Comment Re:It's almost like the Concord verses the 747 aga (Score 2) 157
I take a lot of that back. Apparently I know fuck all about what a hyper loop actually is. It is not a hard vacuum at all.
I take a lot of that back. Apparently I know fuck all about what a hyper loop actually is. It is not a hard vacuum at all.
$56M doesn't really apply here, even if we were talking about a transcontinental hyper loop. I don't know if you've ever driven across the country, but there is a whole lot of empty space. Building stuff there is significantly cheaper than where stuff already exists.
A 4 lane highway in rural areas costs about $5 million per mile (*). And while a road is not an enclosed vacuum tube, the vacuum tube would be many more times complex to build (and maintain) than the road - for example, there its the infrastructure needed to keep the hyperloop pumped down to its working pressure, as you can be sure that leaks will occur.
But that infrastructure will have to be dispersed across the length of the hyper loop, as a pumping station in LA or NYC will not be able to deal with a leak in the midwest until the air introduced in that leak makes its way to either end of the loop - meaning both a huge volume of air, and a huge lag time until it gets there. And huge vacuum pumps will not be cheap, and will have to be powered by something. So there you are building not only the hyper loop, but at a minimum HV transmission lines for the pumping stations and possibly power stations as well (be they solar, wind, nuke or coal), as well as the roads needed to reach that infrastructure . Plus as you say
So it does't take much for the cost per mile to start adding up.
* $5 million per mile cost for a 4 lane highway is taken from the American Road & Transportation Builders Association website. And it rises to $9 million in urban areas.
Did Musk ever propose transcontinental hyperloops?
No, but the OP did, in an argument comparing planes to hyper loops.
Actually, it's the Return on investment (ROI) that matter in business. Or in other word, how many time it'll take to make enough profit to cover the cost of the initial investment. And in this case, the US$9.95 billion California High-Speed Rail is a huge example on how much money you can make on transportation.
Using the $56 million per km quoted on California High-Speed Rail as the low estimate of how much it would cost to build a hyper loop, the minimum cost across the US would be $56 million per km * 3000 miles * 1.6 km per mile = $270 Billion dollars MINIMUM. That's going to have a hell of a long ROI, and because of that I can't see anyone in their right mind financing such a project in the near future.
That fact that they need to put a multi page FAQ on their website to explain how to create a login account without a credit card number is telling enough.
You do understand that you don't have to make an account in order to use iTunes?
I thought we were talking about Suppliers shipping bloatware with their *products*... iTunes is REQUIRED if you use you iPod with a PC.
You thought wrong. It is a comparison between what is on an Apple computer when you pull it out of the box vs what is on a Windows computer (of various brands) when you pull it out of the box.
As has been stated previously, iTunes on Windows is an Apples to Oranges comparison. This is the same as complaining that in order to use a Zune on a Mac, you have to install additional software (albeit most likely a better experience than iTunes on Windows)
Yeah, you're right... They are completely incomparable! iTunes is 100000 times worse than anything that comes with Windows. Just having the iTunes/iPos service running (application closed) means your computer uses up about 75% of your available resources.
FFS, the comparison is between Apple supplied software on a new Apple computer vs 3rd party bloatware supplied on a new windows computer.
It is not about how bad Apple sucks at writing Windows software. And don't even start with the forced Safari install with iTunes on Windows.
So how many times did iTunes ask you for your credit card number?
Once. But is not required to hand one over. You only need to do so if you want to purchase things from the iTunes store.
Ok, then how about getting a Mac without iTunes?
And now you have crossed the border into Scotland
Apple did a lazy port of iTunes to PC so that people could use their iPods. It sucked because they didn't put much effort into it. Possibly on purpose.
And it may still suck from what I have seen*. But kinda irrelevant to Apple not shipping bloatware on their own computers.
The sucking may be due to a lot of reasons such as Apple not having decent windows programmers, or trying to shoe-horn one set of source code into two different environments. I don't see them doing on purpose.
but I imagine they're even more into the sell more media side, as opposed to a simple and functional media player.
Like with Microsoft Windows, you can consider all the useless features they add to the system that are basically for marketing purposes, as bloatware.
Hardly a direct comparison. Apple has none of the the 3rd party crap pushed on windows that is free trials, upgrades or advertising.
My use of iTunes is to play local media, and free podcasts that I download (from the iTunes store). That is front and center for me and I am never pushed into buying media by Apples advertising dominating my user experience.
I remember they included Safari by default when you tried to install iTunes on Windows.
Which was when? Your initial statement implied current practices.
Except that you can't fix and replace shit on your own if your decoratory Apple laptop breaks.
Which refutes my statement how?
Have you ever tried using iTunes (to sync your iPod) on a PC?
Thats an Apples to Oranges comparison. I was talking about what Apples ships on a new computer.
But no, I haven't.
Too bad that fruit company has among its practice of bundling bloatware along its software users want to install.
What do you consider is Apple's bloatware? All I see are Apple written, basic applications that are complete in and amongst themselves. No free trials, no upgrades, no advertising.
We are each entitled to our own opinion, but no one is entitled to his own facts. -- Patrick Moynihan
