The Virginia Tech Supercomputer

The Mac users are revolting!

It’s been a while since I was able to hit a topic that generated a bunch of mail the way my column on the Virginia Tech supercomputer did.

All the mail is coming from people with mac.com e-mail addresses. I guess someone there posted a link to it and said, “Write to this guy.” I feel like a Congressman getting a ton of mail from a write-in campaign where everyone has the same return address.

If you’re about to write to me to complain, read this first. It may save you some time.

All these letters say variations of the same thing:
1. The Mac is wonderful.
2. You hate Macs so I hate you.
3. You didn’t give the Mac enough credit in your column.
4. The 2.3 GHz PowerPC 970 processor is, in fact, available to the public; you’re an idiot for not researching its availability.
5. OSX is not Unix, it’s based on Unix, you moron.
Yada, yada, yada.

So here:
I don’t hate Macs. I hate OS9, which I’m stuck on at work. But even if I did, guess what? I’m allowed. I’m allowed to hate what I want to, and so are you. I’m allowed to think that orange is a nicer color than green (or vice versa), and no amount of telling me how wrong I am or how pretty green is will change my mind.

That said, I think OSX is a beautiful thing (although possibly coming too late to save the Mac, considering that there are, I hear, now more Linux users than Mac users). I think it’s a great OS on a great piece of hardware, and I’m heartened to see so much software coming out for it.

My column wasn’t about Macs, it was about the VT supercomputer. I wasn’t writing a piece on how it’s Mac based, either — just on the overall picture of how cool it is. I’m sure there will be plenty of stories covering the Macintosh end of things; mine wasn’t one.

I did, in fact, check on the availability of the PowerPC 970, and was told that it is not available to the public. Maybe that was dated, maybe it was wrong, but seeing as this was one sentence in the article, I felt — and feel — that I did the checking I needed to.

If you want to quibble about whether or when it made its way into XServe machines anyone can buy, go ahead. It’s not crucial to the column.

OSX is, the writers are correct in saying, based on Unix, but not actually Unix. Me, I think that’s splitting hairs but there you go.

Anyway, if you’re thinking of writing, please feel free. But leave out the nastiness. It’s childish.

I’m always surprised that people who send impolite e-mails (like David Gregory , who gave his message a subject of “Nice Hack Job in USA Today”) really expect me to read them, or to even give them the time of day. Why would I?

Another example is the mature and articulate Alberto Russell (a3russell@scu.edu) who starts his letter “Just wanted to let you know that you are full of complete bull shit and apparent [sic] hold utter contempt for Apple without any apparent excuse.”

I don’t know what the rest said. That’s why I have a Delete key.

People who have valid points to make can make them without resorting to attacks. When the nastiness starts, it’s hard to take the writer — or his point — seriously.

* * *

Follow up:

“Nick” (macattack15@spymac.com) from Albany, NY, writes simply, “douche”. What a well-thought out argument! How intelligent you must be! How proud you would make your mama! [laugh]

Mac users, rally ’round Nick!

* * *

On the other end of the intelligence spectrum is Nathan Finch, who took the time to explain things rather than — like so many Mac users seem to have — simply blathering. He writes:

Current configurations of the x-serve (what is currently used in the VA supercomputer) are only available to the public with 2GHz G5 chips (single or dual). The desktop model (few regular users would purchase an x-serve for an individual-use computer) which is what was originally used when the speed test was done is currently available in a dual 2.5 G5 chip model (as well as 1.8 and 2GHz models). So, what you wrote is correct, but a person at home can purchase a more powerful desktop machine than what is being used at VA.

Since a faster, more powerful, retail, non-server version of the G5 computer is available to anyone with the $$ that may be why folks are upset about the 2.3 unavailability comment–just that there’s better out there for the public.

I also recall in articles I read (but can’t cite) that one criteria VA was looking for was the best performance for $$ and it turned out to be the Macintosh implementation of the PPC970 chip was best (but I may be misremembering as reading that was a while ago).

* * *
Yep, mac.com is a community I sure wish I was a part of. Here’s what I get from Gabe Harville:

From: gabeharville
Subject: you suck, you fuckin little bitchfag.
Date: Sun, 5 Sep 2004 22:47:29 -1000
X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.619)

FUCK YOU, FUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOUFUCK YOU

* * *

The quality of the Mac user community continues to display itself. Now comes “rp” (finalcutpro78@yahoo.com) who writes the following bit of quality prose:

Wake up an [sic] smell the roses asshole. PC’s [sic] are far behind Macs. Get you fucking shit straight you [sic] fucking geek.