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Attention Kool-Aid Drinkers
Nov. 20th, 2008 09:23 am([Edit:] Note to Apple users who do not evangelize: I do not mean you. There are a plethora of reasons to decide on a platform, and you likely have a good set of reasons for yours. I address this only to those Select Few who mystically believe that Apple can do no wrong.)
The machine I'm using to write this post runs Linux. However, despite a few abortive attempts at home, our home machines run Microsoft's operating systems because I just don't have the time (or, in some cases, the ability) to be a full-time sysadmin at home to run Linux there.
Note which popular home OS is not listed? MacOS. Apple altogether, actually.
My anti-Apple stance started years ago, when it became clear that it was an inflexible toaster with a GUI that drove me nuts and precious little in the way of third-party software, especially as compared with Windows. Many Apple-heads tried to blame this situation on Microsoft (and they had some valid points), but the fact was and is that Steve Jobs is a megalomaniac control freak who wouldn't open his system even to the extent that Microsoft did, and made it difficult to write programs for.
This control-freakishness had some benefits, I must admit. Firewire and zero-conf networking are the kinds of things that can only be developed when you do have control over every aspect of the system.
But now, , Apple's new MacBooks will have built-in copy-"protection" measures. These are ostensibly to prevent piracy of HD videos. And maybe they are. But you can kiss your monitor good-bye if it isn't on, or if it falls off the supported monitors list.
Steve Jobs's reaction? "They'll have to buy a supported monitor." Ya, right, or perhaps just lose the video they rented from iTunes, which is probably less of a loss.
Oh, and Apple TV users? Sorry.
Just how hard does Jobs have to screw the pooch before the glassy-eyed evangelists realize that they're pimping for evil? (Note: this should not be read to imply that Microsoft is somehow "good".)
The machine I'm using to write this post runs Linux. However, despite a few abortive attempts at home, our home machines run Microsoft's operating systems because I just don't have the time (or, in some cases, the ability) to be a full-time sysadmin at home to run Linux there.
Note which popular home OS is not listed? MacOS. Apple altogether, actually.
My anti-Apple stance started years ago, when it became clear that it was an inflexible toaster with a GUI that drove me nuts and precious little in the way of third-party software, especially as compared with Windows. Many Apple-heads tried to blame this situation on Microsoft (and they had some valid points), but the fact was and is that Steve Jobs is a megalomaniac control freak who wouldn't open his system even to the extent that Microsoft did, and made it difficult to write programs for.
This control-freakishness had some benefits, I must admit. Firewire and zero-conf networking are the kinds of things that can only be developed when you do have control over every aspect of the system.
But now, , Apple's new MacBooks will have built-in copy-"protection" measures. These are ostensibly to prevent piracy of HD videos. And maybe they are. But you can kiss your monitor good-bye if it isn't on, or if it falls off the supported monitors list.
Steve Jobs's reaction? "They'll have to buy a supported monitor." Ya, right, or perhaps just lose the video they rented from iTunes, which is probably less of a loss.
Apple has said that it plans to adopt Mini DisplayPort across its entire product line, meaning that all future Macs from the Cupertino-based company are likely to include the same restrictions experienced by users of its latest notebooks.
Oh, and Apple TV users? Sorry.
Just how hard does Jobs have to screw the pooch before the glassy-eyed evangelists realize that they're pimping for evil? (Note: this should not be read to imply that Microsoft is somehow "good".)
