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Sunday, May 18, 2003

Random thought:

Which is the "right" computer: Mac or PC?

My younger daughter, Kaydee, will be enrolled at the Columbus College of Art and Design next fall. Commercial artists do much of their work with computers. I have a Mac ("the artists' choice") but Kaydee has never liked working with the Macs. She's encountered over the years. CCAD offers a comparison of the two systems – one that I found surprisingly objective and neutral.

If you're in the market for a computer, I recommend that you take a look at what CCAD has to say – even if you're not a commercial artist. Take a look at http://student.ccad.edu/s_tech_41.htm to see what CCAD has to say. As an example, I quote 3 paragraphs:

Most software is available for both Macintosh and Windows systems, so the type of computer you should buy depends upon several factors, including the type of work you want to do or field of study you are pursuing. You should also consider the type of computers used by others you will want to exchange data with or turn to for support.

In general, Graphic Design and Illustration students are better off with Macintosh systems because the Mac remains the platform of choice in those industries. Windows systems are making inroads, but the Macintosh is still the dominant platform for most printers, publishers, design firms, and others in the graphic arts field. Many people who do not wish to become computer geeks find Macs easier to learn and use effectively, and have fewer difficulties fixing problems when they occur than they might with a Windows computer.

If you are interested in game design, high-end 3D modeling, or animation, some software applications used by professionals in those industries that run on Windows 2000 workstations.

This kind of advice is an example of what new computer buyers need. Unfortunately, most of what they get from advertisements and users alike is little more than a pep talk for why the advertiser's product is the right one for everybody or why the speaker's choice is right for everybody.

Computer shoppers have several major choices, as the CCAD site points out:

• Mac or PC
• Desktop or notebook
• New or used

To these choices, I would add operating systems.

Windows users, if they're buying a new computer, will generally be able to choose between Windows XP Home and Windows XP Professional (choose XP Pro). They may be offered the choice of Windows 2000 Workstation or Windows XP Home (choose 2000). A few machines are still being sold with Windows 98SE (acceptable for some applications) or Windows Me (avoid it).

Mac users, if they're buying a new computer, will get OS X and may have the option of dual-booting to OS 9 (Apple has been indecisive on when they will stop shipping OS 9). Most of the major Mac applications, save Quark Xpress, are now available as native OS X applications and Quark Xpress 6 will be shipping soon.

That's not all, though. If you don't need specific Windows or Mac applications, you might be able to use Linux – the geeks' operating system. I'm not ready to give up the applications that run on my Windows desktop or on my iBook, but I have to admit that there are a lot of applications available today for Linux. The operating system is available as a free download (useful only for geeks who can RTFM, compile the code, and build the operating system) or for $30 to $100 in a package with support.

More people will, I think, be exposed to Linux over the next few years. I've kicked around the idea of converting an older machine to a Linux file and print server to work with my Windows computers (and the iBook).

If you're in the market for a new PC, make sure you consider all of the options.

Some people refuse to even consider a notebook computer because they're expensive (true), fragile (true, but not as bad as in the past), and not expandable (with the advent of Firewire and USB 2.0, no longer true) but several people I know – particularly those who own businesses or who are managers – have invested in a powerful notebook computer and they use it both at home and at work. They'll generally have a docking station or port replicator in one location or the other (or both) that allows them to use a standard keyboard, standard monitor, and standard mouse with the notebook computer.

The prime advantage to this arrangement is that the user's essential files are on the computer no matter where you are. There's no longer a need to carry work files forth and back* on a daily basis. (*My physics instructor was adamant that things could not go "back" before they had gone "forth"; somehow this stuck with me.) And if the user travels, the files are present and accounted for in hotel rooms, airports, and airplanes.

WARNING! If you have just a single notebook computer and use it like this, be certain that your files are being backed up. Those who carry important files home and back to the office on a regular basis have a kind of ad hoc off-site backup built in. If all of your essential files are on one disk drive on a computer you carry around, backup is absolutely critical.

Are you thinking about replacing a computer this year? A lot of people are. Many computers bought in late 1999 are nearing the end of their useful life and are due to be replaced.

Quick thought

Moore's law says that computing power will double about every 18 to 24 months. It's held true for a long time and every time we think it will fail, somebody comes up with a new technology that allows it to continue.

I started thinking about this when I bought a new computer. It runs at 2.54GHz. The current "fastest" computers run at more than 3GHz and the industry is closing in on 5GHz. That's 5000MHz, which would be more than 1000 times faster than the original IBM PCs. They ran at 4.77MHz.

That doesn't tell the entire story, though. The original PC processors were 16-bit processors with some 8-bit components. Today's processors are 32-bit devices and that essentially doubles the throughput even at the same clock speed. By the time manufacturers hit 5GHz, processors may be 64-bit devices. The actual throughput increase would be 4000 times what we had in the days of the original IBM PC.

Wow.

Looking for a Mac?

Macs used to be thought of as expensive, but that's no longer the case

Starting at just $799, the new eMac provides exceptional value, plenty of horsepower—800MHz or 1GHz PowerPC G4 processors—and many other great features:

• Three optical drive options, including a new 4x-speed SuperDrive that lets you burn CDs and DVDs.
• AirPort Extreme-ready, eMac lets you set up a fast wireless network.
• A high-performance ATI Radeon 7500 graphics processor drives a 17-inch flat CRT display (16-inch viewable).
• With the included iLife software suite (iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, and iDVD), you can manage music, organize digital photos, create movies, and burn DVDs
• OS X v10.2 “Jaguar,” iCal, iChat, iSync, AppleWorks, Quicken 2003 Deluxe, Sound Studio, Deimos Rising

If you're a Mac user and this doesn't interest you, check your pulse. You may be dead.

Backup so easy that you might actually DO it

Everybody knows how important it is to back up the data on a computer. Even so, just about everybody fails to keep a current backup. "I'll do it tomorrow" stretches out to "I'll do it next week" and then to "I'll do it next month" and finally to "What do you mean our most current backup is THREE YEARS OLD!?"

There's always something more important, more pressing, or more fun to do than backup. But if you don't keep a current backup copy of your data, you will lose it. No question about it.

And you can't use the excuse that all the options are too slow or too expensive. You may not want or need a $5000 tape drive that can handle a dozen or more tapes. You might not even want a $300 external Firewire or USB disk drive. But nearly every computer made today has a CD burner on it. And new models have DVD burners. Both of these are good ways to back up your computer's data.

The trouble is that each of these requires effort. Maybe not much, but any effort is an impediment to backup. If you have an external hard drive, you probably store it miles away from the computer. (If not, you should.) Keep the device that's used to backup your office computer at home; keep the home device at the office. Even if the backup process itself takes just 30 minutes, you still have to remember to bring the backup device with you and to take it away when you're done.

CDs or DVDs? You must remember to buy new ones and to safely store the used ones off site.

Maybe we're too lazy

Lazy or not, backup doesn't happen as reliably as it must. And that's why a new service called @Backup is exactly what a lot of people have been looking for. This is a service that runs on your computer and, without any effort from you, backs up changed files across the Internet to @Backup's two locations.

If that makes you nervous, it shouldn't. Files are encrypted when they're backed up and only you have the password. Access to the computers @Backup uses is restricted.

You can restore files anytime, so you'll never lose data to a crash, a virus infection, or a user who accidentally deletes the wrong file or directory. But there's one more plus: Storing data files on-line gives you access to them from any computer that's on the Internet.

When you subscribe to the @Backup service, you're allocated space on their servers. For up to 50MB of stored data, you'll pay $50 per year. You might consider it a bit pricey for storing large database files ($1000 for 2GB of data) but if you have a data file that large, you know that you would not be able to replace all of the information in the file for $100,000, so the annual fee begins to look like a bargain.

@Backup provides redundant data storage with 2 locations that are 3000 miles apart. This is much more secure than storing the data backup 20 miles away at your home. While it's true that a fire is unlikely to destroy both the home and the office, an earthquake or tornado might. When the data files are 3000 miles away, it's unlikely that a single disaster would destroy both of those locations and your office at the same time.

For more information on the service (and a free 30-day trial), see www.backup.com.

Nerdly News

Dell profits are up

Reuters reports that Dell reported higher quarterly profits for its first quarter this week. The company's low prices stole some market share from Hewlett-Packard. Dell says it expects additional growth in the second quarter.

Dell said revenue rose to $9.53 billion from $8.07 billion in the first quarter of fiscal 2003. The company expects shipments of its computers to rise by 25% in the second quarter compared with a year earlier.

C'mon and buy something

Intel is a bit concerned about sales. "We continue to be optimistic about the future. We continue to be cautious about tomorrow." That's what Intel chief executive Craig Barrett said this week in a meeting with reporters.

"The thing we are really waiting for is an enterprise commitment to upgrade," Barrett said. Intel hopes corporate computer buyers will be forced to upgrade aging office computers, many of which were last replaced four years ago. Barrett says Intel's business will be driven by demand for high-performance computers and short-range wireless laptops.

PS: Moore's law was stated by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore nearly 40 years ago.

$1000 phone bill for calls you didn't know you made?

Ohio has joined Wisconsin and 11 other states in suing a company that the states' attorneys general say fraudulently billed people who tried to close pop-up windows for pornographic Web sites. The Federal Trade Commission has also filed suit.

The suits claim that a New Jersey company, Alyon Technologies, violated advertising and telecommunications laws. The company is accused of making the user's computer dial a special phone number when they tried to close the pop-up pornographic window. People then received phone bills ranging from under $20 to over $1000.

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