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Technology (Apple) OS X Operating Systems Technology

Answers From Steve Jobs at Apple's Shareholder Meeting 162

DECS writes "At today's Apple annual shareholder meeting, a series of proposals were presented for voting after which CEO Steve Jobs answered a series of questions from the audience. Jobs talked about Greenpeace, stock options, the iPhone, Mac OS X Leopard, and .Mac."
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Answers From Steve Jobs at Apple's Shareholder Meeting

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  • LOL (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 10, 2007 @09:56PM (#19078379)
    From TFA: "I wish it was just a matter of writing checks. If it was just a matter of spending money, Microsoft would deliver good products." Truer words have never been spoken. Also the oblig: In Soviet Russia, money spends Microsoft!
    • by Anonymous Coward
      Yeah, but Apple is sitting on a very large pile of cash, and they need to do something with it. Pay a dividend, set up an R&D program (I think they have a "secretive" business in Nevada named after an apple variety, which might be for this purpose), buy back shares, do something please! Any fool can put money in the bank. At least convert it to Euros or something, the dollar is getting weaker!

      My opinion as an Apple shareholder (1000 shares).
      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        do something please! Any fool can put money in the bank. At least convert it to Euros or something, the dollar is getting weaker!

        What do you think, that they just toss it into a checking account? When a company has "cash" that doesn't mean there are bags of money laying around. Of course it gets invested. And they make a lot of money doing so.

        And your statement about "at least convert it to Euros" is naive. If you really think you can predict currency exchange rates, believe me, you'll be able to afford

      • by UnknowingFool ( 672806 ) on Friday May 11, 2007 @09:11AM (#19082319)
        I take it that you didn't read Apple's Annual report 10-K statement back in December. On pg 60:

        Research and Development (R&D)

        Expenditures for R&D increased 33% or $177 million to $712 million in 2006 compared to $535 million in 2005. The increase was due primarily to an increase in R&D headcount in the current year to support expanded R&D activities, an increase of $46 million in stock-based compensation recognized as R&D expense resulting from the adoption of SFAS No. 123R, and higher overall expenses due to the 14th week added to the first fiscal quarter of 2006 to realign the Company's fiscal quarters with calendar quarters. In addition, during 2005, the Company capitalized approximately $29.7 million of costs associated with the development of Mac OS X Tiger. No software development costs were capitalized during 2006. Further information related to the Company's capitalization of software development costs may be found in Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K at Note 1 of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements. Despite the increase in expenditures, R&D as a percentage of net sales remained relatively flat in 2006 as compared to 2005 due to the significant increase in revenue. The Company continues to believe that focused investments in R&D are critical to its future growth and competitive position in the marketplace and are directly related to timely development of new and enhanced products that are central to the Company's core business strategy. As such, the Company expects to make further investments in R&D to remain competitive.

        On pg 68:

        Capital Expenditures

        The Company's total capital expenditures were $657 million during 2006, consisting of $200 million for retail store facilities and equipment related to the Company's Retail segment, $263 million for real estate acquisitions for the Company's second corporate campus and for a new data center, and $194 million for corporate infrastructure, including information systems enhancements. The Company currently anticipates it will utilize approximately $675 million for capital expenditures during 2007, including approximately $360 million for expansion of the Company's Retail segment, approximately $50 million for real estate acquisitions including the Company's second corporate campus and its new data center, and approximately $265 million to support normal replacement of existing capital assets and enhancements to general information technology infrastructure.

        Stock Repurchase Plan

        In July 1999, the Company's Board of Directors authorized a plan for the Company to repurchase up to $500 million of its common stock. This repurchase plan does not obligate the Company to acquire any specific number of shares or acquire shares over any specified period of time. The Company has repurchased a total of 13.1 million shares at a cost of $217 million under this plan and was authorized to repurchase up to an additional $283 million of its common stock as of September 30, 2006.

        With that in mind, Apple spent $712 million last year in R&D and they increased spending from the previous year. Also they are using the cash apparently to expand the business by acquiring real estate for new stores while upgrading their infrastructure. And they are buying back stock.

    • I'll give you LOL:
      http://fakesteve.blogspot.com/2007/05/linux-indy-c ar-prototype.html [blogspot.com]
      Fake Steve is one hoot of a blog.
  • by larry bagina ( 561269 ) on Thursday May 10, 2007 @10:00PM (#19078399) Journal
    If he pulled it out of his front pocket (Jobs wears jeans), perhaps it's not prone to scratching or easily breakable. Maybe they learned something.
  • Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Thursday May 10, 2007 @10:01PM (#19078415)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 10, 2007 @10:17PM (#19078495)
      Back in college when I was studying metallugical engineering, I tried to get involved with a couple of those organizations, not greenpeace specifically. But they were insane from the bottom up. I couldn't pass the idological litmus test, which pretty much involve calling day night. It a lot of ways they're the new religion.
    • by Nefarious Wheel ( 628136 ) * on Thursday May 10, 2007 @10:59PM (#19078773) Journal
      He's never come across as clueless or insensitive to me, just very very focused. I remember in the early days of Apple he walked in to the Bandley 2 computer room (open fishbowl, secured by people knowing not to bother the ops) wearing T-shirt, jeans & sandals and started playing with the switches on one of the front panels of "Junior", the 11/70 we used for development.

      Tim Fischer, the op at the time, threw him out. "Do you know who I am?" he said -- Tim responded "I don't care if you're f***ing Steve Jobs, get out of my computer room". Steve left and I believe TIm got a pay rise out of it, although he was a bit shook when he told me.

      RSTS-E/Basic Plus -- everything you needed but address space...

      • started playing with the switches on one of the front panels of "Junior", the 11/70 we used for development.

        Thats why you turn the key to lock, take it out and stick it in a vent slot for safe keeping.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      Knowing the whole story now it really does look like
      Uh, you've heard his side of the story. What other side have you heard, that you might reasonably claim to heard the whole thing?

      It's not that I don't like Jobs and Apple; I'd love to get me some of that pearly fruit, if I had the money. It's just that I don't take what individual people say as the whole story.
      • by Anonymous Coward
        Greenpeace's side. We heard from them first. They started this, remember? ("Apple are teh 5uxx0rz! Clean it up already!")

        Then we heard a reply from Apple ("We were already doing that, like 12 years ago, so shaddup.").

        Greenpeace got their response in ("See they changed their policy because of us! We r0x0rz!").

        So we have now heard from both sides.
        And Apple pwned Greenpeace. FTW.
      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • The other option would be that Jobs never was the insane, mercurial Maniac some book authors made him out to be.
      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        Comment removed based on user account deletion
        • Were you a Campus Rep? At the 2000 MacWorld in San Francisco some of the reps that had woken up early and gone to the keynote got to take a picture with Steve Jobs after the keynote. When I saw him at the Apple booth later in the week I asked him if he'd take a picture with me and when he declined I said "oh, but I work for you, I'm a campus rep" or some weak thing along those lines and he replied "It's my day off."

          I'd shared the story with some of the guys and it came up again when we were with our cor

    • by tm2b ( 42473 ) on Friday May 11, 2007 @01:40PM (#19087787) Journal
      Everybody else is focusing on his compensation, but I think it's a lot more - at his level of wealth, money is more an abstract way of keeping score than anything tangible. It's not like you can live in two homes, eat two meals, or sleep in two beds at once.

      Instead, consider this. For decades, he's had to live with the internal certainty that he was right, that computers should be designed according to his philosophy, but that that dastardly Bill Gates stole the ideas that Jobs brought to market and proceeded to dominate the computing market. Meanwhile politics at Apple pushed him out, making him sit on the sidelines building NeXT. Years ran into decades of watching somebody who he thought committed the highest crime of having no taste eat the lunch that he believed should have been his.

      Now, finally, he's on top of the world. He's brought his vision to the world of portable music, and the world has smiled and said that it is good - and that Microsoft's attempts to enter that market are, well, not so good. The innovative animation studio he nurtured through a vision of the highest quality instead of quantity, has been given the highest compliment possible (in being purchased at a very high price) by Disney, the keepers of the legacy of the oringal wave of animation innovation. On top of that, he's poised to bring that vision to an even larger market.

      Love him or hate him, but he's got every reason in the world to be happy. Money's nice, but bringing your vision to fruition and having it succeed, and having the world sit up and take notice - that's priceless. And I think that there's every indication that this is what really drives the man.
    • I thought the CA minimum wage was $7.50 an hour.

      Maybe Mr. Jobs only "works" 10 minutes a year or so...

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      'I make fifty cents just for showing up, and the other 50 cents is based on my performance.'
      He's a marketing genius, no doubt about that. He is the highest paid executive in the US [computerworlduk.com], and still manages to get focus on his 1$ salary PR stunt.
      • by dr.badass ( 25287 ) on Friday May 11, 2007 @08:12AM (#19081609) Homepage
        He is the highest paid executive in the US, and still manages to get focus on his 1$ salary PR stunt.

        Highest paid in 2006. He doesn't have huge stock option grants vesting every year. From the Forbes profile you linked to is very telling:

        Total Compensation (2006)
        $646.60 mil

        5-Year Compensation Total
        $650.17 mil

        In other words, over 99% of his compensation for the past five years came from last year alone. During that time AAPL went from about $12 to over $100.
      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        He may be a marketing genius, but he's also brought Apple from insignificance to centre-stage prominence, and the share prices reflect that.

        I argue that all executives above a certain level should be on $1/year salary, with other money coming in based purely on performance. If the alternative (the current state) is huge bonuses on top of already huge salaries when the company is tanking and workers are getting shafted, then it'd be an improvement. It should also make executives focus on longer term success
      • I wonder how the value of the RDF [wikipedia.org] is calculated on the balance sheet? Or is it one of those things, like goodwill, that you can only put a number on when there's a takeover?
  • by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Thursday May 10, 2007 @10:20PM (#19078513)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • by vertigoCiel ( 1070374 ) on Thursday May 10, 2007 @11:01PM (#19078797)
    He says it'll be released on time, but he said the same thing about the Apple TV a few weeks before they announced it would be delayed.
    • by neoform ( 551705 )
      The Apple TV box has nowhere near the same amount of demand as the iPhone or leopard, if he delayed both that would be very bad considering he moved devs from Leopard to the iPhone team..
  • I'm not an OS X guy, so I don't follow or know my Mac-related sites. Anyway I follow the link, and I'm reading along, and in the second Greenpeace-related paragraph I encounter:

    encouraging user donations to Greenpeace to somehow solve that issue.

    My BullshitDetectorReadingOpinion(submission) returns a mild buzz. Next line:

    After attempting to take credit for Apple's announcements (referring to the G.P. rep)

    sends me off on a bit of surfing of roughlydrafted.com, and googling of same said, which leads me to the conclusion that roughlydrafted.com is Daniel Eran's pulpit. Some of the 'articles' are fine and interesting, but that's not my point.

    A few week

    • by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 11, 2007 @12:45AM (#19079401)
      RoughlyDrafted.com is pro-Apple. However, the lines that got your BS-detector buzzing are false positive. They are not BS. Google News around and you'll find out that Greenpeace indeed took credit for Apple's announcement. Not only did they take credit, they lied about what the credit was for. What Jobs said was Apple would change their policy regarding communicating their existing plans and achievements. Greenpeace pretended that Apple would change their plans to be greener and took credit for it. Greenpeace is a bunch of scums who capitalize on people's concern for the environment. Avoid Greenpeace, help other environmental groups.
    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by base2_celtic ( 56328 )

      Eran is in a tough position. He has a fervent dislike of biased journalism. He also has a known interest in (and love of) many Apple products. This makes it difficult for him to write on these topics, and still appear detatched.

      He's passionate, certainly. Angry at some Microsoft shills? Obviously. Biased? No, I don't think so. The reason I think that way is because of the way he puts his influences and beliefs up front. He doesn't hide them. He doesn't pretend they exist. He references constantly, and prov

      • Obviously. Biased? No, I don't think so. The reason I think that way is because of the way he puts his influences and beliefs up front.

        Sorry? He's not biased because he admits to his bias upfront?

        You're a moron.
        • That's the point, you already know he's going to have a perspective, because he's a human being. So knowing where he's coming from helps you interpret what he's saying.

          Are you really still stuck on the idea that there's such a thing out there as the objective truth? Bleh.
          • That's the point, you already know he's going to have a perspective,

            Yes. That's why I questioned the GP saying he was not biased.

            Are you really still stuck on the idea that there's such a thing out there as the objective truth?

            I still think you can strive for objectivity (whilst admitting to your biases). Roughly Drafted makes no such attempt.
    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      Daniel Eran was busted spamming digg [googlepages.com] and consquently banned.

      Not only is that site biased, but it attempts to push its bias onto other sites. I think it's a real pity that Slashdot accepts submissions from there.
      • by Lars T. ( 470328 )

        Not only is that site biased, but it attempts to push its bias onto other sites. I think it's a real pity that Slashdot accepts submissions from there.
        Never have truer words about digg been said.
        • Never have truer words about digg been said.

          While digg may be biased at least its reign in by its users. Also, it is pretty obvious from the context that I was referring to the far more blatantly biased Roughly Drafted.

          • by Lars T. ( 470328 )

            Never have truer words about digg been said.

            While digg may be biased at least its reign in by its users.
            You are even more naive than I thought. Digg is easier to manipulate than an US election using Diebold machines.
            • You are even more naive than I thought. Digg is easier to manipulate than an US election using Diebold machines.

              Ease of manipulation & bias are completely different concepts. Go read up on them & come back when you understand the difference.
              • by Lars T. ( 470328 )

                You are even more naive than I thought. Digg is easier to manipulate than an US election using Diebold machines.

                Ease of manipulation & bias are completely different concepts. Go read up on them & come back when you understand the difference.
                Bullshit - when you can manipulate something that peddles oppinions, you add bias. What are you, dumb? Why, yes, you have proven that already.
                • Bullshit - when you can manipulate something that peddles oppinions, you add bias. What are you, dumb? Why, yes, you have proven that already.

                  Wrong. Firstly, you're changing your tune from ease of manipulation==bias to manipulation adds bias.

                  Secondly, manipulation may add bias to a single story, but not to the entire site. A good example would be roughly drafted's attempt to manipulate digg to get digg to peddle Eran's bias. Eran created multiple accounts to get R.D. stories voted up. Before he was caught,
                  • by Lars T. ( 470328 )

                    Secondly, manipulation may add bias to a single story, but not to the entire site. A good example would be roughly drafted's attempt to manipulate digg to get digg to peddle Eran's bias. Eran created multiple accounts to get R.D. stories voted up. Before he was caught, many of his stories were voted down. In addition, there was plenty of comments & stories offering counter opinions.

                    So the fact that any story on digg can easily be manipulated is proof that the site is without any bias. SUUUURE.

                    • So the fact that any story on digg can easily be manipulated is proof that the site is without any bias. SUUUURE.

                      Please read the thread you're replying to.

                      1) I said any biased story on digg would be countered by stories/comments with counter opinions.
                      2) I didn't say Digg was without any bias. I said it was less blatently biased than R.D.

                      Are you really arguing that Digg is more biased than R.D?
                    • by Lars T. ( 470328 )

                      So the fact that any story on digg can easily be manipulated is proof that the site is without any bias. SUUUURE.

                      Please read the thread you're replying to.

                      1) I said any biased story on digg would be countered by stories/comments with counter opinions.

                      Which doesn't help Slashdot when you submit stories from digg

                      2) I didn't say Digg was without any bias. I said it was less blatently biased than R.D.

                      Are you really arguing that Digg is more biased than R.D?

                      No, I'm proving that you are more biased than RD.

                    • So the fact that any story on digg can easily be manipulated is proof that the site is without any bias. SUUUURE.

                      Please read the thread you're replying to.

                      1) I said any biased story on digg would be countered by stories/comments with counter opinions.
                      Which doesn't help Slashdot when you submit stories from digg

                      2) I didn't say Digg was without any bias. I said it was less blatently biased than R.D.

                      Are you really arguing that Digg is more biased than R.D?
                      No, I'm proving that you are more biased than RD.

                      If tha

                    • by Lars T. ( 470328 )

                      Your orginal comment sure made it look like you believe RD is less biased than Digg tho'
                      My original "quote" was saying that you were talking about digg when you were talking about a site that was biased. The rest is a figment from your bias.
                    • Your orginal comment sure made it look like you believe RD is less biased than Digg tho'
                      My original "quote" was saying that you were talking about digg when you were talking about a site that was biased. The rest is a figment from your bias.
                      Nope. Your original quote was in reply to a comment clearly about R.D's biase, but you replied saying the bias was digg's.

                      I can't believe you admit you think Digg is more biased than R.D.
                    • by Lars T. ( 470328 )

                      Your orginal comment sure made it look like you believe RD is less biased than Digg tho'
                      My original "quote" was saying that you were talking about digg when you were talking about a site that was biased. The rest is a figment from your bias.

                      Nope. Your original quote was in reply to a comment clearly about R.D's biase, but you replied saying the bias was digg's.

                      I can't believe you admit you think Digg is more biased than R.D.

                      Well, I can imagine that you would believe that BECAUSE YOU ARE FUCKING STUPID. As if that was new.

                      Not only is that site biased, but it attempts to push its bias onto other sites. I think it's a real pity that Slashdot accepts submissions from there.

                      Never have truer words about digg been said.

                      No mention of RD in my post, that's all in your head - there is enough room for that kind of shit obviously.

                    • No mention of RD in my post, that's all in your head - there is enough room for that kind of shit obviously.

                      False. Roughly drafted was in the subject of your post. Don't you even read your own comments?

                      I can't believe you think Digg is more biased than R.D.
                    • by Lars T. ( 470328 )

                      No mention of RD in my post, that's all in your head - there is enough room for that kind of shit obviously.

                      False. Roughly drafted was in the subject of your post. Don't you even read your own comments?

                      I can't believe you think Digg is more biased than R.D.
                      Liar, liar, pants on fire. I can believe that you are more biased than RD, and digg, and Microsoft.com together. And more stupid too.
                    • No mention of RD in my post, that's all in your head - there is enough room for that kind of shit obviously.

                      False. Roughly drafted was in the subject of your post. Don't you even read your own comments?

                      I can't believe you think Digg is more biased than R.D.
                      Liar, liar, pants on fire. I can believe that you are more biased than RD, and digg, and Microsoft.com together. And more stupid too.


                      Well, this is getting a little childish. I guess that's what happens when children get caught out explicitly denying somet
                    • by Lars T. ( 470328 )

                      Well, this is getting a little childish. I guess that's what happens when children get caught out explicitly denying something that can be proven.
                      You have always been childish. As well as wrong, biased and stupid.
                    • You have always been childish. As well as wrong, biased and stupid.

                      Gosh, I guess I really haven't any comeback to such a well reasoned argument, so thoroughly supported with links, quotes & examples can I?
                    • by Lars T. ( 470328 )

                      You have always been childish. As well as wrong, biased and stupid.

                      Gosh, I guess I really haven't any comeback to such a well reasoned argument, so thoroughly supported with links, quotes & examples can I?
                      One just has to follow this thread. Or your sig.
                    • One just has to follow this thread. Or your sig.

                      Oh, indeed. You've really shown how biased and wrong I am with that statement.

                      Well done - your debating skills are becoming honed a knife-like edge aren't they?
                    • It just goes on & on doesn't it....

                      Lars T is quite the troller tho' I gotta say...
    • Even though campaigning like this is often viewed as obnoxious and the author of the article sure seemed to think so, it's motivated several big companies to clean up their act.

      Case in point, Ikea, which is nowadays greener and more ethical than any number of small furniture retailers, even the mom-and-pop operations that probably sell the worst kind of child labour produced rainforest wood furniture there is.

      This due to being vocal about the problems by that company and now it turns out that if you want to
    • He did go to the Apple Shareholder meeting and report his views. He has a perfect right to do this. I have read many accounts of the meeting, and they all note that Jobs joked with the shareholders, to laughter and applause. The people who asked the probing questions were a tiny minority. On that basis, I believe his account to be accurate.

      Eran's point, which I think is a valid one, is that Greenpeace wants to take credit for Apple's announcement, not Apple's actual attitude or accomplishments. Apple w
    • I'm not an OS X guy, so I don't follow or know my Mac-related sites. Anyway I follow the link, and I'm reading along, and in the second Greenpeace-related paragraph I encounter:

      encouraging user donations to Greenpeace to somehow solve that issue.

      My BullshitDetectorReadingOpinion(submission) returns a mild buzz. Next line:

      After attempting to take credit for Apple's announcements (referring to the G.P. rep)

      sends me off on a bit of surfing of roughlydrafted.com, and googling of same said, which lea

      • It's 2007, and you're only just now figuring out that the internet isn't journalism?

        Glad to have you back from your coma.

        It's a good line, and I can laugh along with it - and there's more truth to it than I'd probably like, since after all the Internet is Shit [internetisshit.org]

        But it looks to me like you too differentiate between what's to be found in blogs and what's to be found elsewhere, so I don't think I'm *that* far off base.

        http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=224280&cid=181 62528 [slashdot.org]

  • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

    Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by aquila78 ( 851048 )
      I think there is a definite need for the Greenpeace campaign. I think what we really need to address the environmental issues concerning chemical waste and recycling policies, is informed choices. That means that the information comes from a trusted an unbiased source. Greenpeace undermines it position as such by running an uninformed campaign. That's sad, cause Greenpeace are one of the only entities which can pull a campaign with some impact of. I think greenpeace should take Job's advice: Hire experts a
      • by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

        I think there is a definite need for the Greenpeace campaign. I think what we really need to address the environmental issues concerning chemical waste and recycling policies, is informed choices. That means that the information comes from a trusted an unbiased source. Greenpeace undermines it position as such by running an uninformed campaign. That's sad, cause Greenpeace are one of the only entities which can pull a campaign with some impact of. I think greenpeace should take Job's advice: Hire experts an

  • by nanosquid ( 1074949 ) on Friday May 11, 2007 @01:58AM (#19079743)
    I don't know about Apple's overall corporate standing in terms of environment, and I don't think it matters that much. The fact is: computers are bad for the environment. The best thing you can do for the environment may be not to buy a new computer at all and keep using the old one. And the worst thing for the environment may ultimately be... the power hungry software upgrades that induce people to buy new hardware.

    As for Apple, I wish they'd replace their styrofoam packaging with something recycled and biodegradable. Apple's packaging is like a throwback to the 70's.
    • by beelsebob ( 529313 ) on Friday May 11, 2007 @04:56AM (#19080513)
      As for Apple, I wish they'd replace their styrofoam packaging with something recycled and biodegradable. Apple's packaging is like a throwback to the 70's. Yes and no... I agree, I'd rather see recycled cardboard cartons, but what they use is certainly not a throwback to the 70s... The boxes are only just big enough to fit the item into, and the styrofoam they use usually has large holes cut in it to reduce consumption and weight. Bob
    • Apple's packaging is like a throwback to the 70's.
      Apple uses a lot less packaging for products today than they did in the 70s. So, your comments don't make a lot of sense.
  • by simong ( 32944 ) on Friday May 11, 2007 @03:01AM (#19080003) Homepage
    They get their iPhone out

    "Loooook... shiiinyyyy...." *waves in face*
  • by djones101 ( 1021277 ) on Friday May 11, 2007 @06:58AM (#19081025)
    the iRack and the iRan?
  • From TFA:

    Jobs' (sic) Challenges Greenpeace Incompetence.

    Those comments didn't stop Greenpeace representatives from using the meeting as an opportunity to advertise the groups (sic) anti-Apple campaign.

    God, I love that kind of hyperbole. You can practically smell the fear and obedience coiling off it, the fumes as it were blinding the writer to the placement of apostrophes.

    Sure, fanboyism pretty much selects for monochromatic points of view. The point is always to circle the wagons and defend the ideal

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