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From: Pascal Costanza on 31 May 2010 10:36 On 31/05/2010 14:48, Tamas K Papp wrote: > On Mon, 31 May 2010 11:55:54 +0100, Tim Bradshaw wrote: > >> You don't get to spend half your life making it work on whatever flaky >> random crapness using an x86 system involves this week. Strangely, I >> don't miss that. > > That's interesting to hear. I got a new Dell laptop in September. > Put the latest Ubuntu on a USB stick, and installed it in less than 30 > minutes. Everything was working fine for the first time (and I had to > admit, this surprised me quite a bit, I have been using Linux for a > long time and it wasn't always this nice). > >> Because it is a commercial system there is a refreshing absence of >> whining ideologues[1], though you tend to get a different sort of >> annoying people[2] to make up for it. >> >> Apple seem no more and no less unpleasant than other companies that size >> (though the recent flash thing gives me pause there). > > I had an Apple laptop around 2004-2005. It was still the Power CPU > series. I bought it in the US, and tried using OS X for about 5 > months, putting up with every annoying thing (standard Unix and X11 > tools were tolerated, but not nicely supported, Emacs was either > quirky X11 or alpha Aquamacs, etc). Then I went to Europe for a few > weeks, and tried to watch a DVD I rented there. I was told that I can > change the region setting - but only a total of 5 times. I got very > angry with Apple then: I paid big bucks for this laptop, and they are > telling me what I can do with it? Next day, I started running good > old Debian on it. But then it was just an overpriced PC with a > different CPU architecture :-) I got rid of it in a year or so. The restriction with regard to changing region codes is forced by the movie industry, Apple has very little choice in that area. For some machines, there exists open source solutions to circumvent this. But usually, all DVD players are required to have this restriction... Pascal -- My website: http://p-cos.net Common Lisp Document Repository: http://cdr.eurolisp.org Closer to MOP & ContextL: http://common-lisp.net/project/closer/
From: Pascal J. Bourguignon on 31 May 2010 13:26 Pascal Costanza <pc(a)p-cos.net> writes: > On 31/05/2010 14:48, Tamas K Papp wrote: >> On Mon, 31 May 2010 11:55:54 +0100, Tim Bradshaw wrote: >> >>> You don't get to spend half your life making it work on whatever flaky >>> random crapness using an x86 system involves this week. Strangely, I >>> don't miss that. >> >> That's interesting to hear. I got a new Dell laptop in September. >> Put the latest Ubuntu on a USB stick, and installed it in less than 30 >> minutes. Everything was working fine for the first time (and I had to >> admit, this surprised me quite a bit, I have been using Linux for a >> long time and it wasn't always this nice). >> >>> Because it is a commercial system there is a refreshing absence of >>> whining ideologues[1], though you tend to get a different sort of >>> annoying people[2] to make up for it. >>> >>> Apple seem no more and no less unpleasant than other companies that size >>> (though the recent flash thing gives me pause there). >> >> I had an Apple laptop around 2004-2005. It was still the Power CPU >> series. I bought it in the US, and tried using OS X for about 5 >> months, putting up with every annoying thing (standard Unix and X11 >> tools were tolerated, but not nicely supported, Emacs was either >> quirky X11 or alpha Aquamacs, etc). Then I went to Europe for a few >> weeks, and tried to watch a DVD I rented there. I was told that I can >> change the region setting - but only a total of 5 times. I got very >> angry with Apple then: I paid big bucks for this laptop, and they are >> telling me what I can do with it? Next day, I started running good >> old Debian on it. But then it was just an overpriced PC with a >> different CPU architecture :-) I got rid of it in a year or so. > > The restriction with regard to changing region codes is forced by the > movie industry, Apple has very little choice in that area. For some > machines, there exists open source solutions to circumvent this. > > But usually, all DVD players are required to have this restriction... Hence my boycot of DVD (and following support standards, assuming they do the same, if they don't I don't care, they lose, since), now I just buy more hard disks to do my backups and archives. Now, perhaps I'm the only one vs. 5999999999 others, boycotting DVD, etc, but it's a question of principle. -- __Pascal Bourguignon__ http://www.informatimago.com/
From: Tim Bradshaw on 31 May 2010 14:19 On 2010-05-31 13:48:42 +0100, Tamas K Papp said: > I got very > angry with Apple then: I paid big bucks for this laptop, and they are > telling me what I can do with it? Actually, I think the DVD region people are saying what you can do with it.
From: Tamas K Papp on 31 May 2010 14:34 On Mon, 31 May 2010 19:19:17 +0100, Tim Bradshaw wrote: > On 2010-05-31 13:48:42 +0100, Tamas K Papp said: > >> I got very >> angry with Apple then: I paid big bucks for this laptop, and they are >> telling me what I can do with it? > > Actually, I think the DVD region people are saying what you can do with > it. My impression is that Apple is chums with these people, so even if they were asked to do it, I doubt that they protested too loudly. But my Apple had a lot of silly DRM stuff going on anyway. We can of course try to blame that on the companies which provided the content, but I still think that Apple just loves lock-in and complete control. Anyhow, I am not claiming that Apple is more evil than the average software company of a similar size/market power. I think that above a certain size, the lure of this kind of control becomes irresistible. Consequently, for anything more complicated than a microwave oven, I prefer companies that sell hardware, and let me deal with the software part. Actually, I should thank Apple for the lesson this episode gave me. I have a relative who is a pro photographer and consequently a hardcore Mac fan, so I have always heard high praise about Macs. In 2004, I was dazzled by the shiny design, and reading Paul Grahams essay [1] finally made me drink the Kool-Aid. Now I consider myself immunized. Best, Tamas [1] http://www.paulgraham.com/mac.html
From: RG on 31 May 2010 14:40
In article <86hphaFolmU1(a)mid.individual.net>, Tamas K Papp <tkpapp(a)gmail.com> wrote: > On Mon, 31 May 2010 11:55:54 +0100, Tim Bradshaw wrote: > > > You don't get to spend half your life making it work on whatever flaky > > random crapness using an x86 system involves this week. Strangely, I > > don't miss that. > > That's interesting to hear. I got a new Dell laptop in September. > Put the latest Ubuntu on a USB stick, and installed it in less than 30 > minutes. Everything was working fine for the first time (and I had to > admit, this surprised me quite a bit, I have been using Linux for a > long time and it wasn't always this nice). > > > Because it is a commercial system there is a refreshing absence of > > whining ideologues[1], though you tend to get a different sort of > > annoying people[2] to make up for it. > > > > Apple seem no more and no less unpleasant than other companies that size > > (though the recent flash thing gives me pause there). > > I had an Apple laptop around 2004-2005. It was still the Power CPU > series. I bought it in the US, and tried using OS X for about 5 > months, putting up with every annoying thing (standard Unix and X11 > tools were tolerated, but not nicely supported, Emacs was either > quirky X11 or alpha Aquamacs, etc). Then I went to Europe for a few > weeks, and tried to watch a DVD I rented there. I was told that I can > change the region setting - but only a total of 5 times. I got very > angry with Apple then: I paid big bucks for this laptop, and they are > telling me what I can do with it? Next day, I started running good > old Debian on it. That seems like it's a bit of overkill. http://www.videolan.org/vlc/ rg |