Re: ping: Mac users

John Ashby <J.V.Ashby@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

boots wrote:

John Ashby <J.V.Ashby@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

boots wrote:

I've been using windows since the early '90s. I'm dead tired of
installing and configuring windows. My laptop keeps telling me that
the hard drive is going to fail. I am not, I think, going to
continue with windows.

The Macbook is priced more or less within reach. It looks like
Xcode would probably provide a development environment usable for
CGI work,
and PHP work requires nothing more than a simple editor. They are
bound to have a decent browser and email program, right?

Do they offer an out-of-the-box usable editor suitable for writing?
Sure they offer Microsoft Office but I don't want anything from
Microsoft.

What about news readers?

Am I preparing to shoot myself in the foot here?


I'm not a Mac user

Now I have an example to use for self-justification when I am accused
of posting on a subject of which I know nothing.

[smirking/ducking]

, though I know a few who are happy enough. Given one
I know, vi must be available. Seriously, simple editors abound, from
edlin types to emacs and beyond.

If I seriously expected to be stuck using vi for more than 15 seconds
I'd need to choose between windoze and suicide.

I imagine OpenOffice comes in a Mac
version, and has the added advantage of saving to M$ format if
necessary (I was just phoned by a panicky daughter who hadn't twigged
the default format wouldn't be compatible and was faced with needing
to deliver an essay urgently).

Mac users speak highly of MT-Newswatcher as a news client,
alternatively the combination of FireFox and Thunderbird will cover a
lot of bases.

Most of the above applies to Linux as well, of course.

Any sufficiently advanced operating system is indistinguishable from
unix.

Cute.

There are only a few things you won't be able to do easily with Linux
that you can do with M$ (playing DVDs springs to mind), and most of
those will be available on a Mac. Treat buying a new computer like you
would buying a new car - if you need to carry sheets of plasterboard,
you don't get a two-seater, if you want to be able to get from Bristol
to Aberdeen without a slipped disc and a numb bum, you don't get a
1965 mini. Work out what you want your computer to do and how
comfortable it has to be doing it (you know that everything *can* be
done, it may just take a little time/expense/programming).

john

You mentioned playing DVDs. We do watch videos on this laptop. I'd
be very surprised if the Mac couldn't do that without any add-on
software. But then I've been very surprised by a lot of things.


Sorry, I wasn't sufficiently clear - it's Linux that has a problem
because (AIUI) the decoding software isn't available for free. Macs are
good at playing DVDs, just look at the adverts (Mitchell and Webb over
here, other comedians in other parts of the world).

"adverts"? John, I haven't owned a television for going on 5 years,
so those adverts are not a part of my world. The destruction of the
WTC is the most recent current event that I recall having viewed.
Disgustingly ignorant of the world today, by design. Luddite to the
core, software guy to the bone, what the *** does it all mean.

As you mention everything can be done, but it takes a lot of time to
build a workable operating system by starting with the console
switches (remember those?) and machine language translated to binary.

I used to consider myself more or less stuck with windows because I
was using Microsoft Developer's Studio, but these days the only real
programming languages I'm interested in are C and C++ and for building
CGI code I'd be better off with any *nix variant than windoze and
cygwin.


One of the great things about Macs now is that OSX *is* a version of
unix (BSD?) so your programming tools are all accessible.

Yah, I have dreams of building a cgi-bin executable on my new mac
laptop then just uploading it to my server. Could even come true the
way it sounds. My wife bought a hot glue gun at WalMart for $1.97
that does precisely what she wanted it to do. I love it when things
work out the way you wish they would.

Basically I'm tired of souping up old Pintos and am pretty much ready
to give that up in favor of a new Audi.


Sounds like your mind is close to being made up.

My mind is past being made up I think. Unfortunately, my checkbook
does not permit unnecessary expenditures larger than a single can of
soda, so I await necessity at the whim of destiny. If I should
disappear for what is (for me) an extended period of time, the chances
are very good that the fates have given me a new present and that I'll
be back once I've gotten past the initial playing stage.

--
The sane answer to insanity is madness.
.