Re: My Venerable 386

[Mitch Stone <mstone@vc.net>]

  In reply to charles mueller's message sent 12/4/97 3:32 PM:
  
  >        It hasn't escaped me that, on a discussion list with 270 computer
  >experts, one should be able to get at least a small amount of good
  >consumer-shopping advice.  For example, the New York Times (12/2/97, p.
  >B12), praises the IBM Aptiva E16 ($999) as being superior to competing
  >machines in that price class.  (Frugality is both a principle and a
  >necessity with a small journal such as ours.)  Is that praise justified or
  >is it just journalistic hype for a big advertiser?  
  
  The question of "journalistic hype" aside, you are faced with the choice 
  of buying the IBM and shoving a few more dollars into Bill Gates' hip 
  pocket (he obviously needs and deserves it), or spending the same money 
  on a Macintosh, and getting a better product.
  
  To paraphrase a bit of pop culture, "obsolete is as obsolete does." I run 
  my business on four-year-old Macs, and have never once experienced this 
  sensation of obsolescence. But I have experienced the warm, fuzzy feeling 
  of knowing that I've exercised my freedom of choice, and done my part to 
  forestall the inevitable.
  
  It is inevitable, isn't it?
  
     Mitch Stone
  +---
     Editor, Boycott Microsoft ** http://www.vcnet.com/bms 
  
     If the price seems too good to be true, it generally is.
                                   -- Jim Lowe, Microsoft attorney