No. 1 paid utility in Mac App Store steals browser history, sendsit to Chinese server

In article , Frank Slootweg
wrote:

So a tablet with phone is an obvious next step I think.

it isn't.

who wants to carry a tablet-sized phone everywhere??

You have a point, but then, who wants to carry two devices if one will
do the job? People will buy all kinds of stuff because they think it's
practical. Practical is a variety of cool, and cool is powerful.

Indeed. People might want a large screen for several reasons, but not
carry two devices.

Also note that many people carry their phone in their hand. Carrying a
tablet in your hand isn't much harder than carrying a phone.

unless it's an unusually small tablet, it definitely is:
https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1600/0*-_YQf3jv_lpGhJ8R.

a tablet also won't fit in a pocket unless it's an unusually large
pocket, and then you end up with something like this:
http://ipadinsight.com/wp-content/up...antsPockets.jp
g

Frank Slootweg wrote:

True, but just watch what happens when laptops become a niche. They're
well on the way.

Not here (The Netherlands) they aren't. What we do see is a trend to
have more and more small - 11 - 14" - laptops with SSDs (etc.) (in
addition to the bigger (15.6/17") ones).

I don't think laptops will become a niche any time soon, because many
people want/need a real keyboard, touchpad and (USB etc.) connectivity,
which (non-Windows) tablets don't have.

Exactly. Laptops are always going to be a big part of the market.
For many purposes, they are simply better, mechanically, than a simple
tablet.

I think that desktops will still be a good chunk of the market, for
years to come. We had "the desktop is dead" doomsayers, in here, 10
years ago.

--
'Wow... what a "innovation" from the linux copy-cats. Too bad that the
Apple iPhone had this feature a couple of years ago. Once again linux
is another "Johnny come lately" attempt to make a half-assed copy of a
great product.' - trolling fsckwit "Ezekiel"

On 2018-11-09 4:54 a.m., Spooge wrote:
On Thu, 8 Nov 2018 20:32:30 -0700, Snit, tweeted:
On 11/8/18 8:19 PM, nospam wrote:
In article , Snit
wrote:

however, chromebooks are very strong in education.

And as a teacher, I have to admit that I made the choice to move to
Chromebooks myself in the school I worked at a few years ago. They tend
to last longer than any PC and since they reset with each reboot, you
don't have to worry about security as much as you would a PC in general.
Whatever PCs the schools do reset as well since they load the operating
system from scratch every time, but the boot process ends up being
insanely slow in contract to a generic Chromebook.

yep, and if a chromebook is damaged, simply replace it, the kid logs in
and all of his work is as it was before. they're also cheap enough that
it doesn't matter that much.


Cheap enough if the school has money... which is sadly not a given.

that is very true.

Schools in my district have no text books. It is insane.

It isn't insane.
Do you live in a poor area?
Money doesn't grow on trees.
Someone has to earn it to pay the taxes that support the school.

Snit lives in the most expensive home in his neighbourhood which used to
serve as a treehouse built by a lazy crippled four year-old with brain
damage... to give you an idea.

--
SilverSlimer
Minds: @silverslimer

On 11/9/18 9:48 AM, SilverSlimer wrote:
On 2018-11-09 4:54 a.m., Spooge wrote:
On Thu, 8 Nov 2018 20:32:30 -0700, Snit, tweeted:
On 11/8/18 8:19 PM, nospam wrote:
In article , Snit
wrote:

however, chromebooks are very strong in education.

And as a teacher, I have to admit that I made the choice to move to
Chromebooks myself in the school I worked at a few years ago.
They tend
to last longer than any PC and since they reset with each reboot,
you
don't have to worry about security as much as you would a PC in
general.
Whatever PCs the schools do reset as well since they load the
operating
system from scratch every time, but the boot process ends up being
insanely slow in contract to a generic Chromebook.

yep, and if a chromebook is damaged, simply replace it, the kid
logs in
and all of his work is as it was before. they're also cheap enough
that
it doesn't matter that much.


Cheap enough if the school has money... which is sadly not a given.

that is very true.

Schools in my district have no text books. It is insane.

It isn't insane.
Do you live in a poor area?
Money doesn't grow on trees.
Someone has to earn it to pay the taxes that support the school.

Snit lives in the most expensive home in his neighbourhood which used to
serve as a treehouse built by a lazy crippled four year-old with brain
damage... to give you an idea.


Your advertisement of your insecurity is weird.

--
Personal attacks from those who troll show their own insecurity. They
cannot use reason to show the message to be wrong so they try to feel
somehow superior by attacking the messenger.

They cling to their attacks and ignore the message time and time again.

https://youtu.be/H4NW-Cqh308

On 11/9/18 2:54 AM, Spooge wrote:
On Thu, 8 Nov 2018 20:32:30 -0700, Snit, tweeted:
On 11/8/18 8:19 PM, nospam wrote:
In article , Snit
wrote:

however, chromebooks are very strong in education.

And as a teacher, I have to admit that I made the choice to move to
Chromebooks myself in the school I worked at a few years ago. They tend
to last longer than any PC and since they reset with each reboot, you
don't have to worry about security as much as you would a PC in general.
Whatever PCs the schools do reset as well since they load the operating
system from scratch every time, but the boot process ends up being
insanely slow in contract to a generic Chromebook.

yep, and if a chromebook is damaged, simply replace it, the kid logs in
and all of his work is as it was before. they're also cheap enough that
it doesn't matter that much.


Cheap enough if the school has money... which is sadly not a given.

that is very true.

Schools in my district have no text books. It is insane.

It isn't insane.
Do you live in a poor area?
Money doesn't grow on trees.
Someone has to earn it to pay the taxes that support the school.

You demonstrate a key difference between liberals and conservatives.
Liberals tend to believe that we, as a society, are better off with an
educated population, one that can better compete with other countries
and which can better understand what is happening in the world so they
can make wise voting decisions.

Conservatives fear an educated population and do not understand the
value of investing in the future. The more educated people are the less
likely they are to buy into the divisive nature of conservative politics.

--
Personal attacks from those who troll show their own insecurity. They
cannot use reason to show the message to be wrong so they try to feel
somehow superior by attacking the messenger.

They cling to their attacks and ignore the message time and time again.

https://youtu.be/H4NW-Cqh308

Wolf K wrote:
On 2018-11-06 20:29, Alan Baker wrote:

Hence my statement: without OS/2, there was not sufficient reason to pay
the high cost of the PS/2.

OS/2 was ahead of its time, too. Still is IMO. It used a VM to run
Windows better than MS-DOS did. Linux would be the winner of the OS wars
if that facility was baked into its kernel: Imagine being able to run
any OS under Linux....

Yeah, similar to HP's 9000 Series 500 systems of the early eighties
which had a micro-kernel [1] on top of which one could run HP-UX (HP's
version of UNIX) or (IIRC) BASIC Language System.

Later we moved to using some crap made at Berkeley University [2]! :-)

[1] The micro-kernel's name was 'SUN Operating System', many years
before Sun had their OS of the 'same' name ('SunOS').

[2] Just kidding. BSD was much, much better than (AT&T's) System III
which we had before.

On Fri, 9 Nov 2018 14:50:13 -0500, Wolf K
wrote:

Mainstream = used by most people.

Niche = preferred by some group for some purposes, eg professionals for
work-related tasks.

Desktops are no longer mainstream. Laptops still are, but there are
signs that people are beginning to limit their use to "serious work",
especially if they can afford a tablet and/or smartphone as well.
There's been a noticeable reduction in the number of laptop models
available form the usual sources, and an even great reduction in desktop
models.

The fact that laptops can be and are used for fun may not be enough to
save them. BTW I've noticed that large-screen (17") laptops are
available almost entirely on gaming machines. Plain vanilla laptops are
generally 15" or smaller.


I'm not sure whether it's appropriate to say desktops are no longer
mainstream, but it's certainly true that desktops have recently been
rapidly losing ground to laptops--at least for home users; doctors
offices, lawyers offices, other professionals still mostly use
desktops.


As far as I'm concerned, using a laptop instead of a desktop is a bad
mistake, for several reasons:

1. Laptops are more expensive to buy

2. Laptops are more expensive to repair

3. It's often more expensive to buy and replace a laptop component in
a laptop than an equivalent component in a desktop

4. It's usually much harder and more expensive to upgrade hardware in
a laptop than in a desktop

5. Desktops can often be repaired or upgraded by their owners. That's
seldom as common on a laptop.

6. I'm against all all-in-one devices. If a component fails, sometimes
you can't just replace it, but have to replace the whole device.

7. Laptops are more readily stolen.

8. Laptops are more readily taken somewhere and lost.

9. Laptops are more prone to being dropped and broken.

10. Laptops usually get their Internet access by WI-FI, while desktops
generally get it by an Ethernet connection, which is much faster.

I know my views on this are in the minority, since so many people
these days buy laptops instead of desktops. But I'm right and they're
wrong. VBG

A laptop, as a second computer, is great for traveling. It's a poor
choice as your only computer, for using at home. And to me, the
smaller the laptop, the better, since size and weight are important
factors when traveling.

On Fri, 9 Nov 2018 12:01:06 -0700, Snit, tweeted:
On 11/9/18 2:54 AM, Spooge wrote:
On Thu, 8 Nov 2018 20:32:30 -0700, Snit, tweeted:
On 11/8/18 8:19 PM, nospam wrote:
In article , Snit
wrote:

however, chromebooks are very strong in education.

And as a teacher, I have to admit that I made the choice to move to
Chromebooks myself in the school I worked at a few years ago. They tend
to last longer than any PC and since they reset with each reboot, you
don't have to worry about security as much as you would a PC in general.
Whatever PCs the schools do reset as well since they load the operating
system from scratch every time, but the boot process ends up being
insanely slow in contract to a generic Chromebook.

yep, and if a chromebook is damaged, simply replace it, the kid logs in
and all of his work is as it was before. they're also cheap enough that
it doesn't matter that much.


Cheap enough if the school has money... which is sadly not a given.

that is very true.

Schools in my district have no text books. It is insane.

It isn't insane.
Do you live in a poor area?
Money doesn't grow on trees.
Someone has to earn it to pay the taxes that support the school.

You demonstrate a key difference between liberals and conservatives.
Liberals tend to believe that we, as a society, are better off with an
educated population, one that can better compete with other countries
and which can better understand what is happening in the world so they
can make wise voting decisions.

So you participating in a fund raiser is out of the question?
What I said is somebody has to _pay_ for it.
I don't care if they are liberal or conservative.

I like the last sentence, which is a long, drawn out way of saying
indoctrination.

Conservatives fear an educated population and do not understand the
value of investing in the future. The more educated people are the less
likely they are to buy into the divisive nature of conservative politics.

You are ****in locked in on this conservative vs liberal nonsense.

--
Do not write below this line
____________________________

On Fri, 9 Nov 2018 11:48:51 -0500, SilverSlimer, tweeted:
On 2018-11-09 4:54 a.m., Spooge wrote:
On Thu, 8 Nov 2018 20:32:30 -0700, Snit, tweeted:
On 11/8/18 8:19 PM, nospam wrote:
In article , Snit
wrote:

however, chromebooks are very strong in education.

And as a teacher, I have to admit that I made the choice to move to
Chromebooks myself in the school I worked at a few years ago. They tend
to last longer than any PC and since they reset with each reboot, you
don't have to worry about security as much as you would a PC in general.
Whatever PCs the schools do reset as well since they load the operating
system from scratch every time, but the boot process ends up being
insanely slow in contract to a generic Chromebook.

yep, and if a chromebook is damaged, simply replace it, the kid logs in
and all of his work is as it was before. they're also cheap enough that
it doesn't matter that much.


Cheap enough if the school has money... which is sadly not a given.

that is very true.

Schools in my district have no text books. It is insane.

It isn't insane.
Do you live in a poor area?
Money doesn't grow on trees.
Someone has to earn it to pay the taxes that support the school.

Snit lives in the most expensive home in his neighbourhood which used to
serve as a treehouse built by a lazy crippled four year-old with brain
damage... to give you an idea.

Dang.
They don't have moving vans there?

--
Do not write below this line
____________________________

In article , Ken Blake
wrote:

I'm not sure whether it's appropriate to say desktops are no longer
mainstream, but it's certainly true that desktops have recently been
rapidly losing ground to laptops--at least for home users; doctors
offices, lawyers offices, other professionals still mostly use
desktops.

it's very common to see doctors, lawyers, etc. with a laptop that links
back to corporate servers, possibly even a tablet (common in
hospitals).

As far as I'm concerned, using a laptop instead of a desktop is a bad
mistake, for several reasons:

1. Laptops are more expensive to buy

not really, but even so, the portability is worth it.

2. Laptops are more expensive to repair

the better ones rarely fail, but if they do, it's usually covered under
warranty, so not an issue, and if not, it's not that hard to fix.

3. It's often more expensive to buy and replace a laptop component in
a laptop than an equivalent component in a desktop

that's the same as #2.

4. It's usually much harder and more expensive to upgrade hardware in
a laptop than in a desktop

no it isn't. memory and hard drives are usually very easy to replace,
while other parts just need additional disassembly. however, it's rare
that people upgrade after purchase.

5. Desktops can often be repaired or upgraded by their owners. That's
seldom as common on a laptop.

it's rare that owners repair or upgrade their computers no matter what
kind it is, but if something fails, they take it someplace to be
repaired, as they do with cars and many other products.

6. I'm against all all-in-one devices. If a component fails, sometimes
you can't just replace it, but have to replace the whole device.

not always, but so what? chances are that by the time something fails,
the device is old enough that a replacement is worthwhile.

7. Laptops are more readily stolen.

don't leave it unattended, or use tracking to find it.

some laptops even have a security slot so they can be locked down,
making it very difficult to steal.

8. Laptops are more readily taken somewhere

exactly why they're *better*.

and lost.

take responsibility for keeping track of your stuff and nothing will
get lost, not just laptops either.

9. Laptops are more prone to being dropped and broken.

stop being a klutz, or use a padded case.

10. Laptops usually get their Internet access by WI-FI, while desktops
generally get it by an Ethernet connection, which is much faster.

false.

the speed of the internet service is the limiting factor, especially
with public wifi hotspots, which are usually overloaded and not that
fast even if they weren't.

for wifi to be the limiting factor, one would need dedicated gigabit
internet service just for that one device *and* keep the network
saturated. anything less than that and it won't be wifi (or wired)
that's the bottleneck.

I know my views on this are in the minority, since so many people
these days buy laptops instead of desktops. But I'm right and they're
wrong. VBG

they're in the minority because they're wrong.

A laptop, as a second computer, is great for traveling.

that depends on the laptop. some are bigger than others.

It's a poor
choice as your only computer, for using at home.

maybe for you, but not for others.

And to me, the
smaller the laptop, the better, since size and weight are important
factors when traveling.

there is a point where something becomes too small.

In article , Wolf K
wrote:

I'll grant you that the WYSIWIG version was made for mac-os before it
was ported to DOS/Windows.

It wasn't ported.

Agreed. "Ported" is one of those words whose technical meaning has been
hopeless obscured.

its meaning has *not* been obscured.

Hence its use in the cited article.

in other words, sloppy reporting, and it's not the only error.

In article , Wolf K
wrote:

desktop/laptops are anything but niche.

Mainstream = used by most people.

Niche = preferred by some group for some purposes, eg professionals for
work-related tasks.

therefore, not niche.

Desktops are no longer mainstream.

yes they are.

Laptops still are, but there are
signs that people are beginning to limit their use to "serious work",
especially if they can afford a tablet and/or smartphone as well.

that depends on the particular tasks as well as other factors.

some things are better done on a tablet while others are better done on
a laptop or desktop, and for some, it doesn't really matter.

There's been a noticeable reduction in the number of laptop models
available form the usual sources, and an even great reduction in desktop
models.

not really. there are still a lot of options.

The fact that laptops can be and are used for fun may not be enough to
save them. BTW I've noticed that large-screen (17") laptops are
available almost entirely on gaming machines.

gaming systems are a niche and 17" laptops are pushing the limits of
portability, better described as a portable desktop.

there is even a 21" 'laptop':
https://cdn2.techadvisor.co.uk/cmsda...er_predator_21
x_review01.jpg

Plain vanilla laptops are
generally 15" or smaller.

yep. 13-15" is the sweet spot, with ultraportables for those who travel
a lot.

On 11/9/18 2:33 PM, Spooge wrote:
On Fri, 9 Nov 2018 12:01:06 -0700, Snit, tweeted:
On 11/9/18 2:54 AM, Spooge wrote:
On Thu, 8 Nov 2018 20:32:30 -0700, Snit, tweeted:
On 11/8/18 8:19 PM, nospam wrote:
In article , Snit
wrote:

however, chromebooks are very strong in education.

And as a teacher, I have to admit that I made the choice to move to
Chromebooks myself in the school I worked at a few years ago. They tend
to last longer than any PC and since they reset with each reboot, you
don't have to worry about security as much as you would a PC in general.
Whatever PCs the schools do reset as well since they load the operating
system from scratch every time, but the boot process ends up being
insanely slow in contract to a generic Chromebook.

yep, and if a chromebook is damaged, simply replace it, the kid logs in
and all of his work is as it was before. they're also cheap enough that
it doesn't matter that much.


Cheap enough if the school has money... which is sadly not a given.

that is very true.

Schools in my district have no text books. It is insane.

It isn't insane.
Do you live in a poor area?
Money doesn't grow on trees.
Someone has to earn it to pay the taxes that support the school.

You demonstrate a key difference between liberals and conservatives.
Liberals tend to believe that we, as a society, are better off with an
educated population, one that can better compete with other countries
and which can better understand what is happening in the world so they
can make wise voting decisions.

So you participating in a fund raiser is out of the question?
What I said is somebody has to _pay_ for it.
I don't care if they are liberal or conservative.

I like the last sentence, which is a long, drawn out way of saying
indoctrination.

Conservatives fear an educated population and do not understand the
value of investing in the future. The more educated people are the less
likely they are to buy into the divisive nature of conservative politics.

You are ****in locked in on this conservative vs liberal nonsense.


Interesting movement of goal posts as you cry about people being
educated and we, as a society, investing in the future.

--
Personal attacks from those who troll show their own insecurity. They
cannot use reason to show the message to be wrong so they try to feel
somehow superior by attacking the messenger.

They cling to their attacks and ignore the message time and time again.

https://youtu.be/H4NW-Cqh308

On Fri, 9 Nov 2018 15:13:32 -0700, Snit, tweeted:
On 11/9/18 2:33 PM, Spooge wrote:
On Fri, 9 Nov 2018 12:01:06 -0700, Snit, tweeted:
On 11/9/18 2:54 AM, Spooge wrote:
On Thu, 8 Nov 2018 20:32:30 -0700, Snit, tweeted:
On 11/8/18 8:19 PM, nospam wrote:
In article , Snit
wrote:

however, chromebooks are very strong in education.

And as a teacher, I have to admit that I made the choice to move to
Chromebooks myself in the school I worked at a few years ago. They tend
to last longer than any PC and since they reset with each reboot, you
don't have to worry about security as much as you would a PC in general.
Whatever PCs the schools do reset as well since they load the operating
system from scratch every time, but the boot process ends up being
insanely slow in contract to a generic Chromebook.

yep, and if a chromebook is damaged, simply replace it, the kid logs in
and all of his work is as it was before. they're also cheap enough that
it doesn't matter that much.


Cheap enough if the school has money... which is sadly not a given.

that is very true.

Schools in my district have no text books. It is insane.

It isn't insane.
Do you live in a poor area?
Money doesn't grow on trees.
Someone has to earn it to pay the taxes that support the school.

You demonstrate a key difference between liberals and conservatives.
Liberals tend to believe that we, as a society, are better off with an
educated population, one that can better compete with other countries
and which can better understand what is happening in the world so they
can make wise voting decisions.

So you participating in a fund raiser is out of the question?
What I said is somebody has to _pay_ for it.
I don't care if they are liberal or conservative.

I like the last sentence, which is a long, drawn out way of saying
indoctrination.

Conservatives fear an educated population and do not understand the
value of investing in the future. The more educated people are the less
likely they are to buy into the divisive nature of conservative politics.

You are ****in locked in on this conservative vs liberal nonsense.


Interesting movement of goal posts as you cry about people being
educated and we, as a society, investing in the future.

Interesting way of saying you value education, you just don't want to
help pay for it

--
Do not write below this line
____________________________

On 11/9/18 1:09 PM, Wolf K wrote:
On 2018-11-08 22:32, Snit wrote:
On 11/8/18 8:19 PM, nospam wrote:
In article , Snit
wrote:

however, chromebooks are very strong in education.

And as a teacher, I have to admit that I made the choice to move to
Chromebooks myself in the school I worked at a few years ago. They
tend
to last longer than any PC and since they reset with each reboot, you
don't have to worry about security as much as you would a PC in
general.
Whatever PCs the schools do reset as well since they load the
operating
system from scratch every time, but the boot process ends up being
insanely slow in contract to a generic Chromebook.

yep, and if a chromebook is damaged, simply replace it, the kid
logs in
and all of his work is as it was before. they're also cheap enough
that
it doesn't matter that much.


Cheap enough if the school has money... which is sadly not a given.

that is very true.

Schools in my district have no text books. It is insane.



You have local vote on school taxes, right? And minimal if any State
support to compensate for low local taxes.

We have little funding for schools. From ANY source. Period. This is a
state-wide problem... which is not surprising given how it is a "red"
state. We have been listed as the number 50 state for being a teacher.

In all Anglo-Saxon countries, education tends to be seen as a private
good, hence the grudging support from the taxpayers. After all, why pay
for some other kid to compete with mine? [1] In the other first-world
countries, education tends to be seen as a public good, hence heavily
subsidised post-secondary education, including apprenticeships. In poor
countries, education is a luxury whether public or private.

[1] Many years ago, I was invited to speak about education to a local
Chamber of Commerce event when the schedule speaker was snowed in. I got
many thoughtful questions and comments. Afterwards, a member spoke with
me privately, and wondered if we were educating "too many people" in
college and university. His context-setting comments indicated quite
clearly that he was worried his children would have too much
competition, especially from the children of the working classes.

Not surprising.


--
Personal attacks from those who troll show their own insecurity. They
cannot use reason to show the message to be wrong so they try to feel
somehow superior by attacking the messenger.

They cling to their attacks and ignore the message time and time again.

https://youtu.be/H4NW-Cqh308