On Jun 17, 2011, at 10:48 AM, Jonas Ulrich wrote: > Am I the only one realizing that your "new Winbox for $300-$400 running Win7 > with modern multi-core cpus", will be running like crap after a few months?
Uhh, yes, because, no they don't run like crap after a few months. I use them daily. I help oversee an installed base of several hundred...there are issues, yes, people get fake antiviruses, yes, you have to be more proactive with antivirus and antimalware solutions yes, you have to avoid Norton's like the gorram plague, yes (but you have to do that on Macs, too). > Whereas your mac, no matter how old, will be running great. For the average > computer user, they don't NEED a new PC, and the old Mac will work out > better for them in the long run. Go to Youtube, play a random video. Go to Hulu, find out 'OOpsie, they don't work'. Go to Netflix (which accounts for something like 70% of all net traffic in the US in the evenings) and you find Oops, it doesn't work with non-intel Macs. No, the average user will NOT be served by an old G4 Mac over a modern windows system. A modern Mac system beats Win7 all hollow (which is one reason why Apple's selling the things like hotcakes), but not an old G4. Your mom's eMachine didn't need to be replaced, it needed to be cleaned up. I'll wager there were eleventy-seven little icons in her task bar (remember the system extension dance in OS 9??? Same thing) and her web browser likely has eight toolbars installed by other random setups, but you know what? NONE of this is actually *WIndows* fault, but the fault of lazy third-parties. (And big names like ^#%@$ Adobe are the worst...they automagically install crap when you update entirely unrelated shit like the Yahoo Toolbar and some notrons or mcaffee crap that doesn't actually do anything.) Once you teach folks how to notice the little checkboxes to uncheck in installs, and teach them a little awareness of avoiding problems on the Web (and I've managed to do this with some seriously non-techie people) they get along pretty well. Great Dog in the sky, I can NOT believe I'm actually defending Windows here, but frankly people have to accept (especially if they're selling these system to naive people who expect them to 'just work') that G4 systems and PPC Macs in general are obsolete, and given a choice of running OS X on an obsolete system and Windows on a newer one, people are better served by the Windows solution. People get new computers eventually, and if their experience with the Mac is: "Well, I never had viruses, but a whole bunch of stuff didn't work well, and <this program> and <that program> weren't available. I'm not getting a new Mac!" You're not doing the world a favor. Yes, you have to spend more time working ON your computer with Windows, but look through the archives of the list: How many times has someone come in and complained about 'I can't play youtube videos on my G4!' If you want to make money converting folks to the Mac, offer your services as a 'Mac Switcher consultant'. Help them move their stuff from their old pc's to the new Mac. Show them how to set up Google Mail in Mail. Show them how to use the new mac; teach them where to find the things they knew how to do in Windows. Teach them useful tricks (like what Keychain Access is good for: looking up stored passwords, securely saving lists of online passwords, credit card numbers and the like in Keychain Notes), Help them find equivalents for programs they used under Windows that aren't there for the Mac. Because THEN you've created a Mac convert, and they'll tell their friends and relatives, and you're the one that helped. (Quick what's the best, easiest cheapest replacement for MS Paint, which comes for free with every Windows system and is the graphics program used by 90% of all Windows users. Hint: Graphics Converter ain't it. Paintbrush is MUCH closer <http://paintbrush.sourceforge.net/>, as I've been assured by the several ex-Windows people who have asked me for that solution...) The problem here, of course, is that you need to: Be able to teach technical stuff to non-technical people. Be deeply knowledgeable about BOTH platforms. -- Bruce Johnson "Wherever you go, there you are" B. Banzai, PhD -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
