Re: quicktime + choices and changes

[Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net>]

Mitchell Spector writes ...
> 
> In article shack@onyx.southwind.net (Randy Shackelford) writes...
> 
> >gabriele zenezini (zenezini@alfa.it) wrote:
> >: I'm not able to run quicktime vr on my pc (win95).
> >: The message is a "general protection fault in dibeng.dll at 0003:000046c9
> >:>
> >Well the best advice I could give would be to ditch that brand X thing and
> >get some good ol' Apple hardware.
> 
>     Yep, good advice indeed, if basic problem solving is a scary
> concept and you feel proud about being totally helpless if/when
> your computer misbehaves.
>

     It's not too difficult to feel helpless when trying to install
Quicktime. Supposedly, there is a Quick n Easy install but, at least on
some systems, it seems best to install the VR component and main QT
separately. 

 
>     When you consider very few Macintosh owners are knowledgable
> about how their systems work or what it is doing (or even care
> in the first place), favor buying pre-packaged systems with every
> part inside choosen for them; And then need programs to hand-hold
> them through the most _trivial_ of tasks, don't think you Apple
> would be more truthful saying "Don't Think" rather than the
> current "Think Different" motto? :-)
>

     Pithy, but it glosses over a very real problem. There is no longer
anything like a 'standard PC' for which users can obtain comprehensive
documentation and/or assistance. Different processors, motherboards,
chip sets, hard disk interfaces, Sound cards, Video boards, monitors,
... make it much more difficult to get everything running correctly,
even when the system is pre-configured.

     Then, too, you can run into snags because card makers sell cards,
not computers. For example, to max out benchmarks, a video card's driver
may hog the bus to the exclusion of the sound card. This can result in
distorted sound.

     There are hundreds of web sites and newsgroups-- for different
motherboard brands, sound/video/etc. boards, hard disks, peripherals,
and software. A lot of the newsgroup posts relate to user problems.
These are often difficult to solve because few users are expert enough
to accurately describe a problem and, in any case, the problem is
presented to the wrong newsgroup.

     Do not, by the way, expect any "industry analyst" publication or
net site to hammer this issue-- they are too busy hyping new stuff. They
are the same bunch which acts like Apple's Mac is, really,
'competition'.

     Basically, the PC world is a mess. Users are now active
participants in the machine/OS development cycle. They were much better
off when the 'choice' was between a few well-defined brands and models.
We end up buying the equivalent of a new computer every three or four
years anyway; it might just as well be a whole new 'box' with all of the
major subsystems on the motherboard and the documentation to match.

     There is some Good News in all of this. The PC world is
fragmenting. Software makers already produce different versions of games
to accommodate different configurations. At the same time, it is
becoming more difficult and more expensive to deliver video and sound
upgrades via plug-ins.

     Eventually, someone is going to break away from the pack and
deliver a high-performance, integrated machine at a price far below
today's motherboard + multi-card approach. Other major makers will be
forced to respond with their high-integration systems and we will be
back to brand-oriented competition among different platforms. 

     Apple has little to lose and much to gain by being among the first
to 'put it all together'. A good start would be a new Apple II.   


Rubywand