From: Denton Taylor <denton@xxxxxxxx>
I am using a Minolta DiMage Dual scanner with a non-Adaptec PCI
card, on, gasp,
a PC. Probably Minolta takes the position that they can't test every card thru
multiple configurations, so why try?
Not at all to start a platform war, and I concede that there are
advantages to the Wintel hegemony, but one of the advantages to Macs
is the vendor-provided SCSI (older models) and/or USB and/or FireWire
(new models).
Denton is right -- SCSI (USB, FireWire) peripheral vendors cannot
possibly test every combination of available card and system in the
PC world, but such testing is relatively straightforward in the Mac
world.
But don't take my word for it, monitor some of the mailing lists that
deal with peripherals. The PC people are struggling with questions
like, "How do I get my "abc" computer working with my "def" SCSI card
and my "xyz" scanner?" The Mac people are asking more abstract
questions like, "How can I achieve this affect with my "xyz"
scanner?" They take basic connectivity for granted.
SCSI is probably peaking, but it looks like Macs are leading the way
with other technologies, also. The scanner mailing list I listen to
is full of PC types cursing USB, while the Mac types are just using
it. I also expect Apple's lead with FireWire will also hold true for
quite a while. (After all, it took years after the Mac with
integrated sound first appeared for PCs to be routinely sold with
well-integrated, working sound I/O.)
Redmond is getting better, but you are still expected to be a system
integrator to get a lot of PC peripherals working properly.
Again, please don't start a platform war -- this is just an
observation. There are certainly Wintel users who will testify to no
problems with cards and peripherals, but statistically, they are few.
PCs obviously have other redeeming qualities, but ease of peripheral
integration is still not high on the list.
: Jan Steinman <mailto:Jan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
: Bytesmiths <http://www.bytesmiths.com>
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