"And anyone that can tell me Lil' Jon is a musician with a straight face deserves a frickin Oscar. It's almost as if two music executives sat in a room together and made a bet that they could make millions off of a bum with no talent just from pure marketing hype alone."
That is a statement that could be easily applied to all rap/hip hop. Of course, the counter-point to that would be stating that such a charge is usually leveled at the genre by middle aged white males angry at seeing such black *artists* making millions while they themselves work some unrewarding dead-end job (in their opinion).
Actually, maybe both of those charges are correct.:)
"I think if there's anything that can make a big difference, it's a media-centered site like Apple's iTunes that has things like music videos, sampling, playlists, online radio stations. I can listen to more new bands in a week through iTunes than I ever heard introduced as a new band on a radio, in all the years I've been alive."
The problem with the iTunes Music Store so far is scanning the daily Top 10 purchases. They mirror the pop charts. And I say this as an iTunes Music Store fan.
"If we're looking for methods that would actually work, I think that the DJs who were accepting these bribes should be forced into retirement."
You know, maybe this is just a Northern California perspective, but when did DJs get their power back to decide what to actually play on their stations? I thought since the early 90s those decisions were chiefly made by the "Programming Director." I could see "payola" in terms of inducing DJs to say positive things about such-and-such artist that just played on the station.
Funny how various divisions of Sony of America keeps finding itself in these situations. Google Search *David Manning* for an expose on the former (and similar) business practices of Sony (Columbia) Pictures.
"Perhaps we need to take a different approach - one which with credible and appropriate consequences. I suggest removing all copyrights on songs/artists that benefited from the payola crime."
That's nice, but what about the song writer? The artists aren't always the actual song writer, so why penalize that person (or persons)?
I'd say make the record company forfeit their take of the sales/profits, yet keep paying the royalties to the artist/writer. That will teach the companies very quickly not to engage in such practices.
Furthermore, I don't like how such articles lump the likes of Audioslave and Franz Ferdinand with others such as J.Lo, Britney, and Jessica Simpson. Audioslave and Franz are talented.
"Payola is a term that dates back to the late 1950's when Rock and Roll was just getting started. Back then, AM radio was king, radio stations were independently owned (no Clear Channel), and DJs had a lot of control over what they played, especially at night.To keep it simple, what happened is that music labels began offering DJs money to play their songs. Music producers began targeting the AM stations ran high power at night since these "clear channel" (nothing to do with the company) stations could be heard for hundreds, if not thousands of miles at night."
That reminds me. There's a fun flick about that starring Kevin Bacon called "Telling Lies in America." Its was written by Joe Eszterhas and if I recall correctly, the story was semi-autobiographical.
from the sounds of it, this will be the *Lionbot* Voltron. I can recall with envy some of the kids that had the Japanese import *Lionbot* that featured all of the shooting missiles that the American distributor (using the *Voltron* brand) was afraid to market.
The *Lionbot* is the only version of *Voltron* that the general public remembers/cares for. There were two other versions remarketed in the States under the *Voltron* name (the car/plane one and the other version with the three robots that made a six arm combo), but in comparison, they were obscure.
*Lionbot* *Voltron* was iconic. Its hard to forget a giant robot made up of five other lion-esque robots brandishing a giant sword that chops up all the other robot villains.
Perhaps Disney might seek out the motion picture license for *TranZor-Z* (aka Mazinger Z). That show was funny and also had a following (not as big as *Voltron,* but bigger than the *Gobots* even with the *Gobots* junk toys) back in the 80s here in the States.
Granted, a live action *Cowboy Bebop* would be sweet, even if Joss Whedon already pillaged that property (and *Blake's 7*) to create *Firefly.*
Pillage...oh wait, I should have stated "homage." Tee hee...:) I won't even mention the "homages" to *Doctor Who* that were present in his *Buffy* over the years...:0
I remember seeing *MC Hawking* on TechTV's *Unscrewed with Martin Sargent* last year. Made me laugh a great deal.
Unfortunately, while its creator is skilled, he has not taken advantage of the CD Baby agreement in place with iTunes and thus the *greatest hits* album is not available at the iTunes Music Store. I would have loved purchasing the tracks with my Pepsi/Mountain Dew or 7-Eleven Slurpee iTunes codes...
"Being a doofus Canadian, could you please tell me the reference behind your comment about how to shoot a person in the head, put the gun in the wrong hand, drag the body through a forest, dump it, and then have the law enforcement professionals deem it a suicide."
Do a Google Search on *Vince Foster.*
A doofus Canadian? Surely not. Just a weak currency...:)
"Considering that the other side of that deal was that you loyalists promised you would return slaves you had captured (or liberated) to their "rightful" "owners," I have to say that I'm pretty happy that particular aspect of the Treaty of Paris isn't being enforced."
I'm not claiming to be a Loyalist. I'm a Californian. My ancestors fought on the Revolutionary side. However, since the Loyalists did have their homes stolen from them, they deserve compensation. Especially since it is part of an existing treaty. And even more so because the issue complicates Canadian-American relations and ultimately retards any chance of unification. Not to mention all the debate on Constitutional reform that such an opportunity would bring as well.
"Hell, most VCRs sync off the time signal coming down your cable anyways..."
And modern TVs (have the ability to) sync the time from over-the-air broadcasts. Generally speaking. Like with computers, there are still plug-and-play issues involved that sometime complicate such matters.
"What happens to Canada and Mexico? Surely they will have to follow if this is to be effective."
Canada and Mexico both use the Metric System while we do not (with the exception of the scientific community - not counting that one NASA blunder - and the military due to NATO standardization). So, with that in mind, why would Canada and Mexico also have to adopt the time change?
"since this is a US thing, will the change affect canada as well? (ok, before BC and Ontario become part of the US while Quebec splits off from the rest of Canada?;)"
Ontario won't join the U.S. until the U.S. pays off the debt owed to the descendants of the Loyalists who had their properties confiscated during the Revolutionary War and sold off to profit the new government. In the Treaty of Paris that formally recognized the independence of the United States from the British Empire guaranteed that those Loyalists would be repaid. Guess what? They still haven't. And that fuels the semi-anti-American sentiment that is held there. Granted, that *anti-Americanism* typically manifests itself no more than off-hand remarks (and since 2000, especially aimed at Bush), which even many Southerners still bent about the Civil War often makes about the Federal Government.
"Hillary Clinton (who makes ~$162k http://people.howstuffworks.com/question449.htm) has decided that it's in her best interest to waste her time (and our tax dollars). I'm sure that the FTC has better things to do than to investigate RockStar Entertainment..."
Perhaps the next version of GTA should instruct its gameplayers on how to turn a $1,000 investment in cattle futures into more than $100,000 in profit without any knowledge of that investment...or even better...how to shoot a person in the head, put the gun in the wrong hand, drag the body through a forest, dump it, and then have the law enforcement professionals deem it a suicide. I'm just saying!:)
Or maybe just a GTA game involving making contributions to elected officials to get what you ultimately want legally.
Hopefully, Take Two/Rockstar and possibly the ESA itself can give some campaign contributions to anyone running against Hillary for her Senate seat. Maybe Ralph Nader can jump into the race and shave off 2% of *her* votes...:)
"You make an interesting point. I hadn't considered that."
And in turn, you brought up further interesting points....material of which I did want to address in my prior post, but I didn't want to come off looking like a combative ass on here in the process. Not any more than my usual self.:)
"Current Pentium Ms have a performance advantage over G5s at the same clock speed, and they go a lot higher than 1.6 ghz."
Very true. But as long as Apple keeps some G5 chips in the product line, they can always make the claim (more or less) that the Ghz factor different is superficial due to the processor architecture differences. What hurts their credibility on this is the reports that the developer Intel based Macs are running universal binaries faster than the existing PowerMac G5 line.
Perhaps the Apple folks should be touting the Intel switch for the real reasons why they made the processor switch, that being the volume discounts. Intel can sell them chips for the iPods, offer them the XScale chips for a Mac Tablet/Video iPod/New Newton/TiVo esque set-top-box, offer them Wifi/WiMax chips, graphics chips, PCIe controller chips, you name it. And they can do that cheaper and arguably more reliably than IBM or AMD. Performance is not so much the true reason for the switch as opposed to gaining a more reliable manufacturer and one that can reduce Apple's costs. Plus, as I speculated on MacRumors, the trademarking of the "MacTel" name might indicate an actual new brand for the Macintosh line (like the iBooks and iMacs). If Intel is touted as a co-partner in Apple Mac platform development, that might mean not only kickbacks for advertising, but also some shared R&D dollars, which brings a smile to the faces of Apple shareholders like CalPERS.
"The Yonah core will widen the gap in performance per mhz and number of mhz, particularly in floating point performance where Pentium Ms are currently weak. Therefore it will be difficult for Apple to put Pentium Ms in iBooks before PowerBooks. Apple is unlikely to ship an iBook with decreased clock speed over the current versions, and at 1.4 ghz a Pentium M still does well against a 1.6 ghz G5."
Very true. The best candidates for the Intel transition are the iBooks and the Mac Minis since the iLife Apps are already universal binaries, but then those systems might outperform the iMac and PowerMac/PowerBook lines on those same apps. The other problem is that there are plenty of other Joe Consumer off-the-shelf apps that haven't been converted either so Joe Consumer might buy a Mac Mini or an iBook and encounter software that won't run (or run decently) on their new Intel based Macs. That might tempt them to dual boot Windows and lesson the whole impact of the *switch* to the Apple platform. Its a real Catch-22 Apple has got itself into with its "Osborne Effect" announcement, even if it was necessary.
The other issue is stepping back from 64-bit back down to 32-bit. While I could see that for the portable line (since they were only G4s) and the Mac Mini, I can't see Apple doing that for the PowerMacs. Me thinks Apple won't switch those until there's a non-*Itanic*II 64-bit offering from Intel.
"The new Yonah core will have dual-core versions, and even under emulation a dual-core 2 ghz Pentium M will have acceptable performance compared to a 1.6 ghz G5. It may not be faster, but it's not going to be that much slower."
There's always the chance that Intel might botch the chip and miss the release date on the Yonah chips. And there's always the chance (however doubtful) that Freescale might deliver that dual core G4 chip. But probably not.
"Apple never shipped a computer with a 68060 chip, despite the fact that they were much faster than 68040s. PowerPC emulating 68k was faster than a 68040 natively but not faster than a 68060."
Apple never shipped a 68060 because they were committed to the transition to the PowerPC line. The PowerPC 601/603 (I'm citing them since they were t
"Not a chance. If anything gets them, it'll be PowerBooks, and I doubt even that much. They won't be selling them for long enough to justify the expense and Pentium Ms are so much faster than 1.6 ghz G5s that it would be pointless."
Justify what expense? From all indications, Apple already designed PowerBooks that used G5 chips long before IBM finally made the low power/low heat chip available. Thus the (over) engineering has already been paid for so they might as well capture some of that expense back through new sales....
Bringing out Pentium-based PowerBooks wouldn't be very wise since the ProApps (which is what most PowerBook users use if you believe Apple) have not been compiled over to Intel based builds yet, from all that has been mentioned online so far.
"He's just trolling. He has a pathological need to pop up every once in a while and say "You know I invented Ethernet, don't you?""
Maybe he feels like everyone's forgetting him, just like they do with Dre.:0
Seriously, where's the love for Nolan Bushnell these days? All we hear about today is that Jobs fellow like he invented the yardstick of civilization: air conditioning.
"While today's software is good I think some 'old' things from the past should be revived. We just don't make software like we used to. Large amounts of memory and CPU cycles have made us sloppy. Those people that designed software for a few kilobytes of RAM we smart."
I'm getting the feeling that this will turn into a discussion on the merits of bringing back HyperCard, player/missile graphic programming, and the joys of the SID chip design.
There, I gave plenty of loving references in that to Apple, Commodore, and Atari fans of yesteryear.
"I mean he might as well bitch that automobiles are stilled based on the Model-T... we should have five wheels now, two engines for redundancy, a mini bar and autopilot!!!"
"Simply writing a functional OS isn't the hard part. It's just a platform upon which software will be built. There were hundreds of OSes written between 1960 and 1990. During the '90s, however, computing platforms began to stabalize."
If I were you, I'd want to rewrite that sentiment. The language you used is very similar to the arguments used by Microsoft in the anti-trust case. Microsoft argued the merits of its (if you may call it) *natural* monopoly and how it *standardized* and thus *stabilized* (I'm not using the exact terms since I'm going off memory) the PC platform and thus freed consumers from having to pick from other multiple computer platforms such as the Commodore Amiga, the Atari ST, and the Apple Macintosh. Not to mention the earlier Apple II platform, the Commodore 64/128, and the Atari XL/XE line.
If anything, such *standardization* and *stabilization* has robbed the industry of innovation and creativity and has pretty much wiped such merits out of the commercial sphere and driven it to non-commercial open source alternatives. That may be good on saavy end-user pockets, but that doesn't speak highly on the health of the commercial sector when only one major software company is allowed to dominate at the expense of others. And consequently, people speak of PCs as *appliances* and *commodities* with the exception of Apple's wares, and even that might change with the now inevitable switch to Intel processors.
"I've done work in university CS research and I just constantly saw MS and their reps doing stuff that just reeked of trying to bribe people into doing work on.NET or other Microsoft platforms instead of the open platforms that academics naturally tend to gravitate toward."
If you think that's bad, then try doing a tally of all the government offices (local, State, and Federal) that are "programming" using.NET these days.
Slashdot Mirror
"And what did Akio Morita say back in the day? "Business is warfare"."
:)
I thought Jack Tramiel said that first. Well, maybe he said that phrase (err, "business is war") first in English...
"And anyone that can tell me Lil' Jon is a musician with a straight face deserves a frickin Oscar. It's almost as if two music executives sat in a room together and made a bet that they could make millions off of a bum with no talent just from pure marketing hype alone."
:)
That is a statement that could be easily applied to all rap/hip hop. Of course, the counter-point to that would be stating that such a charge is usually leveled at the genre by middle aged white males angry at seeing such black *artists* making millions while they themselves work some unrewarding dead-end job (in their opinion).
Actually, maybe both of those charges are correct.
"I think if there's anything that can make a big difference, it's a media-centered site like Apple's iTunes that has things like music videos, sampling, playlists, online radio stations. I can listen to more new bands in a week through iTunes than I ever heard introduced as a new band on a radio, in all the years I've been alive."
The problem with the iTunes Music Store so far is scanning the daily Top 10 purchases. They mirror the pop charts. And I say this as an iTunes Music Store fan.
"If we're looking for methods that would actually work, I think that the DJs who were accepting these bribes should be forced into retirement."
You know, maybe this is just a Northern California perspective, but when did DJs get their power back to decide what to actually play on their stations? I thought since the early 90s those decisions were chiefly made by the "Programming Director." I could see "payola" in terms of inducing DJs to say positive things about such-and-such artist that just played on the station.
Funny how various divisions of Sony of America keeps finding itself in these situations. Google Search *David Manning* for an expose on the former (and similar) business practices of Sony (Columbia) Pictures.
"Perhaps we need to take a different approach - one which with credible and appropriate consequences. I suggest removing all copyrights on songs/artists that benefited from the payola crime."
That's nice, but what about the song writer? The artists aren't always the actual song writer, so why penalize that person (or persons)?
I'd say make the record company forfeit their take of the sales/profits, yet keep paying the royalties to the artist/writer. That will teach the companies very quickly not to engage in such practices.
Furthermore, I don't like how such articles lump the likes of Audioslave and Franz Ferdinand with others such as J.Lo, Britney, and Jessica Simpson. Audioslave and Franz are talented.
"Payola is a term that dates back to the late 1950's when Rock and Roll was just getting started. Back then, AM radio was king, radio stations were independently owned (no Clear Channel), and DJs had a lot of control over what they played, especially at night.To keep it simple, what happened is that music labels began offering DJs money to play their songs. Music producers began targeting the AM stations ran high power at night since these "clear channel" (nothing to do with the company) stations could be heard for hundreds, if not thousands of miles at night."
That reminds me. There's a fun flick about that starring Kevin Bacon called "Telling Lies in America." Its was written by Joe Eszterhas and if I recall correctly, the story was semi-autobiographical.
"*Did* *they* *have* *a* *sale* *at* *the* ***asterisk*** *store* *today?*"
:)
*Why* *yes* *they* *did.* *Thanks* *for* *asking.*
Seriously, would you prefer a jillion quotation marks instead?
"What we really need to see here are posts with more *asterisks*."
:)
And more cow bell too...
"Didn't Transor Z have the Chick robot with missle boobs?"
Yep. And the fat robot too for the fat character.
from the sounds of it, this will be the *Lionbot* Voltron. I can recall with envy some of the kids that had the Japanese import *Lionbot* that featured all of the shooting missiles that the American distributor (using the *Voltron* brand) was afraid to market.
The *Lionbot* is the only version of *Voltron* that the general public remembers/cares for. There were two other versions remarketed in the States under the *Voltron* name (the car/plane one and the other version with the three robots that made a six arm combo), but in comparison, they were obscure.
*Lionbot* *Voltron* was iconic. Its hard to forget a giant robot made up of five other lion-esque robots brandishing a giant sword that chops up all the other robot villains.
Perhaps Disney might seek out the motion picture license for *TranZor-Z* (aka Mazinger Z). That show was funny and also had a following (not as big as *Voltron,* but bigger than the *Gobots* even with the *Gobots* junk toys) back in the 80s here in the States.
Granted, a live action *Cowboy Bebop* would be sweet, even if Joss Whedon already pillaged that property (and *Blake's 7*) to create *Firefly.*
Pillage...oh wait, I should have stated "homage."
Tee hee...
Seems to me that a lot of their [The Bloodhound Gang] rap songs would qualify as this so-called *nerdcore* sub-genre.
For that matter, what about the Beasties?
"is a fucking quake master.
that is all"
I remember seeing *MC Hawking* on TechTV's *Unscrewed with Martin Sargent* last year. Made me laugh a great deal.
Unfortunately, while its creator is skilled, he has not taken advantage of the CD Baby agreement in place with iTunes and thus the *greatest hits* album is not available at the iTunes Music Store. I would have loved purchasing the tracks with my Pepsi/Mountain Dew or 7-Eleven Slurpee iTunes codes...
"Being a doofus Canadian, could you please tell me the reference behind your comment about how to shoot a person in the head, put the gun in the wrong hand, drag the body through a forest, dump it, and then have the law enforcement professionals deem it a suicide."
:)
Do a Google Search on *Vince Foster.*
A doofus Canadian? Surely not. Just a weak currency...
"Considering that the other side of that deal was that you loyalists promised you would return slaves you had captured (or liberated) to their "rightful" "owners," I have to say that I'm pretty happy that particular aspect of the Treaty of Paris isn't being enforced."
I'm not claiming to be a Loyalist. I'm a Californian. My ancestors fought on the Revolutionary side. However, since the Loyalists did have their homes stolen from them, they deserve compensation. Especially since it is part of an existing treaty. And even more so because the issue complicates Canadian-American relations and ultimately retards any chance of unification. Not to mention all the debate on Constitutional reform that such an opportunity would bring as well.
"Hell, most VCRs sync off the time signal coming down your cable anyways..."
And modern TVs (have the ability to) sync the time from over-the-air broadcasts. Generally speaking. Like with computers, there are still plug-and-play issues involved that sometime complicate such matters.
"What happens to Canada and Mexico? Surely they will have to follow if this is to be effective."
Canada and Mexico both use the Metric System while we do not (with the exception of the scientific community - not counting that one NASA blunder - and the military due to NATO standardization). So, with that in mind, why would Canada and Mexico also have to adopt the time change?
"since this is a US thing, will the change affect canada as well? (ok, before BC and Ontario become part of the US while Quebec splits off from the rest of Canada? ;)"
Ontario won't join the U.S. until the U.S. pays off the debt owed to the descendants of the Loyalists who had their properties confiscated during the Revolutionary War and sold off to profit the new government. In the Treaty of Paris that formally recognized the independence of the United States from the British Empire guaranteed that those Loyalists would be repaid. Guess what? They still haven't. And that fuels the semi-anti-American sentiment that is held there. Granted, that *anti-Americanism* typically manifests itself no more than off-hand remarks (and since 2000, especially aimed at Bush), which even many Southerners still bent about the Civil War often makes about the Federal Government.
"I don't think it will be a huge deal to patch all of the software out there that relies on this. The main problem will be things like VCRs"
:)
VCRs? Hello, the 21st Century is calling. TiVos and other DVRs won't suffer from this because they access servers that update the times on the units.
A VCR....pffff.
Here you go.... www.tivo.com
"Hillary Clinton (who makes ~$162k http://people.howstuffworks.com/question449.htm) has decided that it's in her best interest to waste her time (and our tax dollars). I'm sure that the FTC has better things to do than to investigate RockStar Entertainment..."
:)
:)
Perhaps the next version of GTA should instruct its gameplayers on how to turn a $1,000 investment in cattle futures into more than $100,000 in profit without any knowledge of that investment...or even better...how to shoot a person in the head, put the gun in the wrong hand, drag the body through a forest, dump it, and then have the law enforcement professionals deem it a suicide. I'm just saying!
Or maybe just a GTA game involving making contributions to elected officials to get what you ultimately want legally.
Hopefully, Take Two/Rockstar and possibly the ESA itself can give some campaign contributions to anyone running against Hillary for her Senate seat. Maybe Ralph Nader can jump into the race and shave off 2% of *her* votes...
"You make an interesting point. I hadn't considered that."
:)
And in turn, you brought up further interesting points....material of which I did want to address in my prior post, but I didn't want to come off looking like a combative ass on here in the process. Not any more than my usual self.
"Current Pentium Ms have a performance advantage over G5s at the same clock speed, and they go a lot higher than 1.6 ghz."
Very true. But as long as Apple keeps some G5 chips in the product line, they can always make the claim (more or less) that the Ghz factor different is superficial due to the processor architecture differences. What hurts their credibility on this is the reports that the developer Intel based Macs are running universal binaries faster than the existing PowerMac G5 line.
Perhaps the Apple folks should be touting the Intel switch for the real reasons why they made the processor switch, that being the volume discounts. Intel can sell them chips for the iPods, offer them the XScale chips for a Mac Tablet/Video iPod/New Newton/TiVo esque set-top-box, offer them Wifi/WiMax chips, graphics chips, PCIe controller chips, you name it. And they can do that cheaper and arguably more reliably than IBM or AMD. Performance is not so much the true reason for the switch as opposed to gaining a more reliable manufacturer and one that can reduce Apple's costs. Plus, as I speculated on MacRumors, the trademarking of the "MacTel" name might indicate an actual new brand for the Macintosh line (like the iBooks and iMacs). If Intel is touted as a co-partner in Apple Mac platform development, that might mean not only kickbacks for advertising, but also some shared R&D dollars, which brings a smile to the faces of Apple shareholders like CalPERS.
"The Yonah core will widen the gap in performance per mhz and number of mhz, particularly in floating point performance where Pentium Ms are currently weak. Therefore it will be difficult for Apple to put Pentium Ms in iBooks before PowerBooks. Apple is unlikely to ship an iBook with decreased clock speed over the current versions, and at 1.4 ghz a Pentium M still does well against a 1.6 ghz G5."
Very true. The best candidates for the Intel transition are the iBooks and the Mac Minis since the iLife Apps are already universal binaries, but then those systems might outperform the iMac and PowerMac/PowerBook lines on those same apps. The other problem is that there are plenty of other Joe Consumer off-the-shelf apps that haven't been converted either so Joe Consumer might buy a Mac Mini or an iBook and encounter software that won't run (or run decently) on their new Intel based Macs. That might tempt them to dual boot Windows and lesson the whole impact of the *switch* to the Apple platform. Its a real Catch-22 Apple has got itself into with its "Osborne Effect" announcement, even if it was necessary.
The other issue is stepping back from 64-bit back down to 32-bit. While I could see that for the portable line (since they were only G4s) and the Mac Mini, I can't see Apple doing that for the PowerMacs. Me thinks Apple won't switch those until there's a non-*Itanic*II 64-bit offering from Intel.
"The new Yonah core will have dual-core versions, and even under emulation a dual-core 2 ghz Pentium M will have acceptable performance compared to a 1.6 ghz G5. It may not be faster, but it's not going to be that much slower."
There's always the chance that Intel might botch the chip and miss the release date on the Yonah chips. And there's always the chance (however doubtful) that Freescale might deliver that dual core G4 chip. But probably not.
"Apple never shipped a computer with a 68060 chip, despite the fact that they were much faster than 68040s. PowerPC emulating 68k was faster than a 68040 natively but not faster than a 68060."
Apple never shipped a 68060 because they were committed to the transition to the PowerPC line. The PowerPC 601/603 (I'm citing them since they were t
"Not a chance. If anything gets them, it'll be PowerBooks, and I doubt even that much. They won't be selling them for long enough to justify the expense and Pentium Ms are so much faster than 1.6 ghz G5s that it would be pointless."
Justify what expense? From all indications, Apple already designed PowerBooks that used G5 chips long before IBM finally made the low power/low heat chip available. Thus the (over) engineering has already been paid for so they might as well capture some of that expense back through new sales....
Bringing out Pentium-based PowerBooks wouldn't be very wise since the ProApps (which is what most PowerBook users use if you believe Apple) have not been compiled over to Intel based builds yet, from all that has been mentioned online so far.
"He's just trolling. He has a pathological need to pop up every once in a while and say "You know I invented Ethernet, don't you?""
:0
Maybe he feels like everyone's forgetting him, just like they do with Dre.
Seriously, where's the love for Nolan Bushnell these days? All we hear about today is that Jobs fellow like he invented the yardstick of civilization: air conditioning.
"While today's software is good I think some 'old' things from the past should be revived. We just don't make software like we used to. Large amounts of memory and CPU cycles have made us sloppy. Those people that designed software for a few kilobytes of RAM we smart."
I'm getting the feeling that this will turn into a discussion on the merits of bringing back HyperCard, player/missile graphic programming, and the joys of the SID chip design.
There, I gave plenty of loving references in that to Apple, Commodore, and Atari fans of yesteryear.
"I mean he might as well bitch that automobiles are stilled based on the Model-T... we should have five wheels now, two engines for redundancy, a mini bar and autopilot!!!"
:)
Don't forget a midget for the bartender.
"Simply writing a functional OS isn't the hard part. It's just a platform upon which software will be built. There were hundreds of OSes written between 1960 and 1990. During the '90s, however, computing platforms began to stabalize."
If I were you, I'd want to rewrite that sentiment. The language you used is very similar to the arguments used by Microsoft in the anti-trust case. Microsoft argued the merits of its (if you may call it) *natural* monopoly and how it *standardized* and thus *stabilized* (I'm not using the exact terms since I'm going off memory) the PC platform and thus freed consumers from having to pick from other multiple computer platforms such as the Commodore Amiga, the Atari ST, and the Apple Macintosh. Not to mention the earlier Apple II platform, the Commodore 64/128, and the Atari XL/XE line.
If anything, such *standardization* and *stabilization* has robbed the industry of innovation and creativity and has pretty much wiped such merits out of the commercial sphere and driven it to non-commercial open source alternatives. That may be good on saavy end-user pockets, but that doesn't speak highly on the health of the commercial sector when only one major software company is allowed to dominate at the expense of others. And consequently, people speak of PCs as *appliances* and *commodities* with the exception of Apple's wares, and even that might change with the now inevitable switch to Intel processors.
"I've done work in university CS research and I just constantly saw MS and their reps doing stuff that just reeked of trying to bribe people into doing work on .NET or other Microsoft platforms instead of the open platforms that academics naturally tend to gravitate toward."
.NET these days.
If you think that's bad, then try doing a tally of all the government offices (local, State, and Federal) that are "programming" using