Now that Apple is moving to Intel chips and Intel chips only, it is clever of Intel to start writing viruses: They can join in with the other Apple fanpersons whose answer to these sort of problems is "buy a Mac, doofus". AMD machines get creamed, but of course the only ones that get hit are running Windows, not Linux or OS X.
And you guys were wondering why Steve Jobs didn't stick with PowerPCs.
One of the reasons people like Linus, or as least his image, is because you don't hear about him doing crap like this -- he basically comes across as a cool, fun guy. One should remember, however, whom he is married to: Tove is a six-time Finnish natinal Karate champion or something like that.
Better think twice before threatening the penguin, Steve.
This will take care of itself -- you just don't buy the songs that cost more than 99 cents, and sooner or later the music industry will figure out that a bit of profit is better than none. I pity Steve Jobs who has to deal with these morons who are out to kill their own business, again.
It is time that more artists start putting their stuff directly on iTunes without these idiots from the RIAA as middlemen. Explain to me, again, what exactly the function of a company like Sony is anymore?
Ignoring the whole question if this can even remotely be considered news -- nobody in a rich Western country like the U.S. should get the measles, ever, because they should have gotten their shots. Even if your parents were idiots or religious freaks who didn't do their duty to protect you from a well-known danger with a low-risk procedure, as an adult you are responsible for protecting your health.
So, to get something good out of this article: Go check if you defenses -- your body's defenses, not your computers -- are up to date. How about tetanus? Polio? At least consider Hepatitis B, even if you are a nerd and don't have sex and faint if you even hear the word blood. These things don't have to happen.
I went to see "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" a while ago and the first thing that hit me was the price -- once you include popcorn, I can own the film on DVD for that money. The second thing that hit me was the shitty quality of the picture -- there were scratches on the picture and it was not in focus. You just can't get away with that anymore when everybody has a DVD player at home. And so the third thing that hit me was: I fscking shouldn't be here!
Ever since then, I have been taking a serious look at beamers, and wondering which room I might want to convert to a part-time movie theater -- one with a digital picture, no scratches. Oh, and my popcorn is better, too.
You know, with all the noise about how evil online gaming is, I must say that books are actually a lot worse. Online, you can meet people, talk to them, socialize, make friends -- but the next time you are in some public place like a train station, take a look at somebody who is reading a book. All they do is sit there, blank-faced, dead to the world, completely anti-social, not willing to even acknowledge that there are other people around them. Reading at home turns you into a zombie whose only thought is the plot and only action is to turn the next page. People like that just have to develop strange tendencies. And history shows us what can happen to people who read: mass suicides, for one.
Note, too, that evil people write books, not computer games. Hitler or Mao, a piece of them will always live on in a book. The people who blow themselves up in the name of Islam in Iraq, Israel and lately London do it because of what they read in a book, not because their character on WoW does it.
China has got it all wrong, again. If they really wanted to do themselves (and us) a favor, they would make sure their population can't read.
Ajax is dead. He committed suicide after going insane following his contest with Odysseus about who should get Achilles' armor.
Christ, this is why I hate Slashdot -- the guy's been dead for at least 2,600 years, and the editors are trying to pass this on as news...when do we finally get to pick our own stories?
Could somebody explain to me what this is doing on Slashdot? Why are the editors giving a known enemy of Linux, or rather, a known SCO and Microsoft apologist free exposure? Since this amounts to free advertising for a professional analyst, can we just assume they getting a cut somehow? Why, for example, don't we see regular articles linking to Groklaw instead, given that the sources there can at least be verified and the financing behind them is clear?
This lady's record on the SCO case shows that the word "objective" doesn't even seem to be in her vocabulary. She is pro-Microsoft, pure and simple. I can get stuff like this from any Microsoft trade magazine.
If people are leaving Slashdot for other sites where the readers can moderate the postings instead of being force-fed crap like this by the editors, I am less than surprised. I find myself other places more often, too. This is not news that matters. It isn't even news.
(What is going to really piss me off, of course, is when they post the inevitable dupe)
Use Python as a first language -- it works right away, and that success will get them hooked. The syntax is such that "it fits your brain" -- it is easier to remember than C++ and Java. Python's amazing depth lets you slowly introduce more complicated concepts like list comprehension and slots, the use of libraries, OOP, and the correct ("pythonic") use of exceptions. Because it is interpreted, the write-test-learn-rewrite-run cycle is very short -- never ever start with a compiled language.
Then I'd go hardcore for a while and teach them C so that they learn about all the ugly low level stuff, compilers, and why pointers are dangerous. You might want to take a moment to talk about Assembler here (the gcc compiler has a nice option to show assembler code). Even if they never hack the Linux kernel, C-like syntax is used all over the place (see Objective C or C++ or C#). It is sort of like Latin -- difficult, not used that much, but very valuable as background knowledge.
Then you might want to try something exotic or at least completely differnt. Many people recommend Lisp, claiming it give you Zen-like insight; but Haskell or such probably should be nice, too.
[H]as it not occurred to you do search for "ogg itunes" and find the plugin?
Oh yes. In fact, I even used the plugin for a while. Two major problems: First, it doesn't work with AirTunes, so the music reverts to the computer's speakers when the playlist hits an Ogg Vorbis file. This sucks as bad as the iBooks' toy speakers. Second, when iTunes went to 4.8, the plugin crashed my system. Bad, hard, complete, reproducable. I haven't tried the plugin with 4.9 and I don't intend to, because I don't want to go through the whole thing in 5.0, 5.1, 5.2 etc.
The reason I bought an Apple is because I don't have time at the moment for a computer that isn't in the "Just Works" class. If I still had time to fool around with plugins and such, I'd be using a ThinkPad with Gentoo.
And anyway -- this is not like asking Apple to switch to Intel or make a mouse with four buttons. This should be simple. Ogg Vorbis is not a fringe format anymore, and it would be nice for Apple to actually listen to what seems to be a substantial part of their customer base for once without the usual decades of telling us that we don't really need it.
I've seen plenty of OSSoftware written for the mac that's free, usable and easy to work with.
This might not be the best example, because the software world for OS X is full of pissy shareware applications of stuff that you get completely free (in both senses) for Linux. In fact, this was probably my greatest shock after switching from Gentoo (after the usual mouse thing) -- some guy wants $15 for something that Gentoo had out of the b- ah, off the wire. I still can't believe that the only decent DVD/CD burning software, Toast, is commercial.
Don't get me wrong, Apple has some beautiful platforms out there and the time I save because it "Just Works" is important enough to keep me with my iBook instead of going through the hassle of installing Gentoo on a ThinkPad. But the free selection for Mac OS X is a disaster.
... because I'm sick and tired of Ogg Vorbis not working with iTunes. This is turning into the the next one-mouse-button-is-fine issue with the Mac, except that I don't feel like waiting 20 years this time. How hard can it be to include one single little free format?
...anybody want to bet that Apple's Core Image and Core Video technology will be that much more polished when "Jaguar" comes out? The switch to Intel might mean a hiccup in what was AltaVec based stuff, but how long can that take?
Maybe I'm missing something, but except for superior icon previews, "Tiger" already seems to be better than Vista, and Apple still has that one shot coming. Just what was Microsoft doing all these years?
It seems every time I hear about Vista, Apple stock looks like a better investment. But then maybe I should start reading something other Slashdot...
Let nobody say that you can't convince Steve Jobs that he is wrong -- it just takes, what, 20 years or so. Hey, that is still better than Bush...
As a Switcher, let me state that the one-button mouse was a complete and utter pain in the ass, especially after using three buttons with KDE and Gnome. One of the first things I did was get a Logitech, which is a bit better, but unfortunately the problem goes deeper: Second mouse button support is half-hearted at best (try that second mouse button in iMovie to see what I mean). Hopefully, now that multiple buttons have been sanctified, this will change.
For anyone who is thinking of grabbing the OS X version, please note that like OpenOffice, InkScape is using X11 to render its display.
Just so there are no misunderstandings here: Though there is an OpenOffice version for the Mac that is in fact only accessable via X11, everybody uses NeoOffice/J instead because it is aquafied to the point where it runs normally. Oh, and it is GPL.
The PowerBook G4's offer: a larger screen, significantly better video cards, faster CPUs, backlight keyboard, Gigabit Ethernet, PC Card slots, and in my opinion, a much nicer build.
...unless, of course, you need the 12" version. No larger screen, no backlit keyboard, no gigabyte internet, no PC card slots. So what you are left with are a DVI jack (non-standard, by the way, some sort of mini-DVI), a line-in jack, and slightly better processors.
Nope. Apple needs to do more here, methinks. The 12" iBook is just too close to the 12" PowerBook.
Dual-screen support is trivially enabled with the Spanner patch, see here for details. The faster CPU -- well, this is what I mean. If they upgrade the iBook, then the difference in that area gets smaller.
My question is... apart from OSX, why would anyone buy a Powerbook or iBook? I occasionally see people running Linux on their 'books and wonder why they didn't get a good laptop like a Thinkpad instead.
The "apart from OS X" is a biggie, of course...One nice thing about Linux on a Mac is that you can still run OS X programs at almost native speed. But for Linux only, yeah, I think I'd take a look at a ThinkPad, too.
Tell me again now, why buy a PowerBook?
on
New Apples Next Week
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· Score: 3, Insightful
This all leaves me wondering, the same as I did when I bought my iBook, why exactly you should anybody buy a PowerBook? For the silver cover? For the DVI jack? For the line-in jack? Better iBooks will only mean that the spec differences between them and the PowerBook get even smaller, while the price difference stays the same.
Apple doesn't need to upgrade the iBook line half as much as they need more powerful PowerBooks.
We're a Windows-only shop (about 200 people), by contract, it seems, but the number of people using Macs at home is skyrocketing -- including, I should say, the head systems administrator, who uses iMovie on his Mac Mini to burn DVDs of his kids. It is common for people to come back home from vacation and press F9 (Expose) or, increasingly, F12 (Dashboard), and then stare at the screen, waiting for things to happen. Personally, I miss Spotlight most of all.
Anyway, by now we have achieved a sort of critical mass -- if you randomly ask somebody about a virus problem, you are just as likely to get a shrug, a smile, and a response along the lines of "what's a virus?" And every time our Windows servers go down, you get a stream of sarcastic comments. The interesting thing: The Windows people don't defend Windows -- it seems they use it, but have no love for it, either.
Sooner or later, this all is going to have an effect on management. I don't think we're going to switch our main systems anytime soon -- too expensive -- but if there are secondary things that need to be installed, Apple might have themselves a bridgehead.
Slashdot Mirror
And you guys were wondering why Steve Jobs didn't stick with PowerPCs.
Better think twice before threatening the penguin, Steve.
Because China has nuclear weapons and laughs in their faces.
It is time that more artists start putting their stuff directly on iTunes without these idiots from the RIAA as middlemen. Explain to me, again, what exactly the function of a company like Sony is anymore?
So, to get something good out of this article: Go check if you defenses -- your body's defenses, not your computers -- are up to date. How about tetanus? Polio? At least consider Hepatitis B, even if you are a nerd and don't have sex and faint if you even hear the word blood. These things don't have to happen.
Ever since then, I have been taking a serious look at beamers, and wondering which room I might want to convert to a part-time movie theater -- one with a digital picture, no scratches. Oh, and my popcorn is better, too.
Note, too, that evil people write books, not computer games. Hitler or Mao, a piece of them will always live on in a book. The people who blow themselves up in the name of Islam in Iraq, Israel and lately London do it because of what they read in a book, not because their character on WoW does it.
China has got it all wrong, again. If they really wanted to do themselves (and us) a favor, they would make sure their population can't read.
Christ, this is why I hate Slashdot -- the guy's been dead for at least 2,600 years, and the editors are trying to pass this on as news...when do we finally get to pick our own stories?
If people are leaving Slashdot for other sites where the readers can moderate the postings instead of being force-fed crap like this by the editors, I am less than surprised. I find myself other places more often, too. This is not news that matters. It isn't even news.
(What is going to really piss me off, of course, is when they post the inevitable dupe)
You work at a university, right?
Then I'd go hardcore for a while and teach them C so that they learn about all the ugly low level stuff, compilers, and why pointers are dangerous. You might want to take a moment to talk about Assembler here (the gcc compiler has a nice option to show assembler code). Even if they never hack the Linux kernel, C-like syntax is used all over the place (see Objective C or C++ or C#). It is sort of like Latin -- difficult, not used that much, but very valuable as background knowledge.
Then you might want to try something exotic or at least completely differnt. Many people recommend Lisp, claiming it give you Zen-like insight; but Haskell or such probably should be nice, too.
Oh yes. In fact, I even used the plugin for a while. Two major problems: First, it doesn't work with AirTunes, so the music reverts to the computer's speakers when the playlist hits an Ogg Vorbis file. This sucks as bad as the iBooks' toy speakers. Second, when iTunes went to 4.8, the plugin crashed my system. Bad, hard, complete, reproducable. I haven't tried the plugin with 4.9 and I don't intend to, because I don't want to go through the whole thing in 5.0, 5.1, 5.2 etc.
The reason I bought an Apple is because I don't have time at the moment for a computer that isn't in the "Just Works" class. If I still had time to fool around with plugins and such, I'd be using a ThinkPad with Gentoo.
And anyway -- this is not like asking Apple to switch to Intel or make a mouse with four buttons. This should be simple. Ogg Vorbis is not a fringe format anymore, and it would be nice for Apple to actually listen to what seems to be a substantial part of their customer base for once without the usual decades of telling us that we don't really need it.
This might not be the best example, because the software world for OS X is full of pissy shareware applications of stuff that you get completely free (in both senses) for Linux. In fact, this was probably my greatest shock after switching from Gentoo (after the usual mouse thing) -- some guy wants $15 for something that Gentoo had out of the b- ah, off the wire. I still can't believe that the only decent DVD/CD burning software, Toast, is commercial.
Don't get me wrong, Apple has some beautiful platforms out there and the time I save because it "Just Works" is important enough to keep me with my iBook instead of going through the hassle of installing Gentoo on a ThinkPad. But the free selection for Mac OS X is a disaster.
And come to think of it, I don't think it is Infinity "Drive", either. God, I should know better to post with not enough sleep...
Maybe I'm missing something, but except for superior icon previews, "Tiger" already seems to be better than Vista, and Apple still has that one shot coming. Just what was Microsoft doing all these years?
It seems every time I hear about Vista, Apple stock looks like a better investment. But then maybe I should start reading something other Slashdot...
As a Switcher, let me state that the one-button mouse was a complete and utter pain in the ass, especially after using three buttons with KDE and Gnome. One of the first things I did was get a Logitech, which is a bit better, but unfortunately the problem goes deeper: Second mouse button support is half-hearted at best (try that second mouse button in iMovie to see what I mean). Hopefully, now that multiple buttons have been sanctified, this will change.
Just so there are no misunderstandings here: Though there is an OpenOffice version for the Mac that is in fact only accessable via X11, everybody uses NeoOffice/J instead because it is aquafied to the point where it runs normally. Oh, and it is GPL.
And now back to your scheduled program.
Nope. Apple needs to do more here, methinks. The 12" iBook is just too close to the 12" PowerBook.
My question is... apart from OSX, why would anyone buy a Powerbook or iBook? I occasionally see people running Linux on their 'books and wonder why they didn't get a good laptop like a Thinkpad instead.
The "apart from OS X" is a biggie, of course...One nice thing about Linux on a Mac is that you can still run OS X programs at almost native speed. But for Linux only, yeah, I think I'd take a look at a ThinkPad, too.
Apple doesn't need to upgrade the iBook line half as much as they need more powerful PowerBooks.
Anyway, by now we have achieved a sort of critical mass -- if you randomly ask somebody about a virus problem, you are just as likely to get a shrug, a smile, and a response along the lines of "what's a virus?" And every time our Windows servers go down, you get a stream of sarcastic comments. The interesting thing: The Windows people don't defend Windows -- it seems they use it, but have no love for it, either.
Sooner or later, this all is going to have an effect on management. I don't think we're going to switch our main systems anytime soon -- too expensive -- but if there are secondary things that need to be installed, Apple might have themselves a bridgehead.
(Don't tell me nobody has thought of that yet)
"Maybe I can feed my family for one more week"?
Sorry to say this, people, but some things in life are not that simple.
- what is this chip thing you keep talking about? I turn the computer on, and hey, it just works...heck if I know what's inside the little bugger.