🚀 go-pugleaf

Matt Slot (fprefect@umich.edu) wrote:
: Several observations:
Buy an AMiga, it easier!
:   * These benchmarks are so funny when you realize that the x86 architecture
:     is over 15 years old, and that the P5 (and P6) have to bend over 
:     backwards to maintain compatibility. Their hopes of building a fresh
:     architecture using VLIW are vaporous, and their heavy P5 marketing was 
:     spoiled by their floating point fiasco/coverup a few months ago.
:     The 601 family has been established for years, and its course has been
:     firmly plotted up to the 620 -- while P5 users are still trying to 
:     wring their CPUs for more speed. Yes PowerMacs run 68k code under 
:     emulation (P5 does x86 in microcode), but the new DR emulator beats
:     any 68k-based Mac hands down. Within a year, the transition to the
:     strict PPC environment will be complete (in terms of MacOS, Toolbox,
:     and major apps)... pausing only to optimize their compilers for each
:     CPU. Meanwhile, P5 users will be spanning 3 generations (x86, P5, P6)
:     of processors (well, 2 if you drop x86) and planning how to deal with
:     the P7 at some point in the hazy future.
:   
:   * For the most part, the software and usability of each platform is the
:     same. Most users use a subset of the computer's functionality (word
:     processing, image manipulation, DTP, number-crunching, etc), they don't
:     run more than their dedicated app, some commications software, and an
:     occasional game. With this in mind, ease of use is most important for new
:     users, and power tools + shortcuts are important for experience users.
:     The standard argument against the Mac has been its lack of power tools,
:     which is just wrong: I argue that my custom software configuration has
:     as many cool shortcuts and macros as the local PC-whiz. However, ease of
:     use and compatibility has always been the difficulty for newbies 
:     on the PC platform... whereas the Mac provides a nice consistent interface
:     and tool set, as well as plug-and-play compatibility. For expert users,
:     each machine is about equal, but otherwise the advantage is Mac.

:   * Running MS Word and Excel side by side on each platform is not an
:     accurate comparison of platform speed. Both products suffer an extra
:     level of emulation on the Mac in order to use a common code base (which
:     I am sure has been tweaked for WinTel). In fact, Word has lost its 
:     marked dominance of the Mac word-processing market due to this fact --
:     products like WordPerfect, etc, are ready to step up with similar
:     features. I mean, its like not MS has nothing to gain by weighting these
:     products differently -- any office manager who sees the product run
:     on the 2 platforms will be swayed to go Win. Hell, if I had an installed
:     base of 40+ secretaries, and committed thousands to Word already, it
:     would be difficult to justify switching to a new product for the office
:     than just biting the bullet and going strictly WinTel.
:     
:   * Apple is notorious for sporadic marketing, which is too bad considering
:     the flood of uninformed PC users touting their outdated "Mac limitations".
:     Its unfortunate that the world thinks Win95 is a computing revolution, 
:     when the most that many users will find is a prettier (more Mac-like)
:     interface. Its the guts of the system that are holding back the computer...
:     hell, Apple has had most of the Win95 changes since its System 7.0. And
:     Copland is going to beat the NT update, providing more functionality and
:     appearance improvments. God I hate these "well, its coming in the next
:     system", but listening to so much Win95 hype in the last year has rubbed
:     off.
:     
:   * Apple has also been flamed for the high prices of their products, due
:     to the lack of licensing and clones, as well as installed base. Its hard
:     to come out from being the underdog (esp considering the lack of
:     marketing). However, I think that by holding the reins so tightly, Apple
:     has sheltered its users from the brunt of incompatiblity (both good and
:     bad) and has had the opportunity to make significant improvements to the
:     architecture without seriously undermining their developers' work.
:     On the down side, bottom-line customers have found it difficult to justify 
:     the extra money for a Mac because they haven't had to tweak config files
:     or hardware switches yet. I think the current and future Mac clones should
:     serve to lessen the gap between platform, as well as the adoption of PCI
:     to the price of peripherals.

:   * My final stab at the Mac is the lack of alternate OSs, since PC users 
:     enjoy (in the loosest sense :) working on many different versions and
:     flavors of DOS, Windoze, OS/2, Linux, etc. I seriously hope that the 
:     CHRP helps to bring some of that variety to the platform. 

: I am a strict Mac-user (save when I need to interact with PC-users), but its
: not because of any strict superiority in one direction or another. I find the
: Mac a straightforward, honest, and downright powerful computer -- it does the
: work I want it to do.