Yeah, because the hard plastics that have been traditionally used are so much better. And you of course don't mention WHY Aluminum is the WORST (not just a bad, but the WORST) material to use in a laptop.
Actually, the heat transference rate basically makes Aluminum laptops a toaster under medium load. The answer is advanced polycarbonates, magnesium-alloy shells, and other materials such as carbon fiber. At least they don't dent when you drop a feather on them.
No, they just crack and shatter. The MILLED aluminum body of a MacBook is not going to "dent when you drop a feather on [it]." That is reserved for the LOOK-ALIKE faux-unibody laptops, like my work-supplied Samsung RV511, which use Aluminum (I think) SHEET METAL in a desperate bid to LOOK like a MacBook, but without the quality...
And I don't know what you call "better build quality". Unibody Apple laptops are pretty much universally accepted as having the best build quality in the industry.
And ASUS having better build quality that Apple?!? That's a laugh riot!
No, Apple laptops are lauded by amateur review sites as having "good build quality" because these sites and journalists measure build quality by how much something flexes when you squeeze it.
Asus is well known for making high-quality hardware.
I guess then EVERYBODY is an "amateur review site"; because that's who disagrees with you, and more importantly, agrees with me. MUST I drag out two fistfuls of "non-amateur" reviews?
From what I can tell, it's a Macbook Air ripoff through and through, but with a shitty TN panel (except for the one that costs as much, or MORE THAN an Air), and a dodgy trackpad, for not a whole lot less than an Air, and in the case of the one with an IPS panel, MORE. And as far as build quality goes, ask anyone who has owned an Asus laptop. By the way, if not Aluminum, what exactly is the Zenbook made of? Asus seems to think it's made of... wait for it...
As I said, Asus usually makes great, quality products.
Re-read my damn comment; I recommended one of the magnesium-alloy notebooks, while detracting the deluded manufacturers who use it in their products. The only reason it's used in that way is because Apple, in their infinite margin-building exercise, was able to convince the world that abundant, shiny materials are 'high-end". They realized that they didn't really need to put good components in the box, because that's not what people look at. That's not what gets shown off in a coffee shop.
I guess then that Asus was deluded, too; since they chose ALUMINUM, not Mg, as the Zenbook's main material... And if you want to build "margin", the LAST thing you want to do is create an entirely-new (and EXPENSIVE!) way to make consumer electronics' cases (CNC Milling). Name ONE other manufacturer that has followed Apple's lead in the Unibody design. Wanna know why? Because it CUTS "margin" for a given price-point! In fact, if it wasn't for Apple's insane buying-power, making the commodity parts as cheap as possible, and their ability to create custom silicon wherever and whenever they need, THEY couldn't afford to do it, either. Think about it.
But unlike Apple, who MILLS the case out of a SOLID BLOCK of aluminum (a quite time-consuming and expensive process compared with stamping a body out of SHEET aluminum like Asus does), the Zenbook uses only enough aluminum to make it LOOK like a Macbook; but without the structural integrity o
OP was being disingenuous in recommending it, then, if Aluminum is bad. But it seems like multiple Macbook Air clones use aluminum--that doesn't mean there isn't an attenuation problem.
Note that Apple uses aluminum for the iPad, but has a plastic cover for the mobile data antenna on the versions which support that. And while there weren't widespread problems reported with the original iPhone, they quickly switched to plastic and "improved reception" was one of the improvements.
The plastic is only for the Cellular version of the iPad. Different frequencies and all that, ya know.
Having said that, I'm sure that, all things being equal (which of course they are not), that plastic is less attenuating than ANY metal; however, as you have pointed out, this is nicely handled by having the antenna area be under a plastic area in an otherwise all-metal case. I would imagine that Apple handles that on the Air by having the WiFi antenna under the illuminated (plastic) Apple logo on the lid. I can't find a picture right now; but I seem to remember that's where they put it.
And the most expensive option. And if it breaks, you won't be able to fix it. Definitely a good choice.
Please tell me WHAT computer you can fix yourself WHILE TRAVELING?
I have one of those. A cheap little 10" thing, bought it because it came with linux instead of windows. And it breaks - the cables for keyboard and touchpad keep working loose. So, I bought a screwdriver (while travelling) and fixed it. Sometimes, stuff gets loose in cheap plasticy things...
You DO realize, however, that you fall into a very small minority of users that would feel comfortable with:
a. Traveling with a KNOWN unreliable piece of tech-gear.
b. Disassembling said unreliable piece of tech-gear in their hotel room.
And you DO realize that you can load Linux onto a MacBook Air and STILL have a GOOD Operating System (OS X), too, right?
And you of course don't mention WHY Aluminum is the WORST (not just a bad, but the WORST) material to use in a laptop.
I'm guessing it's the RF attenuation.
Not according to Asus; since they used it on their Zenbook, too (which the GP disingenuously/ignorantly didn't bother to mention). See my response to his ignorant/lying diatribe.
but here's the rub; Windows couldn't load two different versions of a DLL at once unless they had different names until Windows XP.
So, in other words, since for over a DECADE? XP is only one year "younger" than OS X, and, in case you haven't noticed, TWO major Windows OS releases ago (well, 1 1/2; since Visturd was more of a bad joke than an actual "release"). So what's the holdup?!?
Fuck, MS deprecates and churns through their own "standards" like NOBODY else; so why do they allow developers to continue using "packaging" (if one can call spraying DLLs all over, "packaging") methods that are so arcane and user-hostile? Ask any Windows victim, er, user, who has lost the install disks/key for some "paid" software package they BOUGHT, and then tried to move the install to another Windows box. Whereas, with OS X, with the vast majority of software, you can simply DRAG the "Package" to the new computer, move the.plist file (if you need to preserve a registration key, and which is just an XML file), and go on your merry way. And let's not even get into that hell-hole of horseshit that is the Windows Registry!
But one thing is exactly correct: A packaging paradigm like OS X has (where installing and de-installing is often just a DRAG away; instead of being just "a drag") would be nice for every OS to implement (including the SUPPOSEDLY not-mired-in-backwards-compatibility Linuces). So why is it that Apple is the only ones who get this?
I fixed my Thinkpad X120e when travelling in Costa Rica. Dropped it on arrival and kocked the keyboard cable out. I just needed to buy a desatornillador muy pequena (sp?), download the repair guide using an onscreen keyboard, and spend 1/2 hour in the hotel with tiny screws everywhere.
Air? Yeah, not a chance. On the other hand, I've dropped my Air the same distance and the keyboard still works. (On the OTHER hand, I'm not taking the $$ Air to Costa Rica).
Yes, and I have a friend that took his unibody 13" MacBook Pro to Costa Rica and PROMPTLY spilled a glass of wine into the keyboard. He isn't at ALL "techy" (or apparently, sober!), but was actually able to get a local computer shop to repair it for him (by supposedly replacing the keyboard and mobo; but I think they ripped him off on the mobo and didn't actually replace it...). He did, however, get a keyboard condom for it after that!
But you gotta admit, most people don't feel comfortable disassembling their laptop down to the last #0000 phillips screw in their hotel room.
This has no one worried. PGP was broken in 1991 and is the only Phil Zimmerman is not in jail.
That's why we use one-time pads.:)
It wasn't so much "broken" as it was that PZ was pressured into compromising it himself after having the IRS sicced on him. I remember those days very clearly. It was around the time I stopped using PGP...
Also, won't using this tool immediately flag the user as suspicious?
Not to the NSA. They'll just use their backdoor, and have a look. They MUCH rather you'd use this service (Ex-Navy SEALs, fercrissakes. If THAT isn't a "red flag", I don't know what is...) than some one that was independently developed WIHOUT the NSAs involvement.
Phil Zimmerman has been compromised ever since PGP 2.6 (IIRC), which was curiously released RIGHT AFTER he was hassled by the IRS. Curiously, 2.6 is incompatible with 2.3a, which was the version just BEFORE PZ was "re-educated" by the Feds.
Now it's time for me to put some copper foil on my hat; because the tinfoil doesn't block enough of the mind-control waves...
Get the Asus Zenbook. Better specs than a Macbook Air, at the same price and with a bit better build quality, to boot.
Otherwise, ThinkPad ultrabook. Aluminum's the worst material to use in a laptop, anyway.
Yeah, because the hard plastics that have been traditionally used are so much better. And you of course don't mention WHY Aluminum is the WORST (not just a bad, but the WORST) material to use in a laptop.
And I don't know what you call "better build quality". Unibody Apple laptops are pretty much universally accepted as having the best build quality in the industry.
And ASUS having better build quality that Apple?!? That's a laugh riot!
From what I can tell, it's a Macbook Air ripoff through and through, but with a shitty TN panel (except for the one that costs as much, or MORE THAN an Air), and a dodgy trackpad, for not a whole lot less than an Air, and in the case of the one with an IPS panel, MORE. And as far as build quality goes, ask anyone who has owned an Asus laptop. By the way, if not Aluminum, what exactly is the Zenbook made of? Asus seems to think it's made of... wait for it...
But unlike Apple, who MILLS the case out of a SOLID BLOCK of aluminum (a quite time-consuming and expensive process compared with stamping a body out of SHEET aluminum like Asus does), the Zenbook uses only enough aluminum to make it LOOK like a Macbook; but without the structural integrity of a one-piece chassis.
And the most expensive option. And if it breaks, you won't be able to fix it. Definitely a good choice.
Please tell me WHAT computer you can fix yourself WHILE TRAVELING?
Idiot.
Just get an Air, and forget about the "fixing it" part; because it is highly unlikely to break anyway; whereas a cobbled-up bit, involving multiple cables and whatnot, assembled out of the cheapest-possible stuff, is just as likely TO break.
And as I said, both are unlikely to be fixed by YOU on the road; but at least with the Air, there is the possibility of having an Apple Store in the area, where it CAN be fixed.
Seriously, AC, look at ALL of the requirements; not just the ones that would apply in your Mom's basement.
Apple's supply chain was built by their current CEO, Tim Cook. The most Steve Jobs does these days are receive prayers from the faithful.
Although you are partially correct, I just read somewhere recently (TUAW?) that Jobs actually handled at least "new" "procurement" himself. Obviously not now, though.
And although I'm not the religious sort, I think that prayers are usually directed toward the still-living; not those who are beyond all that...
Just making a wild guess: because OSX has an executable format designed to cope with varying CPU architectures, and can therefore stuff both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of a library in a single file, while other systems need to have separate files for each version, resulting in both Windows and Linux having separate directory hierarchies (Program Files + Program Files (x86), or/usr/lib +/usr/lib64 under linux) to ensure libraries for one arch don't get loaded by programs for the other.
I think it goes deeper than that. Living in the Mac world, I can tell you there is NO "I must get the "Universal" (or 64 bit) version of such-and-such driver because I just got a 64 bit Mac". You just don't see that, period. And I have personally upgraded several Macs that had third-party drivers that did NOT get "replaced" or "updated" during the upgrade.
So, I'm back to my original question: Why is everyone else experiencing a data-width schism but Apple? Again, not flamebaiting or trolling; just would like someone with OS X development experience to explain.
Where did he say anything like that? he said it's a pretty good estimate.
Mike Willegal, an engineer with a major technology company, says “That’s probably a pretty good estimate of original Apple-1s that have been operated in the last four or five years.”
I was paraphrasing from an email exchange I had with Mike. Here's my queston, and exactly what he said in response:
The TUAW article I saw the news about the auction last week stated that this was one of six WORKING Apple 1s. Where did they arrive at that number?
And Mike responded:
Not sure where they got that number, but probably from counting the units on my registry that I know that have been operated within the last few years - I don't think the number is too far off - though getting a dysfunctional unit or unit that hasn't been powered on in years working again, shouldn't be rocket science.
Since you have nicely enumerated the list, I won't go through the pain of in-line commenting.
1. Time does march on. The original Apple ][ (Shugart 400) drives and the later DuoDisk (Alps) drives were essentially the same, internally. That is to say, except for the connector, there was really nothing different about the controller card, data format, etc. Although I personally hated the Duo Disk, it was the only real way to get an external drive onto a "slotless" machine like the//c (I never owned a//c, so I may be wrong about the slots). What are you calling a "Disk II"? That's the Shugart (ribbon cable) drive. The unidisk was a completely different beast, being a 3.5" drive. It actually DID use the (at that point, Integrated) Woz Machine at the controller end (which is why you could plug it into a//c) but in an ENTIRELY different way. The UniDisk (actually UniDisk 3.5, IIRC) actually had a microcontroller on board the drive (the Liron Controller), which basically just used the computer-side's controller as a Serial Bus (rather than a raw "nibble" bus). In fact, when I first got my hands on a UniDisk, I immediately wrote an assembly-language program that ran IN THE DRIVE to do dump the Drive's ROM out, and also wrote a few other things that ran in that drive.
But NONE of that was INTENDED to screw over users; in fact, the reason why the UniDisk was so complicated internally was PRECISELY so that it could work with an UNMODIFIED//c. So, stop being so butthurt about Moore's Law, willya?
2. Since it was part of the STANDARD, I assume you don't know what you are talking about here. And the proof is that those RAMs were READILY available from, oh, just about everybody. And that is while Apple had a single-digit marketshare. So, again, NOT "proprietary". Next!
3. Now you're just making shit up. WTF are you even talking about? Seriously. WTF? I have personally used commodity RAM, commodity Hard Drives, commodity VGA monitors, commodity optical drives in/with ALL of my Macs since they were "expandable" (so, since about 1988). So I repeat, WTF? There simply IS no such thing as a "video BIOS", or "Hard Drive BIOS" of "CD-ROM BIOS". Never heard of them.
4. Perhaps you had a bad machine. Happens. As I said, ONCE in 30 years and SEVERAL Macs. Both my own, and hundreds more that I have administered. There IS no Keyboard Shortcut for the CUDA/Systems Management MCU (actually, I think that there was one on ONE laptop). Are you conflating the PRAM with the CUDA again? But moving right along...
5 and 6. I really don't think Apple had "lock-in" in mind. At worst, they were pushing the industry to incorporate the pesky thermal sensor, and the cost-sensitive HD industry didn't want the extra cost, since other OEMs didn't seem to be interested in making it easier to swap hard drives (by not having to mess with a thermal sensor attached with STICKY TAPE). But, we'll call this one a draw; because I really don't know why they did that on some of the iMacs. What you don't consider is that sometimes Apple does things to make it easier for themselves to manufacture, OR (like the ADC) to make it easier for the USER (in the case of the Apple Display Connector, Jobs was trying to reduce cable clutter), that APPEAR to be about "lock-in", when in reality, is just their way of doing things in a different (and if the industry would follow) often BETTER way. But you go ahead and spin everything in the most negative light possible.
I am anything BUT an "appliance user" (but that DOES describe about 99% of the userbase of ALL computers!). I am an embedded design engineer (both hardware and software). And I HARDLY jump when Apple brings out a new model. In fact, the ONLY "new" Apples I have purchased have been my Apple ][+ (1980), and my G5 tower (2005). Everything else has been purchased through eBay (575, 6100, 8500), fished out of a dumpster and fixed by me
Ok. So if devs. had followed Windows development guidelines that have existed for years and years, and located their DLLs inside their application's directories (instead of spraying them all over the Windows install), or, even better, if MS had adopted a similar packaging paradigm to OS X (where basically everything is inside of the App's "Package"), then there wouldn't be that retarded two-Program-Files directory trees?
This is like calling iOS OS X RT. Yeah, they share some roots; but they are fundamentally different OSes. Clearly implies Win RT is based on Win 8, but a subset, since you cannot run legacy Win apps and is missing many other full Win 8 features. Full Win8 is only available in x86 version.
In this case, it literally is the same OS compiled for two different architectures, with one of those architectures having a more restricted third-party app policy. You realize that Windows RT still has the classic Windows desktop, with taskbar, Explorer, desktop IE and Office etc?
Wait! I thought RT used a Metro interface; so what's all this talk about Taskbar and "Desktop"?
About 10 years ago I saw an Apple 1 sell for a little over $9,000 on eBay including the original wooden case and I thought that was marginally justifiable. This auction result is just ridiculous, it's simply too high.
So, I can take you off the potential bidder list for my Apple 1, then?
Anywho, I just think you should know some facts before getting all buthurt because people dont like apple... I dont like them because of their games going all the way back to their 8 bit systems with incompatible hardware for their own computers, moving on to proprietary ram and device bios's, onwards to prams that would lock up, and the manual says you need to take it to a dealer so they can hit the button hidden under the cpu for you (8500 I am looking at you) to today, where if you just happen to bought a small selection of apple computers you need a fucking magic SATA plug no one makes.
Ok, I'll bite.
As the owner of a working Apple 1, that I have personally owned since May, 1977, and as owner of many, if not all, of the Apple computers you mention in your off-base rant, I wish to dissect your infantile and incorrect diatribe one sentence-fragment at a time:
8 bit systems with incompatible hardware for their own computers
WTF are you even talking about here? What "incompatible hardware"? Are you talking about the Apple 1, Apple ][, or what? Because there aren't any other 8 bit Apple computers.
proprietary ram
Again, WTF? Are you speaking of the fact that they tended to use "non-parity" RAM? Hardly "proprietary"; just not the usual PeeCee standard.
[proprietary] device bios's
Incorrect use of the apostrophe aside, are you talking about Open Firmware? Because, if you are, that happened to be a PUBLISHED STANDARD that was largely spearheaded by Sun. And Apple hasn't used OF since the switch to Intel in 2005. That's seven years ago. Let it go... Oh, and the EFI standard that Microsoft and the PeeCee world had to be drug into kicking and screaming was ALSO a PUBLISHED STANDARD created by (IIRC) Intel and others. Hardly "Proprietary". But do rant on...
prams that would lock up
The PRAM wouldn't "lock up". It would occasionally (but FAR less often than people thought!) get corrupted data, necessitating a USER action to clear it up (Hold Down Command-Option-P-R on Bootup. Wait for the chime. Release keys. Done).
and the manual says you need to take it to a dealer so they can hit the button hidden under the cpu for you (8500 I am looking at you) to today
Oh, NOW you're conflating the PRAM reset (which I detailed above) with the FAR less common CUDA/Systems Management Reset. I think I've had to hit that one ONCE in over THIRTY YEARS of owning Apple computers. And that was when the next door neighbor's garage caught fire and burned through our overhead power lines, causing the AC line coming into my G5 tower to do all SORTS of interesting things before I finally flipped the main breaker on my house, about 30 seconds before the main "drop" into my house burned in HALF and dropped to the ground. I located the Systems Management button, pressed it, and my G5 tower? Well, I'm typing this post on it.
I NEVER had to press the CUDA button on my 8500, even after the mice (I mean REAL mice!) crawled into an open PCI slot-hole, and started to LIVE IN MY 8500, eventually ruining the CPU card by pissing on it. Replaced the CPU card, cleaned up all the mouse "droppings" (ewwwww!!!) Rebooted, and the 8500 still worked when retired a few years back...
f you just happen to bought a small selection of apple computers you need a fucking magic SATA plug no one makes.
WTF are you talking about?!? Thunderbolt? Or are you talking about the iMac hard drives with the thermal sensor integrated? Because the former doesn't make sense, and the latter was a case of Apple being ahead of an industry standard that appeared not to end up taking off.
If you wanted to bitch about something being "proprietary", then you SHOULD have been bitching about Apple's ancient, odd, penchant for TRULY proprietary Video connectors. But, being the ignorant fucktard that you are, you completely missed the ONE "Proprietary" thing I would have actually AGREED with you about!
Slashdot Mirror
wow... fanboy rage.
job's fucking dead idiot..
That's right. But Apple lives on.
So what?
Yeah, because the hard plastics that have been traditionally used are so much better. And you of course don't mention WHY Aluminum is the WORST (not just a bad, but the WORST) material to use in a laptop.
Actually, the heat transference rate basically makes Aluminum laptops a toaster under medium load. The answer is advanced polycarbonates, magnesium-alloy shells, and other materials such as carbon fiber. At least they don't dent when you drop a feather on them.
No, they just crack and shatter. The MILLED aluminum body of a MacBook is not going to "dent when you drop a feather on [it]." That is reserved for the LOOK-ALIKE faux-unibody laptops, like my work-supplied Samsung RV511, which use Aluminum (I think) SHEET METAL in a desperate bid to LOOK like a MacBook, but without the quality...
And I don't know what you call "better build quality". Unibody Apple laptops are pretty much universally accepted as having the best build quality in the industry.
And ASUS having better build quality that Apple?!? That's a laugh riot!
No, Apple laptops are lauded by amateur review sites as having "good build quality" because these sites and journalists measure build quality by how much something flexes when you squeeze it. Asus is well known for making high-quality hardware.
I guess then EVERYBODY is an "amateur review site"; because that's who disagrees with you, and more importantly, agrees with me. MUST I drag out two fistfuls of "non-amateur" reviews?
From what I can tell, it's a Macbook Air ripoff through and through, but with a shitty TN panel (except for the one that costs as much, or MORE THAN an Air), and a dodgy trackpad, for not a whole lot less than an Air, and in the case of the one with an IPS panel, MORE. And as far as build quality goes, ask anyone who has owned an Asus laptop. By the way, if not Aluminum, what exactly is the Zenbook made of? Asus seems to think it's made of... wait for it...
ALUMINUM Which they explicitly say was the best material out of the many that they tried.
As I said, Asus usually makes great, quality products.
Re-read my damn comment; I recommended one of the magnesium-alloy notebooks, while detracting the deluded manufacturers who use it in their products. The only reason it's used in that way is because Apple, in their infinite margin-building exercise, was able to convince the world that abundant, shiny materials are 'high-end". They realized that they didn't really need to put good components in the box, because that's not what people look at. That's not what gets shown off in a coffee shop.
I guess then that Asus was deluded, too; since they chose ALUMINUM, not Mg, as the Zenbook's main material... And if you want to build "margin", the LAST thing you want to do is create an entirely-new (and EXPENSIVE!) way to make consumer electronics' cases (CNC Milling). Name ONE other manufacturer that has followed Apple's lead in the Unibody design. Wanna know why? Because it CUTS "margin" for a given price-point! In fact, if it wasn't for Apple's insane buying-power, making the commodity parts as cheap as possible, and their ability to create custom silicon wherever and whenever they need, THEY couldn't afford to do it, either. Think about it.
But unlike Apple, who MILLS the case out of a SOLID BLOCK of aluminum (a quite time-consuming and expensive process compared with stamping a body out of SHEET aluminum like Asus does), the Zenbook uses only enough aluminum to make it LOOK like a Macbook; but without the structural integrity o
OP was being disingenuous in recommending it, then, if Aluminum is bad. But it seems like multiple Macbook Air clones use aluminum--that doesn't mean there isn't an attenuation problem.
Note that Apple uses aluminum for the iPad, but has a plastic cover for the mobile data antenna on the versions which support that. And while there weren't widespread problems reported with the original iPhone, they quickly switched to plastic and "improved reception" was one of the improvements.
The plastic is only for the Cellular version of the iPad. Different frequencies and all that, ya know.
Having said that, I'm sure that, all things being equal (which of course they are not), that plastic is less attenuating than ANY metal; however, as you have pointed out, this is nicely handled by having the antenna area be under a plastic area in an otherwise all-metal case. I would imagine that Apple handles that on the Air by having the WiFi antenna under the illuminated (plastic) Apple logo on the lid. I can't find a picture right now; but I seem to remember that's where they put it.
And the most expensive option. And if it breaks, you won't be able to fix it. Definitely a good choice.
Please tell me WHAT computer you can fix yourself WHILE TRAVELING?
I have one of those. A cheap little 10" thing, bought it because it came with linux instead of windows. And it breaks - the cables for keyboard and touchpad keep working loose. So, I bought a screwdriver (while travelling) and fixed it. Sometimes, stuff gets loose in cheap plasticy things...
You DO realize, however, that you fall into a very small minority of users that would feel comfortable with:
a. Traveling with a KNOWN unreliable piece of tech-gear.
b. Disassembling said unreliable piece of tech-gear in their hotel room.
And you DO realize that you can load Linux onto a MacBook Air and STILL have a GOOD Operating System (OS X), too, right?
Just PGP the contents of your postcards. Should drive them crazy.
You have to write vewy, vewy tiny, though...
And you of course don't mention WHY Aluminum is the WORST (not just a bad, but the WORST) material to use in a laptop.
I'm guessing it's the RF attenuation.
Not according to Asus; since they used it on their Zenbook, too (which the GP disingenuously/ignorantly didn't bother to mention). See my response to his ignorant/lying diatribe.
but here's the rub; Windows couldn't load two different versions of a DLL at once unless they had different names until Windows XP.
So, in other words, since for over a DECADE? XP is only one year "younger" than OS X, and, in case you haven't noticed, TWO major Windows OS releases ago (well, 1 1/2; since Visturd was more of a bad joke than an actual "release"). So what's the holdup?!?
.plist file (if you need to preserve a registration key, and which is just an XML file), and go on your merry way. And let's not even get into that hell-hole of horseshit that is the Windows Registry!
Fuck, MS deprecates and churns through their own "standards" like NOBODY else; so why do they allow developers to continue using "packaging" (if one can call spraying DLLs all over, "packaging") methods that are so arcane and user-hostile? Ask any Windows victim, er, user, who has lost the install disks/key for some "paid" software package they BOUGHT, and then tried to move the install to another Windows box. Whereas, with OS X, with the vast majority of software, you can simply DRAG the "Package" to the new computer, move the
But one thing is exactly correct: A packaging paradigm like OS X has (where installing and de-installing is often just a DRAG away; instead of being just "a drag") would be nice for every OS to implement (including the SUPPOSEDLY not-mired-in-backwards-compatibility Linuces). So why is it that Apple is the only ones who get this?
I fixed my Thinkpad X120e when travelling in Costa Rica. Dropped it on arrival and kocked the keyboard cable out. I just needed to buy a desatornillador muy pequena (sp?), download the repair guide using an onscreen keyboard, and spend 1/2 hour in the hotel with tiny screws everywhere.
Air? Yeah, not a chance. On the other hand, I've dropped my Air the same distance and the keyboard still works. (On the OTHER hand, I'm not taking the $$ Air to Costa Rica).
Yes, and I have a friend that took his unibody 13" MacBook Pro to Costa Rica and PROMPTLY spilled a glass of wine into the keyboard. He isn't at ALL "techy" (or apparently, sober!), but was actually able to get a local computer shop to repair it for him (by supposedly replacing the keyboard and mobo; but I think they ripped him off on the mobo and didn't actually replace it...). He did, however, get a keyboard condom for it after that!
But you gotta admit, most people don't feel comfortable disassembling their laptop down to the last #0000 phillips screw in their hotel room.
I hate to respond to my own post; but in the interest of fairness, here's what PZ has to say about backdoors, et al.
I also note that he says the source to PGP is still Open.
This has no one worried. PGP was broken in 1991 and is the only Phil Zimmerman is not in jail.
That's why we use one-time pads. :)
It wasn't so much "broken" as it was that PZ was pressured into compromising it himself after having the IRS sicced on him. I remember those days very clearly. It was around the time I stopped using PGP...
I don't believe that PZ has made his versions of PGP Open Source since around PGP 2.8, and maybe before.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong; because I'm not exactly sure about that.
Also, won't using this tool immediately flag the user as suspicious?
Not to the NSA. They'll just use their backdoor, and have a look. They MUCH rather you'd use this service (Ex-Navy SEALs, fercrissakes. If THAT isn't a "red flag", I don't know what is...) than some one that was independently developed WIHOUT the NSAs involvement.
If I could mod this up, I would.
Thanks! And for the record, I think this is the FIRST AC post where I haven't been bashed for my username, LOL!
Phil Zimmerman has been compromised ever since PGP 2.6 (IIRC), which was curiously released RIGHT AFTER he was hassled by the IRS. Curiously, 2.6 is incompatible with 2.3a, which was the version just BEFORE PZ was "re-educated" by the Feds.
Now it's time for me to put some copper foil on my hat; because the tinfoil doesn't block enough of the mind-control waves...
Get the Asus Zenbook. Better specs than a Macbook Air, at the same price and with a bit better build quality, to boot. Otherwise, ThinkPad ultrabook. Aluminum's the worst material to use in a laptop, anyway.
Yeah, because the hard plastics that have been traditionally used are so much better. And you of course don't mention WHY Aluminum is the WORST (not just a bad, but the WORST) material to use in a laptop.
And I don't know what you call "better build quality". Unibody Apple laptops are pretty much universally accepted as having the best build quality in the industry.
And ASUS having better build quality that Apple?!? That's a laugh riot!
From what I can tell, it's a Macbook Air ripoff through and through, but with a shitty TN panel (except for the one that costs as much, or MORE THAN an Air), and a dodgy trackpad, for not a whole lot less than an Air, and in the case of the one with an IPS panel, MORE. And as far as build quality goes, ask anyone who has owned an Asus laptop. By the way, if not Aluminum, what exactly is the Zenbook made of? Asus seems to think it's made of... wait for it...
ALUMINUM Which they explicitly say was the best material out of the many that they tried.
But unlike Apple, who MILLS the case out of a SOLID BLOCK of aluminum (a quite time-consuming and expensive process compared with stamping a body out of SHEET aluminum like Asus does), the Zenbook uses only enough aluminum to make it LOOK like a Macbook; but without the structural integrity of a one-piece chassis.
Idiot. Try not to LIE so badly next time.
And the most expensive option. And if it breaks, you won't be able to fix it. Definitely a good choice.
Please tell me WHAT computer you can fix yourself WHILE TRAVELING?
Idiot.
Just get an Air, and forget about the "fixing it" part; because it is highly unlikely to break anyway; whereas a cobbled-up bit, involving multiple cables and whatnot, assembled out of the cheapest-possible stuff, is just as likely TO break.
And as I said, both are unlikely to be fixed by YOU on the road; but at least with the Air, there is the possibility of having an Apple Store in the area, where it CAN be fixed.
Seriously, AC, look at ALL of the requirements; not just the ones that would apply in your Mom's basement.
Apple's supply chain was built by their current CEO, Tim Cook. The most Steve Jobs does these days are receive prayers from the faithful.
Although you are partially correct, I just read somewhere recently (TUAW?) that Jobs actually handled at least "new" "procurement" himself. Obviously not now, though.
And although I'm not the religious sort, I think that prayers are usually directed toward the still-living; not those who are beyond all that...
Just making a wild guess: because OSX has an executable format designed to cope with varying CPU architectures, and can therefore stuff both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of a library in a single file, while other systems need to have separate files for each version, resulting in both Windows and Linux having separate directory hierarchies (Program Files + Program Files (x86), or /usr/lib + /usr/lib64 under linux) to ensure libraries for one arch don't get loaded by programs for the other.
I think it goes deeper than that. Living in the Mac world, I can tell you there is NO "I must get the "Universal" (or 64 bit) version of such-and-such driver because I just got a 64 bit Mac". You just don't see that, period. And I have personally upgraded several Macs that had third-party drivers that did NOT get "replaced" or "updated" during the upgrade.
So, I'm back to my original question: Why is everyone else experiencing a data-width schism but Apple? Again, not flamebaiting or trolling; just would like someone with OS X development experience to explain.
Where did he say anything like that? he said it's a pretty good estimate.
Mike Willegal, an engineer with a major technology company, says “That’s probably a pretty good estimate of original Apple-1s that have been operated in the last four or five years.”
I was paraphrasing from an email exchange I had with Mike. Here's my queston, and exactly what he said in response:
The TUAW article I saw the news about the auction last week stated that this was one of six WORKING Apple 1s. Where did they arrive at that number?
And Mike responded:
Not sure where they got that number, but probably from counting the units on my registry that I know that have been operated within the last few years - I don't think the number is too far off - though getting a dysfunctional unit or unit that hasn't been powered on in years working again, shouldn't be rocket science.
Since you have nicely enumerated the list, I won't go through the pain of in-line commenting.
//c (I never owned a //c, so I may be wrong about the slots). What are you calling a "Disk II"? That's the Shugart (ribbon cable) drive. The unidisk was a completely different beast, being a 3.5" drive. It actually DID use the (at that point, Integrated) Woz Machine at the controller end (which is why you could plug it into a //c) but in an ENTIRELY different way. The UniDisk (actually UniDisk 3.5, IIRC) actually had a microcontroller on board the drive (the Liron Controller), which basically just used the computer-side's controller as a Serial Bus (rather than a raw "nibble" bus). In fact, when I first got my hands on a UniDisk, I immediately wrote an assembly-language program that ran IN THE DRIVE to do dump the Drive's ROM out, and also wrote a few other things that ran in that drive.
//c. So, stop being so butthurt about Moore's Law, willya?
1. Time does march on. The original Apple ][ (Shugart 400) drives and the later DuoDisk (Alps) drives were essentially the same, internally. That is to say, except for the connector, there was really nothing different about the controller card, data format, etc. Although I personally hated the Duo Disk, it was the only real way to get an external drive onto a "slotless" machine like the
But NONE of that was INTENDED to screw over users; in fact, the reason why the UniDisk was so complicated internally was PRECISELY so that it could work with an UNMODIFIED
2. Since it was part of the STANDARD, I assume you don't know what you are talking about here. And the proof is that those RAMs were READILY available from, oh, just about everybody. And that is while Apple had a single-digit marketshare. So, again, NOT "proprietary". Next!
3. Now you're just making shit up. WTF are you even talking about? Seriously. WTF? I have personally used commodity RAM, commodity Hard Drives, commodity VGA monitors, commodity optical drives in/with ALL of my Macs since they were "expandable" (so, since about 1988). So I repeat, WTF? There simply IS no such thing as a "video BIOS", or "Hard Drive BIOS" of "CD-ROM BIOS". Never heard of them.
4. Perhaps you had a bad machine. Happens. As I said, ONCE in 30 years and SEVERAL Macs. Both my own, and hundreds more that I have administered. There IS no Keyboard Shortcut for the CUDA/Systems Management MCU (actually, I think that there was one on ONE laptop). Are you conflating the PRAM with the CUDA again? But moving right along...
5 and 6. I really don't think Apple had "lock-in" in mind. At worst, they were pushing the industry to incorporate the pesky thermal sensor, and the cost-sensitive HD industry didn't want the extra cost, since other OEMs didn't seem to be interested in making it easier to swap hard drives (by not having to mess with a thermal sensor attached with STICKY TAPE). But, we'll call this one a draw; because I really don't know why they did that on some of the iMacs. What you don't consider is that sometimes Apple does things to make it easier for themselves to manufacture, OR (like the ADC) to make it easier for the USER (in the case of the Apple Display Connector, Jobs was trying to reduce cable clutter), that APPEAR to be about "lock-in", when in reality, is just their way of doing things in a different (and if the industry would follow) often BETTER way. But you go ahead and spin everything in the most negative light possible.
I am anything BUT an "appliance user" (but that DOES describe about 99% of the userbase of ALL computers!). I am an embedded design engineer (both hardware and software). And I HARDLY jump when Apple brings out a new model. In fact, the ONLY "new" Apples I have purchased have been my Apple ][+ (1980), and my G5 tower (2005). Everything else has been purchased through eBay (575, 6100, 8500), fished out of a dumpster and fixed by me
Ok. So if devs. had followed Windows development guidelines that have existed for years and years, and located their DLLs inside their application's directories (instead of spraying them all over the Windows install), or, even better, if MS had adopted a similar packaging paradigm to OS X (where basically everything is inside of the App's "Package"), then there wouldn't be that retarded two-Program-Files directory trees?
Hell, back in the 40's you would just walk on a plane.
In the '60s, too.
This is like calling iOS OS X RT. Yeah, they share some roots; but they are fundamentally different OSes. Clearly implies Win RT is based on Win 8, but a subset, since you cannot run legacy Win apps and is missing many other full Win 8 features. Full Win8 is only available in x86 version.
In this case, it literally is the same OS compiled for two different architectures, with one of those architectures having a more restricted third-party app policy. You realize that Windows RT still has the classic Windows desktop, with taskbar, Explorer, desktop IE and Office etc?
Wait! I thought RT used a Metro interface; so what's all this talk about Taskbar and "Desktop"?
About 10 years ago I saw an Apple 1 sell for a little over $9,000 on eBay including the original wooden case and I thought that was marginally justifiable. This auction result is just ridiculous, it's simply too high.
So, I can take you off the potential bidder list for my Apple 1, then?
Anywho, I just think you should know some facts before getting all buthurt because people dont like apple... I dont like them because of their games going all the way back to their 8 bit systems with incompatible hardware for their own computers, moving on to proprietary ram and device bios's, onwards to prams that would lock up, and the manual says you need to take it to a dealer so they can hit the button hidden under the cpu for you (8500 I am looking at you) to today, where if you just happen to bought a small selection of apple computers you need a fucking magic SATA plug no one makes.
Ok, I'll bite.
As the owner of a working Apple 1, that I have personally owned since May, 1977, and as owner of many, if not all, of the Apple computers you mention in your off-base rant, I wish to dissect your infantile and incorrect diatribe one sentence-fragment at a time:
8 bit systems with incompatible hardware for their own computers
WTF are you even talking about here? What "incompatible hardware"? Are you talking about the Apple 1, Apple ][, or what? Because there aren't any other 8 bit Apple computers.
proprietary ram
Again, WTF? Are you speaking of the fact that they tended to use "non-parity" RAM? Hardly "proprietary"; just not the usual PeeCee standard.
[proprietary] device bios's
Incorrect use of the apostrophe aside, are you talking about Open Firmware? Because, if you are, that happened to be a PUBLISHED STANDARD that was largely spearheaded by Sun. And Apple hasn't used OF since the switch to Intel in 2005. That's seven years ago. Let it go... Oh, and the EFI standard that Microsoft and the PeeCee world had to be drug into kicking and screaming was ALSO a PUBLISHED STANDARD created by (IIRC) Intel and others. Hardly "Proprietary". But do rant on...
prams that would lock up
The PRAM wouldn't "lock up". It would occasionally (but FAR less often than people thought!) get corrupted data, necessitating a USER action to clear it up (Hold Down Command-Option-P-R on Bootup. Wait for the chime. Release keys. Done).
and the manual says you need to take it to a dealer so they can hit the button hidden under the cpu for you (8500 I am looking at you) to today
Oh, NOW you're conflating the PRAM reset (which I detailed above) with the FAR less common CUDA/Systems Management Reset. I think I've had to hit that one ONCE in over THIRTY YEARS of owning Apple computers. And that was when the next door neighbor's garage caught fire and burned through our overhead power lines, causing the AC line coming into my G5 tower to do all SORTS of interesting things before I finally flipped the main breaker on my house, about 30 seconds before the main "drop" into my house burned in HALF and dropped to the ground. I located the Systems Management button, pressed it, and my G5 tower? Well, I'm typing this post on it.
I NEVER had to press the CUDA button on my 8500, even after the mice (I mean REAL mice!) crawled into an open PCI slot-hole, and started to LIVE IN MY 8500, eventually ruining the CPU card by pissing on it. Replaced the CPU card, cleaned up all the mouse "droppings" (ewwwww!!!) Rebooted, and the 8500 still worked when retired a few years back...
f you just happen to bought a small selection of apple computers you need a fucking magic SATA plug no one makes.
WTF are you talking about?!? Thunderbolt? Or are you talking about the iMac hard drives with the thermal sensor integrated? Because the former doesn't make sense, and the latter was a case of Apple being ahead of an industry standard that appeared not to end up taking off.
If you wanted to bitch about something being "proprietary", then you SHOULD have been bitching about Apple's ancient, odd, penchant for TRULY proprietary Video connectors. But, being the ignorant fucktard that you are, you completely missed the ONE "Proprietary" thing I would have actually AGREED with you about!
Idiot.