|
|
|
Mac vs. PC ads may be coming to an end
|
|
The following comments relate to this news article:
article published on 8 April, 2010
According to Justin Long, the "Mac" in Apple's popular Mac vs. PC commercials, the ad campaign may be close to its conclusion, ending one of the more effective ad series in history.
Long said that he heard from "PC" John Hodgman that Apple is planning to move on.
"You know, I think they might be done," said Long about the future of the campaign. "In fact, I heard from John, I think ... [ read the full article ]
Please read the original article before posting your comments.
|
Member
1 product review
|
10. April 2010 @ 18:58 |
Link to this message
|
Originally posted by Jemborg:
Heheh Gneiss1, it's not the first thread I've seen you mention your grandaughter. She sounds like a real character and clever too... a chip of the old block I assume? :)
People say she uses my vocabulary. I really have to mention her, however, because 'Foxglove' is down, and I'm using her little 'Aslan'. (We found Aslan in a dumpster with a fine, running Windows XP Home Edition: the first thing I did was burn a network install from Foxglove, then zero Aslan and install Debian Linux.
Debian has games in which she adds a pair of numbers, and the Penguin shoots them down, &c. One is a computer model of an operable canal lock, another a controllable town water cycle, from rain, tributary, & river to cleaning sewage before putting it back in a river. Several chess problems teach that game. Debian Jr keeps adding to these with updates that surprise her.
However, she is confused. I've been teaching her about how information is represented in a computer, how it's stored, how it flows - in her computer and around the World. She's taking 'Computer Science' in 1st grade now. They're teaching her which buttons to press on Microsoft applications to turn photos into a sideshow. She's embarrassed, I think, that I can't help her with such 'real' computer knowledge. GNOME's controls are trivial.
Originally posted by Jemborg:
But those ads were in general misleading.
Well, maybe; but isn't it their job to lie to us? My wife actually liked them more than I. The ones I saw reminded me of the black silhouette of snow covered hills in the dark, with two little lamps slowly getting larger, half buried in snow. Then: 'Have you ever wondered how the snowplow driver gets to work? Volkswagen.' Loved it! (To me, VWs turned like a sow on a wet, clay bank.) Those elegant Apple commercials had to have been expensive; and they may have done their job by now.
Originally posted by Jemborg:
Macs were a hardware company back in the old desktop publishing heydays but nowadays it's all about designing an image. The ease of making a Hackintosh testify to that... twice the power at half the price.
Apple optimized its virtual memory in 10.4. As you can tell, we're not much concerned about power around here. Flexibility and synergy are cheaper. (Our camcorder doubles as a tape backup.) I have an original mini-computer's floppy disk the size of a dish towel; and I'd have Foxglove run it if I could find a drive.
Foxglove is a G4 Quicksilver tower. This is because it's the last computer that can run MacOS 9 games, as well as MacOSX and GNU/Linux. It's just strong enough to burn DVDs. I rather like the PPC architecture & OpenGL GPU. Reminds me of vector processors on supercomputers, and SGI workstations. (However, I'll have to compile my binaries on an Intel to distribute them.) Apple's implementation of USB is an embarrassment, though.
Apple doesn't sell software for the Hackintosh; so it's still a hardware company. Jobs, in exile, 'took' BSD 4.3 Unix for his NeXt, & saw the value of OpenGL when starting Pixar. His work is beautiful, and MacOSX was written to compliment new Apples. I appreciate his use of international standards, like ICC's (not USB's). 'Final Cut Pro' has been used to edit major motion films, so that ranks as software for software's sake. (GIMP, for that matter, has been used in Hollywood to restore old movies.)
It might seem ironic that Apple emphasizes security, when Unix was never designed with security in mind. More ironic is that Unix was designed to be ported to any computer (as Linux is), yet Apple sells MacOSX for Apples only. However, one of the problems I'm having diagnosing 'Foxglove' is identifying the exact architecture. Apple wisely has many suppliers of parts, and the machines are actually upgraded week by week, in tiny increments. Amazed me. Recompiling kernels probably keeps them busy.
(Computer consulting was my alternate profession, and diagnosis my specialty. However, my tools are all dispersed, so I'm using my wife's kitchen utensils to repair the Quicksilver. I believe I know the problem; but the solution eludes me - another irony.)
The above might explain my admiration of Apple. This is the first year I've been able to see the 'Masters' golf tournament in 30" VHS! It may be a religious experience for many others as well, so I'll end my compliments here. The GNU/Linux is generally for my work; the MacOSX for the family. :-)
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 10. April 2010 @ 19:18
|
|
Advertisement
|
|
|
|
Senior Member
|
11. April 2010 @ 01:57 |
Link to this message
|
@ Gneiss1,
"Well, maybe; but isn't it their job to lie to us?..."
Sigh... You're in North Cal right? I often get the impression watching and listening to Americans that they see their life through a prism of their consumer products more than any other country. Kind of like how over 50% of them don't accept the reality of evolution through natural selection, crud can have a special reverence for them. Like banging on about childhood and Oreos, Starbucks = good coffee or equating the traditions of sport with Gatorade.
You see yourself as savvy, yet you come from a country where advertising execs have for decades unashamedly stated, "we need to develop a relationship with the consumer from the earliest age possible". In other words, "it doesn't actually matter what we flog, as long a we, in general, program in a life-long attribute of suggestiveness in defenceless children so they swallow whatever we deem as attractive".
I can see that you are obviously frugal Gneiss1, I am genuinely not trying to be personal just generalising. This situation applies in my country too but we just don't seem to describe our lives in terms of the products we are into anywhere near as much.
You might say because of this environment we are more hip to the sales hype... I guess there is some truth to this but does it hold up in the long run? I don't think so. It's via competition that tune folks into the hype... however, we are talking about an environment that bombards citizens incessantly. And some of those copy writers are pretty subtle.
So back to Apple Macs, who offer a more personal experience than PCs. Want to put a face to Apple? Try Steve Jobs, say his name again and again, along with the word genius... better than that decentralised faceless "boring" PC crowd with their plethora of confusing choices; what kind of competition is that? Lifestyle can be bought after all. A guru of advertising was in town the other day, I heard him being interviewed on the radio. He discussed how his mob actually placed subjects in a PET scanner to deeply examine responses to various items. He said that typically the areas of the brain that are involved with religious awe would light up when an Apple Mac consumer was asked to think about their products.
To my mind Apple is not really a hardware company any more. They may not sell software for home-sourced home-built Hackintoshes... but, sure as all get out, their OS and software run on them fine. So I find your argument here immaterial.... they are a consumer lifestyle company nowadays... first and foremost.
But what can a Mac do that a PC can't? Well, nothing really... in fact, a lot less. They can't, in reality, even keep their software exclusive. Sure, they make some quality stuff, but if you (not you personally obviously) need to pay that much to be babied, humoured and "fibbed" to, then go for it... suckers.
And if you're comfortable or even enjoy being continuously bombarded with hype... then lucky you. I'm the kind of guy who has the Adblock Plus addon installed in FireFox, who likes the mute button handy... who actually prefers manufacturers who rely on the quality of their stuff to sell it, not outright over-the-top exaggeration or lying.
Surely you can find a few old G4s lying around in someone's backyard Gneiss1 rather than repair that one? I know of a couple here... but I'm far away in a land where decent public health care is just plain normal and not part of a hysterical "end-time" and demise of capitalism.
Regards.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 11. April 2010 @ 02:07
|
Senior Member
4 product reviews
|
11. April 2010 @ 16:57 |
Link to this message
|
|
i have a G5 with a burnt out motherboard, im sure the G4's are different in someway, as to be incompatible.
|
Member
1 product review
|
11. April 2010 @ 18:58 |
Link to this message
|
Originally posted by Jemborg:
@ Gneiss1,
"Well, maybe; but isn't it their job to lie to us?..."
Sigh... You're in North Cal right? I often get the impression watching and listening to Americans that they see their life through a prism of their consumer products more than any other country. Kind of like how over 50% of them don't accept the reality of evolution through natural selection, crud can have a special reverence for them. Like banging on about childhood and Oreos, Starbucks = good coffee or equating the traditions of sport with Gatorade.
You see yourself as savvy, yet you come from a country where advertising execs have for decades unashamedly stated, "we need to develop a relationship with the consumer from the earliest age possible". In other words, "it doesn't actually matter what we flog, as long a we, in general, program in a life-long attribute of suggestiveness in defenceless children so they swallow whatever we deem as attractive".
I can see that you are obviously frugal Gneiss1, I am genuinely not trying to be personal just generalising. This situation applies in my country too but we just don't seem to describe our lives in terms of the products we are into anywhere near as much.
You might say because of this environment we are more hip to the sales hype... I guess there is some truth to this but does it hold up in the long run? I don't think so. It's via competition that tune folks into the hype... however, we are talking about an environment that bombards citizens incessantly. And some of those copy writers are pretty subtle.
So back to Apple Macs, who offer a more personal experience than PCs. Want to put a face to Apple? Try Steve Jobs, say his name again and again, along with the word genius... better than that decentralised faceless "boring" PC crowd with their plethora of confusing choices; what kind of competition is that? Lifestyle can be bought after all. A guru of advertising was in town the other day, I heard him being interviewed on the radio. He discussed how his mob actually placed subjects in a PET scanner to deeply examine responses to various items. He said that typically the areas of the brain that are involved with religious awe would light up when an Apple Mac consumer was asked to think about their products.
To my mind Apple is not really a hardware company any more. They may not sell software for home-sourced home-built Hackintoshes... but, sure as all get out, their OS and software run on them fine. So I find your argument here immaterial.... they are a consumer lifestyle company nowadays... first and foremost.
But what can a Mac do that a PC can't? Well, nothing really... in fact, a lot less. They can't, in reality, even keep their software exclusive. Sure, they make some quality stuff, but if you (not you personally obviously) need to pay that much to be babied, humoured and "fibbed" to, then go for it... suckers.
And if you're comfortable or even enjoy being continuously bombarded with hype... then lucky you. I'm the kind of guy who has the Adblock Plus addon installed in FireFox, who likes the mute button handy... who actually prefers manufacturers who rely on the quality of their stuff to sell it, not outright over-the-top exaggeration or lying.
Surely you can find a few old G4s lying around in someone's backyard Gneiss1 rather than repair that one? I know of a couple here... but I'm far away in a land where decent public health care is just plain normal and not part of a hysterical "end-time" and demise of capitalism.
Regards.
Wow!
Finding all my (= American) prejudices from one post! That is irony.
I do watch television to preview new channels & shows for my granddaughter (and yesterday, to view the Augusta National Golf Course, which I'd never visited. (I'm an expert on the Teletubbies!) Now, because she has to see commercials on the 'Discovery Channel', we have a game in which she finds the 'trick' hidden in the commercial to try and get one to buy a product. My wife tells me she's very good at it, though she sees only about an hour a day.
Earlier I wrote that I chose Unix and international standards; so I've stuck with MacOSX 10.3 for the family, just because I'm familiar with the /etc files. (Later I'll have to learn Apple's elegant substitute.) Microsoft likes to modify international standards slightly and stick its name on them. (Hard for GNU/Linux to keep up.) However, my avoidance of MS dates long before Linux: it's for ethical reasons, but I believe beginners should find computers intuitive: I'm very fond of the CDE (KDE is a clone), and I find OOUI intuitive: Apple & GNU/Linux offer these.
It may be possible to do everything an Apple can with Windows, but at what cost? At some point I'm going to need to copy the contents of my damaged disk correctly. In less than a minute I can download a repairing, block-by-block copy application onto a GNU/Linux computer. Linux reads & fixes HFS+ formats, and possibly some Windows formats. At the moment, it's easier to recompile an application from Sourceforge for a Mac than Windows, but I keep seeing more binary Windows applications there. In the future, it may be possible to download a free application for Windows, one you need to use only once.
There is a question perhaphs you can answer. I noticed the early Jobs Macs , Sony's PS3, and the Nintendo Wii all use the PPC processor with vector extensions, and MacOSX 10.2 introduced some 3D graphics in OpenGL, which have been growing with versions. Would you gamers have 3D as good as they are now if Apple hadn't incorporated a 3D compositor? Maybe, but I worked with blindingly fast 3D on a little purple SG computer running Unix over 20 years ago, when MS was still selling DOG. Took them a while.
But, all I wrote was a lie: I bought a US$200 used Quicksilver just because I think Steve Jobs is a moral saint; and I drooled over all those PC vs Mac commercials! ...and I avoid Microsoft for ... well, whatever reasons you said.
Capitalist, consuming Colonist
'Greed is Good'
PS. I almost never buy a replacement, I eventually repair the broken one. The repair will require a lot of time, given the parts I have; but it's possible. While basking in my lack of health insurance for a month, someone 'lifted' all the Mac OS discs and recorded over my backup tapes, which didn't help. :-)
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 12. April 2010 @ 19:09
|
Member
1 product review
|
12. April 2010 @ 20:24 |
Link to this message
|
Originally posted by DXR88:
i have a G5 with a burnt out motherboard, im sure the G4's are different in someway, as to be incompatible.
My apology for suggesting that the G5 doesn't run MacOS 9. (I'll blame that on migraine aura.-) I think it was 10.5 that stopped supporting MacOS 9 (for the childrens' games my wife buys at an ASPCA thrift shop). Want to sell a broken G5?
I originally needed a tower computer to run Unix and burn DVDs. Because my health & current knowledge wasn't up to building one, I just chose a used Apple Quicksilver G4, for engineers had already optimized it to run Unix (MacOSX 10.3); and, I could test free applications on a MacOSX before offering them to the family. (Those early G5 towers that had been part of a distributed supercomputer appealed to me very much, I confess: romantic.)
You're right, the G5's architecture no doubt makes it incompatible with that OS on the optical discs sold with a G4 machine. However, I bought a G4 install disc directly from Apple, to teach & play with my granddaughter by daily video chat, when she lives with in-laws in Europe. Because I'm downgrading that computer, the disc could likely build a 10.4 on most any earlier G3, G4, or G5, both legally & technically. If I had it: my wife assures me our cat took all the Apple discs.
However, your OS may not have been irreparably damaged, which would be nice! (I need iPhoto 6, which allows me to build optical discs of photos, videos, & audio recordings for the family's other iPhotos.) My iLife install disc, purchased from Apple, is currently also in Fang's possession.
My wife has been urging me to just get a fancy computer that does what I need. So, if you're really not keen on repairing the G5, you're welcome to send a message. My granddaughter's little 'Aslan' can repair most HFS+ disk problems. :-)
Bruce
|
Senior Member
4 product reviews
|
13. April 2010 @ 19:44 |
Link to this message
|
Originally posted by Gneiss1:
Originally posted by DXR88:
i have a G5 with a burnt out motherboard, im sure the G4's are different in someway, as to be incompatible.
My apology for suggesting that the G5 doesn't run MacOS 9. (I'll blame that on migraine aura.-) I think it was 10.5 that stopped supporting MacOS 9 (for the childrens' games my wife buys at an ASPCA thrift shop). Want to sell a broken G5?
I originally needed a tower computer to run Unix and burn DVDs. Because my health & current knowledge wasn't up to building one, I just chose a used Apple Quicksilver G4, for engineers had already optimized it to run Unix (MacOSX 10.3); and, I could test free applications on a MacOSX before offering them to the family. (Those early G5 towers that had been part of a distributed supercomputer appealed to me very much, I confess: romantic.)
You're right, the G5's architecture no doubt makes it incompatible with that OS on the optical discs sold with a G4 machine. However, I bought a G4 install disc directly from Apple, to teach & play with my granddaughter by daily video chat, when she lives with in-laws in Europe. Because I'm downgrading that computer, the disc could likely build a 10.4 on most any earlier G3, G4, or G5, both legally & technically. If I had it: my wife assures me our cat took all the Apple discs.
However, your OS may not have been irreparably damaged, which would be nice! (I need iPhoto 6, which allows me to build optical discs of photos, videos, & audio recordings for the family's other iPhotos.) My iLife install disc, purchased from Apple, is currently also in Fang's possession.
My wife has been urging me to just get a fancy computer that does what I need. So, if you're really not keen on repairing the G5, you're welcome to send a message. My granddaughter's little 'Aslan' can repair most HFS+ disk problems. :-)
Bruce
I don't mind letting it go its in the attic someware with my old ass tandy, i don't think the HDD is in it as it was a hand me down from my (Step)Brother. every thing else is in it, i was planning on using the case because it just looked cool but learned its not a Standard ATX. (its is the same form factor Just the screw holes are in different points) But by what your saying you need the HDD.
ill look but i don't remember seeing it. Give me a day or too then come hound me at my homepage
|
|
scifenefics
Account closed as per user's own request
|
23. April 2010 @ 09:09 |
Link to this message
|
Honestly I dont care about any operating system, I just want to use the software on top.
I have had problems not been able to get software for mac, and spent to much time focusing on the operating system in linux.
Windows 7 works with everything I have needed, so i use it.
I dont care which is best, if apple or linux do better I will switch, then probably back again lol
|
Senior Member
|
25. April 2010 @ 13:59 |
Link to this message
|
@Gneiss1... you choose to take offence after I explicitly made it clear a number of times that I did not want you to, that I was not talking about you... if you want to wear that hat then so be it.
Remember, it was you that decided to dissect one of my posts that was not specifically directed at you after the first paragraph (and I even complimented you then!).
To me you are just living in the past. I find it bizarre you think that Windoze is unintuitive (including the new Win7), especially compared to Linux. My 70 year mother-in-law has no real problems with it.
I pretty well cover the rest of your arguments in this thread here: http://www.afterdawn.com/news/article.cf..._of_suing_apple
But I'll reiterate this... It doesn't matter what Apple have done in the past, it what's happening now that counts. (Btw, the Xbox 360 also uses a PPC cpu.)
And I'll leave you with this story: At my Fiftieth not long ago a couple of my friends chipped in and bought me a Q9400 CPU. Another friend, who happens to be a MacHead remarked, "so I see your going with old technology there Jem". The joker was, of course, referring to the Core i7 CPUs. To which I replied, "Richard, how do you upgrade a Mac?". He shrugged his shoulders. "Buy a new one", I replied. :P
NB: I'm an Aussie so that makes me a "colonialist" too then. :D
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 25. April 2010 @ 14:22
|
Newbie
|
2. May 2010 @ 01:32 |
Link to this message
|
Though I'm ready for Linux era. I love watching Apple vs PC ad series.
|
|
Advertisement
|
|
|
|
