Beyond

Yesterday I opened the post "Dwindling Economy Hits US Trade Shows" with the words:- "Steve Jobs has not had a heart-attack; indeed Steve Jobs [aka "Jobsweh"] is not in poor health, nor is he dying."

My timing was impeccable considering the announcement today by Jobs himself. My information sources may not be quite right though:

According to Scientific American website:

"Apple co-founder and chief executive Steve Jobs posted an open letter to customers on his company’s Web site today in which he says that he’s being treated for an unspecified "hormone imbalance" that has caused severe weight loss and kept him out of the public eye."  http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=apples-jobs-hormone-imbalance 

‘Maybe not quite as much  weight loss as suggested in the illustration left; but it is nevertheless apparent that Jobs is suffering from a bit too much lean-ness.

INTERLUDE

At this point during writing this article the power went out. Fortunately I have 2 UPS’s looking after my entire system; so I was able to finish the line I was on and shut down everything without data loss or damage of any kind to my systems. For further reading see http://www.pcmech.com/article/avert-disasters-with-a-ups/ .

Is that the way to lose weight without trying? Hormone imbalance? If so then perhaps I should find hormones to start taking at random? I’ll just have to be careful I don’t start speaking in a gruff voice, or grow wings, or something. - Not that I’m particularly overweight; but I could do with a little weight-loss nevertheless.

Perhaps the hormone imbalance explains Jobs’ overly aggressive marketing, combined with his control-freak style? Whatever the case; I didn’t get it quite right:

I stated the information that I’d heard from Robert Scoble on Twitter. - This was largely accurate; but not 100% so.

Anyway that’s cleared up the misunderstanding; so now onwards and upwards: I have another article which I’m intending to get written and published; hopefully today.

Do please comment on this article.

Steve Jobs has not had a heart-attack; indeed Steve Jobs is not in poor health, nor is he dying: In fact, according to @Scobleizer on the microblogging service Twitter last week, after visiting a shop frequented by Jobs, Scoble says that staff there report that Jobs is in the best of health.

Filling the role of Jobs at this year’s Macworld will be Senior Vice President Phil Schiller. Although Apple are continuing to be on a roll, despite the current conditions, tech analysts expect there to be less in the way of stirring innovations from them this year.

*See also this BBC report.

- But it’s not Macworld alone that’s been hit: This week’s CES in Vegas is showing a decline in exhibitors this year, with figures down by 10% on last year: Some exhibitors even pulling out at the last minute, while others are making cutbacks in their showing.

Personally I take the David Risley line on this, and I think that, if anything, companies should be increasing their advertising budgets rather than cutting them in an economic downturn. - Each to their own though: Some will survive, some will fall by the wayside regardless.

Some companies, such as Cisco, are taking meeting room suites rather than exhibiting, in an effort to cut costs.

Analysts are now questioning the viability of trade-shows in the light of today’s climate: On the other side of the coin; Jason Oxman, senior vice president at the Consumer Electronics Association, disagrees:

"Trade shows take on renewed importance in a down economy. Every major consumer electronics manufacturer, buyer, installer and retailer is there. It’s the most efficient travel saver imaginable."

Will this type of opinion retain validity in the light of experience though? Could we see a considerable cutting-back of trade shows? Will we see many going the way of Macworld in the light of experience and reality? It’s certainly a possibility. Time will tell.

With all the economic prophecies of doom and gloom, plus talk of a deep worldwide recession; enhanced of course by the news media, who are making money from doom-mongering, you’d imagine that all industries were having a bad year during 2008. - But you’d be wrong: The computer industry’s retail sector, although having unexpected results, appears to be doing rather well:

The US figures for November 2008, released by the research firm, NPD Group, indicate that, while Apple made no progress but no losses either in this area, sales of PCs were up 7%.

-This despite the fact that sales of desktop PCs dropped by 20% overall. The fact seems to be that people are going for notebooks these days.

According to NPD analyst Stephen Barker: "For notebooks, there is a little extra value to consumers [to buy Apple], for desktops I’m not so sure. To me the real story is the iMacs need a refresh."

The forecast for this sector from IDC , which tracks sales of technology products, appears to nonetheless be rather gloomy: IDC said earlier this month that it expects global PC sales to fall 5.3% next year to $267 billion (£174.7 billion).

Would anyone care to speculate an opinion on their own thought regarding this? There is a comments section below, and you are allowed to use it. Who knows; people might just enjoy reading your comments too?

Do Macs require security-enhancing software? Apple appear to think not; that their osX is invulnerable and only PCs get viruses, at least seemingly from their advertising. Symantec, however, beg to differ; and have released Norton Internet Security 4.0 for the Mac.

As has been noted in recent articles on this blog; there is indeed Mac malware, and yes some Mac users have been subjected to the Macattack. - Maybe not many up until this time of writing, but even one is too many: Macs do need anti-malware then: If they didn’t then nobody who uses a Mac would ever have been infected.

Could the Macattack it become a more serious problem? Yes it could, and it probably will; despite anything that Apple have to say to the contrary. Prevention being better than cure; it’s a good thing that anti-malware companies are taking action:-

In addition to Symantec’s efforts there are others such as Intego VirusBarrier, to name but one other that specialises in anti-malware for the Mac. Quite obviously Mac users are already protecting themselves: If there weren’t a market then the companies wouldn’t be catering for it.

Symantec claim to have the best firewall for the Mac as a part of NIS4Mac. There are location-based network rules which set different rules based on where you are connecting from, and logged preferences can be set as to which apps access the internet. There’s also blacklist data gathered from their DeepSight network to block access from known malware-bearing sites. NIS4Mac also includes phishing protection based on blacklists and heuristic analyses.

There are also a number of other features that are too numerous and in-depth to mention here.

The question is; is Norton as crappy and resource-hogging on a Mac as it is on a PC? I haven’t tested the software so I can’t say for definite; but knowing Norton; I’d bet that it’s almost certainly some form of bloatware. Norton’s effectiveness on a PC is commonly ranked within the lower echelons of results; so will the Norton software for the Mac be similar for all its bloat? At a guess I’d say ‘probably’.

Are you a Mac user who runs Norton Internet Security for the Mac? What is your opinion of it? It would be interesting to gain insight from a first-hand user.

It would appear that the image of invulnerability that Apple attempt to portray in their advertising is becoming threatened. This is now concurrent with a Firefox trojan which tarnishes the open-source community’s similar portrayal, as well as another security vulnerability discovered in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. The malware writers must be ready for a field-day!

On December 15th 2008, Apple released security updates for Mac OS X 10.4 and 10.5, client and server, bringing the products up to versions 10.4.11 and 10.5.5. The updates address 21 individual vulnerabilities. 7 of the vulnerabilities are in the Adobe Flash plug-in.

If Apple dared to use severity ratings then a number of these updates would have been termed "critical": However the pretence continues, and no doubt Steve Jobs will manage to sweep this unfortunate necessity under the carpet in the usual style.

With all these circumstances which could lead to arbitrary code execution, Apple had no choice but to patch. I wonder how their advertising campaigns will be affected in the light of reality? :-

"I’m a Mac"

"…And I’m a PC."

"What’s up PC? Have you picked up another infection?"

"No Mac; my user stopped using Internet Explorer until Microsoft release a patch for a recently discovered vulnerability. - Just like Apple recently did for you. How many updates was that now..?"

"Oh a few…"

"- Twenty-something springs to mind: That’s rather a lot for an invulnerable system, wouldn’t you agree Mac?"

"OK, OK, But I’m patched now; so I’m still invulnerable. Your patch hasn’t been released yet."

"Now Mac; aren’t we getting a bit above ourselves? Invulnerable systems don’t need patches. - What’s that? We’re out of time? OK I’ll conclude this ad for you:-

Apple - Patching up the Future Invulnerability."

"Hey! Wait a darn minute PC…" (Sound fades out.)

Apple users should update their systems ASAP.

When I heard the news the first thing that I thought was “Excellent; at last the iPhone will get cheaper.” - If Wal-Mart drop the price of an iPhone then other American stores will start doing likewise; and eventually the price-drop will find its way to the UK and I’ll be able to get my hands on an iPhone at a discount.

There was just one crucial factor that I didn’t consider, though; that being JOBSWEH.

Steve Jobs (Jobsweh) has his finger on the pulse in every way possible; from what an individual user can and can’t run on their iPhone, to exactly how much retailers sell it for, and consequently what percentage of that ends up in his pocket.

‘Cut-price iPhone? Pah; no chance. Not if Jobsweh can help it.

“Employees in the cell-phone departments at five California stores, contacted by phone today, said Wal-Mart will offer iPhones by the end of December. Employees are currently being trained on how to sell the device, all five said.”

I dread to think how they’re being trained to sell an iPhone:

“…Yes this is an Apple product. As such it’s immune to any and all malware: Only Microsoft products are susceptible to that. Microsoft’s products suck, but all Apple products are personally controlled by Steve Jobs, aka Jobsweh; God of all things Apple…”

In September, Jobsweh got Best Buy, a US electronics retailer, to start selling iPhones. Apple stores were deluged and overwhelmed back when the current iPhone was released in July 2008. Jobsweh was seeking to expand the market to prevent such a mass rush on his stores whenever there would be a next time. AT&T had also been selling iPhones; but their cred was and still is tumbling down the gurgler, as they tried to lock all purchasers into a long-term contract with them, and then increased their prices while their service standards worsened. Although they still have the exclusive US service-provider rights for the iPhone’s signal, people possibly weren’t willing to give them a profit on the unit itself in addition to that which they made with their service. - That’s my theory anyway - So the market needed to be expanded.

Maybe, though, there is a possibility of a cheap iPhone after all? :

“Analysts say Apple may offer a discontinued 4-gigabyte version through Bentonville, Arkansas-based Wal-Mart and sell it for $99. Apple currently sells two models at $199 and $299.”

“A $99, Apple-branded cell phone is inevitable,” said Shaw Wu, an analyst for Kaufman Brothers in San Francisco. “One of the key things Apple needs to do to drive broader iPhone adoption is to build a more complete product line” with low- end, mid-range and high-end products, Wu said in a Dec. 5 note.

Apple spokesman Steve Dowling wouldn’t respond to the report and said the company “does not comment on rumor or speculation.” Wal-Mart spokesman Dan Fogleman said the company hasn’t made an official announcement on an iPhone offering and has no comment. AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel declined to comment.”

Well despite my distaste for Apple in some regards, they are on the up so I can’t knock them. Although their share price has dropped considerably this year, along with pretty much all others, they’re bouncing back and bucking the trend.

Good luck to you Wal-Mart. - But keep your eye on Jobsweh; I wouldn’t put my trust in him totally if I were you.

All quotations are from Bloomberg.com http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a4YIU21gLaSY

“Windows 7 basically takes Windows one step closer to the design aesthetic of the Mac, where form is valued over function. I’m not sure this is the right strategy. Simplicity, taken in isolation, may seem like a good idea. But I’m afraid that in Windows 7, Microsoft is sacrificing too much in its bid to be more like Apple. And it’s the users of Windows who will pay the price.”

- So says blogger Paul Thurrott in his article “Windows 7: Simple Vs. Easy” 

Me; I’m not really in the know: I haven’t even seen the pre-beta. - But I want to highlight this suggestion that Microsoft are trying to make Windows more like Mac osX.

ZDnet’s Mary Joe Foley commented in a part of her response to Thurrott’s article:

“If I wanted a Mac-like environment, I’d buy a Mac. I want an computing environment that helps me get my work done and doesn’t require a how-to manual to figure out which icon does what. Maybe Microsoft could introduce “Windows 7 Luddite Edition” for those of us who value function over form?”

I suggest that you read the two articles right through, and then, if you would be so kind, state your opinion by means of a comment below. What I’m asking is; do you think Microsoft are in danger of making Windows too like Mac osX? Also do you think that they are attempting to present Windows 7 as a simpler-to-use operating system by hiding the complexities; in other words sacrificing function to promote form?

I would imagine that, even in 7, it’s possible to access all the usual functions from the command line, even if those functions may be buried. Not all users are actually familiar with the command line though - After all this is Windows, not Linux.

I miss the point maybe; or is there some benefit to be gained by encouraging the stupid and lazy to become stupider and lazier by hiding things they can’t understand and can’t be bothered to learn about?

Apple may not want to admit it, but there is already Mac-malware going around. Security experts have long raised concerns about a Mac-attack suddenly arising from a particularly virulent piece of malware. Meanwhile Apple continue to stress that Macs are invulnerable and don’t require anti-malware protection in order to generate their better-than-a-PC image.

Apple employees at their stores deny any need for anti-malware and anti-virus for a Mac. Apple’s own ads imply that a mac is pretty invulnerable. Yet despite this, even the Apple.com website has links to anti-malware solutions for the Mac running osX. Why would that be if there was no threat?

I’m sorry to say it, Apple-lovers, but you are being conned by Jobsweh and his followers. When the malware-writers have waited long enough to lull you all into a false sense of security while the Apple movement grows, and many more people are conned into getting an "Invulnerable" Mac, they’ll release their malware into the wild.

It’s obvious that Apple know that this is going to happen someday. Windows needs antivirus solutions, despite the fact that many of them are inadequate. At least it’s some protection rather than none. Windows gets targeted a million times more than a Mac; true, but as the number of Mac users grows then so will the target on the Mac osX operating system, and malware writers will strike a totally unprepared and defenseless market sector.

I wonder how Apple will try to worm their way out of it when it finally happens? What do you think?

This year, Microsoft forced major retailers to stop supplying XP. In January 2009 even small system builders such as myself will be stopped from supplying XP. Will that be a death knell for XP?

Not immediately, no; but if the pre-beta code reports are anything to go by, then Windows Seven may well be the start of the end for this almost seven-year-old operating system.

Some reports I’ve heard indicate that Microsoft will be launching Seven in October 2009. According to PCWorld.com:

"The word on the blogosphere is that Windows 7 should be released to manufacturing in October 2009 with general availability by November".

Microsoft haven’t yet released anything concrete yet as far as I know - Other than declaring that the new OS will be launched in the latter half of 2009, however some bloggers may be privy to insider information that I have not yet received.

Windows Vista; the disaster of an operating system in many ways, and the major trigger of the minor popularity-loss for the Softies, which did more good for its predecessor XP and the Apple Mac with its osX Unix operating system than anything else, has kept most of those users who continue to use Microsoft’s operating systems (Including myself.) with XP for the time being. In fact this blog’s visitor count indicates that almost 5 times more visitors use XP than use Vista, with a third as many people as those using Vista on a Mac using osX.

Seven is coming; and in my opinion we’ll probably be seeing most of those who upgraded from XP to Vista upgrading to Seven in 2009; as well as probably at least two-thirds of the XP users. That will be probably just as much a death knell for Vista as it will be for XP, if not even more so.

Seven will work on the same hardware as Vista; so there’s really no reason for Vista users not to upgrade. XP users boxes will be starting to clap out in a lot of cases, so those affected will no doubt upgrade equipment and operating system too.

If you have a perfectly good computer that’s still running XP, and either you can’t afford to, don’t want to, or simply can’t move to Seven because of the hardware requirements, then don’t worry:

Currently, as stated in the Microsoft XP Product Support Lifecycle page, partially shown above; they will continue mainstream support for XP until April 2009 - As they are currently doing that is - after which they’ll only be continuing support regarding security issues from that date until the currently scheduled day in April 2014 when XP becomes obsolete.

Then XP will go the way of 9x and ME. By then, however, Seven’s successor will probably have been long released, Vista will have been condemned, and maybe even a successor to Seven’s successor will be in beta?

One of my computers that I recently built from scrap components probably isn’t capable of running anything greater than Vista Home Basic. It has a 64-bit capable motherboard running a 32-bit AMD Sempron 1800MHz processor in a socket configuration that’s already almost obsolete; AMD socket 754. I don’t think they made any dual-core processors in that socket, and even if I could upgrade to a single-core Athlon 64 by buying second-hand, I wouldn’t bother upgrading to Vista. - So that’s one computer which’ll be running XP to 2014; if it lasts that long, that is.

Feel free to comment generally on anything you like in this article: There is a comment box below for that purpose. Have a good day/evening/night/morning, wherever you are on the planet.

There are times when things can be hard to write; and maybe this is one of them, but what the…

OK I’ve been somewhat of an anti-proponent of Apple up until now; and I have to say that I’m still having problems in my mind with what I term "the Steve Jobs modus operandi". I’ve borrowed incidental comments from others and expanded upon them, slating Apple and Steve Jobs in the process. I’ve even used the name "Jobsweh" as a derogatory name for Jobs, (A parody of the all-powerful and demanding Yahweh in the Bible.) which I picked up from a term used once in fun by Ded Ryzing in July of this year, 2008.

But it’s starting to get to my head, and after almost actually, without realising it, trolling in a comment I made on PC Mech earlier, which owner David Risley described in his follow-up comment as a "knee-jerk reaction every time he mentions the word "Apple"", I’m beginning to realise that all that’s happening is that I’m, without meaning to, starting a pointless one-woman-crusade against Apple; which is a ridiculous thing to be doing.

So what got me started on this foolhardy idea in the first place? Well during July I had a long conversation with a taxi-driver whose brother-in-law worked for Apple, and who had passed on some insider-information to him that Apple had rushed out the initial iPhone platform to get the iPhone to market ahead of the LG Viewty. I looked up the LG Viewty on the web and realised that it was a very nice cameraphone. From then onwards I became a proponent of the Viewty in opposition to the iPhone.

At the same time the world went iPhone mad: Suddenly everyone had an iPhone, but very few people owned a Viewty, despite the Viewty’s camera being far better than that of the iPhone. The thing was that the Viewty was a top-class camera-phone, but that’s all it was; a camera and a phone. It wasn’t a mobile personal computer like the iPhone.

At this point I was on the verge of admitting defeat and going with the flow; when suddenly up popped the news that Steve Jobs; control-freak extraordinaire, had a lever that would remotely block any chosen application on any selected customer’s iPhone. The iPhone suddenly became just like a Mac: The property of Steve Jobs, right down to which applications you could run on it. It was no longer a personal mobile computer as in your personal mobile computer; it was Steve Jobs’ personal mobile computer that you’d paid to lease on the proviso that he dictated what Apps you can and can’t run on it. It was yours to do what Jobsweh liked with, literally. It seemed like people were paying Apple for a computer that they were told was their property, but was under the remote control of Apple, with Steve Jobs at the controls. That; to my mind, is a con.

From that point onwards I’ve been expressing my distaste of Apple and Steve Jobs; which is starting to go overboard and is serving no useful purpose as such other than possibly to negatively affect my popularity of late.

Unfortunately it’s time for me to accept the fact: Apple, despite what I may think, and regardless of my opinion, have pulled it off, and they are a successful company, and growing too. Whatever I may think of the tactics of Steve Jobs; they work and they have made him a fortune: More than anything ethical or that I consider ethical has ever made for me. Do I need to redefine ethicality within my own mind? It may be so; maybe not? - I have to think a lot on that one.

Whatever the case; Apple have the iPhone as probably the most popular phone on the planet. Apple are the only company who managed to get everybody excited about their phone product: Think about it; no other mobile device has such a buzz associated with it. Why? The iPhone seems to just work the way people want it to. I don’t know if they envisage Steve Jobs at a remote-control booth somewhere in iWorld booming "I am the Almighty Jobsweh! Thou shalt not run that program upon thine iPhone that I have granted to thee." and pulling the lever. I have no idea whether they see it anything like I do but just put it out of their minds. Whatever they do or don’t do they buy iPhones - millions of them. - And now everyone is trying to make their latest mobile device look nd feel like an iPhone to the greatest extent that they can. Am I missing something here?

Why iPhones? Why not Blackberrys? Why not Sony Eriksson z750i like I have? Why not a Windows Mobile-powered device like I have? Evidently the others seemingly don’t have what it takes. I love my z750i - It’s cute, it’s a cool girly flip-phone. I’m content with my Windows Mobile-powered device to a certain extent too; although it could be better. - But I heard something today which went down like a lead balloon with me: Microsoft are prepping the ancient IE6 to work with Windows Mobile: In itself that’s good news, the current browser I’m using is insubstantial. - BUT would you believe it - here’s the bad news - it’ll require a 500MHz processor to work properly! My device has a 201 MHz processor, 64MB RAM with 128MB flash RAM. Great! No wonder they’re not offering it as an update; millions of people will require a new device! Thanks Microsoft!

Will I be getting a new Microsoft Windows Mobile device? Will I fsck. I’m getting an iPhone next: Not right at the moment; but when I decide to upgrade, which might not be until a better model iPhone is released, I’m getting an iPhone. There you are all those who I’ve slated iPhone to. - Flame bait for you all.

I don’t know if it’s a wise move; I don’t know if I’ll regret it, but in for a penny, why the heck not: It seems to be the better of a bad bunch.

As time goes by I expect mobile devices to improve, and the future is anyone’s guess. Right now; if I can’t beat them - join them.

In an unexpected turn of events, Microsoft have become rather chivalrous by aiming to provide a free tool, code-named "Morro," that will provide a basic anti-malware service; protecting against viruses, spyware, rootkits and trojans.

This will be offered at the same time, June 30th 2009, as they discontinue their Windows Live OneCare consumer security service.

Morro will have a small footprint and use only a few system resources. The idea is that it will run on low-power PCs and low-bandwidth networks. As a stand-alone download it will support Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Existing OneCare customers will be directed toward using Morro instead when it becomes available. If you are currently and/or up to June 30th 2009 a OneCare user you will continue to be able to use the online backup feature as normal until that date; probably with the same charges attached.

The Windows Live OneCare blog says that this is not due to a poor sales figure, but rather a tactic aimed at bringing protection to millions world-wide who have none. Personally I think it’s probably a bit of both - Oh please; Microsoft aren’t known generally for being that public-spirited, despite being nowhere near as tight and money-grabbing as Apple. I very much doubt that they’d drop a product line that was making them a fortune.

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“There’s a new trend out there designed to scam computer users: web sites that sell bogus software. Not only does the software not do what it claims to do, but the companies that sell this “software” get a hold of your credit card and can do even more damage to your bank account."

Sunbelt Software , who have exposed a lot of crapware (Rogue software) aimed at the Windows platform, have now at last found crapware aimed at the Mac OSX platform. They know it’s crapware because it’s brought to you by none other than the same people who gave Windows users scareware like Antivirus XP 2008 and XP Antivirus.

There aren’t many malware components aimed at OSX; but the number has seemingly increased by at least 1 recently. However they only found the site itself for the new MacGuard malware program, but were unable to get hold of any program. The site itself appears to have now also been disabled; possibly by Apple themselves?

Macs have appeared relatively untouched by threats for a long time; but now it seems that malicious software targeted at OSX is about to awake Mac users from their sleep of complacency. Previously in March of this year, 2008, a Mac security site, Macvirus.org, with a forum full of links to malware which targets Apple computers; the RSPlug-Gen trojan in particular, as well as the Zlobar-Fam trojan for distribution to PCs running Windows. They were posing as fake codecs supposedly needed to view a non-existent pornographic film of Britney Spears.

There are a number of ways of looking at this: Either you could say every virus targeted at a Mac is one less virus targeted at Windows (Aren’t there enough already?), or you could say that those people who use alternative operating systems to Windows aren’t as safe as they might imagine; and their complacency could be their downfall at the end of the day.

What do you think? Do non-Windows users need to bother with anti-malware programs?

In the headlines today are 2 new ads from Apple. The first of the "I’m a Mac and I’m a PC"-style ads slam Microsoft’s advertising spending on Vista and highlight the problems people have had with M$’s latest operating system:-

Do people really care about Microsoft’s advertising budget though? OK the money has to come from somewhere, usually from the customers. In general, though, people don’t consider that when going out to buy a Microsoft product.

"Oh I don’t think I’ll buy Microsoft’s product because they’ll just spend any profit they make from me on advertising Vista."

Was it actually slamming Microsoft’s advertising budget though; or was it just emphasizing the problems associated with Vista?

The second ad pokes fun at Vista in a bleep-out; again highlighting the issues that people have faced with the operating system:-

The question is: How does any of this kind of negative-advertising actually promote Apple or the Mac? None of what I see makes me think "Wow; I should go out and buy myself a Mac."

I have 2 PCs; each running XP. Why XP? Because Vista has too many issues for my liking and I really don’t think it’s worth upgrading. When Windows 7 is released, if it’s much better than Vista, I’ll build a new PC for myself and install Windows 7.

I see a Mac as an expensive PC running Unix. Granted the OSX operating system hasn’t had the number of issues that Vista has had; but ME was another of Microsoft’s mistakes and I’m running the operating system that they released after ME. Why do I want a Mac? I can’t build a Mac; I’m not allowed to. I have to buy one ready-built. I can’t upgrade a Mac myself: I have to take it to Apple to be upgraded with what components they say I can have in it.

A ready-built PC will cost me slightly more than a self-build PC and it won’t be built as I want it to be built. A Mac will cost me even more than that, and it will be built as Apple and the Great Jobsweh; god of all things Apple, has decreed it shall be built - So saith the LORD.

I’ll continue building my own PCs, and I’ll continue to install Microsoft software. Why? Because I’m not allowed to install OSX on my home-built PCs. Apple can knock Microsoft all they want; but I’ll still buy Microsoft’s products. I’ll skip Vista, just like I skipped ME.

Apple should be addressing the fact that I don’t want their Mac for the reasons stated herein, rather than slagging Microsoft off.

If I could build and upgrade my own Mac I’d probably have one. OK I’d have to abide by the limited choice of components that Apple say I can upgrade it with probably, and I may have to build it according to certain specifications and conditions, granted; but I’d have my own personal Mac rather than Steve Jobs’ computer.

If I could run OSX on one of my PCs I would do just that; and Apple would sell me the operating system: But they won’t, so I lose out and they lose out.

If I could repair a Mac that I’d purchased when it went wrong then I would and I’d buy one in the knowledge that I could do just that. I don’t want to have to take it to an approved Apple stockist to be mended for 3 or more times the price I’d otherwise pay. I have the capabilities to do it on site, and I’d want to do it on site.

So Apple can spend as much money as they like on slating Microsoft and telling me how much better a Mac is then a PC, (Although there is very little difference in my mind: To me a Mac is a sturdy regulated PC running Unix.) but I still don’t want to buy a Mac because it’s not in essence my computer when I do: It’s Apple’s computer which I’ve hired indefinitely! I’d rather have my own computer that I own fully and can do what I want with.

Wouldn’t you too?

This report has been the big rumour of the day today; as you may have heard - Setting the gossip lines, blogs, and Twitter, alight with chat:

Apple says the Steve Jobs Heart Attack Report Is Not True.

Of course it’s not true: For one to have a heart attack one must first posses a heart.

Jobsweh may posses an organ that keeps the blood circulating throughout his body; but any outgoing emotion from that organ appears to have been stemmed by his control-freak nature and love of profit at any cost.

Using tactics of mass-mind-control akin to those used on the German people during and just before the second-world war by Hitler and the Third Reich; Jobs has conned the world into buying his substandard products in a hypnotic marketing ploy using deceptive yet convincing tactics to deceive the minds of the masses into thinking that anything bearing the Apple name is the best thing since sliced bread.

What is a Mac? A Mac is a PC with a sturdy chassis and an inflated price tag. What is an iPhone? An iPhone is a small programmable handheld computer/phone with a weak non-user-replaceable battery that is remote-controllable and block-able at the behest of Steve Jobs. What is OSX? Well-developed Linux with its own special flavour - No more and no less.

So an Apple system is no more a sturdy PC made of Apple-approved components in an Apple-defined design configuration running a specialised flavour of Linux called OSX written by Apple, all of which costs twice as much as a normal PC running a normal Linux distro. Maybe this Apple system’s overall operation is slightly better than average; provided that all software is approved by and provided by Steve Jobs at an inflated price. It’s not anything different from the norm in reality: It’s the ultimate con.

Is Steve Jobs worried that he’s taking the public for a bunch of mugs. No; not even an iota of shame or guilt. Does he care that he’s selling a PC as a specialised improved type of technological evolution?

Having said that though - I must admit that I definitely do admire him for his unbelievable nerve. Not even Bill Gates with all his wealth and genius pulled such a massive confidence-trick on so many to get where he is today.

If you’ve seen the 1970/1980s BBC TV comedy series “Only Fools and Horses” then you may remember the episode where Del and Rodney are bottling tap water and selling it wholesale for a profit as “Peckham Spring”. ‘Far-fetched you think? No more far-fetched than Del Boy Jobs selling a PC running Unix as a Mac at an inflated price. No more far-fetched than a mentally-unstable Corporal putting on a display of authority and conning an entire nation into following him and his Third Reich.

The same old confidence-trick in another guise is still just the same old confidence-trick. As Shakespeare wrote in his famous play Romeo and Juliet:-

“That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.”

Despite a strong wind from the NASDAQ with the potential to dislodge Apple and send it tumbling as an economic drop-out; the company has had its own windfall in the States recently according to figures released by US market watcher NPD: The figures indicate that Apple made an impressive 20% of all retail notebook computer sales during July and August of this year, 2008.

The MacBook range of laptops appear to have gone down well with parents buying for their kids for the new school year, as well as with students. I perceive the dollar-signs lighting up so bright in the eyes of Jobsweh; god of all things Apple, that they nearly cause a fire as he curls his talons around his increasing capital assets:-

The 20% figure is for stock turnover. The revenue percentage of market share is 35%: Whoever suggested that Jobsweh had priced himself out of the market?

Of course, as I mentioned in another article, the MacBook line is due to be refreshed about now or in the very near future - Yet even just clearing the old stock has set the cash-registers ringing merrily across America.

The “anti-Vista lobby”; IOW a large percentage of (ex-)Windows users, must have helped account for the unexpected fortune of the company - switching from Windows notebooks now mainly only available pre-installed with Vista, to MacBooks with OSX installed. Despite the relatively high-costs involved it seems the American public on the whole feel that it’s a price worth paying.

Can this boom continue or is it merely a lucky blip? Despite the economic misfortune that now bites the world economy, it appears that Apple have had such an effective marketing campaign that consumers will still buy MacBooks despite the extra price tag and the cheaper Linux-bearing alternatives.

It would be wise for Apple to drop their profit-margin somewhat on the upcoming ranges though, as competition is still rife and economic future trends would appear to favour lower-cost devices. If the price of the new lines are right then Apple have the chance to make another massive windfall, rather than breaking where their growth is stemmed, and dropping from the money-tree to become fodder for the foragers and scavengers of recession.

Do you think Steve Jobs (Jobsweh) can resist overpricing his wares?

This current economic downturn is, by its very nature, set to affect everyone; small or large. Apple are already finding that due to economic forecasts of future spending behaviour in light of the troubles, that their expensive products are in danger of pricing them out of the predicted market.

That’s not the only trouble on the horizon though:

Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said on Tuesday 30th September that the global financial crisis will sap consumer and business spending, affecting all companies, including his own.

This fact is a problem from which nobody is immune. It’s an all-encompassing difficulty which everyone has to face: When consumers are spending less there’s less money in the economy due to that fact. If the revenue isn’t coming in from the customers then it doesn’t appear in anybody’s coffers by magic. When consumers spend less due to a lack of supply in the economy then consumer confidence starts to wane further; the knock-on effect of which is that analysts start to produce grim forecasts which have the effect of driving share prices down - Resulting in even less money within any given company. When this circle repeats often enough and begins to cascade, the money-markets start screaming “Recession”, following which share prices take another battering, and everyone from small startups to huge multinational conglomerates see their stock devalue to a fraction of its original worth. From that point it’s survival of the fittest as the economy begins to pick up again.

“Financial issues are going to affect both business spending and consumer spending, and particularly … spending by the financial services industry,” Continued Ballmer.

“We have a lot of business with the corporate sector as well as with the consumer sector and whatever happens economically will certainly effect itself on Microsoft,” he told the Reuters newsagency.

“On the other hand, when businesses have less money — they can borrow less money, they can spend less money — that can’t be good. When consumers feel the economic pinch, house prices come down. That can’t be good,” Ballmer said.

Could it be that investors have taken Ballmer’s remarks as an indication that Microsoft’s revenues could be hurt by the continuing financial crisis? Apparently some NASDAQ traders seem to think so.

Reading between the lines; Ballmer is ready for the recession that he is certain is coming. The economy is already collapsing, and any countermeasures taken at this point appear to only serve to delay the inevitable.

If this is the right way to see the situation; and it seems from the evidence available that it probably is, then rather than wasting resources in attempting to prolong the agony as George Bush seems to be attempting to do, it would seem to be a more sensible option to use those resources to cushion the fall and avoid as much damage as is possible when everything reaches its nadir.

To my mind Bush is attempting to delay the inevitable until he’s out of the way of the falling debris, by throwing money at the problem. When the big lumps hit the fan, a lot of it is going to end up as the responsibility of government to clear up.

How to cushion the economy?: When there’s no money around people aren’t going to want to spend much on anything as there won’t be much to spend in the first place. Business needs to make a profit still, though, to survive while the economy picks itself up again.

The answer would appear to be to cut prices. The knock-on effect of that would see a reduction of profits, due to both less revenue from the consumer sector as well as, quite probably, increased cost of raw materials. This could well cause companies to diversify their product lines and produce smaller and/or lower cost products from less resources.

The upshot of this may well be that the situation could force a further leap in technology with regard to manufacturing processes in order to accomplish this; which would have a positive effect on the economic implications of industrial manufacturing, as well as assisting the forward progression of technology as a whole.

In conclusion, then, it appears that there is unavoidably going to be a recession: Possibly a rather deep and dismal time ahead for all sectors. As the world emerges from it, however, I believe that things will get a lot better and the overall effect could quite probably be a developmentally positive one rather than a detrimental one.

What’s your opinion?