Re: [NTLK] Re[2]: Re[2]: Re[2]: Convincing argument against MS

From: Eric L. Strobel (fyzycyst_at_comcast.net)
Date: Thu Jun 13 2002 - 11:41:16 EDT


on 6/13/02 11:13 AM, Bradford Schmidt at brad_at_bradfordschmidt.com wrote:

>
>
> Thursday, June 13, 2002, 9:55:05 AM, Eric wrote:
>
>
>> I guess one question is, if Apple had waited a year (which, BTW, has
>> provided them a year's worth of user feedback) and released 10.1 as the
>> initial release, would your beef about the older Rage hardware seem as
>> large? What would your response be, looking at the improved support in
>> 10.1.5? After all, they're *almost* there now.
>
> OK - Just to clarify my position: this thread was originally an
> anti-MS rant. I made a few points about the OS X releases and release
> dates, and drivers etc NOT to simply bash Apple, but to demonstrate
> that it's not black and white IN MY OPINION.

I hope that I've not misunderstood you (although I may have a bit). My
question above was an honest one because I'm curious about folks'
perceptions. Happiness is, after all, a matter of how one chooses to manage
their expectations. I may someday fall into the same motivations and
expectations and I (for one) would like to learn from others' experiences in
this.

> Both companies chase profits, both companies do things that they
> believe will best serve their bottom line. Just Because some people
> have a philosophical aversion to the way MS does business as opposed
> to Apple doesn't change that, nor does it change the fact that BOTH
> companies end up screwing some of the users some of the time
> (MS-haters may say all of the time :-)).

We're perhaps hung up on semantics. "Screwing" (to me, at least) involves
an active, deliberate intent to shortchange or take advantage of someone --
to act against someone else's interest to further your own. Apple's actions
can be likened to triage -- they can't 'save' everybody, so they have to put
the resources where they do the most good, rather than trying to 'save'
everybody but ending up 'saving' no one. Apple's actions, in both scale and
in inimical nature, in no way rise to the level of what MS has been
convicted of (or for that matter, other things they've done but not been
prosecuted for). THAT, I think, is the real source of misunderstanding in
this thread (somehow equating MS behavior with Apple behavior).

> By the way - I think I would have put OS X out there about the same
> time as well. Perhaps I would have suggested waiting to upgrade older
> machines though, before people (uh, like me) ponied up the 100 bux for
> an OS that at the time of its initial release was really pretty slow
> on my G4, and unusable on my G3's. I think the first usable version
> was like 10.0.4 (was that it? Anyone?)

I *think*, but I'm not 100% sure, that the various inadequacies WERE put out
there, but you are correct that they weren't made well enough known quickly
enough to prevent some folks from buying something they'd be less than happy
with. And of course, some folks gambled that the support they wanted would
be out shortly, and ended up losing that bet.

-- 

Eric Strobel (fyzycyst_at_NOSPAM^mailaps.org)

===================================================================== Design is an iterative process. The necessary number of iterations is one more than the number you have currently done. This is true at any point in time. =====================================================================

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