*BSD News Article 68076


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From: gupta@mrspock.mt.att.com (Arun Gupta)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.os.ms-windows.advocacy,comp.os.ms-windows.nt.advocacy,comp.os.msdos.misc,comp.sys.acorn.advocacy,comp.sys.mac.advocacy,comp.sys.next.advocacy,comp.sys.powerpc.advocacy,comp.unix.advocacy,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc,comp.unix.machten,comp.unix.pc-clone.16bit,comp.unix.pc-clone.32bit,comp.unix.shell,comp.unix.solaris,comp.unix.user-friendly,comp.os.os2.advocacy
Subject: Re: The PC Mac Holy war
Date: 9 May 1996 12:55:48 GMT
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A. Forest Godfrey <ag5c+@andrew.cmu.edu> wrote:

>    Well, since this seems to be the thread that will never die, I
>thought that I'd correct some of the earlier posts on what machine is
>more reliable - Mac or PC.  I am a student cluster manager here at CMU
>and therefore, I have access to all the requests for computer
>maintainance in public clusters on the campus.  I wrote a script to go
>through them (since they are electronic) and categorize them into our
>different platforms of machines - Mac, PC, Unix, and Printers (also
>Unknown/Misc other periferal hardware like scanners).  Guess what I
>found?  Exactly what I thought I'd find.  There are percentage wise,
>about as many Mac and IBM service requests.  Our Unix workstations are
>the most reliable, while the printers are the least (though to be fair,
>they do take a real beating).

[snip]

Well, I expect your Macs to be a representative sample of all Macs.
However,  I do not expect your PCs to be a representative sample of
all PCs :  CMU probably has IBMs and Compaqs, and no Packard Bells,
and no no-name-brand PCs.  

Since Macintosh prices are compared to all PCs, not just name-brands,
it is only fair to compare Macintosh reliability with the same set
of PCs.   Once you get into name-brands, Macintosh is competitive in
price, and the name-brand PCs are competitive in reliability -- and
I don't think any Mac advocate would dispute this.

-arun gupta