I had thought it was all a bit of a yawn, until the tech press threw a blanket over Microsoft and started hitting it with baseball bats:
You're as mature as Scott McNealy. Ouch.Linux is never mentioned, of course, and some might argue that this report is a smokescreen to keep people from looking at the third alternative. And since this report emphasizes both short- and long-term costs and expenses, Linux is actually the elephant (or the jaunty jackalope) in the room.
The fact of the matter is, Microsoft is foolish to do more than work on its own products and make them as good as they can. I don't understand this incessant need to belittle everything that is not Microsoft. The company does it with products. And with the entire Open Source movement. And with people. And on every level. The only other company that engaged in this sort of juvenile behavior was Sun Microsystems when Scott McNealy was CEO.
And Linux? Cool, baby:
Microsoft is irked by Apple, that's all. I would be, too. But again, the company is taking its eye off the Linux ball. Linux is cool too, in a more nerdy, geeky way.The author also points to The Register's surgical dissection of this report, What Price Nonsense?
Grab some popcorn. This'll get good when the Mac fanboys get back from de-worming their computers.
Hey Bore Patch,
ReplyDeleteI have picked up a few pointers from you on security. Much obliged.
Maybe you might want to do a tutorial on installing linux for the beginner who just wants to dabble, or dip his toes in.
Just a thought...
Regards,
Albert
The Rasch Outdoor ChroniclesThe Range Reviews: TacticalProud Member of Outdoor Bloggers Summit
Albert, that's a great idea. I'll do one next week (weekend is heavy travel).
ReplyDeleteMicrosoft's recent "report" stating that Apple is expensiveSo what will they report on next? Water being wet? And what does it matter? Apple may be expensive, but sometimes quality's just that way. And I don't plunk down $1300 for anything just to be "cool." I pay for stuff that works. In my experience, the Mac OS works. Honestly, were the problems with Vista THAT overblown when it was rolled out?
ReplyDeleteMy brother mentioned the Microsoft ad about the Apple tax...Said that he would be willing to pay it even if it were as extreme as Microsoft claims, because he is much more productive with Apple.
ReplyDeleteAlbert: Installing Linux can be covered in a comment.
Download the Ubuntu ISO from the Ubuntu website, burn to CD, reboot with the CD in. It should come up in a slow but usable Linux without messing with your existing OS. There is a button on the desktop to install--click it and follow the directions, if you don't understand something accept the default.
I recently replaced my failed Windows laptop with an IMac. I've been dabbling in video editing for years and Windows has just proven to be wholly unsuitable for the task...even with expensive video editing software and Machines that far exceeded even the recommended requirements, let alone the minimums, for that software, Windows would routinely lock up, the video would be jittery after rendering, or the video and audio would be out of sync. Any video over about ten minutes would have to be broken up into small samples to get them to work at all, etc, etc, etc.
ReplyDeleteBecause I've been a Windows user since 3.11, and I have thousands of dollars tied up in Windows software (including games), I decided that I wanted an Intel MAC so I could run Windows using BootCamp or VMWare Fusion.
The thing that really surprised me, and the reason for this comment is this: The IMac even runs Windows better than any other computer I've ever had. I can actually edit and process hour long videos with windows running in VMWare fusion while also running other processes in the MAC OS. It's freaking amazing how much better XP runs on this mac, even when piggybacked onto OSX through an emulator.
The only problems are that VMWare fusion doesn't make the firewire interface accessible to the windows instance and the DVD/CD Burner is shared as a DVD-Rom/CD Burner only to the windows instance...so when I'm capturing video, or burning to DVD, I have to boot the machine into Windows mode using bootcamp...but the editing and rendering process...which is where most of the problems used to lie...can be done in a VMWare Fusion instance.
I'd like for Mr. Gates to explain to me why his operating system works better on a Mac than it does on a machine that was specifically designed for it???