Re: Just venting (totally OT)

real-address-in-sig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Rowland McDonnell) wrote in
news:1iba3ln.8e2ym31h837dsN%real-address-in-sig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx:

Mandy <mandy2uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

real-address-in-sig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Rowland McDonnell) wrote:

Mandy <mandy2uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

real-address-in-sig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Rowland McDonnell) wrote:

Mandy <mandy2uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

real-address-in-sig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Rowland McDonnell) wrote:

Mandy <mandy2uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

real-address-in-sig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Rowland McDonnell)
wrote:

Mandy <mandy2uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
[snip]

If you're wondering what's sensible, either a Mac Mini (which
you can use your existing keyboard, mouse, and monitor with,
probably); or an iMac - is what would probably suit you best.

Is an iMac a laptop?

Nope. It's the `looks like a big LCD monitor' desktop model.

Ah right! We've got no room in the house for either

You can hang it on the wall. The entire computer - hung on the wall
like a picture. It's just like a big LCD monitor and it's got the
mounting wotsit on the back so it's easy to wall mount if you buy one
of the industry standard brackety things for the job.


Oh right! Thank you!

which is why I'm
going to go for a laptop :o)

Okay - do what thou wilt and all that.


Thank you!

The thing about laptops is that you don't get as much computer for
your money as you do with a desktop model; and they don't last as
long, and you can't adapt them as well. And, erm, well, what with
one thing and another I'm not sure I'd suggest that anyone bought
an Apple laptop just at the moment.

Oh right!

On the other hand, I saw what you were thinking of in your
uk.comp.sys.mac posts, and - well, at that price? Why not?


Okey dokes!

I should explain: Apple goes through patches where its quality
isn't always quite up to scratch. There are always whinges about
this and that, when it comes down to it, but...


Ah! Can you let me know when *is* a good time to get one then
please? Thank you!

I'm not the one to ask because I'm not plugged in to exactly what's
going on. Ask the people on uk.comp.sys.mac what they think of my
paranoid ravings about the advisability of getting a Mac laptop.


As long as my memory works I will, but don't hold your breath! :o)

Oh, my other half's Mac laptop died a while back due to a design
fault, the /other/ Mac laptop we've got here (stashed underneath a
sofa waiting for its owner to pick it up) has a screen that's only
got the ability to display `thousands' of colours rather than
`millions' (16 bit rather than 24 bit colour) and that annoyed a
lot of people when they found out it's what Apple had fitted to the
screens, and - well, if you want a computer that'll last and... I
just don't like laptop computers, I suppose, and the Apple ones
lately haven't been impressing me hugely.

Oh right :o(

The thing to do is *ask* - see what people have to say. I'm a
miserable, dyspeptic old fart who always looks on the bad side of such
things.


You've been a great help to me so don't put yourself down :o)

But I'm always a bit dyspeptic about these things: if you want an
Apple laptop, you could always ask on uk.comp.sys.mac about what's
a good idea. Tell 'em you're thinking of buying one, tell 'em what
you want, ask what's a good idea. You'll almost certainly get a
nice, helpful response.


I asked yesterday and I've got loads of helpful replies! :o)

I said they were helpful people.


You did indeed!

Oh god I'm sounding like a bloody Mac salesman. Will someone,
somewhere, *PLEASE* come up with some serious competition for
Apple's ease of use? Please?

If I knew anything about computers I'd give it a go but I'm a
total dumbo with computers unfortunately!

<chuckle> The problem is not coming up with something better, but
persuading `the global marketplace' to buy it and replace the
existing operating systems. Any attempt to do that would be firmly
resisted by Microsoft in particular, which has a long history of
using illegal business tactics to destroy the competition.

It sounds like Microsoft want global whatsits!

The EU's competition commissioner and so on are giving them just that
at the moment. But it's twenty years too late. The damage has been
done.


Oh right :o(

<snipity snip>

The only places that I know sell computers sell Windows
machines and I haven't got a clue where to start looking for
Macs!

Shops are not the place to buy computery stuff from any more.
On-line, direct from source is best. Why mess about with a
middleman? You don't
gain from that at all - except in the case of buying an LCD
monitor, 'cos that way you can check all the pixels are
working before handing over your cash.

Other than my first laptop I've bought all my computers from
either http://evesham.com/ or http://www.meshcomputers.com/ and
neither of them sell Macs :o(

Most computer shops won't sell Macs because the staff hate Macs
and will deride anyone who has one. Yes, really, they've done
it to me when I've explained that I wanted to buy `whatever' to
plug into my Mac. So I explained that had just lost 'em a sale
and walk out - done it a couple of times.

I've just found some resellers that sell Macs around here so I'll
see if I can persuade Steve to take me to each of them so that I
can have a look! :o)

Don't except a lot of help from the shop staff. Umm. Whereabouts
are you, geographically?

Gloucestershire

Oo-ar. ;-)


I'm originally from Oxfordshire but got dragged over here by Steve

Well, that's not so far away from beaten tracks. On the other hand:

<http://www.apple.com/uk/retail/>

Look, there's a full-on `Apple Retail Store' in Exeter and in Brum
(and Solihull - easier than the Brum Bullring from Glos., I reckon) -
and one of those will be the nearest to you. Seems to me that you
could do a lot worse than trundle in to one of them, if it's not too
inconvenient to get to. The staff at the actual `run by Apple' shops
*do* (mostly) know their stuff pretty well, and you'll get to see
what's what good and proper.


Cool! I'll have to see if I can persuade Steve to take me to one! :o)

But it really doesn't make any sense to buy from a shop these
days, not if it's a computer. They don't provide any useful
service or anything like that - the staff don't know about the
stock, and if anything goes wrong with the computer, it's the
manufacturer that deals with it these days - so why not buy
direct? Makes life easier all round.

Sounds sensible to me! I just want to see how easy it is to use
before I buy one y'know?

Absolutely; but the thing is that all computers are a bit of a pain
(some more than others), and you would have to learn some new stuff
if you got a Mac. Hell, when *I* got a MacOS X Mac for the first
time, I was floundering and I'd been using Macs for donkey's years
beforehand.

Yup... I'm planning on taking things really slowly otherwise I won't
remember how to do anything!

It's not that different in terms of `basic use' from a Windoze
machine, and there is specific help for Windoze users switching to
Macs. Of course all the details are different, but.... Well, you'll
see.


*nodding* Yup!

(I should explain that I had been one of the people who understood
`how it all fitted together and worked, sort of thing', and
/everything/ about `how it works' is totally different with MacOS X
compared to the previous operating systems. So when I met the new
OS, and wanted to see what *that* installer had thrown at my HDD, I
didn't even know where to start looking to find out where to find
out, if you see what I mean. Pulling the rug out from me like that
Just Wasn't Fair, I whined)

It doesn't sound like it!

<chuckle> Well, you can't really expect anything else when the
operating system is completely new. I still whined.


Hopefully if more people complain they won't do it again!

Anyway, the upshot of that is that if you were to get a Mac, you
could expect to spend some time learning your way around it and for
things to be a bit of a pain until you've got the hang of it.

Okey dokes!

uk.comp.sys.mac is always a good place to ask. I'd offer to help, but
I'm not familiar with the particular things you're interested in doing
on the whole, although I'm likely to be useful if you've got a problem
that needs a wave of a dead chicken to cure it.


Okey dokes! Thank you!

[snip]

What makes it slightly less obvious than it sounds is that you
can't see SystemUIServer or any of the other `programs that run the
computer' in the usual `list of running programs'. But there's a
very nice `Activity monitor' that can list all running processes,
and send any of them an ordinary `quit' or `drop dead now you
***' signal if need be.

You're starting to get beyond me now - sorry!

Oh, this one's easy. `Normal quit' is when the operating system sends
a message to the program for it to quit, just like selecting `quit'
from the menu. But sometimes that doesn't work because the program
isn't listening, 'cos it's got its knickers in a twist over something.

`Drop dead now' is when the operating system doesn't bother asking and
just pulls the plug on a program: there's a /very/ special operating
system program that rations out CPU time and things like that and it
is GOD! - so it can do stuff like that.

(it's called the `kernel process' on Unix and so also on Macs; Win 95
and upwards have an equivalent program running, but I don't know what
it's called)


Ah right! Thank you for explaining that to me!

[snip]

That doesn't mean disc corruption is impossible, just that most of
the common problems are dealt with behind the scenes. The
technique was developed so that you could have a file server set to
automatically reboot if it crashed or suffered power failure
without having to run a disc check, thus improving uptime in your
server room. This heavy-duty idea was then strapped on to Macs.

Sounds like the bods that build Macs have got their heads screwed on!

The annoying thing is that the people behind Windoze know what they're
doing, it's just that MS has got some idiots in charge and they just
mess it all up. Windoze could be *so* much better if they'd just been
sensible about it, but it's all about locking you in, hiding what's
going on from the user, giving power to the software sellers, creating
a marketplace for computer repair people to operate, and so on. In
short, Windoze is all about making money for the computer industry,
whereas Macs are all about making a computer that people want to use.


Gotchya!

But the software engineers who write the software are the same sort of
people at Apple and at Microsoft - it's just that the poor sods at
Microsoft get given idiot things to do.

Let's put it like this: Bill Gates has stated in public that one of
the advantages of his Windoze operating system is that it creates jobs
for people who fix computers. Yes, he states that a country's economy
is boosted by Windoze because of all those new jobs. Thing is, since
all those repair people are needed, he's proving that his Windoze
operating system hurts the economy because so many bloody Windoze
computers aren't working, which reduces the ability of companies to
function at all and so reduces the profitability of people who want to
*use* the things, rather than the parasitic industry set up to serve
them.

I get sick of waiting for the computer because it's crashed and needs
rebooting, or `it's just a bit slow today' or whatever - which is the
usual scenario any time I'm in contact with someone on the 'phone or
in a shop who's having to process something using a blasted Windoze
setup.

Understandably so!


[snip]

<shuddder> Just don't try to picture it. The woman concerned was
famous for animal scenes. Oh, I did my research. The famous Color
Climax studio, which was highly active in the 1970s.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_Climax>

`CCC films usually had a wider range of contents including
bestiality (some of them starring Bodil Joensen), she-males, and
other content not widely available at the time. Watersports were
displayed as conventional sexual acts.'

!!!

I left that last sentence in deliberately. Oh yes they are. And you
thought Danes were sensible, yes? Mind you, the language spoken in
the films (probably dubbed, but who can be sure?) does seem to be
mostly German. Moaning and groaning however needs no translation, as
you might expect ;-)


Indeed!

[snip]

It's not that I'm not any sort of prude when it comes to this kind
of thing, but one does have to consider the potential deleterious
effects of exposing young and impressionable youngsters to deviant
sexual activity. Or, to put it another way, I'd not want any child
of mine viewing anything like that before they were
twenty-something. And I'd raise an eyebrow even then. I raised an
eyebrow at myself, too.

Blimey!

Well, how would you feel about yourself if you'd just watched a grey
haired wrinkly old man shagging a chicken? Bleh! Yuck! Yes? It
made *me* feel soiled, and that takes a lot of doing (the chicken was
unhappy, and that's quite cross-making, that is). And that's just to
begin with.


!!!

[snip]

Ah yes - software installers often get file permissions
wrong, so any sensible Mac user runs `Repair disc utilities'
after every software install, which can be a mild pain 'cos
it takes time and it's as well to leave it alone until it's
finished.

Yup, I do that with anything I install anyway :o)

I'm pretty sure that Windoze can't do the same check. Damn. I
meant `repair disc permissions'. How come I made that mistake?
Durr...

Because you're human?

I used to scribble for a living. I should be less inclined to make
such mistakes. But I'm sloppier than I used to be. Not that I
understand why I keep typing `that' when I mean `than'. A very
common typo on my part, but I'm damned if I can work out where it
comes from.
Well, aside from misuse of my fingers, obviously.

Nobody is perfect and it sounds like you are beating yourself up over
things you shouldn't! :o)

Hmm. I've got standards. Got to have standards. Look, accuracy is
important. And so is style and all that - I like to give a particular
impression of myself. I damned well ought to be more accurate at
typing that I manage, put it like that. And some of the mistakes I
make are just mad.


I've made worse mistakes than you!

[snip]

It's not like Windoze at all - you don't even have to install the
software to run it in most cases anyway. What I mean by that is
that you can run the software from whatever disc it happens to be
on, on the whole - often off a CD, or whatever (not always, mind).
No need to run a special installer to get the right things set up,
the right Registry entries, and so on.

Ah right! It sounds like my kinda machine!

<grin> Now you're getting it. Not all computers are like Windoze.
Almost all of the others are much nicer.


Groovy!

This works on Macs in part because while I said you have to copy a
single file, what you get only *looks* like a file. It's actually
a devious scheme to hide complexity: a normal Mac app is contained
in a special folder (prepared by the programmer, the user knows
nothing about it) that just *looks* like a single file. In
reality, the `icon that looks and behaves like a file' is really a
folder contains the program itself and all the extra files like the
help, the manual (if there is one), and all the various bits the
basic program needs to operate (well, sometimes the manual's
outside). And it's all wrapped up and hidden from the end user -
although there is a way to look inside if you really want to.

Sounds complicated!

Oh yes - thing is, all the complexity is deliberately hidden from the
end user. You won't ever see it unless you choose to find out how to
dig underneath the bonnet, so to speak.

(actually, it's dead simple and you might do it by accident -
right-click on one of these special thingies, and you'll see an option
in the pop-up menu saying `View package contents'. Which confused me,
because Mac *installers* used to come in packages, but now they're
*bundles* 'cos *package* has been redefined oh god why do they do
these things to us? Argh.)


*nodding* It sounds confusing!

I know someone who did just that, and got a flaky Mac. I spent
maybe 20-30 minutes investigating, removing things that had been
installed which really weren't remotely useful in some cases
(actually, only one or two things IIRC - but it/they looked
really iffy), told MainMenu (a `fix it' utility) to `do all its
jobs' and - as if by magic - the machine was fixed.

Sounds simple enough!

What I did was simple tasks, but it took knowledge of what to look
for to do what I did. Basically, there was this laptop Mac running
like a slug. I spotted a dodgy-looking download manager that
intercepted all downloads made by anything on the computer so it
could handle them itself. To remove that completely without an
uninstaller took a bit of nouse - but I'd read about `Input
Managers' causing problems, looked in the various `Input Manager'
folders, and found what I was looking for there.

I threw away some other dodgy-looking crap (including some Google
thing, IIRC), and ran `all the maintenance jobs going' - and much
to my surprise, `it was perfect after that'. I don't often have
that much of a magical effect on my own Macs, I can tell you.

It sounds like you know what you're doing!

<chuckle> I'm an expert practitioner of Macintosh voodoo on obsolete
Macs. That means I don't really know what I'm doing, but it works.
Dead chickens do get waved around at midnight - it's the only way to
be sure. And the above voodoo was conducted on a bang-on up-to-date
Mac, so I'm not as obsolete as all that.


It doesn't sound like you are!

[snip]

On the other hand, any time you buy a new Mac, you get the OS
installer discs, and if it's all gone horribly, horribly
pear-shaped, you can do an `archive and install' which means
`Back up all your personal files and the extra gubbins that has
been installed, wipe out the OS installation, re-install the OS,
and put all your files and the added stuff back where it
belongs'.

Cool! Sounds like Mac are great at fixing problems without too
much fuss!

Well, that's the *IDEA*. It even works some of the time. ;-)

I guess nothing is perfect! :o)

Well, no. Especially not computer firms. With Apple, it's usually
the case that it's fancy-smanshy easy-peasy stuff *does* work - for
`almost everything you'd want to use it for'. It's just you might
find yourself doing something that falls outside that `almost'
bracket, you know? I often do, but that's because I like doing things
the deviant way.


Ah right!

But aside from that: there are much better applications for
doing graphics on a Mac than PaintShop Pro. Mind you, I'm not
sure how well the shareware stuff compares to PaintShop Pro (PSP
was seriously crap when I last used it - but that was in 1995).
Professional graphics folk use the very expensive commercial
graphics software, and I think `everyone else' nicks the same
stuff and you don't want to be doing that sort of thing.

It's hard to get your head around PSP initially but when you've
learnt what everything does it's a great programme!

<glowers darkly> It wasn't back in 1995.

I didn't even know PSP existed back in 1995!

I played around with it back then IIRC - I had to use Windoze machines
at work, and there was a possible use for it (I gave up and did it all
at home on my Mac). I'm pretty sure it was PaintShop Pro, although I
suppose it might just have been PaintShop.

But I've not looked at it since, so I can't comment on its current
incarnation.


If you're interested, I've got some tutorials on my personal site at
http://mandysworld.com/tutorialindex.htm that show you how to do stuff in
PSP?

and Poser
7 (which I started learning this morning)

There's a Mac version of that.

Yeah? Cool!

Commercial software, mind, so you'd have to pay for a replacement
version. Having said that, some firms do `side-grades' so you can
replace Windoze software with the equivalent Mac software at
greatly reduced cost.

Cool! How do I go about getting my hands on it?

Ask the software publisher if they do things like that. Some firms
do; some don't. Explain that you've got Poser 7 for Windoze and
you're going to switch to Mac and you wonder if they do a special low
rate for `side grades'.

<http://www.e-frontier.com/>

There's no sign that they do on the Web site - but it's definitely
worth asking.


I've just emailed them and I'll email Jasc too while I think of it...
hold on! Hmmm, I can't find how to contact them :o(

[snip]

Unfortunately, lots of people used other Web page creation
software, and FrontPage just got a bad reputation along with MS IE.
Microsoft has since dropped its plans to rule the WWWeb, dropped
MS FrontPage (the replacements from MS are much more compliant with
the standards) and has even dropped support for MS IE on anything
but Windoze.


It sounds like Bill Gates (or whatever his name is) wanted everyone
to do stuff with his software and sod anyone else!

Of course - Microsoft has long wanted to have a monopoly on all PC
software markets, insofar as is possible. It's had that attitude
since getting the IBM PC contract. It's how Bill Gates thinks - he's
basically a standard American cut-throat corporate lawyer who wants to
destroy the competition and rule his corner of the world undisputed.


Blimey!

The Steve is a much more sinister and devious type, but also much
harder to figure out and he's never wanted to rule the world (he used
to be a VW Camper van hippie type). But the Steve does want to rule
his patch: like the average American businessman, he wants power above
all else, and preferably some sort of monopoly. They don't like
competition, do these American business people. Nope, the way they
view the world is that it's there for them to exploit as they see fit
and anyone who gets in their way should be trampled underfoot.


*raises eyebrows*

Some people might say I have an overly cynical outlook.


I don't reckon you have!

MS replaced Frontpage with Microsoft Expression Web and
Sharepoint Designer in December 2006 according to Wikipaedia. I
assume that even they're better than FrontPage, which is famous
for producing HTML that ignores the standards.

*nodding* that's why I gave up trying to learn html on it... I
know enough to build a basic page in html but all the fancy stuff
on my 4 sites is all done in FrontPage!

<shudder> I bet it breaks on some Web browsers.

I hope not!! :o/

Of course it causes problems for some Web browsers! - that was always
the *point* of FrontPage, and it's why MS has dropped it in favour of
more standards compliant Web page creation software. Even MS has
noticed that it can't control the entire WWWeb, so it's decided to
`play nicely' now. FrontPage is a relic of its old strategy. Or so
I've gathered from what I've read, that is.


Oh right! :o(

and that's without FTP software!

FTP is built in to Mac OS X. There's an astonishing amount of
stuff built in as it happens - not that much of it's what you'd
call useful for or even accessible to an `ordinary user' (how
about a full-on programmer's development environment to enable
you to write your own applications using the full power of the
machine? Me neither - but it's in the box). But ftp works
seamlessly from the Finder (what Macs have instead of, erm,
Windoze Explorer?), and you can use it from the command line if
your tastes run that way, and I expect there are an awful lot of
stand-alone ftp programs out there as well but since I've got a
bunch of Web browsers that can do ftp and the Finder can do it
and I can do it from the command line, I've never investigated.

Steve might want a go on the development thingy 'cos he's a
programmer!

<Mmmm>! Right - well, programmers generally seem to love XCode,
which is what the development environment's called. If he's a
programmer, he'll probably end up cackling with glee at some of
what it can do. Whether it'd be professionally useful for him
depends on what work he does - if he does Windoze software
development, I'm not sure it'd be a lot of help at all.

He uses Visual Basic or something like that atm but he's all up for
using new stuff so he might have a go with it as something else to
add to his CV :o)

Well, Visual Basic isn't much of a Mac thing. FWIW, MS has dropped
Visual Basic for Applications from the Mac MS Office suite, so there
are signs that MS is giving up on that sort of thing.


Oh right! :o/

But I gather it's useful for Java as well as `just Mac stuff'.

Oh right! I'll let him know and see what he says :o)

XCode - if he wants to know about it, tell him to search for stuff
about XCode.


Will do!

But aside from that: modern Macs can all run Windoze (not as
well as an `ordinary' PC, but better than most - seriously, Macs
make some of the best Windoze PCs going these days), so you can
run all your Windoze software on a Mac just so long as you also
buy a copy of MS Windoze to install on the machine. I'd
forgotten to mention that - I'm on the older line of Macs, you
see, and they can't run Windoze readily.

Ah right!

The reason for that is the CPU. Computer programs are generally
written in a high level language, which gets turned into `machine
code' by a compiler. Machine code is just a long string of
numbers, the numbers representing commands and data in a way that
the computer the program runs on can understand.

Different CPUs speak different languages, and even represent
numbers in different ways. The type of CPU I've got is different
to the `x86' type used in `ordinary PCs'.

Now, if you want to run Windoze on a computer, you've got to have
something that'll understand these `x86' instructions. If the CPU
you've got doesn't speak that lingo, it has to have a special
program to translate the alien tongue into its own lingo. This is
slow (also, x86 numbers are written the opposite way round to PPC
numbers: x86 writes `one thousand' as `1000', while PPC writes it
as `0001'; but both in binary), and that needs dealing with too).
Otherwise, you can just run the code on an x86 CPU as fast as any
other computer with that CPU.

I've got a G5 `PowerPC' CPU which doesn't speak x86 lingo at all.
Modern Macs all have x86 CPUs.

Ah right! You're starting to go over my head now - sorry!

Sorry - I could explain in person, I promise.


It's me that's the problem... I've never been able to get my head around
the internal workings of a computer!

That's a stupid way to get yourself a Windoze computer if a
Windoze computer is what you really want, but a sensible way of
managing the transition if you do want to switch.

(while I'm at it: you're not just limited to having `just
Windoze as well as MacOS X'. If you've got enough disc space,
you can add lots of different OSes and choose between them - if
you use the right approach, I'm told that anything from Windoze
3 to Linux is perfectly practical. Just stack 'em up, and use
'em as you want. I don't want things to get that confusing
myself, but the potential is there. Other computers can do
similar things, mind - but only Macs get to run the MacOS)

Oh cool! You're slowly but surely turning my head to getting a
Mac in addition to Windows as well as this computer!

Remember it's not like that any more: seriously, modern Macs can
run Windoze better than most `normal' PCs. I said `most' - of
course there are `normal' PCs that are better optimised for
Windoze, but not most of 'em. So if you got a Mac *AND* purchased
a copy of Windoze (it's all cost, and don't ignore that), you'd
have a `two in one' box of tricks. No real downside, aside from the
cost of buying that copy of Windoze on top of the cost of the Mac
itself.


*nodding* Maybe I'd be better to just buy the Mac and use Mac
software instead of getting Windows as well?

If you've got MS Windoze computers in the house, you'll save a shed
load of money and not cause yourself great inconvenience by not
putting Windoze on your Mac. But it's dead flashy if you do... ;-)


There are 3 Windows PCs and a Windows laptop right now so maybe I should
steer clear of installing it on the Mac?

It's a money decision, really - can you justify the expense? Can
you /spare/ the expense? Silly to drop a load of cash on something
you don't need if cash is short or needed for something else.

I'm living on benefits so I guess I don't really need Windows as well
as the Mac, right?

Umm - no. Not if you're keeping your Windoze computers. It shouldn't
be too tricky to get a Mac networked to your Windoze computers, for
whatever that might help you with. All current Macs except for this
new `Air' thingy have Ethernet built in.


Ethernet? What's that?

[snip]

If you have a new PC with the latest and greatest graphics card and
all the latest hardware, and you want to do things that Vista can
do, and you don't want to install much software, then Vista can be
very nice from what I've read. But if it turns out that your
situation doesn't match that spec, you can be in trouble. Also,
from what I've read: I've never seen it in action. Hell, I've
never used Windoze XP myself IIRC.

XP is a *lot* better than ME

Well, yeah, but Windoze Me was really, really crappy. Really awful.
Win XP SP2 is what you want to be comparing Vista to.


I didn't install SP2 on my old machine 'cos I heard so many negative
things about it!

and Vista seems to be better than XP

Vista looks prettier, and it's got extra bits layered on top, but it's
got the same basic architecture as Win XP and once you scrape off the
surface changes, you'll find its very much the same underneath. It
was Win XP SP 2 that was when Windoze turned the corner from `Oh god
no run away run away!' to `Oh, alright, if you really must' - from my
point of view, and based on what I've read 'cos I've never actually
used it as far as I can recall.


Ah right!

[snip]

Win XP SP 2 isn't a complete disaster, but anything prior to
that was more or less awful (although Win NT and Win 2000 were a
/lot/ better than the run of the mill awfulness from MS at the
time, from what I've heard).

*nodding* XP and Vista have been the best Windows OSs so far for
sure!

Vista's got a lot of problems. It's not really that much different
to Windoze XP once you get underneath the new glitter and gloss on
the surface. So I've read...


Oh right! Didn't know that!

Microsoft's main aim with Vista (as distinct from XP) seems to have
been to make it as flashy-looking as MacOS X. There were lots of very
neat technologies that had been announced for inclusion with Vista -
but they were all dropped. Every one of them. Microsoft couldn't get
them to work.


Blimey!

[snip]

But: don't get anything spent on Macs unless and until you've done
your research, figured out what to do to get what you need, how
much it's going to cost, and also made sure that you won't suffer a
`What the hell is this? I can't work with this! This makes no
sense!' situation on trying to use it.

Other than newsgroups, which websites would you recommend I use to do
my research on?

Start out with uk.comp.sys.mac - they'll be able to point you at
anything you need to know, or at least tell you what search terms to
use.


Okey dokes!

[snip]

Macs are *different* - not especially hard to learn about or to use
(that'd make them pointless), but *different*. Just you make sure
you can be comfortable with a Mac before getting one, eh? If not,
stick with Windoze. Really. I mean that. Sooner a machine you
can use - no matter how crappy - than one you can't.

*nodding* I'm hoping to persuade Steve to take me to our local PC
World to have a look at the Macs this weekend :o)

Don't be too quick to believe what the staff in PC World tell you -
they're famous for bullshitting, and PC World is also famous for
having `typical computer shop staff' who will - in some cases - tell
you that you don't want to buy a Mac 'cos they're *** and there's no
software (which they will then `prove' by pointing a the lack of Mac
software on the shelf in the shop - well, no-one buys Mac software
from real shops any more, not in any significant amount. We all buy
on-line. So shops don't stock Mac software very much - we don't look
in shops for Mac software, so of course they won't sell it).


Ah right!

You won't necessarily get someone quite that bad, but be aware: PC
World is famous for really dodgy and poorly informed staff interested
in nothing but their own commission.


Gotchya!

Your fella Steve is going to want to be comfy with it too, 'cos
he'll be your first point of call as and when problems arise. And
they will: there's no PC-type computer in the world that doesn't
have problems, aside from those that are firmly `off' (computers
built into equipment to run things are usually a lot more reliable
than the `PC' sort of computer with a keyboard and screen and
whatnot that gets used by people at a desk, but that's because
equipment manufacturers generally understand that people won't put
up with aeroplane autopilots needing to be rebooted due to a blue
screen of death moment and suchlike).

(uk.comp.sys.mac is the place to ask if you run into trouble with a
Mac, generally speaking.)

*nodding* I just hope they don't get sick of all my questions!

Oh no! Not at all - they like sensible questions. It's what the
newsgroup's for.


Cool!

[snip]

You're prolly right there!

I bet you never boasted that your Spectrum was loads better than
a BBC Micro, to take one example. I never understood that sort
of thing.

I'd never even heard about BBC Micros until you mentioned them!

<stunned> Blimey. The reigning (if not entirely undisputed) champ
of the 8 bit home micro era, designed by Acorn and adopted by the
BBC for its computer literacy project back in the early 1980s. Up
against the Spectrum and similar machines - except that you'd not
buy a Speccy if you could stretch to a Beeb.

I was only 3 years old in 1980 which may be why I hadn't heard about
BBC Micros?

Ah. Yes, could be; I'm a decade older than you. BBC Micros were
pretty much obsolete come your tenth birthday, although some can still
be found lurking in higher education labs, running various bits of
equipment (fewer than there were, because modern students are mostly
incapable of using a computer that you have to type commands at, even
if you give them a clear instruction ***).


Yup :o/

Mind you, Sinclair Spectrums are about the same age as BBC Micros, and
you had one of them at home, didn't you? They were obsolete before
BBC Micros, but they stayed on sale longer on account of being
cheap-and-cheerful machines with lots of games available for them.


I did indeed! I used to spend all my pocket money on games for it!

Commodore's C64 had fancy graphics hardware which made it better
for certain kinds of games. But the Beeb was a much more serious
piece of kit. They had an interface so you could attach a second
processor, for example - back in 1981. Built-in networking
hardware was an option. They had a more modern form of serial
interface than IBM fitted to its IBM PC of the same year (Beebs
used a serial interface from the same standard *** as the one
used by Macs (RS423 and RS422 respectively, IIRC), but
unfortunately IBM's PC used the obsolete standard (RS232C) so the
new one - backwards compatible with the old, I should note - never
got going).

Anyway, yer BBC Micro was the 300lb gorilla of the 8 bit home micro
era. And dead famous.

Oh right!

[snip]

Have you heard of the ARM processor? Almost all the mobile computing
devices and a goodly fraction of the mobile phones in the world have
an ARM processor built into them to run them. That processor was
developed by Acorn, the firm that designed the BBC Micro. It was
developed to power the replacement for the BBC Micro, the sadly
defunct Acorn Archimedes (although the operating system is still just
about alive <http://www.riscos.org/>) - had a proper GUI interface,
mouse, and all that. Very nice, sensible price, but it came out in
1987 and by that time, it was too late.


Oh right :o(

Acorn died a while back, but the ARM processor was a *HUGE* success
'cos it was very, very neat indeed - the ARM processor got spun off
Acorn into a new company called ARM, and took over the world somewhat.


Blimey!

The ARM was neat because Acorn's designers really knew what they were
doing - due to their experience with the BBC Micro, which taught them
`what you really need from a CPU for this sort of job'. And when
Acorn wanted to write the programs to run on its new Archimedes
computer, it just plugged its new ARM processor into a BBC Micro via
the special `second processor' interface and they got on with it - the
Arc's software was written on a BBC Micro that had basically had a
brain transplant. But they were designed to have brain transplants
like that, so it was fine. Stonking machines. I once shared a house
with a BBC Micro that had a choice of second processors, provided by
its kind owner (who designed and built both of the add-on boards
himself; well, he couldn't afford to buy the ready-made versions).
One of them was a 68000, which put it in the same power league as a
first generation Macintosh.


Blimey!!

Said owner didn't wash often enough and was inclined to leave huge
logs in the loo which wouldn't flush. But he was very very very very
very clever. Not clever enough to stay sober when miserable, mind -
which meant he was also not clever enough not smack me in the face
when I told asked him `what the hell are you doing?' in response to
seeing him pinning his girlfriend up against the wall in a drunken
rage. No, no damage to me (or her, beyond shock): he was a bit of a
limp veggie type and I was still playing rugby at the time (I think),
so when I responded to his punch to my face - clearly as hard a blow
as he could manage - with a sharp retort along the lines of `I.,
behave yourself!' and showing no sign at all of having been subjected
to any physical discomfort, he just looked at me very strangely and
walked off.


WTG Rowland!!

Rowland.



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