well, that's not really the problem. the problem is that apple, once again, has decided to take a standard, and make it proprietary (just like microsoft does with software standards....). the slot is mechanically identical to the standard, but apple rearranged the wiring just to force people to buy cards from them, and screw them out of the ability to use "standard" cards, even if some of them are better.
(/rant-on) don't get me wrong, i've loved the apple os, but apple has really, really been obnoxious about trying to make hardware proprietary. the first macs in fact could use pc keyboards and mice, except for the connector, then there's the various slight changes apple has made to monitor connectors, even resorting to custom made connectors so other companies had to spend a fortune to have them custom made for adapters. personally, i'm getting really, really tired of apple's marketing scams. i think they need to be split up worse than microsoft does, they need to be split into a hardware and a software company. that way the hardware company can go belly up, because frankly apple has really, really blown hardware design for some time (with the possible exception of the new g5 models, and several sites find it newsworthy that apple has finally, finally hired top notch hardware people and actually listened to them). this should be obvious from their brief excursion into allowing compatibles, the other makers always, always were able to make better hardware for less and apple wasn't making it up by forcing them to bundle the mac os (as opposed to linux etc.), it's exactly what microsoft did when they were forcing pc makers to include windows with each and every machine if they wanted to sell it at all. sadly, apple, like all corporations, is horribly, horribly corrupt, they exist not to make something special, but to make money. everything else is just marketing hype. again, i've loved the mac os, but i'm learning *nix, a real *nix as opposed to the semi-open os x with just a few parts kept proprietary so it won't run on other machines. just imagine if 2 years ago you could have bought a top end g4, for half the price that actually used the latest ram and other technologies, and actually had standard slots. i use a g4 tower, i have no use for airport, i'd love to be able to use that useless slot for something else, but no, you can only, only by cards for it from apple. not because the slot has any improvements over the standard, it's exactly the same performance, the same form factor, and the same connector, but the wiring is different. this way apple could have a maker of standard wireless cards just switch the wires, after signing a non-disclosure and non-compete agreement. it's bs. they did the same thing with the modem slot, fortunately that was easy for people to reverse engineer. there's simply no good reason that slot shouldn't be usable for a standard ethernet card, or any other standard pc card, except for apple trying to rip off consumers by making it proprietary, for no reason other than apple's criminal marketing strategy of keeping things proprietary and closed. it limits what the user can do, it makes it more expensive for the consumer, and frankly helps make apples a much less worth while investment. if they hadn't aggressively forced people to buy their hardware in order to use their software, we'd all have faster machines, and frankly apple would have been forced to actually produce great hardware all along, or get out of the hardware business and let companies competent at hardware design provide some fine and affordable systems. it's wrong, it's corruption, plain and simple. it's a perversion of the free market. several companies have wanted to make open firmware based machines that could run the mac os, but apple's blocked them with their obnoxious licensing statements in the software that makes it illegal to run it on anything other than a mac. imagine if an auto maker forced you to buy their tires for their cars rather than going to any tire store in the country, and charged twice as much for their "special" tires, how long would you put up with that? remember when only at&t could make telephone gear or provide long distance? it benefited them tremendously, at the expense of every single customer who was blocked from choices, not for technological reasons, but legal and marketing schemes designed to perpetuate a monopoly. if you can't compete in a given business sector, you should get out, not keep that part of the business alive by forcing people to use it if they want your other products. this is exactly what apple has done. if not for this greed and stupidity, there would have been a lot fewer people using windows ten years ago, instead we all lose. we either use an inferior os, or inferior hardware in order to run a superior os. imagine being able to use the best os, on the best hardware, that's what the consumer wants, but it's not what apple wants. i love the mac os, i'm tired of being ripped off for hardware because of apples marketing schemes. again, i love the mac os, i hate, hate apples manipulation of the hardware market, it's evil, like all big corporations. add a lot of $$ to something that has no soul and how can you get anything else? sure, apple lets other companies compete for some hardware, but look at the developer notes for the g4 towers, it says right up front that they don't document how the modem and airport slots work, you aren't allowed to compete in those areas unless you reverse engineer it, you're only supposed to make the hardware apple doesn't want to make. it's simply bogus b.s. Joe WF Runnels wrote: > > I thought the G4 towers had a "port" on the motherboard for accepting > airport cards, as in "Airport ready"? > > -Joe > > <QUOTE> > Most wireless cards are PC cards. You'll need a PCI card that accepts > PC cards to use it in a desktop. ---------- -- Philip Stortz--"Only love can kill the Demon", from Natural Born Killers, the American people and Government would be wise to heed that simple Wisdom. Blood Shed feeds the demon and makes it stronger, Love and Forgiveness starve the demon. hatred and violence are the demon. It's a good movie, if you can realize it's a farce and know what a farce is.... -- G-List is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- We have Apple Refurbished Monitors in stock! | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> G-List list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/g-list%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
