Re: Other options - Tablet PCs

On Tue, 21 Nov 2006 17:57:24 -0800, Dan Rempel wrote:

Phil Yff wrote:

I don't think so. Multiple development efforts increases cost and risk.
Surely, Microsoft could make more money by having one good baselined
product that could be configured to the languages and other regional
settings of the various markets.

Well, Apple seems to be able to do it with considerably fewer resources
available, so Microsoft squeezing a few more bucks out of people for
each localized version seems like a good theory, given their standard
behaviour. For example http://tinyurl.com/ybvlx8

Apple has its own checkered past with regards to proprietary parochialism.
I've used both Apple computers and IBM compatibles since the Apple II and
the original IBM PC. With regards to language support, it's been a back
and forth competition as to which was better. Naturally, the IBM's 16 bit
architecture did better for complex and character based languages than the
Apple II architecture. You, of course, needed an operating system for the
target languages, but that was no big deal before hard disks. You just
booted up the system using the appropriate operating system.

In the eighties, no one had an elegant solution. Both IBM and Apple
computers had various work-arounds. In the early 90's, IBMs OS/2 with its
dual boot capability had some useful features, but the operating system
never caught on and application developers did not support it well. In the
later 90s, Apple held the edge but neither IBM nor Apple was great. With
OS 9, Apple started providing some pretty good language kits that were
better than the Windows 2000 Input Method Editors, although the Japanese
Windows 2000 IME was particularly good. With Windows XP, IBM took the
lead. Windows XP allows you to install non-unicode Japanese programs.

Apple bounced back with OS X. I now have OS X.1.5 and I can even change
the languages for menus and dialogs. This is a feature I am not interested
in. I prefer menus and dialogs to be in English, but I have to commend
Apple for incorporating the versatility into the OS. However, I have some
old non-unicode Japanese electronic dictionaries in both Mac and Windows
versions. I can install them in Windows XP by activating support for
non-unicode programs. I was not able to install them in any previous
version of Windows. Nor have I been able to install them in any version of
the Mac OS up to and including the latest version of OS X.

The bottom line is language support is now good for both the Mac and
Windows environments. However, neither one gets an A+ yet. I give the
edge to XP because of its non-unicode support but I prefer the Apple's OS X
input methods for Japanese unicode programs. With regards to the overall
machines, the Mac is cooler and I prefer it. However, the IBM does more
because it enjoys considerably more extensive third party application
development support than the Mac.

Phil Yff
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: The Great Rake Debate- One Final Thought
    ... hw maint on an Apple costs more than it should, ... Instead of using the ubiquitus "IBM Card" they ... called Digital Group brought out a superior product also with a 100-line bus, ... of using Windows PC's, I now also have an Apple Powerbook and it is by far the ...
    (rec.gambling.poker)
  • Re: Freebsd vs. linux
    ... >> before Windows became a marketing drone's dream. ... >> wasn't going to have a GUI. ... this is what caused Microsoft and IBM to part ways. ... The only people who install Apple ...
    (freebsd-questions)
  • Re: "IBM PL/I for Windows" is a product
    ... Just to establish that I DO have something to do with PL/I and the status of PL/I within IBM -- AND so Robin will not continue to ruin his credibility and say that I have "nothing to do with PL/I" as he FALSELY MALIGNED Bill: ... Project Manager with the languages projects of IBM user groups ... PL/I for Windows can only be ordered as part of a larger ...
    (comp.lang.pl1)
  • Re: AAPL > IBM
    ... even though Apple "tried to play it off" when the PC was released. ... Through accidents of history, The Enemy morphed to Micorsoft when ... Windows 3 made the cheap PC clones halfway useable. ... IBM later gave up in defeat, and now Apple is more valuable than IBM. ...
    (comp.sys.mac.advocacy)
  • Re: Why Troll? Was Re: Petition To Change CSMA Name
    ... Why do Macintosh HATE mongers hang out in a Mac advocacy group? ... use Windows, knowing that people like them are its advocates? ... For over 20 years Apple used entirely different processors from IBM ... efficient Intel processors. ...
    (comp.sys.mac.advocacy)