[Tesseract]

Originally Posted by james9490

- On Windows, you can browse local files in IE, then in the same window you can quickly type a web site URL in the address box and quickly access web sites without having to switch to IE. It seems to me that there is nothing like that on the Mac. "Finder" doesn't allow you to browse web sites. How would that be "Internet-friendly?"

1. Open Safari
2. Type Command-L
3. Type file:///
4. Type Return
5. Tada! Web/desktop integration.

[olePigeon]

Originally Posted by james9490

- Where is protocol binding setting and WINS configuration on the Mac? It seems like the Mac gives you much less configuration options compared to Windows. For example, there is no way to store multiple gateways. On Windows I can add/remove various protocols and bind them to separate devices, but where is that on the Mac? There is not even a Workgroup setting panel, so it doesn't look promising in putting a Mac in my home network which is all Windows-based.

Many different network stacks are installed and ready to use. You don't need to bind them to any particular device. Instead, you choose which device you want to use such as Ethernet, AirPort (802.11x), or FireWire (1394x.)

You can set your Windows Workgroup in the Sharing System Prefernece pane. If you're using Active Directory and want to join an NT domain and policy, you use the Directory Access utility.

Originally Posted by james9490

- Where is Add/Remove Programs? I looked everywhere and there seems to be no safe way to uninstall applications. (I can't afford to let my kids mess up the system because I would be the one to clean up their mess.)

Applications in OS X are conatined in Packages. With the exception of Preferences and Extensions, most apps are self conatined and do not put files anywhere else.

To uninstall an application you can either a) use the installer/uninstaller that came with it and remove it that way; or b) simply drag the application to the trash.

Originally Posted by james9490

- Where is system registry editor? There is no way of optimizing system performance and customize the OS without it.

OS X does not use a centralized system registry (thankfully.) In general, there's no need to optimize your system performance as it's done automatically at regular intervals. Also, after every application is installed, the files are organized for better performance.

There are some utiltiies that will allow you to run more maintienance jobs, but from my experience they've offered little or no real difference.

Originally Posted by james9490

- My kids want cool screen savers, but the shareware they are using right now isn't available for the Mac. How do you handle that?

You you two options. You can downoad screen savers that use the built in OS X screen saver (some of them are really cool, like the 3D Star Wars vs. Star Trek one), or you can purchase 3rd party screen savers. There are many to choose from.

Originally Posted by james9490

- Where is Internet Explorer? My wife's bank site requires her to use it. "Safari" seems to be an alternative on your platform but it seems a bit proprietary to me.

Interent Explorer is about as proprietary as you can get. Although Microsoft discontinued Internet Explorer for everything other than Windows, you can still pick up an older version at their website (5.0.3 I think.) This is, well, scary, especially if you want to use it for banking considering all IE specific security holes since version 5 are still present in the Macintosh version.

Your other options are Safari, FireFox, and Opera. There are several other browsers out there if you're inclined to look for even more alternatives.

Originally Posted by james9490

- Apple Mail program looks similar to Outlook Express, but it doesn't look like it can check Hotmail.com accounts. I looked everywhere and didn't find a setting for that.

Microsoft is removing external access to Hotmal from 3rd party eMail clients to force people to purchase a "premium" account. You can still access it via Microsoft Entourage. Entourage is the Macintosh version of Outlook, with calander system. You can even import Outlook mail boxes and sync with Exchange servers.

Originally Posted by james9490

- On Windows, you can browse local files in IE, then in the same window you can quickly type a web site URL in the address box and quickly access web sites without having to switch to IE. It seems to me that there is nothing like that on the Mac. "Finder" doesn't allow you to browse web sites. How would that be "Internet-friendly?"

For quick switching, you can hold down the Apple (Command) key and hit Tab. This will allow you to switch between application with a press of a button. Alternatively you can just use the webbrowser, then hit F12 to have instant access to your desktop via Expose.

Fortunately Apple hasn't integrated their webbrowser into the OS. Having a webbrowser that can manipulate the operating system, install/remove applications, and modify files is the main reason Microsoft has as many problems as it does with security.

[brokenjago]

C'mon James, we're all awaiting eagerly your reply in which you discount all of our responses and proceed to bash the Mac some more!

[alphasubzero949]

Originally Posted by ReggieX

Just get banned already, you stupid troll.

...

[nredman]

Originally Posted by RAILhead

This will be a fun thread as soon as James gets back from the babysitter and jumps online via his AOL dialup connection.

ass

[nredman]

double post

[brokenjago]

James! Don't dissapoint us now!

[His Dudeness]

Originally Posted by brokenjago

C'mon James, we're all awaiting eagerly your reply in which you discount all of our responses and proceed to bash the Mac some more!

I'm sure it's coming. We all know you can't run Office on a Mac.

[UNTeMac]

If you ignore him, he will go away.

[Railroader]

I hear apple's are good for graphics. I wanna get a MAC.

[james9490]

Originally Posted by Hawkeye_a

Well **** dude, do something about it. complain to Microsoft/Intel/Dell/HP/whoever makes your computers. Apple makes computers, and like you finally seem to realize, they do a better job at it.

The fact is that *I* build my own computers. I built all PCs in my house. I like total control and extensive customization.

There used to be a Gateway store in my neighborhood and it was a fun place to hang out. It's too bad that they are gone now. They've proven that the direct store concept didn't work, and I think Apple Store will follow the same path. Just wait and see...

To answer your points, which im only answering cause i had similar questions when switching back in 1999, so i recognize them as being legitimate questions as opposed to trolling.....

I've never trolled. It's just that Mac users here think I am trolling because I don't agree with their Mac fanaticism.

Personally ive never had an issue with this stuff...and i admit i dont know half of what your on about. I use my Powerbook on campus, both wirelessley and via eithernet, and dialup(yes )) at home. Refer to location manager for different settings. As far as the other stuff...clear your mind of it, it's not really necessary o nthe mac, you can use those braincells for something else.

I've had a lot of situations that I had to mess with those settings, and I don't know how you can get away without configuration options for those settings. For example, I didn't see NetBEUI stack listed in OS X's Network preference panel. Someone mentioned about Directory Access, but is that in the system preference panel? I didn't see that when I was at the store....

No such thing, i was confused as well at first. On the mac, with the exception of some Apple applications, Adobe, Alias and most Microsoft applications, uninstalling, is as simple as dragging the application/folder to the trash can. No registery like windows, if your kids do just delete an application, you dont go into "safe mode" you dont have to clean up any registory, everything will still work. (One big reason i love the mac from a user's perspective).

Well, that sounds great in one way but it also sounds very dangerous. What if my kids accidentally drag and drop some of my apps into Recycle Bin? At least Windows warns you that it is an executable file and it might break things.

Why do you care ? Apple knows how to optomize the OS the best, so leave it to them. As far as customizations, there are many apps out there for that, even though theres no reason to. IF you switch to the Mac, a lot of these windows-only, terms become obsolete and you start to realize that things...just work for u, instead of getting in your way all the time.

How do you know that Apple is trustworthy, though? Most default settings are for general users in a typical office environment. Apple doesn't know the optimal TCP/IP settings for my ISP, and I should be able to fine-tune them manually.

Simple use alternative stuff or make your own. Personally i wouldnt install just any freeware/shareware due to security, but if Disney, Nintendo,etc can put out MacOSX versions of screensavers that should be plenty.

Where can I find them?? I ran a search at Download.com and none of the results was compatible with Mac OS X.

Firebird, Netscape, Mozilla, IE are available as well...but it, just like it's windows cousin, sucks...big time.

Just out of curiosity, what sucks so much about IE anyway? It's the most compatible and standard-compliant browser that works with any sites out there, and many sites design exclusively for IE and Windows Media Player. And I've heard that ActiveX applet doesn't work on the Mac....

Thats because a file browser and internet browser are different things, there's no practical/logical reason to combine it, it only confuses consumers. Why dont we have a web browser, file browser, word processor and photo editing in the same window ? apart from being memory hogs, its awfully complicated (like IE is).

Actually, you have a good idea there. Most novice users and non-geek users don't want to have to deal with multiple applications and they don't want to have to learn multiple programs to get things done. That's why they use MS Word to not just write papers but also create mailing labels, newsletters, flyers, etc. all sorts of printed materials. It's a huge step forward for productivity's sake, and it's user-centric.

The questions you ask are typical of Windows users. The only thing you need to worry about when switching to a Mac from Windows, is figuring out what to do with all that brainpower that's freed up for you. trust me its significant. And you'll be at the forefront of technology years before Microsoft copies it, which is geekily-cool.

My wife's pressuring me more and more to buy a Mac for her, and quite honestly it's pushing me to the edge. I can't afford to fight over this with my wife, but I can't believe she is passionate about it after using Windows for years. Well, as for Apple being the technology leader, I am not so sure about that. Vista contains a lot of features Apple hasn't thought of, and Apple hasn't announced the next version of OS X.

Oh and....games, get an GameCube, PS2 or XBox. saves a lot of money from constantly upgrading ur PC.

You are forgetting one major thing those consoles can't do: Network gaming. You can't use the Internet and join gaming community for multiplayer gaming with those consoles. i.e. Nobody plays Quake III on XBox, PS2, etc. It's PC-only.

If you still want to use Windows, try and lobby them to improve their own designs (instead of imitating Apple everytime).

Huh? Apple has copied Intel's cube PC concept and used it to develop Mac mini.

[james9490]

Originally Posted by His Dudeness

I'm sure it's coming. We all know you can't run Office on a Mac.

Hey, I know Microsoft graciously sells the Mac version of MS Office (it's not their preferred choice but they are doing it for a little extra money), but their version is behind the Windows version, and there are more variants on the Windows side. Oh, and there is no Visio for the Mac, and there is no FrontPage.

Hummm..... I've got to tell my wife about that one because she wants to make a web site so we could post family pics to our parents. I am planning a killer setup for that: Windows 2003 Server running off our DSL line, ASP-based web site storing pictures and dynamically putting together each page, and my wife can use FrontPage to update the site. That means we can't use the Mac.

[james9490]

Millennium (forum admin),

I've been getting a bunch of porn pop-ups whenever I open any parts of the MacNN forum site. I don't think people would appreciate such sponsors on an non-adult-related forum like this. People are here to talk about IT and not pornography. Would you please consider banning adult sponsorship? I am asking this for the sake of noble and innocent site visitors who happen to stumble across the site from search engines and links in other sites.

[james9490]

Millennium (forum admin),

I've been getting a bunch of porn pop-ups whenever I open any parts of the MacNN forum site. I don't think people would appreciate such sponsors on an non-adult-related forum like this. People are here to talk about IT and not pornography. Would you please consider banning adult sponsorship? I am asking this for the sake of noble and innocent site visitors who happen to stumble across the site from search engines and links in other sites.

[paul w]

Heh, funny, most of us non-Internet Explorer users have browsers with pop-up blockers.

It's funny how you called IE standards compliant AND THEN went on about Frontpage. Frontpage isn't designed to make web pages that work with anything but Windows IE. Bill Gates has admitted that much himself in court testimony. Why would it be available on anything but Windows?

We could debate point by point (which I'm sure some people love to do here) but:

If you are happy in a Windows-centric world, fine. But trust me, with a Mac, you can do everything you need to do. You may not be using the same software, you may not be going about things in the same manner, but it's all there. You think Windows is better for whichever reason? Fine.

[Railroader]

Originally Posted by james9490

Millennium (forum admin),

I've been getting a bunch of porn pop-ups whenever I open any parts of the MacNN forum site. I don't think people would appreciate such sponsors on an non-adult-related forum like this. People are here to talk about IT and not pornography. Would you please consider banning adult sponsorship? I am asking this for the sake of noble and innocent site visitors who happen to stumble across the site from search engines and links in other sites.

You have a virus on your PC causing that. That wouldn't happen if you had a Mac.

[I was David B.]

Hi james9490,

I would recommend to buy a used mac and try yourself. If it does not work well, you can sell without loss (except your time, but maybe you will have fun).
One thing is sure: your view is so windows centric that you will learn a lot of new concepts (like the ability of dragging apps into the trash - which is based upon the idea that an app consists of one software package that is located at ONE place, and a preferences file - which is great and very transparent.).

This is indeed the first thing that I noticed when I got my first mac. I was always disappointed that windows applications cannot be easily moved. Many windows partitions look like a trash can with unorganized applications spread all over and no chance to easily reorganize the structure.

You will also learn how great it is NOT to need a registry and you will learn that a network connection can be handled by software without user interference and still give a user all options he needs.

These are different design concepts that are based on a user centric view and not on a technoloy centric view.
Why do you want the ability to bind a protocol to a device? If you install a new protocol it should work with all devices that it can work with. Everything else is a half baked implementation.



I switched from windows to mac os a couple of years ago. Especially the unix side of mac os will show you many well done implementation concepts that differ for the good from windows implementations. See yourself and enjoy...

And do yourself a favour and use a browser that blocks popups. I am always shocked when I use a windows box how bad internet can be.

[Y3a]

james9490 should BE ASHAMED to mention NETBEUI! I didn't know we were talking antiques!

The fact IS you just don't get the Mac environment, and don't have the experience and know-how to do what you want, for whatever convoluted reasons with a Mac. Building your own PC is no great accomplishment anyway. Kids have been building game machines for decades, and if you're like most PC users you have a big kludge of old crap sitting around your house and want to make it all work together. You may even have line printers, windows 3.11 for Workgroups, and 286 junkers. you don't seem to be aware of many newer applications, utilities, and methods of getting from A to B, by the read of your posts. Surely the risk of having a platform that can be infected and rendered usless before any virus definitions could be identified and downloaded is large. MS doesn't want those holes plugged because they couldn't snoop your system every time you 'upgrade' something. The major security holes have been IN the MS operating systems for over a decade! Do you think it's wise to knowingly choose such a flawed environment?

[Mastrap]

People. Don't you recognize somebody having fun at your expense?

[samm]

Originally Posted by james9490

I've had a lot of situations that I had to mess with those settings, and I don't know how you can get away without configuration options for those settings. For example, I didn't see NetBEUI stack listed in OS X's Network preference panel. Someone mentioned about Directory Access, but is that in the system preference panel? I didn't see that when I was at the store....

NetBEUI is what, 17 years old? I thought it has been replaced by NetBIOS over TCP/IP in windows environments anyhow. The Directory Access program is in /Applications/Utilities/Directory Access

Originally Posted by james9490

Well, that sounds great in one way but it also sounds very dangerous. What if my kids accidentally drag and drop some of my apps into Recycle Bin? At least Windows warns you that it is an executable file and it might break things.

Give your kids accounts without sudo privilages.

Originally Posted by james9490

Just out of curiosity, what sucks so much about IE anyway? It's the most compatible and standard-compliant browser that works with any sites out there, and many sites design exclusively for IE and Windows Media Player. And I've heard that ActiveX applet doesn't work on the Mac....

IE sucks because it opens the door for spyware, adware, viruses, pop-ups, pop-unders, etc:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critici...ernet_Explorer

Originally Posted by james9490

Huh? Apple has copied Intel's cube PC concept and used it to develop Mac mini.

100% wrong. Apple released the mac mini, an actual working product that consumers can buy, on January 29, 2005. The "Intel cube" CONCEPT was shown in March 2005 at Intel's developer forum.

You should buy your wife a mac mini.

[torsoboy]

Originally Posted by james9490

Hummm..... I've got to tell my wife about that one because she wants to make a web site so we could post family pics to our parents. I am planning a killer setup for that: Windows 2003 Server running off our DSL line, ASP-based web site storing pictures and dynamically putting together each page, and my wife can use FrontPage to update the site. That means we can't use the Mac.

You've got to be kidding. Windows 2003 Server for a personal homepage? Talk about an overkill. And ASP based? Now I know that you aren't as up to date as you think you are... ASP has been dead and replaced for many years now (think .Net). This post kind of reminds me of a guy that I was talking to a few years ago; he was wanting to make this "killer" machine that had like 10 gigs of RAM and didn't have any hard drives, but used 4 CD burners instead (I'm not kidding). It was going to be so awsome!

Oh, and Frontpage??? That's pretty funny. You are a funny guy.

I am not a mac user, but give us all a break here. If you don't know what you're talking about, don't pretend to.

[chris v]

This has GOT to be satire. Subtle, yet unsubtle.

[Warung]

Originally Posted by james9490

People are here to talk about IT and not pornography.

Says who?

[ism]

Yay! More please James, you are making my Monday a happier one.

[Warung]

Originally Posted by james9490

...and there is no FrontPage.

[Chuckmcd]

Originally Posted by Mastrap

People. Don't you recognize somebody having fun at your expense?

Hehe... I guess not, oh, and Frontpage!!!! ha! I thought not having that for the mac was a plus.

[Tesseract]

Originally Posted by james9490

and there is no FrontPage.

No Publisher either. The horror!

[His Dudeness]

Originally Posted by james9490

The fact is that *I* build my own computers. I built all PCs in my house. I like total control and extensive customization.

There used to be a Gateway store in my neighborhood and it was a fun place to hang out. It's too bad that they are gone now. They've proven that the direct store concept didn't work, and I think Apple Store will follow the same path. Just wait and see...

I've been hearing that Apple Computer, Inc. has been going out of business for the past thirty years.

[OreoCookie]

Originally Posted by james9490

I've had a lot of situations that I had to mess with those settings, and I don't know how you can get away without configuration options for those settings. For example, I didn't see NetBEUI stack listed in OS X's Network preference panel. Someone mentioned about Directory Access, but is that in the system preference panel? I didn't see that when I was at the store....

No, it's in the folder /Applications/Utilities. You usually don't need to touch it to integrate your computer into a Windows network. At least I haven't.

Also, OS X works differently. You don't have network stacks, but services.

Originally Posted by james9490

Well, that sounds great in one way but it also sounds very dangerous. What if my kids accidentally drag and drop some of my apps into Recycle Bin? At least Windows warns you that it is an executable file and it might break things.

As long as your kids don't have admin privileges, they won't be able to delete applications.

Originally Posted by james9490

How do you know that Apple is trustworthy, though? Most default settings are for general users in a typical office environment. Apple doesn't know the optimal TCP/IP settings for my ISP, and I should be able to fine-tune them manually.

You are. You can change them in the Network prefs. You can change anything from packet size to ethernet connection speed manually if you wish.

Originally Posted by james9490

Where can I find them?? I ran a search at Download.com and none of the results was compatible with Mac OS X.

www.versiontracker.com. My search for screensaver yielded 311 results.

Originally Posted by james9490

Just out of curiosity, what sucks so much about IE anyway? It's the most compatible and standard-compliant browser that works with any sites out there, and many sites design exclusively for IE and Windows Media Player. And I've heard that ActiveX applet doesn't work on the Mac....

It's not the most standard compliant browser, it's the least standard compliant browser available. IE 7 won't change that. Even Paul Thurrot (from winsupersite.com) called for a boycott of IE. ActiveX isn't available for the Mac, it's a proprietary API.

Originally Posted by james9490

My wife's pressuring me more and more to buy a Mac for her, and quite honestly it's pushing me to the edge. I can't afford to fight over this with my wife, but I can't believe she is passionate about it after using Windows for years. Well, as for Apple being the technology leader, I am not so sure about that. Vista contains a lot of features Apple hasn't thought of, and Apple hasn't announced the next version of OS X.

What features are you thinking of?
And yes, Apple has announced the next version of OS X, it'll be completed in late 2006/early 2007.

Originally Posted by james9490

You are forgetting one major thing those consoles can't do: Network gaming. You can't use the Internet and join gaming community for multiplayer gaming with those consoles. i.e. Nobody plays Quake III on XBox, PS2, etc. It's PC-only.

Actually you can use internet on gaming consoles. Newer version of the PS2 sport a standard ethernet connector, even the Sega Dreamcast had a built-in modem. Network gaming is popular in Japan (you have to pay a subscription fee).

Originally Posted by james9490

Huh? Apple has copied Intel's cube PC concept and used it to develop Mac mini.

Apple had a Mac mini-type computer years ago (it was introduced in 2000), it was called Cube.

[Millennium]

Originally Posted by james9490

Millennium (forum admin),

I'm a moderator, not an administrator. Although my moderator status expands my abilities on these forums beyond what a regular user has, I do not have absolute power. As you should know by now, I cannot ban or delete user accounts, which is why I had to forward your request to the proper people. It seems they decided not to delete your account. I have no say in that. I forwarded the request, as you asked; in fact I forwarded it twice. That was all I could do.

I've been getting a bunch of porn pop-ups whenever I open any parts of the MacNN forum site. I don't think people would appreciate such sponsors on an non-adult-related forum like this. People are here to talk about IT and not pornography.

I quite agree.

Would you please consider banning adult sponsorship?

I cannot do it myself, but even if I could, this would be a nonquestion. In the six years I've been here, whether or not I was a moderator at the time, MacNN has never used pornographic ads.[/QUOTE]
You are so walking into this...

MacNN does not have porn pop-ups. We never have. What you are seeing, therefore, is not caused by us. It is caused by adware on your machine: adware which Internet Explorer makes possible. Use a real browser that uses real standards, and you will not see such things again.

[OreoCookie]

Originally Posted by james9490

Hummm..... I've got to tell my wife about that one because she wants to make a web site so we could post family pics to our parents. I am planning a killer setup for that: Windows 2003 Server running off our DSL line, ASP-based web site storing pictures and dynamically putting together each page, and my wife can use FrontPage to update the site. That means we can't use the Mac.

There are other applications you can use to create websites. My friends who use windows also don't use Frontpage.

BTW, Windows XP includes a webserver, but you have to install it separately. So you don't have to `obtain' a copy of Windows 2003 Server. To be honest, I would prefer a Linux/FreeBSD server if I were you. It's much safer and doesn't require so much CPU horsepower.

[goMac]

As a former ASP developer...

ASP is crap.

[Millennium]

Originally Posted by james9490

The fact is that *I* build my own computers. I built all PCs in my house. I like total control and extensive customization.

And you seem to have decided that Apple is doing a better job of it then you do.

There used to be a Gateway store in my neighborhood and it was a fun place to hang out. It's too bad that they are gone now. They've proven that the direct store concept didn't work, and I think Apple Store will follow the same path. Just wait and see...

Maybe, maybe not. Apple's stores are doing better than Gateway's ever did.

I've never trolled. It's just that Mac users here think I am trolling because I don't agree with their Mac fanaticism.

Every single thread you have ever started here has been worded in an unnecessarily inflammatory manner, written with clear intent to anger people rather than engage in honest debate. That is trolling. Believe me, we have plenty of people here who don't agree with Mac fanatics.

I'm an ex-fanatic myself. I've stopped evangelizing Apple to friends and relatives, and in the coming years as Apple switches to Intel I intend to switch to Linux. Let me go over that one more time, just to make sure it gets through your thick skull: I'm a moderator, yet I intend to switch away from Apple. I resigned my moderatorship when Apple made the Intel announcement, and the staff asked me to stay (which I obviously did, though I by my own request I no longer moderate any platform-specific forums).

Would a forum of fanatics do that? Here I am, an open heretic in their midst, and they put me in a position of leadership. So much for your accusations of fanaticism.

Well, that sounds great in one way but it also sounds very dangerous. What if my kids accidentally drag and drop some of my apps into Recycle Bin? At least Windows warns you that it is an executable file and it might break things.

Don't give your kids Administrator access, and they won't be able to drag and drop your apps ino the Recycle Bin. Simple.

How do you know that Apple is trustworthy, though?

How do you know that Microsoft is trustworthy?

Most default settings are for general users in a typical office environment. Apple doesn't know the optimal TCP/IP settings for my ISP, and I should be able to fine-tune them manually.

And you can, through methods which are usually easier than the obscene Registry hacking it takes on Windows.

Where can I find them?? I ran a search at Download.com and none of the results was compatible with Mac OS X.

Let me guess; you did this from a Windows machine and used the default form. Download.com's default search matches whatever platform you're running the search from.

Just out of curiosity, what sucks so much about IE anyway? It's the most compatible and standard-compliant browser that works with any sites out there...

It is in fact the least compatible and standards-compliant browser out there. Sites designed perfectly to standard often break in IE and nowhere else. For that matter, it is riddled with security issues due to its fundamentally-flawed architecture.

...and many sites design exclusively for IE and Windows Media Player.

That is because their developers are incompetent.

And I've heard that ActiveX applet doesn't work on the Mac....

Effectively not, but ActiveX should never be used anyway.

You are forgetting one major thing those consoles can't do: Network gaming.

Actually, all three consoles are capable of some degree of network gaming (though the GameCube requires some rather interesting hacks to do much outside of Phantasy Star Online).

Huh? Apple has copied Intel's cube PC concept and used it to develop Mac mini.

You mean the cube concept which Intel copied from Apple in the first place? Not that it matters; the Mac Mini predates Intel's "Cube PC" concept anyway. Get your timeline straight; the best trolls don't make such fundamental errors like that.

[Millennium]

Originally Posted by james9490

Millennium (forum admin),

I'm a moderator, not an administrator. Although my moderator status expands my abilities on these forums beyond what a regular user has, I do not have absolute power. As you should know by now, I cannot ban or delete user accounts, which is why I had to forward your request to the proper people. It seems they decided not to delete your account. I have no say in that. I forwarded the request, as you asked; in fact I forwarded it twice. That was all I could do.

I've been getting a bunch of porn pop-ups whenever I open any parts of the MacNN forum site. I don't think people would appreciate such sponsors on an non-adult-related forum like this. People are here to talk about IT and not pornography.

I quite agree.

Would you please consider banning adult sponsorship?

I cannot do it myself, but even if I could, this would be a nonquestion. In the six years I've been here, whether or not I was a moderator at the time, MacNN has never used pornographic ads.

I am asking this for the sake of noble and innocent site visitors who happen to stumble across the site from search engines and links in other sites.

You are so walking into this...

MacNN does not have porn pop-ups. We never have. What you are seeing, therefore, is not caused by us. It is caused by adware on your machine: adware which Internet Explorer makes possible. Use a real browser that uses real standards, and you will not see such things again. We cannot control what people use, though Microsoft tries, and more's the pity: if they weren't around computers would be more advanced, more secure, more open, and more usable than they are today. They have held back the state of the art in so many ways that you'd probably be horrified if you knew the true extent of the damage. But the word part is how they've managed to sucker in people like you through marketing that can be proven to be made up almost entirely of half-truths and outright lies.

[olePigeon]

Originally Posted by james9490

There used to be a Gateway store in my neighborhood and it was a fun place to hang out. It's too bad that they are gone now. They've proven that the direct store concept didn't work, and I think Apple Store will follow the same path. Just wait and see...

No, it's just that Gateway was trying to compete pricewise with Dell and still use a store front to do it. That's just not possible. Part of the reason Dell can can sell its PCs for so cheap is that it doesn't have any retail expenses, everything is sold directly online.

Dell's profit margin per-PC is also extremely thin. They make up the losses in volume versus price.

Apple is in a different boat than Gateway. Apple's profit margin per-PC is a lot higher. They can also subsidize the retail cost with their software, iPod, and iTunes sales. Gateway didn't sell software or have a music service. Since their proft margin per-PC was on par with Dell, they couldn't aford a physical retail space. Not to mention, Apple's store (as you've admitted) is really cool. Even if you're not an Apple fan, you can appreciate the detail Apple puts into their products; even their stores!

Hell, Apple's London flagship store is now practically a singles' bar.

Originally Posted by james9490

I've had a lot of situations that I had to mess with those settings, and I don't know how you can get away without configuration options for those settings. For example, I didn't see NetBEUI stack listed in OS X's Network preference panel. Someone mentioned about Directory Access, but is that in the system preference panel? I didn't see that when I was at the store....

Directory Access is located in the Utilities folder, not in the System Preference panel (perhaps they should change this in Leopard? Or maybe put a button in the System Preference panel that launches it?)

Originally Posted by james9490

Well, that sounds great in one way but it also sounds very dangerous. What if my kids accidentally drag and drop some of my apps into Recycle Bin? At least Windows warns you that it is an executable file and it might break things.

You can set them up with user accounts. When you do that, they'll need administrative access to modify the Applications folder. That way you can regulate what applications they can use or modify.

Originally Posted by james9490

How do you know that Apple is trustworthy, though? Most default settings are for general users in a typical office environment. Apple doesn't know the optimal TCP/IP settings for my ISP, and I should be able to fine-tune them manually.

You can, but you'll need to get into the UNIX and NetInfo part of things. However, there are some nifty utilities that make modifying your TCP/IP peramaters pretty easy. The best by far is IPNetTuner from Sustainable Softworks (www.sustworks.com). That utility used with DSLReports.com network Tweak utility, you can get what specific peramaters you need to change for optimum peformance.

Originally Posted by james9490

Where can I find them?? I ran a search at Download.com and none of the results was compatible with Mac OS X.

www.macupdate.com or www.versiontracker.com (make sure you're searching OS X and not Windows for VersionTracker.) Just do a quick search for screen saver and you're on your way. Alternatively, you can also just do a search for OS X screen saver in Google.

Download.com is horrible.

Originally Posted by james9490

Just out of curiosity, what sucks so much about IE anyway? It's the most compatible and standard-compliant browser that works with any sites out there, and many sites design exclusively for IE and Windows Media Player. And I've heard that ActiveX applet doesn't work on the Mac....

The most compatible, perhaps. But not because it's compatible with W3C standards, but because more websites are designed around Internet Explorer rather than designed to work correctly with W3C compliance.

Microsoft likes to make up technologies, get people to use them and rely on them, then make sure those technologies don't work on anything else (like Novell used to do.) Because Windows is the dominant OS -- and because Internet Explorer is integrated with Windows -- that automatically turns Internet Explorer into the dominant browser. Microsoft is in the position to make sure that their proprietary technologies are adopted and thereby alienate all the other actual compliant browsers.

And as long as Internet Explorer remains the dominant browser, companies will design webpages to only work with Internet Explorer to help reduce support costs. Of course, when they do that, none of the other W3C compliant browsers will work properly with a IE specific website.

So, yes, IE is the most compatible. But it is not the most compliant. And let us not forget they got there illegally. That doesn't seem to matter much anymore, but I think it's important to understand that Internet Explorer didn't get to be #1 because it's a great browser.

The reason websites are deisnged to work with IE and WMP is because the "coders" lazy.

Originally Posted by james9490

My wife's pressuring me more and more to buy a Mac for her, and quite honestly it's pushing me to the edge. I can't afford to fight over this with my wife, but I can't believe she is passionate about it after using Windows for years. Well, as for Apple being the technology leader, I am not so sure about that. Vista contains a lot of features Apple hasn't thought of, and Apple hasn't announced the next version of OS X.

They did announce the next version of OS X, version 10.5 "Leopard." (Though, personally, I thought it should've been "Liger" since it's a cross between two different architectuers... bread for its skills in magic. ) Leopard is coming out next year, again, before Vista.

Perhaps once you start using a Mac on a regular basis you'll understand why she's so passionate about it.

Originally Posted by james9490

You are forgetting one major thing those consoles can't do: Network gaming. You can't use the Internet and join gaming community for multiplayer gaming with those consoles. i.e. Nobody plays Quake III on XBox, PS2, etc. It's PC-only.

With the exception of anything that comes out of Valve's orifice, most major FPS games do make it to the Mac. However, the one thing that lacks severely on the Macintosh is games. Even I built a PC just to play games.

However, once Apple switches to Intel, I'm gonna chuck my PC for good. OS X + VMWare + XP + Counter-Strike = Happy Me

Originally Posted by james9490

Huh? Apple has copied Intel's cube PC concept and used it to develop Mac mini.

No. Apple created the G4 Cube in 2000. The Mac mini is perhaps just a reincarnation of Apple's original tiny PC.

You should also note that the Mac mini is exceptionally small even for "cube" PCs. You'd be hard pressed to find a micro or nano ATX PC that even approaches the functionality and power of a Mac mini in the same physical space.

[gururafiki]

Seems to me that the troll has been own3d but the moderator. I am surprised this thread has stayed as civil as it is. Good work folks!

[UNTeMac]

James, if you're joking...you're hilarious because you are satirizing everything Mac users don't like about die-hard PC users (adhering to dead technology, closed-mind, blinded by years of lower standards.)

If you're serious which I now seriously doubt, I'm sorry for your family.

All told, this is still an entertaining thread.

[chris v]

Don't forget to mention how Macs can't run Ad-Aware or Spybot! That's a pretty serious shortcoming!!

[brokenjago]

I love how james picks the weakest argument (no offense, hawkeye_a) to argue against, while completely ignoring our other points.

[CRASH HARDDRIVE]

Originally Posted by Mastrap

People. Don't you recognize somebody having fun at your expense?

Nah. People LOOOVE this attention from what they think is a PC troll. Love it. Crave it. Don’t even want to consider the possibility that someone is just having fun at their expense. Kind of like a forum version of the Phil Hendrie show.

Whoever figured this out and writes the “james” character to amuse themselves figured this out a long time ago and indeed has a blast with it!

[Mastrap]

Too damn straight. I can't understand for the life of me why people keep replying to 'James'.

[Hawkeye_a]

1. You like total control ? i suggest you sell your family and buy a chip manufacturing plan, and then start writing your own Operating system from scratch, as well as application. thats give you total control and you wont have to complain about the mac here, cause ull be too busy fixing your creation.

2. Deleting application. If your kids are stupid enough to drag and drop a folder into the trash by 'mistake' im sure they are stupid enough to go into addremove programs and delete applications. And seeing as how they are 'your' kids...they probably are stupid and shouldnt be allowed near electical equiptemnt to begin with.

3. The Mac OS dosent support Win3.1 or DOS or any other ancient technology either. get used to it. grow up.

4. You want one application that does everything ? seriously, you are an idiot. Novice users are usually overwhelmed with the crap on the screen at any point in time. putting even mroe on the screen dosent make things easier. Take a GUI course or even a Computer Science course. it's not feasible given hardware limitation, not practical given complexity of software, and not worth it given the market for such crap.

5. Do the right thing, set her free by giving her a divorce, you both will be better off. She'll have her website up and running in a few hours. while you'll be free to start designing your own CPU and OS from scratch.

6. Whatever problem you have with the Mac is probably worse on Windows. You speak of 'standards'..... J++, ASP, WMV, WMA, etc....are not standards. HTML, MPEG2, MPEG3, MPEG4, H.264, etc aare standards.

7. If standards matter, you'd get a Mac, but obviously they dont.

8. If usability matters, youd get a Mac, but obviously it dosent since you use an OS thats 7 years begind the Mac. (Thats right...longhorn/vista is just MS's version of OSX 10.1 which came out in 2000-2001)

9. If control matters, you'd get an OS that gives you that control, but obviously it dosent. Cause the Windows kernel isnt opensource, and it makes you pay for a server/developer version to have 'total' control. So obviously control dosent matetr cause if it did, you be writing your own operating system and designing ur own microprocessors.

10. the G4 cube came out years before the mac Mini which came out months before intel's CONCEPT pcs.

11. Your a gamer and you dont know that the XBox has been online for years ? now ur just being stupid. dont come up with excuses for problems that dont exist.

12. Now it's time to make fun of you. You hung out at a gateway store ? ...do you have a cow fetish or something ? lol....maybe the reason they had to close down so many of those stores is cause they had freaks like you hanging around and scaring away customers lol.

13. You actually have a wife and kids ? how much did you pay her for marrying you ? lol.

14. For the sake of all that is good. NEVER EVER purchace an Apple product. keep fiddling around with your WINDNS, BIOS,etc setting for the rest of your life as it's evident thats what u want a computer for.

Your such an idiot...lol....i suggest we throw civility out the window cause it's obviosu he has no idea what hes talking about. he compared everything to windows when he hasnt even used the Mac or other internet browsers or even a gaming console. James.... go find another gateway store, and by the way....whats ur wifes number ? i got a big mac that'll keep her happy. lol

[beni]

Hawkeye_a,
rotflmao

[analogika]

Originally Posted by james9490

Millennium (forum admin),

I've been getting a bunch of porn pop-ups whenever I open any parts of the MacNN forum site. I don't think people would appreciate such sponsors on an non-adult-related forum like this. People are here to talk about IT and not pornography. Would you please consider banning adult sponsorship? I am asking this for the sake of noble and innocent site visitors who happen to stumble across the site from search engines and links in other sites.

WAAAAAahahahahhahahahahAHHAAAAAAH!

That is probably the funniest thing I've read on here in MONTHS!

Thanks for the laugh - what a wonderful way to make the point about spyware... *sniffle*

hrmmmmmfffff....ff. :giggle:

-chris. (spyware-free since 1989)

[loki74]

hawkeye you make me laugh

A gateway store? Hahahahaa!!!

Yeah, I'ts definately NOT lilely that the Apple stores will go under. They do more than sell Apples. Where would you go to find out whats wrong your iPod? Joe's Electronics or the Apple Store?

Not to mention exactly how much more style Apple stores have.

James... man, you're killing yourself in here. Gotta think before you post!

That being said, there is a (minute) chance he's being earnest. Perhaps we should ease up a little? At the very least, hes not being as much of an @sshole as before...

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by james9490

They've proven that the direct store concept didn't work, and I think Apple Store will follow the same path. Just wait and see...

Apples and oranges my little friend.

I've never trolled. It's just that Mac users here think I am trolling because I don't agree with their Mac fanaticism.

Very few Mac fanatics in here. It just looks that way because you are such a winlot.

Just out of curiosity, what sucks so much about IE anyway? It's the most compatible and standard-compliant browser that works with any sites out there,

No. Not even close.

and many sites design exclusively for IE and Windows Media Player.

And they are known to be morons for doing such a thing.

My wife's pressuring me more and more to buy a Mac for her, and quite honestly it's pushing me to the edge.

Because you are a Windows zealot. We understand.

Huh? Apple has copied Intel's cube PC concept and used it to develop Mac mini.

Ok, this HAS to be someone's second account.

No one can be that dumb.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by james9490

Oh, and there is no Visio for the Mac, and there is no FrontPage.

Because MS has problems getting professionals to use it. Lots of professionals use a Mac.. soo..

FrontPage blows anyhow. Don't even get me started on FP extensions.

Hummm..... I've got to tell my wife about that one because she wants to make a web site so we could post family pics to our parents. I am planning a killer setup for that: Windows 2003 Server running off our DSL line, ASP-based web site storing pictures and dynamically putting together each page, and my wife can use FrontPage to update the site. That means we can't use the Mac.

Or, you could not use FrontPage like a normal person and figure out how to do it.

FrontPage is like a virus.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by Millennium

MacNN does not have porn pop-ups. We never have. What you are seeing, therefore, is not caused by us. It is caused by adware on your machine: adware which Internet Explorer makes possible. Use a real browser that uses real standards, and you will not see such things again.

Burnage.

[alphasubzero949]

Actually, the NeXT Cube predates BOTH the G4 Cube and the Intel concept.

[ApplCmptrDood]

Trolls say the darndest things.