"Controlled crash"

We were talking about Apple computers not being perfect, I have the perfect example this morning. Last night I went to bed with my computer busy rendering a 2-hour movie.

This morning I discovered it crashed. It would not open up mail or internet for me. I got an error message, which unlike Microsoft error messages actually told me what was wrong - "No application memory available to launch application -- close applications?" Then it gave me a dialog box for Force Quit on the open apps, incliding iMovie, Firefox, Quick Play, and 3 or 4 others. I used the utility to close them, one by one. It was slow, but eventually I got control of my computer again.

As soon as I did, I rebooted, and now I'm back.

Without losing anything.

No blue screens of death.

If Windows was that well-behaved I wouldn't hate it so much.

Coincidentally, yesterday I was installing a program and got a message from the OS telling me that there was insufficient memory to install the program, so the virtual memory had been increased by the OS. It then continued and successfully installed the program.
"Thanks for the memory..."

I've had my current computer for about 8 or 10 years. I have never had to reinstall the OS and I have never experienced a BSOD. I wonder what I'm doing wrong.

If you use your phone for making phone calls and texting only, you probably use your computer for email and posting to UD only.

Not quite.
(And I was only kidding about the iphone)

NoCoPilot wrote:

If Windows was that well-behaved I wouldn't hate it so much.

Imagine how much you would hate it if you didn't have a choice and had to use it.

I want very much to buy a new computer; this one is really old. But I hate the thought of having to learn how to get a new version of Windows to run well and safely. (If you think back, you will not be able to recall a single instance in which I praised or complimented Microsoft; I've despised their software since the 70s.)

I really want to buy an Apple, but am concerned that I won't be able to "customize" it to operate the way I want. After so many years with Windows (I actually started using it before it was available to the public), I know it inside and out and can make revisions and changes without depending on the company to do it for me. I'm not sure I will be able to do that with an Apple, and I'm too god damn old to spend hundreds of hours fucking around with it.

But if I do spring for an Apple, what do you think? iMac or Mac Pro?

iMac unless you're really a power user, like an animator. Comparably equipped the iMac is about $2000 less than the Pro.

What kind of customization?  Apples have a lot of options -- let me look into it for you. The learning curve on Apple isn't all that bad, a lot of commands are the same or nearly the same as Windows. Others are intuitive. Still others are unfathomably arcane and must be memorized or a cheat sheet printed.

Luckily those last are pretty rare.

What kind of customization?  Well, have you ever bought a computer that had every little program you wanted? I haven't. I have written scores of programs for my Windows computers (just as I did for my MSDOS and CP/M computers), just to make life a little easier. Some are small utility programs, others are services, and some are substantial applications, just to make things work the way I want, rather than the way Microsoft wants.

Also, I have purchased many programs over the years - and also downloaded freeware - which I have become accustomed to using. For example, I recently scoured the internet trying to find a news leecher program for Apple (I download a lot of TV programs from Australia and New Zealand). I was unable to find anything that looked acceptable.

Nothing really important, I guess, just that I have become accustomed to being able to just whip out a program when I wanted it, and I have no interest in learning to program on an Apple just for these small matters.

I also noted that Macs depend on external hard drives. That's fine, but will my stack of external archive drives be usable on the Mac? I know they don't support eSATA, so I will have to invest in new drives or interface devices.

Life is so difficult.

I don't think loading programs counts as customization.  

There are some programs going clear back to the old DOS days* that I've never been able to replace in Apple -- databases, graphics programs, CD burning software, digital sound editing software.  I'll be honest it HURT to give up the slick little DAW I'd built up.

However, my hand was forced.  Windows ME was the last one that ran my programs, and MS in all their wisdom abandoned it.  I tried XP and Vista and 7 and disliked them and could not use my programs in them, so I had no choice but to start over in Appleland.

I have slowly acquired most of the old functionality -- not always as elegant -- but a lot more stable and filled with all sorts of new capabilities I never had before.  I tend to resist change, but as the saying goes, without change there is no progress.



* Hell, I wrote an entire GUI in Norton Utilities before Win3 came out.

_Howard wrote:

I also noted that Macs depend on external hard drives.

The only Mac that depends on an external hard drive is Apple TV. The desktops, laptops, tablets and phones all have their own internal hard drives.

In fact the new iMac has a really slick 1Tb or 2Tb "fusion drive" which combines massive flash memory with a standard spinning disc drive. You can get I think 1Tb in flash memory if you have the money.

All of the Apples support external hard drives, mostly for backing up (we've talked about Time Machine before) or for permanent off-platform storage (I have a couple terrabytes of music stored).