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| Any comment that bashes Microsoft and Windows seems appropriate nowadays - with some justification. But let me add a partial defense.... In the late '80s I worked on a job where we were doing engineering drawings and lots of documentation on the original Mac's - and I liked the mouse/graphical interface, but didn't like the need to stick in a separate floppy for each application and file set, or the tiny screen that drove me to tri-focals. So I was thrilled when I bought my first AT&T AT-286 PC with a huge 20mg hard drive. (Remember, this was 1986.). But I was less than happy with the DOS operating system and clunky applications. This from a guy who in 1969 wrote his Master's paper typed on punch cards and ran corrections overnight using a FORTRAN word processing compiler batch-processed on a remote IBM 360 mainframe. The local computer shop out in Venice, California (before the days of the mega -computer stores) suggested a new application (those were his words - a graphical interface that ran on DOS, not an operating system), Windows 1.0 with a serial mouse, and voilą, I had the beginnings of a workable system. Then I discovered Microsoft Word 3.0 with spell check, and I knew I was on to something - but I had regressed back to DOS with a mouse and lost the "what-you-see-is-what-you-get" look we take for granted today. Then came Office 95 with an integrated Windows-based suite that really worked, especially with the inclusion of an address book and other personal information management functions in Outlook. Windows (my latest versions are XP Home and ME) and the applications running under Windows still crash all too often, but a price I am willing to pay for integrated functionality. I only wish the occasional rumors of a Windows ?? update that is more of a debugging than an upgrade come true. I would rather have a faultless Windows ?? system than a buggy new-fangled operating system. My new Dell came with Microsoft XP operating system and Office XP. I must confess it works much better but still klunks on me occasionally. But I am often tempted to shift over to the OpenOffice.org suite and Mozilla or Netscape. Together they offer everything Microsoft does - free! Another free suite is available from Gnome.org. They have been around a good while, but I have no personal knowledge of the project. They do say they have a PIM that syncs with PDAs using the Palm OS. But the frustrations have not yet over-ridden the good aspects of an integrated Microsoft package. Linux? I just don't have the time and inclination to toy with a new operating system, but if you do, it's a great deal, especially if you use the excellent free application packages that operate on it. Unfortunately, some of my applications do not, one reason I tough it out with Windows. But I continue to watch the various Linux offerings. Microsoft keeps getting more expensive and harder to use with their new protection system. I have to say something about the protection system...We all know that when you buy software it is generally licensed for use on one computer only (or, generously by Microsoft, a main and a portable computer). In my case, I have pretty well stuck to the agreement, buying multiple copies for different computers. In the past using Microsoft software versions prior to the XP line, when I junked an old computer and loaded the software on a new machine (or even a new hard drive), I did it at my leisure. Now, to transfer a new Microsoft product to a new computer, or one with major upgrades, you must call Microsoft and go through a transfer process, apparently designed to keep users from operating the software on multiple computers. Well and good, but a royal pain in the behind. That aspect, coupled with the high original prices, have convinced me to watch for an alternative. Now back to the Mac.... Yeah, the system is pretty good, but just too darn expensive - hardware and software. I'm obviously a PC person, even though I have used Macs a lot. They are just too expensive and inflexible for a small business - in my opinion - but always good for an extended argument with a Mac aficionado! By the way, some of the free software is also available for the Mac, which softens the blow a bit, but I have no feel for the reliability of "fourth"-party software on the Mac. |
© 2000-2009 John M. Taylor |