Stop Me Before I Vote Again

Where I come from the hard working working men who work use Apples all the time. You're just a fancy pants Listserv Liberal who looks down your knows at us hard working workers who work all the time saving peoples lives and helping little old ladies across the street. YOU'RE ALL SO PHONY!!!11!one!!!eleventy!!!!

But he's wearing a black turtleneck!

confirming a long-standing suspicion that their stuff was just as crummy as IBM's and Gates'
Actually, it is the stuff Gates uses in his IBMs. The differences are all code-related — the (big) Apple OS is a vampiric, proprietary port of the Unix codebase.

I'm going to try and build a Linux box, when my Apple dies. And I appreciate noticeably in the I.Q. department.

On the other hand, homegirl does look like he's going to Comicon dressed as Neo, which is kind of awesome. So, he has that going for him.

also phrase to beware = "responsibility to protect"

I was already hating Apple for hypnotizing the bf into buying two of their crappy phones and, most of all, for the shitty ATT service that goes with it.

I actually like that they pulled this Wikileaks stunt because its one more way in which the emperors corporate clothes have been called out. That obnoxious 'Big Brother' ad of many years back looks particularly ridiculous now. One of the more amusing aspects of Apple fanboy toolishness is the ludicrous self-conception as nonconformist, arty computer user. Apple users are even more obnoxiously partisan than Linux geeks.

Still, I have to admit that I like their interfaces and some of the software the OS ships with so my next computer will probably be a Hackintosh. It won't be a Mac, though.

people get all fussed up about that stupid store, when the harm apple's really doing is getting people using totally trackable-spyable phones as internet portal, rendering every last tiny surfed tidbit unto caesar-LLC.

using totally trackable-spyable phones as internet portal, rendering every last tiny surfed tidbit unto caesar-LLC

Is surfing from your computer all that much more anonymous, especially for users who don't take steps to shield their activities with VPNs or onion routers? Not a rhetorical question. Curious.

I do like me the iTunes store, though (hangs head in shame) :(

When it comes to the differences between OSX and Windows 7 the devil is in details so small you don't really learn to appreciate them until you use both system.

Windows 7 has the potential to be a good operating system, but it feels unfinished to me. Jobs' control freak personality is, paradoxically, what makes OSX so easy to use. It's been hammered into a usable whole. There's no reason, for example, that Microsoft can't include something like "Time Machine" in Windows 7. They just chose not too.

I grew up using Windows and switched to OSX, so I can use both systems. But I can't imagine someone who grow up using Apple switching to Windows. The idea that, for example, you have to download a codec just to play a DVD would just seem a bit silly.

This just kind of sums it up for me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9HfdSp2E2A

"Is surfing from your computer all that much more anonymous, especially for users who don't take steps to shield their activities with VPNs or onion routers? Not a rhetorical question. Curious."

there's nothing unique to identify a typical computer on the net, hence the need for permacookies. on cell networks however each device has a lifelong unique identifier.

Emma:

...I'm going to try and build a Linux box, when my Apple dies...

Can I learn how to do that, too? At least it'll be a constructive way to spend time when I'm unemployed again.

Can I learn how to do that, too?

If you have an extra desktop, you should be able install Linux pretty easily.

http://www.ubuntu.com/

Just download the disk image, burn it to a DVD, put it in the DVD player and keep clicking "next."

The only thing that tends to be a bit of a challenge with Linux is getting the wireless on a laptop to work.

it'll be a constructive way to spend time when I'm unemployed again.
I am lucky enough to be unemployed for the entire month of January, almost every year, so I ought to have built at least three computers by now. I ascribe this lack of new, homemade computers entirely to my flawed, irreligious work ethic. If only more of my ancestors had been white and Christian! I would have invented my own OS by now, probably. (Last January I spent the whole month watching people make giant wedding cakes on my parents' satellite cable and didn’t even check my e-mail.)

I would like to put the computer together myself, out of parts I bought online — which allegedly maximizes performance by minimizing price. I am not sure I will ever be smart enough to actually do this, though. Here's hoping!

But Trail of Tears is right: If you have an extra box, you can put any kind of Linux OS on it you want (probably). Here are a couple I've been looking at recently:

Dreamlinux — http://www.dreamlinux.net/desktopedition.html
Sabayon — http://www.sabayon.org/

I got Dreamlinux up on my mother's new $300 netbook in just a few hours, and found that the wireless connection wasn't all that hard to make, once I remembered it wasn't an Apple. Also, there are helpful, non-creepy people in most Linux userforums.

Good luck, though! Except for the incipient unemployment, which probably is not any kind of luck at all.

I would like to put the computer together myself, out of parts I bought online — which allegedly maximizes performance by minimizing price. I am not sure I will ever be smart enough to actually do this, though. Here's hoping!

This is a bit out of date. But it will give you the basic idea.

http://tinyurl.com/yfk7h3

Let's try that again.

http://arstechnica.com/hardware/guides/2009/10/the-budget-box-october-2009-edition.ars

Of course the cheapest way is just to go to a used computer store or a garage sale and pick up an old desktop PC for 100 bucks.

The older the PC, the easier it is to install Linux on it, since it increases the chances that there are drivers for all the parts.

It also lets you recycle parts that would otherwise end up in the landfill. If you're only using it for web browsing and basic office tasks, it will be fast enough.

Just make sure it's at least a dual core.

I am not sure I will ever be smart enough to actually do this, though. Here's hoping!

It doesn't take any more brains than assembling Ikea shelves. It's just tedious and dull. Not sure if you save much money these days since computers have gotten so cheap.

If you are going to roll your own, you might want to consider doing a Hackintosh - if you prefer the Apple OS - and play with Linux via Parallels or Fusion.

This is the weirdest place to discuss a homemade computer fetish!

Trail of Tears:
Thank you for the link! Archived. But, just as you suggested, I’ll probably buy an older computer used and try it that way. There’s allegedly a guy hanging around the nabe who (extralegally?) repurposes computers once used by the US military and then sells them for cheap. Like Santa Claus or a delicious plate of microwaved spaghetti, I fear he is only a myth, but I find I am cheered by the prospect.

tarzie:
It doesn't take any more brains than assembling Ikea shelves.
You obviously haven’t seen my Ikea shelves.
you might want to consider doing a Hackintosh
I would love to, because then I would probably be able to use all the Mac shareware I’ve bought over the last few years, but I’m scared of all the BIOS/drivers drama :[

It doesn't take any more brains than assembling Ikea shelves

The trick is:

1.) Compatibility among the parts you chose. This can usually be solved by going to a website like Ars Technica and building a system they have specced out. Any incompatibilities tend to show up in the comments

2.) Defective parts. If you order from Newegg then you might have to deal with sending dodgy parts back for replacements

Not sure if you save much money these days since computers have gotten so cheap.

You might even pay a bit more. But you can also buy a nice case that makes it easy to add hard drives.

Take Dell's XPS 8100. It's really cheap UNLESS you want to add a hard drive. They deliberately underspec the power supply to make it difficult. You'll get a 300 watt power supply. So you can add, at most, one new hard drive. And if you order an extra hard drive or memory from Dell you pay up the ass.

But if you build, you can put in a 500 or 600 watt power supply as well as a nice case that makes upgrading parts easy.

I should mention that my current Dell laptop -- provided by a sometime employer in lieu of compensation -- is not playing nice with Ubuntu at all. Steer clear of Dell, is my advice.