@David. that’s all fine really, but I’m not a microsoft fanboy either. I wan’t really tring to start an OS war.

While reading post 32, I see the old cliché: “Mac users and Apple fanboys are either non-technical users or rich nerds craving for social status”.

aah, so I got it right then. If it is a cliché it was true at one point. Owning a mac probably meant different things at different points in technologial times.

There was probably a point when you said “personal computer” everybody would think of a macintosh. Those who didn’t think of a mac were those hardcorest of hardcore geeks who could probably count in hexadecimal as easily as they could recite the first 3 pages of Pi at you. Or they were terribly rich and worked in the military or some specialised field.

then there was definitely a point where mac owners were considered as snobs. (I remember clones too! I had one)

as Avinash is saying, macs are becoming cheaper (but they are still very expensive), so now if someone comes up to you and says “I have a mac” the most probable reply would be “so what?”

I wasn’t really quoting a cliché actually, I tend to reinvent wheels that other people were already using. not terribly clever I’ll admit. but a useful ability to have.

@avinash
Silicon Graphics IRIS with IRIX

that… is not cheap.

and randomly:

you can apparently install Mac OS on an average(well more like higher end to upper mid range) PC but obviously, the Leopard EULA states that it is illegal to “install Apple software on non Apple hardware”. so you’ll be damned if you do it of course. google “hackintosh”.

I was also wondering, can you get rid of all the glitter from Mac OS? In the same way you can get rid of most of make up crap in windows?

A bit like blackbox for X Windows really. maybe simpler. There’s something called bblean for windows which allows you to really do some evil looking stuff. not always terribly practical but most definitely evil looking.

:p as for as the geekyness :p, i believe its more fun to have things to tweak :p which make machine pimping better :p.

btw :p due to lack of missing tweaking with my machine :p am giving my lil bro my Mac :p am getting lazy with it… [ though i'll admit that development with it was quicker :p]

ps. there’s there’s a nice epileptic friendly app called nocturne for OSX :p its WONDERFUL :p.

+$3|v3n

No doubt, Mac OS X will be replaced one day by something better, X. And I’ll become a fan of X. But I don’t think I’ll say that Mac OS X was crap. Because it simply is the best desktop OS on the planet today IMHO.

To carrotmadman6:

You wrote: “Geeks (usually) go for the best hardware at the lowest price!”. Are you sure about that? My perception is that geeks go for the best hardware WHATEVER the price (even if this means sacrificing all non-geekish pleasures for years…)

As for “can students from other faculties try the Macs at the Mediacom studio?”, technically speaking, yes. You only have to have a formal lab session planned there.

As with all stereotypes, it’s easy to make such claims based on a few show-off users. But I can assure you that not all Mac users are rich or as biased as you believe.

A percentage of Apple users had extensive experience on other platforms before migrating to the Mac. As Avi mentioned, our addiction to computers started while we were still kids in the mid 80s; witnessing the gradual progression from command-line to GUI, MS-DOS, Windows 1.0 to 3.1, 95, 98, ME, 2000, XP…(and I’ll spare you the list of 8-bit home computers with tapes.)

As unbelievable as it might seem, at that time I was a rabid Microsoft fan and like many PC users, I constantly dissed Apple products as expensive toys! In the 90s, I was assembling PCs (clones, like they used to called it at that time…) for my personal use as well as for relatives/friends. And for over ten years, I was used to this ritual of constantly shopping for spare parts and upgrading my computer every 6-8 months. Reformatting, reinstalling DOS/Windows, managing Extended/Expanded memory, editing registries, etc…it was all part of a ‘normal’ process. And it was fun! But looking back now, I’d say it was a time-consuming and quite expensive hobby…On average, I spent the equivalent of a new computer on spare parts every one year!

I switched to the Mac platform in 1997 with a PowerMac G3/266MHz running Mac OS 8 and never looked back. Over the last ten years, I can assure you that I’ve spend much less on computer gear! My last two computers (a PowerMac G4 and PowerBook G4) lasted over 5 years before I decided to sell both of them and upgrade to a MacBook and a Mac mini. In buying a Mac, the initial investment may be slightly higher, but the total cost of ownership, lifetime and benefits definitely outweigh the additional cost!

For example, you would be surprised by the number of Macs over 8 years old, still used on a daily basis at Le Mauricien. They even have Macs dating back to 1994-1995 era running 24/7! Unbelievable!

The Mac has always been the platform of choice for designers, musicians and the creative market in general (although in the 90s, Apple’s market share in this field eroded due to uncertainty in the company’s future…)

But in the recent years, I’ve witnessed quite a lot of small businesses and individuals moving to the Mac at the end of their upgrade cycle (on average 3 years). Instead of upgrading to new PCs running Vista, some have chosen to give Mac OS X a try; which proves that not only Mac fans buy Apple products and fuel Apple’s profits. The move to Intel processors (and Parallels/virtual machines) has certainly helped to reduce those apprehensions. In most cases, knowing that they can still run Windows on their Mac is just a safety net…as most of them don’t feel the need to use Windows except for running specialized applications or custom-made ones requiring .net framework.

What makes Apple stand out is something that most other manufacturers have for long time ignored (& are still ignoring!) – the DESIGN!
Whether you like it or not, you have to admit that Apple designers are among the best in the world!
Let’s the take the example of the iPhone – it doesn’t have 3G (coming next month), decent camera, removable battery etc. But it’s still the most hyped phone in the world bcoz it’s one of the best designed phones – the UI is just stunning!

Apple product specs are no different from other manufacturers, but the way they design the interface, the exterior & the tiny details, the way they market it – that’s what makes the difference.
& there’s also this Apple cult which has been blown out of proportion by Engadget & Gizmodo fanblogs.

However, it’s usually the “common people” that are amazed by Macs. Geeks (usually) go for the best hardware at the lowest price!

& speaking of Macs… i’ve never tried a Mac/OS X before? Mr Avinash, can students from other faculties try the Macs at the Mediacom studio???