Curt wrote:
I started in the Novell world if any of you know what that is.

Yep, 4 CNE's in the 80s and early 90's. No one ever built a better hard drive seeking algorithm than their Elevator Seeking.

Darn wrote:
There is a Linux CD you can buy that you boot up your PC with and it boots right into Linux and you can surf and email and do what ever you want, once you shut down, you pull the CD and there is NO trace of anything you did on the computer, no a thread. Perfect for those of you who want to try Linux.

The ubuntu install CD is a live cd. You can boot to it just go into the linux and check it out, or you can use it to install the os. You can download the iso for free.

I was hard core PC for years several friends (MAC guys) gave me a hard time about it so after my sony viao laptop hard drive died (lasted 7years!) I bit the bullet and bought a new macbook. I've been running it for 10months now and can't believe how easy it is to use. everything is plug and play, graphics, pics, documents everything just works. It boots up fast never crashes, freezes or even hiccups!

The downside to my mac- PRICE and the Quicken program for mac is very dated behing the pc version and sucks bad. a plus though I installed parallels and windows xp on my mac which runs windows inside a window on my mac desktop VERY COOL! Mac runs windows pretty well too!

I still have 2 PCs at home and 3 at my office but, for my personal laptop I will stick with MAC.

IMHO

Steven

PC, mainly because I refuse to pay for what I consider overpriced Mac products. I recently bought a new PC from ZT Systems (wish I'd have known you sold PC's), avoided the big names due to the proprietary stuff they put in the machines. My last one was a HP and my network card pooped out on me, couldn't just replace it since it was integrated with other stuff. I got my advice from Doc and then searched for what he suggested. Unfortunately being a smaller company they didn't upgrade me to Windows 7 and I'm stuck with Vista Premium. As a long time XP user it took some getting used to Vista but now that I know it's quirks it doesn't bother me much. Contemplating dropping the money for 7 but don't know if I really need to.

We also have a Dell laptop, it's okay at best and could use a RAM upgrade. It's provided by our employer and they'll give us more RAM, just need to initiate the process. I will give kudos to Dell for their customer support, we have the super duper warranty due to the size of the company (Xerox) and they were here in one day to fix an issue. The tech also replaced the keyboard because one of the keys was loose.

I've a question for you more technical types.

I bought a new Dell in January that came with Vista on it. Was I ever shocked to learn that Vista did not support my very most important program... an old 1992, DOS-based, black & white, keyboard command only thing.

The reason I bought a new machine was because mine had gotten over 6 years old and I just figured it was time.

My question: Will Windows 7 support old programs that Vista didn't? I want my OEXpert 7 program on my new machine.

A second question: If the machine can't run the program, is there some way to change or upgrade a program to run on a new OS?

If anyone is thinking of upgrading from Vista to Windows 7, do the FULL install AFTER formatting the HD. If you try to just do the "upgrade" it will bring all the Vista issues over with it. Basically it puts the windows 7 Over the top of the Vista. We recommend you back up all your data, format the hard drive and do a fresh or full install with W7, then reinstall your programs and files. Beware there is NO Mail program in W7 like Outlook express, they recommend you use MSN or Hotmail.

And a third question: How the heck can you ever get to Microsoft to ask a simple question like mine? I could find no way to get to an MS support person to ask these simple questions.

I still run my old PC in my office just so I can operate that one ancient program that I value so much... it's crazy!

Questcap wrote:
And a third question: How the heck can you ever get to Microsoft to ask a simple question like mine? I could find no way to get to an MS support person to ask these simple questions.

I still run my old PC in my office just so I can operate that one ancient program that I value so much... it's crazy!

Obviously Microsoft doesn't want millions of calls everyday so they have online help and they get back to you as they can.

If you look back through these posts, someone said that they work for MS, might be your best inside shot? Remember that Microsoft is hated by many and those folks are the ones who hack and write the virus's, so MS is very careful about who they answer.

I would recommend going into a local computer store (and BEST BUYS IS NOT A LOCAL COMPUTER STORE ) and talk with a tech or a sales person. If they want to charge you for advice walk out and find another, or PM me and I will try to help.

I have been computing since 77 - The PC MAC question comes up quite a bit. It boils down to what you are using the computer for. The PC has an operating system built on x86 code that is not the best at memory / resource management(getting better with W7) and has lax code writing rules. The MAC operating system is built on a UNIX version code base that is very efficient at memory and resource management. Because the X86 code base does not have very strict code management function it allows for programs to be written quickly, cheaply and in some cases so quick they result in operating system crashes. MAC / Unix has some very tight code rules that result in a more stable platform and much tighter security due to the code rules.(no stack overruns, open channels etc. allowed) However, the cost of writing code for APPLE is higher and because of this there are less programs out for the platform.

I would say if you’re not a power graphic / creative user and not using your machine for mission critical work, then the PC is fine if it has a fast processor and a bunch of memory.

I have a MAC Pro(I do have PC’s) that has been running for about a year; that I have not had to reboot. The operating system does a great job taking care of memory and cleaning up any errors I may cause. I do all of my photography work on the apple and can have 8 gig or more of memory in use at any given time. If I want to stop in the middle of my work and get some sleep, I wake up and my system is still up and running without me having to close down what I was working on.

Well, I found out one thing for sure.... there are a lot of Computer folk here! Ever need advice on a computer issue, this would be the place to come.

Maybe rename the sight to RSC & Beyond! Or Starwars? (techy joke)