How FM use impacts purchasing decisions

[Dennis Brunnenmeyer]

Rene....

Whatever you do, don't fall into the trap of buying a Windows-based 
laptop with VISTA installed on it, hoping to *upgrade* to Windows XP. 
In some cases, this is possible, but look into it first. With brand 
new hardware designed for VISTA, you may not be able to find 
XP-suitable drivers. Your best best (in the Windows arena) is to get 
one originally designed for XP, assuming of course that you choose to 
avoid VISTA.

At one point earlier this Spring, Microsoft was considering extending 
their cutoff date for XP beyond June 30th because of the uproar from 
the business community. I guess that must not have happened, but 
before you sink money into a VISTA-only machine, I'd double-check the 
validity of that rumor.

Dennis Brunnenmeyer
***************************
At 06:51 AM 6/19/2008, Rene Stephenson wrote:
>Hi All,
>
>My PC laptop is beaten up so badly it's barely stable anymore, so 
>it's getting time to start the process of identifying the next 
>workhorse for me. (Yes, I am rough on a laptop and rely on it very 
>heavily. Any testimonials of your laptop successes are more than welcome!)
>
>I have gotten rather irritated with Microsoft since Vista came out, 
>and I really am reluctant to get a new PC laptop due to it shipping 
>with Vista and all the exponentially increased hassle factor that 
>will entail. Frankly, I don't have time to spend 30 minutes per 
>product just to load the software and get it functional by jumping 
>through all the hoops required now. I "get" that it's piracy 
>protection, and I "get" the concept and am not trying to circumvent 
>any copyright laws, but it really just feels like my time and purse 
>are being taxed because of other people's lack of ethics.
>
>I have some friends who have moved to the Mac platform for their 
>laptops, and they swear by them. All the IT gurus I know swear by 
>Unix/Linux and open source development. But, then I get the cold 
>water splashing in the face: the majority of my computer use is work 
>related, and the majority of that work is done in FrameMaker, and FM 
>seems viable only in PC world.
>
>Am I missing something, or is this really the trap it seems to be? 
>If I'm going to continue working with clients whose environment, 
>architecture, workflow, and staffing all revolve around FrameMaker, 
>am I forced to concede to all the baggage that comes with the PC 
>world? Or is there a viable way to use FrameMaker on a new Apple 
>laptop/notebook/etc., or on a Linux laptop, seamlessly with FM files 
>saved by and shared with FM PC users? I can't risk hosing anything 
>in these single-sourced shared-file environments...!
>
>Thanks in advance,
>
>
>Rene L. Stephenson
>_______________________________________________
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Dennis Brunnenmeyer
Director of Engineering
CEDAR RIDGE SYSTEMS
15019 Rattlesnake Road
Grass Valley, CA 95945-8710
Office: (530) 477-9015
Fax:  (530) 477-9085
Mobile: (530) 320-9025
eMail:  dennisb /at/ chronometrics /dot/ com