......Second Law of Thermodynamics does not include any requirement of information.....
I suggest you read the article in the link below. Pay special attention to the section on "Entropy and disorder", "Disorder and the second law of thermodynamics " and most importantly, "The arrow of time".
.....to have a demo of your product that crashes randomly.....
It would not cost Apple too much to test some of the better PC manufactures top stock models and compile a list of all the top ones that work in demo mode with OSX. They could put this list on their website. Likely it will be a short list. Cheap Dells may not make the grade.
Advertise: "If your PC is on this list and has not been modified, it will work with OSX for 30 days to help you decide if a new Mac may be in your future".
Since laptops generally don't modded much, they could concentrate on those more. In any case Apple could investigate using OSX as bait on PCs. The potential switchers buy OSX at retail and get most or all of their money credited toward a new Mac.
.....entropy never decreases without energy input.....
Energy input alone is not enough, the energy needs to be applied in such a way that there is a gradient.
Increasing entropy also decreases the order of a system. In thermal terms, heating one end of a metal bar increases the "order" over its previous state. As time goes on however, temperature distribution becomes uniform. Its entropy increases and the order decreases. Heat engines work because heat is applied in a specific way so there is a temperature gradient. The specificity of application in one place and not uniformly (randomly) constitutes information.
Application of energy alone will not clean up your messy house. You also supply information of where to put the stuff. A complete collection of airplane parts will never become a working airplane by the application of energy alone. Additionally, information must be supplied where each part should fit.
To reduce entropy requires energy applied in specific, non-random ways.
.....Information alone doesn't do anything, so how can DNA replicate if it's just a storage medium?.....
DNA carries ALL information, including how to make the copying system and then copy itself and then copy the data needed to guide other processes of life..
Evolution claims that the complex arises from the simple. Entropy says the opposite, that complex things break down into their simpler parts. So which theory is correct?
To counteract entropy requires energy and information. Living things do this entropy reduction routinely by the above two acting TOGETHER. One or the other alone will not do that. Evolution has no explanation where the original information came from, since evolutionists deny the existence of a mind as the source.
All programs arise in a mind, whether running in a computer, or the DNA programs running in your body. ID theorizes the original information came from the mind of a designer. The activity of mind in every nook and cranny of life leads me to BELIEVE that there is a Mind wherein all this vast amount of programming originated. Neither the lack of a designer, as evolutionists preach, nor the existence of one according to the ID theory can be proven by any true science experiment . Both are matter of belief.
......So you're saying that DNA itself does nothing?......
I am not quite sure what you mean here. Like a disk it carries information of every living thing. It also carries the information on how to make the building blocks for its own construction and how to do the actual constructing of the readout and data handling systems that then guide the construction of complex things like eyes and ears.
You have to understand that information and the devices that carry it are distinct. The exact same information to do something can be carried and stored by numerous devices. DNA just happens to be a universal recording and transmission medium for data related to building and maintaining living systems.
Information per se is not subject to some of the laws of physics that material objects are. Information is not subject to entropy and therefore to time. Only the carriers are subject to both. Computer scientists take great pains with check sums, cyclic redundancy and other advanced techniques, to ensure that information is not lost or altered by the unavoidable imperfections of physical information handling systems. If information in and of itself were subject to entropy, these techniques would not be able to prevent loss or corruption of the data. The DNA also uses similar techniques to guard the integrity of the data storage and transmission. Also, DNA uses a 4 level code, rather than binary, such as our digital computers. Nevertheless, even so, errors can and do occur in man made and natural data processing. The goal is to make the error rate acceptably low.
The speed at which information can travel is only limited by the fastest physical carrier thereof. So far at least, that is the speed of light.
If evolution allows for the existence of a designer, why then are evolutionists fighting the idea of ID and a Creator so strenuously? Admitting the existence of a designer, implies at least a supernatural beginning and that such a designer might tweak the design now and then. The evolutionary ideas of ORIGINS cannot be proven by science, while other aspects of evolution theory can be. Discussion of origins is beyond hard science and becomes a belief system.
.....someone will have to hack each and every game to use OpenGL instead....
If the sales of Intel Macs really take off because Windows will generally run conveniently via VPC, many of the popular games will likely come out with a Mac version or software to allow the Windows version to use Mac display hardware also. For the really dyed in the wool gamers, a new console would probably be cheaper anyway.
......if I somehow acquire an X-box emulator for the Playstation....
Apple's legal eagles probably wouldn't bother you running an emulator, but certainly go after the distributors of the emulator, just as MS gets after the mod chip purveyors, not the users. Again this is not something big that would undercut Apple's sales to the vast majority of users. Apple will likely let the small numbers of hackers have their fun, since these don't really threaten their profits a great deal.
......After you factor in the zillion dollars this would cost them to make drivers for this hardware.....
Apple could include a short list of name brand models on which the OSX demo PROBABLY would run. This coupled with a disclaimer: "Don't call us if you are not running this on a genuine Mac". Owners of a no-name box would be out of luck, as would be the owners of a five year old Dell or other brands.
.....I'm sure a crappy Dell system with random crashes....
A big THIS IS A DEMO disclaimer can let the user know that their mileage may vary. I agree though, a Mac mini is a good way to go, especially after an Intel version comes out.
....how hard do you think it would be to crack any trial period mechanism?....
Simple for a good hacker, but hard for Joe user. That's all that matters. These hurdles Apple puts up are not meant to foil clever geeks, only the masses of ordinary users. Expect Apple's legal eagles to go after any geek however, who attempts to profit from his/her hacks by making it available to the mass market.
.....You should be allowed to do whatever you want....
Of course you're ALLOWED to run x-box software on a Playstation or OSX on your Dell, but it just won't do it. Apple is under no obligation to help you do it. If you can figure it out, great go to it, but don't complain that Apple makes it hard to do.
Only geeks like you will make it work and Apple probably doesn't care, as long as some geek doesn't attempt to market such a hack to great masses of users.
......So really, if you look at DNA, it's just a series of molecules.....
The problem is that the DNA is just an information carrier, similar to a floppy disk or CD. It carries the information on how to make the molecules from which it itself is constructed. Sort of like the a CD that carries the info on how to build a CD reader/recorder. The question is: Which came first, the complex molecules which make the DNA or the DNA which holds the information on how to construct these molecules. Of course in the case of the CD, we know the builders designed both of them together -- one did not come from the other.
Since evolution denies the existence of a designer, it cannot explain which came first, the DNA or the assembly of molecules it is made of. It is the molecular chicken and egg problem.
I have NEVER seen an application kill OSX. I have some hang the interface. A nifty freebie by Ambrosia called escape pod allows bringing up the force quit panel and kill the offending program. A program that necessitates the use of the force quit function consistently gets erased from the computer. End of problem. USB and firewire problems have crashed OSX however.
.....What this means is that Apple's best attempts to secure their OS have, ultimately, failed.....
Not really. Just because a few geeks manage to get OSX running on their generic PCs, with a lot of effort, doesn't really affect Apple a whole lot.
The masses Joe users are not going to install OSX on their PC boxes, but when their current PC dies or becomes severely sick from malware, may decide to buy a shiny new Mac. Apple may even make a demo version of OSX to entice these Joe users to buy a Mac.
......My bigger point was that if Apple could just decouple the OS from the hardware....
It is precisely their strength that they make the whole gadget -- end to end. It is the software, not the hardware, that makes a computer a computer. Apple sells complete solutions, such as the iTunes, iPod and ITMS trio for an easy to use music system. The Mac OSX, iLife and the corresponding hardware also make a complete integrated, very secure system that just works. They would be fools to change such a very successful business model.
.......Likewise, once you've lawfully obtained a copy of MacOS-X, Apple loses all rights to dictate how that copy may be used......
BS. A game software maker can certainly tell you their software will not run on anything other than an X-box. No Nintendo or Playstations will run it. So why should Apple not be allowed to print on that nice box of OSX you just legally bought that this software will ONLY install and run on a genuine Apple box?
Apple would be smart to allow you to install OSX on your old Dell as a TRIAL, but tell you up front that it will cease working entirely or in some critical function after the trial is over. Then you may decide or not, to buy a new Mac. They could even apply the purchase price as a discount on your new Max box.
.....so that all the Mac users will go out and shell out $120+ for the new OS.....
They could allow OSX install on any decent PC as a trial. Just before the trial expires they could flash an offer to credit all or a part of the purchase price of the OSX towards a new Mac. The actual cost to make and box the OSX disk could be classed as an advertising expense. The development cost comes back from the sale of the new Mac. They might get a good number of switchers from Windows that way.
If you buy a copy of a game clearly labeled to work only on an X-box, can you complain that it won't work on your Playstation?
If Apple clearly and prominently labels that the OSX product inside the box you bought will only install permanently on a computer made by Apple, what complaint rights do you have? They may even tell you it will run as a TRIAL version on your box for a while, but there is no support from them on anything other than Apple boxes.
As a switcher from Windows you get to taste OSX on your own box and then decide it is worth it or not to get a genuine Mac and thereafter re-install Windows or Linux on your old PC.
.....People are just going to pirate the fuck out of OS X.....
Probably mostly hackers will, just for the challenge. An ordinary Joe, uses a hacked DVD calls Apple for support because their system doesn't work correctly will be told to buzz off or might even hear from Apple's lawyers.
Apple should allow the standard OSX to run as a trial for a limited time on all otherwise qualified boxes. It would be cheap advertising to get the PC users hooked and after the trial stops working, urge them to buy a real Mac.
.....The fact of the matter is that Apple doesn't really care about people running OSX on a non-apple system.....
Why should they? They don't need to support them. However they could allow OSX to install for a trial period or a randomly limited number of re-boots or other limiting mechanism. At last a message comes up:
"You have just booted OSX on your non-Apple computer for the last time. You have gotten a sampling of some of what a genuine Mac has to offer. Call xxx-xxx-xxxx or go to www.apple.com to order one. Please save all your files to an external device NOW."
Upon the next boot try, nothing happens. The computer appears dead.
......Could you perhaps justify the claim that the laws of physics are a form of information when it comes to crystal formation, but that they cannot apply to DNA structures?......
Many kinds of atoms and molecules form crystals simply because of their shapes, either individually or in small repeating clusters. You can demonstrate this by having a tray each of small triangular, circular and square tiles respectively. Shake each tray for a while and you'll see that the various shapes tend to cluster themselves together in certain repeating, regular patterns. If you put all the shapes together on a single tray you will also see the shapes aggregate into clusters, but the clusters will be much smaller and less distinct
Similarly, as atoms or molecules of a given kind in a melt or solution jostle randomly they tend to aggregate in certain repeating patterns as dictated by their shape and binding energies of the electrons. There is really no other information involved besides the intrinsic geometry of the atoms or molecules. The more pure the melt or solution, the larger the crystals will grow. Silicon crystals for chips, for example, are grown from highly purified silicon under very carefully controlled conditions. A very tiny numbers of certain other atoms are added to turn an otherwise insulating solid into a semiconductor.
In living systems the different kinds of atoms are arranged by complex codes into the non-repeating structures needed to achieve a set of functions and goals. The information content of even a single cell is staggering, compared to non-living molecular structures. A comparison might be three or four alphabetic letters repeated in a given sequence over and over against all letters of the alphabet arranged into the words and sentences of Tolstoy's "War and Peace" or other great literary work.
Even the laws of physics demonstrate an amazing coherency and precise relationships to each other. However, by themselves they do not contain anywhere near the immense amounts of information that are required to form even the simplest living systems.
.....Name a theory that has been proven and cite the proof thereof....
I'll tell you of two. The theory of the interrelationships of magnetism and electricity ( discovered by Michael Faraday) is proven by the fact that you have power to run the computer you are reading this on.
The theory of atomic fission is proven by visiting your friendly neighborhood nuclear power station. If you don't have one of these nearby, google for Hiroshima or Nagasaki and look at a few photographs of what took place there in 1945.
(.....Please cite the "laws of entropy" that state a requirement of "INFORMATION"......)
Increased entropy means decreased order and I'll give you two examples you may understand. If (when:)! your house gets messy you not only have to supply energy to move the randomly scattered socks, papers, used coffee cups and other things around, but you must also supply information to put them in their proper places. Supplying energy alone is not sufficient to reduce the entropy of the messy house. Judicious dusting and vacuuming will also reduce fine particle entropy.
If you have a loose collection of say airplane parts which you wish to turn into a functional plane, you not only have to supply the needed energy to move the parts around, but even more importantly, you'd have to supply information on exactly where each part is supposed to fit.
Living systems constantly reduce entropy by the use of energy directed by the information codes stored within their DNA.
.....This guy actually thinks the second law of thermodynamics disproves evolution!....
I have never said that. The second law says that complex systems always break down into simpler parts and never the other way around. To counter entropy two conditions must be met. Both of these are met in living systems. First there must be a source of energy. The sun is that source for all life here on Earth. Second, there must be some information on how and where to apply this energy in order to achieve survival and reproduction. The information codes, similar to a computer storage device, are stored in the DNA molecules. The generation of information is an activity of mind
Since evolution attempts to explain origins apart from the activity of mind, it is at a loss to determine where the tremendous amount of information inherent in highly ordered living systems comes from. It is like finding a computer with complex programs inside and not wishing to acknowledge the existence of programmers.
(....However, whether microevolutionary theories are sufficient to account for macroevolutionary adaptations is a question that is left open.....)
The article link you recommended (quote above) puts this quandary very succinctly. Evolutionists rightly observe a tremendous increase over time in the complexity of living creatures, but then cannot really explain nor experimentally show how this increase in complexity came about.
Nobody denies that all human creative activity first arises in a human mind. All the complex gadgets we use today came to be by processes of thought in a human mind. Why then is it so unreasonable to theorize that the incredible amounts of information we observe in living things also first arose in a mind, one far greater than any human mind?
If you find a watch on the beach, you can still be fascinated and educated by determining how it works, quite independently of whether or not you are willing to acknowledge the existence of a watchmaker.
.....I've never heard of "information" also being required....
Increasing entropy also decreases the order of a system. In thermal terms, heating one end of a metal bar increases the "order" over its previous state. As time goes on however, temperature distribution becomes uniform. its entropy increases and the order decreases.
If time suddenly started going backwards, say for an hour or two, how would you know? The motions of the planets and clocks would not change. What would change? What test could you apply that time itself had reversed? Here is a test.
Throw say three well shuffled decks of cards into the air, as high as possible. Now if ALL the cards came down in exact numerical order, or any other clearly discernible order, say by suit etc. you'd know something extremely strange was going on. Because entropy (disorder) always increases with time, therefore if entropy suddenly decreased, it would mean that time is going backwards.
An ordered system always contains more information than a disordered one. If you have a loose collection of say airplane parts which you wish to turn into a functional plane, you not only have to supply the needed energy to move the parts around, but even more importantly, you'd have to supply information on exactly where each part is supposed to fit.
If (when:)! your house gets messy you not only have to supply energy to move the randomly scattered socks, papers, used coffee cups and other things around, but you also supply information to put them in their proper places.
Living systems are highly ordered, by the adding of energy (from food or sunshine) combined with large amounts of information stored in DNA codes, analogous to a computer program, on exactly where and how this energy should be applied to achieve a goal, say like survival and reproduction.
Since evolution attempts to explain origins apart from the activity of mind, it is at a loss to determine where the tremendous amount of information implied in highly ordered living systems comes from. It is like finding a computer with complex programs inside and not wishing to acknowledge the existence of programmers. To make a complex system from simpler parts always requires energy and more importantly, some information on exactly where and how this energy needs to be applied in order to achieve the more complex system. Nobody denies that all human creative activity first arises in a human mind. All the complex gadgets we use today came to be by processes of thought in a human mind. Why then is it so unreasonable to theorize that the unimaginably more complex structures and systems we see in nature also first arose in a mind, one far greater than any human mind? Neither this theory nor the mindless evolution theory have been tested by experiments however.
......So how do crystals form? How does an adult human form from a less complex zygote?......
Crystals formation follows well established physical laws of atomic interactions. The information is stored in the laws of physics in the case of crystals. For humans, all the information needed is stored in the genetic program and the laws of physics and chemistry by which these codes are acted upon.
To counteract entropy always requires two elements. One is the input of energy and the other is the adding of information. When you clean up the mess in your house, you expend energy and apply information, a product of mind, to decide what to do with the stuff.
Both the laws of physics and the human genetic programming are a product of mind, the programmer if you will. The program in your computer is an immaterial product from the programmers mind, which the hardware executes for you.
Slashdot Mirror
......Second Law of Thermodynamics does not include any requirement of information.....
I suggest you read the article in the link below. Pay special attention to the section on "Entropy and disorder", "Disorder and the second law of thermodynamics " and most importantly, "The arrow of time".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropy
The part on 'Maxwell's Demon' and Information will also tell you in other terms that I have that information is very much involved with entropy.
.....to have a demo of your product that crashes randomly.....
It would not cost Apple too much to test some of the better PC manufactures top stock models and compile a list of all the top ones that work in demo mode with OSX. They could put this list on their website. Likely it will be a short list. Cheap Dells may not make the grade.
Advertise: "If your PC is on this list and has not been modified, it will work with OSX for 30 days to help you decide if a new Mac may be in your future".
Since laptops generally don't modded much, they could concentrate on those more. In any case Apple could investigate using OSX as bait on PCs. The potential switchers buy OSX at retail and get most or all of their money credited toward a new Mac.
.....entropy never decreases without energy input.....
Energy input alone is not enough, the energy needs to be applied in such a way that there is a gradient.
Increasing entropy also decreases the order of a system. In thermal terms, heating one end of a metal bar increases the "order" over its previous state. As time goes on however, temperature distribution becomes uniform. Its entropy increases and the order decreases. Heat engines work because heat is applied in a specific way so there is a temperature gradient. The specificity of application in one place and not uniformly (randomly) constitutes information.
Application of energy alone will not clean up your messy house. You also supply information of where to put the stuff. A complete collection of airplane parts will never become a working airplane by the application of energy alone. Additionally, information must be supplied where each part should fit.
To reduce entropy requires energy applied in specific, non-random ways.
.....Information alone doesn't do anything, so how can DNA replicate if it's just a storage medium?.....
DNA carries ALL information, including how to make the copying system and then copy itself and then copy the data needed to guide other processes of life..
Evolution claims that the complex arises from the simple. Entropy says the opposite, that complex things break down into their simpler parts. So which theory is correct?
To counteract entropy requires energy and information. Living things do this entropy reduction routinely by the above two acting TOGETHER. One or the other alone will not do that. Evolution has no explanation where the original information came from, since evolutionists deny the existence of a mind as the source.
All programs arise in a mind, whether running in a computer, or the DNA programs running in your body. ID theorizes the original information came from the mind of a designer. The activity of mind in every nook and cranny of life leads me to BELIEVE that there is a Mind wherein all this vast amount of programming originated. Neither the lack of a designer, as evolutionists preach, nor the existence of one according to the ID theory can be proven by any true science experiment . Both are matter of belief.
......So you're saying that DNA itself does nothing?......
I am not quite sure what you mean here. Like a disk it carries information of every living thing. It also carries the information on how to make the building blocks for its own construction and how to do the actual constructing of the readout and data handling systems that then guide the construction of complex things like eyes and ears.
You have to understand that information and the devices that carry it are distinct. The exact same information to do something can be carried and stored by numerous devices. DNA just happens to be a universal recording and transmission medium for data related to building and maintaining living systems.
Information per se is not subject to some of the laws of physics that material objects are. Information is not subject to entropy and therefore to time. Only the carriers are subject to both. Computer scientists take great pains with check sums, cyclic redundancy and other advanced techniques, to ensure that information is not lost or altered by the unavoidable imperfections of physical information handling systems. If information in and of itself were subject to entropy, these techniques would not be able to prevent loss or corruption of the data. The DNA also uses similar techniques to guard the integrity of the data storage and transmission. Also, DNA uses a 4 level code, rather than binary, such as our digital computers. Nevertheless, even so, errors can and do occur in man made and natural data processing. The goal is to make the error rate acceptably low.
The speed at which information can travel is only limited by the fastest physical carrier thereof. So far at least, that is the speed of light.
If evolution allows for the existence of a designer, why then are evolutionists fighting the idea of ID and a Creator so strenuously? Admitting the existence of a designer, implies at least a supernatural beginning and that such a designer might tweak the design now and then. The evolutionary ideas of ORIGINS cannot be proven by science, while other aspects of evolution theory can be. Discussion of origins is beyond hard science and becomes a belief system.
.....someone will have to hack each and every game to use OpenGL instead....
If the sales of Intel Macs really take off because Windows will generally run conveniently via VPC, many of the popular games will likely come out with a Mac version or software to allow the Windows version to use Mac display hardware also. For the really dyed in the wool gamers, a new console would probably be cheaper anyway.
......if I somehow acquire an X-box emulator for the Playstation....
Apple's legal eagles probably wouldn't bother you running an emulator, but certainly go after the distributors of the emulator, just as MS gets after the mod chip purveyors, not the users. Again this is not something big that would undercut Apple's sales to the vast majority of users. Apple will likely let the small numbers of hackers have their fun, since these don't really threaten their profits a great deal.
......After you factor in the zillion dollars this would cost them to make drivers for this hardware.....
Apple could include a short list of name brand models on which the OSX demo PROBABLY would run. This coupled with a disclaimer: "Don't call us if you are not running this on a genuine Mac". Owners of a no-name box would be out of luck, as would be the owners of a five year old Dell or other brands.
.....I'm sure a crappy Dell system with random crashes....
A big THIS IS A DEMO disclaimer can let the user know that their mileage may vary. I agree though, a Mac mini is a good way to go, especially after an Intel version comes out.
....how hard do you think it would be to crack any trial period mechanism?....
Simple for a good hacker, but hard for Joe user. That's all that matters. These hurdles Apple puts up are not meant to foil clever geeks, only the masses of ordinary users. Expect Apple's legal eagles to go after any geek however, who attempts to profit from his/her hacks by making it available to the mass market.
.....You should be allowed to do whatever you want ....
Of course you're ALLOWED to run x-box software on a Playstation or OSX on your Dell, but it just won't do it. Apple is under no obligation to help you do it. If you can figure it out, great go to it, but don't complain that Apple makes it hard to do.
Only geeks like you will make it work and Apple probably doesn't care, as long as some geek doesn't attempt to market such a hack to great masses of users.
......So really, if you look at DNA, it's just a series of molecules.....
The problem is that the DNA is just an information carrier, similar to a floppy disk or CD. It carries the information on how to make the molecules from which it itself is constructed. Sort of like the a CD that carries the info on how to build a CD reader/recorder. The question is: Which came first, the complex molecules which make the DNA or the DNA which holds the information on how to construct these molecules. Of course in the case of the CD, we know the builders designed both of them together -- one did not come from the other.
Since evolution denies the existence of a designer, it cannot explain which came first, the DNA or the assembly of molecules it is made of. It is the molecular chicken and egg problem.
......a crap app can hose the system.....
I have NEVER seen an application kill OSX. I have some hang the interface. A nifty freebie by Ambrosia called escape pod allows bringing up the force quit panel and kill the offending program. A program that necessitates the use of the force quit function consistently gets erased from the computer. End of problem. USB and firewire problems have crashed OSX however.
.....What this means is that Apple's best attempts to secure their OS have, ultimately, failed.....
Not really. Just because a few geeks manage to get OSX running on their generic PCs, with a lot of effort, doesn't really affect Apple a whole lot.
The masses Joe users are not going to install OSX on their PC boxes, but when their current PC dies or becomes severely sick from malware, may decide to buy a shiny new Mac. Apple may even make a demo version of OSX to entice these Joe users to buy a Mac.
......My bigger point was that if Apple could just decouple the OS from the hardware....
It is precisely their strength that they make the whole gadget -- end to end. It is the software, not the hardware, that makes a computer a computer. Apple sells complete solutions, such as the iTunes, iPod and ITMS trio for an easy to use music system. The Mac OSX, iLife and the corresponding hardware also make a complete integrated, very secure system that just works. They would be fools to change such a very successful business model.
.......Likewise, once you've lawfully obtained a copy of MacOS-X, Apple loses all rights to dictate how that copy may be used......
BS. A game software maker can certainly tell you their software will not run on anything other than an X-box. No Nintendo or Playstations will run it. So why should Apple not be allowed to print on that nice box of OSX you just legally bought that this software will ONLY install and run on a genuine Apple box?
Apple would be smart to allow you to install OSX on your old Dell as a TRIAL, but tell you up front that it will cease working entirely or in some critical function after the trial is over. Then you may decide or not, to buy a new Mac. They could even apply the purchase price as a discount on your new Max box.
.....so that all the Mac users will go out and shell out $120+ for the new OS.....
They could allow OSX install on any decent PC as a trial. Just before the trial expires they could flash an offer to credit all or a part of the purchase price of the OSX towards a new Mac. The actual cost to make and box the OSX disk could be classed as an advertising expense. The development cost comes back from the sale of the new Mac. They might get a good number of switchers from Windows that way.
.....but if I BUY an official copy of OS/X.....
If you buy a copy of a game clearly labeled to work only on an X-box, can you complain that it won't work on your Playstation?
If Apple clearly and prominently labels that the OSX product inside the box you bought will only install permanently on a computer made by Apple, what complaint rights do you have? They may even tell you it will run as a TRIAL version on your box for a while, but there is no support from them on anything other than Apple boxes.
As a switcher from Windows you get to taste OSX on your own box and then decide it is worth it or not to get a genuine Mac and thereafter re-install Windows or Linux on your old PC.
.....People are just going to pirate the fuck out of OS X.....
Probably mostly hackers will, just for the challenge. An ordinary Joe, uses a hacked DVD calls Apple for support because their system doesn't work correctly will be told to buzz off or might even hear from Apple's lawyers.
Apple should allow the standard OSX to run as a trial for a limited time on all otherwise qualified boxes. It would be cheap advertising to get the PC users hooked and after the trial stops working, urge them to buy a real Mac.
.....The fact of the matter is that Apple doesn't really care about people running OSX on a non-apple system.....
Why should they? They don't need to support them. However they could allow OSX to install for a trial period or a randomly limited number of re-boots or other limiting mechanism. At last a message comes up:
"You have just booted OSX on your non-Apple computer for the last time. You have gotten a sampling of some of what a genuine Mac has to offer. Call xxx-xxx-xxxx or go to www.apple.com to order one. Please save all your files to an external device NOW."
Upon the next boot try, nothing happens. The computer appears dead.
......Could you perhaps justify the claim that the laws of physics are a form of information when it comes to crystal formation, but that they cannot apply to DNA structures?......
Many kinds of atoms and molecules form crystals simply because of their shapes, either individually or in small repeating clusters. You can demonstrate this by having a tray each of small triangular, circular and square tiles respectively. Shake each tray for a while and you'll see that the various shapes tend to cluster themselves together in certain repeating, regular patterns. If you put all the shapes together on a single tray you will also see the shapes aggregate into clusters, but the clusters will be much smaller and less distinct
Similarly, as atoms or molecules of a given kind in a melt or solution jostle randomly they tend to aggregate in certain repeating patterns as dictated by their shape and binding energies of the electrons. There is really no other information involved besides the intrinsic geometry of the atoms or molecules. The more pure the melt or solution, the larger the crystals will grow. Silicon crystals for chips, for example, are grown from highly purified silicon under very carefully controlled conditions. A very tiny numbers of certain other atoms are added to turn an otherwise insulating solid into a semiconductor.
In living systems the different kinds of atoms are arranged by complex codes into the non-repeating structures needed to achieve a set of functions and goals. The information content of even a single cell is staggering, compared to non-living molecular structures. A comparison might be three or four alphabetic letters repeated in a given sequence over and over against all letters of the alphabet arranged into the words and sentences of Tolstoy's "War and Peace" or other great literary work.
Even the laws of physics demonstrate an amazing coherency and precise relationships to each other. However, by themselves they do not contain anywhere near the immense amounts of information that are required to form even the simplest living systems.
.....Name a theory that has been proven and cite the proof thereof....
:)! your house gets messy you not only have to supply energy to move the randomly scattered socks, papers, used coffee cups and other things around, but you must also supply information to put them in their proper places. Supplying energy alone is not sufficient to reduce the entropy of the messy house. Judicious dusting and vacuuming will also reduce fine particle entropy.
I'll tell you of two. The theory of the interrelationships of magnetism and electricity ( discovered by Michael Faraday) is proven by the fact that you have power to run the computer you are reading this on.
The theory of atomic fission is proven by visiting your friendly neighborhood nuclear power station. If you don't have one of these nearby, google for Hiroshima or Nagasaki and look at a few photographs of what took place there in 1945.
(.....Please cite the "laws of entropy" that state a requirement of "INFORMATION"......)
Increased entropy means decreased order and I'll give you two examples you may understand. If (when
If you have a loose collection of say airplane parts which you wish to turn into a functional plane, you not only have to supply the needed energy to move the parts around, but even more importantly, you'd have to supply information on exactly where each part is supposed to fit.
Living systems constantly reduce entropy by the use of energy directed by the information codes stored within their DNA.
.....This guy actually thinks the second law of thermodynamics disproves evolution!....
I have never said that. The second law says that complex systems always break down into simpler parts and never the other way around. To counter entropy two conditions must be met. Both of these are met in living systems. First there must be a source of energy. The sun is that source for all life here on Earth. Second, there must be some information on how and where to apply this energy in order to achieve survival and reproduction. The information codes, similar to a computer storage device, are stored in the DNA molecules. The generation of information is an activity of mind
Since evolution attempts to explain origins apart from the activity of mind, it is at a loss to determine where the tremendous amount of information inherent in highly ordered living systems comes from. It is like finding a computer with complex programs inside and not wishing to acknowledge the existence of programmers.
(....However, whether microevolutionary theories are sufficient to account for macroevolutionary adaptations is a question that is left open.....)
The article link you recommended (quote above) puts this quandary very succinctly. Evolutionists rightly observe a tremendous increase over time in the complexity of living creatures, but then cannot really explain nor experimentally show how this increase in complexity came about.
Nobody denies that all human creative activity first arises in a human mind. All the complex gadgets we use today came to be by processes of thought in a human mind. Why then is it so unreasonable to theorize that the incredible amounts of information we observe in living things also first arose in a mind, one far greater than any human mind?
If you find a watch on the beach, you can still be fascinated and educated by determining how it works, quite independently of whether or not you are willing to acknowledge the existence of a watchmaker.
.....I've never heard of "information" also being required....
:)! your house gets messy you not only have to supply energy to move the randomly scattered socks, papers, used coffee cups and other things around, but you also supply information to put them in their proper places.
Increasing entropy also decreases the order of a system. In thermal terms, heating one end of a metal bar increases the "order" over its previous state. As time goes on however, temperature distribution becomes uniform. its entropy increases and the order decreases.
If time suddenly started going backwards, say for an hour or two, how would you know? The motions of the planets and clocks would not change. What would change? What test could you apply that time itself had reversed? Here is a test.
Throw say three well shuffled decks of cards into the air, as high as possible. Now if ALL the cards came down in exact numerical order, or any other clearly discernible order, say by suit etc. you'd know something extremely strange was going on. Because entropy (disorder) always increases with time, therefore if entropy suddenly decreased, it would mean that time is going backwards.
An ordered system always contains more information than a disordered one. If you have a loose collection of say airplane parts which you wish to turn into a functional plane, you not only have to supply the needed energy to move the parts around, but even more importantly, you'd have to supply information on exactly where each part is supposed to fit.
If (when
Living systems are highly ordered, by the adding of energy (from food or sunshine) combined with large amounts of information stored in DNA codes, analogous to a computer program, on exactly where and how this energy should be applied to achieve a goal, say like survival and reproduction.
Since evolution attempts to explain origins apart from the activity of mind, it is at a loss to determine where the tremendous amount of information implied in highly ordered living systems comes from. It is like finding a computer with complex programs inside and not wishing to acknowledge the existence of programmers. To make a complex system from simpler parts always requires energy and more importantly, some information on exactly where and how this energy needs to be applied in order to achieve the more complex system. Nobody denies that all human creative activity first arises in a human mind. All the complex gadgets we use today came to be by processes of thought in a human mind. Why then is it so unreasonable to theorize that the unimaginably more complex structures and systems we see in nature also first arose in a mind, one far greater than any human mind? Neither this theory nor the mindless evolution theory have been tested by experiments however.
......So how do crystals form? How does an adult human form from a less complex zygote?......
Crystals formation follows well established physical laws of atomic interactions. The information is stored in the laws of physics in the case of crystals. For humans, all the information needed is stored in the genetic program and the laws of physics and chemistry by which these codes are acted upon.
To counteract entropy always requires two elements. One is the input of energy and the other is the adding of information. When you clean up the mess in your house, you expend energy and apply information, a product of mind, to decide what to do with the stuff.
Both the laws of physics and the human genetic programming are a product of mind, the programmer if you will. The program in your computer is an immaterial product from the programmers mind, which the hardware executes for you.