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RE: [RC] OT: Jobs vs. Gates - David LeBlanc

Truman Prevatt said:


I though it funny that anyone would credit Gates with making computers 

user friendly. Anyone that said that has obviously not used a Mac. 

What's more accurate is that Microsoft and Intel made computers affordable.
While the gap has closed since Apple started using Intel chips, for years an
Apple was less performance at a greater price. The Mac (again, until
recently), locked you in with respect to hardware - no upgrades or easily
replaceable parts. Having a common OS that ran on commodity hardware was a
huge revolution. Even today, you certainly can't run MacOS on a commodity
motherboard.

I think if we amend the statement to making affordable computers
user-friendly, there's quite a bit of truth to that. When I went to get my
first PC, I favored a Mac, since I'd worked with them a little, but couldn't
afford one. I could afford a PC. Similarly, a later transition point
happened when I could not afford a Solaris system, but could afford to run
Windows NT.


Oh did I say Linux, well behind the wonderful Mac interface is a 

Linux operating system.

I'd expected better from you - this is untrue. The Mac had a truly abysmal
cooperatively multitasking OS, and it then switched to one based on the
interesting, but failed, NeXT OS which has at its core the Mach microkernel,
and then switched again to one based on the Mach microkernel with a BSD
layer between that and the GUI on top. As you should know, Linux isn't
really even UNIX - it's UNIX-like, where BSD is derived from the original
UNIX OS, and Mach significantly predates Linux. Check the Wikipedia for a
detailed timeline of the MacOS.

Disclaimer - this is in my humble opinion, and in no way is intended to be a
statement on behalf of my employer, which is Microsoft. PS - I'd formed
these opinions well before ever contemplating working for Microsoft.

Relevant comment - if it weren't for my decision to use a PC and become a
very early adopter of Windows NT, I wouldn't be able to afford all these
wonderful horses and the equipment needed to get them to rides!





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