(October 2, 2021 at 2:58 pm)Fireball Wrote: My one experience with a Mac computer was in '91. I was writing FORTRAN code. That thing crashed on a regular basis; I got to the point that I saved after every carriage return. It may well be because it was shielded to keep it from emitting RF as a security concern. Maybe it made it run hot, I don't know. But it soured me on anything made by Apple. I did break down and buy an iPod many years ago, and that thing crashes, too.
As for platforms, I've used everything from just plain PCs to DEC PDP-11, VAX 750, 780, 8000 series, IBM 360 and Crays. I have a Lenovo laptop and I just bought an "All-in-One" to replace it because it's about 10 years old and the keyboard is wearing out. No complaints, other than that. I hope my new machine lasts that long!
That sounds like an unusual experience with an Apple product; most of the time they are solid. I owned an early Macintosh and used them at work for a while and they were exceptional machines compared to the equivalent machine running DOS at the time. This was before Windows 95 hit the market and the experience with a Macintosh was years ahead anything Mircrosoft had to offer. I only say this because I learned most of my early computing skills on DOS machines, VAX systems, and the Commodore 64, but got exposed to the early Macintosh around 1989.
As a side note, years ago my sister was using some old crappy Windows machine and every other week she was calling me in a panic with some computer problem. I got really tired of being her tech support, so I suggested she throw that thing away and buy a Machintosh. This was around 2000. She did and after that I never got another tech support call from her again. I didn't own an Apple at the time and figured I could claim ignorance if she did call.
Why is it so?
~Julius Sumner Miller
~Julius Sumner Miller
