Monday, September 17, 2012

He's A Mac, She's a PC, and I Really Don't Care...


Technology is wonderful. It gives us so many convenient ways to communicate. With all these convenient methods comes opinion. This computer is better than that one. That one may be better but it is really expensive. It goes on and on. It becomes like politics where people seem to have a party in mind. Like politics, when it comes to computers, I am an independent.

Some people are in the cult of Apple while others are in the cult of Microsoft. Often they say PC. But really aren't all home computers personal computers? There is also the outlier, Unix. Many don't know know or understand it but it is becoming the latest in smartphone and tablet technology. I am writing this on our new tablet. I am trying to get used to the touch screen but I still love and miss my keyboard. This is a test for me and my mobile writing ability.

A few days ago, I accidentally dropped our "Mini-me", and which is our little name for our net book. That little computer was where I wrote most of my blogs and book and where I was working (slowly) on the next one. In dropping Mini-me, I a broke its screen and the therefore its mobility. We can still use it but we need to hook it up to a monitor. So here I am outside while my daughter rides her tricycle around trying to write this blogs on our new nexus tablet. It is a cute tablet and like mini me we have christened it “Tab.”

Tab has a jelly bean operating system which is based on Unix. Unix is family of open (free) software that anyone can edit and make their own. It does take an extensive knowledge of computer language skills that most people don't have, and like me. Our computer expert in our house is my hubby. He has our home computer and mini-me running Ubuntu Operating System, which is based on Unix and as a lay person, I can say it runs quite nicely. I would put my hubby in the Microsoft /Unix group which sort of makes him an independent like me. Except he does have a rather intense loathing of Apple.

To be a true computer independent, and you need to see that each system has its good points and it's bad points. To say that one is superior to another, and which the cult members often do, is silly because there is often a counter argument.

I think a persons preference can be skewed by a bad experience. My hubby's distaste for Apple came from trying to write a thesis on a Mac that gave him a whole lot of trouble. I am not crazy about Gateway to computers because of a bad experience I had in college. Just like a liberal getting mugged can make you a conservative, a bad computer experience can make you love one type over another. I still like to call Gateways the Gateway to Hell. Do they even sell those anymore?

Back in my previous working life, I worked in science. Let me tell you, when it comes to computers and scientists, very few of them are true independents. They are biased to their systems, thank you very much. In working for different scientists, I have had to work with Macs, Windows and even Unix. All had their good points and bad points and that has reinforced my computer independence. I will work with what you give me, unless it is a Gateway. Just kidding. :)

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