|
|
Home
|
|
The News -
Escaping the RDF
|
|
Saturday, 10 May 2008 |
|
Microsoft released Windows XP SP3 to consumers this week, resulting in an expected rash of reported issues with the update (just as we expect issues with significant updates to Mac OS X and Linux). According to eFluxMedia, "the up-date causes a series of problems, from random blue-screens to continuous reboots". It's disappointing that Microsoft has managed to release a Service Pack with such significant issues, but encouraging that they are not ignoring consumers but actively attempting to resolve the issues. |
|
The News -
Escaping the RDF
|
|
Saturday, 10 May 2008 |
|
In spite of its recent efforts to become more "green," it seems that Apple just can't catch a break from the environmentalists. As reported in InformationWeek on May 9, the non-profit organization Climate Counts gave Apple 11 points out of a possible 100 in its response to environmental issues. The next closest company to Apple in the survey was Dell, which got 49 points to Apple's 11. Climate Counts said that Apple was "a choice to avoid for the climate conscious consumer," a rating which flies in the face of the image Apple tries to give to the media. |
|
The News -
OS X Sucks
|
|
Tuesday, 08 April 2008 |
|
 MacTell.com, an extremely pro-Apple web site, published an article today by Adam Fisher-Cox entitled "Apple: Fix AirDisk Backups. Now. " Adam says it best, so I'm quoting him:
"...many AEBS owners were ecstatic over the Time Capsule-like ability to do wireless backups. But as I personally found out when the Disk refused to mount on the fifth backup, this solution is not fully baked and Apple recently announced that it is not supported at all."
He goes on to say: "A word to Apple: you need to get this fixed. It is already overdue, and you have many seething customers over this issue. While it may result in some loss in Time Capsule sales, those who want a seamless integrated backup will still buy Time Capsule, and you will retain your current Airport Extreme customers. You’re working on borrowed time here." I feel for Adam Fisher-Cox, having lost his backup data to a feature Apple made available but hadn't fully fleshed out yet. There are few things worse than having the foresight to backup your data, only to be unable to access it when you need it. But as we've said before here, we think Apple's developers may be stretched too thinly, working on too many products, being pushed to meet arbitrary deadlines established by Apple's executives.
|
|
The News -
iPhones Suck
|
|
Tuesday, 08 April 2008 |
|
 From Slashdot :
"iPhone developers enrolled and active in the iPhone OS 2.0 beta program got a nasty surprise today when Apple inadvertently 'expired' the recently released version. While for a beta program this typically would not be an issue, Apple has yet to release a new deployment of the iPhone OS. So developers like myself who use their iPhone for both actual phone and iPod use are bricked. Of note, this particular expired build is just 11 days old."
I'm beginning to wonder if Apple's development staff is spread too thinly these days. After all, they're having to write code for the iPhone, iPod, Macintosh, Windows, Apple TV, and contributing to the various open source efforts supplying components to Mac OS X. Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of respect for what Apple's developers have accomplished. But these kinds of "beginner errors" shouldn't be happening with a released product, especially a flagship product like the iPhone. I would expect it, however, if developers were pushed to their limits, stretched too thinly, and held to arbitrary product release dates. |
|
The News -
iPhones Suck
|
|
Monday, 07 April 2008 |
|
According to analysts at iSuppli, iPhone owners spend less time talking on their iPhones than other cell phone owners, and more time listening to music or browsing the web. This might be considered a good thing, but iPhone owners are, according to a separate study, paying 24% more per month for their cell phone than they were before getting the iPhone. For more information, see this article on the Register. |
|
|
The News -
OS X Sucks
|
|
Tuesday, 01 April 2008 |
Last year's CanSecWest security conference introduced a "Pwn to Own" challenge in which security experts could win an Apple MacBook if they were able to breach its security. As that contest continued, the requirements for breaching the device's security were relaxed gradually until the security was in fact breached. This year, to make for a "fairer" challenge, the contest organizers used three different laptops: A MacBook Air running the latest version of Leopard with all available patches, a Windows Vista laptop with all current patches, and a Sony Vaio laptop with all available Ubuntu Linux patches.
Researcher Charlie Miller of Independent Security Evaluators (ISE) won the challenge on March 27 by breaking the security on the MacBook Air in under 2 minutes. When asked, he said that he chose to attack the Macintosh for one simple reason, "It was the easiest one of the three. We wanted to spend as little time as possible coming up with an exploit, so we picked Mac OS X."
The $5,000 second prize was won a day or two later by Shane Macaulay, a consultant with Security Objectives, breaking into the Fujitsu laptop running Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate SP1, exploiting a bug in Adobe's Flash Player.
The Ubuntu Linux laptop, it should be noted, remained unclaimed and unbroken at the end of the contest.
Once again, we here at The Mac Sucks point out that OS X security isn't as air-tight as Apple would have you believe. Worse, Apple relies on older versions of many of its open source components, which contain known and documented security flaws. That's what the security researchers mean by OS X being "the easiest one of the three" to break. |
|
|
The News -
iPhones Suck
|
|
Tuesday, 01 April 2008 |
|
Wall Street Journal blogger Ben Worthen published an article on March 31, 2008, entitled "Why IT Hates the iPhone". In it, Worthen gives several reasons why the business Information Technology community is generally against having the Apple iPhone as a corporate standard device, in spite of Apple's recent changes to make the phone more appealing to the business community: - The iPhone is less secure than business-oriented smart phones such as those from Nokia Corp. or Research in Motion Ltd's Blackberry.
- There is no way to force employees to protect their iPhones with passwords.
- Sensitive corporate data can't be erased from the phones remotely if the device is stolen or lost.
- The iPhone doesn't support software many businesses use.
- The iPhone only works on one carrier's network.
- Custom corporate applications would, based on the current development model, have to be deployed to the iPhone through Apple's iTunes framework, which would place potentially sensitive code under Apple's control (rather than the creator's).
While these are valid and compelling reasons for an IT organization to resist adoption of the iPhone, Worthen suggests that businesses may be forced to adopt the iPhone in some fashion as users continue to acquire them on their personal or business cellphone accounts. |
|
|
The News -
Escaping the RDF
|
|
Tuesday, 01 April 2008 |
 According to an article by Gregg Keizer of Computerworld, corporate users of Apple's Leopard operating system are five times more likely to say they are "very satisfied" with the OS than business users of Windows Vista. (I remember my days as a Mac fanatic, when I'd have given Apple excellent ratings for everything except price, no matter what my experience was, hoping it would encourage others to try the Mac...) While this shows that Mac users are still very enamored with Apple and its products, the same survey indicated that only 7% of corporate respondents expected to be buying Apple laptops in the next 90 days. This is the same result the researchers got back in November, indicating no net change in businesses' intent to purchase Apple laptops, in spite of declining desire to purchase Dell, HP, Lenovo, or Toshiba laptops.
Arguably, Apple has an opportunity here to capture market share in the business world. Unfortunately, it's unlikely that they will be able to really seize that opportunity. While corporations might be frustrated with their current laptop supplier, switching to the MacBook isn't a financially or technologically sound decision for most. Why?
In a "single boot" scenario, switching from a Windows laptop to a Mac laptop means re-purchasing your applications, converting core business software from Windows to OS X, re-training support technicians, re-training users, and a host of other costs that make a switch to Mac OS X very costly compared with a swap (for example) from Dell to Sony laptops running Windows. Even if you argue (and I wouldn't, based on my experience) that long-term support costs for a Mac might be less, this short-term hit in the pocketbook isn't something many businesses will accept.
A "dual boot" scenario, where a company switches to Macintosh hardware with both Windows and OS X available to users through Boot Camp or Parallels or a similar solution, only further complicates matters. Now, corporate help desks will need to be trained in both OS X and Windows, familiar with how to bring Apple hardware up with the Windows operating system, etc. Companies will be purchasing two operating systems per laptop, where previously they purchased only one. And there is still no guarantee that Windows on Apple hardware will support all the software and peripherals the company wants to use. All this does is add more for help desks to support, more to purchase, and more cost to an already expensive laptop.
Note that none of this discussion has taken into account the fact that Apple hardware is often more expensive and less full featured than comparable equipment from Dell, HP, or others. Factor that into the mix and the Mac proposition looks even less appealing.
It would be tough to sell to most corporate executives in the current economic climate that they should pay more for their laptop hardware, port core internal applications to a new OS, acquire OS X support training, and potentially buy multiple application and OS licenses per user, in exchange for any perceived benefit to using a Macintosh computer and Mac OS X. This is probably why Apple isn't seeing any increased business interest in its products in the coming quarter.
Where Apple could potentially capture a significant share of corporate laptop sales is selling a single-boot version of its MacBook which runs only Microsoft Windows XP or Vista. If such a device shipped directly from Apple, with the full support of Apple's retail stores and phone technicians, the company might be able to leverage its perceived higher quality technical support, "cooler" hardware designs, etc., without forcing corporations to adopt OS X in any form. However, this would in essence be an admission by Apple that OS X isn't suitable for everyone, and is therefore a highly unlikely move from the company.
|
|
|
The News -
iPods and iTunes Suck
|
|
Tuesday, 01 April 2008 |
 According to The Register, Apple may be dropping prices on the iPhone and iPod Touch again soon. The Register quotes the website 9to5Mac as having received word that price cuts are on the way. The reduction is expected to be $100 off the current price for models in both iPhone and iPod lines. The 8GB iPod Touch is expected to drop from the product line as well. If you're planning to buy one it might be worth waiting a while longer. |
|
|
The News -
Apple Ads Suck
|
|
Saturday, 15 March 2008 |
|
According to an article in the March 10, 2008, Columbus Dispatch, "Fans of PC geek would enjoy shutting down Mac slacker ". The article suggests that by casting the more likable John Hodgman as the PC and giving him all the laugh lines, it has turned him into the anti-hero of the commercials, and the underdog that people sympathize with. As a result, people dislike Justin Long and (by association) Apple and the Mac. An interesting read, to be sure. |
|
|
The News -
Escaping the RDF
|
|
Tuesday, 12 February 2008 |
Apple Gouging Russia?Apple is apparently in no hurry to build a huge Macintosh fanbase in Russia. According to the article "Apple gives Russian fans the pip" from Russia Today, Apple held its first Russian media conference to introduce its products officially there, but lists prices that are 59% higher than those in the USA.
Russian Apple resellers blame the higher prices on import taxes, laws, etc. Apple itself, as usual, declined to comment.
Alex Patsay, a Mac user, is reported to have said "The whole press conference went on about movie rentals, Apple TV, iPod Touch update, but iTunes doesn't exist in Russia. It makes all this news useless. The iPod Touch and MacBook Air here don't have Russian localisation. That's illegal. It's just a matter of time before someone files a claim with consumer protection organisation RosPotrebNadzor."
|
|
|
The News -
Escaping the RDF
|
|
Friday, 08 February 2008 |
I think I owe Microsoft an apology, albeit a small one. After replacing a faulty motherboard in my homebrew Windows Vista PC, I've seen excellent performance, rock-solid stability, and "almost no" problems.
After troubleshooting a power-on self-test (POST) problem on my Vista PC, I found that my motherboard was the source of the problems I was having, not the RAM. I swapped the Asus Striker Extreme motherboard out for an MSI P35 Platinum. The system starts smoothly each time, runs reliably, and in general behaves like every PC I've owned since the introduction of Windows 2000.
Earlier, I said I have "almost no" problems. That's true. There's one nagging issue that still bothers me. I have a 7-port USB 2.0 hub connected to the machine, and 6 USB hard disk drives connected to that hub. When the hub is connected at power-on, the BIOS loses contact with the IDE hard drive the system boots from. As a result, the system refuses to startup. I plan to put more effort into troubleshooting the "why" of this, but the solution is to disconnect the hub before turning the system power on. After that, it boots fine and behaves very reliably. Why this happens is anyone's guess. My suspicion is that the BIOS has room for 8-10 drives in the boot sequence parameter list. With 6 internal drives and 6 external USB drives, the first drive in the list (the lone IDE hard drive) gets bumped off the list of possible boot drives. At least that's my theory. If the 6 USB drives are disconnected at startup, I see the IDE hard drive in the list. If they're connected at startup, other drives are listed but the IDE hard drive isn't. (Another possibility is that my IDE drive is starting to fail.)
In any case, this installation of Vista Ultimate has been rock-solid apart from the issue above. No crashes. No error messages. No blue screens. Just solid, reliable use. Performance is also reasonable on the reconfiguration. |
|
|
The News -
Mac Hardware Sucks
|
|
Friday, 08 February 2008 |
We've told you for a while now that Apple's penchant for secrecy is hurting the company, but it hurts the company's most loyal customers a lot more. Because Apple seems to be terrified that anyone will find out about a product before it's officially announced, they don't tend to do a lot of beta testing under real-world conditions. As a result, early customers of any Apple hardware or software product pay the price in the form of products that misbehave, break, or don't work right from the start. The MacBook Air is yet-another example.
According to ComputerWorld's Gregg Keizer, Apple already acknowledges a number of issues in the MacBook Air, Apple's new super-thin laptop. Issues Apple has acknowledged include:
- If you leave the laptop closed and use an external monitor, throughput on wireless networks in the 2.4GHz band may be reduced.
- When multiple Bluetooth devices are connected to the MacBook Air, AirPort performance is reduced.
- Certain routers refuse to support Apple's "Remote Disc" functionality.
- MacBook Air users who want to run Windows on their shiny new laptops must use an External USB optical drive. The Remote Disc functionality cannot be used for this.
- Some headphones can't be used with the MacBook Air because of the way the port was mounted in the case.
- As part of the crackdown in Mac OS X piracy we forecast for 2008, Apple says that "The Mac OS X 10.5 installation media that shipped with your MacBook Air is designed for use on this computer only and not intended for any other computer. The installer prevents this software from being installed on other Macintosh computers."
The router issue, where it involves third-party routers, could be excused. The Remote Disc limitation is fair enough. But the other issues seem like something Apple could have easily determined in a beta testing environment. That assumes Apple would trust its customers enough to let them have pre-release hardware. The possibility of porcine aviation seems less remote. |
|
|
The News -
OS X Sucks
|
|
Friday, 08 February 2008 |
According to ComputerWorld's Gregg Keizer and a company called Net Applications, Mac OS X is gaining market share. The methodology by which Net Applications arrives at this conclusion is fairly straightforward. Net Applications monitors hits to a number of web sites, attempting to determine the operating system of the computers visiting those sites. They assume that the percentage of hits claiming to be from Windows, Mac, or Linux represents the percentage of those computers in the general population. There are several flaws to this approach:
- It considers only Internet-connected computers. There may be millions more computers in the world not connected to the Internet but definitely in use. One example would be "point of sale" (POS) terminals in stores.
- The use of a proxy could skew the results. In many homes and organizations, a single computer is connected to the Internet, with its Internet connection shared by many other computers on the same network. Only the proxy's platform would be visible to Net Applications.
- It considers only those computers which visit a given web site. If we looked at the percentage of hits coming at this web site, the number of Macs would be higher than for some of the other sites on the Internet. Net Applications' numbers are only as good as the mix of sites it's monitoring.
- The primary method for determining a visitor's operating system from the server end is to look at the client string given by the browser to the server. This can be faked. Further, the use of Internet Explorer on Linux with the WINE compatibility software could make Windows appear to have a larger segment of the market than in fact is the case.
Note: We're not saying OS X isn't gaining market share. It might be. We're not saying OS X is losing market share. All we're saying is that the numbers should be taken with a grain of salt and not taken as fact. |
|
|
The News -
OS X Sucks
|
|
Friday, 08 February 2008 |
Most Apple Fanboys and apple itself would have you believe that Macintosh hardware and Mac OS X are nearly perfect. From the commercials, you are told that Windows PCs crash constantly, that they have problems working with the latest cameras and peripherals, that they catch viruses constantly, and generally are just a real pain to maintain. Macs, on the other hand, run all the software you could ever want, never crash, don't need to be rebooted, get along with whatever peripheral you want to plug into them, etc. Both of those perceptions are distortions of reality. A properly maintained Windows PC, whether running the antiquated Windows 98 or the latest revision of Windows Vista, is generally quite stable, reliable, virus-free, and well-performing. A properly maintained Mac is the same. (And yes, a properly maintained Linux PC is all those things, too.) But no operating system is perfect, including OS X. If you think OS X is a panacea and that everyone who uses it loves and worships it, the February 6, 2008, entry in "The Lame Leopard" blog might be an eye opener for you. Here are some of the author's comments about the MacBook Pro and OS X Leopard (10.5):
- "I've been using Apple computers since 1980 and Apple laptops since '97 or so when I had a PowerBook 150. I've had many iBook models, PowerBooks in all shapes and sizes and now I have the last model of the MacBook Pro 15". The Late 2007 'Santa Rosa' model. In all these years I have never owned an Apple laptop that was so incredibly badly supported by Apple's own operating system. The MacBook Pro in combination with Leopard is a true compatibility disappointment. It feels like a flakey Windows XP install on crappy hardware. Which is crazy since they are both made by the company that we love so much."
- "I have constant sleep and wake problems with this MacBook Pro...Sometimes it does not wake up when I open the lid. Sometimes it wakes up but the screen stays dark. Sometimes I close the lid and I can see that the backlight stays turned on. Forever...[snip] Many times the only way to get control back is to reboot. Sucks bigtime."
- "Now I am afraid to open my MacBook because there is a good chance I will have to reboot."
- "I have described my keyboard problems in detail on this blog. Summarized the problems are: first keystroke has no effect after some period of idle time. Keyboard functionality disappears completely...[snip] It's INSANE that so many people are still having issues and that there is no proper fix."
- "...you move the cursor for a little bit but intead it jumps all over the screen."
- "It actually just happened to me: I was at the Copenhagen airport to fly home and when I opened my MacBook Pro the mouse got all jump an stayed that way. Now back at home in Amsterdam I have to reboot and close 8 terminal windows with work and editors with documents open to get rid of this problem. Extremely Lame. This is clearly a Leopard software problem since I never had this issue with 10.4 on this same MacBook Pro."
- "I'm not alone. Just check Apple's own MBP forum or the forums on any Apple fan site. Leopard has been out for months, this hardware for much longer. I can only think of one reason why the MBP has so many issues with Leopard: they never did proper testing and quality assurance since everybody in Cupertino was too busy building new products. Prices go up, quality goes down. These are really bad signs."
If you're thinking that a MacBook Pro and Leopard will solve all your computing problems, you might want to read this author's blog. |
|
| | << Start < Prev 1 2 Next > End >>
| | Results 1 - 25 of 44 |
|
|
|
