Of course crabs feel pain. So do fish and birds, snakes and antelopes. They all feel physical pain. What they don't do is *suffer the pain*, in the same psychic and emotional sense that humans do. They are not self aware.
Good post. But - CO2 is NOT driving temp increases, it is NOT a pollutant, and it is NOT a problem that we need to solve.
The current quantity of atmospheric CO2 is not far above the starvation level for plants, and it is lower now than it has been for virtually all of the last 500 million years.
When a corporation pays income tax on the sale of your toaster, that added cost translates directly to cost of goods sold. Prices in a competitive market are directly affected by this, and WILL be passed on to the consumer at the cash register. But, unlike the toaster maker, the size of your personal income tax bill has no bearing on the price you pay for that toaster.
Of course, as you say, you are also the victim of many other ridiculous taxes, many of which do tax the same asset multiple times.
If you think that is just and fair, then you've been taken in by left wing propaganda.
The dunce is unusually wrong on this one. Not only is this cool device raising the bar for cell-phone makers now, it will soon be your tool of choice to buy AppleTV content as you sit on your couch - and later on, to use as your universal debit card for all sorts of financial transactions. Talk about phoning in your order!
And why will Apple succeed in this? because it's going to be WAY EASY and TOTALLY SAFE. No viruses, no spyware, and no rootkits allowed. Simple, safe, secure, universal e-commerce - for everyone - from wherever you are.
You can bet on the fact that Apple already has their long-term plan in place, and their next five or six models already well along in the design pipeline. Just like the iPod, they'll have their basic models too, and soon enough.
They're going to sell a triple ton of these before it's over. Just watch.
Finally, after all these years, this is the Newton reborn, Phoenix-like... but with superstrength, x-ray vision, and mental telepathy.
Steve called it a "leapfrog product" in terms of useability and communication? That's the understatement of the year.
It starts by integrating your personal data horizontally with your Mac's iCal, Mail, Safari, Notes, and Address Book. It will integrate externally with your Bluetooth devices, your personal networks, and your phone and internet networks. It integrates vertically with iTunes, and I'll bet easily with AppleTV; and with more to come soon.
And it promises superlative expandability, just like the Newton did. I expect Apple already has handwriting and voice recognition tools waiting in the wings, among others. Plus, we're going to see a gold rush of developers adding value to this device, both via software tools and hardware accessories.
And not only will this product sell like hotcakes, for it's explicit uses - this is the Trojan horse that will break the telcos wide open with its WiFi & VOIP - just like the iPod's already well along the way to doing to the music and movie studios.
But don't focus only on the media-sucking consumer, although the juicy appeal for that broad market is immediate and undeniable.
Instead, imagine the productivity boost this elegant multi-tool will give to millions of info workers who need to share and send discrete chunks of information in real time.
For many of these people, the iPhone is indeed a price breakthrough of major proportions.
Remember, think Newton, not just phone, not just media player. Even better, because this super Newton - running OS X - can phone home, and sing and dance.
The range of possibilities are vast; and corporate America will soon be snapping these iPhones up in pallet-load quantities.
Custom apps using GPS tracking and transaction-processing tools. Combined with RFID or barcode and Bluetooth accessories. Conversing with networks and databases and nearby devices. And many more places and uses that thousands of eyeballs smarter than mine will soon see. Remember, the controls under that blank piece of glass can be easily optimized for whatever you'll need.
Steve wasn't kidding when he compared this to the Mac and the iPod, and he wasn't exaggerating, either. This isn't just the Internet in your pocket; it's *everything* in your pocket.
It would have been fitting if he had paid explicit homage to Bill Atkins, HyperCard, and the Newton.
Nokia, Motorola, Palm and all the rest have just been plunked into the same category as MS Windows, Sony Walkman, and Zune. The handset makers have seen their future, and fear that their fight will soon be for undisputed second place.
"Welcome to the social" you say? What a laugh! Here comes the real deal. A true Pocket Mac, wired to the gills. I can't wait to see the 2008 models.
Hate monopolies? You mean *predatory monopolies* , don't you?
Now let's think a bit, hmmmmm, who does that remind us of?
M$ *defines* the category.
Apple's never been "in charge", and Apple's never done any of the multiple, aggressive, illegal, unethical things M$ is FAMOUS FOR.
So quit blowing smoke up our backsides, troll.
If M$ died tomorrow, and Apple replaced it, we'd have a truly innovative monopoly that features a linux- and unix-friendly operating system, with a nicely integrated, standards-based, high-quality media environment, an elegantly productive user interface, all running on top-notch hardware, and all provided by a company that appears eager to strike a decent balance between my property rights as a consumer and those of the media producers.
In other words, a company that tries hard to play well with others.
And does this while consistently earning design and engineering awards for both software and hardware, and repeatedly receives top ratings for after-sale support and customer satisfaction.
I'm so tired of hearing this misleading, half-true statement.
Apple *IS* a software company, as well as a hardware company. Like they can't be both?! Tell that to Steve Jobs!
They make the best microcomputer software on the planet, which is why I'm a customer of 20 years plus. They're an *integrated* company that delivers an end-to-end computing experience through integrated quality, both hardware and software.
However, I completely agree with your prediction. Apple's not going to let anybody bust open their nice clean integrated environment, huh-uh! You'll still be running your OS X on Apple-branded hardware - only.
"MORE proof that Apple has been ripping people off for years"
And second, I think Apple probably spends out a random dollar or two on a slick little thing called an OPERATING SYSTEM? You know the one called OS X that comes bundled in the box with every G4/G5 - preinstalled even!
Like ASOTV said - "it just works". That doesn't come dirt cheap anywhere, in any kind of product.
Yeah, they've jacked up the price alright, to match WinXP on Dell. Whoopee!
Well, here's the fuss.
If your monopoly position won't suffice to foist your *%$#@* Palladium DRM on the marketplace on its merits, well maybe you can come through the back door, have the Feds help you out some, all for national security, eh?
I'd be *stunned* if this wasn't the thinking back in Redmond.
It is their Holy Grail. It is their Passport to a Niagara of locked-in transaction fees, until the end of time.
You don't need a tinfoil hat to see this one coming.
A U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) analysis concludes that the use of ethanol reduces CO2 emissions 27% more than gasoline, as well as reducing other greenhouse gases such as sulfur dioxide (SO2). Ethanol-blended fuels are the only commercially available fuels which have a CO2 benefit.
Why? Because that's where the MS Nazgul have their massive claws in deepest!
But lo, even as we speak the foundations of the Microsoftian Dark Towers are crumbling. The One Ring of Windoze is inexorably accelerating into the Crack of Linux/Unix/OS X Doom. The valiant armies of the west (IBM, Apple, Sun, Novell, etc., and the vast hacker hordes are uniting under the gleaming Open File Formats banner. The tide is turning, and the Age of Microsoft is dying. Frodo lives!
This whole drawn-out drama is pure FUD, and nothing but FUD, from the latest of Microsoft's minions. Call it a delaying tactic, a rearguard action, a smokescreen, call it what you will. As long they can keep you stirred up about this, they are achieving their goal. Which is, *anything* to slow the growing tide of disgusted people breaking away from MS and moving toward independence.
SCO knows they can't win in court - it's public perceptions they're playing to.
So simply ignore it, stay focused, and move toward independence anyway. Speak the truth quietly, and move on. Move toward Linux, or move toward Unix, or (even nicer) move toward OS X. Move toward open file formats and cooperative networking standards. Move toward a community of equals and a marketplace of open and honest competition. Well, OK, at least toward a level playing field.
Darl Mcbride is merely the current paymaster and PR man for the current set of lawyers. Simply ignore him, and them. IBM will demolish them soon. MS will just have to bring another FUDbuddy in from the bullpen that much sooner..
"People will be better off running stable Debian or *BSD because they have a track record of reliability whereas Fedora has nothing."
They will be better off running Apple's reliable OS X on the desktop, on elegant, competitively priced hardware, and cooperating quite nicely with corporate Linux, thank you.
Except for MS, all the bigger and better players in the OS markets are in the process of forming Unix-ish software standards, trying out different business coalitions and combinations, and generally creating a "community" of software products and tools that work together fairly harmoniously and openly.
This is a natural counter movement to the deeply flawed and virus-infested Microsoft monoculture. Free association, not forced assimilation, is what cooperative and self-reliant people desire. And in the end, our operating systems, and the computers they run on, are community-building tools par excellence.
So we're all just building a better neighborhood, and trying to help all our relatives "leave the plantation" as it were. It's a big job and it won't be finished in our lifetimes.
There's a fundamental bit of truth expressed by all the Star Wars and Star Trek imagery used so often here.
Liberty and freedom of choice in all good things are precious, worth working and fighting for. Hard and long.
Nice try - except that's NOT gonna happen. As Cringely also said recently "Walmart and Microsoft may lose someday, but they can't be beaten."
Think about that for a minute. Really.
Level competition now has less chance of beating Microsoft than the Iraqi army does of beating a U.S. invasion. Get it? They are so powerful - their monopoly advantages are so strong - they are effectively invincible. They may screw themselves out of their monopoly position, but there is no longer any possibility of a competitive force beating them.
As long as the world is playing Microsoft's game, Microsoft will be the winner. If you read the article, that's what Eolas says they're trying to change. Just take the the whole ballgame away from MS and let everybody else play fair - with open standards and innovation for all.
Don't forget - EVERYTHING Microsoft does is a platform play. Again and again, they work to bind everything to themselves in a proprietary way. That is their goal, every time. To be the internet platform. To be the game platform. To be the email, the chat, the entertainment, the all consuming.NET transaction platform.
Ballmer and Gates are out to make history - in a very big way. Don't ever expect these two guys to change their attitude - why should they? Their monumental "pyramids" are not yet completed.
It's a nice dream Eolas presents. It's a shame that the only weapon they have to fight with is a dirty little patent. A two-edged sword, indeed.
You are absolutely right about the old "semi-voluntary" model. Street players used to pass the hat; then tent performers sold tickets; and soon bands with streaming file servers will sell their own songs over the net. The only reason the existing artists aren't doing it already is because they are still locked into the old system.
As the new digital-age artists come along, unbeholden to the old RIAA/ASCAP gatekeepers, the new, net-based way will prevail. The middleman WILL disappear, simply because he's no longer necessary.
- and Big Redmond sees it coming. It's a big bag of buggy, restrictive, expensive, intrusive, insecure software. People have just HAD IT up to their eyeballs with MS. Unix/OS X/Linux is the way out of this MS mess, and people all over the world are *rapidly* waking up to that fact.
As a Tech alum also ('88) : I can tell you, we had the same rules way back then in our programming courses, and there's nothing wrong with the rule!
Sometimes ya just gotta be able to dig down in the dirt, do the basics, on your own, without any coaching, or it won't work, Elmer!! "I just wanted to learn" - that is complete horse-puckey! Lazy Luuuser got caught, now wants to whine about it.....
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Of course crabs feel pain. So do fish and birds, snakes and antelopes. They all feel physical pain. What they don't do is *suffer the pain*, in the same psychic and emotional sense that humans do. They are not self aware.
Good post. But - CO2 is NOT driving temp increases, it is NOT a pollutant, and it is NOT a problem that we need to solve.
The current quantity of atmospheric CO2 is not far above the starvation level for plants, and it is lower now than it has been for virtually all of the last 500 million years.
Here's the science:
http://www.sydneyminingclub.org/presentations/2008/november/plimer/player.html
Here's 43,600 of 'em at your fingertips!
"general principles of good software design"
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=general+principles+of+good+software+design&btnG=Google+Search
What is this, April Fool's Day? Don't waste our time with this trash.
The parent poster is correct, and you are wrong.
When a corporation pays income tax on the sale of your toaster, that added cost translates directly to cost of goods sold.
Prices in a competitive market are directly affected by this, and WILL be passed on to the consumer at the cash register.
But, unlike the toaster maker, the size of your personal income tax bill has no bearing on the price you pay for that toaster.
Of course, as you say, you are also the victim of many other ridiculous taxes, many of which do tax the same asset multiple times.
If you think that is just and fair, then you've been taken in by left wing propaganda.
The dunce is unusually wrong on this one. Not only is this cool device raising the bar for cell-phone makers now, it will soon be your tool of choice to buy AppleTV content as you sit on your couch - and later on, to use as your universal debit card for all sorts of financial transactions. Talk about phoning in your order!
And why will Apple succeed in this? because it's going to be WAY EASY and TOTALLY SAFE. No viruses, no spyware, and no rootkits allowed. Simple, safe, secure, universal e-commerce - for everyone - from wherever you are.
You can bet on the fact that Apple already has their long-term plan in place, and their next five or six models already well along in the design pipeline. Just like the iPod, they'll have their basic models too, and soon enough.
They're going to sell a triple ton of these before it's over. Just watch.
Finally, after all these years, this is the Newton reborn, Phoenix-like ... but with superstrength, x-ray vision, and mental telepathy.
Steve called it a "leapfrog product" in terms of useability and communication? That's the understatement of the year.
It starts by integrating your personal data horizontally with your Mac's iCal, Mail, Safari, Notes, and Address Book. It will integrate externally with your Bluetooth devices, your personal networks, and your phone and internet networks. It integrates vertically with iTunes, and I'll bet easily with AppleTV; and with more to come soon.
And it promises superlative expandability, just like the Newton did. I expect Apple already has handwriting and voice recognition tools waiting in the wings, among others. Plus, we're going to see a gold rush of developers adding value to this device, both via software tools and hardware accessories.
And not only will this product sell like hotcakes, for it's explicit uses - this is the Trojan horse that will break the telcos wide open with its WiFi & VOIP - just like the iPod's already well along the way to doing to the music and movie studios.
But don't focus only on the media-sucking consumer, although the juicy appeal for that broad market is immediate and undeniable.
Instead, imagine the productivity boost this elegant multi-tool will give to millions of info workers who need to share and send discrete chunks of information in real time.
For many of these people, the iPhone is indeed a price breakthrough of major proportions.
Remember, think Newton, not just phone, not just media player.
Even better, because this super Newton - running OS X - can phone home, and sing and dance.
The range of possibilities are vast; and corporate America will soon be snapping these iPhones up in pallet-load quantities.
Custom apps using GPS tracking and transaction-processing tools.
Combined with RFID or barcode and Bluetooth accessories.
Conversing with networks and databases and nearby devices.
And many more places and uses that thousands of eyeballs smarter than mine will soon see.
Remember, the controls under that blank piece of glass can be easily optimized for whatever you'll need.
Steve wasn't kidding when he compared this to the Mac and the iPod, and he wasn't exaggerating, either.
This isn't just the Internet in your pocket; it's *everything* in your pocket.
It would have been fitting if he had paid explicit homage to Bill Atkins, HyperCard, and the Newton.
Nokia, Motorola, Palm and all the rest have just been plunked into the same category as MS Windows, Sony Walkman, and Zune.
The handset makers have seen their future, and fear that their fight will soon be for undisputed second place.
"Welcome to the social" you say? What a laugh! Here comes the real deal. A true Pocket Mac, wired to the gills.
I can't wait to see the 2008 models.
Welcome to the 21st century, my friends.
Hate monopolies? You mean *predatory monopolies* , don't you?
....?
Now let's think a bit, hmmmmm, who does that remind us of?
M$ *defines* the category.
Apple's never been "in charge", and Apple's never done any of the multiple, aggressive, illegal, unethical things M$ is FAMOUS FOR.
So quit blowing smoke up our backsides, troll.
If M$ died tomorrow, and Apple replaced it, we'd have a truly innovative monopoly that features a linux- and unix-friendly operating system, with a nicely integrated, standards-based, high-quality media environment, an elegantly productive user interface, all running on top-notch hardware, and all provided by a company that appears eager to strike a decent balance between my property rights as a consumer and those of the media producers.
In other words, a company that tries hard to play well with others.
And does this while consistently earning design and engineering awards for both software and hardware, and repeatedly receives top ratings for after-sale support and customer satisfaction.
And the downside of that would be
I'd take my chances with that over M$ any day.
Apple *IS* a software company, as well as a hardware company. Like they can't be both?! Tell that to Steve Jobs!
They make the best microcomputer software on the planet, which is why I'm a customer of 20 years plus. They're an *integrated* company that delivers an end-to-end computing experience through integrated quality, both hardware and software.
However, I completely agree with your prediction. Apple's not going to let anybody bust open their nice clean integrated environment, huh-uh! You'll still be running your OS X on Apple-branded hardware - only.
"MORE proof that Apple has been ripping people off for years"
And second, I think Apple probably spends out a random dollar or two on a slick little thing called an OPERATING SYSTEM? You know the one called OS X that comes bundled in the box with every G4/G5 - preinstalled even!
Like ASOTV said - "it just works". That doesn't come dirt cheap anywhere, in any kind of product.
Yeah, they've jacked up the price alright, to match WinXP on Dell. Whoopee!
No, No, NO! You've got it ALL WRONG!
There's no need to be so aggressively hostile.
Simply change your name to Nunuv Yerbiznis!
Well, here's the fuss. If your monopoly position won't suffice to foist your *%$#@* Palladium DRM on the marketplace on its merits, well maybe you can come through the back door, have the Feds help you out some, all for national security, eh? I'd be *stunned* if this wasn't the thinking back in Redmond. It is their Holy Grail. It is their Passport to a Niagara of locked-in transaction fees, until the end of time. You don't need a tinfoil hat to see this one coming.
A U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) analysis concludes that the use of ethanol reduces CO2 emissions 27% more than gasoline, as well as reducing other greenhouse gases such as sulfur dioxide (SO2). Ethanol-blended fuels are the only commercially available fuels which have a CO2 benefit.
Pardon me please, but if you're gonna quote the great Heinlein in your sig, please get it right!
"Prowass" ??
Does that mean he's leading with his geeky ass,
instead of his nose, heart, or head, etc.?
That's a neat trick to do! Now, please ...... for the unwashed masses (i.e., non-programmers like me) - how do you UNDO it in the Terminal?
And what means "restart Dock" ?
thanks!
Why? Because that's where the MS Nazgul have their massive claws in deepest!
But lo, even as we speak the foundations of the Microsoftian Dark Towers are crumbling. The One Ring of Windoze is inexorably accelerating into the Crack of Linux/Unix/OS X Doom. The valiant armies of the west (IBM, Apple, Sun, Novell, etc., and the vast hacker hordes are uniting under the gleaming Open File Formats banner. The tide is turning, and the Age of Microsoft is dying. Frodo lives!
This whole drawn-out drama is pure FUD, and nothing but FUD, from the latest of Microsoft's minions. Call it a delaying tactic, a rearguard action, a smokescreen, call it what you will. As long they can keep you stirred up about this, they are achieving their goal. Which is, *anything* to slow the growing tide of disgusted people breaking away from MS and moving toward independence.
SCO knows they can't win in court - it's public perceptions they're playing to.
So simply ignore it, stay focused, and move toward independence anyway. Speak the truth quietly, and move on. Move toward Linux, or move toward Unix, or (even nicer) move toward OS X. Move toward open file formats and cooperative networking standards. Move toward a community of equals and a marketplace of open and honest competition. Well, OK, at least toward a level playing field.
Darl Mcbride is merely the current paymaster and PR man for the current set of lawyers. Simply ignore him, and them. IBM will demolish them soon. MS will just have to bring another FUDbuddy in from the bullpen that much sooner..
They will be better off running Apple's reliable OS X on the desktop, on elegant, competitively priced hardware, and cooperating quite nicely with corporate Linux, thank you.
This is a natural counter movement to the deeply flawed and virus-infested Microsoft monoculture. Free association, not forced assimilation, is what cooperative and self-reliant people desire. And in the end, our operating systems, and the computers they run on, are community-building tools par excellence.
So we're all just building a better neighborhood, and trying to help all our relatives "leave the plantation" as it were. It's a big job and it won't be finished in our lifetimes.
There's a fundamental bit of truth expressed by all the Star Wars and Star Trek imagery used so often here. Liberty and freedom of choice in all good things are precious, worth working and fighting for. Hard and long.
Think about that for a minute. Really.
Level competition now has less chance of beating Microsoft than the Iraqi army does of beating a U.S. invasion. Get it? They are so powerful - their monopoly advantages are so strong - they are effectively invincible. They may screw themselves out of their monopoly position, but there is no longer any possibility of a competitive force beating them.
As long as the world is playing Microsoft's game, Microsoft will be the winner. If you read the article, that's what Eolas says they're trying to change. Just take the the whole ballgame away from MS and let everybody else play fair - with open standards and innovation for all.
Don't forget - EVERYTHING Microsoft does is a platform play. Again and again, they work to bind everything to themselves in a proprietary way. That is their goal, every time. To be the internet platform. To be the game platform. To be the email, the chat, the entertainment, the all consuming .NET transaction platform.
Ballmer and Gates are out to make history - in a very big way. Don't ever expect these two guys to change their attitude - why should they? Their monumental "pyramids" are not yet completed.
It's a nice dream Eolas presents. It's a shame that the only weapon they have to fight with is a dirty little patent. A two-edged sword, indeed.
You are absolutely right about the old "semi-voluntary" model. Street players used to pass the hat; then tent performers sold tickets; and soon bands with streaming file servers will sell their own songs over the net. The only reason the existing artists aren't doing it already is because they are still locked into the old system.
As the new digital-age artists come along, unbeholden to the old RIAA/ASCAP gatekeepers, the new, net-based way will prevail. The middleman WILL disappear, simply because he's no longer necessary.
- and Big Redmond sees it coming. It's a big bag of buggy, restrictive, expensive, intrusive, insecure software. People have just HAD IT up to their eyeballs with MS. Unix/OS X/Linux is the way out of this MS mess, and people all over the world are *rapidly* waking up to that fact.
As a Tech alum also ('88) : I can tell you, we had the same rules way back then in our programming courses, and there's nothing wrong with the rule! Sometimes ya just gotta be able to dig down in the dirt, do the basics, on your own, without any coaching, or it won't work, Elmer!! "I just wanted to learn" - that is complete horse-puckey! Lazy Luuuser got caught, now wants to whine about it.....