[ElDiabloConCaca]

I think some of the issues taken here have to do with the mention of the presence of Macintosh computers in a networked environment where an Access/JET database is being shared, and the implication that somehow the Macs themselves are a potential cause of database corruption.

That implication and assumption is just flat-out wrong. The Macs themselves have nothing to do with potential corruption -- any computer on the network is just as likely to cause corruption as a Mac is... it doesn't matter what operating system is running. A Linux computer (or even another Windows computer) is just as likely to cause problems as a Mac is. The comment about that assumption being "racist" is spot-on in my opinion, and the article demonstrates an unfounded and incorrect bias towards Mac computers -- which I believe stems from lack of knowledge about Macintosh computers, not some real-world observation.

It's the same as saying that there is a rumor going around that a 12-year-old girl robbed a convenience store at gunpoint somewhere, sometime, and so we should never allow 12-year-old girls into convenience stores anymore. While that may (or may not) have occurred, it does not imply nor does it warrant a blanket statement that all 12-year-old girls have the potential to rob convenience stores. It demonstrates an unjust bias toward them, and causes people to be wary of the inclusion of 12-year-old girls in their convenience stores.

Replace "12-year-old girl" with "Macintosh" and "convenience store" with "network" and that last paragraph sounds eerily similar to some of the statements made in the article.

Ignorance of a platform is no reason for an unjust bias. Without real information and many examples of a Mac causing network troubles for Access/JET clients, the scientific method dictates that the statements referencing Macs on a network should never have been made. If those statements were simply speculation, then it should have been mentioned that there is no real data to back up the statement and that the statements about Macs causing database troubles were all conjecture.

Conjecture is hardly a platform on which to base an article about database stability and "good practice" rules, especially from someone who purports to be an expert on the subject. It only perpetrates more bias and is largely unhelpful -- I can see a situation where many people out there who read the blog post are now scrambling to unnecessarily remove any trace of Macintosh computer for their network out of fear that they're somehow doing something devious to their networked environment.

I fear that even given unlimited space in which to blog that this point would not be lost in translation -- I do feel that the author would have taken more lines, words and paragraphs to perpetrate the myth about "large graphic files" and Macs, and that limited space is not the reason that this statement could be misconstrued. I do believe the author intended to convey the point that Macs are a potential cause of network congestion and database corruption, no matter how much literary space they had to work within.

I worked in the graphic design industry for the better part of 10 years, and while "graphics" and "Mac" went together like peanut butter and jelly in 1995, during my time spent in that industry, I saw a heavy swing toward more platform-independent desktop publishing. I saw the proliferation of Macs in the industry dwindle, and by the time I left the industry, Macs made up no more of the desktop publishing tools than Windows computers, and, dare I say, even started to become a minority. Today, with my continuing ties to that industry, I can wholeheartedly and honestly say that Windows computers now completely dominate the industry (although Macs are still used and will continue to be used), partly due to popular desktop publishing software being largely produced for multiple platforms (e.g., Adobe Creative Suite, QuarkXPress, Creator, Suitcase, etc.) and is, feature-for-feature, indistinguishable regardless of platform.

I am zeroing-in on this point simply because this is a Macintosh-centric forum, and that is our main area of expertise.