Apple wasn't trying to woo over millions of Windows users to the Mac platform with Boot Camp. Apple's release of Boot Camp serves three purposes for them:
By releasing Boot Camp now, and gaining some mainstream press regarding Windows on Mac hardware, Apple has become a thought in the minds of those people who were considering a new PC purchase in the future. Mindshare. This becomes increasingly important if you believe some of the recent rumors stating that Apple will include virtualization software in the next major OS release.
By releasing Boot Camp now as a Beta release, Apple feeds the needs and wants of their savvy early adopters. This core group will continue to evangelize for Apple and the new Intel-based hardware. Again, this release appeals to the tinkerer group and will convince a nice small chunk of extra savvy PC users who have considered a Mac recently. This group is small. But, it is also the group that fixes the entire neighborhood's computers. They are the tech advisors.
With people actually running Windows on Mac hardware, Apple gains tons of information and feedback. Assuming Apple is planning on including virtualization support in 10.5, this allows them to sure up any driver issues, software support issues, orperformance issues before they make it a core, included part of their OS.
All in all, this move is a VERY intelligent one from Apple. They waited until people had the new Macs in their hands and got a feel for the performance of the hardware/OS combo, and then provided an extra feature. Now with the media buzz and the savvy user community, 10.5 may be a very significant draw for those who don't want to deal with Vista.
From a former Geek Squad agent, I feel the urge to comment. If you have never made a mistake when diagnosing/fixing a computer, by all means please continue to criticize. If not, please think about the statistics... Best Buy is nearing (or has already surpassed) 1000 stores. Each store has from 5 to 15 Geek Squad agents. My Geek Squad Precinct dealt with about 20 computers per day and also dealt with an additional # of products that had to be sent and received to/from the BBY and manufacturer's service centers. If we just average that out, over 5,000 Geek Squad agents 'touch' somewhere around 20,000 computers a day. Our store had a re-do rate just around 2%... which, for us, was too high. Though we couldn't always succeed, we did our best to provide a top notch experience for our customers. This included NEVER pushing product and not even recommending products the customer didn't need. Yes, we recommended some things (e.g., oh, you have a virus and your antivirus expired in '99, please buy antivirus and keep this problem from happening again).
Before you criticize, just realize that for every bad experience you hear about from the Geek Squad, there are 1000s of great experiences you don't. We had customers bake cookies for the agents they dealt with in my precinct.
Yes, I am positive that there are some misguided Geek Squad agents pushing products that people don't need; I'm also sure that they are in the vast minority. For anyone who has had a bad experience, call 1888BestBuy and complain. That is why the customer care line exists.
My workaround for your issue is as follows:
1) install Firefox Gmail Notifier Plugin
2) set it to 'Automatically Log In'
3) set home page as a local html file with a meta refresh to google.com/ig
4) ????
5) profit??
Benchmark configuration We used the MySQL version (4.0.18) that came with the SUSE SLES9 CD's and Mac OS X Tiger 10.4.1, which was certified to work on our OS.
Software: Intel, AMD SUSE SLES 9 (SUSE Entreprise Edition) , Linux kernel 2.6.5, 64 bit. Workstation tests: Windows XP SP2 Software: Apple PowerMac G5 OS X 10.4.1 Tiger, 64 bit (partially).
Software: common MySQL 4.0.18, 32 en 64 bit, MyISAM engine Gcc 3.3.3
So, before we start with application benchmarks, we performed a few micro benchmarks compiled on all platforms with the same gcc 3.3.3 compiler.
Picture the scene:
Sitting in my office working on our e-commerce server (for our e-commerce business). We had just sent out a mailing to our customers telling them to check out the new version and they should start hitting the new site soon. It is about 11pm and I get sick and tired of using ssh to transfer files and decide I want to mount the remotely hosted server as a local hard drive. Well I decide in the interest of security I should make sure I don't open up the nfs port to the general public and decide to set a firewall rule to let my machine and only my machine connect to that port on that server in our data center.
Sooo..... I type the command, hit enter and suddenly realize that the computer is unresponsive. You see when you accidentally firewall all incoming tcp traffic, you limit your remote administrative options.
I call the datacenter's emergency # and they inform me all their linux people are on vacation and that I would have to come in in the moring to fix it. Needless to say, I showed up right when they opened.
That was a sinking feeling. I'm just glad I didn't get fired.
MS has demoed and is going to soon releas the second generation of tablet os. The new version will make pen input more natural within explorer and other windows applications.
I saw a demo at a recent conference and i'm anxious to get my hands on it.
So, now is a very good time to purchase a tablet pc. MS will be offering a free upgrade to existing users. Also, OneNote, Microsoft's new application targeted at tablet pc users, is a tool valuable enough by itself to justify the purchase of a tablet
now if someone could do this for my cable modem.
Although, I have to wonder how many people will use this to uncap their cable modem only to get in trouble by their provider.
In this society, i wonder how long until the developers get sued by the people installing it on their cable modems because they got prosecuted by their provider?
Sigh... what a nice little circle
iTunes Music Store serves this purpose perfectly for me. You can instantly stream 30 second HIGH quality samples of all the songs in their store.
I can't count the number of times I've already just stumbled on a new artist I like because I have heard something catchy on the radio by them and then I listen to the rest of their cd (at least 30 seconds of each song) and decide I have to have it.
Apple's product has it's limitations and faults, but overall it delivers a damn good free service on top of the abillity to very easily and quickly get new music.... guilt free.
Seriously, try it out (even just to try to find songs to download later on Kazaa... ). You will be surprised how nice the end user experience is.
Not only does Intel dominate the processor market, also Intel's chipsets run many of the best motherboards. I'm starting to wonder if Intel will ever see any real competition. We all know AMD, although more bang for your buck in many instances, will never be the dominate chip maker at this rate. Anyone see any upcoming companies that will challenge intel's deathgrip on the #1 position in this industry?
These CISCO products are targeted for enterprise. With VOIP, companies only have to maintain a data network and not a voice network because the voice is just data. The roi goes up substantially when you have two offices in different area codes which need to be connected. Traditionally, this type of situation is very costly to set up and maintain with high fee's from the carriers if you want to connect them and not pay per minute fees. With this technology it is very possible for a company in Japan to talk to their factories in the US for no more than they pay for bandwidth, which in comparison to paying for intnl ld is a much better deal.
I see this being cool if you want to set up a temporary office. Just get a leased line, drop a wifi access point, and put these phone's on everyone's desk.
Anyway... these products aren't targeted for ma and pa down the street unless they are running a business w/ 100 phones on the premisis.
I know, off topic, but.... I do have one of those shirts. It isn't quite 'You are dumb', but it is something to the effect of: "If you can read this shirt, you know possess too much knowledge." written in Latin. It is surprising when someone walks up to you and says 'nahh you can never have too much' and wants to talk about latin.
Anyway, just thought i'd chime in.... and I agree, the computer geek does act condescending at times. (maybe it is revenge of sorts for someone calling him a geek? )
I never said it could be enforced. I just suspect sooner or later someone will try to develop some regulation to prevent this sort of thing. This isn't a knee-jerk reaction, and im not a 15 year old on a 3000 dollar computer my parents bought. I think that, in the same way it is illegal to tune in your neighbor's old cell phone on your scanner (which is un-enforcable), it will be illegal to listen to packets on another person's WAN. I'm not saying I would agree with the law or disagree, I was just placing the question in a place where others could offer their oppinion.
Ben
As an educate long time Mac fan (go ahead, boo me now), I must say that this article confirms my theory about Mac users. They either know NOTHING about their computer or know A LOT about it. Many Window's users subscribe to the 'just-enough' methodology of computing, meaning that they know 'just-enough' to get by on their machine. Thats fine, whatever.
The reasoning behind this post is just to express my disdain for the whole 'rivalry' of us vs. them when it comes to what operating systems people use. Are we not all mature enough to concede that any power-user who chooses an operating system is inteligent enough to understand that every OS has its benefits and its disadvantages? I knew when I bought my new G4 not to expect to play the newest games or be able to buy my software at Wal-Mart; I also knew that I wouldn't be annoyed by anti-virus software (gotta love security through obscurity) and I would rarely worry about the lack of system stability. I knew what and why I purchased; I suspect most highly educated consumers do. So I'll tell my XP using boss that I like their computer and he can tell me that he likes my Mac, and the world can continue to turn.
I prefer MacOS over the others, and that is my perogative. Don't worry about my choice, just worry about yours.
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Apple wasn't trying to woo over millions of Windows users to the Mac platform with Boot Camp. Apple's release of Boot Camp serves three purposes for them:
All in all, this move is a VERY intelligent one from Apple. They waited until people had the new Macs in their hands and got a feel for the performance of the hardware/OS combo, and then provided an extra feature. Now with the media buzz and the savvy user community, 10.5 may be a very significant draw for those who don't want to deal with Vista.
Just my 2 cents.From a former Geek Squad agent, I feel the urge to comment. If you have never made a mistake when diagnosing/fixing a computer, by all means please continue to criticize. If not, please think about the statistics... Best Buy is nearing (or has already surpassed) 1000 stores. Each store has from 5 to 15 Geek Squad agents. My Geek Squad Precinct dealt with about 20 computers per day and also dealt with an additional # of products that had to be sent and received to/from the BBY and manufacturer's service centers. If we just average that out, over 5,000 Geek Squad agents 'touch' somewhere around 20,000 computers a day. Our store had a re-do rate just around 2%... which, for us, was too high. Though we couldn't always succeed, we did our best to provide a top notch experience for our customers. This included NEVER pushing product and not even recommending products the customer didn't need. Yes, we recommended some things (e.g., oh, you have a virus and your antivirus expired in '99, please buy antivirus and keep this problem from happening again). Before you criticize, just realize that for every bad experience you hear about from the Geek Squad, there are 1000s of great experiences you don't. We had customers bake cookies for the agents they dealt with in my precinct. Yes, I am positive that there are some misguided Geek Squad agents pushing products that people don't need; I'm also sure that they are in the vast minority. For anyone who has had a bad experience, call 1888BestBuy and complain. That is why the customer care line exists.
I would assume this is directly based on Urchin. Especially since the javascript used on sites that are to be monitored is "urchin.js".
My workaround for your issue is as follows: 1) install Firefox Gmail Notifier Plugin 2) set it to 'Automatically Log In' 3) set home page as a local html file with a meta refresh to google.com/ig 4) ???? 5) profit??
No, i'm not talking about a dupe...
This just reminds me of a really bad keanu reeves movie.
My commentary:
Umm, not to be an ass... but RTFA.
Picture the scene: Sitting in my office working on our e-commerce server (for our e-commerce business). We had just sent out a mailing to our customers telling them to check out the new version and they should start hitting the new site soon. It is about 11pm and I get sick and tired of using ssh to transfer files and decide I want to mount the remotely hosted server as a local hard drive. Well I decide in the interest of security I should make sure I don't open up the nfs port to the general public and decide to set a firewall rule to let my machine and only my machine connect to that port on that server in our data center. Sooo..... I type the command, hit enter and suddenly realize that the computer is unresponsive. You see when you accidentally firewall all incoming tcp traffic, you limit your remote administrative options. I call the datacenter's emergency # and they inform me all their linux people are on vacation and that I would have to come in in the moring to fix it. Needless to say, I showed up right when they opened. That was a sinking feeling. I'm just glad I didn't get fired.
MS has demoed and is going to soon releas the second generation of tablet os. The new version will make pen input more natural within explorer and other windows applications. I saw a demo at a recent conference and i'm anxious to get my hands on it. So, now is a very good time to purchase a tablet pc. MS will be offering a free upgrade to existing users. Also, OneNote, Microsoft's new application targeted at tablet pc users, is a tool valuable enough by itself to justify the purchase of a tablet
now if someone could do this for my cable modem. Although, I have to wonder how many people will use this to uncap their cable modem only to get in trouble by their provider. In this society, i wonder how long until the developers get sued by the people installing it on their cable modems because they got prosecuted by their provider? Sigh... what a nice little circle
iTunes Music Store serves this purpose perfectly for me. You can instantly stream 30 second HIGH quality samples of all the songs in their store.
I can't count the number of times I've already just stumbled on a new artist I like because I have heard something catchy on the radio by them and then I listen to the rest of their cd (at least 30 seconds of each song) and decide I have to have it.
Apple's product has it's limitations and faults, but overall it delivers a damn good free service on top of the abillity to very easily and quickly get new music.... guilt free.
Seriously, try it out (even just to try to find songs to download later on Kazaa... ). You will be surprised how nice the end user experience is.
just my 3 and a half centsNot only does Intel dominate the processor market, also Intel's chipsets run many of the best motherboards. I'm starting to wonder if Intel will ever see any real competition. We all know AMD, although more bang for your buck in many instances, will never be the dominate chip maker at this rate. Anyone see any upcoming companies that will challenge intel's deathgrip on the #1 position in this industry?
Actually -- no.
These CISCO products are targeted for enterprise. With VOIP, companies only have to maintain a data network and not a voice network because the voice is just data. The roi goes up substantially when you have two offices in different area codes which need to be connected. Traditionally, this type of situation is very costly to set up and maintain with high fee's from the carriers if you want to connect them and not pay per minute fees. With this technology it is very possible for a company in Japan to talk to their factories in the US for no more than they pay for bandwidth, which in comparison to paying for intnl ld is a much better deal.
I see this being cool if you want to set up a temporary office. Just get a leased line, drop a wifi access point, and put these phone's on everyone's desk.
Anyway... these products aren't targeted for ma and pa down the street unless they are running a business w/ 100 phones on the premisis.
I know, off topic, but.... :
I do have one of those shirts. It isn't quite 'You are dumb', but it is something to the effect of
"If you can read this shirt, you know possess too much knowledge." written in Latin. It is surprising when someone walks up to you and says 'nahh you can never have too much' and wants to talk about latin.
Anyway, just thought i'd chime in.... and I agree, the computer geek does act condescending at times. (maybe it is revenge of sorts for someone calling him a geek? )
yeah yeah yeah... fun times
I never said it could be enforced. I just suspect sooner or later someone will try to develop some regulation to prevent this sort of thing. This isn't a knee-jerk reaction, and im not a 15 year old on a 3000 dollar computer my parents bought. I think that, in the same way it is illegal to tune in your neighbor's old cell phone on your scanner (which is un-enforcable), it will be illegal to listen to packets on another person's WAN. I'm not saying I would agree with the law or disagree, I was just placing the question in a place where others could offer their oppinion. Ben
How long until someone makes a law prohibiting this sort of action?
As an educate long time Mac fan (go ahead, boo me now), I must say that this article confirms my theory about Mac users. They either know NOTHING about their computer or know A LOT about it. Many Window's users subscribe to the 'just-enough' methodology of computing, meaning that they know 'just-enough' to get by on their machine. Thats fine, whatever. The reasoning behind this post is just to express my disdain for the whole 'rivalry' of us vs. them when it comes to what operating systems people use. Are we not all mature enough to concede that any power-user who chooses an operating system is inteligent enough to understand that every OS has its benefits and its disadvantages? I knew when I bought my new G4 not to expect to play the newest games or be able to buy my software at Wal-Mart; I also knew that I wouldn't be annoyed by anti-virus software (gotta love security through obscurity) and I would rarely worry about the lack of system stability. I knew what and why I purchased; I suspect most highly educated consumers do. So I'll tell my XP using boss that I like their computer and he can tell me that he likes my Mac, and the world can continue to turn. I prefer MacOS over the others, and that is my perogative. Don't worry about my choice, just worry about yours.