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The Miheer Mafatlal Chat

netman, could you please repeat your question, I think its scrolled off my screen

Personally I have no issue with the Mac. Only it is so damn problematic to convert everything from a PC to the mac format ...

mayank, remember it is the PC that is not compatible with the rest of the world - UNIX can read DOS/Win floppies and a Mac can straight out of the box read, write and format PC/Win floppies

Doesn't Win 95 support Macs ? *supid question ?*

man iwas talking about the affect on the mac world with the stuff like java & activeX in which r platfrom inde...

Miheer:Hi! I worked on MAC/Apple kind of stuff in the USA. Here in India I feel the support systems (legit and grey) tend to support 'the other stuff'. Why is that so? Isit bcos Mac doesn't really consider India a good enuf customer country?

Some of the best information is available on the Apple site (subsection "Why Mac") but you would say that is biased information - check out: http://www.macaddict.com/evangelist/ that is an independant source and you'll see what the rest of the world with blinkers on their eyes and the herd instinct cannot see

netman, Yes, Java is for example already intregrated into the MacOS ACtiveX is somewhat of a non-starter IMHO

hey how can an evangelist site be without bias. the evangelist kinds are bigots, come on miheer, give us a better source to check with.

Miheer: If you say Mac is cheap and portable, then why it hasn't got hold of the desktop market in India?

Sun Apple have an alliance and Netscape has already announce d that the next version of Navigator will be OpenDoc based

Miheer : If that is so ... help me with this problem : We have some MAJOR presentations at work the day after. Different groups have made their stuff using Powerpoint, Freelance Graphics, harvard Graphics etc etc. They have to go to the agency who ONLY have macs (and of course the related Mac p[resentation softeware) .... is there a way to conver these .PPT/.FLW files ?? :(

Okay folks, here's something that might end the debate. Bill Gates himself is on record as saying that the Mac is truly the computer platform to beat :-)

MIHEER I AM PASTING MY QUESTION AGAIN. DARE ANSWER IT:
MIHEER, if Mac is really affordable, as u claim it is how come there it is hard to come by people who use them. most offices i go to all use PCs. How come?? can u answer that??? huh??

the amazingMOG!, the problem is that until 3 years ago Apple had no legit presence in India now that they are here they are trying to rectify the support problem - the lack (or should I say total absence) of support is the main and only reason that I do not indiscriminately recommend the Mac to everyone in India

My own company (MicroGiga Infotech) works on PC/Win, UNIX, AS/400 and ofcourse Macs - we believe in (as far as possible) giving the customer the best possible solution - there have been cases where I've told people don't touch a Mac -sad but true

Mac the Knife : i think it is because the PC is SO EASY to maintain, repair and upgrade (I made three myself !) .... they are so affordable now .... what is the price of a decent mac vs the PC ??

thanks 4 ans the 1st 1 ,another Q though mac intrduced the 1st GUI based OS why din't it let it migrate to other widely used platforms what i would say is that this one of the sole reason for the earlier demise of the mac

(aside, to Mayank) chances are you don't need to convert those files in the first place.

YES MAYANK, U R RIGHT. BUT LET'S SEE IF MR MAFATLAL HAS THE GUTS TO TACKLE MY QUESTION? LET'S SEE WHAT HE HAS TO SAY?

Miheer: If you say Mac is cheap and portable, then why it hasn't got hold of the desktop market in India?

cyberman, Mac the Knife, the reasons for Apple not being to sell in India are self-evident - lack of support, lack of presence, lack of awareness and (alas) the supreme arrogance of Steve Jobs that the whole company inherited - Apple got to the stage where they thought that they were better and everyone will beat a path to their door; but, that is not how the real world works The real world is littered with great technologies that feel by the wayside like BetaMax and the Digital Audio Tape

S .. L .. O .. W :(

specificallly in India the Mac is more expensive when compared with "fly-by-night" garage assemblers

Sadi, could you please answer mayank's question while I handle the others?

man thanks 4 ans the 1st 1,another one tough mac was the 1st one to introduce theGUI based OS why din't it alove it to migrate to other widely used platfrom,

Sadi .... How is that ?? Please elaborate *sitting up attentively*

Miheer- here is another`reason why not a Mac: for loudspeaker enclosure design (which I do)for every 10 pcs of s/w on Pcs u find one for the Mac

mac the knife, just because everyone does something that does not make it right. Remember if everyone did what everybody did way back in the late 70's all we would have had were IBM maniframes and no PCs - it was Apple that showed that computers could be placed on desktops both in the office and at home. If it weren't for the Apple II we would not be chatting right now :-)

BIG DEAL MIHEER. WHAT I SAY IS THAT THE BEST ALWAYS WIN. IF THE MAC IS NOT ABLE TO BEAT PCS IN NUMBERS,IT IS SIMPLY NOT GOOD ENOUGH. WHY BET ON A LOSING PROPOSITION?

mayank what is SLOW?? are you facing a server problem?

miheer: Considering the market India have why mac is not seriously trying to get into it?

man mihere i say that u r like ur mac damn slow i say u should upgrade your self

Miheer: did Sculley screw up and destroy the Mac inheritance?

netman, very good point. One of the worst mistakes made by Apple was to oppose the adoption of the GUI (Apple filed suit against Micro$oft and HP) if it had allowed the early adoption of the GUI then it would have been legitimised and corporate s would have embraced earlier - not left it out in the home and education markets

BTW, Windoze was announced before the MacOS was - though Apple got the GUI to market before Micro$oft could

Hmmmm

man u haven't ans my 2nd Q yet, man i am asking u something serio..

jasmeet : yes ... the downloads/refresh is very slow ... and there are not many people too .... why ??

Mayank, I had a task similar to the one you describe, some months ago. Files from a client, ina different version of PowerPoint for Win than the one I had. Took them over to a service bureau, who fed them to a Mac, and read the files right -- perfectly formatted, and all. Output in an hour or so. Full colour, poster size printouts at that. Main reason, same software available on both platforms.

coco, I can't comment on the loudspeaker design situation that you mention - I don't know anything about it; but, I can state (very generally) its not quantity that matters its quality. I personally feel that Sculley did some good at Apple in the initial phase; but, later, yes, he was not at all good for Apple's long-term survival

Sadi ... where are you ??? are you helping me with my query ????

cyberman, Apple is trying to get the Mac into India; but, think of the salesman in the field - he sells both PCs and Macs now what do you think he is going to do when faced with the Win95 hype?

oops! iam sorry u have ans my Q,anyway another 1,with IBM in what do u think will be the scena..

mayank try shutting off the graphics. it will help. maybe also clear your cache. at the last count there were more than 50 people logged in. most of them are listening, not participating.

MIHEER, COME ON, ANSWER ME, WHY SHOULD I CONSIDER THE MAC TO BE A BETTER BET WHEN WORLDWIDE THE PCS ARE SELLING MORE. MACS MAY BE A BETTER MACHINE BUT ON THE WHOLE THEY DON'S SEEM TO BE CATCHING THE FANCY... GIVE ME ONE GOOD REASON TO BET ON THIS LOSING HORSE.

Sadi : Does the Mac have POwer Point software available ? And Freelance ?

Bloody black hole of VSNL is at it again! Miheer. Mac is fine, remember another great computer called OSBORNE? I think MAC (like BETAMAX which is not extinct but used extensively forpro TV work)will stay on to set standards for,those who can afford it, the rest of us get by on fake pentium and b/s 486...so what is this chat about, then? let's talk SEX?

netman, do you know that IBM is a MacOS licensee - not only that IBM has licensed the right to resell the MacOS to other manufacturers who would be buying PowerPC chips (or complete CHRP boxes) from it

jasmeet : should I switch to your US mirror site ?

Miheer: Why bother about the WIN95 hype if you have a good product??? can you comment why apple is not trying to combat win95???

the amazing mog! this is neither a VSNL bashing chat nor is it a CyberSex session :-)

mayank: hang on buddy. indian is as good as american!!

Mayank, sorry, either I'm using the wrong software or my link is slow today. Did you get my answer?

I'm sure that Rediff maintains it chat service as a family oriented server and would like intelligent things to be discussed :-)

aside to Mayank:what is your connect speed and which town r u connecting from?

jasmeet : my machine is fine yaar. 32MB with a T1 link .... have just switched to other graphic heavy sites ... cnn.com .. they are VERY fast comparAatively ...

cyberman, Apple is trying to combat the hype of Win95 or more accurately the hype surrounding Win95 is Micro$osft's attempt to combat the Mac

Mayank, PowerPoint yes, freelance I'm Not sure. But freehand is available on the Mac. Also, a software package called MacLink Plus enabled my Mac to recognise my DOS-based word processor (XyWrite) files, which even most Windows programs don't.

Macthe Knife, just because bicycle sell more than Rolls Royces does it make them better ??? :-)

Sadi : I think you missed my post ... I had said Sadi : "Does the Mac have POwer Point software available ? And Freelance ? " .. if so, then you've solved my problem ..... Coco ... connection via LA ... 64KB ... where are you ?

Miheer: you didn't answer my question fully? what Apple is doing to combat WIN95?

Besides, Mayank, you could always save them as .eps or .ps files, couldn't you? Then they would be truly cross-platform.