Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: The not-so-Evil Empire

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  • Russell Brown, in reply to Andre Alessi,

    The answer to that is more complicated than simply being a comparison between the technical restrictions of the two OSs. There’s a human element in getting an apps into the Apple store that both reduces the possibility of malware ending up on an iPhone *and* makes getting an app to market a more frustrating and slower for many developers.

    That's what I was getting at. Although it's amusing seeing Paul's comment above yours saying that won't work ...

    It does seem to work better than not having any human oversight. And designing in security won't necessarily fix social malignancy.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Rich of Observationz, in reply to Peter Graham,

    There are plenty of competitors so I don't see this being a problem

    Assuming you don't mind your laptop being slow, having the design values of a Christchurch 19-year-old's Subaru, more stickers than my record box and spooling the fan up to 737 levels every time you give it any work to do, then yes, there are competitors.

    However, non-Apple hardware / software is going the same way and what Apple do paves a path for others. If Microsoft were the first mover on a walled garden, they'd get nailed. Being second, not so much.

    So why haven’t we seen hundreds of thousands of iOS users infected with malware, the way Android users have been?

    Out of interest, has there ever been malware distributed through yum/aptitude/macports ?

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report Reply

  • Morgan Nichol, in reply to Russell Brown,

    switching to Chrome as my default browser has considerably improved matters

    I just wish I could set the newly released Chrome for iOS as default browser on my iPad. Safari is such a piece of shit by comparison. Chrome everywhere is great, device sync works brilliantly well.

    Auckland CBD • Since Nov 2006 • 314 posts Report Reply

  • Gareth Ward, in reply to Morgan Nichol,

    I just wish I could set the newly released Chrome for iOS as default browser on my iPad.

    Apparently there's a jailbreak way to do this...

    Auckland, NZ • Since Mar 2007 • 1727 posts Report Reply

  • Morgan Nichol, in reply to Gareth Ward,

    I've heard that. I've never had any desire to jailbreak, but maybe it's time to do it now.

    Auckland CBD • Since Nov 2006 • 314 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Rich of Observationz,

    Assuming you don’t mind your laptop being slow, having the design values of a Christchurch 19-year-old’s Subaru, more stickers than my record box and spooling the fan up to 737 levels every time you give it any work to do, then yes, there are competitors.

    Yep, there are tons of options, including really cheap ones. But for some weird reason, the two best-selling laptops on Amazon right now are the 13” Macbook Pro and the Macbook Air. There are two more Macbooks in the top 10. If you count iPads, Apple will be the world’s biggest notebook vendor in 2012, breezing past HP with 60 million sales.

    Guess everyone’s really stupid. Or maybe they’re just really good devices.

    I fully accept that Macs don’t meet your particular needs. But they work really well for ordinary folks.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Simon Grigg, in reply to Russell Brown,

    I fully accept that Macs don’t meet your particular needs. But they work really well for ordinary folks.

    And loads of folks who do kinda professional things with them. Every graphic artist I work with and pretty much every product designer I know uses Macs. I'd much rather use Photoshop and Dreamweaver on this MacBook Pro (with an added screen) than the PC box upstairs running Win 7.

    I hate Apple's closed architecture and I'm throughly uncomfortable with what I see as a corporate culture as nasty as any of the other hardware suppliers, but they really do make much better computers than just about anyone else (although the continually dying airport - needs a reboot each time - on this machine is doing my head in today. Happened before but self-resolved so hopefully...).

    PS: Much of NZ (nobody else) seems to be offline to Asia at the moment - I'm getting this via a proxy.

    Just another klong... • Since Nov 2006 • 3284 posts Report Reply

  • Chris Waugh, in reply to Simon Grigg,

    PS: Much of NZ (nobody else) seems to be offline to Asia at the moment – I’m getting this via a proxy.

    No problems in northeast Asia.

    Wellington • Since Jan 2007 • 2401 posts Report Reply

  • Simon Grigg, in reply to Chris Waugh,

    Must be SEA. No idea why.

    Edit: maybe somebody in NZ said something mean about Lee Kwan Yu or the Thai king????

    My blog was blocked by an algorithm here last year for a day or two.

    Just another klong... • Since Nov 2006 • 3284 posts Report Reply

  • Bart Janssen, in reply to Don Christie,

    Not in the way Apple is

    Some data to support this claim would be nice

    From my experience, limited, all technology companies patent heavily and when awarded patents defend them vigorously. That is the nature of the business. To accuse one company in particular is unreasonable.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 4461 posts Report Reply

  • Rich of Observationz, in reply to Russell Brown,

    Russell, I was talking about non-Apple devices, like HP, Dell and ASUS. Like I said upthread, I personally run a MacBook Pro for the reasons stated.

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report Reply

  • Peter Graham, in reply to Paul Campbell,

    And don't insist on taking a cut on everything that I do - sell your hardware for enough that you make a profit and be done with it

    Apple claim to make very little money from the app store.

    Assuming you don't mind your laptop being slow, having the design values of a Christchurch 19-year-old's Subaru, more stickers than my record box and spooling the fan up to 737 levels every time you give it any work to do, then yes, there are competitors.

    I've never bought a laptop or really used one, but Windows laptops do seem to be mostly terrible.

    Christchurch • Since Jul 2011 • 39 posts Report Reply

  • kiwicmc,

    A couple of comments: Firstly those password nags from Apple should be taken notice of. My iTunes account was drained of funds recently, having been protected by a not entirely stupid password, but not the best either. Apple did refund the money after a bit of whinging from me. What that does say to me is that bad folk are targeting iTunes accounts with brute force attacks - fortunately I didn't have a credit card attached (and won't have in the future either).

    One thing Apple have disappointed me with is the non-upgradeable (or repairable) Retina Pro Mac book, essentially this beautiful piece of kit is a throw away after 4 years...

    Auckland, New Zealand • Since May 2008 • 88 posts Report Reply

  • Simon Grigg, in reply to kiwicmc,

    One thing Apple have disappointed me with is the non-upgradeable (or repairable) Retina Pro Mac book, essentially this beautiful piece of kit is a throw away after 4 years...

    And the demise of the 17". I need every part of my screen plus some.

    Just another klong... • Since Nov 2006 • 3284 posts Report Reply

  • Kiwiiano,

    I just struck an example of Apple's Evil Empire, I went to iTunes music looking for the Andy Griffith Show theme and struck pay dirt! "American Originals" which includes not only the TV theme but several other fondly recollected tracks from the distant past. But Holy Hell ..... NZ$34 for the album.... I don't even pay that much for DVDs, ever!
    Hmmmm let's try Amazon.... Veery interesting.... US$9.99 for the CD or MP3 download of the same album. Even allowing for exchange rate differences, that's a helluva difference, and it can't even be attributed to the better quality of OSX or Apple hardware.

    ChCh • Since Nov 2006 • 46 posts Report Reply

  • Kiwiiano, in reply to kiwicmc,

    Retina MBP a throwaway after 4 years? Judging by the MacBooks still going strong in their ex-factory state, I would expect the RMBP to see 2020 out easily, unless we see HUGE strides in the OS that renders them 'under-achievers'.

    On the other hand, I've seen several 3-4 year old Acers or HPs that are staggering.....

    ChCh • Since Nov 2006 • 46 posts Report Reply

  • kiwicmc, in reply to Kiwiiano,

    I base this on my 4 year old MBP, I've upgraded the memory from 4 to 8GB after a couple of years, and recently the hard disk to a 512GB SSD. Both these upgrades (non- Apple h/w incidentally) have meant that I can still use it for my fairly heavy duty needs. The construction of the MBP has meant that it is mostly in good condition, unlike the Dell XPS that literally disintegrated after 3 years.

    If you think you'll be happy with Sandy Bridge CPU, 8GB and a 512GB SSD by 2020, then I've got a 8 year old G4 I'll sell you.

    Actually I wouldn't sell you that, I love that thing...

    Auckland, New Zealand • Since May 2008 • 88 posts Report Reply

  • Rich of Observationz, in reply to Kiwiiano,

    Well, 2008 MacBooks had 2G of RAM and 250G max of disk, which would be a bit poor today.

    10 years ago, the Powerbook G4 packed 512M of RAM and a 60M hard disk.

    I have a 2003 unbranded PC under my desk, but it's had everything swapped except the case.

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Kiwiiano,

    Even allowing for exchange rate differences, that’s a helluva difference, and it can’t even be attributed to the better quality of OSX or Apple hardware.

    Or to Apple. That's the local rights-holder making a killing. $34 for an iTunes version of a collection of old TV themes is absurd.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to kiwicmc,

    A couple of comments: Firstly those password nags from Apple should be taken notice of.

    I possibly didn't phrase that very clearly. It wouldn't accept my old (pretty lame) password but didn't make it clear why. It was quite sensible to force everyone to fix their passwords, but it took a bit of working out that that's what was happening.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Rich of Observationz,

    Russell, I was talking about non-Apple devices, like HP, Dell and ASUS. Like I said upthread, I personally run a MacBook Pro for the reasons stated.

    Ah. Gotcha now. I was surprised by the crack about design :-)

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Harry Musgrave,

    My gripe with apple? That I had to install iTunes on my home PC in order to load music onto my daughter's iPod. Every other music player I have acquired over the years has happily accepted files from the original music management software I set up when I first moved into mp3.

    Since Jul 2009 • 28 posts Report Reply

  • kiwicmc,

    Here's another couple - in app purchases being enabled by default - that's evil. Dodgy iTunes song titles and artists with similar names to popular tween crap pop songs fooling dumb dads with superior musical taste... The 12 year old still hasn't forgiven me for paying for a Bruno Mars Piano Tribute

    Auckland, New Zealand • Since May 2008 • 88 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie, in reply to Simon Grigg,

    Every graphic artist I work with and pretty much every product designer I know uses Macs. I'd much rather use Photoshop and Dreamweaver on this MacBook Pro (with an added screen) than the PC box upstairs running Win 7

    While I can't speak for Dreamweaver, I'd seriously question whether the Mac OS adds anything substantial to running Photoshop. With Photoshop CS4 the difference between dreary old Win XP and my 10.6.8 Mac is pretty much cosmetic, and that's largely in the background.

    Even after all these years I suspect that the design community's apparent Mac bias is a legacy thing from that brief heyday when Adobe was a Mac-only developer.

    Also there are a few nice(ish) Photoshop plugins that the last I looked still aren't available for OS X.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • Simon Grigg, in reply to Joe Wylie,

    Even after all these years I suspect that the design community's apparent Mac bias is a legacy thing from that brief heyday when Adobe was a Mac-only developer.

    The one thing that stands out with Photoshop is the instantness of everything. I use PS on both a PC (CS5) and a Mac (CS6) and the waiting time on the MS box just kills me - so mostly I don't. What is instant or close to it on the Apple machine grinds forever on the PC - and has a nasty habit of just crashing after a wait that seems to overwhelm it.

    The Mac has Lion (and I wish I'd not - Snow Leopard is a much more stable OS graphically) and the PC has Win 7.

    The other thing I prefer is the print quality. Same printer but the Mac's output is way more precise for some reason.

    With Dreamweaver I like the screen render - what you get in DW's Live option on the Mac seems to be a reliably better refection of what you see when you look at it in the browser. As well it seems to FTP large files far more quickly than the windows version.

    I also much prefer the windows management flexibility in both on the Mac targeted versions.

    TBH I rarely use the Windows version of either these days.

    Just another klong... • Since Nov 2006 • 3284 posts Report Reply

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