Mac OR WHAT
J.Zizanie
I would like to buy a computer and I am wondering which system I should
look for:
Personally I do not like too much the PCs since the underlying
operating system stems from the flintstone ages, Windows seems
to patch work..
Also the Mac frightens me because the operating system has a lot
of patina now, it is not multitasking, it bombs too often,
and I am quite sceptical concerning that concept of ressources.
The Amiga has definitly the most advanced operating system,
with all the coprocessors the best performance, however,
the standard resolution (which most of its software is written for)
is very poor, if not unusable for text editing, and Commodore is
fading away.
Who can give advice, i.e. arguments for the Mac.
---J.Zizanie
Steve Hershey
ziz...@phobos.ceremab.u-bordeaux.fr (J.Zizanie) wrote:
Arguing over platforms is a waste of time. The question is whether there's
software available to get your jobs done - WELL.
As far as the Mac goes:
- the planned upgrades to the O/S (in the near term) are minor. They
should
not affect currently released applications.
- I haven't had any trouble with System 7 O/S bombs. There may be certain
applications which cause trouble, but I don't have 'em.
- do you NEED true multitasking? Most users don't.
- the Mac has supported resources since day 1 (over 10 yrs. ago). Relax.
Hope this helps.
Roygena R Weber
Steve Hershey <Steve_Hers...@amail.mot.com> wrote:
>In article <30j84g$o...@serveur.cribx1.u-bordeaux.fr>,
>ziz...@phobos.ceremab.u-bordeaux.fr (J.Zizanie) wrote:
>
>> I do not know whether this is the right news group but I just try.
>> I would like to buy a computer and I am wondering which system I should
>> look for:
>
>software available to get your jobs done - WELL.
Right. If you want, you can check out comp.sys.advocacy, where all the
obsessive maniacs hang out, and argue there.
Also, the concept of resources is a very good one, and has nothing to do
with the stability of the system. What makes you skeptical?
JACOB WEBER------------------------------------------*
\ Tucson, Arizona Where's \
\ rwe...@gas.uug.arizona.edu My \
\ CompuServe: 72303,3540 Thing? \
*----------------------------------------------------*
Simon Edkins
ziz...@phobos.ceremab.u-bordeaux.fr (J.Zizanie) wrote:
(snip)
>Also the Mac frightens me because the operating system has a lot
>of patina now, it is not multitasking, it bombs too often,
>and I am quite sceptical concerning that concept of ressources.
(snip)
>Who can give advice, i.e. arguments for the Mac.
OK. From someone who has used the Mac for all of its 10 years and is utterly
biased:
- A Macintosh is, by far, the easiest personal computer to set up, network,
run, and maintain (ie, upgrade System software, add new peripherals, etc.).
There are no config files to fiddle with, and no jumpers to change when
adding a new board (there aren't even many boards you need to add to the
more recent Macs, since they have nearly everything you might want built in).
- I wish someone would define "bombs too often". (If you want perfection,
you're living in the wrong universe.) I can't remember the last time my 2
Macs (one at home, one at work) bombed. Even when they did, it was due to an
incompatibility between 2 pieces of third-party software and was easily
fixed by removing one of them and getting an upgrade to the next version.
As a side note, I must say that the backward compatibility of Apple's
systems can be nothing short of astonishing. I have software written in the
very first year of the Mac's existence, (designed to run only on a black and
white 9" screen and a 68000 CPU) which still runs perfectly on a 68040 with
a 19" screen set to any bit depth I care to use.
Follow Apple's programming guidelines (voluminous, to be sure, but clearly
laid out) and the software will work for many, many computer generations.
- Resources are one of Apple's more brilliant innovations with the Mac, and
certainly nothing to fear or be skeptical about. By separating the
interface elements from the application code, and permitting them to be
modified without recompiling everything, Mac software becomes the easiest
to localize for different countries and languages. Resources do a lot of
other things now, of course, but if they bother you, you can safely ignore
them and just use the computer.
- True, the operating system doesn't have pre-emptive multitasking (yet),
but does have threading which will allow you to do things in the background.
(How many things can you do at once, anyway? You can only devote your
attention to one task at a time.)
- Look at what the operating system offers besides multitasking. Is Open Doc
a patina? A far slicker implementation of context switching than OLE can
ever hope to be is more like it. Is Drag and Drop mere gloss? Hardly - it's
a productivity aid that ordinary users are going to love. Is AppleScript and
AppleEvents a better way to do a CLI and batch files? That, and much more.
The Apple ad line says it all: It does more. It costs less. It's that simple.
Simon Edkins My opinions are my own,
DuPont Merck Pharmaceutical Co and do not necessarily reflect
Glenolden, PA, USA those of my employer.