This hasn't changed anything. What's the point of a warranty that lasts two years which covers defects that were present on delivery? (See http://www.apple.com/uk/legal/statutory-warranty/)
Apple should be forced to stop weaselling and just give us what the law requires.
People lie. Especially when the truth will cost them a couple of hundred. I've seen cracked LCD screens that 'just happened' and had nothing to do with leaving a set of keys on the keyboard while closing the lid. I've seen mould growing off a sticky brown-stained motherboard that smelled of coffee despite the user saying that they never spilled coffee on it. I've seen squashed iPods brought in for 'warranty' work because the end user didn't think that leaving the iPod in their jacket and then using the jacket for a goal post in a soccer match was any reason for concern.
People lie. And people don't like their insurance to way out when they can moan constantly and get a new machine for free.
I see no evidence that these 'explosions' occurred and I see plenty of evidence that people lie when they break their computers. Apple is politely saying "You broke it, you fix it" which is fair enough for any manufacturer.
The Podcaster issue is a real issue because it's something that iTunes doesn't do. It's something that has real utility.
This app though is just a wrapper around a WebKit view and therefore I'm not surprised that it's been booted. Examples like this (limited web views) were actually specifically mentioned to me last week by Apple Dev Support as the sort of app that Apple was unlikely to let through as it's too trivial.
I work for an Apple store and to the best of my knowledge, we have no recourse with regard to customer's who want their drives returned. It's just not an option. On top of that, we won't even work on computers, in or out of warranty, that have a 3rd-party hard disk installed. YMMV.
One more reason to support your Independent Apple Authorised Service Provider. We can get disks back from Apple, even under warranty. I know this cos I've done it.
Actually for a smart guy, Dave Winer (and Robert Scoble) seem to have terrible judgement.
First off, with going direct to Apple - retaining your disk is but a phone call away and a credit card charge. Really. Speak to Customer Services.
If you decide to go to an Apple Authorised Service Provider (disclosure: I own one) then it's entirely at the discretion of the Service Provider. They can withhold the disk and ask you to pay for the charge Apple might levy for an "official Apple part" or you can go for a "third party" disk (cos, yes, they're all third party!) and get a new disk, at retail prices AND keep your disk!
This isn't so much as a YRO item as a "Why didn't you ask for your disk back when you handed over the machine" item? Shouldn't Slashdot have a Bozo Alert category?
But it was hacked. And there were apps for the iPod long before Apple even considered third party development.
If the will is there to run SSH clients and other apps on iPhone and Apple does not provide then I reckon others will. It is running OS X (sic) after all.
This is a complaint from 1996:) I find it hard to believe this is still happening. Doesn't the OP have any way to write a business case for a last generation PC to run Linux or Solaris x86 and a KVM switch. I'd even write it up as a UNIX AV scanner...something the Windows guys would be all in favour of.
Journalists should receive protections for when the information is in the public interest, which is different to whether certain (fanatic) members of the public are interested.
Trade secrets leakage are probably NOT covered by first amendment freedom of speech. If the general public are protected by leakage, then yes. But if the only people this serves are self-interested, then should the laws designed to protect the public apply?
There's some work being done on this - using iCal on Mac OS X as proper groupware using SyncServices. Initial release will support Mac OS X only - further releases will link to Sunbird and Vista Calendar. Just started investigating the possibilities of linking to other online calendaring solutions (30boxes etc). There is a working prototype but it's not released yet. Stuff will be posted on sourceforge as well.
The biggest thing for PHBs and CxOs is to just get them out of the mindset that Computer ? Windows. There's only a single choice on desktop platform these days - it's either Windows or it's a UNIX-alike. One of these market shares is on the up[1], one of them is on the down. Where does a progressive company want to be?
[1] We know Mac OS X is on the up (great gains on the desktop, a slow burner on the server end). We know Linux is on the up (improving slightly in the desktop space and a powerhouse in the server space) and if neither of these float your boat then there's the Beasties (Open, Free, Net) and a couple of minor distros like Solaris, HP-UX, AIX...LOL
If we're saying that due to Malls and people leaving the area, there are small towns which are drying up, then technology firms who locate in these small towns can indeed keep people there, keep the economy booming. Especially if all you need is a good comms infrastructure and, in the case of shipping goods, an interstate nearby.
But, a lot of the same enablers that could save small town America are enabling small town India to compete.
It's a fair point. Apple and other manufacturers should revert to making their products out of the polycarbonate compounds of the past like the iMac.
Of course, I did meet one person who DROPPED their iMac and complained about how the cracked polycarbonate housing obviously wasn't very durable. I can't think of many 38 lb gadgets that would survive a fall like that, but this iMac did...
Suffice to say, the Mac mini wasn't designed to be the "shelf upon which you place the detritus of your life". I have a scratch on the top of mine but that comes from a month of shoving it in the same bag as it's power supply and other bits and pieces.
The way one local (and now powerful) company did it was by "hiring" people for pizza. If the product is cool, then you'll corral some college geeks to do the groundwork and free up your good coders for the cool work.
This has been touched on recently in some blogs ( http://www.wilshipley.com/blog/ and http://www.drunkenblog.com/drunkenblog-archives/00 0713.html ) that college students, who were used and abused during the bubble, remain a good resource of, dare I say it, cheap labour. They like the prestige, need the experience, and are used to working in small project teams. And yeah, you can pay them peanuts.
And no, they don't even need to be in college. Two of the most impressive code monkeys I know dropped out of High School.....
First, when a widget starts to download, Tiger prompts me and says "This download contains an application, do you want to continue?" That should be the first dead-giveaweay.
Secondly, while the OS DOES copy downloaded widgets to the Widgets folder in the Users directory, the widgets do not become active until you actually activate them. (of course there's nothing stopping you from usign the same name and icon as...say Calculator).
Getting widgets to do complex system-level stuff you WANT them to do is tough enough.
I guess the problem is that the ignorant media are saying that Apple's DRM is "proprietary" (which it is) but implying that other online stores are not (because they use WMA-DRM).
Of course the labels want a standard - a standard they control. they want to be able to raise the price when they want and sue anyone who breaks it. Sadly it's exactly this sort of promise that Ms will make for them.
So, AAC is open but patent-encumbered. Not a problem. The file format doesn't really matter anyway, the issue is the DRM. And by it's nature it's going to bug people whatever happens.
In my case, I'm not worried. I can use Apple's DRM'ed files and I don't need to worry about it. Definitely a case of "I'm all right, Jack"
IT'd ne nice to see more on Power variants. Just simply from the point of view of choice.
Vendor-lock-in is a curse. Cutting things down so that all big iron UNIX ran on Power variants would be a nice separation from the current model where the UNIX variants all run on their own processors and Linux gains ground because of its ability to run on commodity x86 hardware.
And yeah, I'm going to get flamed for this, I don't believe Linux wins on merit - other UNIX variants do it better in almost every category - Linux is cheap, it's available and it's open. It's the same marketing ploy that put Windows everywhere. And I damn well hope it succeeds A world with 30% of the market being UNIX and 70% of the market being Linux would be a nice place to live.
The 3% that Apple has is the number of units sold in a quarter taken as an average. Apple's installed desktop base is (according to Forbes) closer to 10%.
Seeing as there are nearly a million new Macs sold every quarter, can Linux compare with that?
It's stupid anyway.
IF, and I do mean IF, Linux does well - fantastic!!!!
I'd love to be a Mac user in a market where there was 75% Microsoft, 20% Linux and 5% Mac. The very fact that a LOT of people had chosen Linux speaks volumes to me. And like it or not, Linux and Mac OS X are closer i terms of the things that really matter (sharing documents, working with Windows-only web pages, email viruses).
If I'm not using the cursor, I'd like it to disappear. Does MacOS X 'just work' for me in that way? Is it easy to find a graphical configuration utility and make the cursor disappear after 5 seconds of inactivity?
If you're not using the cursor, presumably you're using the keyboard. Even so, having an I-bar is useful - but you know what you like and if there are enough of you I'm sure that Unsanity would make a Haxie.
Oh, and I like hotkeys. Will MacOS X allow me to easily set up the combination of ctrl-j + l to switch to my web browser, and if that web browser doesn't exist, launch it?
Yes, of course! I think some people need to take you aside and show you osascript. Your hotkey is bizarre:)
Or did we already forget the Apple Cube fiasco?
Uh, a silent computer that still works? What? Where was the fiasco?
Slashdot Mirror
This hasn't changed anything. What's the point of a warranty that lasts two years which covers defects that were present on delivery?
(See http://www.apple.com/uk/legal/statutory-warranty/)
Apple should be forced to stop weaselling and just give us what the law requires.
-- An Apple Fanboi
People lie. Especially when the truth will cost them a couple of hundred. I've seen cracked LCD screens that 'just happened' and had nothing to do with leaving a set of keys on the keyboard while closing the lid. I've seen mould growing off a sticky brown-stained motherboard that smelled of coffee despite the user saying that they never spilled coffee on it. I've seen squashed iPods brought in for 'warranty' work because the end user didn't think that leaving the iPod in their jacket and then using the jacket for a goal post in a soccer match was any reason for concern.
People lie. And people don't like their insurance to way out when they can moan constantly and get a new machine for free.
I see no evidence that these 'explosions' occurred and I see plenty of evidence that people lie when they break their computers. Apple is politely saying "You broke it, you fix it" which is fair enough for any manufacturer.
The Podcaster issue is a real issue because it's something that iTunes doesn't do. It's something that has real utility.
This app though is just a wrapper around a WebKit view and therefore I'm not surprised that it's been booted. Examples like this (limited web views) were actually specifically mentioned to me last week by Apple Dev Support as the sort of app that Apple was unlikely to let through as it's too trivial.
Most of your arguments are a little out of date. Its not just 'Flash' vs HTML. We have CSS as well, to cope with your 'impossible' layouts.
I work for an Apple store and to the best of my knowledge, we have no recourse with regard to customer's who want their drives returned. It's just not an option. On top of that, we won't even work on computers, in or out of warranty, that have a 3rd-party hard disk installed. YMMV.
One more reason to support your Independent Apple Authorised Service Provider. We can get disks back from Apple, even under warranty. I know this cos I've done it.
Actually for a smart guy, Dave Winer (and Robert Scoble) seem to have terrible judgement.
First off, with going direct to Apple - retaining your disk is but a phone call away and a credit card charge. Really. Speak to Customer Services.
If you decide to go to an Apple Authorised Service Provider (disclosure: I own one) then it's entirely at the discretion of the Service Provider. They can withhold the disk and ask you to pay for the charge Apple might levy for an "official Apple part" or you can go for a "third party" disk (cos, yes, they're all third party!) and get a new disk, at retail prices AND keep your disk!
This isn't so much as a YRO item as a "Why didn't you ask for your disk back when you handed over the machine" item? Shouldn't Slashdot have a Bozo Alert category?
But it was hacked. And there were apps for the iPod long before Apple even considered third party development.
If the will is there to run SSH clients and other apps on iPhone and Apple does not provide then I reckon others will. It is running OS X (sic) after all.
This is a complaint from 1996 :) I find it hard to believe this is still happening. Doesn't the OP have any way to write a business case for a last generation PC to run Linux or Solaris x86 and a KVM switch. I'd even write it up as a UNIX AV scanner...something the Windows guys would be all in favour of.
Journalists should receive protections for when the information is in the public interest, which is different to whether certain (fanatic) members of the public are interested.
Trade secrets leakage are probably NOT covered by first amendment freedom of speech. If the general public are protected by leakage, then yes. But if the only people this serves are self-interested, then should the laws designed to protect the public apply?
"I haven't found an elegant solution that lets you both modify a calendar on your local computer and on the web."
We're working on it, honest. This is a blatant plug for SyncBridge
http://www.infurious.com/
There's some work being done on this - using iCal on Mac OS X as proper groupware using SyncServices. Initial release will support Mac OS X only - further releases will link to Sunbird and Vista Calendar. Just started investigating the possibilities of linking to other online calendaring solutions (30boxes etc). There is a working prototype but it's not released yet. Stuff will be posted on sourceforge as well.
http://www.infurious.com/blogs/
(Warning: Link is to a blog. And yes, I'm involved in this. So, this is almost a cheap shill advert!)
The biggest thing for PHBs and CxOs is to just get them out of the mindset that Computer ? Windows. There's only a single choice on desktop platform these days - it's either Windows or it's a UNIX-alike. One of these market shares is on the up[1], one of them is on the down. Where does a progressive company want to be?
[1] We know Mac OS X is on the up (great gains on the desktop, a slow burner on the server end). We know Linux is on the up (improving slightly in the desktop space and a powerhouse in the server space) and if neither of these float your boat then there's the Beasties (Open, Free, Net) and a couple of minor distros like Solaris, HP-UX, AIX...LOL
If we're saying that due to Malls and people leaving the area, there are small towns which are drying up, then technology firms who locate in these small towns can indeed keep people there, keep the economy booming. Especially if all you need is a good comms infrastructure and, in the case of shipping goods, an interstate nearby.
But, a lot of the same enablers that could save small town America are enabling small town India to compete.
It's a fair point. Apple and other manufacturers should revert to making their products out of the polycarbonate compounds of the past like the iMac.
Of course, I did meet one person who DROPPED their iMac and complained about how the cracked polycarbonate housing obviously wasn't very durable. I can't think of many 38 lb gadgets that would survive a fall like that, but this iMac did...
Suffice to say, the Mac mini wasn't designed to be the "shelf upon which you place the detritus of your life". I have a scratch on the top of mine but that comes from a month of shoving it in the same bag as it's power supply and other bits and pieces.
According to International Law, US Law or "New Abridged US Law, 3rd Episcopal Edition"?
According to Condoleeza,
"Where appropriate" they'll do whatever the hell they want.
The way one local (and now powerful) company did it was by "hiring" people for pizza. If the product is cool, then you'll corral some college geeks to do the groundwork and free up your good coders for the cool work.
0 0713.html ) that college students, who were used and abused during the bubble, remain a good resource of, dare I say it, cheap labour. They like the prestige, need the experience, and are used to working in small project teams. And yeah, you can pay them peanuts.
This has been touched on recently in some blogs ( http://www.wilshipley.com/blog/ and http://www.drunkenblog.com/drunkenblog-archives/0
And no, they don't even need to be in college. Two of the most impressive code monkeys I know dropped out of High School.....
While it's nice to have "idiot-proof" instructions, I'm guessing there's a problem with a system that treats this as "News for Nerds".
First, when a widget starts to download, Tiger prompts me and says "This download contains an application, do you want to continue?" That should be the first dead-giveaweay.
...say Calculator).
Secondly, while the OS DOES copy downloaded widgets to the Widgets folder in the Users directory, the widgets do not become active until you actually activate them. (of course there's nothing stopping you from usign the same name and icon as
Getting widgets to do complex system-level stuff you WANT them to do is tough enough.
If this was in the Uk, I'd vote for a portable solution because I don't want anything tied down to one vendor. ESPECIALLY in government/services.
M
I guess the problem is that the ignorant media are saying that Apple's DRM is "proprietary" (which it is) but implying that other online stores are not (because they use WMA-DRM).
Of course the labels want a standard - a standard they control. they want to be able to raise the price when they want and sue anyone who breaks it. Sadly it's exactly this sort of promise that Ms will make for them.
So, AAC is open but patent-encumbered. Not a problem. The file format doesn't really matter anyway, the issue is the DRM. And by it's nature it's going to bug people whatever happens.
In my case, I'm not worried. I can use Apple's DRM'ed files and I don't need to worry about it. Definitely a case of "I'm all right, Jack"
M
IT'd ne nice to see more on Power variants. Just simply from the point of view of choice.
Vendor-lock-in is a curse. Cutting things down so that all big iron UNIX ran on Power variants would be a nice separation from the current model where the UNIX variants all run on their own processors and Linux gains ground because of its ability to run on commodity x86 hardware.
And yeah, I'm going to get flamed for this, I don't believe Linux wins on merit - other UNIX variants do it better in almost every category - Linux is cheap, it's available and it's open. It's the same marketing ploy that put Windows everywhere. And I damn well hope it succeeds A world with 30% of the market being UNIX and 70% of the market being Linux would be a nice place to live.
It still wouldn't be Free which means that Linux users with character woudn't use it anyway.
And as it wasn't free, the rest of the Linux users wouldn't use it (legally).
Flame away...
The 3% that Apple has is the number of units sold in a quarter taken as an average. Apple's installed desktop base is (according to Forbes) closer to 10%.
Seeing as there are nearly a million new Macs sold every quarter, can Linux compare with that?
It's stupid anyway.
IF, and I do mean IF, Linux does well - fantastic!!!!
I'd love to be a Mac user in a market where there was 75% Microsoft, 20% Linux and 5% Mac. The very fact that a LOT of people had chosen Linux speaks volumes to me. And like it or not, Linux and Mac OS X are closer i terms of the things that really matter (sharing documents, working with Windows-only web pages, email viruses).
If I'm not using the cursor, I'd like it to disappear. Does MacOS X 'just work' for me in that way? Is it easy to find a graphical configuration utility and make the cursor disappear after 5 seconds of inactivity?
:)
If you're not using the cursor, presumably you're using the keyboard. Even so, having an I-bar is useful - but you know what you like and if there are enough of you I'm sure that Unsanity would make a Haxie.
Oh, and I like hotkeys. Will MacOS X allow me to easily set up the combination of ctrl-j + l to switch to my web browser, and if that web browser doesn't exist, launch it?
Yes, of course! I think some people need to take you aside and show you osascript. Your hotkey is bizarre
Or did we already forget the Apple Cube fiasco?
Uh, a silent computer that still works? What? Where was the fiasco?
Yeah and Apple would do it if their goal was to get everyone out there using Mac OS X.
But that's not their goal. Their goal is to get everyone using Macs. We use Mac hardware because it allows us to use Mac software*
M
*well, there are other reasons. We put up with the "problems" of being a Mac user because the alternatives are much worse.