The problem is that "multiple monitor support" is an ambiguous term. The iBook has multiple monitor support - you can plug in a VGA monitor and have it display the same thing that's on your built-in display. In Apple parlance it's mirroring, but technically it is still multiple monitor support.
On their web site, Apple has referred to monitor spanning as both "extended desktop" and "dual display".
Now I just wish somebody could come up with a hack for my RAGE iBook 500.
Please mod it down accordingly. Not only is the cost of the dual G4 Mac irrelevant in this discussion, but he misses the point that dual 1GHz G4's will usually stomp on a 2 GHz P4, it will run OS X while a P4 will not, he doesn't have to buy memory from Apple (nobody ever does), Dell and Samsung "budget" LCD monitors connect only via VGA and not DVI which leads to flickering. News on/. of anything Apple always leads to the same useless troll comments about overpriced hardware. I'm getting tired of it.
The bottom line: Pemdas says he would like to run OS X at home. OS X is arguably superior yet costs less than Win XP, but you will pay more for Apple hardware with similar performance. For the extra money you also get superior case design, optional DVD-RW for less than anybody else is offering it for, outstanding quality, ADC for your Apple flat monitor if you elect to use it, the "iApps", jaguar, standard firewire, etc etc etc...
Please look at the facts before you whine about the price.
...was crap! Never mind how much truth there may have been to it, it was simply not a persuasive advertisement. In fact it was quite the opposite, going into technical step-by-step details of how to import your web bookmarks from the Mac to Windows, comparing the overpriced Office XP to AppleWorks which is bundled free with new Macs - it was just a lame-ass advertisement.
Ballmer should look at the ad itself and fire this dweeb not because she bent the truth, but because the ad was pure garbage.
Last I checked, you could order a vid compilation entitled "Creature Comforts", which includes the short Nick Park film "Creature Comforts" as well as a bunch of other oddities from Aardman Animations, from hmv.ca.
(Sorry I can't check it from my crippled internet access here at work, but I think it is still available)
I was typing very quickly and didn't have a chance to proofread... parent post has nothing to do with mp3.com, grammar style is awful, and there are a few nasty typos. Ugh, I need more coffee.
When people on MP3.COM talk about MP3 players on/. why must they always cite the least important spects? Everybody talks about gigabytes, physical size, hackability, file formats, connectivity, and price, but fail to mention the most important specs - the stuff we all used to look at when buying expensive audio gear.
That's right, nobody seems to care about frequency response, distortion, output power, all those other specs that actually determine how likely you are to actually enjoy listening to the damn thing. Nomad vs. iPod, fine, whatever... does anybody have a clue which one actually sounds better? Or does that matter any more?
It took over 10 mins to load, presumably due to/. effect, so here it is:
--- Infomart's Kaii to reach out in Oct Chitra Phadnis
BANGALORE, Aug. 19
AN Indian kaii (hand) will reach out to touch the global hardware market when Infomart, a Bangalore-based company, releases a PDA (personal digital assistant) to the developer community in October.
The hand-held device named Kaii will be the first PDA to be designed and developed in the country.
In an unusual reversal of roles, the hardware design for the product comes from India and the software comes from US-based Lineo. Kaii is based on Lineo's Embedix, an embedded Linux operating system.
Infomart is in exalted company. Kaii is only the second product of its kind in the world. The first one happens to be the Zaurus PDA from Sharp of Japan, which has recently become commercially available.
The Kaii is pitted against Palm Inc's Palm Pilot and Microsoft's PocketPC.
"We are low on prices and high on features," said Mr Devesh Agarwal, Managing Director, Infomart. While the commercial launch of Kaii may only happen sometime in March next year, he estimated that the monochrome version would be available "under Rs 10,000" and the colour version around Rs 15,000. (Sharp's Zaurus retails for $450.)
The "pocket PC at the price of a Palm" hopes to sell at least 50,000 units next year globally.
It will be more than a consumer device and is being targeted at the enterprise segment, Mr Matthew Harris, President and CEO, Lineo told Business Line.
Infomart sees potential customers in vertical markets such as insurance, where agents may need to carry a portable computing device. Compared to notebooks, which are priced upwards of Rs 70,000, the Kaii becomes a significantly low-cost alternative.
"We have very aggressive power management features," said Mr C.T. Arul, Chief Technology Officer at Infomart and the brain behind Kaii.
The multimedia Kaii is `double byte enabled', which means that it can support any language in the world. Like a laptop, various devices such as printers, keyboards, external hard disk drives and so on can plug into it.
The Lineo-Infomart partnership offers another unique feature - that of mass customisation. Users can choose hardware and components according to their requirements, bringing down prices further.
What's more, the Kaii could become much more than just a PDA. With the same hardware design, the screen can be customised to create wall-mounted information boards at airports and railway stations, according to Mr Agarwal.
It could turn into an Internet information kiosk or even a digital billboard (though a slightly expensive one, he admitted).
The original Kaii fits into the hand and is the same size as Sharp's Zaurus.
Infomart plans to contract-manufacture it through local and global partners. The second version, a wireless-enabled product with GPRS and GSM built into it, is on the cards.
...it says that the app has a built-in "VST Hub", so you can use VST effects (such as those you might use with Cubase or Logic under OS 9). But I didn't think there were any VST plug-ins available for OS X!
I assume the reverb/eq etc that are automatically enabled with the app are Mac OS X "Audio Units"?
Aww I was really hoping this article would be about how I can use my iBook to pick up girls in bars... I've tried this a few times and had no success...
"Hey baby, Steve Jobs says once you see this interface you'll want to lick it!"
Your points are valid. However I maintain that Apple's decisions, while difficult, were right - I speak as a shareholder.
Please don't take "stupid" as a personal attack on you - it was really not meant that way, I was reiterating your own words. I think you went overboard on that statement, suggesting that it was stupidity that caused mgmt to turn a blind eye to the existing progress of Copland.
Please continue to write insightful articles about Apple. My critique should be taken for what it's worth - I'm just a guy who thinks you were a little harsh on that statement.
Yes I do. "stupid" is a harsh word, which is why I used it - just as the author did to describe Apple mgmt.
Even if Apple had an OS in the wings that could make monkeys fly out of my butt, it was simply too late for it. Sometimes you have to sell your soul - and put marketing ahead of technology - so that you'll at least have a company with the means to offer it!
I too lament the passing of technologies like OpenDoc, Agents, the classic finder that would have been virtually identical to Copland's - but unfortunately it had to go just for Apple to remain afloat. You are right in that it has to do with perception rather than quality of technology. It sucks but Apple made the right decision.
A lot of the linked essay is pure opinion on the part of the writer. It is decently written, and raises some good points however.
Most frustrating part:
In truth, at the time of the buyout, Apple was closer to delivering something usable than NeXT was, but Apple management was too stupid to realize it.
Apparently the author is too stupid to realize Apple was sinking. Fast. It took a major acquisition to prove to the board and shareholders that positive steps were being taken towards updating what was then a very unstable, inefficient Mac OS.
As a Mac user since the early 1990's, I can honestly say that the 2nd-generation Power Macs (the PCI ones like the 7200/7500/8500), in the System 7.5.2 - to 8.0 era, were horrendously crashy and pricey. (I still used them because the Windows UI pissed me off, but I was beginning to envy my Wintel friends every time my 7200/75 locked up)
OS 9, the iMac, the legacy-free towers were all great products which had little to do with the NeXT team. While it's likely true that Apple's own engineers bailed themselves out of the mess they had gotten into under Sculley's leadership, it was too little too late in the eyes of shareholders and consumers.
In short: if they couldn't demonstrate that they were going to leapfrog Windows in terms of stability, Apple was dead in the water. Apple's own engineers likely had lots of credibility with Apple management, but that was not enough. Even if Copland was only 6 months from completion, Apple was in grave danger, and was wise to purchase a proven technology. It may be unfortunate that business success is a necessary evil in the development of software, but I wouldn't go calling Apple's management stupid. They bit down and did what had to be done.
...there will be so few legacy apps left that people will actually want to run that it will mostly be unnecessary to boot into OS 9. Classic compatibility under OS X is already quite good.
Here's the important part: Apps that don't currently work under Classic are very unlikely to ever work under MOL for OS X. If it doesn't work under Classic it's probably trying to talk directly to the hardware, so an emulation layer within OS X will still not afford this access.
#1 Price. I can buy a refurbed Visor Deluxe for under $100. I can get a decent PC for less than the cost of an eMac.
#2 Availability of software. I can get so much more software for a Palm OS or Windows machine so, in the great platform Jihad.
I choose the side based upon my computing needs.
What do your computing needs have to do with price?
What do your computing needs have to do with the availability of more software products than you'll ever use? "Availability of software" is one of the weakest arguments of Windows over Mac out there.
Figure out the things you want to do with your computer before you buy. Then scope out the best solution on whatever platforms you feel like giving a fair chance to. The total number of available software titles is irrelevant...
...kinda like going to the funky record shop with all the obscure import CD's, versus going to a CD megaplex with nothing but crass ol' top-40. Yeah you'll be able to find tons of popular stuff, but it's an ocean of mediocrity, and it's an unsatisfying, uninspiring environment just to be in.
You make it sound like VST plugins are the only audio plugins out there. Don't forget that there are also RTAS, MAS, and ProTools plug-ins. At this stage of the game it doesn't make much sense to have these exist as proprietary entities for all these different software platforms.
Windows has a similar problem, as audio apps on that side might use VST or DirectX plug-ins.
Wouldn't it be cool if all your audio apps used DSP plug ins installed at the OS level, If the OS handled the routing between those plug-ins and then talked directly to your audio hardware.
Emagic even hints that the new Audio Units have better performance than VST.
Besides, if you're really concerned, you know it will only be a short matter of time before somebody will create a small "wrapper" app which looks to Mac OS X like an Audio Unit which can run VST plugins, so I wouldn't worry too much.
This is forward progress. This is Apple doing what they should have done with pro audio years ago, and I think it should be met with enthusiasm, not skepticism.
I don't know if any announcement has been made about Emagic's plans, but so far no announcement has been made as to whether Emagic will support their own Audiowerk2 and Audiowerk8 cards under OS X.
This is a bit surprising to me. The cards are admittedly yesterday's news, but they can be had cheaply and surpass the quality of the Mac on-board audio.
Have any slashdotters heard anything about this? I'll probably check out the Logic Users mailing list too, but the signal-to-noise ratio on there is pretty awful.
At least in Canada, I have browsed HMV's site a few times in the last year looking for specific products that turned out to be only available as.wmv downloads. Even though the they are in (yuck) Windows Media format, it is definitely a forward step.
The downside was the price. I was looking to order some CD's from the "Ultra-Lounge" collection but they were only offered as digital downloads, and the price for the download was actually more than I had paid for some of the CDs from that collection that I had already bought!
If HMV can pull off this pay-for-download feature and actually keep prices good and cheap, then distributors will have good reason to be shaking in their boots. But if prices turn out to be unreasonable, then I'm concerned that HMV will be trying to merely squeeze out distributors while keeping prices unreasonably high.
Remember: right now artists get about 6 to 10 cents per song, up to a maximum of 10 songs, per album that is sold. That means most artists see a maximum of $1 from a CD that sells for over $15. And that's putting it simply: in most record deals with major labels that dollar goes towards recoupable expenses (production costs, legal costs, shipping, manufacturing, the whole bit).
A big price break here could cause consumers to purchase a lot more product, which in the long run is good for consumers and artists, probably works out well for companies like HMV, and the knuckle-dragging major labels will barely be affected at all. So as long as they can stick to offering cheap digital downloads, this is excellent news.
Oh the Zip issue is minor for most people, I'll admit. I have an internal Zip 250 in my existing G4 right now because I use a Roland sampler (the SP-808) which also has a Zip drive, and it makes for a very convenient way to work on samples in the computer and transfer them to the sampler.
The lack of Zip isn't the end of the world for me by any means, I'll just need to get an external Zip so that my workflow won't change.
I suppose in the grand scheme, Zip is going the way of the floppy anyway, at least in Apple's view, and if these machines are the speed demons I expect them to be I can certainly forgive Apple for making my Zip external:)
My favourite thing here is that while they have nudged the top end up about 20% in speed, the bottom and mid-range towers have gotten a massive boost.
While you could probably hack one of those two Optical drive bays for a Zip drive, I am puzzled why Apple would no longer offer Zip as a BTO option.
Hopefully Apple or a third-party mfr will offer an attractive Zip bezel for this case.
Also, those massive cooling vents on the front of the machine kind of have me worried that this thing is going to sound like a wind tunnel... but that is the bitter reality of it: you can't have all the speed and none of the noise.
Otherwise this looks like a damn impressive machine, and a long-overdue overhaul to the G4 line. I'm drooling already. Nice work Apple.
...I wonder why the Mac version requires an 800 MHz G4 while the Windows version only requires a 550 MHz P3?
I guess they have the Mac CPU doing some of the work that is left for the high-end PC graphics card to do, since the market is pretty scarce for Mac workstation-class graphic cards.
This is not a troll - I'm just wondering if it's a good idea for Apple to post requirements like this, which I took directly from their Shake specs page, when Apple has for so long been touting the "Megahertz Myth".
Slashdot Mirror
On their web site, Apple has referred to monitor spanning as both "extended desktop" and "dual display".
Now I just wish somebody could come up with a hack for my RAGE iBook 500.
The bottom line: Pemdas says he would like to run OS X at home. OS X is arguably superior yet costs less than Win XP, but you will pay more for Apple hardware with similar performance. For the extra money you also get superior case design, optional DVD-RW for less than anybody else is offering it for, outstanding quality, ADC for your Apple flat monitor if you elect to use it, the "iApps", jaguar, standard firewire, etc etc etc...
Please look at the facts before you whine about the price.
Ballmer should look at the ad itself and fire this dweeb not because she bent the truth, but because the ad was pure garbage.
(Sorry I can't check it from my crippled internet access here at work, but I think it is still available)
I was typing very quickly and didn't have a chance to proofread... parent post has nothing to do with mp3.com, grammar style is awful, and there are a few nasty typos. Ugh, I need more coffee.
...how about iHaveNoTaste?
That's right, nobody seems to care about frequency response, distortion, output power, all those other specs that actually determine how likely you are to actually enjoy listening to the damn thing. Nomad vs. iPod, fine, whatever... does anybody have a clue which one actually sounds better? Or does that matter any more?
It took over 10 mins to load, presumably due to /. effect, so here it is:
---
Infomart's Kaii to reach out in Oct
Chitra Phadnis
BANGALORE, Aug. 19
AN Indian kaii (hand) will reach out to touch the global hardware market when Infomart, a Bangalore-based company, releases a PDA (personal digital assistant) to the developer community in October.
The hand-held device named Kaii will be the first PDA to be designed and developed in the country.
In an unusual reversal of roles, the hardware design for the product comes from India and the software comes from US-based Lineo. Kaii is based on Lineo's Embedix, an embedded Linux operating system.
Infomart is in exalted company. Kaii is only the second product of its kind in the world. The first one happens to be the Zaurus PDA from Sharp of Japan, which has recently become commercially available.
The Kaii is pitted against Palm Inc's Palm Pilot and Microsoft's PocketPC.
"We are low on prices and high on features," said Mr Devesh Agarwal, Managing Director, Infomart. While the commercial launch of Kaii may only happen sometime in March next year, he estimated that the monochrome version would be available "under Rs 10,000" and the colour version around Rs 15,000. (Sharp's Zaurus retails for $450.)
The "pocket PC at the price of a Palm" hopes to sell at least 50,000 units next year globally.
It will be more than a consumer device and is being targeted at the enterprise segment, Mr Matthew Harris, President and CEO, Lineo told Business Line.
Infomart sees potential customers in vertical markets such as insurance, where agents may need to carry a portable computing device. Compared to notebooks, which are priced upwards of Rs 70,000, the Kaii becomes a significantly low-cost alternative.
"We have very aggressive power management features," said Mr C.T. Arul, Chief Technology Officer at Infomart and the brain behind Kaii.
The multimedia Kaii is `double byte enabled', which means that it can support any language in the world. Like a laptop, various devices such as printers, keyboards, external hard disk drives and so on can plug into it.
The Lineo-Infomart partnership offers another unique feature - that of mass customisation. Users can choose hardware and components according to their requirements, bringing down prices further.
What's more, the Kaii could become much more than just a PDA. With the same hardware design, the screen can be customised to create wall-mounted information boards at airports and railway stations, according to Mr Agarwal.
It could turn into an Internet information kiosk or even a digital billboard (though a slightly expensive one, he admitted).
The original Kaii fits into the hand and is the same size as Sharp's Zaurus.
Infomart plans to contract-manufacture it through local and global partners. The second version, a wireless-enabled product with GPRS and GSM built into it, is on the cards.
I assume the reverb/eq etc that are automatically enabled with the app are Mac OS X "Audio Units"?
Can anybody enlighten me here?
"Hey baby, Steve Jobs says once you see this interface you'll want to lick it!"
"Your ~ or mine?"
"Let's make an iMovie!"
Please don't take "stupid" as a personal attack on you - it was really not meant that way, I was reiterating your own words. I think you went overboard on that statement, suggesting that it was stupidity that caused mgmt to turn a blind eye to the existing progress of Copland.
Please continue to write insightful articles about Apple. My critique should be taken for what it's worth - I'm just a guy who thinks you were a little harsh on that statement.
Even if Apple had an OS in the wings that could make monkeys fly out of my butt, it was simply too late for it. Sometimes you have to sell your soul - and put marketing ahead of technology - so that you'll at least have a company with the means to offer it!
I too lament the passing of technologies like OpenDoc, Agents, the classic finder that would have been virtually identical to Copland's - but unfortunately it had to go just for Apple to remain afloat. You are right in that it has to do with perception rather than quality of technology. It sucks but Apple made the right decision.
Most frustrating part:
Apparently the author is too stupid to realize Apple was sinking. Fast. It took a major acquisition to prove to the board and shareholders that positive steps were being taken towards updating what was then a very unstable, inefficient Mac OS.As a Mac user since the early 1990's, I can honestly say that the 2nd-generation Power Macs (the PCI ones like the 7200/7500/8500), in the System 7.5.2 - to 8.0 era, were horrendously crashy and pricey. (I still used them because the Windows UI pissed me off, but I was beginning to envy my Wintel friends every time my 7200/75 locked up)
OS 9, the iMac, the legacy-free towers were all great products which had little to do with the NeXT team. While it's likely true that Apple's own engineers bailed themselves out of the mess they had gotten into under Sculley's leadership, it was too little too late in the eyes of shareholders and consumers.
In short: if they couldn't demonstrate that they were going to leapfrog Windows in terms of stability, Apple was dead in the water. Apple's own engineers likely had lots of credibility with Apple management, but that was not enough. Even if Copland was only 6 months from completion, Apple was in grave danger, and was wise to purchase a proven technology. It may be unfortunate that business success is a necessary evil in the development of software, but I wouldn't go calling Apple's management stupid. They bit down and did what had to be done.
Here's the important part: Apps that don't currently work under Classic are very unlikely to ever work under MOL for OS X. If it doesn't work under Classic it's probably trying to talk directly to the hardware, so an emulation layer within OS X will still not afford this access.
What do your computing needs have to do with the availability of more software products than you'll ever use? "Availability of software" is one of the weakest arguments of Windows over Mac out there.
Figure out the things you want to do with your computer before you buy. Then scope out the best solution on whatever platforms you feel like giving a fair chance to. The total number of available software titles is irrelevant...
It's pronounced "X Serve" (eks serv), according to Steve Jobs when he announced the product.
You make it sound like VST plugins are the only audio plugins out there. Don't forget that there are also RTAS, MAS, and ProTools plug-ins. At this stage of the game it doesn't make much sense to have these exist as proprietary entities for all these different software platforms.
Windows has a similar problem, as audio apps on that side might use VST or DirectX plug-ins.
Wouldn't it be cool if all your audio apps used DSP plug ins installed at the OS level, If the OS handled the routing between those plug-ins and then talked directly to your audio hardware.
Emagic even hints that the new Audio Units have better performance than VST.
Besides, if you're really concerned, you know it will only be a short matter of time before somebody will create a small "wrapper" app which looks to Mac OS X like an Audio Unit which can run VST plugins, so I wouldn't worry too much.
This is forward progress. This is Apple doing what they should have done with pro audio years ago, and I think it should be met with enthusiasm, not skepticism.
I don't know if any announcement has been made about Emagic's plans, but so far no announcement has been made as to whether Emagic will support their own Audiowerk2 and Audiowerk8 cards under OS X.
This is a bit surprising to me. The cards are admittedly yesterday's news, but they can be had cheaply and surpass the quality of the Mac on-board audio.
Have any slashdotters heard anything about this? I'll probably check out the Logic Users mailing list too, but the signal-to-noise ratio on there is pretty awful.
Is it just me or does Apple seem to be basing all of their recent strategic corporate announcements on what will make headlines on /.?
The downside was the price. I was looking to order some CD's from the "Ultra-Lounge" collection but they were only offered as digital downloads, and the price for the download was actually more than I had paid for some of the CDs from that collection that I had already bought!
If HMV can pull off this pay-for-download feature and actually keep prices good and cheap, then distributors will have good reason to be shaking in their boots. But if prices turn out to be unreasonable, then I'm concerned that HMV will be trying to merely squeeze out distributors while keeping prices unreasonably high.
Remember: right now artists get about 6 to 10 cents per song, up to a maximum of 10 songs, per album that is sold. That means most artists see a maximum of $1 from a CD that sells for over $15. And that's putting it simply: in most record deals with major labels that dollar goes towards recoupable expenses (production costs, legal costs, shipping, manufacturing, the whole bit).
A big price break here could cause consumers to purchase a lot more product, which in the long run is good for consumers and artists, probably works out well for companies like HMV, and the knuckle-dragging major labels will barely be affected at all. So as long as they can stick to offering cheap digital downloads, this is excellent news.
The lack of Zip isn't the end of the world for me by any means, I'll just need to get an external Zip so that my workflow won't change.
I suppose in the grand scheme, Zip is going the way of the floppy anyway, at least in Apple's view, and if these machines are the speed demons I expect them to be I can certainly forgive Apple for making my Zip external :)
My favourite thing here is that while they have nudged the top end up about 20% in speed, the bottom and mid-range towers have gotten a massive boost.
Hopefully Apple or a third-party mfr will offer an attractive Zip bezel for this case.
Also, those massive cooling vents on the front of the machine kind of have me worried that this thing is going to sound like a wind tunnel... but that is the bitter reality of it: you can't have all the speed and none of the noise.
Otherwise this looks like a damn impressive machine, and a long-overdue overhaul to the G4 line. I'm drooling already. Nice work Apple.
I guess they have the Mac CPU doing some of the work that is left for the high-end PC graphics card to do, since the market is pretty scarce for Mac workstation-class graphic cards.
This is not a troll - I'm just wondering if it's a good idea for Apple to post requirements like this, which I took directly from their Shake specs page, when Apple has for so long been touting the "Megahertz Myth".
Think about it: somebody who wants to get into computer music can buy a PC and pay $$$ for Cubase or get a Mac and a deeply discounted copy of Logic.
This is a brilliant way for Apple to even out the costs of pro solutions without lowering the price of their CPUs.
It takes the demand from users of software like Maya to demonstrate a need for such a product, before anybody will invest $$$ in such a card.
And it takes serious hardware before lots of software developers will jump on the Mac 3D bandwagon.
Nobody is denying the G4's potential as a platform for rendering - it's just that we have a classic chicken-and-egg problem here.