"The default searchbar engine in Safari is Google, and cannot be easily changed. It's not surprising to me that a larger portion of Apple users are using Google."
As I replied to another poster with the same comment, so does Mozilla (in terms of the Google search engine).
"And furthermore, Apple appears to be making huge headway into the science and technology markets as well as gaining steam again in the higher education environments. Finally, a significant portion of the scientists I work with are switching platforms from Windows to OS X."
The article is extreme short-sighted. They seem to think that just because a person doesn't switch to the Mac platform the day they purchase their iPod then the company [is doomed]. How often do average people change their computers? I'd be willing to bet that most people who purchased computers during the boom in 1999 are now just getting ready to buy their next machine. [After all, Microsoft just had to extend the support life of Win98 because so many people weren't upgrading...yet]. So if they buy an iPod in the meantime and really like it, they might actually consider switching to the Mac.
If anything, I think Apple's marketshare is going to go up over the next two years. Despite Best Buy not carrying them now.
"I don't know if keeping OSX current counts as overhead when you charge $130 for each 10.x release (especially when upgrading is the only way to fix certain bugs)"
Ever heard of Windows 98 Second Edition? WindowsME? WindowsXP Reloaded? Its not like Apple has a monopoly on the behavior you speak of.
And Apple could easly do away with the 10.x releases and go to OS X 11, 12, 13, etc. in the naming scheme but somehow I think they are saving that for major revisions.
"They invented the concept of JIT inventory for the industry, of high-volume custom configured machines, of pushing margins to the floor, of cutting costs, etc."
So, you are saying Dell is the Wal-Mart of the computer industry, right?
I've never been a fan of them. In pre-assembled computers from a "direct" manufacturer, I always favored Gateway until they dumped AMD and went 100% Intel. Of course, that was like three business model changes ago for the company [Gateway]...:)
"Your solution to fix an apparent lack of choice is to replace it with something that gives you even less choice."
Maybe so, but the quality level is higher with my choice and most people would agree with that even if they were on the opposite end of the spectrum.
"Lesse, AAC only works on Apple products, and they refuse to license it to 3rd parties."
AAC is a Dolby technology. What you are citing as what Apple refuses to license is the FairPlay DRM wrapper IP, which restricts purchased iTunes AAC files to only work with iPods (for now).
"Hmmm, so I've got a choice between something that only works with products made by one company, or products made by multiple companies... gee, which one should I choose. WMA would be the better choice."
Not really. None of the other digital music vendors have sustainable business models. Even Apple does not make money off iTunes song sales; their profit motive is in sales of the iPod. So your choice of using WMA files is pretty much a mirage if Napster goes under, or any of the other short-sided offerings. Yes, Napster has a licensing agreement with Sanyo (or is it Samsung?) to make a Napster branded music player, but do you really think Napster is getting a big enough slice of profit from those sales to make any headway, compared to Apple's 38% margin on iPods? I don't think so. Napster is going to be an albatross around Roxio's neck that will make it a takeover target. If Microsoft could get away with bundeling the full "Easy Media Creator" in Windows (in comparison to Apple's iApps), they would, but there isn't a strong enough competitor in the Windows platform (and don't bring up Nero because we're talking retail presence) to make up for such a monopolistic bundling charge.
In three years' time, you won't see Napster around, or any of the other companies. The only company that can counter iTunes at this point is Sony, and that is only if Sony licenses off whatever proprietary sound scheme they come up with for their own offerings.
"As long as you've got multiple companies able to provide the hardware, you're better off than you are with Apple products. You may not like TCP, but when anyone can make TCP hardware, it isn't closed."
If TCP succeeds on the x86 market, you won't have any choice. Its like if 10 big manufacturers made "Brand-X". Its the same thing. You really think Microsoft will allow Linux to run through TCP without US government intervention? Fat chance. You'll have to import illegal non-US market mobos and chipsets to bypass such a scheme. Can you say DMCA violations? As the SCO case withers away, Microsoft will have to resort to such tactics to preserve their monopoly, just as the RIAA has resorted to suing individual consumers to preserve their archaic business model. That's not choice, that's punishment. In my prior post, I did note Apple has not gone out of its way to prevent Yellow Dog Linux from running atop their hardware. TCP is counter to that idea on x86. Hopefully for the whole industry, it'll [TCP] will go over as successfully as Intel's Pentium Processor ID did a few short years back.
"It seems that MS is using the same tactics that failed for all the gameboy competitors. Try and add a billion features, and price yourself right out of the market."
Are you making a reference to the Atari Lynx? Yep, because color wasn't an important feature. Neither was a 16-bit graphics engine, the ability to flip the machine and the screen over so left-handed people levelled the playing field with the right-handers. The ability to link 8 game systems together for multiplayer madness?
No, the Atari Lynx was not overpriced. What killed the Lynx was what killed the Atari 7800 before it; Nintendo's control of third party developers and exclusive licensing of titles in the U.S.
After the Lynx failed (see above), third party developers were less inclined to support any other handheld platform besides what Nintendo offered. See Game Gear, Nomad, Neo Geo Pocket, Game.com, and the recent N-Gauge. I didn't count the Turbo Express because it failed from the start. I think the only American that actually owned one was the fictional character named "Doogie Howser, M.D."
"Best Buy isn't dropping Macs... Apple is dropping Best buy."
The terms probably didn't favor Apple like Apple's arrangement with CompUSA. I went into Best Buy last night and saw a bunch of eMacs, PowerMac G4's and G5's piled atop one another with instore made signs attached to them right at the entrance to the store (Arden Fair - Sacramento, CA). I asked one of the employees in the computer dept. if Apple was being dumped and he said "yep - they don't sell as well as most of us employees don't know how to sell them." He later teased that "PC's are better" after he asked if I needed help while I was searching for external Firewire based DVD burners.
Hmmm. How to sell Macs. "Gee Joe Six Pack, do you hate how your current PC crashes?" "Tired of viruses and weekly updates?" "Would you like to sync that nifty Sony Ericcson mobile phone you have in your hands?" "Make easy home DVD movies?" "Do you want your computer to be fun (again?)?" "Okay, if you answered any of these, follow me to our Mac selection." Yep, that's really hard. Speaking as someone who did a stint at Best Buy, I can attest first hand to how much business that company lost because it refused to stock the multi-color iMacs. Each person that inquired (about 2 per day on average back in '99) went directly over to CompUSA across the street. Yep, great business decisions on the part of their management team.
"So you'd rather go from an open hardware platform that runs (mostly) closed software, to a closed hardware platform controlled by one company that runs (mostly) closed software?"
To quote the Apple campaign, "it simply works."
It may be a closed hardware architecture, but having the underpinnings of the OS being based upon FreeBSD does not translate into a closed software platform.
If you wish to write about the closed hardware on the Apple side, I suggest you take a hard analysis of Microsoft's Palladium (sic), ie "Trusted Computing Platform." Just watch as Intel and AMD are rushing to sell themselves out to Microsoft as quickly as possible by implementing the scheme directly into their chips, and Phoenix Technologies implementing it into the BIOS itself. Then watch as Microsoft or a Microsoft-controlled third party company (SCO? Symantec? etc.) patents the software interaction between this layer and third party software and you'll see just how quickly x86 becomes a closed hardware/software combo. Then the only choice you'll have to run Linux will be PPC or older PC tech. How does that scenario feel? As it stands now, I haven't seen Apple prevent Yellow Dog Linux from running atop their hardware systems.
Here's another example. In terms of DRM layered music files, which would you prefer? AAC (developed by Dolby) or WMA (Microsoft)? Now I myself do not understand why Apple chose AAC over OGG, other than perhaps the fact the standard was developed by Dolby gave added credibility in some circles, or perhaps my layman's understanding of the GPL probably masked some clause that prevented Apple wrapping the Fairplay DRM around an OGG file. Either way, who do you "trust" more, Apple or Microsoft?
No it isn't. The actual classification of "middle class" are the professions like doctors and lawyers, and that can also be extended to business professionals. Most people today consider this group as "the rich", but "the rich" are those well above these people, the top 10% of who owns the wealth of the country. In Marx's time, these would be the royals of a particular nation or the industrialists who became the "captains of industry." And if you look at the number of doctors and law students graduating on an annual basis, you'll see that "the middle class" continues to expand, at least here in the US.
What you are referring to is the "working class." The working class in America circa the 1950s or so somehow started believing they were the middle class and that became a popular association in the mass media. However, that wasn't true based upon the classical definitions. The working class thought you could simply get a job in the town's factory and raise a family straight out of high school with one income (the husband's) and that was the norm. Now they are angry because ever since the late 1970s, they've been continuously underpriced by manufacturing labor in the third world. They did not understand that the 1950s lifestyle was not the norm nor would it endure. All they had to do was look back to the 19th century where entire families worked "to the bone" to make ends meet to realize they were living in a bubble of sorts. Of course, the same thing could be said about the late "roaring 90s" in IT...
So now, we have perversions to these class definitions. You have "lower middle class" and "middle middle class," all caused by not adhering to the strict definitions of class structure.
So here it is:
The Rich - the "Top 10%" of the owners of wealth. Some would even restrict that to the Top 1-4%.
The Middle Class - Professionals
The Working Class - (aka "the working poor") All the other working schmoes.
Proletariat - the poor. the homeless. the illegal aliens (excuse me, "undocumented workers"). the disenfranchised.
Okay, off my non-Queer Eye for the Straight Guy soapbox of Irish Spring.
"Microsoft spends a lot on research, but their *products* are not technically advanced. They are a *heavy* recruiter of researchers...but somehow, that new research usually doesn't show up in the products they're selling."
Well, in their defense, and a very minor defense, they did bring out the optical mouse. Their ergonomic keyboards are pretty nice. And the Xbox Live service is definitely how to run an online gaming service.
But as you said, that's not much to show for their wads of research monies. Perhaps they are *bundling* activities such as funding SCO's lawsuits in their *research* earmarkings...:)
Try Apple's refurb sales at their online store. You can get an eMac sans modem, 800Mhz G4, 128 megs, 40 gig HD, and a CD-Rom for $530, plus free shipping. They are throwing in the OS X 10.3 Panther upgrade, as well as the iLife '04 updates (normally $50 retail). After you receive the unit, wait a week for CompUSA or Best Buy to offer some PNY PC133 memory on massive rebate, and buy two chips. If you get it at Comp and you do it on the same day, they'll pop the chips in for you for free and it won't void any warranties.
Then, if you feel like it, you can buy an external Firewire cross-compatible DVD burner if you feel like you'd be missing that feature.
Or, for roughly $1000 and some change, you can get a 1Ghz eMac with 256megs, the SuperDrive (DVD burner) and the 80Gig HD over at Best Buy. I think they'll have the updated software. Maybe you could get some financing or something with the Best Buy credit card...who knows. They'll be pricing the G5s to move, and they should with Apple's price cuts supposedly next week.
Take the plunge; you won't be sorry unless you are a hardcore gamer...and then, there's always the Xbox or PS2...
I am pondering here...does anyone else think the failure to settle with the EU might jeopardize Ballmer's executive position at Microsoft? Considering how active the large pension funds have been lately with corporate boards (CalPERS - against Michael Eisner at Disney, and certain board members of HP), I think this might lead to an institutional shareholder revolt. Granted, Ballmer owns a lot of stock in Microsoft to counter such an action, but still, the humiliation. We're talking more humiliation than that monkey dance video from years back!:)
"Even if Windows was banned in Europe, the people wouldn't buy computers with Linux on, they would buy Macs."
You make it sound like Europeans buying Macs is a bad thing... I beg to differ. Giving a larger infusion into Apple means more useful R&D. Microsoft spends a lot on R&D and still cannot make its products immune from script kiddies or crashes and the like. Getting more Macs (and hopefully G5 Macs) means giving a larger stake of the industry over to IBM and the PPC architecture, which is good for competition. Look at Intel; footdragging on 64 bit consumer chips, running hotter with each model, and power consumption is getting out of hand. Perhaps such a shift in an important market like Europe would return their focus back to their design centers and start taking a serious look at power consumption.
And as for the open source side, the last time I checked, Apple's Safari is based upon KHTML, and that comes from the Linux side. An operating system based upon BSD. Those are some credentials when compared to the current standard (Microsoft). So why are you complaining?
And just as a note, just because Best Buy (here in the US) is dropping Macs from their stores does not mean people aren't switching to Macs; it just means that Best Buy employees do not know how to successfully sell them. You can get some deals on eMacs and PowerMac G4's right now there. They haven't cut the prices on the iBooks or PowerBooks yet though...
Unless you are participating in some criminal activity violating federal rules of electronic transmission and a variety of other schemes, how does this affect you? You use email, don't you? Carnivore already sniffs through that. Do you use a mobile phone or a landline? Echelon already snoops on you. BFD.
Why can't they [SciFi] put the funds to good use, like co-financing the Beeb's revival of "Doctor Who" slated for 2005? SciFi would be a better outlet in the States for it than BBC America...and reach a larger potential audience since SciFi is a basic cable channel and BBC America is usually treated as something reserved for digital cable packages. Yep, load up 10 Spanish-speaking stations in basic cable, but make the Beeb a premium cultural channel. Nope, that's not discrimination at all! Damn you to hell, Comcast!:)
"but twenty five years ago was not that *radically* different from today."
Really, you must live in Alabama or something.
The internet? Broadband. Hybrid cars and fuel cells on the horizon. DVDs. HDTV. Satellite television. Handheld computers straight out of the original "Star Trek." Mobile phones. VoIP. The disputed proof of extraterrestrial life (see the "Mars rock" found in Antartica). Cloning. The disappointment of the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy. The success of LOTR. Tom Cruise as a sex symbol. The trasfiguration of Michael Jackson. Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. Metrosexuals and a Presidential candidate claiming to be one (even though he didn't know what the term meant). Outsourcing tech jobs to India.
Politically...let's see here. The European Union and the "euro." Devolution in the U.K. - the Scottish Parliament. The World Trade Organization. The World Criminal Court. The Kyoto Climate Treaty. The collapse of the Soviet Union and world communism. The creation of the Palestinian Authority. The march of capitalism in "Communist" China. The War on Terrorism. The U.S. and the U.K. toppling a Middle East Dictatorship. The collapse of Japan as an economic threat to the U.S. Much of the world fearing the U.S.
The Presidential Election of 2000. The Patriot Act. Sept. 11, 2001. Secret Military Tribunals. The U.S. nearing a "state of emergency"? Gay marriages. Arnold Schwarzenegger elected Governor of California!
So in recap, there isn't much change in the past 25 years?
"Microsoft is currently appealing the latest decision orcing them to break apart...details in the next law show set 25 years ahead of this one."
No, what you meant to say is that Microsoft 25 years into the future is still in court over the whole SCO funding debacle from the present day. However, the Bush Administration (President Jeb Bush, 3rd Term) still wants to settle the case and move on to more important business; prosecuting the Hawai'ian Revolutionaries trying to form the Polynesian Republic.
Microsoft, having been vanquished by Linux and OS X, is now a litigation sell and is the #1 result for that "litiguous" keyword search using Google, the world's most powerful supercomputer.
Steve Jobs runs the ultra cool company LaTerZ that manufactures the coolest OS X running machines following his second ouster from Apple Computer in 2013.
The former Apple Computer is now known as Apple Music. This commenced when the last suriving member of the Beatles, Ringo Starr, gave his blessing to the merger with Apple Records in 2018.
The "Bible Code asteroid catastrophe of 2013" turned out to be only what happened when Space Station Freedom crashed into New Zealand caused by a decaying orbit brought about by poor mission control following NASA's outsourced contract with EDS who subcontracted out to an Indian tech company. Unfortunately, the 2 Russian cosmonauts who made up the crew perished during re-entry.
Pepsi continues to tout itself as "the choice of the New Generation" despite the fact that RC Cola is now the dominant soft drink brand.
Following further accounting scandals, Time Warner became known as "Turner" in 2009. It is now known as Turner News Corp.
The U.S. finally adopted the Metric System in 2021. Unfortunately, the rest of the planet reverted back to the Imperial Measuring Standard once the rest of the world's male population successfully tried out the "male enhancement offers" that flooded email accounts for decades and thus decided that "inches" was a more manly form of measurement than the wussy French standard.
Ron Jeremy was awarded an Oscar for Lifetime Achievement following his dramatic portrayal of "Super Mario" in two successful trilogies after Hollywood exhaused all comic book licenses and actually assigned quality directors to video game properties following the mysterious deaths of Simon West and Uwe Boll in 2006. Mr. Jeremy looked even more distinguished than his legendary director, Peter Jackson, at the awards ceremony.
The Democratic Party ceased to exist following the 2004 Presidential Election. Interestingly enough, the FBI found out that all its leaders collaborated with the Hussein regime in Iraq to transfer WMD outside of the country. All the top leaders were placed in the protective custody of Camp X-Ray. Cuban President Gloria Estefan reports they are in fine shape.
Woody Harrleson is now the perennial Presidential challenger, representing the Progressive Green Party. Progressive Auto Insurance is the sponsor of the party, fittingly...and has campaigned vigorously for "no fault" auto insurance throughout the nation.
"The Passion of the Zoroaster" won Best Picture last year.
Lord Mick Jagger sired yet another offspring and announced the final tour for the Rolling Stones.
Super producer Rick McCallum just completed Star Wars Episode Nine - The Return of the Binks.
Pete Townshed finally was cleared of pedophile charges when it came to light in recently declassified PDF files that he was aiding the FBI in a sting of the deceased Michael Jackson.
Jackson died tragically in 2005 after a mauling attack during a visit to Siegfrey and Roy in Las Vegas. Roy had returned to performance. He is survived by Blanket Jackson, the first product of CloneAid.
And that is all I will reveal of the future...
'cept this little bit. Iraq's WMD were found in France in 2007. This precipitated the collapse of the European Union. The Eastern portion of the European Union is now known as Deutscheland.
Re:Preventing contamination by crashing Galileo
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Why do so many people read a joke and then post the same joke with different words?
Its called a "clarification." Are you not familiar with such a concept?
"It's Star Trek, and with no other substitute, it serves as a hold-over until good trek comes along. It's not like I WANT to watch it, I just don't have a choice:p"
Don't you mean, "it serves as a hold-over until the good Doctor comes along"? After all, thanks to the BBC, Doctor Who shall return in 2005.:)
Tune in to "Angel." That's quality genre programming. And we need as many people tuning in so the WB Network will cave in and renew it for Season Six...:0 You can always catch the repeat of "Enterprise" on Saturday nights on UPN...
nobody's asking the real question
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Do the Europans use Linux?
Re:Preventing contamination by crashing Galileo
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"Are you suggesting that NASA plans on intentionally creating radioactive superbugs with 16 claws and 8 eyes, that can code in C++ and will work for small additional amounts of radiation?"
Why would NASA go to such trouble when India already operates such a business model? Hmmm....:0
Slashdot Mirror
"The default searchbar engine in Safari is Google, and cannot be easily changed. It's not surprising to me that a larger portion of Apple users are using Google."
As I replied to another poster with the same comment, so does Mozilla (in terms of the Google search engine).
"Yet at the same time, Google has reported an increase in the percentage of Mac users using Google."
"That would make sense, since the default web browser on MacOSX puts a Google-specific search textfield on every window."
So does Mozilla - and as we all know, it runs on Mac, Linux, and Windows platforms. Care to recant?
"And furthermore, Apple appears to be making huge headway into the science and technology markets as well as gaining steam again in the higher education environments. Finally, a significant portion of the scientists I work with are switching platforms from Windows to OS X."
The article is extreme short-sighted. They seem to think that just because a person doesn't switch to the Mac platform the day they purchase their iPod then the company [is doomed]. How often do average people change their computers? I'd be willing to bet that most people who purchased computers during the boom in 1999 are now just getting ready to buy their next machine. [After all, Microsoft just had to extend the support life of Win98 because so many people weren't upgrading...yet]. So if they buy an iPod in the meantime and really like it, they might actually consider switching to the Mac.
If anything, I think Apple's marketshare is going to go up over the next two years. Despite Best Buy not carrying them now.
"I don't know if keeping OSX current counts as overhead when you charge $130 for each 10.x release (especially when upgrading is the only way to fix certain bugs)"
Ever heard of Windows 98 Second Edition? WindowsME? WindowsXP Reloaded? Its not like Apple has a monopoly on the behavior you speak of.
And Apple could easly do away with the 10.x releases and go to OS X 11, 12, 13, etc. in the naming scheme but somehow I think they are saving that for major revisions.
"They invented the concept of JIT inventory for the industry, of high-volume custom configured machines, of pushing margins to the floor, of cutting costs, etc."
:)
So, you are saying Dell is the Wal-Mart of the computer industry, right?
I've never been a fan of them. In pre-assembled computers from a "direct" manufacturer, I always favored Gateway until they dumped AMD and went 100% Intel. Of course, that was like three business model changes ago for the company [Gateway]...
"Your solution to fix an apparent lack of choice is to replace it with something that gives you even less choice."
... gee, which one should I choose. WMA would be the better choice."
Maybe so, but the quality level is higher with my choice and most people would agree with that even if they were on the opposite end of the spectrum.
"Lesse, AAC only works on Apple products, and they refuse to license it to 3rd parties."
AAC is a Dolby technology. What you are citing as what Apple refuses to license is the FairPlay DRM wrapper IP, which restricts purchased iTunes AAC files to only work with iPods (for now).
"Hmmm, so I've got a choice between something that only works with products made by one company, or products made by multiple companies
Not really. None of the other digital music vendors have sustainable business models. Even Apple does not make money off iTunes song sales; their profit motive is in sales of the iPod. So your choice of using WMA files is pretty much a mirage if Napster goes under, or any of the other short-sided offerings. Yes, Napster has a licensing agreement with Sanyo (or is it Samsung?) to make a Napster branded music player, but do you really think Napster is getting a big enough slice of profit from those sales to make any headway, compared to Apple's 38% margin on iPods? I don't think so. Napster is going to be an albatross around Roxio's neck that will make it a takeover target. If Microsoft could get away with bundeling the full "Easy Media Creator" in Windows (in comparison to Apple's iApps), they would, but there isn't a strong enough competitor in the Windows platform (and don't bring up Nero because we're talking retail presence) to make up for such a monopolistic bundling charge.
In three years' time, you won't see Napster around, or any of the other companies. The only company that can counter iTunes at this point is Sony, and that is only if Sony licenses off whatever proprietary sound scheme they come up with for their own offerings.
"As long as you've got multiple companies able to provide the hardware, you're better off than you are with Apple products. You may not like TCP, but when anyone can make TCP hardware, it isn't closed."
If TCP succeeds on the x86 market, you won't have any choice. Its like if 10 big manufacturers made "Brand-X". Its the same thing. You really think Microsoft will allow Linux to run through TCP without US government intervention? Fat chance. You'll have to import illegal non-US market mobos and chipsets to bypass such a scheme. Can you say DMCA violations? As the SCO case withers away, Microsoft will have to resort to such tactics to preserve their monopoly, just as the RIAA has resorted to suing individual consumers to preserve their archaic business model. That's not choice, that's punishment. In my prior post, I did note Apple has not gone out of its way to prevent Yellow Dog Linux from running atop their hardware. TCP is counter to that idea on x86. Hopefully for the whole industry, it'll [TCP] will go over as successfully as Intel's Pentium Processor ID did a few short years back.
"It seems that MS is using the same tactics that failed for all the gameboy competitors. Try and add a billion features, and price yourself right out of the market."
Are you making a reference to the Atari Lynx? Yep, because color wasn't an important feature. Neither was a 16-bit graphics engine, the ability to flip the machine and the screen over so left-handed people levelled the playing field with the right-handers. The ability to link 8 game systems together for multiplayer madness?
No, the Atari Lynx was not overpriced. What killed the Lynx was what killed the Atari 7800 before it; Nintendo's control of third party developers and exclusive licensing of titles in the U.S.
After the Lynx failed (see above), third party developers were less inclined to support any other handheld platform besides what Nintendo offered. See Game Gear, Nomad, Neo Geo Pocket, Game.com, and the recent N-Gauge. I didn't count the Turbo Express because it failed from the start. I think the only American that actually owned one was the fictional character named "Doogie Howser, M.D."
"Best Buy isn't dropping Macs... Apple is dropping Best buy."
The terms probably didn't favor Apple like Apple's arrangement with CompUSA. I went into Best Buy last night and saw a bunch of eMacs, PowerMac G4's and G5's piled atop one another with instore made signs attached to them right at the entrance to the store (Arden Fair - Sacramento, CA). I asked one of the employees in the computer dept. if Apple was being dumped and he said "yep - they don't sell as well as most of us employees don't know how to sell them." He later teased that "PC's are better" after he asked if I needed help while I was searching for external Firewire based DVD burners.
Hmmm. How to sell Macs. "Gee Joe Six Pack, do you hate how your current PC crashes?" "Tired of viruses and weekly updates?" "Would you like to sync that nifty Sony Ericcson mobile phone you have in your hands?" "Make easy home DVD movies?" "Do you want your computer to be fun (again?)?" "Okay, if you answered any of these, follow me to our Mac selection." Yep, that's really hard. Speaking as someone who did a stint at Best Buy, I can attest first hand to how much business that company lost because it refused to stock the multi-color iMacs. Each person that inquired (about 2 per day on average back in '99) went directly over to CompUSA across the street. Yep, great business decisions on the part of their management team.
"So you'd rather go from an open hardware platform that runs (mostly) closed software, to a closed hardware platform controlled by one company that runs (mostly) closed software?"
To quote the Apple campaign, "it simply works."
It may be a closed hardware architecture, but having the underpinnings of the OS being based upon FreeBSD does not translate into a closed software platform.
If you wish to write about the closed hardware on the Apple side, I suggest you take a hard analysis of Microsoft's Palladium (sic), ie "Trusted Computing Platform." Just watch as Intel and AMD are rushing to sell themselves out to Microsoft as quickly as possible by implementing the scheme directly into their chips, and Phoenix Technologies implementing it into the BIOS itself. Then watch as Microsoft or a Microsoft-controlled third party company (SCO? Symantec? etc.) patents the software interaction between this layer and third party software and you'll see just how quickly x86 becomes a closed hardware/software combo. Then the only choice you'll have to run Linux will be PPC or older PC tech. How does that scenario feel? As it stands now, I haven't seen Apple prevent Yellow Dog Linux from running atop their hardware systems.
Here's another example. In terms of DRM layered music files, which would you prefer? AAC (developed by Dolby) or WMA (Microsoft)? Now I myself do not understand why Apple chose AAC over OGG, other than perhaps the fact the standard was developed by Dolby gave added credibility in some circles, or perhaps my layman's understanding of the GPL probably masked some clause that prevented Apple wrapping the Fairplay DRM around an OGG file. Either way, who do you "trust" more, Apple or Microsoft?
"The middle class is disappearing..."
No it isn't. The actual classification of "middle class" are the professions like doctors and lawyers, and that can also be extended to business professionals. Most people today consider this group as "the rich", but "the rich" are those well above these people, the top 10% of who owns the wealth of the country. In Marx's time, these would be the royals of a particular nation or the industrialists who became the "captains of industry." And if you look at the number of doctors and law students graduating on an annual basis, you'll see that "the middle class" continues to expand, at least here in the US.
What you are referring to is the "working class." The working class in America circa the 1950s or so somehow started believing they were the middle class and that became a popular association in the mass media. However, that wasn't true based upon the classical definitions. The working class thought you could simply get a job in the town's factory and raise a family straight out of high school with one income (the husband's) and that was the norm. Now they are angry because ever since the late 1970s, they've been continuously underpriced by manufacturing labor in the third world. They did not understand that the 1950s lifestyle was not the norm nor would it endure. All they had to do was look back to the 19th century where entire families worked "to the bone" to make ends meet to realize they were living in a bubble of sorts. Of course, the same thing could be said about the late "roaring 90s" in IT...
So now, we have perversions to these class definitions. You have "lower middle class" and "middle middle class," all caused by not adhering to the strict definitions of class structure.
So here it is:
The Rich - the "Top 10%" of the owners of wealth. Some would even restrict that to the Top 1-4%.
The Middle Class - Professionals
The Working Class - (aka "the working poor") All the other working schmoes.
Proletariat - the poor. the homeless. the illegal aliens (excuse me, "undocumented workers"). the disenfranchised.
Okay, off my non-Queer Eye for the Straight Guy soapbox of Irish Spring.
"Microsoft spends a lot on research, but their *products* are not technically advanced. They are a *heavy* recruiter of researchers...but somehow, that new research usually doesn't show up in the products they're selling."
:)
Well, in their defense, and a very minor defense, they did bring out the optical mouse. Their ergonomic keyboards are pretty nice. And the Xbox Live service is definitely how to run an online gaming service.
But as you said, that's not much to show for their wads of research monies. Perhaps they are *bundling* activities such as funding SCO's lawsuits in their *research* earmarkings...
"I would have one myself if I could afford it."
Try Apple's refurb sales at their online store. You can get an eMac sans modem, 800Mhz G4, 128 megs, 40 gig HD, and a CD-Rom for $530, plus free shipping. They are throwing in the OS X 10.3 Panther upgrade, as well as the iLife '04 updates (normally $50 retail). After you receive the unit, wait a week for CompUSA or Best Buy to offer some PNY PC133 memory on massive rebate, and buy two chips. If you get it at Comp and you do it on the same day, they'll pop the chips in for you for free and it won't void any warranties.
Then, if you feel like it, you can buy an external Firewire cross-compatible DVD burner if you feel like you'd be missing that feature.
Or, for roughly $1000 and some change, you can get a 1Ghz eMac with 256megs, the SuperDrive (DVD burner) and the 80Gig HD over at Best Buy. I think they'll have the updated software. Maybe you could get some financing or something with the Best Buy credit card...who knows. They'll be pricing the G5s to move, and they should with Apple's price cuts supposedly next week.
Take the plunge; you won't be sorry unless you are a hardcore gamer...and then, there's always the Xbox or PS2...
I am pondering here...does anyone else think the failure to settle with the EU might jeopardize Ballmer's executive position at Microsoft? Considering how active the large pension funds have been lately with corporate boards (CalPERS - against Michael Eisner at Disney, and certain board members of HP), I think this might lead to an institutional shareholder revolt. Granted, Ballmer owns a lot of stock in Microsoft to counter such an action, but still, the humiliation. We're talking more humiliation than that monkey dance video from years back!
"Even if Windows was banned in Europe, the people wouldn't buy computers with Linux on, they would buy Macs."
You make it sound like Europeans buying Macs is a bad thing... I beg to differ. Giving a larger infusion into Apple means more useful R&D. Microsoft spends a lot on R&D and still cannot make its products immune from script kiddies or crashes and the like. Getting more Macs (and hopefully G5 Macs) means giving a larger stake of the industry over to IBM and the PPC architecture, which is good for competition. Look at Intel; footdragging on 64 bit consumer chips, running hotter with each model, and power consumption is getting out of hand. Perhaps such a shift in an important market like Europe would return their focus back to their design centers and start taking a serious look at power consumption.
And as for the open source side, the last time I checked, Apple's Safari is based upon KHTML, and that comes from the Linux side. An operating system based upon BSD. Those are some credentials when compared to the current standard (Microsoft). So why are you complaining?
And just as a note, just because Best Buy (here in the US) is dropping Macs from their stores does not mean people aren't switching to Macs; it just means that Best Buy employees do not know how to successfully sell them. You can get some deals on eMacs and PowerMac G4's right now there. They haven't cut the prices on the iBooks or PowerBooks yet though...
Unless you are participating in some criminal activity violating federal rules of electronic transmission and a variety of other schemes, how does this affect you? You use email, don't you? Carnivore already sniffs through that. Do you use a mobile phone or a landline? Echelon already snoops on you. BFD.
I just had an epiphany in the form of a question to ask the interested SlashDot community...
Does anyone know if any former NeoDesk programmers and enthusiasts (from the Atari ST era) are presently working on any of the Linux desktop projects?
If not, that would be a shame since that desktop manager was pretty polished for its era...
Why can't they [SciFi] put the funds to good use, like co-financing the Beeb's revival of "Doctor Who" slated for 2005? SciFi would be a better outlet in the States for it than BBC America...and reach a larger potential audience since SciFi is a basic cable channel and BBC America is usually treated as something reserved for digital cable packages. Yep, load up 10 Spanish-speaking stations in basic cable, but make the Beeb a premium cultural channel. Nope, that's not discrimination at all! Damn you to hell, Comcast!
"but twenty five years ago was not that *radically* different from today."
Really, you must live in Alabama or something.
The internet? Broadband. Hybrid cars and fuel cells on the horizon. DVDs. HDTV. Satellite television. Handheld computers straight out of the original "Star Trek." Mobile phones. VoIP. The disputed proof of extraterrestrial life (see the "Mars rock" found in Antartica). Cloning. The disappointment of the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy. The success of LOTR. Tom Cruise as a sex symbol. The trasfiguration of Michael Jackson. Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. Metrosexuals and a Presidential candidate claiming to be one (even though he didn't know what the term meant). Outsourcing tech jobs to India.
Politically...let's see here. The European Union and the "euro." Devolution in the U.K. - the Scottish Parliament. The World Trade Organization. The World Criminal Court. The Kyoto Climate Treaty. The collapse of the Soviet Union and world communism. The creation of the Palestinian Authority. The march of capitalism in "Communist" China. The War on Terrorism. The U.S. and the U.K. toppling a Middle East Dictatorship. The collapse of Japan as an economic threat to the U.S. Much of the world fearing the U.S.
The Presidential Election of 2000. The Patriot Act. Sept. 11, 2001. Secret Military Tribunals. The U.S. nearing a "state of emergency"? Gay marriages. Arnold Schwarzenegger elected Governor of California!
So in recap, there isn't much change in the past 25 years?
One thing that Linux can do really well is CLUSTER EASILY.
Apple has a clustering program demo on their website currently. Food for thought since OS X is receiving more gaming ports than Linux currently...
"and both Mac and Linux are UNIX based..."
Careful. That sounded like an SCO penned legal brief.
"Microsoft is currently appealing the latest decision orcing them to break apart...details in the next law show set 25 years ahead of this one."
No, what you meant to say is that Microsoft 25 years into the future is still in court over the whole SCO funding debacle from the present day. However, the Bush Administration (President Jeb Bush, 3rd Term) still wants to settle the case and move on to more important business; prosecuting the Hawai'ian Revolutionaries trying to form the Polynesian Republic.
Microsoft, having been vanquished by Linux and OS X, is now a litigation sell and is the #1 result for that "litiguous" keyword search using Google, the world's most powerful supercomputer.
Steve Jobs runs the ultra cool company LaTerZ that manufactures the coolest OS X running machines following his second ouster from Apple Computer in 2013.
The former Apple Computer is now known as Apple Music. This commenced when the last suriving member of the Beatles, Ringo Starr, gave his blessing to the merger with Apple Records in 2018.
The "Bible Code asteroid catastrophe of 2013" turned out to be only what happened when Space Station Freedom crashed into New Zealand caused by a decaying orbit brought about by poor mission control following NASA's outsourced contract with EDS who subcontracted out to an Indian tech company. Unfortunately, the 2 Russian cosmonauts who made up the crew perished during re-entry.
Pepsi continues to tout itself as "the choice of the New Generation" despite the fact that RC Cola is now the dominant soft drink brand.
Following further accounting scandals, Time Warner became known as "Turner" in 2009. It is now known as Turner News Corp.
The U.S. finally adopted the Metric System in 2021. Unfortunately, the rest of the planet reverted back to the Imperial Measuring Standard once the rest of the world's male population successfully tried out the "male enhancement offers" that flooded email accounts for decades and thus decided that "inches" was a more manly form of measurement than the wussy French standard.
Ron Jeremy was awarded an Oscar for Lifetime Achievement following his dramatic portrayal of "Super Mario" in two successful trilogies after Hollywood exhaused all comic book licenses and actually assigned quality directors to video game properties following the mysterious deaths of Simon West and Uwe Boll in 2006. Mr. Jeremy looked even more distinguished than his legendary director, Peter Jackson, at the awards ceremony.
The Democratic Party ceased to exist following the 2004 Presidential Election. Interestingly enough, the FBI found out that all its leaders collaborated with the Hussein regime in Iraq to transfer WMD outside of the country. All the top leaders were placed in the protective custody of Camp X-Ray. Cuban President Gloria Estefan reports they are in fine shape.
Woody Harrleson is now the perennial Presidential challenger, representing the Progressive Green Party. Progressive Auto Insurance is the sponsor of the party, fittingly...and has campaigned vigorously for "no fault" auto insurance throughout the nation.
"The Passion of the Zoroaster" won Best Picture last year.
Lord Mick Jagger sired yet another offspring and announced the final tour for the Rolling Stones.
Super producer Rick McCallum just completed Star Wars Episode Nine - The Return of the Binks.
Pete Townshed finally was cleared of pedophile charges when it came to light in recently declassified PDF files that he was aiding the FBI in a sting of the deceased Michael Jackson.
Jackson died tragically in 2005 after a mauling attack during a visit to Siegfrey and Roy in Las Vegas. Roy had returned to performance. He is survived by Blanket Jackson, the first product of CloneAid.
And that is all I will reveal of the future...
'cept this little bit. Iraq's WMD were found in France in 2007. This precipitated the collapse of the European Union. The Eastern portion of the European Union is now known as Deutscheland.
Why do so many people read a joke and then post the same joke with different words?
Its called a "clarification." Are you not familiar with such a concept?
"It's Star Trek, and with no other substitute, it serves as a hold-over until good trek comes along. It's not like I WANT to watch it, I just don't have a choice :p"
:)
:0 You can always catch the repeat of "Enterprise" on Saturday nights on UPN...
Don't you mean, "it serves as a hold-over until the good Doctor comes along"? After all, thanks to the BBC, Doctor Who shall return in 2005.
Tune in to "Angel." That's quality genre programming. And we need as many people tuning in so the WB Network will cave in and renew it for Season Six...
Do the Europans use Linux?
"Are you suggesting that NASA plans on intentionally creating radioactive superbugs with 16 claws and 8 eyes, that can code in C++ and will work for small additional amounts of radiation?"
:0
Why would NASA go to such trouble when India already operates such a business model? Hmmm....