# Platform hijacks-the last resort of the pathetic loser? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 11, 2001, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/platform-hijacks-the-last-resort-of-the-pathetic-loser/68409 "2001-06-11T12:18:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2001, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/platform-hijacks-the-last-resort-of-the-pathetic-loser/68409/21 "2001-06-12T04:55:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SmackFu \* > \*\*You’re just saying that because you have a PC. > > And of course there’s an objective better and worse. You may not have heard, but computers use something called “binary”. There are no shades of grey in binary – it’s black or white, on or off, better or worse. So any type of computer can be compared to any other computer, just by comparing their binary representations. \*\* Errr…no. Even if the machines were Turing equivalent (which isn’t necessarily so, because Turing machines are, I think, allowed an infinite amount of memory), there are other things that must be compared beyond computational adequacy. If two machines are computationally equivalent, that fact allows you to state nothing about their relative performance, ease of use or the quality of the software that they run. Turing equivalence is all about capability and says nothing about convenience. In fact, comparing two alternatives such as computer platforms is all about tradeoffs which is precisely why it’s so difficult to determine a precise algorithmic solution. It’s impossible to adequately choose weights for each feature that each evaluator can agree on. In other words, it’s all shades of gray. ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2001, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/platform-hijacks-the-last-resort-of-the-pathetic-loser/68409/22 "2001-06-12T05:29:34Z")
Hah, you losers with your GUIs. A REAL man uses DOS. 8^) ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2001, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/platform-hijacks-the-last-resort-of-the-pathetic-loser/68409/23 "2001-06-12T07:02:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Badtz Maru \* > \*\*Hah, you losers with your GUIs. A REAL man uses DOS. 8^) \*\* Sooooo, in this context, ‘real’ means ‘masochistic, backwards, and otherwise hopelessly obsolete’? Then yes, you’re a real man, BadtzM~1. 😃 These sorts of drive-bys irritate the hell out of me, too, and I’m a registered Mac-hater. That means I refuse to use the system myself, but there’s really no call to go on a crusade to put down the systems you won’t use yourself. [sub]Mmm. Windows.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2001, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/platform-hijacks-the-last-resort-of-the-pathetic-loser/68409/24 "2001-06-12T10:43:22Z")
All this talk about technical stuff is fine. (I can learn from it.) But what **really** matters is: How well does the computer run games?! (door shuts, sound of running feet getting fainter…) ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2001, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/platform-hijacks-the-last-resort-of-the-pathetic-loser/68409/25 "2001-06-12T10:51:57Z")
I’ve just come up with my Form-Letter Response to everyone who hijacks a thread with “My Mac is great and amazing!” or “My PC can run 110% of the software on the market!”, and that response will be: “If you were really such a smart, suave, thinking-different, with-it computer user, you’d design your own OS.” ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2001, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/platform-hijacks-the-last-resort-of-the-pathetic-loser/68409/26 "2001-06-12T11:28:52Z")
I wonder if the two most blatant and frequent offenders are going to bother to show up to defend themselves? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2001, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/platform-hijacks-the-last-resort-of-the-pathetic-loser/68409/27 "2001-06-12T11:29:23Z")
> [@](#): > > **Typical decal of someone who is unable to think different. Don’t you want to use the same computer Ghandi, Martin Luther King and John Lennon used?** And end up the same way _they_ did? No way! ---
**Author:** ![tiny\_ham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@tiny\_ham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiny_ham)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2001, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/platform-hijacks-the-last-resort-of-the-pathetic-loser/68409/28 "2001-06-12T13:52:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Czarcasm \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > **Typical decal of someone who is unable to think different. Don’t you want to use the same computer Ghandi, Martin Luther King and John Lennon used?** > > And end up the same way _they_ did? No way! \*\* Cripes almighty! I never thought of it that way! :: hurling iMac out window, buying BananaJr 6000 :: jarbaby ---
**Author:** ![Dani\_Filth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@Dani\_Filth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dani_Filth)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2001, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/platform-hijacks-the-last-resort-of-the-pathetic-loser/68409/29 "2001-06-12T22:35:09Z")
I’ve always been a PC user, and while i didn’t like the mac OS or that silly 1 button mouse, i can’t say i ever HATED them…until now. I swear to boycott ANYTHING remotely Apple related. Why? Ever see the apple commercial with the guy on the airplane playing “Who let the dogs out”?. Yeah… -Dani ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2001, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/platform-hijacks-the-last-resort-of-the-pathetic-loser/68409/30 "2001-06-13T05:30:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BayleDomon \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Badtz Maru \* > > \*\*Hah, you losers with your GUIs. A REAL man uses DOS. 8^) \*\* > > Sooooo, in this context, ‘real’ means ‘masochistic, backwards, and otherwise hopelessly obsolete’? Then yes, you’re a real man, BadtzM~1. 😃 > > These sorts of drive-bys irritate the hell out of me, too, and I’m a registered Mac-hater. That means I refuse to use the system myself, but there’s really no call to go on a crusade to put down the systems you won’t use yourself. > > [sub]Mmm. Windows.[/sub] \*\* Uh, I was joking…though I do really like DOS, and back when the choices on my computer were Win3.1 or DOS, I used DOS almost exclusively. If you can type reasonably fast and know your way around, you can get a lot of stuff done pretty fast with DOS, especially once you start building batch files to use as shortcuts. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2001, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/platform-hijacks-the-last-resort-of-the-pathetic-loser/68409/31 "2001-06-13T06:01:40Z")
So was I. Yeesh. The smiley doesn’t mean anything anymore, eh? I gotta add a d&r, too? Or a J/K? A joking response to a joking comment. As for the two most blatant and frequent offenders, I’ll put down ten bucks they don’t think they’re offenders at all. Probably be surprised as hell (and righteously outraged) that they’re considered as such. Besides, as I recall, neither one likes to ‘do’ the Pit, yes? ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2001, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/platform-hijacks-the-last-resort-of-the-pathetic-loser/68409/32 "2001-06-13T09:56:29Z")
Well, I almost started a Pit thread about one of the offenders myself, not because of his repeated Platform Hijacks, but because he tends to brand those who disagree with him as “trolls”, dismisses those who are younger than him (his reason: they couldn’t possibly know what they’re talking about, 'cuz they’re young!), and blames others for the flames he instigates. And he refuses to apologize when called on his jerky behavior. ---
**Author:** ![Albert\_Rose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Albert\_Rose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Albert_Rose)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2001, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/platform-hijacks-the-last-resort-of-the-pathetic-loser/68409/33 "2001-06-13T10:09:40Z")
**SPOOFE,** I thought that guy got banned. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2001, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/platform-hijacks-the-last-resort-of-the-pathetic-loser/68409/34 "2001-06-13T10:38:05Z")
DAMMIT! Name names! ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2001, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/platform-hijacks-the-last-resort-of-the-pathetic-loser/68409/35 "2001-06-13T10:43:25Z")
Oh, sorry, Kaylasdad… I’m talkin’ 'bout **Chas.E**. You can see his shining brilliance in Fenris’s second link. And, not, Albert, he’s not banned… though, if he was, I wouldn’t shed any tears. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2001, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/platform-hijacks-the-last-resort-of-the-pathetic-loser/68409/36 "2001-09-09T06:58:15Z")
Aww, c’mon! We’re not so intractable as all that! I may get in a nudge at PC users from time to time, but it’s all in good fun. In reality, I think PCs and Macs are each classy in their own ways. Of course, the Macintosh way of being classy is a classier way than the PC way of being classy… ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2001, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/platform-hijacks-the-last-resort-of-the-pathetic-loser/68409/37 "2001-09-09T13:43:38Z")
> [@](#): > > Since I’m the ‘big iron’ (AS/400) guy Hee hee hee hee \*::: giggle ::: \* I _love_ it when I encounter a user who thinks an AS/400 is a genuine mainframe. (Hey, all the System 3 stuff had neat applications, but “mainframe” or “big iron”?) ---
**Author:** ![Legomancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/779978/32.png) [@Legomancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legomancer)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2001, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/platform-hijacks-the-last-resort-of-the-pathetic-loser/68409/38 "2001-09-09T15:41:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fenris \* > \*\*Y’know what? Both platforms have advantages and disadvantages (so does Linux, but I’ve yet to see a Linux type do this, although I’ve seen Linux threads hijacked this way) and neither is perfect. \*\* Maybe I’m misunderstanding - you’re saying you’ve never heard Linux people jump in to crow about their OS over others? If so, then please let me live in your world. I have some friends who have gone Linux and, although they have calmed down recently, it was ALL they would do. It was like a religion - once they discovered Linux, it was very important for me and everyone else to go Linux immediately rather than suffering through the horrors of Windows. If I mentioned I was looking for an MP3 utility, I’d get “Well on Linux I could do that in one line of code!” and if I mentioned some quirk of IE that was bugging me I’d get, “Well in Linux all browsers fellate you on demand and will cook all your meals!” I’m not saying that Linux is good or bad - I’ve no idea either way. It’s just that my experience is that Linux zealots approach their OS like fundamentalists, who make it their point to save all those who have not yet acknowledged Linux as their personal savior. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2001, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/platform-hijacks-the-last-resort-of-the-pathetic-loser/68409/39 "2001-09-09T16:44:37Z")
**Lego** : Yeah, I’ve heard Linux zealots, (“Here’s a nickel kid, go buy yourself a _real_ operating system.”), but I’ve yet to see a Linux zealot do the same sort of annoying pointless hijack that I’ve seen the other two OS-zealots do. I’m not saying they don’t, I’m just saying that I haven’t seen 'em _start_ a hijack. Fenris ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2001, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/platform-hijacks-the-last-resort-of-the-pathetic-loser/68409/40 "2001-09-09T17:25:24Z")
I just can’t understand how anyone could be happy with a one-button mouse. It just makes no sense. How can you accomplish anything if you can’t right-click? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/platform-hijacks-the-last-resort-of-the-pathetic-loser/68409.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/platform-hijacks-the-last-resort-of-the-pathetic-loser/68409.md?page=3)