Confessions of a quasi-computer geek(This page is a rant and rave. Every now and again, you've just gotta vent. Ignore it if you'd like to.) |
|
|
|
I'm one of those sort of people that you show me how to do something once, I can do it again. This really annoys my wife... my friends... my co-workers... I am a very compentent end-user of computer software and operating systems. Prior to working for "The Man" (a.k.a. the Government) I had to learn how to work with many Operating Systems and software packages (i.e. Windows 3.1, 95, Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Ami /Word Pro, Lotus 1-2-3, and WordPerfect) to make a living. My current position requires me to work on Windows NT 4.0, WordPerfect, MS Word, Quattro Pro, MS Excel, Presentations, PowerPoint, Access, and a bit of UNIX thrown in to make things a bit interesting. With all this Windows and PC experience, you would think that my choice for personal computing would be something from the world of Intel or Windows technology. But I don't. I'm an avid Apple Macintosh user. I could use a PC, but I don't due to the security holes you could drive a Mack truck through (found out this is due to Microsoft leaving a "customization" macro program [Visual Basic Access or VBA] and problems with rampant virus proliferation (Melissa, Satan, Good Times, Join the Crew, etc.). Add to this all of the IT (Information Technology) support you will need over the life of the computer and you could put yourself into cerebral and finacial overload!! A great example is the agency I work. It uses not one, but two technical contractors [one each for software and hardware] to administer our computer system. I don't know the exact costs we incure, but it ain't cheap. When you compare features, prices, software and everything, I'd be stupid not to go with a Macintosh. I know, I know all the PC mavens (a.k.a. PC-weenies) are all rolling their eyes saying, "But why don't I use a real computer?". My answer is: I do. |
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
If you sit down and do the math, you may come to the same conclusion, too. Here's what a basic Macintosh system comes with:
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
To quote a magazine from just a few years ago (I think it was Byte Magazine), "To see the tomorrow's computer, look at today's Macintosh." Try doing this with a Wintel box. Hell, even PC writer John Dvorak writes in his column that he runs into major glitches from time to time. And if he's an expert and running into problems, what's the lay person supposed to be doing? Paying mega bucks for tech support or service? I don't think so. Buying a Mac in terms of more bang for your buck, ease of use and adapability/upgrades, it's a no-brainer. Even my parents, who were afraid to turn on their computer running Windows 95, can use a Mac. That's why I helped to get them one. Technology shouldn't make your life harder, it's all about making things simpler. Don't even get me started on the Y2K bug. All Macs are at least Y3K compliant (actually, I think the Mac OS 7.0 and higher is set to go up to 28,000 AD, but 3K is a lowball estimate). To quote the late, and great, Douglas Adams ("Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy") "Apples may not be perfect, but at least we knew the century was going to end." and "It's 11:59 p.m. December 31, 1999. In about two minutes you are going to wish that you had bought a Macintosh." Last time I checked, Macs still led the market in web servers, publishing, graphics and education. If someone ever plans on working in the desktop publishing, publishing or graphics field, that person had better know their way around the MacOS. PCs are good if you want to follow exact parameters and think only in the limits of what's there (a.k.a. thinking within a box mentality). Macs are good for stretching what you know or think that you can do, like coloring outside the lines (a.k.a. tthinking-outside-the-box mentality or Business Process Reengineering to use corporate-speak) And if you've been on a job interview recently, thinking-outside-the-box mentality was a highly sought after trait in terms of life, employment and promotion potential. The best analogy I've recently heard for choosing any computer is deciding whether you want a hobby or an appliance. With hobbies, you spend significant hobby-time, energy, and money in tweaking this, troubleshooting that, setting up configurations, and so forth. With an appliance, you just plug it in and it works. Thankfully, the Mac is one of the few appliances that I consider a friend rather than a tool. ... but that's my little quirk ... |
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
At one point, even Best Buy and Circuit City tried to sell them. They didn't really do well, but at least they tried. I used to work for Best Buy and I know exactly why they didn't sell for them as well as CompUSA...training. CompUSA has cross-trained their sales staff to be able to sell Macs and PCs, Best Buy did what they do best, mediocrity. If you were selling gold bricks for $1.00 a pound, but couldn't convince people that what they really had was gold, no one would buy from you. Click here for a web page that really emphasizes how bad Best Buy can really be, I should know, I've seen this sort of stuff happen. But, that's another story for another time... And now, iMacs have moved away from the multiple and/or ugly colors and are getting faster clock speeds and larger hard-drives. I've been trying to talk the wife into letting me get one, but I sense that she is weakening... *UPDATE 12/06/99* ...She gave up. We have a new iMac. And contrary to common belief, we didn't get one that was lime colored, instead we went for blueberry. It rocks! And I can't get her off of it so that I can play with it. *UPDATE 10/16/03* I still can't get her off of it. She's really into iChat (or Instant Messaging), and IRC (Internet Relay Chat) and talks with tons of people on multiple issues from around the country and world. Why me? And now the iMac comes in this really cool looking space-age table lamp set up. Very small, compact, and can kick some serious butt with a 1.25 gigahertz G4 processor available on the top end model. The base model iMac is 1GHz. Actually, Apple's speed ranges from a 12-inch iBook at 800 megahertz (this is twice as fast a my current computer --- waaahh!!) up to a dual 2GHz processor. According to the comparisons the 1.6GHZ G5 was definitely faster than the 3GHZ Pentium 4 and the Dual 3.06GHz Xeon based PCs. :-D
But sometimes, life isn't fair. My wife's office just bought her a new 1.6GHz G5 with a DVD burner. And I'm stuck using a Dell POS. This royally sucks!!! Here are some of my favorite Mac-related links:
The Iconfactory (Mac icons that don't suck) Enough said. |
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
In case you're curious, I currently use:
and my wife just got a new 15-inch loaded Powerbook (Feb. 2004)
I finally got rid of my 75 mhz Performa. Didn't really need it anymore. Scary thing is, it still worked. The software, monitor, modem, everything. I bought the thing in 1996 and it still had a lifetime service warranty on it (thanks to a lawsuit from a few years ago).
|
