I need to put a WiFi transceiver in my main desktop [or floor sitting, anyway] Mac.
I know, I know, I am hopelessly behind the times.
I don't have a home network, wired or wireless.
To get files from my laptop to my PowerMac, I use good old sneaker-net -- I copy files to a CF card in a USB be card reader, and move that reader from one computer to the other.
[I gave away my second card reader... I should buy a few more at least; they're only $30 or so. I wish they were built in to the computers.]
But WiFi in my main Mac, letting me copy files from it to the laptop -- which as an Airport card -- and back, would make a lot more sense.
Most people install WiFi to share a fast Net connection amongst multiple computers. As I only have dial-up Internet access, that was never a motivation for me. [Although it would be nice to not have to plug a phone line into the laptop when I use it throughout the house... nice, but hardly a big deal.]
However, I will have to track down an old base station. Why? Because Apple does not support OS 9 in its current products.
That's right, I still use OS 9, a five-year-old operating system built on an creaky ancient hacked-together code base.
I have OS X. Why haven't I upgraded?
Because I do not need to. And because doing so would be very costly in dollars and time -- and comfort.
I use Microsoft Word 98 every day -- and I do not want to upgrade. I have tried newer versions, and I do not like them. I would have to run Word in an OS 9 session if I moved to OS X.
I also use Photoshop 7 and Quark 3 at least once a month. I do not need the features in later versions -- nor do I want to pay hundreds of dollars for unneeded new versions of software I do not use that often. The versions I own will not work in OS X.
Because I am a cutting edge guy -- or at least, I used to be -- I tried an early version of OS X. Hated it. I can understand that Apple needed to change to stable code-base for its OS core. That does not explain all the willy-nilly interface changes that in effect make an OS X computer as different from an OS 9 Macintosh as a Win XP PC. Apple cold have easily offered an interface choice -- the GUI was hardly the issue, nor would it have been a make-or-break factor in OS stability. No, the execs there [Jobs] just wanted change for changes sake. [Okay, for the sake of making it look like NextStep]. And that is where Apple lost me as a regular paying customer.
I like learning new programs. But I saw no reason to relearn everything I do on my computer everyday, simply to run an OS that was slower.
Maybe if I had all the instability problems that critics of older OS's always go on about... But except for crashes caused by my old Web browser hitting a site that is crammed with whiz-bangy Java and Flash, I don't have any problems.
My PowerMac is a dual 400MHz G4 with 1GB of RAM. That is hardly a speed demon by today's standards, although it was the fastest available when I bought it. However, it is plenty fast for everything I want to do on it --even enhancing photos and cutting video. Yes, rendering out a final video project is slow, but it's not like I do that everyday... Overall, this computer does everything I want, and does it well.
My G3 iBook is plenty fast for my word processing, email, and web browsing. That is all I want to do on it. That is, it's plenty fast in OS 9. I tried OS X on it, and everything slowed to a crawl. Why would I spend $1,000 on a new portable computer just to run an operating system I do not like -- when what I have in hand does most everything I want?
BUT... sticking with OS 9 now means my choices for peripherals are limited.
And new software is out of the question, as no one develops for the older operating system now. No, I do not blame these companies -- with one exception:
It boggles my brain that Apple would abandon its OS 9 installed base. I believe less than half of all Mac users have switched to OS X. After, what, 3-4 years, that should tell the company something. Okay, maybe it tells them that some old customers will never spend another dime and you can't pay attention to them... But really, how hard can it be to make the new WiFi base station run on OS 9 -- when the previous, very similar product did so?
Even more amazing, and more galling, is that OS 9 users cannot even use a new iPod -- and Windows XP users can! No, I am not ignoring the math -- of course it made sense for Apple to make Windows XP versions of iTunes and the iPod driver software. But it also makes *no* sense to not make OS 9 versions -- especially when there were already OS 9 versions ready for upgrading. Yes, the first iPods worked fine with OS 9. Now, for absolutely no good reason, the new ones do not. Even though the iPods work with Windows XP!
I run iTunes on both my Macs all the time -- but I can't run the version that connects to the website from which I could buy music. Hey Apple -- I spent many thousands at Amazon.com -- how much of that music money would have gone your way if you hadn't shut me out? Me, a guy who had been a regular customer for a decade? Oh wait - TWO decades.[God, I am old.]
Like all computer companies, Apple faces the challenge of an installed base that has little reason to buy new computers. Almost any 3-5 year old computer is more than powerful enough for writing, web browsing, emailing, and even for storing, editing, and printing photos. That is all most people will ever want or need to do on a computer.
Unlike almost all the other computer companies, Apple has other products: great software [like iTunes and GargeBand]; peripheral hardware like iPods; and services/retail sales through the iTunes website.
All of these either are, or, in the case of the software, could be, big revenue generators.
It is amazing to me that Apple has *chosen* to not sell iPods or songs to the *majority* of its customers. And the company refuses to even sell to its OS 9 users the software it gives OS X users for free.
Look, Apple -- you can't convince, conduce, or blackmail the rest of us to switch if we haven't already. The computer I bought from you just three years ago for more than $3,000 is still all I need, hardware-wise. I think it is despicable that you have decided I cannot buy and enjoy the other products you have developed since -- products that were in essence developed with the money that me, and others like me, paid for the high-priced hardware over the years...
Huh... I ended up getting more steamed about the topic as I wrote than I thought I was initially...
Wait a minute... I *can* run iTunes and hook up an iPod!
How?
Simple. I also have a Windows XP computer...
[Hey! - I need it for work; I have to look at all photo imaging software, most of which is Windows-only.]
That doesn't help me with my WiFi problem, however...
Tuesday, January 2, 2005
