Macs cost more Ping!
If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.
Posted on 03/30/2009 12:03:41 PM PDT by martin_fierro
Edited on 03/30/2009 1:00:06 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
News Analysis. If you're one of those people who insist Macs are comparably priced to Windows PCs, read no further. This post will make you really angry.
Last week, Microsoft started airing the newest "I'm a PC" ad, featuring Lauren
(Excerpt) Read more at microsoft-watch.com ...
What the...? We can’t post those pics anymore? The “Aw Jeez...” pic?
Mac is filling a certain niche and if fills it well. It is trying to be more turn-key, like any other appliance that you plug in and it works.
One downside is you have less cottage-industry software and hardware. As far as I know you can’t assemble your own Mac from readily available components from your local computer store.
I am of the same school. Never had to repair one. The biggest advantage over the years was actually with the software. Scientific software for the PC was always ahead of the Apple generally by several months and communication with other PCs and the mainframe was never an issue for the PC. I just avoided the additional trouble and the costs. When one work piece of equipment works as good as another why pay 50% more? I suspect you can probably afford such, I never could justify the additional expense.
You can, but it won't be supported by Apple. The result is called a "hackintosh." It requires a little trickery to get OS X installed on the non-Apple hardware, but my friend's 13-yr-old son did it. (Actually, he started with a commercial PC, but building a PC to be a hackintosh isn't any harder than building one yourself anyway.)
If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.
Lauren has that same simpleton mindset that gets a moron like Obama elected.
And Beemers cost more than Yugos (do they still make those?).
I used to sell Macs at an Apple Specialist. If someone walked in with minimum specs that didn't match any configuration, I'd direct them to the nearest box-pc store. I'd also ask them what they wanted their computer to do. If their needs were so minimal and the cheapest Mac Mini was outside their price range, I'd again refer them to the cheap pc store. If they were open to spending more to get a Mac that would fulfill their needs, great - I'd spend time with them. If they, however, were absolutely fixed on price as their primary parameter, I'd apologize that we had nothing for them and direct them to a cheap-pc-vendor.
There are consumers out there who can only be satisfied by "price". These aren't consumers who can be "convinced" that a Mac should be their next purchase. They haven't reached that point where they can be convinced to "switch". Until they've reached a point of frustration with Windows that they're considering spending more than their "ideal" price for a computer system to get something that works, they'll remain bargain-basement-pc-people, and only a cheaper price will satisfy them.
Just a quick question for anyone who can help me out.
I mentioned to a friend of that I’ve had Macs for ten years without anti-virus software and I’ve never had a virus.
He replied that Macs with OSX are on Linus based systems and are more vulnerable now.
Is this true?
“DRM Built Into New iPod Shuffle Headphones”
“Apple’s new MacBooks have built-in copy protection measures”
“New iPod Has Hardware DRM”
Myth?
Yup, Myth. It was a FUD story originated on one blog, iLounge, that did not know what they were talking about and that was picked up an many other also ignorant bloggers. The so called DRM chip is merely a chip to determine what signals are being sent to the iPod from the control module... and contains no encryption or digital rights protection of any kind.
March 13th, 2009Apple Adds Still More DRM to iPod Shuffle (Retracted: See Updates)
Commentary by Fred von Lohmann
Even as it attacks DRM on music, Apple is continuing to add more DRM to its own hardware (we recently documented all of Apple's various hardware DRM restrictions). The latest example is the new iPod Shuffle.
According to the careful reviewers at iLounge, third-party headphone makers will have to use yet-another Apple "authentication chip" if they want to interoperate with the new Shuffle.Normally, of course, independent headphone makers could simply reverse engineer the interface. The "authentication chip" is there so that Apple's lawyers can invoke the DMCA to block those efforts. So this shows us, yet again, what DRM is for -- not stopping piracy, but rather impeding competition and innovation. [See below: Apple subsequently denied any authentication features.]
iLounge sums up what this means for consumers:
This is, in short, a nightmare scenario for long-time iPod fans: are we entering a world in which Apple controls and taxes literally every piece of the iPod purchase from headphones to chargers, jacking up their prices, forcing customers to re-purchase things they already own, while making only marginal improvements in their functionality? It’s a shame, and one that consumers should feel empowered to fight.
Couldn't have said it better myself.
One final thought: why have so many of the reviews of iPods failed to notice the proliferation of these Apple "authentication chips"? If it were Microsoft demanding that computer peripherals all include Microsoft "authentication chips" in order to work with Windows (or Toyota or Ford doing the same for replacement parts), I'd think reviewers would be screaming about it.
UPDATE: iLounge has posted an editorial confirming its reporting on the authentication chip for 3G Shuffle and suggesting that the reluctance of many reviewers to cover these kinds of issues may be the result of a very specific Apple policy:
Apple has now decided to “punish” buzzkillers—journalists who the company doesn’t consider friendly enough to its marketing mission. And by “punish,” we mean to say that this specific word is used to refer to what happens if someone has said something Apple doesn’t approve of. ... And Apple’s upset because we’ve been telling our readers too much—and constantly taking your side, rather than Apple’s, whenever the company is in the wrong. We do this proudly. And we’re not going to apologize for it."Thanks, iLounge, keep it up.
UPDATE 2: BoingBoing Gadgets is now reporting that Apple has said that "there is no encryption or authentication on the chip, so clones could conceivably be made, just not with "Made for iPod" official certification." If that's right, then I was wrong about the DMCA angle on this story, misled by the term "authentication chip" used in the original iLounge report, as well as Apple's previous "authentication chips" in various iPod dock products.
UPDATE 3: Both Monster Cable and V-Moda are also confirming that there is no authentication requirement for headphones for the new Shuffle. So it looks like there's no DMCA threat here, after all, unlike with jailbreaking your iPhone or talking about syncing your iPod with software other than iTunes.
Oh, yez! Her mouth says “I want a nice, comfortable 17” laptop PC!” But her eyes! Those eyes! They say, “I want your huge 24” iMac! NOW!” :-D
He doesn't know what he is talking about. OS X is one of the three certified UNIX™ brands. It is not Linux, which are reverse-engineered copies of UNIX.
Any system has vulnerabilities... but it is whether those vulnerabilities are exploitable in the wild that is more important. OS X, so far has ZERO virus, ZERO spyware, and only about 15 or so trojan horse programs to worry about. That's after 8 years of OS X being exposed in the wild... and that's including approximately 35,000,000 OS X users, 99% of whom run totally naked of any anti-malware protection at all. What should be, if running Windows, sitting ducks. Easy pickings.
You do see some "proof-of-concept" offerings that are touted as the "first OS X virus" but none of them have worked. The problem for the Virus writers is that it is extremely difficult to create a self-replicating, self-tgransmitting, self-propagating virus for OS X... and if you have scaled that height then you have to find a viable vector to spread your virus.
By the way, Linux systems are pretty safe from Viruses as well... especially compared to Windows.
There are millions of Laurens shopping the bargain racks at Wal-Mart...
That settles it: I'm hanging out at Wal-Mart more often...
Macs with OSX are on Linus based systems...and Windows versions are Pigpen-based systems. /rimshot
March 26, 2009 - 11:57 P.M.Microsoft's new anti-Apple ad: Hardware is cheap!
Microsoft kicked off a new Crispin Porter + Boguksy-produced Ad campaign today with an advertisement aimed at people struggling in a tough economy. The ad doesn't really focus on Microsoft's Operating System software. In fact, nowhere during the commercial does Vista even make an appearance. I'll sum up the message for you:
"We allow our software to be installed on really cheap machines"
The hardware in question is the $699 at Best Buy HP - Pavilion Laptop with AMD Turion™ X2 RM-72 Dual-Core Mobile Processor. The price goes up to $850 with Vista Pro.
It is the epitome of what people dislike about PCs.
And, after all, this machine is a piece of ... hardware. Microsoft makes software. You could just as easily throw Linux on that laptop - or even Mac OS with the Hackintosh hack.
- It runs Vista Home on a slow AMD mobile processor. It has DDR2 RAM which is what $300 Netbooks run. This is the type of setup that sparked the "Made for Vista" lawsuits.
- Its screen is abysmal. One reviewer said this model series "has the worst screen I have ever seen in my life. It's the 1440x900 screen and the viewing angles are so poor that even when sitting directly eye level with the screen it is totally washed out. If I go a little bit off-axis the screen results in a negative image. I was using the default settings. Unfortunately I didn't read reviews before i purchased." Ouch!
- It is loaded up with trial crapware and trial antivirus software that will need to be purchased or wiped offf the machine. Most people prefer to just format the drive and start with a fresh install of Windows (XP or 7).
- Its networking is five years old. 802.11G wireless and 100Mb Ethernet are surpassed by $300 Netbooks. 2004 called. It wants its motherboard back.
- The battery is said to last 2.5 hours. Real world usage is always close to around half of that. That means you can't watch a full movie on a battery charge. It also means that it will probably poop out on that commuter flight from Los Angeles to San Francisco.
- The thing is almost two inches thick and weighs in at almost eight pounds. Do you think that PC buyer wants to be hauling that thing around? She didn't look like she spend her afternoons pumping iron on Venice Beach.
Again, the takeway is that Microsoft will install their software on an extremely shoddy computer.
And this poor girl, the actress that Microsoft hired to play a person who is not an actress, is going to get a heavy, bulky slow Vista Home machine with a poor display, old networking equipment and weak battery loaded up with crapware.
"I'm a PC!"Bravo Microsoft.
If I were running the show over there, I'd point to the ASUS Eee 1000HE running XP. It really is different from anything Apple (currently) has in its lineup and offers the user a genuinely good experience for a recession friendly price.
If cost is important to her why not a Linux netbook?
Because it would make you King of the Geeks.
At least no one said they only have one button mice. Baby steps....
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