former mac user afraid
- Thread starter AlQuemist
- Start date
Natobasso
Tech-Bot 5000
Why can't we all just get along? 
Here's why I think these "discussions" become "arguments" that are so silly.
First, here's several definitions of "forum":
n. pl. fo·rums, also fo·ra (fôr, fr)
1. a. The public square or marketplace of an ancient Roman city that was the assembly place for judicial activity and public business.
b. A public meeting place for open discussion.
c. A medium of open discussion or voicing of ideas, such as a newspaper or a radio or television program.
2. A public meeting or presentation involving a discussion usually among experts and often including audience participation.
3. A court of law; a tribunal.
IN ALL THESE CASES the common thread is the free sharing of ideas with "moderation" being either/or a moderator (thank you for keeping the peace!) and/or by not letting personal feelings get in the way of beliefs. One of the hardest things for humans to do is to use our brains to work our issues in a forum while simultaneously ignoring our "fight or flight" response when our deeply held beliefs are challenged. We have only been "civilized" for a short part of our existence (10,000 years or so) and are still shedding our neanderthal reactions to issues.
The Mac/PC dilemma isn't an issue on a par with world hunger or peace in the middle east, people. But we all care about computersALL types computersand thats why we are here. If we didnt care we wouldnt post at all. This forum is for anyone who gives a rat's a** about computers and I welcome any and ALL opinions. Even if someone here reads this and thinks I am full of s**t.
Try to keep all this in mind before you think someone hates YOU because you like or dont like a Mac or PC. Its just their opinion, not a personal attack.
For the record, I think PCs suck mainly because the apps Microsoft writes for it are horribly out of date and so menu driven you have to go through 10 sub menus just to get to the darn caculator let alone do anything more complicated than that. Why do you think theres so much more money in fixing PCs than Macs? It seems like they are built to fail.
But thats just my opinion, take it or leave it, and I thank you in advance for being civilized to each other in this forum.
Here's why I think these "discussions" become "arguments" that are so silly.
First, here's several definitions of "forum":
n. pl. fo·rums, also fo·ra (fôr, fr)
1. a. The public square or marketplace of an ancient Roman city that was the assembly place for judicial activity and public business.
b. A public meeting place for open discussion.
c. A medium of open discussion or voicing of ideas, such as a newspaper or a radio or television program.
2. A public meeting or presentation involving a discussion usually among experts and often including audience participation.
3. A court of law; a tribunal.
IN ALL THESE CASES the common thread is the free sharing of ideas with "moderation" being either/or a moderator (thank you for keeping the peace!) and/or by not letting personal feelings get in the way of beliefs. One of the hardest things for humans to do is to use our brains to work our issues in a forum while simultaneously ignoring our "fight or flight" response when our deeply held beliefs are challenged. We have only been "civilized" for a short part of our existence (10,000 years or so) and are still shedding our neanderthal reactions to issues.
The Mac/PC dilemma isn't an issue on a par with world hunger or peace in the middle east, people. But we all care about computersALL types computersand thats why we are here. If we didnt care we wouldnt post at all. This forum is for anyone who gives a rat's a** about computers and I welcome any and ALL opinions. Even if someone here reads this and thinks I am full of s**t.
Try to keep all this in mind before you think someone hates YOU because you like or dont like a Mac or PC. Its just their opinion, not a personal attack.
For the record, I think PCs suck mainly because the apps Microsoft writes for it are horribly out of date and so menu driven you have to go through 10 sub menus just to get to the darn caculator let alone do anything more complicated than that. Why do you think theres so much more money in fixing PCs than Macs? It seems like they are built to fail.
But thats just my opinion, take it or leave it, and I thank you in advance for being civilized to each other in this forum.
MDLarson
Registered
Well, for those of you who wonder why AlQuemist stopped in when he's no longer a Mac user, maybe I can help explain. You see, I am a frequenter of SysOpt.com. The site is all about "system optimization," and is very build-your-own-PC oriented. The Mac doesn't get mentioned too much, except negatively.
My main reason for going there is quite simply to defend Macs. I'm sick of hearing the stupidity of Apple bashing and I enjoy correcting the bashers. (I suggest going over there and search for all threads I've been involved in.)
But I also go there because, as a Mac user, I feel it is important to be aware of the computer world in general. One thing I've noticed in particular is that there is as much strife over there as here, only the arguments are USB vs. Parallel, or Intel vs. AMD.
There's also a lot of intelligent folks over there that have explained why they don't do Macintosh, and that's cool with me.
My main reason for going there is quite simply to defend Macs. I'm sick of hearing the stupidity of Apple bashing and I enjoy correcting the bashers. (I suggest going over there and search for all threads I've been involved in.)
But I also go there because, as a Mac user, I feel it is important to be aware of the computer world in general. One thing I've noticed in particular is that there is as much strife over there as here, only the arguments are USB vs. Parallel, or Intel vs. AMD.
There's also a lot of intelligent folks over there that have explained why they don't do Macintosh, and that's cool with me.
Inline_guy
Dockboy
It might just be me, but I really didn't think this thread was that heated. But that is one of the things about communicating through a forum. It is hard to know how the person means what they say without the inflection in their voice. Add to the mix that some people come from different countries, and the potential for misunderstandings is pretty great.
Regardless, I was not heated writing my post, and I hope it did not come across that way.
Matthew
Regardless, I was not heated writing my post, and I hope it did not come across that way.
Matthew
I hope your friend that you are living with doesn't know that you spent money on a PC rather than paid your debts. I would have problems helping someone who spent money when they didn't truly need to.
I think this is why he got offended. It is a personal attack on the guy decision making process. While it may a valid curiosity, it does seem a bit antagonistic. It is unfortunate, the thread died, I was interested in the dialogue. I think "alchemisits" point was to...well...I'm not reall sure, but I was curious how he would respond. Maybe he was trying to point out that he could fell no pain at the loss of a particular OS. That the switch will work both ways, and it does.
I myself work (play) within both PC and MAC. I'm mostly on MAC because of the greater strength of it compared to my PC (Beige G4 533/768 RAM ~ Compaq Presario 266 mhtz 196 RAM) But let me get a big fast cheap PC and we'll see.
I also personally like the interface and stablitity of MAC OS 9.2.2 and OS 10.1.5 (little slow and clunky for decent productivity because of old 66mhtz bus on the Beige) on my MAC, but I've not had a chance to play with XP.
Anyway the point is, it's too bad the moderator had to step in and too bad that flow was halted, I WAS curious Alchemist's intentions and I think the other guy was egging him on/into his underlying intentions.
One final thing - "Al" said he had just lost his company due to non payment, with this in mind, who wouldn't be a little tender toward personal integrity questions. Especially in relation to a friendship and the inplication that he was lying/using his friend. I think those implications are coupled with a great deal of assumptions..ie: did he buy the computer/was it given to him/ it could've been his freinds computer/could've been his partner/he sold his house to pay his debts and maybe he's building his life back up. You see the many unknowns here? It could go on and on.
Oh well, yet another lesson for us all.
I think this is why he got offended. It is a personal attack on the guy decision making process. While it may a valid curiosity, it does seem a bit antagonistic. It is unfortunate, the thread died, I was interested in the dialogue. I think "alchemisits" point was to...well...I'm not reall sure, but I was curious how he would respond. Maybe he was trying to point out that he could fell no pain at the loss of a particular OS. That the switch will work both ways, and it does.
I myself work (play) within both PC and MAC. I'm mostly on MAC because of the greater strength of it compared to my PC (Beige G4 533/768 RAM ~ Compaq Presario 266 mhtz 196 RAM) But let me get a big fast cheap PC and we'll see.
I also personally like the interface and stablitity of MAC OS 9.2.2 and OS 10.1.5 (little slow and clunky for decent productivity because of old 66mhtz bus on the Beige) on my MAC, but I've not had a chance to play with XP.
Anyway the point is, it's too bad the moderator had to step in and too bad that flow was halted, I WAS curious Alchemist's intentions and I think the other guy was egging him on/into his underlying intentions.
One final thing - "Al" said he had just lost his company due to non payment, with this in mind, who wouldn't be a little tender toward personal integrity questions. Especially in relation to a friendship and the inplication that he was lying/using his friend. I think those implications are coupled with a great deal of assumptions..ie: did he buy the computer/was it given to him/ it could've been his freinds computer/could've been his partner/he sold his house to pay his debts and maybe he's building his life back up. You see the many unknowns here? It could go on and on.
Oh well, yet another lesson for us all.
Well, as far as switching, I gave my sister my old iMac loaded with OS X at Christmas time. Sure it runs relatively slow being a G3 233 but from her point of view it is great. All she needs if for is to download photos from her Coolpix camera, save them to a CD or send them to be printed to Ofoto or the like.
Without bashing the PC platform, let me just say some people get it and some don't. My sister sort of got the hang of her PC after seven years but kept calling me for help. I only got one call since. First to thank me and then to ask how to burn a CD. That took ten minutes. Other than that, everything just works and she loves it.
Without bashing the PC platform, let me just say some people get it and some don't. My sister sort of got the hang of her PC after seven years but kept calling me for help. I only got one call since. First to thank me and then to ask how to burn a CD. That took ten minutes. Other than that, everything just works and she loves it.
I make a strange assumption here: The Mac is simply the better solution for people who want actual work (or entertainment) done. And strange enough: They're mostly female. Men want to tinker with soft- AND hardware of computers more than women (I know, Giaguara, you're an exception to the rule ). So the best targets for switching are women. They're usually frustrated by their Windows experiences...
). So the best targets for switching are women. They're usually frustrated by their Windows experiences...
Inline_guy
Dockboy
Fryke I think there is a little truth to what you say. One of the reasons I never liked macs before my iMac was because TO ME the OS seemed baby-fied! You know. Then when I saw Aqua I was like wow. Then I heard it was UNIX and I was double wow. To me it was the best of both worlds. Easy to use OS for everyone, but the fun of UNIX to play with.
Matthew
Matthew