<QUOTE> As I was writing to someone else this weekend, while the strategy that Apple adopted of making their own hardware to go with their software means you pay more for the package (due to lack of competition), you do not get any of these wonderful problems as they control every piece of your system: hardware, bios, firmware, drivers and operating system. </QUOTE>
Ah, yes. Very much agreed. Price premium vendors with closed standards = a guaranteed experience. For years, computer companies thrived on this model and the products produced were usually of VERY high standard (think of systems from DEC and Apollo in the early years to Sun and Silicon Graphics later). The problem is that low prices, even at the cost of functionality and durability, seem to trump all in the consumer market. Price-based competition is now so prevalent that it's gotten extremely difficult to identify good quality computer or networking equipment. Price alone is not an indicator of quality, and clear engineering specifications are often lacking. Example: Ever try to find a REALLY good quality Gigabit Ethernet switch? Good luck... Peter K1PGV _______________________________________________ FlexRadio Systems Mailing List FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexradio_flex-radio.biz Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/flexradio%40flex-radio.biz/ Knowledge Base: http://kc.flex-radio.com/ Homepage: http://www.flex-radio.com/
