Except Apple never paid Xerox a dime.
You're right. It was an all-stock deal.
Here is the most complete telling of the story, in the words of those who were actually there, that I have ever seen. If you're really interested in the facts.
So, my counter-question to those who still insist that Apple somehow ripped-off Xerox PARC, is: "If Apple ripped off Xerox, did Xerox rip off SRI and Doug Englebert?"
"Well, Steve, I think there's more than one way of looking at it. I think it's more like we both had this rich neighbor named Xerox and I broke into his house to steal the TV set and found out that you had already stolen it."
You're right; there is more than one way to look at it. The one where the facts dictate the conclusion, and your way, where Apple must always be Teh Evilz!
Rather than your bullshit "analogy", it's more like I called you up, asked if I could come look at your TV with an eye to purchasing it, then came over, looked at the TV, and wrote you a check for it, which you accepted, then left with the TV.
BIG difference.
The Apple Menu inverts the Windows paradigm.
You have your history backwards. The Apple Menu preceded the Windows Start Menu by nearly a Decade.
With the Microsoft shortcut, the opening application itself had to know how to open and handle *.lnk files to find the actual file.
Having had lots of experience with both MacOS Aliases (and OS X Aliases), and Windows' Shortcuts, I can tell you that the Order of Robustness, from most Robust to Least is:
1. MacOS Aliases. They are EXTREMELY hard to "orphan".
2. OS X Aliases (which for some unknown reason are NOT just SymLinks!!!!)
3. Windows Shortcuts
The other absolutely amazing thing they introduced in Windows 95 was the shortcut.
Of course, that wasn't a unique idea of Microsoft's
Apple added them in System 7, which was introduced in May, 1991, quite a few years before Win95 debuted (and probably even before it was even a serious development project), and UNIX had the similar Symbolic Links who-knows-how-long before that.
And then offstage a Xerox representive coughs, walks onstage, announces who he is, punches each one in turn, and storms off, pissed.
If you are referring to the Research that Apple PURCHASED from Xerox PARC, then I can't see his justificaton to punch "Apple".
He "determined" that E-M waves in the air with earth as a ground plane travelled faster than light. He was very smart (eg, he had an awesomely intuitive understanding of resonance), but also a bit deluded.
Well, since he probably "determined" that before Einstein's General (or is it Special?) Theory of Relativity, he might be excused that faux pas.
And I would characterize him as "Brilliant", not just "Very Smart".
And yes, he had a few bats in his belfry; but that seems to often go with "Genius", ya know? It seems that, when a person has the ability to "see beyond" what people think of "reality", they don't just stop at one particular topic. But that peccadillo is certainly not unique to ol' St. Nikola.
If that doesn't seem intuitive, imagine something at work trying to bring those two back into synchronization.
No, I get it. I just wasn't thinking. Thanks!
>The only wide spread DC cabling standard is USB and that's mostly low power stuff. more like RV and yachting equipment, it all runs off DC.
Yeah, where anything over a couple of Amps requires a cable as thick as your little-finger. And with the price of Copper, that sounds like a giant step in the wrong direction.
And I doubt you'll find any marine or RV applications for HV DC, for some pretty obvious (and deadly) reasons. And once you get past the consumer-level of marine and "RV", generation and distribution goes back to AC pretty damned fast.
Sure instead of using synchronous AC motors which are simple and efficient you can switch to much more complex DC digital motors.
Sounds brilliant.
Um, despite the Dyson commercials to the contrary, there is no such thing as a "Digital Motor".
To do this, the A/C converts the incoming wall power to DC and then back to variable frequency AC. Eliminating the initial AC to DC conversion here makes good sense.
Are you sure it's variable frequency AC, and not variable pulse-width AC? Or are they just using a Vector Drive to ultimately power a 3 phase AC motor?
So, in essence, you're building a big ol' SMPS (Switch Mode Power Supply), like in my Panasonic "Inverter" Microwave Oven. So Sharp is just eliminating the "DC Link" part of the SMPS/Motor Drive. Yawn. However, since that involves some fairly stout rectifier diodes and monster capacitors (that eventually wear out from the ripple currents), maybe it's not so dumb afterall.
His main interest was in using high frequency for wireless power transmission. His lack of E-M understanding caused him to waste a lot of his talent pursuing a failing approach.
Oh, I think Tesla understood Electromagnetic principles a bit better than most...
High Voltage DC transmission makes sense in some applications. Its best as a single point to point solution over a fairly long distance, as line losses are minimized. High voltage DC switching and DC to AC conversion equipment is very expensive compared to AC, and typically has a shorter lifecycle, so you don't really want to have a lot of DC switchyards.
How are line losses minimized for DC over AC, given the same "RMS" voltage (yes, I know the term means nothing in DC) and Current?
It seems to me that the only application of HV DC would be to stack up a bunch of PV panels in Series, and then buss the result together before sending it to a HV-input Inverter.
But, unless the EPA revised the laws of physics, it seems like AC transmission will pretty much always "win" over DC, especially over distance.
Or is it because maybe HV DC has less coronal discharge loss over AC?
Nikola Tesla is turning in his grave.
...at 1800 RPM
So the Apple way is the true Unix way? Baby Jeebus, take me now...
Well...
Since OS X is a Certified UNIX (and has been since OS X 10.5 (Leopard)), I would say that, unlike ANY Linux Distro, yes, yes it is.
"Look! There! Evil!.. pure and simple, total evil from the Eighth Dimension!" -- Buckaroo Banzai
