For the longest time, I had people ask me to help them with their computers. All problems stem from how to copy files to a diskette, yes they still exist, to no boot up due to missing or corrupt system files to system crashes. Sound familiar? I sure they do. So why do I help them? That’s an excellent question. One that think about seriously too. My answer is “because it’s good to help out friends and family,” “because it’s my job,” and “because I got cornered to help.” Do I really want to help them? No. Through experience, those problems will happen to the same people again and again, it’s a total waste of time for me and I get no financial gain from it. Look around you. How many ma-and-pa computer stores you see now-a-days? How often do computer shows come around? And if they do, how many vendors show up? A decade ago, I did build computers as a part-time business and because of competition, small profits and ungodly amount of problems, I gave it up. Don’t get me wrong. I do enjoy building computers, but I to it for personal gain and satisfaction. Still sound familiar? Here’s a hint–Wintel computers.

As with many of my generation and socio-economic background, I want to use a computer without any problems whether it’s for play or for business. So why am I writing about this now? A couple days ago, I was reading–yes, reading–news about issues with the new Mac OS upgrade. Most of it stems from some Macs becoming bricks–unusable to system crashes and failures. What a rarity! If you look at this from a computer tech point of view, this is not new to upgrading any system software. Historically, service OS system upgrades pose more problems on Wintel machines as opposed to Macs. The next biggest headache is the upgrading from a previous OS version. The third most problematic issue is the issue of system drivers. Regardless of which OS you use, these issues causes the biggest problems when improving your system.

Whenever a new service pack or system patch comes along, many of us jump on the bandwagon to get it and install it. I, too, have to admit I’m prone to such hype. Remember service packs 1 through 3 or the OS X updates? Vividly. When the media gets hold about a new update coming out, all hell breaks out–litterally. Everything about the service pack, features and fixes, are hyped to a point where the user feels that it’s a necessity to obtain it. OS updates for the Mac are not so hyped. Instead, whenever the software update window pops up, it’s always an option to download and install the update. Without the hype, as opposed to the hype of the Windows service packs, how many of us Mac uses actually read the new fixes and features for the system update for OSX? I admit I read what’s given, but not more extensive view with the “ see more” option.

Remember the switch to Windows 98 to XP? Most thought it was the greatest move in history. I do concur that it was. I used Windows through most of my computer experience. I still remember all blue screens and system crashes that occur very, very frequently in 98 that was taken care of in XP. The most memorable problem are the driver issues. Moving from a 16-bit OS to a 32-bit one caused many hardware manufacturers to update their drivers, most not perfect. It’s true that basic driver issues were taken care of with XP, most still need drivers from the manufacturer to the hardware to work to its full potential. Now, when Vista came on the scene, it was also thought to be the best version out there. When users go their hands on the very expensive monster, they were treated to a lot of aggravation, not to mention spending more money on hardware upgrades to make Vista work “as advertised” with it’s Aero interface. Vista is where I drew the line on helping out.

The Mac OS fared no better. All long-time Mac users remember the transition from OS9 to OSX (OS 10). A lot feared that this upgrade will be a bumpy right. It was. On top of that, the OS was completely rewritten and based with a version of the Debian linux OS. How terrifying was what? Even I had serious concerns with the new OS, for personal and work-related issues. But what concerned all users with the new OS is “will my current programs work?” Many of us Mac users invested a lot (or not) of money in programs that were written for OS9. It was good that Apple had enough foresight to overcome this serious issue...Rosetta. Even with Rosetta, there were still OS problems to overcome. At least the new was a lot more stable then previous OSs. Again the driver issue came up, just like its counterpart. As with XP, Apple did a better job at porting device drivers to the new OS. Still, there were some devices that worked at the basic level and not to its full potential. The initial transition was difficult, but with constant updating, the new OS became better, less buggy and more stable after each subsequent version. And then in the mid-2000s, Apple made that all important decision to switch from PowerPC to Intel processors. All believed that it was the best move Apple has made. It was. No longer I had to explain the why a slow PowerPC processes information much faster than a faster Intel processor to the “not so well versed” person. Now, Apple is on almost equal footing with hardware. Consumers could now compare hardware directly to other manufacturers. With comparable hardware, the Mac OS was faster, stable and user-friendly than XP.

What I’m trying to get at–is that what ever OS you use, upgrading and updating will have issues. Each OS developer tries their best to take into account these issues and make the transition less painful for their users. Unfortunately, most people don’t realize or understand some issues when they upgrade or update their systems. It’s like “a new update is out and I have to install it” mentality. There are a couple major things to do when you do upgrade or update; always back-up your files or your entire system drive, check for system requirements, and, if you have the knowledge and patience to do so, instead of updating system software with a new version, do a complete re-install of all software whenever a new version comes out.

At one time, a friend of mine asked me [to paraphrase] “why pay for an update when there’s linux out there for free?” I do use linux, but for experimentation on an old Pentium II machine. I installed the Ubuntu version of linux on the beast and it runs a lot faster than Intel Core 2 Duo. Really. So why doesn’t everyone use linux? Well, here’s what I think is a good answer…usability and money. Most people use a Wintel computer because they’re cheap, readily available and useful to most people, but tend to forget the problems that come with such machines. People use Macs to get good hardware, ease of use and very little problems, but you pay a premium. Linux, on the other hand, is cheap (free in a lot of cases), doesn’t use a lot of system resources, but is somewhat difficult to use. So what would I choose? Most of you probably already guessed. I use a Mac. Why? For all my personal history in using computers, I know firsthand all the problems and costs that come with owning a computer. There’s too many manufactures making too products…some are good, but many more, cheap and unreliable. Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for all the choices out there, but the hodgepodge causes too many incompatibilities. And many users don’t understand them at all. In addition to that, I don’t like the fact that whatever hardware I buy becomes obsolete in a few months, therefore wasting more money in upgrades. So with a Mac, I get good, reliable hardware and software, it’s easy to use, saved money I would’ve wasted in constant hardware upgrades, protection from obsolescence and it’s also used as a standard for creative people in the graphic design industry. But on top of it all, it just works.

And finally, the day arrives. Just like any other day, I wake up the usual time early in the morning. I’m surprised that nobody is aware yet. We did kinda stayed up a little bit last night to finish up most of the food we had left over, but it was too much. There were some people running up and down the floors play zombie tag which we met. We gave them the leftover food we had. But anyway, I woke up to get ready, pack up and make the most of our last day. We had one and a half more hours left. We had to check out by 11:30 to make it to the station to head back home. When I was about to head over to the convention center, Joe woke up and got ready, so he came with me.



At the convention center, we walked around and took more cosplayer pictures. By 9:00 there was voice acting panel that we decided to go to. We stayed there for a bit. There were sever demonstrations on how voice acting was done. It was cool. Joe was already waiting for his cousin to cover over to AX. So when his cousin came over, we met up with him and his son. We took them to registration which was done rather quickly as opposed to the two and a half hour wait we four went though the day before the first. After that, the first order of business was to head to the exhibit hall. There was already a very long line, but since it was already 10, everyone was going in already. We met the rest of the guys in line. There were news changes to plan to return home. Joe talked his cousin, Mike, into giving us a ride home since he lived in Moreno Valley, too.

At 11:30, we all headed back to the hotel to grab our gear because it was time to check out. On the way back to the convention center, we took all our gear and loaded up Mike’s SUV with our gear. Lawrence was to get a ride from his cousin in Long Beach to he check in his gear at baggage check. So back to the exhibit hall.



There was really nothing much to do in the exhibit hall. So we all split up to do last minute shopping and taking more pictures. Now that we were able to stay longer, we killed two hours in the exhibit hall until about 2:30. At this time, we all got in line for the Gundum 00 focus panel. Honestly, I didn’t get past episode one of this series. The panel was going to give spoilers on the rest of first season and a lot of the season. We left. Appearenlty, four of us didn’t see most of the series too. So that was it. We waited for Joe and Mike to finish the panel and went home. Oh the drama......