A lot of people seem to be missing the bigger point here. It's not that he's replacing checkboxes with images, it's that he's managing to do it while keeping the page properly structured and accessible to all browsers. While the page isn't quite all the best HTML underneath (what's with the tables?), if you look at the forms, it's proper HTML and not some javascript hack that will break old browsers.
File this one under batshit crazy ideas. Killing more people is always the way to go. Also, I wish that more of my tax money went toward incarcerating people over insane paranoia. Perhaps I should write an op/ed piece.
Observers say the companies also might have collaborated on a new hybrid iPod phone."
This sounds a lot more like wishful thinking or some marginally informed hack who took a quick look at rumor sites than anything real. "Observers" probably means "random fanboy on Appleinsider's message boards."
If there is an iPod phone (not a phone with a mobile iTunes on it) planned, I don't think it's a terrible idea. I'm just saying that this guy is pulling it out of his ass.
The "hybrid iPod/cell phone" this guy is talking about is just a phone with a "iTunes" on it. I put that in quotes because it's obviously not iTunes. It's a tiny program, probably Java, that plays Apple's AAC files from the iTunes Music Store and looks sort of like the iPod color interface, if the pictures floating around the web are to be believed.
This sounds like a wonderful idea. Unfortunately, it would severely cut into Apple's hardware sales, which, believe it or not, is fairly profitable.
It's a great idea, but it won't happen -- unless their hardware business became unprofitable. I think Apple is wise to the fact that they need to be able to drop their hardware business as a last resort, and quickly, if that happens.
I'm convinced that/. readers generally read on a third-grade level. Let's look at what that actually said...
Apple could use the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chip to ensure that only Mac computers can run its OS X operating system, according to a news analysis from Gartner.
They could. Yeah. I could have told you that.
And here's the analysis from Gartner:
The x86 Mac OS will run only on Apple hardware, possibly with enforcement through Trusted Platform Module technology.
So basically Apple has not chosen anything. Learn to read before you submit your crap to Slashdot, people. Is that so much to ask?
Hmm, I can't seem to find one. For arguably one of the tech-savviest sites on all of the Internet, Slashdot contributors have surprisingly awful grammar.
We hear a lot about the lack of technical education and preparation for engineering and science careers these days, but sometimes it looks like English instruction is just as bad.
I'm not looking for perfection, and sometimes, like in comments, speed matters more than grammatical accuracy, but when you're submitting a story, it really can't hurt to read it over to make sure it fits elementary school standards.
P.S., there is no such word as "virii." There, now this is officially off-topic.
Well since most people have no clue what DRM is, and iTunes DRM rarely affects them, I doubt that different DRM will ever be a selling point, at least as a competitior to iTunes.
Right not it's not DRM or lack of it that sells songs. It's compatibility with the iPod, plain and simple.
This has got to be the dumbest thing ever. I love how every example is also filthy stinking rich. Next time I see a model hanging on bunch of Warhammer and Magic the Gathering types, I'll admit I'm wrong. Lame!
I like that one about Hoth a lot. I believe Hoth is supposed to be the sixth planet in its system, but the fact that it's in an ice age is perfectly reasonable. Being the sixth planet doesn't mean it even has to be farther from its sun than Earth is.
Also, all the lifeforms are found around the equator. Who knows, there may even be tundra and seasonal green areas a little south of where the rebels decided to hang out.
Yeah, it seems like their assumption is that if one race can kill the others, they will. I don't think that should be taken as a given.
It does happen in the Star Wars galaxy. The Wookiee planet of Kashyyyk shares its system with Trandosha, home of the reptilian Trandoshans. Trandoshans make a hobby out of killing Wookiees and wearing their fur.
So it can go either way, but to take it as a given that one species will kill the other one for the hell of it is kind of dumb......but not nearly as dumb as I'm starting to sound with these Star Wars posts.
They make a few good points, but they're missing some of the Star Wars facts. A few that come to mind:
1. Yoda knew Luke was coming. It wasn't coincidence that he lost control of his fighter and landed in Yoda's back yard. That was the Force. They mention that it might be the case, but aren't sure. Well, it is.
2. There's very little or no liquid water on Tatooine, which they say. But they neglect the fact that this is obvious. Uncle Owen runs a moisture farm, which collects water vapor through a series of vaporators spread across the desert. They grow crops underground in tunnels.
3. Chemists correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't the molecular weight determine where oxygen might occur in an atmosphere? If Tibanna, a gas used in heavy blasters in the Star Wars galaxy, weighs more than oxygen, isn't it very possible that there would be oxygen above it? Maybe it's something that's common in the upper atmosphere (we see mining pods floating around), but is breathable in its natural form, sort of like how nitrogen makes up a good part of our breathable atmosphere?
4. They totally copped out on Coruscant. They worry too much about the location. I'd figure that all this intense development on Coruscant might have started long before anybody decided it would be the seat of galactic government. Sure they risk a lot by being there, but you don't want to make the trash on the other side of the outer rim fly all the way across the galaxy, do you? Location, location, location!
5. I don't think Hoth is right in the asteroid field. The Falcon had to fly for a while before they got to it, and eventually (it seems conceivable that the trip took weeks) made it to Bespin. Even at sublight speeds, space vessels in the Star Wars galaxy have got to be pretty fast. All kinds of junk from space makes its way to Earth's atmosphere every day, and it hasn't stopped us from developing civilization. I don't see why the occasional small meteorite would stop animals from living on Hoth.
It seems that for a couple of scientific types, those guys didn't really ask enough of the right questions. That's all I've got.
I don't really buy that. What keeps us Mac users so rabid is the fact that everything just works. I honestly don't care what's inside.
Part of the reason why everything just work is because Apple controls what's inside the machine. This is why we don't end up with many of the issues that Windows users have to deal with. An Intel processor inside a Macintosh made by Apple should really have no bearing on how you get your work done.
I'm fully expecting a few hiccups at first, but then nobody's forcing anybody to rush out to buy the first MacIntel machine to roll off the assembly line.
In a showdown between an XXX GHz Mac and an equally powered PC, the Mac wins because of the superior user experience. If I have 10 tasks to do on a Mac, I'll get them done quicker because the Mac OS is more intuitively set up and it works with me, instead of trying to work for me (which consequently causes me to work against it).
I sit on a very nice 3 GHz Pentium 4 Dell with a beautiful 20" LCD from 7 a.m. until 4 p.m. every day, yet coming home to my 1.25GHz eMac is the highlight of my computing day. It's the OS that lets me be more productive, not the hardware. Sure, I wish my little eMac was 3 GHz, but I can be more creative and more productive on it than I can on my PC at work.
If my employer really cared about productivity, they'd spend $800 or so on a decked out Mac mini and let me get some work done. Instead, I'm stuck with a $2000 Dell and an OS that thinks it knows best how I want to view a folder full of pictures (sometimes it's slideshow, sometimes it's thumbnails), and for some reason icon view is best for a folder of text files.
It's not the PowerPC that makes Mac users more productive (though I'm sure it will beat x86 processors in plenty of cases), it's the Mac OS.
Well I'm sure they'll still justify a price premium somehow. If their design stays good, that can justify it somewhat, but only to a point. The G5 iMac is a beautiful machine, and I'll always be willing to pay an extra $100 or so for a sweet machine like that. But they're going to have to be much more conscious of what they charge from now on. If future 5GHz iMac costs $1500, it had better be comparable to future 5GHz consumer PC at $1350 or $1400, not $800.
I'm fairly confident that Macs will always cost more, but you're getting a nice design and better quality (either real or perceived). The whole BMW-Chevy comparison was built on more than the processor, but they're going to have to work a lot harder from now on to keep it.
I've figured it out. You may be wondering what the hell Apple's reasoning is when IBM has some very promising things in the pipeline. Well I know.
The MHz myth is now dead. Even if Macs could be X% faster than PCs by using IBM chips, it's a gamble. If Apple is ahead, eventually they'll be behind, and the cycle will repeat itself. The whole argument is now a moot point. Macs will always be THE SAME SPEED as PCs (give or take a small bit at any given time) from now on.
If IBM pulls out ahead in the speed race, it won't matter, because Windows PCs don't use IBM chips, and they never will. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. A guaranteed tie is better than gambling on a possible loss or a very, very minor win at best.
There's also a secondary benefit: If the hardware business becomes unprofitable, Apple can always become a software company at a moment's notice.
And it looks like Apple's going to make this easy enough for both end users and developers. I see all of this as good news and welcome our new Intel overlords.
It could be though. I agree it should have the real functions, but if they start copying every bit of bloat, then what's the use? Office is bloated garbage. OpenOffice can be better and still be powerful.
I'm glad that OpenOffice is getting some mainstream press. I still have my doubts if it'll ever come out for OS X (and yes, I know it'll run in X11, and no, that doesn't count).
What they really need to do is stop trying to emulate Microsoft Office. You'll never make the MS Office killer by making MS Office.
Here's how average Joe Idiot thinks:
"So you're saying it's exactly like office except free? I don't trust it. I'll just pirate Microsoft's instead."
MS Office is bloated, awkward and confusing. They need to make it *better* than MS Office. Do something innovative, instead of just copying.
I don't know how well Apple's iWork is selling (I heard not so well), but it's a hell of a lot nicer to use than Office because they looked at it from a different angle. It's missing some stuff, but Pages is a hell of a nice app for version 1.0.
But could something be cauterized in a fraction of a second? As someone mentioned, there was plenty of blood when Ben chopped off Ponda Baba's arm in the cantina.
This mean-spirited Aqualish attempted to pick a fight with Luke Skywalker when the young farmboy first set foot in the Mos Eisley Cantina. The tusk-mouthed thug soon learned not to tangle with the ward of a Jedi, as Obi-Wan Kenobi intervened with a flash of his lightsaber. The thug immediately dropped both the issue and his bloody severed arm.
True, but a deep cut in a muscle won't immediately kill you. If you lose an arm and you can't put a tourniquet on it, you could be dead in a few minutes. And that's assuming that that the person who just lobbed off your arm decides to call it quits after that.
Slashdot Mirror
A lot of people seem to be missing the bigger point here. It's not that he's replacing checkboxes with images, it's that he's managing to do it while keeping the page properly structured and accessible to all browsers. While the page isn't quite all the best HTML underneath (what's with the tables?), if you look at the forms, it's proper HTML and not some javascript hack that will break old browsers.
I think that's the point, anyway.
File this one under batshit crazy ideas. Killing more people is always the way to go. Also, I wish that more of my tax money went toward incarcerating people over insane paranoia. Perhaps I should write an op/ed piece.
Observers say the companies also might have collaborated on a new hybrid iPod phone."
This sounds a lot more like wishful thinking or some marginally informed hack who took a quick look at rumor sites than anything real. "Observers" probably means "random fanboy on Appleinsider's message boards."
If there is an iPod phone (not a phone with a mobile iTunes on it) planned, I don't think it's a terrible idea. I'm just saying that this guy is pulling it out of his ass.
Well I think the iTunes phone is a pretty sure bet. Between these shots of the phone: http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000887049175/
r efs&id=1158
And the fact that support for them is already in iTunes (yeah, I know it says iPod phone, but that's not the same as a "hybrid iPod/cell phone"):
http://appleinsider.com/image.php?i=itunesiphonep
There's no doubt that it's coming. But it won't be a hybrid iPod/cell phone.
The "hybrid iPod/cell phone" this guy is talking about is just a phone with a "iTunes" on it. I put that in quotes because it's obviously not iTunes. It's a tiny program, probably Java, that plays Apple's AAC files from the iTunes Music Store and looks sort of like the iPod color interface, if the pictures floating around the web are to be believed.
"hybrid iPod/cell phone" Ha!
Wait, didn't Slashdot already post this, or did I read it somewhere else yesterday?
Aw man, c'mon Google!
Thanks for keeping my signature accurate!
This sounds like a wonderful idea. Unfortunately, it would severely cut into Apple's hardware sales, which, believe it or not, is fairly profitable.
It's a great idea, but it won't happen -- unless their hardware business became unprofitable. I think Apple is wise to the fact that they need to be able to drop their hardware business as a last resort, and quickly, if that happens.
They could. Yeah. I could have told you that.
And here's the analysis from Gartner:
So basically Apple has not chosen anything. Learn to read before you submit your crap to Slashdot, people. Is that so much to ask?
This year, more threads next year.
Hmm, I can't seem to find one. For arguably one of the tech-savviest sites on all of the Internet, Slashdot contributors have surprisingly awful grammar.
We hear a lot about the lack of technical education and preparation for engineering and science careers these days, but sometimes it looks like English instruction is just as bad.
I'm not looking for perfection, and sometimes, like in comments, speed matters more than grammatical accuracy, but when you're submitting a story, it really can't hurt to read it over to make sure it fits elementary school standards.
P.S., there is no such word as "virii." There, now this is officially off-topic.
Well since most people have no clue what DRM is, and iTunes DRM rarely affects them, I doubt that different DRM will ever be a selling point, at least as a competitior to iTunes.
Right not it's not DRM or lack of it that sells songs. It's compatibility with the iPod, plain and simple.
I find it hard to believe that even Slashdot readers find this interesting.
This has got to be the dumbest thing ever. I love how every example is also filthy stinking rich. Next time I see a model hanging on bunch of Warhammer and Magic the Gathering types, I'll admit I'm wrong. Lame!
I like that one about Hoth a lot. I believe Hoth is supposed to be the sixth planet in its system, but the fact that it's in an ice age is perfectly reasonable. Being the sixth planet doesn't mean it even has to be farther from its sun than Earth is.
Also, all the lifeforms are found around the equator. Who knows, there may even be tundra and seasonal green areas a little south of where the rebels decided to hang out.
Yeah, it seems like their assumption is that if one race can kill the others, they will. I don't think that should be taken as a given.
...but not nearly as dumb as I'm starting to sound with these Star Wars posts.
It does happen in the Star Wars galaxy. The Wookiee planet of Kashyyyk shares its system with Trandosha, home of the reptilian Trandoshans. Trandoshans make a hobby out of killing Wookiees and wearing their fur.
So it can go either way, but to take it as a given that one species will kill the other one for the hell of it is kind of dumb...
They make a few good points, but they're missing some of the Star Wars facts. A few that come to mind:
1. Yoda knew Luke was coming. It wasn't coincidence that he lost control of his fighter and landed in Yoda's back yard. That was the Force. They mention that it might be the case, but aren't sure. Well, it is.
2. There's very little or no liquid water on Tatooine, which they say. But they neglect the fact that this is obvious. Uncle Owen runs a moisture farm, which collects water vapor through a series of vaporators spread across the desert. They grow crops underground in tunnels.
3. Chemists correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't the molecular weight determine where oxygen might occur in an atmosphere? If Tibanna, a gas used in heavy blasters in the Star Wars galaxy, weighs more than oxygen, isn't it very possible that there would be oxygen above it? Maybe it's something that's common in the upper atmosphere (we see mining pods floating around), but is breathable in its natural form, sort of like how nitrogen makes up a good part of our breathable atmosphere?
4. They totally copped out on Coruscant. They worry too much about the location. I'd figure that all this intense development on Coruscant might have started long before anybody decided it would be the seat of galactic government. Sure they risk a lot by being there, but you don't want to make the trash on the other side of the outer rim fly all the way across the galaxy, do you? Location, location, location!
5. I don't think Hoth is right in the asteroid field. The Falcon had to fly for a while before they got to it, and eventually (it seems conceivable that the trip took weeks) made it to Bespin. Even at sublight speeds, space vessels in the Star Wars galaxy have got to be pretty fast. All kinds of junk from space makes its way to Earth's atmosphere every day, and it hasn't stopped us from developing civilization. I don't see why the occasional small meteorite would stop animals from living on Hoth.
It seems that for a couple of scientific types, those guys didn't really ask enough of the right questions. That's all I've got.
Well as we saw today, the OS runs natively on PC hardware. Isn't Rosetta the translation layer that will enable many apps to run?
I don't really buy that. What keeps us Mac users so rabid is the fact that everything just works. I honestly don't care what's inside.
Part of the reason why everything just work is because Apple controls what's inside the machine. This is why we don't end up with many of the issues that Windows users have to deal with. An Intel processor inside a Macintosh made by Apple should really have no bearing on how you get your work done.
I'm fully expecting a few hiccups at first, but then nobody's forcing anybody to rush out to buy the first MacIntel machine to roll off the assembly line.
In a showdown between an XXX GHz Mac and an equally powered PC, the Mac wins because of the superior user experience. If I have 10 tasks to do on a Mac, I'll get them done quicker because the Mac OS is more intuitively set up and it works with me, instead of trying to work for me (which consequently causes me to work against it).
I sit on a very nice 3 GHz Pentium 4 Dell with a beautiful 20" LCD from 7 a.m. until 4 p.m. every day, yet coming home to my 1.25GHz eMac is the highlight of my computing day. It's the OS that lets me be more productive, not the hardware. Sure, I wish my little eMac was 3 GHz, but I can be more creative and more productive on it than I can on my PC at work.
If my employer really cared about productivity, they'd spend $800 or so on a decked out Mac mini and let me get some work done. Instead, I'm stuck with a $2000 Dell and an OS that thinks it knows best how I want to view a folder full of pictures (sometimes it's slideshow, sometimes it's thumbnails), and for some reason icon view is best for a folder of text files.
It's not the PowerPC that makes Mac users more productive (though I'm sure it will beat x86 processors in plenty of cases), it's the Mac OS.
Well I'm sure they'll still justify a price premium somehow. If their design stays good, that can justify it somewhat, but only to a point. The G5 iMac is a beautiful machine, and I'll always be willing to pay an extra $100 or so for a sweet machine like that. But they're going to have to be much more conscious of what they charge from now on. If future 5GHz iMac costs $1500, it had better be comparable to future 5GHz consumer PC at $1350 or $1400, not $800.
I'm fairly confident that Macs will always cost more, but you're getting a nice design and better quality (either real or perceived). The whole BMW-Chevy comparison was built on more than the processor, but they're going to have to work a lot harder from now on to keep it.
I've figured it out. You may be wondering what the hell Apple's reasoning is when IBM has some very promising things in the pipeline. Well I know. The MHz myth is now dead. Even if Macs could be X% faster than PCs by using IBM chips, it's a gamble. If Apple is ahead, eventually they'll be behind, and the cycle will repeat itself. The whole argument is now a moot point. Macs will always be THE SAME SPEED as PCs (give or take a small bit at any given time) from now on. If IBM pulls out ahead in the speed race, it won't matter, because Windows PCs don't use IBM chips, and they never will. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. A guaranteed tie is better than gambling on a possible loss or a very, very minor win at best. There's also a secondary benefit: If the hardware business becomes unprofitable, Apple can always become a software company at a moment's notice. And it looks like Apple's going to make this easy enough for both end users and developers. I see all of this as good news and welcome our new Intel overlords.
It could be though. I agree it should have the real functions, but if they start copying every bit of bloat, then what's the use? Office is bloated garbage. OpenOffice can be better and still be powerful.
I'm glad that OpenOffice is getting some mainstream press. I still have my doubts if it'll ever come out for OS X (and yes, I know it'll run in X11, and no, that doesn't count).
What they really need to do is stop trying to emulate Microsoft Office. You'll never make the MS Office killer by making MS Office.
Here's how average Joe Idiot thinks:
"So you're saying it's exactly like office except free? I don't trust it. I'll just pirate Microsoft's instead."
MS Office is bloated, awkward and confusing. They need to make it *better* than MS Office. Do something innovative, instead of just copying.
I don't know how well Apple's iWork is selling (I heard not so well), but it's a hell of a lot nicer to use than Office because they looked at it from a different angle. It's missing some stuff, but Pages is a hell of a nice app for version 1.0.
OpenOffice needs to do the same thing.
From the official site...
True, but a deep cut in a muscle won't immediately kill you. If you lose an arm and you can't put a tourniquet on it, you could be dead in a few minutes. And that's assuming that that the person who just lobbed off your arm decides to call it quits after that.