You should have considered that before you made an inept attempt at attacking my semantics, and were found wanting.
My attack on your semantics was done AFTER I'd confirmed victory in the core argument - it was therefore irrelevant to the actual outcome of my victory.
Points 1 and 2 in your argument are examples of the true Scotsman fallacy, and are at any rate unsubstantiated. It's great to see my ability to predict internet debating styles holds up.
Being entirely unaware of said "true Scotsman" fallacy at this moment in time, if my statements serve as proof of said fallacy then that is entirely coincidental. But I will go off and find a definition of that fallacy now so I am aware of it for next time.
Incidentally, if I have no knowledge of what Internet debating style you are predicting, I can neither confirm or deny that said prediction is correct.
In which case, please download all of your nerd-related memories & mental definitions into my mind & I will try really hard to define nerd by your terms.
Let's read the banner together, shall we? Would you like me to put a nice tinkly little tune on so it makes it easier for you?
Ready?
"Slashdot. News For Nerds. Stuff That Matters"
Are you still with me? Or do you need a break and a glass of warm milk before we continue.
I repeat - nerds don't care about share prices. Therefore stock prices is not news for nerds. Therefore I am arguing (note that BIG word there and don't read it again as "frothing at the mouth & demanding the takedown of the article") the relevance of posting this article.
Just because the article mentions Apple (I will pause there for a few seconds so you can make a quick reverent bow towards Cupertino) does not automatically mean it is news for nerds.
D&D is nice and all, but it won't keep my boiler running when I retire.
I've not played it myself in about 15 years or so - I was using it as a demonstration as to why I perceive myself to have got less nerdy with age.
I just existed from day to day, never worrying about where my next meal was coming from, kind of getting by, but I ended up in a whole mountain of debt and a very bad situation.
I was no different, believe me.
Maybe you are luckier than I am and know how to do this stuff properly, but to me it was a mystery.
Yes, I was lucky. I found a missus with far more financial sense than me who helped get me on the straight and narrow. We're still happily together some 18 years later.
Eventually I figured out I needed to get out of debt. No food does that to you. So I looked around for info about how to do it, the website I happened across was The Motley Fool, i'm sure there are others, that was around 15 years ago.
Whatever works - and it still always needs some strength of character to do it.
It was a long, hard struggle to get where I am to day. I have no debt except a mortgage, and I have actually started to save money. For the first time in my life my net-worth is positive. On this journey I continued to read, and discovered how interesting investment can be its far more than greedily watching the stock price. Quite the contrary it makes you absolutely aware of what is going on in the world, global economics is far more complex, wide reaching and interesting subject than I could have imagined.
I agree entirely. I keep an eye on economics, even as a total computer an OS nerd, I find a lot of that stuff incredibly interesting. But then if you have that level of interest, you also fully understand that the technical beauty of what a company makes is NOT necessarily related to their stock price or size.
It annoys me that the same people here who used to say "Windows is crap even though Microsoft's share price is high" are now saying "Apple's higher share price is an indicator of how good their products are" - total hypocrisy & rubbish.
What worked for me was seeing finances as a game. Some kind of huge mmrlrpg. I love stat building games and so once this clicked all of a sudden it became fun to plane for the future and try and accumulate wealth. Its the best game I have every played, and the results seem to have so much more meaning than all the others. You should try it.
Again, whatever works, and if you got out of debt & happier as a result then good for you, I mean it.
But, my point is that please don't expect a resounding "Whoopie Do" from me just because Apple's share prices have smashed some all-time high. As a gadget nerd, it's of no interest.
Are you kidding me? You can't even parse a sentence? It means "I have no doubt, that your accusation was not founded on logic", not "your accusation has neither logic nor doubt". Sweet non-existent Christ, you're a tedious troll.
A commonly used tactic. Cannot win main argument discussion, therefore moves to discussion of semantics.
Oh, and the second sign of losing an argument is resorting to direct abuse - so thanks for asserting my victory.
I rebutted your statement thoroughly by existing, as a nerd who has an interest in this topic. I outlined the reasons for my interest, for completeness, in the above comments.
No you did not. You merely demonstrated that you drink far too much of the Apple Kool-Aid & have sacrificed reason in favour of brand loyalty. You have yet to explain why a gadget nerd like me, with no brand loyalty to Apple, should care about their stock prices. That is what I have been waiting for.
There are several other nerds discussing the subject avidly at this moment in this comments section.
Yes, but I am having the discussion with you.
If you're going to play the "no true scotsman" fallacy and claim that none of us are nerds, you're on your own.
How simply do I need to put this.
I claim:
1. A nerd is someone who appreciates something for it's design, content, technical expertise, customisability, not the profits of the company making that item. e.g. A fan of Marvel "Iron Man" comics cares far more about the quality of writing and artwork in the comic than Marvel's share prices.
2. Nerd != Apple User
3. Shareholders do not care what is produced by a company as long as their share prices & dividend payments exceed their expectations. Therefore, the stock price or size of a company has little or no impact on the quality of what they produce. Since a nerd IS interested in quality, the logical conclusion is that stock prices are of no interest to nerds (like me).
4. Therefore, news about ANY stock prices (not just your beloved Apple) is not "News For Nerds".
While I agree with you that nerds, scientists and engineers are more valuable to society (I'm asking for a flame, I know) than economists and the latest Wall street Gugu, it does not mean that we must block all information about the financial issues of the world.
This is the problem with Slashdot. Too many people with too much pent-up emotion hitting the "Reply To This" button too quickly.
I definitely did NOT say nerds & scientists are more valuable to society, it's plainly obvious a lot of the good stuff that gets developed would never get out to the public at large without people with financial sense behind them. So PLEASE DO NOT put words into my mouth.
I DID say that stock prices aren't "News For Nerds" and that means ANY stock prices, not just Apple's.
t takes you only 5 seconds to scan a summary on/. and/. obviously expects its readers to make the conscious decision to stop reading if they consider it a waste of time. There are plenty of other topics to read...
And it takes about 1 second to read the words "Post Comment" meaning that you are invited to discuss the summary if you so wish.
Maybe I've overlooked something but I cannot find a "Post Comment Only If You Are Prepared To Say Something Good About Apple" button... mind you, these days on Slashdot, that's kind of the accepted norm...
But regardless, how can anybody be so blind as to not see the significance when a computer company that was nearly dead a dozen years ago now has a bigger market cap than Microsoft or Walmart, and is closing in on Exxon?
Complete irrelevance, sorry.
I don't buy Apple products, they've never made anything for a price I'd want to pay. Lots of people do buy their stuff and love it. Let's agree to differ, put that one to bed and put aside any notion this argument is "Apple hater vs fanboi". Okay?
Despite having no interest in Apple products, I am interested in reading what they make because what they do will have some impact on other companies as well and, in turn, affect what they make. This I would describe as "nerdy" behaviour for someone interested in gadgets.
I am not blind to the significance of Apple's growth, I just don't consider it relevant to me.
No matter what your personal feelings are about their products, they've clearly tapped into something that's getting large numbers of people to fork over their hard-earned money.
That's a topic for another debate - you could argue they've done it purely on the strength of their products, I'd argue about blind brand loyalties, status symbols & an anti-Microsoft backlash. Let's not start that one here.
Whether you're interested in the money aspects or not, a company's success in the stock market is a measure of what is selling in the marketplace.
It's a measure of how much profit it makes for the shareholders, not how good what it actually sell is.
As a nerd, I can admire the technical qualities of something with no interest in how big the company is. It's an irrelevance.
Success breeds imitators, so it's a harbinger of what we can probably expect to see from other companies in terms of products, processes, and market strategies.
Nobody will imitate you if you make something that's technically good but that nobody will buy - it's the VHS & Betamax scenario over again.
They may try to imitate you because they too can make money from what you do, maybe selling at a cheaper price - but that does not necessarily have anything to do with the quality of what you are selling.
Why can you not visualise that someone can admire something for it's design & quality while not giving a toss about the share prices?
I am not personally interested in this article, agreed.
It is not "News for Nerds", that is the point I am currently arguing, you have not countered that so far with any valid response.
Fine, discussion is over, but since you haven't argued my core point, I win. Thanks.
no doubt logic-free
Careful with the English there, also - that's a fallacious statement. A conclusion for which there is no doubt cannot have been arrived at without a certain degree of logic being used to get there.
Why do people like you just read what they want to read in anyone else's commemts?
Just because I own no shares does not automatically mean I have not made previsions for my retirement. If anything, just doing so in stocks & shares strikes me as both foolhardy & risky.
Please try to visualise colours between black & white.
But the only Apple product I have ever owned is an iPod Touch the missus gave to me when she bought her iPhone. Don't get me wrong, it's a neat gadget for a freebie but Apple's failures or successes have little or no impact on me.
You seem to have problems visualising that someone can be a "nerd" without being an Apple freak...
So, once again, please explain how Apple's stock price contributes in any way to my personal well-being or happiness?
But how much checking did you do into seeing what sites users could get to through firewalls & proxy servers, not to mention stuff they brought in on USB keys, drives, etc?
Okay, let's turn your question on it's head then...
Given that I, who is by his own admission a "nerd", have no interest in Apple's (or indeed any other) stock prices, precisely *WHAT* does that stock price mean to *ME*, in practical terms, then?
Money doesn't have to be the endin itself, it can be the means to an end.
Thanks. You clearly read my post (unlike some of the other responders) & understood the point I made. I enjoy a happy life because I earn a reasonable salary that allows that and I don't think obsessing about getting any more money would make me any happier.
They may have just invested because they had fond memories of their Apple ][.
Even though I'm no Apple fan, this isn't a direct attack on them. It's an attack on people who claim to be "nerds" but obsess about money... nerds don't do that, they use money to indulge their obsessions - i.e a means to an end.
Just by chance, they now might have the luxury of being able to geek away to their hearts content, without having to worry about the roof over their head, or where the next packet of cheetos is going to come from.
I think I get what you're saying here but not quite sure. Putting Apple aside again, if you're saying that they earn enough money to the point where they no longer need to worry about it then, yes, I agree - that probably describes me in a nutshell.
But how does that explain those people who accumulate more wealth than they could ever possibly spend in their lifetimes? Does that not therefore illustrate that for some people, "money" and "everything else in the universe" are mutually exclusive? In which case, I'm in the "everything else in the universe" part but still very happy with my life - that's, again, the point I'm trying to get across.
Given the propensity for nerds to give their work away, this is quite a beneficial state for them to be in.
True. Nerds (of which I am proud to be one, despite being less nerdish now than I was in my younger days) have a true passion for the stuff they like, are willing to talk about that stuff a lot (yes, sometimes to the point of boring, been there, done that, got the T-shirt) and help others.
But do many who accumulate wealth help others accumulate it? Is the author of a "Get Rich Quick" book more concerned about helping others get rich or getting rich himself/herself with book sales?
Maybe you should respect that other people have broader interests than you?
Sorry, I don't see how you can legitimately draw this conclusion.
I actually respect self-made millionaires who set out to make themselves wealthy by coming up with inovative ideas that sell whilst treading on the toes of everyone else as little as possible in the process. But in order to become rich, they make the accumulation of wealth their primary obsession, they're happy doing it (and good luck to them) but the chances are, therefore, they have *FEWER* interests than other people. I'm sure self-made millionaires like Richard Branson would be the *FIRST* to admit that.
I personally find it interesting that a vertically-integrated software and hardware company could become a serious part of the economy, after seeing the aftermath of Commodore two decades ago.
Next time, just say "I am an Apple fanboi" - it means the same thing and puts less wear on your keyboard.
If this offends you so, you can go stand with the dipshits who can't stand SF clogging up precious sports time in the TV schedule.
1. No, it doesn't offend me. I am an ex-nerd, prices of stocks & shares hold less interest for me than when the next Star Trek movie is coming out.
2. I watch & read a lot of sci-fi & fantasy (go read my post properly this time & look at the clue in "Dungeons & Dragons) and apart from watching a few rugby games, don't have any interest in sport. But it doesn't bother me sport being on the TV either because there's plenty of other stuff for me to go do. And you've clearly drawn your own incorrect conclusions about me having acted on emotion, rather than reason.
It may have been a "random rampling" in your view but you clearly didn't read it properly.
Just because I stated that obsession with money contributes nothing to the happiness in *MY* life, does not automatically imply people who do obsess about it are miserable - so take a deep breath or two before hitting "Reply to This" in future.
The whole point of my comment was that stock prices is not "News For Nerds" as Slashdot claims to be.
You know something? You people that sit there salivating watching the values of your stocks & shares & caring little about what else goes on in this world of ours have my utmost & deepest sympathy & are totally welcome to it.
Nerds & geeks, whatever their faults, are people who have passions for stuff *OTHER* than just money. Whilst I grew out of that sort of stuff a while ago, I actually have a degree of respect for the person that fills their lives with comic books or Star Wars memorabilia rather than investing in a pension plan or eyeing the stock markets because when I was into that sort of stuff (including RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons), I shared a strong bond with some equally nerdy people & had some good times - and most of those same people have matured with me, grown out of the nerdy stuff (most of it anyway), got married, had kids & still remain close friends to this day.
At the time, we were all too nerdy to care about what people on the outside thought of us - and now I'm on the outside and all grown up & sensible, I don't regret one bit having done those things because it all helped in my education of balancing a reasonably well-paid job with a loving partner & great social life.
I'm happy, own my own house, have good health & don't own a single stock or share in any company. The only money I owe anyone is my bank due to a reasonably-sized mortgage on my reasonably sized house.
So please don't delude yourself into thinking that the price of stocks & shares is "stuff that matters" to a nerd, or even an older partial nerd like me - it doesn't.
Even as a mainly Linux user, I completely agree with the above comments.
Software is complicated & all of it has bugs & security holes - Linux, OS X, Windows, whatever...
Microsoft's worst mistake was believing their own marketing that sent out the message that you don't have to know much about computers to be completely secure when using one - it is the same mistake Apple are currently making.
There are people out here using Windows (myself included) who don't see any viruses, trojans or rootkits on Windows because we keep patches up to date, use good virus & malware scanners, don't trust emails & attachments from people we don't know, & don't go trying to get all our software for free from torrent sites.
We use the same Windows OSes that people with infected PCs use, therefore the only thing separating the two is knowledge, experience & common sense. Period.
I don't necessarily like the fact that Microsoft is using the court system for this because then some public money will be used in the process - but something *DOES* need to be done & I'm all for people being kicked off of their Internet connections until they get off their backsides & clean their PCs.
My partner has an iPhone, I have a Nexus One phone that I got after hers - we're both on the cellular provider Vodafone here in the UK.
She likes the iPhone a lot but believes the Nexus One Android 2.2 interface is better - having played with my phone, she commented that had it been available at the time she got iPhone, she would have got a Nexus One instead...
When we are together, she occasionally suffers volume & signal problems where my phone works perfectly well...
When she upgraded to an iPhone, she gave me her old iPod Touch. Yes, the Touch is a neat little device but it barely gets used since I got the Nexus One. The main two reasons are that:
1. The Touch is indelibly linked to that horrible iTunes software that runs on Windows only whereas the Nexus One will mount as an external drive easily on Windows or Linux (the OS I use the most).
2. I have a large music collection & the Touch has a fixed 16GB storage whereas the Nexus One takes MicroSD cards that can be swapped out if required. Plus I rip my own CDs anyway so the Apple Store is both useless & completely overpriced for music to me.
Incidentally, clearly you're a fanboi who has never been anywhere near an Android 2.2 device. Having played with both an iPhone and a Nexus One, I can categorically state there's very little difference in execution speed between the two - so stop with the FUD.
Slashdot Mirror
You should have considered that before you made an inept attempt at attacking my semantics, and were found wanting.
My attack on your semantics was done AFTER I'd confirmed victory in the core argument - it was therefore irrelevant to the actual outcome of my victory.
Points 1 and 2 in your argument are examples of the true Scotsman fallacy, and are at any rate unsubstantiated. It's great to see my ability to predict internet debating styles holds up.
Being entirely unaware of said "true Scotsman" fallacy at this moment in time, if my statements serve as proof of said fallacy then that is entirely coincidental. But I will go off and find a definition of that fallacy now so I am aware of it for next time.
Incidentally, if I have no knowledge of what Internet debating style you are predicting, I can neither confirm or deny that said prediction is correct.
Rubbish. Balderdash. Crap. Bollocks.
I think it's safe to assume that if we lined up 100 regular readers of "Iron Man" and asked them the question:
"Are your regular buying habits of the comic more influenced by the quality of artwork and writing in the comic, or by Marvel's share prices?"
it's safe to assume most of them would say it was the former.
The other stuff you've written is designed to deliberately obfuscate so, without further explanation of its actual meaning, I am forced to ignore it.
In which case, please download all of your nerd-related memories & mental definitions into my mind & I will try really hard to define nerd by your terms.
How *ELSE* am I supposed to define anything?
Abuse - the last bastion of those with nothing intelligent to add to a discussion.
Let's read the banner together, shall we? Would you like me to put a nice tinkly little tune on so it makes it easier for you?
Ready?
"Slashdot. News For Nerds. Stuff That Matters"
Are you still with me? Or do you need a break and a glass of warm milk before we continue.
I repeat - nerds don't care about share prices. Therefore stock prices is not news for nerds. Therefore I am arguing (note that BIG word there and don't read it again as "frothing at the mouth & demanding the takedown of the article") the relevance of posting this article.
Just because the article mentions Apple (I will pause there for a few seconds so you can make a quick reverent bow towards Cupertino) does not automatically mean it is news for nerds.
There. Got it now? Go for it.
D&D is nice and all, but it won't keep my boiler running when I retire.
I've not played it myself in about 15 years or so - I was using it as a demonstration as to why I perceive myself to have got less nerdy with age.
I just existed from day to day, never worrying about where my next meal was coming from, kind of getting by, but I ended up in a whole mountain of debt and a very bad situation.
I was no different, believe me.
Maybe you are luckier than I am and know how to do this stuff properly, but to me it was a mystery.
Yes, I was lucky. I found a missus with far more financial sense than me who helped get me on the straight and narrow. We're still happily together some 18 years later.
Eventually I figured out I needed to get out of debt. No food does that to you. So I looked around for info about how to do it, the website I happened across was The Motley Fool, i'm sure there are others, that was around 15 years ago.
Whatever works - and it still always needs some strength of character to do it.
It was a long, hard struggle to get where I am to day. I have no debt except a mortgage, and I have actually started to save money. For the first time in my life my net-worth is positive. On this journey I continued to read, and discovered how interesting investment can be its far more than greedily watching the stock price. Quite the contrary it makes you absolutely aware of what is going on in the world, global economics is far more complex, wide reaching and interesting subject than I could have imagined.
I agree entirely. I keep an eye on economics, even as a total computer an OS nerd, I find a lot of that stuff incredibly interesting. But then if you have that level of interest, you also fully understand that the technical beauty of what a company makes is NOT necessarily related to their stock price or size.
It annoys me that the same people here who used to say "Windows is crap even though Microsoft's share price is high" are now saying "Apple's higher share price is an indicator of how good their products are" - total hypocrisy & rubbish.
What worked for me was seeing finances as a game. Some kind of huge mmrlrpg. I love stat building games and so once this clicked all of a sudden it became fun to plane for the future and try and accumulate wealth. Its the best game I have every played, and the results seem to have so much more meaning than all the others. You should try it.
Again, whatever works, and if you got out of debt & happier as a result then good for you, I mean it.
But, my point is that please don't expect a resounding "Whoopie Do" from me just because Apple's share prices have smashed some all-time high. As a gadget nerd, it's of no interest.
And your point is what, precisely?
I am a nerd, I am interested in the design and technical capabilities of stuff.
Size and profitability of a company is not directly proportional to the quality of what they produce. (e.g. VHS vs Betamax)
Therefore share prices don't interest a true nerd.
Please discuss... it's a quiet afternoon for me & I've karma to burn. So go for it.
I did not request removal of the article - as a Slashdotter I exercised my right to discuss the relevance and/or content of the article.
Big difference. Please try to keep up.
Are you kidding me? You can't even parse a sentence? It means "I have no doubt, that your accusation was not founded on logic", not "your accusation has neither logic nor doubt". Sweet non-existent Christ, you're a tedious troll.
A commonly used tactic. Cannot win main argument discussion, therefore moves to discussion of semantics.
Oh, and the second sign of losing an argument is resorting to direct abuse - so thanks for asserting my victory.
I rebutted your statement thoroughly by existing, as a nerd who has an interest in this topic. I outlined the reasons for my interest, for completeness, in the above comments.
No you did not. You merely demonstrated that you drink far too much of the Apple Kool-Aid & have sacrificed reason in favour of brand loyalty. You have yet to explain why a gadget nerd like me, with no brand loyalty to Apple, should care about their stock prices. That is what I have been waiting for.
There are several other nerds discussing the subject avidly at this moment in this comments section.
Yes, but I am having the discussion with you.
If you're going to play the "no true scotsman" fallacy and claim that none of us are nerds, you're on your own.
How simply do I need to put this.
I claim:
1. A nerd is someone who appreciates something for it's design, content, technical expertise, customisability, not the profits of the company making that item. e.g. A fan of Marvel "Iron Man" comics cares far more about the quality of writing and artwork in the comic than Marvel's share prices.
2. Nerd != Apple User
3. Shareholders do not care what is produced by a company as long as their share prices & dividend payments exceed their expectations. Therefore, the stock price or size of a company has little or no impact on the quality of what they produce. Since a nerd IS interested in quality, the logical conclusion is that stock prices are of no interest to nerds (like me).
4. Therefore, news about ANY stock prices (not just your beloved Apple) is not "News For Nerds".
While I agree with you that nerds, scientists and engineers are more valuable to society (I'm asking for a flame, I know) than economists and the latest Wall street Gugu, it does not mean that we must block all information about the financial issues of the world.
This is the problem with Slashdot. Too many people with too much pent-up emotion hitting the "Reply To This" button too quickly.
I definitely did NOT say nerds & scientists are more valuable to society, it's plainly obvious a lot of the good stuff that gets developed would never get out to the public at large without people with financial sense behind them. So PLEASE DO NOT put words into my mouth.
I DID say that stock prices aren't "News For Nerds" and that means ANY stock prices, not just Apple's.
t takes you only 5 seconds to scan a summary on /. and /. obviously expects its readers to make the conscious decision to stop reading if they consider it a waste of time. There are plenty of other topics to read...
And it takes about 1 second to read the words "Post Comment" meaning that you are invited to discuss the summary if you so wish.
Maybe I've overlooked something but I cannot find a "Post Comment Only If You Are Prepared To Say Something Good About Apple" button... mind you, these days on Slashdot, that's kind of the accepted norm...
But regardless, how can anybody be so blind as to not see the significance when a computer company that was nearly dead a dozen years ago now has a bigger market cap than Microsoft or Walmart, and is closing in on Exxon?
Complete irrelevance, sorry.
I don't buy Apple products, they've never made anything for a price I'd want to pay. Lots of people do buy their stuff and love it. Let's agree to differ, put that one to bed and put aside any notion this argument is "Apple hater vs fanboi". Okay?
Despite having no interest in Apple products, I am interested in reading what they make because what they do will have some impact on other companies as well and, in turn, affect what they make. This I would describe as "nerdy" behaviour for someone interested in gadgets.
I am not blind to the significance of Apple's growth, I just don't consider it relevant to me.
No matter what your personal feelings are about their products, they've clearly tapped into something that's getting large numbers of people to fork over their hard-earned money.
That's a topic for another debate - you could argue they've done it purely on the strength of their products, I'd argue about blind brand loyalties, status symbols & an anti-Microsoft backlash. Let's not start that one here.
Whether you're interested in the money aspects or not, a company's success in the stock market is a measure of what is selling in the marketplace.
It's a measure of how much profit it makes for the shareholders, not how good what it actually sell is.
As a nerd, I can admire the technical qualities of something with no interest in how big the company is. It's an irrelevance.
Success breeds imitators, so it's a harbinger of what we can probably expect to see from other companies in terms of products, processes, and market strategies.
Nobody will imitate you if you make something that's technically good but that nobody will buy - it's the VHS & Betamax scenario over again.
They may try to imitate you because they too can make money from what you do, maybe selling at a cheaper price - but that does not necessarily have anything to do with the quality of what you are selling.
Why can you not visualise that someone can admire something for it's design & quality while not giving a toss about the share prices?
I am not personally interested in this article, agreed.
It is not "News for Nerds", that is the point I am currently arguing, you have not countered that so far with any valid response.
Fine, discussion is over, but since you haven't argued my core point, I win. Thanks.
no doubt logic-free
Careful with the English there, also - that's a fallacious statement. A conclusion for which there is no doubt cannot have been arrived at without a certain degree of logic being used to get there.
No. It serves to add strength to my original statement that I am a (Slashdot) nerd with little interest in stock prices.
I'd love to sit in a room & argue with you because you sound like the sort of person who storms out in a huff rather than graciously admitting defeat.
Why do people like you just read what they want to read in anyone else's commemts?
Just because I own no shares does not automatically mean I have not made previsions for my retirement. If anything, just doing so in stocks & shares strikes me as both foolhardy & risky.
Please try to visualise colours between black & white.
That's as maybe...
But the only Apple product I have ever owned is an iPod Touch the missus gave to me when she bought her iPhone. Don't get me wrong, it's a neat gadget for a freebie but Apple's failures or successes have little or no impact on me.
You seem to have problems visualising that someone can be a "nerd" without being an Apple freak...
So, once again, please explain how Apple's stock price contributes in any way to my personal well-being or happiness?
Sure, and I take your point on that fully.
But how much checking did you do into seeing what sites users could get to through firewalls & proxy servers, not to mention stuff they brought in on USB keys, drives, etc?
Just saying...
Okay, let's turn your question on it's head then...
Given that I, who is by his own admission a "nerd", have no interest in Apple's (or indeed any other) stock prices, precisely *WHAT* does that stock price mean to *ME*, in practical terms, then?
Money doesn't have to be the endin itself, it can be the means to an end.
Thanks. You clearly read my post (unlike some of the other responders) & understood the point I made. I enjoy a happy life because I earn a reasonable salary that allows that and I don't think obsessing about getting any more money would make me any happier.
They may have just invested because they had fond memories of their Apple ][.
Even though I'm no Apple fan, this isn't a direct attack on them. It's an attack on people who claim to be "nerds" but obsess about money... nerds don't do that, they use money to indulge their obsessions - i.e a means to an end.
Just by chance, they now might have the luxury of being able to geek away to their hearts content, without having to worry about the roof over their head, or where the next packet of cheetos is going to come from.
I think I get what you're saying here but not quite sure. Putting Apple aside again, if you're saying that they earn enough money to the point where they no longer need to worry about it then, yes, I agree - that probably describes me in a nutshell.
But how does that explain those people who accumulate more wealth than they could ever possibly spend in their lifetimes? Does that not therefore illustrate that for some people, "money" and "everything else in the universe" are mutually exclusive? In which case, I'm in the "everything else in the universe" part but still very happy with my life - that's, again, the point I'm trying to get across.
Given the propensity for nerds to give their work away, this is quite a beneficial state for them to be in.
True. Nerds (of which I am proud to be one, despite being less nerdish now than I was in my younger days) have a true passion for the stuff they like, are willing to talk about that stuff a lot (yes, sometimes to the point of boring, been there, done that, got the T-shirt) and help others.
But do many who accumulate wealth help others accumulate it? Is the author of a "Get Rich Quick" book more concerned about helping others get rich or getting rich himself/herself with book sales?
Maybe you should respect that other people have broader interests than you?
Sorry, I don't see how you can legitimately draw this conclusion.
I actually respect self-made millionaires who set out to make themselves wealthy by coming up with inovative ideas that sell whilst treading on the toes of everyone else as little as possible in the process. But in order to become rich, they make the accumulation of wealth their primary obsession, they're happy doing it (and good luck to them) but the chances are, therefore, they have *FEWER* interests than other people. I'm sure self-made millionaires like Richard Branson would be the *FIRST* to admit that.
I personally find it interesting that a vertically-integrated software and hardware company could become a serious part of the economy, after seeing the aftermath of Commodore two decades ago.
Next time, just say "I am an Apple fanboi" - it means the same thing and puts less wear on your keyboard.
If this offends you so, you can go stand with the dipshits who can't stand SF clogging up precious sports time in the TV schedule.
1. No, it doesn't offend me. I am an ex-nerd, prices of stocks & shares hold less interest for me than when the next Star Trek movie is coming out.
2. I watch & read a lot of sci-fi & fantasy (go read my post properly this time & look at the clue in "Dungeons & Dragons) and apart from watching a few rugby games, don't have any interest in sport. But it doesn't bother me sport being on the TV either because there's plenty of other stuff for me to go do. And you've clearly drawn your own incorrect conclusions about me having acted on emotion, rather than reason.
It may have been a "random rampling" in your view but you clearly didn't read it properly.
Just because I stated that obsession with money contributes nothing to the happiness in *MY* life, does not automatically imply people who do obsess about it are miserable - so take a deep breath or two before hitting "Reply to This" in future.
The whole point of my comment was that stock prices is not "News For Nerds" as Slashdot claims to be.
You know something? You people that sit there salivating watching the values of your stocks & shares & caring little about what else goes on in this world of ours have my utmost & deepest sympathy & are totally welcome to it.
Nerds & geeks, whatever their faults, are people who have passions for stuff *OTHER* than just money. Whilst I grew out of that sort of stuff a while ago, I actually have a degree of respect for the person that fills their lives with comic books or Star Wars memorabilia rather than investing in a pension plan or eyeing the stock markets because when I was into that sort of stuff (including RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons), I shared a strong bond with some equally nerdy people & had some good times - and most of those same people have matured with me, grown out of the nerdy stuff (most of it anyway), got married, had kids & still remain close friends to this day.
At the time, we were all too nerdy to care about what people on the outside thought of us - and now I'm on the outside and all grown up & sensible, I don't regret one bit having done those things because it all helped in my education of balancing a reasonably well-paid job with a loving partner & great social life.
I'm happy, own my own house, have good health & don't own a single stock or share in any company. The only money I owe anyone is my bank due to a reasonably-sized mortgage on my reasonably sized house.
So please don't delude yourself into thinking that the price of stocks & shares is "stuff that matters" to a nerd, or even an older partial nerd like me - it doesn't.
Even as a mainly Linux user, I completely agree with the above comments.
Software is complicated & all of it has bugs & security holes - Linux, OS X, Windows, whatever...
Microsoft's worst mistake was believing their own marketing that sent out the message that you don't have to know much about computers to be completely secure when using one - it is the same mistake Apple are currently making.
There are people out here using Windows (myself included) who don't see any viruses, trojans or rootkits on Windows because we keep patches up to date, use good virus & malware scanners, don't trust emails & attachments from people we don't know, & don't go trying to get all our software for free from torrent sites.
We use the same Windows OSes that people with infected PCs use, therefore the only thing separating the two is knowledge, experience & common sense. Period.
I don't necessarily like the fact that Microsoft is using the court system for this because then some public money will be used in the process - but something *DOES* need to be done & I'm all for people being kicked off of their Internet connections until they get off their backsides & clean their PCs.
My partner has an iPhone, I have a Nexus One phone that I got after hers - we're both on the cellular provider Vodafone here in the UK.
She likes the iPhone a lot but believes the Nexus One Android 2.2 interface is better - having played with my phone, she commented that had it been available at the time she got iPhone, she would have got a Nexus One instead...
When we are together, she occasionally suffers volume & signal problems where my phone works perfectly well...
When she upgraded to an iPhone, she gave me her old iPod Touch. Yes, the Touch is a neat little device but it barely gets used since I got the Nexus One. The main two reasons are that:
1. The Touch is indelibly linked to that horrible iTunes software that runs on Windows only whereas the Nexus One will mount as an external drive easily on Windows or Linux (the OS I use the most).
2. I have a large music collection & the Touch has a fixed 16GB storage whereas the Nexus One takes MicroSD cards that can be swapped out if required. Plus I rip my own CDs anyway so the Apple Store is both useless & completely overpriced for music to me.
Incidentally, clearly you're a fanboi who has never been anywhere near an Android 2.2 device. Having played with both an iPhone and a Nexus One, I can categorically state there's very little difference in execution speed between the two - so stop with the FUD.
Not to mention the fact you'd also be hiding the Apple logo thus negating the reason why you'd buy one of their devices in the first place.
Perhaps with the iPhone 5 they should hand out little silver Apple logo stickers that the users can stick on their foreheads...
Google TV vs Apple TV vs Going Out & Getting Some Fresh Air & A Social Life.