Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Full text: An epic Bill Gates e-mail rant

blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 91 posts

Re: Full text: An epic Bill Gates e-mail rant

#81

Post by rms »

KirinDave wrote: post #73
rms wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OK -- I spec'd a Dell XPS M150 just now to be equivalent to the $2500 Macbook Pro. I got a better than equivalent config for $1678 -- it has 4GB of RAM, would be $1578 with 2GB of RAM. It comes with a built-in 2MP webcam and bluetooth and N-wireless. It has HDMI rather than DVI out. A bluray burner is an option, as is a 1920x1080 screen. The only thing it is missing is firewire and I don't think anyone can argue that…

I used the XPS M1530 as a model because it seemed to match more closely. For $200 less the DELL had 100gb more hard drive space but no bundled software. I also think it's weird that they don't just offer Vista Ultimate, they make you pay extra. Who wants to buy a limited version of the OS? I'm sure the shop interface is so confusing that most people end up with the default option of the Home version just because it's…

I generally want to buy the cheapest version of the OS possible because the laptop will ultimately run Linux.

Re: Full text: An epic Bill Gates e-mail rant

#82

Post by Tamerlin »

raganwald wrote: post #59
DaniFong wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually I consider some of the new Microsoft designs to be pretty nice: XBox 360, Silverlight, Live Maps, even Vista, are at least comparably pretty to the competition, and some would vie, even prettier.

With respect, I do hope you realize that "taste" and "design" are about an awful lot more than "pretty." I would say that MSFT products being "pretty" demonstrates how little they get it. They think that making something "designed" means smearing pretty on it after you're done, as if you can design a web application by building something randomly then hiring a graphic designer to make the page slook nice just before…

MSFT's failure is that some parts of it seem to get that, and others seem entirely oblivious to it.

Some of their products really are excellent -- usually ones that are largely independent shops that haven't been entirely squished into the conglomerate, like the Expression suite and a good many of the MS games.

It seems to me that the ones that have the most issues with inconsistency and usability botches are the ones that get the most micromanagement, like Office and the OS.

Re: Full text: An epic Bill Gates e-mail rant

#83

Post by Retric »

xlnt wrote: post #23
rms wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OK -- I spec'd a Dell XPS M150 just now to be equivalent to the $2500 Macbook Pro. I got a better than equivalent config for $1678 -- it has 4GB of RAM, would be $1578 with 2GB of RAM. It comes with a built-in 2MP webcam and bluetooth and N-wireless. It has HDMI rather than DVI out. A bluray burner is an option, as is a 1920x1080 screen. The only thing it is missing is firewire and I don't think anyone can argue that…

I guess it varies by when and what you compare. e.g. http://www.macworld.com/article/49403/2006/02/pricecompariso... has the macbook pro doing well. or this http://kb.wisc.edu/showroom/page.php?id=3045 has 150 more for macbook (not pro). they seem to have firewire and isight missing on the pc, and a modem missing on the mac. ------- i just did a comparison of imac vs dell all-in-one. imac = 1300 (add 1gig of ram) the…

This is an old example but look at that chart:

Edit: is there anyway to show a table?

Apple MacBook Pro Dell Inspiron 9400 15.4-inch display 17-inch UltraSharp Wide Screen Radeon X1600(128MB) NVIDA GeForce Go 7800 (256MB) 4x SuperDrive(DVD±RW) 8x(DVD+/-RW) 10/100/1000BASE-T 10/100BASE-T Modem No Yes Built-in iSight None 2 USB ports 6 USB ports Remote Yes No S-Video Out No Yes Battery 60 WHr 80 WHr Size 5.6 pounds 8 pounds price $2,049 $2,031

Dell's system had a larger screen, better video card, a Modem, faster DVD drive, 4 USB ports, S-Video and a better Battery but Apple's system had 1000BASE-T network, iSight, and it's lighter.

How on earth are these in the same catagory?

PS: Today I can pick up a good 17" laptop from dell with T8300 (2.4GHz), 4GB of ram, 320GB HDD, Geforece 8600M for $1,024.00 (Google 1720 Discount and the second result is a discount code N6DT1G$64M79BW for 350$ off).

The cheapest 17" Laptop from Apple starts at $2,499.00 (googled to find a $300 off MSR discount) and but that it only has 2gb of ram and a 250GB HDD. Granted it's CPU is .1GHz faster which would would add $125 to the dell or you could swap that in and downgrade the ram and HDD size. But RAM and HDD is worth more than a slightly faster CPU.

Re: Full text: An epic Bill Gates e-mail rant

#85

Post by mhartl »

jauco wrote: post #47
mhartl wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had the same thought when I read this. I used to turn off my computer every night, until I switched from Windows (98) to Linux. In grad school, my roommate and I had uptime contests with our Linux boxes, which he won with something like 6 months of uptime. The most common causes of lost uptime were electrical power outages and moving apartments. Now, like you, I mainly run OS X, but it's on a laptop, which wreaks h…

I'm always amazed by this. Why would you keep your computer running if you're not using it? just for comparing lengths?

I'd turn it around: Why would you turn your computer off if you don't have to? The power consumption is roughly $0/year, and by keeping it on you don't have to resurrect your editors, terminal windows, and browsers every morning.

Re: Full text: An epic Bill Gates e-mail rant

#86

Post by mhartl »

mrtron wrote: post #74
jauco wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm always amazed by this. Why would you keep your computer running if you're not using it? just for comparing lengths?

Laptop: 10:56 up 83 days, 1:50, 7 users, load averages: 1.05 1.32 1.12 I don't reboot - but I do close the lid to let it sleep. My main reason for not rebooting is I generally have 100 things open at any time and that 'state' is important.

I do the same thing, but even with sleep sometimes my machine gets hosed (the technical term) and requires a reboot. That never happened with my old Linux box.

Re: Full text: An epic Bill Gates e-mail rant

#87

Post by Hexstream »

raganwald wrote: post #59
DaniFong wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually I consider some of the new Microsoft designs to be pretty nice: XBox 360, Silverlight, Live Maps, even Vista, are at least comparably pretty to the competition, and some would vie, even prettier.

With respect, I do hope you realize that "taste" and "design" are about an awful lot more than "pretty." I would say that MSFT products being "pretty" demonstrates how little they get it. They think that making something "designed" means smearing pretty on it after you're done, as if you can design a web application by building something randomly then hiring a graphic designer to make the page slook nice just before…

"Most people make the mistake of thinking design is what it looks like. People think it's this veneer -- that the designers are handed this box and told, 'Make it look good!' That's not what we think design is. It's not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works."

- Steve Jobs

Re: Full text: An epic Bill Gates e-mail rant

#88

Post by swdesignguy »

ricardo wrote: post #36
markbao wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many of these problems are still prevalent in Microsoft. Confusing processes and the like. So, it's not Gates. Gates is a good guy and he sounds like he gets it. Is it the corporate structure then?

When Microsoft started out it operated under a pretty flat organizational structure, similar to how Google is run. They've gotten fat in the middle (management) over the years and it's stifled any chance they've had of getting anything done. See this blog post from a former MS employee about the year it took to design the shutdown menu in Vista: http://moishelettvin.blogspot.com/2006/11/windows-shutdown-c...

Interesting read.

Re: Full text: An epic Bill Gates e-mail rant

#89

Post by username2 »

hugh wrote: post #68
dcurtis wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, think about... Windows Vista. Ultimate, Home Premium, Home Basic, Business, Enterprise, Lite. Microsoft Office. Microsoft Office Professional, Microsoft Office Standard, Office Small Business, Office Ultimate, Office Enterprise, Office Professional Plus. Microsoft Mouse, Microsoft Intellimouse, Microsoft intellimouse Explorer, Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer Bluetooth, Microsoft Intellimouse Presenter. Windows…

Apple products you're forgetting include: iMac, MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Mac Mini, Mac Pro, all the iPods (four types, I'm not gonna list 'em all), the iPhone, various keyboards, Apple TV, Time Capsule, Quicktime, iLife, Aperture, iMovie, Final Cut, Mac OS X Server (if we're going to count every permutation of the OS separately), Logic Express, GarageBand, Shake, WebObjects, and probably a bunch more. It's…

Final Cut Pro, Final Cut Studio, Motion, LiveType, Color, ...

Re: Full text: An epic Bill Gates e-mail rant

#90

Post by ComputerGuru »

pchristensen wrote: post #80
ComputerGuru wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

errr... he did - he's been stepping out since 2001.

Exactly, you can't just jet at the end of a day if you want your 20% of the company to be worth something when you're gone.

I don't think he gives a damn about his 20% of the company as far as cash is concerned. It's more of a legacy thing. He created Microsoft - it's his legacy, it's what he'll be remembered by, and he really cares for it.... it's a part of him.
Post reply on HN