BTW, Macs are Awesome.

[thorfinn]

Oh hi. I forgot to mention. Macs are awesome. Your next computer should be a Mac, assuming you just want a computer where you can do general average day to day stuff and Get Things Done.

If you want to do a specific weird thing (yes, hardcore computer game nerds, that mostly does mean you), then alright, you have special needs, and probably need more thought than just buying a Mac will necessarily get you. You already have the mad skillz needed to go do that. This message isn't for you.

However, for everyone else, if you just want to get connected to the internet, do email, browse the web, maybe do some word processing, download pictures off your digital camera, maybe upload some pictures to the interweb, even have automated hourly backups done for you... then absolutely just get a Mac already.

Oh, and if you're a unix tech-head, you really want a Mac too. Just think, a real Unix OS with a consumer grade UI on top.

See: http://morganjaffit.livejournal.com/34058.html

He says it better than I do.

Comments

[ltempt.livejournal.com]

Heh. The only thing that bugs me about the Mac is the Apple fan culture - it feels like 90% of Mac users feel the need to browbeat everyone into joining the cult.

I have an couple of iMacs, but I wouldn't consider them a panacea. They're a great general purpose desktop, but the problems start crawling in too often.

Need to connect to a Contivity VPN? Bwa, ha, not likely without some very serious expenditure. Apple's Java seems deliberately crippled and broken, and this is a killer when you need certain Java applications to be functional to get work done. The X implementation is less than stellar. The platform cuts you out of a lot of cheap USB toys (TV tuners, USB audio, blah) that would irritate some. The terminal is wierd and requires a lot of configuration to behave in a manner similar to an xterm (and still doesn't support some xterm features).

Still, it makes a great general purpose desktop. It makes an even better generic "home" desktop, and most of the annoyances I have with MacOS stem from being a UNIX bigot rather than someone looking for general desktop. But that's okay; I have a Sun desktop and my Sunray thin clients - I use the Mac for most things and Solaris for anything UNIX-themed.

[thorfinn]

*nod* Like I said, "special needs". As soon as you want to do something not-very-common, yes, you're going to have issues. But also, you totally should know what you want instead, in that space... and you do. :-)

And yes, the fan culture is a bit nutty - some of it is "recovery shock", I think. Coming out of the Win32 world into Macland, for most users, is a bit like taking painkillers for the first time when you've got a serious chronic pain issue. The relief is so startling, they feel the need to beat everyone else into doing it.

[ltempt.livejournal.com]

It's the iPhone crowd that really niggles away at me. They seem to walk around with the iPhone always in hand, in front of them, and waving around. They seem to wave them around non-stop, pausing only to talk about the wonders of Steve Jobs. I mean, I've had people pull out the iPhone in the middle of meetings and start waving it around and they completely lose track of what everyone else is saying and come in at the end with "But .. I've got an iPhone!". Followed by pulling out a cloth and polishing the screen intently for a minute and then waving it around some more.

One of our salescritters bought the stupid thing and he'll actually shut down in mid sentence to wave the iPhone around.

I'm wondering if there is a correlation between lack of multitasking on the iPhone and a lack of multitasking in iPhone users. Certainly they don't seem to be able to own an iPhone and interact with society at the same time.

[thorfinn]

*chucklesnort*

I fully intend to get one at some point, but not as a penis extension. :-)

[ltempt.livejournal.com]

As a penis extension, they'd probably bit a little too pointy on the edge and oddly shaped.

Oh, you meant .. nevermind.

I'm not sure I get what all the fuss is about. But I'm a member of the Nokia E71 club.

[whitebird.livejournal.com]

I got the iPhone 3G when it came out, and really, I couldn't be happier. I don't wave it about as was described, because, well, phones are rude in meetings. I might pull it out to add a calendar event or something, but I'd do the same with my Palm.

It's just a pleasant little device and it mostly does 90% of what I had my Palm do, and way more than 100% of what my previous cellphone did. And the camera in it isn't all that great, but it's a lot better than my previous cellphone camera, so I stopped bringing my little Optio point and shoot around wherever I go.