Apple. Microsoft. Steve Jobs. Bill Gates. The duopoly in the computing world. I learned my first computing lesson back then on mid 1980’s (I can’t remember exact time, but it was my brother’s IBM XT running Paratrooper and Digger when I was on junior high school — medio 1986-1987?), and my first PC was a Compal laptop 386sx 16MHz with 1MB of RAM and 20MB Hard Disk running MS-DOS 5.0 and Windows 3.11 for Workgroup also AmiPro 3.0 (Yes I love AmiPro!!) and Stac’s Stacker 3.0 for disk compression. It was fine computer at the time (1992) when most of my friend’s desktop still running 286, until it render uselessly when I tried MS-DOS 6.0 (and silly DoubleSpace) and Microsoft Word 2.0 for Windows (there wasn’t any Microsoft Office yet as I recall). And, my first Apple encountered was in 1987 on programming class with an Apple II in high school, and with a Mac when a friend of mine showed a computer that can record a sound at the time on a Mac SE. It was such a breathtaking experience at the time knowing how a computer capable of doing such a thing.
But my real Mecca was when I found my first Apple PowerMac 6100/60AV back then on 1994 (yes I among the one that purchased early PowerMac at that time). I’m truly amazed by Apple advertising double fold on most computer magazines “Computer, Call Michael Dunn?” showing Apple ability in speech recognition area long before everybody does in 1992 using Quadra 840AV and 660AV. I kept telling myself to wait for the next generation PowerPC-based Macs and here I was sitting on my new shiny Apple PowerMac 6100/60AV.
It was truly amazing experience (you can say that my first interested on computer because Apple’s ability to do lots of things and amazing things that I haven’t see capable running on Windows at the time such as QuickTime, the simplicity of point and click without having to edit config.sys and autoexec.bat and carrying a copy of QEMM 7.0 to optimise every PC Windows that I ran into).
My decision on buying Mac at that time is simply because it’s cheaper (yes it was cheaper even than comparable PC Pentium at the time, which I asked my friend during the Expo on 1994-95 costs US$2,500 for motherboard and processor only! yucks!) and actually almost comparable in the terms of digital ports than low-end comparable SGI (I almost purchased that US$5,00O SGI workstation because it has very complete digital ports S-video, video-in and out, etc). I ended up bought that PowerMac for only 3,000-3,500 range that includes the beautiful 14″ Audio Video display.
Then I started exploring Adobe Photoshop 2.5.1 for PowerMac (yes Photoshop made Windows debut on 3.0 version) while have a lot of argue with my friends on how Adobe Photoshop (Mac only at that time) compares to Aldus PhotoStyler (Windows only, before Aldus merged with Adobe and killed the product).
My love with Apple turned me to work at the earliest time at the moment at some Apple Master Dealer in the region and Apple Distributor in Indonesia when I was 19 years old and still having my higher education at ITB. I owned several Macs to pleased my hunger (some LC475s, PowerMac 7100/66AV, and more that I can’t remember).
My PC loves affair started when I saw those beautiful Butterfly a.k.a IBM ThinkPad 701c and all a sudden I purchased one (though my originally intention is to buy Toshiba Portege 610). Eversince I purchase more IBM ThinkPads than everybody I know (tenths?) from several ThinkPad 760s (some LD, some 760ED, a 770z, some 600E, Some T20, some T22, a T30, some T40) I can’t counted.
So what makes this hardware stuffs have to do with the Hating Apple & Microsoft On That Title? Sorry for those over-excited briefs on hardware things, the reasons why I hate Apple all this time since they have all the opportunity they can have in this whole world but they are so stupid enough not taking the plunge.
What I missed from Apple by using Mac today are:
1. Microsoft Encarta (Encarta actually a Mac only product, before Microsoft bought the company and decided to make Encarta for Mac dissappeared in 1998. Yes, I love Encarta 2004, Jobs you should know that!) WorldBook bundled on Mac is just don’t cut it.
2. FrontPage (Few people knows that FrontPage is also actually a Mac product when version 1.0 was release, and again Microsoft bought that company that developed FrontPage and stop Mac development and brought to Windows). At that time the leading software was Adobe SiteMill, and what so called Adobe ? which now even nowhere to exist in both Mac and Windows).
3. Flash (thanks God Macromedia commitment still pretty strong on Mac, though very few people know that Flash was actually Mac only products when it named FutureSplash) <- this one consider not missed since Flash MX 2004 runs faster and better on Mac than on Windows. 4. Microsoft Office (yup the more time goes, the more I feel Microsoft Office on Mac is not as good as its Windows cousins. Microsoft Office 2004 on Mac is sluggish than comparable Microsoft Office 2003 on PC, and yes Outlook 2003 looks great than those Entourage on Mac, remember those Word 6.0 for Mac everyone? so pity!). I guess it’s part of Microsoft plan to make Mac as a second choice to PC Windows. I’ll do the same if I’m Bill Gates myself.
I actually non-Apple user since 1998 thru these days when I started working for Lotus Corporation, an IBM subsidiary backed then on 1998. But once in a while I check out Apple products and purchase one or two Apple Macs (a Strawberry iMac G3 233 once) and a recent iMac G4 17″ LCD.
What makes me really hates Apple is actually Apple management reluctant to take the opportunity they have to stretch the market evenwider. I even emailed Steve Jobs and talked to some Apple managements few months ago asking about opportunity to make Apple successfully installed on my client based. I even proposed lots of ideas that make Apple should success (sorry guys I can’t disclose in here due legal infringement that I’m worry about), but Apple seems very stiffs and not even make a move to be a big player (either fight with PC by releasing OS X for common PC hardware for alternatives, or trying to dominate hardware business by many options).
What makes me think that Apple Mac OS X should rocks are:
1. It’s a UNIX. 
The finest desktop UNIX out there. Something that Linux distro still lacks and again Apple has all the advantage and time lead to make the difference, but again Apple seems very ok by becoming small and niche player in this billions dollar business.
2. It’s has all the big companies support like Adobe and Macromedia. Imagine what linux distros trying to do to get those big companies supports. None till these days. Except those “Enterprise” backers like Oracle and IBM. (Even Oracle for Mac OS X is exist but rare people use it).
Then what makes me feel really hate Microsoft? It’s so simple…
“It has all the market and the money in the world, why the hell in the world it can not make a better, stable, and faster Windows??” Longhorn?? Come on Ballmer, we don’t need those cosmetics at this moments, we need better and leaner engine, like those in BeOS or Mac OS X sibling. Remember those “Not responding” and hard to kill applications everyone? Try that on Mac or Linux… it’s as easy as kill -9…or Force Quit click on Mac.
Therefore what this is all have to do with this articles? I guess I just want to share with you all guys that we have all the option in the world but seems that the option is not even moving an inch. Remember that competition is good for everybody. I check out Apple’s owner Al Waleed Bin Talal Bin Abdul Malik Aziz but seems Apple is nothing than his coffee’s business. Apple is only 5 billions dollar company while he has 200 billions company he rush to sell (and many more).
So what this things lead me? I guess I will keep buying Mac and ThinkPad for my computing needs, I’ll look forward to 2.0GHz Centrino based ThinkPad T42p that IBM will sells by this end of the year for Windows and Linux machines, and look forward for those Dual Core G4 PowerBook next year if Apple ever release it!
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