They're shifting gradually, but they're definitely shifting. It's my understanding that a number of the apps in Snow Leopard were built using clang/llvm.

On top of that, I'll add, that if you are targeting OS X 10.6 and not using c++, Apple recommend using Clang/LLVM. At least that's what I've heard.

I know I'm going ot be hit with "troll" or "underrated" following. I've been modded down before for just pointing out a fact. Hell, the post you were replying has already been hit by the anti-apple folks. Still, let me reply to this:

Apple invests heavily in marketing.

I'm not going to say that Apple doesn't invest in marketing. They do. But they are not "heavily" investing either. I've read several articles that say so. This article is one of them. There's several others. Many here at /. say that Apple is popular just because of advertising, but that is not the true. They also say that the iphone only become popular because of ads. Which is not true either. In fact, I see a lot more Verizon's Droid ads than anything else (and now with a free droid!). Oh and in the web I see a lot more motorola flip ads (another droid phone) than anything else. I don't care which one is best, I have none of them. But just saying that Apple invests heavily is not true.

The Popular Sciene magazine on the ipad only about 25MB. Downloading 500 megs is just crazy, specially if they are doing in app sales for future issues. The PS magazine does the in app sales. I'm pretty sure that the Time magazine also does the in app sales too. The problem with those magazines and several newspapers is that they have very high prices. $5 for an issue is insane.
I think the PS magazine is very close to the Wired one, except for videos and so many ads:
Video of PS mag (fast forward to the 1 min mark).

If OS X is open source

Not "if," OSX has a lot of open source in it. You can download the kernel (named Darwin) and some utilities from their open source website. Another good web page with Apple's open source software information is http://www.apple.com/opensource/ . There you can see what project is being used by the different Apple applications or utilities.

how come nobody's made some modifications to not check for Apple's BIOS

Mac's do not use BIOS, they use EFI.

and then recompiled it to run on an IBM PC Clone?

There are several websites out there with info and utilities to get OS X running on almost any PC out there (drivers can be a hassle tho). Apple has not done much to stop them, except of course of Psystar that was actually trying to run a business around cloning Macs. Try this one, I think it should send you in the right direction http://www.osx86project.org/

You just proved why Apple doesn't want flash:

3) make sure it is very well optimized for flash video

See, the problem with that is that only Adobe can "make sure" that their flash player can be well optimized for any device. They have failed to do so for Macs (and linux damn it!). If say, Flash was on the iphone and it was pretty bad or just not good enough, problems with battery life, CPU being hammered by the flash player, crashes, etc would be pointed at Apple by the majority of the public. Apple doesn't want to be blamed for that. They want to control their own system. On top of that, if the flash player worked better on the Android or RIM, then apple would look pretty bad in the eyes of the public. Also, if say, Apple adds new features and the flash player takes 1-2 years to take advantage of that, then those features cannot be used to differentiate their device with other devices. Apple doesn't want that either. They want to control their devices.

n many ways we have been lucky with the PC. We could have ended up with Apple or Commodore controlling the market, both the software and the hardware. Good luck getting Linux to run on a closed platform. Just see how much harder it is to get Linux on a mac, and that is the mac of the company that did NOT end up controlling the entire market.

I have no idea what you are talking about. Installing linux on a mac is as easy as installing it on a pc. The difference is that the macs do not use a BIOS, so you need to install something that helps as a boot manager (rEFIt). Apple's boot manager doesn't recognize linux (I think) I give you that, but at least they include a boot manager that can boot more than just their own OS (windows) and can boot from the network and from external devices. I dont think you understand what a mac actually offers.

While I dislike Gates with a passion, he did create a platform that is remarkably open. Old Borgie never cared if you watched porn on his OS. Never felt the need to keep the kiddies safe from titties. While I agree with Apples decision to ban flash from their platform, there is a danger in this.

I'm pretty sure Steve doesn't care if you use an iphone or an ipad to watch some porn. He just doesn't want to distribute it thru Apple's store. Just like Gates [MS] never distributed porn.

Then explain why you tolerate Apple banning flash

That sugar analogy didn't work. but I'm going to explain why I tolerate Apple banishing flash. I love it, because I had to use flash on a non-windows environment. It sucks. On a C2D2 mac laptop, it consumes about 80-90% CPU on some (if not most) non video flash apps. It makes the battery die faster. It makes the whole laptop run very hot. I don't want developers to feel comfortable developing for the lowest denominator (flash) that has demonstrated that sucks.

When does the line cross between protecting customers and controlling them? Would it be okay for MS to warn you that your are about to install virus? How about if they refuse to allow you to do so? How about a cheater program? A crack? You can argue for controlling such software but should MS be allowed to do so? Should Apple?

I would love for MS to warn if you are about to install a virus. And would love if they refused my parents (and other tech people) of installing it. A cheater program is not the same as a virus, so I'm not going to lump them together with viruses.

Who owns the iPad? Apple or the consumer? If MS tried to control your PC in the same way, would you tolerate it? Would you take it from Dell? Then why do you take it from Apple?

APple doesnt try to control the mac, so you cant compare it to the PC. You can comprate it with say the new Windows 7 mobile phones that will only allow silverlight apps.

That seems like a lot of police work, DA work, etc for a piece of shit phone. People will cry about IP and lost sales. Bull shit. Steve Jobs says people will stop buying iPhones because they now know a new one is in development? Are you fucking kidding me Steve? You guys release a new model every fucking year. Only a dipshit retard wouldn't know that July is new iPhone month.

It's not just Apple And Steve being butt hurt about the stole/found phone. It's about the law enforcement groups being butt hurt too. People get in trouble for posting the stupid things they have done on youtube, facebook, etc all the time. Gizmodo posted a story about what it might be a stolen iphone and on top of that said they paid for it. Very retarded of them. The news was all over the world. Now the "law" has to save face and demonstrate that if you do something illegal you will pay for it. Else, what's the point of having punishments for doing illegal stuff if you are never going to be punished. Of course, this doesn't mean that what happened is really illegal, but since it kinda seems like it might be this is why the police is investigating.

My neighbor beats her daughter and locks her in a closet and we call the Police, children's services, and they blow us the fuck off. To busy with real crimes like a missing iPhone.

If your neighbor would make a post like gizmodo about it and it would make news around the world, I bet the police and chidren's services would be there in no time. Said that, I kinda not believe you that children's services is not doing anything. Here in Texas, even parents that do nothing wrong and love their children are afraid of them. If you are really wanna do something about it, tape your neighbor and call your police. If that doesnt work, call your local TV station and/or newspaper. Once it's news the police wont have another choice than investigate. Just like they are investigating Gizmodo.

So Apple's main complaint against OHA is that its mostly proprietary?

For the love of God, the first 5 words of the damn article say that she's not part of Apple anymore... "Former T-Mobile and Apple executive"

This is kind of like Steve Job's open letter about flash where he warns that Adobe could make it proprietary at any time.

Steve Job's never said anything like that. Please re-read the SJ letter. Although I disagree with the App Store being so closed, what you are saying is just completely false.

Meanwhile no apps can be accepted at the App Store if they even mention Google...

Agains, completly false, there are even 3 apps developed by google (not to mention a youtube client that is included with every iphone/ipad/ipod touch).
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/panoramio/id331007973?mt=8
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/google-earth/id293622097?mt=8
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/google-mobile-app/id284815942?mt=8
I understand that Apple hate is crazy high in Slashdot lately, but I'll say about 50% or more is all about blind fanaticism. Facts be damned.

I found it that it runs about the same for me. What I found interesting is that running it in a window makes it unbearable on windows 7, but on OSX it runs great on a window.

No, flash plugin doesn't work perfectly fine on other macs. It is a resource hog and incredibly buggy. It's the only reason Safari has crashed in the past year or two. Since I installed click to flash, I haven't had a crash. Well, that's entirely not true. Once in a while I let flash run on certain sites. When I do that, there's always the possibility of a crash. On top of that, flash on a mac is as bad as the linux implementation. It's slow. For some non video sites, certain flash animations can use more than one core. Usually those same sites, do not use that much cpu power with the windows plug in. Flash on a mac is really really awful.

I dont think this decision has anything to do with the experience. It has a lot to do with prices. A lot of companies dictate the prices their products should be sold for. Apple doesn't want the online stores to be placing their prices too low. The same happens to ps3, xbox, wii, DS, other computers, televisions, etc. I'm not sure why companies do this, but they do it a lot. It also seems like those Japanese stores were lowering their mac prices too low and Apple had to stop them... What I find very weird from your post is the following:

They deny me the convenience of expeditiously finding what I want, picking it up and simply buying it and leaving the way I can with any other consumer experience offered by any other seller of product

That's very weird, because I've found that it's actually quite the opposite. At an Apple store, you are usually greeted by an employee. You can tell them what you want and he/she will get it for you and even charge you right there on the spot. Most stores (if not all) do not have computers right there for you to pick up and then leave, they have to get them from the "back." Best Buy sometimes has some of the cheaper laptops for you to pick up, but it not that common. So all in all, I think the Apple store is the fastest if not one of the fastest. And of course the best part is that if you didnt want the employee's help, you just tell them that you are looking and they will leave you alone. Also, most of the time they say something like "Hi, welcome to the apple store, if you need help we are here to help." They dont even get in your way if you dont want to.

I think what I hate most about it is this feeling that I have stepped into an alternate reality. I am okay with this at "theme restaurants" and "renaissance fairs" and the like. It's the experience that people are actively seeking. I get that and it can be fun. But when this experience is a required "rite of passage" in order to own any of their "trophies" (err, I mean "products") I feel a surge of rejection that seems to originate in the vicinity of my stomach.

What are you talking about? Do you feel in an alternate reality when you enter Walmart? Target? Banana Republic? JC Penny? Every store has its own look and feel. The Apple store mimics their own minimalistic designs. In fact, I think this helps them a lot. The only things that pop up in their store are their own products, which is what they are selling after all.