 |
Search |
|
|
|
|
Classic 2 Guys |
|
10 Random Stories:
|
|
|
There are no comments to display.
This article is archived, so you may not comment on it.
(The good news is there's always the shoutbox, the forums or the contact form if you're socially-inclined at the moment!)
|
Computing -- Another prospective |
|
 I would like to offer another prospective on Mac & OS X for those of you that are Mac users/owners. I have heard ALL of the arguments from every direction regarding OS selection, implementation, usage, compatibility, etc. And instead of just offering one more opinion to the (literally) millions that are found all over the web, I am going to do something a little different here.
My Computing History
I started computing in the late 1980's (88 I think), and the brand new shiny box with blinking lights only cost my father about $3500 and came complete with an 8088 processor, 10 MB Hard drive, 64 K of RAM, an RGB monitor, and a 9 pin dot matrix printer (sorry for the geek babbling, it's a bad habit). The OS was DOS 3.3, and other than a word processing program, that was all I had. So I learned to use DOS. A few years later (quite a few actually) I got to see an actual 486 DX 33 system. I was in my Junior year of high school and was taking a CAD (Computer Assisted Drafting) class. Two of the systems had Windows 3.1 on them, and I hated it! However, I managed to save $650 and bought a used 386 SX 16, with DOS 5.0 & Windows 3.1 (and I still hated it). So I started taking it apart (like any true geek would) and even added a "Math Co-Processor" so that I could do CAD work on it. After high school, I started working for a local computer manufacturer and built my first PC, a 486 DX/4 100. And it was using DOS 6.22 and Windows 3.11 (networking and Windows - yeah right). Soon after that, the Pentium craze started and Windows 95 hit the market (hated it, but less than Win 3.1). I was now working in Tech Support for said computer manufacturer and getting really good at customizing Windows 95 due to my extensive background in 3.1 and DOS. And I finally heard a couple of words that sparked my curiosity -- Unix and Linux. Could it be, another OS, you've got to be kidding me, right? But that was it for a while... A few years and a couple of jobs later, I am again doing tech support, but this time for an ISP. I had to learn how to do Internet Connection support for Mac OS 7.5.3, and the terms Linux and Unix are thrown around in conversations like a fish drinking water. So, about four years ago I got curious, again, and bought "Linux for Dummies" it even came with a copy of Red Hat Linux 5.2. I installed and I was very confused (to say the least). Thank God I had that book! I was able to get the GUI (which should have been called icky) and I was able to connect to the Internet. Needless to say, it didn't last long for me, but I had the experience. Three years later Microsoft's OS had begun to tick me off by crashing every day and I decided to give it a try again, now I am proud to say that I am running Linux Red Hat 7.3 on a couple of servers, and 8.0 (despite the hatred by the hard core Linux community) and I love it as a GUI. Just last week a close friend let me borrow an iBook, using OS X (10.2, "Jaguar") that he was trying to sell, and I was considering buying from him. It was a nice experience, beautiful hard ware and interface wrapped around an open source (and extremely powerful) OS that had extreme ease of use, installation and for the most part compatibility with most aps. However, due to a financial situation, I was unable to make the purchase.
And now my opinions :)
Mac OS X will never dominate the market until it overcomes the hardware compatibility issues it has, actually, it would have to become non-proprietary. But it is the prettiest darn interface I've ever seen with ease of use that is second to none. Aps and games are out there, ask any Mac guy (trust me).
Linux seems to be making a run with distributions like Red Hat, SuSe, Mandrake, Debian, and now Lindows (which boasts having maximum compatibility with the rest of the PC world). The best thing about Linux: Maximum (and undisputed) compatibility with hardware including processor architecture and backwards compatibility (my old 386 could be used as a Linux server today - if I still had it). The worst thing: software compatibility is lacking, big time! Not to mention the difficulty involved with installing an application, then configuring it to get it to work, then re-downloading it, configuring that, downloading a patch, installing that, then a new version comes out and you have to start over again. But that is also what is great about it, and the open source community, they find something that is broken (or unsecure), admit it, fix it, and try to tell everyone about it. Unlike our next contestant...
Windows XP still seems to be "THE OS", thanks to Microsoft's marketing and compatibility with new hardware, but don't try to run it on a Pentium (First Generation) or P-2. Although soon after there release, most new games are only supported in a Windows environment, sorry Mac guys, but you know it is true. XP also seems to be the most stable of the GUI based Windows OSs. The good things about the other OSs pretty much sum up the faults of Windows XP. :)
In Closing
I hope that this article did not inspire anyone to do anything other that be informed when giving there opinions!
Happy Computing! |
|
February 5 2003, 8:41 AM EDT, by
 |
Comments:
|
|
|
|
Site Links |
|
|
|
|
Deep Thoughts |
|
|
I think college administrators should encourage students to urinate on walls and bushes, because then when students from another college come sniffing around, they'll know that it's someone else's territory.
|
|
Around Da Web |
|
| iProng: |
iPhone steals show at CTIA Wireless 2007
|
DLO offers dual cover fashion case for iPod
|
AT&T received 1M inquiries on iPhone
|
| MacDailyNews: |
Ars Technica in-depth review: Apple TV ?impressed all those who touched it?
|
Inside Apple?s Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard Server OS
|
The chips inside Apple TV
|
| Think Secret: |
Adobe Creative Suite 3 pricing revealed
|
|
|
We Like: |
|
|
|
|
Side Projects |
|
Jonahan
- JediPoker.net
- Jonahan.com
- iProng
- MacProng
iKen
Jedbeck
J.P.
|
|
