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Apple Notes

Entry 209, on 2005-08-16 at 22:35:58 (Rating 1, Computers)

I just wanted to make a few notes here regarding some recent Apple news. First, Apple have finally released a multi-button scroll-wheel mouse! How long have we been asking for this? The good thing is that it is a very nice device. I've used one for a few days, and it is the best mouse I've ever used. The 4 buttons are nicely positioned, and the scroll device works nicely.

The only criticisms I have are that the fourth button is hard to use (so I've deactivated it) and its too easy to click the third button while scrolling. These are criticisms I have of other mouses (is that the plural of mouse? or is it mice? I mean I know its usually mice for the rodent, but for the computer device?) as well, so maybe its just the way I use them!

The second big news is that someone has discovered how to make Mac OS X work on a non-Apple x86 based PC. Most people thought this would happen, but few thought it would happen so quickly. The question now, of course, is should Apple make it legal to run their OS on other companies' PCs.

Apple have tried this in the past, when they licensed the OS in the 90s, and it was a popular option, but not good for Apple hardware sales. But things are different now. Very little money is made selling hardware, so maybe Apple should allow people who don't require the highest quality computers (ie Apple's) to use a computer made by Dell, Compaq, etc to run their OS. Apple would still make money from selling the OS and their applications, such as the iLife and iWork software suites.

I've even heard one theory that the attempt to stop people running Mac OS X on generic PCs using the DRM chip was just a ruse by Apple, and they intended to allow the OS to run on any PC all along. This sounds a bit unlikely to me, but who knows? I think it must be good to get as many users of Mac OS X as possible, even if Apple don't sell quite as many computers as a result.

Comment 1 (162) by Anonymous on 2006-01-07 at 11:06:01:

Apple copied Microsoft's idea of a multibutton mouse. We got one back in 2003 that had 4 buttons. Then the middle button was clickable and scrollable. At school we use Mac OS X and the server is down 12.3% of the time, and all the other computers are bunging up. But now I'm off to intermediate where they use Win XP mostly YIPEEEE.

P.S my friend uses Macs - he has an iMac G5 and an eMac (he used to have a second gen iMac but it blew up (stupid macs).

Comment 2 (163) by OJB on 2006-01-12 at 20:24:27:

Oh wow, where do I start?

Apple didn't copy the multi-button mouse from Microsoft. The idea has been around for years, and was used by many companies. I don't know where you get this statistic of 12.3% down time, but Mac OS X Server is very reliable. I have never heard of any major reliability problems. All of mine are very close to 100% reliable. And Mac OS X practically never crashes.

Do some research on the results of independent surveys. Macs are always at, or near, the top of reliability measures. I don't know how accurate your comments are, but if they are true there is something weird going on with your installation.

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