CompuServe Messages

Alberto: >I just would like some Dos user say: oh I love my computer but wouldn't it be nice to have a Mac too for some fancy artwork? Instead, all they say is: when is Photoshop going to be ported? When is PageMaker going to be ported? Why hasn't Avid ported over to Windows yet? And especially, "about time too" as if anything good going round in the computer world can ONLY be on their platform, everything else is simply not to be taken seriously.< I'd just like to jump in here–and, as someone who uses *both* Windows and Mac, hopefully circumvent *another* instance of Mac partisans and Windows partisans trying to stare each other out of countenance <g>… Until recently, the reason so many folks purchased Windows-based systems over Mac systems was because, for a small business or private practice (which described me and the folks I worked for, pretty much), Macs were *expensive*. I spent my first year and a half as a desktop publisher designing publications on a Mac Plus(!!!) because the cost to upgrade past that was ruinous to my boss. When we finally *got* a new Mac, it was the "top of the midrange" IIVX (for around $5,000 w/a larger hard drive–but no CD-ROM, since people who sold it to us insisted we couldn't have both–and enough memory to run PhotoShop), which two months after we bought it was a white elephant. My boss is *still* paying that off, which is why we haven't upgraded to PowerMac yet–and he's understandably leery about the upgrade, given what happened the last time… Fortunately, Apple finally realized that their market had flatlined at their original prices, and made a determined effort to make Macs affordable and compatible to the vast base of Windows/DOS users. By then, however, most people were reluctant to make a changeover that meant learning a new platform (all right, it's an easy-to-use new platform–but try telling that to, say, my wife who's *still* using WordPerfect 5.1/DOS and refuses to change) and not being able to use the same software they'd used before. Alberto, I happen to like *both* systems for different reasons–and am fortunate enough to have access to both. Most people, however, aren't that lucky–it's either upgrade what they have already, or don't upgrade, period. It's not that Windows folk are eager to drive Macintosh off the face of the Earth (at least, I'm not–and except for a handful of "DOS or die!" partisans, I suspect most other folks aren't either)–they'd just like a computer system that's compatible *and* affordable. I find the Mac to be a better-integrated operating system than Windows, and it's certainly better supported for handling cross-platform conversions. As for the "speed" issue, I've always found that the somewhat clumsy design of Windows (running several megs of RAM atop a 640K base system) tends to negate a lot of the speed gain–my 486/66 w/16 megs of RAM at home opens PhotoShop at about the same speed as my IIVX w/8 megs of RAM at work. However, the reason I've *got* a Windows system at home is because I can't afford to own two systems, and the readership I write for (mostly, video consumers) tend to have Windows computers and want DTV products they can run on those. I don't think it's a conspiracy if a company, having designed a product that works well on one platform, decides to port it over to another–it's just good business. And it's not a conspiracy that DOS-based systems are more popular, despite the fact they're not quite as easy to use, as Mac systems–it's the advantage of competition, since there are a number of companies making DOS-compatible computers, while only Apple and one other company, I think, are making Mac-compatibles. In not licensing their technology to other computer manufacturers, Apple made the same mistake Sony made back in the 70s w/Betamax–hoping to corner the videocassette market by keeping the technology to themselves, Sony's Betamax got trounced by the visually inferior, but less expensive and more readily-available, VHS. Now let's all make nice, okay? I'd *hate* this to turn into the Desktop Publishing Forum, where DTP issues turned into political hissing matches… Tim Liebe