Or can't even if they need to. They dropped PowerPC OS X support right as version 2.0 of plugin.
People keep telling "PowerPC is dead", well it is dying but not at degree of dropping support of it as early as last year. When Steve Jobs said "We are switching to Intel", PowerPC macs showing the keynote with Quicktime didn't instantly turn off and never came back you know:) Some Intel Mac owners cheering doesn't see what is coming if, by any chance, Silverlight becomes successful as Flash. Old time Mac users who lived/lives the Windows Media Disaster clearly knows what I talk about. Lets not forget the $200K priced Windows Media server installations ended up not being able to sell content (having DRM) to Apple OS X users.
It proves one thing to me if you ask. They have problems compiling it for non x86 platforms which is pretty alarming since the handheld platform runs ARM and will keep running ARM, which has same "endian" issue (!) etc. If a plugin daring to mess with Adobe Flash can't run on anything other than x86, I am really speechless.
One must also ask, where is mobile support? I mean, at least for Windows Mobile. Adobe currently gives Developers freely distributable flash lite (current version) so they can code "apps" which are in fact tiny flash containers. I have used Flash LE on Symbian S60, on not so superb handset (Nokia E65, business phone) and no, my battery didn't melt.
Did you see how Google Updater works? I know Apple never claimed to be "nice" but in case of Google, it really bugs you.
I don't run any software from them which demands it to be installed, I don't want a update checker running as root every 2 hours. It is open source? Well, who cares really.
It is like Sparkle framework, only the Sparkle update checker part runs before the application itself and updates application if necessary. Sparkle became de-facto standard software update checker in OS X, there are even people asking Apple to include it in standard OS X Frameworks.
So lets say, when you launch Adium, its update checker will run first, make sure it is current version and actually run it after updating.
One must ask... Is Apple preparing a Konfubulator against Sparkle in Gold Master of Snow Leopard? Not like Sparkle go out of business (!), it is open source framework which we (users) just hope multi million/billion dollar companies using it are donating.
Do you really think Apple "hates" MS or Sun enough to sue them? Look to Amazon top 10 Apple software sales, you will see MS Office at top of it.
They don't hate Sun either, they just strategically hate Java and try to be evil to it just enough to make sure users won't choose a Java app over a Cocoa one.
I admit I was running PC in 1995 using Windows 95 but I don't remember it had any kind of "automatic updates" coming with it. Patent is dated back in 1995 while Internet was still taking off.
Many OS X "modern" stuff like Keychains dates back to MacOS days I learned. When we see them, we automatically think they were first in OS X. When did Apple Software update really appear in some form? That is what we should look for. I wasn't in Mac scene back in that time. We need someone to confess he was using MacOS back in 1990s, tough job on Slashdot:)
It is really interesting that someone could come up with such a modern idea (which is not really implemented on Desktop) back in 1988. I mean, we wouldn't be having 400 MB OS updates if it could be reliably implemented on Desktop operating systems.
Someone from Apple scene does use that concept. Intego Netupdate. It has a preference to automatically install and reboot after updates, without even asking to user. Thank God, it is disabled by default.
In fact, it performs exactly the way patent says. You may even be greeted by "Enter serial number you purchased while you upgrade your software" message.
Apple being victim of their stupid lawyers as usual, not even surprised. They should separate RIAA/MPAA iTunes types from the Technical types.
What if MS steals their concept as usual and implements like its own? Well, it has been solved by Real Networks for their million dollar patents. Free to GPL, patented for closed source. As people here busy with "buffering" jokes and spyware allegations regarding their free/open source software, I better remind it.
You know what? Widgets, no matter how you look at it, is a chaotic mess. Unless there is some standard by a neutral authory like W3C, it will keep to be a mess and nobody will take them serious.
I know lots of people who hates the entire concept of it but let me show just how many "standards" there are, including mobile.
1) Apple Widgets (OS X only) 2) Yahoo Widgets (OS X and Windows), the original Konfubulator 3) Adobe Air stuff (most are actually Widgets) 4) Opera Widgets (Don't even bother counting how many platforms supported) 5) Nokia Widgets (yes, millions of downloads, see (6) for a laugh) 6) Nokia Widgets in J2ME, it is completely different idea and multi platform. Named Widsets. Don't try to understand why Nokia competes itself. 7) New to appear, if Sun doesn't go bust, Java Widgets, I forgot what it is called and Sun seems to forget they already HAD similar thing on Windows, java embedded apps inside Active Desktop items. Like the one from JPL/NASA. It was a torture.
There are MANY more specs around, these are the only ones I tried personally. They all lack a spec especially user prefs storage, Yahoo won't check your mail without your pwd, it saves it but they don't have brain enough to keep basic widget installation data in your account. Opera may do some Opera Link goodness (guessing from how it goes) in future but that is all.
If there is hope for Widgets to be taken serious both by users and developers, it is W3C, standards based storage, Mozilla/Webkit/Opera following the standard and as usual MS ignoring it. Damn things should be stored on some standard form, on remote and local and they should be interchangeable. Don't let the OS X dashboard scene fool you, they aren't really liked and seen like real apps.
But as FreeBSD comes with BSD license, wouldn't it make GNU/BSD Linux? So we lose the OS part and left with a schizoid OS doesn't really know what it is:)
Well, if there is one guy to sort it out, it is RMS. I bet he will end up calling Larry Wall for help.
I mean they do a great work but it is basically not ready for prime time. For OS X, Prime Time means at least time machine support, data write/read (including all metadata, even Finder flags) support, Disk Utility GUI support and at last, boot support. Of course, don't forget no kernel crashes should happen and it should handle massive abuse, uptime and even sleep without any glitches. If a Mac doesn't sleep when no programs running, it is generally taken to service by end user.
Things go really complex when your potential ZFS loving users are professionals doing things with Resource (metadata) enabled files (e.g. Photoshop) and expect exact (not 99.9) feature compatibility with HFS+. If ZFS really rolled out in Leopard (10.5) release, there were even people asking for commercial, high end disk utility (like Disk Warrior) support.
What ZFS needs is a very practical use and the proof of how modern it is. Time Machine of OS X is the best thing to prove it to end users. Adding new disks easily when space runs out, snapshots etc. If there is one company which can make ordinary users say "Wow, I really need it" for such a high end filesystem, it is Apple.
I was actually expecting ZFS on XServe/RAID/OS X Server but I forgot the files stored on them are generally Apple Client files too.
This is a April 1 joke but spare some time to think what if it really happens in the future, especially if you are a Developer who has put all eggs on Microsoft/Windows basket. Can't happen? Trust me, it happens. If someone came and told Amiga will be dead while we use that Amiga 500 miracle, we would laugh at his face.
Look to what happened to General Motors giant, especially them since they never thought about future may change, people may really pay more money to smaller cars made by companies they joked about just 5 years before.
If MS was a company which is bound to real economy rules, they would at least admit the HTML rendering needs open source and a real community and open source the MSHTML engine (with their own terms if they like).
If a company insisted on maintaining and coding a failure for that long, they would be out of business now. It would be like Apple releasing MACOS (not X) with "improved graphics and multifinder support" in 2009. If they didn't admit MacOS isn't really working, even iPod wouldn't save them.
As they are a monopoly who aren't bound to real rules, it is just a April fools joke, sadly.
As I post this, I upload a file to my friends ftp server all the way to California from Europe with my max upload speed, there is no "optimisation" or anything on both boxes either. One system is OS X Leopard and other is NetBSD.
I can't say anything bad about a service like that as distance really matters between residential connections, especially when they have to pass 30-35 hops. If I moved to California, my service would really be charter.
I can't understand what kind of "phone support" people get from a cable ISP either. Generally 192.168.*.* from local connection (the DOCSIS modem itself) would give lot more than ISP can get over there, especially with lousy connections.
The only "customer service" you would need is because of the idiot DOCSIS guys. It is almost nightmare, hack of deepest hacks to get firmware updates as the standard had "set top TV box" as scheme of doing things. You must know the deal and that is the time when you call customer service. It took a month of frustration with my local ISP and I ended up buying a DSL modem instead of trying to update my Motorola DOCSIS modem. Otherwise, my local ISP was giving what I need too, they had the bandwidth they promised. I guess the frustration comes from the DOCSIS standard and how locked it is even when you need to do "white hat" things like firmware updates.
The standard itself forces you to get phone support service for trivial tasks. I can't imagine convincing a Philippine guy to force update firmware of a Motorola SB5100 for instance.
What I installed was pure Vista, no Sony specific stuff as the machine restore function is in Korean too.
If I could really access that restore dvd function, it creates 2 DVDs. Vista Original DVD and... 2 Gigs of Sony BUNDLED stuff. I can't imagine what would happen if I actually installed 2 Gigs of Sony stuff.
Everything works (including EFI driver) except Webcam, I will have some Korean babelfish browsing to do for it and mail the driver.
I agree to you and I don't understand why people ignore my line. I clearly said she only cares about office, skype, IM and browsing. There was a hurry situation and it could even handle my 2-3 parallel installs of Open Office, MS Office Viewers and instant messengers.
I can assure anyone that Sony really means designed for Vista, it seems Vista is part of their strategy to race with Apple.
While replying to this message, I also run OS X Leopard on my G4 1.42 Ghz Mini with just 1 Gig (max for this mb) of RAM. When I say Leopard runs faster than Tiger on same machine, Mac users go mad at me too. I actually tested it with external firewire 800 drive boot of Tiger.
Another thing is, that non technical and non gamer actually paid for Vista, why bother and risk with pirated XP?
I recently "fixed" a Sony Vaio (from.kr) which has "designed for Windows Vista" mark and serial number of Vista at its bottom. What was its problem? Someone thinking he is making a favour downgraded it to XP guaranteeing endless problems.
The machine was clearly "designed for Vista" as even the Intel disk controller was nightmare to get supported on XP. Machine's owner is a girl who only cares about office, MSN, Skype and other general stuff, not games.
When I gave up struggling to fix XP and got Vista DVD, guess what happened? It downloaded all the drivers, everything started to work fine and guess what? Damn fast. It is not a high end Vaio, it has only 1 Gig of RAM with low end hard disk (not 7200 or anything). It even has the scandal Intel i965 integrated gfx.
It seems her mistake was getting help from a Korean die hard gamer. As I had to browse Korean Sony site (don't ask how), I can understand the "XP Downgrade" is still a big deal for them so Sony was forced to pack XP "if it compiles, ship it" type drivers and offer them.
This is the second time I try to fix a virused XP (as Mac user) on a PC which was "Designed for Vista" and every problem goes away and machine runs really fast right after Vista is restored and updated. Stop this "XP downgrade" madness, at least on non gamer machines. You aren't doing a favour, you are putting the non technical types in huge risk along with the old OS you are installing. Another thing is, they paid for Vista, somehow.
That is one mysterious thing nobody can explain. Keyboard and mouse are the most used parts which are in direct contact with the user and yet the User would never want to pay extra for quality. It is also similar in monitors, ask any Sony CRT or whatever current good quality LCD monitor owner.
I am almost sure the $5 Keyboard owners also have 512 MB Graphics cards with DirectX 10.1 support.
Another thing is beds which people spend 8 hours of day in their entire life, try to sell them a Tempur (or any good quality, not luxury) bed. They would pay 5x the price for the stuff carrying the actual thing just because it looks better but not the real thing.
That machine, if could be connected to a network or even serial communication port (to TCP/IP) which I am sure there would be a way, could prove one thing. UNIX was the right idea all along.
Did you see the real DEC VT 100 which we all emulate by default? Compared to that machine, that Professor's machine is brand new.
There is Google (DoubleClick) Adsense IBM advertisement for us who prefers to see ads on this page along with Google text ads. That is how you post advertisement to Slashdot and you gotta beat companies like Big Blue on bidding.
Are you thinking slashdot is that small to be bribed by a small specialised equipment manufacturer in Kentucky? I have almost bought their keyboards, especially Unix one all the way down here. Posting costs stopped me.
A company insists on making old fashion but better keyboards and still living in this age which you CAN'T buy a keyboard which wasn't produced in some China sweatshop is a interesting one.
Funny is, Windows key automatically becomes Apple key when you plug it to a Mac. It does help on Windows but it is very important part of MacOS (X) usage on Macintosh, more like alt on Windows.
For example forget Quitting apps or closing Windows with kb if your Apple (Windows) key is broken unless you make a workaround with system prefs.
Another company who made excellent keyboards and had a fan following went out of business because their keyboards were too... excellent.
The keyboards never got broken so people (their fans) never had to replace them.
Evolution (!) of keyboard and mouse explains a lot about the state of current computer industry. It is almost like a scheme. When someone talks about their Apple II still being able to boot, they aren't being neophobic, they are also speaking about that.
Consumer electronic industry is almost in tragic state, I got a Sony FH-717R mid range audio component which I purchased back in 1992 and used it as amp for Amiga 1200, P1 75, P2 233, P3 500, P4 1800, G5 1600, G5 2500 and a Mac Mini G4. Lets not forget 5 TVs. You got what I mean. Can't blame Sony though, they almost went out of business because they insisted on quality.
It makes you support non free infrasacture probably running on a GNU/Linux system. You think it is all open and use it instead of XMPP (Jabber) which is totally documented both server and client side while it only takes couple of lines to AOL developers to lock you out. Even their lawyers can do it. Javascript on client is open while the server part is closed source so people can mistake it with actual free (in liberty sense) open software. That is what I understand.
Slashdot Mirror
Or can't even if they need to. They dropped PowerPC OS X support right as version 2.0 of plugin.
People keep telling "PowerPC is dead", well it is dying but not at degree of dropping support of it as early as last year. When Steve Jobs said "We are switching to Intel", PowerPC macs showing the keynote with Quicktime didn't instantly turn off and never came back you know :) Some Intel Mac owners cheering doesn't see what is coming if, by any chance, Silverlight becomes successful as Flash. Old time Mac users who lived/lives the Windows Media Disaster clearly knows what I talk about. Lets not forget the $200K priced Windows Media server installations ended up not being able to sell content (having DRM) to Apple OS X users.
It proves one thing to me if you ask. They have problems compiling it for non x86 platforms which is pretty alarming since the handheld platform runs ARM and will keep running ARM, which has same "endian" issue (!) etc. If a plugin daring to mess with Adobe Flash can't run on anything other than x86, I am really speechless.
One must also ask, where is mobile support? I mean, at least for Windows Mobile. Adobe currently gives Developers freely distributable flash lite (current version) so they can code "apps" which are in fact tiny flash containers. I have used Flash LE on Symbian S60, on not so superb handset (Nokia E65, business phone) and no, my battery didn't melt.
They could easily verify if you are jobless. E.g. referrer=slashdot.org at work hour.
Oh wait...
Did you see how Google Updater works? I know Apple never claimed to be "nice" but in case of Google, it really bugs you.
I don't run any software from them which demands it to be installed, I don't want a update checker running as root every 2 hours. It is open source? Well, who cares really.
It is like Sparkle framework, only the Sparkle update checker part runs before the application itself and updates application if necessary. Sparkle became de-facto standard software update checker in OS X, there are even people asking Apple to include it in standard OS X Frameworks.
So lets say, when you launch Adium, its update checker will run first, make sure it is current version and actually run it after updating.
One must ask... Is Apple preparing a Konfubulator against Sparkle in Gold Master of Snow Leopard? Not like Sparkle go out of business (!), it is open source framework which we (users) just hope multi million/billion dollar companies using it are donating.
http://sparkle.andymatuschak.org/
Do you really think Apple "hates" MS or Sun enough to sue them? Look to Amazon top 10 Apple software sales, you will see MS Office at top of it.
They don't hate Sun either, they just strategically hate Java and try to be evil to it just enough to make sure users won't choose a Java app over a Cocoa one.
I admit I was running PC in 1995 using Windows 95 but I don't remember it had any kind of "automatic updates" coming with it. Patent is dated back in 1995 while Internet was still taking off.
Many OS X "modern" stuff like Keychains dates back to MacOS days I learned. When we see them, we automatically think they were first in OS X. When did Apple Software update really appear in some form? That is what we should look for. I wasn't in Mac scene back in that time. We need someone to confess he was using MacOS back in 1990s, tough job on Slashdot :)
It is really interesting that someone could come up with such a modern idea (which is not really implemented on Desktop) back in 1988. I mean, we wouldn't be having 400 MB OS updates if it could be reliably implemented on Desktop operating systems.
Someone from Apple scene does use that concept. Intego Netupdate. It has a preference to automatically install and reboot after updates, without even asking to user. Thank God, it is disabled by default.
In fact, it performs exactly the way patent says. You may even be greeted by "Enter serial number you purchased while you upgrade your software" message.
Apple being victim of their stupid lawyers as usual, not even surprised. They should separate RIAA/MPAA iTunes types from the Technical types.
What if MS steals their concept as usual and implements like its own? Well, it has been solved by Real Networks for their million dollar patents. Free to GPL, patented for closed source. As people here busy with "buffering" jokes and spyware allegations regarding their free/open source software, I better remind it.
You know what? Widgets, no matter how you look at it, is a chaotic mess. Unless there is some standard by a neutral authory like W3C, it will keep to be a mess and nobody will take them serious.
I know lots of people who hates the entire concept of it but let me show just how many "standards" there are, including mobile.
1) Apple Widgets (OS X only)
2) Yahoo Widgets (OS X and Windows), the original Konfubulator
3) Adobe Air stuff (most are actually Widgets)
4) Opera Widgets (Don't even bother counting how many platforms supported)
5) Nokia Widgets (yes, millions of downloads, see (6) for a laugh)
6) Nokia Widgets in J2ME, it is completely different idea and multi platform. Named Widsets. Don't try to understand why Nokia competes itself.
7) New to appear, if Sun doesn't go bust, Java Widgets, I forgot what it is called and Sun seems to forget they already HAD similar thing on Windows, java embedded apps inside Active Desktop items. Like the one from JPL/NASA. It was a torture.
There are MANY more specs around, these are the only ones I tried personally. They all lack a spec especially user prefs storage, Yahoo won't check your mail without your pwd, it saves it but they don't have brain enough to keep basic widget installation data in your account. Opera may do some Opera Link goodness (guessing from how it goes) in future but that is all.
If there is hope for Widgets to be taken serious both by users and developers, it is W3C, standards based storage, Mozilla/Webkit/Opera following the standard and as usual MS ignoring it. Damn things should be stored on some standard form, on remote and local and they should be interchangeable. Don't let the OS X dashboard scene fool you, they aren't really liked and seen like real apps.
As the guy has very specific needs with very strict requirements and exchange, perhaps Jabber.com products (now part of Cisco) are the way to go.
http://www.jabber.com/CE/JabberHome2
It is still XMPP, not a byte of non standard thing.
But as FreeBSD comes with BSD license, wouldn't it make GNU/BSD Linux? So we lose the OS part and left with a schizoid OS doesn't really know what it is :)
Well, if there is one guy to sort it out, it is RMS. I bet he will end up calling Larry Wall for help.
If ZFS is not being on Linux for political/license etc. issues, especially on a purist, true GNU Linux like Debian distro, you shouldn't expect it.
I am not really following ZFS development but I suspect it could have something with license. It is not like Linux guys can't code a ZFS driver?
Apple's port too :) http://zfs.macosforge.org/trac/wiki/
I mean they do a great work but it is basically not ready for prime time. For OS X, Prime Time means at least time machine support, data write/read (including all metadata, even Finder flags) support, Disk Utility GUI support and at last, boot support. Of course, don't forget no kernel crashes should happen and it should handle massive abuse, uptime and even sleep without any glitches. If a Mac doesn't sleep when no programs running, it is generally taken to service by end user.
Things go really complex when your potential ZFS loving users are professionals doing things with Resource (metadata) enabled files (e.g. Photoshop) and expect exact (not 99.9) feature compatibility with HFS+. If ZFS really rolled out in Leopard (10.5) release, there were even people asking for commercial, high end disk utility (like Disk Warrior) support.
What ZFS needs is a very practical use and the proof of how modern it is. Time Machine of OS X is the best thing to prove it to end users. Adding new disks easily when space runs out, snapshots etc. If there is one company which can make ordinary users say "Wow, I really need it" for such a high end filesystem, it is Apple.
I was actually expecting ZFS on XServe/RAID/OS X Server but I forgot the files stored on them are generally Apple Client files too.
This is a April 1 joke but spare some time to think what if it really happens in the future, especially if you are a Developer who has put all eggs on Microsoft/Windows basket. Can't happen? Trust me, it happens. If someone came and told Amiga will be dead while we use that Amiga 500 miracle, we would laugh at his face.
Look to what happened to General Motors giant, especially them since they never thought about future may change, people may really pay more money to smaller cars made by companies they joked about just 5 years before.
(It is April 1st here already)
If MS was a company which is bound to real economy rules, they would at least admit the HTML rendering needs open source and a real community and open source the MSHTML engine (with their own terms if they like).
If a company insisted on maintaining and coding a failure for that long, they would be out of business now. It would be like Apple releasing MACOS (not X) with "improved graphics and multifinder support" in 2009. If they didn't admit MacOS isn't really working, even iPod wouldn't save them.
As they are a monopoly who aren't bound to real rules, it is just a April fools joke, sadly.
As I post this, I upload a file to my friends ftp server all the way to California from Europe with my max upload speed, there is no "optimisation" or anything on both boxes either. One system is OS X Leopard and other is NetBSD.
I can't say anything bad about a service like that as distance really matters between residential connections, especially when they have to pass 30-35 hops. If I moved to California, my service would really be charter.
I can't understand what kind of "phone support" people get from a cable ISP either. Generally 192.168.*.* from local connection (the DOCSIS modem itself) would give lot more than ISP can get over there, especially with lousy connections.
The only "customer service" you would need is because of the idiot DOCSIS guys. It is almost nightmare, hack of deepest hacks to get firmware updates as the standard had "set top TV box" as scheme of doing things. You must know the deal and that is the time when you call customer service. It took a month of frustration with my local ISP and I ended up buying a DSL modem instead of trying to update my Motorola DOCSIS modem. Otherwise, my local ISP was giving what I need too, they had the bandwidth they promised. I guess the frustration comes from the DOCSIS standard and how locked it is even when you need to do "white hat" things like firmware updates.
The standard itself forces you to get phone support service for trivial tasks. I can't imagine convincing a Philippine guy to force update firmware of a Motorola SB5100 for instance.
I forgot to tell it as I am OS X user it seems.
What I installed was pure Vista, no Sony specific stuff as the machine restore function is in Korean too.
If I could really access that restore dvd function, it creates 2 DVDs. Vista Original DVD and... 2 Gigs of Sony BUNDLED stuff. I can't imagine what would happen if I actually installed 2 Gigs of Sony stuff.
Everything works (including EFI driver) except Webcam, I will have some Korean babelfish browsing to do for it and mail the driver.
I agree to you and I don't understand why people ignore my line. I clearly said she only cares about office, skype, IM and browsing. There was a hurry situation and it could even handle my 2-3 parallel installs of Open Office, MS Office Viewers and instant messengers.
I can assure anyone that Sony really means designed for Vista, it seems Vista is part of their strategy to race with Apple.
While replying to this message, I also run OS X Leopard on my G4 1.42 Ghz Mini with just 1 Gig (max for this mb) of RAM. When I say Leopard runs faster than Tiger on same machine, Mac users go mad at me too. I actually tested it with external firewire 800 drive boot of Tiger.
Another thing is, that non technical and non gamer actually paid for Vista, why bother and risk with pirated XP?
I recently "fixed" a Sony Vaio (from .kr) which has "designed for Windows Vista" mark and serial number of Vista at its bottom. What was its problem? Someone thinking he is making a favour downgraded it to XP guaranteeing endless problems.
The machine was clearly "designed for Vista" as even the Intel disk controller was nightmare to get supported on XP. Machine's owner is a girl who only cares about office, MSN, Skype and other general stuff, not games.
When I gave up struggling to fix XP and got Vista DVD, guess what happened? It downloaded all the drivers, everything started to work fine and guess what? Damn fast. It is not a high end Vaio, it has only 1 Gig of RAM with low end hard disk (not 7200 or anything). It even has the scandal Intel i965 integrated gfx.
It seems her mistake was getting help from a Korean die hard gamer. As I had to browse Korean Sony site (don't ask how), I can understand the "XP Downgrade" is still a big deal for them so Sony was forced to pack XP "if it compiles, ship it" type drivers and offer them.
This is the second time I try to fix a virused XP (as Mac user) on a PC which was "Designed for Vista" and every problem goes away and machine runs really fast right after Vista is restored and updated. Stop this "XP downgrade" madness, at least on non gamer machines. You aren't doing a favour, you are putting the non technical types in huge risk along with the old OS you are installing. Another thing is, they paid for Vista, somehow.
That is one mysterious thing nobody can explain. Keyboard and mouse are the most used parts which are in direct contact with the user and yet the User would never want to pay extra for quality. It is also similar in monitors, ask any Sony CRT or whatever current good quality LCD monitor owner.
I am almost sure the $5 Keyboard owners also have 512 MB Graphics cards with DirectX 10.1 support.
Another thing is beds which people spend 8 hours of day in their entire life, try to sell them a Tempur (or any good quality, not luxury) bed. They would pay 5x the price for the stuff carrying the actual thing just because it looks better but not the real thing.
That machine, if could be connected to a network or even serial communication port (to TCP/IP) which I am sure there would be a way, could prove one thing. UNIX was the right idea all along.
Did you see the real DEC VT 100 which we all emulate by default? Compared to that machine, that Professor's machine is brand new.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VT100
Also therotically, Windows Vista should be able to run his application. Isn't it the idea which MS keeps saying and torturing users for?
There is Google (DoubleClick) Adsense IBM advertisement for us who prefers to see ads on this page along with Google text ads. That is how you post advertisement to Slashdot and you gotta beat companies like Big Blue on bidding.
Are you thinking slashdot is that small to be bribed by a small specialised equipment manufacturer in Kentucky? I have almost bought their keyboards, especially Unix one all the way down here. Posting costs stopped me.
A company insists on making old fashion but better keyboards and still living in this age which you CAN'T buy a keyboard which wasn't produced in some China sweatshop is a interesting one.
Funny is, Windows key automatically becomes Apple key when you plug it to a Mac. It does help on Windows but it is very important part of MacOS (X) usage on Macintosh, more like alt on Windows.
For example forget Quitting apps or closing Windows with kb if your Apple (Windows) key is broken unless you make a workaround with system prefs.
Another company who made excellent keyboards and had a fan following went out of business because their keyboards were too... excellent.
The keyboards never got broken so people (their fans) never had to replace them.
Evolution (!) of keyboard and mouse explains a lot about the state of current computer industry. It is almost like a scheme. When someone talks about their Apple II still being able to boot, they aren't being neophobic, they are also speaking about that.
Consumer electronic industry is almost in tragic state, I got a Sony FH-717R mid range audio component which I purchased back in 1992 and used it as amp for Amiga 1200, P1 75, P2 233, P3 500, P4 1800, G5 1600, G5 2500 and a Mac Mini G4. Lets not forget 5 TVs. You got what I mean. Can't blame Sony though, they almost went out of business because they insisted on quality.
It makes you support non free infrasacture probably running on a GNU/Linux system. You think it is all open and use it instead of XMPP (Jabber) which is totally documented both server and client side while it only takes couple of lines to AOL developers to lock you out. Even their lawyers can do it.
Javascript on client is open while the server part is closed source so people can mistake it with actual free (in liberty sense) open software.
That is what I understand.