[Leica] New Apple software, Aperture, now computers long and OT

[lists at heninger.org (Wade Heninger)]

On 10/22/05 3:28 AM, "Frank Dernie" <Frank.Dernie@btinternet.com> wrote:

> This was my first experience of the PC world which has continued to
> disappoint me ever since. We use PCs at work and their (deliberate?)
> inability to be compatible is annoying. I have a Mac at home and can
> read any file from a PC I have tried so far - not so in reverse.
> We are indeed in a situation where we are largely stuck with PCs.
> This is not because they are good - they aren't particularly - but
> because they are dominant and have managed to engineer (the best bit
> of engineering they have done) a near monopoly. For most people PC is
> now synonymous with computer. Most are unaware of the alternatives.
> The main thing Microsoft have brought to computing is the lowering of
> peoples expectations of what computer software can do.

I used to think this when I was an apple-fanatic.  I worked there and
lived/breathed it.

Then I got sick of the political crap at Apple and left.  On leaving I
decided I couldn't be ignorant of windows any longer, so I picked it up.
Windows 98 sucked.  I hated it, crash crash crash.  Just like Mac OS 9.  I
continued to work mostly on my macs.

Then 2000/XP came out and things changed.  Things mostly just worked.  I got
the benefits of an open platform and I had stability while X was so immature
and broken it was funny.

Fast forward: There is little difference between mac/pc anymore in terms of
reliability or compatibility.  I've had about the same luck with both
platforms.  All those horror stories I'd heard about driver issues and DLL
issues have failed to materialize - there is no deliberate attempt to be
compatible.  Yes, there is better design on the mac side sometimes.  Yes,
sometimes hardware/software can be better integrated.  But there are pros to
windows too.  More choice, cheaper, faster (try a G4 laptop against a
current PC laptop doing Photoshop processing).

Computers in general are now where near perfect.  They are just imperfect
tools that work most of the time and give us headaches periodically because
they were made my other people.

They are just tools.  I carry both.  I have a PB G4 and a Thinkpad.  I shrug
and use both, ignoring the few gotchas and just getting the work done.

Microsoft and Apple are companies that do dumb things.  Its no conspiracy,
its just business.