> As for the comment about switching to Apple, I got a call over the weekend > from my daughter in college begging me to buy her a Dell to replace her > Macintosh. It seems that actually useful software such as statistical > analysis software, process design software, and all sorts of business > software is only available in the Microsoft world, not in the Mac world.
I have four Apple Mac's in my house and two Windows laptops (one running Windows 7 and the other running Windows XP). I also have Linux and Windows (various versions) running under Parallels on my mac computers. Actually, right now I am taking a break from writing a C# program under Windows 7 (64-bit) which is running on my MacBook Pro laptop under Parallels. Also, on this Mac and also on my iMac 24 desktop sitting over on my desk, I also run Mathworks MATLAB, and Mathematica, and R. For those who do not know, these are all considered the top or best of the bread for mathematics and statistics. R is statistics and graphics and is available for download, FREE, to use on Linux, Mac OSX, and Windows. In my work, mathematical analysis, along with solving non-linear systems of differential equations and also solving optimization problems (using MIP), is the norm at times. And every now and then I dirty my fingers in statistical analysis using R although I will use Mathematica or MATLAB first. There is no lack of mathematical tools available on the Mac and both MATLAB and Mathematica have very nicely priced student versions. As for process design I am not sure what kind of software that might be as a lot of different things can qualify under that name. But, my favorite UML design tool is called Enterprise Architect and it is available on Windows only. I have only used this application under Parallels on my Mac. Although I have windows laptops I have a tendency to use my Mac almost all the time. And, there may be all sorts of business software available under Windows but again you can run that on a Mac computer (if Intel that is). Caveat Lector -- My Mac computers are quite robust with memory, 8 GB each. I also run Parallels in a 4 GB memory partition and my Parallels virtual systems run lickity-split. No, I would not want to run Parallels on any Mac with less then 4 GB of RAM and I am not sure how it would run on the slower Macbooks, I have a fast Macbook Pro. 73, phil, K7PEH ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
