3 ms·

"Storing data in any application results in some restrictions [...]" - I think you understand her point pretty well.

crusso 14y ago
No, because the author mentioned that it's some kind of Mac problem. You'd have the exact same problems switching from "free" software running on Linux. Really, I think the article should have been titled: I am Now Dependent on Modern Technology and Don't Like the Alternative
- crististm 14y ago
  No, what? You end up confirming what I said: it's an application issue - be it free or proprietary. But in her case, phone syncing in a proprietary world is more of a problem. I think she meant it like "I'm dependent on MAC Technology and I can't get out".
  - rosser 14y ago
    (FYI, an appreciable number of the downvotes you're receiving are probably because you're consistently using male pronouns for the author of a post on rachelbythebay.com. You might want to fix that, and your assumptions...)
    - crististm 14y ago
      Thanks
    - coldtea 14y ago
      And what if it's a male called Rachel? (Like the "boy named Sue"). Or this guy: http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1290&dat=19900628&id=-9tOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=_4wDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4348,5031260 http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1290&dat=19900628&...
      - rosser 14y ago
        It's not. Rachel's posts have shown up on HN often enough that this isn't even a question any more.
      - rachelbythebay 14y ago
        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam%27s_razor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam%27s_razor
  - crusso 14y ago
    You're assuming an abstraction of what she posted and claiming that's what she meant as her point. Her use of Mac/Apple/iTunes/Jobs as specific references without explicitly making the point you're making mean that we can't logically rely on your assumption.
coldtea 14y ago
No, he doesn't, and I don't too. How would that be different with any Open Source application? There is NO common interchange format for music information besides the embedded mp3 metadata. Of course iTunes (and ANY other player, OSS or not) has to store non-standard stuff outside those. And even if it stored them inside, there is no consensus about the naming and interoperability for metadata not in the standard list. So there's nothing in her points that can be particularly applied to Apple or iTunes. It just makes no sense to say "I'm going to use Ubuntu mp3 players because of this" -- because the situation there would be the same.
- DanBC 14y ago
  > How would that be different with any Open Source application? In theory the Unix way is to have plain text as input and output. This has meant that many open source softwares use nice plain text files for their data storage stuff.
  - coldtea 14y ago
    There is no Unix way after circa 1997. In the olden days, the Unices had some coherence and core principle. After the OSS explosion at the end of the nineties that doesn't hold true anymore. For example all the Gnome/KDE apps are not combinable command line utils with GUI front ends, but backend+GUI apps in one. And the architecture, UX and ways they use are far from what the UNIX of old used. For example Gnome/KDE were directly inspired from MS Windows (first) and from OS X (in subsequent versions), to the point that traditional UNIX users complained. >In theory the Unix way is to have plain text as input and output. This has meant that many open source softwares use nice plain text files for their data storage stuff. iTunes also used a plain XML file for its database. IIRC, it has moved it to binary plist files for performance reasons several versions ago.

No, because the author mentioned that it's some kind of Mac problem. You'd have the exact same problems switching from "free" software running on Linux. Really, I think the article should have been titled: I am Now Dependent on Modern Technology and Don't Like the Alternative

crististm 14y ago
No, what? You end up confirming what I said: it's an application issue - be it free or proprietary. But in her case, phone syncing in a proprietary world is more of a problem. I think she meant it like "I'm dependent on MAC Technology and I can't get out".
- rosser 14y ago
  (FYI, an appreciable number of the downvotes you're receiving are probably because you're consistently using male pronouns for the author of a post on rachelbythebay.com. You might want to fix that, and your assumptions...)
  - crististm 14y ago
    Thanks
  - coldtea 14y ago
    And what if it's a male called Rachel? (Like the "boy named Sue"). Or this guy: http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1290&dat=19900628&id=-9tOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=_4wDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4348,5031260 http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1290&dat=19900628&...
    - rosser 14y ago
      It's not. Rachel's posts have shown up on HN often enough that this isn't even a question any more.
    - rachelbythebay 14y ago
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam%27s_razor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam%27s_razor
- crusso 14y ago
  You're assuming an abstraction of what she posted and claiming that's what she meant as her point. Her use of Mac/Apple/iTunes/Jobs as specific references without explicitly making the point you're making mean that we can't logically rely on your assumption.

coldtea 14y ago

No, he doesn't, and I don't too. How would that be different with any Open Source application? There is NO common interchange format for music information besides the embedded mp3 metadata. Of course iTunes (and ANY other player, OSS or not) has to store non-standard stuff outside those. And even if it stored them inside, there is no consensus about the naming and interoperability for metadata not in the standard list. So there's nothing in her points that can be particularly applied to Apple or iTunes. It just makes no sense to say "I'm going to use Ubuntu mp3 players because of this" -- because the situation there would be the same.

DanBC 14y ago
> How would that be different with any Open Source application? In theory the Unix way is to have plain text as input and output. This has meant that many open source softwares use nice plain text files for their data storage stuff.
- coldtea 14y ago
  There is no Unix way after circa 1997. In the olden days, the Unices had some coherence and core principle. After the OSS explosion at the end of the nineties that doesn't hold true anymore. For example all the Gnome/KDE apps are not combinable command line utils with GUI front ends, but backend+GUI apps in one. And the architecture, UX and ways they use are far from what the UNIX of old used. For example Gnome/KDE were directly inspired from MS Windows (first) and from OS X (in subsequent versions), to the point that traditional UNIX users complained. >In theory the Unix way is to have plain text as input and output. This has meant that many open source softwares use nice plain text files for their data storage stuff. iTunes also used a plain XML file for its database. IIRC, it has moved it to binary plist files for performance reasons several versions ago.