OS/2 e-Zine! - Trevor's Rant

Trevor's Rant

- by Trevor Smith

The Grass Is Always Greener

Some people have occasionally taken exception to the things I rant about each month. That's not surprising. They're rants. They're incendiary by nature and if they don't stir up some feedback they're not worth much. This month though, I thought I'd rant a bit about something that I do that bothers me.

So here it is. I'm sick and tired of the way I can't help wanting the toys the "other guy" has.

I have a computer with a fair amount of gadgetry. It's certainly not at the bottom of the technology barrel and compared to the circuit board that passed for my first machine, it's the Enterprise's on-board computer (Paramount's, not NASA's). In fact, it does just about everything I want it to--run OS/2, word processing, access the Internet, run Doom and Descent with ease--and does it well. Sure it could always use more RAM, a faster CD-ROM or a better video card, but that's the nature of this business. The point is, overall, I've got more computer than I deserve. I'm a privileged guy.

Still, every time I walk into a store and see some slick new game, fancy piece of hardware or revolutionary killer app, I get a gut-wrenching resentment that I can't have it. Why can't I have it? No, it's not because my wallet is too thin (although it is) or my girlfriend has warned me about spending any more time with my computer (although she has). It's because it has those three (depending on how you count) evil words on the box: For Windows 3.x.

OK, it's not always those evil words, sometimes it's "For Macintosh" and sometimes it's "For Windows 95", but you get my point. Despite the fact that my computer does almost everything I need it to and I have no more free time to spend even if I could afford more games, sometimes when I see Windows software I get "the twinge". You know the twinge. It's the little tug that starts in your gut when your eyes first take in "UltraSoft's Super-App Pro v9.73". It quickly causes your left eye (sometimes both) to start twitching erratically. Then it spreads to your extremities and your fists start clenching. Eventually, unable to control them, your feet take you out of range of the offending software. The disappointment of not being able to run this wondrous new application is too much and you just have to get away.

Why all this fuss over something I (and you) don't need? Why are we doomed to desire the forbidden fruit of other operating systems? Probably for the same reason that children with more than they can eat still say, "Mine!" when you ask them to share. I guess I've just never grown up, because that's what this application-envy is, pure childishness.

Of course, sometimes these feelings are justified, for example, when you consider a category of application that is genuinely useful but doesn't exist for OS/2, like desktop publishing software. I sure would like a good OS/2 counterpart to PageMaker. And there are still some rare examples of native OS/2 software that just doesn't offer a feature that other platforms' software does. This usually isn't the case when I get the twinge though. I usually want the software in question just for the sake of having it. Pure gluttony.

This isn't a new fault of mine either. I bought my first IBM compatible shortly after the release of the Macintosh (I took a long hiatus after an early experience with a TRS-80). My computer was as amazing to me as if Big Blue had shipped me a mainframe, but every time I walked by a store displaying a Mac I felt bitter. Buying version 3.0 of Windows didn't cure my Mac-lust either, that darn grass was still greener over at Apple Computers. And I wouldn't be surprised if Mac users feel the same sort of thing sometimes when they see really neat Windows applications. They certainly don't suffer from lack of native gee-whiz software but I bet they occasionally get the twinge.

The simple fact is that we all occasionally suffer from envy of our peers. That's why the fairy tale that OS/2 is somehow inferior to Windows because it has less native software has persisted for so long. We all know that OS/2 has plenty of native software to get almost any job done, but if you asked a Windows user (especially one who has never used OS/2) I'll bet he would claim OS/2 has "no" native software. It's not just because people are fooled by the lack of software on the shelves, it's because if you don't have 16 of every type of application, then it's not enough for Windows users. Like me, they want to be able to buy every shiny gadget they see--even though they know they can't possibly use them all.

So knowing this, am I going to stop being so silly? Am I going to stop wanting the latest and greatest thing just because it's the latest and greatest thing? Am I going to stop wishing I had as many options as Windows users, even though I only need one of each program? Not likely. And neither are you, so don't look at me that way.

Trevor Smith is the editor of OS/2 e-Zine!. He loves to shop and complain.

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