Already mentioned in TFA:

It is unfortunate that you didn't think your post through a little further.

I'm running Mac OS 10.8.5 (Mountain Lion) on two machines, and I am notified once every few days by the "App Store" application (which is the update mechanism for OS X starting with Mac OS 10.7 Lion) that Mavericks is ready to install.*

In other words, Mavericks *is* included as part of Apple's "normal update mechanism" and "normal people" do not have to seek it out; Mavericks seeks out them.

*I've not upgraded these two machines because they are running production software that is not yet ready to upgrade. One of my other personal machines has gotten the Mavericks update.

I know this depends on stereotyping to some degree but:

Have you ever worked with the engineering type whose rational demeanor and levelheadedness allows for the calm deliberate action one must take in the face of rapidly changing potentially deadly environmental conditions?

Being on /., I'm going to take a guess you have.

Now, have you ever worked with the artistic type whose sensibilities are attuned to impossible-to-quantify and difficult-to-articulate aesthetic contours and dimensions of plastic art, whose manner and behavior drive that artist to produce artwork that is often vilified and ridiculed to be later held up by succeeding generations as works of artistic genius?

Could these two types of people ever have a "meaningful" enduring contract sealed only with words and a handshake?

(I hear there is at least a third type of person whose canny judgement and profit-incentive leads them to forge documents tens of thousands of words long which specify the conditions and behavior of bonded parties, and these third types aren't always looked upon favorably by the engineering and artistic types.)

I respect your anatomical specificity and historical knowledge, but just to be clear Diana's bum is not technically part of her genitals.

The service aspect is not all positive.. With a vendor built, a component failure means a 2 week minimum turnaround where you're out of a machine. If you've built it yourself it's an overnighted part and you're up and running again...and if you're crazy desperate, a drive to frys/microcenter.

[. . .]

You can't assure me jack shit. This is an appeal to emotion. Try getting help from apple when your machine is out of its expensive applecare warranty. Good luck. At least with a home built, it'll last as long as you want it to as parts are always readily available, and at no worse reliability than the crappy refurbs apple sticks into supposedly 'new' computers when they fail. They're usually cheaper too.

You're really missing it, aren't you?

People and companies who buy Apple gear for production don't address failure by ordering new PARTS and self-installing. Seriously? This is Apple.

They take their broken shit to the Genius Bar or drop a few thousand fully-refundable-inside-of-fourteen-days dollars (sometimes minus restocking fee, but not always) on an emergency replacement machine.

What you and many super-self-sufficient geeks don't understand is the value of a full-service vendor. Apple is not perfect, but for buying gear they're pretty damn close.

Triclosan is not a fungal spore. According to Wikipedia:

This organic compound is a white powdered solid with a slight aromatic/phenolic odor. It is a chlorinated aromatic compound that has functional groups representative of both ethers and phenols.

Agreed.

You keep calling it "global warming" but the term of science presently in use is "climate change". Carbon emissions into the atmosphere, among other heat-trapping pollutants, are causing a slow oscillating rise to the global temperature and this change is causing weather patterns to shift, which shifting patterns includes storms that are more severe, including hurricanes, blizzards, typhoons, and droughts.

In other words, the scientists and the science-informed know quite well the difference between climate and weather and these people don't talk about "global warming" as the symptom of heat-trapping pollutants. They talk about climate change which covers severe snow storms as well as blistering droughts.

Checking maps while cycling is inadvisable at best. You're right to consult a map while pulled over. Perfect.

But even checking a map is unnecessary and brings me to the point that this article is really pretty silly. I'm not normally one to complain about Slashvertisements (first time I've even used that word) but this is definitely a time to complain about it because SMARTPHONES

Both Android and iOS have Google Maps which delivers turn-by-turn directions for bicycles. I have a bluetooth speaker built expressly for cycling (Boombotix, you can search for it, but there are other) so when I am somewhere I don't know and which does not have a gird-based layout, I let Google Maps on my smartphone give me audible turn-by-turn directions.

The sound sometimes is not perfect and I might mishear a direction or two, but it's not much more difficult than using turn-by-turn in an automobile.

This front page story is really trying hard to make a problem when an 80% solution already exists.

One of the more salient questions to answer regarding robot weapons is whether human societies will tolerate autonomous robots that deprive human beings of life and limb.

I hope our descendant human cultures will categorically eschew such devices, but my political intuition tells me such wishes are naive.

May God have mercy on our souls.

PayPal $299.99 to apple.com@mistersquid.com making sure to include your

• Name
• Shipping Address
• Social Security or Tax Identification #
• Mother's maiden name
• Date of Birth
• City of Birth

and I... I mean APPLE (ahem) will mail you a Blu-Ray version of Mavericks for VIPs.*

*caveat emptor. Offer subject to limitations and conditions which I will not reveal to you unless, well, yeah never.

Stop calling me shirley.

Part of does wonder, though, whether this makes the ACA a "done deal" even though it is nowhere near as desirable as a single payer system.

Please give a real life example of a device that's incompatible with USB but has a USB plug, because this really shouldn't be the case.

I've already given a real life example in my anecdote of my co-worker who fried his phone by using a charger from his old phone.

Since that doesn't seem to be enough for you, here's an article about USB 3.0 incompatibilities with audio equipment.

Another significant difference may be power. We’ve seen issues with USB devices before involving even minor power differences. One reader wisely points out that incompatibility reports we’re seeing all seem to involve bus-powered devices. And this is an area in which the USB specification alone doesn’t provide enough certainty to rule out potential problems. Different bus-powered USB devices have different power draws, and may respond differently to power availability

If you'd like another example, please find one yourself using Google.

BTW the standard is up to 3.0 but you can still plug a 1.0 device into a 3.0 socket. Your definition is broken.

What you mean by "my" definition?

Whatever you might mean, I'm guessing it doesn't change the empirical fact that devices which can connect to USB (of whatever version) are in some cases incompatible which means the "standard" is a standard in name only.

My larger point is that Nuovo makes no practical or logical sense when he urges device makers to use "standard" micro-USB ports.

Well, if you *don't* follow the standard, then you ought to use a proprietary connector.

I absolutely agree. However in the context of this post, Nokia design guru Frank Nuovo is urging Apple (and presumably all device makers) to stop making proprietary connectors!

My point about the reality of the standard versus the theory of the standard is that standards are theoretical unless there is governing body to ensure that all manufacturers are in compliance, and even then there will be unavoidable incompatibilities.

From what I can see, Nuovo recommends device manufacturers to stop developing proprietary connectors in favor of a standard that can only ever be a standard in name and which, by definition, can never provide new features.