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>Date: Mon, 11 Mar 2002 10:01:34 -0500
>From: ravi <gadfly at exitleft.org>
>Subject: Re: Beige universe
>of course i was never an apple user, so i do not even
>understand user interface is celebrated as more user friendly. even if
>there are differences (that perhaps you have to install a
>driver for the
>CD burner on the PC; even that is not needed these days), young people
>are quick at figuring these things out.
But why should they need to?
>and in the interest of an open society and communal effort, and all
>those good principles ;-), isnt it better to go with the less closed
>OS/hardware i.e., intel + windows?
Hello? This is the code that the Feds and states have had to go to court to get access to?
Apple's OS X is an open source flavour of Unix, as I understand it.
>of course all this might be moot. whatever hardware you buy, your son
>will probably have linux loaded on it in a year or two ;-).
Why assume that he's a fellow geek?
By the way, Joanna, when your son says "there aren't any applications", does this by any chance mean "there aren't as many games"? If so, my first inclination would be to say "buy your own time-wasting stuff" (tho' my second would be to reflect on the unwisdom of forcing my own predilections on the young).
You might try pointing out the scarcity of Mac OS viruses (at least up to OS 9.x), though.
Julian