krankshaft format solution found

[Paul Mather]

On Apr 6, 2011, at 2:42 PM, Jamun wrote:

> On Wed, 6 Apr 2011 11:19:10 -0400, Paul Mather <paul at GROMIT.DLIB.VT.EDU> wrote:
> 
>> obMoreFullDisclosure: I am running FreeBSD 9-CURRENT on an Apple Xserve G5.
> Please don't shop me to Steve Jobs. :-)
> 
> You use his name in vein "mortal one". He is Jesus Jobs:)

Funny thing is, I had to put FreeBSD on there because after Apple ditched PowerPC it became impossible legitimately to buy a supported version of Mac OS X for the department that owned the hardware.  So, I guess Saint Steve has missed out on a few bob there and the lab doesn't have to buy new hardware just yet.


> We have an Apple shop in Munich. Its full of pseudo geeks, with an iPhone in
> one hand and a Starbucks coffee cup in the other. The staff all have name
> tags around there necks in the shape of a iPhone with the likes of "Hi my
> name is Paul" embossed into them. WTF I say.

You're obviously not into retail therapy.  Luckily for Apple, lots of people are... :-)


> Apple ARE locking down file formats for iPhone/iPad/iPod etc. Its got
> nothing what so ever to do with a software patent infringement for mkv etc.
> Its because Jobs wants users to tap ONLY into his own content delivery
> system with micro payments for apps or video from itunes downloads.

Sure, Apple are locking down content delivery, but it would do this, I'd imagine, whether or not the underlying formats were MKV, Vorbis, FLAC, or whatever.  It's not as if the formats Apple uses (H.264, MP4, MP3, QuickTime) aren't widely used elsewhere, if not actual ISO/ANSI standards themselves.  (And I still maintain, why would it make sense for them to paint a target on their back if they didn't have to?)

I figured out years ago that Apple aren't a charity, and will tend to do things to maximise their profits, whether I like it or not.  The fact that they've created a delivery system that makes it pretty damned easy to impulse buy digital content helps them in that aspect enormously, I imagine.  And this sort of thing creates its own momentum.  Once something becomes popular, it kind of snowballs and gains a lot of traction just because it's popular and lots of people use it.  That's why we're stuck with most people using de facto FAT filesystems on their portable drives, even though we've had loads of better open source alternatives for ages.


> Its no good saying that other electronics companies also build there devices
> in China, powered by slaves, so its OK for Apple to do the same. The very
> successful electronics company I work for in Germany doesnt. It makes all
> its hardware in Germany. Then again its a limited company and not a public
> limited company. In which case the people who own it, who already have
> billions, have chosen to make a few less billion and keep Germans employed.

I never said it is okay for Apple to exploit poor Chinese labour conditions; I just said you'd be kidding yourself if you thought they are the only ones.  I believe most huge corporations are bad in this respect, and it's a disgrace. It's good that the company you work for believes in a living wage, and I applaud them.  We need more companies like that.

I saw a programme on Ben & Jerry's recently that said that after they lost control of the company to a buyout by Unilever, they were basically no longer allowed to have social responsibility as a core mission of the company.  It didn't float with the shareholders. :-(  (They are allowed to carry on token philanthropy.)


> I used to work for Agere systems. It was once a great American company,
> formed from Bell Labs. They had chip FAB and manufacturing plants in the US.
> Both where closed them down and manufacturing shipped to the far east. This
> was simply to make more money for shareholders. So out went the American
> jobs and the bankers and CEO got richer. Then the company become almost
> virtual and was sold with all its IP to Infineon, which then sold it to LSI,
> which then sold it to Intel. After each sale more people lost there jobs.
> The first irony is, that it was always Americans who lost there jobs and the
> European and Indian development centers recruited more. If you take the
> iPhone for example, 99% of that is done outside the US. I worked on the
> iPhone writing software for the protocol stack. The second irony, is that
> the 1% done in California, was also by slaves, who got 9 days a year holiday
> (if lucky, as no one dares to take a holiday), and worked 6/7 days a week; I
> would say 70-90 hours a week. The company I work for now, pays top dollar,
> people work 35-40 hours a week and get 30 days holiday a year, on top on
> public holidays.


You're preaching to the fucking choir, mate.  IMHO, work/life balance in the USA is fairly nonexistent, or, where extant, rapidly going downhill.  It's crazy.

Cheers,

Paul.