...Oracle [...] unchecks the default boxes to opt out. That's greedy. To an even greater extent that's sleazy and just...trashy.
Thank you! It's amazing how many customers bring in their computers for a tuneup who have no idea how they got the Ask toolbar. Granted it is just as much the user's fault for not reading, but at the same time, the user puts a lot of trust in such a major-name product and shouldn't have to worry about having something slipped by them.
I've had good luck with Net10 and quite like their pricing plan. I know folks buy the Net10 SIM for unlocked GSM iPhones, but I don't know how well they would work in the scenario you describe. I think their SIM is something like $15-$20. I pay a little over $45/month for an auto-renewing 'unlimited' prepaid plan.
And, if you use their forum for support and don't mind waiting a day or two for a response, the support isn't bad. Calling their support line can sometimes be a frustrating experience (like any other cell provider nowadays), so I just use the forum.
Actually, spoken as someone who uses and supports a number of industrial and consumer operating systems and is tired of fanboyism on all sides. The Mac zealots and the Windows drones are just the most public of the stick-the-fingers-in-the-ears crowd.
Anybody who totally discounts the usefulness of any major OS seems, to me, intensely closed-minded. I couldn't live without any one of the six different operating systems I use, and I would never substitute one of them for the other, because they all have their strengths and purposes. And to use a completely non-OS topic as a platform to spew OS bigotry just happened to hit my buttons yesterday.
Then again, I myself am off-topic, so I guess I'm just as bad.
It's just so precious to see someone who doesn't watch movies, watch television, listen to music, or participate in any of the other large variety of things very often created on Macs.
I thought trolls live under bridges, not under rocks.
Even the best efforts tend to become commercialized. Look at Google Shopping's new upcoming direction.
What is to stop them 3 years later from creating a paid class system? And who would be able to honestly blame them? After all, it would be THEIR network.
I'm not surprised by the state of the industry. The decline began a few years ago when a new generation of players chose war/battle/FPS games over First Person Action games (What's FPA? Think Myst, kids. If you don't know what that is, you know where to look).
In my opinion, war-like gaming appeals to a base survival and agression instinct and can indeed be involving, but eventually becomes numbing and the player is unsatisfied until another game provides a stronger instinctual reaction, which becomes more and more difficult to achieve. As this happens, interest falls off. I've seen it happen to people time and time again.
Storyline-based gaming based primarily on a world and interactions within that world activates more of the creative portion of the mind, digging out the player's imagination from under the clutter that schooling and obsessive parenting buried it under. The abilities of the imagination are endless and a properly planned First Person Action game uses as much of the player's imagination as it does game mechanics, ensuring that the user is partially responsible for creating their own experience.
For the most part, I think the folks at Frictional Games might understand how to use the best of both better than anybody. While their games may not appeal to today's most vehement FPS gamers, once those same people reach an insurmountable numbness with their own genre, those who try the kind of product Frictional puts out could find some comfort, as Frictional builds on a mix of both survival instinct and imagination.
All I have to say to that is - I am glad I don't have to help users find where they drag and dropped their apps (of which they can't even remember the name of) anymore.
Let's see, unless you are George, the support call there is:
"Hey, I need to use this application I can't find in my computer. I know I have it in there, but can't find it." "It's not in the Applications or Utilities folder or on my Desktop...." "Huh? What's the name of the application so we can do a spotlight search? I dunno. I need it though. No, it's name is not in my Recent Applications list, either" "What do you mean have I created any documents with it? You say that if I have a document file I created with it, we can find out the name of the application with a Get Info window? Yeah, about that... I didn't create anything with it. But I really know I need it." "What's that? Since I haven't created anything with it and apparently have never used it, you want me to put the install disc in or point you to where we can download it? I lost that." "What does it do? You say you're an experienced enough tech you'd probably know what the application name is if I told you a little about it? No, I have no clue what it does."
If you got that call, I'd guess they came to work drunk or stoned (or are reclining at home in said incapacitated state) and can usually be distracted to forget about their imaginary application. Or they're just playing with you. Seriously.
Great, another lovely excuse for my insurance company to not pay for something.
While we shouldn't have to be protected from our own stupidity and while doctor-issued prescriptions, maybe, should not be required for a huge number of drugs that are less dangerous than some OTC's, if we take that leap and don't have to have doctor-issued prescriptions for common items, the insurance companies have such an easy out to make more profit. Premiums wouldn't come down, after all, who would force them to? Insurance isn't traditional supply-and-demand, it is protection-money collected by fear. Fear is the never-ending demand that guarantees the insurers always have a customer-base.
If you're a low to low-middle income earner who relies upon your insurance (to whom you pay ridiculous premiums) to keep your maintenance drugs like your heart medication coming in, the thought of it becoming available without a doctor's prescription is bound to be frightening. That leaves even more people in a position of deciding between their medicine and other life necessities.
I'd bet a sharp rise in heart-related illness and death would be seen as a result of EVEN MORE people (than already) deciding they can't afford their medication.
If our insurance industry and our pharmaceutical industry weren't so mafia-movie-like ('Oh, you can afford to pay me $200 a month for protection? Well, then, I'm sure you can afford to pay me $225 next month'), this wouldn't be an issue.
Why not instead fix what's already in place? Stop the current vicious cycle with some carefully-planned, responsible, common-sense legislation.
Should a hospital be able to charge $23 for a $1.50 eyeglass repair kit that a patient (who does not wear glasses) didn't get and the doctor didn't request? No. Should a doctor be able to charge $350 for a routine office visit in which no tests are run, the patient talked to the nurse 5 minutes and the doctor 3 minutes, and didn't even require a prescription or further referral? No. Should the exact same acetaminophen/paracetamol you can buy over the counter cost $1.50 per pill just because you're in the hospital? No.
Should the insurance company limit the doctor to charging them $65 for that visit I mentioned earlier? No. Should the insurance company have it in their contract that the doctor must eat the cost of any injectables and charge $0? No. Should the insurance company be able to say that they know more about what medication or treatment the patient needs than that doctor who has at least physically seen the patient for 3 minutes more than the insurer who has never seen or touched them? No.
Oh, wait, we can't have 'carefully-planned', responsible, common-sense legislation. That doesn't exist. So, we are where we are.
And if anyone claims that the kiosk move would bring insurance premiums down and thus balance out for the common citizen, you're truly naive and I hope for your sake you stay clear of carnival game barkers and nigerian princes.
I don't think it would be responsible to let someone start on them without a Dr. consult.
I wonder, would a pharmacy consult not accomplish the same thing? Pharmacists at the local ***Mart take more time to talk to you about your medication than most doctors I've been to.
If you can find the room, consider those recommendations you've seen for a rolling rack. At my last job, I had in my office a little rolling rack in which I used to keep a 4U server, 4U UPS, and several switches. I often kept it closed and locked (it had auxiliary fans and vents), but you may not have that need. It was the most versatile setup I had. It was small enough to put into a corner out of the way, but gave me full access to the equipment when needed. If it hadn't been painted an awful orangish-pinkish color that absolutely sent your eyes into convulsions, it could have been mistaken for a cubist table (with some mysterious fan noise).
I don't know if building codes would allow it, but I've often thought of creating a actively-ventilated rack-garage in a kitchen peninsula (or similar) into which one could roll a short rack and then roll down a retractible door. Of course the potential for liquid spill incursion would have to be taken into consideration.
In any case, I cannot imagine the frustration of using a wall rack for a server. Swing-away would seem to make it better, but all the swing-away racks I've ever used or seen (cheap or expensive) develop hinge-sag and can get difficult to swing closed.
Actually, it was AOL, they just didn't know it yet.
Quantum Link (and Quantum Computer Services) changed its name to America Online around '91. If you were on Q-Link at the time, you might even remember the letters to users from Steve Case back when he was a Vice President during the Quantum days. Those notes from Steve Case seemed to start around the time the Quantum Link logo changed from the blue Futura-like text to the "Qlink" logo with the red 'Q' and black script 'link'. Who knew that in 1991 he'd become CEO and the company would change to become America Online?
Q-link had the first online graphical virtual casino I can think of (although it didn't deal with real money) as well as Club Caribe, which could probably be called the great grandfather of Second Life and its ilk.
I remember being amazed that I could buy plane tickets and other stuff like that through Q-link.
Correction: Actually, I may have been thinking of NuShield screen protectors, not 3M. Not sure if 3M makes any or not. There were at one point several brands. I seem to remember seeing some 3m-branded ones.... but I digress... (I always hated people who used that phrase when I was in high school... ugh).
OK, I agree that it is a frustrating thing that every item, from pet rocks to drag-line shovels have flaws when new and, once purchased, get more flaws as they are handled, but somehow through the process of growing up (which I did way too long ago), I quit stressing over it.
Most of the folks who've chimed in with the ancient history of the Cube hairlines are the same folks who gripe about a hairline scratch nobody else notices on their car. They just have a slightly stronger obsession with perfection, no matter how many times science proves the inability of humans to produce perfection (yes, even Steve).
These folks are the TRUE AppleFanBoys. They think that Apple is so perfect that Apple can create perfect products. Me, I've gotten enough eMacs and iMacs that were DOA that I know better. Thing is, I realize that every computer manufacturer has DOAs to a point and, unless it goes beyond a empirically-measured statistical point, it is not unusual. Many of the folks griping about the screens on the Nano are the same folks who believe that there should be no DOAs.
Problem is, most of these folks are just the type to gripe about their iPod getting scratched and funky-smelling on a spelunking trip whereupon they dropped it down a slope of 15 yards of solid rock and then into a 3 foot accumulation of guano. Then they claim they carried it in a lamb's wool pocket equipped with some sort of alien-developed deflector system and air-ride suspension (and their friends are pretty sure of where the funky smell comes from).
Has anybody stopped to think why 3M and others make money on consumer screen-protection films for PDAs, cell phones, and other everyday-duty plastic screens? Scratched everyday-use screens are not a new occurrence.
And exactly what are these folks with only a gum wrapper in their pocket REALLY doing to scratch the screens? Although some of them are telling what they believe to be the truth (and may have forgotten that stray piece of agate they popped in their pocket), I'd bet most of them are making up their situations. The Nanos at the Apple Store I visit don't seem to get scratched badly and they are handled rather roughly (esp. by children), slid around face-down, and even intentionally gouged, but they don't look as bad as some of these folks iPods. And no, the units aren't being swapped out with new ones often enough to make a difference.
I give up, maybe I just need to quit trying to act my age. Never mind the important things to focus on, like my country's lousy economy as of the past couple of years or even those folks who've just been bulldozed by two hurricanes, I think I'll gripe about my chewing gum losing its flavor on the bedpost overnight.
I've seen this happen quite often on sites loaded with scripts with poorly-formed code. It has plagued my users since Safari debuted. I don't see much change in it with this update. I fight through it myself, but my users are getting frustrated and backing down to their previous browsers.
I've still got my 128c (keep it in the same place as my Atari 2600), a 1541 (light beige, not brown) and a 1541-II (which I absolutely LOVED). I gave my two 64's and my VIC 20 to others who needed to learn how to use a real computer (you know, those folks who invested in word-processing machines). Back at the shop, we've got an old 64 that's missing some keys, but I'm not sure how well it works.
I remember one of my favorite party tricks when my friends got started playing with PC's was to start a block for block copy between two 1541's, unplug them from the computer, plug in another 1541 to load a game and play, then come back to show them that the disk did indeed copy.
I'll admit, I was a Commie-lover. I kept using my Commodore 128 up until 1995 and was actually downloading a displaying GIFs and other stuff using my old 1200 baud modem. My wife still mourns the day we discovered that her favorite RPG game's 5.25" disk degraded beyond recovery (and of course I failed to back it up).
I remember the lame copy-protection schemes that people and manufacturers tried, the fun of learning Microsoft BASIC for your very first time, and BBS games that included pimps, cards, warlocks, and thermonuclear destruction. I remember trying to set up my own BBS and getting in trouble with my mom when she realized why she was getting all those calls on our home phone line. I remember Upload/Download quotas, ASCII-art, and being an assistant SysOp.
Ah, the great memories...
Now, I just bring the 128 out on occasions to remember the good old days, when disk drives could be musical, the average user was asked in instructions to POKE or PEEK before LOADing, you could improve disk performance with a FastLoad cartridge, and us Quantumlink users thought Steve Case wasn't that bad of a guy.
First, Mr. Katz, don't forget what made Windows the success it is now: INNOVATION (although it may have been stolen innovation, let's not cross that line now. Leave that for the fanatics on either side)
I feel that Mr. Katz really was struggling with coming up with the "central" reason for Apple's supposed lack of success. In that struggle, he may have assumed some myths were truths. Here's my version of a blow-by-blow on Katz's view of public trust.
Katz> "Burned by years of outrageously poor tech support"
A> First, has Katz tried Microsoft's tech support more than 4 out of the last 5 years??? Second, Apple at least listened to their customers and have now developed quite a good tech support relationship.
Katz> "increasingly expensive software"
A> Actually, my Mac clients are spending 10% less on average for the same or more software applications this year compared with three years ago. As OS X is maturing, I'm noticing more middle class males (female clients generally enjoy the spit-and-polish of commercial apps so far) actually getting adventurous and downloading truly free *nix software rather than forking over the high prices software moguls want for commercial apps like MS Word. If they want to go with commercial apps, they are just as affordable as comparable PC apps (at least at the places I shop!)
Katz> "hardware that's almost instantly outdated"
A> Really?!? That's wierd... I still have clients that find that their early-model (ex.- 333MHz) iMacs give them a positive user experience. Although they think the new iMac looks interesting, their only reason for considering upgrading is often the new small footprint. These aren't just recipe-card filing, tax-filing folks; these are your average Joe/Jo experimenting with new, fresh software. I don't know about you, but I can't run Office XP with Windows XP on a PC I bought just three years ago, but I CAN run Office X on OS X on a three-year-old Macintosh (comfortably multi-tasking an action game in the background).
Katz> "middle-class consumers aren't the least bit interested in the coolest new new thing. They want computing that works like TV does -- that's easy to use, takes little space, costs relatively little money and works every time you turn it on, year after year."
A> I'll give Katz that one. That statement is true, but the implied meaning needs some factual support. He implies (I think) that Macs have been unfriendly, bulky, unstable, and expensive. Unfriendly user interfacing is an individual opinion that cannot be easily argued either way. The footprint of a (classic) iMac is smaller than the footprint of a 14" SVGA Monitor and a heck of a lot less than a tower with a monitor. Stability? That's no competition... Mac OS has consistently won that in more major releases than MS. I see 15 blue-screen customers for every one Sad-Mac. I hope Windows XP continues to be an improvement. The price point of an iMac IS higher than your average aluminum-can PC made with a no-name MB, science-project power-supply, and low-spec memory, but you can see why an iMac owner is generally less troubled than a bargain-PC customer.
Katz> "In fact, it was only a couple of years ago that the candy-colored iMacs were the next cool thing. Now they're about as hip as Windows 98."
A> In fact, it was only a few months ago that Intel and AMD came out with a Gigahertz processor. Now they're about as hip as a Pentium III with the serial number turned on.
I don't deny that CURRENT DEMAND is low and that middle America ISN'T BUYING Mac, but geez, try to use a thoughful argument against them, huh? Jobs may have some skewed ideas of consumerism, but that one paragraph of yours makes your argument a little hard to maintain.
Slashdot Mirror
Really? Outlook's what's going to save the day? Well, there's a first time for anything.
...Oracle [...] unchecks the default boxes to opt out. That's greedy. To an even greater extent that's sleazy and just...trashy.
Thank you! It's amazing how many customers bring in their computers for a tuneup who have no idea how they got the Ask toolbar. Granted it is just as much the user's fault for not reading, but at the same time, the user puts a lot of trust in such a major-name product and shouldn't have to worry about having something slipped by them.
I've had good luck with Net10 and quite like their pricing plan. I know folks buy the Net10 SIM for unlocked GSM iPhones, but I don't know how well they would work in the scenario you describe. I think their SIM is something like $15-$20. I pay a little over $45/month for an auto-renewing 'unlimited' prepaid plan.
And, if you use their forum for support and don't mind waiting a day or two for a response, the support isn't bad. Calling their support line can sometimes be a frustrating experience (like any other cell provider nowadays), so I just use the forum.
Actually, spoken as someone who uses and supports a number of industrial and consumer operating systems and is tired of fanboyism on all sides. The Mac zealots and the Windows drones are just the most public of the stick-the-fingers-in-the-ears crowd.
Anybody who totally discounts the usefulness of any major OS seems, to me, intensely closed-minded. I couldn't live without any one of the six different operating systems I use, and I would never substitute one of them for the other, because they all have their strengths and purposes. And to use a completely non-OS topic as a platform to spew OS bigotry just happened to hit my buttons yesterday.
Then again, I myself am off-topic, so I guess I'm just as bad.
It's just so precious to see someone who doesn't watch movies, watch television, listen to music, or participate in any of the other large variety of things very often created on Macs.
I thought trolls live under bridges, not under rocks.
Even the best efforts tend to become commercialized. Look at Google Shopping's new upcoming direction.
What is to stop them 3 years later from creating a paid class system? And who would be able to honestly blame them? After all, it would be THEIR network.
Watch out, it's getting dark. You're likely to be eaten by a grue.
Actually, I was meaning to say First Person ADVENTURE not Action... sorry for the slip there...
I'm not surprised by the state of the industry. The decline began a few years ago when a new generation of players chose war/battle/FPS games over First Person Action games (What's FPA? Think Myst, kids. If you don't know what that is, you know where to look).
In my opinion, war-like gaming appeals to a base survival and agression instinct and can indeed be involving, but eventually becomes numbing and the player is unsatisfied until another game provides a stronger instinctual reaction, which becomes more and more difficult to achieve. As this happens, interest falls off. I've seen it happen to people time and time again.
Storyline-based gaming based primarily on a world and interactions within that world activates more of the creative portion of the mind, digging out the player's imagination from under the clutter that schooling and obsessive parenting buried it under. The abilities of the imagination are endless and a properly planned First Person Action game uses as much of the player's imagination as it does game mechanics, ensuring that the user is partially responsible for creating their own experience.
For the most part, I think the folks at Frictional Games might understand how to use the best of both better than anybody. While their games may not appeal to today's most vehement FPS gamers, once those same people reach an insurmountable numbness with their own genre, those who try the kind of product Frictional puts out could find some comfort, as Frictional builds on a mix of both survival instinct and imagination.
All I have to say to that is - I am glad I don't have to help users find where they drag and dropped their apps (of which they can't even remember the name of) anymore.
Let's see, unless you are George, the support call there is:
If you got that call, I'd guess they came to work drunk or stoned (or are reclining at home in said incapacitated state) and can usually be distracted to forget about their imaginary application. Or they're just playing with you. Seriously.
Ugh. You beat me to it. However, it is nice to know someone else remembers that show.
Great, another lovely excuse for my insurance company to not pay for something.
While we shouldn't have to be protected from our own stupidity and while doctor-issued prescriptions, maybe, should not be required for a huge number of drugs that are less dangerous than some OTC's, if we take that leap and don't have to have doctor-issued prescriptions for common items, the insurance companies have such an easy out to make more profit. Premiums wouldn't come down, after all, who would force them to? Insurance isn't traditional supply-and-demand, it is protection-money collected by fear. Fear is the never-ending demand that guarantees the insurers always have a customer-base.
If you're a low to low-middle income earner who relies upon your insurance (to whom you pay ridiculous premiums) to keep your maintenance drugs like your heart medication coming in, the thought of it becoming available without a doctor's prescription is bound to be frightening. That leaves even more people in a position of deciding between their medicine and other life necessities.
I'd bet a sharp rise in heart-related illness and death would be seen as a result of EVEN MORE people (than already) deciding they can't afford their medication.
If our insurance industry and our pharmaceutical industry weren't so mafia-movie-like ('Oh, you can afford to pay me $200 a month for protection? Well, then, I'm sure you can afford to pay me $225 next month'), this wouldn't be an issue.
Why not instead fix what's already in place? Stop the current vicious cycle with some carefully-planned, responsible, common-sense legislation.
Should a hospital be able to charge $23 for a $1.50 eyeglass repair kit that a patient (who does not wear glasses) didn't get and the doctor didn't request? No. Should a doctor be able to charge $350 for a routine office visit in which no tests are run, the patient talked to the nurse 5 minutes and the doctor 3 minutes, and didn't even require a prescription or further referral? No. Should the exact same acetaminophen/paracetamol you can buy over the counter cost $1.50 per pill just because you're in the hospital? No.
Should the insurance company limit the doctor to charging them $65 for that visit I mentioned earlier? No. Should the insurance company have it in their contract that the doctor must eat the cost of any injectables and charge $0? No. Should the insurance company be able to say that they know more about what medication or treatment the patient needs than that doctor who has at least physically seen the patient for 3 minutes more than the insurer who has never seen or touched them? No.
Oh, wait, we can't have 'carefully-planned', responsible, common-sense legislation. That doesn't exist. So, we are where we are.
And if anyone claims that the kiosk move would bring insurance premiums down and thus balance out for the common citizen, you're truly naive and I hope for your sake you stay clear of carnival game barkers and nigerian princes.
I don't think it would be responsible to let someone start on them without a Dr. consult.
I wonder, would a pharmacy consult not accomplish the same thing? Pharmacists at the local ***Mart take more time to talk to you about your medication than most doctors I've been to.
If you can find the room, consider those recommendations you've seen for a rolling rack. At my last job, I had in my office a little rolling rack in which I used to keep a 4U server, 4U UPS, and several switches. I often kept it closed and locked (it had auxiliary fans and vents), but you may not have that need. It was the most versatile setup I had. It was small enough to put into a corner out of the way, but gave me full access to the equipment when needed. If it hadn't been painted an awful orangish-pinkish color that absolutely sent your eyes into convulsions, it could have been mistaken for a cubist table (with some mysterious fan noise).
I don't know if building codes would allow it, but I've often thought of creating a actively-ventilated rack-garage in a kitchen peninsula (or similar) into which one could roll a short rack and then roll down a retractible door. Of course the potential for liquid spill incursion would have to be taken into consideration.
In any case, I cannot imagine the frustration of using a wall rack for a server. Swing-away would seem to make it better, but all the swing-away racks I've ever used or seen (cheap or expensive) develop hinge-sag and can get difficult to swing closed.
which was basically AOL for Commodore 64 users
Actually, it was AOL, they just didn't know it yet.
Quantum Link (and Quantum Computer Services) changed its name to America Online around '91. If you were on Q-Link at the time, you might even remember the letters to users from Steve Case back when he was a Vice President during the Quantum days. Those notes from Steve Case seemed to start around the time the Quantum Link logo changed from the blue Futura-like text to the "Qlink" logo with the red 'Q' and black script 'link'. Who knew that in 1991 he'd become CEO and the company would change to become America Online?
Q-link had the first online graphical virtual casino I can think of (although it didn't deal with real money) as well as Club Caribe, which could probably be called the great grandfather of Second Life and its ilk.
I remember being amazed that I could buy plane tickets and other stuff like that through Q-link.
Correction: Actually, I may have been thinking of NuShield screen protectors, not 3M. Not sure if 3M makes any or not. There were at one point several brands. I seem to remember seeing some 3m-branded ones.... but I digress... (I always hated people who used that phrase when I was in high school... ugh).
OK, I agree that it is a frustrating thing that every item, from pet rocks to drag-line shovels have flaws when new and, once purchased, get more flaws as they are handled, but somehow through the process of growing up (which I did way too long ago), I quit stressing over it.
Most of the folks who've chimed in with the ancient history of the Cube hairlines are the same folks who gripe about a hairline scratch nobody else notices on their car. They just have a slightly stronger obsession with perfection, no matter how many times science proves the inability of humans to produce perfection (yes, even Steve).
These folks are the TRUE AppleFanBoys. They think that Apple is so perfect that Apple can create perfect products. Me, I've gotten enough eMacs and iMacs that were DOA that I know better. Thing is, I realize that every computer manufacturer has DOAs to a point and, unless it goes beyond a empirically-measured statistical point, it is not unusual. Many of the folks griping about the screens on the Nano are the same folks who believe that there should be no DOAs.
Problem is, most of these folks are just the type to gripe about their iPod getting scratched and funky-smelling on a spelunking trip whereupon they dropped it down a slope of 15 yards of solid rock and then into a 3 foot accumulation of guano. Then they claim they carried it in a lamb's wool pocket equipped with some sort of alien-developed deflector system and air-ride suspension (and their friends are pretty sure of where the funky smell comes from).
Has anybody stopped to think why 3M and others make money on consumer screen-protection films for PDAs, cell phones, and other everyday-duty plastic screens? Scratched everyday-use screens are not a new occurrence.
And exactly what are these folks with only a gum wrapper in their pocket REALLY doing to scratch the screens? Although some of them are telling what they believe to be the truth (and may have forgotten that stray piece of agate they popped in their pocket), I'd bet most of them are making up their situations. The Nanos at the Apple Store I visit don't seem to get scratched badly and they are handled rather roughly (esp. by children), slid around face-down, and even intentionally gouged, but they don't look as bad as some of these folks iPods. And no, the units aren't being swapped out with new ones often enough to make a difference.
I give up, maybe I just need to quit trying to act my age. Never mind the important things to focus on, like my country's lousy economy as of the past couple of years or even those folks who've just been bulldozed by two hurricanes, I think I'll gripe about my chewing gum losing its flavor on the bedpost overnight.
I've seen this happen quite often on sites loaded with scripts with poorly-formed code. It has plagued my users since Safari debuted. I don't see much change in it with this update. I fight through it myself, but my users are getting frustrated and backing down to their previous browsers.
I've still got my 128c (keep it in the same place as my Atari 2600), a 1541 (light beige, not brown) and a 1541-II (which I absolutely LOVED). I gave my two 64's and my VIC 20 to others who needed to learn how to use a real computer (you know, those folks who invested in word-processing machines). Back at the shop, we've got an old 64 that's missing some keys, but I'm not sure how well it works.
I remember one of my favorite party tricks when my friends got started playing with PC's was to start a block for block copy between two 1541's, unplug them from the computer, plug in another 1541 to load a game and play, then come back to show them that the disk did indeed copy.
I'll admit, I was a Commie-lover. I kept using my Commodore 128 up until 1995 and was actually downloading a displaying GIFs and other stuff using my old 1200 baud modem. My wife still mourns the day we discovered that her favorite RPG game's 5.25" disk degraded beyond recovery (and of course I failed to back it up).
I remember the lame copy-protection schemes that people and manufacturers tried, the fun of learning Microsoft BASIC for your very first time, and BBS games that included pimps, cards, warlocks, and thermonuclear destruction. I remember trying to set up my own BBS and getting in trouble with my mom when she realized why she was getting all those calls on our home phone line. I remember Upload/Download quotas, ASCII-art, and being an assistant SysOp.
Ah, the great memories...
Now, I just bring the 128 out on occasions to remember the good old days, when disk drives could be musical, the average user was asked in instructions to POKE or PEEK before LOADing, you could improve disk performance with a FastLoad cartridge, and us Quantumlink users thought Steve Case wasn't that bad of a guy.
Never mind, thought their site pointed to somewhere else for the file. It just points to the same site, which still has some problems apparently.
VersionTracker has it:
1 99&db=mac
http://www.versiontracker.com/moreinfo.fcgi?id=17
-Bearded Yak
First, Mr. Katz, don't forget what made Windows the success it is now: INNOVATION (although it may have been stolen innovation, let's not cross that line now. Leave that for the fanatics on either side)
I feel that Mr. Katz really was struggling with coming up with the "central" reason for Apple's supposed lack of success. In that struggle, he may have assumed some myths were truths. Here's my version of a blow-by-blow on Katz's view of public trust.
Katz> "Burned by years of outrageously poor tech support"
A> First, has Katz tried Microsoft's tech support more than 4 out of the last 5 years??? Second, Apple at least listened to their customers and have now developed quite a good tech support relationship.
Katz> "increasingly expensive software"
A> Actually, my Mac clients are spending 10% less on average for the same or more software applications this year compared with three years ago. As OS X is maturing, I'm noticing more middle class males (female clients generally enjoy the spit-and-polish of commercial apps so far) actually getting adventurous and downloading truly free *nix software rather than forking over the high prices software moguls want for commercial apps like MS Word. If they want to go with commercial apps, they are just as affordable as comparable PC apps (at least at the places I shop!)
Katz> "hardware that's almost instantly outdated"
A> Really?!? That's wierd... I still have clients that find that their early-model (ex.- 333MHz) iMacs give them a positive user experience. Although they think the new iMac looks interesting, their only reason for considering upgrading is often the new small footprint. These aren't just recipe-card filing, tax-filing folks; these are your average Joe/Jo experimenting with new, fresh software. I don't know about you, but I can't run Office XP with Windows XP on a PC I bought just three years ago, but I CAN run Office X on OS X on a three-year-old Macintosh (comfortably multi-tasking an action game in the background).
Katz> "middle-class consumers aren't the least bit interested in the coolest new new thing. They want computing that works like TV does -- that's easy to use, takes little space, costs relatively little money and works every time you turn it on, year after year."
A> I'll give Katz that one. That statement is true, but the implied meaning needs some factual support. He implies (I think) that Macs have been unfriendly, bulky, unstable, and expensive. Unfriendly user interfacing is an individual opinion that cannot be easily argued either way. The footprint of a (classic) iMac is smaller than the footprint of a 14" SVGA Monitor and a heck of a lot less than a tower with a monitor. Stability? That's no competition... Mac OS has consistently won that in more major releases than MS. I see 15 blue-screen customers for every one Sad-Mac. I hope Windows XP continues to be an improvement. The price point of an iMac IS higher than your average aluminum-can PC made with a no-name MB, science-project power-supply, and low-spec memory, but you can see why an iMac owner is generally less troubled than a bargain-PC customer.
Katz> "In fact, it was only a couple of years ago that the candy-colored iMacs were the next cool thing. Now they're about as hip as Windows 98."
A> In fact, it was only a few months ago that Intel and AMD came out with a Gigahertz processor. Now they're about as hip as a Pentium III with the serial number turned on.
I don't deny that CURRENT DEMAND is low and that middle America ISN'T BUYING Mac, but geez, try to use a thoughful argument against them, huh? Jobs may have some skewed ideas of consumerism, but that one paragraph of yours makes your argument a little hard to maintain.