With games, with an intel port of the OS, it may be easier to talk Microsoft into a Direct X port to the Mac, or even to write a Mac version of the library. If Apple or Microsoft don't do it, some 3rd party may well do so. Kinda like WINE only for games.
Yes, low end Macs will likely get cheaper, but the pro machines will probably not. But a cheap low end Mac early on will let even the Pros get one just to see how the change will impact them and if they will want to get a pro machine and pay it's premium. Though if they are already married to Mac OS X, they probably don't have much choice.
Processor situation, very different. IBM/Freescale can't put out the volumes and the prices Apple is willing to pay. We're all sick of the shortages and high cost of upgrade processors just like Apple is. It will be interesting to see how much cheaper upgrade chips get. If you can use a truely plain standard pentium chip, then in 2 years when the machine is starting to lag a bit behind, throwing in a new processor could be hundreds cheaper than finding a PPC upgrade chip is today.
The situation with OS/2 was totally different than OS X/Apple. Mainly it boils down to, while OS/2 could run some Windows apps better, it still sucked ass for a lot of other things and Microsoft caught up and surpassed it while IBM twiddled their thumbs. IBM also did little to market the thing. Apple already has huge momentum and they have kicked out 5 OS releases in the time Microsoft has done one (2 if you count SP2 as a major update). Also, Apple has a huge installed fan base and it's currently the cool thing to be un Microsoft these days, thus the push behind Firefox and such. That and of course, people are wanting the better product. So like Firefox, OS X is going to be very dangerous and invasive to Microsoft's turf.
And as for the kidding self thing, cheaper graphics cards, cheaper low end Macs, cheaper upgrade processors for machines with socketed slots. Go watch the keynote video, you saw where Jobs was pointing to Mac sales taking off in the last 18 months. Around the timeframe that Apple started to really cut it's costs some. The iMacs broke the $1000 barrier and the Mac Mini the $500 barrier. I think Jobs realizes that cheap low end Macs are a huge draw and that it makes sense to continue producing them and making them compete with these build a box or cheap in store models. Apple is way different than it was in the 1980's. I believe they have learned a hard lesson that being on a high horse and keeping prices high as they did back then was what almost led to their demise in the 1990's. I don't think they will make that same mistake again, and recent events and statements from Jobs have already shown that he understands this.
Like Jobs said, most apps are simply recompile. It will take only a couple months to get most apps you find on things like versiontracker over to the Mac.
It makes PC game conversion simpler and less expensive. No more big vs little endian problems or re-writing X86 assembler.
It allows for cheaper hardware, meaning the pros can buy a cheap intel Mac to play around on to see if the transition will hurt them or not before they all change over in 2007.
It gives Apple choice. If Intel continues to lose out to AMD, Apple can switch without losing compatability.
It also showcases the amazing portability of Mac OS X.
Last but not least, would be if they let you run Windows side by side with the Mac OS on dual core or multiprocessor machines. This would let "switchers" use both until they can transition to the Mac OS and let Mac heads play all those PC games they have been missing out on. I think this may be just HUGE for Mac gamers.
We shall see what the fallout is, but I think on the whole, this is a very positive and smart move for Apple.
Not to mention, it will take only ONE joe with this equipment or setup to copy this stuff. No matter how complicated the DRM is, if you can see it and listen to it, you can copy it.
Once it's in an unprotected format, which will spread like wildfire on the internet, then all the DRM in the world can't stop you from playing it.
Actually, I thought about this, if these do go up, I'll be sure to help on the effort to destroy these things. Losing a few multi billion dollar space ads will certainly push companies to stop.
So I looked at what they could do to put one up there. One company in the past was even going to try this, using unfolding mylar billboards that would be up to a mile long to make them visible. So how do you destroy a mile long object?
Lasers? One powerful enough would just burn a small hole. No air up there, so it wouldn't start a fire and you would have to worry about it reflecting back and blinding a lot of people on the ground. "Hey, look, the new Nike Air Jesus.. ARRG MY EYES!"
Missiles? Again, the explosion would just blow a small area up, you'd need something with nearly nuclear kick to vaporize something the size of that thing, not easilly done by a team of disgruntled geeks/astronomers.
Then it struck me. Deorbit. A pod that goes up, attaches on and fires a rocket to push it out of it's stable orbit. It might take a lot of fuel, but maybe it would just need a nudge to come down within days. The ad would then hurtle though the atmosphere and because it is so thin, despite it's length, it would burn up completely before hitting the ground and the billboard would become the mother of all fireworks show for whoever was lucky enough to be under where it came down, as the metal frame broke up and thousands of pieces of it streaked across the sky before vaporizing in the upper atmosphere.
So yeah, if Coke or Microsoft or any other company wants to put on a billion dollar firework show, go ahead. People are already working on the design of the deorbiting pods:)
But you can use TCL/TK's GUI capabilities, or even Trolltek's QT.
Since Python can interface with C programs (and I'm guessing, objective C if you worked at it) you could expose Apple's API's to Python if you really wanted to.
As someone who used to code for a living in python for enterprise, this can only be a good thing. This is one of the easiest languages you can learn, I picked it up in just a week and was more or less productive from that point onward.
The company I worked for used it for CAD/CAM software, which let code written in one language, python run on five platforms (windows, and a bunch of UNIX platforms). The ability of Python to call C libraries when speed was a must made it the perfect language for our uses. Given you really want speed in the CAD world, python still did the job admirably!
You still needed the C interfaces, but you could do all the logic and front ends in Python, which really reduced the amount of re-work when porting to new platforms without really sacrificing much speed at all. I'm glad more companies are seeing the use for Python and hopefully many will learn, like my last employer, that Python is good for more than just replacing Perl and shell scripts.
As of today I no longer am. Even if they change the TOS. Why haven't we switched to an open standard long long ago that AOL can't control or corrupt?
This is one of the last big frontiers for Open Source, a place where I've seen Open Source make little headway. We need a protocol that's open, free and can do the nifty things like file transfer, voice and video chat, and and uses built in encryption. Encrypting over AOL doesn't make cut it anymore. We need to cut them out of the equation altogether.
Yeah, if I cook a hamburger at home, McDonald should sue me. Because it's illegal to use my knowledge to save money I would otherwise spend buying stuff from a large corporation.
Call us when you get sued for refilming Lord of the Rings in your back yard with your friends.
That's like going into a drug inflicted neighborhood and punching all the other innocent residents in the face every day until they go get rid of the local crack house themselves.
At this point, a search engine is pretty much a search engine. Who cares if you get 2+ billion hits on MSN and only 1.8 billion on google. You going to check every one of those?
I'm more interested in what the top 50 are (at the most) and well, if they are fairly on par performance wise there, I'll stick with what I know and love.
Besides, Google has several advantages over MSN that I think will keep MSN from being able to put even a dent into them.
1. Google has become almost an english word and a positive word at that, while MSN is generally thought of as AOL's ugly little brother.
2. Google has a well established user base and while a few might try out MSN, I doubt many will switch unless MSN can balance their check book and pay their bills or make them famous on the spot or some other miraculous happening.
3. I find it's less awkward to type google.com than msn.com. As it is, the keystrokes for google are burned into my fingers. I don't even have to command them to type it with the brain anymore. I need info, they are right ahead of me there. MSN? Feels a bit awkward to type and really, I don't feel MSN offers enough to be worth switching over.
4. MSN's page looks like shit (about on par with MS's other sites) and is full of annoying ads (for Encarta and other MS junk) and other distractions, while google is clean and simple and the ads are unobtrusive text ads.
So sorry MSN, but I think you have lost the battle before it's even started.
Seems that a speed war may be developing between DSL and Cable providers. Here in Cincinnati (in the US...) Road Runner just upped to 5mbit down but stayed at 512kbit up.
So this 8mbit in the UK would mean this isn't just a US phenomonon, which is a good thing for us all I think.
Not to mention that most big companies will lay you off the moment things go a little sour on the numbers, even while the CEO and others at the top get big fat raises. Gain experience as a corporate slave, but get out and do your own thing as soon as you are able. That is my own goal as I can already see the writing on the corporate wall here, I'm only going to be employable as long as I'm young and naive and willing to work for lower pay. So the sooner I can get into a position where I am my own boss, be it a startup, or consulting when needed, the better.
My own is shaddupfoo. The mexicans down the street use "Paco" and one of the local churches uses praisejesus. Some of the local buisinesses are rather amusing too, such as "circlek" at a dairy mart, a nod to the mart in Bill & Ted's Excellent adventure. Then there are several ones called "secure" which are anything but.
Netgear seems to have the shortest average ranges, picking up only when I'm almost on top of them. Spectrum has the longest, with a Spectrum24 my former roomate got off of ebay going almost two blocks from the house.
When I was out shopping during the holidays, I got stopped by quite a few people in stores electronics dept asking if anyone knew of a player that would "do DVD-R's". All of them average joes too.
Some people are even modding down folks with that in their.sig. I've metamodded those as fair as I personally think the.sig should not be a tool for spam. We deal with enough ads already, we certainly don't need to put up with them in every.sig.
In Mac OS X you can write native mac apps in either Objective C (using Cocoa API), C/C++ (Using Carbon) or Java (Using Cocoa API again). Apple seems to be putting more emphasis on Java of late given that Objective C uptake has been tepid at best, with most people opting to write carbon apps instead. So yes, you can write totally normal Mac applications in the Java langauge and they can interect fully with the OS. See Apple's take on this at http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/java/
Even 'normal' Java programs that use Swing will look and behave rather maclike. Apple has done a lot to ensure Java works seamlessly in OS X.
Nor will it help us when they turn these things on protesters and use them to keep people under control. At least until some crowbar wielding guy with a PHD in smashing things comes along to help.
Or maybe I've been playing too much half life.
Re:TV piracy is next?
on
TV Piracy is Next
·
· Score: 1, Informative
How about not having the damnned annoying spike logo in the corner, the stretch and squish games they do with the image, the commercials and parts of the show cut out because the 45 minutes of program time (15 mins for commercials) that was done back in the 80's and 90's is now too long for the now 17-20 commercial times we now have.
I don't remember if Spike does that but Sci-Fi channel cut out many parts of the original Star Trek to make room for commercials.
Now one solution to this is not to buy new. Wait 4 months, then you can get them for about 60% of the original price on Amazon.
Or there is Wal-Mart. Stargate SG-1 Season 7 retails for $59.99 at Best Buy, I found it at the local Wal-Mart for $35. For whatever reason (their size and clout most likely), DVD's are really bloody cheap at Wal-Mart. It's the only reason I go there other than for cheap oil changes.
This is all the more reason to build a MythTV box.
Initially it will probably cost more than a Tivo but you will be free of corporate crap and restrictions. That and no monthly fees which means in the long run it will be far cheaper.
Slashdot Mirror
With games, with an intel port of the OS, it may be easier to talk Microsoft into a Direct X port to the Mac, or even to write a Mac version of the library. If Apple or Microsoft don't do it, some 3rd party may well do so. Kinda like WINE only for games.
Yes, low end Macs will likely get cheaper, but the pro machines will probably not. But a cheap low end Mac early on will let even the Pros get one just to see how the change will impact them and if they will want to get a pro machine and pay it's premium. Though if they are already married to Mac OS X, they probably don't have much choice.
Processor situation, very different. IBM/Freescale can't put out the volumes and the prices Apple is willing to pay. We're all sick of the shortages and high cost of upgrade processors just like Apple is. It will be interesting to see how much cheaper upgrade chips get. If you can use a truely plain standard pentium chip, then in 2 years when the machine is starting to lag a bit behind, throwing in a new processor could be hundreds cheaper than finding a PPC upgrade chip is today.
The situation with OS/2 was totally different than OS X/Apple. Mainly it boils down to, while OS/2 could run some Windows apps better, it still sucked ass for a lot of other things and Microsoft caught up and surpassed it while IBM twiddled their thumbs. IBM also did little to market the thing. Apple already has huge momentum and they have kicked out 5 OS releases in the time Microsoft has done one (2 if you count SP2 as a major update). Also, Apple has a huge installed fan base and it's currently the cool thing to be un Microsoft these days, thus the push behind Firefox and such. That and of course, people are wanting the better product. So like Firefox, OS X is going to be very dangerous and invasive to Microsoft's turf.
And as for the kidding self thing, cheaper graphics cards, cheaper low end Macs, cheaper upgrade processors for machines with socketed slots. Go watch the keynote video, you saw where Jobs was pointing to Mac sales taking off in the last 18 months. Around the timeframe that Apple started to really cut it's costs some. The iMacs broke the $1000 barrier and the Mac Mini the $500 barrier. I think Jobs realizes that cheap low end Macs are a huge draw and that it makes sense to continue producing them and making them compete with these build a box or cheap in store models. Apple is way different than it was in the 1980's. I believe they have learned a hard lesson that being on a high horse and keeping prices high as they did back then was what almost led to their demise in the 1990's. I don't think they will make that same mistake again, and recent events and statements from Jobs have already shown that he understands this.
Like Jobs said, most apps are simply recompile. It will take only a couple months to get most apps you find on things like versiontracker over to the Mac.
It makes PC game conversion simpler and less expensive. No more big vs little endian problems or re-writing X86 assembler.
It allows for cheaper hardware, meaning the pros can buy a cheap intel Mac to play around on to see if the transition will hurt them or not before they all change over in 2007.
It gives Apple choice. If Intel continues to lose out to AMD, Apple can switch without losing compatability.
It also showcases the amazing portability of Mac OS X.
Last but not least, would be if they let you run Windows side by side with the Mac OS on dual core or multiprocessor machines. This would let "switchers" use both until they can transition to the Mac OS and let Mac heads play all those PC games they have been missing out on. I think this may be just HUGE for Mac gamers.
We shall see what the fallout is, but I think on the whole, this is a very positive and smart move for Apple.
Not to mention, it will take only ONE joe with this equipment or setup to copy this stuff. No matter how complicated the DRM is, if you can see it and listen to it, you can copy it.
Once it's in an unprotected format, which will spread like wildfire on the internet, then all the DRM in the world can't stop you from playing it.
Actually, I thought about this, if these do go up, I'll be sure to help on the effort to destroy these things. Losing a few multi billion dollar space ads will certainly push companies to stop.
:)
So I looked at what they could do to put one up there. One company in the past was even going to try this, using unfolding mylar billboards that would be up to a mile long to make them visible. So how do you destroy a mile long object?
Lasers? One powerful enough would just burn a small hole. No air up there, so it wouldn't start a fire and you would have to worry about it reflecting back and blinding a lot of people on the ground. "Hey, look, the new Nike Air Jesus.. ARRG MY EYES!"
Missiles? Again, the explosion would just blow a small area up, you'd need something with nearly nuclear kick to vaporize something the size of that thing, not easilly done by a team of disgruntled geeks/astronomers.
Then it struck me. Deorbit. A pod that goes up, attaches on and fires a rocket to push it out of it's stable orbit. It might take a lot of fuel, but maybe it would just need a nudge to come down within days. The ad would then hurtle though the atmosphere and because it is so thin, despite it's length, it would burn up completely before hitting the ground and the billboard would become the mother of all fireworks show for whoever was lucky enough to be under where it came down, as the metal frame broke up and thousands of pieces of it streaked across the sky before vaporizing in the upper atmosphere.
So yeah, if Coke or Microsoft or any other company wants to put on a billion dollar firework show, go ahead. People are already working on the design of the deorbiting pods
What is he going to do, just run over the bad guys?
But it at least looks like it will be better than the last movie, even with the redneck version of the batmobile.
Not using Xcode or apple's API's.
But you can use TCL/TK's GUI capabilities, or even Trolltek's QT.
Since Python can interface with C programs (and I'm guessing, objective C if you worked at it) you could expose Apple's API's to Python if you really wanted to.
As someone who used to code for a living in python for enterprise, this can only be a good thing. This is one of the easiest languages you can learn, I picked it up in just a week and was more or less productive from that point onward.
The company I worked for used it for CAD/CAM software, which let code written in one language, python run on five platforms (windows, and a bunch of UNIX platforms). The ability of Python to call C libraries when speed was a must made it the perfect language for our uses. Given you really want speed in the CAD world, python still did the job admirably!
You still needed the C interfaces, but you could do all the logic and front ends in Python, which really reduced the amount of re-work when porting to new platforms without really sacrificing much speed at all. I'm glad more companies are seeing the use for Python and hopefully many will learn, like my last employer, that Python is good for more than just replacing Perl and shell scripts.
As of today I no longer am. Even if they change the TOS. Why haven't we switched to an open standard long long ago that AOL can't control or corrupt?
This is one of the last big frontiers for Open Source, a place where I've seen Open Source make little headway. We need a protocol that's open, free and can do the nifty things like file transfer, voice and video chat, and and uses built in encryption. Encrypting over AOL doesn't make cut it anymore. We need to cut them out of the equation altogether.
Yeah, if I cook a hamburger at home, McDonald should sue me. Because it's illegal to use my knowledge to save money I would otherwise spend buying stuff from a large corporation.
Call us when you get sued for refilming Lord of the Rings in your back yard with your friends.
That's like going into a drug inflicted neighborhood and punching all the other innocent residents in the face every day until they go get rid of the local crack house themselves.
She fell down a turbolift shaft and landed on some phasers.
Seriously, I think 90% of the hype has been here on /.
As for overtaking, I don't think it will. They just aren't adding enough new value to make it worth breaking a 5 year long habit of typing google.com
At this point, a search engine is pretty much a search engine. Who cares if you get 2+ billion hits on MSN and only 1.8 billion on google. You going to check every one of those?
I'm more interested in what the top 50 are (at the most) and well, if they are fairly on par performance wise there, I'll stick with what I know and love.
Besides, Google has several advantages over MSN that I think will keep MSN from being able to put even a dent into them.
1. Google has become almost an english word and a positive word at that, while MSN is generally thought of as AOL's ugly little brother.
2. Google has a well established user base and while a few might try out MSN, I doubt many will switch unless MSN can balance their check book and pay their bills or make them famous on the spot or some other miraculous happening.
3. I find it's less awkward to type google.com than msn.com. As it is, the keystrokes for google are burned into my fingers. I don't even have to command them to type it with the brain anymore. I need info, they are right ahead of me there. MSN? Feels a bit awkward to type and really, I don't feel MSN offers enough to be worth switching over.
4. MSN's page looks like shit (about on par with MS's other sites) and is full of annoying ads (for Encarta and other MS junk) and other distractions, while google is clean and simple and the ads are unobtrusive text ads.
So sorry MSN, but I think you have lost the battle before it's even started.
Seems that a speed war may be developing between DSL and Cable providers. Here in Cincinnati (in the US...) Road Runner just upped to 5mbit down but stayed at 512kbit up.
So this 8mbit in the UK would mean this isn't just a US phenomonon, which is a good thing for us all I think.
Not to mention that most big companies will lay you off the moment things go a little sour on the numbers, even while the CEO and others at the top get big fat raises. Gain experience as a corporate slave, but get out and do your own thing as soon as you are able. That is my own goal as I can already see the writing on the corporate wall here, I'm only going to be employable as long as I'm young and naive and willing to work for lower pay. So the sooner I can get into a position where I am my own boss, be it a startup, or consulting when needed, the better.
My own is shaddupfoo. The mexicans down the street use "Paco" and one of the local churches uses praisejesus. Some of the local buisinesses are rather amusing too, such as "circlek" at a dairy mart, a nod to the mart in Bill & Ted's Excellent adventure. Then there are several ones called "secure" which are anything but.
Netgear seems to have the shortest average ranges, picking up only when I'm almost on top of them. Spectrum has the longest, with a Spectrum24 my former roomate got off of ebay going almost two blocks from the house.
There are times where even a few seconds of vision loss can be absolutely critical, especially when taking off or landing.
Also, what if the damage is for more than a few seconds and affects both pilot and co-pilot?
Really?
When I was out shopping during the holidays, I got stopped by quite a few people in stores electronics dept asking if anyone knew of a player that would "do DVD-R's". All of them average joes too.
Some people are even modding down folks with that in their .sig. I've metamodded those as fair as I personally think the .sig should not be a tool for spam. We deal with enough ads already, we certainly don't need to put up with them in every .sig.
In Mac OS X you can write native mac apps in either Objective C (using Cocoa API), C/C++ (Using Carbon) or Java (Using Cocoa API again). Apple seems to be putting more emphasis on Java of late given that Objective C uptake has been tepid at best, with most people opting to write carbon apps instead. So yes, you can write totally normal Mac applications in the Java langauge and they can interect fully with the OS. See Apple's take on this at http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/java/
Even 'normal' Java programs that use Swing will look and behave rather maclike. Apple has done a lot to ensure Java works seamlessly in OS X.
Just wait until the hacked versions come out that target the RIAA or MPAA. Which will be funny until the trolls come up with one which targets /.
Nor will it help us when they turn these things on protesters and use them to keep people under control. At least until some crowbar wielding guy with a PHD in smashing things comes along to help.
Or maybe I've been playing too much half life.
How about not having the damnned annoying spike logo in the corner, the stretch and squish games they do with the image, the commercials and parts of the show cut out because the 45 minutes of program time (15 mins for commercials) that was done back in the 80's and 90's is now too long for the now 17-20 commercial times we now have.
I don't remember if Spike does that but Sci-Fi channel cut out many parts of the original Star Trek to make room for commercials.
Now one solution to this is not to buy new. Wait 4 months, then you can get them for about 60% of the original price on Amazon.
Or there is Wal-Mart. Stargate SG-1 Season 7 retails for $59.99 at Best Buy, I found it at the local Wal-Mart for $35. For whatever reason (their size and clout most likely), DVD's are really bloody cheap at Wal-Mart. It's the only reason I go there other than for cheap oil changes.
And what about the security cameras in the Kinkos to protect against theft or robberies? You'll show up on those easy enough.
This is all the more reason to build a MythTV box.
Initially it will probably cost more than a Tivo but you will be free of corporate crap and restrictions. That and no monthly fees which means in the long run it will be far cheaper.