It's too cheap to be a barrier for those people. I still see that type of people here, because they pay 2.5 euros for one month and they have a chance to stay for free in many places. It's still worth it. I also still see all the predators that are just using CS as tinder, because its cheaper than tinder.
What I don't see are the long term travellers on a shoe string, who are some of the most interesting people in the community those are gone. Many other types of interesting travellers are also gone out of principle. We're left mostly with uni students and middle class people who travel once in a while.
The community has changed completely since the paywall, and not for the best.
I hate Apple and since 2010 I started using a macbook and I haven't looked back. I still hate Apple, but I'm far more frustrated with the fact that I don't feel I have a good alternative. It's very much like the post said, I got tired of spending my time fixing issues with the system instead of working on what I wanted to work. For those who want to spend time working on their system, great, but I'd dare say that most developers don't.
This might be a silly question, but I'll take the chance to ask it anyway.
What constitutes personal data? More precisely, using FB as example, does it apply to things like:
1. where have you been?
2. what have you liked?
3. photos you've shared?
4. comments and posts you've made?
Or is it really just identification details like name, address, etc.?
This is what I find to be the problem. I can get used to typing on it and it's even weird to go back to normal keyboards now. However, keys keep getting stuck due to dust and that is quite unacceptable.
My bad. I got mixed up with kilos and pounds. Thought 3 pounds was 1.8kg. 4 pounds. I stand corrected.
The thing is. I'm really not an apple fan boy. I've only had one mac. I've had one iphone and moved back to android. I would never have a desktop mac. However, the usability, portability and reliability of the mac laptop has made a huge difference for me. All the little details from the os to the hardware make it the only laptop that I've had that has been great from my productivity, even when I was doing physiotherapy twice a day for 6 months and carrying my laptop between hospital beds.
The Dell XPS13 does have numbers that are interesting, however, if I've learned something from my experience with a mac laptop is that numbers are only part of the story. I wouldn't want a windows os and despite still enjoying linux I really enjoy that I don't need to worry about anything working properly on the mac, it just does, and I can focus on my work. Then it's the trackpad (in conjunction with the os)... Minor things, that make a world of difference.
So...I really really would like to buy something other than a mac, but I just can't see it.
Except for those who were frustrated with the limitations of the Air (no retina, weak processors, etc.).
Still, I agree about the 15". It does risk being in no man's land.
I have an embarrassingly old air and I've been waiting for these slim pros to upgrade and rely less on my desktop. I was always only thinking of the 13", but the 15" is so small that I'm almost pondering going for it instead. All I'm worried about is whether or not the extra 500g will make it too heavy for my taste. So it does risk still being too heavy for someone who wants something super small and not powerful enough for those who don't care about portability as much.
I will be suspicious of any opinion in a website with the word mac or apple in it's url.
First, the mbp is 3 pounds (from your own link).
Second, I looked up the xps 15 also. Not only it is 50% heavier, but it is also much thicker and in bigger in general. Finally, battery life seems to be 5h vs 10h of the mbp. These are different compromises that will please different people and not be acceptable for others.
For me this is a big part of the problem. Most "pros' that complain of lack of more power also are ok with shorter battery life because they work mostly plugged. Apparently, for them it's unconceivable that some "pros" do most of their work unplugged and for that battery life and size/weight are a major issue (and compared to other OSs the usability of the macOS is still a huge advantage over any other laptop).
Sure. I'm not in position to say whether the claim that the RAM increase would require more than 26W. I'm just arguing that the previous comment was missing the point of what the article was claiming.
Do you realistically think it won't sell? Between fanboys and those for which the portability (and usability of macos) beats the absolute top performance you could get...it will still sell enough.
Please understand that there are very different types of 'pros'. Some "pros" need to be on the road continuously and portability is a huge advantage for which the performance hit is acceptable. For others, they only to unplug to go for meetings and rather have something more powerful and heavy/big.
1. I believe you got the first point wrong. The claim is that they needed more than 100W to go to 32GB, and not going for 16GB, they didn't need the extra 26W.
2. You are partially right. Yes, 4.5 pounds is very different from 18kg, but if you care about portability, it is still a big different from 3 pounds.
3. The argument he presents is that you need dongles for now, but in the long term, you will need less dongles. So a bit different from what you are arguing.
Anti-semitism (and any other form of discrimination) disgusts me and I agree with much of the article, however I found it very convenient the way the whole issue of Palestine was simplified (not to say ignored). Even if it's not (at all!) a valid justification and it actually relates more to anti-zionism than anti-semitism, ignoring that problem is exactly one of the reasons anti-semitism persists. None of the sides is innocent and the bombings (on either side) aren't helping anyone.
That's another thing in which CS has gone in the opposite direction. Before, the ambassadors had much stronger roles of welcoming and educating new members of the community, now they are less and less relevant. Ambassadors are what made the community a bit self-moderated before.
My experience is quite different. I made several lasting friendships in both local and foreign CS meetings. I have a big group of friends locally, and CS just added some more.
I've been active in CS since 2008. I can pay for a hotel, but the experience of the experience of getting to know a place like a local is priceless and that - as well as meeting really cool people - has been what I've loved about CS.
Yes, there are risks, that exists everywhere, but a bit of common sense goes a long way, and references plus the verification mechanism takes it a step further.
Another beautiful thing is that: there is no quid-pro-quo. Just cos I've been hosted, it doesn't mean that I have to host anyone, and vice versa.
However, I've been hosting less and less, just because the community has been watered down by its huge growth. Now 90% of the requests I guess sound like hotel reservations and I got used to having a template no response handy.
The article got it right, the focus on numbers instead of community is the main culprit.
Just as an example, they changed the sorting algorithm on the list exactly for that, so that different people kept coming up top on the list, not necessarily those more experienced or with better references. When asked about it, they told me it is because this increases the number of requests accepted. I'm sure it does, but I doubt it increases the overall quality of the experiences people have.
Seemed more that he was giving an example of how Turkey was a country that was pulling the Eurozone down from within... illustrating the depth of his understanding of the geography and economy of the region...
I can name the fastest growing national economy in the USA. It's easy...there is only one nation. In Europe, there are 50... how hard to get can this be?
Yes, that's a silly generalization, but it's not comparable to the one mentioned in the OP. If you want to compare thinking of all Americans as rednecks, you can compare it to thinking of of all french as sweet talking wine lovers, spaniards as lazy and always sleeping the siesta, or germans as rigid uptight and rude; and so on an so forth.