Posts by Eric

@Stephen Jenner

right, sorry i guess it's the whole toytown and "this-os-is-this, and this-os-is that and that's that" thing threw me off the fact that you were merely saying we can all learn from the past... :)

FWIW i think today's general-purpose OSs are hugely impressive compared to what we had just 10 years ago. Can't wait to see what's next to come out the toytown factory!

Re: Windows, all down to users..

Hi Carl,

I couldn't agree more. As someone who admins windows networks by day, and loves his macbook pro by night it's very true that Windows minus craplets will be stable.

Particularly when user's aren't given admin rights support time drops quite a bit. Even better; with Vista it's easier to take admin rights away in a business setting and actually make it workable.

The only thing I'd add is that on OSX, applications are GENERALLY more isolated than on Windows and that does have a fair bit to do with the architecture of Windows and OSX. That i imagine does have an impact to stability, but might not be significant enough to matter - who knows.

Going back to all the posts of my gawwwd don't get a mac - if anyone is trying to decide, based on this message thread (ha!) i have a few suggestions:

.) Don't use stability and lack of viruses as a deciding factor, because with every update on every OS the stability can change just like that. And what the mac lacks in viruses it gains in people getting phished because they think they're invulnerable because they use a mac - don't be one of them!

.) Also don't use perceived consumer/home-user application availability as a criterion, because while the brand-names in OSX-land won't be known to someone who lived in windows so far, there is a lot of choice around and the quality is generally quite high. PS. if it's not obvious - if you need a specific app rather than app type, i'd question if you're really a consumer.

@J re. Desktop temp stuff

Sorry man,

I can't reproduce the problem for the life of me. What's the name of an example file that's created inc extension if any, that might point towards an answer; but with the info given, Rich is probably going to be able to tell you more about it.

If you give me a specific step-by-step scenario i'd be happy to try and troubleshoot...

BTW, sorry for my inaccuracy on that one - i just simply have never seen that happen or heard from someone that has that problem...

Oh and @Christian Berger; it's funny that the things where the mac generally has an edge can't be summed up with simple GHz/$ ratio's but conversely the more tech savvy someone is the more all those many small improvements are ignored - not everyone cares about stuff like that, but quite a few people do care. Example - the macmini desktop-pc has wireless, bluetooth, silent, tiny of course, remote control. These things aren't generally in other PC's but all add up in terms of cost as well as in terms of usability.

@Rich

There are a few points of Rich's i wouldn't mind addressing:

2.) case insensitive file system - if you're "advanced" enough to use unix utils and heavy console work you *should* have the knowledge to format a drive case sensitively. and if you're a user who doesn't give a shit about that, you'll appreciate the default lack of case sensitivity. (side question - if you were to design this aspect of an OS - what would YOU do?)

4.) spellcheck box in front of text - as far as i'm aware osx is the only environment with system-wide spell checking. so you're options to resolve this is to be happy with the in-line spell check, or go to any other OS where you'll have no spell check. your call.

5.) Disappointment in multimedia usage - Yep, absolutely nothing works reliably, particularly multimedia usage is terrible, that's why you'll never find mac's in media-intensive departments - they're still sticking with the Atari for now.

7.) constant wifi asking - i can't say i've come across the same thing ever but i've only ever owned 2 macs and touched a grand total of 3 so not sure what the story is.

8.) font rendering to work cleanly - what does that even mean? And must i point out the heavy usage of the mac in desktop publishing in some lame sarcastic way?

9.) Do you want to not use Desktop as tmp - No i don't, so umm... i don't. i think most people do the same. Granted all drives and mounted dmg's show up on the desktop, but c'mon - for god's sake. everything else you can stick it wherever you like (i have some suggestions, if you're can't think of any places... :) )

10.) colour must be white - yeah the colour options are limited. and i can't wait for the day when they bring out more colours just so you can go on some forum and bitch about how macs are just toy computers and use the new choice of colours as evidence.

as for the other points, yeah fair call; and a potential buyer should read those and ponder whether they'll be show-stoppers.

Oh and my $0.02 on the "what crashes more" debate - there is no accurate and fair way to prove whether windows or osx crashes more so don't choose a mac based on that merit.

I'd be really keen to hear other ppls opinion on all that stuff...

Glad i'm not the only one

...who thinks this is a bit of a Netscapey situation.

What really and i mean _*REALLY*_ shits me about all this is over the last however many years of microsoft raping the software market that there basically are no paid-for-software alternatives in practically anything anymore... fuck, even IBM is gun-shy developing, let alone charging for common software as illustrated with it's symphony openoffice deriviative. (yes, not 100% accurate, but you get my drift)

So now as someone who wants to get into development, i can either aspire to get a job as shitkicker-code-monkey at Microsoft, work in some dodgy vertical market that hasn't been spotted by the borg yet, work at some mikey mouse web two-point-oooh company like squiddlebook.com (yes, i just made that up), or just develop as a hobby to contribute to the "community". Great! Thanks a bunch Microsoft - I just COULDN'T be happier.

Title

hmmm...

"It is important to understand that Viridian will ship as part of Windows Server 2008," Microsoft's virtualization chief Mike Neil told us. "VMware is in a situation where they are not an OS vendor. They need a distribution mechansim through the OEMs. This is the approach they have taken."

that sounds a little bit like

"Our business model works even if all Internet software is free," says Mr. Gates, "We are still selling operating systems. What does Netscape's business model look like (if that happens)? Not very good."

...or maybe i'm just paranoid after reading up on all of Microsoft's shady past. Any thoughts El Reg, or readers?

what the...?

Well Simon with such witty and insightful answers to my questions i should really just shut my (apple)pie hole and... oh hang on a sec - you just made a lame pop-culture reference and hit submit. Sorry my bad... i guess i was just expecting a little more...

(abridged version of questions: how is reg with its scizophrenic articles like this one combined with the 90% score review earlier any different to the fanboy wanker websites bashing anything but their company's product? what's normal for product return policies in the US?)

i know, i should really just shut up - If only i weren't so bored and in the mood for a flame war - any flame war will do!.. :P

sorry - just one last thing

hmm, I found an interesting review of the iphone.

It's by The Register - solid 90% score. The author of that review is Cade Metz.

Um yes, but what about the article...?

Yes Apple attracts fanboy wankers - no question about it.

But how does that explain/excuse the completely lopsided way anything is portrayed by the register when it comes to Apple?

Further, how is that different to the "pious fanboy wanker" websites flaming Microsoft for implementing a novel idea in their MP3 player (zune wireless sharing), or flaming Microsoft's very generous XBOX360 repair policy as nothing Microsoft abusing consumers (work that one out...), or describing Vista's extensive security as too little too late, etc.

To me there's no difference between the reg these days and the "pious fanboy wanker" described above - i guess David that makes you by extension - well of course not a pious fanboy, so just... a wanker? :)

As a side-note, I have tried to return various things over the course of my life - when it was something unopened i usually got only the option of store credit. When it was opened and used it was either lots of arguments and then store credit or lots of arguments and then no joy. Am i just expecting too little, is a complete money-back return policy the norm in the US?

one more thing

Hi i posted something earlier in the comment string. I had and have no beef with the reasons for the El Reg "journalist" returning the phone. Bad internet speed / coverage, fingers too big - fine.

It's just the comments like "you're just one of the lemmings..." etc that are just sooo El Reg vs. Apple. I simply meant to point out that this would never happen with any other company's product and the register. If thousands lined up and bought a puke-green halo edition xbox360 - well they're perfectly well adjusted enthusiastic gamers. If you pranced around 3 years ago with a brand new $500 Razr - well you appreciate good phones with a nice form factor. I could go on and on...

The other thing that peeved me was that in the one article the "journalist" takes juvernile and shallow cracks at Apple staff as to their rating on the hipness-meter, and at the same time somehow turns the fact that he was able to return his 2 week old iPhone with a 10% restocking fee into a damning negative. I'm sorry but 10% restocking fee for an opened and 2-week used product is unheard of? What are you, deaf??

where to begin

What is it about The Register and the iPhone? Is it because The Reg started with an opinion before the iPhone came out and now must stick with it?

That said, i fully understand if someone finds the keyboard unusable it's not the right phone. Hell, I remember before i had an iPhone, trying to stick my fingers in a pencil sharpener to be able to use my Blackberry effectively. I can very much sympathise.

I do have to question - El Reg (once respected, rapidly declining...) what exactly is it with the tagline of "You buy something from Apple your a lemming that can't think for himself"? I never seem to hear that from El Reg about - well - any other company.

Oh well i guess it's only fair when someone buys a Mac rather than a Dell, or an iPhone rather than a Nokia. After all, a quick web search of iPhone reviews turns up OVERWHELMINGLY positive ratings from just about every gadget / tech review site. Yep, no question these must be uninformed shmucks trying to impress their peers.