SterlingNorth's Profile

Now I get it, Robo. You're assuming everyone here is looking at this through the eyes of a Mac programmer. That explains why you immediately asked Beeb if he downloaded an SDK. Why are you assuming that? I'm pretty sure Beeb was looking at this through the eyes of an iPhone user, who might want to watch a video on DailyMotion. But he can't, because they post their videos in Flash, and they don't have a separate deal with Apple to parallel encode their videos in QT. That user wouldn't give a damn that the iPhone has OS X frameworks. He would just see that box with a question mark where the video should be. He won't care that there is some SDK, and it won't affect his life in any way. Dailymotion still won't work. Aside: I find it funny that you think that I'm a Windows coder. Why you assume such a thing, I'll never know.

Oh, and lets not forget the number of times Apple's advertising has been cited by various foreign consumer boards for violating various truth-in-advertising laws. Oh yeah, Macs don't crash! Um, what's that, you say?

All advertising by everyone stretches the truth. I'm quite sure if you go to Apple.com, you'll see some unfair exaggerations Apple makes against Microsoft or PCs in general, as well as misleading feature counts (the iMac does not come with 5 simultaneously useable USB ports). Every company will try to stack the deck in favor of its product, and minimize the pluses and exaggerate the minuses of the competition. Don't fool yourself by thinking that Apple is a unque victim and victim alone here.

Note: James never said that Dell doesn't make printers/peripherals. That was said by commenter Habadasher, in apparent defense of James. Habadasher would be right, but that's irrelevant to the argument. James actually said Dell doesn't sell those things, and yes James would be wrong. Which is remarkable given how many Mac users who want a Cinema Display monitor, but not at "Cinema Display" prices will frequently buy the similar monitor from Dell. So, his first claim is wrong. James second claim is that Vista is so bad an OS that it is the cause of Dell's fortunes. That's less cut-and-dried, but given that Dell is losing share to HP, who is growing their sales would seem to argue against claim 2. Now, since the assumptions behind James suggestions have been shown to be built on a shaky foundation, one can perhaps simply dismiss the suggestion. If the doctor's diagnosis of cancer is in error, then I probably don't need radiation therapy. But still, let's ask what Dell could possibly gain from a purchase of Red Hat. I don't see much. The operating system itself, Linux, can be freely taken and distributed without having to buy the company. Which is what they have done with Ubuntu Linux. Red Hat is in essence a consulting firm, not a software company. They essentially consult on the use of open source technologies. Dell is famous for it's customer support collapse, so it may not be the best time for Dell to take up new support duties while they are busy fixing the problems they already have. Likewise, Apple is more of a consumer electronics company than a pure software company. Software is but one component in their strategy of making appliance-widgets. All of their decisions make for better appliances -- focusing on design and ease of use; supplying most, if not all, of the accessories and applications for their products (like how radio and TV manufacturers had to sponsor the production of their own shows in the beginning of broadcasting); appealing to the sense of couture rather than on spec. Ironically, Dell is doing more of what I just described, which in the end is pushing them to emulate more of Apple's strengths. Honestly, I think James' suggestion would be far more disastrous to Dell.

(and that's me believing the ITIF average number of 4.8 as opposed to the CWA's 1.9... both would mean that most consumers hardly get +5Mbit broadband)

I’ve seen it, and trust me, you need to actually hold this thing to ‘get it’.

But what of using it? Looking nice is fine, but what if the lack of ports or drives causes hardship in the using it part?

Looking at the data, I think I should have said 'install base' rather than 'marketshare'.

Yeah, that's true and that is what makes me do all I can to avoid that site and sister site iPodDailyNews. That said, at least in advertising the iPod and the iPhone (and the rare non-Hodgeman/Long Mac commercial), Apple doesn't go out and say PCs are uncool and you are by extension if you use one. I am absolutely convinced that Steve's contempt for not only his competitors but for his partners serve as cue to how the groupies react. I pull up the example of comment number seven to this post by Thomas Hawk praising Vista's file-copy alert (which you lauded elsewhere on AM).

Thats it?!? A nice 'move files' requester is the reason you are giving here to stop bashing on Vista?!? Hey you ever thought about using sub-directories to store your photos based on event or point-in-time? The factors that govern whether or not an operating system is 'awesome' are both complicated and diverse. This isnt one of them.

I'll note several things. Hawk isn't declaring the operating system point-blank awesome as the commenter is declaring, just that file copying is much better. I'll also note how he argues it is Hawk's stupid fault for not operating the way the computer wants him to. The damn weird thing is that it becomes where even acklowedging that there are good features, emulatible features from "the enemy" gets you criticized by overly excitable folks. This is the type of my-people-can-do-no-wrong tribalism that hurts everything.