🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <29Mar1990@BLEKUL11.BITNET>, (Potti Karl) says:
>
>No , I'm not about to participate in the discussion which computer is better:
>mac or amiga.

Funny - you did a pretty good job of Amiga bashing; mostly  because  you
are horribly mis-informed.

Before I go further, my response honestly isn't going to bash anyone
(possibly except the previous poster)...  I use both Macs and Amigas
daily, and I happen to like them both.  Thus endeth my credentials.

>Let me start off by an example: we had to write a paper for a
>university project, and we always gathered at the place of an amiga user.
>The paper involved mixing graphics and text. ...  The Amiga user
>reverted to this: all text was typed in an editor !!!, every
>paragraph was typed on one continuous horizontal line. After that,
>the text was transported to a (very powerful) DTP program.
>Another Amiga user claimed he would use the same procedure for writing
>his thesis.

Please don't assume all Amiga users do this...  This person was really
being very ignorant about how to enter text.
His actions were silly enough to be compared to a Mac user typing an
entire paper directly into the Clipboard or Scrapbook.  He certainly
did have other, much better options.  By the way, it's a pretty poor
editor that keeps all text on one long line - there are plenty to
choose from that do better...   Public domain too.

>I think this example gives a pretty good idea of the mentality of an Amiga
>user: unprofessionalism. No PC or Mac user would ever think of using an
>editor for word processing.

Nope.  MANY MANY PC owners use KEDIT to enter their text.  I'm talking
professional writers here.  (example: One of my English prof's wrote
his articles in KEDIT.  We're talking Popular Science cover articles
here.)  Some writers don't like to be burdened with formatting the
text until the raw entry is complete.  It's simply  a matter of their
personal preference.

>O.K. except for the video display, the hardware concept of an Amiga is
>probably much more modern and efficient than that of a Mac. But Amiga
>users really seem to be fixed onto their hardware, while Mac users seem
>to be more concerned by a consistent software concept.
>A small example is the Clipboard Mechanism. This allows almost all software
>ever written on the mac, to behave as one large integrated system.

True.  The Clipboard concept on the Mac is a joy.  However, do not be
fooled into thinking the Amiga can't transfer files between applications,
because it most certainly can.  All text files, for example, are saved
in a standard IFF format and can be loaded into other applications
without problem.

>If you program the Mac, you have to obey very strickt rules on
>interfacing to the user.
>As a consequence , Mac programmers  will hardly ever 'hack' or program
>directly to the hardware.

This is simply not true at all.  Yes, MOST Mac programmers don't do
direct hardware calls, but it's not that hard to find a program that
does.

>Amiga programmers will say 'that's no fun'. What
>are we concerned about: fun or hardware independant software ?

Oh come on now.  I can easily prove you're off base here.  If an Amiga
programmer does an direct hardware call, the program either breaks under
newer WB versions or CPU upgrades, or won't multitask.  In the Amiga
world, such programs are just as common as Mac programs with hardware
calls  --  They're few and far-between.
By the way, how do I know which Mac software misbehaves?   I own
A-Max, the Mac emulator for Amiga, and it works beautifully...until
an application does a naughty hardware call.  Granted, this usually
only happens with games, but the same applies to Amiga software too.

>Well, I've never even seen a flicker fixer live, so I certainly don'tw
>know anybody who uses one. And I have no time for vapourware-talk.

Vaporware????   I assure you the flicker fixer most certainly does exist.
We have one here in an A2500 in PSU's video lab.  Nice picture too.

>Finally: Amiga users only seem to feel 'good' about their computer if
>they can put another computer down. Mac users don't have this urge,
>because they don't need to. Is it perhaps because Amiga users have a
>bit of an inferiority complex ?

All I have to say is if this is true, then why are you Amiga bashing
here?

>A lot of the money you pay for a Mac covers professional support by
>dealers.  Amigas are sold in super-markets.

Since when?   This is a blatent lie.   Amigas, just like Macs, are only
sold  by authorized Amiga Dealers  and  Service Centers.

>Sorry this document is very unstructured. I just typed what came to mind,
>and this IBM mainframe doesn't allow very extensive editing.

Aha - I think this is  the real point.  You get out of a  computer what
you put into it.  Your mainframe (just like ours) allows pretty decent
editing...IF YOU LEARN HOW TO  USE IT.

The Mac is great because it is easy to use.  It has a friendly interface
and is wonderful  for the introductory computer user who doesn't want
to learn many commands and type everything in.  I recommend Macs to folks
who need a friendly machine.  I use a Mac for most word processing
applications.

However, I find that the friendliness of the Mac gets in the way when I
want raw power.  I miss a CLI on the Mac for such things as unarcing,
terminal emulation, file maintenance,  raw text entry, etc.  This is why
I sometimes I'd like to "turn off" the GUI and get more into the guts of
the machine.

Every  computer has its advantages and disadvantages.  I see little need
for posts like  this that claim the Mac is the answer to all computer
needs - it isn't.  Neither is the Amiga, nor any PC, or the NeXT, or
ANY computer.   Ideally, we'd have access to many  computers and be
able to use whichever one suits specific needs best.  This is why I own
an Amiga and have A-Max ready for those applications which best befit
a Mac.

                                                            Kurt
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