From: freaspeach@mail.com
In article <%f%ab.4151$hL1.2162@nwrdny01.gnilink.net>, "DeepThought"
wrote:
> This is a newsgroup called alt-dot-flame-dot-mac. Not alt-dot-FAN-dot-mac.
> If you don't want to read about people bashing macs, don't. But if someone
> *does*, asking them why they're bashing macs in a NG devoted to bashing macs
> makes you look like a fool.
Quite right on that point. If you want to irrationally beat on someone
who's Mac bashing, go to comp.advocacy.mac; that's where to go if you wanna
jump on the stray bad guy :) Mind you, I read *this* group to correct
innacuracies and false statements made by bashers, not to tell them to go
awwy. They do tend to have good points, and a few I even agree on, but when
they make a statement based on invalid information, they need to be
corrected.
> So, here are my top 3 gripes with the macintosh:
>
> #3: Nothing works with them.
> -Despite Jobs' claim to the contrary, the software selection is a sixteenth
> of what is available for PCs.
Great, so I can't get 16 different crappy irc programs for my Mac compared
to one good program, or 16 different crappy word processing programs...
what's available works, and works well, so what does it matter exactly what
the ratio is of Mac software to Windows software? Mind you, the dearth of
games for Macs is annoying, and I'm still a bit perturbed about the port of
Half-Life being dropped when it was over half done, but you have to blame
the game companies for those decisions.
I can't speak about the programming part of your argument, as I don't
program. However, there's RealBasic that you can use to program
(cross-platform, I believe), there's Apple's freely available programming
environment, there's CodeWarrior, there's all the OSS options available -
java, perl, ruby, python, even Cobol and Fortan, so I think you might be
overstating just a touch that it's harder to program on a Mac.
> #2: No choice
> -If you want a Mac, you get a Mac. That's all the description you need. Mac
> makes the shell, mac makes the boards, mac makes the monitors.
Sorry, but there's no company called "Mac" that makes the computer items
you're talking about. The compnay is called "Apple", and they make
computers that are referred to as "Macs". Mind you, they don't make a lot
of the stuff they sell, either - they subcontract out the motherboards, and
the LCDs, and the components... much like Dell or any other "PC" reselelr.
> If I want a PC, I have a wide variety of choices for almost every component.
As do Apple users. Tons of options for scanners, and hard drives, and
removable media, even something as antiquated and useless as floppy drives.
Again, not in the ratio you'd get with Wintel-based hardware, but again
again, the quality tends to be higher, and the items tend to work out of the
box with minimal tweaking, if any at all.
> I can upgrade easily, as there are plenty of ports. In fact, my Dell even
> comes with TOOLS. Inside the case. To *help* me customize. I'm actually
> going to buy an additional Hard Drive. Here are the grueling steps I need to
> install it:
>
> -Open case on hinge. IT HAS A HINGE. FOR EASY OPENING.
> -Plug HD into port. IT HAS SLIDERS TO SLIDE RIGHT IN.
> -Plug connector into HD.
Gee, sounds like what I did with all three of the hard drives I've installed
into my old G3/233 beige box... only my case didn't have a hinge, it slid
off. Okay, so the internal components were all mounted on a hinged carrying
system, so I had to flip some stuff out of the way... and the one drive did
need a separate drive sled to lock into place. But you make it sound like
you need some sort of certification just to install new hardware on a Mac.
Unless, of course, you're referring to the the consumer models like the iMac
and iBook. These systems are designed for those users who don't want to or
like to do stuff like upgrading their systems after they get them.
> #1: FREEZING
> -I have used quite a few macs in my day. Brand new, out of the box, no
> programs to old and rusted, and in between. It doesn't matter what it has on
> it, the age, what have you, it FREEZES. CONSTANTLY. Sometimes I don't even
> have to be *doing* anything, but it mostly happens when I'm working on
> important work, and about to save. I have also confirmed COUNTLESS stories
> from friends (again, first person) about similar experiences.
And here is where we come to an agreement. Crashes suck. And yes, Macs
crash. Typically, the crashes are quite spectacular, show-stoppers in fact.
I still use Mac OS 9 at home, because my machine just doesn't run OSX that
well (it handles like running Windows 95 on a P60), But in the year+ that
I've used OS X on other machines, I have seen a total of TWO crashes that
just plain old took out the whole system and requirted a reboot. I tend to
get two show-stoppers a week with OS9, because there's something horribly
funky with dial-up support on my machine at the moment, and when my dial-up
drops (as it does on a regular basis, since my phone lines suck) everything
goes to pift. Most apps that crash in OSX just quietly die, and the OS
rolls on, blissfully ignorant of anything going wrong. You can't tell me
that Windows / Linux / etc. doesn't have unstable software, and that it
never crashes.
> So, macs are basically overrated crap boxes. And they cost many times the
> amount of a comparable PC. But you get all these annoyances.
Which explains why Apple got chosen over Dell for that university
supercomputer project, because they were cheaper than a similar setup
offered by Dell... but wait, you just said they were more expensive!
> Spliff is right, the only people who buy macs are clueless. The problem is
> that when they use it, they become mActivists.
That's funny, out of all the Mac users I know, the vast majority of them are
very clued, not only in the use of Macs, but also Windows, Unix, Linux...
you see, Mac users tend to be more open-minded and widely skilled than those
that put on the blinders and tow the party line of "Windows is best!" or
"Linux is best!". Mac users know that, in the end, a computer is a
computer, just a tool like any other, and that you need to user the right
tool for the right job. It's just that the Mac tends to be the right tool
for when they get home after a long day of fighting fires and enduring the
trials and tribulations of working with Linux and Windows :)
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
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