At 1:32 PM -0700 9/12/02, George Mogiljansky wrote: >Really, Eric, computers are meant to be compatible - >else where's the reason for computing (with apologies >to Shakespeare or similar)
Get a clue, George. The drivers are made by the companies that are interested in selling the peripherals to the people that have a computer, not by the computer manufacturer. It has generally been true on Apple's side, and on the Windows side. Don't complain to Apple if the peripherals aren't keeping up. The reality is that OS X Unix underpinning and other things means that a Mac automatically sees a lot of peripherals that require drivers in Windows. I require a driver to see my Zip drive, but not in my Macs. I require a driver to see my camera, but not in my Macs. It's like the woman said on the switch ad, Who wants to spend Xmas afternoon searching for drivers. I plugged in my camera and it was good to go. I saved Xmas. A lot of us lost out when peripheral connections moved from serial/parallel/SCSI to firewire and ATA and USB. And that is a harder thing to do than rewrite a driver, you have to buy new equipment or buy expensive little doohickey convertors. But guess what? They are better standards, and the industry is better off for it. I lost one of my last SCSI peripherals just a year or so ago, when I unplugged it accidentally while the power was on. I can plug and unplug FW/USB stuff all day long without ever losing it. I backed up 5 gigs with Retrospect to a SCSI drive, not thinking recently. Guess how long it took? it was a perfect backup, but it took 4 days! (I had my iBook to cover; after I noticed how long it was taking I just wanted to see how long it would go). I can back up 5 gigs to a firewire in a small fraction of the time. And SCSI is a whole lot faster than the old windows standards for data transfer (before ATA; of course UltraWide SCSI still beats ATA doesn't it?). I lost my Apple II stuff when I switched to Mac. If I was a Windows user, I would have had to upgrade a half dozen more times in the last 16 years than I did. My Apple II outperformed IBM PC's on DOS, my SE30 outperformed most Windows machines until I had to upgrade it to get some of the Java stuff and streaming media that was beginning in 96, and my beige G3 is still better than my Windows machine I bought for more money 4 years later. -- G-List is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- We have Apple Refurbished Monitors in stock! | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> G-List list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml> Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/g-list%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Macintosh? Get free email and more at Applelinks! <http://www.applelinks.com>
