From: nospam@nospam.com   
      
   My first computer (after the TI-99) was a 128K Macintosh.  While   
   I thought it was cool at the time, in retrospect it seriously   
   handicapped me when I graduated to a "real" PC later.   
      
   I don't deny that the original Mac was incredible given that it   
   used a graphic user interface with only 128K of memory and   
   a single-sided 400K floppy disk drive.  It certainly rivaled   
   the PC of that era.  But in time the PC grew ever more sophisticated   
   and versatile, while the Mac hardly changed.  I really hated   
   Apple's closed architecture.  There was no purchasing third-party   
   components, only official Apple components were available at   
   inflated prices.  By the time Apple opened its precious computer   
   to third-party stuff the PCs had already dominated the market.   
      
   "Closed" rchitecture is an understatement.  There was no way to   
   even open the Macintosh case without a special tool.  I finally   
   managed to jury rig an extended hex socket thingy, but not before   
   I shelled out $200 for an authorized dealer to fix the power   
   supply (my last PC power supply cost $20 and used just a regular   
   screwdriver).  Once inside there were no expansion ports or any   
   way to increase performance without purchasing a brand new Mac.   
      
   One thing that pissed me off was the inability to access the   
   microprocessor.  Anyone who's used a DOS PC knows about the   
   Debug feature that lets you send instructions directly to the   
   microprocessor.  PCs turned out generations of whiz kids while   
   Mac kids remained ignorant about computer programming.  I did   
   have a copy of BASIC (written by Microsoft of course) and the   
   greatest thing I did with it was write a blue box program that   
   allowed me to hack the phone system to make phree phone calls.   
   But I could have done the same thing with a PC.  I took several   
   programming classes in assembly, Pascal, and C back in the   
   early 1990s and really regretted not having gotten into it years   
   before.   
      
   I helped my mother set up a newer Mac a few years ago.  I   
   didn't like it one bit.  The interface resembled Windows, but   
   was entirely different and uncomfortable.  The mouse was   
   attached to the keyboard with a cord that was way too short so   
   it limited how I could set up the computer.  And the mouse had   
   only one button so I don't know how the hell Mac users get   
   anything done without the extended selection interface found   
   on PCs.   
      
   So why do people still insist on using Macs?  Windows has its   
   faults but it also runs the gazillion programs written for it.   
   It seems that the few useful programs available for Mac are   
   all written by Microsoft anyway.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)