I hate computers!

[Mr Pig]

Well, PCs anyway. I'm thinking of buying a Mac.

Norton? Yeah, it's great. So great that it's allowed a nice virus to start pulling my computer to bits and disable things left, right and centre. Clever one too, it won't let me run the programs etc that might kill it so I'm looking at formatting the thing here. Oh joy! :0(

But then isn't that just business as usual in the wonderful world of Windows? If you don't have a problem, you've just had one or are about to get one? Either that or you're devoting so much time to avoiding getting the problem that you'd waste less time if you just got it!

This laptop is only about a year old but I'm seriously thinking about waving it goodbye and getting a Mac. My son has an iMac, he's had it about three years, and he's never had a lick of bother with it. Thing just works. Isn't that what you want domestic appliances to do? If any other household product gave you as much greif as a PC does it would be totally unacepltable but for some weird reson we just shrug and take it. Hum ho, computer is compleatly f***** again. Not to worry, cancel the next week of my life so that I can fix it will you dear?

Have a nice day chimps :0)

 

[Abitrary]

The reason macs last so long is that they are unusable due to the lack of decent software. Most people who have a mac have it for pose value, and do anything constructive on a proper pc.

Only buy a mac if you're the type who buys armani specs and stops to check his reflection and smooth his eyebrows in shop windows.

 

[Carwash]

The 90s called, Ab - they want their computing stereotypes back.

 

[Mr Pig]

Most people who have a mac have it for pose value, and do anything constructive on a proper pc.

You do realise that the graphics industry runs on Macs?

And who cares? I want to do the same stuff as I did ten years ago. Send mail, surf the net and batter out a few documents. I just need a million times the computer power to do it now! Although no less grief I notice...

 

[Carwash]

You do realise that the graphics industry runs on Macs?

It's okay Mr Pig. He's just jealous 'cos his machine doesn't come with a proper terminal - or even a compiler. Who's got the 'proper' computer now, Windows-boy?!

;D

 

[alecstilleyedye]

what do you want it to do? buy an imac and you get ilife, which is itunes, imovie, idvd, iweb, iphoto and garageband. these allow you to manage your music, create movies, make dvds, make a website and create your own music.

it all just works. no viruses, no bios to set up, no need to call pc world when it breaks. i've used macs since 1990, and in that time i've come across two broken macs, and one of those was an 8 year old laptop. my first mac still works as well as the day i bought it (not that it can do anything useful these days), and is testament to the build quality of the mac.

think of a mac like a bmw, it costs more to buy, it doesn't come with a load of frivolous extras you don't need, and if you look after it, it will last for longer than you would think.

oh, and you can put windows or linux on it if you don't like the mac os…

that said, if all you want is something to surf the web, a cheapo pc from aldi, left alone, might be alright if you practice safe surfing…

 

[Abitrary]

You do realise that the graphics industry runs on Macs?

And also the music industry. Macs and the studio program 'logic' pretty much all the music you hear these days. The reason why is that macs are less likely to be cluttered with other software that doesn't exist in the first place, and are therefore more stable. One trick ponies.

Macs exist to give people like me a giggle - expensive kitsch cool rubiks cubes for people with too much money. I'll bet you'll never meet someone who doesn't work with audio / visual (for the reason I stated above) that uses a mac for anything else except browsing and posing.

 

[Carwash]

I'll bet you'll never meet someone who doesn't work with audio / visual (for the reason I stated above) that uses a mac for anything else except browsing and posing.

<raises hand> I write code.

Oh, and server admin.

 

[Abitrary]

<raises hand> I write code.

Knocking out a bit of python in an internet cafe whilst wearing thick trendy specs and a rollneck jumper to impress the girls isn't proper coding.

How portable is that?

 

[Carwash]

Knocking out a bit of python in an internet cafe whilst wearing thick trendy specs and a rollneck jumper to impress the girls isn't proper coding.

What know you of 'proper coding'?

How portable is that?

Python? Well, it's pretty portable actually, as an interpreted language. Runs on most platforms, and is extremely flexible. It has much to recommend it - although it could do a better job handling UTF-8. And it doesn't come installed by default on Windows - cf. Linux, OS X, BSD...

But I don't write Python. My specs are neither thick, nor trendy. I don't own a rollneck jumper. And the girls remain unimpressed.

 

[Abitrary]

Exactly. The portability of utf-8 and macs precludes them as useful development platforms.

Here is a typical lifecycle of a mac developer:

-couple of years on windows
-couple of years on linux
-try mac because it feels more like windows, yet with a similar ethos to linux, for a few months
-back to windows when some work needs to be done in a hurry

 

[Carwash]

Exactly. The portability of utf-8 and macs precludes them as useful development platforms.

What are you talking about? Everything uses UTF-8. It's tremendously portable.

 

[Abitrary]

I meant the inability of mac python to handle utf - 8. You said it!!! Anyhow, character encoding is too fascinating to talk about and I might get dizzy.

 

[Carwash]

I meant the inability of mac python to handle utf - 8. You said it!!!

No, Python in general. On all platforms. Although actually I hear the next release is going to sort it out once and for all.

I think you're just making stuff up Ab.

 

[Abitrary]

Hmm, I think I've just realised that this 'electric cafe' is some sort of geek sandbox to keep us away from the normals.