Re: Apple II info please...

[spec@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector)]

In article schefflr@news.msus.edu (Bill Scheffler) writes...

[Lots snipped, to avoid Yet-Another-Mac-vs-PC-Debate on CSA2] ;)

>People need a choice and should NOT have to used Wintel PCs if they
>don't like them.

    I agree completely, there needs to be an alternative, however I
personally find the Mac a poor one. For awhile my Apple IIgs served
as a good alternative, but with the technology having stagnated for
10 years (and the flow of software gone from a trickle to barely a
drip), the time came to eventually move on. I wish someone would
introduce an exciting alternative to the PC, and for me, the Mac is
not it (maybe the Amiga's comeback could be just that alternative 
when Gateway reintroduces it, who knows).

>:     I completely agree with all of Nathan's points above. While maybe
>: not all, the majority of Mac users operate their computers as simple
>: appliances and known nothing about computers. In theory that is a good
>
>       I bet to differ.  ALOT (and I mean ALOT) of PC users are the same
>way.  The major of computer users are just that users, be they Mac, PC,
>Apple II, whatever...  They just use their computer like an appliance and
>could care less about it's innards.

    Good point. Still, while computer-illiterate people are finding
their way to both the Mac and PC, the Mac seems to attract much more
of that type of crowd. The Mac's whole hardware and software philosophy
is designed to attract the computer-illiterate, and worse, encourages
people to be hand-held and keep from poking their heads inside the
case and inside software. I find those who've never used computers
before, and jump to the PC, eventually are forced to slowly start
learning how the computer works (I'm in the process of seeing just
that happen right now, with a couple of friends who've picked up
PC's in the last year but never owned computers before).

    I guess the Macintosh is a good alternative for people who want
to be sure they never have to learn anything about computers, how
they work, or touch anything except for a mouse and occasionally a
keyboard. It's kind of like a bicycle with training wheels. You can
feel safe that you won't fall over, but the drawback is your limited
in other ways.

>: thing, since you want the average person capable of sitting down and
>: using a computer without any previous training or experience. However,
>: when something unexpected goes wrong, they freeze and become utterely
>: helpless (just go ask anyone who's worked in tech support about Mac
>: callers and you'll hear all sorts of interesting stories). The most
>
>       That's more in the past.  Apple has gotten it's act together the
>past year or so.  The System Software is quite stable with rudementary
>memory protection (lockups being almost a thing of the past).  I wouldn't
>have bought a Mac otherwise, I'm not some blind sheep being lead by the
>shepherd.  I know what I like, and I choose a Mac.  Another factor being
>my dislike of Windows.  Now do you want to talk about lockups... (I use a

    Heh, when I said "they freeze and become utterely helpless" I
wasn't talking about the machine, I was talking about the _users_. :)

Mitchell Spector
spec@vax2.concordia.ca