Raves
Raves is your opportunity to sound off about Apple, the Macintosh, or anything else! We, and your fellow Macintosh lovers, want to know what you think about the industry. We want your experience, your opinions, your insight, and your humor.
Anonymous
Everyone says, Macs for simplicity, Pc's for
speed power, and everything else useful.
WEll that's a bunch of crap. The power mac
6500/300 is faster, stronger, and all
aroundly better than any other piece of crap
with a Ibm, gateway, or anything besides mac
label.
Landivar2
Apple should stop saying
that Macs are easier to use
and start saying, "Macs are
more efficient, have a
shorter learning curve, so
you spend less time doing
piddely things and more
time being productive."
When people think of "ease
of use", they think (at
least in the US, I'm not
sure about the rest of the
world) that it's not very
powerful or useful. We
need to disprove that. Most
PC's I've seen are used for
one of 5 tasks word
processing, terminal
emulation, games (a
$2,000 dollar Sega
Saturn), cheap graphics
(Kid Pix and Paint
Brush), and web
browsing. Most Macs I've
seen are mainly used for
desktop publishing,
high-end graphics
(Photoshop and Freehand),
education and the internet.
David Hartwell Clements
Having used a Macintosh since 1984, and never
having used a computer before that, I have
always used and enjoyed Apple's Macintosh.
I really wish that the media could get their
facts straight about the Macintosh. I hear
tweleve differnt numbers for the same thing
from twelve differnt sources, and there are
huge differances in these numbers (exactly
HOW much marketshare do Apple's computers
have? Is that the computers or the operating
system?) The yellow journalism of groups
like Newsweek and FamilyPC don't help Apple's
situation. Trying to convince IS managers
and high school administrators that Apple
will recover and is actually a superior
computer is like pulling teeth...
It is up to us, the Macintosh Evangilists, to
change their minds; if we don't, who will?
Cynthia Rainey
I cut my teeth on the old MTST, which was
IBM's word processor that was as big as my
refrigerator. From there I grew up on PCs,
hearing only Bad Mac, Bad Mac. Welllllll, I
decided to return to college from a 17-year
hiatus, an Art major no less, and was forced
to use a Mac. It only took a month and I was
in love! I now own a Power Mac which I use
with delight at home, while forced to trudge
away on a PC Win95 network at work. (Yawn!)
All those lies about Bad Mac have been
purged. One needs only to use it and that's
it! Every time I hear of Mac's demise I
laugh. If Bill Gates had used Macs to build
his house, it would have been finished two
years ago!
Gwyn Aaron Llewellyn Peabody
I just bought my very first computer. It's a
Motorola Starmax and I love it! I spent my
freshman year at college spending equal
amounts of time on Mac's and PC's to get the
feel for both systems. I was sick of
everyone saying completely different things
and then not being able to support what they
were saying. I decided to figure it all out
for myself. At the time I got to work on IBM
Aptivas and PowerMac 6100/60's. So I spent a
lot of time on both systems. By the end of
that first college year I was going into the
computer labs late at night to change the
marquee messages on the PC's to read "I wish
I were a Macintosh..." That's all I would
use them for. As things stand now, a few
years later, there's hardly anything I can't
do on or with a Macintosh. As for PC's, I
won't touch them. When people come to me and
ask me how to fix their computer I ask them
what they are using. If they say Mac I tell
them how to fix their problem. If they say
IBM I tell them to buy some dynamite and a
Mac. So what I can't understand is what the
hell is wrong with Apple, Power Computing,
Umax, and the rest! Why don't they advertise
what they've got. We all know what we've got
here, but most of the rest of the world
doesn't simply because Macintosh companies
don't advertise. Why not??? What's wrong
with them??? Does Apple not want to succeed?
I was at Apple's site recently and I saw some
kick ass advertisements there. You know
where they were bound for? MacWorld... Now
what's the point of that? I saw some amazing
movie clips of Macintosh commercials. This
was a couple of months ago. Where are they?
Why havn't we started seeing them? Apple
needs to get their collective heads out of
their asses and market the world's greatest
computer systems.
Mick Sonesen
It amazes me how much "vitality" people have
when people are at war with the machine they
don't like. I'm not concerned with all that,
I'm concerned with what I feel is the heart
of the matter - do I love this machine?
On IBM's - IBM's to me do the job. They are
functional and that's great. If I need to do
it, I can do it on an IBM. HOWEVER, that
isn't to say that I love Windows... Windows
is a dinosaur in my eyes. It may do the job,
but the interface is downright ugly. It's
not intuitive. It has the ergonomics of an
Eastern block economy car. In summary, it's
a monkeywrench when you need a pair of
needlenose pliers... You can do it, but it's
more trouble than it's worth. Do I love my
IBM? Yes, in the same way that I love tugging
on a hangnail.
On Mac's - Mac's do the job. They are more
than functional, they are elegant. Like all
computers, they have their quirks, but oh,
that interface! The mouse moves at the right
speed, the icons are elegant, and the
protocols for doing anything seem to be
geared for the human brain. It works. Do I
love my Mac? Yes, in the same way I love
liberty and pretty girls. This is the
machine I want.
As far as APPLE goes, I'm dissapointed in
there lack of marketing savvy... Thank god
the machine sells itself. I'm glad that
clones are finally being made - if only to
widen the marketshare. What Apple needs to
do (in my humble opinion) is to aggressively
pursue the government market, a market
traditionally dominated by Big Blue. You put
a PPC in a Government office with a DOS card,
and I guarantee that the user will end up
using the Mac chip...
Randy Minton
After coming from a company and university
(VaTech) with strong bases in Macs I have
have been employed by companies dedicated to
WinTel boxes. I regularly work with DOS, Win
3.11 (which is easier to use than 95) and
Win95; I also regularly declare I'm going to
shot my PC everytime it locks up or crashes
three to four times a day. Even the PCs we
have running SCO Unix are more stable.
My major Mac is a Q840AV and it still buzzes
circles around the productivity I get from my
Pentium boxes. Even my three Lisa 2/10's
running Lisa Office and MacWorks still
impress me more (and they don't crash
either). The only reason that I can see that
dedicated Win users stay that way is because
they haven't spent 30 minutes on a Mac.
LavaLamp
It makes my heart warm
to see that there are so
many other people who
have made the right
choice. I love my Mac. My
last job (I don't work in
the computer field) there
were a few computer
users but they all had
wintel sh*t boxes. I would
give them crap about
having junk and told
them all they were
missing by having such a
hostile machine on their
desktop but they would
say, "It's just a computer."
No, DOS Monkey, your's
is just a computer. Mine
is a Macintosh. They
continued till one day I
invited them all over to
see my old Performa 638
in action. They were
floored. I showed them all
the tricks and made a
video clip with my
camcorder and just the
built in video stuff. I am
sad to say only one of
them went out after that
and bought a Mac but at
least the others know
they have a crappy old
peecee now. My point is,
Mac's sell themselves.
Make sure you give yours
a chance to do so.
Brad Van Houten
I love my Performa 6360. I have used
a Gateway before. I absolutely HATED
it. It was almost new, but it
reminded me of my old Mac LC.
Windows '95 is junk. I am always
going to stick with Apple.
malexand@thunder.ocis.temple.edu
My first computer was a
Commadore 64. I thought it
was GREAT!! Then I got a
Mac Plus in when I was 11
and hated it because there
was no games. Now, I work
as a computer Consultant
down in Temple University
and Wishded everyone used
a MAC. I love that Beat up
Mac SE i have in my
Bathroom to play rish on
while i take a dump. And I
love my 6100 that i program
PC software for my classes.
But I HATE THIS
SCHOOL! I get raged on
everyday by my coworkers.
The Macs are not support
except by me and some
users. But the MAC is the
only machine that never
caused a problem and never
suffers from Netwrok
freezes unlike our Wintel
crap.
But one thing i hate about
MAC is the company.
APPLE sucks my big left
toe, the one with the mold.
Apple should be advertising
on every channel craking
jokes on nerd boy(Gates).
HEY APPLE Try this idea
for a comercial:
Satan is riding down a
suburban street. Every
house is shaped like the
Win95 logo. Through the
windows you see people
screaming for salvation. But
the Prince of Darkness rides
on laughing at those fools.
He comes to a house shaped
into the MAC OS Logo. He
pulls out a set of keys,
parks his hourse, and opens
the door. He sits down and
turns on his Mac.
Tag line: MACINTOSH
THE POWER TO
TORTURE THE SHIT
OUT OF PEOPLE
Another Pet Peeve is IBM
and Motorala(sp) THey
don't advertise the PowerPC
chip yet Intel is seen
everywhere! WHAT THe
F*cK! IS apple left holding
the bag for THERE chip?!?!
More Pet Peeves:
I hate going to computer
stores In this Stinking city
and asking (do you have bla
bla for the Mac) the Clerk,
who is payed $4.95 ussualy
says "duh, Mac sucks!" as
that was the answer to
EVERYTHING! The Last
time some 30 year old dirt
bag that graduated with a
Political science deggre said
that to me I grabed His head
and BASHED it into the
counter OVER and OvEr
and oVeR until the manager
shows up. The cock-
sucking manager came up to
me and yelled "what's going
on?" The clerk, who is
covered in blood, yells out
"HE beat me up, daddy! He
beat me up because of his
mac!" The manager was
really big. I mean realy
BIG! he came up to mean
and yells "Mac suck!" and
throws a chair at me. No
OnE thRows a ChAir at mE
anD lIvEs! so I picked up
the chair and smashed it into
his skull. and whatch brain
bits fly. Then I picked him
up, placed him on a table.
Then I moonsawed him
through the table.
Ok, That never happened,
because if it did, I wouldn't
be here. But you all know
how I feel. These little PC
pricks think they know so
much but when something
happens to there precious
PC they ussualy come
running to me. And it's
ussualy after they ripped
my MAc to pieces.
OH well, thanks or listing to
me go off.
Naveed
I've gotta say that the Macintosh is the
easiest OS I've ever used. But, Apple has a
bunch of morons in Marketing. In order to
show the buying public how easy the Mac is
and how much software is available for it,
Apple needs to do some serious advertising.
Microsoft has these ads showing people doing
these videoconferences and stuff like that.
How long has the Mac had that capapbility?
We need to show the Mac is easier to use,
more fun, faster, and cheaper than any other
IBM or clone. My school uses Macintosh, but
are changing over to PC. They are obviously
idiots. My PowerBook 2300c will stay with me
forever.
Georgio Peterson
Hey, all! Stupid IBM-user assumption of the
day... "Macs are not as upgradeable as PC's
are". These idiots really don't understand
that you can instal 1GB of RAM in a 7300 and
an 8600 and 1.5GB into a 9600! What's the
most upgradeable IBM clone out there? Try
136 or 138MB!
Power to the Mac!
Stray
Hiya from Switzerland... I'm a
freelance web designer and programmer
and I started with a 512, working my
way up to the 5300ce I'm using here
in Scotland to telework and the 8500
at home.
My partners use more and more Windows
machines, since their customers want
increasingly Win NT web solutions.
Nothing like problems, and the
creative stuff still has to be done
on my Macs. Well, at least it ensures
I'll always get enough work. But I
hate seeing people use Win solutions
just because "everybody else does".
But as long as I can stand and
deliver and have fun on my Macs, we
shouldn't mind. Just keep the good
spirit.
Thanks!
David Booker
I own a twelve year old
Atlanta-based systems
design company and
have completed
hundreds of installations
across the southeast –
most local government
and public associations.
We have always tried to
steer clients toward Mac
products because most of
our clients have never
used a computer. For a
while we did DOS/
Windows installations
when required by spec
but have gradually
dropped those clients
and have ceased to
serve anyone who
demands that platform.
The reason? We were
getting service calls at a
true ratio of 30 to 1,
Windows over Mac. I just
can't afford that. Funny
thing is, when we do visit
a long-time Mac client,
usually to chat, as often
as not the Mac operating
manuals still have the
factory plastic wrap on
them!
I also serve as director of
the internet/muiltimedia
division of a Georgia-
based publishing
company. All our creative
work is done on Macs.
We do our accounting on
a Windows machine.
'Nuff said.
When Windows types are
foolish enough to berate
our Macs, I simply tell
them that my Mac can
understand MacOS,
DOS, OS2, Windows 3.1,
Windows '95 and Unix.
They usually shut up.
Finally, you just can not
build a decent website on
a PC. It's like trying to
peel a potato with a rock.
You might get there
eventually, but you won't
have much of a potato
when you do. Boy, was
that a weird analogy, or
what?
Tom Davenport
In the mid-80's my 70 year old father
won a battle with a heart valve infection,
but lost his hearing due to antibiotic side
effects. He wanted a computer to help him
with the many letters he had begun writing,so
I took him around to the dealers at the
time... Atari, Apple II, TI, etc. He just
couldn't "catch on" because of
difficulty communicating.
The Mac had just come on the market but
was so expensive I didn't dare take him to
see one.
One day a month later, my mother called
and said "Come on down, Dad wants you to help
him with something that he has just bought".
I drove over, and there is was... a original
Mac 128 K! May dad had walked into a dealer
on his own, and after experiencing the
wonderful graphical interface,purchased one
in spite of the $3000.00 price tag! I had a
16K Timex Sinclair at the time, I packed it
up and found myself going over and playing
with my Dad's Mac 'till midnight. I saw the
future, and it wasn't a Timex Sinclair!
That Mac is still working fine (although
it has been upgraded to Mac Plus status) and
has survived my father, my six children, and
a hit and run accident. (It's a long story,
but I accidentally back over it with my
caronce... the case cracked and had to be
replace, but the Mac worked just fine!).
I now own a Power PC and am typing this
letter on a (gag) PC that I am forced to use
where I work. When my PC friends make snide
comments about the Mac, I ask them if they
are using Windows95... and explain how they
can thank Macintosh for that platform (and of
course point out that they still aren't there
yet!)
And, by the way... the other day I plugged a
6X CD drive into my old Mac's scssi port to
see if it would work. I downloaded a driver
off the internet, installed it in the system
and rebooted, popped in a CD...and its icon
appeared on the desktop just as expected!
Try that on a '84 vintage PC (if you can find
one!)
Long live the Mac!
James Milne
I know all about it, I've read all about it, and it sux. The people that write articles for the PC magazines are all IGNORANT. Mac mags rule. At least they're sentences make sense, we didn't run our stuff through MS Word 97s Spell Checker. So MacOS doesn't have pre-emptive multitasking - NEITHER DOES Windoze 95. Are you telling me that windows users can do Photoshop, 3DSMAX and type e-mail - all at the same time? It is humanly impossible to do multi-tasking. Processor sharing, yeah, multitasking no.
I need some strong evangelists for a Macintosh only game I am involved in writing.
Check out http://www.mindspring.com/~smc/the_game/
This project rox.
Hail beloved Apple, long live the king!
Nicholas Tong
Well this sure is cosy. All
these folks gathered
around singing the praises
of the Mac O/S. Yes, it's
fab; yes, it blows Windows
out of the water; and yes,
trying to find a decent
range of Mac products in
the high street of a
provincial town is like
searching for the holy
grail. The Mac is only
going to extend its user
base if it attracts a
significant proportion of
first time buyers, and the
only way it's going to do
that is through effective
advertising. In this area,
sadly, it is Wintel that
reigns supreme. Microsoft
ads are all over the telly, in
every magazine, on the
walls of station subways
and the bacs of buses. The
only place I ever see Mac
ads is in Mac magazines,
preaching to the converted.
Come on Apple, come on
you clone-makers: you
have a demonstrably
superior product to offer.
Its time to LET THE PEOPLE
KNOW ABOUT IT.
Peter Coroneos
Today I unpacked my trusty Centris
610, 13 inch RGB monitor, keyboard
and mouse after a 3000 mile air saga
from Tasmania to Darwin. After
numerous aircraft transfers (that's
another story) and on loading and
offloading the harware ( I carried
the CPU as hand luggage), the moment
had come to see if it would all work
when I put it back together.
Opened the monitor box and dismayed
to see heavy condensation on the
screen and top of monitor unit. The
humidity here is >90%, cf ~0% in
Tas. Put everything onto my bed
under the ceiling fan for a couple
of hours, mopped off the excess
screen moisture and went out for a
walk. Came back, all seemed dry,
plugged in and like magic -
everything worked.
I hope I'm not tempting fate here,
(but somehow I suspect God likes
Macs - being a creative type) - but
I just had to tell all you converts
that I just don't know if any other
machine could have done that.
I'm proud my computer was able to do
that. And once again, I feel
vindicated in having stayed with
Mac.
Viviana Wong
Ten years ago, only a handful of people used
computers in my place of work (PC mostly).
But a revolution took place when someone
realized how easy it is to use Mac. Now
everybody(100+ employees) here is using
computers , MacIntoshes that is and I can
tell you how blissful it is to have Macs
helping you along with your works. Now I
don't even bother to take photographs off my
microscope, I just capture the images and do
most of my publication electronically with
the Mac. of course. Who says that MacIntosh
is dying.
Audley Bullock
Well, no doubt about it, I am a huge Mac
fan!!! (p.c.....boo)
I am using a PowerWave 132 with 80 megs of
Ram, with the 7.5.3 revision 2 OS.
Anyway my rant is this,
I hate when I'm labeling a file or document
(with the color label menu in the menu bar)
and it is grayed out. Sometimes I have to
click on the desktop then go back to the
folder the file or document is in. Its no big
deal but I saw somewhere for me to bitch and
complain.:-)
As for the 7.5.5 OS, Its great but I am not
able to use my most important software with
it. Its a music sequencing program called
Cubase Audio XT by Steinberg. So I'm stuck
with the 7.5.3, oh well.
Thanks for listening!
Ryan Redmond
I have been a proud user of Apple products
ever since my IIGS limited. I've been doing
graphics work on my trusty - much less than
stock - LCII since 1992 or so. Now I am
ready to upgrade. I decided to go with one
of the kick@$$ new clones from Motorola.
All of my PC using friends say "Why don't
you get a Pentium?" Then I ask them, "Can
Pentium Emulate Mac like Mac can do
Windows?" Then I get the blank look. That's
all I need. To anyone who thinks that Apple
my be in trouble, read "The State of the
Mac" in January 1996's MacWorld... long live
the Mac!
Josh Jenkins at jmjenkin@oboe.aix.calpoly.edu
As you can tell by my address, I
have to use an aix account at
school. I find it much easier to
use this account from either my mac
at home or the macs in the comp
labs. What I hate is that I am a
comp Sci minor and my teacher is
making us use something than a mac
for programming, which means that
the programs are not going to do
much at all!! I make it a point to
use the best for what I am doing,
and that is a mac. When it comes to
computing, the mac is the best.
Massimo Fiorentino:
I am currently working in a Macintosh-hostile enviroment, nothing but PC's all over, fighting my own little war against the Microsoft Syndicate. It's a tough one, but I am hanging on. I am forced to work on the pc, because of the web-designs I make, and the transfer to our servers. We do have a Mac, or rather, I have a mac, that I use as much as I can. The reason are, that we are internet-providers, and we needed to develop some software to our beloved mac-customers. Here's the story:
As stated, I am a web-designer, and I also run the support for our mac-users. The phone keeps ringing in the PC-department all day long, but I have only received three calls in the past month concerning support!!
And the problems were minor - an old PC(!)-modem, connected to a powerbook: The fault: the modem (of course), and the two other calls: a missing extension...
Besides that, here's some statistics:
(We have experts on PC's working here, so everything on the PC is 'correctly' assembled, and configured...!)
1. Times that I have de-assembled my PC because of problems with hardware-setup in the last month: 15 Mac: 0 (ever!)
2. Average times that I have to reboot Windows 95 on a good day: Minimum 5 Mac: 0
3. Average time every single piece of software goes down on Win95 on a good day: 2
Mac: 0
Fellow Mac-lovers: I am getting horassed every single day, because I love macintosh, but I do not answer back, no, because I know better. No matter what, fight for what you love - people first, Macs second!!!
Frank Miller:
I live and work in
San Antonio, Texas,
which is almost a
lifeless desert for
a devout Mac user
like myself. I work
for a software
development company
and am surrounded
by P.C. users.
Fortunatley, they
have assigned me to
use their fastest,
most powerful Mac,
and for good
reason: I KNOW HOW
TO PUT THIS MACHINE
TO GOOD USE! On a
daily basis I make
it a point to do
things they say
can't be done on a
Mac. It's like
pulling teeth to
get management to
support anything
that has to do with
Macintoshes. I find
it amusing,
hovever, that when
anything creative
and innovative
needs to be done,
it's done on a MAC!
Mike:
When I was 4, my father
sat me down in front of
an Apple IIc. I loved
it and used it for 6
years. Then it was time
to move on to my Mac
IISi. Ever since the
first day I sat down in
front of that mac, my
dependence started. I
came to realize that
Macs wer in the world.
All clones were no
match. I am 16 now and
an avid Windoze 95
hater.(Check out my
trashy letter on the
Microsoft hate
page!!!!!) Macs will
rule forever. All
those who oppose us
must die!!!!!
Bill Johnson:
When I first started using an Apple Computer,
it was the IIC with PRODOS, shortly after
that it was the IIGS PRODOS first, System
6.0.1 later. System 6.0.1 was my first
introduction to the MacOS. I Purchased a
Performa 575 (which I still have and use) and
gave my IIGS to a friend to try. She loves
it. I have looked at Upgrading my Mac to a
PowerPC and have decided that I will probably
just buy a new system and sell my old one at
a reasonable price to get someone else
interested in Macintosh computers. I
couldn't stand to use any other PC. I am
forced to use IBM at work and hate it. They
have too many .exe, .txt, .fm, .doc, .xls,
.wpd, (.etc, .etc, .etc) for their files
which makes it impossible for me to know
which ones I need and which ones I don't
need. No one needs to try to explain to me
what any of them mean because I won't ever
have to use them except at work. I would
never have anything in my home that requires
that much frustration just to save a file.
Thank You Macintosh for keeping it simple.
Frank Born:
After doing professional DTP on ATARI and
WINDOWS Machines for over five years (yes, I
still started with good old CALAMUS, known to
all german DTP-people), I finally bought my
first Macintosh last year (a 7100/80) to
convince the buddys at the office that
producing with MACs is a lot easier. By now,
we have a 7500, a 7200 and a 7100AV at my
department and are happy with them.
My private 7100 is doing good work at my
recording studio, and I fell in love with a
cute little LC475 for home use. This baby
(tuned to 33MHz with a 68040 CPU and 36MB of
RAM) reminds me of old ATARI times... switch
it on, work, never crash... (btw, I still
work with a Mega ST4 sometimes), but it's
faaaaaast!
Switching to MACs was just like coming home.
They just work the way I ever thought
computers should do. And I have seen a lot of
other machines...
J. Ortiz:
In 1984 I went to Computerland to purchase
a PC printer for the office. As I waited in
the showroom I noticed the little Macintosh
128. It reminded me of the Lisa, a computer
ahead of it's time. I started to toy with
the mouse and in a few minutes I felt like
a Mac expert! From there on I've been using
Macintoshes - I am, in fact, a Macaddict!
At work I use Macs (OS 7.5.3) and wintel
PCs (DOS, Win 3.1 and Win 95), Mac is best,
I know.
Joe Scheirich:
I'm in love.
I'd been in front of lots of
computers before but never a Mac,
yet no PC ever turned me on like
this. Within 1 week of getting my
7500 I was doing complex channel
operations in photoshop(on a PC I
can't get out of the 1st screen
without help).
I bought this com. to build a
recording studio around, but
needless to say, I'm using it for
so much more!
So let me stand up and be counted.
I LOVE MY MAC & I'LL NEVER SWITCH!
BYE.
Steven M.Fish:
The future for Mac lovers should be
interesting. May's Byte magazine (p40)
has announced that a third party is
developing a PowerPC chip that should exceed
500 MHz and be more than three times faster
than the fastest Pentium.
We are primed for success!!!
Windows 95 is a really big disappointment in
terms of reliability and its interface is a
really sad attempt to be a Mac. Windows NT
(which now looks like Windows 3.11, but will
soon have the questionable 95 interface)
suffers from the same 16bit slowdown horrors
as 95. The price/value comparison is better
for MacOS systems, and with RISC
architechture, they will be able to keep
strides ahead of PCs.
We're winning the speed wars!
Windows software is still clumsy in