On Thursday, June 6, 2002, at 11:35 PM, Ed Kummel wrote:
> I maintain several thousand servers. NT4.0 and 2000
> that see heavy use. Rarely do I need to boot any of
> them! I also run my own machines at home (98, 98se,
> 2000, XP and a .net server) and in the past 80 days,
> on any of my machines (just ran uptime /s on them)
> none has had less than 99.5% uptime. If your room mate
> needs to have 4-5 hours of down time, then he's doing
> something really, really wrong!
I'm sure all of that is true. But the thing is, you shouldn't have to be
an IT professional to get those kind of results. The computer is a tool.
It should help you get a job done, without requiring you to spend time
tuning it and keeping it stable. On his computer, for example, Windows
XP Pro often ran out of space for virtual memory (on a 4 GB HD it had
all to itself!). So he decided to move it to his 20 GB. But unlike a
Mac, he couldn't just drag the OS over, he had to reinstall. Later, the
20 GB got corrupted. Reinstall again. He has become a pro at installing
MS OS's, that's for sure.
> Bundled apps aren't worth the price you pay for
> them...I never use them and always rely on
> professional choice apps.
Again, for a pro user, that's great. But for a consumer with limited
cash, iTunes and iMovie do the job well.
> I suggest that you use an
> uninstaller if you want to remove applications from
> any OS!
But even that isn't always an option in Windows. For example, Microsoft
has sworn in court that if you remove the web browser they bundle, your
computer will cease to function! On a Mac, I can replace the default
Internet Explorer with whatever I choose, and completely remove it from
my system. Sidenote: Corrupt preferences, in Mac OS X, can only cause a
problem if you are actually running the app they are related to.
> Granted, I can't run OS 8 to X (snip)
Exactly. I need to run a current version of both OS's, consistently and
quickly. And, as a bonus, I can run Unix apps too. All without ever
needing to restart. MS simply cannot match the flexibility.
> Hmmm, well, considering that Photoshop's interface and
> operating environment are exactly the same on Mac and
> Wintel, you shouldn't have too much of a need to drop
> to the OS level! If you don't like the environment,
> then you always have Window Blinds and you can put up
> an Aqua motif if you want!
The commands are in basically the same place on both OS's. But the OS's
are still different. In Windows, the menubar is at the top of each
window, instead of the top of the screen, making it easy to overshoot.
It is easy to miss maximize and hit close. And don't even get me started
on how counter-intuitive it is to press the START button to turn the
computer off! But none of that is the point. This is: When I am expected
to create attractive documents, it is nice to have an attractive
environment to work in. And no amount of scheming can fix the general
ugliness of Windows.
sj
http://homepage.mac.com/stevehj
-- Read the List FAQ/Etiquette: http://www.newtontalk.net/faq.html Read the Newton FAQ: http://www.guns-media.com/mirrors/newton/faq/ This is the NewtonTalk mailing list - http://www.newtontalk.net
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : Wed Jul 03 2002 - 14:01:56 EDT