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The New Apple Advantage

daringfireball.net

291–300 of 354 posts

Re: The New Apple Advantage

#291
post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He has his bias, you have yours.

I think we're in violent agreement. But we can summarize the vast majority of Grubers posts thusly: "Something about Apple = Great" then generate a dozen or so threads of nothing but either fawning praise for Gruber or the same repeated complaints about his bias. At this point Gruber posts and the follow up "conversation" (I'm using it charitably at this point) are something one could probably machine generate, then…

The problem is everyone coming out and saying "let's ban Gruber" every time one of his stories are posting. This compels people like me to respond because I think he posts interesting stuff. If it weren't for the knee jerk reaction from the haters then we could have a decent discussion. I certainly wouldn't come in here unilaterally praising Gruber, I would respond to his points just like I do with any other post (except Dvorak, I always propose banning Dvorak because he is actively corrosive to intelligent discourse).

Re: The New Apple Advantage

#292
post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried to make this point below in a more subtle way, but you take on the issue more directly. Gruber's arguments never make any sense. Historically, he changes his opinions more or less based on what Apple is currently doing. He adds little value, and it seems clear that he's making a lot of money as a pro-Apple cheerleader from his blog posts. (Which is fine, don't get me wrong, but it doesn't make him a good news…

On Hacker News -- a once great but now decrepit wasteland gathering point -- virtually every post by John Gruber, no matter how unnuanced, uninsightful, and predictable, makes it to the front page. It only needs to speak to that small minority who will predictably and in a concerted fashion vote it up. Any competitor (HN is long past gone. We live in a upside-down world where specialized subreddits on Reddit are insi…

This blog post completely misses the mark. This kind of thing should be downvoted into oblivion.

The blog post basically bashes NH, then accuses Apple of destroying Microsoft and says that Microsoft should team up with Android.

I've never seem such a huge chip on the shoulder...

Re: The New Apple Advantage

#293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone can make a better/tastier/nicer hamburger than McDonalds. No-one can make a more profitable hamburger than McDonalds. That ties in pretty well to Tim Cook.

Most hamburgers are more profitable than McDonalds. The hard part is selling a billion of them.

The volume is where McDonalds is making the massive profits.

Re: The New Apple Advantage

#294
To all those who are comparing a computer/laptop with a car/television/refrigerator/wherever. There's a big difference between the two classes of machines. Cars don't deal with your personal data. Talk about not caring what your car does (or how it works) when it's connected to the internet and stores the details of each location you drove to, who you were with, and how long you stayed there.

Re: The New Apple Advantage

#295

What I grasp from this is that John Gruber and Peter Bright are just too dim to understand basic online stores. This qualifies for mockery from Gruber/Bright: > "Everyday Computing" But this is good understandable product description: > "The ultimate everyday notebook" (that second one is Apple's marketing copy for the Macbook Air). The low-end Macbook Air is $999 in Canada. Let's compare. I just priced a Lenovo X220…

Paying $200-$300 for OSX, a MagSafe, glass trackpad, aluminum unibody, glass screen is just fine.

Who knows, maybe OS X will have better battery life, and cooler operation?

Then again, I'm a programmer, but still the type of guy who would get one of those new, overpriced, Commodores or VICs.

Re: The New Apple Advantage

#296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it's an OS X "feature". PT_DENY_ATTACH: http://landonf.bikemonkey.org/code/macosx/Leopard_PT_DENY_AT... "UNIX with a GUI" at its best.

A feature introduced specifically to safeguard iTunes DRM I'd bet.

The funny thing is that it can be easily patched out by modifying the XNU source code, which made me wonder about open source politics inside Apple.

Re: The New Apple Advantage

#297
post #106

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The same Intel that came up with the first Pentium M? Yeah, I'm calling bull shit on this story.

While Apple probably didn't help Intel design the Core 2 Duo (they only had serious in-house processor design stuff recently, and it's ARM-oriented), it's quite possible they exerted pressure on them to make such a thing. The Core Duo and Core 2 Duo were a _major_ turnaround for Intel; they essentially abandoned the gigahertz at whatever price doctrine they'd been pursuing since the P4. The Core Duo, in particular, w…

Core Duo was in a ton of Dells, HPs, and so forth.

(Not that most of what you've been saying is untrue, but this particular part is a bit dodgy.)

Re: The New Apple Advantage

#298
post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most people drive their car without knowing how an internal combustion engine works. Most people watch television without knowing that the picture is comprised of pixels (or scan lines). Is that also sad? Must everyone understand everything they use in sufficient detail? Why should a computer be different? Why should my mum need to understand what an operating system is, let alone care about it?

Most engines don't cut out if you do choose to pop the hood open.

I have no idea why you are being downvoted, because it's the truth. It's exactly what Apple does.

While yes, no one should need to understand how a TV/Car/Computer/ works under the hood, how is that an argument to stop people who WANT to know?

Re: The New Apple Advantage

#300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is utterly fucked up. How dare they say you can't look at the code that is running on the hardware you purchased.

You know... You may have a point. Some people may have been spoiled by operating systems like Linux or BSD, where you can look up each and every line of code that comprises the whole software stack, but, in fact, most people don't really care about that. Still, OSX is more open than its main competitor - you can see most of it, but not all. The fact most people don't really care about what they are using is sad, but…

> Some people may have been spoiled by operating systems like Linux or BSD, where you can look up each and every line of code that comprises the whole software stack

I'm quite sorry, but what? Spoiled by having the freedom we should have for every technology? It's kind of like saying that "Some people are spoiled by having civil liberties, but most people don't care about those".

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