tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17958827.post7615264350429302655..comments2024-02-05T15:01:20.672+08:00Comments on Archimedes' Lever: Happy Updating....Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12760673999356987827noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17958827.post-79086620918092328252008-12-19T12:19:00.000+08:002008-12-19T12:19:00.000+08:00Thank you for your insight and your post.Having go...Thank you for your insight and your post.<BR/>Having gotten my start in the world of home computing back in 1979 with a TI-99/4A I've seen many computer/software companies' "philosophies" come and go. Commodore's "create it then leave it alone" philosophy made for a stable and predictable platform which served the vast number of consumers very well. These characteristics, unfortunately, allowed for little to no future-proofing due to the immutable operating system and hardware. Then, in the mid to late 1980's came the "attack of the clones" and the emergence of MS-DOS as the defacto standard for <B>serious</B> computing. After many iterations, Microsoft released MS-DOS version 6; arguably the best OS they ever created.<BR/>Windows was still a toy and nobody used it for anything critical. Then came Windows95, 98, 2000, XP, and now Vista. I don't list Windows ME for good reason.<BR/>The one thing all of Microsoft's operating systems had in common was a need for, at the very least, intermediate to advanced computer knowledge or knowing someone who had those skills. Being a computer hobbyist I was more than happy to build, maintain, and constantly fix these x86 based systems. It was fun.<BR/>When the various companies I worked for migrated away from dumb terminals to Windows based desktop PCs the love was losing its spark. As the "computer guy" I was constantly being hailed by co-workers to repair their "I don't know. It was working yesterday" problems. Pretty soon I didn't even want to touch my home computer because it was too much like my job. <BR/>This frustration prompted me to dabble in Linux and other 'nix systems so I had become familiar with the Unix modus operandi. This being: make it modular, customizable, and most of all, make it stable.<BR/>When Apple dropped their proprietary peripheral requirement and adopted a 'nix based OS (BSD) I took the plunge and never looked back.<BR/>Is Apple and OSX bulletproof, virusproof, and idiotproof? Of course not. No computer system is. However, compared to Windows, OSX <I>seems</I> to be so. Do I have occasional problems with OSX? Sure. But <B>very</B> rarely. And with my persuasion to be a tinkerer I've successfully performed tasks on my Mac that would've required a format and re-install on a Windows based PC. As a matter of fact, my experience with Microsoft taught me to format and re-install Windows twice a year whether it needed it or not. This was just to <I>maintain</I> what stability I had achieved.<BR/>One thing that really bugs my unconverted PC friends is when I tell them I reboot my Mac once a month whether it needs it or not.<BR/>Any problems I've had with an OSX update have always been minor (more nuisances than real problems) and these were usually fixed with the next update or point release.<BR/>I like to think I've learned a couple of things over the years. One of those is that Apple is good at one thing: making computers and software that you <B>can</B> use and <B>want</B> to use.<BR/>The other is that Microsoft is also good at one thing: marketing.<BR/>Microsoft with Windows is a lot like the government. While everything is broken and going down the tubes they tell you that everything is fine and try to make you feel better about it.<BR/>I'm not a Mac fan-boy or zealot. I just like to use what works with minimal effort.Whistlerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15026292877309829104noreply@blogger.com