Technology Insider has a skeptical review of the new Mac Mini. It gives a good overview of a Windows user's impression of the Mini and Macs in general. Note: read the whole review before rushing to judgement. If you read it carefully, you might be able to discern the author's hidden adgenda. Also check out the same site's article on setting grandma up with a Linux box.
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More of a jab at the PC world than a review of the Mini, but humorous nonetheless.
The guy right off the bat confuses the press release for the iPod Shuffle with the Mac Mini.
"If you believe Apple’s marketing department, the new Mini is “smaller than most packs of gum” and weighs “less than four quarters”."
Sorry to burst your bubble there bud, but that's the wrong product.
Nice objective article, I wasn't aware that Steve Ballmer was ghost-writing reviews these days.
The author must have been thinking of this:
http://www.gumstix.com
I knew that even with the warning, plenty of people would fall for this one.
Any complains from somebody with the machine? anyone? feedback is always good. I pay more attention to what people who use the machine say. I bought a Presario 2100 for the reviews. Big mistake. People having problems with fan noise, power connector, buttons, mouse pad, those are the ones that I should had payed attention to. So, how is the machine doing?
Take yo' head out of your axx, read the article...
geez... some people just can't recognize sarcasim...
Pretty funny article but nothing to rave about. IMHO
Jb
It's not a really good parody though. The tone isn't quite right. A little too serious and not enough satire to clue people in.
this guy does more harm than good. A complete idiot.
I think it was too stupid to be a joke. But it was also too stupid to be serious. Weird.
I agree that the tone isn't quite right on this one. It's almost serious enough that you think he's sincere, but if he is sincere he's the stupidest person who has ever write a technology article in the world. The parody needs to be just a little broader to make this a little more fun to read. I posted it becasue the first paragraph really had me going, though. I got suckered, until I read the whole thing.
haha! This article rocks!
And to those who took it wrongly, lighten up and pay a little more attention, it's a joke and parody.
-mojo
I liked the Article - first you think 'wtf', but then...
It wouldn't be good sarkasm if you get it in the first two lines..
I was cracking up when I read it, but when I posted a link to it on #MacOSX on freenode and people started getting angry I got a bit worried, check out the rest of the site there is some funny stuff on there, I especially like the stuff about the 89 year old grandma running Gentoo.
It's a nice idea for an ironic article. It's just badly executed.
I fell for it at first glance, but there's more than enough clues for everyone except the understanding-challenged people, so imo it's just the right tone.
I know the article is a joke, but it's just not a really funny joke.. It would be funny if it was posted on a mac-cult site, and see the reactions of those who take it seriously :-)
I just knew it was a good joke when I read the following:
"Poor standards compliance: Apple's Safari web browser often fails to render MSN properly."
:D
He had me going there until the very end when he said
"When I consider that a good deal of my time is spent running applications like Disk Defragmenter, Scandisk, Norton AV, Windows Update and Ad-Aware--none of which are available for the Mac platform--it doesn't make sense for me to "switch" to a Mac at this time."
Still, I agree that it's not a very good parody, in comparison with some of the stuff I've seen on BBSpot.
No complaints after upgrading the RAM. With 256 it runs unbearably slow. Upgraded to 512 and I am ultra happy with my purchasing decision.
how in god's heaven, do they allow for such writting?
what a complete idiot.AD-ware, Norton A/v, Disk Defragmenter,
we dont need those pos applications!!! theres no use for them
in OS X!
"how in god's heaven, do they allow for such writting?
what a complete idiot.AD-ware, Norton A/v, Disk Defragmenter,
we dont need those pos applications!!! theres no use for them
in OS X!"
way to catch on
...the tone is way tooooooo serious for a parody (even though it's obvious it's one in the end).
So much Satire!
Very good jab at the PC World. Here are a few good quotes:
This could make it very difficult for a novice user to know whether or not the computer is on. In fact, it took our techs about fifteen minutes before we realized the unit itself was operating normally and it was the monitor that was not plugged in properly. It turns out the Mini uses a weird kind of display connector(DVI, used by most LCD Display) on the back that requires a special adapter if you want to plug it into a PC monitor.The PC gets three thumbs up for notifying me its powered-on state with its triple blast hair-blower bass!
For example, there is no Outlook Express for email, but Apple includes a program called Mail, which is like a stripped-down email client that can’t execute scripts or open attachments without user intervention. Personally I find it annoying, but if someone doesn’t depend on emailing their coworkers vbscripts like I do, they might be able to get by with it. Yep, indeed they are better off without it...
Secondly and possibly even more glaringly, there is no antivirus program shipped with the Mac. In today’s climate of non-stop worms, trojans and viruses, releasing a computer with no virus removal software is irresponsible on the part of Apple. We all know that we can count Mac viruses with our fingers
The OS X comes with some system maintenance utilities, but essentials such as a defragmenter or a or registry cleaner are notably absent. I would expect a Mini to get really slow and unstable within a couple months if you can’t perform any routine maintenance tasks on it. We have all come to love windoze's registry. Also, people might not know this, but HPS+ (after Drawin 7.0) has automatic file defragmentation.
There is no Mac version of WeatherBug to check the temperature anywhere in the world. Nor is there a Mac version of helpful web and email enhancers like Hotbar. Or any equivalent of the DealHelper software I use to keep track of my passwords. My Office 2003 CD would not install, despite claims I had heard from Mac fanboys that OS X is compatible with Office. Heck, the Internet Explorer icon isn’t even out on the taskbar by default, it’s buried in the c:applications folder. Of course, we all know why windows users need spybot+adaware in addition to NAV. As for Office, you need to upgrade to Office 2004! Lastly, we all know IE6 for mac is vastly superior to its windows counterpart...
When I consider that a good deal of my time is spent running applications like Disk Defragmenter, Scandisk, Norton AV, Windows Update and Ad-Aware--none of which are available for the Mac platform--it doesn't make sense for me to "switch" to a Mac at this time. We all love the good ol' times we spent doing sys maintenance, that's why we love the automator that's coming out with OS X Tiger, just in case...
I agree that the tone isn't quite right on this one. It's almost serious enough that you think he's sincere, but if he is sincere he's the stupidest person who has ever write a technology article in the world. The parody needs to be just a little broader to make this a little more fun to read. I posted it because the first paragraph really had me going, though. I got suckered, until I read the whole thing.
I think that's practically the definition of a good/funny troll. That's what people are missing-- it's not really a parody, it's a troll. A real troll is a form of satire, but it's different from a parody. It's too stupid to be real, but unlike a real parody, it's too real to be funny. That's the key to suckering people in.
And that's where the humor of a "troll" comes in. A parody is funny because it's making fun of the thing it's talking about. However, a troll is funny because it's making fun of the reader for being suckered into believing that the statements are being made in earnest. It's like a game, how stupid can I be and still have people think I'm serious. Therefore, it's the nature of good trolls to go undetected, eliciting anger from the not-so-bright, and agreement from the truly-stupid.
This was a waste of my time. I want my time back. Ah who am I kidding? I'd waste it anyways...
All DivisionTwo content is sature. All columnists, authors, reporters, and articles are fictitious.
May reading the fine print at the bottom of the main page will help.
I am sure the guy who runs divisontwo is laughing his body parts off at the comments here on OSNews. 
Just reading the below sentence is enough for me to know that the guy who wrote the article doesn't even know what he's talking about...
"When I consider that a good deal of my time is spent running applications like Disk Defragmenter, Scandisk, Norton AV, Windows Update and Ad-Aware--none of which are available for the Mac platform--it doesn't make sense for me to "switch" to a Mac at this time."
1) Norton AV????
2) Windows Update!?!?!?!? -> It's Mac OS for christ's sake!
3) Ad-Aware?????
I'm just totally speachless...
Also him stating that he spends "a lot" of his time using these apps, means he doesn't even know how to operate a computer properly. Most of these should be run once a week (except your AV which runs constantly in the background and you're maybe doing your occasional full system scans while watching tv or something) so most users shouldn't spend much time actually using them at all...
And the argument comparing the Mac and the eMachine with snacks that he can pick up from the gas station just blows my mind too - what kind of an idiot you have to be to put something like that in a technical review!?!?!?!?!
what kind of an idiot you have to be to put something like that in a technical review!?!?!?!?!
Like an idiot that doesn't read the instructions or comments on article before he posts.
...understanding even most obvious jokes. Does being an Apfel user actually require you to hand over your healthy sense of humour at the Apple Store, provided that, you actually ever had one?!?!
Good lord people, this is satire, a joke, please read it once again if necessary. Machines manufactured by the Apple are no freaking relics!
Its unbelieveable, this wasnt even a anti-MAC article, it was enough not to adulate it unambigously to the heavens and immediately some of you crack up and go berserk.
I would laugh my ass of if it were'nt so sad, actually.
Genius Satire, the stupidity of some of the comments on here is even better.
that was a great impression of a typical windows/pc user, love it
Apperantly the idiots working at microsoft are too f***ing stupid to make standards compliant web-pages without 130 errors.
http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.msn....
It is a sad, sad world where satire needs a disclaimer.
Sorry, wasn't aware this was a comedy website... usually tech reviews are not meant to be funny, therefore, I don't look for jokes when I read them. And considering the quality of a lot of the reviews I've read here and other news websites, this sounded pretty genuine to me as far as the author's toughts. Very good journalism that must be.
And no, I don't read all the comments before I post. Is there a rule about it that I'm not aware of? If so then I'll probably have to be spending about a day before I can post a comment about an article on Slashdot for instance...
I don't think posting satire on a news site is a sensible thing, but then again, some of the comments made me laugh more than the article.
And no, I don't read all the comments before I post. Is there a rule about it that I'm not aware of? If so then I'll probably have to be spending about a day before I can post a comment about an article on Slashdot for instance...
Yeah, you should at least glance at the comments before you post a comment, if for no other reason than to avoid being redundant. It's actually pretty important to threaded forums like Slashdot to look for an already-existing thread to which your comments will apply. Otherwise, the threading is semi-meaningless.
This is where the first noticeable problem with Apple design arises. While there is a Mac-style “donnnnggggg” when the Mini is first turned on, during normal operation the unit makes no sound whatsoever. This could make it very difficult for a novice user to know whether or not the computer is on. In fact, it took our techs about fifteen minutes before we realized the unit itself was operating normally and it was the monitor that was not plugged in properly.
How can ppl who read this can not get that he was kidding?
The Mac Mini article was pretty good, but the second article linked above about setting up a linux box for grandma was the funniest things I've read in a long time. A must read for anyone who has had to teach their grandparents how to use a computer.
Well, the first graf makes the typical, and typically unsubstantiated, charges about Job's reality distortion field, Apple's alleged "exorbitant" prices, and the irrationality of anyone who, in the face of all that, actually buys an Apple product.
Since Lopez doesn't even attempt to support those assertions, I can only assume he was writing to confirm the prejudices of his readers. (See Slashdot for polished practioners of this kind of rabble rousing.)
Lopez attacks Apple for sacrificing parallel and serial ports, a PS/2 port, and drive bays, and asks readers how much they will miss them. And, I answer: not at all. I run Linux on a PC box and haven't used any of those items in months. If I bought a Mini, I'd simply pull the USB cables out of my Intel box and plug them into the Mini.
A Mini would support every task I use a computer for these days, plus take up much less room, and generate much less noise and heat, three very important issues for me. (I'm tired of big, ugly, noisy and hot PC boxes. Lopez's calling the E-Machine "equally stylish" is beyond me. It, like all PC boxes, is about as attractive as a shiny shipping carton.)
Lopez goes on to assert that the Mini's silence would confuse a novice since they might not know the computer was working. That's patently absurd. Do any of us know anyone who would conclude that lack of fan noise means the box isn't running, all the while refusing to look at the monitor? Apparently, though, some of the folks at "Technology Insider" were flummoxed, since Lopez claims it took his techs 15 minutes to realize they'd failed to connect the monitor correctly. (That's a toughie, that.)
Lopez's piece falls in line with all the other stereotypically snide and putatively cute Mac reviews, attacking the product for failing to provide what it is not intended to provide.
I'm a likely Mini buyer precisely because it does what I want a computer to do, it comes in a very small and unobstrusive package, it is quite and it is not the equivalent of a space heater. I don't care if other PC's are cheaper, because I've already decided I will not buy any of them, at any price. (Why am I supposed to care that something I don't want costs less than something I want?)
On all the articles where PC people review the Mac Mini.
He barely made any real or rational jab at Apple at all.
He spent the whole time making fun of PC geeks and their attitudes toward computing.
The whole line about spending most of his time rebooting, defragging and virus checking his machine should have been your first clue.
Geez, geeks are really that literal and that humorless.
He also forget to mention that you need to pay for bug fixes!
Simpletons really flock around here, don't they?
I am amused.
Thanks enloop.
You made my day
I got to read lately. Hope someone else can come up with something that funny, it sure is nice to read something else that the daily technical mumbo-jumbo here on osnews!:P
My Office 2003 CD ???
the most ignorant article i never see before
It was weird enough to not take it as satire at first but also the more subtler things gave it away. My favorite was the 'MCSE' after the author name and how Safari fails to render MSN homepage right. Anyone know if it really doesn't BONG like all the other Apple's do since the Mac's intro? (Granted the bong of the original mac was more of a ding but still... be weird not to have it
What a bunch of crap. "stripped down" os?? jorge..yer an idiot and a moron. It's obvious you are doing this so that ballmer and the brownshirt boys in redmond will send you some software coupons or maybe a few dollars so you can buy yerself some more wife beater t-shirts. And also, wasn't it you drying my car at the carwash last week? I thought you looked familiar.
Nice review...
...but the Halloween icon would have been more appropriate for this one ;-)
i read some more stuff at their website... seems it all parody..that is i hope it is...
Who would want to run Windows XP instead of OS X?
...at the bottom of the home page:
"All DivisionTwo content is sature. All columnists, authors, reporters, and articles are fictitious."
Of course, it's in 2-point type, and light gray on a white background - but then again, if you can't recognize satire, then maybe you need to take a breather.
BTW - I'll admit, it had me going for a minute, but I got suspicious at the "pack of gum" reference.
When are we going to see a parody of Steve Ballmer on SNL? They've probably already done Bill...
I want one. On the other hand...
I put Mepis on a few machines so that others can try out Linux. It's a nice distribution for that, in that it offers few choices. I tend to strip out choices in the Grub boot menu. If the 2.4 kernel works, 2.6 goes bye-bye. So do all the language options.
Regarding the satire, I finally got the joke when the article on the Mac Mini talked about Weatherbug and Hotbar not being available for the Mac.
"I think it was too stupid to vbe a joke. But it was also too stupid to be serious."
Thumbs down. Irritating.
A very fine "Technology Insider report" indeed. Far better than ... well .... :-) .... most .... ok ... hmmm .... yea ..... here it comes .... many other "tech reports" on various "c:omputer related sites"
I thought it was funny. I'm glad this site posted it. Unclench, people...
The humor on the site linked is too dry for my taste.
Whatever floats your boat, I guess ...
Pretty funny. There's a picture of the author located here:
http://www.divisiontwo.com/pictures/jorgelopez.JPG
Wow, that one's great too
Altough I'm not found of this particulair mac-model either,the guy who wrote this artikel shouldn't break it down because of his lack of knowledge of a mac system. Some big mistakes:
quote: "While the hardware is about roughly equivalent to a Windows PC circa 1995"
-You can't just compare mac specs with pc specs, like a PPC G4 processor is in NO way comparable with an intel/amd based processor. I bet he just looked at the clock frequency which has no meaning what so ever.
-All printers have USB ports these days
-your eMachine is no way as stylish as the new mac
-the fact that is doesn't make a sound while its running is actually a GOOD THING
-whats so good about outlook and vbscripts???
quote: "Secondly and possibly even more glaringly, there is no antivirus program shipped with the Mac. In today’s climate of non-stop worms, trojans and viruses, releasing a computer with no virus removal software is irresponsible on the part of Apple."
-Did you know that (compared to windows) the count of virusses, worms, trojans, add/spyware,... is so LOW on macs, their users encouter such things rarely to NEVER. and therefore have no need for anti-... software.
-your "Mac fanboys" were right, osX is fully compatible with office 2004, you just have to intall the MAC version of office. Who the hell tries to install windows software on a MAC????
-he's stupid "WeatherBug"-software or equal can be found for macs if you just google a little bit, and why would you call a HOTBAR a browser enhancher its just spyware to me.
a little advice: join your grandmother and autistic nephew behind your windows XP box!!!
They just keep coming don't they?
The responses are better than the article!
Unfortunately there was no comment on the single currency ..... sorry .... the single button mouse, in the report .... or is it the single button blouse .... I am not sure anymore :Þ
.
They missed the siiiingle button mouse. This is a serious mistake!
.
Reading about the single button Mac-mouse in every Mac related article is such a pleasure. Over and over again ...: here it goes:
Begin... single button mouse .... loop .... single button mouse .... loop .... single button mouse .... loop .... single button mouse .... loop .... single button mouse .... loop .... single button mouse .... loop .... single button mouse .... loop .... single button mouse .... loop .... single button mouse .... loop .... single button mouse .... loop .... single button mouse .... loop .... single button mouse .... loop .... single button mouse .... loop .... single button mouse .... loop .... single button mouse .... loop .... single button mouse .... loop .... single button mouse .... loop .... single button mouse .... loop .... single button mouse .... loop ....
.
Wow! This would have made a great April Fools day article. Then maybe there would not have been numerous I-think-that-the-author-is serious comments. Lots of fun. Enjoyed it.
So many Apple users have so little sense of humor as far as their Favorite Fruit Company is concerned, writing an Apple troll is really like shooting fish in a barrel.
It make you realise the good and the bad of the
product, the funny way !!!
"The well-constructed troll is a post that induces lots of newbies and flamers to make themselves look even more clueless than they already do, while subtly conveying to the more savvy and experienced that it is in fact a deliberate troll."
"If you don't fall for the joke, you get to be in on it."
[...]
"The best trolls reveal their true subject only to the lurkers. In every sense those who reply to your troll are your tools. So choose a theme for your troll and stick to it."
"Outwardly you need to appear sincere, but at the same time you have to tell your *real* audience that this is blatant flamebait. Your skill is shown in the easy way that you manipulate large areas of the Usenet community into making public fools of themselves."
I looked at the piece again and recognize the lines other folks point to as satire. Frankly, though, this is no better at satire than most of the allegedly straight Mini reviews I've seen.
If it was supposed to be funny, I sure wasn't laughing. Hope this isn't Lopez's day job.
It just wasn't very funny. I preferred the Grandma running Gentoo but even that got old half way down the page.
Still though, congratulations to all the morons who took it seriously!
I laughed at the article. I cried at the comments. c'mon people, loosen up.
I'm sure I've been to the http://www.divisiontwo.com/ site before. I especially found this one funny:
http://www.divisiontwo.com/articles/parttimemom1.htm
:)
In the future, could OSNews refrain from posting links to articles produced by Microsoft?
"So is the mini a maxi value? For me, clearly, no. When I consider that a good deal of my time is spent running applications like Disk Defragmenter, Scandisk, Norton AV, Windows Update and Ad-Aware--none of which are available for the Mac platform--it doesn't make sense for me to "switch" to a Mac at this time."
You don't have to run Norton AV on a Mac... its unix based... very little (if any) threat from viruses. The mac update works fine too. As far as windows applications are concerned there are emulators to help work some of them like Virtual Pc and darwine- the windows API emulator. I think that with a little more research he could get his mac working more towards what he is used to with windows and be happy with it.
If you changed the byline in this article to "Rob Enderle," it'd get published everywhere. :-)
"You don't have to run Norton AV on a Mac... its unix based... very little (if any) threat from viruses. The mac update works fine too. As far as windows applications are concerned there are emulators to help work some of them like Virtual Pc and darwine- the windows API emulator. I think that with a little more research he could get his mac working more towards what he is used to with windows and be happy with it."
please, you're killing me
Hahahah, that was very funny. Now shut up!
You can't ask a vbscripts, Outlook guy to review a Mac. Just like a tricycle learner try to comment on Jet plane. They think they know what they are talking, but actually not. I hope he got no virus email.
I didn't care for that article at all. He even complains that Safari doesn't render msn.com correctly. Like who cares?? How many Mac users hang out there? Anyways... msn.com seems to render exactly the same in Mozilla. Perhaps it's msn.com which isn't standards compliant? lol
As for the Linux article. Who's grandmother needs a dual Athlon 1800+?? LOL!!! That's like major overkill! The woman is never going to use that kind of processor power. Once I read that part, I didn't take the rest of the article seriously. It seems that all of the articles on that site are nothing but crap.
My UI teacher in College once said Americans/Canadians demanded lots of context information in order to consume a product - for instance, usually expecting that a user manual covered every possible step of a process, even those that could out of the question be implied.
Maybe this explains most of the people that just didn't get the joke, and probably those who got it but thought it poor. Even for those that did get it and liked it, I'm surprised that they needed to go so far to be able to tell it. And now, how can those people who wrote the weaker comments be ever respected here again?
Like all good satyre, and keeping in line with the rest of division2, it beats both sides of the argument (though each proportionally to its faults). If you miss the mark, sorry, there's not much that can be done.
Absolutely priceless.
Yes, boys and girls, THAT is how it's done.
Maddening, isn't it?
hylas
Once I read that part, I didn't take the rest of the article seriously. It seems that all of the articles on that site are nothing but crap.
I think this has been repeated many times already, but this is a satire site. The Mini review is satire. The Linux for Grandma article is satire.
Some of the comments here are even funnier than the article. Amazing how many people can't get this sort of thing in their heads.
I've been coming here for quite a long time and never felt compelled to post. This "article" is fairly useless and I don't even like Macs. I don't even know where to begin as far as commenting on it. Since when does a slam of an OS by an XP lover make for "OS News"? C'mon could we please have at least a little quality control for articles posted?
Personally, I found the "review" a mild chuckle at best.
But reading some of the clueless comments here put me on the floor howling! My ribs actually ACHE from laughing!
(Now I finally understand the why of trolling!) };-)
how can you people be so clueless. the article is a "JOKE". its not to be taken seriously. how can you read it and not realize this?
I found this article very funny because it is an exact replica of "joe the computer guy" that gives his opinion about macs (even if he never touched one).
Have to say that those saying he was too serious, yes he was, by his tone he sounded if he believed it. Was thinking he was a crazy wacko. Tech insider my ***&*&&*&*&*&*(*&&*&(*&*(&(*(&*(&*&(*(&*
Sorry
Anyways, the crazy nature of the article led me to their main page, with the profiles of the editors/writers (actually pictures) and I started getting an inkling...
Damn funny once I got it /me slow it appears
This review made me dump my subscription for freemacmini.com
There are many important things that the reviewer mentioned that they don't even tell you at the Apple website.
For example, I have a software bundle of Registry Cleaner and Internet Optimizer, and I'm worried because he said the Registry Cleaner will not work. I got them both at discount price with an email they sent me, but I think the time to ask for a refund already past in case I wanted to return it. I will email them to ask them.
Does anybody know if the Internet OPtimizer will not work too?
I don't think that having the internet explorer icon in c:applications is a bid deal, because I know how to fix it, and put it back on the start menu. (If you want to know how to do it, email me and I will tell you how)
It's funny that he said the thing of the computer not showing you when its turned on. Sometimes that also has happened to us, but the problem is that the monitor screen is turned off, and we are moving the mouse but it does not turn back itself. That is caused because we think the monitor is "asleep" (yes, that's really the technical term). However, since it's always connected to the computer, you only have to check the little yellow light so it's easier to diagnose.
But with the minimac, I see how it would be a problem because you have to get up and check the cables and since the computer doesn't make noise you could also think that the problem is with the computer.
The fact that it does not bring Windows XP is not a big deal, because I already have it. One thing I did not see mentioned though, is if Desktop Themes will work ok with the minimac. Has anybody experience with that?
When upgrading to Windows XP, some desktop themes from windows Millenium didnt work at all.
That is very important to me, because I have themes that have been custom made for me, with moving cursors and all. That would be more money wasted if they didn't work.
About Office 2003, it does not surprise me that it doesn't work. The guy that sold me my hotmail address also had problems with that, and a lot of people say it is better to just keep with Office 2000. Since I know that he is a hacker, and he still can't do it, it must be serios.
Still, in some things he was innacurrate. For example, I never heard of the minimac being advertized as a pack of gum. Just looking at the picture with the hands would show you that (duh!)
Also, I also read the other story in this website that says the minimac will not let you watch all your DVDs, and I think that just sucks.
Worse! I had not realized it does not include a diskette! I always thought it must be in the back or something, and the picture didnt show you, but it does not have it at all!! How are you supposed to transfer documents then? I think it's plain stupid.
Because of all that, now I think that the minimac is overhyped.
The reviewer's alternative seems quite nice. I found their website, it's located at wwww.EMACHINES.com if you want to check it out. There they include windows XP, AOL, and even the antivirus with the computer! (AOL is better than the one they send in the mail because its 3 months free insted of only 1000 hours for example).
- Billy Ray
Is it just me or are peoples reaction to this even funnier than the article itself - well done guys, the article made me laugh - but you've completely done my head in.
Billy Ray's comment has got to be the funniest so far. Unfortunatly it looks as if he wasn't joking and thought the article was a real review. It looks like he knows as much about computers as my grandma but I'm pretty sure my grandma doesn't visit osnews.
Nice biased review of the Mac Mini there. I noticed he picked up on some pretty huge design flaws there like:
* NO P/S PORTS. Which nobody wants and/or uses. And even if you did, you'd only use them to plug in a mouse and keyboard!
* NO OPERATING NOISE. For a moment there, I thought that was a feature, but I now realise my folly - I forgot about the users.
* NO WINDOWS XP. How this could be described as a drawback considering the sex appeal and clear superiority of OSX is anyone's guess!
* NO WAY TO CONNECT PRINTER. Have he ever heard of a USB hub?
He has missed the point entirely in that this computer is clearly designed to suite a particular niche i.e. Those applications where space is at a premium and there's really no need to have 500 things hanging off your machine slowing things down and generally getting in the way. Applications like sitting on a receptionist's desk or in a loft style office.
That's 5 minutes of my life I'm not getting back ...
Let me be the first to help you out of your dreams, not only all your reg cleaners and Office won't work, even Windows XP won't!!! And there are two reasons for this. See, Microsoft built in an Activation function that reads the serial numbers of all the components in your computer and sends them to their servers so that it knowns exactly what computer each copy runs on. So it won't even install on the Mac unless you delete all your other copies first.
But even if you did that the Mac won't run it because it has a completely different processor, a so called "RISC" processor, which can only run Unix operating systems (while your PC has a "CISC" processors which can run anything, including DOS that Windows XP is based on). Unfortunately CISC is much faster than RISC now, but they chose it a few years ago and I guess they're now stuck with it.
But like I said, the Apple processors can only run Unix, which would be a shame normally because the Unix alone normally costs thousands of dollars. Apple used to sell one called AU/X that nobody bought because it was so expensive, but now they include a version called MacOS X that is much cheaper because it is based on the FreeBSD system which is free and the AU/X is based on a very expensive version from AT&T. Now I've tried FreeBSD some time ago and it's a pain in the behind to use, it's so lousy that nobody uses it even though they're giving it away for free! I think it's a big mistake that Apple chose this, but that's the only way they could make a cheap $499 computer I guess.
So to summarize, probably none of your existing software will work!!!
best article ever to appear on osnews
thanks alot guys... now i will be spending way to much time reading the rest of division2's web site and i still have soo much work to do
bastards!
billy ray; your email doesn't seem to be working, could you write an osnews article on adding things to the windows xp start menu? that would be greatly appreciated
Hooray !!
Those guys are geniuses !!
"Think of it more as a first computer for your daughter or niece than as a machine to get any serious work done and you’ll get the point of the Mini and its target market. It might also be the perfect computer for grandmothers or autistic children, for example."
It's pretty darn obvious that Billy Ray's comment is trolling in exactly the same vein as the main article.
Read it again. Do you really think someone that clueless would read OSnews? Then again, after reading some of the comments here I'm beginning to wonder.
That fell for this article - hahaha
I would do it right now if I wasn't so late for work!!
Seriously.
They deserve to be ridiculed in public.
Thick Thick Thickos.
Anyway, here is my favourite article from Division2:
http://www.divisiontwo.com/articles/barbieOS.htm
(No its not real ok?)
The article I found to be mediocre at best, the comments made me smile, but to see people fall for it again with billy ray's post has me laughing out loud.
I'm blown away! Seriously...can't stop laughing! What's wrong with these people??? Are they really so closed-minded in their little heads? Really, they can't even stand to *think* something negative about apple! Why can't they see that the article is not meant to be serious???
YO, APPLE FANATICS! IT'S A JOKE! LAUGH! ENOUGH LAUGHING, NOW GO GET A LIFE!
The greatest quality of a human is to be able to make fun of things he likes, and himself, too. For example, I don't like MS, I can make jokes about it, I like Linux, but I can still make fun of it, so I just can't understand...what makes these people so religious about apple and its god, Steve?
As Einstein said: "Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe."
Man, this guy claims he is a MCSE and if I am not wrong it is a Microsoft certification.
If guys like these are getting MCSEs, MS is problably giving it away for little more than free.
Dont forget to write your protest mail to the site and the author
jorge@divisiontwo.com
mailbag@divisiontwo.com
That was hilarious! You moaners suck!
"Hold a Mini in one hand and four quarters in the other and tell me which one feels heavier"
Soon he will discover his grandma late in the night, hidden in a dark room lighted just with the shining of the computer's screen hackin' into big corporate networks and coding viruses for windows. lol.
By the way, I am running Debian and XFCE in a P166MMX, 96MB with a 40Gb HD. For waht his mother wants this would be more than enugh, isn't it? ... A dual Athlon XP 1800+???
Matt, I am not a grandmother. For your information I have an MCSE, just like the reviewer, so the review is genuine. I know a friend who also graduated from Devry, and I'm sure if you want she can verify about him too someway.
Besides, I have even helped fix other people computers too, so stop talking when you don't have the slihgtest idea of who you are talking about. I meet poeple like you all the time, just thinking that evrybody besides you is just white trash. Pahtetic.
To the other person, my registration information was already sent to Microsoft and they already said there was no problem with me because I was not pirating.
There is a person in the neighborhood (I won't say his name) which listens to pirate music, and I sometimes feel a little bit sorry for him because I know eventually he will get caught.
It gets all fishy nowadays, like you said, with RISC is just not safe. I will better stay with the safe one instead. The other part you said I confess I didn't do too well in that part of the exam where it said that, but to what you said, I think yes.
To be honest, I have not tried the FreeBSD before, but I do get FreeForwards, and they are pretty good. They sometimes send Christian cards with very nice messages, and sometimes give you discount coupons too! If you send me your e-mail I can add you too. It's very easy.
Finally, as I said, i cancelled my freeimacmini suscription.
Ben, was it you that sent that email about viagra? How many times do I have to tell you, we are not interseted! I will not tell you any instructions of the trick if you just keep doing that, it's not funny anymore.
For all the others.
If you were checking the EMACHINES.COM website, there's a deal on TV right now on Home Shopping Network right now! there is a computer showing there right now, and if you call right now they will include a lot of additional promotions. I cant figure if its emachines or what brand, but its defenitely better than the minimac, hrry up because the ad has been showing for a little while already and it will probably end very soon!
The phone is 1-800-284-3100
There is also a camera that you can take for golfing too there.
-Billy Ray
is jorge lopez
how can the author not come back to wind-up the apple fans even further?
Linux/Windows users are better at taking jokes than Apple fans: http://www.divisiontwo.com/articles/mcse2.htm
Now Apple users tells me their system crash (full system lock) at least once a day - is that true? That, and Steve Jobs megalomaniac politics makes me *very* weary Apple.
http://www.divisiontwo.com/articles/blessoursons.html
I love this woman!
So is the mini a maxi value? For me, clearly, no. When I consider that a good deal of my time is spent running applications like Disk Defragmenter, Scandisk, Norton AV, Windows Update and Ad-Aware--none of which are available for the Mac platform--it doesn't make sense for me to "switch" to a Mac at this time.
How biased can an article be?
I'm quite sure the author hasn't worked with his MCSE yet,or where he works they have never seen any UNIX (alike) system.
Think about it, a Mac mini for $299.
Think about it, MS XP professional for $25 because it's so old and doesn't had any upgrade since they introduced it.Yes i like to install motherboard drivers,sound card drivers,printer drivers,graphics drivers,anti(virus,adware,spyware) whatnot software , ,setting some crucial reg-entries read-only for the limited user account,install and configure a proper firewall before even starting to go online for the updates,still i haven't started using the damn box,for which i bought it.
I would buy an mac anytime if i had the money for at least a mini with 256 MD DDR update.Instead i will buy myself a ASUS socket 754 mobo and a AMD3000+ newcastle and install FreeBSD on it(< $200).Oh well someday when i'am not so mini anymore i will buy a mac to.
Division Two is clearly a joke site (my favourite is certainly http://www.divisiontwo.com/articles/parttimemom1.htm ) - go to the main page and see, but its surprising how many OSNews'ers took it to be real. Given that surprise its even more worrying how many people less familiar with technology would take an article like this. It is worrying that they would have no experience to know that it isn't serious.
You could very well produce a reverse-parody review of a Windows XP PC perhaps done by a RHCE holder, or a Mac enthusiast trying to run their familiar software and tools. That would be a great laugh too!
" http://www.divisiontwo.com/articles/blessoursons.html
I love this woman! "
Read this one too! - I'd just like to point out, right at the end of that one, 'foreign tyranny' links to Hyundai Motor, and 'those who frighten and terrorize us' links to US Environmental Protection Agency!
I didn't care for that article at all. He even complains that Safari doesn't render msn.com correctly. Like who cares?? How many Mac users hang out there? Anyways... msn.com seems to render exactly the same in Mozilla. Perhaps it's msn.com which isn't standards compliant? lol
As for the Linux article. Who's grandmother needs a dual Athlon 1800+?? LOL!!! That's like major overkill! The woman is never going to use that kind of processor power. Once I read that part, I didn't take the rest of the article seriously. It seems that all of the articles on that site are nothing but crap.
Unless you are using a very subtle form of humour, allow me to explain something:
As many others have mentioned, the Mac Mini article is an example of an often used form of humour called satire. The article (and many of the spoof comments posted here) is supposed to be humourous because it parodies the sort of person with the belief that they possess a large amount of knowledge about computers but really are almost totally ignorant. This results in this stereotypical person assessing the mac mini in a totally incorrect way. So, this article is supposed to remind you of the boastful ignorance of other actual people you have met. You are supposed to find this amusing.
The second article concerning Grandma's computer is intended to be amusing because it parodies the enthusiasm of a nerdy teenager setting up granny with a new computer. Importantly, you are supposed to laugh at the way he has presumed that granny has the same computing needs as himself. He has massively over-estimated Grandma's computing needs. The woman can probably barely manage System 7, and he has set her up with a multiple-partition, multi-OS customised Linux box!
Seriously, can you imagine poor-old senile grandma having to cope with a semi-transparent Xfce desktop or having to deal with multiple boot-loaders and multiple OSes? It would most probably kill her!
Do you understand now?
Bloody hell; some people!
I wasn't even going to read all the replies.. but when I realized that apparently there are people who take this review for real..
..I couldn't help myself
OK,
He / She is not a Mac user, I'm not also, but, come on, it's a complete stupid person... MAC OS X is a reduced version similar to Windows CE?
Now, its kind of funny that OSNews keeps deleting posts. Not even mod'ng them down.
The best Nazi Journalists, hands down.
So it's a joke. But I understand why people didn't see that, since it's not really that funny.
OSNews is really slipping. Do they think before they post an article?
To everyone saying the article isn't funny: the fun is in the responses it provokes. It succeeded brilliantly at eliciting humourous responses from hordes of idiots. For the record, I thought the article itself was funny too though.
To everyone who took it seriously: maybe you should just leave the internet.
the article make the people replying to it
look stupid and funny
that is the beauty of it.
divisiontwo articles are not be read alone but to be seen discussed in forums - but then again i guess its too subtle for some.
I went and sent him a long email refuting the article, posted it on my blog, http://unstableman.blogspot.com/2005/02/emporers-old-bias_02.html , and then read the article again. The bottom paragraph has me convinced that he's joking or, he's and idiot. I'm leaning towards joking now myself.
first, that I know people who WOULD write that stupid of an article completely seriously and second, some of those people actually do have MCSEs or MC??s.
btw, just because someone doesn't have your sense of humor or your knowledge about trolling doesn't make them idiots or stupid.
And what I love the most is that so many of the repliers seemed to miss Davis Adam's lead in warning: "If you read it carefully, you might be able to discern the author's hidden adgenda (sic)." A warning to be careful to not step in the 'doggy doodo.'
I don't always understand what he is saying, but he speaks the Truth.
Ajay isn't far behind; we all should write protest feedback. Maybe Divisiontwo will print it and see the error of its ways.
On a more serious note, the last time I saw such clueless comments was from scores of earnest Evangelicals protesting that God and Jesus really aren't like that to Landoverbaptist.org.
I used to wonder whether such outfits made up the clueless posts, but now I see the very same reactions on OSNews, an independent site. Of course, it could be a fiendish plot by Linux users to boost the readership of Divisiontwo, prior to taking over the world.
on a slightly more serious note:
"wow that is a small box!"
http://pcnmac.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=167
"i guess its just an old wives tale that fantasy about how only macs get used for a really long time and mac owners save by not having to upgrade as often"
OK, is it Exxon or Mobile that is selling Emachines these day?
Yeah, both the author and Billy Ray have valid points. I mean, my brother got a Powerbook when he went off to college... If I ever got one I'd definitely need another mouse so I could use a second button, and some way to stick a fan on the back of it. I'm not sure how, since my Dell is made of plastic that I can crack with my hands and that Powerbook is made of metal.
As for that OS... There's no start menu! How am I supposed to use it without a start menu? And they have that wierd background, rather than a hill... Maybe it's so you don't notice that the screen is upside down. I dunno, it's way too hard to figure out how to launch programs that aren't in your dock... I'm going back to my trusty Gentoo laptop, thank you very much.
Must ... maintain ... bladder control. Ooohh ... ahhh. Damn!
I loved this article. The humour is very British: a satire which makes you cringe with knowing embarrasment, whilst at the same time laughing out loud...
This is a terribly conducted review. It's full of biased tangents of irrelevancy.
I don't think this person even knows much about the platform. Then, I don't blame them - I prefer Windows too.
When I consider that a good deal of my time is spent running applications like Disk Defragmenter, Scandisk, Norton AV, Windows Update and Ad-Aware--none of which are available for the Mac platform--it doesn't make sense for me to "switch" to a Mac at this time.
The article is proof of the man not knowing his things.
- Defragmenter: is not necessary, since OSX defragments disks automatically, without bothering the user with this time consuming activity
- Scandisk: Ever checked out the OSX disk tools?
- Norton AV: might not exist, but recently, I de-installed my Virex program, because I considered it a waste of time to check my system on non-existent virusses.
- Windows Update: not even bothered to look at Software Update!
- Ad-Aware: what kind of non-sense is this??
It is the typical comment of a typical Windows user, who is talking more about installing and maintaining his system in a working condition than about things in which the computer really can contribute to his life:
- free iTunes: unvincible in its price/quality ratio
- free iPhoto, which supports most camera's without the nasty installation of drivers
- free iMovie: tell me which other operating system can run DVDs straight from the box..
- free mail/browser/text editor/ etc. etc.
Or is the checking on virusses, disk errors, fragmentation really the most important thing in life?
"The article is proof of the man not knowing his things"
Trust me, he knows his things.
Now that was funny. I can just see the Apple faithful steaming about this "review".
it didn't really bring the funny, but the one about setting up a linux system for his grandmother was good.
@ fvdveen
I think you didn't get it.
Perhaps you should read Ephraim Kishon books, and learn Then go back, read the article again and understand
I don't know why I bothered, but there you go...
"Your article about the Mac Mini is really funny mate :-))).
Sorry for being impolite, but you have no idea what you are talking about when it comes to Mac OS X and Apple Inc.
Viruses for OS X are almost inexistent. If you have any knowledge of *nix architectures, you most probably have come across the term of "permissions". Well, OS X takes it a bit further since it partly relies on BSD, a pure security freak. The bit that not many know about is the Mach part of the kernel. If you pick up a good book on OS X, you will find out more about this aspect and others.
Defragmenting a Mac? It's just as ridiculous as calling Internet Explorer secure. When you think of OS X, take a clean sheet and forget about the things that you know from Windows. I am sure you have heard about the concept of apples and oranges (they simply can't be mixed) ;-).
Macs and OS X itself are far from being perfect. There is no such thing as perfect when it comes to hardware or software. However, OS X does a better job than the current XP. With Longhorn things might change, but until then, all tests give OS X the crown.
I personally wouldn't go for a Mac Mini, but would recommend it to anyone willing to make the switch. Yes, Mac Mini is for those people that don't need lots of processing power, but that are desperate for security (I wonder why...). For browsing the net, reading e-mails, textprocessing (Office X 2004 is more advanced and stable for OS X than for Windows - read the reviews mate) and other "usual" stuff, Mac Mini is ideal. For someone that is willing to pay the pricetag, iMac (PowerMac?) is always there.
Ah, and there is 1 more thing... Are you really telling me that you couldn't find a decent keyboard, mouse & monitor for that Mac Mini for under $1,000? You sure you in the right job mate?"
Hey, you can get these mini macs for free.
Last fall I completed an offer from this same company and recieved a free
ipod. I was completely suprised when it came, i really didnt believe it.
Anyways, just follow this link and complete an offer, there are a few free ones
that you should definately choose
Here is your personal referral link:
http://www.FreeMiniMacs.com/?r=14103528
Oh and heres where I found out about these offers.
www.gearlive.com
go to the forums section then "free stuff"
Theres lots of discussions on these offers and pictures proving they work.
um, thats about it.. DEFINATELY DO IT
oh and if you know kevin rose from techtv he got his free ipod heres his site
as well.
http://www.kevinrose.com/
