Penguins vs Polar Bears?

[toypusher]

Denzagrad,

I have the picture that you used for your avatar and it has a caption that reads "DO SOMETHING VERY BRAVE TODAY - THEN RUN LIKE HELL!"

I was wondering if you had the same caption with yours.

Kerry

[mikeschn]

If that's a Linux Penguin, does that make the Polar Bear Microsoft?



Mike...

[toypusher]

Are you trying to say that Microshaft needs a wakeup call from the Open Source World????

What ever would you mean by that?? I'm an MCSE so, I am pretty much stuck with Microshaft, but I have a couple of PCs with Linux on them and have tried quite a few different flavors. Linux has come a long, long way in the past few years and I hope it keeps going stronger and stronger.

Kerry

[mikeschn]

According to http://distrowatch.com/ Ubuntu really seems to be taking off. So I loaded it up on my laptop last week. I like it. It has come a long way!!!

But I still use a Wintel, mostly because I know it well enough to be quite fast on it.

Does Microsoft need a wake up call? Absolutely. I refuse to upgrade past Windows XP... I am tired of calling them up to ensure them that I have a valid registration number. And the only reason I put up with outlook is because it syncs with my Jornada 728. Otherwise I'd be using something else.

Open office is an excellent replacement for Messy Office... I plan on getting fast on a different OS. I don't know if that'll be Linux, MAC or something else...

Oh, here's a comment that's bound to evoke some feelings here: I am tired of spyware!!!

Mike...

P.S. I don't have access to Longhorn, but I did try the 64 bit version of XP. I found out that none of my existing apps work with it.

[toypusher]

Oh, here's a comment that's bound to evoke some feelings here: I am tired of spyware!!!

Isn't everyone. You might have less if you use Firefox (I have it, but do not use it very much).

You should give Mozilla Thunderbird a try for your email. I have one of my accounts that I use it on and have had no problems.

I tried a very early version of Longhorn and was not impressed, but I am sure that it has changed alot since then (about 7 - 8 months ago).

I have used OpenOffice a bit and it just seems to open slow, but other than that I like it. Just a matter of getting used to something different.

Open Source has a ton of great software for free (or at least very cheap) and people just seem to think that because it is free that it is not good. That is really their loss, I think. 2 great examples are The GIMP, and Blender. WOW are they great stuff for free.

And then there is JustCad, And so on and so forth!

I guess I should put this soapbox somewhere else and stick to the subject of the thread.

I apologize to all for ranting on and on like this

Kerry

[Denzagrad]

Denzagrad,

I have the picture that you used for your avatar and it has a caption that reads "DO SOMETHING VERY BRAVE TODAY - THEN RUN LIKE HELL!"

I was wondering if you had the same caption with yours.

Kerry

It just said "brave."

[Denzagrad]

...

And the only reason I put up with outlook is because it syncs with my Jornada 728.

.......

Mike...

Have you tried Thunderbird?

[DestinDave]

I've got W-98 on one PC and XP on another.. when my photography reaches a point where I'm doing a lot of digital I'm upgrading to a MAC G5 (or whatever's new at that time)... comments ???

[mikeschn]

Michelle just got her Mini Mac yesterday. It's only a G4, but she says it's really fast... and tiny... I had to look for the cpu. I found that she had stuck it on the shelf next to the CD's.

What program do you do your digital work in? Photoshop? Paint Shop Pro? Gimp? Is there a Mac equivalent?

Mike...

[DestinDave]

Photoshop Elements currently.. just getting into it. Full CS is about $500 and the new CS2 is probably going to be 7 or 8. Too rich for someone who doesn't really like digital (yet). All I do now is shoot film, have the negs scanned to disk, and play with them.
I like the MAC where the entire PC is contained in the flat screen monitor. Very slick and reasonably priced. Just don't know anything about them.
Oh, yeah.. your question - Photoshop runs on MAC also.. from what I gather many (most?) pros use MACs for professional digital photography.

[mikeschn]

Sounds like there is nothing stopping you from migrating to the Mac? Money...? You'll find it when you want it bad enough!

Mike...

P.S. I use paint shop pro... there is no Mac equivalent.

[exminnesotaboy]

I'm upgrading to a MAC G5 (or whatever's new at that time)... comments ???

I have used Mac's for about 10 years now and I maintain one for each of my parents(both of whom never used a computer and now do just fine). I currently use an EMAC(the very bottom of the Mac chain) and it works wonderfully. Granted, I don't do a lot of powerful stuff with digital photography, but Photoshop Elements does fine when I need it.

I am not one of those "Mac evangelists" as I understand they are not for everyone, but I can tell you I have had ZERO problems with mine over the years - they just work.

[Bobgorilla]

While we are talking computers, isn't that what we're talking about? I'm using an old laptop (1.1 meg, 20 gig hard drive, etc.), and all I use it for is email and games. I've been told that Macs aren't as good for gaming, is this still true? And I also have no clue on how to make my own avatar, do I need something like photoshop? Can I find something on the net for free? Making an avatar would be the only use I currently have if a new program is needed and I sure couldn't justify $500 for just that.

[mikeschn]

:frustrated: While we are talking computers, isn't that what we're talking about? I'm using an old laptop (1.1 meg, 20 gig hard drive, etc.), and all I use it for is email and games. I've been told that Macs aren't as good for gaming, is this still true? And I also have no clue on how to make my own avatar, do I need something like photoshop? Can I find something on the net for free? Making an avatar would be the only use I currently have if a new program is needed and I sure couldn't justify $500 for just that.

Avatars are easy... pick your subject.. do a google image search, save it to your desktop, and resize it to 150 pixels wide x whatever...

Then go to your profile and upload it...

What do you want for an avatar? A gorilla? How about something like this?



Mike...

[toypusher]

An AVATAR is just a small image. Make its width no greater than 150 pixels, the height no greater than 150 pixels, and the file size no more than 98 KB.


Here are some FREE graphics programs that will allow you to create one. Here are 3 that I know are pretty good to even great:

http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/serif/ph/ph5/index.asp

http://graphicssoft.about.com/gi/dynami ... windows%2F

http://graphicssoft.about.com/gi/dynami ... mes_en.htm

Kerry