Most of the world is x86/Windows machines, developers included. I would bet that for every MacBook issued there's at least a hundred Precision/Latitude/ThinkPad/Optiplex machines that went into someone's hands. The Apple hard-on is from a specific region and culture where the technical "elites" have made a bajillion dollars working on shitty phone apps and other such light work where it's possible for your trackpad/keyboard to be the biggest issue. It sounds a bit mean-spirited, but I think it's pretty telling that as the gravity of the work increases, you see less and less Apple products being used to do it.
No, it isn't mean-spirited at all. A lot of lucrative software development has been based around fairly trivial software, all things considered. The barrier to entry was dramatically reduced, the resources required for development were too, and the option to choose your favourite hardware became an option. I think some people might be offended by that, but the variation of required hardware goes in all kinds of directions. Look at working on firmware vs the web, for example. You'll probably encounter a ton of friction on a mac if you get into robotics.
> It sounds a bit mean-spirited, but I think it's pretty telling that as the gravity of the work increases, you see less and less Apple products being used to do it.
it does sound like envy. I hate macos post 10.8ish myself, but the hardware is pretty solid. my 12 year old Mac book air would be enough for my work although I have to use a windows laptop issued by work. I don't want to dox myself, but I'd say my work is of international interest even though it's quite niche.
There's definitely some envy -- the hardware is beyond solid. It's definitely bordering on the best there is if it isn't already there. macOS as a computing environment is just too far off the beaten path in too many ways to realistically deal with, which is why Windows absolutely dominates everything everywhere that isn't Bay Area web-based software companies. Not to say that Windows is particularly good, but for most people that actually need to drop $2500+ on a computer, it's probably better.
It's very common in networking, sysadmin/devops, and web development in the UK, for instance. I go to a reasonable number of industry events and MacBooks are definitely the majority at these.
For a safety critical system, the work documenting, explaining, testing, validating, etc. a decision outstrips the work it took to make the decision. It is that way for a very good reason. The problem with it requiring so much work and time isn't that there's BigCorp bureaucracy that needs disrupting, it's that there isn't a problem with the amount of work and time required.
I'm aware of that, but the proportion of overhead varies per company. Six months seems like a long time for a ventilation system, and the point being made in this thread is that the runway available for some spun-off group of former Boeing engineers would need to accommodate the very long schedules of the design stage.
I'm just curious how much inflation there is in those schedules because I'm sure it's not zero.
But you make a good point that these long runways are because the overarching tradeoff is one that prefers taking as long as it takes.
Call your closest electrical supply and get the price. Plant maintenance technicians are comparatively old-timey, so ask yourself how you would do it in 1990 and try that.
And for the record, brand new Logos are like $100-$200 on the low end and you probably shouldn't use them. The low end of S7-1200 will come in between $500-$1000 and is much more likely to fulfill your needs.
Sure, call. Do a back and forth with calls and emails for two days with their sales guy to make sure they got it right. Spending five to six figures. 5-15% of order shows up incorrect.
When you go to try another distributor: No, you're in crappy vendor's territory. So, sorry!
Waiting for that invisible hand of the free market to step in...
As i just posted, in this case, all you have to do is paste the part numbe rinto octopart and you would discover there are 5 no-questions-asked distributors that will sell you it without any issue.
I guess I'm fortunate enough to have never had any issues with the local yokels and haven't run into anybody with any distributor horror stories. Save Keyence, of course, but at least their salespeople are so desperate for sales that the salesman you have at any given time will usually let you walk all over them. AB's licensing entitlement processes have always given me more grief than distributors. If it's any slight consolation, there are at least a few places in the world that don't have too bad.
That space is being taken up to deal with stricter thermal, dust, moisture, RF, shock, vibration, etc. requirements. It'll run on one battery while you change the low one. I really hope you're kidding trying to draw any comparison to a Surface laptop.
The origin of the gripe is that there's a lot of people collecting paychecks for good thoughts that steer a product/company when their most notable contribution is shit into the company toilet that somehow takes 20 minutes to push out. If they are working hard, many people aren't going to respect busting ass on adtech or consulting shakedowns. Since the uptick in work-from-home, I've been astonished at the number of people I know collecting a paycheck for generating completely negligible value. There's a lot of well-paid positions that are almost certainly contributing less value to society than a dishwasher, and it doesn't have much to do with the dishwasher having a prodigious impact.
There's nothing more frustrating than finding somebody trying to solve a problem with the same constraints you have, clearly explaining the problem and those constraints, and having the answers run along the lines of "in my opinion those constraints aren't reasonable, here's an easy way to do it ignoring what you've explained in your question without even a nod toward how to do it the "wrong" way you're being forced to do this".
Harbor Freight sells flux core MIG welders for < $200, and small lathes for < $1000. You can find lathes for significantly cheaper with a few minutes of digging on Facebook. It's really not enough to detract from the title.
Cheap Chinesium tooling and measurement equipment is plenty enough. The guy in the linked video is a horrendous welder and not a very good machinist. The fact of the matter is that the engine he made is pretty brute, it could reasonably be made for <$1500 in tools (and that's on the high end), and needing a lathe (including the tooling and measurement equipment) and welder really doesn't detract from the title.
Breed specific legislation isn't a real solution. Pit bulls are one entry on a long list of strong dogs that require good training and a careful owner. There's plenty of other breeds antisocial assholes or uneducated owners can't and/or won't control to replace them. Dog attacks need to be treated like a negligent discharge. When that happens, you will immediately see a massive drop in the number of people with poorly trained dogs they can't handle.
I'd like to add that your company doesn't need a hero. The road to widespread catastrophic failure is long and no single person walks it in its entirety. Every employee should be able to individually take routine actions and make routine mistakes without mission failure or loss of life/limb. Preventing these things requires a mindset where your entire company is a system, and if failure isn't an option, the entire system needs to reflect that. Do your part in making a robust company, but don't tear yourself up when your company finds out that stupid is as stupid does.
It means prosperity in the sense that the manufacturer is taking you to the cleaners by eliminating smaller low-end and mid-range products to funnel you into higher margin "big" things, for both cars and phones.
SUVs being pushed so aggressively the US is because the margins are better and the segment is eternally protected by the Chicken Tax. The insane CAFE leniency for lardassed SUVs/"light trucks" is fought for tooth and nail because the margins on SUVs (especially full-size ones) are crazy.
Same thing happened with phones. Remember when a thousand dollar phone was stupid? Now that's what shit gets developed on, tested on, etc. It's just normal, and that's great for people who make phones.
Not enough modest people exist to really make an impact in sales numbers and even if they did, they don't really drive any more sales. I know multiple people that are very well off, money in the bank, with a nice house, multiple very nice (enthusiast) cars, that just don't give off the same FOMO effect as somebody in a shitload of debt living in a McMansion driving around a shiny new Navigator.
