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Re: Re: Re: Orientation of characters in FrameLabel

• To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
• Subject: [mg22085] Re: [mg22076] Re: [mg22040] Re: Orientation of characters in FrameLabel
• From: Bojan Bistrovic <bojanb at physics.odu.edu>
• Date: Sun, 13 Feb 2000 01:14:02 -0500 (EST)
• Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com

> on 00.2.11 4:38 PM, Jens-Peer Kuska at kuska at informatik.uni-leipzig.de
> wrote:
> 
> > You may switch to a modern computer with a less primitive operating
> > system
> > (i. e. not a Mac)
> 
> This just shows ignorance or prejudice, particularly in view that most
> professional DTP work is still done on Macs. There is a lot more to an
> operating system than the ability to rotate text. Besides, what is primitive
> depends on ones perspective. I use the Mac all the time and Linux fairly
> often and "primitive" is just the word that  comes to my mind whenever I do
> the latter.
> 
> 
> Andrzej Kozlowski
> Toyama International University
> Toyama, Japan
> http://sigma.tuins.ac.jp/
> 
With all due respect to Mac users, I have to agree with Jens-Peer here.
You might not like your favorite pet (i.e. MacOS) being called primitive, but
try leaving a VERY long computation (over a month for example) on a Mac; the
odds are it will crash the very first day, if not the very first hour.
Windows will probably crash on the second or the third day. Any Unix
(including Linux) will not only do it, but will do it's daily amount of work
as well. I DO know professionals in DTP; they use Mac's for digital image
processing. What do they do after EVERY PICTURE? They reboot their Mac's
because if they don't, the odds are it will crash in the middle of next
picture. This is a real-life example. People don't like Unix/Linux because
"you have to use the keyboard to get anything done" (this is again a real
citation). Well, first of all, that's not really true, and second, not
everybody is allergic to keyboards. Some people like them. "Primitiveness" of
an operating system isn't related to the fact how often do you have to use the
keyboard, but to the stability, reliability, speed, etc. Apple/Microsoft duet
has managed to convince the world that a computer is a tool EVERY idiot should
be able to use. While I agree that reading your email or browsing the web
shouldn't require a PhD in computer science, I just don't see how can ANY 
user of very technical product like Mathematica be delighted by the power of
Mathematica and at the same time dislike an operating system because some
thing can't be done with a click of a mouse. Let me make an analogy: would 
you prefer to drive a nice looking car that broke down EVERY SINGLE DAY or 
a less pretty one that drives forever without breaking down? If you're a Mac
user, I bet you never changed the oil or a flat tire on your car yourself, did
you? Not changing the oil or ever doing any work on your car yourself doesn't 
make you a bad person; it just makes you unqualified to discuss properties of
an engine or the transmission. Well, the same hold for OS; if you buy a
particular computer because it comes in nice colors, it doesn't' mean you're a
bad person; it just makes you unqualified to judge the "primitiveness" of 
other operating systems.

Bye, Bojan

PS:if you're into DTP, I'd say that rotating text is pretty IMPORTANT for you,
don't you agree?

--
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Bojan Bistrovic,                               bojanb at physics.odu.edu
Old Dominion University, Norfolk VA & Jefferson Lab, Newport News, VA
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  • Re: Re: Re: Re: Orientation of characters in FrameLabel
    • From: Wagner Truppel <wtruppel@uci.edu>