Mac vs PC lame advice 3

[CRilliterate]

My friend just got new Mercedes SUV and Mac computer for her 55th BDay.
She emails me and says that her computer in acting up this is why she wasn't sending messages. She asks 'what do you know about Mac'? I said 'I know that...why would anyone get Mac'?
Then I thought I am really have no clue about Mac - is there anything nice to say about it? Please, share...

________________________________________
I am using Windows XP, Crystal Reports 9.0 with SQL Server

 

[SamBones]

When you do upgrade a Mac, it is the easiest upgrade you could imagine. When you turn it on for the first time, you go through the normal initial setup steps of giving it a name, telling what username you want, etc. At some point it asks you if you are upgrading from another Mac. If you say "Yes", it gives you instructions on how to connect the old Mac to the new one with a FireWire cable. It will then pull over all of your system setting, preferences, personal settings, documents, files, wallpaper, and all kinds of other stuff. It doesn't install software for you, but it pulls over all those things that take forever to move and configure on a new machine. Getting all the system preferences set the way you had them is priceless.

 

[AndrewTait]

Windows XP can do that as well!

So often times it happens that we live our lives in chains
And we never even know we have the key

 

[IknowMe]

When you do upgrade a Mac, it is the easiest upgrade you could imagine.

Does the upgrade require more leg room, or do they actually let users crack open those spiffy monitors?

Wow, I'm having amnesia and deja vu at the same time.
I think I've forgotten this before.

 

[AndrewTait]

How about a mac running Windows? As per

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/04/05/apple_okays_winxp_on_macs/

So often times it happens that we live our lives in chains
And we never even know we have the key

 

[j0ckser]

it is most disheartening that apple (the originator of the windows idea) is having to cave to MS and allow that monstrosity (XP) to run on their computers. ah...big business!

per ardua ad astra

 

[SamBones]

it is most disheartening that apple (the originator of the windows idea) is having to cave to MS and allow that monstrosity (XP) to run on their computers.

I agree. The worst operating system on the most expensive computer! What a combo! Who could resist?

 

[Golom]

... apple (the originator of the windows idea)

Actually it was Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center).

The mythology is that Steve Jobs was on a tour of PARC and saw this system that they had developed that used icons and a mouse. He asked if they (Apple) could use that idea in their new computer and the Xerox guys, who were good engineers but not so savey business people, said "Sure. Help yourself."

You can credit Apple with recognizing a good idea when they saw it but not with the original "windows idea".

[small]No! No! You're not thinking ... you're only being logical.
- Neils Bohr[/small]

 

[j0ckser]

golom - thanks for clearing that up. my info was based on seeing it on a mac long before uncle bill got his mitts on the idea, and it was easy to credit it to steve, as opposed to the PARC guys.

per ardua ad astra

 

[2ffat]

<Way off-topic> There was another company that did the graphic interface between Apple and MS. Unfortunately, I can't remeber their name. They sold their UI to Atari and then Apple sued them (not Atari) out of business. Apple tried to do the same thing with MS but MS was able to prove that Xerox came up with the idea first and didn't patent it.


James P. Cottingham
-----------------------------------------
^{I'm number 1,229!
I'm number 1,229!}

 

[CRilliterate]

Hold on please...
SamBones said XP - 'The worst operating system on the most expensive computer!'

What is the problem with XP? I had been 'on Windows' for about 8 years and I have never seen any problems with OSs.
Can anyone give an example what would that problem look like?
PC wouldn't go on, or after it is up it's...what? I can't imagine but I am not best imageneere so forgive my ignorance...

________________________________________
I am using Windows XP, Crystal Reports 9.0 with SQL Server

 

[CajunCenturion]

<moderator>
Let's not let this discussion go any further down the MAC vs PC road, or Apple vs Windows road. Both of these have debate potential, but not in a linguistics forum.
</moderator>

--------------
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[chiph]

They sold their UI to Atari and then Apple sued them (not Atari) out of business.

Digital Research. The UI was called GEM, and was used on the Atari ST, MegaST, and TT lines.

Chip H.


____________________________________________________________________
If you want to get the best response to a question, please read FAQ222-2244 first

 

[mmerlinn]

I have had Macs and PCs ever since they hit the market. My experience has been that you plug in a Mac, and get your job done (that is assuming that the Mac has the software to do it). You plug in the PC and you spend more time tinkering with it than you do getting your job done.

As a result, if a Mac will do the job, I refuse to waste half of my life trying to get the PC to do it. When I have no choice (quite often), I bite the bullet and tinker away.

A recent example: I needed an extra CDR/W on a Mac and another one on a PC 6 inches away. I plugged the drive into the Mac and was up and running in 5 minutes. I plugged another one into the PC, and 5 hours later still couldn't get it to work. And in those 5 hours I talked to several professional PC people with 20 years experience about getting it working. Finally, took the whole system to one of them and paid him $75 to get it working. And even then the software locks up for some unknown reason during a write process. To this day the PC one still has problems, while the Mac one justs keeping right on working.

If I could I would can the POS PC, but it does jobs that my Macs cannot do without writing new software. Even though the jobs are quite often a royal pain on the PCs, I just grit my teeth and do the best I can with the worst possible tool in my toolbox.

I still have ALL of my original Apple computers, and still use even the oldest ones today for jobs that are not worth upgrading to the later machines. The PCs crap out inevitably and I can them and go on with later ones. Fortunately I have never lost critical data using a PC, but primarily because I never keep critical data on them. I lose the machines, but the data I lose is non-critical, so it doesn't matter. Neither have I ever lost data using a Mac, and that is where ALL of my critical data was and still is. (And, yes, I do keep four daily rolling copies of all critical data just in case.)

All of my Macs from day one are still working as they should. Never a problem with power supply, software corruption, conflicts, or anything. Have worn out a bunch of keyboards though, literally wore all the markings off of the keys making the keys unreadable.

None of the PCs I have are over 2 years old. All of the older ones just plain died for whatever reason, power supply, chips, etc. and have long ago gone to PC-hell.

The biggest plus for PCs? Availability of software that sort of works. The biggest minus? Everything else.

The biggest plus for Macs? Plug and play. The biggest minus? Lack of software.

As far as cost is concerned spending $3000 or more on a Mac is VERY cheap compared to spending $1000 on a PC and then having to spend half my life trying to get it to work and trying to keep it working. Time is TOO valuable to waste it baby-sitting a PC.

Needless to say, I am NOT a PC fan at all.




mmerlinn

"Political correctness is the BADGE of a COWARD!"

 

[yamy]

i agree with rliebsch's comments.

i am a cross platform user and liken the experience to having both a hammer and a screwdriver.
you need the right tool for the job at hand.

mac for graphics, video, audio, design
peecee for crunching numbers.

i think the available software for each platform succeeds based on how well it performs in the long run. I think it is perfectly reasonable for a software company to write to the strengths of the platform that will run the software.

There is a ton of stuff that mimics the serious players, and it is geared to the user with a short attention span and a casual interest. That is not the stuff on which a decision should be based.

Soon, I think this debate will resemble the one between Ford or Chevy pickup trucks (in my neighborhood, that is! <smile>

yamy

 

[Scott24x7]

Honestly, I choose PC over Mac for 1 reason... Visual FoxPro does not exist for MAC beyond version 3 (Current version for PC is 9, with 10 coming in the wings...) Back in the old 2.6 days, I used both platforms, and I liked them both for different reasons.... being a musician, I can tell you the Mac's got nothing on a PC, especially when you look at the functionality of software like Sonar 5.0, which is an AMAZINGLY capable digital studio, and I have not yet seen a software package on the Mac that comes close to it for that... if you want to use your SondBlaster and PC in place of a Mac (both solutions total TOYS in the music industry), then the Mac might have a touch more "capability" out of the box, but reality is in both cases they are inadequate...



Best Regards,
Scott

&quot;Everything should be made as simple as possible, and no simpler.&quot;

 

[Stella740pl]

TheManiac,

[off topic]
Really?
I haven't heard anything about Visual FoxPro 10 coming any time soon.
In fact, I haven't heard of it at all.
Do you have a link or source?
Thanks in advance.
[/off topic]

Stella

 

[Scott24x7]

Stella

[off topic]
Yes. They just released the latest CTP 5 June, 2006. Try this link:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...70-4FC0-46F2-B495-C7C2F16930B1&displaylang=en

[/off topic]



Best Regards,
Scott

&quot;Everything should be made as simple as possible, and no simpler.&quot;

 

[Stella740pl]

Scott,

Thanks!

[off topic]
But Sedna is rather a library of add-ons for VFP9 than a new version?
Of course, it's a good start towards a new release.

I was thinking more along the lines, that my higher-ups, who promise that some time soon we will get VFP9 (we still use VFP6), might want to wait a little more and get VFP10 instead, if it's going to be available in the nearest months. But it doesn't look like it yet, or I misunderstood?

Thanks again for the link.
[/off topic]

Stella

 

[Scott24x7]

Stella,
[off topic]
My philosphy... never a good idea to wait for a new veraion... usually, if a product comes out that close on the heals, you can get the next version for free, or very near that by contacting the company anyway.
If you are on 6, I'd be working to get them to upgrade as quickly as possible, as going from 6 to 9 will give you an increase in productivity of at least 25%, and the cost of a VFP license isn't that much! Certainly that should justify the expense...
I may be mistaken... I thought Sedna was the code name for the next version, not an "Interum release" but I've been a bit out of the fox circles for the last couple of years... just coming back into the fold. I left at 8, and have come back to 9...

[/off topic]


Best Regards,
Scott

&quot;Everything should be made as simple as possible, and no simpler.&quot;

 

[CajunCenturion]

I think we need to reign this in. There are several forums within Tek-Tips dedicated to FoxPro and are more suited, appropriate, and have a better audience for this discussion.

Thank you.

--------------
Good Luck
To get the most from your Tek-Tips experience, please read FAQ181-2886
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein