What's this page about?
Mainly just fun, but also as a place for me to promote Macintosh as a superior micro-computer operating system for most users. Since I don't want to start a flare up of the OS wars, let me start with a clarification:
- I'm really a cross platform kind of guy. I've used macbook pros, minis, G4s, G5, homebuilt pcs and dells, a powerbook G3, a G3 B&W, a cube, 8088s, 286es, 386s, 486s, iMac SE DV, centris 610, mac plus with a Total Systems Gemini 030 processor on a kelly card, and got started with an Apple ][+. I prefer using a Mac for most of my work, and have for years, but I have to say I do like redhat and lately ubuntu.
- Computers are a lot like cars; different folks have different needs, and having a choice is a good thing. After all, how much fun would it be if Henry Ford had had his way, and we all drove black LTDs?
- Good advice comes from folks who take the user's needs into account. If you ask a computer consultant what OS you should use, and they don't ask you what you want to use the computer for before they tell you what to buy, how good can their advice be?
- Open standards and shareware are cool, great monolith integrated application suites are an unnecessary evil. The bigger an application is, the more likely it is to have bugs, and the more difficult to support it becomes.
- There is no universal panecea....
How it all started
Don't forget to take the oath.
Why Mac?
Well, one nice thing about making these pages is that I can give my (tongue in cheek) reasons why to get a Macintosh.
Humor
- Some sigs I've clipped from usenet that I thought were clever.
- Genesis
- Zen and the Art of Floppy Ejection.
- The Darwin Awards (listed here because all intelligent life form are based on carbon.)
Cars and Computers
Like I said above, I tend to think that cars and computers are similar in the context of US culture.
I've said for years that Macs are to PCs what BMWs are to GMs (and I'm not the only one who thinks that way). I drive a Sonoma pickup truck and a Honda CRX, so I'm a cross platform driver as well as a cross platform computer user--I got the truck when I realized I'd never be happy unless I had a nice car to zip around in as well as something I could throw compost into without worrying about it. And everyone else in my family drives a BMW and a Jeep or a Range Rover (the desire to have a nimble runabout and a truck must be genetic). Basically, I like the "beemers" and jeeps, but they cost too much.
- The initial cost may be higher for the BMW or the Mac, but they come with all the features most people could want, and they last so much longer they're often cheaper in the long run. Sure, you could buy a "no name" PC for cheap, but you get what you pay for....
- When you read the magazines or talk to folks, most people have strong opinions. People identify with the hardware, whether they drive it or surf the web with it. And people in the business (mechanics and tech support alike) tend to want more performance for it's own sake. Sure, I like the fact that the Macbook pro I am writing this on is really fast, but I don't really need that much speed for typing or reading email. I could get by with less, I just don't want to. So when someone says you have to upgrade, or that you need the fastest machine made with the newest technology, think about what you want to do with the machine.
- Most folks talk about the speed of the CPU as if that were the only factor, but the engine's only part of it. CPU speed is like horsepower, it's only one factor that makes the machine fast and nimble. A well balanced machine will be more responsive overall than one with a bigger engine riding on a weak trannie and suspension.
- Of course, for the shadetree mechanic, who likes to tweak and
twiddle with what's under the hood, macs may not be a good choice.
One thing I liked about my 486 when I got it was I got to
pay with drivers and hardware, all of which took up a lot of extra
time and a fair amount of money by the time I was through.
My dad would have hated going through all that, but he used a Performa 6400/180 for years and didn't have to do a thing to it aside from installing new software since it came out of the box (I did upgrade the ram from 16 megs to 48 summer of 1999, and got him a G3 processor upgrade for Christmas in 2000). And my Centris610, which I got around the same time as my 486, was a solid if boring starts-every-time kind of workhorse that's was useful for getting work done for six years longer than the 486.
I have to say it, because I think it's significant, but the only thing I don't like about Macs is how anticlimactic is it to get a new system, hardware or software. The UI is well enough designed that it's never much of a hassle using a new system--not that it's perfect, things do break over time, but I don't ever seem to be staring that the menu lists trying to find a control panel or program like I seem to have to do with each new version of windows.
Last modified: 06 March 2010