Visit our Popular Forums

Wayne&Sam · 10-31-2007, 04:25 AM

I was at a campground in Bozeman that didn't have a good wifi signal. So was carrying my iMac, wireless keyboard and mouse to the launry room where they had a table and a good signal. A guy saw me waalking along and said "An iMac, you must be the guy in the Airstream".

It's all about design.

yukionna · 10-31-2007, 06:42 AM

I've used both a Mac and a PC over the years. Before Windows came along, Mac was my favorite. Plus, at one time, Mac had the best art/design software. Now that the PC has Windows and the massive volume of software choices, the PC is a contender and has won my heart (and bucks).

myoung · 10-31-2007, 07:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yukionna

I've used both a Mac and a PC over the years. Before Windows came along, Mac was my favorite. Plus, at one time, Mac had the best art/design software. Now that the PC has Windows and the massive volume of software choices, the PC is a contender and has won my heart (and bucks).

With virtualization--Boot Camp or Parallels, for example--Macs run all Windows-specific software. Add to that the best-in-breed Apple software and other exceptional third-party software and you have a computer that runs more software than any non-Apple PC.

Perhaps you are unaware of this fact. Check it out.

Sky · 10-31-2007, 08:20 AM

For a living, I wrote software for 35 years. I wrote in many different languages, and on many different operating systems. Windows is by far, nothing close, the most mind boggling, complex, bug infested, illogical , time consuming platform I have ever programmed on. How our company succeeded to create a reliable process control system on that POS still amazes me.

When I retired, I had to buy my own laptop, bummer. I really wanted a MAC, but they seemed to be twice as expensive, and for what I use a laptop for, it just was not worth it to me. Besides, after writing Windows applications for the past 12 years, I have become pretty good working around its problems and rebooting.

dijer · 10-31-2007, 09:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gadgetat

But I discovered something recently. My Mac is not as challenging. When I do something with my Mac, it works. When I test new equipment on my Windows system I find myself playing the "technical challenge game". Since I've spent more time on a Mac these past few years I'd forgotten the excitement I felt when I actually got something to work on Windows. Recent experience has reminded me of that. I almost felt like my skill set had dulled because of my Mac use. No technical challenges, stuff just always worked!

That's interesting. And I can identify with that to some extent - that's why pc's seem to be the playground for the techies. But those technical challenges seem to pop up at the wrong times leading to frustation. I have used both Mac and pc through the years and am committing to Mac for the future. Just ordered Creative Suite 3 for Mac, a Wacom tablet is next. I will also, in time, purchase a Macbook to replace the Dell laptop. No more fence straddling, time to choose. Part of the decision making was the looming threat of Vista.

yukionna · 10-31-2007, 09:40 AM

Many folks have alluded to PC "technical challenges"...can you elaborate more on what those challenges were? I'm just curious because I have been using a PC for over 15 years now and have never encountered a "technical challenge".

I don't consider myself a casual end user either. My current PC-environment is somewhat more complex than a simple homeowner setup of a single computer with a printer. My system includes a LAN connecting multiple printers, scanner, hubs, back up drives, laptops, servers, and desktop systems.

RedSHED · 10-31-2007, 09:54 AM

Have used (either in school or to make a living with):
IBM OS-360 (remember EBCDIC?)
VAX/VMS
Too many flavors & variants of *nix to bother counting
A number of embedded controller "OS's"
plus the usual slather of small computer OS's

It's tempting to assume that the user interface is the OS, but it isn't - it's just the interface. (book by the cover, yada yada).

That said, *nix is a decent, if unspectacular OS, and a personal system interface built on it is likely to have a number of strengths not immediately apparent.
Microsoft, OTOH, well, it's all proprietary and from one release to the next we don't quite know what they did with the OS until the patches start coming out.

Yes, I use both. Guess which we buy with our own money.

thecatsandi · 10-31-2007, 10:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedSHED

Have used (either in school or to make a living with):
IBM OS-360 (remember EBCDIC?)
VAX/VMS
Too many flavors & variants of *nix to bother counting
A number of embedded controller "OS's"
plus the usual slather of small computer OS's

VM or MVS?
Wow a VAX I have not heard that in a long time. What is VAX an acronym for?
Unix I count four/five/six (ok I lost count too) that I have used. BSD was my favorite. On the Mac you do not see the Unix in the background. It is definately there.

yukionna · 10-31-2007, 10:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thecatsandi

VM or MVS?
Wow a VAX I have not heard that in a long time. What is VAX an acronym for?
Unix I count four/five/six (ok I lost count too) that I have used. BSD was my favorite. On the Mac you do not see the Unix in the background. It is definately there.

OK...I'm dating myself now...I used VM and MVS a long time ago. I also programmed in assembler and Fortran and used JCL to submit jobs to IBM mainframes.

flashbackk · 10-31-2007, 10:34 AM

I was glad to see so many mac users out there. I am a linux guy myself. I have ubuntu on my laptop and I am trying to get my wife to switch to a mac, but it will never happen. I literally hate it when I have to straighten her windows computer out. I've been having a ball letely with a Nokia n800 internet tablet. It's great with wifi, skype and browsing in general. It has a camera and I think I could get away with using it on the road as a replacement for my laptop.

Amazon.com: Nokia N800 Internet Tablet PC: Computers & PC Hardware

Royce · 10-31-2007, 11:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sky

For a living, I wrote software for 35 years. I wrote in many different languages, and on many different operating systems. Windows is by far, nothing close, the most mind boggling, complex, bug infested, illogical , time consuming platform I have ever programmed on. How our company succeeded to create a reliable process control system on that POS still amazes me.

When I retired, I had to buy my own laptop, bummer. I really wanted a MAC, but they seemed to be twice as expensive, and for what I use a laptop for, it just was not worth it to me. Besides, after writing Windows applications for the past 12 years, I have become pretty good working around its problems and rebooting.

Well you have the hardware platform for LInux.

I have recently upgraded to the 7.1 Ubuntu distribution. Disclaimer here. I am not a digit head and only wrote one simple program in basic about 35 years ago just to prove to myself that I could. Really don't like the time that "Confusers" can waste but like what they will do for me. Ubuntu, simple powerful, easy, free and crash free. Bet you would like it.

SilverCabin · 11-01-2007, 06:15 PM

I was so busy before we left on our trip that I didn't update everyone on my Mac purchase. I bought a 15" MacBook Pro in September. That's what I used to do my daily postings on our trip. Very reliable. Even withstood a fall out of the truck with no damage.

I'll be getting the new OS next week and plan on putting a copy of windoze on it just to run my Garmin GPS software. Everything else I do on the Mac.

Randy

RoadKingMoe · 11-01-2007, 06:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SilverCabin

I'll be getting the new OS next week and plan on putting a copy of windoze on it just to run my Garmin GPS software. Everything else I do on the Mac.

Before you install Boot Camp, why don't you try Crossover Mac? It's a Mac port of Wine on *nix systems (I use that on my Ubuntu box). They give you a free 30-day trial so you have nothing to lose. I have Boot Camp as a dual-boot last resort, and access that same partition with Parallels (both require a copy of MS Windows). But frankly, I prefer to use Windows apps in Crossover if they'll work there. Make yourself a test "bottle" to try new software.

SilverCabin · 11-01-2007, 06:47 PM

I'll look into that. Thanks!

Randy

RoadKingMoe · 11-01-2007, 06:57 PM

BTW, Leopard rocks! I have it on external drives on both the Mini and MacBook. Those externals have 160GB 2.5" notebook drives, so when I get the new Leopard configs the way I want them, I'll physically swap them with the smaller Tiger drives, which I'll use for data backup in the externals.

dpandorf · 11-01-2007, 06:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SilverCabin

I'll look into that. Thanks!

Randy

Boot Camp is an integral part of Leopard and no additional installation required.

RoadKingMoe · 11-01-2007, 07:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dpandorf

Boot Camp is an integral part of Leopard and no additional installation required.

With Leopard, Boot Camp Assistant is in /Applications/Utilities/ and the Leopard Install Disk has the Windows drivers (autoruns in Windows), so you don't have to burn a drivers CD. But other than that, there's as much installation as before:

Run Boot Camp Assistant
Partition the drive (internal drive only)
Install Windows (you must supply that)
Boot Windows, insert the Leopard disk, and install the drivers

Don Cook · 11-01-2007, 07:39 PM

Mac or nothing. No comparison
DC

Wayward · 11-01-2007, 08:38 PM

Mac or PC? - a tired debate. Got me a Google - gonna be gettin' a Google phone soon too.

elolson · 11-01-2007, 11:15 PM

Yep, MAC all the way. I have used PCs for used and at work. Goy my wife a MAC since she is a teacher and will never go back to a MS product. The OS is way better than windoze which has pretty much been a hack job from day one.