You're right, except that most web servers in the world are Apache running on some kind of un*x. Mac OS X is basically a sweet GUI on top of un*x.
If someone could come up with a virus that would take down most web servers, you think they would do so. Why hasn't their been a UnixNuke, or LinuxNuke, or LinuxWorm.bin? Hmm. Maybe because un*x is inherently more secure?
And even if it's not, and this problem is entirely marketshare related, does that really matter? It's not like Apple is going to get 20% or even 10% marketshare in the next few years... even if MS totally dropped Vista, it wouldn't matter in the near term.
In the meantime, you can enjoy computing without McAfee taking up all those CPU cycles.
4)So what if SBC decides to implement a tiered system of bandwidth! Consumers just stop renewing their contracts if they hate it enough. That's much better than making courts and legislators do a lot of hairsplitting about what legislative intent was/should be.
6)as an independent content producer (and soon a distributor), I want the Net environment to be as unregulated as possible (even from laws that purport to ensure acess). If some ISPs are going to charge for tiered service, either they better offer substantial benefits to customers or people will abandon them in droves.
You make a good point, if the world of broadband internet was a competitive marketplace.
How many people actually have a choice as to which cable company to use? Not many. Many people don't even have a choice between DSL or cable.
Our government has granted these monopolies through legislation, handing billions of dollars to the telecoms. They've been doing it for years.
The most choice I've ever had in broadband providers is TWO. That's it. So you have an monopoly/oligopoly that decides to abuse its consumers, and the consumers themselves have no way to fight back except by dropping broadband altogether... to me, that seems like a serious, serious issue.
You're exactly right. I had an idea to write a program that would spam their server with randomly generating username and password info to either:
a) overload their database
b) make whatever data they did collect completely useless
Distribute the program to a few friends, and voila! Spammers caught.
Another potential way to catch them would be for Paypal to create a login, "scriptkiddie123" or something, and send it to the phishing site. As soon as someone logs in using that login, you send their IP to the Feds. Blammo!
You're claiming it was impossible to predict 9/11 with the powers the government had on 9/11?
That is simply ridiculous.
Let's see... hmm. Four planes are hijacked nearly simultaneously. One of them flies into the World Trade Center. What does the government do about the other three? They have many F-16's on hand, ready for immediate takeoff. All they had to do was issue the order. What happened instead?
NOTHING.
Well, there is the theory that they shot down one of them, which makes more sense than any other heart-warming "Lets Roll" theory.
What I find really frustrating is in all of this, nobody addresses the real problem - that our government (and military) had access to plenty of information that said there would be a terrorist attack. Such as a plane crashing into a building. Bush himself continued to read a children's story when he found out. They just didn't do anything about it!
The Patriot Act is unnecessary. The NSA gathering information about phone calls is unnecessary. All we need to do is have people who are smart enough and decisive enough to act on information that is staring them in the face. The only thing that these acts are doing is capitalizing on Americans fear of terrorism and turning it into "increased security". The only problem is that the increased security is for the government's sake, not ours.
The people who compare WoW uptime to that of your [Web Server/Database Server/ISP] are one of the following:
1) Lacking understanding of what it takes to successfully administer a MMORPG like WoW. The sheer amount of data and the ridiculous response time that you need to provide is really, really high. This is different from Phantasy Star Online or Guild Wars, people - there are thousands of users on the same cluster, hammering away at the server. I don't even fully grasp it myself.
2) Thinking that $15 per month should go farther than it does. People, you can't buy three combo meals at McDonald's for $15.
3) Whiney. (Just kidding.)
Seriously though, there definitely are problems in WoW. However, they have gotten noticeably better in the six months I've been playing. Blizzard needs to improve communication on the problems they do have and what they're doing to solve them; I honestly think that will sedate even the most discerning user.
It amazes me how idiotic people can be.
The primary things that are stopping wind power from becoming more widespread:
1) As the FA points out, people don't like seeing them.
2) Government restrictions.
3) Lobbyists, such as the coal lobbies in North Dakota.
North Dakota is considered the Saudi Arabia of wind power, yet they aren't using most of it. Why? Coal miners want to keep their jobs. Farmers don't want to see wind turbines on the horizon. Government bends to the existing thinking and doesn't allow new turbines to be erected.
It's very, very depressing.
A well-placed wind turbine can make well over $100,000 per year for the owner. There's plenty of money to be made here, and there are lots of people willing to invest in it.
The problem is that we have coal miners who are unwilling to get new jobs and government workers who don't care about pollution.
Wind power is a fantastic option, we just need to fix our government first.
Nvidias and ATIs "value proposition" is the hardware. The driver is just a required evil.
To some extent, you're right. But nVidia and ATI also sell more than just the driver. They both have large support applications that support desktop mirroring, resolution/depth switching, TV out control, and other advanced features.
nVidia would argue that their value proposition includes hardware, driver, support, and the entire user experience. Most users are interested in their purchase "just working" and they don't want to have setup issues. Therefore, a seamless and simple installation and configuration process is definitely part of the value proposition.
Re:Apple is going to make a killing...
on
Going To Boot Camp
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· Score: 1
I agree with you wholeheartedly. Mac hardware is also very nice (it's so pretty!) but really, it comes down to OS X and the fantastic applications that come with iLife.
Boot camp, much like the switch to Intel, the switch to OS X, and the previous switch to PowerPC, is not the demise of Apple. It is the beginning of a new era. It was going to happen anyway, it's just now become a good selling point for Apple.
People will spend 90% of their time in OSX, and use Windows when they absolutely have to. This helps remove the first excuse people use when they buy a Windows PC - "Well, Macs are great, but I need Windows for [work/games/strange utility application]."
Of course, dual booting is not the ideal solution, but it makes it -possible-. Virtualization, or using something like DarWINE, will eventually be better because people won't have to reboot. But, as of now, it's a fantastic thing for Apple.
Here's what could've made the PSP *the* device to own: the ability to burn your own UMDs with photos or videos or whatever without the need for any proprietary hardware or software. A disc-based, portable image/video sharing device -- properly marketed and with proper competition from other companies -- could have created a new "must have" device that would be almost as ubiquitous as cell phones.
You mean, like a video iPod?
Oh sorry, you meant disc-based, not disk-based - presumably so people can continue to participate in the fun task of carrying around their entire media collection everywhere they go.
IMO, the best part about this era of audio compression is that is has allowed people to carry around what previously was a 500 pound alphabetized case of CDs in their pockets.
A disc-based movie player would be a step backwards from a video iPod in this regard. For what benefit? Giving a disc containing your latest vacation pictures to your friend? Trust me, nobody wants to look at your vacation pictures, and if by some chance they did, you could just show them on your video iPod.
First, before I say this, you can't accurately extrapolate from one person's experience to describe the customer service experience for many.
Let me tell you the Tale of Two Companies.
My girlfriend bought a brand new top of the line Gateway laptop in December. After 18 days of use, the screen fried. She owns three Gateway laptops, has always purchased the most expensive warranty plan, and up until this year, they always have had as a part of that plan:
1) Free overnight shipping for repair service.
2) A toll-free number to call for repair service.
3) Very responsive turnaround times on repair.
After having her laptop for 18 days, it took her over a month to get it back from Gateway, and she had to pay $60 in shipping costs. All they had to do was replace a backlight on the screen.
All three of the warranty items described above changed in the past year. They changed the terms of their existing warranties because in the warranty it says they can do so.
While that may have been legal, it certainly doesn't lead to happy customers. Needless to say, we are never buying another Gateway.
Contrast this with my experience with Apple. Whenever I've had a problem, I've been able to go to the Apple Store at the local mall and work with the Mac Genius there to get support. Free.
I bought an Airport Express in 2004, and when it broke, I took it to the Apple Store with no receipt. In under 5 minutes I left with a brand new AXP, with no hassle. Six months later that one also broke, but as I was beyond 1 yr warranty, Apple couldn't replace it. However, the Mac Genius checked all apple stores for an open-box item. He couldn't find any. He said that he would call me when an open box AXP came in.
Sure enough, a month later, I got a phone call from the Mac Genius. They had received an open box AXP. I had already bought a new AXP, but I couldn't believe that I actually got a call back like I was promised.
Having an Apple Store less than five miles away from my house means that I get fantastic service when things go wrong, with no hassles. It's what CompUSA, Micro Center, and Best Buy have all tried to do (Geek Squad?) but have generally failed at. Apple does it well and it means a lot to the average customer.
I would think with Google's track record of recording and storing anything and everything they come across that people would be less than willing to provide them with your bank account information as well as all of the stock investments you have made.
At least Google has a backbone when they are asked to hand this information over to the authorities. It seems to me like they understand what's at stake. All of the search engines have this data; Google is no different. MSN handed it over blindly - would you rather let them have your personal info than Google?
Also, you don't enter your bank account info. All you're entering is which stock tickers you want to track and how much of each you have, so that you can know how much $$ you've been making or losing.
Overall, it could use some more features, but it's pretty slick if you ask me.
1) I dont know of any comp game that allows such brawls, but I might be mistaken.
World of Warcraft allows dueling between friendly players. The loser "kneels" and the fight results are broadcast to nearby players.
Though, all of your points are excellent. Tabletop gaming is fun for reasons that just can't be duplicated on computers (yet).
An example: one of my friends was a mage that pretended to be a warrior. He carried around a sword at all times. (He never hit anything with it, and sometimes would hurt himself, but it was fun for intimidating monsters and players. It also was funny.) You can't do that kind of original thing, generally, in a computer game because gosh darn it - Mages just *don't* use swords!
Because Apple hasn't been able to release iTunes for hockey sticks yet.
Seriously, though, it's primarily because of the content providers. In the tape / CD era, geography mattered. So the content providers have distribution agreements with their artists based on the geography - e.g. "We charge $5 US per copy in the US but $6 Canadian in Canada". They also have neat exclusivity clauses like "NBC gets the exclusive rights to air the Olympics in the United States." That means that the BBC can't allow people from.US to access their Olympic feeds.
So, your reseller (e.g. Apple) needs to work out licensing deals with the appropriate content providers in the appropriate countries.
There are some governmental regulations as well but usually they aren't nearly as difficult of a hurdle to cross if you are doing something new (e.g. Skype).
Isn't it amazing how much of a pain going through existing channels that are no longer truly relevant is?
The horse and buggy distro system of funny plastic disks has been superceded by an Internet. Tune in or drop out.
Thanks for making my day.
Why is it that everyone who used Napster for the first time knew instantly that audio CDs were dead - except for the people who could have profited from that information the most? (In other words, the record company execs?)
Exec 1: Woah. Napster gives people any music they want easily. Let's FIGHT IT.
Exec 2: Woah. Napster gives people -what they want-. Let's find a way to profit on it.
I think you know what happened. Exec 2 triggered a revolution in an industry that his company wasn't even involved in.
However, I carry many bank cards in my wallet, and they work excellent at stores and ATMs, but they don't fit into any holes into my computer. The bank has already given me an excellent token that is much more difficult to replicate than a few random characters on a keyboard, but they refuse to use it.
I think you're missing the point. Your bank cards are just a magnetic stripe with a string of data on it (account number, exp date, and maybe some other misc info). A phishing site could just as easily steal that string of data as it could steal your login and password.
It doesn't matter if it's your debit card, password, or biometric info - a phishing site could still easily steal your information.
Really, the best method for fighting phishing is user education and global law enforcement. If the URL window does not reference your bank's domain, report it, and hopefully we can get them shut down.
Virtua Tennis - at least the Dreamcast version - is indeed one of the greatest games ever made.
It is a shining example of how a game can be the inverse of a GTA and do well. (In other words - do one thing and do it well, as opposed to doing many, many things in a bland way. My main beef with San Andreas is that it tries to do far too much and really doesn't do much well.)
Slashdot Mirror
You're right, except that most web servers in the world are Apache running on some kind of un*x. Mac OS X is basically a sweet GUI on top of un*x.
If someone could come up with a virus that would take down most web servers, you think they would do so. Why hasn't their been a UnixNuke, or LinuxNuke, or LinuxWorm.bin? Hmm. Maybe because un*x is inherently more secure?
And even if it's not, and this problem is entirely marketshare related, does that really matter? It's not like Apple is going to get 20% or even 10% marketshare in the next few years... even if MS totally dropped Vista, it wouldn't matter in the near term.
In the meantime, you can enjoy computing without McAfee taking up all those CPU cycles.
6)as an independent content producer (and soon a distributor), I want the Net environment to be as unregulated as possible (even from laws that purport to ensure acess). If some ISPs are going to charge for tiered service, either they better offer substantial benefits to customers or people will abandon them in droves.
You make a good point, if the world of broadband internet was a competitive marketplace.
How many people actually have a choice as to which cable company to use? Not many. Many people don't even have a choice between DSL or cable.
Our government has granted these monopolies through legislation, handing billions of dollars to the telecoms. They've been doing it for years.
The most choice I've ever had in broadband providers is TWO. That's it. So you have an monopoly/oligopoly that decides to abuse its consumers, and the consumers themselves have no way to fight back except by dropping broadband altogether... to me, that seems like a serious, serious issue.
Yeah. Your XBox 360 overheats.
Oh wait...
You're exactly right. I had an idea to write a program that would spam their server with randomly generating username and password info to either: a) overload their database b) make whatever data they did collect completely useless Distribute the program to a few friends, and voila! Spammers caught. Another potential way to catch them would be for Paypal to create a login, "scriptkiddie123" or something, and send it to the phishing site. As soon as someone logs in using that login, you send their IP to the Feds. Blammo!
That is simply ridiculous.
Let's see... hmm. Four planes are hijacked nearly simultaneously. One of them flies into the World Trade Center. What does the government do about the other three? They have many F-16's on hand, ready for immediate takeoff. All they had to do was issue the order. What happened instead?
NOTHING.
Well, there is the theory that they shot down one of them, which makes more sense than any other heart-warming "Lets Roll" theory.
What I find really frustrating is in all of this, nobody addresses the real problem - that our government (and military) had access to plenty of information that said there would be a terrorist attack. Such as a plane crashing into a building. Bush himself continued to read a children's story when he found out. They just didn't do anything about it!
The Patriot Act is unnecessary. The NSA gathering information about phone calls is unnecessary. All we need to do is have people who are smart enough and decisive enough to act on information that is staring them in the face. The only thing that these acts are doing is capitalizing on Americans fear of terrorism and turning it into "increased security". The only problem is that the increased security is for the government's sake, not ours.
It's exactly like movies and books. Are we really surprised that most of the books that sell are romance novels and children's books (Harry Potter)?
There are examples to the contrary - Lord of the Rings and the Da Vinci Code come to mind - but by and large you're absolutely right.
I assume you mean ActiveX, not DirectX?
Call me crazy, but I don't see too many viruses with pixel shading.
The people who compare WoW uptime to that of your [Web Server/Database Server/ISP] are one of the following:
1) Lacking understanding of what it takes to successfully administer a MMORPG like WoW. The sheer amount of data and the ridiculous response time that you need to provide is really, really high. This is different from Phantasy Star Online or Guild Wars, people - there are thousands of users on the same cluster, hammering away at the server. I don't even fully grasp it myself.
2) Thinking that $15 per month should go farther than it does. People, you can't buy three combo meals at McDonald's for $15.
3) Whiney. (Just kidding.)
Seriously though, there definitely are problems in WoW. However, they have gotten noticeably better in the six months I've been playing. Blizzard needs to improve communication on the problems they do have and what they're doing to solve them; I honestly think that will sedate even the most discerning user.
It amazes me how idiotic people can be. The primary things that are stopping wind power from becoming more widespread: 1) As the FA points out, people don't like seeing them. 2) Government restrictions. 3) Lobbyists, such as the coal lobbies in North Dakota. North Dakota is considered the Saudi Arabia of wind power, yet they aren't using most of it. Why? Coal miners want to keep their jobs. Farmers don't want to see wind turbines on the horizon. Government bends to the existing thinking and doesn't allow new turbines to be erected. It's very, very depressing. A well-placed wind turbine can make well over $100,000 per year for the owner. There's plenty of money to be made here, and there are lots of people willing to invest in it. The problem is that we have coal miners who are unwilling to get new jobs and government workers who don't care about pollution. Wind power is a fantastic option, we just need to fix our government first.
To some extent, you're right. But nVidia and ATI also sell more than just the driver. They both have large support applications that support desktop mirroring, resolution/depth switching, TV out control, and other advanced features.
nVidia would argue that their value proposition includes hardware, driver, support, and the entire user experience. Most users are interested in their purchase "just working" and they don't want to have setup issues. Therefore, a seamless and simple installation and configuration process is definitely part of the value proposition.
Boot camp, much like the switch to Intel, the switch to OS X, and the previous switch to PowerPC, is not the demise of Apple. It is the beginning of a new era. It was going to happen anyway, it's just now become a good selling point for Apple.
People will spend 90% of their time in OSX, and use Windows when they absolutely have to. This helps remove the first excuse people use when they buy a Windows PC - "Well, Macs are great, but I need Windows for [work/games/strange utility application]."
Of course, dual booting is not the ideal solution, but it makes it -possible-. Virtualization, or using something like DarWINE, will eventually be better because people won't have to reboot. But, as of now, it's a fantastic thing for Apple.
You mean, like a video iPod?
Oh sorry, you meant disc-based, not disk-based - presumably so people can continue to participate in the fun task of carrying around their entire media collection everywhere they go.
IMO, the best part about this era of audio compression is that is has allowed people to carry around what previously was a 500 pound alphabetized case of CDs in their pockets.
A disc-based movie player would be a step backwards from a video iPod in this regard. For what benefit? Giving a disc containing your latest vacation pictures to your friend? Trust me, nobody wants to look at your vacation pictures, and if by some chance they did, you could just show them on your video iPod.
Let me tell you the Tale of Two Companies.
My girlfriend bought a brand new top of the line Gateway laptop in December. After 18 days of use, the screen fried. She owns three Gateway laptops, has always purchased the most expensive warranty plan, and up until this year, they always have had as a part of that plan:
1) Free overnight shipping for repair service.
2) A toll-free number to call for repair service.
3) Very responsive turnaround times on repair.
After having her laptop for 18 days, it took her over a month to get it back from Gateway, and she had to pay $60 in shipping costs. All they had to do was replace a backlight on the screen. All three of the warranty items described above changed in the past year. They changed the terms of their existing warranties because in the warranty it says they can do so.
While that may have been legal, it certainly doesn't lead to happy customers. Needless to say, we are never buying another Gateway.
Contrast this with my experience with Apple. Whenever I've had a problem, I've been able to go to the Apple Store at the local mall and work with the Mac Genius there to get support. Free.
I bought an Airport Express in 2004, and when it broke, I took it to the Apple Store with no receipt. In under 5 minutes I left with a brand new AXP, with no hassle. Six months later that one also broke, but as I was beyond 1 yr warranty, Apple couldn't replace it. However, the Mac Genius checked all apple stores for an open-box item. He couldn't find any. He said that he would call me when an open box AXP came in.
Sure enough, a month later, I got a phone call from the Mac Genius. They had received an open box AXP. I had already bought a new AXP, but I couldn't believe that I actually got a call back like I was promised.
Having an Apple Store less than five miles away from my house means that I get fantastic service when things go wrong, with no hassles. It's what CompUSA, Micro Center, and Best Buy have all tried to do (Geek Squad?) but have generally failed at. Apple does it well and it means a lot to the average customer.
At least Google has a backbone when they are asked to hand this information over to the authorities. It seems to me like they understand what's at stake. All of the search engines have this data; Google is no different. MSN handed it over blindly - would you rather let them have your personal info than Google?
Also, you don't enter your bank account info. All you're entering is which stock tickers you want to track and how much of each you have, so that you can know how much $$ you've been making or losing.
Overall, it could use some more features, but it's pretty slick if you ask me.
Have you tried Eclipse?
You should read The Fountainhead, if you haven't already. It is both an excellent book and a great way to explain what you're talking about.
World of Warcraft allows dueling between friendly players. The loser "kneels" and the fight results are broadcast to nearby players.
Though, all of your points are excellent. Tabletop gaming is fun for reasons that just can't be duplicated on computers (yet).
An example: one of my friends was a mage that pretended to be a warrior. He carried around a sword at all times. (He never hit anything with it, and sometimes would hurt himself, but it was fun for intimidating monsters and players. It also was funny.) You can't do that kind of original thing, generally, in a computer game because gosh darn it - Mages just *don't* use swords!
Tabletop gaming will exist for a long, long time.
How about PS1? Three different PS1s of mine completely broke and stopped reading discs. A friend of mine's PS1 only would read burned games.
Ever blow in an NES?
Off the top of my head, the most reliable game system released recently is the GameCube, but maybe that's because nobody uses them.
I'm not defending Microsoft here, but their biggest issue was supply. Some 360s have defects but is it any worse than before?
Seriously, though, it's primarily because of the content providers. In the tape / CD era, geography mattered. So the content providers have distribution agreements with their artists based on the geography - e.g. "We charge $5 US per copy in the US but $6 Canadian in Canada". They also have neat exclusivity clauses like "NBC gets the exclusive rights to air the Olympics in the United States." That means that the BBC can't allow people from .US to access their Olympic feeds.
So, your reseller (e.g. Apple) needs to work out licensing deals with the appropriate content providers in the appropriate countries.
There are some governmental regulations as well but usually they aren't nearly as difficult of a hurdle to cross if you are doing something new (e.g. Skype).
Isn't it amazing how much of a pain going through existing channels that are no longer truly relevant is?
1) Samsung was recently fined $300 million for price fixing. This is evil on Microsoft and Ma Bell levels.
2) They supply flash memory to Apple for use in the iPod.
Actually, Lieberman has a track record of also fighting for regulation of TV and movies.
Thanks for making my day.
Why is it that everyone who used Napster for the first time knew instantly that audio CDs were dead - except for the people who could have profited from that information the most? (In other words, the record company execs?)
Exec 1: Woah. Napster gives people any music they want easily. Let's FIGHT IT. Exec 2: Woah. Napster gives people -what they want-. Let's find a way to profit on it.
I think you know what happened. Exec 2 triggered a revolution in an industry that his company wasn't even involved in.
However, I carry many bank cards in my wallet, and they work excellent at stores and ATMs, but they don't fit into any holes into my computer. The bank has already given me an excellent token that is much more difficult to replicate than a few random characters on a keyboard, but they refuse to use it. I think you're missing the point. Your bank cards are just a magnetic stripe with a string of data on it (account number, exp date, and maybe some other misc info). A phishing site could just as easily steal that string of data as it could steal your login and password. It doesn't matter if it's your debit card, password, or biometric info - a phishing site could still easily steal your information. Really, the best method for fighting phishing is user education and global law enforcement. If the URL window does not reference your bank's domain, report it, and hopefully we can get them shut down.
Virtua Tennis - at least the Dreamcast version - is indeed one of the greatest games ever made. It is a shining example of how a game can be the inverse of a GTA and do well. (In other words - do one thing and do it well, as opposed to doing many, many things in a bland way. My main beef with San Andreas is that it tries to do far too much and really doesn't do much well.)
I disagree. This kind of flaw could have happened on any OS, not just Mac OS X.