Would an internet dominated by Linux and OS X still have machines compromised into zombies on botnets? Of course, they're still maintained by humans who don't all care about security and fall for tricks. But it wouldn't be anywhere near on this magnitude.
We've been hearing the same tired yarn for years now. All the while the black market for botnets has gotten more and more crowded on the Windows side, all the while no one has been able to exploit the completely untapped market of Macs and Linux machines.
If someone could gain 100% share of 8% of the market, they would have done so by now.
It really is not difficult to keep a windows box secure. Granted, it requires more attention than a Linux box, but still...it's quite easy to set up and maintain.
I'm old. As I've gotten older I've realized that the amount of time I want to spend having to fuck with anti-virus software is exactly equal to zero.
So if you're not their target market, what are you bitching about? You want to build a system, you go do that. You obviously aren't the target market for Macs. Don't buy one.
That's all well and good if you're a hipster or computer newbie with money to burn.
So, anyone who buys a Mac is in either one of those two categories, huh? My my, what a simplistic and self-absorbed world WE live in, hmm? Make you feel better about yourself, thinking that your purchasing decisions make you inherently better than others? That you understand the wants and needs of, apparently, the entire Apple-using population?
I go to professional conferences about once a year. Java, Spring, Ajax, etc. Over the past three conferences I've been to I'd estimate probably 60% of the attendees were carting around PowerBooks or MBPs. And 80-90% of the presenters were also using Apple hardware.
Yeah, I'm totally sure that they were all idiots, tag-along hipster newbies.
Or: maybe people like them for reasons that you do not fully understand. Maybe their careers lead them to have different priorities when considering what computer to use.
But to the uninitiated (i.e., us Windows and Linux-using non-hipster heathens)
Let me tell you something: you believe in straw men. You seem to believe that people buy Macs primarily -- if not exclusively -- because they are "flashy". You're wrong.
My first PC was an IBM PCjr on an 8086 with DOS 3.0. I didn't switch to Mac until about 4 years ago, which means I ran MS operating systems for around 20 years. Then OS X came out, and I was intrigued enough to buy one, based upon (shudder!) rational thought! I bought a Mac because it is a better tool to do my job with. It works. I don't have to fuck with it.
If THAT is what you mean by "style, flash, and smug hipness", then baby you are totally kee-rect.
their computers and devices are just proprietary, difficult to repair and upgrade
Have you ever even used a Mac? I have an old PowerMac G5, and all of the components I've upgraded or replaced have been off-the-shelf and taken about 5 minutes to do. I bought my RAM from Crucial, and my DVD burner from Best Buy. Both of those operations took five minutes to complete, from power off to power on. It's the most well designed case I've ever used. Ditto for my ex-wife's laptop. I upgraded the RAM in that and I didn't even need a screwdriver to do it.
significantly overpriced for their specs
Yawn. This canard is tired and has been beaten to death. Apple is price competitive to cheaper on all of their products.
a pain-in-the-ass to develop for
You're a coder, then? You've checked out XCode, which comes free with the OS? Tried out ObjC? No? Then STFU.
locked-down tighter than a ugly nun in Salt Lake City.
Would you care to put your money where your mouth is? If you are implying that Apple will take legal action against this I would be interested in placing a wager against that prediction. Say, $500?
I can put Linux on a PS3. It will be crippled, but it will run.
I put Linux on my 3G iPod years ago. I haven't looked but I would be surprised if there's not currently a way to put Linux on an iPhone. Apple has never cared about hobbyists tinkering with their hardware. Look at the active jailbreaking community for the iPhone that currently exists.
I have to pay $100 to put my app on the iPhone, and Apple has to approve it in order for anyone else to see it.
No you don't. You have to pay $100 if you want to use Apple's distribution channel. People have been writing apps for the iPhone all along. I seriously doubt that will change.
Even if Apple opens this to all comers, in what way is this alright?
Maybe that's the disconnect, right there. You think this is immoral? Really? It's a better, more friendly business model, both for consumers and developers. This isn't about philosophy. It's about money.
But to answer your question: yeah, I think it's just fine. This is a phone, not a general purpose PC. If it were a PC, it would not be alright.
The same Apple that restricted what software could run on their machines.
The same Apple that restricted...
I'm sitting here typing this on a 17" iMac. Please tell me what software I am restricted from installing on it. I'd love to hear it.
Short term marketing and hype they've got down, but I didn't buy an iPhone, because, I know the end result, which we are now starting to see more clearly.
What? Massive popularity and incredible profits?
Some people might say I was psychic, o which I would say know your history and you won't be doomed to repeat it.
Some people might also say that you are yet another in a long line of insecure geeks who make sweeping post-facto "predictions" in order to prop up their fragile egos.
1) Number of apps so far released and distributed via app store: 0 2) Number of apps so far forbidden from being released: 0 3) Number of articles proclaiming the upcoming horror of what Evil Apple could do: an even quintbillion.
No one knows what Apple is going to do. No one. They could open it up to basically all-comers, or they could limit it so that only Tetris is available.
Why do so many people assume that Apple is Microsoft or Sony? I've never gotten that impression. They are by and large very open.
Apple, I am a fan, and most importantly, a paying customer. However, give up the MS-like control. Charging developers $100 for a cert then telling them that you are going to take 30% of the sales? Lame, freaking Lame.
Do you think so? I don't. For that 30% you get a distribution network, a way to notify your users of updates, and free advertising via the integrated download client. Seems pretty fair to me. And the IDE and SDK itself are free. IIRC Palm charges charges similarly, and you have to buy the IDE. (I don't know about RIM.)
Apple revealed details of the iPhone SDK today. Apps will be developed using XCode and the new Cocoa Touch framework, and will be distributed by Apple either via an application on the phone or through iTunes. Developers set the cost of their applications and keep 70%, although "free" is also an option. (Not all applications will be distributed: "Porn, malicious apps, ones that invade privacy.") When asked about VOIP, Jobs replied: "We will only stop VOIP over cell networks, but not WiFi." Corporations can also privately distribute applications to their employees. AOL demoed an AIM client, and an iPhone version of the upcoming game Spore was also demoed. The iPhone is also gaining enhanced enterprise capabilities, including Exchange and Cisco VPN support, remote wiping, as well as certificates and identities.
It seems this is more of a financial decision than a technical one. Most frameworks work, and with enough expertise can work well. Sure, there's crap out there, but by and large this is a function of profit.
1) Is your company currently profitable? If not, is a significant reason for that because of the cost to maintain your applications? 2) If you are currently profitable, are your forecasts showing continued profitability? 3) Is your IT budget forecast to increase, and if so is that due primarily to increased maintenance costs? If yes to both, then maybe.
There's no easy way to know for sure. Despite my previous jab against PHP, there are plenty of successful PHP applications about there. But assuming that it was a relatively unused technology, and you were having a hard time finding PHP coders, I still think this would boil down to a financial decision. If it turns out to be IMPOSSIBLE to find developers, then train the new hires.
I remember the day before X-mas I went to the mall and saw people lined up to go into the Mac store, and I just wanted to walk up and let every one of them know that they were douchbags for just not going to the online store.
News flash: people are social animals. They like to be around other people. Another news flash: you don't know why they went to the store, and to assume that they are all douchebags for choosing to do so makes you a douchebag, not them.
So either it's OK for Apple and Microsoft to do these things (and to be honest, given how mundane most undocumented APIs actually are, I'd say it is) or you decide you do care, and it's not OK for either of them to do that.
Or you could come back to reality and realize that here Apple crippled nothing and documented everything. TFA even linked to the documentation. And there's even source code from WebKit containing a working example.
Meh, I like it. It's widely available on different *nixes, fast, lightweight, and free. I want my photo editing program to be user friendly, or my mail client. Terminal utilities? Don't care as much. I'll take the time to learn them, if they seem to be worth it.
Plus I just got tired of looking around for decent terminal apps. My thought is: why look, when screen does everything I need/could ever want?
The one thing I really like about it is the ability to copy/paste between different screens using only the keyboard. I *love* that, and use it constantly.
# xterm understands both im/ic and doesn't have a status line. # Note: Do not specify im and ic in the real termcap/info file as # some programs (e.g. vi) will not work anymore.
We are being threatened by Muslim Middle Easterners. It's not rocket science.
So ok, we start doing that. Then they pick up on it, and hire some down-and-out Belgian with a smack habit to do their dirty work for them. Whee.
a) Profiling is fucking stupid. b) I'm not such a pussy as to want to sacrifice my freedoms because of the actions of a small group of fanatics. Fuck them, and fuck anyone who buys into the scare mongering.
Including you, natch.
Ten bucks says some Left-Wing "Group Hug" Nutjob mods this down.
I would have, but the reasons are far simpler: you are a gangrene infested penis.
I doubt that any of Microsoft's failures with Vista are intentional. However, that does not mean that they will not attempt to use it to their advantage; doing anything else would be stupid. I don't know if you remember New Coke way back when. Briefly: Coca-Cola dropped their original recipe, replaced it with "New Coke". There was a huge media circus around this, controversy, "how-could-they?", etc. After a few months of New Coke being on the market, they dropped it and replaced it with the original. Turned out it was all a scam done by Coca-Cola to get a bunch of free advertising.
Point? While I don't think Microsoft intentionally made Vista suck, they could very well use Vista's suckitude to make Vista+1 more attractive.
Vista SP1 will be a major improvement, insofar as it *can* be, but Vienna (Windows 7) will be the "next" Microsoft OS to get for most. Vista is a dry-run. Just like KDE 4.0....just like MacOSX.
Wow.
"Just a dry-run"? Are you... I don't even know where to start. You're obviously not an investor, because if you were you'd be pissed off. You're not a business-type at all, because if you were you'd realize how damaging this has been to the company. You're not a techie, because there's not a techie on the planet who would seriously try and equate an operating system with a desktop environment. Maybe you are a marketing person?
Actually that makes the most sense to me. Ok, so hello marketing person! I have a video for you! Enjoy!
That's true, but OS X was a huge step forward. Vista is not.
And correct me if I'm wrong but OS X doesn't have DRM at the OS layer. Apple is no fan of DRM, and has only reluctantly played along with the music companies on this. Microsoft, on the other hand, has embraced them.
Yes, by saying "It just works" that means that "it just works no matter what bugs may be introduced into software, or if your hard drive crashes, or if in fact your computer is the victim of a suicide bomber."
Don't be so fucking literal. You look like a dick.
It never ceases to amaze me how Apple fanboys are willing to blame everyone but Apple when Apple fucks up something. But oh no, Apple 'just works', and when they 'just stop working', it's always the user's or someone else's fault.
Bullshit. Where did he say that this is not Apple's fault? You DON'T upgrade production systems without testing. Why? Because there may be bugs introduced. Who would have introduced the bugs? Whoever put out the upgrade. Who put out this upgrade? Apple.
People like you piss me right the fuck off. You're so quick to rub your dick and mumble "fanboy", offering nothing. But HEY I'm a fanboy. Now you can feel all better about yourself.
Stupid fuck. You believe in a straw man created by marketing companies.
What strange and pointless article. Macs have all sorts of well documented deficiencies in either hardware or design, and even the most loyal fanbois will usually acknowledge them.
I am coming to believe that the rabid fanboi is a mythological figure. I have never once actually encountered such a person.
To wit - my preference for a Delete key instead of dragging files to a trash icon is not a weakness on my part, it's a more than reasonable preference. Regardless of all the keyboard options and such, there are many times when I simply prefer to press Delete.
Slashdot Mirror
Would an internet dominated by Linux and OS X still have machines compromised into zombies on botnets? Of course, they're still maintained by humans who don't all care about security and fall for tricks. But it wouldn't be anywhere near on this magnitude.
We've been hearing the same tired yarn for years now. All the while the black market for botnets has gotten more and more crowded on the Windows side, all the while no one has been able to exploit the completely untapped market of Macs and Linux machines.
If someone could gain 100% share of 8% of the market, they would have done so by now.
It really is not difficult to keep a windows box secure. Granted, it requires more attention than a Linux box, but still...it's quite easy to set up and maintain.
I'm old. As I've gotten older I've realized that the amount of time I want to spend having to fuck with anti-virus software is exactly equal to zero.
So if you're not their target market, what are you bitching about? You want to build a system, you go do that. You obviously aren't the target market for Macs. Don't buy one.
That's all well and good if you're a hipster or computer newbie with money to burn.
So, anyone who buys a Mac is in either one of those two categories, huh? My my, what a simplistic and self-absorbed world WE live in, hmm? Make you feel better about yourself, thinking that your purchasing decisions make you inherently better than others? That you understand the wants and needs of, apparently, the entire Apple-using population?
I go to professional conferences about once a year. Java, Spring, Ajax, etc. Over the past three conferences I've been to I'd estimate probably 60% of the attendees were carting around PowerBooks or MBPs. And 80-90% of the presenters were also using Apple hardware.
Yeah, I'm totally sure that they were all idiots, tag-along hipster newbies.
Or: maybe people like them for reasons that you do not fully understand. Maybe their careers lead them to have different priorities when considering what computer to use.
But to the uninitiated (i.e., us Windows and Linux-using non-hipster heathens)
Let me tell you something: you believe in straw men. You seem to believe that people buy Macs primarily -- if not exclusively -- because they are "flashy". You're wrong.
My first PC was an IBM PCjr on an 8086 with DOS 3.0. I didn't switch to Mac until about 4 years ago, which means I ran MS operating systems for around 20 years. Then OS X came out, and I was intrigued enough to buy one, based upon (shudder!) rational thought! I bought a Mac because it is a better tool to do my job with. It works. I don't have to fuck with it.
If THAT is what you mean by "style, flash, and smug hipness", then baby you are totally kee-rect.
their computers and devices are just proprietary, difficult to repair and upgrade
Have you ever even used a Mac? I have an old PowerMac G5, and all of the components I've upgraded or replaced have been off-the-shelf and taken about 5 minutes to do. I bought my RAM from Crucial, and my DVD burner from Best Buy. Both of those operations took five minutes to complete, from power off to power on. It's the most well designed case I've ever used. Ditto for my ex-wife's laptop. I upgraded the RAM in that and I didn't even need a screwdriver to do it.
significantly overpriced for their specs
Yawn. This canard is tired and has been beaten to death. Apple is price competitive to cheaper on all of their products.
a pain-in-the-ass to develop for
You're a coder, then? You've checked out XCode, which comes free with the OS? Tried out ObjC? No? Then STFU.
locked-down tighter than a ugly nun in Salt Lake City.
You're a moron.
Would you care to put your money where your mouth is? If you are implying that Apple will take legal action against this I would be interested in placing a wager against that prediction. Say, $500?
I can put Linux on a PS3. It will be crippled, but it will run.
I put Linux on my 3G iPod years ago. I haven't looked but I would be surprised if there's not currently a way to put Linux on an iPhone. Apple has never cared about hobbyists tinkering with their hardware. Look at the active jailbreaking community for the iPhone that currently exists.
I have to pay $100 to put my app on the iPhone, and Apple has to approve it in order for anyone else to see it.
No you don't. You have to pay $100 if you want to use Apple's distribution channel. People have been writing apps for the iPhone all along. I seriously doubt that will change.
Even if Apple opens this to all comers, in what way is this alright?
Maybe that's the disconnect, right there. You think this is immoral? Really? It's a better, more friendly business model, both for consumers and developers. This isn't about philosophy. It's about money.
But to answer your question: yeah, I think it's just fine. This is a phone, not a general purpose PC. If it were a PC, it would not be alright.
The same Apple that restricted what software could run on their machines. The same Apple that restricted ...
I'm sitting here typing this on a 17" iMac. Please tell me what software I am restricted from installing on it. I'd love to hear it.
Short term marketing and hype they've got down, but I didn't buy an iPhone, because, I know the end result, which we are now starting to see more clearly.
What? Massive popularity and incredible profits?
Some people might say I was psychic, o which I would say know your history and you won't be doomed to repeat it.
Some people might also say that you are yet another in a long line of insecure geeks who make sweeping post-facto "predictions" in order to prop up their fragile egos.
Moron.
1) Number of apps so far released and distributed via app store: 0
2) Number of apps so far forbidden from being released: 0
3) Number of articles proclaiming the upcoming horror of what Evil Apple could do: an even quintbillion.
No one knows what Apple is going to do. No one. They could open it up to basically all-comers, or they could limit it so that only Tetris is available.
Why do so many people assume that Apple is Microsoft or Sony? I've never gotten that impression. They are by and large very open.
Apple, I am a fan, and most importantly, a paying customer. However, give up the MS-like control. Charging developers $100 for a cert then telling them that you are going to take 30% of the sales? Lame, freaking Lame.
Do you think so? I don't. For that 30% you get a distribution network, a way to notify your users of updates, and free advertising via the integrated download client. Seems pretty fair to me. And the IDE and SDK itself are free. IIRC Palm charges charges similarly, and you have to buy the IDE. (I don't know about RIM.)
Meh. My submission was better.
Apple revealed details of the iPhone SDK today. Apps will be developed using XCode and the new Cocoa Touch framework, and will be distributed by Apple either via an application on the phone or through iTunes. Developers set the cost of their applications and keep 70%, although "free" is also an option. (Not all applications will be distributed: "Porn, malicious apps, ones that invade privacy.") When asked about VOIP, Jobs replied: "We will only stop VOIP over cell networks, but not WiFi." Corporations can also privately distribute applications to their employees. AOL demoed an AIM client, and an iPhone version of the upcoming game Spore was also demoed. The iPhone is also gaining enhanced enterprise capabilities, including Exchange and Cisco VPN support, remote wiping, as well as certificates and identities.
It seems this is more of a financial decision than a technical one. Most frameworks work, and with enough expertise can work well. Sure, there's crap out there, but by and large this is a function of profit.
1) Is your company currently profitable? If not, is a significant reason for that because of the cost to maintain your applications?
2) If you are currently profitable, are your forecasts showing continued profitability?
3) Is your IT budget forecast to increase, and if so is that due primarily to increased maintenance costs? If yes to both, then maybe.
There's no easy way to know for sure. Despite my previous jab against PHP, there are plenty of successful PHP applications about there. But assuming that it was a relatively unused technology, and you were having a hard time finding PHP coders, I still think this would boil down to a financial decision. If it turns out to be IMPOSSIBLE to find developers, then train the new hires.
wow - why so much malice?
Because you're an asshole?
I remember the day before X-mas I went to the mall and saw people lined up to go into the Mac store, and I just wanted to walk up and let every one of them know that they were douchbags for just not going to the online store.
News flash: people are social animals. They like to be around other people. Another news flash: you don't know why they went to the store, and to assume that they are all douchebags for choosing to do so makes you a douchebag, not them.
So either it's OK for Apple and Microsoft to do these things (and to be honest, given how mundane most undocumented APIs actually are, I'd say it is) or you decide you do care, and it's not OK for either of them to do that.
Or you could come back to reality and realize that here Apple crippled nothing and documented everything. TFA even linked to the documentation. And there's even source code from WebKit containing a working example.
This is utter bullshit. There's no "there" there.
Well obviously you aren't a real man, then.
Meh, I like it. It's widely available on different *nixes, fast, lightweight, and free. I want my photo editing program to be user friendly, or my mail client. Terminal utilities? Don't care as much. I'll take the time to learn them, if they seem to be worth it.
Plus I just got tired of looking around for decent terminal apps. My thought is: why look, when screen does everything I need/could ever want?
The one thing I really like about it is the ability to copy/paste between different screens using only the keyboard. I *love* that, and use it constantly.
Real men use gnu screen. It comes preinstalled with the OS.
For giggles, here's my .screenrc file:
We are being threatened by Muslim Middle Easterners. It's not rocket science.
So ok, we start doing that. Then they pick up on it, and hire some down-and-out Belgian with a smack habit to do their dirty work for them. Whee.
a) Profiling is fucking stupid. b) I'm not such a pussy as to want to sacrifice my freedoms because of the actions of a small group of fanatics. Fuck them, and fuck anyone who buys into the scare mongering.
Including you, natch.
Ten bucks says some Left-Wing "Group Hug" Nutjob mods this down.
I would have, but the reasons are far simpler: you are a gangrene infested penis.
I doubt that any of Microsoft's failures with Vista are intentional. However, that does not mean that they will not attempt to use it to their advantage; doing anything else would be stupid. I don't know if you remember New Coke way back when. Briefly: Coca-Cola dropped their original recipe, replaced it with "New Coke". There was a huge media circus around this, controversy, "how-could-they?", etc. After a few months of New Coke being on the market, they dropped it and replaced it with the original. Turned out it was all a scam done by Coca-Cola to get a bunch of free advertising.
Point? While I don't think Microsoft intentionally made Vista suck, they could very well use Vista's suckitude to make Vista+1 more attractive.
Vista SP1 will be a major improvement, insofar as it *can* be, but Vienna (Windows 7) will be the "next" Microsoft OS to get for most. Vista is a dry-run. Just like KDE 4.0....just like MacOSX.
Wow.
"Just a dry-run"? Are you... I don't even know where to start. You're obviously not an investor, because if you were you'd be pissed off. You're not a business-type at all, because if you were you'd realize how damaging this has been to the company. You're not a techie, because there's not a techie on the planet who would seriously try and equate an operating system with a desktop environment. Maybe you are a marketing person?
Actually that makes the most sense to me. Ok, so hello marketing person! I have a video for you! Enjoy!
That's true, but OS X was a huge step forward. Vista is not.
And correct me if I'm wrong but OS X doesn't have DRM at the OS layer. Apple is no fan of DRM, and has only reluctantly played along with the music companies on this. Microsoft, on the other hand, has embraced them.
Bwahahahahaha.
(a) No one gives a crap about Ogg Vorbis. (b) Fixing bugs != adding new codecs, (c) lack of ogg support != problem
If this is not evidence of Apple becoming the new Microsoft, I don't know what is.
Except for the rather inconvenient fact that it is completely wrong.
Jesus.
Yes, by saying "It just works" that means that "it just works no matter what bugs may be introduced into software, or if your hard drive crashes, or if in fact your computer is the victim of a suicide bomber."
Don't be so fucking literal. You look like a dick.
It never ceases to amaze me how Apple fanboys are willing to blame everyone but Apple when Apple fucks up something. But oh no, Apple 'just works', and when they 'just stop working', it's always the user's or someone else's fault.
Bullshit. Where did he say that this is not Apple's fault? You DON'T upgrade production systems without testing. Why? Because there may be bugs introduced. Who would have introduced the bugs? Whoever put out the upgrade. Who put out this upgrade? Apple.
People like you piss me right the fuck off. You're so quick to rub your dick and mumble "fanboy", offering nothing. But HEY I'm a fanboy. Now you can feel all better about yourself.
Stupid fuck. You believe in a straw man created by marketing companies.
What strange and pointless article. Macs have all sorts of well documented deficiencies in either hardware or design, and even the most loyal fanbois will usually acknowledge them.
I am coming to believe that the rabid fanboi is a mythological figure. I have never once actually encountered such a person.
To wit - my preference for a Delete key instead of dragging files to a trash icon is not a weakness on my part, it's a more than reasonable preference. Regardless of all the keyboard options and such, there are many times when I simply prefer to press Delete.
Try hitting Cmd-Delete.
Shut the fuck up.