Ooh, I like that one.

I don't care what kind of computer people use, but I won't stick around for that kind of discussion. It never goes anywhere useful or pleasant.

Anyone who says that is just like Hitler!

;)

I think it has mostly cooled down since the late 90s. Especially with the intel macs and the (possibly overpriced) introduction of a 2 button laser mouse for the Mac and the fact that a lot of microsoft users have decided to upgrade to XP on their Vista machines, a lot of fire has gone out of the argument. (Add to it the fact that Linux has several distros that are user friendly right out of the box, and has fan-persons who are far bigger zealots than all but the biggest fans of the other two, and suddenly it gets aembarassing to be too strong of a booster for either side.)

"We will send people to your house in the middle of the night to fix it for you! For free!"

You know, considering the customer service I've gotten for my beloved Mac, I'd honestly be totally cool with that option.

(I had to ask for a manager because the sales guy kept telling me how 'sleek and stylish' it was, and how I would 'look cute working on it at a cafe', but not anything about the OS.)

Good point, thought that book was referencing a situation that applied well before there was a user friendly build of Linux. Since 1999 when Stephenson said that, things have gotten to the point that you can buy a linux box from Walmart.
Though quoting something from nine years ago does illustrate a major piece of modern Mac/Windows/Linus debates: A great deal of the points raised against each side are in reference to editions of the software and hardware that are 5 to 10 years old.

That was one of the best books ever. Neal Stephenson managed to make the explanation of the evolution of operating systems accesible, interesting and funny.

Wonderful, wonderful book. I always really love rereading the bit about someone viewing Disneyland through their videocamera.

I dunno, I always thought it would be cool when Hodgman finally snaps.

Hitler would have run Windows :-)

*runs and hides*

And Stalin, of course, would have run FORTRAN.

It's just resting!

I come home from work at the satellite gleaming monolith, to this? *g*

Silly Bear. Don't poke the bees' nest. ^_^

Now I want a tuna melt, too!

Unless you're talking about the commercials, which I love. But yeah, it's pretty much a dead end convo--people are never gonna convince other people to switch systems.

I'm firmly in the PC camp, but my best friend has a newish iMac (less than two years old) which I have used a few times. Now, I wouldn't want one at home, but I'd take one at work, although I love my dell desktop. The new iMac's OS is much more PC-user friendly...and they take up a lot less space than a PC.

When my Tech Guy was in the other day, he was saying how he has Vista on his laptop and how wonderful it is and that we'll be switching to it at some point. I told him that anyone who puts Vista on my machine would end up, oh, DEAD. He tried to tell me I was afraid of change--but I'm not. I have used it--it's what's on my sister's laptop and if it worked any slower, it'd be stopped. Of course, with 2G of RAM, it would probably run okay on my dell...but still, yuck.

The next time he tells me he's gonna put Vista on my machine--I'm gonna tell him not to bother and to just get me an iMac. That'll piss him off, he hates Macs. I think his comment the last time I mentioned getting an iMac was "Not in my fucking school". Heh. Now, tell me, who's afraid of change?

Oh, I am so going to. *heh*

I've always had PCs at home and now have a Mac at work. I've been told a billion times by Mac users that it's really intuitive and I'll love it, but...not so much. Maybe at some point I'll come to love the thing, but right now it's frustrating because I DON'T KNOW HOW TO DO ANYTHING.

*sniffle*

Darn you and your tuna melt temptations! I am too lazy to tmake myself one. I think.

And really, I'd state that as "when the issue of competing operating systems or hardware", because I've seen worse flamewars over Linux flavors and BSDs.

Any internet conversation has reached its useful end when the issue of Mac vs. PC is raised.

Yep, you proved your point; just raising the issue of raising the issue trashed this thread from the get-go.

Install Linux! And don't be trash talking Jay, I went to school with him.

Seriously, Mac OSX is a very good desktop system.

I run Linux (CentOS 5) on all my desktops, but I also get paid to be a Linux sysadmin on both Red Hat and SUSE systems. Dealing with Linux servers from a Linux desktop is so much smoother than anything else.

Sombody posted about tronguy, Jay Maynard. Feel free to pick on Jay Lake, he deserves it.

Any time a discussion reaches the point at which people are reacting out of religious fervor rather than listening to each other’s arguments, the conversation has reached its useful end, on and off the Internet. This goes for Mac vs. PC, Emacs vs. vi, Linux distro vs. other Linux distro, Coke vs. Pepsi, Science Fiction vs. Literature, even Tuna Melt vs. Roast Beef.

::eyes the original post::

::eyes the discussion::

::eyes Bear::

Did you do that on purpose? You did, didn't you?

What about the meta-irony? *ducking* (:

A great xkcd comic on Godwin's Law is at: http://xkcd.com/261.

As for the Mac/PC debate, I agree. Most of the arguments are history now. Now it's more a matter of style and preference than anything else.

Heh. I keep both a PC and a Mac, in much the same way that I keep a screwdriver and a hammer.

Hodgman's Corollary?

...unless you're discussing it for the purpose of discussing John Hodgeman, and everyone should discuss John Hodgeman at some point. (: