>And something else I just now thought of: at $15/hr (cheap, I know,
but let's keep it semi-real), what would a PC owner estimate he would
be paid per year to maintain his OS in relative virus-free or fixed-
again state? Add to that, what do virus-protection softwares cost?
Over the course of 3 or 4 years (estimated life expectancy of an
average PC...

At first I felt like I should defend the PC, but realized it would be
pointless. I think that a PC person is better suited to admire a Mac, that a
Mac person warming up to the idea of a PC. I've always had my PCs custom
built, and they last a long time. My last one was pretty old, more like 10
years, and yeah, I had replaced the video card a couple time, the HD once,
but since it was a custom build I didn't have to buy proprietary parts as
with an off-the-shelf brand that most people buy.

I bought a new computer to upgrade to the newest type of process, memory and
hard drive. I didn't toss out the old one, but reformatted the HD and
reinstalled the OS and some software and gave it to someone in need. Sure, I
have issues with viruses, but it doesn't cost a lot of money to protect the
computer. There's a lot of freeware anti-virus and anti-malware for the PC,
but you do need to learn how to do it yourself if you want to avoid huge
repair bills.

And that brings me to my big gripe... trolls who write viruses and send them
out to infect the innocent. Their only purpose is to cause havoc, not seek
monetary gain, unless you think they are in league with computer
technicians. Hacker sites can also be a problem. Are Macs totally free of
being hi-jacked? A$&^*-holes who password protect Usenet files are in the
same category. Email spammers too... there should be a law against that!
What has this world come to? But when I think about the founding of America
and what the haves did to the have-not in pursuit of the all-mighty dollar,
then I can sorta understand why the internet is inundated with opportunists.
Thank goodness CERN gave it up to the world for free so that no one could
own the WWW, wll the while knowing there are people looking to make a buck
off of what was freely given. Free enterprise or thought control, take your
pick.

I should get off my bandwagon because I know I can never convince a Mac user
that a PC has merit. On the other hand... as a PC owner, I'm very
open-minded and can appreciate the Mac. When using a Mac I just need to keep
repeating... command key, dummy!

Carol


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