tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post3219379444077735796..comments2023-11-10T04:17:00.492-05:00Comments on View From The Porch: Jobs Addiction: Stepping out of the bunker... blinkingTamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07285540310465422476noreply@blogger.comBlogger39125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-19509079296917788542008-04-13T02:41:00.000-04:002008-04-13T02:41:00.000-04:00I find the comment "Apple goes from Strength to St...I find the comment "Apple goes from Strength to Strength", terribly amusing Tam.<BR/><BR/>It's well known that the Ipod was the product that saved Apple from bankruptcy - they're profits dropped to 1% in 2003, and the prediction that they'd be in the red in '04. Of course, that was before the Ipod sales exploded. Along with Itunes, they're the only two products that are really profitable.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-57232598329831416382008-04-12T13:15:00.000-04:002008-04-12T13:15:00.000-04:00Someone needs to tip the hat to Commodore 64 GEOS,...Someone needs to tip the hat to Commodore 64 GEOS, ainna? I mean, it could do anything that standalone applications could do better more slowly, but it had a pointer and a click interface.<BR/><BR/>'Cept of course you probably used a joystick with it.Brian J.https://www.blogger.com/profile/10919837228673866495noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-82452393316783507622008-04-12T12:36:00.000-04:002008-04-12T12:36:00.000-04:00They integrate with corporate networks fine these ...They integrate with corporate networks fine these days. I use MacOS for both home and work and have no problem getting work done with coworkers.Sebastianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14648225987293475835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-28159754972733228642008-04-12T12:16:00.000-04:002008-04-12T12:16:00.000-04:00Been involved with computers since the 70's.I neve...Been involved with computers since the 70's.<BR/><BR/>I never, never, never found MACs to be especially useful in the real business world. Anything the MAC could do for a company, a UNIX box could do better...and network better too.<BR/><BR/>They were always problematical in a business market and too expensive for the home market. While they networked together well, they didn't play well with others.<BR/><BR/>They never made me any money. Today you might, just might, find a few in a graphic arts department or a personal laptop on a salespukes' desk. Don't call your support desk for help.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-85658444249369194542008-04-12T09:09:00.000-04:002008-04-12T09:09:00.000-04:00og,I don't understand the passion ther. PARC was i...og,<BR/><BR/>I don't understand the passion ther. PARC was immaterial to the post. All I said was "<I>one of those hippies in Cupertino was obsessively pushing for an "appliance computer"; a computer with a transparent Graphical User Interface</I>".<BR/><BR/>I didn't say he was "inventing" the GUI, or that he took great piles of zeroes and ones, squeezed them between his mighty thews, and lo! The GUI!<BR/><BR/>I also said "<I>The first to market was the PC, from IBM. It's easy to fault an old DOS machine for its command-line interface</I>", and nobody's chewing up the carpet yelling about who made DOS. ;)Tamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07285540310465422476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-31447681877609235282008-04-12T09:00:00.000-04:002008-04-12T09:00:00.000-04:00You SHOULD write professionally.Fantastic post.You SHOULD write professionally.<BR/><BR/>Fantastic post.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-54290190263431127292008-04-12T07:58:00.000-04:002008-04-12T07:58:00.000-04:00Ms X: I still have a Kaypro 10 around here somewhe...Ms X: I still have a Kaypro 10 around here somewhere. When I was younger, and it was the "hot machine" we called it "the Sewing Machine". Now, I'm thinking of shooting the screen out, and using it as a mailbox. <BR/><BR/>Yeah, I love how the Xerox PARC group usually gets left out of these discussions, as if the Apple GUI sprang from whole cloth out of Steve "get a" Job's brain.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-44688944972745524032008-04-11T23:31:00.000-04:002008-04-11T23:31:00.000-04:00My first experiences with computers was at IBM as ...My first experiences with computers was at IBM as an explorer scout. Fortran, Cobal all on punch cards to be coalated and then run. Hated the language but was a command line junkie there after.<BR/>Still have my Sinclair, its manual and the box it was shipped in to me with the cable hookups. My TI-99 4A is out in the garage gathering spiderwebs along with 20 or so cassettes loaded with programs my friends and I wrote.<BR/>I saw my first Mac when one of my friends bought a Lisa and proudly showed it to me ... I was not impressed.<BR/>When the TRS-80 came out it was the first 'PC' I used to do classwork on and we saved to 5 1/2 floppies. It was all command line untill I saw my first 'real' PC and had to have one. Read the 'Computer Shopper' and figured out what I needed to have.<BR/>Being that I was living in Doraville I drove over to Jimmy Carter Drive and hit several shops, bought a lot of parts and then built an AMD DX-40 with a math co-processor chip. I got a lot of mileage out of that box and haven't looked back.<BR/>FWIW, I had all the software available for a pitance and I could custom build a box to suit my needs and upgrade it until the next generation of CPU's made me buy a new motherboard.<BR/>When you upgraded a Mac back then (and now) you just bought a new overpriced box.<BR/><BR/>From a personal point of view I wanted to express *my* creativity and the Mac platform was/is rigidly conformistic and proprietary and very native software limited.<BR/><BR/>GmacAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-48965932628826297572008-04-11T22:00:00.000-04:002008-04-11T22:00:00.000-04:00Oh, yeah. Vic-20, bitches. If you're not saving ...Oh, yeah. Vic-20, bitches. If you're not saving your work on an audio tape, you're not saving it at all, are you?<BR/><BR/>W00T!<BR/><BR/>BTW, thank you for describing exactly the way I've felt my whole life. This idiot high school friend I had a million years ago loved 'underground' music. All of a sudden, as soon as it came on the radio, he claimed to hate it and said that everyone who liked it was a poser. He always claimed to never care what anyone thought. Except his choice in music was absolutely swayed in every way by 'what everyone else thought.' The Mac crowd has always seemed the same way.<BR/><BR/>Losers.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-72548772884468189742008-04-11T21:33:00.000-04:002008-04-11T21:33:00.000-04:00Eh, the reason's Macs are good at CGI is primarily...Eh, the reason's Macs are good at CGI is primarily because of unified architecture, which is a byproduct of disallowing clones. As to Linux v MS, the only reason MS still has the following it does is because the *nix crowd has yet to come up with a singular viable alternative to DX. While the OpenGL tools are good, they are not unified and therefore many devs won't bother to use them since it takes a greater learning curve which given the vastly reduced install base makes it on the whole not worth it. Basically the same disadvantage the PS3 has to the 360 without the inherent hardware advantage.ravenshrikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09332584897517801965noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-57303685465218103512008-04-11T21:32:00.000-04:002008-04-11T21:32:00.000-04:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.the pawnbrokerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16643081755036536592noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-66415433519778166712008-04-11T21:18:00.000-04:002008-04-11T21:18:00.000-04:00Tam,What the heck are you doing with a TRS-80?I wr...Tam,<BR/>What the heck are you doing with a TRS-80?<BR/><BR/>I wrote my first (and last) lines of code on one of those, and thought I was very cool until about a year or so later when I learned that the whole world uses MS-DOS except Radio Shack.<BR/><BR/>But I can't talk; somewhere in the attic is my first computer - a Timex Sinclair, with it's preferred storage method, a portable audio cassette player.<BR/><BR/>Good Lord, I'm old...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-33687308946203512222008-04-11T20:48:00.000-04:002008-04-11T20:48:00.000-04:00Shortest case of "Writers Block" I've ever seen......Shortest case of "Writers Block" I've ever seen...<BR/><BR/>Well done.rremingtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07700598824835257409noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-26957665778060582652008-04-11T20:30:00.000-04:002008-04-11T20:30:00.000-04:00Exquisite writing. Even if I did not know a damne...Exquisite writing. Even if I did not know a damned thing about computers that would be a joy to read.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-13828153622524223312008-04-11T20:15:00.000-04:002008-04-11T20:15:00.000-04:00HAHAHAHAH! Pop up Hewlett Packard ad on the mac g...HAHAHAHAH! Pop up Hewlett Packard ad on the mac geeks page.Owenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16200955977200733006noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-8314418626120314632008-04-11T19:48:00.000-04:002008-04-11T19:48:00.000-04:00@ Roberta XOh yes, the "portable" Kaypro II that t...@ Roberta X<BR/><BR/>Oh yes, the "portable" Kaypro II that took up the whole passenger seat of my van.<BR/><BR/>Well, it got me through grad school.<BR/><BR/>-)Chas S. Cliftonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00923547685265741325noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-23866642883561873952008-04-11T17:51:00.000-04:002008-04-11T17:51:00.000-04:00Daniel Eran Dilger is even worse than Moore. rough...Daniel Eran Dilger is even worse than Moore. <BR/><BR/>roughlydrafted.com is the most ridiculously paranoid applaganda site I've ever seen.AnarchAngelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06447178964096399015noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-76118948123605912322008-04-11T17:34:00.000-04:002008-04-11T17:34:00.000-04:00While we're on about obsolete software. PCWrite, Q...While we're on about obsolete software. PCWrite, Quattro and sniff, Word Perfect ( I know Corel still sells WP and Quattro, but..sniff I never get to use them anymoreAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-19879867266719060092008-04-11T17:26:00.000-04:002008-04-11T17:26:00.000-04:00If it ain't a Kaypro II running CP/M, it ain't doo...If it ain't a Kaypro II running CP/M, it ain't <I>doodle.</I><BR/><BR/> ...Gee, I miss PerfectWriter.... :)Roberta Xhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09956807794520627885noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-6160641674213663282008-04-11T17:07:00.000-04:002008-04-11T17:07:00.000-04:00Apple has always won by getting their computers in...Apple has always won by getting their computers into schools. First with Apple II's. The real turning point for Cupertino, though, was getting the MacBook into the movies. "Legally Blonde" re-wrote brand familiarity.<BR/><BR/>I think I still have my Ohio Scientific C1P Challenger Superboard computer (with 16k upgrade memory) in a box somewhere. I am not sure I have the home-made RF modulator (and Radio Shack no longer sells components), and I lost the $39.95 JC Penney cassette player used for data storage.<BR/><BR/>Now my cell phone comes with IE and Java.Brad K.https://www.blogger.com/profile/18378344866487206569noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-46395762397684496592008-04-11T16:40:00.000-04:002008-04-11T16:40:00.000-04:00Please don't take this the wrong way, but why aren...Please don't take this the wrong way, but why aren't you a professional writer? You could give P.J. O'Rourke a run for his money.Kevinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10324035824298948422noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-40581243064192018782008-04-11T16:36:00.000-04:002008-04-11T16:36:00.000-04:00You guys left out the TI99/4a :)I learned Assembly...You guys left out the TI99/4a :)<BR/><BR/>I learned Assembly on that POS, with it's firehose attached 'expansion coffin', 16+32k of ram, a 360k SSSD 5.25" floppy, and a 2400 baud acoustic coupled MoDem. Man, those were the days.<BR/><BR/>Gui? not so much... but I had 16 colors, 4 tones and a noise, and 24 sprites!<BR/><BR/>I went through the Apple][ stage, didn't get a PC until 386's were out. W3.11, W95, then on to Linux sometime around 96. Never looked back.<BR/><BR/>When Apple switched from their proprietary OS to a pretty GUI on top of a BSD system, I couldn't wait to get one. Imagine, a Unix-ish OS, with all the cli tools I'm used to using, packaged with a stable GUI that's just gorgeous. Just what I've been waiting for.<BR/><BR/>So, does the IMac in my basement and the Mac Mini on my reloading bench make me a mac guy? <BR/><BR/>BTW: Leopard is worth the upgrade, if for nothing else than the backup system. TimeMachine is the handiest backup tool I've ever seen, simple enough for anyone to use.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-63916086370423386592008-04-11T16:35:00.000-04:002008-04-11T16:35:00.000-04:00You skipped sad Lisa.Apple raided Xerox's PARC for...You skipped sad Lisa.<BR/><BR/>Apple raided Xerox's PARC for their GUI, then they wanted to claim it as original against windows.<BR/><BR/>Now apple is selling BSD linux machines with some pretties at inflated prices.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-5501156099756001972008-04-11T16:27:00.000-04:002008-04-11T16:27:00.000-04:00I don't do holy wars.I have two wintel machines, a...I don't do holy wars.<BR/><BR/>I have two wintel machines, a slew of Macs, a NeXT, and a freakin' TRS-80.<BR/><BR/>Not a huge Linux fan because I'm just not that much of an actual geek anymore. I'm just a lowly end user now and System 8/9/95/XP/OS X/98SE works just fine for what I need my 'puters to do. :)Tamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07285540310465422476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-73252222653273617842008-04-11T16:19:00.000-04:002008-04-11T16:19:00.000-04:00Chris: That would be me. I still prefer the CL to...Chris: That would be me. I still prefer the CL to the GUI. I went pretty much straight from DOS to linux, a way back in '93. I had 3.1 installed on something for a while, but I don't think I've ever installed 95 on anything.<BR/><BR/>And while Tam is fanning the flames of holy wars, I'd just like to say "vi rules, emacs drools". And anything MS Word can do, LaTeX can do better.perlhaqrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01920117742664645165noreply@blogger.com