enough with the cost per component breakdowns! people that buy apple hardware are not hobbyist hackers. they are working professionals that don't have time to dick around with firmware updates everytime their hackintosh needs an update. why don't you try a cost per labor minute comparison. add up how much time you spent tweaking your hackintosh or pc and then tell me...oh that's right, you're probably out of work.

not sure i believe all the stories of problems with 10.6. i bought family pack and installed it on 2 airs, 2 imacs and 1 power mac. all fine except for 1st try on the imac. it lost ability to connect to internet but a re-install took care of that.

all in all, it feels slightly faster for finder, mail and safari functions but the speed increase isn't mind blowing. is it worth $29? sure.

no one seems to understand that this update is for developers. apple built the 64 bit codebase for the gui functions and their own apps (still waiting on fcs to be full 64 bit however). now it's up to developers to rewrite their own apps in 64 bit, make them multiprocessor aware and gpu accelerated with the tools that apple has created and use themselves.

i get it but i don't. the beeps are way too long and sometimes seemed to be placed almost randomly. the timing is terrible and doesn't engage the viewer/listeners imagination at all. opie and anthony and jimmy kimmel know how to do this well. this video is much more surreal and obsurb when it is left exactly as microsoft wants it to be seen and heard.

i'm unclear on why everyone assumes this size tablet would be held in one hand and operated on with just the other hand. that would assume you're always standing or sitting/laying down and holding it up with one hand. that's like assuming you hold up a netbook with one hand always when you're typing.

this is decent sized tablet. you put it on the table or in your lap. with an anti-glare screen, there will be no problem seeing the image no matter where it's placed and you use two hands on the keyboard if you want or maybe just two fingers. it's ok, it's multitouch.

as far as this "stunning" achievement...

i like how engadget thinks this is the neatest thing. it's cool but it's simply a fatass tablet cobbled together using a bunch of existing hardware and software. just wait until apple releases a slick, ultra-thin tablet with a dedicated multitouch os. engadget and its readers will do nothing but bash it because it lacks an extra usb port and has no removable battery.

a closed system works for some and doesn't for others. the app store has a great head start but apple is no monopoly in the smartphone space. right now, less than 1/3 of smartphone buyers are voting for apple. that will grow and if it hits that magical monopoly number of 80-90%, then outside forces will step in. i'm sure microsoft will be the first on the complaint line with google, rim and palm close behind.

let the market play this thing out. let apple rise to the occasion or lose their momentum and possible lead.

let consumers shape the market, not legislation.

while everyone seems to agree that this does sound like a microsoft move, i think this is an isolated incident. after all, with all the potential developers to bribe, we would hear dozens of corroborating reports. on the other hand, maybe this was the only developer to decline the offer.

there hasn't been a good argument for multitasking yet and i suspect there would be no argument for it at all if it wasn't what jailbreakers or pre owners have come to expect. apple might have withheld multitasking for reasons other than battery life. they might just be waiting to unveil it for a killer app. right now, it's a very minor inconvenience to not listen to a playlist uninterrupted or quitting mail to check a contact. i never cared much about copy/paste and still haven't used it. but i know if i start using it regularly, i would feel cheated if that feature wasn't available to me at any given moment.

my point is, let apple do what they do because we know the iphone 3gs is underclocked and we know that apple is technically capable (similar to copy/paste outcry) of multitasking. so we should know that right now they are knee deep in a killer app that necessitates multitasking so any loud outcry for multitasking right now is a bit premature.

are they really the same hardware? unibody construction. backlit keyboards. mini display port. giant touchpad. of course these are all things that any hardware manufacturer can adopt. so now add those extra costs in and add the software support in the os and many apps and you have the rough costs of an apple macbook pro.

apple designs systems. that means software and hardware. unlocking their os to any dell/hp/sony/asus pc clone maker would cheapen not only the experience but also the apple brand name-the name that has taken years to build. the name that sells 1,000,000 phones over a weekend. the name that everyone in the industry waits to copy from.

a level playing field would simply turn into os wars. who can make a cheaper os for less? people covet their hardware and are fans of hardware. if you remove that aspect, you remove enthusiasm for technology which is something apple invented and microsoft so wishes they had just once.

so who are the big losers here?

apple had a record quarter and now has 91% marketshare for all pcs over $1,000 bought in retail stores (just like the commercial)

microsoft had their worst quarter ever due in part to their lousy os that they don't even advertise on their own commercials

hp hardware is advertised all over these commercials which should have made them a winner...too bad their products are perceived as just a shell for low cost ram, hard drives, processors and video cards. if that is what a system makes, buy hp.

i'm still looking for the news here. some expert claims that the iphone isn't secure. demonstrate it. prove it.

all i do know right now is that the iphone is by far the most popular smartphone on the market with a very large and real userbase too and yet there are no known viruses, trojans, etc. can any other smartphone or desktop os make that claim? where's the microsoft argument about no one caring about apple so there are no viruses? how do they spin that now?