My version of VLC is from before Apple opened up the new APIs, so is Movist. Playing the exact same HD h264 file in VLC, Movist and Quicktime X player results in the same CPU usage of 37% - 41% on my 3 year old, 2.8 GHz iMac which does not even have hardware acceleration for h264. Playing the same file through Flash maxes out one of the CPUs at 100% and the video stutters and drops frames.
Flash's problem is not about hardware acceleration. If VLC and Movist can achieve the same low CPU usage as Quicktime X player on the same hardware means it's not an API availability problem; it's simply crappy, crappy code used in Flash.
The version of Flash before 10.1 contained PowerPC code still for intel processors!
Linux will never have a breakthrough on the desktop until it has a killer app that no other system has.
In the server room LAMP is linux's killer app. It's very effective and it is the reason for the majority of linux installs in the server room that I've come across.
Is there such an App for Linux desktop?
It's easy to say that, for most people, Linux would be more than enough. If you want to do email, browse the web and do basic things, then Linux is already excellent at that. But, for most people, the decision to which system to buy, most times, comes down to the unexpected needs that they may have in the future. That's why so far Windows is dominating. If you buy a windows machine, it's most likely to have any software that you MAY need. It's a safety net. Only Windows' extreme security issues have forced people to look at other system. Let me assure you, had windows been nearly as secure as Linux or OS X, people would have never, ever looked for other solutions.
When developers started moving away from the Mac in the 90s, the platform came very close to death. It barely held on to its measly market share because of cheaper Macs in the late 90s-early 2000s.
It wasn't until Apple managed to get Finalcut into great shape and its iLife suite and then OS X; those were things that people wanted/needed. The killer apps make people want/have to use a system.
I know of no such application for Linux on the Desktop.
Talk about interface inconsistency. Why is 'Mark as Unread' a button and 'Mark as Read' isn't?
Also, in my Safari, right clicking the message doesn't pop up a menu containing 'Mark as read'.
You can't 'BUY' one. For $1500, you get a year's select developer membership and you get to 'Lease' the machine. You'll have to return it by the end of 2006.
When competition disappears from ANY market, that market stagnates.
Generally, you're right, however, like everything there are exceptions.
Photoshop from Adobe had never had any serious competitor, yet it keeps improving. Most of its development has been fuelled by the need for more income (from upgrades).
The model, of course, does not apply to freely distributed apps that have no real, commercial value to being kept on the leading edge.
And from what I've read, it doesn't involve grep. It doesn't search filecontents, just metadata (which most of the OS X users I know don't even use).
Actually, it does search file contents. The API provided for developers encourage them to build their spotlight plugin to search everything in their proprietary files, meta data and contents.
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My version of VLC is from before Apple opened up the new APIs, so is Movist. Playing the exact same HD h264 file in VLC, Movist and Quicktime X player results in the same CPU usage of 37% - 41% on my 3 year old, 2.8 GHz iMac which does not even have hardware acceleration for h264. Playing the same file through Flash maxes out one of the CPUs at 100% and the video stutters and drops frames.
Flash's problem is not about hardware acceleration. If VLC and Movist can achieve the same low CPU usage as Quicktime X player on the same hardware means it's not an API availability problem; it's simply crappy, crappy code used in Flash.
The version of Flash before 10.1 contained PowerPC code still for intel processors!
Linux will never have a breakthrough on the desktop until it has a killer app that no other system has.
In the server room LAMP is linux's killer app. It's very effective and it is the reason for the majority of linux installs in the server room that I've come across.
Is there such an App for Linux desktop?
It's easy to say that, for most people, Linux would be more than enough. If you want to do email, browse the web and do basic things, then Linux is already excellent at that. But, for most people, the decision to which system to buy, most times, comes down to the unexpected needs that they may have in the future. That's why so far Windows is dominating. If you buy a windows machine, it's most likely to have any software that you MAY need. It's a safety net. Only Windows' extreme security issues have forced people to look at other system. Let me assure you, had windows been nearly as secure as Linux or OS X, people would have never, ever looked for other solutions.
When developers started moving away from the Mac in the 90s, the platform came very close to death. It barely held on to its measly market share because of cheaper Macs in the late 90s-early 2000s.
It wasn't until Apple managed to get Finalcut into great shape and its iLife suite and then OS X; those were things that people wanted/needed. The killer apps make people want/have to use a system.
I know of no such application for Linux on the Desktop.
Talk about interface inconsistency. Why is 'Mark as Unread' a button and 'Mark as Read' isn't? Also, in my Safari, right clicking the message doesn't pop up a menu containing 'Mark as read'.
The 24" iMac has 1 Firewire 800 port. It is possible that the smaller iMacs may get one with a future update.
OO needs competition, just like Firefox. Firefox wouldn't really exist if weren't for Apple's adoption of KHTML for Safari.
I remember the day Apple announced Safari and said that they used KHTML, everybody was shocked that they didn't go with Gecko.
When Apple explained that they didn't consider Gecko because it was a bloated mess, the Gecko developers got their act together and Firefox was born.
I bet if Apple adopts KOffice to create its own office suite, then the OO people would have to rise to the challenge; or one would hope they would.
...but it won't replace the browser, it will work hand in hand with a browser.
However, not having a windows machine make it impossible for me to test it and make more informed comments.
The music industry went to court in Canada trying to emulate their US counterparts and the judge handed them their own ass in the judgement.
They went to court three different time and they lost each time. That what they get for being greedy and ask for levies on blank media.
You can't 'BUY' one. For $1500, you get a year's select developer membership and you get to 'Lease' the machine. You'll have to return it by the end of 2006.
Not all of those registered pay. So, not filthy rich, but very comfortable.
I have a porn site with nearly 100k registered users. IE 67%, Firefox 19%, Mozilla 7%, Safari 2%, Opera 2.1%