Apple to Intel, platform switches, and the cult mindset

Midget-Sasquatch

Yesterday's news on Apple's transition to Intel processors, made me
nostalgic over the heyday of alternative platforms.

For all my boasting about not really ever buying into either the JWs
or the RCs as I grew up, I must confess that I was beguiled by
a different kind of cult. I understand you all because...
You see, I was once an avid Amiga computer owner.

The Boing Ball demo can still play vividly in my mind.
Its hardware was excellent for gaming as well as video editing on
NTSC/PAL. Its OS (compared to dos and win 3.1) was far more efficient,
responsive, and lent itself well to tinkering. Wintel was an inferior
and a monopolizing bully to us.

Sorry.......Must...stop...this cultish urge to proselytize.

The upgrade costs for Amiga were so outrageously priced that they even
made Mac users flinch and call us fanatics. But we could emulate the MAC
and even run their apps faster than they could on their own hardware (once)!
So who'd listen to those ridiculers with their ridicule?!

But I eventually became disillusioned and left Amiga. I've always keenly
followed the soap opera though, and try out the latest WINUAE and AROS
programs for nostalgia. I imbibed deeply on the springs of Amiga and it cost me dearly. I still enjoy the idea of its comeback.

There you have it. I may even one day admit to myself and in public, the (very few) things I DID believe from the JWs and RCs.

tetrapod.sapien

ah yes...cult of Amiga.

when i was a wit, i used to compare Micro$oft and (cr)Apple to Babylon the Harlot, and BSD/Linux to "the truth". now that i'm out, Linux is "Free Thinking", and M$ is the bOrg, of course. one thing that has stayed the same is devotion to Linux and BSD.

what do you mean by RC, oh great Amiga master? (are you talking RISC vs. CISC?)

jula71

Isn't going with Intel kinda like "new light"?

tetrapod.sapien

no, it's like being born again...

No Apologies

AMIGA rocks!!!!!!

I was a die-hard Amiga fanatic for years, back when Mac's were still monochrome-only and PC's were stuck in DOS with its single-tasking, 640k-limited EGA graphics, The Amiga's were cranking out stereo sound, with awesome graphics and a lean mean pre-emptive multitasking OS that worked from the GUI or the command line. Of course the company behind the Amiga were truly and completely clueless, had no idea what to do with a machine that was clearly ahead of its time.

I still have my 1200, sitting in the closet, unused for years but never forgotten.

No Apologies

Midget-Sasquatch

Tetrapod - that RC acronym was ambiguous...I was thinking Roman Catholics .

I liked FreeBSD, and Ret Hat 6, but I couldn't get a tv tuner card, or my blasted internal modem, to work with either of them properly.

No Apologies - The A1200 eh? I'm envious. You got to play all those cooler AGA games. I also drooled after the CD32 (way ahead of its time too), but ended up replacing my A500 with a stock used A3000.

Thanks guys for letting me know there's a few former Amigans here too!

Elsewhere

Does this mean Apple is giving up their RISC chip set???

seattleniceguy

Okay, I have to stick up for Microsoft. Having worked there for a few years, I can tell you that they really try hard to fulfill their impossible task of pleasing everyone all the time, and, when all is said and done, they do a pretty good job.

The individual contributors and managers that I know at Microsoft are seriously dedicated to writing solid software. I certainly admit that their marketing tactics have left something to be desired in the past, but on the whole, I think they're a damn decent company.

* let the flaming ensue *

SNG

the_classicist

I also think that MS is a decent company (esp. with the Students and Teachers MS Office), but I have some 'demands':

1) Make Windows so that one does not have to wipe the hard drive every once and a while to make it run more efficiently.

2) Window ME was such a failure. Don't come out with new versions of Window every few years, just to make money. You did a good job on XP, but I don't want to have to buy Windows "Longhorn" considering not much is different. When there is something SIGNIFICANTLY different, get back to me.

3) Make a simple media player. I don't like WMP; I'd rather use iTunes.

googlemagoogle

Microsoft are seriously dedicated to writing solid software.

you APOSTATE!

or was it: you r&f dubbie dub!

Apple to Intel, platform switches, and the cult mindset

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