Get A Clue
by David Gerrold 11/13/2011 12:26 PM EST
My son likes getting under the hood of his car, tweaking and tinkering. I like getting under the hood of my computer and tinkering. Just as my son likes to push the performance of his machine, I like pushing the performance of mine.
Occasionally, my son will bump up against the limits of his knowledge, so he’ll come into the house, sit down at the dining room table, boot up the spare laptop, and start googling around. Depending on the size of the problem, or what piece of machinery he’s working on, he can be engaged for hours. Sometimes, he pulls out his phone and starts calling friends with expertise. Not once in all the years he has been working on cars has anyone told him to get a Ford/Chevy/Dodge/Toyota, or etc.
I also will occasionally bump into some esoteric little quirk of high-tech behavior that I have never seen before. If I can’t find an answer on Google, sometimes I ask on Facebook. I have over 4300 “friends” on Facebook, many of them are wizards. Some are not. Inevitably, one of the non-wizards will say, “You wouldn’t have this problem if you had a Mac.” And just as inevitably, I will unfriend that person. It’s not like I don’t warn them ahead of time—but they say it anyway. It’s the cyberspace version of Tourette Syndrome.
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There is much more to the article and it is well worth reading. My personal take is that he is right ... as far as he goes. I used to be active in the WinTel (Windows/Intel) world but finally got tired of Microsoft's arrogance. I suppose I could have switched to Linux or any of a number of other available OSs but remembered my early computer experiences with Apple computers. I bought my first PC, an Apple ][, in 1977 ... three years before IBM tried to enter the PC market with its IBM PC. I even built an Apple ][ from a circuit board and discrete components. I still have all the documentation required if I ever need to repair it.
Over the years I upgraded to an Apple ][e which has 750 KB Ram and a 20 MB HD along with its dual SSSD floppies. Not too shabby for ancient technology, especially since it still works and does everything I wanted it to do back when I was working with it every day. I still have my 128 KB Mac Classic, though I need to dig through the detritus of the ages to try to find its boot disks.
I got roped into the "PC" (as in the IBM version) world in the early to mid 80's when I had to create custom databases using software that only ran on IBM machines. As I got more proficient, I found that I could earn more by helping others with their buggy WinTel machines than I ever could with the Apple machines.
Last year I finally decided I would go back to my origins. I splurged on a 27" iMac with 8GB RAM and (so far) 3 TB storage and a 64 GB iPad2 with the idea that I would try iPad development for a while. Granted, I cannot easily upgrade my new Apple system to "a state-of-the-art machine" but I don't envision needing to do so. In fact, these are the first two computers I've ever owned that I have not immediately opened just so I can see what the latest technology looks like.
When I was active in the WinTel world, I found myself upgrading to a new PC every year or two. I would purchase the new systems retail simply because I found it more cost effective, not because I couldn't upgrade my existing machines myself. I would use the older systems for lesser and lesser tasks until I eventually refurbished them and gave them away to some poor needy soul who didn't have a PC at all. I have a feeling the Apples will go the same way but with greater time between new systems, as what I have should meet my needs for a much longer time.
My take on the "Mac vs PC war"? Do your research, find the software that will do what you want done, and buy a system that is more than powerful enough to run it through at least two years worth of updates (to the software!) Whether that system is a Mac or a PC shouldn't matter, only whether the software does what you want it to do. If all you need to do is go to the grocery store, the vehicle you use to get there doesn't matter. A souped up hot rod still has to stay within the speed limit and is more likely to attract the attention of the police looking for speeders!
I guess I'm just getting old. I don't feel the need to have "the latest and greatest" any more. I'm just happy with something that doesn't require my extended intervention before I can get it to do actual useful work.