If Apple would switch, they'd still keep hardware in control. It's not only good business, doing differently with their set of requirements to USE the OS and assorted toys and programs, doing it differently wouldn't be POSSIBLE. It may be possible for people used to being plagued by incompatibilities, but your average mac user still gets pissed like hell when his machine gives him lip - as he bloody well should.
So, given that, you, the x86 user wouldn't switch, because you could still get cheaper stuff than that mac box.
Or is it an article of faith that x86 stuff is better than the power family? And incidentally that would still mean that some hardware wouldn't work on your mac/pc. So imo nothing would change.
I really don't see the point of this question, apart from reading slightly amusing posts.
mmm, come to think of it, perhaps a good "sunday"/.
"Had I bought that cube, I'd be floating in an island of incompatability."
Yeah, that would be a bad thing, I can clearly see that.
Um, I'm still working with that drop-dead sexy cube, it's pretty good, still. And did I mention it's sexy? Oh yes I did. Just upped the Ram to 1.25 Gig, btw, was extremely difficult must have took me oh say one minute?
Not sure what you're referring to, friend, but I don't really feel incompatible. Apart from not getting games in time, some not at all, it's all peaches and cream - and silent, and sexy, and small, and shiny....
BTW, I'm no expert on what you do, so you may be very right in your assessment, but I take great exception to "my nice, fancy Dell laptop". My wife just got one from work - as opposed to having to pay for her mac out of her own pocket.
It's clumsy, ugly and I daren't put it next to a powerbook for fear of having the poor thing implode in shame.;-)
"presumably any label which isn't on Itunes will be because they demanded unfair terms from apple."
Not at all. The "BIG" labels are all on board from the start. The smaller but significant ones, or the specialty labels are being hauled in as we speak, and the really really small ones have already applied and are awaiting eagerly Apple's reply. Those who stand aside can afford to do so and aren't really missed. Most Beatles or Madonna fans have already bought or downloaded every last note and fart.
Anyway, it would be a good thing for artists to be able to go directly through iTunes, and I think it's already possible (check out iTMS online application form). I take it for granted though that you already must be pretty well known before you get picked up. Eventually, I think you will get through, but it's a matter of scale. Apple needs to start with the big'uns and then go to the smaller ones. Only makes sense. So if you're just a bit impatiant as musician, you pick a label that already is an iTMS member... Which actually nicely mirrors the "real" world, whether that's a good thing or not.
While some groups are able to produce an excellent album on their own - and this becomes easier and cheaper all the time - most don't even know where to start. It isn't simple and requires skills not everybody has. The same goes for touring, getting the gigs, getting there, good soundmanagement, getting paid, etc etc. Some groups manage themselves and aquire and pay an entourage of good professionals on the way up, some groups can't even find a roady.
Labels can organize and pay that shit - and if you're not careful screw you sideways in the deal, but that's another matter. Some groups know lawyers are a necessary evil, some groups get screwed...
Bottomline, most musicians will still need - or want - a label to represent them, to get better shelf space in the real or digital world, etc etc.
Whether we need the umbrella (RIAA) and associated organizations is another thing altogether. I don't know enough about them - except that they "sometimes" seem to be stupid bastards.
Bottomline: iTMS is a nice shop, which delivers reasonable quality for an almost reasonable price and an almost painless DRM, and is at the moment the best and biggest bastard out there, but it won't revolutionize the market the way you'd like...
"What do you do the day your boss ask why the new graphic department can't use the electronic booking and invoice system?"
Traditionally that would be either begging for a bigger budget or convince some no-no that the whole graphics department needs to migrate to Windows...
I've read your arguments and tend to agree, as far as Linux is concerned, but I don't think they carry that far for OS X Server and workstations. Here I'm making the assumption that not *everything* needs to be ported, I've read somewhere on this post that AT&T already runs a lot on Unix anyway, so I'm presuming *some* things will not be touched. Bringing me back to OS X, there you'll indeed be back with interfaces and lots of familiar concepts, since they're made to interface with Windows networks... and windows users.
Most admin programs have quite good interfaces and are made with admins in mind, not excluding win admins.
"My personal feeling is that if you don't understand a bit about how a computer works, you don't use one, end of story. No different to driving a car, understanding how the controls work and how you need to change the oil and pump up the tyres occasionally."
Um, while I sympathise I'd like to point out that as far as analogies go, every service station will check your tyres and oil for you. Which leaves knowing "how the controls work". Which is what is expected from and known by most users. Substitute if you will service station for tech support or IT.
What is currently expected with most Linux distro's is oh say changing air filter, battery and occasionally assembling the engine. Cool if you know how to, a waste of time if your job only needs you to, you know, drive in a profitable way...
Depending on the skill and capacity of tech support, Linux may be great for the work place. I'm not sure if it'd be that much cheaper than mac's, hardware being such a small factor and all that, and I presume companies of that size already have the IT in place for good servicing, and I bet IT would be happier to support Linux than Windows already.
But given the fact that lots of technical people still think training is the solution to bad design and some even loath solving users' problems, I think that Linux could be a strain on relationships inside the company.
Gut feeling tells me OS X would still be a lot easier to service, with a lot less to explain and train (as if that has solved anything ever) and would get more um mileage as it were.
I've downloaded it several times already, but always something happens that makes me open Safari again and forget about FF.
I've installed it on my wife's Portable (XP) though, and feel a lot better. Her IT guy seems to be quite good, but it's always me trying to keep her PC up to date, so that's one less worry.
I've noticed that FF behaves a lot better on a PC than on the Mac - compared to the alternative. Doesn't crash, is faster and overall renders better. If it weren't for Safari, I'd probably be using Firefox too. I'm curious how much marketshare FF has on the mac.
Professionals are - apart from attached to the stuff they know - geared towards results.
I can go "wow" when looking at office - or Photoshop - alternatives, because it's of course an impressive amount of work. But I can't compare those attempts with the real thing.
I don't agree at all with the notion that OOo is a good replacement for MSOffice. It's however a good alternative when you no longer want to - or have to - pay the MS tax.
1) "It's not like we were the only country to be fooled by the WMD." - Yes it's exactly like... Only instead of taking others serious, you started eating Freedom Fries, conveniently forgetting who it was that gave you the statue of liberty... 2)"There will always be conspiracy theories how Bush manipulated (or didn't manipulate enough) the intelligence to bring about justification for the war." - Indeed, some people even confuse proof for conspiracy. 3) "In this post 9/11 world, we can't wait for threats to develop"... - I agree, let's invade Poland and do away with Jews - um, Muslims. 4) One day all of you will realize that this whole Iraq war was just a dress rehearsal for going after Iran. Atleast thats what I hope it was for... - Right, and me thinking you were just being unreasonable...
At this point, I'd like to refer to the title of your post: "Can we not be mistaken?" Let me answer: Yes you can, but since this administration is thinking exactly like you, it's not BLOODY LIKELY.
"It really scares me that apparently some Europeans are better informed about the US foreign policy than US state citizens."
You're right to be scared, but wrong to be surprised. It's been like that for ever. What scares me is that a lot of US citizens still think the US is the best place in the whole world without 1) having once been abroad 2) having the slightest clue how the US actually compares with other democracies.
Going places, wanting to learn about things and having a personal opinion is only healthy. Being clueless and defending the right to be stupid is not healthy. It's the reason why lots of people are scared of the US, since this tendency is coupled with the most powerful army and notions of preemptive war being their holy right.
The times I had to hear the most stupid things from people who thought my country was part of my capital. Scared, yes. Surprised, no.
You can buy computers in all kinds of conditions, what I'm talking about here is the "mainstream" cheap box. It says "internet, e-mail, office programs" in the ad, and you can buy it with Windows installed (and word included) or for a lot less with quite a good linux distribution. Of course you can buy the computer without an OS in the shop. That however doesn't often occur to the average buyer. His nephew is going to install it for him anyway. Remember, we're still in Peru here.
Anyway, one way or the other, I don't care and it isn't important. As an argument for anti-linux feelings or WindowsOEM-against-piracy, I think it's very shallow. Gartner is a pisshead.
Maybe not worth wasting time debating if it's true, better look at where it's true, why it's true there (abject poverty, hint hint) and the percentage of people actually using Linux
A lot of Windows users don't buy their software, apart from the games they play, and even then. And a lot of people I know, haven't bought their Windows...
I have no stats, but you can be certain Gartner isn't reaching here.
Take away the spin and the bull, think about price of Windows versus annual income versus the price of pirated Windows and you're there.
My experience doesn't go further than Peru and El Salvador, but over there it's certainly true what Gartner says. But who cares...
Well, if Bush would have signed, thus acknowledging that the US economy is just as robust as those from say Sweden or other sissy countries, it would have helped, the US being the second most polluting (note spelling) economy on the face of the planet...
Of course Kyoto is totally inadequate. Doing nothing will however be a lot better, proven time and again to be the best method to let confusing things go away - at least off the White House Radar...
Don't know about the stats, or the author's intent, but in some parts of the world it is true.
Win XP costs about $4 on the street in Peru. In a shop it costs almost double the price in the US.
You may be disappointed (if you're emotionallly attached to Linux's marketshare) so let me end by saying a fair amount of people over there do use Linux, I don't know what distro, but it has beautiful Spanish and Portuguese language support overall. Still, you'd pay about as much for that distro as for a pirated XP, so most go with what they know and think is cool.
And for those wondering "what about the Mac?", just forget about going through the official channels. Unless you have to. And have money to spare. Outpost.com does deliver some stuff (notably games), and the pirated stuff out there is pretty good and dirt cheap, in most cases the only option if you don't want to go to Miami - the closest real Apple store on the continent... The Latin America Apple website is a disgrace. An abomination. The email addresses used don't even go anywhere (supposedly to Mexico, but none of my mails EVER got trough).
Don't know about that, but am mighty glad to once more live in a country with SS. The alternative was too brutal to see and strangely enough a lot more expensive.
I prefer bitching about taxes over ignoring beggars every single fucking day.
- doesn't it vex you that the US is among developing countries on issues like human rights, poverty and crime? - what's so unchristian about well organized health-care (note this is not the same as nationalized health care, none of the candidates want that, although you've got to admit countries like Sweden do very well indeed with it) - isn't it strange that the US is the only western country that doesn't want to admit to the term 'cultural violence'?
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If Apple would switch, they'd still keep hardware in control. It's not only good business, doing differently with their set of requirements to USE the OS and assorted toys and programs, doing it differently wouldn't be POSSIBLE. It may be possible for people used to being plagued by incompatibilities, but your average mac user still gets pissed like hell when his machine gives him lip - as he bloody well should.
/.
So, given that, you, the x86 user wouldn't switch, because you could still get cheaper stuff than that mac box.
Or is it an article of faith that x86 stuff is better than the power family? And incidentally that would still mean that some hardware wouldn't work on your mac/pc. So imo nothing would change.
I really don't see the point of this question, apart from reading slightly amusing posts.
mmm, come to think of it, perhaps a good "sunday"
"Had I bought that cube, I'd be floating in an island of incompatability."
;-)
Yeah, that would be a bad thing, I can clearly see that.
Um, I'm still working with that drop-dead sexy cube, it's pretty good, still. And did I mention it's sexy? Oh yes I did. Just upped the Ram to 1.25 Gig, btw, was extremely difficult must have took me oh say one minute?
Not sure what you're referring to, friend, but I don't really feel incompatible. Apart from not getting games in time, some not at all, it's all peaches and cream - and silent, and sexy, and small, and shiny....
BTW, I'm no expert on what you do, so you may be very right in your assessment, but I take great exception to "my nice, fancy Dell laptop". My wife just got one from work - as opposed to having to pay for her mac out of her own pocket.
It's clumsy, ugly and I daren't put it next to a powerbook for fear of having the poor thing implode in shame.
"presumably any label which isn't on Itunes will be because they demanded unfair terms from apple."
Not at all. The "BIG" labels are all on board from the start. The smaller but significant ones, or the specialty labels are being hauled in as we speak, and the really really small ones have already applied and are awaiting eagerly Apple's reply. Those who stand aside can afford to do so and aren't really missed. Most Beatles or Madonna fans have already bought or downloaded every last note and fart.
Anyway, it would be a good thing for artists to be able to go directly through iTunes, and I think it's already possible (check out iTMS online application form). I take it for granted though that you already must be pretty well known before you get picked up. Eventually, I think you will get through, but it's a matter of scale. Apple needs to start with the big'uns and then go to the smaller ones. Only makes sense. So if you're just a bit impatiant as musician, you pick a label that already is an iTMS member... Which actually nicely mirrors the "real" world, whether that's a good thing or not.
While some groups are able to produce an excellent album on their own - and this becomes easier and cheaper all the time - most don't even know where to start. It isn't simple and requires skills not everybody has. The same goes for touring, getting the gigs, getting there, good soundmanagement, getting paid, etc etc. Some groups manage themselves and aquire and pay an entourage of good professionals on the way up, some groups can't even find a roady.
Labels can organize and pay that shit - and if you're not careful screw you sideways in the deal, but that's another matter. Some groups know lawyers are a necessary evil, some groups get screwed...
Bottomline, most musicians will still need - or want - a label to represent them, to get better shelf space in the real or digital world, etc etc.
Whether we need the umbrella (RIAA) and associated organizations is another thing altogether. I don't know enough about them - except that they "sometimes" seem to be stupid bastards.
Bottomline: iTMS is a nice shop, which delivers reasonable quality for an almost reasonable price and an almost painless DRM, and is at the moment the best and biggest bastard out there, but it won't revolutionize the market the way you'd like...
"What do you do the day your boss ask why the new graphic department can't use the electronic booking and invoice system?"
;-)
Traditionally that would be either begging for a bigger budget or convince some no-no that the whole graphics department needs to migrate to Windows...
You're asking madmen to think logically
I've read your arguments and tend to agree, as far as Linux is concerned, but I don't think they carry that far for OS X Server and workstations. Here I'm making the assumption that not *everything* needs to be ported, I've read somewhere on this post that AT&T already runs a lot on Unix anyway, so I'm presuming *some* things will not be touched.
Bringing me back to OS X, there you'll indeed be back with interfaces and lots of familiar concepts, since they're made to interface with Windows networks... and windows users.
Most admin programs have quite good interfaces and are made with admins in mind, not excluding win admins.
"My personal feeling is that if you don't understand a bit about how a computer works, you don't use one, end of story. No different to driving a car, understanding how the controls work and how you need to change the oil and pump up the tyres occasionally."
Um, while I sympathise I'd like to point out that as far as analogies go, every service station will check your tyres and oil for you. Which leaves knowing "how the controls work".
Which is what is expected from and known by most users.
Substitute if you will service station for tech support or IT.
What is currently expected with most Linux distro's is oh say changing air filter, battery and occasionally assembling the engine. Cool if you know how to, a waste of time if your job only needs you to, you know, drive in a profitable way...
Depending on the skill and capacity of tech support, Linux may be great for the work place. I'm not sure if it'd be that much cheaper than mac's, hardware being such a small factor and all that, and I presume companies of that size already have the IT in place for good servicing, and I bet IT would be happier to support Linux than Windows already.
But given the fact that lots of technical people still think training is the solution to bad design and some even loath solving users' problems, I think that Linux could be a strain on relationships inside the company.
Gut feeling tells me OS X would still be a lot easier to service, with a lot less to explain and train (as if that has solved anything ever) and would get more um mileage as it were.
"Every little step towards energy independence is a good thing..."
Reminds me of Terry Pratchett's famous quote "... but set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life."
I've downloaded it several times already, but always something happens that makes me open Safari again and forget about FF.
I've installed it on my wife's Portable (XP) though, and feel a lot better. Her IT guy seems to be quite good, but it's always me trying to keep her PC up to date, so that's one less worry.
I've noticed that FF behaves a lot better on a PC than on the Mac - compared to the alternative. Doesn't crash, is faster and overall renders better.
If it weren't for Safari, I'd probably be using Firefox too. I'm curious how much marketshare FF has on the mac.
"It must be genetic why French people are all pansies... "
You mean those French people who helped you achieve independence?
Professionals are - apart from attached to the stuff they know - geared towards results.
I can go "wow" when looking at office - or Photoshop - alternatives, because it's of course an impressive amount of work. But I can't compare those attempts with the real thing.
I don't agree at all with the notion that OOo is a good replacement for MSOffice. It's however a good alternative when you no longer want to - or have to - pay the MS tax.
Amen brother, let's go and burn some Homo's and Muslim dogs
"No need to RTFA. Consider the source."
Right, that's what the whole world says every time GWB opens his holy mouth...
If ignoring UN resolutions is all it takes, can we please invade the US now?
Get a clue.
1) "It's not like we were the only country to be fooled by the WMD."
- Yes it's exactly like... Only instead of taking others serious, you started eating Freedom Fries, conveniently forgetting who it was that gave you the statue of liberty...
2)"There will always be conspiracy theories how Bush manipulated (or didn't manipulate enough) the intelligence to bring about justification for the war."
- Indeed, some people even confuse proof for conspiracy.
3) "In this post 9/11 world, we can't wait for threats to develop"...
- I agree, let's invade Poland and do away with Jews - um, Muslims.
4) One day all of you will realize that this whole Iraq war was just a dress rehearsal for going after Iran. Atleast thats what I hope it was for...
- Right, and me thinking you were just being unreasonable...
At this point, I'd like to refer to the title of your post: "Can we not be mistaken?" Let me answer: Yes you can, but since this administration is thinking exactly like you, it's not BLOODY LIKELY.
"It really scares me that apparently some Europeans are better informed about the US foreign policy than US state citizens."
You're right to be scared, but wrong to be surprised. It's been like that for ever. What scares me is that a lot of US citizens still think the US is the best place in the whole world without
1) having once been abroad
2) having the slightest clue how the US actually compares with other democracies.
Going places, wanting to learn about things and having a personal opinion is only healthy. Being clueless and defending the right to be stupid is not healthy. It's the reason why lots of people are scared of the US, since this tendency is coupled with the most powerful army and notions of preemptive war being their holy right.
The times I had to hear the most stupid things from people who thought my country was part of my capital. Scared, yes. Surprised, no.
..."The Recording Industry Ass. Of America"...
Was that intentional? Very funny.
You can buy computers in all kinds of conditions, what I'm talking about here is the "mainstream" cheap box. It says "internet, e-mail, office programs" in the ad, and you can buy it with Windows installed (and word included) or for a lot less with quite a good linux distribution. Of course you can buy the computer without an OS in the shop. That however doesn't often occur to the average buyer. His nephew is going to install it for him anyway. Remember, we're still in Peru here.
Anyway, one way or the other, I don't care and it isn't important. As an argument for anti-linux feelings or WindowsOEM-against-piracy, I think it's very shallow. Gartner is a pisshead.
Yep, helps. I dig. And am not a big fan of the man.
It isn't if it's true.
Maybe not worth wasting time debating if it's true, better look at where it's true, why it's true there (abject poverty, hint hint) and the percentage of people actually using Linux
A lot of Windows users don't buy their software, apart from the games they play, and even then.
And a lot of people I know, haven't bought their Windows...
I have no stats, but you can be certain Gartner isn't reaching here.
Take away the spin and the bull, think about price of Windows versus annual income versus the price of pirated Windows and you're there.
My experience doesn't go further than Peru and El Salvador, but over there it's certainly true what Gartner says. But who cares...
Well, if Bush would have signed, thus acknowledging that the US economy is just as robust as those from say Sweden or other sissy countries, it would have helped, the US being the second most polluting (note spelling) economy on the face of the planet...
Of course Kyoto is totally inadequate. Doing nothing will however be a lot better, proven time and again to be the best method to let confusing things go away - at least off the White House Radar...
Anybody can spell hurricane?
Don't know about the stats, or the author's intent, but in some parts of the world it is true.
Win XP costs about $4 on the street in Peru. In a shop it costs almost double the price in the US.
You may be disappointed (if you're emotionallly attached to Linux's marketshare) so let me end by saying a fair amount of people over there do use Linux, I don't know what distro, but it has beautiful Spanish and Portuguese language support overall. Still, you'd pay about as much for that distro as for a pirated XP, so most go with what they know and think is cool.
And for those wondering "what about the Mac?", just forget about going through the official channels. Unless you have to. And have money to spare. Outpost.com does deliver some stuff (notably games), and the pirated stuff out there is pretty good and dirt cheap, in most cases the only option if you don't want to go to Miami - the closest real Apple store on the continent...
The Latin America Apple website is a disgrace. An abomination. The email addresses used don't even go anywhere (supposedly to Mexico, but none of my mails EVER got trough).
Don't know about that, but am mighty glad to once more live in a country with SS. The alternative was too brutal to see and strangely enough a lot more expensive.
I prefer bitching about taxes over ignoring beggars every single fucking day.
But each to his own...
Why not vote for the guy with the most realistic and humanitarian social security ideas?
Um, too simplistic?
In my mind that would be Kerry btw, but I realise that in the US nothing is simple.
- doesn't it vex you that the US is among developing countries on issues like human rights, poverty and crime?
- what's so unchristian about well organized health-care (note this is not the same as nationalized health care, none of the candidates want that, although you've got to admit countries like Sweden do very well indeed with it)
- isn't it strange that the US is the only western country that doesn't want to admit to the term 'cultural violence'?