Analogy

Yesterday at work someone was attempting to use one of our G5s to view video files. First they couldn't get the optical drive door open (no biggie), then they complained about not knowing how minimize a window (to which I responded, there are only 3 buttons, try one of them), and after that she just didn't like Macs. What really griped me about this comment is the fact that she made zero effort to TRY and expected things to work on their own. I don't get it. But this made me think about how to explain how a Mac works and why you should use one. Here it is:

A Mac is like the metric system and a PC is like the old standard measuring system. The metric system is much easier to use, it's more accurate, and you can figure out manipulations pretty easily. The standard system works but it's cumbersome, prone to error, and difficult to manipulate. Using the standard system you might have to measure twice. Both will get the job done but one is more logically based, easier to use, and more efficient. It's science :)

New Old Studio LCD Display

My old CRT Apple Studio Display that I picked up at a university auction 3 years ago finally gave up the ghost last week so I've been in the market for a new monitor. I guess I got my $10 out of it. I really didn't want to fork over a lot of cash for a new monitor and I was seriously considering a used 17" Apple Studio LCD. I was talking to the computer repair guys about my monitor situation and they informed me that the university shop might have some new old stock LCDs like the one I was looking at. After a quick chat with the manager he pulled one from their stock room and presented it to me. "$100", he said. The price floored me. I was amazed that I could purchase a monitor that originally retailed for $599.99 in 2004 for $100. He offered me a 22" for $350 but I had to pass. I don't know why, but for some reason I've always been fascinated with new old stock items. I finally got my chance to unbox a piece of my own. I forgot to upload the pictures last night but I will later. So far I love it!

Think about this....

Pictured above is the machine that Tim Berners-Lee wrote the first browser, World Wide Web. So if it weren't for Steve Jobs leaving Apple and forming Next Computer we wouldn't have the internet. Well, not really but kind of. It's not like the Next was the only computer out there.

None of this on that

None of This on any of that, OK? I was thinking today that there are linux distributions that run on Mac hardware. Then I thought, that's dumb! Why would you buy a Mac and then put Linux on it? You buy a Mac for the package deal, not just the hardware, especially since the hardware costs a fortune! It just doesn't seem right to me. I guess to each his own but it's definitely not my cup of tea. Stupid thought I know but it's something I wanted to post. I guess I don't have much of a rationale for it, just how I feel. Oh no, feelings! This blog is making me all mushy and stuff.

Jumping Ship

As expected, a lot of people are jumping from the Microsoft ship after the Vista debacle was unleashed. The issues don't seem to be bugs or problems, most people are used to those by now, but price. No one wants to pay big bucks for an OS and the hardware requirements make buying new computers pricey. Read this from the French

Everyone thought that there would be more Mac adopters after Vista but it seems people are going the freeware route. Given the main issue of people using Vista seems to be price and the cost premium of Macs it doesn't seem surprising. Their loss, I guess.

I Heart OS X

So I've been playing around a lot with Linux lately, and I do mean a lot. Ubuntu, Mandriva, Freespire, gOS, Xubuntu, Dream Linux, Fedora. The list goes on. A lot of these had some good stuff about them but I came to one conclusion, I love OS X. There's only one and there's a reason I love it. It works, very well. Yay OS X

Vista Bad...Mac Good

Well it's been a while but that doesn't mean I'm short on things to say. Much to my chagrin Windows has been taking up a good bit of my time lately. While visiting my in-laws for the holidays a power outage occurred while their computer was transferring files. It made Windows go bye bye. I tried to reinstall Windows on one of the drives but it wouldn't boot from the CD. I couldn't figure out how to access the bios so I decided to try it on the other drive. That just sent me in a vicious circle of partitioning, formatting, and copy the install files. Windows would just go through the motions and reboot, landing right back in the install. For the life of me I couldn't get it into the graphical phase of installing Windows. Eventually I figured out how to get into the bios, although that was pretty freakin difficult trying to figure out what I needed to set as everything was in Spanish. I eventually I got it. On my return I set to work on the old THinkPad that I thought I fried. My magic hands revived it but the random reboots persisted. I cracked open an old laptop I had on hand and took out the cooling fans to try and replace the ThinkPad's. That was a bitch to do. Then the fan didn't even work. So I put in the original fan, still have the random reboot problem. I even tried running it with 3 different power supplies. It seems to run fine off the battery, all 30 minutes of it's remaining life, so it must be power related. But what? HMMM. I even ordered a new processor for it. I got myself a Pentium III special on ebay for cheap. I'll go from 300 mhz to 600 mhz. Talk about power!
Then my brother calls. Even though I told him to get a Mac he bought a Dell box with Vista. He couldn't install his new game, apparently he didn't have admin rights, even though he did. So then he bought another game. That gives him a memory dump error when he tries to run it. I swear. I told him it's just a Vista problem. He didn't like that. I explained that Vista is like an autistic child, let it alone in the corner to do it's thing and it's fine. Try and alter it or make changes and it will freak out! At least one of my brothers listened to me and bought a Mac.