How to wreck a Mac

Subject: Johnnie Walker website - also psychic

As a whisky fan, I thought I'd give the Johnnie Walker website a whirl only to be greeted with the following error.

"Unfortunately, we are unable to allow you access to the Johnnie Walker® website either because you're not old enough to view a website that promotes alcohol beverages, or due to restrictions on the marketing of alcohol beverages in your country of access. We'll take you to a website you can visit instead."

Note that they didn't ask, so I've no idea how they decided I am not old enough (I'm 21), and surely it couldn't be due to "restrictions on marketing of alcohol in [my] country of access" - Scotland.

Ach well, I prefer Glenmorangie anyway...

Sean McLemon

Subject: How to wreck a Mac

In light of the recent extremely long article about how cool Macs are, I figured I would provide instructions on how to wreck a brand spankin' new not-even-off-the-shelf Apple Macintosh computer.

1: Go to the Apple store.
2: Get on a brand new computer.
3: Run the Calculator widget.
4: Type 99999999*99999999 in the widget.
5: Hold down the Enter key until the numbers stop changing.

Voila.

Ok, so this doesn't exactly wreck the whole Mac, but the Apple fanboi that worked there at the Apple store had to open a UNIX-style console to kill the dashboard (or something or other. He killed a process or two.)

I will only admit to walking into the Apple store because I was dragged there by a friend that was considering switching from the Vole to the Apple. Needless to say, if I, a hard-core PC user who had never touched a Mac in his life save for an Apple IIe (hardly a Mac) can walk into a Mac store and wreck any part of it in less than 2 minutes (think of what I can do in 15 minutes) then how exactly is it going to stand up to real abuse? In the end, my friend switched to Linux.

There can be no denying that if Apple licenses its OSX operating system, it might prove to be some real competition for Vista (only if I can have my PC hardware and my OSX too,) FINALLY giving the Vole real competition in the OS market provided that OSX is as easy to install as a lamp, drivers become available and software companies start making more software for it.

.. Oh yeah, and provided that they fix that buffer overrun in the calculator widget. Who knows what else they missed...

Your neighborhood friendly wannabe know-it-all

Subject: Thomas P. Milley

I stopped reading this guy's article when he said "I cant wait until someone discovers how to turn UAC off"

That's when I realised this guy wasnt a power user.

Try "control panel" mate.

week3ndwarrior

Subject: The "intel" condom letter

There is no "Intel" condom. This is because "Intel Inside" would mean something different than their logo and they would have to sue themselves.

Nate

Subject: Spelling / grammar

How about fixing up letters before you publish them? This will serve two purposes:

1. Extracting the meaning from a letter will become easier: having to work out what word a writer meant to use from its context makes understanding what he is trying to say more arduous than it needs to be. Once in a while one of them has something worthwhile to say.

2. Educate your correspondents. This is a kindness to those for whom English is not their first language, and apparently long overdue for many for whom it is.

It's also unfair to permit people to hold themselves up to public ridicule in this way: like noticing someone's fly is undone and deliberately not telling them.

OK, yes I am a snotty bastard, but I'm also right.

TonyP

Subject: Vista upgrades

The problem behind all these Vista drivers issues is very simple. MS make money off selling Vista upgrades, but the hardware manufacturers don't get much out of it.

Individual PC owners are mostly incapable of doing serious hardware upgrades; the enthusiast market can mamage it just fine, but they aren't a very big proportion of the privately-owned PCs out there. Trying to sell hardware upgrades to Joe HomePC is generally a support nightmare, and the hardware companies would much rather sell him a whole new PC, with new peripherials.

Corporate customers can do PC upgrades, mostly, but the cost-effectiveness of the job is very questionable. They generally have just about enough support staff to keep the routine work under control. Doing serious upgrades on large numbers of machines would take manpower they don't have. Most companies will deploy Vista gradually, as they replace their machines. I did some estimates, when fanboys on the beta programme claimed that a mass upgrade would save money, and concluded that even if Vista was free and ran on exactly the same harware, the support costs of the upgrade made it a looser.

So overall, this leaves peripherial manufacturers with very little financial motive to produce Vista drivers for hardware they don't sell any more.

Losing out to the competition is only an issue if the competitor is likely to do all this work - and they have the same lack of motive. Sure, they'll say that they're "committed to offering the optimal Vista experience". But PR is cheaper than engineering.

John

Subject: vista drivers for wireless print servers?

Hi,

Saw your article "Beware being ripped by Vista hardware scams" - which references a PC Performance article bemoaning lack of Vista support in some devices.

The author mentions a Linksys wireless print server, and also linksys wireless routers.

As you probably know when you think about it, no network device of these type *needs* drivers. It's a TCP/IP device...

Ric

Subject: Johnnie Walker promises immersive experience

Would that be anything like this lady's immersive experience with Baileys?

http://www.koreus.com/media/katja-schuurman-baileys.html

simon

Subject: Macs are so much better than PCs

"Bill Gates is a real geek who's out of touch..."

Like as if Gates really cares what Apple users think.

Operating systems installed worldwide.
Apple, less than 1.6% share.
Linux, about 2.5% share.
Windows XP, 74.3%.
Windows (other versions) 21.6%.
(All figures are from Gartner Dataquest.)

Cheers,
Ed

Subject: Expensive Vista for Macs

What? Why would Mac users want stinky old Vista anyway... I thought OSX was the Daddy - they don't need Vista do they? Arn't they afraid that they will need 'major surgury' to make it work? Why do they want Office? Isn't it filthy Microsoft?

Oh yea, Microsoft/Windows/PC products are trash - until a Mac user wants it!

And how about this - If I want to run OSX on my Windows PC, I also have to spend money on extra hardware - a whole new computer!

Cry me a river Mr Mac.

Meccabilly

Subject: LED light causes . . .

Cree XRs will put out 131 lumens per watt.

The highest "luminous efficacy" currently on the planet. But it's a blue lght. If you run them at max efficiency it would only take 5 watts of power.

But it would also take 5 LEDs at $15 a pop ~$75 bulbs? (maximum efficiency when running at 1 watt).

They're not quite as efficient running at 3 watts but make 210 lumens of bluish white each. Still 3 LEDs and ~$45 a bulb for 630 lumens

Getting the 2700k warm light blows the efficacy. So probably back to 5 LEDs for 650 lumens of warm white.

"at a reasonable price"? These are probably over $50 each in lots of 100.

Scott

Subject: Vista's tidal wave

Everyone seemed to think that hardware sales would go through the roof when Vista would arrive. Especially the hardware Vendors.

Now that they are not shifting the hardware they wanted to, they are simply not updating, or bringing "end of life" to existing products alot sooner. There's no direct cash in making existing devices compatible with Vista.

A company Like Creative could do itself a Driver PR turnaround by firing out a load of high quality, Vista drivers for most of its products. I think Creative needs this more than any other company judging by most "creative" related forums.

If there is a company that does take this stance, it will surely receive great publicity, and then the sheep will more than likely walk the same path. How far down that path remains to be seen.

Puku Ruka Jones

Subject: Pajamas

You obviously haven't heard about those working in the nude infront of their PC? ;)

Igor

Subject: Apple urges users to delay Vista upgrade

Mr. Jobs ought to rethink the strategy here. It is one thing to convince users to switch from PCs to Macs. Microsoft has been willing to put up with the hyperbole coming from the Apple camp for years, like an elephant putting up with the noisy crow flying around its head: an annoyance but no threat. This tactic of trying to prevent Microsoft customers from upgrading is crossing the line, I think. It's like saying, "We know you have Windows and probably won't change. We just think you should keep your old gear and not pay for any upgrades." It's a dirty tactic, and, let's face it, this rationale would seriously undermine the entire tech industry.

Let's suppose Apple and Microsoft get into a pissing contest about upgrades. Apple can decide not to update iTunes. Fine. PC users would have to use a different MP3 player for their music downloads and buy their music somewhere else, or switch to the Mac, if Apple's plan works out. Will many users switch to the MacOS, dumping a grand's worth of hardware to do so? Or might they find alternatives to the iPod and iTunes? I don't pretend to know, but it's certainly not a slam dunk win for Apple.

How can Microsoft retaliate? Ever heard of a suite of programs called Office? Hello? A huge chunk of Apple's business is the educational market, especially colleges and universities. I recently did some research on buying a computer for college. Guess what? EVERY campus program selling Macs that I found included OFFICE as a standard bundle! It turns out that there are these programs called WORD and EXCEL that are commonly used for class assignments! Having these programs is a requirement for virtually every college student!

OK. Imagine you're a school administrator and you find out that iTunes won't work on new PCs, and Office is no longer available for Macs. You are deciding what is offered to students and supported by the school. Do you chuck out word processing and spreadsheets in favor of Apple's music download service?

Bottom line, Apple makes entertainmenet gear. Microsoft and Adobe are the companies that allow this entertainment gear to be used for productive purposes. The turtlenecked one might want to consider the risk of pushing Microsoft too far.

sean fowler

Subject: Skype spying on BIOS

That code hasn't worked ever in NT. Not in NT4, not in 2k, not in XP. It's not possible to directly access physical memory addresses in any modern OS.

Whatever it is, it isn't dumping the motherboard BIOS.

wayne

Subject: Why Macs are So Much Better than PCs

Wow. Looks like someone has a bit too much spare time on their hands.

If Macs are so much better than PCs, why is only 5% (or less) of the Personal Computer market running Mac OS?

You also forgot to mention - that, at this point, the only difference between a Mac and a PC is the O/S - as the entire hardware platform (motherboards, hard drives, graphics cards and RAM) are the exact same components that are inside a Windows PC.

To say that the Mac "never crashes" has got to be the most ridiculous statement ever made. Macs DO crash. Macs DO have issues with drivers and software - and a lot more frequently than any of the Apple faithful will ever admit to. Just this week I watched Mac G4s crashing repeatedly when attempting to output MPEG-2 Video from Final Cut Pro (or Not-so-Pro perhaps).

So - as a professional that builds and sells Windows based systems for professional video editing and animation graphics (content creation), and a former Mac user, I can definitely argue that for every positive aspect that you outline in such detail, there are also negatives.

What about the users of Avid, Media100 and other expensive hardware-based Mac solutions that were left "out-in-the-cold" back in the nineties when Apple switched from NuBus card format to PCI? Did Apple pay for them to buy new hardware boardsets? I think not.

And how about the latest truth warp from Apple? After years of openly bashing Intel for supposedly making infererior chips and CPUs - Apple now decides to move their entire product line - from laptops - all the way through Servers - to, wait - you guessed it, Intel.

Come on now. If you don't see Apple for what they really are (the greatest hype machine ever) then go on and invest more of your hard earned $$ into either Apple products or perhaps some Apple stock shares.

Have fun.
Ptyson

Subject: Vista probs...

wind back to when XP was released..... much the same, really...

the only stupid thing is the pricing... It would make sense for someone to go to the US, *buy* ten copies, and sell them at a profit in UK!!!

Fonedog

Subject: Aero Glass in XP

This is regarding MikeH's response Titled "vista's pretty face"

I went to the link he posted and downloaded the Vista skin/theme and Window Blinds for XP.

Much to my surprise this works. For the msot part - Side Bar errors out. But I do have Aero in XP. So much for all the hoopla that this was Vista specific.

So I get Vistas Aero looks without the hits on my resources. XP and my old hardware is Vista ready - Now I will say WOW.

Rich

Subject: vista upgrade

I think that the reason that microsoft doesnt do any thing to fix the bug in the windows vista upgrade software is the fact that they are still making money off the group that would normaly pirate windows. If you are really looking to get a cheap verson of vista you should check out something like newegg where even though they sell the upgrade verson(191.99biz), the oem verson(149.99biz) is still cheaper. I just hope they come out with the 64bit oem verson soon

Operating Systems at New Egg just saying

tony

Subject: Vista crapness...

I noted with interest your report about Vista incompatibilty. I can top it, however. Vista does not work with the good old BT Voyager 105 ADSL Modem either. BT have 'no plans' to produce a driver for it. Ever.

That is great as Force 9, the ISP I signed one of my customers up for a few days ago is still shipping them and forgot, despite what their Tech said on the phone to mention this small problem during the sign-up on the website.

Grr.....

ses

Subject: Skype

I was just going to e-mail you about the recent Skype problem since many not-AppleCasts and people use Skype now, so I was wondering about this. There was the notion of giving each system a unique ID so that Skype could be touted to work perfectly on that system, but then they said that it was impossible in the way the code was working and other such things.

My question is this since it seems to be undisclosed. What can you do when given a motherboard ID? Currently, I see no better program than Skype in terms of call quality and ease of use. This brings me to the comment, why isn't there a group out to show they can make a program better than Skype and also have it be open source? There is Gizmodo which would be the next step down, but it's just missing that clarity in the line quality; although, the recording feature is in the default install so that's really nice.

Kevin Ghadyani

Subject: Take the Pirates to court - then jail

I say take every Pirate to court, then throw their arses in jail for a 1 year minimum sentence and fine them the legal limit of $10,000 per copy, plus make them pay all costs of prosecution and incarceration.

The RIAA didn't dismiss charges against this woman because she was innocent. They dismissed charges against her because it was more trouble than the effort required to prove she was guilty. She should have been prosecuted and jailed. Instead now she's trying to manipulating the judicial system for profit.

This is exactly why the Pirates should be prosecuted and jailed. These criminals don't deserve to be on the street. they are stealing from every honest, law abiding citizen in addition to the artist and music industry.

Jorge

Subject: Reply to Thomas P. Milley

I consider myself one of those "PC Enthusiasts" you refer to. while the mac is a great platform (I wish Dell could take some notes), it is not for me. I like tinkering, reseating the cpu (I even sanded the heat spreader to almost a mirror finish) and general playing around with the guts of my PC that I built with my own two hands. also you forgot to mention hardware wise, Macs and PC's are more identical now than they have ever been.

OSX is an AWESOME OS, dont get me wrong. it is powerful, easy to use, and almost unbreakable. BUT, due to some EULA legal mumbo jumbo, it is illegal for me to run it on my system. it is NOT impossible to install it and enjoy an OS that they spent some thought on, but it is illegal. if Steve wants me to convert to a mac, all he has to do is one simple thing. Port it to PC. I refuse to buy a system identical to my own just to run OSX. also, do NOT say that Apple makes its money off hardware sales. what do they make themselves besides the case anymore anyways? the only reason they have as big of an income as they do is not because of their computers, but rather their IPod, pure and simple.

Call it "bliss", call it "ignorance" call it what you will. but excuse me while I go perform an upgrade and play around with D3D on my Dual boot Vista/Ubuntu home built system.

Foxstonedragon

Subject: In response to Thomas P. Milley letter

I think you are a Mac fanboi. I don't like Windows, but why there are 20 Win boxes for each Mac one? (at least with XP... things probably will change with infamous Vista). Is that all the people is just plain idiot? Or maybe Mac is not sooooooo cool?

Is the key to fast graphics the Big Endian vs Little Endian??? Have you realized that graphics in modern PCs are drawn by a discrete graphics card (Nvidia, ATI/AMD), or in the worse case by an integrated one, but not directly by the CPU?

Regards
Kurt

Subject: Chip price wars

Contrary to the analysts views, the price war between AMD and Intel is the only thing moving chips out the door. The main chip markets in developed countries are saturated and only emerging markets and appliances such as cellphones are increasing in sales volume.

If it were not for the price wars then the PC industry would be in much deeper shit than it already is. As long as AMD and Intel are both making a profit - and they are, then the price war helps, not hurts consumers and others in the PC industry.

Jorge Subject: Frankly put . . .

Mr. Milley, anyone who puts Vista on a P4 deserves the bloated mess he'll be getting and is in no way justified in saying that Vista is crap.

Which it is, of course, but your rant would be a lot more valid if your machine was running on a processor worth something, such as an X2 or a Core Duo (the latter of which is much better than the former).

No, complaining about performance when your CPU is an asthmatic dog in the first place does not impress me one bit.

For the rest, your text is a beauty and I am referring it to everyone I know.

Pascal

Subject: Thomas P. Milley

Wow, I really couldnt be bothered to read Thomas P. Milley's extensive blah blah about why macs rule.

I am an editor and use both a mac for Final Cut Pro and a PC for various other uses including editing on Premiere Pro.

You know which is better? Neither.

Mac; Pros: Mmm silky smooth usage - click button, program open... nice. Great for editing and Photography/Imagery. Some nice GUI gimmicks.

Cons: Relatively expensive, 3D software options limited (No 3Ds Max - which I use). Games - pretty much useless.

Regardless of what people say - they can and do crash and with a Mac there is no explanation... Program stops/dissapears - deal with it.

PC: Pros: Cheaper, especially if self built. Better Range of software and can actually use for games.

Cons: Not as smooth a user experience. Irritating clutter related to virus/spyware protection.

With Xp I have not had a virus/spyware or had to reinstall windows since my last system was build almost a year ago and its just as stable as OSX.

So really it all coems down to personal preference - the two systems are slowly becoming identical - and the least you can say with Vista is that it at least makes a PC as pretty to use as a Mac.

Meccabilly

Subject: Steve Jobs calls for an end to DRM

What a shabby excuse for a story! It's nothing but inflammatory hyperbole. To say " the bloke who nobbles his iPods so that they can only play musical content that spouts from the iTunes digital jukebox has presumed to lecture other DRM advocates on the merits of dumping the practice" is a monumental distortion of the truth. My family owns several iPods. Our music library has some 8,000 tracks. I've only purchased two hundred odd songs from the iTunes Store. But I do own more than three thousand CDs. Our iPods, un-nobbled, play content from other than the iTunes Store. They all do. They all always have. And it was specifically noted in the letter that you're supposedly writing about! Did you even bother to read the letter you wrote ABOUT? Or did you just overhear others mention it in a pub? Did you re-read what you wrote? Is there any integrity in an outright lie?

But those are questions. And your writing holds no answers. Some things, spread properly, promote growth. Your writing smells of such, but doesn't have the meritorious result. Pity, that.

Odd how no one notes that the other purveyors of musical cntent from the major labels nobble their entire store so that only one operating system can access 'em. You express such indignation when there is non-interoperability among music playing "devices" EXCEPT if the device used to play the content is on a general purpose computer? THEN there's no effort to have all the content equally accessible no matter the platform? Why such a hypocritical stance?

DRM-free music levels the playing field. Let the players compete, the music stores garner their non-locked-in customers, the artists sell to their fans withour regard for whom the middleman might be. Let the oft-scorned Apple, the mighty Microsoft and the ambitious newcomers all sell their musical wares and let the buyers choose. Let's see what price point, what devices, which stores, and what music and marketing prevail.

But let's not hear misleading, lying drivel by a hack in pursuit of a fact-free story.

I'll now add your byline to those I avoid reading over breakfast...

vcayenne