[ale] mac v pc

[Robert E Karaffa]

Our labs at Emory U. are Mac-based, because the manufacturer of our lab
equipment chose Macs as their control platform.  Originally, HP
workstations (9000 series 340 something-or-other HPUX boxes,
single-tasking and of industrial-strength!) were the computers that
controlled the equipment, but HP pulled the plug on those boxes...anyway,
when I came on the scene in 1993 I was a Wintel man and was snobbish
towards Macs...admittedly because I had never used one and, well, since I
didn't understand them, they were stoopid.  I was ignorant and proud of
it!  But since I had a job to do and it meant alot to my career path, I
had no choice but to learn how to work with Macs.  Now, I can see why
there is such a following.  I chose to learn Mac, but along the way I saw
that there is much more a Wintel box can do than I had initially
thought...once I began to learn Linux.  We used a Win95 box as our ftp
server from 1994-ish until this year, when my confidence in Linux allowed
me to configure two Linux boxes from old (reallly olllld) PCs to serve our
ftp, AppleShareIP and web duties.  Sure, Win2000 can do that, and so could
Win9x, but Linux ups the ante to the point where those servers are
virtually 24/7 without human input.  We couldn't do that before.  Macs
during those years could serve the same duties as the Linux boxes but we
didn't have excess Mac inventory to do it.  And, yes, they were too
expensive to justify to the bean-counters.
	Macs are still too expensive in my opinion, but again that is
dependent upon your perspective.  My employer bought me a Ti Book.  I
couldn't have afforded one on my own.  $3500 worth of laptop and I've
already dropped it once from about nipple-high.  Damn.  It still works
wonderfully on OS9.2.2.  Haven't tried OSX yet as the lag in software
keeps me stuck in Classic mode.  From what I've seen so far, Linux won't
be replacing Wintel/Mac desktops for quite a while, but then again Linux
is far superior in terms of server capabilities.  Can't beat the price,
neither.
	I've got a 25MHz Mac running my Home Automation system in my
house.  1993 model Quadra 605.  Somebody gave it to me.  But right next to
that Mac sits an old Packard Bell box with all SCSI hardware that acts as
my DSL gateway/NAT/DHCP/etc.  Tried to do it with Win98SE.  Might as well
have peed into the wind.
	Emory is heavily populated with Macs in bio research.  Few are
using OSX.  Fewer are using Linux.  Ask the IT folks about Linux.  Most
turn up their noses at it.  That's too bad.  As some on this list have
said, many companies would rather pay big $$ for Cisco/Microsoft (does
monsieur Gates own Cisco yet?).  I have read about a few companies
switching to Linux for their IT needs.  That thinking will continue to
proliferate as budgets get slashed and clearer heads start doing the
numbers-crunching.  Should've seen my administrators eyes light up when we
"confessed" our sins of using old PCs ($100) and Linux (free) instead of
asking for $13000 for a server...

-Bob K.



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