Re: Question about the number of Apple users vs Mac users

["Ernest" <ernestls@home.com>]

"Mike Pfaiffer" <pfaiffer@mts.net> wrote in message
3B7700AF.6040402@mts.net">news:3B7700AF.6040402@mts.net...
> Ernest wrote:
>
> >>  OTOH estimates of the number of Mac users seems
> >>
> >>> to be generally dropping (in favour of Linux from the way things
look).
> >>
> >
> > Yes, I agree with this but it's still to soon to tell how long term this
> > effect will be. There are a lot of people dipping their feet into the
latest
> > Linux craze but a good number of these folks will go running back to
Windows
> > or their old reliable Macs.

> I don't know about people running back to their older systems. At least
> not right away. We thought they'd do so with the Apple as well.

I meant the OS platforms that they're more familiar with, not their old
hardware. Hehe.

> >> Linux, as terrific as it is, is still too geeky for the general
population.
>
> I don't know about "geeky". It is easier to use than 95 was when it first
> came out. In my case it provides function at a decent speed and
> stability where there was none on my other machines.

Yeah. Remember how lost everyone was when Win95 came out? I made a small
fortune showing people how to use it, and setting it up on peoples
computers. To me, Win95 was a walk in the park compared to Win3.1,
especially when it came to installing new hardware.

> > I don't know if you've been keeping up on the latest developments in
Linux
> > software but there's very little that you can't do on the Linux
platform.
> > There's a long way to go before some of the more common Linux apps
become as
> > stable and robust as MS Office, or Adobe Photoshop, etc. but that will
come
> > with time.
>
> IMHO MS office is one of the most unstable programs out there.

I have to disagree here. Properly installed on sound equipment, Office is
extremely reliable. In fact, in my opinion, I'm not sure of how MS could
improve on it much (Office 97 or 2k that is.) From an Admins perspective, I
love Office because my users never complain about it, and 99% of the time,
the problems they have are related to either their own ignorance, or
improperly installed software. MS wants everyone to upgrade to Office XP but
I can't think of any good reason to. Not when Office 2k is already so
functional and stable. Even Off97 is just fine as far as I'm concerned.
Outlook is another matter but I'm basically talking about Word, Excel, and
Access.

>It almost
> caused us to lose a complete issue of our magazine. The stupid thing
> started wiping out partitions on my hard drive.

Office did this? I don't see how Office could cause you to lose partitions?
My guess is that the problem was not related to Office, even if an Office
app was being used at the time. Their are so many possible reasons that
could cause your computer to flip out but I doubt that it was directly
related to an Office app. I could be wrong but I just can't think of any way
that Office itself could cause this kind of behavior.

E.