I fully agree. When I first heard about the article, I was too annoyed to read the actual article.(actually, I still haven't; I don't think they deserve more hits) They seem completely ignorant of the background and history of Apple, if they think this just might work. Perhaps they just want to make short term gains on Apple's stock, never mind if the company immediately founders.
Apple is known for innovation, but splitting the company would lessen its freedom to do so. Running Windows on Macs would put all the power back with Microsoft, and we don't want to go there!
I'd already moderated one post, but I just had to reply..
I've an off the shelf Maxtor hard drive in my older iMac; naturally, there's no room for three of them, but a PowerMac could hold them. You can also use PC USB mice and even keyboards with a Mac if you wish, though I'd recommend a Mac keyboard since there's a FEW differences in the keys used. The PowerMacs also have AGP for video cards, though you may need a firmware upgrade to use yours with a Mac; ATI's site should have more info on that.
Apple has only really fallen behind lately in raw CPU performance, and since they've sometimes been ahead in the past, they might pull ahead in the future again. Since my 3+ year old G3/400 CPU meets all of my needs, if not all of my wants, I don't think it's a big issue unless you're in a business where your CPU speed affects the amount of money you make.
Not bad looking; I'd heard mention of them somewhere else before, but this is my first look. On the other hand, I've been using the old Apple Pro Keyboard for years, and am used to white lettering on black keys. Kind of like my old TI 99 4/A, come to think of it.
Looking at my father's iMac rev/B, I see iPod Firewire drivers for iTunes 2 in OS 9.22. Perhaps the NEW iPods wouldn't work with it, but I don't see why not. On the other hand, I don't think there will be AAC support in OS 9. Of course, he COULD install OS X on this machine, but he's waiting for a new one, after I find a job...
I take my iPod to job interviews and such. The address book is VERY handy when I have to write down my job history, references, and so forth. I know that *I* can't remember all those addresses and phone numbers of all the places I worked.
Actually, the 3 songs I bought replaced MP3's from LimeWire. The replacements sound better, came with cover art, and are legal. All 3 are also from artists that I've never actually BOUGHT from before, so they're each getting a few cents from me for the first time.
Probably the main drawback to iTunes 4 right now is not just that it's Mac-only, but not all Mac users can use it. My father is still runing 9.22 on his iMac rev B at home(he's waiting for a new machine for OS X), and my uncle has 10.1.5 on his G3/300 tower, since he was given X for his birthday only days before Jaguar was announced. Granted, neither of them listen to music much, but I think my mother would use this service if she could.
I love the new service, and bought three songs myself, but I really need to find a job before spending much money there.
I also noticed tonight that at least two MP3 files I have already have cover art in them; I just had no way to tell it was there until iTunes 4. They don't fill the whole artwork window, though.
Makes sense; when I synced with my iPod after adding a lot of album covers, it recopied every song I'd added a picture to. Hmm, so if my purchased 128 kbps AAC song with album art included was the same size but better sounding than an 128 kbps MP3 file that lacks the picture, perhaps it DOES compress a bit better as well.
I'm quite happy with AAC support for my 5 GB iPod. I certainly don't need games on something with such tiny buttons and a tiny black and white screen. If I'm bored, that's what the MUSIC is for! The notes feature might be useful, depending on how it's implemented. But I don't need it.
The iTunes Music Store, on the other hand, is all the fun of a Borders store on my desktop at a lower price. (well, no books or videos, but you get my point) I'm sure it will be a small but steady drain on my money for a long time.
It's not quite THAT fancy. Basically, iTunes lets you either specify your whole library to go on the iPod(if it fits), or just the playlists you specify. You can modify the tags and assign star ratings, 1 to 5 starts, for each song. You CAN'T pause a song in iTunes and continue in the same spot on the iPod, or vice versa.
iTunes 4 adds Rendezvous network streaming over LAN or AirPort networks, or manually streaming to one remote IP address. It adds the iTunes Music Store, and lets you store album art for each song. (I'm not sure WHERE on my hard drive those images are stored) Album art comes with new purchases from the Store, but you can drag 'n drop to add art from other sources. I was browsing Amazon.com the other day for album cover art for my existing files.
The initial review there is the worst attempt at a game review I've ever seen, including the ones people write on Amazon.com. The rebuttal is a little better, but not much.
It's a very good game where you hire heroes that act like PEOPLE, not disposable shock troops like in most RTS games. If they're hurt, or think the monsters are too tough, they try and run home, or to the nearest inn to recover. It's Warcraft II crossed with The Sims. They get money from the monsters they kill, spend it on better equipment and healing potions, and take the rest home to their guild halls, where a cut gets picked up by tax collectors and taken to your treasury. You spend the money on building construction, hiring more heroes, some tech research, and certain spells that the temples make available for a gold cost per spell.
The main strategic part of the game is picking the heroes that are right for your current mission goals. Large map to explore? Get rangers, they love to explore. Wolves and bears? Get Cultists, they charm nonintelligent monsters so that they fight for you. Dragons? Get Priestesses, the skeletons they animate are difficult to hit with ranged attacks, including dragon fire. Minotaurs? Wizards have the long range heavy firepower, if you can protect them.
It's a fun game, and I've enjoyed the MacOS version for a long time. Unfortunately, it's not been Carbonized, and MacPlay told me last month that they have no plans to, though it runs well in Classic mode, if slower. But perhaps someone could port the Linux version to MacOS X? It's a 2D game, so it shouldn't be too complicated. On the other hand, I'm sure every version of the game uses a different protocol: DirectPlay for Windows, AppleTalk or TCP/IP for the Mac version, and probably a third choice for the Linux version. The site doesn't say anything about multiplayer.
It doesn't always suck. Babylon 5 often made use of "CGI Sets", where the actors are standing on a section of floor, and everything else is added later, and the audience rarely noticed, because it looked like a regular set. It wasn't all fancy space battles.
If it was DivX, I'd be running a converter on it to view it in QuickTime. So it saves me a step or two.
No formats worse that QuickTime? If it was in Windows Media 9 format, only those using WMP 9 could view it, and the player is ONLY for Windows. Real Media is more cross platform, but I doubt it would look as good.
Wouldn't be too bad for me, either, after 7 months unemployment. On the other hand, the local Apple store is a half-hour commute each way, and if there, I'd be on my feet all day, and previous retail jobs have already ruined my feet...
Nah, Sony is no IT corporation. One of their divisions just happens to be a PC box maker, just something to go with the rest of their consumer electronics.
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I'd say that the bbspot.com URL on one of them is a clue!
I like the line about "Quantity over Quality" that both McDonalds and Microsoft tend to live by.
I fully agree. When I first heard about the article, I was too annoyed to read the actual article.(actually, I still haven't; I don't think they deserve more hits) They seem completely ignorant of the background and history of Apple, if they think this just might work. Perhaps they just want to make short term gains on Apple's stock, never mind if the company immediately founders.
Apple is known for innovation, but splitting the company would lessen its freedom to do so. Running Windows on Macs would put all the power back with Microsoft, and we don't want to go there!
I'd already moderated one post, but I just had to reply..
I've an off the shelf Maxtor hard drive in my older iMac; naturally, there's no room for three of them, but a PowerMac could hold them. You can also use PC USB mice and even keyboards with a Mac if you wish, though I'd recommend a Mac keyboard since there's a FEW differences in the keys used. The PowerMacs also have AGP for video cards, though you may need a firmware upgrade to use yours with a Mac; ATI's site should have more info on that.
Apple has only really fallen behind lately in raw CPU performance, and since they've sometimes been ahead in the past, they might pull ahead in the future again. Since my 3+ year old G3/400 CPU meets all of my needs, if not all of my wants, I don't think it's a big issue unless you're in a business where your CPU speed affects the amount of money you make.
Not bad looking; I'd heard mention of them somewhere else before, but this is my first look. On the other hand, I've been using the old Apple Pro Keyboard for years, and am used to white lettering on black keys. Kind of like my old TI 99 4/A, come to think of it.
Looking at my father's iMac rev/B, I see iPod Firewire drivers for iTunes 2 in OS 9.22. Perhaps the NEW iPods wouldn't work with it, but I don't see why not. On the other hand, I don't think there will be AAC support in OS 9. Of course, he COULD install OS X on this machine, but he's waiting for a new one, after I find a job...
Thanks for the info; it looks like that should work with older Macs as well, like my relatives have.
I take my iPod to job interviews and such. The address book is VERY handy when I have to write down my job history, references, and so forth. I know that *I* can't remember all those addresses and phone numbers of all the places I worked.
My sincerest condolences if that's the case!
Hmm, interesting. So does QuickTime 6.2 work with 10.1.5 also? If so, I may let my uncle know.
Add "for quality." to the end of that, and I'll agree with you.
Actually, the 3 songs I bought replaced MP3's from LimeWire. The replacements sound better, came with cover art, and are legal. All 3 are also from artists that I've never actually BOUGHT from before, so they're each getting a few cents from me for the first time.
Probably the main drawback to iTunes 4 right now is not just that it's Mac-only, but not all Mac users can use it. My father is still runing 9.22 on his iMac rev B at home(he's waiting for a new machine for OS X), and my uncle has 10.1.5 on his G3/300 tower, since he was given X for his birthday only days before Jaguar was announced. Granted, neither of them listen to music much, but I think my mother would use this service if she could.
I love the new service, and bought three songs myself, but I really need to find a job before spending much money there.
Actually, both say they came from MP3.COM, though one of them may have gone to a few other computers on the way here.... ;-)
I also noticed tonight that at least two MP3 files I have already have cover art in them; I just had no way to tell it was there until iTunes 4. They don't fill the whole artwork window, though.
Makes sense; when I synced with my iPod after adding a lot of album covers, it recopied every song I'd added a picture to. Hmm, so if my purchased 128 kbps AAC song with album art included was the same size but better sounding than an 128 kbps MP3 file that lacks the picture, perhaps it DOES compress a bit better as well.
Sounds like someone needs a hug... ;-)
I'm quite happy with AAC support for my 5 GB iPod. I certainly don't need games on something with such tiny buttons and a tiny black and white screen. If I'm bored, that's what the MUSIC is for! The notes feature might be useful, depending on how it's implemented. But I don't need it.
The iTunes Music Store, on the other hand, is all the fun of a Borders store on my desktop at a lower price. (well, no books or videos, but you get my point) I'm sure it will be a small but steady drain on my money for a long time.
It's not quite THAT fancy. Basically, iTunes lets you either specify your whole library to go on the iPod(if it fits), or just the playlists you specify. You can modify the tags and assign star ratings, 1 to 5 starts, for each song. You CAN'T pause a song in iTunes and continue in the same spot on the iPod, or vice versa.
iTunes 4 adds Rendezvous network streaming over LAN or AirPort networks, or manually streaming to one remote IP address. It adds the iTunes Music Store, and lets you store album art for each song. (I'm not sure WHERE on my hard drive those images are stored) Album art comes with new purchases from the Store, but you can drag 'n drop to add art from other sources. I was browsing Amazon.com the other day for album cover art for my existing files.
That's the sequel, which word of only started leaking out this week. No official word on it, including which platforms it will be developed for.
The initial review there is the worst attempt at a game review I've ever seen, including the ones people write on Amazon.com. The rebuttal is a little better, but not much.
It's a very good game where you hire heroes that act like PEOPLE, not disposable shock troops like in most RTS games. If they're hurt, or think the monsters are too tough, they try and run home, or to the nearest inn to recover. It's Warcraft II crossed with The Sims. They get money from the monsters they kill, spend it on better equipment and healing potions, and take the rest home to their guild halls, where a cut gets picked up by tax collectors and taken to your treasury. You spend the money on building construction, hiring more heroes, some tech research, and certain spells that the temples make available for a gold cost per spell.
The main strategic part of the game is picking the heroes that are right for your current mission goals. Large map to explore? Get rangers, they love to explore. Wolves and bears? Get Cultists, they charm nonintelligent monsters so that they fight for you. Dragons? Get Priestesses, the skeletons they animate are difficult to hit with ranged attacks, including dragon fire. Minotaurs? Wizards have the long range heavy firepower, if you can protect them.
It's a fun game, and I've enjoyed the MacOS version for a long time. Unfortunately, it's not been Carbonized, and MacPlay told me last month that they have no plans to, though it runs well in Classic mode, if slower. But perhaps someone could port the Linux version to MacOS X? It's a 2D game, so it shouldn't be too complicated. On the other hand, I'm sure every version of the game uses a different protocol: DirectPlay for Windows, AppleTalk or TCP/IP for the Mac version, and probably a third choice for the Linux version. The site doesn't say anything about multiplayer.
It doesn't always suck. Babylon 5 often made use of "CGI Sets", where the actors are standing on a section of floor, and everything else is added later, and the audience rarely noticed, because it looked like a regular set. It wasn't all fancy space battles.
If it was DivX, I'd be running a converter on it to view it in QuickTime. So it saves me a step or two.
No formats worse that QuickTime? If it was in Windows Media 9 format, only those using WMP 9 could view it, and the player is ONLY for Windows. Real Media is more cross platform, but I doubt it would look as good.
Thanks, I needed a good laugh!
Wouldn't be too bad for me, either, after 7 months unemployment. On the other hand, the local Apple store is a half-hour commute each way, and if there, I'd be on my feet all day, and previous retail jobs have already ruined my feet...
Nah, Sony is no IT corporation. One of their divisions just happens to be a PC box maker, just something to go with the rest of their consumer electronics.