Monday, December 01, 2008

And We are Back ...

December. My, how time flies when you aren't looking.

So I'm back at work -- such that it is -- and locking down the last files into the new computer. Got the browsers back, even some of the bookmarks recovered, and the new OS and applications seem to be -- knock on wood -- working.
 
When I started on Macs, the word processing software was called ClarisWorks. A few revisions later, it got changed to AppleWorks, and that's what I mostly used for story and books mss. Yeah, I had MS Word for the Mac and could use it, but it was such a monster with so many bells and whistles that it was way overkill, and I avoided it as much as possible. 

A couple years back, Apple dropped AppleWorks and now has its version of an office suite, with something called Pages for word processing. It seems to be backward compatible -- at least I can open everything I've done in AW recently -- and it seems to be pretty much the same thing. I can export files as PDF, Word, RTF, or Text for those benighted souls who use Wintel Boxes and the Anti-Christ's software. AW still works, so I have the old app just in case ...

And just for fun, a short movie I shot on our family outing to the coast. That's Ben, my nephew, who is nine. He did the spoon-on-the-nose trick, and then he got ambitious ...

 

6 comments:

Bobbe Edmonds said...

I remember Claris Works! I had a Quadra 800 back in 93, with Photoshop...I think it was version 2? Running OS 7.

Back when I was a Mac guy...

Steve Perry said...

You mean before you went over to the dark side and joined the beer-swilling Windoze damned?

So sad.

Bobbe Edmonds said...

You mean, did I stop paying around $2,000.00 MORE for a computer that essentially does the same thing? Yes.

Unlike some people I could mention, I'm not a computer snob.

Beer snob? Yes.

Steve Perry said...

Yep, I have to agree that Apple has tended to operate on the Thelma and Louise Principle for far too long. Been shooting themselves in the feet since the toaster Macs.

I had an Apple Clone, during the fifteen minutes that Apple decided to allow licenses on its hardware. Ran exactly the same and cost 25% less than the equivalent Mac.

They throttled that idea in a hurry.

The iMac was a great idea, and let's not forget the iPhone and iPod, but their marketing of the boxes on the desk top has always been short-sighted bordering on stupid.

Then again, the OS is so much better than Windoze as to make it look like a turd in a punchbowl. And with the new Intel processor, one can have the best of the Mac and the worst of Wintel in the same machine.

I didn't go that way, but what I got for two grand is pretty spectacular.

Dude, you can have the Dell ...

Bobbe Edmonds said...

Ungh, I HATE Dell.

I can't argue with you about the OS, I was EXTREMELY reluctant to get a PC at first. But I just couldn't trick out a Mac the way I wanted without selling my firstborn into slavery or selling both my kidneys or something. Also, my line of work runs into about 2-3% Macs for the 98% PC's out there used in everyday office settings.

One thing about a Mac, and I think you'll agree with me: They are indeed rock-solid, but when they break, they are BROKE, and then its shell out big dollars for a replacement part, or an equal amount of baksheesh for a repair. I just can't justify that, especially with what I'll laughingly call my "household budget" being what it is.

A modified version of the Bataan Death March.

I almost got one of the Motorola Mac clones around 98 or 99. Right when Apple came out with the Imac, which I hated on sight. But even then, I was hearing the death knell of the Mac clone, so my passage to the dark side was complete.

That's when I stopped being Bobbe Edmonds and became Darth Chimay. I'm more machine now, than man. Twisted and evil.

...Actually, I was always twisted and evil, the PC had nothing to do with that.

Bobbe Edmonds said...

One thing I forgot to mention: Only Mac things run on Mac computers. I hear that's changed now, but back in the day you had to buy an Apple printer to work with your Apple computer, which could run you half again what the computer cost. One of those cheapie inkjet deals that cost about $50.00? Forget it. And hooking up to a regular non-Mac printer required expensive peripheral equipment and convoluted (unnecessarily so) procedures. Scanner, same thing. External hard drive, same thing.

What I paid $3K for my setup here at the house would run you a cool $7K at the Mac store. Might be more comparable nowadays, I'd have to look.