The Phillips Files #30 Living With An Inferior Species -or- Surrounded by Windoze Users by R.P. Phillips

I am a Mac User, well, duh! That would probably explain my writing for a Mac related site.
But Bob, how do you survive in a world so polluted with Windoze peecees?

Well, there are basically 3 different ways to communicate between different computers: email, documents, and graphics. What follows is my favorite way of dealing with two of these three (email is pretty standard and really doesn't need anything more than a browser/email program to send/receive email to/from any platform and won't be addressed)

So you've just received a document created in some obscure format -- some type of Windoze format. You say you'd like to read it. Well I have three little words for you: MacLink Plus.

MacLink Plus, by DataViz, is a wonderful little program that translates windoze created documents into Mac documents and can convert Mac documents into Windoze documents, so you can respond to them other folks.

It is like having your own electronic Egyptologist that will automatically translate these ancient, archaic hieroglyphics into a modern, understandable, Mac compatible document.

Just think of sharing documents with Windoze users as communicating with the past.

Now these windoze folks are sending you some graphics in some convoluted format. You say you'd like to see it. Well I have two words for you: GraphicConverter.

Graphics Converter, a shareware program by Lemke, is another wonderful program that can view and convert over 40 different graphics formats. It is like having your own graphics chiropractor to automatically straighten out some of these twisted formats and make them Mac accessible (acceptability and perfection comes after a Mac user has time to clean them up).

Just think of sharing graphics with Windoze users as helping the decrepit.

There are also Audio files (like MP3), Internet Phone, Video Conferencing, Video/Movie files, File Sharing, Networking and compressing stuff (hint) would be nice.
Of these situations, I've only run across two, easily solved, problems. For this reason, I'm only addressing the Video/Movie file and Compression issues.

For the other situations, might I suggest you take a quick visit to the Cross-Platform page at Pure-Mac. There you'll find information on such solutions as Internet Phone, MacNFS, Dave, Timbuktu Pro, CU-SeeMe, Enhanced CU-SeeMe, SoundAmp, BBEdit Lite and many more.

Compressing/Expanding
This might be a bit backwards compared to the order above, but for compressing stuff and expanding stuff across platforms there is Stuffit Deluxe. You can read my review on this wonderful program in the review section of this site. My solution of choice.

Video/Movie
QuickTime! That's all I've ever needed and it comes free from Apple. Of course there is QuickTime Pro, which does cost a couple dollars, but I've never needed it to view any of the video/movie files I've run across. And. last time I checked, QuickTime is available for them other folks.

Hieroglyphics, convoluted, other folks; all diminutive and insulting. But like the dinosaurs, who couldn't evolve fast enough to deal with a rapidly changing environment, Windoze is becoming a less used and less preferred platform. It's overall survivability in question (remember that Anti-Trust law suit) with the ever increasing popularity of Apple products and platform , as well as, growth in the Linux platform is leaving it's scars on MS (MutantSauropod).

While I don't believe they'll be going extinct anytime soon (drats), I do see either radical changes in their programs & policies or inevitable extinction.

Like Apple, MS needs to go OpenSource and start ending closer to a UNIX system. This is necessary, so that one day, there will be one basic platform where all software will run on whichever computer you use. Of course, like Linux is now, this one basic format will have different options of OS provider, each with subtle differences - basically user interface, layout, etc..

No! I wasn't harsh towards Windoze. I was trying to be realistic (from a consumers point of view). I was being a dreamer (hoping for platform unification). I was, and will continue to be, a Mac User.

- R.P. Phillips

© 1997-2002 MacMilitia.com, Contact Us
John Norton, Webmaster