I retired from personal blogging in July 2008.
But you can find me over at http://blog.xero.com.
The Apple engineers must have wet their pants with this one.
When you CoverFlow the network computers, here is how a Windows machine is displayed …
Love or hate MS, that is pretty funny.
blog
and oh so shiny …. I guess that shiny-themed things are the aesthetic of the day - it will all seem so retro-07 5 years from now (kind of like beige cases went a few years ago and the way brushed metal stuff is heading now)
Hi Rod
You are right, that is pretty funny.
Haven’t seen the blue screen of death for a long time now….
A comment on “Love or hate MS” ? :
Microsoft polarises people, always have done, always will.
Starts with the personality at the top….
However, some of us both love and hate MS, we love some things about them and we hate other things.
Well you do realize that your mac will show up as this if you’re sharing via Samba.
/b
That’s pretty clever.
But then, there are BSODs in Halo 2 and Halo 3 (and, of course, various Microsoft product presentations), so it’s not like anybody will get too hot about this.
Weird first comment - it may be true, but, of all the things to say about this…
Wow, Apple has hit a new high on the childish meter.
Pathetic IMO.
That’s the prettiest blue screen of death I’ve ever seen.
You made Macintouch with this! That should be good for your traffic …
I’m a Mac head but I think this is stupid. First Windows love it or hate it has been pretty stable ever since Windows 2000. Of course, it can’t match a BSD derived UNIX, but the blue screen of death is really so 90’s at this point. I’m sure it happens once in a while with bad drivers, but the same can be said for OS X (I helped/convinced a friend to get the last generation emac a couple of years ago and she is in love with it to this day, but she had a 3rd party wireless card that produced a crash screen on OS X every 15 minutes or so. Talk about a bomb… Well, I had not seen a crash screen on OS X up to that point, so I was surprised !)
Anyway, my main point is that it looks like sheer hubris and arrogance, not really based on facts anymore and it looks to me this could backfire on Apple rather than just be seen as funny. Apple already kicks ass, why damage yourself, are some people at Apple still that insecure/pieved at MS ?
Heh. To those of us who’ve been away from Windows for years (9 years for me now — Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, finally OS X a few years ago) it’s just funny. Something of a “heh, those poor bastards are still using that crap” sort of funny. Or maybe it’s just funny like seeing pictures from high school in { parachute pants, wide lapels, or a Duran Duran t-shirt}: “do you REMEMBER that crap!? hahaha — man, the shit we used to do!!!” (or in this case, “the shit we used to put up with!!!!”)
Maybe it’s childish. Maybe they’ll think better of it (or not) and replace it with something more representative of the current Microsoft product line — but I’m skeptical. In my mind, I tend to imagine the design conversation went something like:
“GAH! That’s nauseous.”
“Well, that’s just a Windows screenshot. That Vista thing.”
“Can’t we use something else? I mean, what’s the point of all this work if we’re going to drop a turd right in the middle of the salad like that?”
“Dude, we tried this too… ” [pulls up XP screen shot]
“JESUS! H! … Stop. Alright.”
[taking it down] “Yeah, I know. Kind of hard to keep the puke out of the back of your mouth with all the smooth UI and then that in there. And it’s not like we can go back to Hasbro-land — that was a decade ago. People’d be like ‘whytf are they doing win97 — that’s weak’”
“Isn’t there something else people’d recognize? Like a DOS prompt or something?”
“We looked at that. But it could also be a Terminal session, or some other Unix server. I mean, UNIX owned the damned green-screen for decades. Anyway, it didn’t really resonate with people that text screens are Windows servers. They want something that looks like Windows. I mean they’re not gonna have this conversation, so it’s just confusing if you have to think through the symbol and what it stands for. But, we did find something that says ‘Windows’ to everyone without looking like a dayglow clown massacre in an art gallery…”
“What? Wait. I think I know where you’re going. Word, man — can we do that? Hahahah, that would ROCK!”
“Totally…”
Bottom-line, nothing says Windows to people like the BSOD. No matter how many times the OS is re-branded, re-badged, re-sloganed, rebuilt, re-buried, and released, everyone’s seen the BSOD, and everyone’s been fucked by its appearance right in the middle of some crucial { paper, email, spreadsheet, recording, program, … etc. }. Like it or not, it’s the symbol for Windows that resonates most deeply with the widest audience of people.
And the complaints of “childishness”, “hubris”, “arrogance”, etc. — those of us who managed to get out of the Microsoft cess^H^H^H^Hkiddie-pool typically could give a rat’s ass what people too daft to unload Windows think. :-)
Enjoy,
Rick
Apple should realise that things like this alienate a lot of Windows users. That the company, right up to Steve Jobs, can’t help but taking smug, petty and usually inaccurate jabs at our current choice of OS doesn’t make me think badly of Windows; it makes me think badly of Apple. If they have something better then convince me by showing off its features not by trying to tell me what I have right now is bad.
It’s not just this icon but things like their statements about the Intel CPU line finally being used for something useful (or whatever the slogan was). Or the apples-to-oranges comparisons with the pricing and SKUs of Leopard and Vista. (”Everyone gets the Ultimate edition for half the price it’d cost with Vista,” yes, but you pay for updates four times as often.) Or them claiming they are expert Windows developers when the common option of the Windows versions of QuickTime, iTunes and Safari is that they are badly-written dogs, best avoided if you can, because they are so slow, clunky in places and (in the house they’re visiting) non-standard. Or them claiming that Safari was “engineered for security from the ground up” and then having to release serious security updates about a day later.
If they simply said, “Here’s our software/hardware, we think it’s good and here’s a list of things we think are special. Check it out!” then that would be fine. The problem is they have this arrogant and smug attitude to everyone else, saying they are better than they are while accusing others of being worse when it’s often simply not true.
If Apple’s aim is not to gain more customers but just to amuse some of their current ones (and I know several Apple fans who are just as irritated by this kind of childishness as I am) then good luck to them, but if they want to gain more customers from the Windows world then perhaps they should grow up a little and stop preaching to the choir about how everyone at the church next door are going to hell.
I’m not going to switch from the OS and applications I am very happy with right now just because some childish advertising campaigns and easter eggs claimed what I’m using isn’t good.
I’m primarily a Windows user, though in my job I use multiple platforms. And I thought this was quite amusing.
Any Windows user who feels that this is “alienating” needs to grow some stones and buy a sense of humor. I can’t believe the frickking highly insulted drama queens. Lighten up and enjoy a joke. It’s an operating system, not a cartoon about Mohamed.
Oh the irony? http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/10/27/leopard_install_problems/
It’s kind of sad that it can’t tell the difference between window shares and samba shares.
Oh, for god’s sake it’s a BSOD! Of course it represents Windows! They’re the ones who use BLUE for the screen color of a kernel panic! All systems have kernel panics, but we Windows users have to admit our machines have them more often than usual. As to not seeing them, I see them less but I still see at least one a month. Get over it!
The reason to leave MS systems is because of their refusal to produce standards-compliant systems and because that Windows systems are inherently less secure because of things like ActiveX. *nix systems like BSD-based OSX REALLY ARE more secure. (Note above!!! I am a Windows user, and my next machine WILL be a Mac. I find the commercials, and this little “easter egg’ hysterical!)
I’d call it a pretty harmless joke. It is funny.
That’s really funny. I suppose if they had used the Microsoft logo they would land a law suite, so they used a blue screen and I doubt that it has been patented…yet.
Lighten up people. A good natured rivalry makes better products for everyone.
Yeah, a bit of a chuckle.
I’d take screen shots and file them. My chocolate fish is on that being replaced in a future update.
Rob
HAHA This is just great stuff! I actually can’t wait to install Leopard and check it out for my own eyes! It’s a great joke! If there’s no rivalry between the two operating system manufacturers life would be BORING and DULL.
Enjoy it! Laugh! Tell everyone, hahahaha It’s awesome!!
Joe
it is not an easter egg it is the icon used by finder to indentify windows pc’s on the nettwork, or at least it was like this it the beta’s
those who haven’t seen a BSOD on Windows lately haven’t been using Vista…
And that on a brand new Dell laptop …
Yep, thats damn funny..
If the engineers were wetting their pants before, they must be shitting their daks now. Apple is now the proud owner of their own BSOD, when Leopard’s install inevitably fails. Talk about karma - Jobs should go on a sabbatical to Tibet and find his inner Buddha (it will also allow him to get away from the embarrassment and anger surrounding the dud Leopard release).
BSOD once a month? I would love to only be seeing it once a month. I’m 2-3 times per week!
18 month old dell, I’ve replaced the hard drive once, the mother board once, the right hinge on the screen is broken again (last time had to be repaired with superglue, the screws are stripped), and the AC adapter five times. BSOD isn’t just an annoyance, it’s a way of life.
I want my Apple back. My 1st edition snow iBook doesn’t have this many problems, and with the way this dell is slowing down, they may actually be running at the same speed now.
Rick : love the imaginary design conversation, well done
Jeff : It is NOT a way of life !
Dude, your problems are not because of Windows.
Sounds like you have :
(a) crap hardware
(b) poorly installed software
(c) most likely both
I am the textbook definition of a power Windows user ( hundreds of pieces of installed software, SQL Server with huge databases, IIS, Visio Studio, the whole range ) and I never see the BSOD.
This is because I run it all on a decent machine and I install the software properly, keep patches and service packs up to date and so on.
It’s bullshit to blame Windows for your woes mate
:)
I can’t wait to try that out.
i had thought the platform wars/pissing matches were over long since — so much so that i’ve ceased my mac evangelism and actually assist clients who use windoze these days.
vista? when installed on an appropriately steroidal machine — works great. most of my corporate colleagues are still avoiding it, as they’ve finally come to a “good place” with XP, and prefer not to muddy their workday waters. but they’ll move along sooner rather than later.
leopard? my only gripe is that i can’t install it on my wife’s DP G4 (my main workstation back when it came out — what? 8-10 years ago? — because its processors are about 300 mHz too slow. but it runs dandy on everything from my 8-core powermac to the awful eMacs i still have hanging around at one of my educational clients’ labs. and it seems noticeably quicker than 10.4.
competition is a good thing. get over the angst!
Absolutely Incredible.
I’m installing leopard in 5 minutes and I just ’stumbled uopn’ this and I literally can’t wait to see that. That is the most fucking hilarious thing I’ve ever seen. You know they fucking hate “Windows” fags. GREAT FIND.
to all the whiners who think it’s stupid. get a frickin’ sense of humor. its funny. lighten up, francis.
I find this highly amusing..no really, I do..I’m not being sarcastic..But, I just got done installing Leopard on my machine and had a run in with the APE issue and watched my Mac BSOD. I never thought I’d see the day…so much so that I took my shiny new iPhone and snapped a piccie. So, while this is funny, it is also sadly ironic.
Blaxo is a douchebag for breaking the Guinness World Record for overreaching with the incredibly overreaching phrase “inevitably fails” referring to the Apple Leopard install. Then, he followed that up with another “winner” for the incredibly boring and idiotic comment about going to Tibet that was apparently supposed to be witty. I’m guessing Blaxo is really Bill O’Reilly.
Love it or hate it, that blue screen is helpful when hardware fails or a number of other scenarios.
When apples can offer even half the choice of software applications that Wintel can, I might consider buying one. But only if they stop overpricing them. In the meantime I’ll stay with my stable and value for money PC.
Funny and childish.
And for all of you defending Windows in any way: what the fuck is wrong with you people? You seriously need to get your goddamn heads checked.
“My windows is so much more value for BLA BLA BLA FUCKING BLA”
No one gives a shit about your opinions. Microsoft is a greedy corporation that has a long history of fucking it’s customers over - and yet you’re here defending Bill and his army of assholes?
Sure, Apple could also be classified as a “greedy corporation” but fact of the matter is Apple actually give a shit about their customers rather than only seeing them as some kind of glorified piggy-bank and blowing smoke up their ass every time they fuck something up. Apple is smart, they know that it’s better to make something that’s half-decent and having a loyal albeit minor following rather than having a huge fanbase of retards incapable of seeing further than their own goddamn noses.
Because that’s what you fuckers are - you’re simple little fanboys who are defending a platform you KNOW is shit, rather than moving on to something that doesn’t require you reinstall it every four months in order to move faster than a fucking glacier.
I hate to admit it, but it took me a while to figure out what the joke was!! Argh. I guess it’s too early in the morning.
I have been living in both Mac and PC world for 10 years. Forced to use PC’s at the University and use Mac for my personal stuff and work-at-home.
For me, the difference between freezes and shut-downs is about 12 to 1. For every time it happens on my Mac it happens nearly a dozen times on the PC. Although, I must say I bought a new PC (Compaq, non-Vista) for home use and it works quite well. Rarely crashes and the wireless plays nice with my Airport Express.
- Ryan
Yes, - the most advanced OS in the world — Vista that is… even on Mac hardware - 1hr to install and setup. Leopard???? 2 weeks later still trying to get the LAN and WAN going. Reminds me of the early LINUX releases. Sure Leopard is not just a cheap, doctored up copy of FREE LINUX. The code looks awfully familiar….
Ugh… Gross / Classless on the part of Apple. However, I have many of their machines for this very reason.
I don’t get all these people saying stuff about the BSOD and viruses and crap all the time about windows. My computer used to have alot of troubels, until i stopped downloading random games and put a program on it. My computer is seven years old, with an 800mhz old processor! I havn’t had a ‘crash’ for almost a year when i installed the program. Obviously if you use you computer carelessly, then it isn’t the OS’s fault that it messes up so much.
As for comments like:
Comment by Rebenga at 1:44 am on 22 November 2007
“Funny and childish.
And for all of you defending Windows in any way: what the fuck is wrong with you people? You seriously need to get your goddamn heads checked…” and so on.
Gees. Calm down a bit man, its an OS. Not you damn mother.
I dont mind someone defending what they think is the better OS, but I always get annoyed at people who see some sort of comment and then blast their heads off with all sorts of bullcrap and fill their post with swearing, anger and comments about the person’s sexuality and mental and physical health…
[...] Leopard easter egg, Rod Drury [...]
I have that image for my windows machine on the network. Cute joke. I remember getting lots of those back with Windows 95.
Oh My Good God, how can someone get so irate about something which is, not only funny, but also done in a subtle and inoffensive way. Reading some of these comments practically had me rolling on the floor.
I’ve heard this comment: Whats one thing Pc users can do which Apple users can’t do? Shut up.
And yeah, i know i don’t.
But reading this makes me laugh at how irate some jumped up PC monkey can be at a simple piece of humour. Anyway, if you must get annoyed at this:
Your operating system is flawed.
Your CEO uses a macbook pro and keynote to do presentations.
You were founded by a ginger.
Now grow up! You’ve got very little else, attempt to claw back the moral high ground, who knows you might learn that mac is the way forward after the state of nirvana which is bound to ensue from being right for a change.
sorry but as and avid microsoft hater I have to say this would be bloody hilarious if apple. Computers “just worked” which frankly they fucking don’t I have had the displeasure of owning a mac now and have had it wipe out my music and pictures twice quiet frankly its a fucking disgrace that apple get away with this shit steve jobs is a fucking wanker and the only reason apple is cool is down to Jonathan Ives and the fact that jobs is less of a cunt than gates apple better start getting their shit together or they will end up just like ms only more expensive. For the record I’ve neverclost my music library in windows
I’m like a lot of people here, Mac user at home, Windows admin at work. We have a good SOE at work, I haven’t seen a BSOD in years and we are still running 2000 (desktop and a few of the 10000 or so servers).
I find it hilarious, when I first spotted it I had a double take moment! Did surprise me a bit, didn’t think Apple would stoop to something like that, especially now when they are gaining so much ground, does seem a tad childish.
As for Apples customer service, I had to deal with them once when my iMac (G5) died. Took me three months and the involvement of Fair Trading before they finally agreed to replace it (and that was after three bungled repair attempts). So don’t jump up and down praising Apple customer care until you’ve actually dealt with them!
Despite all that though, I love my Macbook Pro and would never switch back to Windows at home!
….purchased a MacBook in Dec. 2007 - never again another Mac in my lifetime. Overpriced, ordinary computer junk. Only an Apple mother could love this hardware / software. While the idea of using UNIX for the Apple OS is sound in principle, most of us have been using this advantage for free, for years in the form of LINUX with much more professional and FREE support from the Linux community. Apple engineers have a long ways to go before they’ll actually understand “their new OS X”. Used Vista 32/64 bit since the early beta releases with very few problems on a variety of new and old machines, including the MacBook. Can’t wait for the first beta of Windows 7.
Even a “Hackintosh” performs better than a “genuine Mac” - for far less money.