Greetings and Salutations:

My degree is in Math / Computer Science.  I have been using computers since
1977, long before the "PC" revolution came around.

I am yet another one of "those Mac users".  I have read your "articles" on
Mac users and since you (obviously) have not received an intelligent
response from any of those users (because I see none printed) I am sending
this in hopes that you might actually:
1) See that there are intelligent Mac users out there
2) See fit to publish a response that doesn't look / feel like a fanatic.

I saw my first IBM PC in 1981 or 1982.  One of my friends who was in the
Management Information System (MIS) department showed it to me.  A
fascinating little computer, but it looked an awful lot like the operating
system CP/M I had been using on other "personal" computers at the time, like
on the Osborne.

I have written software on the IBM 360/370, PR1ME, TRS/80, Apple II, IBM/PC
(just to name a few).  I have experience across a myriad of operating
systems.

I have *mostly* used DOS / Windows because that is the operating system of
choice for my employers.  Right now I am writing this on my Power Mac G4,
and I have a Windows computer right next to me.  I am comfortable with both
operating systems.

The difference, however, is that I *prefer* the Mac.  I have had a Mac at
home since 1991 and in that time I have only had to reload the OS a few
times (less than 4).  Once was because a virus ate my hard drive (to be
honest that is the only time I remember).  This is opposed to every Windows
machine I have used at work where reloading the operating system was a every
6 month requirement.

I just recently gave up my Mac IIci and bought the Power Mac.  It was like
coming home again.  It just felt right.

My partner has a Windows XP machine because she is comfortable with the
Windows OS.  That is her choice and I would never suggest that she "has" to
use a Mac because I (obviously) take care of all the machines.

Now that you know my history lets focus on the articles at hand:
From http://www.bcentral.com/articles/komando/104.asp :
>Actually, I considered not writing this column, regardless of the test
>results. Writing about Windows versus Apple is a no-win situation.

Yup.  You got that right.  I have been involved in "Computer Wars" since the
late 1980's when PC's started getting popular.  I don't engage in them any
more because it is such a "religious" issue.

When someone tries to tell me how much better their computer is than my
computer (which comes up *very* often because I use a Mac) I ask them the
following:
Me: I need to buy a vehicle.  Tell me which vehicle I need to buy
If they say a truck --> Me: Oh, by the way I want to race at 160 MPH
If they say a smaller / sports car --> Me: Oh, I need to tow my pontoon boat

The computer is useful if it does what you need it to do.  A Mac or a
Windows machine is useless if you have to analyze nuclear explosion data:
http://www.llnl.gov/str/Seager.html

>But if you disagree with my conclusions, please think twice before flaming me

That goes without saying, but there are trollers everywhere and if you
publish anything on the Internet they will come out (see my Troll FAQ).

>My opinions are honest, I promise. I tried hard to be very fair to both
>sides.

However, be a little more honest here.  Your opinions were subjective, not
objective.  PC magazines have spent thousands of dollars on elaborate tests
between PC's and Mac's timing "real world" computer usage down to smallest
amount.

>And just to set the record straight, I was not influenced one bit
>by the fact this column runs on a Microsoft-owned site

Yes, but Microsoft knew by the past tenor of your articles that you were
already a Windows evangelist.  I am betting that if you were to start
writing articles on how good Linux is / how much less Linux costs Microsoft
bCentral would not be as friendly.

>My productivity immediately plunged. The iMac will do most of what
>Windows does, but it often does things differently. The Help system
>was somewhat sketchy, similar to Windows.

I would expect this with *any* OS.  Learning a new OS always has a steep
learning curve.

>One of the great things about Windows is "Alt+Tab," with which you
>can jump from window to window.

This is not a Windows machine.  If you insist on continuing to compare the
Mac to how a Windows machine works then you are being unfair to the Mac.
You seem to be stating up front that Windows is the field on which we are
playing and if the Mac doesn't work just like Windows then you take away
points.

>The most irritating drag came when jumping between Internet Explorer
>and Word

Hmmm ... Both programs are from Microsoft.  Microsoft has *always* caused
problems on my Mac.  Other software that is natively written on the Mac /
for the Mac *seem* to work fine, but Microsoft applications *seem* to have
problems.  Subjective opinion on my part.

>A few other issues with the iMac:
>A one-button mouse. Actually, the entire mouse is the button. I'm used
>to using the right button and scroll wheel on my Windows mouse.
>Really, Apple, you could do better than this.

Actually the Mac supports a two button mouse, they just didn't ship you one.
From Apple Help:
You can change how fast the onscreen pointer moves and how fast you have to
double-click to select something. If you have a two-button mouse or a mouse
with a wheel, you can also change settings for it.

>The 15-inch monitor. Apple has begun shipping iMacs with 17-inch screens.
>I'm used to using a 21-inch CRT monitor, and the 15-incher was just
>too small.

I use a 17" monitor and it is just about too big for me, but again Apple
shipped you a "Consumer" computer.  Did they know you were going to compare
your corporate machine to a machine a consumer would use?

>No floppy drive. I know 3.5-inch floppies aren't used much anymore.
>But the need does arise occasionally. The iMac should have a floppy drive.

Not only are 3.5" floppies not used much any more, but Apple has started yet
another innovation that the computer industry is beginning to follow.  Dell
no longer ships their computers with a floppy.  Apple is (again) ahead of
the game.

Between networks, E-Mail and CD/RW there is no longer a need for sneakernet
(unless you work in a Government agency with three letters).

I no longer have a 5 1/4" floppy drive in any of the computers I have here
at the house either.  I still have 5 1/4" floppies tho' (I need to throw
those away).  My PC's never supported 8" floppies or my 1" tape either.
Media changes and you just have to accept that and move on.  I hope that you
would not store "important" data on a floppy any more.

>The iMac comes with some highly touted multimedia software. That
>wasn't important to me Ņ I used the iMac as a business computer.

And now we get down to the nitty gritty.  Again you were comparing this iMac
to what *you* needed, a corporate desktop.  Not the market for what the iMac
was designed for.  The iMac is a *consumer* machine not a *corporate*
desktop.

I am guessing that my Power Mac G4 with dual 1GHz processors and the 17"
flat panel monitor would fit your needs as a desktop machine, and probably
blow past your windows desktop ... BUT (and this will hopefully be the only
caps-lock word I use) ... You still wouldn't be happy with my machine
because it is not "Windows-like" enough.

From:
http://www.komando.com/kimslog_show.asp?showID=71
>The reaction from Mac users was astounding. In several hundred e-mails
>to me, and on message boards throughout the Internet, they poured out
>their anger and vitriol.

I would suggest that this phenomenon is not limited to Mac users only.
Again using the Linux example, if you wrote an article expounding on how
wonderful Linux and OpenOffice was considering the lack of licensing fees I
am betting that you would get some of the same acerbic responses from
Windows users.  I am also guessing you would shortly be dropped from
Microsoft bCentral.

>Much of the e-mail I received was juvenile in its expression. IÕve
>put some characters to replace letters in some words so as not to
>offend you. 

I have had much of the same kinds of arguments with Windows users in the
past defending their OS.  I have received the kinds of responses from
Windows users that you received from Mac users.  There are idiots everywhere
and all you did was reward their idiocy by posting their responses.  Ignore
trolls and they will go away.

I suspect that many seasoned Mac users (weary of these computer wars) just
ignored your column (as I almost did) knowing that a response to a
died-in-the-wool Windows user was pretty much useless.  You have your
preference and I have mine.  The emphasis is on "preference".

>To be fair, some posters were reasonable and had valid criticisms
>of the review

But you were angry at the profane responses you received and did not post
any of these "reasonable" comments.

>In fact, I recently wrote a newspaper column about portals that
>was critical of MSN and Microsoft. Funny thing about that. I did not
>receive a single vitriolic response from Gates or any of his fans.

I do not see people as dedicated to their portals as they are to their
personal computer.  One portal is pretty much like the next these days.

Did you, in fact, get *any* e-mails about the portals?

>I think that the people who read my columns and listen to my show
>donÕt want things sugar-coated

I wouldn't want that either ... But I don't think your comparison was fair.

From:
http://www.komando.com/kimslog_show.asp?showID=78
>Moving onÉItÕs no secret that Mac fans have been unhappy with me
>lately. First it was the iMac review posted at MSN. Then an editor
>at Gannett inserted information about OS 9 and X in my newspaper

Don't you have a clause in your contract that does not allow editors the
license to change what you write?

>column that was wrong. Last week, I got a sarcastic e-mail message
>from an Apple user saying that that Apple offers a DVD-R/RW. I had said
>that it offered only a DVD-R.

I think that after the negative things you have emphasized about Mac users
that they probably figured it doesn't matter if they are nice to you or not.
Your attitude about Mac users appears to already be set.  Above you said
that there were some reasonable responses but you now seem to be holding all
Mac users to the "All Mac users are profane" attitude.

>Recently, for instance, I wrote about burning CDs. I received a nice
>note from a guy in Australia who said I had made a technical mistake
>in describing the burning process. The operative word here is Ōnice.Ķ

There are people out there that are nice, and others that aren't.  I am sure
that you get nice and not so nice e-mails all the time on a myriad of
subjects.

Can I guess that you have gotten e-mails implying that you shouldn't be
answering technical questions because you are female?  Wrong e-mails indeed,
but nevertheless there are lots of chauvinists out there that own many
different brands of computers.

>When the Mac people spot a mistake, or something they just donÕt like,
>they react with rage. What makes them so touchy? As I pointed out in my
>iMac review, the operating system has a lot of similarities to Windows.
>Both are derived from Unix.

??? I must be missing something here.  Are you saying that Mac OS and
Windows are both derived from UNIX?  Linux and Mac OS are UNIX, but Windows
(95, 98, ME version) is derived from DOS (which was a derivation of CP/M).
Windows NT has some design strategies from UNIX but I would hardly say it is
"derived" from UNIX.  The Mac OS, however, is directly from BSD UNIX.

>ItÕs like Ford and Chevrolet partisans coming to blows over sparkplug
>specifications. The response of Mac partisans is out of proportion to
>the issue.

I think you may be starting to take this all just a little too personally.
Please sit back and think next time you get a response from a Mac fanatic,
and look at your past columns.  Maybe they are reacting to your previous
responses to Mac users.

>I suspect Apple people react the way they do because they feel
>beleaguered. TheyÕre a small island in a sea of Windows users. The
>masses insist on buying Windows machines despite what they view as
>clear superiority

It was all marketing and on this point you are correct.  Apple was
BetaMaxed:
http://www.nue.org/foldoc/foldoc.cgi?Betamaxed

It is more the masses give Mac users such a hard time for buying Mac
machines.  Again, not your fault but your first article mirrored what Mac
users hear all the time about "why the Mac isn't cheaper", "why doesn't the
Mac doesn't work like Windows", etc.  Mac users just didn't want to hear it
again.  They are always having to defend their choice in computers and
probably get tired of having to justify not buying Microsoft.

Again, personally I am comfortable with both Windows and Mac.  The deciding
factor in buying a Mac or buying a Windows machine was that the Mac had UNIX
as the engine.  I have used UNIX for years and I wanted to keep my skill
level in UNIX.

Ken

---------------------------------------------------------------
Ken Hollis - Gandalf The White - gandalf@digital.net - O- TINLC
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