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Opinion: Apple -- Here to Stay
MacCentral ^ | March 08, 2005 | Don Tennant

Posted on 03/08/2005 12:06:04 PM PST by r5boston

Nearly a decade ago, just a few months after Microsoft shipped Windows 95, I asked Bill Gates if it was a conscious decision in the development of that product to give Windows more of a Mac look and feel. Of course I knew he'd say it wasn't, but I couldn't resist asking. "There was no goal even to compete with Macintosh," Gates proclaimed. "We don't even think of Macintosh as a competitor."

That was a crock, so I pressed the issue a little. I asked him how he accounted for the widespread perception that Windows 95 looked a lot like Mac 88, and whether the similarity was just a coincidence. I didn't expect a sobbing confession of mimicry, but I thought it would be cool to see how he'd respond. Surprisingly enough, Gates shifted gears and became more forthcoming.

(Excerpt) Read more at macworld.com ...


TOPICS: Technical
KEYWORDS: apple; bendover4macs; billgatesisaborg; billgatesknowsyourip; bluescreenofdeath; dosindisguise; downgradetoxp; gays4macs; mac; macandpcssuckequally; maccult; macmoonies; macs4bigots; macsr4gays; macuser; macvspcwhocares; microcrap; microsoft; onyourkneesforbillg; patchmypcsystemdaily; pccrap; pcvirusmagnet; pencilneckpcgeeks; resistanceisfutile; slowdownmypcwithxp; usb2isajoke; winblows; xpbloatware; youwillbeasimilated
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To: Petronski

LVD, on the iPod:

#144: ...the ipod is an expensive disposable toy - when the battery goes you get to throw it away...

#150: Make that $200+ to replace the hard-wired battery...

#150: ...if you have any WMV files you are SOL


ALL FALSE AT THE TIME THE STATEMENTS WERE MADE.


841 posted on 03/16/2005 12:00:14 PM PST by Petronski (If 'Judge' Greer can kill Terri, who will be next?)
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To: Last Visible Dog
To support my position: Apple designed the Ipod battery to not be replaceable by the user.

Okay, but you said that voiding the warranty by replacing the battery would somehow be bad. How?

842 posted on 03/16/2005 12:00:54 PM PST by antiRepublicrat
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To: Last Visible Dog
Stanford says it is not wrong (contrary to what you are claiming)

Special case exceptions, and this isn't one.

843 posted on 03/16/2005 12:03:31 PM PST by antiRepublicrat
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To: antiRepublicrat
ROM != PROM != EPROM != EEPROM.

Why do you keep repeating your errors?

ROM is an acronym for "Read-Only Memory"

Are PROM's Read-Only Memory? Yes.

Are EPROM's Read-Only Memory? Yes.

HINT: The ROM in PROM and EPROM means that same thing as ROM.

What you are attempting (and failing) to argue is the way ROM's and PROM's are implemented is different therefore the implementation of PROM's are not equal to the implementation of the ROM's but you are wrong since the acronym is in no way trying to address how the memory in implemented - only how it is used.

Spend a bit more time thinking and less time doing victory dances.

844 posted on 03/16/2005 12:06:00 PM PST by Last Visible Dog
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To: antiRepublicrat
Special case exceptions, and this isn't one.

Says you!

The exception is for confusion. You are not the arbiter of what is confusing and what is not.

Which is confusing:

EEPROMS

or

EEPROM's

845 posted on 03/16/2005 12:08:47 PM PST by Last Visible Dog
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To: antiRepublicrat
Okay, but you said that voiding the warranty by replacing the battery would somehow be bad. How?

I have no idea what you are talking about. The warranty proves Apple designed the Ipod so the battery is not to be replaceable by the user. That was my point.

846 posted on 03/16/2005 12:11:04 PM PST by Last Visible Dog
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To: Last Visible Dog
Which is confusing: EEPROMS or EEPROM's

"EEPROM's" because it looks like you're trying for possessive. These terms have no lower case or puncuation, so there is no need for the apostrophe.

847 posted on 03/16/2005 12:12:20 PM PST by antiRepublicrat
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To: antiRepublicrat

The least confusing form is EEPROMs.


848 posted on 03/16/2005 12:19:53 PM PST by Petronski (If 'Judge' Greer can kill Terri, who will be next?)
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To: Petronski
ALL FALSE AT THE TIME THE STATEMENTS WERE MADE.

What is that you say troll?

I have proved supporting evidence for each and every claim I have made. You have provided zippity-doo-dah - just troll snipes from the sidelines. You look like a complete fool when you yell in all caps the statements are false when there is supporting evidence for each and every statement just two messages back.

Your desperation is showing.

While Apple has change its policy many times, that does not change the validity of my statements or the reality of Apple 's Ipod design and strategy. Just because Apple changes their policy does not erase the fact the previous policy existed (this is not 1984)

The Ipod never supported and still does not support the WMV format. On that point you are - again - wrong.

Using your famous Petronski logic - when Saddam goes on trial all he has to say is "all the charges are false because at the current time I am not the ruler of Iraq"

Like you say all too often: LOL!

849 posted on 03/16/2005 12:30:58 PM PST by Last Visible Dog
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To: Swordmaker
And in the computing world, where has the herd headed? They are following Bill Gates' Windows ...

That's not what you guys keep saying ... everybody's supposedly swarming to the Mac due to the iPod. Which is it?
850 posted on 03/16/2005 12:41:17 PM PST by Bush2000
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To: Petronski

It might help your case if you provided some data to prove your assertions. As it stands, all that we're left with is a bunch of ALL-CAPS nonsense...


851 posted on 03/16/2005 12:44:13 PM PST by Bush2000
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To: Last Visible Dog
ROM is an acronym for "Read-Only Memory"

And I've already told you the lineage of the term in the later products, yet you still persist.

Are PROM's Read-Only Memory? Yes.

No. You can write, and the technology is different from that a ROM.

Are EPROM's Read-Only Memory? Yes.

No. You can write, and the technology is different from that a ROM.

HINT: The ROM in PROM and EPROM means that same thing as ROM.

HINT: The ROM in PROM and EPROM is an homage only to the ability of the original ROMs to hold data without current. Technically, "non-volatile solid-state memory." They used the term "ROM" to associate with the earlier technology although the newer products weren't ROMs. What resulted is a misnomer, although you know marketing, words don't always describe what an item really is. People tend to use "ROM" in casual usage for all types of non-volatile solid-state memory chips, but it's not factually true in in any case but actual masked ROMs.

852 posted on 03/16/2005 12:49:35 PM PST by antiRepublicrat
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To: Bush2000

It was all established earlier in this thread. The battery is not hard wired, one can buy a replacement for $30 and install it in a matter of minutes, the old one unplugs, the new one plugs in. You're well aware of this too. Those with non-DRM WMVs are not SOL, iTunes will convert them to AAC. It's a converted file, so there is some quality loss, but that is not SOL.

None of LSD's statements listed in my most recent two posts were true at the time he made them. They might have been true at some date prior to that, but most people would reference such a fact with past tense. He did not.

The business in all-caps is not nonsense, it's been demonstrated in this thread by me and others.


853 posted on 03/16/2005 12:49:38 PM PST by Petronski (If 'Judge' Greer can kill Terri, who will be next?)
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To: antiRepublicrat
"EEPROM's" because it looks like you're trying for possessive. These terms have no lower case or puncuation, so there is no need for the apostrophe.

But I think that is your own personal confusion since:

CVS's
M.B.A.'s

are both valid - the apostrophe is sometimes used to show plural.

I am not that interested in picking the nit but you tried to insult me in relation to using "'s" to show plural in acronyms - you clearly did not understand that "'s" is sometimes used to show plural. Your attack was bogus, uncalled for, and lacked an understanding of the subject.

I do find it funny that you feel published word definitions need not be followed but published punctuation guidelines must be rigidly followed without any variation or deviation

854 posted on 03/16/2005 1:00:35 PM PST by Last Visible Dog
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To: Last Visible Dog
The Ipod never supported and still does not support the WMV format.

Factually true. The iPod, being a music player, does not support the Windows Media Video format. But for this discussion I'll assume you meant Windows Media Audio (WMA).

However, your original assertion was "and if you have any WMV [WMA] files you are SOL." That is factually wrong since iTunes will convert your WMV files to a format the iPod can read when you import your current library and transfer the resulting files to your iPod. The iPod may not play WMA, but that doesn't make someone with a WMA library "SOL" as you stated.

855 posted on 03/16/2005 1:01:52 PM PST by antiRepublicrat
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To: antiRepublicrat
LVD: Are EPROM's Read-Only Memory? Yes.

No. You can write, and the technology is different from that a ROM.

You can not write to an EPROM within a computer. In a computer, an EPROM is Read-Only Memory. You are wrong.

856 posted on 03/16/2005 1:03:15 PM PST by Last Visible Dog
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To: Last Visible Dog

What I like best is that it appears you've just been misusing apostrophes all this time, then when caught searched for a style guide to support your use. I don't think you've been using them thoughtfully and on purpose (which allows you to make exceptions for clarity) due to the other apostrophe misuse in your writing.

But you're right, it's (not "its") a tangent. We can end it.


857 posted on 03/16/2005 1:04:25 PM PST by antiRepublicrat
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To: Bush2000

Sheesh. He's got me repeating his mistakes. It's WMAs, not WMVs, obviously.


858 posted on 03/16/2005 1:04:35 PM PST by Petronski (If 'Judge' Greer can kill Terri, who will be next?)
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To: Swordmaker
So I am a liar?

I think that depends on how Clintonian you're being when you say you've had "no problems". How are you classifying a "problem"? Here's how I classify a problem: The software malfunctions in any way. For example: you can't print, you can't open a document, the UI malfunctions, you crash, you experience a debilitating memory leak, app simply fails to run, etc, etc. I'm not reserving the term "problem" to mean "the app crashes". If that's what you thought I meant, alter your understanding right now. And, by that standard, I really find it hard to believe that you've had "no problems". That's just not credible. It means that you're either not telling the truth or you're exaggerating how much of that software you actually run and test. Because, statistically, the odds of all of it running perfectly are zilch. You know it. I know it. So, let's cut the crap.

I told you my experience with my Macintosh OSX running classic and my clients' experiences with OSX running classic. You have NO experience except what you have heard third hand.

I don't need to run classic in order to know that (a) no software is perfect (particularly emulated legacy apps) and your insistence to the contrary just isn't credible, (b) I can point out many, many documented examples of people using classic that ARE having problems, and (c) the fact that you've had to work around problems doesn't mean that the problems don't exist.

As I told you I reviewed thos 537 queries... and about 90% were of the "How do I..." category. Those queries spanned more than three years... which translates to ONE question every two days. Whow! According to Bush2000 its an epidemic.

Straw man. Show me where I called it an "epidemic". I argued that a large number of problems exist. You claimed otherwise. Clearly, the facts are on my side.

Shall we visit a help forum for Windows and see how many problems THEY are having? How about problems with "legacy" Windows apps?

Knock yourself out. I would expect a similar rate of regression, after adjusting for the wider availability of apps (and users) under Windows.
859 posted on 03/16/2005 1:04:45 PM PST by Bush2000
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To: Last Visible Dog
the overwhelming majority of computer users don't even consider the Mac a viable computer.

You state that as if it were a conscious value decision. The majority of computer users think "Windows" = "Computer" and "Explorer" = "World Wide Web." The terms are synonymous, so when they go to buy a computer, they buy Windows.

I remember when people saw my UNIX or Linux boxes, I'd often hear "But how can it work without Windows?" They had no concept that there were other operating systems out there. No wonder they don't buy them.

860 posted on 03/16/2005 1:08:00 PM PST by antiRepublicrat
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