That is just sad; that their tag line is that they are the ONLY anti-monopoly journal in America. For a topic this important, you'd think that more people would care, but they don't seem to anymore. Democracy and Capitalism can only work if the masses force themselves to care about their own well-being -- and make their voices heard with their votes and with their dollars. But many people vote without understanding whose interests their chosen leaders will serve, and many people buy inferior products without researching better deals elsewhere, thereby crippling capitalism's advantage over communism (which is that competition causes the best product to win over inferior products because people will seek out the best products and support them).
Take this however you want, but understand that the apathy of the masses is more dangerous to freedom than any WMD, even the ones that aren't imaginary.
Plum Island is home to a Bio-Safety Level 4 (BSL-4) research facility... a three-hour power outage... the air filtration systems are inoperable.. decontamination procedures break down... the seals in the pressurized airlock doors start to deflate... workers were desperately sealing the doors with duct tape...
Plum Island, Raccoon City... either way, I'm duct taping my windows and kneeling under my desk as per the Umbrella Group's safety instructions.
I'm a long-time OpenBSDer (I'm even way up near the beginning on their donations page, which is as close as I'll get to being cool -- it's far more important than a low Slashdot UID, which I also have, as you can see), and I remember Theo mentioning a couple years ago that he was thinking (at the time, anyway) about having the second processor do nothing but crypto.
What's his plan now? Just typical SMP, I'd guess -- but I thought his other idea was cooler. On-the-fly encoding and decoding and hiding of jpegs from wives and whatnot. Very useful to... ahem... some of us. Not me of course.
Just wondering about the current prospects for something to keep my uh.. important financial documents... from, uh... the government? Yeah, the government, that's it.
If only Microsoft gave us this much cool stuff with their godforsaken updates. I just KNOW Longhorn is gonna be WinXP with DRM (YAY!), just like XP was Win2000 with Prettiness Plus(TM), just like 2000 was WinNT with a blue default background, just like NT was Win98 with less games, just like 98 was Win95 with double the base install size, just like 95 was Win3.1 with less speed and stability, just like Win3.1 was DOS with a mouse.
Oh god. I was hoping somebody could prove me wrong or reassure me somehow, not trump my dire predictions with something worse!
Thinking about it, living the Mad Max movie (Part II of course, the best one) is definitely worse than the Blade Runner thing. Blade Runner at least had civilization, with people going to crap jobs, and police and whatnot to keep a semi-peaceful state. In Mad Max, *everything's* broken down. It's every man for himself. The only difference I can see is that there will undoubtedly be the superrich around for a while, with their own private armies, and all the best lifesaving nanotech DNA advances bottled up in their military bases converted into homes. Before the rest of us monkeys break in there in swarms of 50, and kill them all for their goods, and for all the windows crashes they made us suff-- oh, sorry. Didn't mean to give away too much of my plans there.
Kind of a bummer, but thanks for the link. Looks like a WICKED site, I'm furiously reading it right now. Got any more favorites? That one's great.
The future is NOT going to be positive. We have two choices; we can live in the world of either the Jetsons or Blade Runner. We'll either have cool Japanese robot servants or we'll be watching our back for Replicants programmed to act as supersoldier police in a facist military state.
Look at the trends in American (and world) politics, and tell me we're going to have a shiny happy planet where everyone lives in peace and the law isn't paid for by Microsoft, the Republican party, and the NRA.
World tension, possibly caused by the Pentagon's supposedly dead (but not really) Operation Northwoods (google it if you care); terrorism and hatred -- and because of this, division, not unity ("you're either for me or against me", says the great Uniter); widening gap between super-rich (our rulers) and super-poor (we the servants); environmental degradation (I didn't care about the environment until I caught a fish with two heads and open sores all over its body -- REALLY. Do you eat Tuna? what's in that can anyway?); the universal use of lying, deceit, and the growing apathy and lack of morals EVERYWHERE; immorality of all kinds, and the violent angry response to it; the growth of propaganda and the belief that the truth does not matter, only winning over an enemy; a US government who CHOOSES to have a second cold war and is positioning things to ensure we will be at war forever; loss of privacy; loss of basic Constitutional rights and freedoms; [insert your own corrupt government story here]
And don't get me started on reality tv.
And DEFINITELY don't get me started on KDE versus Gnome, or vi versus emacs.
If you think about it, the probability is extremely high that we aren't going to have a happy future. Looking at the world around you, the facts are undeniable -- unless you have your head in the sand, or don't give a good goddamn about anything but yourself (in which case you're part of the problem; see above). Can you REALLY look at everything that's going on and think the future is really that bright?
And before you answer "Yes", you DO know marijuana's illegal, right? You shouldn't smoke and Slashdot at the same time.
One last thought: the media is NOT an informational tool, but a calming time-wasting distraction to keep you from spending your time researching the real issues that are going to kill you someday. Discuss among yourselves while I fill out my daily Homeland Security reports.
The similarity is there, true, but the difference is that Mac OSX is actually a very good system, whereas billg *obviously* downgraded to Windows...
Overall, you're absolutely right; Solaris was definitely better than NT, and MS sucks for switching for such stupid reasons. They don't give a damn about their customers in comparison to their PR. Apple is also insanely paranoid about how they look, but hopefully they have less arrogant pride than MS and make better decisions.
I have no idea why I said the System 8 thing except to blatantly karma whore. The mods on Slashdot are just so damn stupid, and I need the karma. I saw the potential for an easy "+5, Interesting", so I went for it. It was a stupid comment, but Slashdot rewards lowest common denominator posts. Despicable, I know, but that's the system. Sorry.
I love Apple for their coolness, sweet laptops, and wicked OS and apps, but they're not open source. If they were, I'd love them for that, too. But they're not -- and it doesn't matter much when I'm playing with Konfabulator and laughing happily at my new widgets.
I just think that calling Apple an "Open Source" company is like calling George W. a "peacemaker". It's not accurate without substantially redefining the term, and it's damaging to the real Open Source companies out there who are giving away 100% of their source code and rights to modify it for your own purposes. It "waters down" the term and makes it sort of meaningless.
And Apple doesn't need to be called "Open" to get sales. OS X kicks ass, closed source or not. Their stuff is great enough technically I'd buy it whether it's open or closed, so I don't know why people keep demanding Apple's an Open Source Company. It's not a real selling feature to anyone but the Slashdot geeks, and even then, most of the geeks know it's not REALLY accurate, and it just pisses off the front-line Linux hackers who feel their term is getting co-opted and misused.
Sorry for the babble; in short, I totally agree with you.
Dude, I am not one to defend Microsoft. They switched because they had "not made in Cupert--I mean, Redmond, syndrome". It was surely more for marketing reasons, since it cost them money to migrate to a system that was less familiar to the sysadmins, featuring more viruses and security holes, in order to please the corporate masters.
But if you don't see any connection between Bill Gates switching Hotmail over to Windows from the competition (which worked just fine) and Steve Jobs switching Pixar over from the competition (which worked just fine), you have got to be blind.
Pixar approached Apple to design them Pixlet, and Apple won't port their codec over to Linux (of course); who's to say the Hotmail guys didn't want a new feature MS wasn't willing to port to Solaris too?
And we noticed Hotmail was down because it was public. When Pixar has the INEVITABLE glitches in switching over to a new OS and architecture, we won't hear about them, but they'll happen anyway.
Dude, I know they're trying, and I respect that. I dig Apple, and I have heard about them helping the Konq guys. That's all cool. But when a guy dispels the myth that Apple is an Open-Source company, and disputes the myth that Apple is "committed to the open source model", some zealous astroturfing doofus arrogantly posts "Here you go dumbass" out of nowhere, and it doesn't even prove his argument, it pisses me off. Apple ROCKS. I'll be the first to admit it. But they're NOT an open-source company any more than Microsoft is for having distributed some meaningless GPL dev tools a few years back (I'm too lazy to find the link, but it was on Slashdot, so search if you want, I don't care myself). Releasing Darwin back into the wild is nearly meaningless. The kernel isn't nearly as good as other kernels out there (Linux, FreeBSD), and there's no reason to bother downloading it unless you want to help Apple with some free programming.
Take every file on the distro, list them, and number them. I'd consider a distro basically open-source if 75% of the files, apps, drivers, etc. that come on the CD are open-source. And that's a liberal view. You can't use number of lines, as some are prone to do, because that's deceptive and could lead to bloat to gain open-source status! One or two files relating to kernel stuff doesn't make it an open source project any more than (hypothetically) Microsoft claiming Windows Longhorn to be open-source because they release IE under an open license as per some judge in the EU.
Apple's "Unix Distro", OS X, is NOT open source. Parts of it is, but security-wise, any NSA backdoors can hide in Aqua (not that there are any, just that you can't prove there aren't, either), and app-wise, all the interesting stuff is tied to Aqua. Without it ALL being open, it's "too little, too late" for many, and definitely not "an Open Source project". It's a FALSE CLAIM, and I hate those. Apple is good enough to stand on its own without having us lie to prop them up.
CoolMoDee, this is not directed at you. This is a general comment on the emerging Slashdot Sales Culture. I have no problem with you, and your post seems intelligent enough. So don't freak out.
That said....
Dude, this is what sucks about Slashdot. People who have websites named "macwhore.net" and similar obviously fanatical names FORCE me to defend Dell, WHEN I AM A MAC GUY. I defend Dell because THE TRUTH MATTERS MORE THAN SELLING APPLE COMPUTERS BASED ON FALSE INFORMATION. Dells suck because they run Windows. True. I personally hate XP. But their build quality and specs are as good as Macs in some places, better in others, and worse in others as well. And if the Mac salesmen who post here were honest, they'd admit this as well. But it seems nobody is honest, so I have to point out inaccuracies to prevent some noob from thinking he should buy a Mac because it will do his homework for him, or get him a girlfriend.
A quick visit to Dell's website, and I learned the following: Dells DO have extra Ghz. They are configurable online (which, btw, is where Apple got the idea for the Apple Store). They are available with dual Xeon processors up to 3.20GHz with 2MB L3 Cache per processor, hyperthreading, up to 4GB of DDR266 SDRAM Memory (limited by the 32-bit processor, which will change once 64-bit OSes and apps are available, I'm sure), nVidia QuadroFX 3000 video card with 256MB, 8X DVD+RW/+R AND 16XDVDROM, etc., multiple (4) hard drives - even SATA or SCSI (146GB Ultra 320 SCSI, 1 inch @ 10,000 rpm), USB, USB2.0, FireWire, whatever. And this is Dell, not even a real vendor. I'd hate to see how badly Alienware or Falcon Northwest stacks up. But it doesn't matter -- if you don't actually NEED Gigabit Ethernet (I've never seen anyone use it yet), you should have the option of downgrading it and paying less, spending more on the areas that actually matter. Buying all this crap on your computer would cost you an arm and a leg, but as the Apple Zealots are so fond of saying when they're losing a price argument to WinTel, "You get what you pay for". You can probably get better stuff from them, I don't know. I'm not digging that hard. I just noticed a computer with all this on it. You can get better computers designed to your individual needs for rock-bottom prices from no-name vendors in your town who will put together a system from the highest quality parts on the market. Apple DOES NOT use the best parts. THEY DO NOT. Sometimes they do (FireWire800,etc.), but not everything in your Mac is top quality. Some of it is bargain basement quality. That's just business. Some of Dell's components suck too. These guys ALL have to cut corners to gain a foothold in the price war and have the lowest price, and thus, get the sale, and hopefully make it up in volume.
Somebody's GOT to be reasonable and tell the truth about PCs and Macs. But every goddamned retarded zealot on these boards is out to make a sale -- ESPECIALLY the "Mac Faithful". I don't see anyone pushing WindowsXP, though I know there are lots of people (NOT ME) who absolutely love it. The guys at my ISP, for example. The guys at work. The guys at my brother's college computer lab. There are LOTS of guys who love Windows. I'm not one of them, but it is utterly disrespectful to attack them like hyenas with FALSE and MISLEADING information. Mac users should know better, we've been the victim of it for so long.
I wouldn't have to "flame" all the macheads if they would be more reasonable with their postings. I get the feeling they're all trying to sell Macs at any cost. That's a load of crap. To the Apple Zealots: You say "Think Different", but you won't accept other views that are different from your own...
Accept that Windows is better in some things than Macs. Accept that some hardware is faster now, will be slower later, and still other hardware will be better than Apples at another time. If you say they never crash, don't flame the XP or Linux user who says his computer never crashes either - I've used all three, and they're ALL ve
Apple is presenting at Linux shows. It's my opinion (and many others I'd assume ) that Apple wants Linux to thrive.
Apple makes little to no software for Linux OS. How is presenting their own MacOSX-only products at a Linux show helping "Linux to thrive?"
Apple MAY bundle KDE and Gnome eventually, but only because it would be another reason to use OSX instead of Linux. When Apple starts porting software over to Linux, I'll believe they support the Linux OS. And Apple helped port Linux over to the Mac because they wanted to keep their options open -- instead, they chose to co-opt BSD, which they could then close-source and resell, which is illegal with Linux due to the GPL. And was that in the Steve Job years? I don't think so. Steve ain't about "freebies" (I don't even know, but I have a hunch).
Apple is trying to grab Linux developers who will then start writing for the Mac platform, strengthening the Mac while simultaneously hurting Linux. It's the same thing Microsoft would do, except that when MS tried it, the Linux guys just outright shot any MS people they saw and burned down their booth.
Free Software is DEFINITELY a worry at Apple. The reason is simple. ANYTHING not made at Apple is COMPETITION. Just as free-as-in-freedom Mozilla is competition for closed-IE and mostly-closed-Safari. That's just business. It's how it is.
If a Universal OS comes into prominence (One System to Rule Them All, let's say Debian running on pretty much any hardware out there), Apple will lose one of its great aces: OS X being forcibly bound to their hardware. If Linux clones of iLife hit their peak, Apple will lose the draw of the iApps. If Linux gets easier to use, Apple's reputation they have for ease of use and being mostly virus free will be irrelevent. Because if the competition has all these good features and can meet their customer's needs, BUT on a wide variety of hardware, it goes without saying that Apple WILL lose customers. In 5 years, the Gimp will cut into Photoshop's customer base. Mozilla will have marketshare. Apache will-- well, Apache is already there. But the point is that Free Stuff is GOOD. I know I like it, anyway. Choice is good for consumers, and it forces companies to get off their mostly lazy asses and INNOVATE. Apple will be okay, since they do innovate. But they don't like hearing that if they stop innovating, just for a second, some hungry Open-Source company from India will eat them alive.
The software which runs ONLY on Apple hardware is AT LEAST as powerful a draw for Windows users as the hardware is -- if you're honest, you'll admit that Apple OFTEN lags the PC world hardware-wise. The G5's are about equal, the PowerBooks are extremely cool, and the iMac is really nice, but without OS X and iLife, I'd buy a Fujitsu LifeBook for less money and be perfectly happy. Look at the millions of posts demanding OS X on X86. Nobody's demanding WinXP on PPC! People don't buy Macs for the hardware, but for the software! At least 60%, anyway.
But you're right: Apple DOES primarily make hardware; or rather, nearly every software purchase has hardware tied to it. Look at the success of iTunes for Windows. iTunes is a kick-ass mp3 program. Windows users love it, but not all want to buy Macs. Apple is HOPING Windows users buy Macs, they're "fishing" for new customers, and the bait is iTunes, then a small nibble with an iPod, then a full sale with a G5 or PowerBook.
But without strong proprietary control of the OS, they don't have any bait except clock speed and styish design. And that won't be enough to keep Apple alive without some hard work and a new business strategy -- which Apple is already doing (iPods, anyone?)
And you'll notice the lack of iTunes for Linux, despite the similarities in Linux and OS X. It's not because of Linux's small user base (which is similar in size to Mac users, I hear). If Apple really supported Open Source, as so many here say they do, we would've seen Apple do a quick re-compile.... that's all it takes, really. A couple weeks of work at most for one or two guys. But you won't even see that until Apple is dead and backed into a corner, trust me.
Dude, if you use OS X you already must be aware that Darwin without Aqua is just a very weak BSD with no apps. Giving Darwin back without Aqua is like giving back a car with no engine. Can you run ANY of the cool stuff Apple makes on Darwin without Aqua?
I know you're trying to convince this guy (and maybe yourself) that Apple is an "open-source company", but they pretty much give back what is required by law, and what can benefit them to give back --ie Rendezvous, which Apple's hoping will become a standard by being open.
I like Apple, but I'd never tell anyone they're an open-source company. Those Linux guys are actually doing good, charitable things that benefit ME and YOU in the long run. Apple isn't. But I still love Apple, but NOT because they claim to be "open".
umm.. the G5 isn't a consumer machine. It is a professional workstation. Apple's consumer machines are the iBook/eMac/iMac. Pretty much Anything with an X or Power infront of it are professional machines.
So what are you saying, that Apple's Professional Workstations are only now catching up to Dell's Consumer machines? Are you sure you want to say that?
The "consumers" I know have no limit to their lust for more speed or power. NONE. I wanna surf the web on a 10 Ghz monster. I want 4 Gigs of RAM to work with Photoshop, fixing pictures of my cat (removing redeye, natch). I wanna play games with 8000x6000 resolution on super highspeed internet.
These are consumer tasks, and I, and this angry mob we call Planet Earth, want MORE POWER!!!
And it will likely never end.
So please don't make me show my Union ID Card in order to allow me to buy a "Professional Workstation". That's marketing hype for "this is out of your price range". Since when does Steve Jobs, Michael Dell, Carly Fiorina or Bill Gates tell me I don't have a right to ask for better equipment to do my "petty, consumer tasks"?
You apparently were not using Hotmail back when they got purchased by Microsoft. When they first tried to switch the servers to Windows, they couldn't come close to handling the load. It works perfectly now, but it was a disaster at the time.
I'd like to see how Macs running OS8 would've handled the load.
NT was lightyears ahead of MacOS, it's just the propaganda and sales pitches of Apple worshippers that screamed otherwise.... BOTH Macs and Windows sucked hard back then (one of those platforms still kinda sucks now -- let's call it "the more popular one"). But you can't dis NT when Macs were worse, and convince me you're being fair and honest.
Awesome! Is that script GPL, BSD, or do I have to pay to use it?
I just made my own by guessing some letters and thingies at random, since every command line tool on this here leenux boxen thingy seems to accept a pile of letters and stuff. So I just pooped out this doozy, just to see what would happen:
wget -nc -k -r -l inf http://www.playboy.com/
and it's still going. Been half an hour. What's it doing? I don't know what it's doing, but it looks good. Gotta love those random letters. I once "rm -rf"ed something but good with random letters like that. THAT'S the power of scripts. All them letters can make your computer do anything you didn't know it could.
Oops. Forgot one important thing: [hillbilly moron mode OFF]
It's just a computer....I just want it to work when I need it.... I learned to HATE shit that doesn't work.
If it's "just a computer", tell your zealot buddies to stop trolling me and everybody else here with astroturf. They obviously don't think it's "just a computer", or they wouldn't be getting the Apple logo tattooed on their overstuffed asses. If you just want it to work when you need it, WindowsXP has far better compatibility than OS X, over a range of far more devices. It rarely crashes. It's faster than OSX at the same clock speed, and PCs have faster hardware. You hate stuff that doesn't work, I hate the fact that my TiBook flaked all to hell and Apple said it was typical and wouldn't fix it. I hate that the Finder is Carbon sluggish badly designed crap compared to Windows Explorer.
I hate people that try to shut me up from thinking my objective mind, when they post crap about how their PowerBook 520 can run 25 copies of Photoshop CS and not crash.
Slashdot Mirror
Let's just consolidate evil in one spot.
Bill G pretty much already owns SCO -- if MS and AOL merge, Slashdot will just need one "It's Evil. Laugh" icon for all three.
Hmm.... then we can put Apple, Java, and BSD under one "Yup, It's STILL dying" icon.
okay, that was more info than I needed.
A helpful Google lands a couple dandy images for the uninformed (like myself).
+5, Funny.
Take this however you want, but understand that the apathy of the masses is more dangerous to freedom than any WMD, even the ones that aren't imaginary.
Plum Island is home to a Bio-Safety Level 4 (BSL-4) research facility... a three-hour power outage... the air filtration systems are inoperable.. decontamination procedures break down... the seals in the pressurized airlock doors start to deflate... workers were desperately sealing the doors with duct tape...
Plum Island, Raccoon City... either way, I'm duct taping my windows and kneeling under my desk as per the Umbrella Group's safety instructions.
Just kidding.
A slow, bloated, unstable variant of DOS with a mouse and a pretty blue default background that cannot be copied to another machine?
According to Microsoft's brochure, anyway!
I'm a long-time OpenBSDer (I'm even way up near the beginning on their donations page, which is as close as I'll get to being cool -- it's far more important than a low Slashdot UID, which I also have, as you can see), and I remember Theo mentioning a couple years ago that he was thinking (at the time, anyway) about having the second processor do nothing but crypto.
What's his plan now? Just typical SMP, I'd guess -- but I thought his other idea was cooler. On-the-fly encoding and decoding and hiding of jpegs from wives and whatnot. Very useful to... ahem... some of us. Not me of course.
Just wondering about the current prospects for something to keep my uh.. important financial documents... from, uh... the government? Yeah, the government, that's it.
If only Microsoft gave us this much cool stuff with their godforsaken updates. I just KNOW Longhorn is gonna be WinXP with DRM (YAY!), just like XP was Win2000 with Prettiness Plus(TM), just like 2000 was WinNT with a blue default background, just like NT was Win98 with less games, just like 98 was Win95 with double the base install size, just like 95 was Win3.1 with less speed and stability, just like Win3.1 was DOS with a mouse.
What better resume than a good virus or trojan?
Oh god. I was hoping somebody could prove me wrong or reassure me somehow, not trump my dire predictions with something worse!
Thinking about it, living the Mad Max movie (Part II of course, the best one) is definitely worse than the Blade Runner thing. Blade Runner at least had civilization, with people going to crap jobs, and police and whatnot to keep a semi-peaceful state. In Mad Max, *everything's* broken down. It's every man for himself. The only difference I can see is that there will undoubtedly be the superrich around for a while, with their own private armies, and all the best lifesaving nanotech DNA advances bottled up in their military bases converted into homes. Before the rest of us monkeys break in there in swarms of 50, and kill them all for their goods, and for all the windows crashes they made us suff-- oh, sorry. Didn't mean to give away too much of my plans there.
Kind of a bummer, but thanks for the link. Looks like a WICKED site, I'm furiously reading it right now. Got any more favorites? That one's great.
The future is NOT going to be positive. We have two choices; we can live in the world of either the Jetsons or Blade Runner. We'll either have cool Japanese robot servants or we'll be watching our back for Replicants programmed to act as supersoldier police in a facist military state.
Look at the trends in American (and world) politics, and tell me we're going to have a shiny happy planet where everyone lives in peace and the law isn't paid for by Microsoft, the Republican party, and the NRA.
World tension, possibly caused by the Pentagon's supposedly dead (but not really) Operation Northwoods (google it if you care); terrorism and hatred -- and because of this, division, not unity ("you're either for me or against me", says the great Uniter); widening gap between super-rich (our rulers) and super-poor (we the servants); environmental degradation (I didn't care about the environment until I caught a fish with two heads and open sores all over its body -- REALLY. Do you eat Tuna? what's in that can anyway?); the universal use of lying, deceit, and the growing apathy and lack of morals EVERYWHERE; immorality of all kinds, and the violent angry response to it; the growth of propaganda and the belief that the truth does not matter, only winning over an enemy; a US government who CHOOSES to have a second cold war and is positioning things to ensure we will be at war forever; loss of privacy; loss of basic Constitutional rights and freedoms; [insert your own corrupt government story here]
And don't get me started on reality tv.
And DEFINITELY don't get me started on KDE versus Gnome, or vi versus emacs.
If you think about it, the probability is extremely high that we aren't going to have a happy future. Looking at the world around you, the facts are undeniable -- unless you have your head in the sand, or don't give a good goddamn about anything but yourself (in which case you're part of the problem; see above). Can you REALLY look at everything that's going on and think the future is really that bright?
And before you answer "Yes", you DO know marijuana's illegal, right? You shouldn't smoke and Slashdot at the same time.
One last thought: the media is NOT an informational tool, but a calming time-wasting distraction to keep you from spending your time researching the real issues that are going to kill you someday. Discuss among yourselves while I fill out my daily Homeland Security reports.
The similarity is there, true, but the difference is that Mac OSX is actually a very good system, whereas billg *obviously* downgraded to Windows...
Overall, you're absolutely right; Solaris was definitely better than NT, and MS sucks for switching for such stupid reasons. They don't give a damn about their customers in comparison to their PR. Apple is also insanely paranoid about how they look, but hopefully they have less arrogant pride than MS and make better decisions.
I have no idea why I said the System 8 thing except to blatantly karma whore. The mods on Slashdot are just so damn stupid, and I need the karma. I saw the potential for an easy "+5, Interesting", so I went for it. It was a stupid comment, but Slashdot rewards lowest common denominator posts. Despicable, I know, but that's the system. Sorry.
P.S. I'm not a troll.
Absolutely positively agreed.
I love Apple for their coolness, sweet laptops, and wicked OS and apps, but they're not open source. If they were, I'd love them for that, too. But they're not -- and it doesn't matter much when I'm playing with Konfabulator and laughing happily at my new widgets.
I just think that calling Apple an "Open Source" company is like calling George W. a "peacemaker". It's not accurate without substantially redefining the term, and it's damaging to the real Open Source companies out there who are giving away 100% of their source code and rights to modify it for your own purposes. It "waters down" the term and makes it sort of meaningless.
And Apple doesn't need to be called "Open" to get sales. OS X kicks ass, closed source or not. Their stuff is great enough technically I'd buy it whether it's open or closed, so I don't know why people keep demanding Apple's an Open Source Company. It's not a real selling feature to anyone but the Slashdot geeks, and even then, most of the geeks know it's not REALLY accurate, and it just pisses off the front-line Linux hackers who feel their term is getting co-opted and misused.
Sorry for the babble; in short, I totally agree with you.
Dude, I am not one to defend Microsoft. They switched because they had "not made in Cupert--I mean, Redmond, syndrome". It was surely more for marketing reasons, since it cost them money to migrate to a system that was less familiar to the sysadmins, featuring more viruses and security holes, in order to please the corporate masters.
But if you don't see any connection between Bill Gates switching Hotmail over to Windows from the competition (which worked just fine) and Steve Jobs switching Pixar over from the competition (which worked just fine), you have got to be blind.
Pixar approached Apple to design them Pixlet, and Apple won't port their codec over to Linux (of course); who's to say the Hotmail guys didn't want a new feature MS wasn't willing to port to Solaris too?
And we noticed Hotmail was down because it was public. When Pixar has the INEVITABLE glitches in switching over to a new OS and architecture, we won't hear about them, but they'll happen anyway.
Dude, I know they're trying, and I respect that. I dig Apple, and I have heard about them helping the Konq guys. That's all cool. But when a guy dispels the myth that Apple is an Open-Source company, and disputes the myth that Apple is "committed to the open source model", some zealous astroturfing doofus arrogantly posts "Here you go dumbass" out of nowhere, and it doesn't even prove his argument, it pisses me off. Apple ROCKS. I'll be the first to admit it. But they're NOT an open-source company any more than Microsoft is for having distributed some meaningless GPL dev tools a few years back (I'm too lazy to find the link, but it was on Slashdot, so search if you want, I don't care myself). Releasing Darwin back into the wild is nearly meaningless. The kernel isn't nearly as good as other kernels out there (Linux, FreeBSD), and there's no reason to bother downloading it unless you want to help Apple with some free programming.
Take every file on the distro, list them, and number them. I'd consider a distro basically open-source if 75% of the files, apps, drivers, etc. that come on the CD are open-source. And that's a liberal view. You can't use number of lines, as some are prone to do, because that's deceptive and could lead to bloat to gain open-source status! One or two files relating to kernel stuff doesn't make it an open source project any more than (hypothetically) Microsoft claiming Windows Longhorn to be open-source because they release IE under an open license as per some judge in the EU.
Apple's "Unix Distro", OS X, is NOT open source. Parts of it is, but security-wise, any NSA backdoors can hide in Aqua (not that there are any, just that you can't prove there aren't, either), and app-wise, all the interesting stuff is tied to Aqua. Without it ALL being open, it's "too little, too late" for many, and definitely not "an Open Source project". It's a FALSE CLAIM, and I hate those. Apple is good enough to stand on its own without having us lie to prop them up.
CoolMoDee, this is not directed at you. This is a general comment on the emerging Slashdot Sales Culture. I have no problem with you, and your post seems intelligent enough. So don't freak out.
That said....
Dude, this is what sucks about Slashdot. People who have websites named "macwhore.net" and similar obviously fanatical names FORCE me to defend Dell, WHEN I AM A MAC GUY. I defend Dell because THE TRUTH MATTERS MORE THAN SELLING APPLE COMPUTERS BASED ON FALSE INFORMATION. Dells suck because they run Windows. True. I personally hate XP. But their build quality and specs are as good as Macs in some places, better in others, and worse in others as well. And if the Mac salesmen who post here were honest, they'd admit this as well. But it seems nobody is honest, so I have to point out inaccuracies to prevent some noob from thinking he should buy a Mac because it will do his homework for him, or get him a girlfriend.
A quick visit to Dell's website, and I learned the following: Dells DO have extra Ghz. They are configurable online (which, btw, is where Apple got the idea for the Apple Store). They are available with dual Xeon processors up to 3.20GHz with 2MB L3 Cache per processor, hyperthreading, up to 4GB of DDR266 SDRAM Memory (limited by the 32-bit processor, which will change once 64-bit OSes and apps are available, I'm sure), nVidia QuadroFX 3000 video card with 256MB, 8X DVD+RW/+R AND 16XDVDROM, etc., multiple (4) hard drives - even SATA or SCSI (146GB Ultra 320 SCSI, 1 inch @ 10,000 rpm), USB, USB2.0, FireWire, whatever. And this is Dell, not even a real vendor. I'd hate to see how badly Alienware or Falcon Northwest stacks up. But it doesn't matter -- if you don't actually NEED Gigabit Ethernet (I've never seen anyone use it yet), you should have the option of downgrading it and paying less, spending more on the areas that actually matter. Buying all this crap on your computer would cost you an arm and a leg, but as the Apple Zealots are so fond of saying when they're losing a price argument to WinTel, "You get what you pay for". You can probably get better stuff from them, I don't know. I'm not digging that hard. I just noticed a computer with all this on it. You can get better computers designed to your individual needs for rock-bottom prices from no-name vendors in your town who will put together a system from the highest quality parts on the market. Apple DOES NOT use the best parts. THEY DO NOT. Sometimes they do (FireWire800,etc.), but not everything in your Mac is top quality. Some of it is bargain basement quality. That's just business. Some of Dell's components suck too. These guys ALL have to cut corners to gain a foothold in the price war and have the lowest price, and thus, get the sale, and hopefully make it up in volume.
Somebody's GOT to be reasonable and tell the truth about PCs and Macs. But every goddamned retarded zealot on these boards is out to make a sale -- ESPECIALLY the "Mac Faithful". I don't see anyone pushing WindowsXP, though I know there are lots of people (NOT ME) who absolutely love it. The guys at my ISP, for example. The guys at work. The guys at my brother's college computer lab. There are LOTS of guys who love Windows. I'm not one of them, but it is utterly disrespectful to attack them like hyenas with FALSE and MISLEADING information. Mac users should know better, we've been the victim of it for so long.
I wouldn't have to "flame" all the macheads if they would be more reasonable with their postings. I get the feeling they're all trying to sell Macs at any cost. That's a load of crap. To the Apple Zealots: You say "Think Different", but you won't accept other views that are different from your own...
Accept that Windows is better in some things than Macs. Accept that some hardware is faster now, will be slower later, and still other hardware will be better than Apples at another time. If you say they never crash, don't flame the XP or Linux user who says his computer never crashes either - I've used all three, and they're ALL ve
Apple is presenting at Linux shows. It's my opinion (and many others I'd assume ) that Apple wants Linux to thrive.
Apple makes little to no software for Linux OS. How is presenting their own MacOSX-only products at a Linux show helping "Linux to thrive?"
Apple MAY bundle KDE and Gnome eventually, but only because it would be another reason to use OSX instead of Linux. When Apple starts porting software over to Linux, I'll believe they support the Linux OS. And Apple helped port Linux over to the Mac because they wanted to keep their options open -- instead, they chose to co-opt BSD, which they could then close-source and resell, which is illegal with Linux due to the GPL. And was that in the Steve Job years? I don't think so. Steve ain't about "freebies" (I don't even know, but I have a hunch).
Apple is trying to grab Linux developers who will then start writing for the Mac platform, strengthening the Mac while simultaneously hurting Linux. It's the same thing Microsoft would do, except that when MS tried it, the Linux guys just outright shot any MS people they saw and burned down their booth.
Free Software is DEFINITELY a worry at Apple. The reason is simple. ANYTHING not made at Apple is COMPETITION. Just as free-as-in-freedom Mozilla is competition for closed-IE and mostly-closed-Safari. That's just business. It's how it is.
If a Universal OS comes into prominence (One System to Rule Them All, let's say Debian running on pretty much any hardware out there), Apple will lose one of its great aces: OS X being forcibly bound to their hardware. If Linux clones of iLife hit their peak, Apple will lose the draw of the iApps. If Linux gets easier to use, Apple's reputation they have for ease of use and being mostly virus free will be irrelevent. Because if the competition has all these good features and can meet their customer's needs, BUT on a wide variety of hardware, it goes without saying that Apple WILL lose customers. In 5 years, the Gimp will cut into Photoshop's customer base. Mozilla will have marketshare. Apache will-- well, Apache is already there. But the point is that Free Stuff is GOOD. I know I like it, anyway. Choice is good for consumers, and it forces companies to get off their mostly lazy asses and INNOVATE. Apple will be okay, since they do innovate. But they don't like hearing that if they stop innovating, just for a second, some hungry Open-Source company from India will eat them alive.
The software which runs ONLY on Apple hardware is AT LEAST as powerful a draw for Windows users as the hardware is -- if you're honest, you'll admit that Apple OFTEN lags the PC world hardware-wise. The G5's are about equal, the PowerBooks are extremely cool, and the iMac is really nice, but without OS X and iLife, I'd buy a Fujitsu LifeBook for less money and be perfectly happy. Look at the millions of posts demanding OS X on X86. Nobody's demanding WinXP on PPC! People don't buy Macs for the hardware, but for the software! At least 60%, anyway.
But you're right: Apple DOES primarily make hardware; or rather, nearly every software purchase has hardware tied to it. Look at the success of iTunes for Windows. iTunes is a kick-ass mp3 program. Windows users love it, but not all want to buy Macs. Apple is HOPING Windows users buy Macs, they're "fishing" for new customers, and the bait is iTunes, then a small nibble with an iPod, then a full sale with a G5 or PowerBook.
But without strong proprietary control of the OS, they don't have any bait except clock speed and styish design. And that won't be enough to keep Apple alive without some hard work and a new business strategy -- which Apple is already doing (iPods, anyone?)
And you'll notice the lack of iTunes for Linux, despite the similarities in Linux and OS X. It's not because of Linux's small user base (which is similar in size to Mac users, I hear). If Apple really supported Open Source, as so many here say they do, we would've seen Apple do a quick re-compile.... that's all it takes, really. A couple weeks of work at most for one or two guys. But you won't even see that until Apple is dead and backed into a corner, trust me.
Dude, if you use OS X you already must be aware that Darwin without Aqua is just a very weak BSD with no apps. Giving Darwin back without Aqua is like giving back a car with no engine. Can you run ANY of the cool stuff Apple makes on Darwin without Aqua?
I know you're trying to convince this guy (and maybe yourself) that Apple is an "open-source company", but they pretty much give back what is required by law, and what can benefit them to give back --ie Rendezvous, which Apple's hoping will become a standard by being open.
I like Apple, but I'd never tell anyone they're an open-source company. Those Linux guys are actually doing good, charitable things that benefit ME and YOU in the long run. Apple isn't. But I still love Apple, but NOT because they claim to be "open".
umm.. the G5 isn't a consumer machine. It is a professional workstation. Apple's consumer machines are the iBook/eMac/iMac. Pretty much Anything with an X or Power infront of it are professional machines.
So what are you saying, that Apple's Professional Workstations are only now catching up to Dell's Consumer machines? Are you sure you want to say that?
The "consumers" I know have no limit to their lust for more speed or power. NONE. I wanna surf the web on a 10 Ghz monster. I want 4 Gigs of RAM to work with Photoshop, fixing pictures of my cat (removing redeye, natch). I wanna play games with 8000x6000 resolution on super highspeed internet.
These are consumer tasks, and I, and this angry mob we call Planet Earth, want MORE POWER!!!
And it will likely never end.
So please don't make me show my Union ID Card in order to allow me to buy a "Professional Workstation". That's marketing hype for "this is out of your price range". Since when does Steve Jobs, Michael Dell, Carly Fiorina or Bill Gates tell me I don't have a right to ask for better equipment to do my "petty, consumer tasks"?
You apparently were not using Hotmail back when they got purchased by Microsoft. When they first tried to switch the servers to Windows, they couldn't come close to handling the load. It works perfectly now, but it was a disaster at the time.
I'd like to see how Macs running OS8 would've handled the load.
NT was lightyears ahead of MacOS, it's just the propaganda and sales pitches of Apple worshippers that screamed otherwise.... BOTH Macs and Windows sucked hard back then (one of those platforms still kinda sucks now -- let's call it "the more popular one"). But you can't dis NT when Macs were worse, and convince me you're being fair and honest.
Just snagged all the scripts in one file with a wget script too.
t gz
wget -c http://www.intuitive.com/wicked/scripts/AllFiles.
Very cool.
[hillbilly moron mode ON]
Awesome! Is that script GPL, BSD, or do I have to pay to use it?
I just made my own by guessing some letters and thingies at random, since every command line tool on this here leenux boxen thingy seems to accept a pile of letters and stuff. So I just pooped out this doozy, just to see what would happen:
wget -nc -k -r -l inf http://www.playboy.com/
and it's still going. Been half an hour. What's it doing? I don't know what it's doing, but it looks good. Gotta love those random letters. I once "rm -rf"ed something but good with random letters like that. THAT'S the power of scripts. All them letters can make your computer do anything you didn't know it could.
Oops. Forgot one important thing:
[hillbilly moron mode OFF]
It's just a computer....I just want it to work when I need it.... I learned to HATE shit that doesn't work.
If it's "just a computer", tell your zealot buddies to stop trolling me and everybody else here with astroturf. They obviously don't think it's "just a computer", or they wouldn't be getting the Apple logo tattooed on their overstuffed asses. If you just want it to work when you need it, WindowsXP has far better compatibility than OS X, over a range of far more devices. It rarely crashes. It's faster than OSX at the same clock speed, and PCs have faster hardware. You hate stuff that doesn't work, I hate the fact that my TiBook flaked all to hell and Apple said it was typical and wouldn't fix it. I hate that the Finder is Carbon sluggish badly designed crap compared to Windows Explorer.
I hate people that try to shut me up from thinking my objective mind, when they post crap about how their PowerBook 520 can run 25 copies of Photoshop CS and not crash.
My ass.