50 most influential gadgets from Time

In article , Eric Stevens
wrote:

Cameras should top this list, without images, many of the other devices
are
void. Also, the Mac so high up the list? It never amounted to more
than
a
niche in the computer market dominated by PC's, DOS and Windows.

because it changed the industry.

http://time.com/4309573/most-influential-gadgets/

Bull****. That credit should go to Xerox.

definitely not. xerox did not change the computer industry. apple did.

I agree that Apple was the first to pick up the ball and run - but it
was Xerox's ball.

no it wasn't.

the differences between the lisa and certainly the mac versus the xerox
star & alto were *substantial*.

apple added a ****load of stuff, including things that xerox said were
not possible. not only that, but xerox had no intention marketing what
they had. it was just 'research'.

if you want to use a ball analogy, then xerox just made the rubber.
they knew it could be inflated but they didn't know why anyone would
want to do that.

apple realized what xerox actually had, so they took the rubber and
inflated it into a ball and then ran with it.

that is, up until microsoft intercepted it.

In article ,
Whisky-dave wrote:

It changed history so much...they adopted a "P.C." processor from Intel
after using Motorola's for years.

No it was usig a graphical interface that chneged things for teh average
computer user as before then you prettyy much had to klnow about computers
just to type a CV or anything. Even in the early 80s our studetns were taking
their written work to secratraies for typing up because they couldn't do it
themselves. This didn't happen in DOS.
WYSIWYG was what did it.

and to translate it into something comprehensible.

In article ,
Whisky-dave wrote:


Motorola sold their best processors to games controller manufacuters rather
than Apple and the Motorola chips were far more power hungrey than the new
intel which Apple wanted for laptops, so they decided to go with intel.

wrong.

powerpc chips were *less* power hungry than intel.

that's why powerbooks had better battery life and ran cooler than the
intel versions that replaced them, which also had to have much bigger
power adapters for the more hungry intel chips.

the reason apple switched to intel was because ibm and motorola (the i
and m in the aim consortium) stopped innovating.

In article ,
Whisky-dave wrote:

Motorola sold their best processors to games controller manufacuters
rather
than Apple and the Motorola chips were far more power hungrey than the new
intel which Apple wanted for laptops, so they decided to go with intel.

wrong.

powerpc chips were *less* power hungry than intel.

No they weren't.

oh yes they were, and significantly so.

G4s had massive heatsinks and the G5s needed extar cooling.

the g4 chips in powerbooks had a tdp around 15 watts and did not have
nor need massive heat sinks. intel core duo chips were much more than
that.

there was a dual-core g4 and a low power g5 that was sampling which
would have been in a powerbook had apple not transitioned to intel.

that's why powerbooks had better battery life and ran cooler than the
intel versions that replaced them, which also had to have much bigger
power adapters for the more hungry intel chips.

The powerbooks were underfspec'd compare4d to teh desktop verions.

nope.

the reason apple switched to intel was because ibm and motorola (the i
and m in the aim consortium) stopped innovating.

Intel were providing lower power chips in wattage that was the key for teh laptops.

now they are.

they weren't 10 years ago when the transition happened.

On 2016-05-09 00:31, Rich A wrote:
On Sunday, May 8, 2016 at 10:07:03 PM UTC-4, nospam wrote:
In article ,
Rich A wrote:

Cameras should top this list, without images, many of the other devices are
void. Also, the Mac so high up the list? It never amounted to more than a
niche in the computer market dominated by PC's, DOS and Windows.

because it changed the industry.

http://time.com/4309573/most-influential-gadgets/


It changed history so much...they adopted a "P.C." processor from Intel after using Motorola's for years.

Your ignorance is so deep that you don't realize that being able to
switch processors easily is a sign of good, competent OS engineering.

OS X was running on intel from its first version (in secret). And Apple
converted their entire line in far less than the time they allotted to
the task. (IIRC they allotted 3 years and did it in a little over one
year).

As to why, PPC consumed too much power and ran to hot for the mobile
plans that Apple had.

And don't be surprised in a few years if intel is abandoned for ARM
processors (Apple's Ax line) in Apple's Mac series.

--
She hummed to herself because she was an unrivaled botcher of lyrics.
-Nick (Gone Girl), Gillian Flynn.

On 2016-05-10 11:12, Whisky-dave wrote:

No it was usig a graphical interface that chneged things for teh
average computer user as before then you prettyy much had to klnow
about computers just to type a CV or anything. Even in the early 80s
our studetns were taking their written work to secratraies for typing
up because they couldn't do it themselves. This didn't happen in
DOS. WYSIWYG was what did it.

Horsefeathers. There were a lot of very good WP programs under DOS that
anyone with the patience to learn could figure out quite quickly and
make fine documents. Even had a very good WP on a fricken Commodore 64
that I used for school and preparing manuals for students.

WYSIWYG certainly made things a lot easier from a visualization
standpoint, but it wasn't a necessity.

--
She hummed to herself because she was an unrivaled botcher of lyrics.
-Nick (Gone Girl), Gillian Flynn.

On 2016-05-09 18:21, Me wrote:
On 10/05/2016 02:36, M-M wrote:

GPS devices should be there somewhere

TomTom is on the list.

TomTom is not GPS. TomTom (utter ****) is a navigation system that uses
a GPS sensor, road database and navigation computer.

Why they put TomTom when GPS alone should have been there is quite
incredible.

GPS is three components
-Ground (Control) segment
-Space segment
-User segment (the receivers that we use).

All of it, as a whole system, should have been #1 on the list IMO. GPS'
contribution to the world economy outshines the iPhone by a huge margin.

At that, it is absolutely free of charge.

--
She hummed to herself because she was an unrivaled botcher of lyrics.
-Nick (Gone Girl), Gillian Flynn.

On 11/05/2016 08:47, Alan Browne wrote:
On 2016-05-09 18:21, Me wrote:
On 10/05/2016 02:36, M-M wrote:

GPS devices should be there somewhere

TomTom is on the list.

TomTom is not GPS. TomTom (utter ****) is a navigation system that uses
a GPS sensor, road database and navigation computer.

Why they put TomTom when GPS alone should have been there is quite
incredible.

GPS is three components
-Ground (Control) segment
-Space segment
-User segment (the receivers that we use).

All of it, as a whole system, should have been #1 on the list IMO. GPS'
contribution to the world economy outshines the iPhone by a huge margin.

At that, it is absolutely free of charge.

M-M comments that GPS /devices/ should be on the list, not GPS "system".

The entire list is (IMO) little more than clickbait.

In article , Alan Browne
wrote:


No it was usig a graphical interface that chneged things for teh
average computer user as before then you prettyy much had to klnow
about computers just to type a CV or anything. Even in the early 80s
our studetns were taking their written work to secratraies for typing
up because they couldn't do it themselves. This didn't happen in
DOS. WYSIWYG was what did it.

Horsefeathers. There were a lot of very good WP programs under DOS that
anyone with the patience to learn could figure out quite quickly and
make fine documents.

the fact that someone needed patience to learn makes it a non-starter
for most people. not everyone is a geek. people need to get work done,
not figure out cryptic apps.

what changed the industry was when pretty much anyone could use a
computer.

Even had a very good WP on a fricken Commodore 64
that I used for school and preparing manuals for students.

times were different then.

WYSIWYG certainly made things a lot easier from a visualization
standpoint, but it wasn't a necessity.

it made things a *lot* easier so that normal people could do it, which
makes it a necessity. not everyone wants to learn cryptic wordstar
codes.

In article , Alan Browne
wrote:

It changed history so much...they adopted a "P.C." processor from Intel
after using Motorola's for years.

Your ignorance is so deep that you don't realize that being able to
switch processors easily is a sign of good, competent OS engineering.

not just once, but twice, which went so smoothly that it was almost
impossible to tell.

OS X was running on intel from its first version (in secret).

os x has been running on intel since the early 1990s when it was
nextstep/openstep, which is platform agnostic.

apple ported that *to* powerpc (and dramatically upgraded it) while
keeping the intel version running, 'just in case'.

And Apple
converted their entire line in far less than the time they allotted to
the task. (IIRC they allotted 3 years and did it in a little over one
year).

apple claimed around 2 years and it ended up being about 8-10 months
for all but one product (the mac pro, which had a complete redesign).

their estimate was more of a cya just in case something unforeseen
happened than anything else.

As to why, PPC consumed too much power and ran to hot for the mobile
plans that Apple had.

nope.

powerpc chips had a lower tdp than similar intel chips.

for instance, the 15" powerbook came with a 65 watt power adapter,
while the 15" macbook pro came with an 85 watt adapter and also had a
larger battery. when apple demoed them at macworld (before they were
shipping), they refused to give a battery runtime estimate.

one of the biggest motivators for the intel transition was when steve
announced the powermac g5 and said "3 ghz in a year", then a year
later, not only did ibm fail to deliver on that, but they also said
"not anytime soon."

steve did not like it when people don't deliver, especially if it
embarrasses him in public.

apple then announced the intel transition a year later at wwdc.

And don't be surprised in a few years if intel is abandoned for ARM
processors (Apple's Ax line) in Apple's Mac series.

likely sooner than that.

the writing has been on the wall for quite some time.