America's Army

[Nubbins]

The $150 million was a drop in the bucket -- Apple has always had billions in reserves. Sure, 1997 was a really bad year for Apple, but they were never really that close to the brink of disaster.

Says who?  You?  You can write it off as Microsoft posturing amidst antitrust suits all you want, but that doesn't mean it's true.  I also fail to see what pointing at Dell's stock performance has to do with anything being discussed here.

You say XP is a pile of shit for reasons that are largely both untrue and misguided from the perspective of anyone who actually uses XP (not surprising, considering that you don't really use XP for your day to day computing needs) and then in the same broad stroke accuse Microsoft of being incompetent for their ignorance of "what makes a Mac so nice to use"... seems a bit hypocritical to me... especially when you consider the amount of Mac related research present AT MICROSOFT as evidenced by their huge Mac lab.

[Dragonfly]

OK- How funny is it that this thread began with the army & quickly wound up discussing shop (coming from someone currently working at a computer store).

I am pleased with the insights, much of what our technicians think.  There definately are those who are passionate  about their side.  Frankly, I was in the dark ages until recently (and I'm not a gamer).  Finally, I am back on-line with a full wireless signal, thanks to my neighbor-friend, who happens to work as a New Build Tech with me at the store...

I happen to have both a MacMini & Vista laptop.  I see all sides. Yet, there is so much I can do with Mac at a quality to which most Windows-based programs can't compare (without paying a pretty penny),  (ie: Photo, Audio, Video editing). The up-front costs of Mac are worth the ease of initial navigation (the user-friendly interface), which Vista -yes- attempted to imitate & failed. As far as product-line goes... Apple takes the cake. 

What is funny, is that Windows rates BETTER when installed on Mac hardware than some of the best PC components.  In fact, unless you're running 64 bit Ultimate, you can't utilize the specs in the most high-end systems (Intel quad-core, max ram 4G+, etc).  Of course, you gotta use boot-camp & are succeptible to the same problems (viruses/spyware/random crashes) as any windows system.  That's why mine are separate. (I did not want to pollute my mac). I'd love a Macbook Pro, but can't afford it.  They dropped the ball with the Air, though.... Crap (no upgrade possibilities).

XP uses far less resources, but Vista is more visually appealing, once you get past the frustrations.
XP is by far the most stable OS by Microsoft.  (For software compatibility purposes, definately the way to go!). I have even found some Linux kernals to be quite satisfying for the basics... somewhat more so than Windows Vista.

As for the mention of Dell - who cares?  They are a MARKETING company. They don't even build their own systems.  Granted, Asus built the Macbooks, but, there was quality control by Apple.  Dell doesn't give a shit, except to make everything proprietary. Ugh. How can you have a decent product when you contract the building to the lowest bidder somewhere in Indonesia.  Well, that's my opinion, anyway.

***
Hey, on another note, I gotta mention that I had a tech support call yesterday that was unbelieveable - a prank probably, but amazing!  a chick called up and apparently got off on my talking her through a computer problem.  I sure as hell didn't expect to hear a woman moaning "Yes.. that's it... almost there... Mmmmm... It's working... Yes, yes!!!" at 10:30 am on a Wed, leaving me quite flustered.
All the guys were so jealous.  Hee hee!

Well, gotta get off my tirade for now... it's late! 

[Tatertots]

I also fail to see what pointing at Dell's stock performance has to do with anything being discussed here.

That's a dig at Michael Dell, who said in 1997 that he'd " shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders". He's since been proven to be dramatically insane.

You say XP is a pile of shit for reasons that are largely both untrue and misguided from the perspective of anyone who actually uses XP (not surprising, considering that you don't really use XP for your day to day computing needs) and then in the same broad stroke accuse Microsoft of being incompetent for their ignorance of "what makes a Mac so nice to use"... seems a bit hypocritical to me... especially when you consider the amount of Mac related research present AT MICROSOFT as evidenced by their huge Mac lab.

1. I use Windows day to day (which is way more than I'd like). Much of my tirades against Windows is for the fact that despite using it for incredibly simple tasks with no modifications, it manages to fail in random ways every day. Just today I ran into two problems: One, I started it up and when I tried to open Steam, it freaked out. I've got a video I can upload later when I have time to get it off my camera. Two, the microphone was stuck "on" and was playing everything through the speakers. For no particular reason. I restarted and the problem was still there. Where the hell did that come from?

I also use Windows constantly at work. I develop webapps that, unfortunately, have to work in Microsoft's browsers, which means I have to test my code with their broken implementations of the HTML, CSS, JavaScript (ECMA, if you prefer), and DOM specs. That's also a whole 'nother rant about how Microsoft took over the browser market through anti-competitive means and then boarded up their IE shop for six years until they started getting major competition from Firefox (and from hackers who took advantage of Windows' swiss cheese security policies. While IE 8 promises to fix many of failures of IE 6 and 7, it still doesn't take the sting out of the pain we web developers have had to deal with thanks to the broken renderers of IE 6 and 7.

2. What do you mean by "Mac related research"? That lab is a compatibility testing lab for the Mac Business Unit's products (mostly Office). What kind of research are they doing there?

3. I'm not to sure how this thread escalated into a full-on platform war. I was mostly whining about AA dropping Mac support and then making fun of Window's Clippy interface. Are you sure? Really? Did you authorize this? Are you positive? Oh, hey! You plugged in something! There's icons on your desktop! Jonny says I talk a lot, or maybe he said I talk too much, anyways, I think Jonny's a jerk anyways and blah blah blah Becky's a bitch."

[Tatertots]

OK- How funny is it that this thread began with the army & quickly wound up discussing shop (coming from someone currently working at a computer store).

You must be new here!

What is funny, is that Windows rates BETTER when installed on Mac hardware than some of the best PC components.  In fact, unless you're running 64 bit Ultimate, you can't utilize the specs in the most high-end systems (Intel quad-core, max ram 4G+, etc).  Of course, you gotta use boot-camp & are succeptible to the same problems (viruses/spyware/random crashes) as any windows system.  That's why mine are separate. (I did not want to pollute my mac). I'd love a Macbook Pro, but can't afford it.

Probably because Apple doesn't buy their parts from Nepalese street vendors. Just a guess, anyways.

They dropped the ball with the Air, though.... Crap (no upgrade possibilities).

So because you can't upgrade it, it's worthless? How many PC subnotebooks relatively equal in size to the Air offer greater expandability? Anyways, if you think the Air's a bad laptop, you're probably not in the target market. It's cool and all, but it's not a mass-market device.

Dell doesn't give a shit, except to make everything proprietary. Ugh. How can you have a decent product when you contract the building to the lowest bidder somewhere in Indonesia.

Well, exactly. If you don't give a shit about the quality of your product, it shows.

Also: http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9072218

[Dragonfly]

 

You must be new here!

Nah... I've actually been around off and on since before Goblin Queen...
One of Nacho's old college flames.  Occasionally, I fall off the face of the Earth... Then I reappear from space as if nothing has ever happened!

 

So because you can't upgrade it, it's worthless? How many PC subnotebooks relatively equal in size to the Air offer greater expandability? Anyways, if you think the Air's a bad laptop, you're probably not in the target market. It's cool and all, but it's not a mass-market device.

You are correct... I am entirely too poor.  Accessibility to my desktop while away from home would be neato (if I could affotd to travel alot- I envy Nacho!).  Also, the solid-state drive concept is marvelous (we are building "green" mini-pc's now with a patent)... www.qualitycomputersys.com  (We will begin advertising them wide-scale next week & I get the job of being in charge of national orders at our little 20 employee business. "Yippee!"- with sarcasm). 

However, a much more affordable system is the Asus Eee PC. (Asus actually used to build Macbooks). 
Check it out!  eeepc.asus.com/  (It is all the rage lately!)

The article is not surprising.

[Tatertots]

You must be new here!

Nah... I've actually been around off and on since before Goblin Queen...
One of Nacho's old college flames.  Occasionally, I fall off the face of the Earth... Then I reappear from space as if nothing has ever happened!

Well, I was being facetious. God.

[fajwat]

Tyson's right.  Chillax, Nubbs.  That's awesome about your army buddy -- and that's coming from a peacenik. =)

Compatibility labs don't do research; they're QA after the work's all been done.

Tyson's right about the behind the scenes chicanery, slop, angry mean spirited anticompetitive bullshit and full blown insanity that comes out of Microsoft, which is very visible to developers.

The point he's trying to make about copying MAC OS is that being a good, helpful, inobtrusive servant takes a lot of work, practice, experience, and training.  You can't just dress up some dude off the street and turn him into a quality butler.  When Windows tries to be friendly it ends up being obtrusive and obtuse, and just tripps all over your feet like a goddamned great dane puppy.  That, or you lock it in its cage so it doesn't bite you and your guests.  (turning security features and clippy off)

Mac os has become an expertly trained butler -- adept in the art of HCI and positive servitude without forcing the owner to conform to its will and bad behaviours.

[Nubbins]

Nubbins is always chillax. 

[Tatertots]

I've always pictured Nubbins as the kind of guy who says "dude" a lot.

[Nubbins]

I say dude far too much for an English major.

[fajwat]

no one's commenting on my butler vs street dude vs insane puppy analogies?  I'm rather proud of them.

[Dragonfly]

Sorry Tater- "facetious" is'nt in my vocab.  I take things way to literally, which often makes me the gullible butt of many jokes.

***  And Faj-  I just read your post and think your analogies are ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT!!!! ***

(Coming from someone who works with both every day, I most certainly agree...
And though PC looks pretty, Mac gets all the tips!)

[fajwat]

well, now I feel guilty for fishing. 

THANKS.

[Dragonfly]

Nah, man...

I thought it was awesome BEFORE I read your fishing message... If you were more patient, then maybe I woulda written my praise before you had posted your follow-up! 

Wax-on / wax-off.

[Nubbins]

Booyah... more on Jason.