[Duo2400] Which browser? & 96meg RAM

[Ivan Drucker]

>Why would any self-respecting Mac person EVEN consider putting a 
>MicroSoft product on their machine???????

IE 5 Mac happens to be best-of-class of any browser I've seen on any 
platform. Its UI and feature set are unparallelled. The MS Mac Business 
Unit just did a really bang-up job; IE for Windows is horrible, but for 
the Mac, it shines. The only alternatives on the Mac are inferior, 
incomplete, or outdated. Why wouldn't I use it?

> Especially considering that the MS/IE (Outlook)  mail client is the 
>vehicle of choice of the low-life scum bags -for spreading over 99.9999% 
>of the E-mail generated viruses in the world.

In the Mac world, Outlook Express and Internet Explorer have nothing to 
do with each other. I agree that MS made it far too easy for viruses to 
spread on the PC side -- but the truth is that Netscape (and Eudora and 
Apple Mail, etc) is AppleScriptable, and it would be very easy for a 
virus to read an address book and send itself out to people. Most viruses 
spread because people double-click them. Once that happens, it can do 
anything at all. Virus writers just don't bother with Macs because it 
makes more sense to infect as many computers as possible, i.e. the market 
share later. Microsoft should have taken greater precautions in Windows 
Outlook, but Outlook can't bear the full brunt of the blame.

>I run 3 Macs systems -all on NetScape -and have NEVER been infected with 
>a worm or virus!!  All my friends with MS are forever being plagued with 
>nasty things that the Evil Gates has allowed his vile creations to carry 
><g> . . try NetScape 6 --and be happy  . . no worries mate.
>***************************

The reason you've never been infected with a virus is because you're on a 
Mac. All of the common viruses out there can't affect Mac users, even 
those running Internet Explorer and Outlook Express. You can use Netscape 
6 if you like it better, but it is simply not true that it is better 
protecting you from viruses than IE or OE would.

I don't mean to sound like a Microsoft apologist -- I think very little 
of them and most of their products. But the reason I don't use Windows is 
not political, it's because I think it's an inferior product. I don't use 
Outlook Express on my Mac for the same reason -- I just don't think it's 
very good when compared with other alternatives, including its ancestor, 
Claris Emailer. But by the same token, I *do* use Internet Explorer, 
because it's the best (in my opinion) product available.

Microsoft owns the market. I accept it. As Steve Jobs said back in 1997 
or whenever it was, the war is over, and it's a waste of time and energy 
to keep fighting it.

Ivan.