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Re: I hate Linux -- Apple is leading the standards charge on the
On Sat, 31 Jan 2004, Mike Connor wrote:
> things, didn't charge $3k (in '90 money) for something that cost them
> $30 to build (that's documented).
I'm curious to know what product(s) that is
> of the market but yet be one of the most (I think *the*) cash rich
> computer company out there; that was true for a long time (might still
> be).
I think they're still doing well in that dept. I saw where the recently
spun off stake in one of their companies to get more cash. That said, had
Steve not come back we'd probably not have this discussion.
> ** From my casual observation, Apple doesn't adopt PC buses and
> components until it's clear that the bus will be a standard and that the
> public will no longer buy a $100 mouse and such.
I disagree for the most part. The PowerMacs had PCI early on. As early
as some of the PC's, no. However Apple knew the NuBus was at it's limits
and going to PCI would not hurt them in the long run, it could only help.
Apple started doing PCI in 1995. Yes, some 486's and Pentiums were
shipping with PCI by that time but it was still IMO not something everyone
had jumped on, at least outside of the video card industry. On the other
hand, Apple need to get people hooked on their PowerMacs and making the
first generation w/ NuBus was about the only way they'd not have a mass
exodus. Bear in mind that the Quadra 800 / 840 systems with their 68040's
would run circles around an early NuBus PM running 68k programs.
Apple pushed the crap outta USB when Steve took over. Dropping ADB and
going USB for the keyboard and mouse finally pushed the PC vendors to take
a long hard look at doing the same.
Yes, Apple was a little behind on the AGP boat. I was disappointed on
that but it looks like they've learned their lesson there.
Apple has pushed the crap outta flat panels which in turn IMO has lowered
prices and put them on more people's desktops.
Apple did a nice job of integrating the networking into their systems, as
far back as the Quadra 800 series (I'm sure a few before that). For
better or for worse Apple hedged their bets... 10base2 and 10baseT were
both popular. As a result, Apple put their AAUI connector on the back and
let the user buy the appropriate dongle / media adapter to finish the
interface. This led to some interesting media exchangers, one of my favs
being the third party four port hub that IIRC was powered off the AAUI
adapter. Instant workgroup.
That said, I think Apple under Jobs has done more to keep up with the PC
world. Most of the previous CEO's did poorly in that respect, mainly
because they could not find their way out of a cardboard box. And I
suspect they had PC's on their desks.
> ** FireWire seems to be their only bus that was adopted by the PC
> world-- definitely the other way around on PCI and I think USB and
> CardBus/PCMCIA (I think I saw a Mac laptop with it once).
For the most part I agree. Firewire IMO is still the better I/O when it
comes to drives and video camera's. I have a hard time grasping the
concept of hooking a HD to the same bus as my mouse. Sure, they all end
up in the same place in the computer eventually, but I'd rather keep the
HID's on USB and multimedia / storage devices on firewire. (the little
flash dongled are another story). AFAIK, there are still latency problems
trying to do sound via USB. I've already mentioned PCI. Apple went full
boar w/ USB in 99. A couple years late, but like I said, they pushed it
hard when they did.
We've got a powerbook 1400 at the office, according to lowendmac.com it
was built back in 96 and it has two PCMCIA slots. I know we're using one
of the slots because that system did not have built in ethernet (WTF?!).
Building 68k laptops I presume kept them out of the PCMCIA market.
> ** If you buy a laptop based on what you're seeing in the linux laptop
> compatibility lists, you'll be fine. True, it'll probably take a driver
> patch here and there.
I've got a friend running Yellow Dog on his and loves it. I'm going to
run YDL on my clamshell iBook when and if I upgrade my HD (ugh, 10 gigs!).
> ** I imagine if you're on this list, you'd be using the unix features of
> OS X all the time anyway, so there's not much point in buying OS X and a
> $2500 (for something with a screen) one button laptop to run it on. The
> new Apple laptops don't seem as rugged as the old ones either.
Agreed. I suggest to anyone thinking about purchasing an Apple laptop to
go ahead and spend the extra money on the AppleCare. That said, it'll be
a cold day in hell when you pry my clamshell outta my hands. It may not
be the fastest, but it's certainly the sturdiest.
> ** The cheapest laptop PC is ~2.5GHz+ and the top-dog Mac laptop is
> 1.3GHz. I have yet to see a case where a processor could make up for a
> 100% difference in clock speed, regardless of it being
> CISC/RISC/32bit/64bit. Actually, I've never seen a >30% difference made
> up for; perhaps if you do broadcast grade video / extreme number
> crunching would a 2GHz G5 catch a 32bit 3GHz+ AMD/Intel.
Well, considering the VATech cluster destroyed the Intel systems in
garnering number 3 in the Top500 super computers, I think that probably
goes a little way to answering your question. Frankly, I was shocked at
how well VaTech's did. I did not realize it until Jobs pointed it out
several weeks ago, but that's a lot of HP for a little bit of money,
especially compared to number 2 and 1. I think most of the HPC community
was thinking it would be top 10, but top 5 was a little more difficult,
nevermind #3. It'll be interesting to see how much business Apple gets
as a result, nevermind how many people think different.
Sean...
--
The punk rock will get you if the government don't get you first.
--Old 97's
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