... just how much of the faux outrage on this is because of the fact that private companies are able to pay qualified people more than our government can pay them. And how much of that outrage is from people who consistently vote to cut government budgets.
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So much of what I hear about government ineptitude is due to the underfunding of those people by the very people who consistently vote to cut the budgets. If I didn't know better, I would say that thier voting patterns are in a positive feedback loop that does not result in a good solution.
Forced updates and unpredictable that can brick your computer, extensive data harvesting of you and your family, possible subscription fee in the future...
It will be free because Microsoft's sleazy, malware-like tactics have convinced me that a move to Linux is in my future. And that upgrade will be free.
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At this point, I cannot see myself relying upon Microsoft when Microsoft has shown me that it is unworthy of my trust.
...removed the original files from my internal hard drive. REMOVED them. Deleted....
I am sure that buried somewhere deep in Apple's ToS and/or EULA you have given Apple permission to provide this deletion service for you.
.
But this is just another symptom of how Apple is taking more and more control of your digital life.
I recently gave away my new AppleTV gen4 because it was a giant step backwards for me. The UI was slow, buggy and generally difficult to use. I've reverted to using my old AppleTV gen2. That is, I'll be using it until I free myself and my media from the Apple media infrastructure completely. Which is odd for me to say, because a few years ago I had started to make a wholesale move to transition completely to Apple products. What happened to that transition? Apple convinced me that it was not a good idea.
Like the OP, Apple has demonstrated to me that it is not an appropriate vendor to help me with my media enjoyment, indeed, Apple has made my attempts to enjoy my media content more of a hassle than a pleasure.
At some point, the developers of computers that are used in critical situations (medical operations, battleships, etc) will soon realize that it is to the detriment of their end users to use a general purpose operating system for systems.
.
It is easy to fall for the siren-song hype from the marketeers that the general purpose operating system is up to the task (remember Microsoft's marketing push that Windows CE was a real-time operating system,even though it wasn't?), and that being able to use their knowledge of Windows is a benefit that will make their system better.
Whether it is a weather application being used on live television, or a computer being used in an operating room, Microsoft has shown that Windows is not a proper steward of serious systems programming.
... then Apple will need to play by China's rules. Rules which, by the way, are strongly tilted in favor of the Chinese. Much like Microsoft had the whole PC market tilted towards Redmond.
It is beginning to look as if Apple's success was due more to the luck of being in the right place at the right time with the right products than to any future-seeing innovative prowess.
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More and more lately, Apple is beginning to sound like Microsoft did ten years ago, "wait for us, we're the leader."
Unfortunately for Apple, unlike future-seeing innovative prowess, luck is not reproducible at will.
Benchmark tools do well when they are used for what they are designed to measure. Benchmark tools go off the rails when they are seen and interpreted as some kind of all-purpose suitability tester.
... Apple has convinced me that I should not have my music stored, accessed and played on their infrastructure.
.
For music, AppleTV gen4 is a big step backwards from AppleTV gen3.
And then there's the iTunes backend which is as bad as, if not worse than, what most have been saying about it. Slow, buggy, cumbersome, bloated, really bad UI, slow, buggy, etc.
I am surprised that I have stayed with Apple's music infrastructure for this long....
It appears to me that Dyson's marketing strategy consists of creating a problem out of thin air, then solving that problem with over-priced commodity goods.
...If you actually read the "official-sounding reasons", you'll probably find that they're following policy, whereas you're not....
Such as reverting a major edit because the tense of a single verb in the edit was not correct? Yes, that was the "official sounding reason" given.
.
Why not just correct the verb's tense instead of using the incorrect tense to justify the complete removal of the edit?
WikiPedia had, has and will continue to have (did I get those verb tenses correct?) a significant problem with helicopter editors who want to do little more than feed their egos, instead of assuring accuracy of articles.
Until WikiPedia faces the problem, instead of trying to divert attention away from it, WikiPedia will continue to be The Place Online Where Truth Goes To Die.
...The person that spends the most time making edits is the Editor. And there are a lot of self-important busy-bodies that will revert casual edits because they can....
Worth repeating... The person that spends the most time making edits is the Editor. And there are a lot of self-important busy-bodies that will revert casual edits because they can.
...When a company buys back it owns stock it means they are convinced (or want to convince the market) that they are undervalued...
So you seem to agree that the company buys back its own stock because it sees nothing else worth investing in. If there were something else that would give a better return to the company, then the company is obligated to make that other investment.
.
So it appears that instead of investing in new products, Apple's leadership feels it is a better investment to just buy back its own stock.
That's hardly a good sign for the future of a company....
... is the increase in stock buybacks. When a company starts buying back its own stock with the cash on hand, that means to me that the company cannot find a good place to invest that money.
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Stock buybacks are a red flag for me, indicating that the company may be out of investment ideas.
$10 per month is about 200% too expensive for that level of music service. But, like everything else Apple does, it is overpriced and Apple's customers seem to like, indeed seek out, being overcharged.
...Saying that revenue is "much needed" is a bit of a stretch....
Much revenue *is* needed. Unless, of course, Apple significantly increases the dividends to its shareholders with all that cash hoard.
Having the cash is nothing. Apple needs investment ideas, i.e., what to do with that cash, but does not seem to have any big ideas on the horizon. That was the crux of my comment.
Slashdot Mirror
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Yet Microsoft upped the game and started to use what appeared to be malware infestation techniques to try to trick me into getting Windows 10.
Microsoft's reputation and credibility has been all but permanently damaged, imo.
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So much of what I hear about government ineptitude is due to the underfunding of those people by the very people who consistently vote to cut the budgets. If I didn't know better, I would say that thier voting patterns are in a positive feedback loop that does not result in a good solution.
... it is only supposed to be used in the most serious cases such as terrorism....
A law enforcement official once told me that he will use any and all tools that are available to him, regardless of their intended usage.
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So stories like this no longer surprise me.
Yes, quite an interesting range of "features"
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At this point, I cannot see myself relying upon Microsoft when Microsoft has shown me that it is unworthy of my trust.
...removed the original files from my internal hard drive. REMOVED them. Deleted....
I am sure that buried somewhere deep in Apple's ToS and/or EULA you have given Apple permission to provide this deletion service for you.
.
But this is just another symptom of how Apple is taking more and more control of your digital life.
I recently gave away my new AppleTV gen4 because it was a giant step backwards for me. The UI was slow, buggy and generally difficult to use. I've reverted to using my old AppleTV gen2. That is, I'll be using it until I free myself and my media from the Apple media infrastructure completely. Which is odd for me to say, because a few years ago I had started to make a wholesale move to transition completely to Apple products. What happened to that transition? Apple convinced me that it was not a good idea.
Like the OP, Apple has demonstrated to me that it is not an appropriate vendor to help me with my media enjoyment, indeed, Apple has made my attempts to enjoy my media content more of a hassle than a pleasure.
. ,even though it wasn't?), and that being able to use their knowledge of Windows is a benefit that will make their system better.
It is easy to fall for the siren-song hype from the marketeers that the general purpose operating system is up to the task (remember Microsoft's marketing push that Windows CE was a real-time operating system
Whether it is a weather application being used on live television, or a computer being used in an operating room, Microsoft has shown that Windows is not a proper steward of serious systems programming.
Windows 10 interrupts a live on-air weather forecast. http://betanews.com/2016/04/27...
... pissing off its customer base, one customer at a time.
.
Them are the rules.
.
More and more lately, Apple is beginning to sound like Microsoft did ten years ago, "wait for us, we're the leader."
Unfortunately for Apple, unlike future-seeing innovative prowess, luck is not reproducible at will.
... what data do the people who own and wear the devices want to give to the marketers, and how much are the marketers willing to pay for it?
.
A headline should be for something new and unexpected?
Benchmark tools do well when they are used for what they are designed to measure. Benchmark tools go off the rails when they are seen and interpreted as some kind of all-purpose suitability tester.
.
For music, AppleTV gen4 is a big step backwards from AppleTV gen3.
And then there's the iTunes backend which is as bad as, if not worse than, what most have been saying about it. Slow, buggy, cumbersome, bloated, really bad UI, slow, buggy, etc.
I am surprised that I have stayed with Apple's music infrastructure for this long....
.
A friggin' $400 hair dryer? Wow, just wow.
...If you actually read the "official-sounding reasons", you'll probably find that they're following policy, whereas you're not....
Such as reverting a major edit because the tense of a single verb in the edit was not correct? Yes, that was the "official sounding reason" given.
.
Why not just correct the verb's tense instead of using the incorrect tense to justify the complete removal of the edit?
WikiPedia had, has and will continue to have (did I get those verb tenses correct?) a significant problem with helicopter editors who want to do little more than feed their egos, instead of assuring accuracy of articles.
Until WikiPedia faces the problem, instead of trying to divert attention away from it, WikiPedia will continue to be The Place Online Where Truth Goes To Die.
...The person that spends the most time making edits is the Editor. And there are a lot of self-important busy-bodies that will revert casual edits because they can....
Worth repeating... The person that spends the most time making edits is the Editor. And there are a lot of self-important busy-bodies that will revert casual edits because they can.
.
Wikipedia: where truth dies online
...When a company buys back it owns stock it means they are convinced (or want to convince the market) that they are undervalued...
So you seem to agree that the company buys back its own stock because it sees nothing else worth investing in. If there were something else that would give a better return to the company, then the company is obligated to make that other investment.
.
So it appears that instead of investing in new products, Apple's leadership feels it is a better investment to just buy back its own stock.
That's hardly a good sign for the future of a company....
.
Stock buybacks are a red flag for me, indicating that the company may be out of investment ideas.
...There's plenty Apple could do...
And hopefully they do a much, much better job at it than the "TV done right" 4th generation AppleTV.
.
Or maybe Apple has come to the end of its "things done right" run?
$10 per month is about 200% too expensive for that level of music service. But, like everything else Apple does, it is overpriced and Apple's customers seem to like, indeed seek out, being overcharged.
...Saying that revenue is "much needed" is a bit of a stretch. ...
Much revenue *is* needed. Unless, of course, Apple significantly increases the dividends to its shareholders with all that cash hoard.
Having the cash is nothing. Apple needs investment ideas, i.e., what to do with that cash, but does not seem to have any big ideas on the horizon. That was the crux of my comment.
.
So what is Apple going to do in order to generate the substantial revenue needed over the next decade?
Apple Watch - not enough revenue associated with it.
AppleTV - oh please, the current iteration is a mess, with a horrible, buggy UI.
Apple Car - Apple does not know the costs associated with being a car maker. Apple's enemies would love to see Apple get into the car business.
????