Computer Realists vs. Computer Enthusiasts (Mac related, but applicable to any technology, really)...

I can't say I enjoy hearing people going back and forth over how much the other folks OS 'truly sucks', but I can sort of understand why they do it.

Since I'm about to bid on eBay on a new(er) PowerBook; *is it* really sluggish? Is it slower than OS 9 (which I think is fine)?

I think the interface for single tasking feels much slower, but OS X shines when I'm jumping between a dozen applications. Gobs of memory on that Powerbook will make your experience more pleasant.

Lots of people seem to think that Mac software is generally better than PC software. On the other hand there's a much bigger pile of PC software.

The PC community is much much bigger whereas the Mac community is - uh - more rabid.

In the end I've never liked the way a Mac does anything except for that pulsing power LED thing it does when it's sleeping.

So, I found this brilliant post saying to back everything up, partition your hard drive into 5 bits: OS X, OS 9, FONTS, SCRATCH and STORAGE. 10 Gig, 3 Gig, 2 Gig, 1 Gig and whatever's left for storage.

Brilliant idea. Loading both operating systems and all the updates went very quickly since my HD was completely wiped by the partitioning.

OS X is a romping healthy puppy. Now I feel foolish for partitioning the OS 9 bit a little higher (I set it for 6 Gigs, rather than 3) because it is obvious that it will be a waste of space. I really only need 9 for one program I'm currently interested in and all I need for X is the Photoshop update.

If anyone's been holding off on Jaguar simply out of worry, try it this way. This thing is awesome now!

Oh yeah, Adobe InDesign really is the Quark Killer. After playing with it for only a few minutes I realized how much easier it really is. And I'd grown very fond of my Quark speed, too.

The experience I'm having now with 5 partitians and 1.25 Gigs of RAM... well, it's the exact opposite of a truly sucking experience. It's quite amazing, in fact. I can't believe how much shit I can have open at the same time and I can't make it crash.

HOwever, back to the question. I am a definite enthusiast but to the extent of wanting my primary tool in life (my computer) to be as elegant as possible and to work with me rather than frustrate me. I really dislike people who fail to learn how to use their computers properly and effectively.

I want so badly to buy a new (or newish) PowerBook so I can use an iPod and feel all gee-whiz that I'm almost at the point of physical pain. Never having any actual cash money and always having credit card debt is stopping me. For now.

Ed neatly summed up my opinion of the entire Mac community in one sentence - but of course, it's not their faults, they just need proper and effective computers.

On the occasions that I've used InDesign I've been hugely impressed with the ease I am able to create flashy and tidy looking documents compared to the tedious runarounds I have to use in Quark, but we still have people where I work who haven't got used to the change between Quark 3 and Quark 4 yet!

This is not to mention the fact that almost every workflow is geered up for Quark EPSs (Or possibly Quark EPSs converted to PDFs) and any change to InDesign will involve a huge investment in these areas, not to mention upgrading workstations to handle the increased processing and memory resources InDesign demands. So, as much as I want to see it happen, it won't be for a number of years (if at all.)

As regards OSX, I'm using OSX on my girlfriends laptop at the moment and it's nice, but I'd rather be on my PC running XP. I find mine smoother, more flexible, and more importantly any PC is going to cost less and run faster than any Mac until they manage to sort out a new type of system architecture.

not in canadian dollars, anyway ;-)

Hope it helps you.

As for me, I'm all set, but back to OS9 again. There isn't a proper font utility yet for OS X and 300 or so of my favorite kickass fonts won't work at all. OS X only will tolerate the most boring standards from Adobe or some foundry that's putting out 100 year old typefaces.

OSX is awesome, though. And fast. As soon as that type gets settled, I'm on it.

Also, my 3-yr old iBook has been subjected to thrills, chills, copious cigarette ash and I even poured most of a pint of beer on it once (not on purpose) while it was running. I am going to run this mother into the ground (or I'm finally going to give in to Escape Velocity on OS X and buy a new computer for the purpose).

With this in mind, it may be easier to understand why some Mac users are fanatic about some things.

And oh yeah; now I can use an iPod!!!