F-U Mac 360

I'm the Mac tech specialist for a local school district supporting nearly a thousand Macs, running both Tiger and Leopard. There have been no serious problems with 99% of them, hardware or software. Most often, there may be some "user error."

I haven't tried an iPhone or MobileMe. From what I've heard, HP is not the brand to buy if you want to buy a PC- Lennovo or Toshibas are much more reliable, hardware-wise. In my experience, both XP and Vista are nightmares, intrusive, annoying, unreliable.

I believe it is time for Kate to say goodbye to this site, she is becoming the John Dvorak of the internet. In fact, the companion Apple-bashing piece by Ron seems to be a piece driven by ego to justify a whole lot of recent whining, maybe to back up Kate's rant also.

It is my feeling that Apple is going through some significant growing pains, but even still, there's absolutely no contest between them and the competition. In fact, it never ceases to amaze me how any reasonable comparisons can be made, why anyone in their right mind would actually choose a Windows machine.

It is also important to remember that Windows Vista is given "a bad rap" mostly not by Mac users but those with much more extensive experience and involvement with the platform than the month Kate has spent with her HP. In my own school district, the 50% of computers running Windows have been downgraded to XP due to a variety of nightmarish scenarios, many of which persist because, well, Windows is Windows. Read the PC magazines and blogs- there is more Vista-bashing these days than Mac-bashing.

This site no longer serves a useful purpose- it is apparent that the two parties who remain have abandoned ship in a manner far more extensively than those who have merely disappeared. There is nothing positive to be gained here, nothing to be learned in an educational, inspiring, communal atmosphere that characterizes the best forums, be they print magazines or websites. There is only whining, complaining, justifications, misrepresentation, and temper tantrums. Exactly what you would expect from a teenager in a Mac-bashing blog.

I do not doubt the sincerity of the opinions and whining that has become Mac 360, but I cannot expect any meaningful objectivity at this point because it is so obvious to me, with my daily experiences with hundreds and hundreds of Mac users and Apple technology, that all that has been written here is so subjective as to be almost completely meaningless, so blown out of proportion and misrepresentative of the overall picture. Of course Apple has some problems- we are talking technology, after all. But the choice is clear- and it's Mac.

Please stop writing and either retire or sell the domain- on Craigslist.

Shut it down. And good luck with your HP's.

'Bye Mac 360

Sad. So it's come to this- articles supposedly posted August 15, 2008 or thereabouts followed by comments made much earlier?- looks like nobody's at the wheel at Mac 360. Your criticisms of Apple are harsh and way exaggerated. The commitment hasn't been there in a while, and it shows. Pull the plug- now. Keep your domain names. You have not only spit in the face of Apple the company, but in all of us who continue to have faith in its transition to greater success, in its growing pains, and who have followed Tera and her vision for Mac 360 all these years. I for one can no longer bear to return here and am deleting it from my bookmarks. Good luck on the Dark Side- true mediocrity is lack of vision and commitment. You failed this website, and you failed its readers. You have also dishonored its founder.

Jen and John?!?

I am from another planet but have learned to speak and write English in your country (please do not tell this man named Lou Dobbs).

In my country we do not have celebrities nor do we care what they do with their lives. We have artists, of course, and entertainers. All we care about is their work. If we want to focus on one using just one hand, we have special magazines and movies for that- the people involved are not famous because we consider that an invasion of privacy. Last, but not least- we are too busy enjoying what little time we have in this universe to waste it focussing on people we don't know and will never meet.

Have a nice day in Your corner of the universe.

The Shimmy

I guess I'm a different Mitch- don't know a bass player named Gary.

I was born in the Bronx 2/17/50. Not sure what time, but my father used to call me a vampire bat because even as a kid, I was a night owl. Only instead of reading, writing, playing guitar, drawing, or  (internet) surfing, I'd simply cry back then (colic).

I'm told I was upside down before I was born (I like to dive into water feet first, too - to avoid the belly flops), doctor straightened me out but had the umbilical cord wrapped around my neck three times. To this day, I hate wearing a necktie.

My earliest memory of music was my grandmother singing "Sugar in the Morning, Sugar in the Evening.." etc. Later, I heard "Hound Dog," and saw an album in my uncle's room that simply said "Elvis."

Pre-Elvis, there are 8mm films of me being coaxed by my grandmother to do the "shimmy." There's no sound in these films, just a room full of screaming, clapping, hysterical adults and the very confused look on a little kid's face as he did a very jerky, spasmodic impersonation of the King of Rock 'n Roll about 4 years before anyone ever heard of him. I was doing the shimmy, and they filmed me from the head on down.

I have a very vivid memory of what I was thinking- "Hell, I don't know what all the commotion is about, but if they're all so happy I'll keep doing this while I try to figure out what's going on!"

Then again, I have an equally vivid memory- not of trying to come out feet first or the umbilical cord- but the doctor slapping me on the butt, and me thinking "What the hell did I do?..."

What a shock!

I drew cartoons all over the place from age 4 on- in the sand, on paper, at school, in the dark...

In college I drew cartoons on my biology final and decided I wasn't gonna be a doctor, much to my grandmother's, and every single other ancestor's- horror.

In my sixth year, as an art major, I became fascinated by my roommate's guitar. Being a lefty, I turned it upside down and tried playing it flat down on my lap every chance I got when he wasn't around.

That's how I play guitar- horizontal, like a keyboard or slide.

I started playing along with every single Dylan and Beatles record I owned, then started writing my own songs a few years later.

I saw an album in my uncle's room that had the Byrds' Mr. Tambourine Man on it. My uncle pointed out a picture of Dylan on the back cover. I'd heard Peter, Paul, and Mary's Blowin' in the Wind. So I shoplifted the Highway61 album. My shoplifting career ended shortly afterwards when I got caught stealing a Wes Montgomery tape.

I bought Peter, Paul, & Mary's first album, and played it a million times. I always liked them, but that first album in particular, to this day, is hauntingly beautiful, and I think it's probably the best thing they ever did. This Train, Lemon tree- I seemed to favor the tunes where Paul Stookey sang lead (though years later I wasn't too fond of his "Wedding Song"). I always hated John Denver, I must admit- so I was very disappointed in "Leaving on a Jet Plane."

I loved "I Dig Rock 'n Roll Music," though, and have remained a fan ever since- thinking I should at least get the album "In the Wind," as it is probably the one closest to perfection as their first.

A few years ago, shortly before my mother passed away, I was driving her to Boston to see my brother and sister, and she'd complain about each of my album choices for the ride- until I slipped on Peter, Paul, and Mary's first. She fell into silence (unusual), mesmerized. We'd both heard this music before, but I remember feeling amazed how good it still was, how good it always had been. What incredible voices, harmonies, and songs!

Most of my playing has been with bands, doing cover tunes, Classic Rock, though I started with my brother doing just my songs.

Even my songwriting is dependent upon harmonies, though- whether I'm overdubbing on a sound-on-sound reel-to-reel tape recorder (long retired), multitrack cassette, or lately, DAW's. I always loved the Everly Brothers, Byrds, Simon & Garfunkel.

Sounds like you've had a lot of interesting experience, and I wish that I'd made it to Cafe Lena one of those times I knew they had Open Hike Night (see below).

:  )        - Smiley Face

"The Middle"

These faith-based groups are as alien to me as the terrorists- they just use different weapons. If that's the "middle," I'd rather be off the page.

C'mon, Obama- lot of people don't vote because the politicians all seem the same. That's not how you got where you are.

If that's what "America" is- religious fanatics wearing flag pins, self-titled conservatives, anti-semitic hypocritical homophobic sexually deviant racists in sheep's clothing singing "God Bless America," then I am ashamed of a lot more than President Bush coming from the Dixie Chicks' homeland.

Krassner on Carlin

The world is a lonelier place. George Carlin was irreplaceable- I too remember reading the Realist, llistening to Dylan, the Beatles, people like George Carlin who reminded me of Paul Simon's line "I learned the truth from Lenny Bruce."

Hard to figure out the truth anymore... I'm still searching. I look at Bill Maher and Keith Olbermann, never really sure. Does any musician nowadays come close, or are they simply naive? Am I naive? It's like looking for God- what do I know? I know nothing.

I had so much respect for George Carlin that I felt better about that.

The Gay Bashers

Chell Ess 12:24:46 PM Jul 01 2008

Man created God in their own image- because the concept of Infinity and the true nature of Creation and the Meaning of Life is apparently beyond our comprehension.

The Bible is the greatest science fiction writings of all time, more imaginative than anything Asimov, Clark, Bradbury, or Burroughs ever dreamed of.God created both heterosexuals and homosexuals.

Rosie O'Donnell, like you, is a human being.