Mac Classic mode was a little clunky, but you expected it since the technological and conceptual leap from Classic Mac to OS-X was so great.
But what is the great leap from XP to Win 7 that users will accept anything less than a seamless experience? Let's see how well MS pulls this off. My guess is that it won't be that great, to say the least. In fact, it may be a real pig that sinks Win 7's reputation lower than Vista's.
Exactly. I'm in Australia on a 55GB / month plan. Costs around $US 40 per month. ($AUD 55). There would have been some weeks I got close to downloading 44GB in a week, which is ok because I know where my cap is, and anyway it drops down to modem speed when I hit it, I don't get cut off altogether. This US invisible limit stuff is crazy.
I think the issue is, if Real wins, Apple will put DVD ripping into iTunes and that could greatly expand the amount of ripping going on, from just geeks to mainstream. Then sharing will increase, not just over P2P, but casually between friends.
Err, how so? In a private company they will ultimately serve only the shareholders. But in a govt research agency it will fund more research. Except that they seem to be in the business of making you pay for what they discover. Assuming it is just used to reinvest in the research agency, and assuming in the case of a company which doesn't pay dividends (which most tech companies don't), it looks pretty dead even. The final result is a general benefit in the technology of humanity, but neither appears to be ultimately more altruistic to the individual.
RAID: You can get a Raid dual disk enclosure from macsales.com, and even boot off it if you want to (just as fast over FW-800 as the internal disk). So no problem there.
If you want to upgrade your system yourself, I guess Macs aren't really for you. Probably you could could get close to the same experience and price by picking up a 2nd hand Mac Pro and being careful to use compatible items.
You'd be trading off for what? Basically for OS-X. A lot of people think the trade is worth it, but it might not be for you.
I presume the 5 years is based on average use. I certainly don't discharge my battery every day, and remember this thing has a battery twice the capacity of normal.
So your dual was actually fine. So why isn't a Mac mini fine? It has reasonable good graphics, fairly powerful dual CPU, and you can add fast disks via Firewire 800. Maybe the problem is what you think you want and what you actually want are not the same.
In fairness to Apple, their Australian prices (less GST) aren't usually much different to the US, and the Aus dollar just tanked.
Have you seen in real life use how stunning the LED screens are on these new Macbooks? I didn't think it was a big deal until I started using one and realised how bright and clear they are compared to the old ones.
And if you're going to compare a crappy plastic Dell, shouldn't you compare to the plastic Macbook?
On the other hand... why do you want a 17" screen? Probably to use it as a glorified desktop. So buy a 13" laptop and a cheap 22" screen and you'll be even better off.
It's not quite as flexible in Apple land, but you can usually figure out a setup that works well for you.
What's the use of your statistical experience when Apple is rated #1 in the industry? I'm probably up to my 10th ipod with zero problems, and about my 6th Mac with zero problems. It's a shame you've had bad experiences, but it does not make it a normal one. It's a bit like arguments about whether Seagate is better than Western Digital. Everyone has a completely different experience.
Actually, if you look at the specs, the 17" macbook pro isn't much different in price to the 15", when you spec them up with the same RAM and graphics etc. The reason it is more than the 13", is that it is the PRO, which has the addition PRO features.
Now if you want to say that maybe there should be a 17"er without PRO features, I might agree, but I can't agree that it is an "arbitrary decision with no real reason".
The mini is quite a lot more powerful than a typical netbook, and it is built really well, with a range of expansion options (firewire + 5 USB outlets, 802.11n, bluetooth). Apart from all the "normal" uses for it, its good for embedded applications (aboard ships, in kiosks, controlling manufacturing facilities).
Yeah, but Macs tend to last a lot longer. So when you want a new Mac, but don't like the idea of trashing the display, you sell it on ebay, and someone will buy it and get good use out of it. Besides which, the value of the actual display is pretty dirt cheap nowdays.
No, wrong. Making updates trivially easy to install is the best way to go for most users. Forcing the update on the user is always the wrong way to go.
If its GPL then even the non-owners of the code have most of the important rights. I suppose they could have asked employees to sign non-compete clauses, but that would seem pretty silly for a GPL product. Besides which, why would employees of MySQL want to agree to what SUN's lawyers want, unless they were getting paid off for it?
How is this comparable to a Macbook Air? It weighs nearly half a kilo more which means it is closer to a Macbook than a Macbook Air. Oh, and it costs more than either a Macbook or Macbook Air. OK, it's pretty, but even by being copy cats Dell hasn't really got into the same league as Apple. Even if I wanted to run Windows I'd rather pick up one of the Apples.
They should follow the advice given in the movie "War Games". It doesn't matter if the missiles work, it only matters if the enemy _thinks_ they work, since nobody actually can contemplate using them.
Tying stuff together with byte streams is incredibly primitive. That's why they had Lisp machines - everything is a Lisp object. Tying the world together with one language to rule them all is a far more powerful paradigm. The trouble is, not many languages are up to the task of such an exalted job. C certainly isn't. Lisp is. Some object languages are.
The missing link is an object file system. WHen the file system is all about byte streams it gives you the false impression that everything should boil down to byte streams. Wrong answer! Everything should boil down to objects. A Lisp machine + CLOS + an object file system. Common everyday OSes like Linux, Windows etc are holding back the future, but that's where we are right now.
What a bunch of Legal Mumbo Jumbo. It seems like this is all now a gigantic chess game, and we are at least 4 or 5 levels of stupidity removed from anything vaguely resembling anything like justice or serving the purpose of a legal system necessary for society.
Having used Qwerty, then I switched to Dvorak for about a decade. Then I switched back about 4 years ago, so I feel qualified to talk more than most.
* Your fingers move a lot less under Dvorak. You can definitely tell.
* Because your fingers move less, you've got to be more careful about overdoing it and getting RSI. You need to lift your hands up more and do some exercises.
* I think Dvorak is definitely faster with less effort. Maybe Qwerty can be as fast (don't know) but you'll need a lot more training to get there.
* For general use as a programmer, it doesn't matter much. As a secretary typing big documents as quickly as possible its more likely to matter. But typing at the speed of your own thoughts it doesn't matter much.
* At the end of the day the reason I switched back was the annoyance of living in two worlds. If I'm at somebody else's computer with Qwerty, it was a pain. If somebody else came to my computer it was a pain. Yes, to some extent you can learn both, but basically living with both systems was more trouble than it was worth I think. If you don't have anyone else using Qwerty to deal with, it might be worth a go.
I think it's just not that interesting and/or rewarding to work on an office package, especially one of Oo.o's complexity, for no monetary reward, especially if you have to also deal with the politics of getting it approved by Sun. If I had an itch to tinker with something like this, I'd probably write my own from scratch.
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Mac Classic mode was a little clunky, but you expected it since the technological and conceptual leap from Classic Mac to OS-X was so great.
But what is the great leap from XP to Win 7 that users will accept anything less than a seamless experience? Let's see how well MS pulls this off. My guess is that it won't be that great, to say the least. In fact, it may be a real pig that sinks Win 7's reputation lower than Vista's.
Exactly. I'm in Australia on a 55GB / month plan. Costs around $US 40 per month. ($AUD 55). There would have been some weeks I got close to downloading 44GB in a week, which is ok because I know where my cap is, and anyway it drops down to modem speed when I hit it, I don't get cut off altogether. This US invisible limit stuff is crazy.
I think the issue is, if Real wins, Apple will put DVD ripping into iTunes and that could greatly expand the amount of ripping going on, from just geeks to mainstream. Then sharing will increase, not just over P2P, but casually between friends.
Err, how so? In a private company they will ultimately serve only the shareholders. But in a govt research agency it will fund more research. Except that they seem to be in the business of making you pay for what they discover. Assuming it is just used to reinvest in the research agency, and assuming in the case of a company which doesn't pay dividends (which most tech companies don't), it looks pretty dead even. The final result is a general benefit in the technology of humanity, but neither appears to be ultimately more altruistic to the individual.
RAID: You can get a Raid dual disk enclosure from macsales.com, and even boot off it if you want to (just as fast over FW-800 as the internal disk). So no problem there.
If you want to upgrade your system yourself, I guess Macs aren't really for you. Probably you could could get close to the same experience and price by picking up a 2nd hand Mac Pro and being careful to use compatible items.
You'd be trading off for what? Basically for OS-X. A lot of people think the trade is worth it, but it might not be for you.
RAM you can get elsewhere for pennies. Do you really need office when you can get openoffice?
Do you realise Apple just upgraded the plastic MacBook with an excellent graphics card?
Ok, Applecare, I'd prefer to take the risk without it than go Dell.
I have something called children and a wife. You may have heard of this concept.
I presume the 5 years is based on average use. I certainly don't discharge my battery every day, and remember this thing has a battery twice the capacity of normal.
So your dual was actually fine. So why isn't a Mac mini fine? It has reasonable good graphics, fairly powerful dual CPU, and you can add fast disks via Firewire 800. Maybe the problem is what you think you want and what you actually want are not the same.
In fairness to Apple, their Australian prices (less GST) aren't usually much different to the US, and the Aus dollar just tanked.
Have you seen in real life use how stunning the LED screens are on these new Macbooks? I didn't think it was a big deal until I started using one and realised how bright and clear they are compared to the old ones.
And if you're going to compare a crappy plastic Dell, shouldn't you compare to the plastic Macbook?
You're basically right.
On the other hand... why do you want a 17" screen? Probably to use it as a glorified desktop. So buy a 13" laptop and a cheap 22" screen and you'll be even better off.
It's not quite as flexible in Apple land, but you can usually figure out a setup that works well for you.
What's the use of your statistical experience when Apple is rated #1 in the industry? I'm probably up to my 10th ipod with zero problems, and about my 6th Mac with zero problems. It's a shame you've had bad experiences, but it does not make it a normal one. It's a bit like arguments about whether Seagate is better than Western Digital. Everyone has a completely different experience.
Actually, if you look at the specs, the 17" macbook pro isn't much different in price to the 15", when you spec them up with the same RAM and graphics etc. The reason it is more than the 13", is that it is the PRO, which has the addition PRO features.
Now if you want to say that maybe there should be a 17"er without PRO features, I might agree, but I can't agree that it is an "arbitrary decision with no real reason".
The mini is quite a lot more powerful than a typical netbook, and it is built really well, with a range of expansion options (firewire + 5 USB outlets, 802.11n, bluetooth). Apart from all the "normal" uses for it, its good for embedded applications (aboard ships, in kiosks, controlling manufacturing facilities).
Yeah, but Macs tend to last a lot longer. So when you want a new Mac, but don't like the idea of trashing the display, you sell it on ebay, and someone will buy it and get good use out of it. Besides which, the value of the actual display is pretty dirt cheap nowdays.
No, wrong. Making updates trivially easy to install is the best way to go for most users. Forcing the update on the user is always the wrong way to go.
If its GPL then even the non-owners of the code have most of the important rights. I suppose they could have asked employees to sign non-compete clauses, but that would seem pretty silly for a GPL product. Besides which, why would employees of MySQL want to agree to what SUN's lawyers want, unless they were getting paid off for it?
How is this comparable to a Macbook Air? It weighs nearly half a kilo more which means it is closer to a Macbook than a Macbook Air. Oh, and it costs more than either a Macbook or Macbook Air. OK, it's pretty, but even by being copy cats Dell hasn't really got into the same league as Apple. Even if I wanted to run Windows I'd rather pick up one of the Apples.
We never got to find out what would have happened if the Soviets had had unilateral first strike ability. It may not have been pretty.
They should follow the advice given in the movie "War Games". It doesn't matter if the missiles work, it only matters if the enemy _thinks_ they work, since nobody actually can contemplate using them.
To be fair, he did seem to be saying it targets uploaders, not downloaders.
Tying stuff together with byte streams is incredibly primitive. That's why they had Lisp machines - everything is a Lisp object. Tying the world together with one language to rule them all is a far more powerful paradigm. The trouble is, not many languages are up to the task of such an exalted job. C certainly isn't. Lisp is. Some object languages are.
The missing link is an object file system. WHen the file system is all about byte streams it gives you the false impression that everything should boil down to byte streams. Wrong answer! Everything should boil down to objects. A Lisp machine + CLOS + an object file system. Common everyday OSes like Linux, Windows etc are holding back the future, but that's where we are right now.
What a bunch of Legal Mumbo Jumbo. It seems like this is all now a gigantic chess game, and we are at least 4 or 5 levels of stupidity removed from anything vaguely resembling anything like justice or serving the purpose of a legal system necessary for society.
Having used Qwerty, then I switched to Dvorak for about a decade. Then I switched back about 4 years ago, so I feel qualified to talk more than most.
* Your fingers move a lot less under Dvorak. You can definitely tell.
* Because your fingers move less, you've got to be more careful about overdoing it and getting RSI. You need to lift your hands up more and do some exercises.
* I think Dvorak is definitely faster with less effort. Maybe Qwerty can be as fast (don't know) but you'll need a lot more training to get there.
* For general use as a programmer, it doesn't matter much. As a secretary typing big documents as quickly as possible its more likely to matter. But typing at the speed of your own thoughts it doesn't matter much.
* At the end of the day the reason I switched back was the annoyance of living in two worlds. If I'm at somebody else's computer with Qwerty, it was a pain. If somebody else came to my computer it was a pain. Yes, to some extent you can learn both, but basically living with both systems was more trouble than it was worth I think. If you don't have anyone else using Qwerty to deal with, it might be worth a go.
I think it's just not that interesting and/or rewarding to work on an office package, especially one of Oo.o's complexity, for no monetary reward, especially if you have to also deal with the politics of getting it approved by Sun. If I had an itch to tinker with something like this, I'd probably write my own from scratch.