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HOME TOPICS ABOUT ME What's up with Microsoft? How come Apple can do this and Microsoft can't? |
technofile Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983 Apple's built-in spam killer makes us wonder: Where's Microsoft?In the name game, Apple wins; Microsoft has only an eXPerience Sept. 1, 2002 By Al Fasoldt Copyright © 2002, Al Fasoldt Copyright © 2002, The Post-Standard Macintosh users sometimes seem too smug. Windows users who have to put up with Mac-owning friends know this especially well. To the Mac crowd, everything Apple Computer does is better than anything Microsoft ever did. Let's face it. It's a little sickening. But what if they are right? I don't mean "right" as in "literally, totally correct." I mean "right" as in "you've got a good point there, pal." As in "I see what you mean." Because I do see what these Mac mavens mean. Last week I installed the latest Max OS X operating system, code-named Jaguar, and found myself amazed by one small thing. Jaguar comes with a new version of the Mac OS X mail program that automatically filters out the unwanted mail everybody calls spam. It works better than any anti-spam program I've ever tried. And it's built into the mail software. You don't have to do anything to get it to stop spam. It just works. It fine-tunes its mail filtering based on what you tell it, but you can be as lazy as sin and still get the full effect. It's wonderful. Think about this. Apple has just issued a new version of its flagship operating system and included a mail program with a built-in spam filter. The OS X mail program is Apple's equivalent of Microsoft's ubiquitous Outlook Express. Outlook Express is the mail program with so many security holes it could be fined for masquerading as Swiss cheese. Does it come with a spam filter? How many ways can you say "no"? What's up with Microsoft? How come Apple can do this and Microsoft can't? That's not just a point of argument. It's a real concern. Microsoft's Windows monopoly is so pervasive that you need advanced calculus to figure out how many people are forced to use Windows every day. (The total is 140 zillion, or something close to that. Don't argue with me. The real number is too frightening to contemplate.) So the news that Apple Computer has come up with an operating system that filters spam is nothing more than foofoo to all those Windows users. It doesn't matter to them at all. (Trust me; most Windows users don't know that a Mac is an alternative computer. They think it's just another PC. You know, Dell, Gateway, Mac.) Apple gives Mac users a way to filter spam that's easier than breathing. Microsoft gives Windows users ... don't press me; I'm thinking ... Microsoft gives Windows users Outlook Express. To the Mac crowd, everything Apple Computer does is better than anything Microsoft ever did. That's what they say. Sure, it's an exaggeration. Of course it's not literally true. Keep telling yourself that. |