🚀 go-pugleaf

cirby@gate.net (Chad Irby) writes:

>Issa El-Hazin (issa@cwis.unomaha.edu) wrote:
>
>Now- here's something interesting...

>: |  Issa El-Hazin  (issa@unomaha.edu)     ||  Phone: (402) 554-3483     |
>: |  University of Nebraska at Omaha       ||    Fax: (402) 554-2722     |
>: |  Education and Technology Coordinator  ||     issa@unomaha.edu       |

>Let me guess.  you're a long-time PC user and fanatic, and you've been 
>reduced to dealing with us lowly Macintosh users.  Now you're upset, so 
>you have to go out on the Internet and complain about Apple in the hopes 
>that a big part of your job will be eliminated.

>Or are you one of those empire-builders who wants more PCs in your 
>department so you can hire a lot more support staff than you can 
>currently justify?

Don't make this into a personal childish thing, but FYI, you're wrong 
on both counts. I've been a Mac (and a PC) user for a long time. To 
elaborate on this, I have a PM 7500/100 as well as another older Mac. 
I also manage two big Macintosh networks, 3 HiTech/MM classrooms based 
on Macs (each room has a VCR, Laser Disc Player, a large screen Barco 
projector, HiVi stereo and speakers, video and still digital cameras, 
and a color scanner), a good sized Macintosh Lab (with 30 PowerMacs +
5 68k Macs) with lots of toys, and a Mac Authoring Lab. (I setup most 
of the this myself.) Also, a little over a year ago, I used to consult, 
train, support, and teach various things that related to the Mac.

My Mac users (~ 2/5 of my total users, which are mostly Ph.D.'s) think 
that I'm giving them the best thing since the wheel invention (that's 
one reason, I guess, I was awarded employee of the month a couple of 
months back.)

In short, what I'm trying to get to (before you come back with something 
like: I must be incompetent with Macs) that I do know my way around the 
Mac's OS and its' SW/HW. With all that said, I will still tell you that 
a well configured Mac sucks compared to a well configured PC. It's my 
personal and technical opinion that I live by. I can do [almost] 
everything better,faster, and cheeper with my PC [loaded P5-100] than 
I can with the best Mac. I lived through this many times to believe 
otherwise.
 
I wouldn't mind keeping what I said about the Mac to my self as long as 
Mac users will do the same. By the way, it's no secret, I [think] I do 
dislike Mac's (mostly due to its' brain washed/dead users--but that is 
another story.) With all honesty, I think Apple should be patted on the 
back for what they have done so far, but I think it's time for Apple to 
re-consider its' future market; at least so that it will give its' loyal 
users a chance at life. Other than competition, I don't think there is 
need for Apple anymore--Apple can specialize in something not as broad 
as they are doing now (with MS/Intel, 10% of the market, and GUI OSes 
out there from everybody, Apple has little chance.) IMHO, Apple has to 
reinvent itself, and it has to keep on doing that every so many years 
to stay alive. An "okey" GUI is not enough anymore.

What I dislike more is when we get some Mac consultant to teach our Mac 
users about the latest and greatest the Mac has to offer and they start 
with knocking the "DOS" world for half an hour (just the same way they
see it in Mac rags.) What sucks more is finding that this is the mentality 
of most Mac users. After talking with the so called consultants, I usually 
find them to be not just ignorant in the PC world, but also in the Mac 
world (they know how to use a program or two, but that's about it. No 
hardware, software, or other basic computer knowledge.) Can you say, "the
blind leading the blind."

Another main concern for me, is economics. We are running on ~1/2 a budget 
by supporting Macs and PCes (2 copies of the same programs, 2 networks, 2 
kind of support and training, 2 authoring labs, etc.) It would be much more 
cost effective by standardizing on one platform. PCes being the standard
and allowing us to do whatever we need, get my pick. I believe, at least,
90% of all Mac users will be better off by going with a PC. Not that I love 
MS or Intel, but that's life. Apple could've been the one, but it didn't. 
If IBM (or somebody else) didn't save their a** a couple of years ago, they 
would've been in much more trouble today. Now, Apple is starting to go 
through the same thing as it did a couple of years ago. Who's going to save 
their a** this time? Why live with this; end your pain. Oh, I forgot. You 
thingies think you're the choosen ones and the PC side is the dark side/force. 
You must fight it at any cost. Grow up a little and stop annoying us. You 
want to use Macs, then go to a Mac group and let us live in peace here. 
When I need to read about Apple and its' Mac (which I do), I know where to 
find the appropriate groups. One last thing, do you want the same thing
that happened in the home electronic market to happen in the computer
industry? If so, then support Apple and watch your hard earned cash
go to Japan--If you catch my drift.

Regards,

Issa


(P.S., My boss agrees with me that we should start replacing our dying
Mac's with PCes. Right now, it's a matter of coming up with a plan 
on how to do this. So, any tips from out there are most welcomed.)


>-- 
>Chad Irby           /    My greatest fear: that future generations will,
>cirby@gate.net     /      for some reason, refer to me as an "optimist."
--
 ====================================================================== 
|  Issa El-Hazin  (issa@unomaha.edu)     ||  Phone: (402) 554-3483     |
|  University of Nebraska at Omaha       ||    Fax: (402) 554-2722     |
|  Education and Technology Coordinator  ||     issa@unomaha.edu       |