Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

[rua AT mindspring.com]

"My question is simple: for all you non-mac users out there
in INW land, what is the main reason you don't have a mac?"

Don't see a compelling reason to change. MS has the "whole product". 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whole_product

I started with Apple, and we still have an AppleIIc around. However, I've 
been on PC for over a decade. 

If you are a graphic artist, you can't get the picture till you step away. At 
times Mac has had as little as a .5% market share for non-artist business 
users at work. My last two gigs have been in departments that did have 
graphic artists, who did prefer Macs, but everyone around them in those 
offices did not.

I bought a new Compaq for $600 four years ago, and my whole family has 
hammered on it. We've played online Quake and RPG games, built CD cover art, 
it holds VisualStudio, PShop6, Flash, Bryce, Poser, video editor, MS Office, 
and dozens of large games like MaxPayne, Ultima, DeusX, Warcraft3.
And it works. The wife enjoys it. The kids enjoy it. What's the problem?

Now, against my wishes, at my recent gig with a publisher, I had to use a 
Mac. It was frustrating as hell not having a right-click at my fingertips, 
but I managed and was soon humming along creating magazines and newspapers 
daily. I was somewhat curious when I started, because for years I've heard 
how the Macs were heaven-sent, and all MS users must have had lobotomies. 
Well, guess what? My Mac crashed. And it crashed again and again. And when it 
did, I couldn't hit control-alt-delete to close a process or nuttin', it just 
froze solid. And mine wasn't the only one, there were regular crashes from 
all the artists's machines.

Needless to say, I was very disallusioned, or perhaps enlightened. When I 
told a Mac-fan about it shortly thereafter, his first question was "What 
version was it? Was it OX 10?" It doesn't make a difference to me, because 
I've been hearing how great they were for 10 years. So unless our machines 
were 11 years old, (and they weren't), I was not impressed.

I was shopping for a new system tonight, in fact, and I'll be happy to go 
with a PC again. I've queried folks directly like the former CTO of 
LifeMinders, Harry Layman, about the issue. He led their blazing ramp up from 
0 to 14 million subscribers, all on MS and would do it again. Same for many 
large, successful enterprises I spoke with.

Mac's look cool. I still assume they must run pretty well. So does a Jaguar, 
but I haven't bought one of those either. Ever try finding a Jaguar mechanic 
in a town of 2000 people?

Don