Re: Macintosh is not just a tool

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: : The problem you people have is that you simply don't see the fundamental properties that make Macs better than PC's. : If you say so... : : 1. Macs are entirely bitmapped, unlike PC's which have to emulate bitmapping on top of a text-based OS. : Never looked into that. Maybe I will later. : : 2. Macs have interface superiorities; menubar on the top of the screen, single button mouse, close & resise boxes on opposite sides of the window, longer file names, use of puntuation in filenames, 100% true 32-bit operations, and so on : Just because mac's menubar is on the top means it's better? Not hardly; Windows allows you to move your start menu (top, bottom, left or right). : A single-button mouse is superior? Hardly. I have three buttons (plus two scrolling wheels) on my mouse, and I don't know how I ever managed with even a two button! : How often do you really use long filenames? I almost never use anything more than 20 characters, even with MP3s. Same with punctuation. : PCs use extensions as compared to File Types and Creators. Ever tried to edit FTs and Creators before on a Mac?? It took me quite a long time to find anything that would let me do that. Norton Disk Editor (If I remember correctly). You can do the PC equivilant in seconds (ren *.txt *.html, or something like that). What types of computers were used for the internet? Well, what extensions does the net use? htm, html, gif, jpg, tiff, mov, ra, ram, txt, cgi, pl, et cetera. Wait, PCs use all of those too. Amazing : : 3. Mac CPU's are without argument faster than any x86 based pc; twice the cache, RISC architecture, copper (as of this spring), 333 and faster G3's are considered supercomputers by the US gotv't, take far less power and half the size, ect ect : Perhaps, but how much control do you have on your mac over your CPU? None. I can overclock my Celeron in a few minutes (as in, quitting all of my programs, restarting, actually overclocking, and starting up again). How do you tell if your CPU is overheating (if, in the unlikely event, it would happen)? Go thru BIOS. How about see how the voltage is? BIOS. System password? BIOS. The list goes on... : : 4. Mac motherboards have all the necessities built-in to save cost & space; SCSI, sound, video, ethernet, serial ports, mouse/keyboard/joystic/whatever port (ADB), RAGE 2 graphics chipset, ect ect : I would NEVER go back to integrated motherboards. The main reason: you can't upgrade one thing without upgrading the entire thing. My video card (Velocity 4400 with NVIDIA's RivaTNT) is one of the best cards out there right now. If I wanted to upgrade that, all I do is shut down my computer, slide off the side panel, unscrew one screw, take it out, and put a new one in. Try upgrading a Mac that easily. How about monitors? It's impossible to replace the monitors on (most) Macs. G3s and iMacs are all-in-one pieces. Your monitor goes out and you're phuct. : : 5. The Macintosh was designed to be a not just a tool which you have to be trained to use, or a vehicle which costly tech support drives for you, but a Medium for information and human imagination. A doorway to a world of creativity accessible by the click of a mouse. And it works too! Without Macintosh there would be no Internet (only slow text-based BBS systems), no mouse, no digitally-enhanced video or special effects, no icons or windowed interfaces (would have been filed at Xerox PARC as "uunprofiteable venture"), no desktop publishing (just paper, scissors, hot-wax and a photocopier), generally nothing which made computers a profiteable industry. : You're on crack, man. Just because you claim that without macs we'd be living in the technological stone age, in no way does that mean technology would not advance without them. Had Edison never been born, the light bulb would have still been invented. Had Alexander Gramm Bell never invented the telephone, we would still have the internet. The only question is when and how. It would be different, but it would still happen. You make macs out as something we should all go out and buy or else we will all perish horribly. : : YES, I said no profiteable computer industry, and I'll tell you why: a comparison was done in the early 80's between companies which used computers, and those who still used typewriters & pencils. It was found that there was NO increase in productivity whatsoever for the companies which used the computers. The results said there might even be a DECREASE in overal productivity (mostly due to training & maintenance). So what's the point of having computers? Why should people take the risk of working different? The answer is apparent in the 90's. They have pushed human thinking forward in it's evolution. On the virtual desktop we have created cyberspace and the internet and better entertainment and everything which defines the last 15 years as a time of cultural revolution. None of this could have happened if Apple Computer hadn't delivered the virtual desktop to common people in 140 countries around the world. This webboard and this argument would not exist without it. The world now revolves around the most original thinkers, those who have chosen to think different, and all for the better. That's what Macintosh began. : Well, in a word: no. See, companies back in the 80s had to choose between apples and PCs. The only reason why apple did so well was because the PC companies weren't working together. Hardware wouldn't be interchangeable, software was incompatible, OSs were all over the place. Apple, on the other hand, was one company that stood out. Had it been Compaq, for instance, that was the trailblazer, it would be the same way. The only difference between apple and the PCs in the 80s is that Apple was it's own company, completely independent of PCs. Had PC companies started to work together earlier, Apple would have been completely wiped out. However, PC companies did not start working together until later on, thus, Apple had the time to strengthen itself more. : L8r, : TH

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