Microsoft Pushes Idea of "Apple Tax"

ZD Net ^ | 10/14/2008 | Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

[AFreeBird]

I would like to see you try it with a Canon MX850.

My OpenSuSE could talk to their MP830 printer, but some frick'n idiot at Canon thought it would be a great idea to drop standards and write proprietary communication protocols for the MX850.

Now they DO support OS X on the MX850, but get this: the Canon support rep said they didn't support *nix based systems! What a maroon! What the hell does he think OS X is(BSD UNIX based kernel). And it runs CUPS!

I am so *issed at Canon. I've been a Canon customer since high school when I bought my first SLR. I'm on my 5th with all the lenses and accessories.

[antiRepublicrat]

BTW, Apple is probably the single biggest perpetrator of DRM with iTunes and AAC.

First, don't confuse the AAC format with DRM'd AAC. Second, the blame for the existence of DRM doesn't lay with the computer and OS manufacturers. It is with the content producers who demanded it before they'd allow their content to be released.

The question is who managed to make it less intrusive, and that's Apple. Another is who is fighting against it, and that is still Apple, which strong-armed the labels into allowing non-DRM AAC tracks in iTunes once the iTunes Store was popular enough to give Apple leverage. Compare with Microsoft, which gave $1 of every Zune player sale to the record labels. You may be putting only 100% legitimately-purchased music on your Zune, but the RIAA still got another dollar out of you for nothing.

[Sunnyflorida]

“Apple is probably the single biggest perpetrator of DRM with iTunes and AAC.”

Ah, you are one of those Alan Colmes types that just love to make completely screwy arguments.

ACC is an encoding process. It is not DRM. You can get DRM without ACC and with, and vice versa.

iTunes is a way to buy and manage music. It is not iTunes that makes the decision yeah or nah on DRM. If you had a clue you would know that. Or maybe you need to go on H&C next time Colmes is off.

[mysterio]

If Apple dropped all of their prices to undercut PCs right now, Microsoft would be sunk.

[TexasRepublic]

The lack of printer support by many vendors is a weak spot of Linux. There is a website that identifies which printers are supposedly Linux compatible and those that are not.

[TaxRelief]

Did you see the new $600 CPU (base price) from MAC?

http://www.apple.com/macmini/

Mac mini at a Glance

* 1.83GHz or 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor
* Apple Remote with Front Row
* Up to 2GB memory* (1GB base)
* Intel GMA 950 graphics processor
* DVI connector, VGA adapter
* Slot-loading optical drive
* Up to 160GB hard drive* (80GB base)
* Built-in Gigabit Ethernet
* Analog and digital audio
* Expansion via USB and FireWire
* iLife ’08, Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard

According to the website: "Mac mini makes it easy to upgrade from an older system or set it up side-by-side with another computer. Just BYODKM — bring your own display, keyboard, and mouse."

I'm looking to see if there was a new cheaper laptop announced on Tuesday as well...

[TaxRelief]

Lowest price for a Macbook seems to be $1299.

[TaxRelief]

Have you tried it? It wears my wrist out with those settings. Precise, but tiring.

[antiRepublicrat]

I like my acceleration. I think acceleration was the greatest feature ever added to a mouse driver.

[antiRepublicrat]

I'm looking to see if there was a new cheaper laptop announced on Tuesday as well...

They cut the old-style MacBooks to $999. The new aluminum unibody MacBooks are the old price, and look to be worth it. Half a pound lighter, much sturdier, faster graphics and a glass screen.

[mysterio]

That Mac mini looks like a pretty neat machine.

[TaxRelief]

It’s a good point.

I have the control of the acceleration down to a fine art. I can flick the mouse quite precisely in some of the games I play.

I think some people are just used to moving their arms around so much when they work that they just can’t adapt.

[zeugma]

Not to mention that if you hate it that much you can always burn the music and reload and you have unencrypted mp3s. Something Steve Jobs has mentioned several times in interviews.

You're better off ripping your own from the start if that's what you intend. Converting from lossy compression to WAV, then to another lossy compression is bound to leave auditory artifacts.

[coon2000]

I was just pointing out that your syntax was wrong...ie SVR4 = System 5 Release 4. V= Roman Numeral 5. I knew you were talking about System V, you just had the R and V transposed, that is all.

[antiRepublicrat]

I suggest if you use the iTunes store go AAC to CD then CD to Apple Lossless. You don’t lose quality, and with hard drive sizes these days who cares about larger file sizes?

Other than that check out QTFairUse from Jon Johansen, the guy who wrote DeCSS. It just removes the DRM, leaving the AAC data intact.

[AFreeBird]

just my dyslexia acting up again.

[Cyber Liberty]

There is no setting to control “Acceleration”, just “Speed”.

[coon2000]

I hear ya, I went back three times to make sure it wasn’t mine. :) I am getting old and my vision ain’t what it used to be.

[Mr. Blonde]

I agree, I was just pointing out that there were ways around the DRM if you wanted to do that.

[TaxRelief]

read the whole thread

acceleration has been discussed to death