I've let this interesting thread slip for a few days. In any event a few comments from a long time Linux user.
First I've played around with WINE on Linux a few years ago so the comments might not be valid anymore. The thing is that WINE just wasn't all that great, especially if you where likely to run applications that where out of the ordinary. Honestly out of the ordinary is likely what you would want WINE for as today Linux has all mainstream application requirements covered.
That is a key realization for WINE; that is native solutions work much better. Along with that is that if you absolutely do need a mainstream MS application (to run under Linux) it is likely not to be compatible with WINE. In effect WINE supports applications best that you are least likely to need.
Frankly what I really see being a big win for alternative platforms such as Linux and OS/X is MONO. This is in effect .NET implemented on Linux and OS/X. From the bit of experimenting I've done so far I'd have to say that MS has done all of us a big favor. The only alternative is JAVA and frankly I see .NET as the better of the two. Further there is a published industry standard for .NET that is of reasonable size. Mono is where the future of cross platform application usage is in my mind.
Now we have the question of how the market place is going to accept .NET and things like Mono. Sure the adoption rate is slow but I think we will see a bit of snowballing here.
Dave
Quote:
Originally posted by melgross
Here's some info about Crossover and wine. This is about the Linux versions, but it's likely that what he says can apply to a great extent to Mac's as well.
Steven says that he will either get back to me, or do a column on them for the Mactels. I just asked him to do that today after reading his article.
He's one of those well known Linux promoters who have, during the last year or two, moved over to OS X as well. He, therefore, has an interest in both.
Last I knew (in OS/X land) a 64 bit chip was required for any application that accessed or could make use of more that 2 gigs of RAM. This applies to both 32 bit and 64 bit applications. 64 bit OS/X in effect doubled the amount of RAM available to 32 bit applications, nearly so anyways.
Your understanding about OS/X is correct for the most part. The little item above though can be very important for many of the applications that you mention. On 64 bit i86 though there are more considerations one important one being the extended register set which can have a significant impact on some usages Apple targets.
As to desktop hardware anything that is not 64 bit capable next year will be dead in the water as far as I'm concerned. There may be very good reasons to continue to use 32 bit hardware in the portable lines, but I see such an implementation in an iMac as pure crazzyness. As youstate many won't know but on the other hand many of the some sort of people will read reviews and trust other opinions. If someone asked me I would steer them away from any 32 bit desktop machine if the expectation was to keep it for awhile. This is especially the case for Intel based hardware.
Frankly I have this feeling that Apple and us here on the board will not have to wait long for 64 bit solutions.
Dave
Quote:
Originally posted by Mr. Dirk
I've heard this argument a lot on this board, but I don't think it really applies at this stage in the game. Where is 64-bit required? I know Mathematica has libraries that use it, etc. but looking at Apple's Pro apps, like Aperture and Final Cut Pro 5, both of those can be used on the 32-bit G4 processor. In addition, as I understand it, Mac OS X is not a "64-bit OS" in the sense that the UI layer, etc. is 64-bit. My understanding is that it's a 32-bit OS with 64-bit libraries that can be used on the proper CPU.
I might be mistaken, but (if I'm not) I don't see any problem with Apple releasing a 32-bit iMac, at least until Merom comes out. I doubt there would even be a marketing issue, as most users who would buy the iMac probably don't have any concept of 64-bit versus 32-bit...
Well the iMac is already 64 bit and I don't see people calling that silly.
In any event there seems to be a disconnect here with respect to the idea that we are talking about future machines. Like it or not very soon any i86 based desktop will be 64 bit. There won't be a mainstream solution that isn't 64 bit.
The other consideration is that 64 bit i86 is in a much better position technically to compete (perform) against todays PPC hardware. The extended architecture is an impressive improvement that i86 has needed for years.
As to memory do realize that new hardware is being designed with the latest technology available (hopefully ), so what goes into one slot will be differrent than what is available today. Density wise it should not be a problem to get to 2 to 4 gig. Further; like I mentioned else where, one only needs to get past 2 gig to make 64 bit usefull in todays environment.
64 bit has nothing to do with bragging, it has real technical merits on Apple's current 64 bit systems and is a significant advantage on todays Intel systems. Either way you cut it 64 bit does have something to offer the user. That doesn't even take into accout power users.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& &
All that being said I think the truely big thing on the horizon is multi core technology. It is comeing at just the right time where both applications and OS'es can take good advantage of it. Even here though you do put pressure on RAM, so Dual Core and more is just more pressure to pull 64 bit into the mainstream.
Thanks
dave
Quote:
Originally posted by hmurchison
64-bit support in an iMac with 1 memory slot is silly. Large memory access is a staple of 64-bit computing. The extra bits have to go somewhere and without fast memory 64-bit support is there to placate some geek who wants to brag about his/her computer.
It may not be precisely CPU bound as a 32 bit CPU in this case can address 4 gigs of memory, but it is an issue related to how Apple mapped the memory in their 32 bit systems. The reality is that the G4, in some variants, can support extended addressing but Apple never attempted to use that feature. So as a specific implementation the 32 bit Macs limit application addressing to 2 gigs.
The nice thing about the 64 bit Macs is that they eliminated that restriction for many applications. While not quite double, addressable memory may be of little use for some applications but is a big win for other 32 bit applications.
While I can't disagree with your statement as it is accurate, I do have trouble with others who imply that 64 bit hardware did nothing for users of Apples G5 based machines. It can benefit users of memory demanding apps or users of multiple apps.
Thanks
dave
Quote:
Originally posted by smalM
This is not CPU bound. The system controllers in pre G5 systems can't access more than 2 GB RAM.
i agree that multicore is a more important deal in the business/consumer mainstream/performance/enthusiast space. full 64bitness is a gradual transition that will fully take root in 2007, and most people would be like, what's the big deal??
multicore will make its mark in 2006 - Yonah dualcore, AthlonX2s becoming much more affordable hopefully!
with the quad powermac in terms of mainstream/performance pro computing, apple is one of the frontrunners in terms of both multicore AND 64bit performance.
remember that winXP64 works to some degree but really not great application support for it, and the game titles released for amd64/ intel em64t are really quite pathetic.
for windows mainstream/performance users, dualcore is the most important development ~ antiviral in background, downloading bittorrent/pr0n/ sysadmin updates etc, then foreground playing games or spreadsheets or word, web browsing etc. really, i find it handy to just keep bittorrents going while playing UT2004 or Quake4 or NFSmostwanted every now and then.
for me, definitely a reasonably priced athlonX2 with 1mb cache per core would be wayy more important than any 64bit deal.. (the bonus is all athlons are 64bit processors already! it's just the crappy win OS )
i won't comment on linux at this stage 'coz not in the scene recently... suffice to say that *in my experience* 64bit linux has some challenges, there's quite a bit of rebuilding that needs to be done toget things up and running.
I've let this interesting thread slip for a few days. In any event a few comments from a long time Linux user.
First I've played around with WINE on Linux a few years ago so the comments might not be valid anymore. The thing is that WINE just wasn't all that great, especially if you where likely to run applications that where out of the ordinary. Honestly out of the ordinary is likely what you would want WINE for as today Linux has all mainstream application requirements covered.
That is a key realization for WINE; that is native solutions work much better. Along with that is that if you absolutely do need a mainstream MS application (to run under Linux) it is likely not to be compatible with WINE. In effect WINE supports applications best that you are least likely to need.
Frankly what I really see being a big win for alternative platforms such as Linux and OS/X is MONO. This is in effect .NET implemented on Linux and OS/X. From the bit of experimenting I've done so far I'd have to say that MS has done all of us a big favor. The only alternative is JAVA and frankly I see .NET as the better of the two. Further there is a published industry standard for .NET that is of reasonable size. Mono is where the future of cross platform application usage is in my mind.
Now we have the question of how the market place is going to accept .NET and things like Mono. Sure the adoption rate is slow but I think we will see a bit of snowballing here.
Dave
You've missed a lot of development, that's for sure. Many major apps do run under WINE and Crossover. Office being one of the most important. Photoshop is one that runs that is also of interest here.
Crossover and Darwine will simply give more alternatives to the Mac user. Some alternatives will be better than others for some people. The fact that they will be available at all is important.
.net hasn't done nearly as well as MS has hoped. It isn't ubiquitous. Java has more development at this time.
You've missed a lot of development, that's for sure. Many major apps do run under WINE and Crossover. Office being one of the most important. Photoshop is one that runs that is also of interest here.
Yea, because Office and Photoshop aren't available on Mac OS X
Yea, because Office and Photoshop aren't available on Mac OS X
Um, because they're available on OS X, doesn't mean that WINE doesn't support them. FYI, WINE is meant to run Office and Photoshop in Linux, something different from OS X, and thus it is a big deal for Linux users.
Because your elitist ass has Photoshop and Office doesn't mean WINE is useless.
This isn't a linux forum and thus, as you put it, "of interest here."
Windows productivity apps in WINE in general are going to suck for Mac users regardless of 'compatibility' anyway. They will still behave like Windows apps.
The only major interest in WINE in OS X (and Linux for that matter) has always been games. Fortunately the crappy Windows HI usually isn't a problem there.
[B]This isn't a linux forum and thus, as you put it, "of interest here."
You're not one to decide what is of interest here.
Quote:
Windows productivity apps in WINE in general are going to suck for Mac users regardless of 'compatibility' anyway. They will still behave like Windows apps.
Your point?
Quote:
The only major interest in WINE in OS X (and Linux for that matter) has always been games. Fortunately the crappy Windows HI usually isn't a problem there.
Um, dude, when you need to run a program, you really don't care about the UI. When you have time to waste trying to run games through an emulator, you don't care about UI.
Anyone who needs to run Photoshop or Office already does, assuming "need" is on the same basis as needing to run a specific OS, or needing a specific model car to tool around with.
Let me rephrase that. Anyone who really wants to run Photoshop or Office already does, and those who want to take advantage of a better OS may as well take advantage of the native apps with the better interface.
wouldn't be the first time it has been done, I remember that you could buy boards to turn an Amega into a Mac, but you had to provide the ROM's to make it work.
AmiMax. Apart from hosting the roms the main reason was to provide floppy drive compatibility. If you didn't want floppy compatibility then running ShapeShifter and some ROM images was a much cheaper and much better way of getting Mac compatibility. Arguably, at the time, the Amiga even running Shapeshifter was a better Mac than a real Mac as you could run multiple Macs on the one Amiga and I had a lot more stability and speed out of Shapeshifter than I had out of my SE/30 at the time.
On the Intel Macs it's a whole different ballgame as Intel's built in DRM will most likely be used to prevent it from running on hardware other than official Apple hardware. That will be almost impossible to crack.
It'll be interesting to see if the DRM gets used by 3rd party developers also to use for their own software protection. Almost everyone I know uses some software they've 'acquired' even if it's just to see if they like it before they buy it. If that's totally ruled out on future Macs and Windows then I can see some people not wanting to upgrade to new Macs or Windows and the open source software movement will continue to grow.
It'll be interesting to see if the DRM gets used by 3rd party developers also to use for their own software protection. Almost everyone I know uses some software they've 'acquired' even if it's just to see if they like it before they buy it. If that's totally ruled out on future Macs and Windows then I can see some people not wanting to upgrade to new Macs or Windows and the open source software movement will continue to grow.
DRM = Digital rights management. Let's be careful with our terminology here. It's more like a dongle than DRM.
One of the things included in XCode 2.2 is a new binary header which makes sure the TPM stuff is in place. That aids Apple more than it does 3rd parties, but I thought I'd mention it.
Um, dude, when you need to run a program, you really don't care about the UI. When you have time to waste trying to run games through an emulator, you don't care about UI.
When you need to run a program, that's presumably the case because you don't have alternatives. In that case, you will care and agonize even more about bad UI, since you will have to deal with it.
even office 2004 word full mac os X version has a horrible ui though, and the fading out formatting panel is just plain stuuupid. and applying styles and stuff, frackin' nightmare. had to help my uncle and aunt yesterday that just switched. word for mac is horrible. i hope apple really makes some good strides with Pages, Cell, Keynote is really looking tight, so hopefully iWork 2006 will put the nails in the coffin of the 10 year travesty that is microsucks orifice
Word for Mac has always been pretty bad. Pity that Wordperfect was never updated.
At least the input controls became more Mac-like in Office 2001. More than, say, Firefox \
Anyway, the problem isn't the fact that other Office-like products aren't available. The problem has always been agencies (particularly government ones) which require usage of Office file formats.
well, you know, that's why i strongly feel that apple developing its own software is a crucial step in the conversion of the heathens. iTunes is a clear testament to that. i strongly suspect iSteve wants microsoft to complete the macintel transition, then he'll turn around and say, okay, fuck this shit, here's iWork '06, let's not ever ever ever have to worry about office again (except for ensuring compatibility between office windows document format and Pages/Cell/Keynote). adobe/macromedia is alright, i'd say apple needs to really nail iWork '06 and iWork '07.
edit: imagine if apple released iWork '06 and '07 for windows that was highly office windows document format compatible..!! that would be the foot in the door for apple in the enterprise desktop market !!
DRM = Digital rights management. Let's be careful with our terminology here. It's more like a dongle than DRM.
One of the things included in XCode 2.2 is a new binary header which makes sure the TPM stuff is in place. That aids Apple more than it does 3rd parties, but I thought I'd mention it.
I suppose you can say DRM is the other half to the Intel LaGrande 'dongle' but as a whole I'd still call it DRM. Intel's LaGrande secure platform creates a secure code area within the CPU which can't be meddled with or even looked at by other applications. It's quite a few steps further on than the cert based Trusted Policy stuff Apple has already.
It's great for doing things like keeping prying eyes out of crypto software whilst it's running making cracking near impossible or just for providing secure transaction areas that can't be snooped on by spyware. Calling it a dongle does it a disservice.
I'd imagine all Apple need do to stop OSX running on non-Apple kit is to have a boot rom (using Intel's EFI) that loads into secured RAM and then checks for a key in your software, music or video. I'll have to check out XCode 2.2 to see if they've added stuff there over the old TP code but I imagine it'd be news if they'd let slip they were using LaGrande.
Of course all Apple need do is change the protection whenever it's cracked. iTunes has been cracked a few times but IIRC the last attempt hasn't yet. Pirates cracking releases would have to re-crack each version and I'm sure Apple could make it quite difficult. Certainly more difficult than a normal person is prepared to put up with.
imagine if apple released iWork '06 and '07 for windows that was highly office windows document format compatible..!! that would be the foot in the door for apple in the enterprise desktop market !!
I think Microsoft's hands are being forced there now anyway what with various US states and most of the EU mandating open document formats so that files aren't locked to specific vendors or even versions of software.
I'd hope however that Apple sees that as an opportunity to also support open document formats. Pages and Keynote use XML underneath the covers but it's not in say Office or OpenOffice.org XML format.
IME, Pages is pretty good at opening most Word documents but writing back isn't so hot. And apart from the speed and the weird page/section mash-up I quite like Pages. More so than Word anyway.
Comments
I've let this interesting thread slip for a few days. In any event a few comments from a long time Linux user.
First I've played around with WINE on Linux a few years ago so the comments might not be valid anymore. The thing is that WINE just wasn't all that great, especially if you where likely to run applications that where out of the ordinary. Honestly out of the ordinary is likely what you would want WINE for as today Linux has all mainstream application requirements covered.
That is a key realization for WINE; that is native solutions work much better. Along with that is that if you absolutely do need a mainstream MS application (to run under Linux) it is likely not to be compatible with WINE. In effect WINE supports applications best that you are least likely to need.
************************************************** ******
Frankly what I really see being a big win for alternative platforms such as Linux and OS/X is MONO. This is in effect .NET implemented on Linux and OS/X. From the bit of experimenting I've done so far I'd have to say that MS has done all of us a big favor. The only alternative is JAVA and frankly I see .NET as the better of the two. Further there is a published industry standard for .NET that is of reasonable size. Mono is where the future of cross platform application usage is in my mind.
Now we have the question of how the market place is going to accept .NET and things like Mono. Sure the adoption rate is slow but I think we will see a bit of snowballing here.
Dave
Originally posted by melgross
Here's some info about Crossover and wine. This is about the Linux versions, but it's likely that what he says can apply to a great extent to Mac's as well.
Steven says that he will either get back to me, or do a column on them for the Mactels. I just asked him to do that today after reading his article.
He's one of those well known Linux promoters who have, during the last year or two, moved over to OS X as well. He, therefore, has an interest in both.
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1886920,00.asp
Your understanding about OS/X is correct for the most part. The little item above though can be very important for many of the applications that you mention. On 64 bit i86 though there are more considerations one important one being the extended register set which can have a significant impact on some usages Apple targets.
As to desktop hardware anything that is not 64 bit capable next year will be dead in the water as far as I'm concerned. There may be very good reasons to continue to use 32 bit hardware in the portable lines, but I see such an implementation in an iMac as pure crazzyness. As youstate many won't know but on the other hand many of the some sort of people will read reviews and trust other opinions. If someone asked me I would steer them away from any 32 bit desktop machine if the expectation was to keep it for awhile. This is especially the case for Intel based hardware.
Frankly I have this feeling that Apple and us here on the board will not have to wait long for 64 bit solutions.
Dave
Originally posted by Mr. Dirk
I've heard this argument a lot on this board, but I don't think it really applies at this stage in the game. Where is 64-bit required? I know Mathematica has libraries that use it, etc. but looking at Apple's Pro apps, like Aperture and Final Cut Pro 5, both of those can be used on the 32-bit G4 processor. In addition, as I understand it, Mac OS X is not a "64-bit OS" in the sense that the UI layer, etc. is 64-bit. My understanding is that it's a 32-bit OS with 64-bit libraries that can be used on the proper CPU.
I might be mistaken, but (if I'm not) I don't see any problem with Apple releasing a 32-bit iMac, at least until Merom comes out. I doubt there would even be a marketing issue, as most users who would buy the iMac probably don't have any concept of 64-bit versus 32-bit...
Mr. Dirk
In any event there seems to be a disconnect here with respect to the idea that we are talking about future machines. Like it or not very soon any i86 based desktop will be 64 bit. There won't be a mainstream solution that isn't 64 bit.
The other consideration is that 64 bit i86 is in a much better position technically to compete (perform) against todays PPC hardware. The extended architecture is an impressive improvement that i86 has needed for years.
As to memory do realize that new hardware is being designed with the latest technology available (hopefully
64 bit has nothing to do with bragging, it has real technical merits on Apple's current 64 bit systems and is a significant advantage on todays Intel systems. Either way you cut it 64 bit does have something to offer the user. That doesn't even take into accout power users.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& &
All that being said I think the truely big thing on the horizon is multi core technology. It is comeing at just the right time where both applications and OS'es can take good advantage of it. Even here though you do put pressure on RAM, so Dual Core and more is just more pressure to pull 64 bit into the mainstream.
Thanks
dave
Originally posted by hmurchison
64-bit support in an iMac with 1 memory slot is silly. Large memory access is a staple of 64-bit computing. The extra bits have to go somewhere and without fast memory 64-bit support is there to placate some geek who wants to brag about his/her computer.
Originally posted by wizard69
Last I knew (in OS/X land) a 64 bit chip was required for any application that accessed or could make use of more that 2 gigs of RAM.
This is not CPU bound. The system controllers in pre G5 systems can't access more than 2 GB RAM.
The nice thing about the 64 bit Macs is that they eliminated that restriction for many applications. While not quite double, addressable memory may be of little use for some applications but is a big win for other 32 bit applications.
While I can't disagree with your statement as it is accurate, I do have trouble with others who imply that 64 bit hardware did nothing for users of Apples G5 based machines. It can benefit users of memory demanding apps or users of multiple apps.
Thanks
dave
Originally posted by smalM
This is not CPU bound. The system controllers in pre G5 systems can't access more than 2 GB RAM.
multicore will make its mark in 2006 - Yonah dualcore, AthlonX2s becoming much more affordable hopefully!
with the quad powermac in terms of mainstream/performance pro computing, apple is one of the frontrunners in terms of both multicore AND 64bit performance.
remember that winXP64 works to some degree but really not great application support for it, and the game titles released for amd64/ intel em64t are really quite pathetic.
for windows mainstream/performance users, dualcore is the most important development ~ antiviral in background, downloading bittorrent/pr0n/ sysadmin updates etc, then foreground playing games or spreadsheets or word, web browsing etc. really, i find it handy to just keep bittorrents going while playing UT2004 or Quake4 or NFSmostwanted every now and then.
for me, definitely a reasonably priced athlonX2 with 1mb cache per core would be wayy more important than any 64bit deal.. (the bonus is all athlons are 64bit processors already! it's just the crappy win OS
i won't comment on linux at this stage 'coz not in the scene recently... suffice to say that *in my experience* 64bit linux has some challenges, there's quite a bit of rebuilding that needs to be done toget things up and running.
Originally posted by wizard69
Hi All;
I've let this interesting thread slip for a few days. In any event a few comments from a long time Linux user.
First I've played around with WINE on Linux a few years ago so the comments might not be valid anymore. The thing is that WINE just wasn't all that great, especially if you where likely to run applications that where out of the ordinary. Honestly out of the ordinary is likely what you would want WINE for as today Linux has all mainstream application requirements covered.
That is a key realization for WINE; that is native solutions work much better. Along with that is that if you absolutely do need a mainstream MS application (to run under Linux) it is likely not to be compatible with WINE. In effect WINE supports applications best that you are least likely to need.
************************************************** ******
Frankly what I really see being a big win for alternative platforms such as Linux and OS/X is MONO. This is in effect .NET implemented on Linux and OS/X. From the bit of experimenting I've done so far I'd have to say that MS has done all of us a big favor. The only alternative is JAVA and frankly I see .NET as the better of the two. Further there is a published industry standard for .NET that is of reasonable size. Mono is where the future of cross platform application usage is in my mind.
Now we have the question of how the market place is going to accept .NET and things like Mono. Sure the adoption rate is slow but I think we will see a bit of snowballing here.
Dave
You've missed a lot of development, that's for sure. Many major apps do run under WINE and Crossover. Office being one of the most important. Photoshop is one that runs that is also of interest here.
Crossover and Darwine will simply give more alternatives to the Mac user. Some alternatives will be better than others for some people. The fact that they will be available at all is important.
.net hasn't done nearly as well as MS has hoped. It isn't ubiquitous. Java has more development at this time.
Originally posted by melgross
You've missed a lot of development, that's for sure. Many major apps do run under WINE and Crossover. Office being one of the most important. Photoshop is one that runs that is also of interest here.
Yea, because Office and Photoshop aren't available on Mac OS X
Originally posted by strobe
Yea, because Office and Photoshop aren't available on Mac OS X
Um, because they're available on OS X, doesn't mean that WINE doesn't support them. FYI, WINE is meant to run Office and Photoshop in Linux, something different from OS X, and thus it is a big deal for Linux users.
Because your elitist ass has Photoshop and Office doesn't mean WINE is useless.
Windows productivity apps in WINE in general are going to suck for Mac users regardless of 'compatibility' anyway. They will still behave like Windows apps.
The only major interest in WINE in OS X (and Linux for that matter) has always been games. Fortunately the crappy Windows HI usually isn't a problem there.
Originally posted by strobe
[B]This isn't a linux forum and thus, as you put it, "of interest here."
You're not one to decide what is of interest here.
Windows productivity apps in WINE in general are going to suck for Mac users regardless of 'compatibility' anyway. They will still behave like Windows apps.
Your point?
The only major interest in WINE in OS X (and Linux for that matter) has always been games. Fortunately the crappy Windows HI usually isn't a problem there.
Um, dude, when you need to run a program, you really don't care about the UI. When you have time to waste trying to run games through an emulator, you don't care about UI.
Therefore, all your arguments are pointless.
Let me rephrase that. Anyone who really wants to run Photoshop or Office already does, and those who want to take advantage of a better OS may as well take advantage of the native apps with the better interface.
BTW WINE is not an emulator
Originally posted by JCG
wouldn't be the first time it has been done, I remember that you could buy boards to turn an Amega into a Mac, but you had to provide the ROM's to make it work.
AmiMax. Apart from hosting the roms the main reason was to provide floppy drive compatibility. If you didn't want floppy compatibility then running ShapeShifter and some ROM images was a much cheaper and much better way of getting Mac compatibility. Arguably, at the time, the Amiga even running Shapeshifter was a better Mac than a real Mac as you could run multiple Macs on the one Amiga and I had a lot more stability and speed out of Shapeshifter than I had out of my SE/30 at the time.
On the Intel Macs it's a whole different ballgame as Intel's built in DRM will most likely be used to prevent it from running on hardware other than official Apple hardware. That will be almost impossible to crack.
It'll be interesting to see if the DRM gets used by 3rd party developers also to use for their own software protection. Almost everyone I know uses some software they've 'acquired' even if it's just to see if they like it before they buy it. If that's totally ruled out on future Macs and Windows then I can see some people not wanting to upgrade to new Macs or Windows and the open source software movement will continue to grow.
Originally posted by aegisdesign
It'll be interesting to see if the DRM gets used by 3rd party developers also to use for their own software protection. Almost everyone I know uses some software they've 'acquired' even if it's just to see if they like it before they buy it. If that's totally ruled out on future Macs and Windows then I can see some people not wanting to upgrade to new Macs or Windows and the open source software movement will continue to grow.
DRM = Digital rights management. Let's be careful with our terminology here. It's more like a dongle than DRM.
One of the things included in XCode 2.2 is a new binary header which makes sure the TPM stuff is in place. That aids Apple more than it does 3rd parties, but I thought I'd mention it.
Originally posted by Gene Clean
Um, dude, when you need to run a program, you really don't care about the UI. When you have time to waste trying to run games through an emulator, you don't care about UI.
When you need to run a program, that's presumably the case because you don't have alternatives. In that case, you will care and agonize even more about bad UI, since you will have to deal with it.
At least the input controls became more Mac-like in Office 2001. More than, say, Firefox
Anyway, the problem isn't the fact that other Office-like products aren't available. The problem has always been agencies (particularly government ones) which require usage of Office file formats.
edit: imagine if apple released iWork '06 and '07 for windows that was highly office windows document format compatible..!!
Originally posted by strobe
DRM = Digital rights management. Let's be careful with our terminology here. It's more like a dongle than DRM.
One of the things included in XCode 2.2 is a new binary header which makes sure the TPM stuff is in place. That aids Apple more than it does 3rd parties, but I thought I'd mention it.
I suppose you can say DRM is the other half to the Intel LaGrande 'dongle' but as a whole I'd still call it DRM. Intel's LaGrande secure platform creates a secure code area within the CPU which can't be meddled with or even looked at by other applications. It's quite a few steps further on than the cert based Trusted Policy stuff Apple has already.
It's great for doing things like keeping prying eyes out of crypto software whilst it's running making cracking near impossible or just for providing secure transaction areas that can't be snooped on by spyware. Calling it a dongle does it a disservice.
I'd imagine all Apple need do to stop OSX running on non-Apple kit is to have a boot rom (using Intel's EFI) that loads into secured RAM and then checks for a key in your software, music or video. I'll have to check out XCode 2.2 to see if they've added stuff there over the old TP code but I imagine it'd be news if they'd let slip they were using LaGrande.
Of course all Apple need do is change the protection whenever it's cracked. iTunes has been cracked a few times but IIRC the last attempt hasn't yet. Pirates cracking releases would have to re-crack each version and I'm sure Apple could make it quite difficult. Certainly more difficult than a normal person is prepared to put up with.
Originally posted by sunilraman
imagine if apple released iWork '06 and '07 for windows that was highly office windows document format compatible..!!
I think Microsoft's hands are being forced there now anyway what with various US states and most of the EU mandating open document formats so that files aren't locked to specific vendors or even versions of software.
I'd hope however that Apple sees that as an opportunity to also support open document formats. Pages and Keynote use XML underneath the covers but it's not in say Office or OpenOffice.org XML format.
IME, Pages is pretty good at opening most Word documents but writing back isn't so hot. And apart from the speed and the weird page/section mash-up I quite like Pages. More so than Word anyway.