another pop-culture slave to having a strong command of the arts and sciences, especially without any sort of impetus to do so. More importantly, while a near-encyclopediac knowledge of pop culture may provide for some middling entertainment value, it won't get you a job, especially in a world where everyone else has the same sort of knowledge.
The parent poster isn't saying that it is necessarily bad to like pop culture, but that kids today have an obsessive devotion to it; there is no reason why a sixteen year old girl should have a concise mental database of current Hollywood flings and scandals, while at the same time having no idea what the last name of *one* of the Congressmen in her state is.
Sure, they're reading, but the articles written are simpleminded, non-critical, and are nothing more than fluff editorial pieces. There is no analysis, no critical thinking, no debate. It's a medium of entertainment as interactive as television.
Yeah, but you won't be able to use it until Spotlight finishes up...
I agree. I just want the nukes designed such that they only work when someone with a brain 'pushes the button'.
The problem with this approach is that it is the same as allowing calculators for students who are learning to add fractions. The calculator is certainly the faster way, and in my professional life, I will likely use a calculator over adding fractions by hand, but when you are learning the fundamentals of mathematics, it is much more important to understand what's going on than it is to simply get the right answer.
Likewise, Visual Studio is a great way to generate code, and can be a great tool for professionals. But teaching people to program with it is another matter. Visual Studio completely abstracts these beginning programmers from what the program is actually doing, and without and understanding of what's going on under the hood, you aren't much of a programmer.
You really should learn to use Google. It's this really awesome search engine. One of the top ten results on a quick Googling for your problem gave this:
g z
http://forums.osxfaq.com/viewtopic.php?t=3564
Which then had this:
http://mac.pieters.cx/Software/LockTight-0.1.dmg.
Should do what you want.
If you want to just use the screensaver lock, you can use AppleScript to pop up the screensaver on a keystroke, or just set one of the display corners to launch the screensaver.
Bingo. Problems solved.
Apple has come a long way from the days of 'Things...must...be...only...Apple!', and I, as a recent laptop-switcher (from Linux, although my desktop still runs Debian), am reasonably happy with what Apple has done. Sure, there are some irritating nits about the way the OS works, but that's going to happen with every OS, because not one OS is going to fit with all people.
The nice thing about OS X is that you can get rid of a lot of that Apple stuff without any problems. My Tiger laptop doesn't have Dashboard, I've dumped a good chunk of the pre-installed stuff (GarageBand, etc.), and I've got my pile of Unix tools that do their jobs. What could be better? Apple does the GUI, BSD Unix does the command line, and the only piece of Microsoft software around is VPC (for running Debian, of course).
Bingo! Companies need to understand that loyalty, like many other things in this economy, comes with a price tag. If you want to keep good employees around, you've got to pay them well, and giving them a good working environment isn't a bad idea either.
Of course, the beancounters complain about how this hurts the bottom line, but realistically, how much does training a new employee to the equivalent level cost? More importantly, who is more likely to stay with the company in a pinch?
This part is aimed at other geeks: People wonder why someone like myself, a UNIX geek who likes playing with soldering irons and PC boards, wants to go into management. The simple fact is that someone has to do the dirty work, even if it isn't as much fun as coding or building networks, and I know that my sitting in the manager's chair means that there's one less PHB who thinks that a greenhorn CompSci graduate is as qualified to be a senior programmer as a Java guru who's been coding against the JRE since before 1.0.
So it's only the amount added to the bottom line in recent years that matters, in terms of valuing an employee? In that case, what has the CEO done add to the bottom line? What about the CFO? Where has their direct contribution been?
Oh, wait, they don't add to the bottom line at all.
See, businesses function as an entire unit, and not every component of that unit is going to directly add to the 'bottom line'. It is important to recognize that, although many departments don't directly generate revenue, they do provide required services for revenue-generating departments to do their jobs.
You think IT is useless? Let's see you get by without email, access to Google, Slashdot (oh, the irony!), databases, accounting software, or any of the myrad of services an IT department provides. More importantly, let's see how well your business does against competitors who *do* use IT.
Try doing your corporate taxes with just pencil-and-paper sometime.
Think that every IT person should be working all the time? Great. Now what do you do when an emergency hits, and all of your people are at 100% of capacity? Pray? Try and add new people in the thick of things, thus adding the additional task of having to train said new people?
I don't think so.
Fact is, being in IT is a lot like being a paramedic, only you've got to build the hospital first. Once you've done that, assuming you've done your job, you do have a lot of on-the-clock free time, and if you're smart, you'll spend a good chunk of that time looking at the various aspects of the technology for which you are responsible. When an emergency hits, you've got the time to mobilize and deal with the problem quickly and effectively, and after the problem is solved, you can take the time to make sure the same sort of thing never happens again.
8-bits-per-channel is fine for output and input, but you need more data when manipulating images, especially RAW files from a camera. There's a lot of OOB (out-of-bandwitdh) data that gets lost if all the calculations are done in 8 bits, and that data is really important for color correction, retouching, and so on, especially if you're planning on blowing up the output, or printing in a different color space than the source image.
Basically, Gimp is great if you're going to do nothing but computer media. If you plan on putting your images on paper of any sort, it falls really short.
Yeah, such as 'never cosign on a loan without a vested personal interest in doing so.'
First, The original poster was asking about consumer grade PCs, not about high-end workstations.
Second, the iPod still has Firewire support through the special cradle, IIRC. Also, most Macs since 1999 have shipped with USB, and I'm fairly certain that the two-year-old Macs have USB 2.0, so iPods should work with them, no problem.
Third, iMacs are an all-in-one solution, aimed at a *consumer* who doesn't want to screw around with special discounts, having to pick a display and connect it, etc. You take it out of the box, plug it in, turn it on, and start using it. If you want a tower, you're likely going after either a cheap box (covered by the Mini) or a powerhouse (covered by the G5 towers).
Fourth, the CPU isn't that much slower than most modern chips, and they ship these things with a reasonable amount of RAM (512M), as well as a decent amount of hard drive space, and a good bundle of *useful* software. The people buying Minis aren't editing film or doing 3D graphics; they want a system that Just Works, and the Mac, by and large, does.
Fifth, the displays are fine. I hate how every other manufacturer is trying to cram more pixels into these tiny-ass displays, which for me, makes them harder to read. I honestly love the display on my 12" PB (same as the one on the iB), having come from a world of much higher-res PC laptops (running Linux, of course).