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Wall Street Journal: Mac vs. PC

Posted by pudge on from the no-such-thing-as-too-many-pundits dept.

cpk0 writes "Walt Mossberg is taking a few days to discuss the differences between Mac and PCs, and which is suitable for whom. He begins by saying the tides have definitely turned in regards to Apple's state as a computer which he will recommend. This is the first in a miniature series of articles by Mossberg touching base on the Apple vs. PC situation (but don't worry, it's not at all about bashing one side)."

6 of 142 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Few remaining issues before I switch... by Dephex+Twin · · Score: 4, Informative
    How easy is it to remap keys in Mac OS X?
    ...
    I'm not looking for any huge modifications, but I will not buy a laptop if I cannot have the caps lock button act as control...

    I'm not sure about full keyboard re-mapping, but for your caps lock woes, there's uControl.

    Hope that helps!
    mark
    --

    If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. -- Carl Sagan
  2. Re:Few remaining issues before I switch... by TTop · · Score: 3, Informative

    The iBook comes with a 1 year warranty, the $249 simply extends the warranty to 3 years. You'll think that's a good deal if your LCD ever breaks. A side benefit of the extended warranty is that you also get free support for that 3 year period.

    It's also worth noting that if you don't get the 3 year warranty, any time within the first year you can choose to pay the $249 to extend the warranty the additional two years.

  3. Re:Hardware compliant, software future by cpeterso · · Score: 5, Informative

    MS hired the Mach MicroKernel developers to create WinNT way back in the day. These guys are excellent and experienced OS developers and they still work at Microsoft.

    This is not true. Yes, Mach's Rick Rashid works at Microsoft. However, he did NOT write anything for NT; he is the head of Microsoft Research. Microsoft hired Dave Cutler to write NT. Cutler worked at DEC and wrote DEC's VAX/VMS, RSX-11M and VAXELN operating systems. NT more resembles Cutler's canceled "Mira" operating system project at DEC than it does Mach. In fact, Cutler left DEC because his Mira project was canceled. He took his ideas and team of engineers to Microsoft.

    WindowsXP/2K may be the only non-*nix desktop OS, one can assume that it has a *nix basis, since the core team of developers do

    This is also not true. Dave Cutler hated Unix.

    --
    cpeterso
  4. Re:a vote for Mac by 90XDoubleSide · · Score: 3, Informative

    Mac OS X requires Darwin. Darwin does not require Mac OS X. Darwin is completely independent and can be run alone on PPC and x86 machines.

    --
    "Reality is just a convenient measure of complexity" -Alvy Ray Smith
  5. Re:Utter crap by dalamcd · · Score: 2, Informative
    ... and who send you attachments packaged as sit files!

    Er, excuse me, but Stuffit Expander is available for Mac, PC and Linux for free, and it's all you need to unstuff _any_ .sit file.

    dalamcd

    P.S. No, stuffit.com is not a porn site...

    --
    moer liek CELtroid prime!!@1!
  6. Keymapper App by ablair · · Score: 2, Informative

    It's not yet easy to manually remap keys in OSX, (many do with XDarwin) but you can do it by text-editing the appropriate xmodmap file you're using (Warning: the DMCA may seriously repercussions if you live in the US and try to do this... check out the scary disclaimer on this how-to for remapping keys with XDarwin!!) This really should be something user-changeable in the System Prefs itself, under "Keyboard" and hopefully will be in Jaguar or not too long after.

    In OSX, you could manually re-map the modmap file for the appropriate keymap you want to change out of the list of keymaps in the /System/Library/Keyboards/ directory (pick yours, though I think there are even more now with 10.1.5):

    /System/Library/Keyboards
    /System/Library/Keyboards/ACE.keyboard
    /System/Library/Keyboards/ACE_102.keyboard
    /System/Library/Keyboards/Apple.keyboard
    /System/Library/Keyboards/AppleAdjJIS.keyboard
    /System/Library/Keyboards/AppleExt.keyboard
    /System/Library/Keyboards/AppleII.keyboard
    /System/Library/Keyboards/AppleISO.keyboard
    /System/Library/Keyboards/AppleISOExt.keyboard
    /System/Library/Keyboards/AppleJIS.keyboard
    /System/Library/Keyboards/Belge.keymapping
    /System/Library/Keyboards/Canadian-CSA.keymapping
    /System/Library/Keyboards/Canadian-ISO.keymapping
    /System/Library/Keyboards/Canadien.keymapping
    /System/Library/Keyboards/Dansk.keymapping
    /System/Library/Keyboards/Deutsch.keymapping
    /System/Library/Keyboards/Espanol.keymapping
    /System/Library/Keyboards/Francais.keymapping
    /System/Library/Keyboards/HIL.keyboard
    /System/Library/Keyboards/HIL_ITF_JAPANESE.keyboa rd
    /System/Library/Keyboards/HIL_JIS.keyboard
    /System/Library/Keyboards/HP_MiniDIN_JIS.keyboard
    /System/Library/Keyboards/Italiano.keymapping
    /System/Library/Keyboards/Japanese.keymapping
    /System/Library/Keyboards/LatinoAmericano.keymapp ing
    /System/Library/Keyboards/MSN.keyboard
    /System/Library/Keyboards/Netherlands.keymapping
    /System/Library/Keyboards/NeXT.keyboard
    /System/Library/Keyboards/Norsk.keymapping
    /System/Library/Keyboards/OADG_A01.keyboard
    /System/Library/Keyboards/OADG_AX.keyboard
    /System/Library/Keyboards/OADG_J3100.keyboard
    /System/Library/Keyboards/Portugues.keymapping
    /System/Library/Keyboards/Schweizer.keymapping
    /System/Library/Keyboards/Suisse.keymapping
    /System/Library/Keyboards/Svenska.keymapping
    /System/Library/Keyboards/TYPE5.keyboard
    /System/Library/Keyboards/TYPE5_Compact.keyboard
    /System/Library/Keyboards/TYPE5_Compact_JAPANESE. keyboard
    /System/Library/Keyboards/TYPE5_Compact_UNIX.keyb oard
    /System/Library/Keyboards/TYPE5_JAPANESE.keyboard
    /System/Library/Keyboards/TYPE5_PC.keyboard
    /System/Library/Keyboards/TYPE5_TUV_EUROPEAN.keyb oard
    /System/Library/Keyboards/UK.keymapping
    /System/Library/Keyboards/USA.keymapping
    /Volumes/Mac/System/Library/Keyboards
    /Volumes/Mac/System/Library/Keyboards/ACE.keyboar d
    /Volumes/Mac/System/Library/Keyboards/ACE_102.key board
    /Volumes/Mac/System/Library/Keyboards/Apple.keybo ard
    /Volumes/Mac/System/Library/Keyboards/AppleAdjJIS . eyboard
    /Volumes/Mac/System/Library/Keyboards/AppleExt.ke yboard
    /Volumes/Mac/System/Library/Keyboards/AppleII.key board
    /Volumes/Mac/System/Library/Keyboards/AppleISO.ke yboard
    /Volumes/Mac/System/Library/Keyboards/AppleISOExt . eyboard
    /Volumes/Mac/System/Library/Keyboards/AppleJIS.ke yboard
    /Volumes/Mac/System/Library/Keyboards/Belge.keyma pping
    /Volumes/Mac/System/Library/Keyboards/Canadian-CS A.keymapping
    /Volumes/Mac/System/Library/Keyboards/Canadian-IS O.keymapping
    /Volumes/Mac/System/Library/Keyboards/Canadien.ke ymapping
    /Volumes/Mac/System/Library/Keyboards/Dansk.keyma pping
    /Volumes/Mac/System/Library/Keyboards/Deutsch.key mapping
    /Volumes/Mac/System/Library/Keyboards/Espanol.key mapping
    /Volumes/Mac/System/Library/Keyboards/Francais.ke ymapping
    /Volumes/Mac/System/Library/Keyboards/HIL.keyboar d
    /Volumes/Mac/System/Library/Keyboards/HIL_ITF_JAP ANESE.keyboard
    /Volumes/Mac/System/Library/Keyboards/HIL_JIS.key board
    /Volumes/Mac/System/Library/Keyboards/HP_MiniDIN_ JIS.keyboard
    /Volumes/Mac/System/Library/Keyboards/Italiano.ke ymapping
    /Volumes/Mac/System/Library/Keyboards/Japanese.ke ymapping
    /Volumes/Mac/System/Library/Keyboards/LatinoAmeri cano.keymapping
    /Volumes/Mac/System/Library/Keyboards/MSN.keyboar d
    /Volumes/Mac/System/Library/Keyboards/Netherlands . eymapping
    /Volumes/Mac/System/Library/Keyboards/NeXT.keyboa rd
    /Volumes/Mac/System/Library/Keyboards/Norsk.keyma pping
    /Volumes/Mac/System/Library/Keyboards/OADG_A01.ke yboard
    /Volumes/Mac/System/Library/Keyboards/OADG_AX.key board
    /Volumes/Mac/System/Library/Keyboards/OADG_J3100. keyboard
    /Volumes/Mac/System/Library/Keyboards/Portugues.k eymapping
    /Volumes/Mac/System/Library/Keyboards/Schweizer.k eymapping
    /Volumes/Mac/System/Library/Keyboards/Suisse.keym apping
    /Volumes/Mac/System/Library/Keyboards/Svenska.key mapping
    /Volumes/Mac/System/Library/Keyboards/TYPE5.keybo ard
    /Volumes/Mac/System/Library/Keyboards/TYPE5_Compa ct.keyboard
    /Volumes/Mac/System/Library/Keyboards/TYPE5_Compa ct_JAPANESE.keyboard
    /Volumes/Mac/System/Library/Keyboards/TYPE5_Compa ct_UNIX.keyboard
    /Volumes/Mac/System/Library/Keyboards/TYPE5_JAPAN ESE.keyboard
    /Volumes/Mac/System/Library/Keyboards/TYPE5_PC.ke yboard
    /Volumes/Mac/System/Library/Keyboards/TYPE5_TUV_E UROPEAN.keyboard
    /Volumes/Mac/System/Library/Keyboards/UK.keymappi ng
    /Volumes/Mac/System/Library/Keyboards/USA.keymapp ing

    But of course, there's will soon be an easier way if you don't want to muck about. Michael Baltak's GPL'd DoubleCommand Deluxe, under development and hopefully to be released soon should offer a good amount of flexibility in custom keymapping for free. Or, to kill the bug with a sledgehammer you could get a macro utility like Quickeys from CE Software and map the Caps Lock key to trigger a one-key "shortcut" of your choosing (ie: map it to another key)

    I wouldn't worry too much about paying to upgrade the OS to Jaguar, Apple so far has been fairly good about this sort of stuff. You could also wait a few months until Jaguar comes out and you might not need a keymapping utility at all, if you can bear to wait.