Wow. St. Stephen blasts Adobe with a load of arrogance that even Steve Ballmer can't manage.
I wanted to take this opportunity to post my thoughts on all of this.
First there's open. Apple isn't really open. Heck, I can't (legally) take my legally-purchased copy of OSX Snow Leopard and put it on anything except a Mac. If I had an iPhone or an iPad, I'd be limited to the software that they say is okay, not anything I damn well please (like I can with my Blackberry Storm and I hear Android users can do).
Second, there's the full web. Yeah, I know. I consume it every day. I play Flash-based Facebook games. I view Flash-based videos. I've tried playing some Flash-based videos on my Blackberry (which also doesn't support Flash...yet). There's more to say here. 75% of the web's video is in H.264, but it seems that a lot of the videos I want to see are in Flash. I also don't give a damn that there are thousands of games in the iTunes App Store when the ones I care about are on Facebook.
Third, there's reliability, scalability, and performance.
I don't know what to write here that St. Stephen hasn't already. Flash is the number one reason that Macs crash. My work PC doesn't have the same problem. So why is it that after years of Flash performing poorly and crashing on Macs has NOBODY DONE ANYTHING ABOUT IT?
I'm not going to go on.
Here's the deal, and I think 99% of computer users feel the same way I do. I want a computer that works and "just works" every time. I want Flash to work, Facebook to work, I want to install things myself and I don't want to be limited to what Big Brother says I can install. I know with such great power comes great responsibility, but I also expect that the OS vendor will keep up with security updates to components in their operating system.
My next computer is looking like a PC. God, I hate to type that, but Ubuntu is looking really cool over Parallels...probably a lot cooler on dedicated hardware.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Sour Grapes Alert: The Macalope Weekly Special Edition: Fools of the Year
I'm spending a small part of my Sunday catching up on blogs, and one of them was the "Fools of the Year" from the Macalope.
I have no issues with them ripping on Wall Street "Reporters" that THINK they know computers. They spread more misinformation than the National Enquirer. What I DO have issues with is them bashing those that have bashed the iPad. I know all of them of them deserve their spot on the list for many other reasons. But seriously, ripping on a product that has the specs to fall short of expectations before it comes out is a problem? Heck, if Dell started promoting their next new thing - and it has a Pentium 4, every computer "reporter" would be ripping that apart! Why, then, should the iPad be exempt? For the price tag, you're not getting much. However, add a few hundred GB of storage (so you could store a few DVDs, eBooks, a large iTunes library, and pictures), add an SD card slot and a CF card slot (keeping in mind that the stock version of Preview can read many digital camera raw formats in addition to JPEGs), and now you have a device worth drooling over!
The other thing, is Apple needs to get OUT of bed with AT&T. They need to NOT be in bed with any wireless carrier. Some of us live in places where AT&Ts coverage stinks, and problems have been well documented in New York City (I've also seen other reported problems in Tampa and have heard hit-and-miss reports in Cincinnati).
So, Macalope, please stop bashing people for bashing unreleased products based on specs. I'm sure you've done it too, and I know you'd do it in a heartbeat to something Windows-related, since you appear to be more fanboy than semi-unbiased reporter.
The Macalope Weekly Special Edition: Fools of the Year | Computers | MacUser | Macworld.
I have no issues with them ripping on Wall Street "Reporters" that THINK they know computers. They spread more misinformation than the National Enquirer. What I DO have issues with is them bashing those that have bashed the iPad. I know all of them of them deserve their spot on the list for many other reasons. But seriously, ripping on a product that has the specs to fall short of expectations before it comes out is a problem? Heck, if Dell started promoting their next new thing - and it has a Pentium 4, every computer "reporter" would be ripping that apart! Why, then, should the iPad be exempt? For the price tag, you're not getting much. However, add a few hundred GB of storage (so you could store a few DVDs, eBooks, a large iTunes library, and pictures), add an SD card slot and a CF card slot (keeping in mind that the stock version of Preview can read many digital camera raw formats in addition to JPEGs), and now you have a device worth drooling over!
The other thing, is Apple needs to get OUT of bed with AT&T. They need to NOT be in bed with any wireless carrier. Some of us live in places where AT&Ts coverage stinks, and problems have been well documented in New York City (I've also seen other reported problems in Tampa and have heard hit-and-miss reports in Cincinnati).
So, Macalope, please stop bashing people for bashing unreleased products based on specs. I'm sure you've done it too, and I know you'd do it in a heartbeat to something Windows-related, since you appear to be more fanboy than semi-unbiased reporter.
The Macalope Weekly Special Edition: Fools of the Year | Computers | MacUser | Macworld.
How I Fixed my MacBook Pro
Last Christmas, my loving wife gave me a copy of Snow Leopard. After upgrading, my computer started running so slow that it was pathetic. My hard drive died, and I thought that maybe that was the issue.
It wasn't.
I started surfing through the forums on 9to5Mac and Apple Support Discussions and found very little that I liked, most of it blaming coreaudiod (the core audio services). I had tried defragging my hard drive before I had to replace it, and I wasn't satisfied with the results.
So, I tried a few things. First off, I reset the SMC controller (on my MBP, you do that by shutting down the computer, unplugging it and removing the battery, and holding down the power button for 5 seconds).
Then, I booted up, shut down, and reset the NVRAM (on my MBP, you do that by starting up and holding the control+option+P+R keys and holding them down until the second startup sound).
It certainly feels faster. Time will tell if this is a real fix.
The Next Steps
I a going to boot from my SL CD and Repair Permissions and Verify Disk. Since I'm fearful that this could have had something to do with my last hard drive's death (although I think my fears should be unfounded), I am going to make sure I'm backed up first.
The 64 Bit Lie
The big issue I have is that my computer supposedly won't support 64 bit. Until today, I was unaware that I had 32-bit EFI (firmware). I'm somewhat annoyed by that, since I'm pretty sure a Core 2 Duo is a 64-bit processor. It seems to me that Apple was a bit short-sighted when they did that.
It wasn't.
I started surfing through the forums on 9to5Mac and Apple Support Discussions and found very little that I liked, most of it blaming coreaudiod (the core audio services). I had tried defragging my hard drive before I had to replace it, and I wasn't satisfied with the results.
So, I tried a few things. First off, I reset the SMC controller (on my MBP, you do that by shutting down the computer, unplugging it and removing the battery, and holding down the power button for 5 seconds).
Then, I booted up, shut down, and reset the NVRAM (on my MBP, you do that by starting up and holding the control+option+P+R keys and holding them down until the second startup sound).
It certainly feels faster. Time will tell if this is a real fix.
The Next Steps
I a going to boot from my SL CD and Repair Permissions and Verify Disk. Since I'm fearful that this could have had something to do with my last hard drive's death (although I think my fears should be unfounded), I am going to make sure I'm backed up first.
The 64 Bit Lie
The big issue I have is that my computer supposedly won't support 64 bit. Until today, I was unaware that I had 32-bit EFI (firmware). I'm somewhat annoyed by that, since I'm pretty sure a Core 2 Duo is a 64-bit processor. It seems to me that Apple was a bit short-sighted when they did that.
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