DJP200

Apple Asks Microsoft to 'Quit Running Those Laptop Hunters Ads'

FJ,

Appreciate your knowledge-based experiential comments. I too am retired––a former computing technician, hardware design & development engineer, network admin, and ET/IT college instructor. At the college, there were a couple of Mac labs––primarily used by graphics design courses. There was then––and perhaps still is––no question those Mac outperforms PC in heavy graphics applications. The young EE/CS engineer “gamers” that have worked for me in the past have always preferred Apple products. But most college general-use computing devices were then––and still are––the PC. Lower cost and availability of necessary higher-level technical assistance are major administration factors for college labs. That’s where the PC has always ruled.

Did some design consulting for a Chicago-based firm a few years back. Their product, a CAD accelerator device for ASIC, was designed to operate on the latest generation Mac. The Mac closed systems architecture made the design process very difficult––a computing design held very close to Apple’s chest. Hefty royalty requirements coupled with difficult communication with knowledgeable Mac engineering staff was then the Apple paradigm. Don’t know if those Apple practices continue today, but that internal corporate policy thwarted third-party development. And it is typically those fresh ideas in third-party startups that make the real innovation. Apple simply does not make outside development reasonable. This corporate practice is a significant impediment to macro IT developments––and has likely stymied building block innovation that the IT community will never learn about. At the time some felt this corporate behavior emulated textbook examples of business anti-trust. Somehow, Microsoft is held to a higher anti-trust standard.

My first home PC was a Radio Shack Tandy 1000 (original IBM PC clone, w/no hard drive). Today I’m basically a web-surfer-researcher, email, photo edit, and MS Office application user. My new $375 box, a no-name barebones Intel dual-core box that I spent a few hours upgrading to my taste, runs on MS XP/SP3. I’ve skipped VISTA. And this new box is just fine. One management policy instituted at the aforementioned college was to skip OS & Apps releases where rationally possible. For example, Vista would perhaps not be installed on the majority of campus devices. Updated XP would continue in wide use––and special technical attention given to instances of PC-Vista product installation. A quick rollback is always ready. I’m reading various articles on Win7––and most seem positive. A couple of friends are Win7 beta evaluators, and initial reports are great so far. But this user won’t be standing in line to buy the first copy of Win7. Another policy––let the pot boil for a few months––let the initial (and inevitable) bugs shake out before upgrading any software installation.

Bottom Line: Whenever Mr. Gates offers a new software upgrade––take it slow––especially if an older product is working. Bill really doesn’t need the $$. And I suspect this advice might be good for Mr. Jobs’ latest announcement too.

DJ



On Jul 17 01:34 AM F. J. Taylor wrote:

> I have owned and run MS Os and products since DOS 3.0 (on an IBM
> XT), all the way through NT and XP. I have taught computers, and
> was a sys admin working with both PC and Apple LANs, and I have used
> other platforms incl. UNIX, and all major apps for the relevant platforms.
>
>
> Since the intro of the Mac, I have grown to consider Apple to be
> the more advanced and better software and (esp. in the days when
> they made all their own peripherals,) the best in hardware, hands
> down. However, I had to use DOS (and later Windows) for my work.
>
>
> Just before I retired in 2002, I switched to Apple and have never
> once looked back or regretted it - except for not switching sooner.
>
>
> Now, with the Intel architecture, if you need Windows for work or
> some other reason, it will run Windows - and it loads faster, and
> runs more stably on the Mac.
>
> I cannot imagine what kind of PC or version of Vista Joe K is talking
> about, or what version of Apple OS - or for that matter, what color
> the sky is on his home planet...
>
> As for the people who are complaining about Apple users' responses,
> I challenge you to find any comparable dedicated group of Windows
> fans - especially after Vista - best thing MS ever put out - to boost
> Mac sales.

Do Mac and Windows Users Read Blogs Differently?

Must have a very small circle of friends...


On Jul 09 02:20 PM taojones wrote:

> windows user's are used to 4 or 5 weeks on the phone with tech support
> every time they try something new or even if they haven't done it
> in a while and windows disabled it "for their own good" I did notice
> all my windows using friends stand up at attention when they heard
> of any other OS than windows that they might use only to sit down
> again with a look of long suffering resignation when i explained
> centralized Applications to them.

Apple Asks Microsoft to 'Quit Running Those Laptop Hunters Ads'

Simply amazing how these respondents continually gush over the Apple brand––me thinks someone stole the cookies from these Girl Scouts. But my gosh, PC hardware with its essential open hardware architecture has been primarily responsible for the real growth in SOHO solutions. And while I’m no Microsoft fan regarding predatory, unethical, and frequent illegal business practices—their product has made a leading and very significant difference in IT. If Apple should again find itself near under in financial difficulty, the chances are good the some Microsoft millions would be made available at friendly rates.