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Wall Street Journal: Mac vs. PC
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)."
From Mr. Mossberg's WSJ article:
:)
It's easier today than ever to use a Mac in a Windows world and to share information. This is true partly because the Internet and e-mail don't distinguish between computing platforms.
Oh boy, does Microsoft hate statements like this
Healthcare article at Kuro5hin
Yep!
I have serveral clients with too much money on their hands that have wanted a fileserver for home - Usually I take an older ATX box of theirs, put it in a decent case with a good and quite powersupply (Antec/PC Power And Cooling) and replace the processor fan. Plop in FreeBSD, Samba and hide it in the closet.
Last week, we used an IMac for filserving and as a novelty - the machine sits in the den, where the kids can play DVDs and listen to MP3, and the Samba filserver keeps on ticking. It's the first time that I've felt confortable having little kids play games with on a computer that, at the same time, is serving files. So far, there have been no lockups or crashes.
There are several benefits that I like with this situation - the customer gets a fun toy to play with, the "fileserver" is quiet and can nativly RSync it's precious files back to my servers for an offsite backup, and best of all - I get a reliable computer thats good for my reputation.
Really, the fullfilment of dream for an easy to use Unix has snuck up on us in the form of a Luxo Jr. lamp.
Moneyed corporations, non-working 'poor' and criminal prisoners are turning productive citizens into tax-slaves.
I am not trying to flame you, but did you bother to read the article before you posted? All of those points are covered by the author in more or less detail and it really doesn't seem like you've bothered to read the article before you posted. I am truly sorry if I am wrong in that judgment. I use and support both macs and PC's everyday at work and I found the article to be spot on. Of your objections, the only one that is really valid is the one about gaming. Many of the best selling games *do* come out for PC's first. Some are released for both platforms at the same time but the balance are indeed released for PC's first. Cost is on par, except in the low-low end. Office for OS X is on par with Office XP an as for development environments go, what are you asking for? Windows APIs? Other than that you've got just as powerful tools for software development on the Mac as you do on a PC.
In this case, I firmly believe that the scales are pretty evenly balanced overall and each platform has its pluses and minuses. Now, that is exactly what the author of the article expressed in his piece. If you disagree, you should be pointing out what, in his article, is factually wrong rather than making a blanket statement about "the only rational choice..." That's more rhetoric and rather trollish of you (something you claimed to be avoiding at the outset of your post.)
just my thoughts, -inco
It should alo be pointed out that with Mac OS X you get the development tools for free, which is a terrific thing for the younger, more cash-strapped generation of developers just coming into the market.
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
I could very easily have been the LAN admin in Apple's brilliant marketing campaign. I'm still considering writing in, if nothing else to thank them.
:G:
I just love plugging in a piece of hardware and having it work the first time. Bring home some new hardware, connect it all up, pop in software, and everything works the first time. I have equal horror stories from the PC support that I did for many years of having to wrestle with hardware and drivers that just didn't work or weren't compatible with other pieces of hardware. Oh, The Pain, The Pain!!
Apple has embraced unix which, last time I checked, leaves M$ Windows as the only non-unix home computer OS. To me, that makes me even more skittish of learning anything Windows related. I can't help but think that it would be a skill that won't transfer nicely to other computer platforms. In fact, I'm even starting for forget some PC-specific skills.
The old M$/Mac war has never been an issue for me. I won't argue with people for more than 5 minutes. I just grin and say "I'm an IT person. I have several computers at home and at work. I prefer Mac over Windows." They're usual the ones who press the issue. At which point I just smile and ask them why they're being so defensive?
Why do I never get a fortune in my fortune cookies?
As I mentioned on MacSlash.
While the WSJ author made a point of criticizing Mac interaction with corporate VPNs, he failed to mention that Macs are quite often easier to integrate into Windows networks than PCs running Windows are.
If for network interface card configuration issues alone, the Mac shines in this area, and it deserves praise for this.
I'm not entirely sure about the keymaps, but even if you buy an iBook now, it comes with coupons that will get you a free OS upgrade when its available. As well, be aware that you have up to a year after you buy the machine to decide if you want the extended warranty. In my experience, the standard 1 yr has been more than enough (the only problems I ever had with any Mac happened within that 1st year).
Perl - $Just @when->$you ${thought} s/yn/tax/ &couldn\'t %get $worse;
I've always liked Mossberg's even keel when it came
to Mac/'doze comparisons. If it works, he'll say so,
if it doesn't he's not gonna sugarcoat it. Back before
the return of Jobs, he faily accurately sized up the
trouble with Apple and called them on it. He's shown
the same attitude toward Microsoft.
No ass kissing, just what he thinks works. A refreshing
change from yesterday's Dvorak drivel.
Mod me down and I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine...
How easy is it to remap keys in Mac OS X?
I don't mean to sound like I'm trying to evade or rework your question, but if this concern is in regards to using the control key vs. the Apple/command key, I would really encourage you to give the Apple approach a shot. I have worked on both Windows and Macs and find the Mac convention of using the Apple (or command) key to be preferable and I've known Windows users who have grown to prefer it as well for the simple reason that it's less physical space to stretch your fingers and that the Apple key is closer to the natural resting place of your hands on the keyboard. Even if you don't find those to be a compelling enough reasons, it's very easy to become adept at both (I switch between the conventions of both platforms easily at this point.)
Having said that, I'm sure there are utilities or hacks out there to do it. Either way, I wouldn't let such a trivial matter stand in the way.
--Rick
--Rick "If it isn't broken, take it apart and find out why."
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.
Not this old hokum again. Computers are a tool, people. They exist to solve problems and help us with our jobs. Comparing Macs to PCs is pointless and trollish. What you need to do is ask what task you need solved.
For "old hokum" it seems that the article is making EXACTLY the same point as you are.
For instance, my mom needed a computer that she could use to check her email and maybe do a little web browsing. The iMac is perfect for her.
Sounds just like one of the conclusions of the author.
I need something that will let me run a quality office suite, a standard development environment and all the latest games but not cost me an arm and a leg. The only rational choice for any of those things is a PC running Windows XP.
Hmm, The ONLY rational choice for ANY of these things? Microsoft Office isn't the quality office suite you are looking for? ProjectBuilder & Interface Builder that come with the package aren't exactly standard I guess, you could always get CodeWarrior. And the BSD environment, GCC 3, Java 2 etc. etc. etc. seem pretty standard.
As for "an arm and a leg" I'll grant that Macs tend to sell at a premium but when you are considering the actual specs in detail they are not that much higher, and in some cases are actually lower than comperable PeeCee's.
There are many games available but for the hardcore gamer a PeeCee is still the way to go.
A computer is a tool and this particular tool may not meet your particular needs but of the four needs you mentioned you seem to be mistaken about the Macs ability to meet three of them. It is common misconceptions like yours which prompted the author to write this "old hokum".
The upgrade fee won't likely be in excess of $30(I paid $19.95 for the 10.1 upgrade CD which included the Dev Tools and 9.2.2 also, when I originally only ha the 10.0.3 CD).
Just for the record, I picked up a free 10.1 upgrade CD at the Apple Store in my home town, then downloaded the developer's tools from the Apple web site. Zero cost to go from 10.0.4 to 10.1.
Apple may or may not do something similar with Jaguar, but it's safe to say that they've set a precedent.
It doesn't make sense for businesses to "switch to Mac" as long as there is a hardware monopoly....
The same thing could be said of any non-PC computer vendor. And yet, lots and lots of businesses use Suns and IBMs, to name two. Who makes an AS/400 besides IBM? As far as I know, no one. Does this stop businesses from buying and using them? Of course not.
Businesses have no problem whatsoever signing up for proprietary systems or solutions, as long as those solutions make good financial sense. If it's cheaper to run Macs on the desktop, they'll run Macs. Hardware "monopoly" be damned.
As an aside, I'm getting pretty tired of the widespread misuse of the word "monopoly" by the Slashdot community. It's not really a monopoly, in the strictest sense of the word, when only Apple can make Apple computers. Only Volkswagen can make the Beetle; that's not really a monopoly. You guys may wish that every product or service could be decentralized, but that's just now how the world works.
Mac OS X isn't Free Software (aka Open Source). Period. There is no halfway free or kind of free. So please don't spread around such a misconception.
My point? An Apple user buying a PC is not necesarily an abrogation of the Mac. It just means that today he needed something that only PCs provide.
Macs ditched all need for floppies with their new systems. If you've got a bootable partion on just about any media Open Firmware can boot it. Floppies are so 1980s man, get with the go.
I'm a loner Dottie, a Rebel.
There's no question that Apple is the sole provider of Macintosh computers, and that only Macs run Mac software. But let's stop using the word "monopoly" to describe that situation. Call it a single-vendor product, or something. There's a huge difference, in the qualitative sense, between only having one vendor for Macintoshes and living in a neighborhood where AT&T is your only choice for cable television. One of those is a monopoly, and one really isn't.
If your anology was completely apt, we would be living in a world where switching from a VW Beetle to a Ford Focus would require a new garage, different gasoline, and a new kind of steering wheel
New Garage? I have my G3 and PC sitting on the same desk ...
Different Gas? I plug my G3 and my PC into the same power strip ...
New Steering Wheel? Well, the PC does have a two button mouse ...
If you get a different car, everything else works pretty much the same.
Until you need replacement parts ...
Steve M
Darwin is part of Mac OS X.
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
Does Mr. Mossberg point out the dramatic speed difference between the GUI of Windows 2000 and Mac OS X? He should, if he really wants to write an impartial article.
Does jchristopher have a reference beyond the vagueness of "OS X, even on the G4 iMac, still lags."? He should, if he really wants to write an impartial post.
My experience with my G3/500 iBook has been greatly improved since the release of 10.1.5. So, if this was meant as an attempt to be insightful to the lagginess of the GUI, then let's be fair. Set up a Win2K machine that pushes all of the GUI through a PDF rendering level using software based rendering. Since you're moving the processing from the GPU to the CPU, and you're comparing to the new iMac, this theoretical Win2K machine can only utilize a P4/1GHz (I'm feeling generous). Compare this machine with a normal Win2K machine, a new iMac with = 10.1.4, and a new iMac with 10.1.5.
Oh, one other thing, both Win2K machines are required to move the GUI out of kernel-space (what's it in there for anyway? That's just begging for a user-space program to crash the whole system).
ALL HAIL BRAK!!!
So... other than x86, please list at least 23 other platforms that Microsoft Windows XP runs on. BSD, the heart of Mac OS X runs on at least: PPC, 68K, x86, Alpha, Sparc, MIPS, ARM, ia64 The software wrutten for Mac OSX could be written to take advantage of any GUI while still maintaining standard interfaces to the rest of the OS. In fact, only two options need to be accoutned for... Quartz, and X. If your program had all it's GUI stuff in one set of files you could easily port it fr om one platform to the other (Mac Quartz, to and BSD Xwindows system) Darwin is the open source BSD operating system at the core of Mac OS X. All of the BSD kernel and libraries are available for anyone to look at and modify. How many lines of code in Microsoft Windows XP are open source or even avalable to look at by outside developers? So much for you proprietary arguement. In the PC world, good things are included, bad elimindated.... Which is why instead of adopting FireWire, Intel, Compaq and others developed USB2. Which is why Wintels still have parallel ports and floppy drives. Which is why most standard Wintel systems still have CDRW or DRD-R drives as options. Which is why multiple monitor support didn't appear until Microsoft Windows 98, and still only supports two monitors? Which is why no major PC manufacturer installs 1000 bast T networking standard. All of these things are good. All of these things and have no, little, or poor support on Wintel platforms from the manufacturers. The one example you site ifor the Mac is moot. You don't use the pin-hole to eject a CD. You use the eject command in the GUI, or the eject button on the keyboard. The pinhole is only there for emergencies, just like on Wintel.
Article X: The powers not delegated... by the Constitution...are reserved...to the people
But you're getting too specific. If you want a soda, you can buy any number of brands. But if you want a Diet Coke with Lemon, you've got only one choice.
The thing is, you're drawing a distinction between "computer" and "Macintosh." While that distinction makes a lot of sense at the technical level, it's meaningless in economic terms. A Mac and a PC are different, but they can be considered to be equivalent from a certain point of view. At that level, a Mac is just a particular variety of personal computer, of which there are several varieties from several different vendors. So the term "monopoly" doesn't apply there.
"PeeCee"? Odd spelling
It's not that uncommon among mac users. I suppose it is to distinguish Mac's from Wintel machines (both of which are "PC's" - Personal Computers)
Anyway, once you compare specs, Macs cost a lot more. Especially when you consider such things as standard ports and floppy drives which come on almost all PC's,
I'm not sure what is non-standard about 10/100/1000 ethernet, firewire & USB. I'll grant the lack of legacy ports & it is a nuisance. Ironically the only loss I really regretted was the decidedly NON-standard ADB port because not having it meant I had to get a new Wacom tablet.
As for the "missing" floppy drive - I can honestly say I have never missed having a floppy drive. On my last mac that had one I think I used maybe twice a year (& even then I had other options). Do you even have ANYTHING small enough to fit on a floppy that you can't just email to the recipient? Or are you backing up your system on 10,000 floppies?
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!
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.
/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
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
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.
That's still ONE platform... x86. If you are using that reasoning, then Windows is a platform. How many companies make Windows? One.
How many compnaies make SGI or Sun computers?
All the people who think they have more choices because they build their own PC is missing one big point. You can only build one kind of computer, an "IBM clone" based on x86. Big selection of platforms.
-- if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic - Lewis Carrol
You said:
"Furthermore, 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."
To which, I say Ha!
Sorry, I've worked for MS and in fact, worked on Cairo (Back when Cairo was going to be a next gen OS to replace NT, it has since been used to describe all kinds of things that weren't really Cairo, after Cairo was cancelled.)
Let me just say, without violating NDAs, that NT will never effectively compete with OS X for certain, and will probably have a tough time going against Linux.
I've had my hands on the code in question. It doesn't matter how many bright people MS hires (nevermind the fact that there will always be more brighter people who don't work for them, who are more likely to work on Linux) but the process and priorities MS uses in developing its code.
Quality isn't even in the top 5 priorities. They say otherwise, but everyone who works there knows its just talk, and how the process is broken.
Yeah, and you guys panned the ipod too: http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/10/23
The only argument that Open Source and Free Software are not synonymous is that they have different definitions. The Free Software definition is a concise statement of four principles. The Open Source definition is more of a legalese definition. But they mean the same thing.
First, we know that the term Free Software has existed for a long time before the term "Open Source" even existed. In fact, the "Open Source" movement was actually a rebranding of what was known then as Free Software. Stallman and the FSF disagreed that a new term was necessary and thats where the split began.
The Open Source definition, which I'm sure you would link me to otherwise, derived pretty much exactly from the Debian Free Software Guidelines. And the DFSG was based upon the social contract based on the Free Software Principles.
So when you say that a certain software package is Free Software but not Open Source, or vice-versa -- you're making a distinction that doesn't really exist since one is just another name for the other. Because both wordings are really just a name for a set of principles. If the definition doesn't meet the principle, then the definition changes or is reinterpreted--not the principle. Its a lot like the US Constitution in this regard. What matters is the spirit of Free Software and Open Source, not the definitions themselves.
Pig twottle.
:)
Free Software and Open Source may be two recent terms which were capitalized, but before Stallman and Raymond were running around shouting about their version of various software idealisms there was software with source code available, and this software... was called... OPEN SOURCE.
Get it?
The source is open. you can see it...
some software was also called free software... you see... it was free... yes, it meant that it cost nothing.
The relatively recent redefinitions of Free Software and Open Source are by their respective camps are simply an act of revisionist history making.
Oooh, big fancy sounding words
---
Live Long & Prosper \\//_
CYA STUX =`B^) 'da Captain,
Jedi & Last *-fytr
You're right; we're not understanding each other. "If you want to buy a Coke, you have to buy it from Coca-Cola. There is no competition for a Coke."
Lots of people make personal computers. They're all different in various ways, but they're all personal computers. They can all be used for the same functions, albeit people inevitably prefer one type of computer over another.
There is no monopoly in personal computers. Period.
Saying there's a monopoly on Macintoshes is just incorrect. If you think that's a correct statement, I'd suggest you clarify your understanding of what "monopoly" means.
I trust that we're getting through to each other now.
"Pig twottle."
Please, give me examples of people using "open source" before raymond began using it.
I agree. Mossberg is always good. His observations are useful. Other reporters just parrot the industry buzz. Mossberg tells you whether he things the stuff works.
Mossberg is what Jerry Pournelle SHOULD have been....
And, I agree, he seems to be the only person in the industry who can compare Macs and PCs dispassionately and accurately.
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!