[Ti] Re: like hell freezing over ?

[~flipper]

Shawn King wrote:

>  > IBM is out to crush Intel.
>
>Of course they are. Doesn't mean they will.
>
>>  When you really look more
>>  deeply you have to reach the conclusion that IBM dumped Apple, not
>>  the other way around.
>
>With the Apple and press bludgeoning IBM has taken over the past few
>days/weeks/months, don't you think that if that were the case, IBM would
>have stood up and said something?
>
>Anyone else think IBM's silence is...."interesting"...if nothing else?

Yup. I do. IBM has made it through some really challenging times. 
Look at the Sherman Anti-Trust suit that hung over their heads for 30 
years. Those guys do a lot of R&D, and they won't 'roll over', there 
is no question about that.

I haven't seen the keynote, but, from the sound of it, it seems Jobs 
didn't really 'slag' Big Blue. It's the aftermath, third-party 
interpretations that seem to hammer at IBM.

I mean, come on, Mr. Jobs isn't an engineer, yet,is he? I though the 
was mostly a micro-manging (or, meddling-type) marketing guy, no? 
But even he knows better than to belittle the IBM folks, on tech.

We all have ideas and opinions. It seems folks are mellowed-out a bit 
today, which is good.

My deepest concern isn't really about the tech stuff, in a sense. I 
saw Apple as an approachable unix (related to linux -think), in a 
way, regarding what I see as the real issue around so-called 
'piracy'. The issue is drawn along lines of authoring and copyright 
(and fairness, of course), but really worries the big Shots is the 
idea of artists (globally, but especally in America) circumventing 
the distribution 'bottlenecks' that have always been in place, until 
the advent of global communications, and information sharing, on the 
part the 'little' people', you know ... 'the rest of us'.

I have a feeling that the Intel move is all about DRM and 'trusted computing'.

I worked for Warner Brothers, and Polygram, and a huge retail chain 
or two, and in studios, as a musician, engineer, and producer. Aple 
may or may not have had an 'alternative' to the switch to Intel, how 
would I know?

But I know this: The fellas who govern access to the means of 
distribution of film and audio would hold hands with the Devil, 
himself, to ensure that an alternative to their means of production 
never has to contend with a broad alternative.

That a relatively small group of notoriously greedy types in the 
entertainment business should be able to coerce, and be appesed by, a 
gargantuan industry, like consumer electronics... is mind-boggling.

I have no doubt that, just as in the major record and film companies, 
there are folks at Apple, and Microsoft (even) who still see the 
'dream' of the collective of peoples, benefiting, in innumerable 
ways, from the 'promise' of personal empowerment that was born when 
computers hit the mass markets and the global communications 
infrastructure really started to take shape.

Anyway, my fear, yeah, for what it's worth. The DRM thing... dark 
side stuff, and something I associated with Wintel. (as far as 
consumers and mass 'appeal' or entrenchment are concerned) but, there 
will be those who say Apple can hang out in the same 'pool' and won't 
necessarily join the team, but, there's an old saying that if you 
stay in barber shop long enough, sooner ar later you'll get a 
haircut. <laughs>

We'll see, i guess.

brian s