Hen, I read with great interest. I don't know about 90% of what you are saying, but it is very interesting and I for one want you to let us know what you are finding.
Personally I don't like a thing about the Windows world, possibly it has more to do with the way Gates has attained his position, but still I should not hide my head and fail to learn from those who use these machines. Many thanks, John Robinson > From: Henri Yandell <bayard at generationjava.com> > Reply-To: macgroup at erdos.math.louisville.edu > Date: Mon, 30 Dec 2002 10:22:29 -0500 (EST) > To: <macgroup at erdos.math.louisville.edu> > Subject: MacGroup: Reasons not to Switch back > > > Until told to shut-up, I'll continue to post reasons I come accross as to > why OS X is better than XP [and will occasionally comment on Linux]. > > I've mentioned the wireless networking before, where XP SP 1 is requiring > me to upgrade the router [hopefully, Lee pointed this out but I've not > tried yet]. I spent some of the weekend getting wireless going in Linux > [SuSE 8.0]. As with a lot of Linux things it required some expert > knowledge and time spent with the 'hood' off the computer [ie lots of > command line stuff] while I followed instructions I'd gleaned online. > However it did work, not perfectly yet but it worked. > > So, 1 cookie point to Apple for the power of their 25 dollar more > expensive Airport cards. As a sidenote, I put the Dell Orinoco wireless > card in the Apple. It recognised it, but I could see no obvious way in > which to configure it. > > Next cookie point up for grabs. Network locations. OS X is wonderful in > that I can just tell the OS that I'm now at work and it switches my > preferences. XP Pro, no idea. I can see no way to do this and have to > reconfigure my network card when I switch from home [Workgroup, Static IP] > to work [Domain, DHCP]. This is a big pain, so 1 cookie point to OS X. > I imagine in Linux I could happily grab a script or program from some > site, compile it up, alias it and bind it into a .profile or alias, but it > would require effort to find it. > > Next to test: > > Windows Neighbourhood. This is a bit unfair as it is a solid part of the > Windows world, but it's like reading a .doc file. Every OS has to do it. > OS X fails me here as I have to enter a cryptic line of text to access a > Windows share. Windows obviously does fine at this [though issues between > 98 and 2K have always caused pain]. Linux has LinNeighbourhood, but it's > not something I've ever got to work. OS X does attempt to do it with a > tree-widget for the computers on your share, but it fails to find anything > on my simple windows workgroup setup. > > OS X -1 [does anyone know of a Neighbourhood program for OS X?] > Linux [-1 depending on whether LinNeighbourhood works] > Windows - > > > OS X 1 > XP Pro 0 > SuSE 0 [-1] > > > Hardware. This is really Dell vs Apple, but I thought I'd comment. > > The mousepad on the Powerbook is of a far better quality than the mousepad > on the Dell Inspiron. Yeah there's a difference in price between the two > machines, but I think all dell's have the same touchpad(?). The problem is > that the dell one is already filling up with dust and other general crap. > After a year the Apple is still fine > > CD-ROM. The Dell CD-Rom is in a plugin module. While this is nothign > special, the powerbook cd-rom has always seemed very dodgy. It whines a > lot, and I don't think I can eject it manually if something is stuck. > > Screen. The powerbook's screen picks up oil from the keyboard. I've not > noticed this on the Dell yet. > > USB. Only one USB on the Dell. And one PS/2. I guess this matches the 2 > USBs on the Apple [no firewire! :(] but it feels as though I'm missing a > PS/2 and a USB instead. I do get two pcmcia [as opposed to 1], a > microphone socket and parallel and serial ports. The infra-red on the Dell > is on the side, which I'd suspect is a much better place than the back of > a laptop for things like a mobile phone, but worse when trying to connect > to a colleagues machine. > > As expected, Apple's hardware is just nicer. > > [hopefully I'm not boring too many people] > > Hen > > > > | The next meeting of the Louisville Computer Society will > | be January 28. The LCS Web page is <http://www.kymac.org>. > | The next meeting of the Louisville Computer Society will | be January 28. The LCS Web page is <http://www.kymac.org>.
