Xref: utzoo comp.sys.mac.misc:11946 comp.windows.ms:12583 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!uwm.edu!cs.utexas.edu!ted From: ted@cs.utexas.edu (Ted Woodward) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc,comp.windows.ms Subject: Re: Mac Vs. Windows? (sorry) Message-ID: <327@victoria.cs.utexas.edu> Date: 11 May 91 20:20:48 GMT References: <1991May10.135518.5538@world.std.com> <1991May10.183738.15661@zardoz.eng.ohio-state.edu> <1991May10.203309.22163@leland.Stanford.EDU> Followup-To: comp.sys.mac.misc Distribution: usa Organization: U Texas Dept of Computer Sciences, Austin TX Lines: 60 In article <1991May10.203309.22163@leland.Stanford.EDU> aaron@jessica.stanford.edu (Aaron Wallace) writes: >In article <1991May10.183738.15661@zardoz.eng.ohio-state.edu> gaynor@agvax2.ag.ohio-state.edu writes: >>I agree that Windows doesn't quite fit. After having used it on a >>day-to-day basis for the past 6 months, I'm convinced that it's a >>shell, not an OS. Now, granted, it's one hell of a shell, adding >>numerous new capabilities to the operating system, especially in the >>area of graphics. But it is still layered on top of DOS, and all its >>limitations. (memory, device handling, file names, ad nauseum) >The only thing DOS is used for (and thus imposes limits on) is the file system. >Windows takes over memory management and device handling. Okay, this is >a bit of a simplification, but the exceptions are few... Then please explain why I can't use the CASE tool I need to (a piece of junk called excelerator) AND then network software I need to print with at the same time on the 286 clone I have to use at work, even WITH windows. On a 4 meg machine. I'll tell you why; 640K limit. Yes, even windows still must deal with this. And it sure is damn slow switching from a dos application to the program manager...The only thing I could do is put excelerator in one dos shell, and the network in another. But if I try to quit the network shell, windows dies because the network goofs up some memory stuff that windows needs in dos, but doesn't bother to save before starting the shell, and restore after exiting it. And why does windows drop me into it's directory when I invoke a dos shell instead of the directory I started window in? Sheesh, like I'm going to run dos applications from the windows directory... >>Adding an application still requires an often-lengthy "install" >>process (although more Mac applications need to be "installed" these >>days), and files such as CONFIG.SYS, AUTOEXEC.BAT, WINDOWS.INI, and >>the like often need to be modifies and tweaked by hand. Then you >>still have to install the icon in a Windows group. >Funny. Most programs I install do it automatically. Really? Hmm...perhaps I installed the disk cache I use incorrectly. Or the video driver, or the other stuff I use...but then the manuals told me to modify the autoexec.bat or config.sys; not an installer. And hell, when I let the windows installer modify the path setting, it created a path that was too long for dos to handle. And didn't even check...I had to go in and manually fix it; I'd have been is some serious shit if I had been a novice. >As for ease of use installing peripherals, is it easier to get a favorite non-Apple printer> working on a Mac or with Windows, in general? Easier on the mac. Lets see...do I have the printer attached to com 1, lpt 1, etc. Hmm...I'm not sure; I didn't install the printer... As opposed to putting the printer driver in the system folder and selecting it from the chooser. Hell, the top 3 megs on that 286 (out of 4) were sitting by USELESS until I added a 3 meg disk cache. Now, at least, I'm getting a little performance out of it (ond before anybody flames the size of my disk cache, you try searching an 8 meg database without it...) -- Ted Woodward (ted@cs.utexas.edu) "Mad scientists HATE shopping for shoes!" -- Peaches