My own Mac Rant

whyre

whyre

*nix Geek
<sarcasm>
Ever since I've gotten my G4 PB, the first Mac I have ever owned, I have had a considerable amount of free time on my hands. Instead of tweaking the machine all the time, I was left wondering what to actually do with it. So I started downloading software. When I had downloaded enough software to do just about anything I could possibly think of, I was again left with a lot of time on my hands. I hadn't realized it, but for probably the past 5 years, I hadn't actually done anything productive on any of my personal home machines (save for gaming, which qualifies more as entertainment than productive). Now I was faced with an entirely different problem: What do I do with it now?

I'm forced to Look at computing from a users perspective now, actually having to use it. Now I'm writing short stories in Texmaker, learning to script and code new languages, and writing down my ideas in Freemind. Now I actually have no reason not to be productive. So thanks a friggin lot Apple!
</sarcasm>
 
lol

yeah, bastages!
plus with that stupid unix under the hood, and java integration, there's too much free and open source software that's cool and fun to use out there. i hate having all this power so available right at my fingertips...
 
I know what you mean, its so horrible NOT downloading a new bug patch every hour! Now I have no good reason not to do work! Damn!

Btw whyre, I think we have the same model/config PB. How do you like yours? My laptop has caused everyone I know to be jealous! Hahaha!
 
Yeah, I'm just having to go and find creative things to do with all my spare time. I mean, It took me weeks to not click on the check for updates once in the morning and before I lay down to sleep...sheesh! I thought it just wasn't connecting at first, but lo and behold... :D

delsoljb32 said:
Btw whyre, I think we have the same model/config PB. How do you like yours? My laptop has caused everyone I know to be jealous! Hahaha!
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I love it! I've got everyone around me whining for one now ;) I do want to get about another gig of memory or so, with my new found stable system I'm getting used to having a lot of programs running. :)
 
Hehe... it's kind of like winning the Powerball Lottery and getting 450 million dollars -- sure, it's cool at first, and you just can't spend it fast enough, but then later you just sit around going, "what can I spend my money on today?" and being at a loss for ideas.

My Mac has never been out of use. I was in a different predicament than you -- I bought it for fun, not knowing what to do with it. I worked at a digital pre-press shop, and soon found that I could do all the pre-press work twice as fast on my pokey G4/400 than I could with the fastest machine they had -- a beige G3/300 desktop.

By that time, I had decided to go to school to finish my degree. My mac suddenly came to life again when I learned Java and used Project Builder (later XCode) to do all my java work. Now, I'm learning C and lots of UNIX scripting, and while others struggle to "emulate" UNIX on their Windows boxes, I scream right along with the UNIX that exists on my Mac. The only difference is that I run my programs like "./program" instead of just typing "program" like on Linux machines.

There are two other Mac users in one of my classes -- one who gives hippie Macintosh users a very bad name, and the other who didn't even know Mac OS X was UNIX. I don't know how they made it this far into a programming degree knowing as little about computers as they do...
 
ElDiabloConCaca said:
the other who didn't even know Mac OS X was UNIX. I don't know how they made it this far into a programming degree knowing as little about computers as they do...
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it dumb-founds me when i come across people like that. I don't get the concept of working on a system - programming on a system no less - and not knowing (or caring?) what's happening under the hood. I don't think i'm doing a good and proper job unless I know every aspect of a project (environments, architectures, processes, etc)...it drives me crazy that people can get along w/o putting in that extra effort for knowledge.

sorry, OT rant over...
 
Well, I think it all comes down to quality. The further we continue throughout time, the less quality seems to be a concern. Fewer and fewer individuals take pride in their work, so there are fewer craftsmen, and therefore less craftmanship. "It's just a job" to a growing number of individuals.

If you don't glean a personal satisfaction from your job and the quality of it, you really don't have any reason to produce quality, since your employer and customers generally don't make an impact on your pay in those jobs where that is true. When the difference in workmanship afffects the bottom-line, we see more individuals who are willing to put forth that extra effort. Seems to be all about the money today. :rolleyes:
 
It is all about the money these days. The nation has adopted a "cookie cutter" image of the common worker. Gone are the days when an employee could stand up and say, "Hey, just try and replace me... there's no one else that can do this job like I can!" While that may have been true 10 or 20 years ago, it is most definitely not the case these days. Jobs are being "dumbed down," so that employees are responsible for a very small portion of the big picture, and, therefore, become easily replaceable.

In the days of high school, I would help and accept help from classmates. The goal was to get the hell out of there as quickly as possible -- like a jailbreak. Now, in college, I won't help my fellow classmates. As far as I'm concerned, everyone in my class is a competitor and a threat to my job security, and they can fend for themselves. The guy that I mentioned that didn't know OS X was UNIX asked me a question about something we were working on in our Linux lab, and I flat out told him, "I'm not the person to ask for help. You frequently come into class late -- why the hell should I carry you on my back? Come to class on time, and you wouldn't be having this problem."

Needless to say, I'm not making any friends there, but I don't need to make friends with my competitors. I'll rest assured that I know more than them -- I try harder than them -- I study harder than them -- and I show up to class and participate. I'll also rest assured that when graduation time comes, potential employers will look at my record compared to my classmate's records and the decision will be clear-cut.

I guess that's sort of off-topic, but it related well to whyre's comments about quality and salary. These people that I speak of are the type to do the minimum amount of work required to collect that check -- and if I'm correct in that assumption, it should not be a problem at all trouncing them when graduation time comes and we're all out looking for jobs at similar places.
 
Currently being in High School, I can attest to the downward spiral of society. It has come down to the every man for them selfs mentaltity, all fighting to get into a good university. I think this idea is crap. Im the guy everyone comes to for help, and I happily give it. I figure that I am blessed with an above averave afinity for learning, that I should help those who dont. This society needs to rebuild the community ideals of working together to acheive a common goal of human betterment, not work against eachother for self satisfactioin. But I have to agree, there are some lazy slackers who contribute nothing to society. And, in turn, deserve nothing.
 
keep your friends close, and your enemies closer...

crap - the potification I had is gone... but you get the idea. (I think)
 
Hmm... sounds like kiasu-ism (pronounced KEAH-SOO) is spreading to the US. This used to be a phenomenon common in Asian countries, particular south east Asian countries like Malaysia (where I originall come from) and Singapore.
 
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