Hooked form the moment I first played on an Apple IIE at school. Have spent last 27 years almost solely working on Apple kit and it still baffles me how they constantly managed to just get it right.
I’ve only ever had a single Mac, a PPC Mac mini from 2004 that I brought to suss out the irritating CSS differences in safari. It lived onwards attached to a TV as a media box afterwards.
However I have programmed various Mac OS’es from the early 90’s to OSX. The latter is a good system, and the previous ones sucked for a programmer because Apple never cleaned out old API’s.
These days I have a iphone and an ipad that I don’t bother programming for. I’d have to buy a Mac, mount three operating systems on it, and keep bouncing from tone to another. I’d be like an engineer across the way who has a 30″ Mac that he runs linux on because that is the current target platform. I don’t think it has gone into OSX since a few days after he got it. And he paid about three times the cost for the equivalent hardware because ‘soon’ he will have to write code for IOS… Needless to say my next tablet and/or cellphone won’t be apple, because open systems will have caught up.
But Steve Jobs was a hell of a marketer. And I do recommend his products to the technically challenged quite a lot.
or the overpriced aspect
or the limited the freedom of iphone/ipad owners
or the way it treated its developers
or the way gave shit contacts and terms to developers in the app store
or the way it used/abused its monopoly on apple devices to cut everyone out of business
or the bullshit lawsuit it filed against samsung to stop competition
Apple was innovative and used great hardware.
Every other aspect of apple is a cancer to the IT industry.
Ooh a nasty little layer of “windoze” fans here it seems. Show some respect on this day you shitheads.
Apples hardware/software integration and intense industrial design kept them afloat.
Steve kept on truckn’ as one of the miniscule 1% that ever survive a pancreatic cancer diagnosis for more than a few weeks.
Yes Apple was subject to some of the usual behaviours of captialist companies, technology and research sometimes develop -almost- indendently of political systems but ultimately private ownership and shareholder control spoil the party.
I am typing on an alu imac with wireless magic mouse and I ain’t sending them back.
RIP Steve.
“Ooh a nasty little layer of “windoze” fans here it seems. Show some respect on this day you shitheads”
I’ve not said a single thing against Jobs, and personally i neither like nor dislike the person.
Apple the company is a different matter.
Also its called “Windows”, you show your immaturety by deliberately misspelling it. In fact i’m loath to reply to such comments, but still i want to set the record straght.
” am typing on an alu imac with wireless magic mouse and I ain’t sending them back.”
And we needed to know what you typed this post out with why?
Truly a mac fanatic at its finest.
I’d say that they were at one point but now that they’re descending into ridiculous patent lawsuits for something they themselves did (copied others) then I’m of the opinion that they’ve started to become a liability.
Yeah this IMO reflects Jobs decline and the lawyers rise, the man had game, shiploads of it and dwarfs those remaining so they revert to protecting what they have with the craetive drive gone.
Size is not a virtue.
As for how many they employ, at the cost of what other companies?
The iPhone was nice and all, and is basicly the foundation that apple made its revival on, but at the cost of dominating the smartphone market.
That has basicly seen Nokia get bumped off, and is now having serious troubles. How many thousands of workers got made redundant last month from nokia as a result?
As a whole, that wasn’t a bad thing (unless you were nokia). Smart phones evolved quickly and rapidly. So in that aspect i would agree that Apple was very beneficial to the “IT industry”.”
But that was the past. The iPhone hasn’t evolved anything, the iPad is just a larger iPhone. And all the while apple moves in ways that don’t progress the industry, but simply reinforces the control apple has over it, as well as taxing it.
Do you think having the samsung galaxy blocked from sale in all of europe is benefical?
Do you think it was fair that they got it blocked because of a primitive design law, localized only in Germany.
That the evidence produced was a design scribbled on the back of a napkin, written before the iphone was designed, that was basicly at best, an outline of any generic looking smart phone
That due to the badly thuoght out law in germany, that its a victory by default, and it needed to either be dismissed out of hand (illegal) or go to the appeal process to be rejected, with germany’s design copyright.
And that because germany is part of the EU, and has a design law that will always be upheld in court so long someone paid a filing fee (to the point where a napkin is permissable), the biggest threat to the iPhone was blocked in all of EU.
Or how about how anything that is ever done on the ios has to be authorized by apple?
Or how about how if you sell an app through their store, apple takes 30% of the cut, and then you are required to offer a refund without conditions. Should the customer take the refund, you refund the customer in full, but apple still keeps 30% of the cut!
Or how about if you sell any books or subscriptions via ios, you have to list it at the lowest price you sell the product anywhere at AND apple keeps 30% of the gross profit. (So you can’t simply raise the price to cover the apple tax and sell it cheaper to the customer elsewhere)
I can go on, and on, and on.
Apple wants to tax every software, charge an Apple service for all hardware, and prevent any other choice besides the Apple way. And Apple fanatics love them for it….
But please, go on and show me how Apple is being benifical to the world.
Frankly if i had to choose between nokia’s stupid phones, or an apple way of life, i’d happly stick with a $80 nokia.
I’d perfer a samsung tablet instead, but well thats not much of an option thanks to apple.
I managed to download the “phone story” app/game that slipped through the Apple censors for a couple of days, basically you have to stand over kids in the Congo with guns as they mine Coltin, then you move to the Chinese assembly factories where you have to catch suicide victims jumping from the building, then you’re an Apple store worker throwing product at the storming fans / consumers, the you have to sort for recycling in Bangladesh. Classic.
Strangely, the guy at the Mac shop seemed a bit bemused, even a little put out – like a Jehovah’s Witness might be as he’s ejected from your doorstep – when I proudly showed him my new game.
Yes… and also innovative in creating hardware with built-in obsolescence, e.g., the clickwheel iPod of which 25% broke down just outside the 12-month warranty.
The purists may think otherwise, but it was Apple’s creation of the ipod/iphone/ipad that will ultamitely lead to the decline of the PC in a lot of households. Which I think is probably a good thing.
In saying that, they are rather cumbersome to use IMO – the iPod you can only put music on it thru iTunes, and the iPhone you cannot use on prepay – which is the most cost effective form of paying for mobile device use.
Nope. You can load music on the devices using Banshee, Rythmbox, Amorak (and probably others) from linux with varying levels of success because of some elegant reverse engineering giving a common library across media programs. On windoze* you can use MediaMonkey (and probably others).
I hate iTunes with a passion as being one of the most inefficient and bloated programs I have ever had the misfortune to have to use. But it is the only program to that you can backup and upgrade IOS from.
* Note to QSF: I’ve been programming on windoze since about 1986 (and seriously since 1991) and that has always been what I called it. Everyone who knows the platforms does. The standing joke is that it doesn’t matter what hardware is available, Microsoft will always find a way to suck up the CPU cycles and available disk space unproductively. You don’t realize how much until you start programming across platforms and find superior platforms in terms of performance on far inferior hardware. Or even if you just drop the GUI shell on windows servers and find a really fast and pretty clean OS underneath.
Microsoft will always find a way to suck up the CPU cycles and available disk space unproductively.
Yep, I always liked to compare AmigaOS with Windows.
AmigaOS:
250k
True multi-tasking
Full windows
Nice, elegant and fast libraries
Windoze
Multiple megabytes
Multi-tasking was partial at best
Full windows
Bloated, slow libraries (it didn’t help that the early versions were just an addon to MS DOS)
The “success” of MS is another major market failure 🙁
Note to me, or to Bazar with a similar gravatar? I am a Windows/ze programmer (more recently .NET) and wouldn’t disagree with what you say! Although I do find .NET to be incredibly developer-performance-productive, which these days is the type of productivity I’m after.
“… and that has always been what I called it. Everyone who knows the platforms does.”
I haven’t heard anyone working in the industry refer to windows as “windoze” for many many years. Were talking references to windows 98 here.
I’ve even asked my friends, working from NZ and Australia, in a variety of professional programming rolls, and they all got laughs at me for calling it that, no one they know or worked with calls it windoze either.
Windoze is slang that died in the early 00’s… And if not, should have.
Yeah right. I think that windows 98 was about my 6th or 7th windoze version. There were many joys after that. The joys of monumentally broken ME, the dearly beloved vagaries of delibertately broken networking of “home” editions of XP and vista, the sluggishness that is vista etc.
For instance, I have vista business on my vaio z (it shipped with it in 2009) on dual boot with ubuntu. It takes about 4 times as long on bootup compared to ubuntu to get to the point I can edit code. And that wasn’t a under specced system.
And the other night I watched incredulously when it took more than an hour to shutdown after collecting a months worth of security updates – warning me that to touch it was dangerous as it powered off. On a laptop!!!
It only has a few programs installed since I brought it – kaspersky, slickedit, itunes, open office, and visual studio so it isn’t like it has done much to mess it up. Amazing how two and a half years of microsft updates can destroy a OS
I haven’t used windows 7 on any of my systems yet – just a few development boxes whilst testing code at work. Rocky and some others have reported that it works well. But for anything I actually need to work I will use a reliable OS that doesn’t slow down over time or have strange broken sections inserted for marketing reasons
I have to say that I liked windows 2000 and 2003 R2 server… Still have one of the latter running my last remaining asp server code and mdaemon. I had to move it at the start of the week because the motherboard went crispy when the UPS failed badly. Hasn’t been worth changing it to Linux in the 6 years it has been running.
You should try some other systems to pick up some perspective.
“I haven’t used windows 7 on any of my systems yet – just a few development boxes whilst testing code at work. Rocky and some others have reported that it works well. But for anything I actually need to work I will use a reliable OS that doesn’t slow down over time or have strange broken sections inserted for marketing reasons”
W7 is much much better than Vista. I always maintained that Vista was ok on brand-new properly specced hardware, and still hold to that. But W7 is still better on the same hardware.
As for the gradual slowdown, that only seems to affect XP.
land lines are faster than wireless ,then their will be overcrowded airwaves when every man and his dog has a mobile device as is happening in some areas of the world already.
I respect Steve as a CEO and visionary, but I hope it’s not churlish to say that I have long been uncomortable with some of Apple’s practices in recent years. Apple has pioneered a lot of good things, but recently this included very draconian restrictions in intellectual property and user rights and freedoms. There is also significant danger to the broader internet in the “walled garden” approach used by Apple. Some of its practices are looking rather familiar to those of another IT industry behemoth that once had a predilction for heavy-handed and anti-competitive behaviour.
In short, it seems to me that Apple may be on track to becoming the next (evil) Microsoft.
Apple has pioneered a lot of good things, but recently this included very draconian restrictions in intellectual property and user rights and freedoms.
It’s sad, especially when you consider that what Apple did was pretty much a copy or adaptation of what someone else had done before.
Xerox PARC facility created those. Apple nicked them.
Let me add: there is a real genius in seeing the possibility in others’ inventions that they cannot see themselves, and making it happen in a real, commercial, popular sense.
A couple of weeks ago it was Andy Whitfield (who died aged 39).
I get the distict impression the industrial economy is an out-of-control killing machine. Not only is it killing numerous non-human species and ‘killing’ the Earth but it is also killing those embedded in it who supposedly benefit from it.
Keep extracting the oil, driving the SUVs, flying the planes, burning the coal and lacing the food with chemicals. Judging by the epidemic of cancers we are now witnessing, the next generation will almost certainly have a much lower life expectancy than the current generation.
The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell 11.1
The economist has an obituary (and I do adore their obituaries above all others) it concludes with…
His on-stage persona as a Zen-like mystic notwithstanding, Mr Jobs was an autocratic manager with a fierce temper. But his egomania was largely justified. He eschewed market researchers and focus groups, preferring to trust his own instincts when evaluating potential new products. “A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them,” he said. His judgment proved uncannily accurate: by the end of his career the hits far outweighed the misses. Mr Jobs was said by an engineer in the early years of Apple to emit a “reality distortion field”, such were his powers of persuasion. But in the end he changed reality, channelling the magic of computing into products that reshaped music, telecoms and media. The man who said in his youth that he wanted to “put a ding in the universe” did just that.
One of the pluses of being a consumer of Job’s and is crew’s creations is that
Apple computers have, ’til recently, been niche appliances and therefore “attack” free.
So while Windoze was harbouring all the nasties in the world and the home to all viruses Apple was evolving and has effectively managed any intrusions and vulnerabilities (for nothing) though Norton et al market protection software but apparently this is to protect their Windoze clients who might receive communication from a fellow Windoze client via an Apple enthusiast.
Now that it is becoming the consumer platform of choice, newbies can enjoy the confidence of the Apple world that the erstwhile minority have enjoyed all along.
How many colds and diseases of any sort have users of Apple computers had to put up with…? It is a fact that there have been none. Seems to me (despite the “amusing” cartoon link) that more and more punters are enjoying that fact.
Reading some of the stuff he has written further up on the subject, I suspect that he is one of those people who believes in vapourware, that being able to demo a product means that it is in a releasable condition, and there is such a thing as the correct use of a language (definitely doesn’t want to read some of my library level with the quirky optimization code). Most importantly I suspect he believes PR has something to do with reality.
urbandictionary is not a creditable dictionary. Its useful for finding out what some obscure slang reference is.
but still, to further my point.
windoze: (assuming you take the most popular version)
Derogatory internet slang for Microsoft Windows.
Slang:
Slang is the use of informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker’s dialect or language
“Windoze” is not a word.
And i’m not even saying that as a grammar nazi. Its that people who use such references (this includes “shonkey”, “liarbour”, etc) are often so utterly biased that you get nothing but rubbish from them.
People will judge you based on how you write, you’d make a better impression and post if you simply tried.
Heh. Bazar may have been on some form of “no-doze”. I try to only mangle language Bazar with reference to three subjects–US imperialism, NZ torys and NZ police. Which admittedly gives me some scope.
RIP Steve anyway. Carol below is probably correct, but the reaction (to Job’s death) also shows the influence of commodity fetishism as Marx first described it. For fans, the luvvies at Public Address have quite a chat going.
the free dictionary? really, do you just drag up any link on the internet and consider it proof?
Its references are from an external dictionary devoted to computers, so includes slang references.
Its no better then citing urban dictionary. At least UD’s definition listing it as slang was accurate.
“It will eventually find its way into Websters and The Oxford.”
No, it never will.
And i’m done arguing this, you can continue using windoze for all i care, myself and others will as a result treat your posts, and yourself with contempt due someone unwilling to treat both sides of an issue with respect.
PS: Sometimes my job requires that i work late or early.
Now Bazar, if you were to read my initial post again, you will see that I have simply discussed a case for people adopting the Apple platform. Your hyper-sensitive reaction to the use of Windoze says more about you and your lack of ability to be balanced.
Interesting that you speak for others – “myself and others will … treat … contempt.” Work in a syndicate do you? Take it in turns to comment on blogs?
” you will see that I have simply discussed a case for people adopting the Apple platform”
A case which is incredibly inaccurate and illogical.
You state that Apple is a far secure OS. Studies and experts have shown that’s just not the case, its simply that no one gives a shit over a niche market, so nobody bothers to attack it.
You state that Apple is more secure because of Norton. But Windows machines can come with Norton as well. Sounds like you are comparing Apple+Norton to Windows, instead of Windows+Norton.
Going back to this final statement you made:
“Now that it is becoming the consumer platform of choice, newbies can enjoy the confidence of the Apple world that the erstwhile minority have enjoyed all along.”
If apple was actually a major player in the PC market, malware developers would actually target the platform. And the platform does have significant security holes.
In fact its already starting to happen. I’ve already had a malware attempt to infect one of my clients mac machines. It failed only because of my security policy (they never had the power to become administrators)
So the reasons you discussed for why macs were better, was either ignorant or naive.
“Interesting that you speak for others – “myself and others will … treat … contempt.” Work in a syndicate do you? Take it in turns to comment on blogs?”
Arguing for the sake of arguing? Is that truly the best you can do?
Just read around a little and pay attention, i’m not the only person who’ll state they stopped reading/caring when someone starts spouting dribble like “windoze”, “liarbour”, “shonkey”.
Save the capitals at the end Bazar.
Seems you wouldn’t meet Tolley’s standards in Reading comprehension.
Read my post again (if you can).
Nowhere did I claim that Nortons makes Apple more secure.
My assertion was that Nortons have become rich on the back of Windoze. They have virus software written for Apple to prevent Apple users passing Windoze Viruses on.
Apple used to be a niche market and therefore avoided malware. Because their systems are so strong the retards who write malware have to continue to attack PC’s.
Read your link.
Most of the comments are from producers or vendors of virus software. Nice one. They would say those things wouldn’t they…?
When is your Nortons update subscription due – another 12 months of worry free surfing?
I know of one iMac owner who runs Parallels on his machine, for the few PC specific programmes he has, and has to keep paying for the update of his Kaspersky for PC…. oh dear.
“Nowhere did I claim that Nortons makes Apple more secure.”
And yet you wrote:
>Apple was evolving and has effectively managed any intrusions and
>vulnerabilities (for nothing) though Norton et al market protection software
“They have virus software written for Apple to prevent Apple users passing Windoze Viruses on”
While that’s true, it also protects the mac from mac viruses, few as they are, and other exploits.
I’m also wondering why you’re raising the price of antivirus subcriptions.
You understand that if macs get popular, macs will need antivirus protection as well right?
And if you really want to get into a cost comparison. Its one that the PC will win effortlessly.
But please, continue believing that macs are inherently secure and cost effective. Just make sure to continue disregarding all evidence that disagrees with your perception.
It’s sad to see someone die so young, and Jobs did make some significant contributions to the IT world. However, I am getting a little fed up with the OTT eulogising about him in the media and online.
I’m not an Apple fan, or a Microsoft or windows one either. We live in a computerised world and I buy/use whatever fulfills my needs as cheaply and easily as possible. (never owned or used an i-phone, i-mac, i-pod, i-pad)
But, Jobs was an entrepreneurial capitalist businessman, out to corner and control as much of the market as he could. The whole i-marketing machine has created an aura around Apple products that encourages many people to spend and or desire to spend big bucks on gadgets many people probably don’t really need, using up world resources and often produced by underpaid workers.
I think Woz was really the original Apple techie innovator, and there have probably many others working for Apple since then that contributed to the products marketed by Jobs.
To me a leftie blog is not really the place to get into Jobs fan worship…. there are others more crucial to the left cause.
Job’s was the consumate marketeer, wrapping up existing technologies in a user friendly manner and knowing not only what punters want but the real cunning was in knowing how to tap an existing resource and resell what already exists in another format.
The mac interface him and Wozniak stumbled across in Xerox PARC facility a.k.a STAR os.
By locking down music/video etc on his devices he could guarnatee the copyright owners there’d be no mass copying away from the apple ecosystem so they flocked in droves to kaching some more out of their bulging decades of music/film/tv archives….whilst Jobs kachinged off the many versions of iPod etc.
brilliant marketing meets technology and as Paul Macguiness (U2’s manager) said….all those people making more and more money out of our music….RIP Steve you were the right man at the right time and you will be missed.
For the record Jobs is an age contemporary of my generation, to close so its too young. Unfortunate.
I have no views on him at all, nor his products: again for the record I work with technology, its how the cash is made.
So lets have a look at the world when Steve and I were in primer one….cars electronics had no computers, they went really well. Egg beaters were (unless you were rich) handamatic…they beat eggs well. Cell phones did not interrupt you, you were lucky to have a land line. Consequently you made arrangements, and talked face to face. Life was not inflicted with emails, young lads had the pleasure of translating their scrawl to the lovelies at the typing pool. Or they wrote letters by hand. Waiting for the mail to arrive bringing the love letter from the remote loved one….recieving it, magic.
We move with greater speed, we are in touch, are we communicating any more effectively. My take is we have become slaves to the technology. It has taken away more jobs than it now produces, and it does not appear to make us more happy en masse. Except in the trinket department. Thorstein Veblen would have had a lovely time with Iphones and Macs.
Bored maybe you are right, but being able to “Facetime” with family around the world is brilliant.
And you will know that it used to cost Stlg 1.00 per minute to phone home and when you did your parents spent most of the time telling you that the call was costing you a fortune and wanted you to hang up.
(By the way Windoze users, sorry but not sure what you are lumbered with – probably Skype and all its pixilation and freezes. Facetime is an Apple application – it’s reliable and works (simply) and you don’t get all those spammers.)
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The US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has been a vital tool in combatting international corruption. It forbids US companies and citizens from bribing foreign public officials anywhere in the world. And its actually enforced: some of the world's biggest companies - Siemens, Hewlett Packard, and Bristol Myers Squibb - have ...
December 2024 photo - with UK Tory Boris Johnson (Source: Facebook)Those PollsFor hours, political poll results have resounded across political hallways and commentary.According to the 1News Verizon poll, 50% of the country believe we are heading in the “wrong direction”, while 39% believe we are “on the right track”.The left ...
A Tai Rāwhiti mill that ran for 30 years before it was shut down in late 2023 is set to re-open in the coming months, which will eventually see nearly 300 new jobs in the region. A new report from Massey University shows that pensioners are struggling with rising costs. ...
As support continues to fall, Luxon also now faces his biggest internal ructions within the coalition since the election, with David Seymour reacting badly to being criticised by the PM. File photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Not since 1988 when Richard Prebble openly criticised David Lange have we seen such a challenge to a Prime Minister as that of David Seymour to Christopher Luxon last night. Prebble suggested Lange had mental health issues during a TV interview and was almost immediately fired. Seymour hasn’t gone quite ...
Three weeks in, and the 24/7 news cycle is not helping anyone feel calm and informed about the second Trump presidency. One day, the US is threatening 25% trade tariffs on its friends and neighbours. The reasons offered by the White House are absurd, such as stopping fentanyl coming in ...
This video includes personal musings and conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Wherever you look, you'll hear headlines claiming we've passed 1.5 degrees of global warming. And while 2024 saw ...
Photo by Heather M. Edwards on UnsplashHere’s the key news, commentary, reports and debate around Aotearoa’s politics and economy in the week to Feb 10 below. That’s ahead of live chats on the Substack App and The Kākā’s front page on Substack at 5pm with: on his column in The ...
Is there anyone in the world the National Party loves more than a campaign donor? Why yes, there is! They will always have the warmest hello and would you like to slip into something more comfortable for that great god of our age, the High Net Worth Individual.The words the ...
Waste and fraud certainly exist in foreign aid programs, but rightwing celebration of USAID’s dismantling shows profound ignorance of the value of soft power (as opposed to hard power) in projecting US influence and interests abroad by non-military/coercive means (think of “hearts and minds,” “hugs, not bullets,” “honey versus vinegar,” ...
Health New Zealand is proposing to cut almost half of its data and digital positions – more than 1000 of them. The PSA has called on the Privacy Commissioner to urgently investigate the cuts due to the potential for serious consequences for patients. NZNO is calling for an urgent increase ...
We may see a few more luxury cars on Queen Street, but a loosening of rules to entice rich foreigners to invest more here is unlikely to “turbocharge our economic growth”. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Let us not dance daintily around the elephant in the room. Our politicians who serve us in the present are not honest, certainly not as honest as they should be, and while the right are taking out most of the trophies for warping narratives and literally redefining “facts”, the kiwi ...
A few weeks ago I took a look at public transport ridership in 2024. In today’s post I’m going to be looking a bit deeper at bus ridership. Buses make up the vast majority of ridership in Auckland with 70 million boardings last year out of a total of 89.4 ...
Oh, you know I did itIt's over and I feel fineNothing you could say is gonna change my mindWaited and I waited the longest nightNothing like the taste of sweet declineSongwriters: Chris Shiflett / David Eric Grohl / Nate Mendel / Taylor Hawkins.Hindsight is good, eh?The clarity when the pieces ...
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on UnsplashHere’s what we’re watching in the week to February 16 and beyond in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty:Monday, February 10The Kākā’s weekly wrap-up of news about politics and the economy is due at midday, followed by webinar for paying subscribers in Substack’s ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, February 2, 2025 thru Sat, February 8, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
Today, I stumbled across a Twitter Meme: the ending of The Lord of the Rings as a Chess scenario: https://x.com/mellon_heads/status/1887983845917564991 It gets across the basic gist. Aragorn and Gandalf offering up ‘material’ at the Morannon allows Frodo and Samwise to catch Sauron unawares – fair enough. But there are a ...
Last week, Kieran McAnulty called out Chris Bishop and Nicola Willis for their claims that Kāinga Ora’s costs were too high.They had claimed Kāinga Ora’s cost were 12% higher than market i.e. private devlopersBut Kāinga Ora’s Chair had already explained why last year:"We're not building to sell, so we'll be ...
Stuff’s Political Editor Luke Malpass - A Fellow at New Zealand IniativeLast week I half-joked that Stuff / The Post’s Luke Malpass1 always sounded like he was auditioning for a job at the New Zealand Initiative.Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. For a limited time, subscriptions are 20% off. Thanks ...
At a funeral on Friday, there were A4-sized photos covering every wall of the Dil’s reception lounge. There must have been 200 of them, telling the story in the usual way of the video reel but also, by enlargement, making it more possible to linger and step in.Our friend Nicky ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is methane the ...
The Government’s idea is that the private sector and Community Housing Providers will fund, build and operate new affordable housing to address our housing crisis. Meanwhile, the Government does not know where almost half of the 1,700 children who left emergency housing actually went. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong ...
Oh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youOh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youSongwriters: Alexander Ebert / Jade Allyson CastrinosMorena,I’m on a tight time frame this morning. In about an hour and a half, I’ll need to pack up and hit the road ...
This is a post about the Mountain Tui substack, and small tweaks - further to the poll and request post the other day. Please don’t read if you aren’t interested in my personal matters. Thank you all.After oohing-and-aahing about how to structure the Substack model since November, including obtaining ...
This transcript of a recent conversation between the Prime Minister and his chief economic adviser has not been verified.We’ve announced we are the ‘Yes Government’. Do you like it?Yes, Prime Minister.Dreamed up by the PR team. It’s about being committed to growth. Not that the PR team know anything about ...
The other day, Australian Senator Nick McKim issued a warning in the Australian Parliement about the US’s descent into fascim.And of course it’s true, but I lament - that was true as soon as Trump won.What we see is now simply the reification of the intention, planning, and forces behind ...
Among the many other problems associated with Musk/DOGE sending a fleet of teenage and twenty-something cultists to remove, copy and appropriate federal records like social security, medicaid and other supposedly protected data is the fact that the youngsters doing the data-removal, copying and security protocol and filter code over-writing have ...
Jokerman dance to the nightingale tuneBird fly high by the light of the moonOh, oh, oh, JokermanSong by Bob Dylan.Morena folks, I hope this fine morning of the 7th of February finds you well. We're still close to Paihia, just a short drive out of town. Below is the view ...
It’s been an eventful week as always, so here’s a few things that we have found interesting. We also hope everyone had a happy and relaxing Waitangi Day! This week in Greater Auckland We’re still running on summer time, but provided two chewy posts: On Tuesday, a guest ...
Queuing on Queen St: the Government is set to announce another apparently splashy growth policy on Sunday of offering residence visas to wealthy migrants. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Friday, February 7:PM Christopher ...
The fact that Waitangi ended up being such a low-key affair may mark it out as one of the most significant Waitangi Days in recent years. A group of women draped in “Toitu Te Tiriti” banners who turned their backs on the politicians’ powhiri was about as rough as it ...
Hi,This week’s Flightless Bird episode was about “fake seizure guy” — a Melbourne man who fakes seizures in order to get members of the public to sit on him.The audio documentary (which I have included in this newsletter in case you don’t listen to Flightless Bird) built on reporting first ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Karin Kirk The 119th Congress comes with a price tag. The oil and gas industry gave about $24 million in campaign contributions to the members of the U.S. House and Senate expected to be sworn in January 3, 2025, according to a ...
Early morning, the shadows still long, but you can already feel the warmth building. Our motel was across the road from the historic homestead where Henry Williams' family lived. The evening before, we wandered around the gardens, reading the plaques and enjoying the close proximity to the history of the ...
Thanks folks for your feedback, votes and comments this week. I’ll be making the changes soon. Appreciate all your emails, comments and subscriptions too. I know your time is valuable - muchas gracias.A lot is happening both here and around the world - so I want to provide a snippets ...
Data released today by Statistics NZ shows that unemployment rose to 5.1%, with 33,000 more people out of work than last year said NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Economist Craig Renney. “The latest data shows that employment fell in Aotearoa at its fastest rate since the GFC. Unemployment rose in 8 ...
The December labour market statistics have been released, showing yet another increase in unemployment. There are now 156,000 unemployed - 34,000 more than when National took office. And having thrown all these people out of work, National is doubling down on cruelty. Because being vicious will somehow magically create the ...
National’s cuts to disability support funding and freezing of new residential placements has resulted in significant mental health decline for intellectually disabled people. ...
The hundreds of jobs lost needlessly as a result of the Kinleith Mill paper production closure will have a devastating impact on the Tokoroa community - something that could have easily been avoided. ...
Today Te Pāti Māori MP for Te Tai Tokerau, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, released her members bill that will see the return of tamariki and mokopuna Māori from state care back to te iwi Māori. This bill will establish an independent authority that asserts and protects the rights promised in He Whakaputanga ...
The Whangarei District Council being forced to fluoridate their local water supply is facing a despotic Soviet-era disgrace. This is not a matter of being pro-fluoride or anti-fluoride. It is a matter of what New Zealanders see and value as democracy in our country. Individual democratically elected Councillors are not ...
Nicola Willis’ latest supermarket announcement is painfully weak with no new ideas, no real plan, and no relief for Kiwis struggling with rising grocery costs. ...
Half of Pacific children sometimes going without food is just one of many heartbreaking lowlights in the Salvation Army’s annual State of the Nation report. ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report is a bleak indictment on the failure of Government to take steps to end poverty, with those on benefits, including their children, hit hardest. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill which would restore decision-making power to local communities regarding the fluoridation of drinking water. The ‘Fluoridation (Referendum) Legislation Bill’ seeks to repeal the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Act 2021 that granted centralised authority to the Direct General of Health ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill aimed at preventing banks from refusing their services to businesses because of the current “Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Framework”. “This Bill ensures fairness and prevents ESG standards from perpetuating woke ideology in the banking sector being driven by unelected, globalist, climate ...
Erica Stanford has reached peak shortsightedness if today’s announcement is anything to go by, picking apart immigration settings piece by piece to the detriment of the New Zealand economy. ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
Today marks a historic moment for Taranaki iwi with the passing of the Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill in Parliament. "Today, we stand together as descendants of Taranaki, and our tūpuna, Taranaki Maunga, is now formally acknowledged by the law as a living tūpuna. ...
Labour is relieved to see Children’s Minister Karen Chhour has woken up to reality and reversed her government’s terrible decisions to cut funding from frontline service providers – temporarily. ...
It is the first week of David Seymour’s school lunch programme and already social media reports are circulating of revolting meals, late deliveries, and mislabelled packaging. ...
The Green Party says that with no-cause evictions returning from today, the move to allow landlords to end tenancies without reason plunges renters, and particularly families who rent, into insecurity and stress. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Nine years of negotiations between the Crown and iwi of Taranaki have concluded following Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passing its third reading in Parliament today, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “This Bill addresses the historical grievances endured by the eight iwi ...
As schools start back for 2025, there will be a relentless focus on teaching the basics brilliantly so all Kiwi kids grow up with the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to grow the New Zealand of the future, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “A world-leading education system is a key ...
Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson have welcomed Kāinga Ora’s decision to re-open its tender for carpets to allow wool carpet suppliers to bid. “In 2024 Kāinga Ora issued requests for tender (RFTs) seeking bids from suppliers to carpet their properties,” Mr Bishop says. “As part ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today visited Otahuhu College where the new school lunch programme has served up healthy lunches to students in the first days of the school year. “As schools open in 2025, the programme will deliver nutritious meals to around 242,000 students, every school day. On ...
Minister for Children Karen Chhour has intervened in Oranga Tamariki’s review of social service provider contracts to ensure Barnardos can continue to deliver its 0800 What’s Up hotline. “When I found out about the potential impact to this service, I asked Oranga Tamariki for an explanation. Based on the information ...
A bill to make revenue collection on imported and exported goods fairer and more effective had its first reading in Parliament, Customs Minister Casey Costello said today. “The Customs (Levies and Other Matters) Amendment Bill modernises the way in which Customs can recover the costs of services that are needed ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Department of Internal Affairs [the Department] has achieved significant progress in completing applications for New Zealand citizenship. “December 2024 saw the Department complete 5,661 citizenship applications, the most for any month in 2024. This is a 54 per cent increase compared ...
Reversals to Labour’s blanket speed limit reductions begin tonight and will be in place by 1 July, says Minister of Transport Chris Bishop. “The previous government was obsessed with slowing New Zealanders down by imposing illogical and untargeted speed limit reductions on state highways and local roads. “National campaigned on ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has announced Budget 2025 – the Growth Budget - will be delivered on Thursday 22 May. “This year’s Budget will drive forward the Government’s plan to grow our economy to improve the incomes of New Zealanders now and in the years ahead. “Budget 2025 will build ...
For the Government, 2025 will bring a relentless focus on unleashing the growth we need to lift incomes, strengthen local businesses and create opportunity. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today laid out the Government’s growth agenda in his Statement to Parliament. “Just over a year ago this Government was elected by ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour welcomes students back to school with a call to raise attendance from last year. “The Government encourages all students to attend school every day because there is a clear connection between being present at school and setting yourself up for a bright future,” says Mr ...
The Government is relaxing visitor visa requirements to allow tourists to work remotely while visiting New Zealand, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis, Immigration Minister Erica Stanford and Tourism Minister Louise Upston say. “The change is part of the Government’s plan to unlock New Zealand’s potential by shifting the country onto ...
The opening of Kāinga Ora’s development of 134 homes in Epuni, Lower Hutt will provide much-needed social housing for Hutt families, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I’ve been a strong advocate for social housing on Kāinga Ora’s Epuni site ever since the old earthquake-prone housing was demolished in 2015. I ...
Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay will travel to Australia today for meetings with Australian Trade Minister, Senator Don Farrell, and the Australia New Zealand Leadership Forum (ANZLF). Mr McClay recently hosted Minister Farrell in Rotorua for the annual Closer Economic Relations (CER) Trade Ministers’ meeting, where ANZLF presented on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hassan Vally, Associate Professor, Epidemiology, Deakin University Overnight, Robert F. Kennedy Jr was confirmed as the secretary of the US Health and Human Services Department. Put simply, this makes him the most influential figure in overseeing the health and wellbeing of more ...
Everything you missed from day five of the Treaty principles bill hearings, when the Justice Committee heard eight hours of submissions.Read our recaps of the previous hearings here.It was another work from home day for the Justice Committee, the only people in Room 3 being security guards, committee ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milad Haghani, Associate Professor & Principal Fellow in Urban Risk & Resilience, The University of Melbourne Juris Teivans/Shutterstock In Australia, fatal road crashes are climbing again, especially since the pandemic, and despite years of attempts to reduce road trauma, the numbers ...
In its eagerness to appease supporters of Israel, the media is happy to ride roughshod over due process and basic rights. It’s damaging Australia’s (and New Zealand’s?) democracy.COMMENTARY:By Bernard Keane Two moments stand out so far from the Federal Court hearings relating to Antoinette Lattouf’s sacking by the ...
“The reality is we’re getting poorer. The government this year is leaning heavy on chasing economic growth, which is absolutely the right thing to do.” ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 The Vegetarian by Han Kang (Granta, $28) Han Kang’s astounding novel was based on an ...
This new docuseries about two single comedians looking for love is also a joyful celebration of female friendship. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. “How many people do you think are boning right now?” Kura Forrester asks Brynley Stent as the bright ...
A new poem by Freya Turnbull. Hunger Song – After Kaveh Akbar (Untitled With Hunger And Matcheads) I hold my age in ripped fishnet hold an empty vessel oldyoung body cracks like gunshot like killa i was a father ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dominik Koll, Honorary Lecturer, Australian National University View of the Pacific Ocean from the International Space Station.NASA Earth must have experienced something exceptional 10 million years ago. Our study of rock samples from the floor of the Pacific Ocean has found ...
Troy Rawhiti-Connell reviews Kia Tupu Te Ara, a documentary chronicling the meteoric rise of Aotearoa’s groundbreaking metal band. “Two brothers attempt to storm the world of thrash metal with the Māori language, despite the fact they’re both still teenagers,” reads the synopsis of Kent Belcher’s documentary, Kia Tupu Te Ara. ...
Three freelance writers have been awarded grants to work on their ambitious journalism projects. In January, The Spinoff announced the Vince Geddes In-Depth Journalism Fund, supported by the Auckland Radio Trust (ART). The fund was established to provide much-needed financial and editorial support to talented freelance journalists, empowering them to ...
By Caleb Fotheringham, RNZ Pacific journalist in Avarua, Rarotonga China has confirmed details of its meeting with Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown for the first time, saying Beijing “stands ready to have an in-depth exchange” with the island nation. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told reporters during his ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Gillespie, Professor of Law, University of Waikato The Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ 2023 strategic foreign policy assessment, “Navigating a shifting world”, accurately foresaw a more uncertain and complex time ahead for New Zealand. But already it feels out of date. The ...
Our parliamentary throuple may be the longest running in the country, but cracks are showing. Gabi Lardies wonders if differing attachment styles may be to blame. Though no one ever anticipated happiness or roses in the three-way coalition, the relationship has wobbled on for over a year without breaking up. ...
As Mike White’s dark satire returns for a third season, we look back on some of The White Lotus’s most memorable characters. The White Lotus looks like a dream holiday, but this resort is anything but paradise. Set in an exclusive five star hotel resort, HBO’s award-winning series is a ...
Analysis: Would the last scientist to leave the building please turn out the lights? Because the confirmation of Robert F Kennedy Jr as US Secretary of Health suggests we’re heading back to the dark ages.It’s a sad irony that President John F Kennedy propelled America into the space age; now his nephew ...
The crux of my message today is that New Zealand needs to bend two curves. One is the long-term economic growth trajectory, which needs to bend upwards to expand our productive capacity and national real incomes. The second is our net public debt ...
Away from the tense scenes on the paepae, under a closely guarded canvas tent, te iwi Māori do the real work of Waitangi: talking. We were invited inside to listen. ...
The Jono & Ben star is self-aware and surrounded by extraordinary women in Three’s latest local comedy series. The first episode of Vince, written by and starring Jono Pryor, opens with intrigue, a loincloth and a man in the middle of some kind of breakdown. As the titular character, a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Barclay, ARC Future Fellow and Professor, Macquarie University Wikimedia “1,000 Letters and 15,000 Kisses” screamed the headline in an 1898 edition of the English newspaper, the Halifax Evening Courier. Harriet Ann McLean, a 32-year-old laundry maid, was suing Francis ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lena Wang, Associate Professor in Management, RMIT University Supplied/AppleTV+ The highly anticipated season two of Severance, released in weekly instalments, has continued to draw interest among viewers around the world. A gripping psychological thriller, this TV series provides an extreme ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Esterman, Professor of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, University of South Australia VLADIMIR VK/Shutterstock Conducting scientific studies is never easy, and there are often major disasters along the way. A researcher accidentally spills coffee on a keyboard, destroying the data. Or one ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jude MacArthur, Senior Lecturer, School of Critical Studies in Education, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Phil Walter/Getty Images Seven new charter schools are opening their gates, and ACT leader and Associate Education Minister David Seymour – the politician responsible for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Kilby, PhD candidate in Education, Monash University Charles Parker/ Pexels , CC BY If your young child asks “what’s the meaning of life?” you might laugh it off (how cute!) or freeze in panic (where do I even begin?). It’s ...
A sad loss of a true leader and visionary
Gutted.
Hooked form the moment I first played on an Apple IIE at school. Have spent last 27 years almost solely working on Apple kit and it still baffles me how they constantly managed to just get it right.
A true visionary.
Bugger. Started on Apple IIe, posting this from a 30in iMac.
Think different…
I’ve only ever had a single Mac, a PPC Mac mini from 2004 that I brought to suss out the irritating CSS differences in safari. It lived onwards attached to a TV as a media box afterwards.
However I have programmed various Mac OS’es from the early 90’s to OSX. The latter is a good system, and the previous ones sucked for a programmer because Apple never cleaned out old API’s.
These days I have a iphone and an ipad that I don’t bother programming for. I’d have to buy a Mac, mount three operating systems on it, and keep bouncing from tone to another. I’d be like an engineer across the way who has a 30″ Mac that he runs linux on because that is the current target platform. I don’t think it has gone into OSX since a few days after he got it. And he paid about three times the cost for the equivalent hardware because ‘soon’ he will have to write code for IOS… Needless to say my next tablet and/or cellphone won’t be apple, because open systems will have caught up.
But Steve Jobs was a hell of a marketer. And I do recommend his products to the technically challenged quite a lot.
.
perfect
Great looking products, very user friendly and excellent marketing – pity about the slave labour.
Thats capitalism for ya HS.
or the overpriced aspect
or the limited the freedom of iphone/ipad owners
or the way it treated its developers
or the way gave shit contacts and terms to developers in the app store
or the way it used/abused its monopoly on apple devices to cut everyone out of business
or the bullshit lawsuit it filed against samsung to stop competition
Apple was innovative and used great hardware.
Every other aspect of apple is a cancer to the IT industry.
Ooh a nasty little layer of “windoze” fans here it seems. Show some respect on this day you shitheads.
Apples hardware/software integration and intense industrial design kept them afloat.
Steve kept on truckn’ as one of the miniscule 1% that ever survive a pancreatic cancer diagnosis for more than a few weeks.
Yes Apple was subject to some of the usual behaviours of captialist companies, technology and research sometimes develop -almost- indendently of political systems but ultimately private ownership and shareholder control spoil the party.
I am typing on an alu imac with wireless magic mouse and I ain’t sending them back.
RIP Steve.
“Ooh a nasty little layer of “windoze” fans here it seems. Show some respect on this day you shitheads”
I’ve not said a single thing against Jobs, and personally i neither like nor dislike the person.
Apple the company is a different matter.
Also its called “Windows”, you show your immaturety by deliberately misspelling it. In fact i’m loath to reply to such comments, but still i want to set the record straght.
” am typing on an alu imac with wireless magic mouse and I ain’t sending them back.”
And we needed to know what you typed this post out with why?
Truly a mac fanatic at its finest.
“Every other aspect of apple is a cancer to the IT industry.”
And yet they’re the biggest IT company around (by share value). How many people do Apple employ?
I would say Apple were very beneficial to the “IT industry”.
I’d say that they were at one point but now that they’re descending into ridiculous patent lawsuits for something they themselves did (copied others) then I’m of the opinion that they’ve started to become a liability.
Yeah this IMO reflects Jobs decline and the lawyers rise, the man had game, shiploads of it and dwarfs those remaining so they revert to protecting what they have with the craetive drive gone.
Size is not a virtue.
As for how many they employ, at the cost of what other companies?
The iPhone was nice and all, and is basicly the foundation that apple made its revival on, but at the cost of dominating the smartphone market.
That has basicly seen Nokia get bumped off, and is now having serious troubles. How many thousands of workers got made redundant last month from nokia as a result?
As a whole, that wasn’t a bad thing (unless you were nokia). Smart phones evolved quickly and rapidly. So in that aspect i would agree that Apple was very beneficial to the “IT industry”.”
But that was the past. The iPhone hasn’t evolved anything, the iPad is just a larger iPhone. And all the while apple moves in ways that don’t progress the industry, but simply reinforces the control apple has over it, as well as taxing it.
Do you think having the samsung galaxy blocked from sale in all of europe is benefical?
Do you think it was fair that they got it blocked because of a primitive design law, localized only in Germany.
That the evidence produced was a design scribbled on the back of a napkin, written before the iphone was designed, that was basicly at best, an outline of any generic looking smart phone
That due to the badly thuoght out law in germany, that its a victory by default, and it needed to either be dismissed out of hand (illegal) or go to the appeal process to be rejected, with germany’s design copyright.
And that because germany is part of the EU, and has a design law that will always be upheld in court so long someone paid a filing fee (to the point where a napkin is permissable), the biggest threat to the iPhone was blocked in all of EU.
Or how about how anything that is ever done on the ios has to be authorized by apple?
Or how about how if you sell an app through their store, apple takes 30% of the cut, and then you are required to offer a refund without conditions. Should the customer take the refund, you refund the customer in full, but apple still keeps 30% of the cut!
Or how about if you sell any books or subscriptions via ios, you have to list it at the lowest price you sell the product anywhere at AND apple keeps 30% of the gross profit. (So you can’t simply raise the price to cover the apple tax and sell it cheaper to the customer elsewhere)
I can go on, and on, and on.
Apple wants to tax every software, charge an Apple service for all hardware, and prevent any other choice besides the Apple way. And Apple fanatics love them for it….
But please, go on and show me how Apple is being benifical to the world.
Frankly if i had to choose between nokia’s stupid phones, or an apple way of life, i’d happly stick with a $80 nokia.
I’d perfer a samsung tablet instead, but well thats not much of an option thanks to apple.
Gosh, who coulda predicted that this thread would descend into a mac vs pc flamewar?
+1
I managed to download the “phone story” app/game that slipped through the Apple censors for a couple of days, basically you have to stand over kids in the Congo with guns as they mine Coltin, then you move to the Chinese assembly factories where you have to catch suicide victims jumping from the building, then you’re an Apple store worker throwing product at the storming fans / consumers, the you have to sort for recycling in Bangladesh. Classic.
Strangely, the guy at the Mac shop seemed a bit bemused, even a little put out – like a Jehovah’s Witness might be as he’s ejected from your doorstep – when I proudly showed him my new game.
RIP Steve Jobs, thoughts go out to his friends and family.
“Apple was innovative and used great hardware.”
Yes… and also innovative in creating hardware with built-in obsolescence, e.g., the clickwheel iPod of which 25% broke down just outside the 12-month warranty.
RIP Mr Jobs.
The purists may think otherwise, but it was Apple’s creation of the ipod/iphone/ipad that will ultamitely lead to the decline of the PC in a lot of households. Which I think is probably a good thing.
In saying that, they are rather cumbersome to use IMO – the iPod you can only put music on it thru iTunes, and the iPhone you cannot use on prepay – which is the most cost effective form of paying for mobile device use.
Nope. You can load music on the devices using Banshee, Rythmbox, Amorak (and probably others) from linux with varying levels of success because of some elegant reverse engineering giving a common library across media programs. On windoze* you can use MediaMonkey (and probably others).
I hate iTunes with a passion as being one of the most inefficient and bloated programs I have ever had the misfortune to have to use. But it is the only program to that you can backup and upgrade IOS from.
* Note to QSF: I’ve been programming on windoze since about 1986 (and seriously since 1991) and that has always been what I called it. Everyone who knows the platforms does. The standing joke is that it doesn’t matter what hardware is available, Microsoft will always find a way to suck up the CPU cycles and available disk space unproductively. You don’t realize how much until you start programming across platforms and find superior platforms in terms of performance on far inferior hardware. Or even if you just drop the GUI shell on windows servers and find a really fast and pretty clean OS underneath.
Yep, I always liked to compare AmigaOS with Windows.
AmigaOS:
250k
True multi-tasking
Full windows
Nice, elegant and fast libraries
Windoze
Multiple megabytes
Multi-tasking was partial at best
Full windows
Bloated, slow libraries (it didn’t help that the early versions were just an addon to MS DOS)
The “success” of MS is another major market failure 🙁
* Note to QSF: …
Note to me, or to Bazar with a similar gravatar? I am a Windows/ze programmer (more recently .NET) and wouldn’t disagree with what you say! Although I do find .NET to be incredibly developer-performance-productive, which these days is the type of productivity I’m after.
Indeed. Sorry about that.
Dead server fadeout (just spent last few hours catching up on sleep)
“… and that has always been what I called it. Everyone who knows the platforms does.”
I haven’t heard anyone working in the industry refer to windows as “windoze” for many many years. Were talking references to windows 98 here.
I’ve even asked my friends, working from NZ and Australia, in a variety of professional programming rolls, and they all got laughs at me for calling it that, no one they know or worked with calls it windoze either.
Windoze is slang that died in the early 00’s… And if not, should have.
Yeah right. I think that windows 98 was about my 6th or 7th windoze version. There were many joys after that. The joys of monumentally broken ME, the dearly beloved vagaries of delibertately broken networking of “home” editions of XP and vista, the sluggishness that is vista etc.
For instance, I have vista business on my vaio z (it shipped with it in 2009) on dual boot with ubuntu. It takes about 4 times as long on bootup compared to ubuntu to get to the point I can edit code. And that wasn’t a under specced system.
And the other night I watched incredulously when it took more than an hour to shutdown after collecting a months worth of security updates – warning me that to touch it was dangerous as it powered off. On a laptop!!!
It only has a few programs installed since I brought it – kaspersky, slickedit, itunes, open office, and visual studio so it isn’t like it has done much to mess it up. Amazing how two and a half years of microsft updates can destroy a OS
I haven’t used windows 7 on any of my systems yet – just a few development boxes whilst testing code at work. Rocky and some others have reported that it works well. But for anything I actually need to work I will use a reliable OS that doesn’t slow down over time or have strange broken sections inserted for marketing reasons
I have to say that I liked windows 2000 and 2003 R2 server… Still have one of the latter running my last remaining asp server code and mdaemon. I had to move it at the start of the week because the motherboard went crispy when the UPS failed badly. Hasn’t been worth changing it to Linux in the 6 years it has been running.
You should try some other systems to pick up some perspective.
“I haven’t used windows 7 on any of my systems yet – just a few development boxes whilst testing code at work. Rocky and some others have reported that it works well. But for anything I actually need to work I will use a reliable OS that doesn’t slow down over time or have strange broken sections inserted for marketing reasons”
W7 is much much better than Vista. I always maintained that Vista was ok on brand-new properly specced hardware, and still hold to that. But W7 is still better on the same hardware.
As for the gradual slowdown, that only seems to affect XP.
land lines are faster than wireless ,then their will be overcrowded airwaves when every man and his dog has a mobile device as is happening in some areas of the world already.
I respect Steve as a CEO and visionary, but I hope it’s not churlish to say that I have long been uncomortable with some of Apple’s practices in recent years. Apple has pioneered a lot of good things, but recently this included very draconian restrictions in intellectual property and user rights and freedoms. There is also significant danger to the broader internet in the “walled garden” approach used by Apple. Some of its practices are looking rather familiar to those of another IT industry behemoth that once had a predilction for heavy-handed and anti-competitive behaviour.
In short, it seems to me that Apple may be on track to becoming the next (evil) Microsoft.
It’s sad, especially when you consider that what Apple did was pretty much a copy or adaptation of what someone else had done before.
Great link Draco. – Cheers.
“It’s sad, especially when you consider that what Apple did was pretty much a copy or adaptation of what someone else had done before.”
What isn’t?
Nothing which is why the IP laws of the world are an injustice.
windows icons and the mouse are probably the 2 unique inventions his company created
Xerox PARC facility created those. Apple nicked them.
Let me add: there is a real genius in seeing the possibility in others’ inventions that they cannot see themselves, and making it happen in a real, commercial, popular sense.
Xerox died. Apple thrived.
Born after me, died before me.
A couple of weeks ago it was Andy Whitfield (who died aged 39).
I get the distict impression the industrial economy is an out-of-control killing machine. Not only is it killing numerous non-human species and ‘killing’ the Earth but it is also killing those embedded in it who supposedly benefit from it.
Keep extracting the oil, driving the SUVs, flying the planes, burning the coal and lacing the food with chemicals. Judging by the epidemic of cancers we are now witnessing, the next generation will almost certainly have a much lower life expectancy than the current generation.
Are you saying the “industrial economy” killed Jobs?
Should have known it was a conspiracy.
Yes, we all lived so much longer when we roamed the jungles as hunter gatherers.
Another, probably unknown to most who read this, who passed away today was veteran civil rights campaigner Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth.
Also, Timeline: The lifework of the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth
And sure enough, Westboro is going to picket Steve Jobs’ funeral.
#MargiePhelps
Didn’t know Steve Jobs “taught sin”.
Busy guy.
Are those nutcases still around?
Ha! Phelps’ twitter message was sent via her iPhone!
LOL!!!!!
The economist has an obituary (and I do adore their obituaries above all others) it concludes with…
Oh yeah!
http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2011/10/obituary
One of the pluses of being a consumer of Job’s and is crew’s creations is that
Apple computers have, ’til recently, been niche appliances and therefore “attack” free.
So while Windoze was harbouring all the nasties in the world and the home to all viruses Apple was evolving and has effectively managed any intrusions and vulnerabilities (for nothing) though Norton et al market protection software but apparently this is to protect their Windoze clients who might receive communication from a fellow Windoze client via an Apple enthusiast.
Now that it is becoming the consumer platform of choice, newbies can enjoy the confidence of the Apple world that the erstwhile minority have enjoyed all along.
http://www.cad-comic.com/cad/20060513
Enough said, especially for someone who thinks “windoze” is a word
Extraordinary response Bazar to mine, but for your information…
Windoze
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Windoze
In what way was it extraordinary?
How many colds and diseases of any sort have users of Apple computers had to put up with…? It is a fact that there have been none. Seems to me (despite the “amusing” cartoon link) that more and more punters are enjoying that fact.
Reading some of the stuff he has written further up on the subject, I suspect that he is one of those people who believes in vapourware, that being able to demo a product means that it is in a releasable condition, and there is such a thing as the correct use of a language (definitely doesn’t want to read some of my library level with the quirky optimization code). Most importantly I suspect he believes PR has something to do with reality.
urbandictionary is not a creditable dictionary. Its useful for finding out what some obscure slang reference is.
but still, to further my point.
windoze: (assuming you take the most popular version)
Derogatory internet slang for Microsoft Windows.
Slang:
Slang is the use of informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker’s dialect or language
“Windoze” is not a word.
And i’m not even saying that as a grammar nazi. Its that people who use such references (this includes “shonkey”, “liarbour”, etc) are often so utterly biased that you get nothing but rubbish from them.
People will judge you based on how you write, you’d make a better impression and post if you simply tried.
…this subject been keeping you up at night? (3.03 am?).
http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Windoze.
Seems it’s become part of the vernacular – you know, like the word “mana”. It will eventually find its way into Websters and The Oxford.
(… better check my punctuation, cripes!)
Heh. Bazar may have been on some form of “no-doze”. I try to only mangle language Bazar with reference to three subjects–US imperialism, NZ torys and NZ police. Which admittedly gives me some scope.
RIP Steve anyway. Carol below is probably correct, but the reaction (to Job’s death) also shows the influence of commodity fetishism as Marx first described it. For fans, the luvvies at Public Address have quite a chat going.
the free dictionary? really, do you just drag up any link on the internet and consider it proof?
Its references are from an external dictionary devoted to computers, so includes slang references.
Its no better then citing urban dictionary. At least UD’s definition listing it as slang was accurate.
“It will eventually find its way into Websters and The Oxford.”
No, it never will.
And i’m done arguing this, you can continue using windoze for all i care, myself and others will as a result treat your posts, and yourself with contempt due someone unwilling to treat both sides of an issue with respect.
PS: Sometimes my job requires that i work late or early.
Now Bazar, if you were to read my initial post again, you will see that I have simply discussed a case for people adopting the Apple platform. Your hyper-sensitive reaction to the use of Windoze says more about you and your lack of ability to be balanced.
Interesting that you speak for others – “myself and others will … treat … contempt.” Work in a syndicate do you? Take it in turns to comment on blogs?
lol, out of the mouth of babes 🙂
” you will see that I have simply discussed a case for people adopting the Apple platform”
A case which is incredibly inaccurate and illogical.
You state that Apple is a far secure OS. Studies and experts have shown that’s just not the case, its simply that no one gives a shit over a niche market, so nobody bothers to attack it.
You state that Apple is more secure because of Norton. But Windows machines can come with Norton as well. Sounds like you are comparing Apple+Norton to Windows, instead of Windows+Norton.
Going back to this final statement you made:
“Now that it is becoming the consumer platform of choice, newbies can enjoy the confidence of the Apple world that the erstwhile minority have enjoyed all along.”
If apple was actually a major player in the PC market, malware developers would actually target the platform. And the platform does have significant security holes.
In fact its already starting to happen. I’ve already had a malware attempt to infect one of my clients mac machines. It failed only because of my security policy (they never had the power to become administrators)
So the reasons you discussed for why macs were better, was either ignorant or naive.
“Interesting that you speak for others – “myself and others will … treat … contempt.” Work in a syndicate do you? Take it in turns to comment on blogs?”
Arguing for the sake of arguing? Is that truly the best you can do?
Just read around a little and pay attention, i’m not the only person who’ll state they stopped reading/caring when someone starts spouting dribble like “windoze”, “liarbour”, “shonkey”.
As for some homework, should you wish to continue this thread, read
http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-10444561-245.html
Macs are generally considered more secure, not because they are more secure then windows, but because NO ONE GIVES A SHIT.
Save the capitals at the end Bazar.
Seems you wouldn’t meet Tolley’s standards in Reading comprehension.
Read my post again (if you can).
Nowhere did I claim that Nortons makes Apple more secure.
My assertion was that Nortons have become rich on the back of Windoze. They have virus software written for Apple to prevent Apple users passing Windoze Viruses on.
Apple used to be a niche market and therefore avoided malware. Because their systems are so strong the retards who write malware have to continue to attack PC’s.
Read your link.
Most of the comments are from producers or vendors of virus software. Nice one. They would say those things wouldn’t they…?
When is your Nortons update subscription due – another 12 months of worry free surfing?
I know of one iMac owner who runs Parallels on his machine, for the few PC specific programmes he has, and has to keep paying for the update of his Kaspersky for PC…. oh dear.
“Most of the comments are from producers or vendors of virus software.”
You mean from professional security experts, who know what they are talking about?
From experts who design security software and know the ins and outs of both systems?
Who else did you expect it from?
“Nowhere did I claim that Nortons makes Apple more secure.”
And yet you wrote:
>Apple was evolving and has effectively managed any intrusions and
>vulnerabilities (for nothing) though Norton et al market protection software
“They have virus software written for Apple to prevent Apple users passing Windoze Viruses on”
While that’s true, it also protects the mac from mac viruses, few as they are, and other exploits.
I’m also wondering why you’re raising the price of antivirus subcriptions.
You understand that if macs get popular, macs will need antivirus protection as well right?
And if you really want to get into a cost comparison. Its one that the PC will win effortlessly.
But please, continue believing that macs are inherently secure and cost effective. Just make sure to continue disregarding all evidence that disagrees with your perception.
It’s sad to see someone die so young, and Jobs did make some significant contributions to the IT world. However, I am getting a little fed up with the OTT eulogising about him in the media and online.
I’m not an Apple fan, or a Microsoft or windows one either. We live in a computerised world and I buy/use whatever fulfills my needs as cheaply and easily as possible. (never owned or used an i-phone, i-mac, i-pod, i-pad)
But, Jobs was an entrepreneurial capitalist businessman, out to corner and control as much of the market as he could. The whole i-marketing machine has created an aura around Apple products that encourages many people to spend and or desire to spend big bucks on gadgets many people probably don’t really need, using up world resources and often produced by underpaid workers.
I think Woz was really the original Apple techie innovator, and there have probably many others working for Apple since then that contributed to the products marketed by Jobs.
To me a leftie blog is not really the place to get into Jobs fan worship…. there are others more crucial to the left cause.
This is a post on Steve Jobs though, I wonder how many people had employment because of him?
Just because he is an American businessman doesnt make him bad.
He has changed the way world communicates, and everything I have read or heard about him is that he was a heck of a nice guy.
Lots of Chinese workers got $2/hr jobs because of him, as he moved all Apple manufacturing away from his own people. Grand.
Job’s was the consumate marketeer, wrapping up existing technologies in a user friendly manner and knowing not only what punters want but the real cunning was in knowing how to tap an existing resource and resell what already exists in another format.
The mac interface him and Wozniak stumbled across in Xerox PARC facility a.k.a STAR os.
By locking down music/video etc on his devices he could guarnatee the copyright owners there’d be no mass copying away from the apple ecosystem so they flocked in droves to kaching some more out of their bulging decades of music/film/tv archives….whilst Jobs kachinged off the many versions of iPod etc.
brilliant marketing meets technology and as Paul Macguiness (U2’s manager) said….all those people making more and more money out of our music….RIP Steve you were the right man at the right time and you will be missed.
For the record Jobs is an age contemporary of my generation, to close so its too young. Unfortunate.
I have no views on him at all, nor his products: again for the record I work with technology, its how the cash is made.
So lets have a look at the world when Steve and I were in primer one….cars electronics had no computers, they went really well. Egg beaters were (unless you were rich) handamatic…they beat eggs well. Cell phones did not interrupt you, you were lucky to have a land line. Consequently you made arrangements, and talked face to face. Life was not inflicted with emails, young lads had the pleasure of translating their scrawl to the lovelies at the typing pool. Or they wrote letters by hand. Waiting for the mail to arrive bringing the love letter from the remote loved one….recieving it, magic.
We move with greater speed, we are in touch, are we communicating any more effectively. My take is we have become slaves to the technology. It has taken away more jobs than it now produces, and it does not appear to make us more happy en masse. Except in the trinket department. Thorstein Veblen would have had a lovely time with Iphones and Macs.
Im kinda guessing technology has created more jobs.
Why?
More jobs for whom, where, and paid how much?
Not in the US. 46M on food stamps.
Bored maybe you are right, but being able to “Facetime” with family around the world is brilliant.
And you will know that it used to cost Stlg 1.00 per minute to phone home and when you did your parents spent most of the time telling you that the call was costing you a fortune and wanted you to hang up.
(By the way Windoze users, sorry but not sure what you are lumbered with – probably Skype and all its pixilation and freezes. Facetime is an Apple application – it’s reliable and works (simply) and you don’t get all those spammers.)