[mythtv-users] Mac Mini as Frontend?

[Simon Hobson]

Brian Wood wrote:

>  > > Looks like Apple just can't make up their minds about graphics chips, or,
>  > > for that matter, CPUs.

Having been using their stuff for many years, I can assure you that 
this is nothing new. However, for their target market (people who 
want to buuy a machine, plug it in, use it), it doesn't matter - the 
end user never has to concern themselves with what ship is under the 
bonnet as whatever OS comes pre-loaded on it will include full 
support for the chipset used. When it comes to "tinkerers" then Apple 
don't care - they aren't part of it's target market.

>  > > I know keeping compatibility with older x86 CPUs has caused problems for
>>  > Windows and Linux, but Apple's "heck with the customer" attitude bothers
>>  > me, a machine I bought new less than 5 years ago should not be virtually
>>  > abandoned by its maker, who basically tells me "you just have to
>>  > upgrade". I am a customer, not a continuing revenue stream.
>>
>>  your G4 machine no longer works?  my G4 powerbook still runs fine.
>
>It works just fine, under Linux, but is no longer supported by the 
>latest version(s) of the OS that came with it.

AFAIK, security updates are still being done for 10.5. 10.6 was the 
first version that dropped all support for G4/G5 models - and lets 
face it, by then they hadn't sold non-intel for several years. I 
still have a dual G4-400MHz mini tower in my back room - running 10.5 
even though it's not officially supported.

That's the way modern life is headed. Many of us moan about how you 
can't repair tellies these days, how you can't change batteries in a 
lot of kit, and so on. The days of mending things rather than buying 
new are long gone (for now) - and that process started in the middle 
of the last century (the US military applied the principal to things 
like Jeep engines - don't try fixing the old one in the field, just 
drop in a new one).

Both my vehicles are 21 years old - I'd hate to try running any 
modern car to even half that.

For a lot of kit, the lifecycle is less than a year now. Wasteful 
yes, but it's what the modern consumer wants.

>Plus, they continued to bill me for a service I no longer use, after 
>telling me (in writing) that they would cease to do
>so.

So they cocked up on the admin, that's not fundamentally related to 
the original complaint.

Brian Wood wrote:

>You make more if you do not hack off loyal customers, who do they 
>think they are? The Cable Company?

Well again, Apple are a different company now - and doing quite well 
by being the new Microsoft. Just look at the direction they've been 
taking over the last few years - steadily down the road of 
"integration, exclusion, and captivation", provide an integrated 
solution (just like everyone wants until they find out the hard way 
that they're trapped), exclude competition, make your customers 
captive. They just didn't do it as effectively as Microsoft did on 
the desktop/network - but the world is a different place these days.

-- 
Simon Hobson

Visit http://www.magpiesnestpublishing.co.uk/ for books by acclaimed
author Gladys Hobson. Novels - poetry - short stories - ideal as
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