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[greenkoolayd]

next time your pipes are giving you drama, have a sign like this handy...

[theinevitable]

majorly covet a macbook. next time I have 1000$ lying around I'll have to pick one up.

but seriously folks, have you had success at reinstalling windows on your aging computers? I am having, on the one hand, aggravating hardware issues (I've gone through multiple batteries, my sound card is fried). But it seems like other of my issues (slow boot, disorganized files, tons of programs open on boot and when I try to tell them not to open it tells me I need to be the administrator...) might be fixed by a re-install. is this worth the hassle?

[pmcd9]

but seriously folks, have you had success at reinstalling windows on your aging computers?

Yes.

is this worth the hassle?

Yes.

[theinevitable]

thanks paul. if all it does is stop all these stupid programs from opening every time I boot, a lot of my frustration will be eliminated.

[littlefallsmets]

It is definitely a much better idea than buying a Mac and having to fight through its so-easy-it-is-actually-counterintuitive functionality.

From Commodore 64s to laptops, I have learned a certain way computers are supposed to be. I am set in my ways now.

Spinny wheels and one-button mice and most of your software coming from one company with no customization and no ability to troubleshoot and fix most of the minor stuff yourself because you had to wade through all the shit as you were setting it up and so you kinda know it... these things bother me.

[theinevitable]

man, the second I can afford a Mac, I am getting one. There is nothing I need a computer to do that a Mac doesn't do better than my current computer.

I don't fix/build my own car, I have a car that was made at a car factory. When I take the car to the shop, everything in that damn car is from the factory, and the people at the shop know how to fix it. I do not need to fool myself that I can get under the hood and fix my car, because I don't know how to fix a car. It does not matter to me whether the engine is sealed in a weird protective casing or what, because even if it weren't I would not know what to do with a car engine.

I do not think it's condescending for the controls on a damn computer to be set up so that I can use them. My computer is incapable of doing basic tasks in a way that is not transparent to me as is... if a mac is not transparent, that is nothing new to me compared to this piece of shit dell that can't play a DVD without crashing.

this computer is turning me into one of those people who ascribes a personality to his computer. Because as far as I can tell, sometimes it just decides it can't/won't do certain things.

[littlefallsmets]

Yeah but the analogy breaks down there.

With Mac, there's like... three cars you can get and if there's anything major wrong, you can't take it to any old corner mechanic, you gotta go back to the one company's dealership and get it done on their dime and their time.

And while, yeah, I got no idea how to fix the engine on my car, there's a freedom in knowing that I can change the oil or a tire, top off the fluids and so on. I could probably do a lot more myself if I had just a little bit of ambition about it, maybe also called a friend who knew some more stuff than I did for pointers. Not being at the behest of the dealership for every damn little thing.

Plus my girlfriend has had an iPod for goddamned years and I STILL don't understand how the fuck you're supposed to select music using a fuck*ng wheel and dropdown menus.

Put in a little fuck*ng keyboard. Or some numbers and tap 2 once for A, twice for B, three times for C, like texting off a cellphone or something. Something!

I hate you, iPod, and your goddamned wheel-based navigation.

[theinevitable]

oh, ok. you just turn the wheel, and press the little button.

now you know how to use an iPod.

[jay-ell]

Yeah, I don't like the wheel either. I find it hard to use.

That's why they have touch screens now, of course.

[CortJstr]

oh, ok. you just turn the wheel, and press the little button.

now you know how to use an iPod.

They have buttons now?

[AugustWest]

I'm competent enough to work a PC.

[pmcd9]

I'm torn on the mac pc issue.  Apparently Mac makes a good product, but they are expensive as hell and the level of fanboy adoration is pretty distasteful to me.

Smets, you were doing so good, but you lost mega points for the I don't know how to operate an ipod rap.  It's seems impossible to me to not know how to operate an ipod.  My 72 year old mother knows how to operate an ipod.

[smick]

I've been pretty happy to work on Unix, Windows, and Macs alike.

I used to do tech support for Adobe and then later Microsoft on Unix, Windows and Mac (Adobe) and Mac (Microsoft).   So it's not a matter of competency.   

I used to have 5 computers constantly going in my basement, running web servers and irc servers, and a couple personal machines.   Slowly I've gotten rid of all of that and finally replaced my home desktop with a Macbook Pro as of a week ago.   First time I've used a mac in a decade.

I appreciate that I can open a terminal and use some of the geeky but hidden unix commands, but largely the enjoyment has just come from everything just feeling really well thought out.  With there was tons of functionality but it's bolted on all higgledy-piggledy.   It all works, but it isn't... engineered.   This just feels refined.   

It actually feels pretty nice to use.   I get on, get some shit done, and then get away from the computer and go tear things up out in the world.   I've gotten to where I am in my life because of computers, but man, I'd really rather not spend a whole lot of time thinking about them any more.

[littlefallsmets]

I... understand the concept of a wheel thing, yes.

But it is a counter-intuitive way to operate a thing that is not a conveyance.

Make it either like a keyboard or like a CD player control. For God's sake.

[KeithHernandez]

Make it... like a CD player control. For God's sake.

You understand that has been the case, for what, 8 years?  I don't know exactly but it has to be since like the 2nd generation I would think.  The circle is throwing you off maybe?  See all of the buttons are still there, on the circle(!), in pretty much the exact same way they are on portable cd players, at least the old good sony ones.  I guess the volume is on the wheel, but that ain't really too hard.  Roll one way volume up, the other volume down.