Dude, OS X is based on a variety of the BSD "Unix" operating system. The code is all new. That's what makes for a rewrite: taking everything you learned, and applying it to a wholly new system that is so different, it is no longer compatible with the previous one. Any connection back has to be done via an emulator.
Apple did exactly the same thing when they jumped from the 680x0 CPUs to the PowerPC CPU: had to start with a new OS.
And If I recall correctly, just prior to the end of the 68k line, they made a last-ditch attempt to better things, with OS 7 being the new big thing, a significant reworking, if not a rewriting.
The only times Microsoft has made that leap is between Win3.1 and Win95, and Win95 and WinNT. Win2K and beyond have been bastard children, carrying a large load of luggage from WIn95. There were opportunities for fundamental design changes, but Microsoft has too much invested in its Office Suite to dare make an OS that's incompatible with it.
Best thing that ever could have happened to Microsoft would have been for the Justice Department to enact an effective wall between the OS and Office companies. It would finally have allowed the OS to compete.
And yet in the real world, Apple has rewritten its OS a couple times over, and particularly so with OS X.
Which is why it feels like a tightly-designed, polished, modern OS, and why Windows 2K/XP feels like a confused mess of details and half-arsed hacks slammed together.
There is a very visceral difference between the two GUIs, let alone a quality difference between the underlying code.
Microsoft must start from scratch, wholly breaking backwards compatibility, if they wish to compete with OS X and the Gnome/KDE BSDs. (Linux, I'm afraid, is just as spaghetti-coded as Windows.)
...is Microsoft itself. If it doesn't pull off some magic for this next release, I think it's going to have to lose to more innovative and competent OSes: OS X and KDE/Gnome on top of BSD/Linux.
Honestly, once you make the switch, the crappyness of Windows becomes so obvious that one wonders why people are putting up with it. I wholeheartedly regret not abandoning the Windows platform back when it was obvious Win98 wasn't much more than a GUI-glorified DOS. Biggest mistake I've made, in terms of lost productivity and expense of maintenance.
Well, good god, change the shortcuts to whatever the hell you want, then. The files that make the menus and shortcuts and all that jazz are very simple text files. I should think you can deal.
Obviously Opera has realized that a browser with a cost [b]makes them enough money[/i] that they can give it away for free to non-commercial users in this post-2000 market.
Oh, one could postulate that, but one would -- in any competently-run election -- be wrong.
But, hey, never you mind that countries with a very firm grasp of the democratic process use paper ballots with few to no issues.
When was the last time you heard Canadians, Australians, the British, the Germans, the... oh, the list goes on... feel that their elections were rigged? Paper ballots all, IIRC.
The USA is the only modern self-described democracy that seems to have issues with honest elections. Huh.
Suuurrreee, I'm *real* likely to replace my Mac UI with a WIndows UI... just like I'm *real* likely to, oh, replace a BMW Z3 with a Dodge Colt, or my house with a tent trailer, or my righthand with a claw.
Come to think of it, a claw might be kind of cool... unlike Vista.
Would that mean Microsoft's mission is "to disorganize your information and make it universally inaccessbly and useless"?
Actually, I was joking when I began writing that, but recalling the incompatibilities between MS Office versions leads me to recognize that it's actually true...
The moderators will go absolutely apeshit on my ass here, but what the hell:
Consider the USA as a third-world dictatorship with an overabundance of natural resources/wealth.
How would such a dictatorship behave?
When it needs oil, what would it do? Would have a phenomenally high prison population? How would it treat its poor? How would it treat corporations that were investing in its country? Would it put more money into its military than in public services?
When it needs cheap fruit, would it set up bananna republics? Would it sign any global laws/mandates that would require it to make concessions? Would it pay back any tariffs it stole from its neighbours? Would it support the UN? Would it start wars based on lies? Could it use religion to suppress the masses? Would its education system be very good? Would it offer socialized healthcare?
Being the biggest badass on the face of the planet, what sort of nuclear policies would a US-sized dictatorship hold?
Things that make you go hmmmm.
For the record, I don't think the USA is a dictatorship. But many of its behaviours seem to closely parallel those one would expect of a dictatorship.
At any rate, I find it an interesting intellectual exercise.
...is to figure out how to contact the Direct Marketing Association (or its Canuck equivalent; I forget its name) and get struck off the list.
I did this nearly a decade ago and I have *no telemarketing calls* save three local charities that aren't members of the DMA.
Unfortunately, I failed to save the information. I recall I obtained it by calling the telco and getting downright irate about the attempts by Sprint Cda to slam me into one of their plans. Somehow or other I finagled a phone number from the customer service rep...
I own a mini. I am happy enough with it (except that the power-off function seems sensitive to keybounce, grrr.)
The analysis I read compared various outputs -- pink noise, white noise, some test tones, etc -- from the Apple-branded music devices. The mini has unacceptable roll-off at the high and low end, IIRC.
None of the devices are what one might wish to call "audiophile" quality. The mini doesn't even qualify as "pretty damn good." The shuffle does.
And, I might add, using the phrases "use a cassette adapter" and "sounds quality is great" are simply and factually absurd. You are obviously not (a) accustomed to high-end sound; (b) playing music that would demand high-quality output; (c) have a tin ear.
I mean, come on! A cassette adapter? That's one step above a tin can and string.
(And, yes, I too am using a cassette adapter for the time being.)
Grrr. Buggers threw up a reg page. It *was* freely accessible before.
It's about the soldiers who went in to kick ass on "the insurgency" and instead found a whole lotta people just plain desperate for recue, and very little in the way of badass behaviour.
*OF COURSE* there was some killing and raping: that happens *every goddamn day* in cities *all over* the USA. There's absolutely nothing exceptional about that.
But to present it as a mob, to present it as a reason to abandon some 100 000 people who were unable to evacuate -- that's just cruel.
One thing I'm learning from this disaster is that there are a lot of selfish, heartless, sick bastards out there who have no compassion whatsoever for the poor, the sick, and the elderly.
I repeat, blame falls at all levels. The Mayor failed to evacuate his people, despite having 300-odd buses at his disposal, laid useless because they were left in a lowlying area prior to the storm. The Mayor failed to organize volunteer rescue efforts. The Mayor relied far too much on the next-higher-up level of assistance.
The Governor failed to evacuate her people, despite having the ability to commandeer every bus in the state. She failed to ensure water and food was delivered to stranded citizens. She failed to call upon the people of the state to take their boats and rescue the refugees. She failed to put her ass on the line and take responsibility for any fuckups from making snap decisions. She passed the buck to FEMA and then failed to recognize they were not helping.
Michael Brown, head of FEMA, is a fuckup from the word "go." One only has to look at his history and how he came to be head of FEMA to recognize the cronyism and stupidity of the entire FEMA debacle. He is a failure.
George Bush, Commander in Chief of the USA, failed to find out that FEMA was useless, failed to call in the National Guard and US Military, failed to call upon the American people to take direct action, failed to immediately invite expert assistance from other nations, failed to do anything useful whatsoever.
I repeat: the US government is broken at every level.
Get off your asses and get it fixed. Maybe this only requires writing to your representative, or maybe this requires overthrowing a dishonest, disreputable, dysfunctional government. I dunno. But the bottom line is pretty fucking clear these days; SOMETHING needs to be done, and it falls upon the American public to do it.
The Governor flatout stated ...I have determined that this incident will be of such severity and magnitude that effective response will be beyond the capabilties of the State and the affected local governments and that supplementary Federal assistance will be necessary."
The assistance was dismal.
The citizens of the USA have just witnessed the complete failure of government on all levels, from local to federal. At every stage of this disaster there has not been a single competent person orchestrating the rescue efforts.
As a result of years of cronyism, privatization, classism, and racism, this has become an unmitigated disaster that one would expect to encounter only in the impoverished third world.
And here is the kicker: it will happen again and again if the public does not rise up and demand a clean sweep.
The entire system needs to be overhauled, from the very foundation of democracy -- secure, honest voting -- to the very notion of government's role in ensuring its citizens have access to shelter, food, and safety at all times and in all situations.
The time to act is now. You should be very angry and you should be demanding accountability and change. Do something before it happens again.
Actual reports from people who are actually there disprove your words. It is not an out-of-control gangland atmosphere. There is no mob. And SFA was done for five days, while various government agencies with their heads up their asses delayed making any decisions that might require someone to be personally accountable for the outcome.
Windows FUD my anus. I used Windows daily as a technical writer, with more than enough familiarity with all aspects of the system to be capable of handling any problems it presented. I've been a hackerish geek since the TRS-80 Model I.
Windows 3.1 was simply lame. Windows 95 was one hell of an improvement, but, no matter what, required a regular re-installation even if one was not installing every POS freebie that comes down the pike, but instead were using only business- and professional-class applications.
Windows 2000 was a godsend compared to that hell and did not required a re-install in years (but it did outlast a disk, which means it got installed fresh; plus a switch from desktop to laptop for another fresh installation... so it's more honest to say it would work for at least two years without a reinstall.) XP had a face like Tammy Faye, but underneath was basically 2000 tweaked.
I just made the switch to Mac. It's a low-cost, low-risk gamble: for my business/professional use of the computer, I can use either platform. I'm not beholden to any particular software or file format, and my data-sharing is not so complex that file format conversions are a minefield of problems.
And guess what? It feels fit and finished, with a high degree of polish. It feels professional, it feels productive, it feels like an adult's computer. It's the difference between a boombox and a quality component system. It makes me wonder WTF the Microsoft GUI design team is thinking. It's the difference between Danielle Steele and Neal Stephenson. Windows is hack semiporn fiction. Mac OS X is the technological, sociological future.
I use this machine and I get a sight of where this whole information supersystem is taking us.
The dock is quite the idea. Not the best way to access dozens of applications, but a great way to access the three most-used, and those that are currently in use.
The task chooser is simply brilliant, with realtime miniature windows. The document chooser works the same way, and the utility of it's difference in view (documents of the foreground application vs the front windows of all running applications) is startlingly insightful.
The design of the UI just makes solid sense. There aren't twenty-one controls that all accomplish the same task (exiting an application. go ahead, count them.)
And the search thingy has eliminated all need for folders. Everything can be thrown on a heap: what you want at any given moment is easiest found not by looking through folders, but having the computer find it for you.
I mean, fuck, what an idea: make the computer do the work! Make it so freakin' easy to think different, that you just do it differently. Windows has sorta had a search feature for ages... but you had to hunt up a way of accessing it, choose entry boxes, click options, and wait an eternity.
On the Mac, you click an icon at the top-right and type anything. Filename, search terms, file types, text you know is in the file, whatever. The computer does all the hard work for: realtime update as it refines the candidate targets, breaks the files into categories, guesstimates the best "hits", all that jazz. One just automatically gets what one wants.
There is an interconnectedness that's got its roots in Unix's small-tools, lotsa pipes approach to tasks... but is given this easy, intuitive, graphical skin.
I've been on this box less than three weeks, and I'm already starting to see where I could make use of a script or automation to perform mundane tasks. And doing it is so easy that it's worth the effort.
There is no such equivalent on Windows. One can use Python to create quick, powerful utilities (and it's a lot of fun to do so!) but there's no real ability to actually connect to applications, and especially those that are not top-tier professional business applications.
It appears to be dirt-common for apps and utilities on Mac to support programmatic q
Slashdot Mirror
Gonna do anything about it? I betcha won't.
The world waits with bated breath. Will the USA citizenry finally wake up?
...if you haven't thought about it in five years, haven't used it in two years, or haven't seen it this past year, you should throw it out.
Dude, OS X is based on a variety of the BSD "Unix" operating system. The code is all new. That's what makes for a rewrite: taking everything you learned, and applying it to a wholly new system that is so different, it is no longer compatible with the previous one. Any connection back has to be done via an emulator.
Apple did exactly the same thing when they jumped from the 680x0 CPUs to the PowerPC CPU: had to start with a new OS.
And If I recall correctly, just prior to the end of the 68k line, they made a last-ditch attempt to better things, with OS 7 being the new big thing, a significant reworking, if not a rewriting.
The only times Microsoft has made that leap is between Win3.1 and Win95, and Win95 and WinNT. Win2K and beyond have been bastard children, carrying a large load of luggage from WIn95. There were opportunities for fundamental design changes, but Microsoft has too much invested in its Office Suite to dare make an OS that's incompatible with it.
Best thing that ever could have happened to Microsoft would have been for the Justice Department to enact an effective wall between the OS and Office companies. It would finally have allowed the OS to compete.
And yet in the real world, Apple has rewritten its OS a couple times over, and particularly so with OS X.
Which is why it feels like a tightly-designed, polished, modern OS, and why Windows 2K/XP feels like a confused mess of details and half-arsed hacks slammed together.
There is a very visceral difference between the two GUIs, let alone a quality difference between the underlying code.
Microsoft must start from scratch, wholly breaking backwards compatibility, if they wish to compete with OS X and the Gnome/KDE BSDs. (Linux, I'm afraid, is just as spaghetti-coded as Windows.)
...is Microsoft itself. If it doesn't pull off some magic for this next release, I think it's going to have to lose to more innovative and competent OSes: OS X and KDE/Gnome on top of BSD/Linux.
Honestly, once you make the switch, the crappyness of Windows becomes so obvious that one wonders why people are putting up with it. I wholeheartedly regret not abandoning the Windows platform back when it was obvious Win98 wasn't much more than a GUI-glorified DOS. Biggest mistake I've made, in terms of lost productivity and expense of maintenance.
"oh, that only there were some form of free (as in speech) approach to the filesystem on my Mac".
My cries have been answered, huzzuh.
Well, good god, change the shortcuts to whatever the hell you want, then. The files that make the menus and shortcuts and all that jazz are very simple text files. I should think you can deal.
Obviously Opera has realized that a browser with a cost [b]makes them enough money[/i] that they can give it away for free to non-commercial users in this post-2000 market.
Oh, one could postulate that, but one would -- in any competently-run election -- be wrong.
But, hey, never you mind that countries with a very firm grasp of the democratic process use paper ballots with few to no issues.
When was the last time you heard Canadians, Australians, the British, the Germans, the... oh, the list goes on... feel that their elections were rigged? Paper ballots all, IIRC.
The USA is the only modern self-described democracy that seems to have issues with honest elections. Huh.
I suggest that her computer, a Dell Windows machine, is like a cat: it seldom does what she wants it to do.
ROTFLMAO!
Suuurrreee, I'm *real* likely to replace my Mac UI with a WIndows UI... just like I'm *real* likely to, oh, replace a BMW Z3 with a Dodge Colt, or my house with a tent trailer, or my righthand with a claw.
Come to think of it, a claw might be kind of cool... unlike Vista.
Would that mean Microsoft's mission is "to disorganize your information and make it universally inaccessbly and useless"?
Actually, I was joking when I began writing that, but recalling the incompatibilities between MS Office versions leads me to recognize that it's actually true...
The moderators will go absolutely apeshit on my ass here, but what the hell:
Consider the USA as a third-world dictatorship with an overabundance of natural resources/wealth.
How would such a dictatorship behave?
When it needs oil, what would it do? Would have a phenomenally high prison population? How would it treat its poor? How would it treat corporations that were investing in its country? Would it put more money into its military than in public services?
When it needs cheap fruit, would it set up bananna republics? Would it sign any global laws/mandates that would require it to make concessions? Would it pay back any tariffs it stole from its neighbours? Would it support the UN? Would it start wars based on lies? Could it use religion to suppress the masses? Would its education system be very good? Would it offer socialized healthcare?
Being the biggest badass on the face of the planet, what sort of nuclear policies would a US-sized dictatorship hold?
Things that make you go hmmmm.
For the record, I don't think the USA is a dictatorship. But many of its behaviours seem to closely parallel those one would expect of a dictatorship.
At any rate, I find it an interesting intellectual exercise.
...is to figure out how to contact the Direct Marketing Association (or its Canuck equivalent; I forget its name) and get struck off the list.
I did this nearly a decade ago and I have *no telemarketing calls* save three local charities that aren't members of the DMA.
Unfortunately, I failed to save the information. I recall I obtained it by calling the telco and getting downright irate about the attempts by Sprint Cda to slam me into one of their plans. Somehow or other I finagled a phone number from the customer service rep...
Google Feeling Lucky: comparison audio ipod shuffle mini quality
s p
Which immediately leads to http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1778968,00.a
I own a mini. I am happy enough with it (except that the power-off function seems sensitive to keybounce, grrr.)
The analysis I read compared various outputs -- pink noise, white noise, some test tones, etc -- from the Apple-branded music devices. The mini has unacceptable roll-off at the high and low end, IIRC.
None of the devices are what one might wish to call "audiophile" quality. The mini doesn't even qualify as "pretty damn good." The shuffle does.
And, I might add, using the phrases "use a cassette adapter" and "sounds quality is great" are simply and factually absurd. You are obviously not (a) accustomed to high-end sound; (b) playing music that would demand high-quality output; (c) have a tin ear.
I mean, come on! A cassette adapter? That's one step above a tin can and string.
(And, yes, I too am using a cassette adapter for the time being.)
And AFAIK, the iPod Mini has lousy sound quality. The Shuffle, surprisingly, has the best sound quality of all Apple's digital players.
...for quoting *and* italicizing the text. Only the quotation marks are needed. The italicizing is redundent and an eyesore.
Grrr. Buggers threw up a reg page. It *was* freely accessible before.
It's about the soldiers who went in to kick ass on "the insurgency" and instead found a whole lotta people just plain desperate for recue, and very little in the way of badass behaviour.
*OF COURSE* there was some killing and raping: that happens *every goddamn day* in cities *all over* the USA. There's absolutely nothing exceptional about that.
But to present it as a mob, to present it as a reason to abandon some 100 000 people who were unable to evacuate -- that's just cruel.
One thing I'm learning from this disaster is that there are a lot of selfish, heartless, sick bastards out there who have no compassion whatsoever for the poor, the sick, and the elderly.
Bull Fucking Shit Yourself.
To follow-up myself:
I repeat, blame falls at all levels. The Mayor failed to evacuate his people, despite having 300-odd buses at his disposal, laid useless because they were left in a lowlying area prior to the storm. The Mayor failed to organize volunteer rescue efforts. The Mayor relied far too much on the next-higher-up level of assistance.
The Governor failed to evacuate her people, despite having the ability to commandeer every bus in the state. She failed to ensure water and food was delivered to stranded citizens. She failed to call upon the people of the state to take their boats and rescue the refugees. She failed to put her ass on the line and take responsibility for any fuckups from making snap decisions. She passed the buck to FEMA and then failed to recognize they were not helping.
Michael Brown, head of FEMA, is a fuckup from the word "go." One only has to look at his history and how he came to be head of FEMA to recognize the cronyism and stupidity of the entire FEMA debacle. He is a failure.
George Bush, Commander in Chief of the USA, failed to find out that FEMA was useless, failed to call in the National Guard and US Military, failed to call upon the American people to take direct action, failed to immediately invite expert assistance from other nations, failed to do anything useful whatsoever.
I repeat: the US government is broken at every level.
Get off your asses and get it fixed. Maybe this only requires writing to your representative, or maybe this requires overthrowing a dishonest, disreputable, dysfunctional government. I dunno. But the bottom line is pretty fucking clear these days; SOMETHING needs to be done, and it falls upon the American public to do it.
The Governor flatout stated ...I have determined that this incident will be of such severity and magnitude that effective response will be beyond the capabilties of the State and the affected local governments and that supplementary Federal assistance will be necessary."
The assistance was dismal.
The citizens of the USA have just witnessed the complete failure of government on all levels, from local to federal. At every stage of this disaster there has not been a single competent person orchestrating the rescue efforts.
As a result of years of cronyism, privatization, classism, and racism, this has become an unmitigated disaster that one would expect to encounter only in the impoverished third world.
And here is the kicker: it will happen again and again if the public does not rise up and demand a clean sweep.
The entire system needs to be overhauled, from the very foundation of democracy -- secure, honest voting -- to the very notion of government's role in ensuring its citizens have access to shelter, food, and safety at all times and in all situations.
The time to act is now. You should be very angry and you should be demanding accountability and change. Do something before it happens again.
Actual reports from people who are actually there disprove your words. It is not an out-of-control gangland atmosphere. There is no mob. And SFA was done for five days, while various government agencies with their heads up their asses delayed making any decisions that might require someone to be personally accountable for the outcome.
No balls at all.
Betcha they patented this innovative new interface, too: Method and Apparatus for the Propagation of Computer Viruses Via Music Player!
Windows FUD my anus. I used Windows daily as a technical writer, with more than enough familiarity with all aspects of the system to be capable of handling any problems it presented. I've been a hackerish geek since the TRS-80 Model I.
Windows 3.1 was simply lame. Windows 95 was one hell of an improvement, but, no matter what, required a regular re-installation even if one was not installing every POS freebie that comes down the pike, but instead were using only business- and professional-class applications.
Windows 2000 was a godsend compared to that hell and did not required a re-install in years (but it did outlast a disk, which means it got installed fresh; plus a switch from desktop to laptop for another fresh installation... so it's more honest to say it would work for at least two years without a reinstall.) XP had a face like Tammy Faye, but underneath was basically 2000 tweaked.
I just made the switch to Mac. It's a low-cost, low-risk gamble: for my business/professional use of the computer, I can use either platform. I'm not beholden to any particular software or file format, and my data-sharing is not so complex that file format conversions are a minefield of problems.
And guess what? It feels fit and finished, with a high degree of polish. It feels professional, it feels productive, it feels like an adult's computer. It's the difference between a boombox and a quality component system. It makes me wonder WTF the Microsoft GUI design team is thinking. It's the difference between Danielle Steele and Neal Stephenson. Windows is hack semiporn fiction. Mac OS X is the technological, sociological future.
I use this machine and I get a sight of where this whole information supersystem is taking us.
The dock is quite the idea. Not the best way to access dozens of applications, but a great way to access the three most-used, and those that are currently in use.
The task chooser is simply brilliant, with realtime miniature windows. The document chooser works the same way, and the utility of it's difference in view (documents of the foreground application vs the front windows of all running applications) is startlingly insightful.
The design of the UI just makes solid sense. There aren't twenty-one controls that all accomplish the same task (exiting an application. go ahead, count them.)
And the search thingy has eliminated all need for folders. Everything can be thrown on a heap: what you want at any given moment is easiest found not by looking through folders, but having the computer find it for you.
I mean, fuck, what an idea: make the computer do the work! Make it so freakin' easy to think different, that you just do it differently. Windows has sorta had a search feature for ages... but you had to hunt up a way of accessing it, choose entry boxes, click options, and wait an eternity.
On the Mac, you click an icon at the top-right and type anything. Filename, search terms, file types, text you know is in the file, whatever. The computer does all the hard work for: realtime update as it refines the candidate targets, breaks the files into categories, guesstimates the best "hits", all that jazz. One just automatically gets what one wants.
There is an interconnectedness that's got its roots in Unix's small-tools, lotsa pipes approach to tasks... but is given this easy, intuitive, graphical skin.
I've been on this box less than three weeks, and I'm already starting to see where I could make use of a script or automation to perform mundane tasks. And doing it is so easy that it's worth the effort.
There is no such equivalent on Windows. One can use Python to create quick, powerful utilities (and it's a lot of fun to do so!) but there's no real ability to actually connect to applications, and especially those that are not top-tier professional business applications.
It appears to be dirt-common for apps and utilities on Mac to support programmatic q