My Month With XP.

[Annihilatus]

Originally posted by Javintosh
PC keyboards (at least the ones that come with your computer) seem to be an afterthought.

Frankly, I dunno what I'd do without my Microsoft Natural Keyboard with all of the extra buttons like the media player play/stop, the volume control, the email launcher and browser launcher, the my computer launcher and the sleep button.

But I have to admit I like the fact that the Mac keyboard at work has black keys. I dunno if manufacturers noticed those white keys tend to get dirty.

Andre

 

[azosx]

On a Personal note, What Can apple do?! At the most, feel flattered?!

Since you are just one person imitating their design and not distributing the source of how you do it or making a profit from it, probably nothing. If you were to advertise your mod with links to download it in this forum, I'm sure by now Apple would have issued a cease and desist order to you and macosx.com, forcing the removal of all pictures and sources of download. If perhaps you were outside the US, they would indeed have a harder time but I can guarantee you wouldn't be a part of this forum anymore and any channels by which you tried to distribute your mod would be shutdown. Apple is very serious about not copying their IP. Most major US corporations have 10 lawyers for every letter in the alphabet and if they feel you are infringing on them in any way, they can make your life a living hell in less that 24 hours. See what one major us corporation is doing to this poor guy. http://www.cheesygraphics.com/castle_hassle_home.html

 

[Annihilatus]

Originally posted by simX
Ooh, you have a program that auto-changes your wallpaper, and an e-mail program that auto-alerts you, and "dibs on any new search engine", whatever that's supposed to mean. If you haven't figured out that the Mac has a similar auto-changer, an out-of-the-box e-mail program that alerts you of new mail with a little icon and a sound (give me a break – I don't need a flash animation), and since a search engine is accessible to anyone on the internet, I frankly don't see your point.

I meant things like Kazaa, Morpheus, AudioGalaxy, LimeWire, Napster. They come out on PC first and many of them never make it to the Mac.

On the other hand, I challenge you to find a program as easy as iMovie to make movies. I challenge you to find a program as easy as iTunes to burn CDs, organize MP3s, and manage MP3s on an MP3 player. I challenge you to find a program as easy as iDVD to burn DVDs, with a sub-$2000 system. I challenge you to find a program as easy as iPhoto to download, organize and share photos. I challenge you to find a program as easy, inexpensive, and powerful as Final Cut Pro for making professional movies. I challenge you to find a program as easy as DVD Studio Pro to make professional DVDs. I challenge you to find FREE developer tools as easy as Project Builder and Interface Builder to make programs – even Java applications. I challenge you to find a shareware app as easy, as clean, and as powerful as Proteus to do instant messaging on multiple IM services. I challenge you to find a program as incredibly useful as Watson to get useful web information such as movie listings, TV listings], package tracking, all without the use of a web browser. I challenge you to show me how Windows can leverage the same power as a UNIX operating system can as well as the simplicity of Mac OS X.

Well frankly I don't make DVD movies, rarely burn music CD's except for the occasional MP3 CD to go with my MP3 CD player, I don't download or take that many photos. The only one I can challenge you with, since it's the only one of the above I ever actually do, is the instant messaging client. I think it's already safe to say that the best IM client ever made is Trillian that allows you to have AIM, ICQ, MSN, YIM and IRC in one program. It's small, highly skinnable (you can really change this thing around) and takes very little RAM. It's efficient, extremely compatible and free.

I'll bet you the only challenge you might live up to is finding a program similar to iTunes. Even with that you might fail, though.

I don't think anyone really uses all of the functions of iTunes anyway. When I want to play MP3 music, Windows Media Player or WinAmp will do that fine. If there's something more that I want, chances are that somewhere in the thousands and thousands of MP3 player software I haven't yet downloaded, something exists that's as good if not better than iTunes.

Annihilatus, I think it's YOU who are defending Microsoft, saying they can do no wrong. But there's one important difference between my defending Apple and you defending Microsoft:

The thing about you defending the Mac is that it's pointless since I was never attacking it to begin with, I was simply pointing out a few things that I thought were flawed in my attempt to defend the PC.

Andre

 

[simX]

Originally posted by Annihilatus


I meant things like Kazaa, Morpheus, AudioGalaxy, LimeWire, Napster. They come out on PC first and many of them never make it to the Mac.

Granted, yes, they came out on the PC first. But LimeWire, Napster, and AudioGalaxy have all been released on the Mac. Morpheus has moved to a gnutella server which can be handled by LimeWire, or a nice freeware app called Aquisition (xlife.org). And then there's Neo, an awesome shadow client for the Kazaa network. So there's plenty of file-sharing on the Mac.

Well frankly I don't make DVD movies, rarely burn music CD's except for the occasional MP3 CD to go with my MP3 CD player, I don't download or take that many photos. The only one I can challenge you with, since it's the only one of the above I ever actually do, is the instant messaging client. I think it's already safe to say that the best IM client ever made is Trillian that allows you to have AIM, ICQ, MSN, YIM and IRC in one program. It's small, highly skinnable (you can really change this thing around) and takes very little RAM. It's efficient, extremely compatible and free.

Heh. Well I don't need to change my desktop wallpaper every millisecond, and I don't need a Flash animation for notifying me of e-mail. If those are the only advantages of the Windows platform, it's more stagnant than even I thought it was.

I don't think anyone really uses all of the functions of iTunes anyway. When I want to play MP3 music, Windows Media Player or WinAmp will do that fine. If there's something more that I want, chances are that somewhere in the thousands and thousands of MP3 player software I haven't yet downloaded, something exists that's as good if not better than iTunes.

Riiight. Windows Media Player to play MP3s. In case you've forgotten, your pet company called Microsoft doesn't want to take two seconds of its time to support open standards. Oh, but in this instance they were so nice and did – the only catch is you need to pay to get MP3 support in Windows Media Player.

I use all of the functions of iTunes, and to boot, it's very unobtrusive and allows you to control it while keeping it in the background. I use it to auto-sync my iPod. It's very useful, and I highly doubt you can find something as useful as iTunes on Windows.

The thing about you defending the Mac is that it's pointless since I was never attacking it to begin with, I was simply pointing out a few things that I thought were flawed in my attempt to defend the PC.

As far as I can tell, you haven't made one single argument that defends the PC by any means. (Hint: How about mention business software that is not available for the Mac?) Oh, well, yeah, there's the business software that is not available for the Mac. Score: Mac - 50, PC - 1.

 

[Javintosh]

Annihilatus:

now that you mention those lauch buttons. I just realized that we had those under OS 9 and they are gone. My brother-in-law's iBook even came with a sheet of raised white/translucent rubber-like icon stickers. You'd assign the F keys to do certain functions (volume control, brightness and contrast or to launch any app) and then afix the sticker you felt matched the function on the space above the function key.

They provides 3-4x as many stickers as you'd ever need.

I did not realize this was gone until now. I guess I did not use it much.

Come to think of it I have not really needed any key above and beyond the 3 volume keys and the CD eject key (which also pulls the CD in if it is out) that come with the standard apple keyboard. If you hold down the control key, you can use the eject key to sleep/shutdown/restart the computer.

A play/pause key might be nice, but if I am in front of the computer all iTunes controls can be used on a zoomed in window without switching your current app.

Of course, if I am not in front of the computer, I use the remote control to control all iTunes functions. I even setup the remote control for webTV style browsing with IE, but I stopped using it after a while. that remote control is very cool though. one of these days I'll figure out how to use an universal remote on my mac so I have more than the 17 buttons on the Digital Media Remote.

 

[Javintosh]

One thing I shoul say about OSX's mail client. When you get mail, the client changes so you have a red circle on it with a white number. The white number is the number of unread messages.

This is a lot more useful than you'd think at first. In addition to knowing how many new messages there are on the system, if you choose not to read the new mail, you can come back to the computer and determine whether *additional* new email messages have arrived. Sometimes I just open the main email window, look at the subject lines and decide not to read any emails. Later on, I can tell of additional new emails showed up while I was away from the computer.

This is much more useful than a mere animation.

 

[Annihilatus]

Originally posted by simX


Granted, yes, they came out on the PC first. But LimeWire, Napster, and AudioGalaxy have all been released on the Mac. Morpheus has moved to a gnutella server which can be handled by LimeWire, or a nice freeware app called Aquisition (xlife.org). And then there's Neo, an awesome shadow client for the Kazaa network. So there's plenty of file-sharing on the Mac.

However, it all first came out on the PC. You admit it, all's well.

Heh. Well I don't need to change my desktop wallpaper every millisecond, and I don't need a Flash animation for notifying me of e-mail. If those are the only advantages of the Windows platform, it's more stagnant than even I thought it was.

First of all, I never said it was the only advantages. In fact, I never called them advantages. Their mention came at a point when I was talking about customization on the PC and how much I like it. In that remark though, you have proven to me that ****** and if you represent the Mac world in any way, I really feel sorry for it.

As far as I can tell, you haven't made one single argument that defends the PC by any means. (Hint: How about mention business software that is not available for the Mac?) Oh, well, yeah, there's the business software that is not available for the Mac. Score: Mac - 50, PC - 1.

I was actually writing out a list of advantages of the PC over the Mac, most of which are obvious and some of which you'd probably not comprehend. Since I frankly don't want you to respond to me anymore, I deleted them mid-way. Your attitude repulses me and reminds me of why I chose to stay away from the Mac a while back. My family is a bunch of fanatical Catholics, their fanaticism annoys me to death. You, just like they, are a fanatic and once again, if you are a representation of the Mac community, I'd rather stay away.

Andre

 

[Annihilatus]

Originally posted by Javintosh
One thing I shoul say about OSX's mail client. When you get mail, the client changes so you have a red circle on it with a white number. The white number is the number of unread messages.

This is a lot more useful than you'd think at first. In addition to knowing how many new messages there are on the system, if you choose not to read the new mail, you can come back to the computer and determine whether *additional* new email messages have arrived. Sometimes I just open the main email window, look at the subject lines and decide not to read any emails. Later on, I can tell of additional new emails showed up while I was away from the computer.

This is much more useful than a mere animation.

This I frankly like and I wish Outlook Express had it. Considering Microsoft is trying to ram the program down our throats by being integrated into Windows XP, I figure they can at least have it automatically check and count mail. Of course, there are tons of free utilities out there that will do the job for you, but it would be nice to have it out of the box.

On the other hand, MacOSX works on top of BSD and from what I remember, BSD and Linux both, in Console mode at least, alert you of new mail and in fact count it at logon. Nice to see that Apple saw the need for such an option.

Andre

 

[simX]

Originally posted by Annihilatus
Your attitude repulses me and reminds me of why I chose to stay away from the Mac a while back. My family is a bunch of fanatical Catholics, their fanaticism annoys me to death. You, just like they, are a fanatic and once again, if you are a representation of the Mac community, I'd rather stay away.

And your fanaticism about Microsoft repulses me as well – you say that it's the government's fault that Microsoft is performing illegal tactics. This annoys me to death. But I'm willing to discuss it, if you'd like.

Unfortunately, it seems like you're a representation of the PC community, and I think a fanaticism about a great computer company is much better than a fanaticism about an illegal monopoly who tries to stifle competition.

Whatever floats your boat, I guess.

 

[Annihilatus]

Originally posted by simX


And your fanaticism about Microsoft repulses me as well – you say that it's the government's fault that Microsoft is performing illegal tactics. This annoys me to death. But I'm willing to discuss it, if you'd like.

Unfortunately, it seems like you're a representation of the PC community, and I think a fanaticism about a great computer company is much better than a fanaticism about an illegal monopoly who tries to stifle competition.

Whatever floats your boat, I guess.

I'm not a fanatic about Microsoft, but I do like a few of their products. I love Internet Explorer (but I admit to using Banner Zapper to remove popups and I also think Mozilla is great), I love Outlook Express despite the virus threats, I love Microsoft Frontpage, I love Microsoft Office, I love Microsoft Windows 2000 and I love Windows XP.

But that's just me, I'm a pisces. I tend to love people and things despite their faults. In fact, I share the same birthday as Steve Jobs. Isn't that just curious?

Andre

 

[simX]

Originally posted by Annihilatus
I'm not a fanatic about Microsoft, but I do like a few of their products. I love Internet Explorer (but I admit to using Banner Zapper to remove popups and I also think Mozilla is great), I love Outlook Express despite the virus threats, I love Microsoft Frontpage, I love Microsoft Office, I love Microsoft Windows 2000 and I love Windows XP.

But that's just me, I'm a pisces. I tend to love people and things despite their faults. In fact, I share the same birthday as Steve Jobs. Isn't that just curious?

Microsoft does make some good products, like Microsoft Office X, Internet Explorer, Outlook Express (although I've migrated to Mail.app) and the IntelliMouse Explorer.

That doesn't excuse the fact that Microsoft is performing illegal tactics, though, does it?

So your birthday is February 22, if I remember correctly. Correct? That is curious, though.

 

[Annihilatus]

Originally posted by simX


Microsoft does make some good products, like Microsoft Office X, Internet Explorer, Outlook Express (although I've migrated to Mail.app) and the IntelliMouse Explorer.

That doesn't excuse the fact that Microsoft is performing illegal tactics, though, does it?

So your birthday is February 22, if I remember correctly. Correct? That is curious, though.

No, of course nothing excuses Microsoft performing illegal tactics. I'm just trying to turn a negative into a positive. It's my way of thinking.

My birthday is February 24th actually. What I find funny actually is while I was watching Pirates of Silicon Valley, I was with my friend who is in every single way a carbon copy of Steve Wozniak. The entire time I was watching the movie, I kept thinking that Jobs was one hell of a jerk and damn mean to his employees. When the movie was over, I told my friend 'man, I bet you Jobs is an Aries, he's an uncontrollable monster!'

When I found out I was born on the same day, I had the shock of my life but it suddenly made sense. I can't imagine myself acting differently than Jobs in any respect if I was in his position. However, I'm at the other end and I wish he'd make a few small modifications.

Andre

 

[edX]

Annihilatus - you will find that one of your recent posts has been edited. Calling names will not be tolerated on this site. Consider yourself warned. Further incidents will result in loss of site membership.

If you have any questions about this, feel free to PM me.

 

[Annihilatus]

Originally posted by Ed Spruiell
Annihilatus - you will find that one of your recent posts has been edited. Calling names will not be tolerated on this site. Consider yourself warned. Further incidents will result in loss of site membership.

If you have any questions about this, feel free to PM me.

I understand and see no reason not to comply.

Andre

 

[lonny]

Annihilatus,

When I want to play MP3 music, Windows Media Player or WinAmp will do that fine.

You see? It's a matter of sensitivity. It's a matter of aestethics and feelings. I could never use that app. IMO WMP is an horrible looking thing. It's like saying: "If I have to go shopping downtown I can just drive my van". Fair enough. I'd rather drive an Audi TT and feel cool.

Well frankly I don't make DVD movies, rarely burn music CD's except for the occasional MP3 CD to go with my MP3 CD player, I don't download or take that many photos.

Makes me think that you're not much of an arts person. Of course Mac doesn't appeal to you. And with this I'm not saying Macs are for artists only. But for people with a different sensitivity. Apparently we are about 5% of the world population.

And this is leaving aside functionality issues, which have already been discussed.

Lastly let me just add that I feel unconfortable supportin a company doing illegal practices... but maybe that's just me.

 

[Annihilatus]

Originally posted by lonny
You see? It's a matter of sensitivity. It's a matter of aestethics and feelings. I could never use that app. IMO WMP is an horrible looking thing. It's like saying: "If I have to go shopping downtown I can just drive my van". Fair enough. I'd rather drive an Audi TT and feel cool.

I can see that point of view. All I can say is that it's the music that will entertain me, not the interface. Whether the program I'm running is good looking matters not to me since it's the song I'm trying to listen to. Either way though, Windows Media Player is skinnable and you can change the look as you could with WinAmp or Sonique. There's a choice, you don't have to just keep it as it is.

Makes me think that you're not much of an arts person. Of course Mac doesn't appeal to you. And with this I'm not saying Macs are for artists only. But for people with a different sensitivity. Apparently we are about 5% of the world population.

Actually, I AM an arts person. I have been all of my life. Back in the day I used to make pixel art, now I use a graphics tablet. I draw and write, it's my thing. I will admit that most artists use Macs, but it's not like using a PC to do the task is impossible. Personally, I like the fact that I can maximize the screen on the PC so I can see the entire drawing and I can see it at a high resolution. This way I always know what the product looks like. The fact that the Mac doesn't totally maximize the screen indeed bugs me.

Lastly let me just add that I feel unconfortable supportin a company doing illegal practices... but maybe that's just me.

I can totally understand that and frankly I wouldn't want to support the company if I had an Apple either. However the company's products ARE very good and their operating system IS getting good. It's not up to me to judge what they did as I am not a lawyer nor a priest (in fact I'm no longer a Catholic, they're too judgemental). MY only concern is whether the program offered has everything that I want and at a good price. Microsoft has everything that I want and as long as I buy the Educational version of any of their programs, at a good price too (I'm a Student as it is but I'll be a teacher soon so I'll always benefit from better prices).

Andre

 

[lonny]

It's not up to me to judge what they did as I am not a lawyer nor a priest

No, you're not. But that doesn't mean you have to passively support illegal (criminal?) practices. if you don't agree on this point, sorry but I won't waste my time with you any longer.

MY only concern is whether the program offered has everything that I want and at a good price. Microsoft has everything that I want ... at a good price too

Some people can settle down with non-attractive and annoying girlfriends... which is fine if you just want sex and some company.
Plus the price is right, i.e. you don't have to look hard for them.

Personally I'd only settle down with a supermodel with incredible brains, and I'm willing to look hard until I find one. Is it worth it?
For me it is.

So, enjoy your Windoze. I could never enjoy that, 'cause I need more. My Mac is a supermodel.

Out of curiosity:
what are PC guys doing hanging out here?

 

[Annihilatus]

Originally posted by lonny
So, enjoy your Windoze. I could never enjoy that, 'cause I need more. My Mac is a supermodel.

Well frankly, every time I meet a girl that supposedly has brains that also looks good, she turns out to be a heavy studier. I settled for very smart and generous on the chest side.

Out of curiosity:
what are PC guys doing hanging out here?

I can't speak for the others, but I'm here because I have a profound interest in the Apple platform and got tired of Windows newsgroups because there are simply too many posts. Whereas the Windows newsgroups are heavily populated and hard to keep up with, macosx.com is cozy.

Andre

 

[themacko]

I have to say, this has gotten quite ridicules. What a flame-war.

 

[Annihilatus]

Originally posted by themacko
I have to say, this has gotten quite ridicules. What a flame-war.

My intention was to speak about the platform and bring up a few issues. Obviously, some people think Apple is perfect and won't agree with what I say.

Andre