Ugh... the Mac Mini... The machine with so much wasted potential that I literally block its existence out of my memory until someone brings it up.
There's plenty of room in there for socketed CPU and RAM, a pair of m.2 slots, and space to mount a 2.5" drive, which would open up configuration options to allow Apple to offer everything from a $300 bare-bones model on up to a $several-thousand ultraportable workstation.
They could literally own the school, office, and home desktop space. I'd love to see that happen.
And yes, I think it would make an excellent "home hub"; they could even release a $100-200 ARM based version specifically for that purpose, with AC in, ethernet, and as many USB-C/TB3 ports on the back (and nothing else) as they can fit. Throw in wi-fi and sell a TB3 ethernet switch module and an option and it could replace the Time Capsule and AirPort Extreme as well, using all those USB-3/TB3 ports to support a multitude of external disks.
Hell, maybe only provide a pair of USB-C/TB3 ports in the $100 model, 4 in the $200 model, and sell a $500 Pro model with, say, 8 of them. It would make a hell of a NAS and, with the optional ethernet switch module, a decent SOHO router as well.
Well, then, hopefully this is the start of a massive rectal craniectomy for Apple's leadership. If it is, my next round of hardware upgrades (years out as everything was either just bought or just upgraded in the past 7 months) might just be from Apple again.
I'll admit I didn't sit and do a breakdown of the iMac Pro, I've been too busy lately. If the base model is truly a pro-level machine, unlike what the MacBook Pro has become recently, then $5000 might, indeed, be a fair price tag. Thank you for taking the time to break that out for me.
Past that, I wouldn't really say 4 years to turn around from the trash can, which people complained about from day one (while they still had production lines in place for the old Mac Pro model and could have reverted course in months rather than years), is "quick". If they were truly listening to users, the trash can would have been killed off and the 1st gen Mac Pro would have lived on. What they did eventually listen to was the abysmal sales of the trash can.
While the eventual outcome is the same, actually listening to users gets us there faster. You just need someone like Jobs around to know what to listen to and what to ignore; that's what's missing today.
Speaking of #1, I'd like to once again voice my hate, not of Apple, but of their current leadership and the direction they are taking the company.
I feel that they purposely set the iMac Pro up for failure with its baseline price tag being so high and the fact that the only user-upgradeable component is RAM (and I'm not positive they haven't soldered that onto the board at this point). It's like they want out of the pro market altogether and are trying to get professional users to drop them like a hot rock.
I saw it coming and jumped back to Windows once Microsoft got Bash on Windows (e.g. a full Ubuntu chroot on Windows) functional enough to run my IDE and testing environment. I need a POSIX or POSIX-like environment, and I need the ability to run a few industry-related applications that don't run on Linux (or that's where I'd be), but I also need to hitch my horse to a carriage that I know is going to be around in a capacity that is useful to me year after year.
Apple keeps making it clear to me that, unless I'm willing to spend $5k+ per workstation per year, I can't have the latest and greatest with them. With a PC workstation, I can upgrade my GPU when that becomes the bottleneck ($400-600), upgrade my CPU when that becomes the bottleneck ($250-500), upgrade my RAM when that becomes the bottleneck ($100-800), upgrade my storage when that becomes the bottleneck ($80-infinity), and maybe replace workstations every 5-10 years at a cost of $2000-4000 apiece.
As I grow my business (and I already see the ACs furiously typing away to tell me I don't have a business to grow), while I could likely weather the $5k/yr cost per employee, I'd rather reduce that as much as possible and provide more tangible benefits and pay to my employees. If that means my offices are filled with PCs, then that's what will happen.
And workplaces are becoming more and more competitive; a company that can afford better health plans or $4000/yr more in pay is going to attract better talent than a company that gives new hires a shiny new Mac rather than a PC.
The interviews I've done recently have borne that out, as well. The guy I ultimately ended up extending a job offer to is a big-time Mac fan, but he voiced that he's more than happy working on a $600 PC laptop if it means his medical benefits and paid time off package are that much better.
Apple still thrives in VC-funded startups, because it's not the CTO's money being spent. There's a reason so many of them fail. In businesses spending their own funds, Apple's footprint has been so rapidly shrinking, over the past 5 years or so, that they're largely nonexistent outside of iPhones for on-call employees and iPads and MacBooks as executive toys.
That's what I hate about Apple.
They could own the business segment and we'd all be better for it. They were on track to do it back in 2010, but they've since repositioned themselves as a fashion brand. If they reverse course on that (and hopefully I'm wrong about the iMac Pro and that's actually what they're doing), I don't think it's too late for them to fix things. However, if people don't speak up about the problem, Apple won't hear us and, well, it may take years for their cash reserves to run out but, ultimately, Apple will fail.
Fashion brands rarely completely disappear, as they'll always find an audience; but they do fall out of favor and lose 99% of their market. It's usually a 5-10 year cycle and Apple's about half way through 5 years as a fashion brand. That should give some indication of how long they have to once again become a computer company if they want to still be relevant in 2037.
I didn't know whether to if it would have been better use "code" or "compile" jack ass, but now I know people are going to nitpick to death.
People write code, compilers turn code into something a computer can work with. You're talking about open source, which means you have the ability to compile to whatever architecture you choose. The difference between writing code and compiling it is far from a nit-pick.
Contrary to you claim I use both Mac and Linux and have made a few Linux distros for both personal use and for others.
The way you present what knowledge you may have on the subject does not bear that out. Neither does your reaction to my attempt to educate you.
As far as to whether if anyone still uses FatELF, you once again take something I said way too far.
Nobody still uses FatELF because, aside from a proof of concept test of it in Ubuntu 8-point-something, nobody ever used it. Perhaps, if that's not what you were referring to, if I'm actually wrong here, correct me? That way we can both learn something.
I have no idea what bone I picked with you, but do yourself a favor and be a dick to someone else.
Trying to correct someone's incorrect understanding and keep them from spreading incorrect information is suddenly "being a dick"? No, this wasn't personal, but you just made it so.
If you do have the time your tech majesty, do feel free to go to my website https:theouterlinux.com [theouterlinux.com] and look at how much I don't know about things.
Well, right off the bat I can tell you don't know how URLs work, and I haven't even clicked the link yet. You're missing a couple of slashes, there, buddy. I'm gonna go ahead and manually type that so it actually works, take a look, and let you know what I think.
...
Okay, I'm back. Before you read on, keep in mind that you're the one who made this personal and you literally just asked me to do this.
Yes, it sure looks like you know how to set up WordPress and link to a bunch of articles you probably didn't even read. That, of course, doesn't mean you know anything about the subjects discussed in the articles, written by others, that your site links to.
"Bronstrup Creative is on the forefront of web technology..." Not really; your website looks like a scam.
Say what you want, but it pays my bills. How successful is yours?
Now, if you want to backtrack on making this personal, I'm game for that. If not, well, nice stock WordPress theme; you could have at least taken the time to customize it a bit. I guess it's not too bad for only being 5 months in the making. Just one point to keep in mind, though, especially since you paid for a 3 year registration: if you can't be contacted via your WHOIS info, you could lose that domain at any time. And just what do you do for the National Weather Service? Or can you not actually be reached at that phone number?
If you're talking about Linux, you can compile 32-bit versions of any supporting libraries and your proprietary 32-bit stuff should still work. If you're talking macOS, I'm pretty sure Apple will backtrack on this decision if there's enough customer backlash, and there will be. For that matter, so will Canonical.
As for WINE, you can install either or both the 32-bit or 64-bit prefixes. As far as I know, 32-bit code will not run in a 64-bit prefix, which is still why many applications don't work (32-bit bootstrap code for a 64-bit application, or vise-versa, for example).
Are you talking about Linux or macOS here? If you're talking about Linux, I would expect that most do; if you're talking about macOS, I expect there to be a fair bit of backlash from gamers and MS Office users when they finally "flip the switch" and drop 32-bit support altogether. Apple will ultimately backpedal on this, as will Canonical.
That fetches the build dependencies for Firefox, which will include the libc source. You're literally compiling your own 32-bit libc in that case and yes, gcc and clang will both happily compile 64-bit assembly to a 32-bit binary, emulating 64-bit instructions as they go.
And when that stops working, you edit the makefile to add -m32 to the CFLAGS and LDFLAGS and replace the last line above with:
make firefox
sudo make firefix install
If you really need it, you already know how to do it.
Right now you can get 32-bit binaries, but I was referring to the Linux distros themselves no longer making 32-bit builds.
And, of course, you can't compile them yourself because the source isn't available.
I don't know if anyone still bothers to code for fat or universal binaries anymore.
You're right, you don't know, so let me explain.
Unless you're writing assembly, you don't write 32- or 64-bit code; and even then, a smart compiler can replace 64-bit assembly instructions with 32-bit routines that emulate them in order to provide a 32-bit binary from assembly code that uses 64-bit instructions. I'm fairly certain GCC can do this natively.
You write code, then compile it as either a 32- or 64-bit (or fat/universal) binary. The same code can produce both, it's just a matter of using the right compiler and compiler flags.
Your reference to fat/universal binaries while discussing Linux screams out to me that, despite your username, you are a Mac user with little actual experience with other platforms; FatELF made it as far as proof-of-concept but development stopped back in 2010, there are no fat Linux binaries.
Huh... interesting. Then why are we still talking about Error 53 today? I actually didn't know it had been "fixed" given the amount of time it still spends in the news.
I have tried to tell both Linux and Window$ communities either here or on Reddit a while back about how 64-bit was nothing more than a tactic to get people to buy new hardware.
I think most people have bought new hardware at least once or twice wince 64-bit CPUs came out, and I don't think it's because their OS of choice stopped supporting their 32-bit CPU. Most people would have already been through an upgrade cycle or two before anybody began requiring a 64-bit CPU.
The dropping of 32-bit for Linux is what actually made me angry.
Huh... I can still get 32-bit binaries for everything on all of my systems.
Please tell me this post is a joke and I just missed it.
What a lot of people don't realize if that much of the perceived insecurity of Windows is found in code that remains in the system to provide support for legacy crap. I really do hope that Microsoft releases Windows 10 Legacy (or whatever they might call it) with all of that crap still in it, then strips it out of future releases.
Win 10 Legacy would have to see security updates, still, but likely no feature updates. It would be great, as it would make people who complain about the constant feature updates happy while allowing Microsoft to drop legacy support from their mainstream OS overnight without screwing over people who need it.
VMs are a good solution for power users but, then, only on systems with enough RAM and CPU power to keep up. I don't think MS will take that route, but I'm not sure it would surprise me if they did, either.
Everything I've read or heard about it is that it happens upon update. Louis Rossmann of Rossmann Group (3rd party Mac repair facility) and Jessa Jones of iPad Rehab (3rd party iPhone and iPad repair facility) are my primary sources on this. One iPhone/iPad repair neither of them will do is a home button replacement, after the first batch of such repairs on fingerprint-enabled devices resulted in Error 53 weeks after the repairs. Given that the phone must be shut down for the repair, a reboot is part of that process and the error would have been evident before the phones were returned to their owners if it happened after a reboot.
We go back and forth between agreeing and disagreeing with each other, so I hope I can get your attention with this.
You do realize that error 53 doesn't pop up until a software update after the repair, right? How does soft-bricking the phone with error 53 that stop someone from swapping the home button and gaining access?
It doesn't.
The new home button not being paired and, thereby, only functioning as a button and not a fingerprint scanner is what prevents a button swap from bypassing the security of the device. In fact, since you would have to unlock the phone to access the settings menu in the first place, there's little reason they can't give end users a "pair home button" option in system settings.
it should be easy to convince your local school board to purchase the alternatives to save costs
Purchasing the alternatives won't save costs when Mylan is giving the Epipen to schools for free. I don't think it will be so easy to convince anyone sitting on a local school board that a positive nonzero cost is less than a zero cost, nor will it be easy to convince them to take on that cost in the face of budget constraints to the point that many school districts no longer even offer buses.
It's popular do to Mylan giving them to schools for free. You're talking about state-run organizations facing a severe budget crunch and wondering why they aren't choosing to pay for the cheaper alternatives when the more expensive version is free to them?
Now my $900 iPad Pro can have the same functionality as my $350 Chromebook... almost. I still can't run a full desktop OS in a chroot jail on the iPad Pro, but I guess... now I can look at the files? So... that's good?
Not that I don't love my iPad Pro; I do, but... come on, Apple, your whole excuse for not giving us a file manager from the very start was security. I suppose you don't care about that anymore? That, or that excuse was a load of crap (yup) and you figured out a way to provide a file manager that doesn't actually access files... I guess, if your security excuse wasn't a complete lie and the file manager you provide is actually useful, we'll see a chroot jail on the iPad sooner, rather than later, so time will ultimately tell.
Slashdot Mirror
He's got a small amount of NVRAM for that.
Ugh... the Mac Mini... The machine with so much wasted potential that I literally block its existence out of my memory until someone brings it up.
There's plenty of room in there for socketed CPU and RAM, a pair of m.2 slots, and space to mount a 2.5" drive, which would open up configuration options to allow Apple to offer everything from a $300 bare-bones model on up to a $several-thousand ultraportable workstation.
They could literally own the school, office, and home desktop space. I'd love to see that happen.
And yes, I think it would make an excellent "home hub"; they could even release a $100-200 ARM based version specifically for that purpose, with AC in, ethernet, and as many USB-C/TB3 ports on the back (and nothing else) as they can fit. Throw in wi-fi and sell a TB3 ethernet switch module and an option and it could replace the Time Capsule and AirPort Extreme as well, using all those USB-3/TB3 ports to support a multitude of external disks.
Hell, maybe only provide a pair of USB-C/TB3 ports in the $100 model, 4 in the $200 model, and sell a $500 Pro model with, say, 8 of them. It would make a hell of a NAS and, with the optional ethernet switch module, a decent SOHO router as well.
Ah, well, we can dream, right?
Well, then, hopefully this is the start of a massive rectal craniectomy for Apple's leadership. If it is, my next round of hardware upgrades (years out as everything was either just bought or just upgraded in the past 7 months) might just be from Apple again.
I'll admit I didn't sit and do a breakdown of the iMac Pro, I've been too busy lately. If the base model is truly a pro-level machine, unlike what the MacBook Pro has become recently, then $5000 might, indeed, be a fair price tag. Thank you for taking the time to break that out for me.
Past that, I wouldn't really say 4 years to turn around from the trash can, which people complained about from day one (while they still had production lines in place for the old Mac Pro model and could have reverted course in months rather than years), is "quick". If they were truly listening to users, the trash can would have been killed off and the 1st gen Mac Pro would have lived on. What they did eventually listen to was the abysmal sales of the trash can.
While the eventual outcome is the same, actually listening to users gets us there faster. You just need someone like Jobs around to know what to listen to and what to ignore; that's what's missing today.
True on all accounts.
Speaking of #1, I'd like to once again voice my hate, not of Apple, but of their current leadership and the direction they are taking the company.
I feel that they purposely set the iMac Pro up for failure with its baseline price tag being so high and the fact that the only user-upgradeable component is RAM (and I'm not positive they haven't soldered that onto the board at this point). It's like they want out of the pro market altogether and are trying to get professional users to drop them like a hot rock.
I saw it coming and jumped back to Windows once Microsoft got Bash on Windows (e.g. a full Ubuntu chroot on Windows) functional enough to run my IDE and testing environment. I need a POSIX or POSIX-like environment, and I need the ability to run a few industry-related applications that don't run on Linux (or that's where I'd be), but I also need to hitch my horse to a carriage that I know is going to be around in a capacity that is useful to me year after year.
Apple keeps making it clear to me that, unless I'm willing to spend $5k+ per workstation per year, I can't have the latest and greatest with them. With a PC workstation, I can upgrade my GPU when that becomes the bottleneck ($400-600), upgrade my CPU when that becomes the bottleneck ($250-500), upgrade my RAM when that becomes the bottleneck ($100-800), upgrade my storage when that becomes the bottleneck ($80-infinity), and maybe replace workstations every 5-10 years at a cost of $2000-4000 apiece.
As I grow my business (and I already see the ACs furiously typing away to tell me I don't have a business to grow), while I could likely weather the $5k/yr cost per employee, I'd rather reduce that as much as possible and provide more tangible benefits and pay to my employees. If that means my offices are filled with PCs, then that's what will happen.
And workplaces are becoming more and more competitive; a company that can afford better health plans or $4000/yr more in pay is going to attract better talent than a company that gives new hires a shiny new Mac rather than a PC.
The interviews I've done recently have borne that out, as well. The guy I ultimately ended up extending a job offer to is a big-time Mac fan, but he voiced that he's more than happy working on a $600 PC laptop if it means his medical benefits and paid time off package are that much better.
Apple still thrives in VC-funded startups, because it's not the CTO's money being spent. There's a reason so many of them fail. In businesses spending their own funds, Apple's footprint has been so rapidly shrinking, over the past 5 years or so, that they're largely nonexistent outside of iPhones for on-call employees and iPads and MacBooks as executive toys.
That's what I hate about Apple.
They could own the business segment and we'd all be better for it. They were on track to do it back in 2010, but they've since repositioned themselves as a fashion brand. If they reverse course on that (and hopefully I'm wrong about the iMac Pro and that's actually what they're doing), I don't think it's too late for them to fix things. However, if people don't speak up about the problem, Apple won't hear us and, well, it may take years for their cash reserves to run out but, ultimately, Apple will fail.
Fashion brands rarely completely disappear, as they'll always find an audience; but they do fall out of favor and lose 99% of their market. It's usually a 5-10 year cycle and Apple's about half way through 5 years as a fashion brand. That should give some indication of how long they have to once again become a computer company if they want to still be relevant in 2037.
I didn't know whether to if it would have been better use "code" or "compile" jack ass, but now I know people are going to nitpick to death.
People write code, compilers turn code into something a computer can work with. You're talking about open source, which means you have the ability to compile to whatever architecture you choose. The difference between writing code and compiling it is far from a nit-pick.
Contrary to you claim I use both Mac and Linux and have made a few Linux distros for both personal use and for others.
The way you present what knowledge you may have on the subject does not bear that out. Neither does your reaction to my attempt to educate you.
As far as to whether if anyone still uses FatELF, you once again take something I said way too far.
Nobody still uses FatELF because, aside from a proof of concept test of it in Ubuntu 8-point-something, nobody ever used it. Perhaps, if that's not what you were referring to, if I'm actually wrong here, correct me? That way we can both learn something.
I have no idea what bone I picked with you, but do yourself a favor and be a dick to someone else.
Trying to correct someone's incorrect understanding and keep them from spreading incorrect information is suddenly "being a dick"? No, this wasn't personal, but you just made it so.
If you do have the time your tech majesty, do feel free to go to my website https:theouterlinux.com [theouterlinux.com] and look at how much I don't know about things.
Well, right off the bat I can tell you don't know how URLs work, and I haven't even clicked the link yet. You're missing a couple of slashes, there, buddy. I'm gonna go ahead and manually type that so it actually works, take a look, and let you know what I think.
...
Okay, I'm back. Before you read on, keep in mind that you're the one who made this personal and you literally just asked me to do this.
Yes, it sure looks like you know how to set up WordPress and link to a bunch of articles you probably didn't even read. That, of course, doesn't mean you know anything about the subjects discussed in the articles, written by others, that your site links to.
"Bronstrup Creative is on the forefront of web technology..." Not really; your website looks like a scam.
Say what you want, but it pays my bills. How successful is yours?
Now, if you want to backtrack on making this personal, I'm game for that. If not, well, nice stock WordPress theme; you could have at least taken the time to customize it a bit. I guess it's not too bad for only being 5 months in the making. Just one point to keep in mind, though, especially since you paid for a 3 year registration: if you can't be contacted via your WHOIS info, you could lose that domain at any time. And just what do you do for the National Weather Service? Or can you not actually be reached at that phone number?
Truce?
I still ended up laughing at my own typo when you pointed it out. Either way it's all good :)
You do pay for usage of those services, though. In that case, it makes sense for the supplier to ensure availability of throughput.
Aside from the fact that it wouldn't work because I made a typo?
Yes, kids, always proofread your commandline input before pressing ENTER.
If you're talking about Linux, you can compile 32-bit versions of any supporting libraries and your proprietary 32-bit stuff should still work. If you're talking macOS, I'm pretty sure Apple will backtrack on this decision if there's enough customer backlash, and there will be. For that matter, so will Canonical.
As for WINE, you can install either or both the 32-bit or 64-bit prefixes. As far as I know, 32-bit code will not run in a 64-bit prefix, which is still why many applications don't work (32-bit bootstrap code for a 64-bit application, or vise-versa, for example).
But how many end users are likely to?
Are you talking about Linux or macOS here? If you're talking about Linux, I would expect that most do; if you're talking about macOS, I expect there to be a fair bit of backlash from gamers and MS Office users when they finally "flip the switch" and drop 32-bit support altogether. Apple will ultimately backpedal on this, as will Canonical.
sudo apt-get build-dep firefox
That fetches the build dependencies for Firefox, which will include the libc source. You're literally compiling your own 32-bit libc in that case and yes, gcc and clang will both happily compile 64-bit assembly to a 32-bit binary, emulating 64-bit instructions as they go.
It's the same for any other package, mind you.
Come on, man, I thought you knew this stuff.
mkdir firefox
cd firefox
sudo apt-get source firefox
sudo apt-get build-dep firefox
linux32 dpkg-buildpackage -ai386 -rfakeroot -uc -b
And when that stops working, you edit the makefile to add -m32 to the CFLAGS and LDFLAGS and replace the last line above with:
make firefox
sudo make firefix install
If you really need it, you already know how to do it.
Right now you can get 32-bit binaries, but I was referring to the Linux distros themselves no longer making 32-bit builds.
And, of course, you can't compile them yourself because the source isn't available.
I don't know if anyone still bothers to code for fat or universal binaries anymore.
You're right, you don't know, so let me explain.
Unless you're writing assembly, you don't write 32- or 64-bit code; and even then, a smart compiler can replace 64-bit assembly instructions with 32-bit routines that emulate them in order to provide a 32-bit binary from assembly code that uses 64-bit instructions. I'm fairly certain GCC can do this natively.
You write code, then compile it as either a 32- or 64-bit (or fat/universal) binary. The same code can produce both, it's just a matter of using the right compiler and compiler flags.
Your reference to fat/universal binaries while discussing Linux screams out to me that, despite your username, you are a Mac user with little actual experience with other platforms; FatELF made it as far as proof-of-concept but development stopped back in 2010, there are no fat Linux binaries.
Huh... interesting. Then why are we still talking about Error 53 today? I actually didn't know it had been "fixed" given the amount of time it still spends in the news.
I have tried to tell both Linux and Window$ communities either here or on Reddit a while back about how 64-bit was nothing more than a tactic to get people to buy new hardware.
I think most people have bought new hardware at least once or twice wince 64-bit CPUs came out, and I don't think it's because their OS of choice stopped supporting their 32-bit CPU. Most people would have already been through an upgrade cycle or two before anybody began requiring a 64-bit CPU.
The dropping of 32-bit for Linux is what actually made me angry.
Huh... I can still get 32-bit binaries for everything on all of my systems.
Please tell me this post is a joke and I just missed it.
Making an exception to reply to you, AC.
What a lot of people don't realize if that much of the perceived insecurity of Windows is found in code that remains in the system to provide support for legacy crap. I really do hope that Microsoft releases Windows 10 Legacy (or whatever they might call it) with all of that crap still in it, then strips it out of future releases.
Win 10 Legacy would have to see security updates, still, but likely no feature updates. It would be great, as it would make people who complain about the constant feature updates happy while allowing Microsoft to drop legacy support from their mainstream OS overnight without screwing over people who need it.
VMs are a good solution for power users but, then, only on systems with enough RAM and CPU power to keep up. I don't think MS will take that route, but I'm not sure it would surprise me if they did, either.
Whatever they do, it's sure to be interesting...
Everything I've read or heard about it is that it happens upon update. Louis Rossmann of Rossmann Group (3rd party Mac repair facility) and Jessa Jones of iPad Rehab (3rd party iPhone and iPad repair facility) are my primary sources on this. One iPhone/iPad repair neither of them will do is a home button replacement, after the first batch of such repairs on fingerprint-enabled devices resulted in Error 53 weeks after the repairs. Given that the phone must be shut down for the repair, a reboot is part of that process and the error would have been evident before the phones were returned to their owners if it happened after a reboot.
We go back and forth between agreeing and disagreeing with each other, so I hope I can get your attention with this.
You do realize that error 53 doesn't pop up until a software update after the repair, right? How does soft-bricking the phone with error 53 that stop someone from swapping the home button and gaining access?
It doesn't.
The new home button not being paired and, thereby, only functioning as a button and not a fingerprint scanner is what prevents a button swap from bypassing the security of the device. In fact, since you would have to unlock the phone to access the settings menu in the first place, there's little reason they can't give end users a "pair home button" option in system settings.
The ACs have gotten bad in the past week or so. One almost has to wonder if 4chan just recently discovered Slashdot.
it should be easy to convince your local school board to purchase the alternatives to save costs
Purchasing the alternatives won't save costs when Mylan is giving the Epipen to schools for free. I don't think it will be so easy to convince anyone sitting on a local school board that a positive nonzero cost is less than a zero cost, nor will it be easy to convince them to take on that cost in the face of budget constraints to the point that many school districts no longer even offer buses.
.... did I really just type "do to"? Of course I meant "due to".
It's popular do to Mylan giving them to schools for free. You're talking about state-run organizations facing a severe budget crunch and wondering why they aren't choosing to pay for the cheaper alternatives when the more expensive version is free to them?
Now my $900 iPad Pro can have the same functionality as my $350 Chromebook... almost. I still can't run a full desktop OS in a chroot jail on the iPad Pro, but I guess... now I can look at the files? So... that's good?
Not that I don't love my iPad Pro; I do, but... come on, Apple, your whole excuse for not giving us a file manager from the very start was security. I suppose you don't care about that anymore? That, or that excuse was a load of crap (yup) and you figured out a way to provide a file manager that doesn't actually access files... I guess, if your security excuse wasn't a complete lie and the file manager you provide is actually useful, we'll see a chroot jail on the iPad sooner, rather than later, so time will ultimately tell.
What interesting times we live in.
Indeed, I did say I'm with you on this...