I agree with Kyle's post about Mac's being the best for graphics work,
but I'd like to pop the balloon about their so-called superior
reliability over PCs.

I worked at a museum that bought a Mac G3 when new--it started to give
trouble within two months of being set up.  Over the next two years we
had dozens of service calls, replaced all the major components in the
computer, and spent more than the original purchase price of the
machine, and it still wouldn't get through a week without crashing.  The
problems were blamed on extension conflicts--that we had too much loaded
up on the Mac.  We were using that computer almost exclusively for
Internet access and graphics work, so we had a flatbed scanner, film
scanner, printer and CD burner hooked up to it, plus associated
software--all stuff we needed on a pretty regular basis.  We did
occasionally used the Mac for word processing and spreadsheet
applications, but not too much.  We still had loads of memory on the
machine and empty USB ports, so it certainly didn't seem like we were
asking too much of the computer, but still it refused to behave.  If
you're looking for a multi-use computer, you should seriously consider
staying away from Macs because of the possibility of these extension
conflicts.

I'm just glad that in that position, the collections database was on a
PC.  I've used PCs at home and work for going on nine years, and they've
never given me one-tenth the grief I've suffered from Macs.




------------------------------------------------------------
Tim McShane, Assistant--Cultural History
Medicine Hat Museum and Art Gallery
1302 Bomford Crescent S.W.
Medicine Hat, AB   T1A 5E6
(403) 502-8587

=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:

The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).

If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).