fauxscot's Comments RSS Syndication from SeekingAlpha.com http://seekingalpha.comuser/142568/comments http://seekingalpha.com/article/168763-not-everyone-likes-windows-7?source=feed#comment-730420 730420
I use XP and finally, after nearly a decade, can use it reasonably well and maintain it. It sill does things that I can't fix. Sadly, it's essential to some old software I need for engineering work, so I'll have to run it for quite a while more, but currently, it's running on the last non-Apple computer I'll buy.

I've watched my better half use her Macs over the years with no problems. Painless backups via Time Capsule. Complete integration with hardware/software. Plug stuff in; it works. Out of the box; it works.

I bill my time at $125/hr. Every year, I spend the equivalent of several thousand dollars dealing with my PCs. Sometimes, much more. She's a lawyer. Billing rate maybe $200/hr. Her annual computer maintenance cost equivalent? $0. Every year.

Ray, buddy, call Apple. Get a machine on loan. Try it out. Hell, load Win XP on it. Give it a month. Then call it underpowered and overpriced. (I suggest maybe you'd be OK with a Mac Mini at $600; you can use your current display and mouse.) I think you'll change your tune.

Of course, you could take $300 of that and just buy Win7 Ultimate and complain for the rest of your life, but you sound way too smart for that. Try something Different, why don't you?]]> Mon, 26 Oct 2009 08:42:51 -0400
I use XP and finally, after nearly a decade, can use it reasonably well and maintain it. It sill does things that I can't fix. Sadly, it's essential to some old software I need for engineering work, so I'll have to run it for quite a while more, but currently, it's running on the last non-Apple computer I'll buy.

I've watched my better half use her Macs over the years with no problems. Painless backups via Time Capsule. Complete integration with hardware/software. Plug stuff in; it works. Out of the box; it works.

I bill my time at $125/hr. Every year, I spend the equivalent of several thousand dollars dealing with my PCs. Sometimes, much more. She's a lawyer. Billing rate maybe $200/hr. Her annual computer maintenance cost equivalent? $0. Every year.

Ray, buddy, call Apple. Get a machine on loan. Try it out. Hell, load Win XP on it. Give it a month. Then call it underpowered and overpriced. (I suggest maybe you'd be OK with a Mac Mini at $600; you can use your current display and mouse.) I think you'll change your tune.

Of course, you could take $300 of that and just buy Win7 Ultimate and complain for the rest of your life, but you sound way too smart for that. Try something Different, why don't you?]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/168165-when-the-going-gets-tough-the-tough-get-an-apple?source=feed#comment-725418 725418
Note to Nokia: How much legal time will $35,000,000,000 buy? ]]> Thu, 22 Oct 2009 12:48:10 -0400
Note to Nokia: How much legal time will $35,000,000,000 buy? ]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/127303-is-the-iphone-sdk-3-0-really-all-that?source=feed#comment-436249 436249
Whether or not there's anything in the SDK that will make another 25,000 apps is less material than whether the iPhone is an effective, dynamic, useful device that is say.... 2 years ahead of any other lame POS on the market. Please, point me to another Swiss Army Phone. Tell me how many iPhone users hate their machines enough to scrap them? Tell me why, o why, does Apple have nearly 30 billion in cash while Palm tries to raise money at bake sales for its "Post" offerring, which will be here any day now. Really.

]]> Mon, 23 Mar 2009 07:30:30 -0400
Whether or not there's anything in the SDK that will make another 25,000 apps is less material than whether the iPhone is an effective, dynamic, useful device that is say.... 2 years ahead of any other lame POS on the market. Please, point me to another Swiss Army Phone. Tell me how many iPhone users hate their machines enough to scrap them? Tell me why, o why, does Apple have nearly 30 billion in cash while Palm tries to raise money at bake sales for its "Post" offerring, which will be here any day now. Really.

]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/127000-just-plain-stupid-digital-downloads-still-cost-more-than-dvds?source=feed#comment-433259 433259
Mind you, I don't necessarily agree that this is in their best interest in the long term, but it is one explanation.]]> Fri, 20 Mar 2009 07:57:32 -0400
Mind you, I don't necessarily agree that this is in their best interest in the long term, but it is one explanation.]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/115748-apple-like-starbucks-and-whole-foods-a-trend-that-s-past-its-prime?source=feed#comment-362365 362365
you must have had great inside info before the earnings report...

I can hear it now "I did my market research. I asked my mom and a man at the airport."

Fail. ]]> Wed, 21 Jan 2009 17:06:57 -0500
you must have had great inside info before the earnings report...

I can hear it now "I did my market research. I asked my mom and a man at the airport."

Fail. ]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/93225-why-apple-stock-is-poised-to-go-flat-at-best?source=feed#comment-241557 241557
I won't resort to calling names, but boy, I must admit to agreeing with the prior posters... you seem to have drawn tenuous conclusions from your dubious premises.

Market cap? Sure, I'll buy the disconnect between Apple and some other folks. This outfit is generating some serious cash, though. Billions and billions of it. The company projects this to continue, and regardless of its current overall market share, and/or the state of the PC market at home, there is abundant room for growth in sales from just capturing additional market share. The products are highly desirable. They are day and night better than PC/Microsoft combos, and the company has figured out how to service its customers so well it occupies the TOP SLOT in customer satisfaction.

Have you used one of these things? Good god, man! Eveything they touch gets better. Hell, the even reinvented the concept of backup, with their simple, obvious, and bulletproof Time Capsule/Time Machine combo. They finally fixed one of the biggest headaches in all ConsumerCOmputerLand..... the need for reliable and simple and transparent and fast and useable (and wireless!) backup of data and program. Cheap. With decent margins. Equivalent windows hardware has to be cobbled together with the disparate products of companies that don't talk to each other.

The examples of greatness in this outfit are legion. I think you'd be well served to consider how much of a game changer they are, then revisit your arguments.


]]> Fri, 29 Aug 2008 09:49:00 -0400
I won't resort to calling names, but boy, I must admit to agreeing with the prior posters... you seem to have drawn tenuous conclusions from your dubious premises.

Market cap? Sure, I'll buy the disconnect between Apple and some other folks. This outfit is generating some serious cash, though. Billions and billions of it. The company projects this to continue, and regardless of its current overall market share, and/or the state of the PC market at home, there is abundant room for growth in sales from just capturing additional market share. The products are highly desirable. They are day and night better than PC/Microsoft combos, and the company has figured out how to service its customers so well it occupies the TOP SLOT in customer satisfaction.

Have you used one of these things? Good god, man! Eveything they touch gets better. Hell, the even reinvented the concept of backup, with their simple, obvious, and bulletproof Time Capsule/Time Machine combo. They finally fixed one of the biggest headaches in all ConsumerCOmputerLand..... the need for reliable and simple and transparent and fast and useable (and wireless!) backup of data and program. Cheap. With decent margins. Equivalent windows hardware has to be cobbled together with the disparate products of companies that don't talk to each other.

The examples of greatness in this outfit are legion. I think you'd be well served to consider how much of a game changer they are, then revisit your arguments.


]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/83670-apple-on-huge-order-breaks-nand-flash-supply?source=feed#comment-197745 197745 Wow. This post repeats itself in several places.
Wow. This post repeats itself in several places.
]]> Thu, 03 Jul 2008 07:18:56 -0400 Wow. This post repeats itself in several places.
Wow. This post repeats itself in several places.
]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/83414-microsoft-s-six-year-wagon-rut?source=feed#comment-197078 197078
However, I'm not a luddite, and can certainly afford any hardware I want. That said, why in the world would I change to Vista? I am simply not compelled to do so. I don't NEED any more features at this point, and prudent caretaking of my XP SP2 machine gives me a perfectly suitable computing experience without security issues, preserves my investment in existing software, requires no learning curve, requires NO hardware upgrades, and I am hard pressed to explain why I would want to move to Vista?

Marketing is about motivation. Microsoft can force-feed Vista via new hardware sales, but for the hundreds of millions of people out there like me, they have to provide a reason to change. What is that reason? Eye candy?

I don't hate Microsoft. I personally feel that Gates deserves to be a billionaire. (I was there before the PC and DOS, in the era of CP/M and a zillion, highly technical, obtuse, and unreliable OS's, and with all its problems, Windows has revolutionized computing for the common man.) I also like Apple, and ran the equivalent of Windows 98 on a Lisa in 1986. Microsoft's "innovations" have their origins elsewhere!

Apple's story with OSX is so much more compelling than Microsoft's with Vista. There IS a reason to change. There IS a compelling value added. There IS the ability to try something new and at the same time, preserve XP/PC software on a new, elegant, fast machine.

Vista might not be a "mistake", but it certainly seems to be the victim of a confluence of negative factors in the market, the economy, and the competition. Microsoft has a lot of bright people, and they'll adjust. THey have money and inertia, as well as market share. Something good will eventually come out of Redmond, but the current spectrum of Vista products isn't compelling enough to push me to place an order.
]]> Wed, 02 Jul 2008 08:54:23 -0400
However, I'm not a luddite, and can certainly afford any hardware I want. That said, why in the world would I change to Vista? I am simply not compelled to do so. I don't NEED any more features at this point, and prudent caretaking of my XP SP2 machine gives me a perfectly suitable computing experience without security issues, preserves my investment in existing software, requires no learning curve, requires NO hardware upgrades, and I am hard pressed to explain why I would want to move to Vista?

Marketing is about motivation. Microsoft can force-feed Vista via new hardware sales, but for the hundreds of millions of people out there like me, they have to provide a reason to change. What is that reason? Eye candy?

I don't hate Microsoft. I personally feel that Gates deserves to be a billionaire. (I was there before the PC and DOS, in the era of CP/M and a zillion, highly technical, obtuse, and unreliable OS's, and with all its problems, Windows has revolutionized computing for the common man.) I also like Apple, and ran the equivalent of Windows 98 on a Lisa in 1986. Microsoft's "innovations" have their origins elsewhere!

Apple's story with OSX is so much more compelling than Microsoft's with Vista. There IS a reason to change. There IS a compelling value added. There IS the ability to try something new and at the same time, preserve XP/PC software on a new, elegant, fast machine.

Vista might not be a "mistake", but it certainly seems to be the victim of a confluence of negative factors in the market, the economy, and the competition. Microsoft has a lot of bright people, and they'll adjust. THey have money and inertia, as well as market share. Something good will eventually come out of Redmond, but the current spectrum of Vista products isn't compelling enough to push me to place an order.
]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/80312-apple-no-3g-iphone-at-the-wwdc?source=feed#comment-180222 180222
]]> Fri, 06 Jun 2008 08:46:08 -0400
]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/74030-apples-dramatic-risks-and-ambitions?source=feed#comment-156379 156379
iPod Touch does actually have mobile capabilities. It's got WiFi and works just like an iPhone without the PHONE capabilities. Hackers have actually made it work with Skype.

Mine gives me portable email, stock checks, a browser, weather, calendar, contacts, notes, youtube, maps and 16 GB for (in my case) 4500 portable photographs and several thousand tunes. For $400. And it fits in my pocket.

I think those folks that think of the touch as a bloated iPod are missing the boat. You need to see one.

It isn't a Shuffle. It's different, to coin a term. On the basis of it alone, I think one could build a sizeable company.]]> Fri, 25 Apr 2008 07:45:25 -0400
iPod Touch does actually have mobile capabilities. It's got WiFi and works just like an iPhone without the PHONE capabilities. Hackers have actually made it work with Skype.

Mine gives me portable email, stock checks, a browser, weather, calendar, contacts, notes, youtube, maps and 16 GB for (in my case) 4500 portable photographs and several thousand tunes. For $400. And it fits in my pocket.

I think those folks that think of the touch as a bloated iPod are missing the boat. You need to see one.

It isn't a Shuffle. It's different, to coin a term. On the basis of it alone, I think one could build a sizeable company.]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/70392-unfairly-punished-apple-still-fresh?source=feed#comment-133609 133609
Can you dispute a single thing in this article? Can you do it without name calling?

Why so much energy devoted to the effort to pound down this article's contentions that all relate to business issues?

FWIW, I am a PC users whose spouse owns/uses Macs. I am in a damned good position to see who spends more time frustrated with the computer, and it's not she. Still, fundamentally, none of that has anything to do with this article, which just deals with stock valutation, growth potential, historical performance, etc.

The vigor, irrelevance, and name calling in your post presents a poor public image and if there is any worthwhile content in the post, not many people are going to consider it credible. It appears YOU have some sort of agenda, as opposed to the article's author.

You may want to consider that when you spend that much time assembling a post.
]]> Sun, 30 Mar 2008 08:11:54 -0400
Can you dispute a single thing in this article? Can you do it without name calling?

Why so much energy devoted to the effort to pound down this article's contentions that all relate to business issues?

FWIW, I am a PC users whose spouse owns/uses Macs. I am in a damned good position to see who spends more time frustrated with the computer, and it's not she. Still, fundamentally, none of that has anything to do with this article, which just deals with stock valutation, growth potential, historical performance, etc.

The vigor, irrelevance, and name calling in your post presents a poor public image and if there is any worthwhile content in the post, not many people are going to consider it credible. It appears YOU have some sort of agenda, as opposed to the article's author.

You may want to consider that when you spend that much time assembling a post.
]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/68506-appletv-has-a-lot-of-catching-up-to-do?source=feed#comment-126341 126341
Does Tommy have a little pituitary problem that prevents him from attaining adulthood?

Gaming?

Honestly, as someone who doesn't watch TVs, DVDs, or shoot aliens, this quibbling about gadget feature sets for the quasi-sentient among us escapes me. I'll just go by the 'units shipped' number and see what happens to my Apple stock, thanks. ]]> Fri, 14 Mar 2008 07:02:11 -0400
Does Tommy have a little pituitary problem that prevents him from attaining adulthood?

Gaming?

Honestly, as someone who doesn't watch TVs, DVDs, or shoot aliens, this quibbling about gadget feature sets for the quasi-sentient among us escapes me. I'll just go by the 'units shipped' number and see what happens to my Apple stock, thanks. ]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/66762-apple-buybacks-still-a-bad-idea?source=feed#comment-121413 121413
And why should Steve Jobs listen to you? Because he's not doing what you wish he would? Perhaps you have some experience turning a huge, failing, innovative company around? If that's the case, just buy a controlling interest in Apple common stock, push for a board seat, and force the "idiot" to do your will?

As for me, I'd like all sorts of great things, like world peace, but when it comes to stocks, I'm an AAPL owner for the same reason I own other stocks... long term capital appreciation. That goal is served best by sound business strategies and execution, areas where I would say Jobs has demonstrated some skill.

If we're coming up on economic nastiness, I'd sure like to know my investment in Apple isn't going to turn into something akin to Qualcomm, Global Crossing, JDSU.

Given time, the cash will get applied to a good use, I hope. If it's a buyback, great. If it's a non-recurring dividend, great. If it's a promising acquisition, even better. So far, Mr. Jobs seems to be doing a credible job, and if you think that the question of 'What are we going to do with all this cash' hasn't come up in conversations in Cupertino... well, you are just silly.

Rock on, Apple. I, at least, am patient.]]> Mon, 03 Mar 2008 08:12:04 -0500
And why should Steve Jobs listen to you? Because he's not doing what you wish he would? Perhaps you have some experience turning a huge, failing, innovative company around? If that's the case, just buy a controlling interest in Apple common stock, push for a board seat, and force the "idiot" to do your will?

As for me, I'd like all sorts of great things, like world peace, but when it comes to stocks, I'm an AAPL owner for the same reason I own other stocks... long term capital appreciation. That goal is served best by sound business strategies and execution, areas where I would say Jobs has demonstrated some skill.

If we're coming up on economic nastiness, I'd sure like to know my investment in Apple isn't going to turn into something akin to Qualcomm, Global Crossing, JDSU.

Given time, the cash will get applied to a good use, I hope. If it's a buyback, great. If it's a non-recurring dividend, great. If it's a promising acquisition, even better. So far, Mr. Jobs seems to be doing a credible job, and if you think that the question of 'What are we going to do with all this cash' hasn't come up in conversations in Cupertino... well, you are just silly.

Rock on, Apple. I, at least, am patient.]]> http://seekingalpha.com/article/60757-4-problems-with-the-ipod-touch?source=feed#comment-111999 111999
Since I didn't have another iPod concept to compare it against, it seems pretty damned nice to me, and I think it has enough cool factor to make it a huge success. Prying $400 out of me hasn't happened in the other 5 generations of this thing. Seems like it motivated at least one human, who suspects others are pulling out credit cards, too.

Sure, I'd like more storage, and that will no doubt come soon. Meantime, it is a great device and while I won't run with it on my next marathon, it sure will be a staple of my daily dress.

If this is an Apple failure, I can't wait to see the next one.

Oh, and this blog post sucks banannas, Fred. Dork.]]> Mon, 21 Jan 2008 17:33:17 -0500
Since I didn't have another iPod concept to compare it against, it seems pretty damned nice to me, and I think it has enough cool factor to make it a huge success. Prying $400 out of me hasn't happened in the other 5 generations of this thing. Seems like it motivated at least one human, who suspects others are pulling out credit cards, too.

Sure, I'd like more storage, and that will no doubt come soon. Meantime, it is a great device and while I won't run with it on my next marathon, it sure will be a staple of my daily dress.

If this is an Apple failure, I can't wait to see the next one.

Oh, and this blog post sucks banannas, Fred. Dork.]]>