Unemployement rate in France : 9% and decreasing. Never was 15%, but 13% at its worst, which is bad enough.
A socialist economy in France ? Do you know what a socialist economy is ? Welfare programs do not make an economy socialist. An economy is socialist when means of production are nationalized. In France, production of goods and services primarily rely on private capital, much as in the US. France's "creaking, failing economy" has been running a large trade surplus for years, certainly a sign of failing competitiveness. Its growth rate, trade balance, etc, is better that that of most of its European partners.
A nice demonstration of the proverbial boomerang effect. Apple would have been much better off if the intel PC desktop had been split among two competitors. Today, their survival is entirely dependent on MS. If they stop Office for the mac, Apple dies, plain and simple.
Shouldn't the question be : why does anyone like apple machines, rather ? I use NT4, Linux and MacOs, and Ihave to say, for all its flaws, the MacOs still has an edge when it comes to some creative tasks such as music or graphics, this because it gives you the lowest level of technical interference while your are working (when it doesn't crash, of course;-).
As for Apple itself, they are just about as greedy and heavy-handed as MS.
Ah ! If only I could have this streamlined interface, font support and vst effects support on Linux !
This is a charming perspective, but not quite accurate. Industrial goods manufactured by French companies and exported worldwide include cars, large-scale systems for the telephone industry, radars (much of the US airport equipment is french-made, i'm told), etc. Note that I wrote manufactured "by", not "in" France. AS in much of the western world, the industry as relocated part of its operations outside of France. Also, IBM's largest overseas factory is in France.
Can someone explain how this emulation thing works ? I read that the chip can run Apple or Win software. But doesn't Apple software, say, need libraries that are part of the MacOs ? And doesn't the MacOs rely on the Apple architecture, not just the powerpc chip ? It seems to me that you would need more than just a chip with code morphing to run software from several platforms on the same architecture. Am I wrong ? Can someone more knowledgeable than me explain ?
I have already heard this story several times. I strongly doubt that it is real.
On the other hand, the following story did happen.
Several years ago, I decided to show my --French-- grandmother what you could do with a computer. She was ninety years old at the time. She sat at my desk and I tried to guide her through the basics of contemporary gui interfaces. "Move the mouse up", I told her, wanting her to get to the menubar. Guess what ? She lifted the mouse off the desk and raised it in the air ! Not that she was stupid, on the contrary. She was a very bright lady, one of the few French women of her generation to graduate from law school. What this shows is that there is a certain degree of abstraction in how we relate to technology that we are familiar with, because we grew up with that technology. It is not a matter of intelligence, however, just acquired skills.
Are you sure you actually installed it ? I have both the French and the English versions of their manual and I have yet to find a serious translation mistake in either version. As for bugs, nothing that I installed (and I installed a lot) is broken. Telneting in my system is fast, wherever I telnet from. As for their tech support, Their replies have always been in the 1-3 day range, and always helpful. It's not like I own shares in Suse, but really looks like we have not tried the same distro.
I hate to ruin your day, but bothing is "too good to go away". Don't get me wrong. I tried BeOs and loved it. But they are facing a lot of competition.
1. Although it is too early to say whether the new MacOs X will hold its promises, there is no doubt that the unix-based system will --at last-- offer decent memory management and multitasking to an impressive range of multimedia apps. Granted, the hardware is expensive, but the installed base and software choice are powerful advantages.
2. With all the hype around linux, there is a chance that multimedia apps will be developped for it. Remeber the Be demo with 4 movies running simultaneously ? I tried this on Linux. Worked just as well. Whant I'm trying to say is that Linux offers a good basis for multimedia developpement and is getting a lot of attention, right now. Also, it is gaining a foothold in many organizations through the server door.
3. Amiga. Ok, they are the worst record of vaporware in an industry that has invented th concept, but if their latest annoucement (amiga on top of linux) comes to fruition, this will be another player in Be's ballpark (multimedia OS).
4. QNX : if I'm not mistaken, they are planning on releasing the work they did for Amiga, before Amiga took the linux route. This could be another contender in the multimedia os market, and a very good one.
What is happening, I believe, is that MS's less than stellar performance in multimedia has left a small niche open that several players are trying to either take over (Be), or hold on to (Apple). (Linux is a different story, of course as it does not need market revenues to survive).
It's not like I would like Be to fail. I mean I'm a registered user (I paid for the thing --didn't use a demo version, that is), and an early supporter (I bought R3), but it seems to me that unless a number of killer apps come to Be in the very short term (ports of the main music and video software, for instance) and unless they support some higher range peripherals such as video acquisition boards, or music hardware (audiomedia III, korg 1212, protools, etc.), they will be in for a rough ride.
I'm staying with Mac right now for all of my music work, not because I like Apple's pricing policy, not because I like MacOS 8.x's memory management, but because I don't have a choice.
Two remarks here : 1) The article of the BBC is fearfully misinformed. I happen to know someone working at the architectural firm in charge of the project. It has _nothing_ to do with claiming for a change in the Prime Meridian. The project is purely symbolical and meant to celebrate the new millenium. Its name is "The Green Meridian". The idea is to celebrate y2k with something which relates to the environment : a reminder that environmental issues will be the greatest challenge of the next century.
Regarding The French and the British being white Europeans: One in four French citizens is either an immigrant or a first or second generation immigrant. If you withdraw the input of immigration in France from the thirties on, the current population would be 40 million, instead of 60 million. Some posters here have not travelled much obviously. Take a stroll in Paris or London, and you will realize that the ethnic mix there pretty much matches that of New York, for instance.
As for "guests" not contributing to the building of the country, statistics show, both in France and in the US that immigrants are net contributors to the economies and government budgets of the hosting countries (meaning that they pay more than they receive). Not to mention of course their contribution in terms of ideas, culture, arts, science etc... If you are not convinced, check out the names on the doors at the science and engineering dept of any American or French university. Arabs, Chinese, Indians, Russians, etc... are currently researching and training Western students, for the better future of our economies. We should be thankful, I believe...
Unfortunately the view expressed in post #461 --which is both plain wrong and morally inacceptable-- is all too often heard in France too.
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Unemployement rate in France : 9% and decreasing. Never was 15%, but 13% at its worst, which is bad enough.
A socialist economy in France ? Do you know what a socialist economy is ? Welfare programs do not make an economy socialist. An economy is socialist when means of production are nationalized. In France, production of goods and services primarily rely on private capital, much as in the US. France's "creaking, failing economy" has been running a large trade surplus for years, certainly a sign of failing competitiveness. Its growth rate, trade balance, etc, is better that that of most of its European partners.
Next time, check your facts.
A nice demonstration of the proverbial boomerang effect. Apple would have been much better off if the intel PC desktop had been split among two competitors. Today, their survival is entirely dependent on MS. If they stop Office for the mac, Apple dies, plain and simple.
Shouldn't the question be : why does anyone like apple machines, rather ? I use NT4, Linux and MacOs, and Ihave to say, for all its flaws, the MacOs still has an edge when it comes to some creative tasks such as music or graphics, this because it gives you the lowest level of technical interference while your are working (when it doesn't crash, of course ;-).
As for Apple itself, they are just about as greedy and heavy-handed as MS.
Ah ! If only I could have this streamlined interface, font support and vst effects support on Linux !
This is a charming perspective, but not quite accurate. Industrial goods manufactured by French companies and exported worldwide include cars, large-scale systems for the telephone industry, radars (much of the US airport equipment is french-made, i'm told), etc. Note that I wrote manufactured "by", not "in" France. AS in much of the western world, the industry as relocated part of its operations outside of France. Also, IBM's largest overseas factory is in France.
;-)
That said, my pen is an American-made Sheaffer
Can someone explain how this emulation thing works ? I read that the chip can run Apple or Win software. But doesn't Apple software, say, need libraries that are part of the MacOs ? And doesn't the MacOs rely on the Apple architecture, not just the powerpc chip ? It seems to me that you would need more than just a chip with code morphing to run software from several platforms on the same architecture. Am I wrong ? Can someone more knowledgeable than me explain ?
I used Accel-X some two years ago. I remember having quite a few problems with it, due to some shared libraries it installed over existing ones.
On the other hand I've never had a problem with Xfree. Never crashed on my setup.
I have already heard this story several times. I strongly doubt that it is real.
On the other hand, the following story did happen.
Several years ago, I decided to show my --French-- grandmother what you could do with a computer. She was ninety years old at the time. She sat at my desk and I tried to guide her through the basics of contemporary gui interfaces.
"Move the mouse up", I told her, wanting her to get to the menubar.
Guess what ? She lifted the mouse off the desk and raised it in the air !
Not that she was stupid, on the contrary. She was a very bright lady, one of the few French women of her generation to graduate from law school.
What this shows is that there is a certain degree of abstraction in how we relate to technology that we are familiar with, because we grew up with that technology. It is not a matter of intelligence, however, just acquired skills.
Are you sure you actually installed it ? I have both the French and the English versions of their manual and I have yet to find a serious translation mistake in either version. As for bugs, nothing that I installed (and I installed a lot) is broken. Telneting in my system is fast, wherever I telnet from.
As for their tech support, Their replies have always been in the 1-3 day range, and always helpful.
It's not like I own shares in Suse, but really looks like we have not tried the same distro.
Be too good to go away ?
I hate to ruin your day, but bothing is "too good to go away". Don't get me wrong. I tried BeOs and loved it. But they are facing a lot of competition.
1. Although it is too early to say whether the new MacOs X will hold its promises, there is no doubt that the unix-based system will --at last-- offer decent memory management and multitasking to an impressive range of multimedia apps. Granted, the hardware is expensive, but the installed base and software choice are powerful advantages.
2. With all the hype around linux, there is a chance that multimedia apps will be developped for it. Remeber the Be demo with 4 movies running simultaneously ? I tried this on Linux. Worked just as well. Whant I'm trying to say is that Linux offers a good basis for multimedia developpement and is getting a lot of attention, right now. Also, it is gaining a foothold in many organizations through the server door.
3. Amiga. Ok, they are the worst record of vaporware in an industry that has invented th concept, but if their latest annoucement (amiga on top of linux) comes to fruition, this will be another player in Be's ballpark (multimedia OS).
4. QNX : if I'm not mistaken, they are planning on releasing the work they did for Amiga, before Amiga took the linux route. This could be another contender in the multimedia os market, and a very good one.
What is happening, I believe, is that MS's less than stellar performance in multimedia has left a small niche open that several players are trying to either take over (Be), or hold on to (Apple). (Linux is a different story, of course as it does not need market revenues to survive).
It's not like I would like Be to fail. I mean I'm a registered user (I paid for the thing --didn't use a demo version, that is), and an early supporter (I bought R3), but it seems to me that unless a number of killer apps come to Be in the very short term (ports of the main music and video software, for instance) and unless they support some higher range peripherals such as video acquisition boards, or music hardware (audiomedia III, korg 1212, protools, etc.), they will be in for a rough ride.
I'm staying with Mac right now for all of my music work, not because I like Apple's pricing policy, not because I like MacOS 8.x's memory management, but because I don't have a choice.
Two remarks here :
1) The article of the BBC is fearfully misinformed. I happen to know someone working at the architectural firm in charge of the project. It has _nothing_ to do with claiming for a change in the Prime Meridian. The project is purely symbolical and meant to celebrate the new millenium. Its name is "The Green Meridian". The idea is to celebrate y2k with something which relates to the environment : a reminder that environmental issues will be the greatest challenge of the next century.
Regarding The French and the British being white Europeans:
One in four French citizens is either an immigrant or a first or second generation immigrant. If you withdraw the input of immigration in France from the thirties on, the current population would be 40 million, instead of 60 million. Some posters here have not travelled much obviously. Take a stroll in Paris or London, and you will realize that the ethnic mix there pretty much matches that of New York, for instance.
As for "guests" not contributing to the building of the country, statistics show, both in France and in the US that immigrants are net contributors to the economies and government budgets of the hosting countries (meaning that they pay more than they receive). Not to mention of course their contribution in terms of ideas, culture, arts, science etc... If you are not convinced, check out the names on the doors at the science and engineering dept of any American or French university. Arabs, Chinese, Indians, Russians, etc... are currently researching and training Western students, for the better future of our economies. We should be thankful, I believe...
Unfortunately the view expressed in post #461 --which is both plain wrong and morally inacceptable-- is all too often heard in France too.