I am in that same boat with you. I took a different job at work and in the process had to swap my 15" TiBook 500 for a BW G3 350. Ouch! The good news is, it's obviously so old that they want to replace it for me and I convinced them to get me a 15" PowerBook.
Here's the tricky part. The money's there, I could put the order in on Monday. But I do not want to find out that I just missed the 15" AlBook by a week. On the other hand, the money is budgeted for this fiscal year ending July 1. So if the 15" AlBook doesn't appear until MacWorld July...then I'd be forced to buy a 15" TiBook in mid-june and would have waited all that time for nothing.
I for one don't want VPC to have accelerated 3D video. Follow my logic. VPC gets accelerated video. Game start to be playable on it (not fast, but playable). Mac users start buying Windows games that didn't get ported to Mac OS proper. Game developers start saying "hey, why bother doing an expensive port when we are already selling them the Windows version?"
And that leads to the end of the Mac game market. All you have left is emulation. Like Linux. And for the record, Linux is in quite a corner, too. It's primarily because all Linux people who care about games are dual booting Windows. So developers are asking themselves why they should port to Linux when they're already selling them the Windows version. Answer: they have no reason to.
Spoken like a non-Mac user! Seriously, you have a ver good point, excepting the fact that there are Mac users here for whom this is a big deal precisely for the behind-the-times reasons you state. In addition to every Mac-using slashdotter, I imagine it's also of interest to Java developers, desktop support jockeys, and others.
Maybe it's helpful to think of the story as not primarily about Java, but about Mac OS X?
Frankly, I think if anyone has a shot at making the pay-for thing work it's Apple. The only thing that will make music downloading worth paying for is ease of use. That is, finding what you want easily, with guaranteed quality, easy to burn a CD, etc. And I mean one-button simple. The best man for a job like that is the Big Steve.
The one thing I worry about is the idea that, according to rumor, they'll be charging ~ $0.99 per track. I think that's a bit steep unless they have some slick way of giving you album art and liner notes or other bonus materials.
I wish Apple and Roxio the best of luck. I really want to believe in pay-for-download music. I really want to believe that if you do this right, someone will pay for it.
It might give us the ability to make intelligent statements about what people are thinking and talking about - a cultural barometer, if you will. One that's tied to something other more valid and more immediate than the Letters section of People magazine.
Someone once wrote (I'm really sorry, I forgot who - public thank you to the person who knows) something like "individually, nobody knows what's going on but collectively, we know exactly what's going on." This kind of meta-information is a social scientists wet dream, I bet. I admit I'm fascinated. It's very...William Gibson? Was he the guy who wrote that line? Damn it.
Linux is incredibly tempting for the reasons you stated. I myself was shopping for a new laptop a week ago. I shopped Dell, IBM and Apple...thinking I could run Linux on the Intel ones. One of the things that made me eventaully go for the 15" TiBook was the fact that there isn't any commercial software for Linux, and in spite of the avalanche of nerdier software tools available, I don't relish trying to make them take the place of my usual software suite on a full-time basis for the next 3-4 years. So I got the Mac.
And here's the kicker: In addition to the commercial apps I need (Photoshop, Dreamweaver, InDesign, Office, Games, Outlook, etc.), I can run the GIMP, OpenOffice, two tons of BSD command-line stuff, Apache, X11...and thanks to that last, even KDE for gods sake. I think it's the best of all worlds at this point.
Again we're back to that. Nobody's disagreeing with it. But the value of anything - a "tool" included - is greater if it has other aesthetic qualities; fun, style, feels-like-someone-cared-about-designing-it. Anyone who disagrees should start wearing hand-sewn burlap sacks and driving a Yugo - clothes and cars are "just tools" after all.
What Im saying is I like my computers, but I don't get emotionally attached to them.
I guess I"m not sure what you're arguing against. I didn't say I shed tears over my failed hard drive. I said I think the computer is more enjoyable and more valuable because someone cared deeply about it's design and construction; it reflects someone's passion for creating. That doesn't mean I'm going to marry it. So where's the argument?
That just seems, well, kinda gay.
Some gay person is going to fire you or kick your ass or embarass the hell out of you one day if you talk like that. If you're a bigot, then go ahead and use "gay" as a derogatory word; if you're not, don't. I can't believe nobody in your life didn't tell you to have more respect for people. People even in this day and age suffer and are killed because of the sentiments your words seem to imply. Watch your language. Make sure you mean what you say./rant.
Also, your Harley analogy is really bad too.
I think it's a great, although, like any other analogy, it can be carried too far.
My friends all own Harleys, and they feel about them pretty much like I feel about computers; you can like it, enjoy using it, but hell man, get over it- its just a bike (or computer).
Yeah? Ever suggest to them that they might trade in for a Honda? See what you get. In some circles you'd better duck fast, friends notwithstanding.
The aggravated tone of your response is out of proportion to what I'm saying. Chill out, man.
Furthermore, I think your reply is disingeuous. I think anyone can see that a car which looks nicer and is more fun to drive is worth more than a car that looks, well, utilitarian, with a driving experience that might be characterized as "bland."
Even if it doesn't get you to work any faster.
Even if it won't last longer.
Factors other than utilitarian ones inform the purchases of a variety of products and services every day. And - here is the point - that's not wrong or stupid.
Agreeing with the above, however, doens't mean you must buy a Macintosh. I think virtually everyone, however, will agree that the principle above is sound.
While you're complaining about all the wild-eyed, touchy-feely Mac enthusiasts it occurs to me that you my friend - yes you, mister - need a hug!
Seriously, I think there's a lot of Windows users who have entirely lost touch with the idea that one can like thier computer. I don't think there's anything wrong with doing so either; it's not like allowing such factors to influence our purchases and preferences is "stupid" or otherwise "uninformed." Hell, if it was we'd all be driving around in gray '87 Volvos or something.
I actually the fact that we like our computers annoys non Mac users. "It's a tool" they tell us with visibly strained patience. Like we didn't understand that. We should "grow up" and realize that there should be no fun, pleasure, or delight in the use of such a utilitarian thing.
It's a computer. Yes it's a tool and so is a furnace. But so is a Mini-Cooper. There's a difference. I don't work for Apple and I don't give a rats ass if you buy a Mac or not. But I do get tired of the "it's a tool" argument against computers with taste and style. Given the choice between owning something that feels utilitarian versus something that feels like someone put some love I'll take the love hands down. Ask any Harley-Davidson owner.
The one-two punch of "free" and "open source" translate into benefits for just about anyone. But most importantly the embedded market doesn't require 3rd party developers, nor does it require large installed user base. Those two issues are irrelevant for that market, thus some of the traditional Linux drawbacks are moot for them. This makes Linux a very logical choice.
If the personal computer is really taking a long slow march into being a "consumer electronics device" instead of a nerds toy, then these types of changes are inevitable. (I suppose nerd machines may never dissapear altogether, but..) "Consumers" don't use PCI slots, nor do they know what they are, nor do they care. In fact I'd wager than more than half of the people who do know and care don't use them during the life of the machine anyway. So it makes sense to see "consumerized" computers doing away with these unnecessary technologies to give more flexibility in price and form factor.
Yes, yes - my computer does have PCI slots and yes, so will my next one. But that's not the point:)
I read snow crash and through the whole thing I kept thinking "geez, this guy is ripping off Gibson!" Not just the style, but plot elements, too! I didn't think he showed nearly the insight and vision of the future that Gibson does. Next to Gibson Stephenson seemed like a cheap knock-off artist.
There is a pervasive movement in American culture (I also am a proud American) to avoid responsibility, to Not Give a Rats Ass, to cast the old, the weak, the unlucky and the disenfranchised in the sea to sink or swim. Similarly, as a sys admin I have noticed a willful increase in tech elitism. Techies don't want to "have to worry about" users apparently. Well I have news for you...
So few people understand this - if there were Mac clones there would, in short order, be nothing left of interest in the platform. The key to Apple's role in the industry is that they are the last vertically integrated, "make-the-whole-widget," software-plus-OS company around selling desktop machines. That enables them to do things and be things that give them the unique place in the marketplace. Without that unique place there'd be nothing left of them.
Of course, the vertical integration is at once the best thing and the worst thing about Apple. But clearly without it they'd be entirely forgettable and irrelevant.
Interesting post. However, I think it's clear that it's "mostly symbolic" and doesn't refelct a genuine opinion on your part as is evidenced by the "Anonymous Coward" label which appears with it. Better luck next time.:)
I really do think this Feingold guy is pretty decent. He, as I recall, was the one guy who stood up and voted against the horrific Patriot Act, which for those who are unaware, was about taking away some of our everyday freedoms, etc. Nobody in the senate seemed to give a rats ass but there he was on C-SPAN basically saying "are you guys crazy? This isn't right!" Now look at him taking yet another potentialy unpopular (to moneyd interests like Clearchannel, anyway) stand for what's right.
Imagine them all saying "gee, maybe we should make our browser suck less!" And if they can't or won't say that, then I don't think the loss is as great as you suggest.
...ranting about how evil Apple is because they make proprietary software and how this is inherently casts them as The Man who is trying to crush our every freedom...consider that back in October they were herealded as pretty much the only company standing up for our rights. (I can't seem to raise the page but here is the Google cache.)
It occurs to me that Apple may have less-than-evil reasons for terminating the contract, not the least of which is to retain their credibility by not becoming associated with some half-assed Napster clone.
I bet Micron, AMD, Motorola, and Apple are all going to end up merging, buying out, and/or disappearing in the next few months.
I don't see Apple in the same basket as these others.
Maybe HP will buy them all.
HP buying Apple? Seems unlikely to say the least. Again, I don't see Apple as being in the same basket. I could see Apple entering into interesting agreements with AMD, for example, but I cannot see any of the above-named companies actually either being bought buy or buying Apple.
Accessible to more people, but not "impossible" as the poster implied. Heck, having money makes somethings more "possible" which would put the commercial boys ahead. Depends on how you look at it I guess. But my point is that it's not "only possible" under the open source model as the poster claims.
this sort of innovation could never happen if it weren't for the free software nature of the underlying systems
Surely this is an overstatement. I think what you mean is that a guy off the street couldn't add this file navigation scheme to an existing commercial OS, not that the commercial developers themselves couldn't do it. Or are we now suggesting that the open software movement is the sole owner of the term "innovation"?
ting systems, not that the commercial developers couldn't do it with their own products. Clearly they could. Or are we now claiming that "innvation" belongs solely to the open source community now and not to commercial developers?
Slashdot Mirror
I am in that same boat with you. I took a different job at work and in the process had to swap my 15" TiBook 500 for a BW G3 350. Ouch! The good news is, it's obviously so old that they want to replace it for me and I convinced them to get me a 15" PowerBook.
Here's the tricky part. The money's there, I could put the order in on Monday. But I do not want to find out that I just missed the 15" AlBook by a week. On the other hand, the money is budgeted for this fiscal year ending July 1. So if the 15" AlBook doesn't appear until MacWorld July...then I'd be forced to buy a 15" TiBook in mid-june and would have waited all that time for nothing.
I for one don't want VPC to have accelerated 3D video. Follow my logic. VPC gets accelerated video. Game start to be playable on it (not fast, but playable). Mac users start buying Windows games that didn't get ported to Mac OS proper. Game developers start saying "hey, why bother doing an expensive port when we are already selling them the Windows version?"
And that leads to the end of the Mac game market. All you have left is emulation. Like Linux. And for the record, Linux is in quite a corner, too. It's primarily because all Linux people who care about games are dual booting Windows. So developers are asking themselves why they should port to Linux when they're already selling them the Windows version. Answer: they have no reason to.
I don't see how this is newsworthy.
Spoken like a non-Mac user! Seriously, you have a ver good point, excepting the fact that there are Mac users here for whom this is a big deal precisely for the behind-the-times reasons you state. In addition to every Mac-using slashdotter, I imagine it's also of interest to Java developers, desktop support jockeys, and others.
Maybe it's helpful to think of the story as not primarily about Java, but about Mac OS X?
Frankly, I think if anyone has a shot at making the pay-for thing work it's Apple. The only thing that will make music downloading worth paying for is ease of use. That is, finding what you want easily, with guaranteed quality, easy to burn a CD, etc. And I mean one-button simple. The best man for a job like that is the Big Steve.
The one thing I worry about is the idea that, according to rumor, they'll be charging ~ $0.99 per track. I think that's a bit steep unless they have some slick way of giving you album art and liner notes or other bonus materials.
I wish Apple and Roxio the best of luck. I really want to believe in pay-for-download music. I really want to believe that if you do this right, someone will pay for it.
It might give us the ability to make intelligent statements about what people are thinking and talking about - a cultural barometer, if you will. One that's tied to something other more valid and more immediate than the Letters section of People magazine.
Someone once wrote (I'm really sorry, I forgot who - public thank you to the person who knows) something like "individually, nobody knows what's going on but collectively, we know exactly what's going on." This kind of meta-information is a social scientists wet dream, I bet. I admit I'm fascinated. It's very...William Gibson? Was he the guy who wrote that line? Damn it.
Linux is incredibly tempting for the reasons you stated. I myself was shopping for a new laptop a week ago. I shopped Dell, IBM and Apple...thinking I could run Linux on the Intel ones. One of the things that made me eventaully go for the 15" TiBook was the fact that there isn't any commercial software for Linux, and in spite of the avalanche of nerdier software tools available, I don't relish trying to make them take the place of my usual software suite on a full-time basis for the next 3-4 years. So I got the Mac.
And here's the kicker: In addition to the commercial apps I need (Photoshop, Dreamweaver, InDesign, Office, Games, Outlook, etc.), I can run the GIMP, OpenOffice, two tons of BSD command-line stuff, Apache, X11...and thanks to that last, even KDE for gods sake. I think it's the best of all worlds at this point.
They really are just tools
/rant.
Again we're back to that. Nobody's disagreeing with it. But the value of anything - a "tool" included - is greater if it has other aesthetic qualities; fun, style, feels-like-someone-cared-about-designing-it. Anyone who disagrees should start wearing hand-sewn burlap sacks and driving a Yugo - clothes and cars are "just tools" after all.
What Im saying is I like my computers, but I don't get emotionally attached to them.
I guess I"m not sure what you're arguing against. I didn't say I shed tears over my failed hard drive. I said I think the computer is more enjoyable and more valuable because someone cared deeply about it's design and construction; it reflects someone's passion for creating. That doesn't mean I'm going to marry it. So where's the argument?
That just seems, well, kinda gay.
Some gay person is going to fire you or kick your ass or embarass the hell out of you one day if you talk like that. If you're a bigot, then go ahead and use "gay" as a derogatory word; if you're not, don't. I can't believe nobody in your life didn't tell you to have more respect for people. People even in this day and age suffer and are killed because of the sentiments your words seem to imply. Watch your language. Make sure you mean what you say.
Also, your Harley analogy is really bad too.
I think it's a great, although, like any other analogy, it can be carried too far.
My friends all own Harleys, and they feel about them pretty much like I feel about computers; you can like it, enjoy using it, but hell man, get over it- its just a bike (or computer).
Yeah? Ever suggest to them that they might trade in for a Honda? See what you get. In some circles you'd better duck fast, friends notwithstanding.
The aggravated tone of your response is out of proportion to what I'm saying. Chill out, man.
Furthermore, I think your reply is disingeuous. I think anyone can see that a car which looks nicer and is more fun to drive is worth more than a car that looks, well, utilitarian, with a driving experience that might be characterized as "bland."
Even if it doesn't get you to work any faster.
Even if it won't last longer.
Factors other than utilitarian ones inform the purchases of a variety of products and services every day. And - here is the point - that's not wrong or stupid.
Agreeing with the above, however, doens't mean you must buy a Macintosh. I think virtually everyone, however, will agree that the principle above is sound.
While you're complaining about all the wild-eyed, touchy-feely Mac enthusiasts it occurs to me that you my friend - yes you, mister - need a hug!
Seriously, I think there's a lot of Windows users who have entirely lost touch with the idea that one can like thier computer. I don't think there's anything wrong with doing so either; it's not like allowing such factors to influence our purchases and preferences is "stupid" or otherwise "uninformed." Hell, if it was we'd all be driving around in gray '87 Volvos or something.
I actually the fact that we like our computers annoys non Mac users. "It's a tool" they tell us with visibly strained patience. Like we didn't understand that. We should "grow up" and realize that there should be no fun, pleasure, or delight in the use of such a utilitarian thing.
It's a computer. Yes it's a tool and so is a furnace. But so is a Mini-Cooper. There's a difference. I don't work for Apple and I don't give a rats ass if you buy a Mac or not. But I do get tired of the "it's a tool" argument against computers with taste and style. Given the choice between owning something that feels utilitarian versus something that feels like someone put some love I'll take the love hands down. Ask any Harley-Davidson owner.
The one-two punch of "free" and "open source" translate into benefits for just about anyone. But most importantly the embedded market doesn't require 3rd party developers, nor does it require large installed user base. Those two issues are irrelevant for that market, thus some of the traditional Linux drawbacks are moot for them. This makes Linux a very logical choice.
If the personal computer is really taking a long slow march into being a "consumer electronics device" instead of a nerds toy, then these types of changes are inevitable. (I suppose nerd machines may never dissapear altogether, but..) "Consumers" don't use PCI slots, nor do they know what they are, nor do they care. In fact I'd wager than more than half of the people who do know and care don't use them during the life of the machine anyway. So it makes sense to see "consumerized" computers doing away with these unnecessary technologies to give more flexibility in price and form factor.
:)
Yes, yes - my computer does have PCI slots and yes, so will my next one. But that's not the point
I read snow crash and through the whole thing I kept thinking "geez, this guy is ripping off Gibson!" Not just the style, but plot elements, too! I didn't think he showed nearly the insight and vision of the future that Gibson does. Next to Gibson Stephenson seemed like a cheap knock-off artist.
If RedHat, MandrakeSoft, Lindows or whoever could produce a product with this level of finish I'd buy it in a heartbeat...
And I - a Mac user - would very likely buy it also. That day, however, is not today. Far from it.
There is a pervasive movement in American culture (I also am a proud American) to avoid responsibility, to Not Give a Rats Ass, to cast the old, the weak, the unlucky and the disenfranchised in the sea to sink or swim. Similarly, as a sys admin I have noticed a willful increase in tech elitism. Techies don't want to "have to worry about" users apparently. Well I have news for you...
Look a little more carefully. $49 gets you a SCSI card with your Powermac. Happy computing and congratulations on your shiny new mac.
So few people understand this - if there were Mac clones there would, in short order, be nothing left of interest in the platform. The key to Apple's role in the industry is that they are the last vertically integrated, "make-the-whole-widget," software-plus-OS company around selling desktop machines. That enables them to do things and be things that give them the unique place in the marketplace. Without that unique place there'd be nothing left of them.
Of course, the vertical integration is at once the best thing and the worst thing about Apple. But clearly without it they'd be entirely forgettable and irrelevant.
Interesting post. However, I think it's clear that it's "mostly symbolic" and doesn't refelct a genuine opinion on your part as is evidenced by the "Anonymous Coward" label which appears with it. Better luck next time. :)
I really do think this Feingold guy is pretty decent. He, as I recall, was the one guy who stood up and voted against the horrific Patriot Act, which for those who are unaware, was about taking away some of our everyday freedoms, etc. Nobody in the senate seemed to give a rats ass but there he was on C-SPAN basically saying "are you guys crazy? This isn't right!" Now look at him taking yet another potentialy unpopular (to moneyd interests like Clearchannel, anyway) stand for what's right.
I'm proud to say he's from my home, Wisconsin.
Imagine them all saying "gee, maybe we should make our browser suck less!" And if they can't or won't say that, then I don't think the loss is as great as you suggest.
...ranting about how evil Apple is because they make proprietary software and how this is inherently casts them as The Man who is trying to crush our every freedom...consider that back in October they were herealded as pretty much the only company standing up for our rights. (I can't seem to raise the page but here is the Google cache.)
It occurs to me that Apple may have less-than-evil reasons for terminating the contract, not the least of which is to retain their credibility by not becoming associated with some half-assed Napster clone.
Or, they could just be evil. I guess.
I bet Micron, AMD, Motorola, and Apple are all going to end up merging, buying out, and/or disappearing in the next few months.
I don't see Apple in the same basket as these others.
Maybe HP will buy them all.
HP buying Apple? Seems unlikely to say the least. Again, I don't see Apple as being in the same basket. I could see Apple entering into interesting agreements with AMD, for example, but I cannot see any of the above-named companies actually either being bought buy or buying Apple.
it probably won't happen to most of them, but at least the possibility is there
I do see your point. I just think it's pretty weak.
Accessible to more people, but not "impossible" as the poster implied. Heck, having money makes somethings more "possible" which would put the commercial boys ahead. Depends on how you look at it I guess. But my point is that it's not "only possible" under the open source model as the poster claims.
this sort of innovation could never happen if it weren't for the free software nature of the underlying systems
Surely this is an overstatement. I think what you mean is that a guy off the street couldn't add this file navigation scheme to an existing commercial OS, not that the commercial developers themselves couldn't do it. Or are we now suggesting that the open software movement is the sole owner of the term "innovation"?
ting systems, not that the commercial developers couldn't do it with their own products. Clearly they could. Or are we now claiming that "innvation" belongs solely to the open source community now and not to commercial developers?