The Blog-Files

Resisting...with everything I've got!

Apple has recently released OS X 10.3, or Panther, as it is sometimes called. It is what they are calling a major upgrade and therefore are charging something like $179 for a copy. It has several new features that I think would be very nice, the new Finder, Exposé, Fast User Switching, to name just a few. I would love to have it. Yet, I am holding out. Not for any good reason. I just am. It's not like $200 would break the bank, or mean I'd have to clothe my child in rags, it's just that I've played this game before.

Rewind to the year 1995, I had just purchased a Compaq Presario all-in-one, which I believe had an Intel 486 in it. It also had 8MB of RAM. I also purchased a copy of PGA Tour Golf, it was pretty sharp but I was unable to play a full round of golf without long waits after every 3 holes or so while it churned away trying to load the course into those precious 8MB. If memory serves, I was fortunate enough to receive another 8MB of RAM for my birthday. This was no little present. The cost of RAM in those days was quite expensive. Expensive enough to keep me from buying it myself and plod along playing a game that was crying for more memory. After the RAM was installed, I was amazed at how cool the game played. Everything was nice and quick. Game play was uninterrupted, allowing me to focus on just playing the game. Then a little while later, I bought a new game. NHL98. I had by this time decide I was going to upgrade my machine. This time I would be smarter than before, no more all-in-ones for me. You see my poor little Compaq couldn't be upgraded to the new Pentium chips that were all the rage so in order to keep up with the games of the day I needed a new machine. This time it would be a built to spec tower. Completely upgradeable. I brought it home and tried my new hockey game and it was awesome. The graphics were a little chunky but it was doing some pretty serious 3D stuff. That's when I noticed a little logo on the box that promised so much more. It was 3DFX logo, telling me that if I wanted smooth game play, (and quite frankly, who doesn't), I could add this particular brand of video card and my gaming experience would reach new heights. Good thing for me I had purchased a computer I could add on to. After a quick trip to the store and the standard driver installations I was playing NHL hockey with smooth, beautifully render 3D action.

So, where am I going with this? In short I spent about $3000 to play a $70 game. So since then I have been trying to be happy with what I have. I can live without Panther for now. Jaguar works fine for me, and to be quite honest I don't get to use my computer as much as I used to, and anything I do manage to do doesn't really require a new operating system. I think I can wait. I'm due for a new computer sometime in the next few years. Why do they have to keep making things so cool?