(no subject)

One point against buying a Mac:

In the copyright war, between providers and users, Apple sides with the providers, and going above and beyond region-coding. Add this to last year, when they revoked rights from iTunes purchases and shut iPod users out of all their RealNetworks purchases, and locking iTunes out of dumping to anything but an iPod.

Yes, they're all BoingBoing links. I am Cory Doctorow's bitch. Therefore, my bullshit-meter might need to be recalibrated. But I won't let that get in the way of a good rant.

Granted, as long as I stay in the U.S. and use only personally ripped or stolen music, I'm cool... for now. And both of these moves are probably Apple's way of bracing for the barely-thwarted INDUCE Act and/or not provoking the MPAA and RIAA into making an example of them. In particular, the RIAA would probably yank all its contracts with Apple if they opened iPod to other vendors, or iTunes to other players. This would turn the iPod into just another stolen-music-player, and when the RIAA finally writes a law that gets passed, instead of being the only legal music player out there, the iPod is just another discontinued illegal device.

I'm going to wait a moment to see how this plays out.

Computer cults.

Computers are tools, as are cars. Television series, books, movies and web comics are entertainment. None of these things can take the place of human identity.

I wonder if the urge to switch to Mac is rooted in the idea that it'll make me hipper, friendlier, or more artistic. When I think of Mac people, I think of friends like littledevi, ziabatsu, or plorkwort. People with style. But, truthfully, if I want to have someone's sense of style, I'd be better off looking at their behavior and not their possessions.

I also wonder if it's rooted in the idea that I'd have a sense of belonging that PC users don't have. But, it hasn't escaped my attention that real cults use a sense of belonging as a major selling point. Certainly, Moonies have a sense of belonging that ordinary people don't have.

And mark my words, one of these days Steve Jobs is going to end his keynote with a mass wedding.