I don't think using Adobe, of all companies, is a good example for your argument. They're not exactly a high-tech bunch. pngcrush has been around for a long time, and yet Adobe still sits on its collective ass about PNG compression in Photoshop. I VERY much doubt this has anything to do with how complex PNG is to implement, and has everything to do with how lazy and/or incompetent Adobe programmers are. IMO, anyway.
Certainly using _IE_, of all programs, as an example, does NOT help your argument in the least.
Well, I wouldn't say the problem is totally user-error. I'd say it's about 2/3 crappy compression implementation in software, and user laziness on trying to get around it. Honestly, most people don't _know_ any better, and why _should_ they, really? If a _program_ like pngout can compress a PNG so much better, there's NO reason that functionality shouldn't be built into every bit of software that creates PNGs. At the very least, let the program call it externally for compressing at the end. The other problem with PNG-creating software is the 8/24-bit palette difference - the software should know to drop the palette down to 8-bit if that's all that's needed. Aren't computers supposed to make things _easier_ with automation? Ugh.
I don't use the Gimp, so I can't answer that one for you.
In Photoshop, if your image has 8-bit colours or fewer, change the mode to 'Indexed,' and that drops it from 24-bit down to 8-bit. Then when you 'Save for the Web,' you need to re-select the colour depth you want most of the time (stupid Photoshop will usually assume full 8-bit even if it knows there are fewer), then you get down to the exact-size palette you need. Play around with dithering colours to use even smaller palettes (perceptual works quite well most of the time), and THEN save. After saving, use pngcrush or pngout (pngout is usally better, often by quite a bit), and you'll wind up with some tiny PNGs.
For 'many' of the uses? Hardly. If you save a PNG as 24-bit, even though it has 8-bit or fewer colours, even pngcrush (or the better such program, pngout) can't help much. Saving a PNG properly, THEN using pngout will almost always produce a smaller filesize than GIF. It's _exceedingly_ rare that you'd have a smaller GIF - usually only when you're using a 1 pixel transparent GIF for a web site spacer graphic, which you _should_ know how to avoid doing by now, anyway, if you're anything resembling a well-informed web developer.
Bah. A pox on GIFs!
Now if only Adobe could get off their lazy crappy-programmer asses and put proper PNG compression in Photoshop so we wouldn't _need_ programs like pngcrush & pngout.
Well, now your IM session connections will be fast enough that you can actually spell all the words you use. Say goodbye to:) and hello to 'smile.' Yay!
True, but with only one G5 in an iMac, certainly 2gHz at the most, cooling a 24.5 Watt processor shouldn't be much of a challenge at all. Get a nice copper heat sink on there and some quiet fans, and it should be just fine.
I'd love a nice little aluminum replacement for the Cube, as long as it has a decent video card.
Really, though, I'm waiting for the next major version of the PowerMac - PCI-E and hopefully a PPC980 (or whatever it'll be called) CPU with on-die memory controller, hopefully supporting ECC RAM. THEN it'll be worth the money to me.
Then that would be a technical flub. They're touting so much their 'zone cooling' system - that hot air should be exiting straight out the back, and thus not cause a problem.
Considering they're having yield problems with the 970FX, I think it's nuts to expect Apple to cannibalize sales of the high-margin PowerMac to sell a few more lower-margin iMacs. The iMac has never, to my knowledge, had the same clockrate as the PowerMac, so don't get your hopes up.
I don't see how cooling can be an issue at ALL - the 970FX only puts out, what, 24.5 Watts at 2gHz? That's _nothing_ these days, even with a stock HSF, much less a nice copper monster. I think the cooling issue is either a red herring, or a massive technical screwup.
So basically, you want a G5 Cube. Apple didn't do well with the Cube, so I dunno how eager they'd be to repeat that experiment.
Then again, I didn't think the Cube was designed all that well, technically. I'm sure they could do a better job of it the second go-around, but I suspect they're still a bit gunshy. Here's hoping, though! I saw an independently-made aluminum one some guy made up, and it looked pretty snazzy. And now that they're making LCD monitors to match the new aluminum style, all the better.
Uhm, yeah. You guys have fewer soldiers than Iraq did, and you saw how easy they were for us to take down.:)
re: -40F winter
Hey, I know better - I'm in Seattle, and Vancouver's weather isn't that much different than here.
Really, we should just merge, and just call ourselves Usanada or something. United States of North America? Hmm. Hey, if that happened, we would _definitely_ not put up with any shit from Quebec!:)
I'd prefer that BC, Washington, and Oregon just split off into our own little Pacific Northwest paradise, and let the rest rot in hell, though.
And at least that weird soda you guys had with the little cellulose balls floating in it went away. That was just TOO strange. At you call your dollars 'loonies'? Hilarious.
I kid because I care. You guys are awesome, really. Our first line of defense against those Ruskies invading from over the North Pole! Plus, Canada is where we keep our Aurora Borealis.
Is that _still_ a separate country? Damn, I thought we annexed them a long time ago.
I'm not sure I could respect any country that considers a 'Smartie' a stale-tasting M&M-like candy. Yuck.
Okay, I'll concede - we'll take BC and the Yukon; you can keep the rest. That way we can get to and from Alaska (over land) without going through customs. Getting through the US/Canada border is about 50 times harder than the US/Mexico one. (Fact)
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I don't think using Adobe, of all companies, is a good example for your argument. They're not exactly a high-tech bunch. pngcrush has been around for a long time, and yet Adobe still sits on its collective ass about PNG compression in Photoshop. I VERY much doubt this has anything to do with how complex PNG is to implement, and has everything to do with how lazy and/or incompetent Adobe programmers are. IMO, anyway.
Certainly using _IE_, of all programs, as an example, does NOT help your argument in the least.
Well, I wouldn't say the problem is totally user-error. I'd say it's about 2/3 crappy compression implementation in software, and user laziness on trying to get around it. Honestly, most people don't _know_ any better, and why _should_ they, really? If a _program_ like pngout can compress a PNG so much better, there's NO reason that functionality shouldn't be built into every bit of software that creates PNGs. At the very least, let the program call it externally for compressing at the end. The other problem with PNG-creating software is the 8/24-bit palette difference - the software should know to drop the palette down to 8-bit if that's all that's needed. Aren't computers supposed to make things _easier_ with automation? Ugh.
I don't use the Gimp, so I can't answer that one for you.
In Photoshop, if your image has 8-bit colours or fewer, change the mode to 'Indexed,' and that drops it from 24-bit down to 8-bit. Then when you 'Save for the Web,' you need to re-select the colour depth you want most of the time (stupid Photoshop will usually assume full 8-bit even if it knows there are fewer), then you get down to the exact-size palette you need. Play around with dithering colours to use even smaller palettes (perceptual works quite well most of the time), and THEN save. After saving, use pngcrush or pngout (pngout is usally better, often by quite a bit), and you'll wind up with some tiny PNGs.
For 'many' of the uses? Hardly. If you save a PNG as 24-bit, even though it has 8-bit or fewer colours, even pngcrush (or the better such program, pngout) can't help much. Saving a PNG properly, THEN using pngout will almost always produce a smaller filesize than GIF. It's _exceedingly_ rare that you'd have a smaller GIF - usually only when you're using a 1 pixel transparent GIF for a web site spacer graphic, which you _should_ know how to avoid doing by now, anyway, if you're anything resembling a well-informed web developer.
Bah. A pox on GIFs!
Now if only Adobe could get off their lazy crappy-programmer asses and put proper PNG compression in Photoshop so we wouldn't _need_ programs like pngcrush & pngout.
It's 'simple,' stupid. :)
Funny, insightful, whatever. This is Slashdot, dude, it's all the same thing here. :)
nonono - do not leave your cube! Disaster will strike if you leave your cube! Under no circumstances are you to abandon your cube!
Mmm, yeah, perl, obviously the best language to debug, especially if it's someone else's code. *shudder*
I think I'd rather debug someone else's assembly language than someone else's perl.
Yeah, but I heard you Aussies are a fairly relaxed bunch as it is, unlike here in the States where every single one of us is friggin' insane. :)
Well, now your IM session connections will be fast enough that you can actually spell all the words you use. Say goodbye to :) and hello to 'smile.' Yay!
True, all the way down to San Francisco, I guess, would be good.
As for snow in Seattle, we get, what, maybe a couple of days of snow a year? That ain't much...
Hmmm...I thought there be dragons there...sounds dangerous.
Hey, what's with this 'Yugoslavia' place? It doesn't seem to be on my map... :)
Well, I suppose that _would_ give us our own French types to pick on. We'll get back to you on your proposal.
No Solitaire? Screw that! This platform will be DOA. :)
True, but with only one G5 in an iMac, certainly 2gHz at the most, cooling a 24.5 Watt processor shouldn't be much of a challenge at all. Get a nice copper heat sink on there and some quiet fans, and it should be just fine.
I'd love a nice little aluminum replacement for the Cube, as long as it has a decent video card.
Really, though, I'm waiting for the next major version of the PowerMac - PCI-E and hopefully a PPC980 (or whatever it'll be called) CPU with on-die memory controller, hopefully supporting ECC RAM. THEN it'll be worth the money to me.
Then that would be a technical flub. They're touting so much their 'zone cooling' system - that hot air should be exiting straight out the back, and thus not cause a problem.
Considering they're having yield problems with the 970FX, I think it's nuts to expect Apple to cannibalize sales of the high-margin PowerMac to sell a few more lower-margin iMacs. The iMac has never, to my knowledge, had the same clockrate as the PowerMac, so don't get your hopes up.
I don't see how cooling can be an issue at ALL - the 970FX only puts out, what, 24.5 Watts at 2gHz? That's _nothing_ these days, even with a stock HSF, much less a nice copper monster. I think the cooling issue is either a red herring, or a massive technical screwup.
So basically, you want a G5 Cube. Apple didn't do well with the Cube, so I dunno how eager they'd be to repeat that experiment.
Then again, I didn't think the Cube was designed all that well, technically. I'm sure they could do a better job of it the second go-around, but I suspect they're still a bit gunshy. Here's hoping, though! I saw an independently-made aluminum one some guy made up, and it looked pretty snazzy. And now that they're making LCD monitors to match the new aluminum style, all the better.
A 2.5GHz _iMac_? I think not, friend, not when that's the top end of the PowerMac line. No way.
Uhm, yeah. You guys have fewer soldiers than Iraq did, and you saw how easy they were for us to take down. :)
:)
re: -40F winter
Hey, I know better - I'm in Seattle, and Vancouver's weather isn't that much different than here.
Really, we should just merge, and just call ourselves Usanada or something. United States of North America? Hmm. Hey, if that happened, we would _definitely_ not put up with any shit from Quebec!
I'd prefer that BC, Washington, and Oregon just split off into our own little Pacific Northwest paradise, and let the rest rot in hell, though.
Yeah, that's pretty cool, isn't it? We like to think of it as 'evolution in action.' If you get sick or unemployed, hey, nice knowin' ya!
And at least that weird soda you guys had with the little cellulose balls floating in it went away. That was just TOO strange. At you call your dollars 'loonies'? Hilarious.
I kid because I care. You guys are awesome, really. Our first line of defense against those Ruskies invading from over the North Pole! Plus, Canada is where we keep our Aurora Borealis.
Is that _still_ a separate country? Damn, I thought we annexed them a long time ago.
I'm not sure I could respect any country that considers a 'Smartie' a stale-tasting M&M-like candy. Yuck.
Okay, I'll concede - we'll take BC and the Yukon; you can keep the rest. That way we can get to and from Alaska (over land) without going through customs. Getting through the US/Canada border is about 50 times harder than the US/Mexico one. (Fact)