-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- I will preface these comments by saying that I run two boxes here a Power Mac, on which I do most of my work, and a WinNT4/Linux dual boot box as well. On 12/22/97 4:50 AM, Secret Squirrel (anon@squirrel.owl.de) passed this wisdom:
And, since Windows OS is so pitifully lousy, why do people continue to buy it, even without the computer attached; why do they continue to upgrade, even if it's so slow and bloated? Don't they realize Unix is better? Don't they realize they're just making Billg richer?
Want to play a game from the store? Windows 95.
or a Mac (admittedly not as many hybrids or mac-only titles)
Want to install a new image in your Flash RAM on your motherboard? DOS (Windows 95).
on a Mac? who needs it?
Want to have vendor-produced drivers? Windows 95.
or a Mac
Want to parse MS Turd documents? Windows 95 and MS Office.
MacLinkPlus translators (bundled with OS) handles all WinDoze docs (often better than WinDoze itself!)
Want to use a Windows-specific bullshit class registration system at your university? Windows 95.
(ugh!)
Happened to buy a printer? It won't say "Yes! It works with Ghostscript!" Infact it won't say anything about hardware compatability. It'll just say "Windows drivers included" along with a list of a bunch of software that Idon't want and don't need. So if it happens that the printer is nonstandard...Windows 95.
most of the top manufacturers have Mac drivers. Epson printers even come with Mac and PC interefaces built in
Have a bunch of people in the office who don't care about platform compatability and pass around Windows-specific document types or programs? Windows 95.
same answer as above MacLinkPlus translators
Have a bunch of people in the office who, simply because Windows and sometimes MacOS are taught as "computer education" in many universities and public schools can't use anything else? Windows 95.
point, to you, but, the aim is not to produce an extra 500,000 CompSci educated users. It is to provide a useful tool for the masses. Windows (who stole its interface from mac who stole it from xerox) type GUIs are easier to use than CLIs, it is only since the entrenchment of GUIs that they have come forth in the Unix/Linux world.
Have to use a university computer lab? The machines are probably running Windows 95. So you wind up with an incentive to use Windows 95 elsewhere. So...again, Windows 95.
another point to you. as a high school teacher in an area where there is a large IBM plant (read that as a lot of IBM employed taxpayers). I watched with dismay as more and more IBM and compatibles have grown to take over the lab. We have a fulltime hard wired Internet connection from the state of Vermont and yet its all but useless half the time because of one windows problem or another. The lab coordinator spends more time fixing WinDoze compatability problem than teaching computer use.
Want to have a working copy of PGP 5.0 while everybody else has started sending out DH-encrypted/signed messages and rolled DH keys? Windows 95. (Yeah, yeah. The source was released in book form.)
PGP5 Mac came out early also -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGP for Personal Privacy 5.0 Charset: noconv iQEVAwUBNJ6kLD7r4fUXwraZAQH0rAf+LgoBszMSgqJ2OSKOP0p5jCW1uTM/exeE O/C+V9VqMwnGbJjybMWU7arcqzntNlE/34matvXcm3Iz16gKt172rMfC46eewQ2W AQE/OC/lu2V8kBm9USsE7xwc7/ff26aJAwFVtZs5qE3vdkGaprsh15qwLEF9NPZM Kffg0sBhPxYvxAkZKUMqvGx44wt+qD/HYShEiAyd8UzBVWAFWKzZMA2v/ijd/YNJ uv+umnP2W1eNYw6SChVDZEFbtagtQ4TSqXPKON41UHAlkAQ0aNydSFzxDctOoYbf yozTSzQvzomL1gDK7bqqQnVSKvOxyLGaDoYEH7lb1H4ZgoNLZQtxMg== =ZGQU -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- Brian B. Riley --> http://members.macconnect.com/~brianbr For PGP Keys <mailto:brianbr@together.net?subject=Get%20PGP%20Key> "The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn." -Alvin Toffler