x86 vs. ppc
coccolithophorid at earthlink.net
coccolithophorid at earthlink.net
Fri Dec 13 08:08:48 PST 2002
First off I want to admit that I don't know much about x86 or PPC
instruction sets, or if x86 chips are designed for Windows or a whole
bunch of operating systems. What I do know is that I've used every
version of Windows since 3.1 and every version of Mac OS since system
7. I started studying information design and the teachings of Edward
Tufte and came to realize that there is a way of dealing with
information that is logical in all mediums. The Mac OS comes much
closer to this logical way of dealing with information than Windows
does. Maybe I'm windows bashing, but Windows deserves it, it is poorly
designed and inefficient, The x86 chip seems to follow this way of
thinking (handeling instruction sets?), in my experience, using XP
straight out of the box on a 1 + gHz machine with 256 MB RAM seems slow
when compared to my 500 mHz TiBook. How can that be? When I use a
computer I don't think about how many applications I'm limited to
opening (I haven't had to since os X) or how much processing the
computer is capable of. I usually have 5 or so apps open and a lot of
the time they are all doing something, When I use XP I am limited by
the bad design, I bog down the computer when I try to use it the way I
use my Mac, if iMovie is rendering a transition I go read my web sites,
if iTunes is converting 300 AIFF's into 320 kbps mp3's then I go check
my email, oh I can see by the progress bar in the dock that iMovie is
almost done rendering, back to working on my movie. This way of working
on a PC usually freezes Windows XP. Using a computer efficiently on os
X is not the same as using a computer efficiently on XP, at least in my
experience. I don't want to hear about the Sr. Unix SysAdmin or network
administrator who went 300 clicks into Windows XP and changed a setting
to make the computer more usable, that's not the real world.
PC users probably feel that their machines are so fast because it takes
20 clicks to do something, freeing up the processor as it finishes up
the last task. How do I turn off the computer? it's easy, just go to
the start menu, where's the utility manager easy it's in the sub sub
sub sub sub menu.
DESIGN IS A GOOD IDEA!
peace,
Kevin
More information about the Titanium
mailing list