Sunday, August 7, 2011

Comic 934: Randy Discovers Netbooks

Mac/PC

[Comic title: Mac/PC; alt text: It's fun to watch browsers fumblingly recapitulate the history of window management. Someday we'll have xmonad as a Firefox extension.]

It's nice to see Randy is back to his boring old self again. Randy thinks that people don't use anything that isn't a browser anymore, which is why we've all switched to netbooks and the powerful computer is pretty much obsolete now.

Er, wait.

As is usual when I have nothing to say about a comic, I decided to stop by the forums for this one. They don't have much to say about it--mostly they're talking about browsers. One person called it mediocre, one seemed to like it. And then one of the regular posters said this:

Mightn't this have been a better comic if it were released back when the "I'm a PC, I'm a Mac" commercials were actually airing?


Confidential to Randall Munroe: Your comics are so outdated that even your loyal fans are complaining about how outdated you are. Time to step things up a bit.

38 comments:

  1. What forums? XKCD does not endorse any forums (oh wait, they do again so now I'm outdated. JUST LIKE THIS COMIC, amirite?)

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  2. Can someone take me to the hospital? I think I've been hit with a shotgun.

    Oh, I'm sorry; that was just 935.

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  3. I don't understand today's xkcd at all. What is this Personals page from? Is it some stalker's tool from the Google Facebook that he was talking about a while ago?

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  4. I think the reason they're indistinguishable is due to the artwork, but that's just me.

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  5. Anon you must be new to the internet if you don't realize he is referring to Craiglist pages like this http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/mis/. He still got it wrong, the layout is slightly different and all postings have an x4y tag, but at least he didn't fuck it up as badly as his *pathetic* attempt to draw 4chan in 591.

    He's just throwing random shit out again and hoping something sticks. I guess the 7 pseudo-punchlines is less lazy than 1 pseudo-punchline like 934.

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  6. Anonymous 9:55am at 10:33amAugust 7, 2011 at 10:33 PM

    I've been using internet since there was only dial up, but have never ever visited Craigslist even though I often hear people talk about it. I thought Craigslist was only for selling stuff too, so this is an exciting revelation that I will certainly not take advantage of considering the type of people that it would tend to dredge up.

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  7. dumb comic is dumb

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  8. holy christ what


    i mean really

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  9. 935 literally has no punchline. I was half-heartedly hoping for at least a "your mom"-joke at the end, but I guess that is too much credit to give Randall.

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  10. Well, congrats on the obscure reference, Randy.

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  11. 935's alt text is at least a self-deprecating admission that Randall's life is entirely conducted via e-mail.

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  12. Guess Randy's been listening to Weird Al?

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  13. Hasn't he done 935 before? Anyway, the only slightly amusing one was the Google Streetview van one.

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  14. Oh, look. A list of nerd references.

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  15. Hey! AshenElderFlower!

    Go back to being Raven and start posting on my blog again. Reviewing every strip gets tiring.

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  16. Rob agreeably quoted:

    "....if it were released back when the "I'm a PC, I'm a Mac" commercials were actually airing?..."


    Oh Rob,
    Ye of the Yankee-centric countenance(I am using the obsolete definition of this word, though the modern one might be apropos as well).
    I have it on moderate authority that the PC/Mac ads are the vanguard of Third World marketing agitprop - especially in Botswana and the country formerly known as Rhodesia.
    One must endeavour to become as cosmopolitan as one can in these volatile times.

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  17. Hutu: I'm a Mac!
    Tsutsi: And I'm a PC OH GOD NO FU-

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  18. 935: What is this, I don't even

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  19. From 935, are we to assume that Randall talks about his height, weight, contents of pockets regularly in his emails, and also that he sends his SSN out unencrypted via email?

    What is he even trying to say?

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  20. Ann Apolis and U Kitten, up to their usual boyish antics in Tottenham at the weekend, have caused poor Theresa May to cut short her holiday. Interestingly, Boris, though called like Cincinnatus was called from the plough, refuses to leave his beach-house at Skegness.

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  21. I'm disappointed I didn't foresee the twist in today's McNinja.

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  22. What's the relationship between the "you" dialogue and the "me" dialogue?

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  23. @ Leahcim,

    It's complicated I reckon.

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  24. hurr hurr randy made a Dr. Who reference. Take note, Lenny Bruce - this is the pinnacle of comedy.

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  25. @ Ves,

    Your comment is the zenith of Mongoloid reasoning. Perhaps George Carlin or Richard Pryor would have been a better choice.

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  26. Oh my god, I totally posted my 'xkcd does CADbortion' comic on the xkcd fora!

    Look at it! See how many hate comments it gets.

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  27. The comic is more interesting if you imagine all the mes are the same person.
    I won't lie, I love a good Doctor Who reference, but this one was really flat. Why is Babe Ruth a timelord of all people? Elvis would have been cliched, but he would have made more sense.

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  28. GenericGeek oozed:

    "....Why is Babe Ruth a timelord of all people?...."

    You mean:

    "Why, of all people, is Babe Ruth a timelord?"
    or:
    "Why is Babe Ruth, of all people, a timelord?"

    You do not appear to me, despite your lack of grammar and syntax acumen, to be particularly thick. Perhaps you are just not trying hard enough to make the 'connection'.

    Innit?

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  29. No, I think he's asking why Babe Ruth is one of many timelords who do their timelord thing to people. I.e., why isn't he a timelord over all animals, or plants, etc.

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  30. uldafagken. GagaGAGAgagaGAGAgagaGOOGOO?

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  31. If I weren't bad could when drumset then chicken went roada boom how you refuel car ALTF? thatsioe what i aksed idoit?!?!?111

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  32. @Jon Levi

    Nice job, but where are the hate comments?

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  33. Darn, my flame shield blocked them all.

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  34. Jon Levi, well played. I'm looking forward to this.

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  35. Was it flame? I will show you how.

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  36. EVR ONE NOES THAT MAC IS WHITE

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