Follow the bouncing ball... (Score 1)

Follow the bouncing ball...

Windows PC and therefore nothing was really all that smooth

When we had RoadRunner hook up our cable internet here in the appartment, it was as simple as hooking up an Ethernet cable to the NIC on the computer. Later we purchased a wireless router so we could keep miho-san in the bedroom. Didn't need any more software, didn't even need to configure PPPoE like I did in PA. It was assigned an IP and off we went. What OS was I running? Oh, right, Windows XP. Hell, Knoppix and OS 10.1 worked fine too. This is how you say, ah yes, a non-argument.

Then, something happened.

Something sinister, something involving tentacles and Japanese animation...

Something swarmed her...

See?

computer the instant

Oh.

McAfee AntiVirus protection for $39.95?

It sounds as if this fellow's so horribly inept that it'd be a grand starting place, sure.

Are you using a PC? You probably have spyware

Hrm...

Why the hell do people put up with this?

The same way anyone deals with anything. Those that're too stupid to learn how to effectively deal with a problem either cope and are unhappy or pay someone more intelligent than themselves (in that area, at least) to fix it for them. Of course, the truly cunning read, comprehend and understand a problem based upon the scientific method (remember that lovely practice that they taught you in elementary school? No? That somehow doesn't surprise me...) and break it down into its baser parts, develop a hypothesis and perform experimentation. Do it once, figure out how everything works together, never worry about it again.

Why is there not a huge contingent of furious users

See my above statement.

stomping up to Seattle with torches and scythes

Microsoft is in Redmond (as is Nintendo of America, believe it or not). A suburb makes not a city-center, despite what the yuppies there might want to believe.

consumers would scream bloody murder and demand their money back and there would be some sort of investigation, class-action litigation, a demand for Bill Gates' cute little geeky head on a platter.

Yeah, it probably has something to do with the fact that you realize, on some level or another, that Billy G has made you his bitch, Minnie Can't-Driver. Good for him. There's a lot of negative things I could say about William H. Gates III, but his ability to get money from idiots is unparalleled. Bravo, friend.

Yay yay new car.

Nothing technical here, but who in the hell writes like this and considers themselves a professional?

that's they way they all run.

Odd, as you've already seen, my system (my Windows XP system) doesn't have spyware. Nor does hinkypunk, my girlfriend's laptop. Nor does the G3 I own that runs OS X. Nor does the Linux partition on my main computer. Sorry there, sport, but generalizations like 'all' are far from the truth. Don't want spyware/adware/Trojans? Learn to use XP correctly. Use a different OS. Or use a different computer altogether. Hell, those Mini Macs look pretty keen, and they're (relatively) cheap, no? "But I can't use Kazaa or SuperCrapoTimeSetter or PornWatcher5000!" you say. Tough. The only P2P application is BitTorrent, and it has clients for practically every OS out there. Those other apps? Fuck 'em. In a lot of cases there are alternatives that work just as well or better or, in some cases, have versions made by the same company. Photoshop, Office, these are the kind of applications people really need/can't live without, and they're easily available in some other form elsewhere.

Would you not be, like, that is the goddamn last time I buy a Ford?

• 'Like?' What are you, 13?
• Save for some stuff towards the end, it's one of the few things I agree with him about. Fords blow. If I get another car it'll be either German or Japanese in manufacture.

serious flaw in the Windows OS.

Which could easily be worked around by applying patches (which it would do automatically if it weren't for idiots turning that option off), using a firewall (which WinXP comes with), or just being smart about your computer usage. "Wow, nekkid pics of Estelle Getty? What's that? You need to be executed? Sure..."

Gates & Co. isn't announcing yet another Microsoft Security Bulletin

Because it'd be great if they just left things unpatched, wouldn't it? There's a saying in computer security settings, it's called 'security through obscurity.' You can guess what it means in context, but the concensus is that it never works out.

swipe your credit card info

That would be bad...

and wipe out all your porn

Uh...

and read your secret emails to the babysitter

Huh. Man, if I were this 'hacker' that he mentions I think I'd look up his wife's name in his address book first, since I'm sure she'd love to know about his porn-browsing, unfaithful lifestyle. Seriously man, you've got bigger issues than hackers.

every Mac owner everywhere on

What's that? Does he get it?

brilliant, world-altering iPod

Oh, so close, yet so far. -400 points for being an iPod-toting prick. It's an mp3 player there, sweetcakes, mp3s don't alter the world.

For the most part and for all intents and purposes, Macs are immune. Period.

Yet if an idiot is an administrator, it can have the same exact problems! What's the lesson here? As with all things: education!

massive rush of consumers and IT managers to dump PCs in favor of Macs (or even Linux OS).

'Baa! Baa!' Guess who that's supposed to represent.

incredibly affordable Mac Mini converts a hundred million people to Mac in the next year

It won't. It'd be nice, but no. Hopefully once I have money to spend I'll be able to get one, and that's all I'm concerned about.

arious experts that it would require nothing short of a complete (and very expensive) Windows system debugging and OS reinstall

Like the repair they wanted to do to Chelsea's notebook? You know, the expensive repair that consisted of:

1. Copying data off of the hard drive. -- 30 minutes
2. Inserting the Windows 2000 reinstall CD. -- 5 minutes (I stopped to pet Tima)
3. Perform reinstall -- who cares, I don't need to be there
4. Copy data back -- see above, it does this automatically
5. Extra Credit: Ghost machine, so if anything does happen to it, can easily be restored to its current status within about 10 minutes.

Microsoft Word

I yearn for the day when I can use Pages. Custom kerning effects. Advanced typography. Inter-platform document compatibility. :bliss: