[kman42]

http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/20...ers/index.html

It just reeks of being made up, but maybe that's just me. Incompatible files? Garbled PowerPoint presentations? I'd like to know what files this person is trying to share. I've never had any problems moving PP files between platforms and certainly not Word files. And what's the deal with complaining about there being too many formats to save as in AW? There are about fifty in MS Word. What is this person comparing it to? And the rant about the command key!

Anyway, it could be real. Who am I to judge? At the very least it is a damn poor explanation of this person's problems. If he really wants help, he should learn to articulate his problems.

kman

[KaptainKaya]

Eh, saw this in the lounge. I think its a poor attempt to get people to visit the site.

[King Kong]

Despite the weird made up sounding name she does exist (do a google search).

While her problems sound dumb, I see people with the same sort of thing all the time.

Garbled powerpoint and word attachments usually are fixed by adding a file extension to the documents (ie if you send a word document always include the ".doc" appendage).

The obscure printer error message is real... (obscure error messages also appear w/ jag if you screw up a url when trying to connect to another computer).

Being harassed by Windows network admins is certainly a real thing.

I have no idea what incompatible files she is talking about unless she is saving things as Appleworks files (simple fix, save as a word file, include the ".doc" suffix.

Page up/Page down do exist on iBooks (fcn+up and fcn+down) (Not obvious and I'll admit I'm annoyed by this too).

These are all legit complaints, but most can be figured out with about 30 minutes of surfing (type "page up ibook" into google for example). The attatchment thing is not obvious for newbies and Word/Appleworks should be set to include extensions by default.

As to her other complaints they sound pretty dumb (as if she is basically not even trying to make an effort):

Can't communicate with her Windows using boyfriend in Europe--um ever heard of email. AIM, ICQ, MSN Messenger.... etc.

The Tempus Sans font is easily installed (just email to yourself) and put it in one of the fonts folders.

If attachments are sent/received using Appledouble encoding/No compression, there are almost zero problems (this is the default). The only problem I can think of is getting certain kinds of formatted text/graphics from exchange servers and everyone Mac or PC has this problem if you are using a non-Exchange client.

Her problems with floppies, they sound fairly trivial, but I've seen this complaint often with switchers. They are just used to doing things this way. I'd suggest switching to one of those nifty little usb drives. They are bigger than floppies/faster/cross platform (if you format them correctly), durable, and they fit on your keychain.

Seems like she hasn't figured out that you can burn CDs from the finder. This is something that could be learned with minimum effort.

Problems with the apple key? Come on. PC Control is functionally equivalent to the apple key. What's so hard about that.

Macs have a control key. Yes it is different from a PC control key, but it hardly takes a rocket scientist to figure this out.

At the end she whines for help. If she had included her email address she just might have gotten some.

[SMacTech]

Originally posted by King Kong:
Problems with the apple key? Come on. Alt = apple. What's so hard about that.

My alt key is the option key on Apple Pro keyboard. Maybe that is where she is getting confused.

[macuzer]

I administer about 400 Windows (95, NT 4, 2000 & XP) client boxes here at work. This article touches a nerve with me. The majority of problems this woman is experiencing are HER problems. I'm sorry if she wasn't prepared for backlash related to her purchase. Is that a problem you should b*tch about relating to your experience with this machine? She should've seen it coming. If she educated herself before going out and plunking down a couple grand, most of her problems wouldn't exist. She apparently wasn't sure what she wanted in a new machine. I've been using OS X since it hit the market (PB, 10.0, 10.1, awaiting 10.2). I don't have any of the problems this user has. And it's running on a 3yr old box! Perhaps she should sell her machine, and enjoy the "trouble-free" life she'll have with XXXP. That's right. XXXP - you discover why after you use it for awhile. You sit there and realize you're being done -- HARDCORE.


--------
MacUzer

[nickm]

I'm not sure exactly what she's talking about, but Powerpoint compatibility with Windows has had it's problems. My biggest problem has been with the character encodings --- all my bullets turning into something else. I've also had problems with equations, but I suspect that isn't her problem...

[passmaster16]

Originally posted by macuzer:
I administer about 400 Windows (95, NT 4, 2000 & XP) client boxes here at work. This article touches a nerve with me. The majority of problems this woman is experiencing are HER problems. I'm sorry if she wasn't prepared for backlash related to her purchase. Is that a problem you should b*tch about relating to your experience with this machine? She should've seen it coming. If she educated herself before going out and plunking down a couple grand, most of her problems wouldn't exist. She apparently wasn't sure what she wanted in a new machine. I've been using OS X since it hit the market (PB, 10.0, 10.1, awaiting 10.2). I don't have any of the problems this user has. And it's running on a 3yr old box! Perhaps she should sell her machine, and enjoy the "trouble-free" life she'll have with XXXP. That's right. XXXP - you discover why after you use it for awhile. You sit there and realize you're being done -- HARDCORE.


--------
MacUzer

I hear you there. I do windows 2000/xp client development. XP should stand for Xtra Painful.

[Eddies in the aether]

Originally posted by King Kong:

Seems like she hasn't figured out that you can burn CDs from the finder. This is something that could be learned with minimum effort.

She wants to erase CD-RW disks and finds she can only do do using Disk Utilty. AFAIK she is correct, it should be in the Finder.