Regarding Altivec Optimization- Mac gurus respond

[Alex Reynolds]

If you go to a Wintel machine, prepare to trade usability and stability for power.

BTW, I own and manage both Windows 9x/2000/XP and OS 9/X machines. Windows simply is not reliable.

-Alex

[muser]

there are two things that I don't understand.

1. why would you say that osx is the best os right now, when xp has more available and is more capable, also most mac users prefer os9, cause it works better than osx, and i'm not talking about shortage of apps, i'm taliking about os9 performs better.


2. apple is trying to monopolize the audio market right now. I always here mac users saying that microsoft is an evil entity for trying to do such,
and universaly people seem to understand that doing such a thing is bad for us, the end user, and bad for development, and bad for innovation, over all a bad policy stemming from the very nature of restricting ones self to one train of thought, stifling creativity.

yet when apple does it, its a wonderful thing, I don't get it. I think the very notion of a singular format/platform is stupid, counter productive, and choice limiting.

I'm not sure who you're addresing.

[Guest]

that's because who is not the issue, what is the issue. I'm not intrested in a
fight, let the christians and the muslims do that. I'm intrested in statements like the one before yours. "windows is simply not reliable"
whats worse is that I know from reading other post of his that he knows better. there are countless accounts of many people having stable and a wonderful music relationship with the windows os, the common denominator always seems to be that they know how to configure their system, and they know how to purchase quality parts for their system. if what he is saying was true, not only would there not be more music apps for windows, but the crossplatform apps would not be released first for windows, as a matter of fact no one would use windows for music at all.
we should leave our biases at the keyboard before we log on.

[Alex Reynolds]

http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2403

Thanks,
Alex

[Guest]

the common denominator always seems to be that they know how to configure their system, and they know how to purchase quality parts for their system.

This is exactly why most musicians I know have gone with Macs over the years. They've already spent lifetimes learning their instruments, and that's what they're interested in. I would never say Macs are foolproof, but over the years they have been a lot easier to set up and run for a non-geek. The difference may be lower now due to XP, but a lot of people have already made their choice. Use what you're comfortable with.

By the way, most people I know who are still in 9 are because they have to be, not because they want to be. I don't think it's at all a given that 9 is better. Faster at redrawing windows, maybe. But the underlying technologies of X are so much better -- there's a lot to grow on there. Whereas 9 is a patch on a patch on an upgrade on a patch...

[who, me?]

there are two things that I don't understand.

1. why would you say that osx is the best os right now, when xp has more available and is more capable, also most mac users prefer os9, cause it works better than osx, and i'm not talking about shortage of apps, i'm taliking about os9 performs better.

Actually, being that osx is unix based it is much more stale than os9. You may be confusing what users say when they say Live runs better in os9 because there is more memory and cpu demands for osx. And what do you mean xp is more capable? More capable how? I (unfortunately) work in the PC software industry as a Quality Assurance Manager for a PC utility company, all I see all day long is the continuing instability of all forms of Windows (which is why there are so many PC utility programs out there). and I'm so sick of this whole argument that PC users have about there being so many more apps for PCs, yeah thousands more that the average PC user never uses! Most computer users (with the exception of course of us Music people) use there computers for Word, maybe Spreadsheets, email and surfing the web and that's about it! All of which you can do on either platform. But when it comes to specific things like editing video or making music, sure the PC has hundreds more apps for doing that, but the best apps always seemed to be on the Mac. For years Protools (the standard in audio) was only on Macs and it seems it's going that way again with this new version 6.0 and Avid was only on Macs (the Film editing tool used by every major Hollywood studio). The free little iApps like iMovie or iDvd tend to be better than ANY of the hundreds you can buy for the PC. ANd now, with osx and the x11 implementation, the whole world of Unix apps (with their 30 years plus history) is now available on the Mac platform!

I really didn't mean to go off, I'm not trying to be one of those 'Mac rules' people. I've always used both platforms for years, but now that I actually HAVE to work with PC's all day and see just how much trouble they are compared to osx, I just have to vent about it. They people here at my work thing it's very normal to have to reinstall their xp os every couple of months. HOW IS THIS NORMAL! You should never have to reinstall an os. That's the basis for your whole system...and to date, I haven't had one crash on my osx powerbook in over a year and a half.

2. apple is trying to monopolize the audio market right now. I always here mac users saying that microsoft is an evil entity for trying to do such...

Funny thing is, when I used to use os9 the only time it would crash (which was quite often) was when I used Microsoft's Internet Explorer or Outlook Express!

[who, me?]

Actually, being that osx is unix based it is much more stale than os9.

I meant stable. (i suck at spelling)

[Stubby]

hate to barge in on ya who'me, but you just proved the whole pc debate point, you work in pc's all day now and fix problems, your mac hasn't crashed in a year. there are alot of pc users who machines haven't crashed in a year, but you won't find them in the "i Don't know what i'm doing catagory" if you worked in the mac control dept all day long you'd be fixing macs that are f*cking up not because they are macs but because the people using them aren't all like you. "someone who knows what they are doing"
how do you expect those kind of people in the mac commercials who actualy say on television that they "can't print out their childrens school papers on a pc, so they swithced to a mac and everything is fine" to be able to configure a pc correctly. it'll never happen. they don't know what they are doing. and that is the crux of this whole mac/pc thing, if you know what you are doing then your mac or pc will run fine if you do not then you will be looking to switch to a magic computer that all you have to do is say "make me some coffee" to. So the best combo is raw power, and the know how to use it.

[macaddled]

You know, it's not a virtue that PCs are harder to set up and add devices to. It's poor design. Who wants to deal with that?

[who, me?]

hate to barge in on ya who'me, but you just proved the whole pc debate point, you work in pc's all day now and fix problems, your mac hasn't crashed in a year. there are alot of pc users who machines haven't crashed in a year, but you won't find them in the "i Don't know what i'm doing catagory"

So are you suggesting I don't know what I'm doing? This isn't only dumb pc users we're supporting, it's all of us and our developers you have been using PC's for MANY years (probably since before you were born) and we DO know what we are doing and STILL like ALL pc users have enormous problems where the end result is having to reinstall the os. And so far I have NOT had to do this on either of my two Macs or either of my two Linux servers at home. Only on my home PC and the 12 to 14 PC's we have here at work. Because Unix and Linux is a much more stable os compared to Windows and this is just a known fact. If you deny it, you are lying. If you deny never having at least a couple of crashes every couple of months, then you're lying.

[I miss Joe Strummer]

And the award for most amusing typo of the year goes to:

Who, me? for the line:

Actually, being that osx is unix based it is much more stale than os9.

*clapping*

[[outofocus]]

http://ladd.dyndns.org/xbench/

http://xbench.com/

[Stubby]

actualy who'me, i was not calling you dumb, on the contrary I said the opposite, but though you might be a bright cookie, you lack self control over issues concerning desktop computers. how does that make you feel?

anyway, I am not one of those individuals who has not had a crash on my pc or my ibook, for a year, my crashes have been more frequent than that
but I haven't had any for quite a while, and the last one I had was do to my power supply on my amd, not the os. as un-satisfied as you are with your pc's at work, there are people satisfied with their pcs, that should tell you something. it's not the computer, it's the user.

[NeutrixX]

Look, being one who runs an XP "Professional" and an OSX 10.2.3 Mac, I'll tell you all one thing. I like the Mac much more. Simple as that. I'm not going to go into a lengthy detailed analysis... it's that simple. It has more than enough power, runs all the programs that I need (and more), and has a far superior design. Simple. Would you question a guitarist who chooses a 12 string guitar (for song writing and performing) over a 6 string? No you wouldn't. Until you buy a Mac don't bother questioning people who prefer that platform.
End of conversation.
One more thing... if you've never owned an iPod, you've never enjoyed your music collection to it's fullest extent. Not to mention it's the best firwire drive you'll ever own.

[[outofocus]]

> ...os9 performs better.
no it does not.
i would always boot in os x if there would be the pluggo releas for x (and the vsts, but thats another topic...)
i got used to os x and it is performing better than os 9.
but yout only get this after you have worked some days with os x.
the only thing is: at first the response of the gui feels a bit slower. but behind the curtain it is rocking