David Maynor and Jon 'Johnny Cache' Ellch aren't telling the complete Mac Wi-Fi flaw story after all. At the last minute, under pressure from SecureWorks (Maynor's employer) and Apple, a talk at ToorCon here was cancelled and replaced by a 'rant' from Ellch about what he described as an 'unprofessional' approach to the issue by both companies. Ellch, out of respect for his friend Maynor, declined to take questions or talk on-the-record about the brouhaha, but he did release the text of his rant, which was aimed squarely at Apple and SecureWorks.
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Member since:2005-07-07
The part about the Target Disk Mode is actually a little more elaborate than just communicating from one machine to another. It basically turns the Mac into a Firewire hard drive that should be able to mount on any Mac (since the filesystem is HFS+, something that Windows doesnt understand without third party software) and even on a Linux computer (if the hfsplus module is loaded). This is useful in case the Apple hardware has crashed and doesn't allow you any other way to extract the data from that machine to another. It also allows you to take files from one computer and move it over to your Mac, especially if your Mac is a laptop. Sure, it's overkill for small files but for large video files (if you're dealing with video) or any other large-size files it's actually a major time saver as mentioned by the original poster you were rebuttling.
Also remember that USB is a shared technology, so anything that is connected to the same USB hub along with your USB drive will affect the transmission. If you hoook it up to a USB port that has its own internal hub, then I guess it's not an issue. But Firewire isn't seen as a peripheral connection....it's more like a network connection, so it's more point to point as opposed to USB. (I hope this makes some sense.)
As far as integration goes, he's referring to the "integration" between the OS and the computer (your immediate hardware, IMO). Sometimes with Windows, you have to deal with installing drivers from a supplied drivers disc or you have to download them (Boot Camp also creates the drivers disc for you since Microsoft isn't supporting the Intel Macs just yet). Sure, for some it's a non-issue but for other's it's not just a waste of time, but some people might not know how to do this. This is where Apple shines. Anything you need to work right out of the box is supported, EVEN IF YOU HAVE TO RE-INSTALL THE OS FROM A CRASH. While the PC already has the drivers pre-installed when first purchased, if something goes wrong (barring the System Restore feature) then you're going to have to add those after installing Windows. This "integration" between OS and immediate hardware is also seen in Linux and other open source operating systems to a certain degree (thanks to the wonderful open source developers and supporters). As for any third party hardware that's not supported, that's up to the third party manufacturer to provide the driver since they make the third party hardware....it's not Apple's responsibility (nor is it Microsoft's either).
At the same time, as much as I love Apple's stuff (and have so for years) the fact that they've still not released any Core 2 Duo MacBooks and MacBook Pros is irking me a lot. I'm actually thinking of looking at some PC laptops other than Apple's offerings because of this, but I might just wait and see what happens after Macworld in January (maybe some Core 2 Quad mobile chips? ;-) ). I do love my iMac G5 as well as OS X, but Linux does just as well for me on my work laptop and my home PCs so we'll see what happens on the personal laptop front. :-D
Member since:
2005-07-30
- normalo PCs don't have things like target disk mode which safes you hours of time e. g. if you move to new hardware.
You got me on this one. Is Apple marketing the fact that you can transfer data between to computers via a cable as innovation?
- normalo PCs can't boot from an external firewire drive (I use my iPod as "carry with me OS boot disk" which I can plug in on any Mac and boot from it)
Have you ever heard of USB? And btw, not everyone uses the ipod. Some people like their HDD music players to act as simple storage devices and require any additional crap.
- normalo notebooks - especially the cheap ones - don't have de-mirrored screens (ever tried one of those magic-/ultra-/whatevertheycallit-bright screen in sunlight? - pitch dark!)
If you can't find notebooks at the nice price and with the right feature set, it's your problem. It's a matter of looking.
- you can check the charging level of a mac battery without pluging in the battery into a notebook and start the system (very handy if you have a second battery)
- plug in the power-chord on a mac laptop and you'll see at once if the notebook needs charging - again without starting the system
No clue about this one, but I am not paying an extra $600 for this, I'd rather get more memory or better GPU/CPU. Matter of choice I guess.
- wake from sleep does not need more than a few seconds on a Mac
Same goes for my Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo M3438G. And this isn't one of the best notebooks I've tried.
- hardware - OS integration is a given. You don't have components barely working. You don't have to hunt the net for drivers (Time is money, too)
Please be a bit more specfic about integration. Integration can be a great thing, but it can also cause problems. It depends on the issue at hand. Hunting for drivers shouldn't really take a long time. Plus I'd rather hunt for driver, but be able to choose the hardware I want, not have Apple decide what components are good for me.
Except for the lack the mirring thing on some cheap notebooks, none of the stuff you mentioned is of great significance. And it's all available on the PC platform as well.
I love hearing 'time is money' arguements from people who post on osnews and slashdot. It adds some much validity to their arguements...
P.S. I am not suggesting that Apple products have no uses. Their strategy is market skimming and their audience is rich people with too much time. Apple is a marketing/design company. It is not about technology, and I think it stupid to buy Apple products if you know better. I am college student, I'd rather spend an extra 2-3 hours doing research/configuration, than spending an extra $600-$100 on a computer.