From: TW.FY4@isumvs.iastate.edu (Timothy I Miller)
Subject: Re: Macintosh bigots
Organization: Iowa State University, Ames IA
Distribution: usa
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 17:24:07 GMT

In article <BxJ22p.K4I@news.cso.uiuc.edu>,
rvenkate@ux4.cso.uiuc.edu (Ravikuma Venkateswar) writes:
>
>Just look at the title. I mean, I don't know - are their computers _so_
>superior to IBMs? Are they _so_ user friendly that an IBM user would be
>able to use the "intuitive" interface instantly, never to go back to a
>command prompt or the "inferior hacks" represented by OS/2 2.0 and
>Windows? Is it so much easier to program than the "inferior hacks"? Is it
>really that much faster? Are Macintoshes the future of computing? NOT!!
>

     Well, a lot of people say that their Mac's are better because
of the interface (of course, they always compare it to the DOS
comand line interface).  I think that when OS/2 is compared to the
Mac OS(system 7), OS/2 clearly wins out due to the powerful
multitasking ability.
     One of the things that many people like about
the Mac is it's built-in multimedia.  They like the little whistles
and spring noises, etc.  It makes the computer a little more fun to
use.  This is one of the reason's it's being included in the Windows
line, and will probably be included in OS/2 soon.  The problem is
that the IBM sound chip (by TI, isn't it?) isn't all that capable,
and niether is the PC speaker.  Actually, from what I've heard, the
MM features in the Mac were originally just a hack, but they were
pretty popular, so they improved them.

>
>The Macintosh OS is more user-friendly.
>- have you ever tried getting help on _anything_?
>

     As I mentioned before, compared to a CLI, it's pretty user
friendly to the uninitiated.

>The Macintosh GUI can do anything that a command-line interface can, so
>you don't need one.
>- have you ever tried writing a script file?
>

     I agree, a CLI is always nice to fall back on (when you know
what to do).

>
>You really know when you're dealing with a hard-core bigot when they start
>complaining about the 3D buttons. Face it, kids - Apple is sitting pretty,
>not because they make good computers (which they might or might not - it's
>not the argument here) - it's because of the enormous number of bigots out
>there. Eventually, though, they can't win. With cables costing more than
>$50 vs. $5, with top-of-the-line computers having more than a 50% price
>difference, what corporate customer is going to stick after a few years.
>Considering when Windows NT and OS/2 x.0 come out on the Macintosh, and
>(maybe) people start using them, they'll find out what they've been missing.
>

     Apple's computers are not actually that bad, depending on which
ones you look at and what you want to do.  Although they claim to
bring 'new technology' (no relation to MS :-) ) to the marketplace,
the Motorola processors have been just keeping pace with the Intel
processors (I'm sure many people out there will argue with me.  Feel
free, since I don't know a lot about them).
     They are pretty easy to learn to use, and they have gained a
substantial market share.  Some of the 'bigots' you are compaining
about are probably people who don't actually like to use computers
(the Mac's so easy to use!  Just point at the neat little icon and
click the button, and everything is done for you!) or people who
don't want to learn to use a computer (including a little knowledge
about how they work).  The rest are probably bigots.
     Of course, there are also many problems with them, price being
one of them.  If you were to buy a Mac and an IBM compat, and spend
the same amount of money on both of them, you could get a lot more
computer for the money (or a lot more peripherals) if you chose the
IBM compatible.  And, you could have the same abilities as a Mac
(multimedia, GUI,etc.).
     Another major advantage of the IBM compatible is the
applications base.  This has been slowly changing for a long time,
though.  Many major vendors sell Mac versions of their software.
This advantage will soon be moot.

Just my opinion.  I hope others will join in (I like to discuss the
differences in Macs and IBMs).

Timothy  Miller