>>>As you note, the mark of a good salesperson.....
>>Which in no way resembles what I was party to during my foray....
>Gateway just hasn't learned the lessons IBM, DEC, NeXT, et al, ....
You forgot a few (but that's OK). None of these companies ever learned
how to sell into the retail market, OTC style. Gateway does well over the
phone (maybe they don't take you for grantedwhen you can just hang up),
but that's it.
>
>[re 99 bucks for bundled NT]
>>Sorry, I'm not blown away by the price. Given the volume NT....
>That's about the going rate on auctions at www.ebay.com and the like....
What do you expect? It'e a commodity market, so all the spreads are gone.
>My experience with 95 confirmed most (but not all) of my
>negative expectations regarding it, but as I said was more pleasant than I
>had been hoping, overall....
Um... merely the rack, but not the Iron Maiden?
>as it has been so far with NT, but my experience with NT is more limited...
I've worked a fair amount with NT. It's a very stodgy, predictable interface,
and swift is not it's middle name. It can become a memory hog for no good
reason, and it's so tighlytly organized you have no alternatives when looking
for something. Too much single user mentality is still there for it to be a
really useful multi-user/threaded system. Too many modal dialogue boxen in
the apps.
I'm there 'cuz my clients need stuff done there, but I do as much as posiible
in Linux, then jump over there and make sure it all ports. Thank heaven I
don't do much with porting GUI intensive apps.
When NT becomes unstable, watch out! I've had system uptimes as low as 10
minutes. I've had suggestions from wiping my swap file (or moving it to var-
ious places), to sacrificing a virgin (assuming they're to be found). It's
sometimes easier to reinstall, though I've gone through a half-dozen recov-
eries without any problems.
>>I am also a salesperson for minimal computing, but more on principle than
>>anything else.
>Oh, I argue it just as much for the principle as the practical....
Buy the smallest computing increment you'll use until your needs change
radically. Include a margin for planning if you're advanced enough. Forget
the bleeding edge unless you REALLY need it. If you think you really need
it, you're probably wrong.
>>>... my stepsister, who bought a "loaded" Gateway
>>>box and has come to realize she could have gotten by with a lot less....
>>There are 'way too many of those.....
>..... I have so many old 486/33's, I'm practically giving them away to
>people right now....
Hey, give one to KLUG! We'll haul it around and show it in public to people
who think a box like that is useful only as a doorstop! :)
>>>(Regarding [uninformed] consumer-level computing, the iMac looks bad in the
>>>expandability area unless USB takes off in a big way.....
>>How does all this effect Linux (Question for everyone)?
>Since there's varieties of Linux that run on Macintosh hardware, it might
>be feasible and/or desirable to see if it could be done on this model....
Interesting. There are Linux prots to all the platforms you've mentioned.
>My current Burning Desire as far as hardware to run Linux on would be an
>Alpha...
So, buy an Alpha, There have been VERY positive reviews of Linux on the Alpha,
and RH Linux 4.0, running on Alphas (200+ of them), did a good job on much of
the special/optical effects for Titanic.
>Anyone know anything more about DEC's acquisition by Alpha?
Eh?
>I was surprised to learn the Alpha was still going at all after the big to-do
>with Intel some time ago.
Eh?
See ya!
---> RGB <---