Alfredo wrote earlier:
<snip>
>  * OLTP: HP3000
>  * ad hoc database design: windows + access
>  * mission critical database design & utilization: HP3000
>  * programming: HP & linux [although gui dev environments on windows is
>    "catching up"]
>  * magazine/ad layout & "power" graphics: macintosh

The list for the Mac is much longer, but I won't get into that topic :-)
<Snip>

Well, I am going to answer this one.

The list for the Mac should include doorstop, rifle bullet catcher, bookends,
boat anchor and Crackerjack box junk giveaway!

Let me explain.

A few months back, I bought a digicam, a Nikon Coolpix 990, which has a 3.34 MP
CCD.  I have always wanted a Nikon and, after decades of Minoltas, I finally
bought one.  This is one fantastic little camera.  One of the features I like
about this camera is the fact it has lots of accessories, amongst them are
lenses such as a fisheye.  After all, I am a gadget freak.  Many of you have
seen the picture of the Eiffel tower which I took in Paris this summer and
several commented favorably on it, either in e-mail or in person at HP World.

In college in the early seventies, I had access to all matters of darkrooms and
development equipment.  I usually had a camera with me on campus and many of my
shots were published in the university newspaper.  Later on, whilst I always
wanted to have my own darkroom, I never quite got around to attaining that goal
and as the years went by, the desire waned.  One hour photo shops started
appearing and I was content to use those even though they never did justice to
some of my shots.  Later on, with kids underfoot, the idea of a darkroom with
its corrosive chemicals and heavy equipment was not even on the radarscope.

In the nineties, the digital camera arrived and it rekindled a dormant desire
within me.  I watched the technology grow and expand as resolution increased
and prices dropped.  Finally in April of this year, I decided that it was a
good time to jump in with both feet.

Somehow, the concept of a digital darkroom, marrying two of my long time
avocations, computers and photography, had reached if not a maturity, at least
advanced adolescence.  It was finally good enough to produce near-photographic
results.  After reading several magazines (hey, management by magazine), I
bought my first non-HP printer, the Epson Stylus Photo 875DC, a totally USB
device.  It produces simply amazing results.  Great, I had the input and the
output figured out, the only thing remaining is the process.  For this I turned
to my trusty 500 MHz laptop with 256 MB of RAM and the 18 GB drive, running
Widows 2000 SP1, of course.  The same magazines also kept talking about Adobe's
Photoshop as THE standard for digital picture manipulation and by which all
other products are compared.  Not wanting to throw $600+ on the full software
just yet, I bought the limited edition, Photoshop 5.0 LE.

This was my first exposure to a program that had been written originally for
the Macintosh platform.  And therein lies my issue.

My laptop finds itself very often in the docking station at the office where it
is connected to the remainder of the network.  The regular default printer is
an HP LaserJet which sits connected on another Windows system.  I do not print
much so there is really no need for me to have a printer directly connected,
except of course for the Epson Stylus printer for my pictures.

A few days ago, Photoshop completely stopped printing.  It would not even let
me go into Page Setup.  It kept insisting that there was insufficient memory to
perform the operation.  No matter what I tried, it would not let me print.
 PaintShopPro has no problems with printing, but Photoshop and Photodeluxe
simply refused to do so.  Photodeluxe is another Adobe product which came
bundled with the printer.

I spent several hours at the Adobe support area reading their knowledge base.
 The problems that I saw with the Mac are just too numerous to list but suffice
it to say, there are a few :).  Nothing on how to rectify my problem, of
course.  Then I decided to do some good old fashioned, back-to-basics
troubleshooting.  I put aside all my expectations and prejudices and looked at
the problem from a very basic angle.

All the Adobe products work except they will not print, complaining about a
lack of memory.  PSP works fine and prints like a champ.  Adobe, Mac.  PSP,
Windows.  Therefore something about Windows is confusing Adobe.  What has
changed on the system which now prevents Adobe from printing?  At first, second
and third glance, nothing.  Nothing at all.  Ok, what has changed in the
environment.  Well, we are redoing the office and most of the computers are
either shut down or disconnected for right now.

On my laptop, the Windows default printer is the networked LaserJet.  I have
been sending what few things I print to the Epson while the network is being
redone.  The Print dialog window in all programs comes up and I simply change
the target device.  But not in all programs.  The page setup or Print dialog
doesn't show up on Adobe.  Could it be?  No, it couldn't.  Even Adobe is not
that ignorant.  What the heck, I am at my wit's end.  In the printers folder, I
change the default printer from HP LaserJet to Epson 875DC.

Expecting nothing but that stupid, loud window telling me I am out of memory on
my 500 MHz Pentium III laptop with 256 MB of RAM and 384MB of virtual on a 60%
free 18GB disk drive, I tremblingly start Photoshop once again, open an STN
picture I had been working on and go through the Genuine Fractals dialog for
the umpteenth time.  The picture is beautiful, staring back at me from the 21
inch flat screen monitor in the gloom of night.  You can hear a pin drop as I
glide my M$ Intellieye Explorer mouse casting its reddish-orange glow on my
desk, pushing the arrow pointer towards the File menu.  A soft click and the
drop-down menu appears.  I pull the mouse slowly towards me as the arrow
enumerates the various menu options, finally coming to rest on "Page Setup...
Shft+Ctrl+P"  A soft sigh of resignation escapes from my lips as I click the
left mouse button.

This time however, instead of the loud gong sound followed by the asinine
message informing me my 500 MHz Pentium III laptop with 256 MB of RAM and 384MB
of virtual on a 60% free 18GB disk drive has inexplicably run out of memory for
the desired operation, a Page Setup dialog window cheerfully shows up, showing
the Epson 875DC as the current device.

For the next 15 minutes, I contemplate the human condition and the sheer idiocy
of Macs in general and Adobe in particular.  I guess nowhere on the planet does
there exist a Mac which has access to more than one printer either locally
attached of through a network at one time.  All in all, I feel sorry for the
Mac users since they can only have one printer.  This must create difficult
choices at times.

And this is just another factual, documented reason why I dislike Macs.

Kind regards,

Denys. . .

Denys Beauchemin
HICOMP
(800) 323-8863  (281) 288-7438         Fax: (281) 355-6879
denys at hicomp.com                             www.hicomp.com