Basically Safeway are the bastards who crashed the company.
Dominick's was fine in and through the mid and late 80's. They actually competed in the area and were, arguably, neck and neck with the other major competitor in the area, Jewel/Jewel-Osco.
After the founder's son died, his heirs simply didn't have the know-how or desire to run the company properly and cashed out to Safeway.
Safeway basically stopped trying to compete almost immediately. There's been ONE major branding change, when they went to the pointless "lifestyle" model, as if they were some sort of specialty grocer instead of a supermarket. They kept pushing an upscale image while failing to compete on price. They also kept promoting incompetents to actually manage and control locations.
And when that didn't bring Safeway in the revenue they wanted, they tried to sell the chain...and failed. Instead of trying to work on the chain and make it more attractive for acquisition, they basically just Major Kong'ed it right into the ground.
Seriously, this was an operation that's been ENTRENCHED in Chicago for the last 95 years.
And now they're some flipper's big fat dividend and some corporate officer's big fat bonus. And 6000+ people are jobless.
Maria Leijerstam's surgery to remove the bicycle seat that'd been frostbite-fused to her backside has been successfully removed and a butt-lift in lieu of reconstructive surgery has been completed.
Because then we eventually wind up with a long, LONG string of idiocies being perpetrated just to make someone "feel better".
No.
HELL FUCKING NO.
As sympathetic as I am to these people, no parent should have to outlive their child, there's no excuse for idiocy. NONE.
Issues like this need to be met with compassion and a firm resolve not to simply sway in the face of someone's excess of emotion. Especially when said excess of emotion leads to fuzzy thinking and unsupportable actions such as this.
If these people want to scream and call you a heartless monster, so be it.
The whole "give in just a little so we can all get along" mentality is part of what's wrong with just about EVERYTHING nowadays. There's this braindead notion that you can just compromise on EVERYTHING and it'll be okay. The problem is, it's NOT okay. And the only people who seemingly aren't willing to compromise are the ones who're making these logic-impaired demands on others.
Plus these vendors are already contractually obligated to pay the Microsoft tax REGARDLESS of what OS they load onto a system.
This would be a perfect trifecta for Redmond. Microsoft will just look at this and go "We'll get a royalty? WIN! We'll still get our OS tax? WIN! We don't have to support it? WIN!"
I think you're misunderstanding why this is done this way. You have multiple devices partly due to having multiple, mutually exclusive carriers.
In addition, you may have a couple tiers of products, as not everyone is going to go for the Uber-'spensive top end device.
Their approach allows them to hit multiple carriers at multiple price points.
On top of that, having multiple offerings means they have a better chance of finding the devices people want and then slimming down their offering portfolio later, as they refine the devices that people are buying and abandon the ones that don't sell and finding a way to roll any possible unique/desirable features down into other devices.
Apple gets away with "You will fit your lifestyle to what we offer you. And LIKE IT!". They get away with it because they're Apple and people know that they're expected to put up with Apple's crazy bullshit for "teh schmexy".
For people who refuse to be cookie cutter'ed (see "sane people"), there's a plethora of choices and you can pick the one that intersects someplace acceptable along your "needs" and "budget limits" lines.
Carriers are trying to get their customers off old, grandfathered "unlimited" plans by offering nominal "savings" based on what they use NOW. Never mind that the usage is increasing rapidly...
Had my company's Sprint rep try that on us. We very politely told him to fuck the hell off.
So, instead of having one box, with a keyboard, mouse, tablet, power and monitor, you have one case with all your peripherals and a bunch of extra cords running out, plus keyboard, mous, tablet, power, and monitor...
We can assume you don't do any pro video work (In the field or in the studio). In the new one you pull out your case, plug the single thunderbolt cable into the back and call it a day.. Several companies already make portable racks preconfigured with the thunderbolt cable and everything.
Internal expansion is the dirty past. Let it go. It's about as relevant electric drill attachments for sawing and sanding.
Yeah. Rackable. A lot of these types of machines are used by mobile production crews. With the 2010 MacPro you had to saw the handles off the case to get it to fit some sort of portable form factor (mobile racks). With this one, it's a step in the wrong direction. Sure, the BASE UNIT is quite hand-portable. But you then have to deal with all the peripheral devices that used to be able to mount inside a normal case.
Previously, you could simply drop your portable rack, pop the ends off, plug in power, a monitor and maybe network and go. Now, you have to either hand-carry or unpack multiple devices just to get the same functionality.
Total memory is the significant metric, not the number of slots it fits into. And that's 12/16 GB vs 6/12GB for the older versions.
Sockets? The old Mac Pro didn't have any ThunderBolt sockets. This one has 6 ThunderBolt 2 sockets (supporting up to 36 devices).
It also has 4 USB 3 sockets (vs 5 USB 2 sockets on the old model.) Which presumably is the straw you're clutching.
Your complaints are without merit.
I think the term you're looking at is "desktop clutter". Being able to hook up umpty-jillion EXTERNAL devices is not a decent tradeoff for someone trying to get a nice, single-case solution. I simply don't understand why Apple has such a hard on for their systems looking like an octopus.
If you read the Verge article it talks about Apple having talked with people and horror stories of people sawing the handles off their old Mac Pros so they could fit into a rackmount.
This is kind of important for crews with large amounts of equipment, as hand-carrying every...individual...component...is about the stupidest possible way to do it. Being able to rack a complete solution just makes more sense. You drop the case where it needs to go, plug it into power and a monitor and go.
With the new version, you pull out your "case O' stuff", unpack the Mac. Unpack the first peripheral, unpack the second peripheral, unpack the third peripheral...and so on. Y'know, DUMB.
Apple may have listened. But they apparently didn't hear a damn thing.
Politics aside, Kalashnikov was something of a genius. Or at least a commonsense visionary. He only had access to relatively crude manufacturing processes and a basic idea of what he wanted. And he managed to turn out a product that is, by any stretch of the imagination, RIDICULOUSLY successful. Things that'd be considered weaknesses or defects in other weapons systems are some of the very things that are considered strengths in the Kalashnikov rifles.
In short: "If you want to monitor me, in any way, shape or form, GET A FUCKING WARRANT!" If you want to just hoover ALL data, on the off chance that you might catch A. Random Badguy? Fuck off and die.
The thing is, from E16 to E17, you had a complete rewrite of the entire project that redefined what it did and how it worked. So yeah, it took a while. While I'm not denigrating what E18 has accomplished, it's building off a lot of the foundations that were already laid.
As if these poor peoples' lives weren't already shitty enough. Now we have a bunch of marketeer ass-hats singling them out as unique business opportunities. Yet again, making me wish I owned a gun, yet glad I don't, since I'd shoot these motherfuckers in a heartbeat.
Unless you're meeting in person to exchange physical media, there's not really a secure way to do so. E-Mail? Hah! File lockers? Hah! BitTorrent? Hah! Encrypted file transfer through another IM client? Hah!
Basically, setup becomes this tiny set of flaming hoops that you're somehow expected to jump through simultaneously.
Slashdot Mirror
Basically Safeway are the bastards who crashed the company.
Dominick's was fine in and through the mid and late 80's. They actually competed in the area and were, arguably, neck and neck with the other major competitor in the area, Jewel/Jewel-Osco.
After the founder's son died, his heirs simply didn't have the know-how or desire to run the company properly and cashed out to Safeway.
Safeway basically stopped trying to compete almost immediately. There's been ONE major branding change, when they went to the pointless "lifestyle" model, as if they were some sort of specialty grocer instead of a supermarket. They kept pushing an upscale image while failing to compete on price. They also kept promoting incompetents to actually manage and control locations.
And when that didn't bring Safeway in the revenue they wanted, they tried to sell the chain...and failed. Instead of trying to work on the chain and make it more attractive for acquisition, they basically just Major Kong'ed it right into the ground.
Seriously, this was an operation that's been ENTRENCHED in Chicago for the last 95 years.
And now they're some flipper's big fat dividend and some corporate officer's big fat bonus. And 6000+ people are jobless.
Attaboy Safeway! Attaboy! Ya stupid bastards!
Maria Leijerstam's surgery to remove the bicycle seat that'd been frostbite-fused to her backside has been successfully removed and a butt-lift in lieu of reconstructive surgery has been completed.
I said "should". This normally clues most people in to the fact that I'm talking about an ideal here.
No.
Because then we eventually wind up with a long, LONG string of idiocies being perpetrated just to make someone "feel better".
No.
HELL FUCKING NO.
As sympathetic as I am to these people, no parent should have to outlive their child, there's no excuse for idiocy. NONE.
Issues like this need to be met with compassion and a firm resolve not to simply sway in the face of someone's excess of emotion. Especially when said excess of emotion leads to fuzzy thinking and unsupportable actions such as this.
If these people want to scream and call you a heartless monster, so be it.
The whole "give in just a little so we can all get along" mentality is part of what's wrong with just about EVERYTHING nowadays.
There's this braindead notion that you can just compromise on EVERYTHING and it'll be okay.
The problem is, it's NOT okay. And the only people who seemingly aren't willing to compromise are the ones who're making these logic-impaired demands on others.
It needs to change.
And the reason he failed?
No high stress watermelon apparatus!
As such, Rawhide loses a lung!
Why the hell would this scare Microsoft?
Microsoft is ALREADY making billions off Android royalties.
Plus these vendors are already contractually obligated to pay the Microsoft tax REGARDLESS of what OS they load onto a system.
This would be a perfect trifecta for Redmond. Microsoft will just look at this and go "We'll get a royalty? WIN! We'll still get our OS tax? WIN! We don't have to support it? WIN!"
Guess again.
I'll freely admit that Apple has its own market segment.
I'll also freely admit that I simply do NOT fit into it. At all.
I think you're misunderstanding why this is done this way.
You have multiple devices partly due to having multiple, mutually exclusive carriers.
In addition, you may have a couple tiers of products, as not everyone is going to go for the Uber-'spensive top end device.
Their approach allows them to hit multiple carriers at multiple price points.
On top of that, having multiple offerings means they have a better chance of finding the devices people want and then slimming down their offering portfolio later, as they refine the devices that people are buying and abandon the ones that don't sell and finding a way to roll any possible unique/desirable features down into other devices.
Apple gets away with "You will fit your lifestyle to what we offer you. And LIKE IT!". They get away with it because they're Apple and people know that they're expected to put up with Apple's crazy bullshit for "teh schmexy".
For people who refuse to be cookie cutter'ed (see "sane people"), there's a plethora of choices and you can pick the one that intersects someplace acceptable along your "needs" and "budget limits" lines.
Yeah. The power supply goes.
In the mean time, I need to go out and get a new bulb.
Why the hell would any sane person fight with a company for warranty replacement?
Oh yeah! Because the bulbs are so stupidly expensive now!
In the mean time, you STILL have to go out and get a new bulb! Warranty or no!
Carriers are trying to get their customers off old, grandfathered "unlimited" plans by offering nominal "savings" based on what they use NOW. Never mind that the usage is increasing rapidly...
Had my company's Sprint rep try that on us. We very politely told him to fuck the hell off.
That's great for your buddy. Did his buddy's buddy also find the fountain of youth? And a cure for the common cold?
Hmm. 1000bulbs.com
A 60W equivalent LED bulb. $36 each.
A 60W equivalent CFL enclosed bulb. $12 each.
Hmm. Menards.com
A 60W Incandescent: $4 for a 4-pack.
Yeah. Sure. Cheap.
So, instead of having one box, with a keyboard, mouse, tablet, power and monitor, you have one case with all your peripherals and a bunch of extra cords running out, plus keyboard, mous, tablet, power, and monitor...
Again. No.
We can assume you don't do any pro video work (In the field or in the studio). In the new one you pull out your case, plug the single thunderbolt cable into the back and call it a day.. Several companies already make portable racks preconfigured with the thunderbolt cable and everything.
Sure. Maybe for a real basic setup. Sure.
Touché
Rackable? It's a workstation not a server.
Internal expansion is the dirty past. Let it go. It's about as relevant electric drill attachments for sawing and sanding.
Yeah. Rackable. A lot of these types of machines are used by mobile production crews. With the 2010 MacPro you had to saw the handles off the case to get it to fit some sort of portable form factor (mobile racks). With this one, it's a step in the wrong direction. Sure, the BASE UNIT is quite hand-portable. But you then have to deal with all the peripheral devices that used to be able to mount inside a normal case.
Previously, you could simply drop your portable rack, pop the ends off, plug in power, a monitor and maybe network and go.
Now, you have to either hand-carry or unpack multiple devices just to get the same functionality.
Total memory is the significant metric, not the number of slots it fits into. And that's 12/16 GB vs 6/12GB for the older versions.
Sockets? The old Mac Pro didn't have any ThunderBolt sockets. This one has 6 ThunderBolt 2 sockets (supporting up to 36 devices).
It also has 4 USB 3 sockets (vs 5 USB 2 sockets on the old model.) Which presumably is the straw you're clutching.
Your complaints are without merit.
I think the term you're looking at is "desktop clutter". Being able to hook up umpty-jillion EXTERNAL devices is not a decent tradeoff for someone trying to get a nice, single-case solution.
I simply don't understand why Apple has such a hard on for their systems looking like an octopus.
Because it's not a piece of art. It's a tool.
If you read the Verge article it talks about Apple having talked with people and horror stories of people sawing the handles off their old Mac Pros so they could fit into a rackmount.
This is kind of important for crews with large amounts of equipment, as hand-carrying every...individual...component...is about the stupidest possible way to do it. Being able to rack a complete solution just makes more sense. You drop the case where it needs to go, plug it into power and a monitor and go.
With the new version, you pull out your "case O' stuff", unpack the Mac. Unpack the first peripheral, unpack the second peripheral, unpack the third peripheral...and so on. Y'know, DUMB.
Apple may have listened. But they apparently didn't hear a damn thing.
Oh my god!
We've tried burial, burning, freezing, drowning, jamming random things into him AND HE WON'T STAY DEAD! He's like a fuckin' Russian Jason Voorhees!
Politics aside, Kalashnikov was something of a genius. Or at least a commonsense visionary.
He only had access to relatively crude manufacturing processes and a basic idea of what he wanted.
And he managed to turn out a product that is, by any stretch of the imagination, RIDICULOUSLY successful.
Things that'd be considered weaknesses or defects in other weapons systems are some of the very things that are considered strengths in the Kalashnikov rifles.
You can bury an AK-47 for a long period of time and it'll continue to remain operation after you dig it up.
In short: "If you want to monitor me, in any way, shape or form, GET A FUCKING WARRANT!"
If you want to just hoover ALL data, on the off chance that you might catch A. Random Badguy?
Fuck off and die.
The thing is, from E16 to E17, you had a complete rewrite of the entire project that redefined what it did and how it worked.
So yeah, it took a while.
While I'm not denigrating what E18 has accomplished, it's building off a lot of the foundations that were already laid.
Usually it's a non-verbal expression...
It starts with a clenching of the fists...and ends with the bastard basically homogenized over every surface within eyesight.
As if these poor peoples' lives weren't already shitty enough.
Now we have a bunch of marketeer ass-hats singling them out as unique business opportunities.
Yet again, making me wish I owned a gun, yet glad I don't, since I'd shoot these motherfuckers in a heartbeat.
Unless you're meeting in person to exchange physical media, there's not really a secure way to do so.
E-Mail? Hah!
File lockers? Hah!
BitTorrent? Hah!
Encrypted file transfer through another IM client? Hah!
Basically, setup becomes this tiny set of flaming hoops that you're somehow expected to jump through simultaneously.