On Jul 19, 6:14 am, Derek Martin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> On Fri, Jul 18, 2008 at 03:46:13PM -0700, Joel Teichroeb wrote:
> > Calling Windows PC seems to be something that Apple did so they would
> > not have to directly mention Windows.
>
> Actually it's something IBM did when they created the IBM PC. Of
> course, all IBM PCs ran MS-DOS, since that's how IBM sold them...
> Then others started to build copies the IBM PC based on Intel
> hardware, and the resulting class of computers was called,
> collectively, "PC Clones" -- shortened to PCs -- by the industry and
> its market. Then companies like AMD and Cyrix started building
> Intel-compatible CPUs, and the term PC was extended to include systems
> built using those architectures. Eventually Windows was released, and
> PCs became Windows boxen running on Intel-compatible hardware, and I
> personally know no one who doesn't use the term that way...
>
> Much like the English word "bank" (and numerous others), the term "PC"
> has come to have several meanings, one of which is the above. You may
> not like it, but we're pretty much stuck with the term, so you may as
> well get used to it.
>
> --
> Derek D. Martinhttp://www.pizzashack.org/
> GPG Key ID: 0x81CFE75D
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That's not the point, PC is personal computer, a computer that is
owned personally, instead of being owned by a department, a company, a
government, etc. IBM PC is one of the first computers that ordinary
people could possess, when IBM-clones appeared on the market, they're
referred as PCs too because they are Personal Computer, a computer
that is designed for personal use. The brand of the computer, the type
of processors, Operating System, etc doesn't qualify a computer as PC
or not-PC, what qualify a computer as a PC is its design and marketing
and popular usage. Design: a computer that is designed to be small,
cheap, and easy-to-use to be owned personally. Marketing: how the
computer is marketed as, the marketing people generally follows the
designer on what to mark a computer as. Popular Usage: What the people
who bought the computer used it for, this generally follows the
marketing terms used on the computer.
In short, Apple's computers (Mac, OSX) are PC too, and is not less PC
than any other PCs. In fact any computers owned and used by a person
(instead of a group of persons) is a personal computer. This way
saying windows-based computer as PC is correct, however badmouthing PC
while advertising itself is the same as badmouthing itself in its own
advertisement.
In a more programming term:
class PC(object):
def who(self):
print('I am a PC')
class IBMPC(PC):
def who(self):
super(IBMPC, self).who()
print 'My brand is IBM'
class Windows(PC):
def who(self):
super(Windows, self).who()
print 'My OS is Windows'
class Mac(PC):
def who(self):
super(Mac, self).who()
# denies thyself
print 'but I do not want to be called as PC'
print 'My OS is Mac'
Apple is an ungrateful son (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Malin_Kundang ). May they turns back to realize themselves before they
turned into a stone.
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