Apples Madness

UPDATE: Today (02.08.02) the website for zettabyte solutions now displays content. Unfortunately it is a paragraph stating thus:

This morning while giving KB a ride to work we discussed the "illusion" as he put it, of secrets. Particularly the secrets that are kept by software and hardware giants like Apple, and Microsoft. while he and I disagree on some of his points the logic is sound. I just don't believe that in a world where the majority of presidents and CEO's are driven by greed and the bottom line, we can ever hope to see the utopian ideals embodied by the Clue Train Manifesto, of which, by the way I am a listed signatory.

So it is with great loathing that I communicate this very disheartening event. Recently Apple introduced a new class of computer, namely the eMac, standing for education mac. After the huge success of this product they moved it into the retail market. while this was great news for the masses of mac users who wanted a cheaper G4, it was lacking in one key area. The only optical drive options were a cd-rom and later a combo cd-rw/dvd-rom.

Strangely absent was the Superdrive that everyone knows and loves.

A third party company decided to fill that gap. They purchased eMacs directly from Apple, and then retro-fitted them with superdives, then sold them with warranties from thier website. Apple legal recently shut them down. As of this posting, zettabytesolutions.com is no longer even functioning. The only way to get any content from them is to go to the old webstore. The last time I saw something about them they were planning on selling upgrade kits, and they said they had worked out a way to give powerbook G4, and iBook users dvd burning capabilites.

I sincerely hope that they are still planning on this. There are rumors that the new tiBooks will be 1 gig and have superdrives, but that doesn't help me and my 550 at all, does it?

related sites - apple.com :: kevinbasil.com :: microsoft.com :: clue train manifesto

Humbled and thankful.

There are times in life that you sit back and take stock of your life.

The trail of your life winds away behind you and before you, the past an altogether too clear collection of choices gone wrong and lives destroyed by your carelessness. These relationships lay strewn along the path like deadwood after a storm, the ground pocked and marked by the passing of countless battles and skirmishes, the valley of your existence, where there was once beauty and life is now a nightmarish testament to your own selfishness and foolishness. A barren land where only regret and self dillusion can thrive.

Before you stretches away eternity. An ever shifting zone of mist and possibility never substantial until the moment of its birth where it becomes the present, but by then it is far too late to prepare yourself for what is to come, so trapped now in the maddening present you continue your reign of carnage and destruction. And behind you fresh corpses begin to appear. Along this path we must walk, a wraith in a land of twilight. In the midst of this all, there are moments of clarity. Brief fleeting seconds where the mist coalesces and before you stands a person. The identity is usually different, sometimes a teacher, others a beloved friend. But always they offer the same thing, escape. A way out of this half existence that threatens to crush that spark of the Divine that resides in us all. For the most part we ignore them. We thank them, but staunchily refuse thier help. Worst of all, there are those of us so far gone that we can not even recognize our own jeopardy.

Since making the decision to follow Orthodox doctrine, and joining St. Athansius Orthodox Church I have had the oppurtunity to escape the ruin and destruction that my life has become. But I have not.

The Orthodox believe that the chuch is for the healing of the body, mind and soul. That the local parish is an E.R. and the priest and the Holy Spirit the physicians that are waiting to heal you. Unfortunately the decision to be healed is more difficult to make than can be imagined.

I think that last night I finally made that decision.

My life is a mockery of what is real and I no longer have the stomach for the destruction that I have, and continue to wreak on others. I wish to have the valley of my soul cleansed, the poison that has corrupted it these many years wiped away. The death and decay that have taken root there to be expunged. I wish to live.

Thank you for your help Kevin.

related - OCA.org :: Random Mumble Generator :: St. Athanasius

Speechless

Speechless... there is nothing else to say at this point. I had known that the new flagship Apple Retail Stores were going to be nice, but this is just beyond me. The sheer architectural beauty and form that is conveyed by the facade; the glass stairway; it is all just amazing. I don't like posting pics here, but I thought this was an exception.

Apple's future

I have been thinking quite a bit lately about what possible road Apple could take not only to ensure its profitablity, but to secure its place in the personal computer market.

I really believe that a strategic partnership with AMD would provide this. Probably the most frequent comment I hear from Wintel users who are considering switching is that "why would I want to move to another platform that doesn't run my present software, and costs SO much to purchase in the first place?" They do have a point you know.

From a realistic standpoint, leaving the Mac Evangelist mantle off, the idea that they have to buy a new computer that at least will put them back $1099.00, plus all of the software they use must be purchased again, is a bit daunting to say the least. The question then is, "How do we position Apple to be a viable option for the non-mac elitist, or power user?"

The answer I think is this:

Apple redevelops thier market strategy by splitting the mac platform into two distinct lines. PowermacPro and PowermacHome(or something equally pithy).

The PowerMacPro line would encompass Powermacs running G5 utilizing the Power4 tech pioneered by IBM, DDR 400 ram, and enough internal storage for at least .5 terrabytes of HD, and AGP 8X probably the GeForce 4 ti, or the new ATI Radeon card. Round it off with support for 2 gigs of ram and a superdrive that can write to higher capacity media and that would pretty much do it. This line would live in the $1599.00+ price point and appeal to users who need a ton of horse power and don't mind the price you pay for it.

Then you would have the PowermacHome, running a hybrid AMD Athlon PPC 1.4ghz+, PC133 ram, one gigs worth should do it I think, ATA 100 HD 2 bays and the present superdrive. Throw in 8X AGP running the GeForce 4MX or the Radeon 8500. Make no real distinction in case design, and ship the units with the same monitor tech, with upgrades available of course. Start off the Home line in the $799.00 price point, and Apple would have offerings in both the consumer and pro sectors. If this happened, with aggressive marketing Apple could triple thier marketshare within one year, maybe two on the outside. And for fun, they could run promotions allowing switchers to send in their Pc software for a rebate towards the purchase of Mac counterparts from the Apple Store.

I think that about does it.

related - apple.com :: AMD.com :: ATI Radeon :: NVIDIA :: IBM

Long time, no blog.

Just a quick note. I have been lax in my duties here of late, due mainly to the fact that I have been dealing with admin problems at some sub-domains of mine and life with a significant other who not only deserves a lion share of my time, but demands it.

Throw in Warcraft 3, and Starwars Role Playing I am finding myself with little to no time. Add into that I am currently searching for a new J-O-B, and you can see what I mean.

Oh well, hopefully things will change soon.

related sites - starwars.com :: monster.com :: Wizards of the Coast :: battle dot net

Half way there

Well I am half way there with the redirection. Right now my script redirects based on browser type, I have yet to incorporate the platform specific code. So that being said, if you use Netscape/Gecko, you will see the good site no matter what platform you are using; which is good. On the other hand, if you are using IE you will see the bland site no matter what platform; which is bad since IE 5.0+ for MacOS X is built with standards in mind. But still, it is progress.

Maybe I will have the other code hacked by tommorow. Who knows.

related sites - Javascript.com :: Mactopia.com :: Mozilla.org :: Chimera

Stupid Web Standards...

Well my conversation with Basil, has lead to me returning the old layout to the net, for now, you can access it here. It will be this way until I am fininshed hacking a huge detect and redirect for platform and browser type .js file together that will do the choosing for you.

Enjoy.

related sites - WaSP :: 4 Guys from Rolla :: Jigsaw: W3C's CSS validation service

I give up.

I give up. After talking to my friend Basil, I have decided that I just can't win. I personally like the new layout of my site, but since he doesn't I am going to redesign it again. Just to make you happy. Becuase we can't have backwards steps in layout can we?

And as much as I hate to admit it, he had a point about the non blog content. I had toyed with the idea of placing it at the bottom, but I liked it at the top. And like so many things in my life, my whim won out. So since discussing it with the BK, I have relented and placed it at the bottom.

So B, since we are freely sharing, can we discuss what I don't like about your blog?

Canada's Dumbest Man!

I have found him! Finally I have found Canada's Dumbest Man. It seems that this intellectual giant was unaware selling and installing mod chips for the playstation game console is illegal.

Pause for the sound of the echo... Ahhhh yes. Sony of course is feeling all warm and fuzzy right about now. This is the first such conviction in Canada and sets a legal precedent from which to prosecute future offenders.

The sky is falling....

Well it looks like we are all going to die.

As reported here by the BBC, an asteroid in deep space might hit the Earth in the year 2019.

Boy I hope I am wearing clean underwear 17 years from now.