@etaletc

Sorry, but no. Hardware-agnostic operating systems already existed before MS-DOS, and there was plenty of competition that drove computer prices far below $5K. Many computers from Commodore, Atari, etc. were typically in the $300-$1000 range (in 1980s dollars to be sure, but nevertheless what you're claiming is demonstrably false).

Re: Hmmm..

You don't seem to have read past the headline of the article, otherwise you'd know that it's not just this one device that's banned. They already didn't allow filming/photo-taking anyway.

Re: Amiga

Even an expanded A1200 couldn't really run it properly. I ended up playing the Mac version via one of the Mac emulators, since it ran at native speed and 640x480 on a Picasso96 graphics card (yes, my A1200 was expanded far past the point of making any sense, but it was cool anyway) was far faster than the AGA chip.

At least give me 16:10 instead of 16:9, which is something that's becoming increasingly difficult. Display technology in general kind of sucks actually and in many ways seems to have regressed since CRTs...you're constantly being stuck with choices like "do you want decent color, *or* do you want to play games acceptably?"

re: pierce

So use another desktop.

Re: Good effort but misdirected

You're mistaken; OS X isn't DRMed or particularly locked-down. The OS itself has no DRM at all (unlike Windows), so that leaves the App Store, which is completely optional on OS X.

The reason they're not protesting in Apple stores is because they recognize that the fact is Microsoft has become more locked down than Apple. OS X software can be installed from any source without restriction (if you don't want the OS harping on you about unsigned apps you can disable that in the preferences easily enough). That's not something you can say about Metro apps.

Re: I hate to admit it, but...

Indeed, I know several families who barely use their PCs anymore because they've pretty much replaced them with iOS and Android devices. Not intentionally, mind--they get an iPhone or whatever and just gradually turn on the PC less and less, since a lot of what they used it for is more conveniently done on a mobile device. So people talking about "but what about dishwashers and feature phones" are missing the point...yes this is a relatively new thing; this situation with computing devices wasn't possible 10 years ago.

Re: Ms hate

Having the "anti trust stuff" be "long over" doesn't really make MS any better of a company now than it used to be. That wasn't even the reason people didn't like MS, and the actual reasons haven't gone away.

Re: No body wants it now, why would then with a 3rd off/

> Most people who want a tablet have one already

Not in this reality, wherein sales of tablets are accelerating and will continue to do so for some time, according to any projections you might find.

Re: @Mad Chaz - I don't quite understand

> Valve don't want that and neither do the other game vendors since they have no intention of coughing up 30% to Apple or MS in order to sell on their respective platforms.

But the other game vendors do have the intention of coughing up 30+% to Valve in order to be on Steam? What difference does it make? Unless you go it alone, you will be coughing up a reasonably hefty percentage to somebody.

Re: challenge accepted

Wrong, Unity is a program. How do you think Unity apps/plugin content is generated? (In fact, it was Mac-only for the first several years, so the Windows version is actually a port.)

Re: challenge accepted

Maya

Zbrush

Sound Forge Pro

Filemaker Pro

Firefox

Opera

Safari (until just recently)

iTunes

Quicken (bwa ha ha, never mind)

Matlab

SlickEdit

Cinema 4D

Re: A Bargain!

Erm, no, .mac is ancient history, and MobileMe closed recently too. Seems you can get a free me.com address with iCloud (also free) though.

Oh, and I don't touch F2P games either. Just make a half-decent game without horrible DRM, preferably with a reasonable price, and I'll buy it if it interests me. 100% of my games are legal.

Re: Shirley...

No, because that would get contaminants all over everything.

Re: Wow.

When did "new things" become something to be desired in and of themselves? New things that are good are nice, new things that are bad are something that I am, indeed, averse to. As should you be. But I guess all you care about is whether it's new and shiny? Marketers must love you.

Re: Upgrade....PATH

> 3) Then I think, pay for 10.7, then pay for 10.8

No. Just 10.8; you skip over 10.7.

Re: Analysts - apply pinch of salt

> Desktop gaming has being dying a slow death for years

It's been doing no such thing. In fact, the opposite: http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/97047-thank-you-farmville-pc-gaming-will-soon-overtake-consoles

Re: 25 screens to scroll through?

Er, no, iOS has had folders for ages.

"Most of the iPhone users I know have DRM protected iTunes music on their handsets"

No they don't. iTunes music isn't DRM-protected, hasn't been for years, and even if they had bought it back when it was, it's somewhat likely they would have swapped it for the non-DRM (256K) versions by now.

Re: CFL

You must have crap ones then; the ones I've got light up to full brightness instantly.

Re: can you see the difference?

...Just to clarify, I'm talking about laser printing, which has no anti-aliasing. 300dpi is fine for computer displays, which can do anti-aliasing.

Re: can you see the difference?

Er, the difference between 150dpi and 600dpi is really obvious. Even 300dpi looks jagged and crappy from a normal reading distance. 600dpi is basically the minimum; more is better if you're printing color, so you can get a good lpi. Sounds like you're in need of glasses.

Re: Situation normal

I have to say I honestly don't get this "Foxconn rebranding" meme. If that's true, then pretty much every hardware company is an "[insert factory name here] rebranding" company, and should be referred to as such, unless they have their own factories, which they don't these days. If it's because of that story where Foxconn offered to design stuff for other companies, have you considered that Apple presumably hasn't actually taken them up on that offer? Apple seems to have their own engineers and designers--what, exactly, do you suppose they're doing? (Other than losing things in bars.) I mean, surely Sir Jony at least does something aside from galavanting around getting knighted and whatnot.

Re: it's only a matter of time before this kind of pixel density becomes standard

As I said, only a matter of time: http://liliputing.com/2012/04/intel-retina-laptop-desktop-displays-coming-in-2013.html

Re: So if I read El Reg's position aright

Correct. What you do is ignore them.

Re: WHY does it look worse?

Correct, it's only worse by comparison. Everyone might as well start fixing things up for high resolution now, because it's only a matter of time before this kind of pixel density becomes standard. Nothing to do with the iPad 3 per se; it was going to happen anyway. (Say hello to higher bandwidth usage!)

Re: Smart meters serve two main functions

What's in it for you (or at least for me): not having to shovel a path to the meter during the winter anymore. Also, a bit less pollution by not having a bunch of guys driving trucks around to all the meters constantly. My old meter was replaced last year...aside from the total lack of warning when they did it, no complaints so far. We'll see how it goes.

Re: One born every minute

How about, "Apple had as many made as was physically possible given the timeframe, but that just wasn't enough to cover the initial demand". I know, that's very boring and far too lacking in conspiracy theories and irrational hatred to be a good explanation, but it's all I could come up with.

Re: Announcement now published - 10k chars are back

OK, I take that back, it works now. Although I did clear my cache, don't know if that had anything to do with it. (But I have to agree that the new layout isn't great, plus it still breaks a bit if you bump up the font size, which I do because I use a higher-than-average dpi screen and want to avoid teeny-tiny text.)

Yeah, it's changing all right...sales keep going up. By a lot, it would seem, according to the latest financials (124% iPhone growth vs 40% growth for the industry).