[Leica] New Apple software, Aperture, now computers long and OT

[Frank.Dernie at btinternet.com (Frank Dernie)]

Sadly Nathan what you say is quite true for many.
I started writing software in the late sixties before PCs were  
available. I well remember the first IBM PC we got at work - Nigel  
Mansell won it for getting pole position at the South African GP - we  
would never have been able to afford to buy it. Up to then we had a  
Hewlett Packard HP85, a proprietry all in one computer, and an Analog  
Devices Macsym II which ran the wind tunnel. I wrote the software for  
both, nobody else in the company used a computer.
The Macsym was a simple machine but it had a 16 slot card bus in the  
back that allowed connection to analogue and digital inputs and  
outputs. I used it to control the wind tunnel and to measure and  
analyse the results. I had also written some software to use it to  
digitise profiles in reverse from a flat bed XY plotter. It was  
effective but clunky, tiny green on black text only display and only  
a Scotch DC100 tape drive for storage of files sequentially - very  
easy to lose data.
Analog Devices had announced a multi card for the PC which, whilst  
not as versatile as the Macsym, had enough inputs and outputs for my  
needs. I rewrote the software so it would run on the PC, not  
difficult as it was an enhanced BASIC for both so few changes were  
necessary. I thought it was worthwhile for the bigger screen,  
graphics and floppy capability. It turned out to be neither reliable  
nor fast enough to use, about 50 times slower than the Macsym. I  
can't remember what we ended up doing with it now - not using it for  
engineering anyway.

This was my first experience of the PC world which has continued to  
disappoint me ever since. We use PCs at work and their (deliberate?)  
inability to be compatible is annoying. I have a Mac at home and can  
read any file from a PC I have tried so far - not so in reverse.
We are indeed in a situation where we are largely stuck with PCs.  
This is not because they are good - they aren't particularly - but  
because they are dominant and have managed to engineer (the best bit  
of engineering they have done) a near monopoly. For most people PC is  
now synonymous with computer. Most are unaware of the alternatives.
The main thing Microsoft have brought to computing is the lowering of  
peoples expectations of what computer software can do.
Frank


On 21 Oct, 2005, at 18:39, Nathan Wajsman wrote:

> I really hate to get involved in a religious war, and I am frankly  
> not religious about this issue, but in the real world of mainstream  
> business Microsoft and Wintel rule for the simple reason that that  
> is what most other people use. I once used a consulting firm in  
> Paris for a project, and it was a Mac shop. They sent us  
> presentations in Powerpoint, and invariably things did not line up  
> correctly etc. when the files were opened on a Windows machine. I  
> would not want to take this risk when sending stuff to a customer,  
> and since 95%+ of recipients of my e-mails are in a Windows  
> environment, then I will be in a Windows environment too, at least  
> in my business.
>
> At home, for my Photoshop work, Apple might perhaps be a better  
> choice, but on the other hand, I often take work home and then I  
> would run into the same issue as referenced above.
>
> Finally, the wealth of software and hardware available for Windows  
> is so much greater than for Apple, and the prices are of course  
> correspondingly lower because of the greater competition. I am  
> writing this on a Win XP machine but using a free browser and free  
> email client, and I use a lot of other open source software both at  
> home and in the office.
>
> Apple's corporate turnaround is not due to the small minority of  
> graphic  designer types and Mac fundamentalists. It is much more  
> driven by the success of the iPod. Apple has effectively become a  
> consumer electronics company with a computer division attached to it.
>
> Nathan