8 hours ago, evildictait​or wrote

*snip*

So are you saying that you're disappointed that Microsoft didn't cripple your payroll partner's app by remotely disabling Java, or are you just saying that you wish your payroll partners didn't depend on Java?

If Apple stopped playing these kind of shenanigans, it would be easier for enterprise to rely on them in a corporate environment. This kind of activity is disappointing for people who want to see more Macs in the workplace. Seeing Apple punishing IT departments that choose Macs as part of their fleet by disabling enterprise-critical apps on those Macs without consulting them first makes it even less likely that an IT department will move away from the Windows monoculture in the office any time soon.

You miss the point....the problem is enterprise-sucking apps that rely on Java...I'm saying that Java needs to die and quickly...it's a POS malware vector, regardless of OS used in the enterprise. The Windows monoculture is destined to change anyway...iPads and Macbooks have already infiltrated our environment, which would have been unthinkable 3 yrs ago.

2 hours ago, evildictait​or wrote

*snip*

It's definitely a good idea for your payroll partners to move past Java and into the 21st Century, but that's a decision that your payroll partners should be making on their own terms. It's not for Apple to make that decision for them.

Uh....they don't interface with Apple in our enterprise....the FUBAR is with the Java implementation they require for our thousands of Win 7 Enterprise installs.

3 hours ago, evildictait​or wrote

*snip*

On your home Windows7 machine it's also trivial to download the Java JRE and plugin and as simple as pie to enable or disable Java.

What you're talking about isn't a problem with Windows7, but rather a problem with your payroll partner.

This discussion is not whether Java is easy to use, install and upgrade, but rather whether it is acceptable to remotely kill your payroll partner without asking whether they need that Java first.

I think it is more about making an intelligent strategic decision to deep-six Java, period; and move past the 1990s.

This also makes it easy to wean off that POS Google Maps (which has always been flawed in my experience).

2 hours ago, Ray7 wrote

*snip*

How do you find Intego VirusBariier? Any good?

 

Not free, but it works well for me in OSX Lion....good interface and they have a useful security blog as well:

http://www.intego.com/mac-security-blog/

They also have a useful iPhone scanner app.

23 hours ago, AndyC wrote

@brich: I'm not sure if they've out and out said it, but they've certainly spent many years heavily implying that viruses were something only Windows users needed to worry about. And as a result they've now got a platform ripe for exploitation, since the vast majority of users won't have any kind of antivirus solution at all.

Historically, Apple was on sound factual footing with their marketing implications. Those of us who have been running Intego VirusBarrier for a year or more have been innoculated against Flashback and its many variants. I think any user who is not brain dead needs to pay attention to any malware threat that doesn't require authentication to install. Apple should come up with a solution as slick as MSE...that would be a useful step now.

4 hours ago,Ray7 wrote

… and that was the easiest OS installation I have ever seen. I thought the download only thing was a bad idea (actually, itis a bad idea) but if you have the bandwidth there's no real reason to wait for the thumb drive. I hit the 'purchase' button on the app store and then went to see Transformers3. To be honest, it would have had a more entertaining two+ hours watching Lion download but it was sequel number 2 so what was I expecting?

It was ready when I got back, so I made the recovery disk and carried on with the install. About half an hour later, with no input from me, it was ready to go.

Well, it's worth the £20 for the upgrade, but I'm not really convinced by the reverse-scrolling, and launchpad makes absolutely no sense at all on a desktop machine. It's kind of odd watching Apple make the same mistakes that Microsoft has been making all these years, only in reverse: MS thinks that a desktop can be squeezed into a phone; Apple believes that a mobile UI can be stretched to the desktop. I don't think either of them are right.

And speaking of 'stretching', Apple has finally allowed windows to be resized from any side. 

The question of recovery is one that has had the community more than a little nervous. Without a disk (yes, you can create one, but Apple doesn't like to talk about it) how are you supposed to get your system back if the worst happens. Well, it seems that OSX now has a recovery partition from which it can reinstall itself. Great, as long as the hard disk doesn't fail (probably less likely now that Apple is getting rid of hard disks across its line). You can also restore from a Time Machine backup, assuming that your Time Capsule device hasn't failed too (more likely because these things seem to fail after about eighteen months).

The new Macbook Air and Mac Mini have another clever trick: they can reinstall OSX from Apple's servers onto a blank hard drive. Impressive, and it shows that Apple means to do away with disk-based media (the new Mac mini doesn't even have an DVD drive!). 

In Jobs's mind, everything should be downloaded. Great, but not everyone has unlimited broadband usage, or lives next to an Apple store.

 

I have never relied on Time Machine. However, a bootable backup clone to external FW 800 using SuperDuper has been a totally dependable protection against hard drive failure, and this remains a fine alternative for Lion.

11 hours ago,W3bbo wrote

I'll be celebrating our independence from America

To quote the immortal Stan Freberg from his 'United States of America' comedy album, the British surrendered at Yorktown, and the next day, filed for foreign aid...

6 hours ago, Bass wrote

Yes but future versions of Flash will support WebM. YouTube is moving to WebM and Firefox, Opera and Chrome don't support H.264 video. Google is the leader of Internet video and I am sure many other sites will follow YouTube's lead once they convert to WebM.

Arguably, Google is not the leader of quality internet video, so it will remain to be seen what the major platforms: MS, Apple, do about it. For users, I'm sure many won't care either way.

31 minutes ago, battlebottle wrote

@exoteric: It's certainly not clear Google's move is good for everyone. At best Google may be doing a comparable amount of damage to the web as much as they are doing good.

It's almost like Google is trying to fix what isn't broken. For those of us who use devices and view excellent quality video sources in h.264, there isn't much that WebM would bring to the table. The tribal wisdom of an alleged 'free' or 'open' web is fast becoming a pipe dream. I have no objection to paying something to receive, in turn, a quality product. For me, this is not a platform religion...simply a desire to use high quality tools.....enjoyment is not to be underrated, imho

42 minutes ago, Bass wrote

I'm not sure why you guys are so worried about YouTube. Google has already started to reencode all of YouTube to WebM. The new version of Flash will support WebM as well. Google removing H.264 from their web browser pretty much shows that they are serious about WebM as the future of Internet video.

Google may be serious about WebM, but the h.264 codec train as already left the station....pretty much ubiquitous and fine quality on all kinds of devices. It was much easier to simply trash Chrome this morning.....than worry about whether Google is having a hissy fit about h.264.

They also have a YouTube channel with 3 minute teasers in high def that I've downloaded and transcoded to my iPhone 4. When I share these with friends (y-jack two sets of headphones), they are blown away by the quality.

Dovella said:

Bla, bla bla bla bla,,, blah blah

 

 

.............................. Apple

 

#FAIL!!!

 

Gorging on Ballmer koolaid, eh?

stevo_ said:

intelman said:

*snip*

Clearly you haven't seen the market over the last .. uh,,, year.. tons of really great looking systems coming out now.. hell, if the market wants pretty expensive things then thats what they'll get.. it isn't like good design is hard.. for hp and others they just hire any one of the gazillions of design firms that can do good design to do the work for them.. it isn't like apple are all expert designers.. most of them are just as mindless corp f-tards as hp are etc.

 

The only difference with apple is their marketing was aggressive (not up for making any friends along the way), and they went for the 'cool kid' thing.. but whilst thats let them get their 'foot in the door' that won't make them the gods.. esp considering the competition reaction is so easy to do.. (re shiney things).

That 'shiny' mantra is stale and actually, it's pretty much bs at this point in time, and marketing only gets a company so far...they have to back it up with good stuff. Apple gear (Macs and iPhones, etc.) are good stuff, and their ecosysytem works for avg usersmand power users alike. That said, the market is always changing, so the future is up for grabs.

Minh said:

brich said:

*snip*

I know about the hardware power-on key... But isn't there a power-on on the keyboard itself? Since I'm not using an Apple KB, I have no idea where it is.

The comment about made in China refers to another comment where VB Man implied that Macs are better than PCs because PCs are made in Taiwan... Taiwan probably has a better environmental record than any mfgr in mainland China...

BTW, I ordered the cheapest Mac mini I could, which came w/ only 1 GB. Apple wanted $150 for the 4GB upgrade... I bought 4 GB for $65 instead from a 3rd party... Next project, opening up the Mac mini... haha!

Minh said:

VB Man said:

*snip*

Speaking as a new Mac owner (a day of work on my new Mac Mini) I think I qualify to weigh in (haha!)

I see a lot of "Designed by Apple in California"... and that immediately tells me "Not made by Apple in California"... yep! "Assembled" in China... whatever that means... I'm not sure how that would compare to a Taiwanese manufacturer. I've heard that the mainland Chinese mfgs tend to have horrible environmental records.

And guess what? My included mini-DVI to DVI can't be used to plug into my DVI monitor :-O Different DVI standards... Gotta shell out another $20 at the local brick & mortar shop...

Other than that, the my KMV setup works pretty well... Just recognize the USB mouse & KB... for the life of me though, I have no idea where the "power on" key is... And why is Control+Left doesn't go to the last word?

I can say this though... OSX > Vista.... except for the only fact that OSX doesn't run Windows app... I know you can use VMWare stuff...

I really love the modern UI scheme that OSX adopted. It uses element animations so well that it does beat the proverbial pants off Vista...

Edit:
Gah... Although, OSX makes you appreciate TrueType so much though... You never know what you got til it's gone

foreachdev said:

brich said:

*snip*

Lol I think in terms of expeirence not whether its a Mac or PC. People want a good experience whether it is a Mac or Pc. This is similair to how Political pundits try to sell you on the Liberal agenda or Conservative agenda like there are only really two choices.

There is definately a Apple Tax if you ever looked at thier prices. Apple sells HARDWARE not the software. Thats why they are always trying to make thing smaller, thinner, with a better screen.  Microsoft takes a less hands on approach and lets the vendors have more of a say with hardware.

Apples potential is limited. They can't be all things to everyone and scale with their strategy. But thats never been their goal. They are a high end solution for egocentrics and those who do not look at the price tag.

golfZulu said:

I hate macs.

They make a decent gadget but macs are basically door-stops.

That "mac attitude" the company tries so hard to convey, the hipster/fashionista come-on... and using the term "experience" for firing up one of those bloated, over-designed, over-priced relics to update your Word document is exactly what I'm talking about. The marketing to the hipster wannabe, the avant garde-a-clue crowd, the guys who's writing "a novel" on his laptop but never quite gets around to actually writing anything, the dude who's bored - like, totally - by all that un-cool, tie-wearing business stuff and can't be bothered...

Well, the other 99% of the world could definitely be bothered and cares very much about business and getting things done - fast and accurately. And that's what the PC and the Windows OS - first the client, and now more and more the server - are built for. So news flash:  A vast majority prefer the Windows "experience."

And until mac releases their "Super Wowie Thought Control" UI, that's the only "experience" that matters:  performance, apps that just work without gunked out expensive emulation or lousy (lack of) web features.

But the image machine kept going for these guys. All the "We're cool!" "We're all about fun!"

Let's take the "Fun!" part.  In 1993, the "We're cool!" people put out the worst computer game of all time - "Myst." That same year, the Windows/PC crowd put out "Doom" and games were never the same again.  That's true creativity, not mac hype. PC's are the common, ramshackle computer of the people.  You can start from scratch and build your own, limited only by your imagination. That's creativity. A mac is a shiny locked box oozing pretension.

Mac hype IS the mac "experience."

This "experience" this guy on top is panting about basically comes down to this.  It's a marketing strategy designed to convince people that you somehow "define yourself" by the technology brands you choose. If you seriously believe you need to pick a cell phone that "says something about your personality", relax.

You don't have a personality. 

It's always cracked me up the way the mac people, from day one, did nothing but rave about their user interface... so innovative, so artistic, etc., as compared to the ugly, plodding Windows interface. It was always that UI they would never shut-up about.

Because it sure couldn't be talk about their development tools or their (what is a) server products. I've been a developer for seven years, about equally distributed between Windows and Solaris, and the true innovation from Microsoft's Dev Tools and Server divisions during that time has put both Sun and Apple to shame.

The only thing deader than Java is King Tut. Or mac server gigs... no, that's not right. "Death" implies "Life" at a certain point.

So... when it comes time for the most extensive re-design ever of the most "innovative" UI ever what do they do?

Rip-off the Windows 95 design like everybody else did - oooh, but they put in those purdy mac colors. But they weren't through. No... not  if they were going to save their glorious OS business.

NeXT, they had to rip out everything under the glass and replace it with the OS of Steve Job's (latest) failed business enterprise, an OS based on tons of '80's BSD C code. It was then crowned as an "object-oriented" OS and received the usual mac (Job's) hype. Their "object-oriented" OS went nowhere, possibly because the grand sounding title was nothing but porting the BSD C over to C++! Wow!

And this is the junk mac sells you as "innovation" and "creativity"... ripping off the UI design from one company and the OS from another. And to top it all, these guys couldn't even come up with an original name for their company. They had to steal that too.

There's your Experience.