From: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org (alloy-digest) To: alloy-digest@smoe.org Subject: alloy-digest V5 #301 Reply-To: alloy@smoe.org Sender: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk X-To-Unsubscribe: Send mail to "alloy-digest-request@smoe.org" X-To-Unsubscribe: with "unsubscribe" as the body. alloy-digest Sunday, December 17 2000 Volume 05 : Number 301 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Alloy: Mac vs. PC vs. other [Robb & Tara ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 16 Dec 2000 05:15:38 -0500 From: Robb & Tara Subject: Alloy: Mac vs. PC vs. other Well, y'know, I'm gonna try to keep it simple. Disclaimer: I work on both PC's and Macs all day long. The rule of thumb I've always advised by is this: if it's any kind of art, use Mac. If it's any kind of business, use a PC. But the line drawn between these two platforms has become rather blurry. Actually, it's become more of a stigmatism. From the geek prospective: here's the Mac operating system: the Operating system is loaded first, then your application(s). Here's the PC operating system: DOS is loaded, Windows is loaded, Windows 95/98/2000/NT is loaded, then your application(s) is loaded. what's more stable, or configurable, for that matter? It's easier to 'customize' a Mac. The number one enemy of the Mac is memory problems. You simply need more RAM to have fun. The PC's drawback is that you have to deal with application problems all the time ('the following application is not responding, do you want to abort/retry/ignore, etc.). From the artisitic prospecticive: I work in the printing business, but fool around with recording in my spare time. Platform of choice: Mac, by a long shot. The Mac can read PC disks, but not vice versa. The Mac apps can write/read PC files, but not vice versa. The Mac, the Mac, the Mac can. On the other side, yes, PC's have a higher megahertz rate in general. But those processing cycles are wasted in making the operating system run (see above paragraph). 90% of all programs out there are for a PC. But all industry standard programs are cross-platform (and I mean that, not just Mac/PC, but UNIX, etc.). A good formula for this I've noticed is this: about 2/3 of the PC megahetz = the Mac megahertz in terms of perfomance, sorta. I just got an iMac Graphite/G3/500mHz/30GB with 256 RAM. Wheeeeee! What a step up from my old 603 (that's a Pentium II for you PC folks). My best friend (also a musician) is locked in the PC world because, frankly, it was cheaper to buy a PC. But we swap files all the time. My resale value is higher, but his cost of periphials is cheaper, as is the availability of software. I can translate any file. He can't read my disks unless they're PC formatted (which I can do). But here's the catch: Macs are it in the printing business. We get calls all day from web designers asking for logos and images when designing a website for our clients; what a nightmare. It's gotten to the point where I'm sitting down and learning HTML and doing the websites myself (which is independent of platform, of course), because these cretins cannot read an Adobe Illustrator EPS file. Printing is in the CMYK colorspace, where web stuff is RGB (you know this if you use Photoshop). Macs also tend to be it in the music industry, on the West Coast. The East Coast (here), well, it truly depends on where you are. I've only kown a few who use PC's for recordng/mastering. But they tend to be in rap; the guitar bands tend not to care. But get a synth-based production, well, you'd better be on a Mac using Pro Tools, MOTU, or Opcode, or you're incompatible (period). To be fair: Now, in 2000 (coming up on the new year), I have news for you: IT DOESN'T REALLY MATTER ANYMORE. The paltforms are coming to an apex, meeting eachother in the middle. They do the same thing. The differences between the platforms is blurring, and fading away. I've been at this since 1981. Apple II vs. IBM pc. jr. Atari vs. Commodore. Atari ST vs. Mac Classic vs. Amiga. Now today (which covers the last 9 years). I loved my Atari 1040ST (with built-in MIDI ports), scored my first songs on it from 1988-1991. But now I am a solid Mac user. I can get around on a PC. PC users cannot get around on a Mac (or so I've seen). I have also had the privelege of using Photoshop on a UNIX machine - it makes PC's and Mac's look like calculators at that point; I would probably cream my pants using Photoshop on a SGI machine, eh? And if you care, did you realize that the Babylon 5 series was rendered on 6 Commodore Amigas, networked? On that note, i must mention that Macintosh System X (ten) is due out next spring/early summer, which is redesigned (in other words, dropping the old OS) and based on the UNIX kernel, with the Mac OS running on top. I agree with this design. And this new Mac I just got will run it, supposedly; but I'm not interested in buying the beta version. I come from the Mac school of 'if it ain't broken, don't fix it.' Not to mention work flow must not be interrupted with OS problems, let it prove itself first, then adopt it. There, my two and a half cents have been contributed. And yes, Thomas Dolby actually had some bearing on my final (did I say FINAL? YES, I did say FINAL) decision to stick with the Mac. Actually, his preference was a deciding factor when buying my first Mac circa 1994, regardless of using them since 1986. ~robb ------------------------------ End of alloy-digest V5 #301 ***************************