...Look for something like a larger iPhone/Ipod Touch....
Doesn't the iPhone/iTouch do everything that any net-book can do plus more? Apple could make an accessory for these that supplied a larger screen and keyboard. The iPhone could dock into the larger unit whenever a larger screen/keybord is wanted/needed.
....You see, this move relieves the ISPs from upgrading backbone capacity...
But if this move of having local cache servers makes for less traffic on the backbone, is that not the same thing? How is this different from an ISP running a proxy server?
Nobody NEEDS to run any particular OS, but if you have a Mac there is NO software you CANNOT run -- period. Of course anyone who want to write programs for the hot selling iPhone or iTouch MUST run OSX, because these use a pared down version of that OS. If you want to run OSX on your cheap hackintosh, Apple will not send their lawyer-dogs your way. They just don't like others making a business selling OSX for non-Apple hardware.
(...How much RAM to each, I wonder?...)
The Mac Pro will accommodate up to 32GB of RAM, but you must not be a poor person to afford that. I bought 2ea 2GB x 32bit additional memory modules for about $70 ea and so now have a total of 6GB of 64 bit RAM. It is nice to keep an 800MB+ picture file entirely in memory in Photoshop and still run XP and VISTA at the same time.. XP runs fine with 512M and VISTA gets 2GB all to itself. I use XP regularly, VISTA just to learn about drivers and security. I have explored UBUNTU 8.04 a bit just to learn a little about it, but do not use it for any work. It is still in a VM on the 500GB HD. Safari, Mail and Skype are usually running also.
Only if your time is worthless. Cheaper doesn't mean better. You generally get what you pay for. Pay less and get less. Even so, a computer capable of decently running VISTA isn't all that much cheaper either.
...Apple tried to create their own system for years, but finally gave up recently and moved to Intel and Microsoft....
Apple is using Intel processors, but what Microsoft components do they use? If anyone is running a computer software copying machine, it is Microsoft copying Apple.
...Can you name a feature that makes Vista better than XP....
That question might be re-stated: Can you name a feature that makes Vista better than Mac OSX?
I still have an iBook G4 that came with OSX.3 originally and was upgraded later to 768M of RAM. Since I had bought a family license of OSX.5 (leopard) for our other Macs, I decided to upgrade the G4. It runs faster and better now than when it was new. This is also the case with our original Mac mini, which is now used for music and video, driving our 47 inch LCD television. Also, the same scanner and printer drivers that worked with OSX.3 work just the same with OSX.5, which is not the case with old XP drivers working on VISTA.
Any time you upgrade old hardware with a newer version of Windows, performance drops significantly. The only way you can get performance back up, is to throw or give away the old hardware and buy a new computer. When you buy a decent name brand (not the cheapest junk available) new computer with VISTA, its performance is about the same or slightly better than the old one with XP. The biggest reason why Microsoft does this, is because they make most of their money not from user upgrades of their OS, but from the manufacturers of new computers. They force the users to buy new hardware, so that they can run improved software. So, if forced to buy a new computer anyway, to run VISTA, why not get a Mac and be done with malware infested Windows forever? It seems that some of the smarter people out there are coming to a very logical conclusion. This is why, even in a recession, the more expensive Macs are still selling well.
...and if you're getting a new PC you might as well get....
A new Mac with OSX. Then you get Linux's big UNIX brother to play with, but also many more programs than Linux will run. However if you REALLY want to run programs that are available for Linux, you can get most of these for the Mac OSX also. If you are addicted to Windows games, install your current copy of XP in a bootcamp drive. You can also learn about Linux by installing it in a VM on the Mac. It is possible to run OSX, any copy of Windows and one or more of the various flavors of Linux all on a Mac. A powerful Mac, such as a Mac Pro with 4 or more GB of RAM is the equivalent of 7 computers in one box. It will run all of these OS at the same time and allow the user to witch between them instantly.
On a 500GB HD there is enough room for many VM files, such as DOS/Win311, Win95, Win98, Win2000, Win XP , VISTA and UBUNTU Linux all running under OSX. Even a Mac laptop with OSX will run any of these one at a time, in addition to some normal OSX programs.
Shipping large quantities of electricity long distances is lossy and the transmission lines are ugly, take a lot of land and hard to get built. A big underground pipeline can transmit FAR more energy than any electric transmission line we know how to build.
...old hard drives seem to keep their data for a long time....
I have a mac SE/30 from 1989 and a Mac Color Classic from 1993 and they both still boot fine and all their programs and data files seem to be ok as well. I wonder if modern hard drives, because of their much higher data density also will keep their data readable. What if anything deteriorates in a HD just sitting in a box or an unused computer? Keeping an old computer with one or more hard drives could make those old files still accessible.
...he completely ignores the effects of wind power on things like bats and birds....
A much bigger problem with wind power is that the open real estate of wind farms is usually far away from where the electricity is needed. Interconnecting wind farms and transmitting power to where it is needed and requires new, large power transmission lines. Those are expensive and hard to build. Nobody likes to have huge transmission towers marching across their land. In order to get such transmission lines built, many very expensive lawyers and court cases would be involved, brought by the thousands of land owners who object.
A better alternative would be to use the generated electricity to make hydrogen. That can be easily shipped in underground pipelines, which are not nearly as objectionable. The existing underground gas distribution infrastructure could also be used to feed local fuel cell conversion stations, perhaps ultimately even in individual houses. Using hydrogen fuel cells to make electricity to drive cars has also been demonstrated.
Life itself is a risk. We have become a very risk averse society. We insure the insurance. Don't take life too seriously, you'll never get out of it alive. I think I can live with that particular risk.
...by having them present with you when you fill out the ballot, seal and sign it,...
Trues, but I still get to choose who that someone else might be. If I want to be able to prove how I voted, is that to be prohibited to me by some government edict? Again I get to choose to whom, if anybody, I would want to prove this to.
...Under such a scenario, women are much more likely to vote in accordance with their husband's wishes....
Don't you think that a woman who loves and respects her husband would WANT to at least find out how he votes and why? My wife and I discuss the various candidates and issues and generally, but not always vote alike. She has changed my mind and I hers on issues and candidates.
Keeping my vote secret from those I love is no issue at all. Keeping it secret from those who have selfish agendas against my world view and beliefs is very much an issue.
That is why Apple is the ONLY company that makes both hardware and software, together, as a complete SYSTEM, not some cobbled together pile of random parts from who knows how many places, That you are using. The so called "computer" you are using evolved from random hardware and software parts. Macs are intelligently designed by some real engineers. People that recognize this, are willing to pay a little extra. That is why Apple makes good profits, while the others are barely squeaking by making rock-bottom equipment.
....Signing your name to something shows that you think its important enough to stand up to criticism....
That really depends entirely on who or whose ideas you are criticizing. If that person, group or company is rich and powerful you may end up with a lawsuit which you cannot possibly defend. That would be OK if you are a homeless vagrant, because no matter what judgment any court may come up with would be meaningless. It would not matter if the court judges one dollar or one hundred million or more against you, the other party would not ever see a penny of it. However, if you are NOT in that social category, you may prefer anonymity.
.... because there is no way (no constitutional way, at least) to enforce secrecy of ballots within the privacy of an individual's own home....
Here in Oregon everybody votes by mail. The ballot arrives in an envelope that contains 1) the ballot itself, 2) a "secrecy envelope" and 3) a return envelope with the county registrar of voters address.
A voter marks their ballot with a black pencil, puts it into the secrecy envelope and seals that. Then that envelope gets put into the return envelope, which the voter must sign on the back. Only signed and verified envelopes are opened and the secrecy envelopes with the ballots in them are taken to the optical scanning machines to be tallied.
So how is such a vote, cast at home and sent in by mail not respect the voter's secrecy?
....Apple tried to create their own system for years, but finally gave up recently and moved to Intel and Microsoft....
So which part of the Mac or OSX has anything in it from Microsoft? Microsoft's Apple copying engines are running overspeed 24/7 these days as they are working on Windows 7. The Mac OSX is their prototype they are trying desperately to copy. The Intel processor is just a piece of hardware that Apple decided to incorporate into their computer. The REAL power of a computer is not the hardware, but the software. A computer without software is an expensive boat anchor. Apple, not Intel makes the heart of their computer, which is the software that runs it and allows others to make specific software to run on top of the COMPLETE computer that only Apple makes. Every other hardware maker supplies their customers with only HALF of a computer.
....Except we want cops to catch people with illegal drugs etc.....
They tried to prohibit the drug alcohol. It was called prohibition. They even made prohibition a constitutional amendment! That benefited no one but the criminals. How is it any different with other drugs still under prohibition? It would be far better to sell and tax other drugs now illegal the same way that alcohol and tobacco are sold and taxed.
could write a high quality, useful program on their own and send it to the iTunes App store. In software, as in most things, marketing, advertising and distribution are the hard part for an otherwise productive individual. The App store also ensures against piracy and thereby a programmer gets paid for each copy put on each iPhone. Apple does all that for only a 30% cut. What a deal for a little guy with programming talent Even if only one in a 100 iPhones has such a person's $10 program, that makes for a nice chunk of change. Maybe, if the program only costs a dollar, one in 10 iPhone owners may buy it, it the program is any good..
....Annihilated by an equivalent quantity of antimatter...
Protons are positive and electrons are negative. Unlike charges attract. Electrons and protons collide and disappear in a flash of energy. Zero point energy is what keeps the electrons in orbit, so they DON'T crash into protons. When that gets turned off or runs out, all atoms become pure energy. E-mc^2 applied to all matter in the universe will make a REALLY Big Bang.
...Start with taxing gains on homes more aggressively....
So our great government makes the money worth less and less making the price of real estate more in terms of those dollars. Then they turn around and tax the inflated money in addition. You are essentially advocating communism, where nobody is allowed to sell a commodity for more than they paid for it, by taking away a gain, which is really a loss, since the money will buy less and less. Real Estate is just another commodity bought and sold, like any other. Why should that commodity be singled out for extra taxes? You are basically advocating the outlawing of profit, which is at the core of a free economy.
That is wishful thinking. A large percentage of economics is emotionally based. Our economic system is based on debt. At some point the debt is PERCEIVED by the borrower to be beyond the ability to pay back. If economics were based on a hard science like say physics, then formulas could be developed to consistently make money in the stock market. People's behavior cannot be predicted the same way as the laws of motion or electricity. If economics really were a true science, then recessions could be predicted.
In this you are in accord with what the Apostle Peter was inspired by God to write down in the Bible, for all that want to read it.
2 Peter 3:3 First, knowing this, that there will come in the last days scoffers walking according to their own lusts 4 and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. 5 For this is hidden from them by their willing it, that the heavens were of old, and the earth out of the water, and through water, being held together by the word of God, 6 through which the world that then was, being flooded by water, perished. 7 But the present heavens and the earth being kept in store by the same word, are being kept for fire until the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. 8 But, beloved, let not this one thing be hidden from you , that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slow concerning His promise, as some count slowness, but is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any of us should perish, but that all of us should come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a rushing noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat. And the earth and the works in it will be burned up. 11 Then, all these things being about to be dissolved, what sort ought you to be in holy behavior and godliness, 12 looking for and rushing the coming of the Day of God, on account of which the heavens, being on fire, will melt away, and the elements will melt, burning with heat? 13 But according to His promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
I am looking forward to that new physical creation also promised here.
Slashdot Mirror
...Look for something like a larger iPhone/Ipod Touch....
Doesn't the iPhone/iTouch do everything that any net-book can do plus more? Apple could make an accessory for these that supplied a larger screen and keyboard. The iPhone could dock into the larger unit whenever a larger screen/keybord is wanted/needed.
....You see, this move relieves the ISPs from upgrading backbone capacity...
But if this move of having local cache servers makes for less traffic on the backbone, is that not the same thing? How is this different from an ISP running a proxy server?
...So long as I don't need to run OS X....
Nobody NEEDS to run any particular OS, but if you have a Mac there is NO software you CANNOT run -- period. Of course anyone who want to write programs for the hot selling iPhone or iTouch MUST run OSX, because these use a pared down version of that OS. If you want to run OSX on your cheap hackintosh, Apple will not send their lawyer-dogs your way. They just don't like others making a business selling OSX for non-Apple hardware.
(...How much RAM to each, I wonder?...)
The Mac Pro will accommodate up to 32GB of RAM, but you must not be a poor person to afford that. I bought 2ea 2GB x 32bit additional memory modules for about $70 ea and so now have a total of 6GB of 64 bit RAM. It is nice to keep an 800MB+ picture file entirely in memory in Photoshop and still run XP and VISTA at the same time.. XP runs fine with 512M and VISTA gets 2GB all to itself. I use XP regularly, VISTA just to learn about drivers and security. I have explored UBUNTU 8.04 a bit just to learn a little about it, but do not use it for any work. It is still in a VM on the 500GB HD. Safari, Mail and Skype are usually running also.
...It's cheaper...
Only if your time is worthless. Cheaper doesn't mean better. You generally get what you pay for. Pay less and get less. Even so, a computer capable of decently running VISTA isn't all that much cheaper either.
...Apple tried to create their own system for years, but finally gave up recently and moved to Intel and Microsoft....
Apple is using Intel processors, but what Microsoft components do they use? If anyone is running a computer software copying machine, it is Microsoft copying Apple.
...Can you name a feature that makes Vista better than XP....
That question might be re-stated: Can you name a feature that makes Vista better than Mac OSX?
I still have an iBook G4 that came with OSX.3 originally and was upgraded later to 768M of RAM. Since I had bought a family license of OSX.5 (leopard) for our other Macs, I decided to upgrade the G4. It runs faster and better now than when it was new. This is also the case with our original Mac mini, which is now used for music and video, driving our 47 inch LCD television. Also, the same scanner and printer drivers that worked with OSX.3 work just the same with OSX.5, which is not the case with old XP drivers working on VISTA.
Any time you upgrade old hardware with a newer version of Windows, performance drops significantly. The only way you can get performance back up, is to throw or give away the old hardware and buy a new computer. When you buy a decent name brand (not the cheapest junk available) new computer with VISTA, its performance is about the same or slightly better than the old one with XP. The biggest reason why Microsoft does this, is because they make most of their money not from user upgrades of their OS, but from the manufacturers of new computers. They force the users to buy new hardware, so that they can run improved software. So, if forced to buy a new computer anyway, to run VISTA, why not get a Mac and be done with malware infested Windows forever? It seems that some of the smarter people out there are coming to a very logical conclusion. This is why, even in a recession, the more expensive Macs are still selling well.
...and if you're getting a new PC you might as well get ....
A new Mac with OSX. Then you get Linux's big UNIX brother to play with, but also many more programs than Linux will run. However if you REALLY want to run programs that are available for Linux, you can get most of these for the Mac OSX also. If you are addicted to Windows games, install your current copy of XP in a bootcamp drive. You can also learn about Linux by installing it in a VM on the Mac. It is possible to run OSX, any copy of Windows and one or more of the various flavors of Linux all on a Mac. A powerful Mac, such as a Mac Pro with 4 or more GB of RAM is the equivalent of 7 computers in one box. It will run all of these OS at the same time and allow the user to witch between them instantly.
On a 500GB HD there is enough room for many VM files, such as DOS/Win311, Win95, Win98, Win2000, Win XP , VISTA and UBUNTU Linux all running under OSX. Even a Mac laptop with OSX will run any of these one at a time, in addition to some normal OSX programs.
Apparently these researchers have done much better using other materials.
http://www.qsinano.com/white_papers/2006_09_15.pdf
Shipping large quantities of electricity long distances is lossy and the transmission lines are ugly, take a lot of land and hard to get built. A big underground pipeline can transmit FAR more energy than any electric transmission line we know how to build.
...old hard drives seem to keep their data for a long time....
I have a mac SE/30 from 1989 and a Mac Color Classic from 1993 and they both still boot fine and all their programs and data files seem to be ok as well. I wonder if modern hard drives, because of their much higher data density also will keep their data readable. What if anything deteriorates in a HD just sitting in a box or an unused computer? Keeping an old computer with one or more hard drives could make those old files still accessible.
...he completely ignores the effects of wind power on things like bats and birds....
A much bigger problem with wind power is that the open real estate of wind farms is usually far away from where the electricity is needed. Interconnecting wind farms and transmitting power to where it is needed and requires new, large power transmission lines. Those are expensive and hard to build. Nobody likes to have huge transmission towers marching across their land. In order to get such transmission lines built, many very expensive lawyers and court cases would be involved, brought by the thousands of land owners who object.
A better alternative would be to use the generated electricity to make hydrogen. That can be easily shipped in underground pipelines, which are not nearly as objectionable. The existing underground gas distribution infrastructure could also be used to feed local fuel cell conversion stations, perhaps ultimately even in individual houses. Using hydrogen fuel cells to make electricity to drive cars has also been demonstrated.
...Intimidation while at home is still a risk....
Life itself is a risk. We have become a very risk averse society. We insure the insurance. Don't take life too seriously, you'll never get out of it alive. I think I can live with that particular risk.
...There might be somebody else in your home, holding a gun to your head...
So, to change the outcome of an election, there would have to be millions of gunmen. Seems far-fetched and unlikely.
...by having them present with you when you fill out the ballot, seal and sign it,...
Trues, but I still get to choose who that someone else might be. If I want to be able to prove how I voted, is that to be prohibited to me by some government edict? Again I get to choose to whom, if anybody, I would want to prove this to.
...Under such a scenario, women are much more likely to vote in accordance with their husband's wishes ....
Don't you think that a woman who loves and respects her husband would WANT to at least find out how he votes and why? My wife and I discuss the various candidates and issues and generally, but not always vote alike. She has changed my mind and I hers on issues and candidates.
Keeping my vote secret from those I love is no issue at all. Keeping it secret from those who have selfish agendas against my world view and beliefs is very much an issue.
...And a computer without hardware is what...
That is why Apple is the ONLY company that makes both hardware and software, together, as a complete SYSTEM, not some cobbled together pile of random parts from who knows how many places, That you are using. The so called "computer" you are using evolved from random hardware and software parts. Macs are intelligently designed by some real engineers. People that recognize this, are willing to pay a little extra. That is why Apple makes good profits, while the others are barely squeaking by making rock-bottom equipment.
....Signing your name to something shows that you think its important enough to stand up to criticism....
That really depends entirely on who or whose ideas you are criticizing. If that person, group or company is rich and powerful you may end up with a lawsuit which you cannot possibly defend. That would be OK if you are a homeless vagrant, because no matter what judgment any court may come up with would be meaningless. It would not matter if the court judges one dollar or one hundred million or more against you, the other party would not ever see a penny of it. However, if you are NOT in that social category, you may prefer anonymity.
.... because there is no way (no constitutional way, at least) to enforce secrecy of ballots within the privacy of an individual's own home....
Here in Oregon everybody votes by mail. The ballot arrives in an envelope that contains 1) the ballot itself, 2) a "secrecy envelope" and 3) a return envelope with the county registrar of voters address.
A voter marks their ballot with a black pencil, puts it into the secrecy envelope and seals that. Then that envelope gets put into the return envelope, which the voter must sign on the back. Only signed and verified envelopes are opened and the secrecy envelopes with the ballots in them are taken to the optical scanning machines to be tallied.
So how is such a vote, cast at home and sent in by mail not respect the voter's secrecy?
....Apple tried to create their own system for years, but finally gave up recently and moved to Intel and Microsoft. ...
So which part of the Mac or OSX has anything in it from Microsoft? Microsoft's Apple copying engines are running overspeed 24/7 these days as they are working on Windows 7. The Mac OSX is their prototype they are trying desperately to copy. The Intel processor is just a piece of hardware that Apple decided to incorporate into their computer. The REAL power of a computer is not the hardware, but the software. A computer without software is an expensive boat anchor. Apple, not Intel makes the heart of their computer, which is the software that runs it and allows others to make specific software to run on top of the COMPLETE computer that only Apple makes. Every other hardware maker supplies their customers with only HALF of a computer.
....Except we want cops to catch people with illegal drugs etc.....
They tried to prohibit the drug alcohol. It was called prohibition. They even made prohibition a constitutional amendment! That benefited no one but the criminals. How is it any different with other drugs still under prohibition? It would be far better to sell and tax other drugs now illegal the same way that alcohol and tobacco are sold and taxed.
... high quality, underrepresented programmer...
could write a high quality, useful program on their own and send it to the iTunes App store. In software, as in most things, marketing, advertising and distribution are the hard part for an otherwise productive individual. The App store also ensures against piracy and thereby a programmer gets paid for each copy put on each iPhone. Apple does all that for only a 30% cut. What a deal for a little guy with programming talent Even if only one in a 100 iPhones has such a person's $10 program, that makes for a nice chunk of change. Maybe, if the program only costs a dollar, one in 10 iPhone owners may buy it, it the program is any good..
...Engineering 101: If it shouldn't move...
You need to add to your sig:
If it leaks you need chewing gum.
....Annihilated by an equivalent quantity of antimatter...
Protons are positive and electrons are negative. Unlike charges attract. Electrons and protons collide and disappear in a flash of energy. Zero point energy is what keeps the electrons in orbit, so they DON'T crash into protons. When that gets turned off or runs out, all atoms become pure energy. E-mc^2 applied to all matter in the universe will make a REALLY Big Bang.
...Start with taxing gains on homes more aggressively....
So our great government makes the money worth less and less making the price of real estate more in terms of those dollars. Then they turn around and tax the inflated money in addition. You are essentially advocating communism, where nobody is allowed to sell a commodity for more than they paid for it, by taking away a gain, which is really a loss, since the money will buy less and less. Real Estate is just another commodity bought and sold, like any other. Why should that commodity be singled out for extra taxes? You are basically advocating the outlawing of profit, which is at the core of a free economy.
...Economics is a science...
That is wishful thinking. A large percentage of economics is emotionally based. Our economic system is based on debt. At some point the debt is PERCEIVED by the borrower to be beyond the ability to pay back. If economics were based on a hard science like say physics, then formulas could be developed to consistently make money in the stock market. People's behavior cannot be predicted the same way as the laws of motion or electricity. If economics really were a true science, then recessions could be predicted.
.... I hold with those who favor fire...
In this you are in accord with what the Apostle Peter was inspired by God to write down in the Bible, for all that want to read it.
2 Peter 3:3 First, knowing this, that there will come in the last days scoffers walking according to their own lusts 4 and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. 5 For this is hidden from them by their willing it, that the heavens were of old, and the earth out of the water, and through water, being held together by the word of God, 6 through which the world that then was, being flooded by water, perished. 7 But the present heavens and the earth being kept in store by the same word, are being kept for fire until the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
8 But, beloved, let not this one thing be hidden from you , that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
9 The Lord is not slow concerning His promise, as some count slowness, but is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any of us should perish, but that all of us should come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a rushing noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat. And the earth and the works in it will be burned up.
11 Then, all these things being about to be dissolved, what sort ought you to be in holy behavior and godliness, 12 looking for and rushing the coming of the Day of God, on account of which the heavens, being on fire, will melt away, and the elements will melt, burning with heat? 13 But according to His promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
I am looking forward to that new physical creation also promised here.