Depressing....

[Thomas Landry]

WOW....
I don't know what else to say, but this is one De-Press-
ing little corner of the Internet.

I was a huge Mac fanatic when I was in Law School about a
dozen years ago. Naturally, when I joined the "real
world" I had to use PC's. Now that I'm on my own, I
thought I'd "Switch" - Like I see on the Apple web site.

I bought a sexy new G5, and I've spent a week trying to
make the ^&*%&^#$@# thing function in a pretty *dang*
simple computing environment. The box came with Office
v.X "Test Drive" - half the damn thing doesn't work (that
is to say - work *WITH* anything else in my office!) MS
says my choice is pony up $99 bucks or come here.

I come here, and all I see is Page after lousy Page of
questions, and almost NO real answers.....

This post will probably be deleted as soon as a MS
employee sees it.
Oh well, it was a nice idea I suppose.... I guess about
all that's left is deciding if I want to keep the G5 -
$1,800 is a bit much for an "Internet Appliance"....

I want SO BAD to love this machine, but right now its
still a "Betamax"....

Sincerely,
a would be Mac user who can't find much support,
Thomas Landry
[email protected]

PS: Just for the sake of saying it: Entourage won't
share address book information with my Windows practice
management software unless I bend over backwards to "jury
rig" a bastardized text-only import, & I haven't worked
up the courage yet to even TRY to transfer my calander or
sync with my Palm; Messenger has YET to connect on the
Mac (and yet to fail to connect on the PC); Word won't
import my WordPerfect files; and Excel *probably* works -
but since I use a spreadsheet about once or twice in an
average month I'm not too worried about it.
I guess that about covers it.

 

[Bonnie]

Thomas -

It's not clear to me if your problems are with the Mac,
or only with the MS software.

If you are having problems getting the Mac to work
properly, you can get a lot of help on the Apple web site
in their Support/Discussion groups. It is much more
effective than these MS groups. But that's for Apple
stuff.

If you're only having problems with the MS software,
maybe you can try being a little more specific with your
questions. There are knowledgeable people here.

 

[dano]

WOW....
I don't know what else to say, but this is one De-Press-
ing little corner of the Internet.

Like doctors only see sick people, if you hang around here you'll only
see problems. (And mvp provided solutions, when they can.)

I was a huge Mac fanatic when I was in Law School about a
dozen years ago. Naturally, when I joined the "real
world" I had to use PC's. Now that I'm on my own, I
thought I'd "Switch" - Like I see on the Apple web site.

I bought a sexy new G5, and I've spent a week trying to
make the ^&*%&^#$@# thing function in a pretty *dang*
simple computing environment. The box came with Office
v.X "Test Drive" - half the damn thing doesn't work (that
is to say - work *WITH* anything else in my office!) MS
says my choice is pony up $99 bucks or come here.

Imho the test drive is not worth the effort. Remind yourself that it is
only marketingware, with no real usefulness to you.

I come here, and all I see is Page after lousy Page of
questions, and almost NO real answers.....

See line #1 above.

This post will probably be deleted as soon as a MS
employee sees it.
Oh well, it was a nice idea I suppose.... I guess about
all that's left is deciding if I want to keep the G5 -
$1,800 is a bit much for an "Internet Appliance"....

If you only need a machine to do Microsoft Office, I guess this is an
appropriate conclusion. But if you just want a machine to do MS Office,
get a Windows laptop. Of course the first thing you must add - even
before connecting it to the net - is AV software. Buy it at the computer
store, install it from the CD, and hit the home site for a virus defs
update immediately, before you do anything else.

This may sound like a Mac person's gloating, but I assure you it is not.
The worms these days are so prevalent and a new Windows box is so wide
open and susceptible that you really have to be diligent about
constantly updating virus defs.

There is more advice that goes with this, but that's enough for now.

I want SO BAD to love this machine, but right now its
still a "Betamax"....

Sincerely,
a would be Mac user who can't find much support,
Thomas Landry
[email protected]

What are you trying to do, aside from complain?

PS: Just for the sake of saying it: Entourage won't
share address book information with my Windows practice
management software unless I bend over backwards to "jury
rig" a bastardized text-only import,

You can spell m o n o p o l y can't you? I knew you could...

Bitterness aside, if there is a Windows 2000 or higher box in your
office, install terminal services on that box and the free Microsoft RDC
on your Mac. That may take some cajoling and convincing of your local
sysadmin. Beer often works as a good agent.

Alternatively you can set it up yourself with a third-party app.

& I haven't worked
up the courage yet to even TRY to transfer my calander or
sync with my Palm;

That will work.

Messenger has YET to connect on the
Mac (and yet to fail to connect on the PC);

I can't address this.

Word won't
import my WordPerfect files;

This should work. Maybe it's the TestDriveware that's the problem?

and Excel *probably* works -
but since I use a spreadsheet about once or twice in an
average month I'm not too worried about it.

Hard to say about the TestDriveware.

I guess that about covers it.

Office works for my ~500 users pretty well, and we have a large
contingent of legal folks. (I'm configuring a new PowerBook with MS
Office v.X for one of them right now in fact.)

I'm here today to ask a specific question, so you won't see me around
much. Good luck with your G5 and whatever decision you make.