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Comment Re:Hmmm (Score 1) 392

I need a small, light laptop with a good display, primarily for writing and coding with the occasional browsing (though I mostly use an iPad for that). I need excellent portability, high resolution, modest cpu, good battery life and ease of docking and use.

When I am on the move, I want as few openings collecting dust as possible. I want no fan sucking dusty air through the machine. In the past I needed USB for memory sticks, but these days that is rare as I send material over email or dropbox instead, or just check it into git. And I don't want to stick a foreign USB stick into my machine. Lack of USB1/2 is a bonus. I also have no need for external screens when on the move.

If I dock it, I want one connector to the laptop which goes to a hub connecting to all my desktop peripherals and power; I have no desire to click in lots of different connectors, power and other stuff. One cable, or a "click in" dock. Not two cables. Absolutely not three cables (power, display, USB). That's just nuts. Why should I need to plug all that cruft in when one cable could do it all? As to keyboard and mouse, those are bluetooth and need no cables.

The Macbook Air is a different model than what I want. It has unnecessary ports I would not use - and worse, no port which can do everything for docking. It has a needless fan sucking dust through the machine, and a low resolution screen, all in the name of getting more cpu power I have no need for. It's not aimed at the same needs. Merging those lines would leave some users out. And yes, my need is not the typical (although it is a lot more common than people on /. seem to realize). A lot of people still believe they need all those ports, even though they can't recall when they last used them. That is why the Macbook Air still exists, and will for a while longer. And yes, this is where Jobs would have simply killed it and told people to deal with it.

Comment Re:In Massachusetts... (Score 1) 1051

That is a *horrible* compromise, because what will *cause* an outbreak is compromised herd immunity. And this compromise allows for compromise of herd immunity.

When the outbreak happens, cause by this excemption system, the damage is already done and children are probably already dying. And worse, this lets the disease get a foothold and provides it with a breeding ground to mutate from, which allows it to improve its ability to overcome vaccination.

There is NOTHING good about this "compromise". It's horrible. The only way to conclude it is anything but atrocious is to be completely clueless about how disease and vaccinations work.

Comment Re:There is no vaccine for the worst diseases (Score 1) 1051

And if you no-one around you had the vaccine you'd be dead now, since that means you're very sensitive to pertussis.

Adjuvants are an excellent tool. What about them do you want us to look at? How well they do their job?

Doctors get MORE money from letting you and all the kids around you get pertussis and treat it. Lots more. We're talking magnitudes here. Vaccines are a horribly bad deal from a business perspective; there is a lot more money in letting people get sick. So much more that a comparison is nuts. Trying to argue doctors provide vaccinations to pad their wallets is a complete and utter disconnect from any scientific evidence and reality.

No scientific objections here, just pure ignorance and prejudice.

Comment Re:To be expected (Score 1) 473

But that isn't the comparison. It's dropping usage by 99% *period*, and increasing the paid portion of the *remaining* use by 10%. Because that is what happens if your game isn't already in a hit series, with very few exceptions.

Plus. games which have a Minecraft model just keep selling. At GoG you can buy games which were made over 20 years ago, and they still sell. Very few games which charge by server use keep selling.

Comment Re:Hyperbolic headlines strike again (Score 1) 181

This is why we at one time had Lisp Machines with specialized hardware optimized for running Lisp efficiently. Message based machines were tried for Smalltalk.

But people do not use these kinds of languages enough. Operating systems and applications are largely written in C and its derivatives. That is why processors optimized for C won out.

So yes, it is in a way a vicious circle. Most of our software is C, so most of our hardware is optimized for C, so writing software in C makes the most efficient use of it.

Comment Re:I don't really see the point. (Score 1) 130

Cubasis with a number of software synthesizers and some filters on recorded tracks is heavy number crunching, and something the tablet format is excellent for. More computing power means more filters and synthesizers, meaning less limitations on what can be done right away.

Many synthesizers and trackers can be used for realtime performances, and there the limiting factor is raw CPU power. This move is excellent news for those using iPads to perform.

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