Which platform?

[Richard P. Grant]

In article <4r8laj$nc0 at nntp1.best.com>, jquinn at nntp.best.com (Greg) writes:
> 
> Maybe Canada has real price breaks on Macs, but I doubt it. The big
> drawback with the mac is currently the operating system, which simply
> doesn't hold a candle to Win95, letalone NT. Not only is the Mac OS

Come again?

> incapable of true pre-emptive multitasking, but it's handling of virtual

The Mac, at the moment does not have pre-emptive multitasking.  So what?  It's 
cooperative multitasking (can we say that, boys and girls?) is sufficient for 
anyone with two hands, two eyes and a single CPU ;-))

I have had a stuffit job going, files copying and been making pasteups in 
Photoshop all at the same time.  Now tell me I want the computer to do 
something else simultaneously ......  Of course, other programs will be open, 
but I'm not using them because I only have one keyboard.

> memory is terrible (ie. non-existant). If this wasn't bad enough, unless

Huh?  You've heard of RAM Doubler have you?  Stable as houses in my hands.  
Maybe my two year old 25 MHz LC with 8MB RAM isn't a good example for this 
argument...  (Yes, Apple's VM has had problems, but I doubt you've used a new 
machine recently)

> extremely well set with tons of memory (eg. 32+), they can frequently
> crash. 

Crashes?  Well, dodgy beta software and Microsucks crash the machine 
_in_frequently.  I can even run Photoshop over the network on a similar 
machine at work....  but yes, it goes a lot better on a 8100/110/80MB.

> There are extremely good reasons for buying a Mac, principally for
> its interface, which a lot of people have grown up with (leastways here in
> the US). Also, computer illiterates find them easier to deal with. No one

I think computer literates find them easier to deal with too.  I don't like 
fighting a machine before I can work with it.  Just because it's intuitive 
does not mean it's simple.  
Upgrades?  Easy-peasy.  Have you tried fitting an ethernet card into a Mac?  
Flip, wiggle, push.  Close.

Hey - I know people who use pcs 
who are scared of Macs because they perceive them as difficult to use.  Go 
figure.

> with any experience in this area would suggest that they are cost
> effective in terms of computing power or hardware costs. That is simply
> not the case.

Ahem.  Go look in a catalogue somewhere.  Compare $$/Mhz, and then realize 
that the PPC is (on average) ~20% faster than an equivalent MHz CISC chip.
Plus, Macs (and clones) come ready to go, and when you buy a Mac outfit you 
get everything:  video cards, sound cards, all part of the price.  And I 
_think_ the new macs have ethernet capability out of the box - although I 
could be wrong.

HTH,
Richard

(oh, and don't start on reliability/DOA figures....)