Forums | MacLife

jeff-o wrote:

Hmmm, it would be pain to have that dongle sticking out on a laptop (currently a prime candidate for conversion from Vista to OS X in my house), but on a desktop it wouldn't be a problem I guess.  Heck, on a desktop, you could even hook it up to an internal USB port (if it has one).  I hope this isn't vaporware...

The website (such that it is) says something about a PCI version, so a desktop would easily have a self contained dongle.

I can't imagine Apple being happy with this, but what can they do?  Unless the dongle/software contains copyrighted code of some sort, there's little recourse.  Sure, they can "break" OS X with every update, but there will be patches for this thing that will negate that quickly.  The company isn't selling or modifying Apple hardware or software.  Sure, there's an EULA on the retail OS X software, but how could they really enforce it?

Apple embraced running Windows on Apple hardware (which surprised the hell out of me), and while they may never embrace this, I don't see them stopping it.

That said, from the crappy website, I think this is vaporware/someone fishing for investors.  Somebody will make this work, but this probably ain't it.

<unrealistic-optimism>Maybe Apple will grow up and realize their computer hardware isn't worth what they charge for it.</unrealistic-optimism>

Oh, it's worth what they charge for it.

Their hardware? Without getting into any arguments, I'll just say that I respectfully disagree.

Regardless, I definitely don't want them to sell off the OS. I agree that would suck a lot.

user wrote:

This may succeed or maybe another attempt later and it's possible that it's inevitable that Apple will end up selling the OS - maybe splitting it off and concentrating on the iPod and iPhone market which is likely to eventually dwarf the Mac sales.

It's not going to be good thing for fans of fine computing, though.

A few friends and I had a discusison the other day which dances around what you've just said, and that's that Apple seems to be forgetting about the computer lately. Hell, they even took the computer out of their name.

Back in the mid-90s we knew they were going to move into the home appliance market. You look back on it now, especially if you've been on eBay and seen the old prototypes that are acutioned off, along with not only the Bandai/Apple Pippin, but all the peripherals produced for it in Asia, and it was fairly obvious. What was not so obvious is what at least appears to be their decentralized focus.

I think with this whole new "Incorporated" moniker, along with Apple's focus splintered by new computer-based but not computer-centric product lines, we're going to see the employees lose sight of what was once the pride and purpose behind the Apple name for sake of regularly churning out their particular division's product. The result? Lots of cool ideas but with crap for build quality (MacBook, anyone?). I don't think the hardware is generally worth what we're paying for it, anymore. There's been a steady decline in quality for a while now, especially in the consumer lines (again, MACBOOK). The software interface doesn't make up for it anymore, at least not for me.

user wrote:

I'll admit that my disappointment with my iBook failing led in part to my VAIO purchase. If I get another Mac laptop, I'll wait until I can afford to pony up for a Pro model.

That's what credit cards are for.

user wrote:

I'll admit that my disappointment with my iBook failing led in part to my VAIO purchase. If I get another Mac laptop, I'll wait until I can afford to pony up for a Pro model.

I was in this same boat 2 years ago.    My Asus laptop has been rock solid(funny enough I think they make/made some of apple's notebooks).    The only thing I regretted about my purchase was recently I sold that windows laptop and the depreciation was considerable compared to a macbook pro.

Gotta love Apple resell value.    My next high end notebook purchase will be a mac, either that or get one of the new cheap linux netbooks.

Gotta love Apple resell value

Heh, unless you're the one buying

jonycrash wrote:

user wrote:

I'll admit that my disappointment with my iBook failing led in part to my VAIO purchase. If I get another Mac laptop, I'll wait until I can afford to pony up for a Pro model.

I was in this same boat 2 years ago.    My Asus laptop has been rock solid(funny enough I think they make/made some of apple's notebooks).    The only thing I regretted about my purchase was recently I sold that windows laptop and the depreciation was considerable compared to a macbook pro.

Gotta love Apple resell value.    My next high end notebook purchase will be a mac, either that or get one of the new cheap linux netbooks.

Asus is going to produce an open hardware platform with which to custom design laptops. They've already begun with DIY kits.
Should be interesting.

Last edited by Antonio (2008-06-20 4:10 pm)

Title27GT wrote:

In my opinion, it's just not the same. The overall tie between the OS X and Apple Hardware just can't be denied.

Maybe in the past, but nowadays it's just a collection of PC components.  The use of these components is well planned (for the most part), but there's zero difference hardware wise between a mac and a well designed PC.

I'm going to add motherboard chipsets and subtract video cards.

thumbprint wrote:

<unrealistic-optimism>Maybe Apple will grow up and realize their computer hardware isn't worth what they charge for it.</unrealistic-optimism>

Their products seem to be worth it to the market, judging by Apple's revenues and profits.  IBM decided that their PC business was so "unprofitable" so as to justify selling it to the Chinese, but Apple is still going strong after 30+ years.

Steve Jobs has a fairly low salary, or so I hear.  More importantly, what do their janitors make?

The $1 salary thing was apparently a PR idea to make it seem like he was a "good guy"... as opposed to the bad guys at M$.

Maybe they did it to try to get people to overlook the absurd price of their hardware