Re: OS X packaging is an embarrassment

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From: sabrina downard
Subject: Re: OS X packaging is an embarrassment
Date: 01:22 on 22 May 2006
> Yeah.  Buying a Mac to run Debian is about like buying a Porsche and putt=
ing
> an American engine into it or something ridiculous.

this analogy makes me cry for the poor hypothetical car.

speaking of cars, software, and hate all in one tidy bundle:

last year i took a road trip of roughly 3400 miles, nearly all
interstate highway but some two-lane highway.  i averaged about 33.5
miles to the gallon, which i was reasonably pleased with.  i had it
serviced directly after.  four months later i took another road trip,
much shorter, only about 720 miles, all four- and more-lane highway
(on clear roads), doing approximately the same speed, and i got 29
miles to the gallon.  well, maybe it was a fluke.  a month later, the
same roadtrip again, and the mileage didn't crack 30.  i was *very*
unhappy about that, so i called my dealer mechanic to ask about them
checking it, asking if the timing could be off and confirming that
they had replaced all my spark plugs as part of the previous
maintenance (they had), and asking if they had done anything to the
ECM during maintenance.  the mechanic informed me, rather smarmily,
that the timing is quite unadjustable in my car as it's all controlled
by "the computer" and they cannot have accidentally changed "the
computer."  the ECM, the magical all-seeing, all-knowing engine
control module, is omnibenevolent and perfectly predictable and if
i've magically lost four miles to the gallon it's certainly somehow my
fault as the operator.  perhaps i just forgot i had upper gears.  THE
COMPUTER CANNOT BE WRONG.  he never actually came out and said "it is
not possible that the ECM is malfunctioning or we got it out of whack
accidentally," but that was certainly the impression he conveyed.  i
really, really, really, really, really wanted to say "listen, bub, i
work with computers and trust me, they are full of lies," but he
probably wouldn't have believed me.  because the ECM cannot be wrong.
how could it be -- it's software, isn't it!

(the really fun part about all his "it's impossible to mess up the
ECM!" protestations is that five minutes with google turns up horror
stories of people screwing up their VW ECMs ridiculously easily --
like, by replacing a stock stereo with an aftermarket model.  i ask
you, WHY ON EARTH should the gadget that's in charge of my fuel
injectors have anything at all to do with my stereo?  could you not
afford *two* NVRAM chips?  you redesigned the cupholders to fit
Starbucks cups, for chrissakes -- i swear to you, the salesman pitched
that as a feature improvement in my particular model year -- but you
can't separate essential from nonessential electronics?)

still incredulous (and hateful),
--s.
There's stuff above here

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