Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes!

Life's Extremes: Left- vs. Right-Handed

2011-11-14T13:46:00.001-08:00

Whether you're a righty or lefty may say more about you than what hand you use to write or play sports.

In this weekly series, LiveScience examines the psychology and sociology of opposite human behavior and personality types.

To get a sense of human handedness, take a survey of those combination chair-desk furniture pieces in classrooms. The desktops tend to wrap around from the right. That's so right-handers can comfortably rest their arms while jotting down notes with their dominant hand. For that uncommon left-hander, if he or she is lucky, there might be an odd-looking desk or two with an oppositely molded desktop.

Such classroom chauvinism reflects the puzzlingly strong bias toward right-hand dominance in our species. All over the planet, nine out of 10 people, on average, favor their right hand for writing, throwing and so on. ("Footedness" roughly follows this same breakdown, though for sensory organs, such as eyes and ears, preference is less skewed;true ambidexterity occurs in less than 1 percent of the population.)

Despite more than a century and a half of research, scientists have yet to find an answer for what causes handedness. "It's a very good question but we don't know," said David P. Carey, a neuropsychologist at Bangor University in the U.K.

Clues relating to asymmetries in our bodies, and especially in the brain, however, could help explain the paucity of "south paws."

To the left, to the right

The selection of one hand for fine motor control might reflect the fact that much of our anatomy and function is not balanced.

Our internal organs do not mirror the body's exterior, bilateral symmetry — that pattern of two opposing legs, hands, nipples, eyes, ears and so on. The heart and spleen, for example, normally form on the body's left side, the liver on the right; each lung bears a distinctly different shape.

And so it goes with our brain. That wrinkly pulp in our skulls divides down the middle into two hemispheres and, in a quirk of evolution, each hemisphere controls the opposite side of the body; that is, the brain's left hemisphere operates our right side, and vice versa. The same process occurs with vision — what our left eye "sees" is processed by the right rear of the brain. [10 Things You Didn't Know About the Brain]

Although the two halves of our brain have broadly similar anatomy, certain tasks tend to be handled by one side of the brain more than the other. Scientists chalk this up to efficiency's sake, as performing duplicate, simultaneous actions on each side wastes energy and available brain power.

"For a lot of actions, it's a good idea to have the boss living in one place," Carey said.

Hand to mouth

That phenomenon of brain laterality and division of labor could help explain handedness. Among the more demanding and recently evolved tasks for our brain is language processing and generation. Intriguingly, in 90 percent to 95 percent of right-handers, the left hemisphere is dominant for language and speech functions, suggesting evolution has honed one side to handle skillful work.

"If I have one part of my brain controlling my fine motor movements, it would make sense to have this part handle language, too," Carey told LiveScience.

Yet the relationship is not so simple. About two-thirds of lefties are also left-hemisphere dominant for speech and language, Carey said, and some 5 percent or more of righties have right-hemisphere dominance. [Constant Battle as Brain Pits Right Hand Against Left]

Delving into genetics has not yet explained away the extreme bias toward human right-handedness either, though hints of inheritance emerge. The chance of two left-handed parents having left-handed offspring, for instance, is around 25 percent, compared with 10 percent in the general population. A gene discovered in 2007, called LRRTM1, shows up more in lefties as well.

Paws to claws

Researchers have also looked to other animals to help them solve the human riddle of handedness. Many mammals, including our closest living relatives the chimpanzees, bonobos and gorillas, exhibit a preferred hand. So, too, do dogs.

"Your dog is one-pawed," said Carey. "If you force a dog to reach for a toy through an aperture, it will tend over many trials to use one paw over the other."

But this breakdown for left versus right in Fido as well as Coco is about 50-50, eschewing humans' overwhelmingly right-sided population-handedness. That even-handed, if you will, split extends to non-mammals such as fiddler crabs, whose enlarged claw for fighting develops on either side in equal measure.

"Sinister" lefties?

Whatever handedness' origin in humankind, it's clearly been around a long time. For example, cave paintings have shown the occasional lefty ancestor clutching a spear.

The relative scarcity of left-handedness, as with many "otherisms" in human history, has provoked cultural superstition and discrimination. Even just several decades ago in the U.S., parents and teachers still snatched pencils out of children's left hands and tried making lefties write like a righty.

The ancient prejudice against lefties remains embedded in the English language. "Sinister" shares a Latin root with "sinistral," meaning "in regards to the left side," and "left" derives from the Anglo-Saxon word for "weak."

For biological reasons yet unknown, lefties might indeed be slightly cursed. That gene associated with left-handedness, LRRTM1, is also associated with the mental disease schizophrenia. Correlations have been found for left-handedness and illnesses such as inflammatory bowel disease and alcoholism.

On the other hand, some evidence points to lefties possessing on average more intelligence or artistic giftedness than righties, perhaps given their alternative brains. Interestingly, four out of the last seven presidents have been left-handers, includingBarack Obama, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Gerald Ford.

Living as a lefty

Overall, handedness — inasmuch as it offers insight into an individual's cerebral and bodily abilities, tendencies and deficits — is just one of many elements in a complicated picture.

"There is not a one-to-one correlation. …. It is not as if you are left-handed [so] you will become brilliant or get a disease," said Amar Klar, a geneticist at the National Cancer Institute's Center for Cancer Research in Frederick, Md.

Although the stigma against left-handedness has largely lifted around the world, Carey pointed out that righties still have it easier.

"Poor lefties have to live in a right-handed world," Carey told LiveScience. "The fly in your trousers is right-handed; even a can opener is right-handed."

Steve Jobs. Biography

2011-11-13T22:32:00.001-08:00

Steve Jobs was born February 24, 1955, to two University of Wisconsin graduate students who gave him up for adoption. Smart but directionless, Jobs experimented with different pursuits before starting Apple Computers with Stephen Wozniak in the Jobs' family garage. Apple's revolutionary products, which include the iPod, iPhone and iPad, are now seen as dictating the evolution of modern technology.

QUICK FACTS

NAME: Steve Jobs
OCCUPATION: Entrepreneur, Computer Programmer, Inventor
BIRTH DATE: February 24, 1955
DEATH DATE: October 05, 2011
EDUCATION: Reed College

BEST KNOWN FOR

Steve Jobs co-founded Apple Computers with Stephen Wozniak. Under his guidance, the company pioneered a series of revolutionary technologies including the iPhone and iPad.

QUOTES

I would trade all of my technology for an afternoon with Socrates.

– Steve Jobs

Early Life

Steven Paul Jobs was born on February 24, 1955, to Joanne Simpson and Abdulfattah "John" Jandali, two University of Wisconsin graduate students who gave their unnamed son up for adoption. His father, Abdulfattah Jandali, was a Syrian political science professor and his mother, Joanne Simpson, worked as a speech therapist. Shortly after Steve was placed for adoption, his biological parents married and had another child, Mona Simpson. It was not until Jobs was 27 that he was able to uncover information on his biological parents.

As an infant, Steven was adopted by Clara and Paul Jobs and named Steven Paul Jobs. Clara worked as an accountant and Paul was a Coast Guard veteran and machinist. The family lived in Mountain View within California's Silicon Valley. As a boy, Jobs and his father would work on electronics in the family garage. Paul would show his son how to take apart and reconstruct electronics, a hobby which instilled confidence, tenacity, and mechanical prowess in young Jobs.

While Jobs has always been an intelligent and innovative thinker, his youth was riddled with frustrations over formal schooling. In elementary school he was a prankster whose fourth grade teacher needed to bribe him to study. Jobs tested so well, however, that administrators wanted to skip him ahead to high school—a proposal his parents declined.

After he did enroll in high school, Jobs spent his free time at Hewlett-Packard. It was there that he befriended computer club guru Steve Wozniak. Wozniak was a brilliant computer engineer, and the two developed great respect for one another.

Apple Computers

After high school, Jobs enrolled at Reed College in Portland, Oregon. Lacking direction, he dropped out of college after six months and spent the next 18 months dropping in on creative classes. Jobs later recounted how one course in calligraphy developed his love of typography.

In 1974, Jobs took a position as a video game designer with Atari. Several months later he left Atari to find spiritual enlightenment in India, traveling the continent and experimenting with psychedelic drugs. In 1976, when Jobs was just 21, he and Wozniak started Apple Computers. The duo started in the Jobs family garage, and funded their entrepreneurial venture after Jobs sold his Volkswagen bus and Wozniak sold his beloved scientific calculator.

Jobs and Wozniak are credited with revolutionizing the computer industry by democratizing the technology and making the machines smaller, cheaper, intuitive, and accessible to everyday consumers. The two conceived a series of user-friendly personal computers that they initially marketed for $666.66 each. Their first model, the Apple I, earned them $774,000. Three years after the release of their second model, the Apple II, sales increased 700 percent to $139 million dollars. In 1980, Apple Computer became a publically traded company with a market value of $1.2 billion on the very first day of trading. Jobs looked to marketing expert John Scully of Pepsi-Cola to help fill the role of Apple's President.

Departure from Apple

However, the next several products from Apple suffered significant design flaws resulting in recalls and consumer disappointment. IBM suddenly surpassed Apple sales, and Apple had to compete with an IBM/PC dominated business world. In 1984 Apple released the Macintosh, marketing the computer as a piece of a counter culture lifestyle: romantic, youthful, creative. But despite positive sales and performance superior to IBM's PCs, the Macintosh was still not IBM compatible. Scully believed Jobs was hurting Apple, and executives began to phase him out.

In 1985, Jobs resigned as Apple's CEO to begin a new hardware and software company called NeXT, Inc. The following year Jobs purchased an animation company from George Lucas, which later became Pixar Animation Studios. Believing in Pixar's potential, Jobs initially invested $50 million of his own money into the company. Pixar Studios went on to produce wildly popular animation films such as Toy Story, Finding Nemo and The Incredibles. Pixar's films have netted $4 billion. The studio merged with Walt Disney in 2006, making Steve Jobs Disney's largest shareholder.

Reinventing Apple

Despite Pixar's success, NeXT, Inc. floundered in its attempts to sell its specialized operating system to mainstream America. Apple eventually bought the company in 1997 for $429 million. That same year, Jobs returned to his post as Apple's CEO.

Much like Steve Jobs instigated Apple's success in the 1970s, he is credited with revitalizing the company in the 1990s. With a new management team, altered stock options, and a self-imposed annual salary of $1 a year, Jobs put Apple back on track. His ingenious products such as the iMac, effective branding campaigns, and stylish designs caught the attention of consumers once again.

Pancreatic Cancer

In 2003, Jobs discovered he had a neuroendocrine tumor, a rare but operable form of pancreatic cancer. Instead of immediately opting for surgery, Jobs chose to alter his pescovegetarian diet while weighing Eastern treatment options. For nine months Jobs postponed surgery, making Apple's board of directors nervous. Executives feared that shareholders would pull their stocks if word got out that their CEO was ill. But in the end, Job's confidentiality took precedence over shareholder disclosure. In 2004, he had a successful surgery to remove the pancreatic tumor. True to form, in subsequent years Jobs disclosed little about his health.

Recent Innovations

Apple introduced such revolutionary products as the Macbook Air, iPod, and iPhone, all of which have dictated the evolution of modern technology. Almost immediately after Apple releases a new product, competitors scramble to produce comparable technologies. In 2007, Apple's quarterly reports were the company's most impressive statistics to date. Stocks were worth a record-breaking $199.99 a share, and the company boasted a staggering $1.58 billion dollar profit, an $18 billion dollar surplus in the bank, and zero debt.

In 2008, iTunes became the second biggest music retailer in America-second only to Wal-Mart. Half of Apple's current revenue comes from iTunes and iPod sales, with 200 million iPods sold and six billion songs downloaded. For these reasons, Apple has been rated No. 1 in America's Most Admired Companies, and No. 1 amongst Fortune 500 companies for returns to shareholders.

Personal Life

Early in 2009, reports circulated about Jobs' weight loss, some predicting his health issues had returned, which included a liver transplant. Jobs had responded to these concerns by stating he was dealing with a hormone imbalance. After nearly a year out of the spotlight, Steve Jobs delivered a keynote address at an invite-only Apple event September 9, 2009.

In respect to his personal life, Steve Jobs remained a private man who rarely discloses information about his family. What is known is Jobs fathered a daughter with girlfriend Chrisann Brennan when he was 23. Jobs denied paternity of his daughter Lisa in court documents, claiming he was sterile. Jobs did not initiate a relationship with his daughter until she was 7 but, when she was a teenager, she came to live with her father.

In the early 1990s, Jobs met Laurene Powell at Stanford business school, where Powell was an MBA student. They married on March 18, 1991, and lived together in Palo Alto, California, with their three children.

Final Years

On October 5, 2011, Apple Inc. announced that co-founder Steve Jobs had died. He was 56 years old at the time of his death.

PAKISTAN: Heavy rains and snowfall disrupt life in north

2011-11-13T22:13:00.001-08:00

Photo: IRIN

Heavy snowfall disrupts life in the northern Pakistani district of Chitral

Islamabad, 20 October 2004 (IRIN) - Heavy rain and unexpected snowfall earlier this month in northern Pakistan have caused huge damage to land and households, with at least eight people reported dead in the mountainous district of Chitral, some 355 km from Peshawar, capital of North West Frontier Province (NWFP).

"First-hand assessment is not possible as several calamity-hit areas are still inaccessible. Local and provincial departments are providing tents, blankets and food items, but the loss is so huge that rehabilitation will take several months," provincial information minister Asif Iqbal told IRIN from the northwestern city of Peshawar.

Record rainfall of over 300 mm was registered in the second week of October. "October is usually considered the driest month of the year with no history of such heavy rain in last 25-30 years. The snow season normally starts by mid-November," Dr Qamar-uz-Zaman Chaudhry, head of Pakistan's meteorological department, told IRIN in Islamabad.

The met office has predicted more rain in the coming days. The district authorities have asked the central government and provincial authorities for assistance to carry out relief work in the remote area as they were not prepared either financially or technically to deal with an emergency of this scale.

"Immediate attention is required to help the affected people," Shahzada Mohiuddin, head of local administration in Chitral, told IRIN from Peshawar.

The continued downpour followed by heavy snowfall has disrupted life in over 32 valleys of the district, extending over an area of 14,850 sq km. The main road to Peshawar, the only one connecting it to the rest of the country, is only partially open, while having it fully up and running will take at least another week due to poor weather.

The internal roads of the valleys are still blocked due to snow and landslides, according to local residents.

The local communities will be vulnerable to food shortages in the coming winter months, as their staple crops of maize and rice have been damaged badly, according to an initial assessment report of the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP), which works to improve the basic infrastructure in the area.

The AKRSP report said the brunt of the disaster has fallen on fruit orchards and other trees, with the damage to tree crops being extensive. Community-based infrastructure such as link roads, irrigation channels and power units have been extensively damaged. The report added that as the remoter areas open up to communications, the casualty figures might rise. In higher altitude areas, loss of livestock could also be high, as animals were still grazing in summer pastures.

"Most of the valleys of Chitral are still disconnected and accurate information about the losses is still not available. Our initial assessment is based on the information we have received from people coming from the area," Miraj Khan, regional manager of AKRSP, told IRIN from Chitral.

Theme (s): Natural Disasters,

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

SonyVaio vs Apple

2011-11-13T21:43:00.000-08:00

by Jim Boutilier

There are already a number of Sony VAIO SZ reviews and Apple MacBook reviews written on this site, but if you are like most folks only one or the other may have interested you enough to read (depending on if you are a Mac person or a PC person).

This review is inspired by those cute “I'm a Mac... I'm a PC” commercials, and while it may be less humorous, it will hopefully be a bit more informative as to the differences between at least this Mac and this PC.

Obviously the most efficient comparison method would be a big table, but as this is meant to be a learning experience and not a cure for insomnia, I'll try and intersperse some pictures, text, and tables in an effort to keep your interest until the end.

Our two contenders:

Sony VAIO SZ 13.3" screen notebook on the left, Apple MacBook 13.3" screen notebook on the right (view large image)

On the left we have a Sony VAIO SZ280 Premium model and on the right we have a Black Apple MacBook model.

BUILD AND DESIGN COMPARISON

	Sony VAIO SZ280	Apple MacBook
Size	0.9-1.2h x 12.5w x 9.3d (128 cubic in)	1.1h x 12.3w x 9d (81cubic in)
Weight	3.7 pounds	5.2 pounds
Materials	Magnesium, Aluminum, Plastics	Plastics
Screen	13.3 1280 x 800 Widescreen Glare type, LED Backlighting	13.3 1280 x 800 Widescreen Glare type, Backlit
Keyboard	Full size, long travel keys	Compact Size, short travel keys
Buttons	Power, Speed/Stamina, WirelessOn/OFF, 12fn, 2 user defined	Power, 12fn
Touchpad	Small 2 button w Fingerprint Scanner	Large 1 button
Camera	1.3mp with Microphone	1.3mp with Microphone

The numbers don't tell the whole story, but here we see that while the SZ and MacBook are similar “Thin and Light” category notebooks, the MacBook capitalizes on the “Thin” part and the SZ on the “Light”.

The weight is the most significant difference and for that the Sony wins hands down. The weight difference is so considerable, that the Sony actually feels smaller when handling it even though it is the larger of the two machines dimensions wise.

On the visual and tactile side, I'd give the edge to the MacBook because of its smooth curves, rectangular shape, and much more solid and sturdy feel.

The screens are the same size and resolution, and I'd say both are of excellent contrast, brightness, and quality. They have similar horizontal and vertical viewing angles. I'd give the SZ a slight technical edge here because it can be adjusted brighter than the MacBook. In really bright light this may be an advantage, but in common conditions I keep the SZ brightness down a notch or two as I find it too bright.

If you work on an airplane the MacBook is a little easier because it is a bit shorter from base to the top of the screen when open, as well as from front to back.

Both keyboards are very nice, but I prefer the shorter travel and much firmer feel on the MacBook (I tend to miss letters on the SZ, particularly spaces). The SZ has a couple of extra buttons for special functions (switching video cards and turning wireless off and on) and a couple of programmable buttons that the MacBook does not have. Both track pads are very nice. The SZ track pad includes a fingerprint reader that is linked to a TPM module and both are very handy, but frustrating on occasion when the reader does not read correctly or you are forced to change your password by the TPM module. The MacBook track pad is roomy and responsive, but what is with the one mouse button? Get with the program Apple. In all fairness, you can set it up so a two fingered touch on the pad is a right click but there is really no excuse to not have two real buttons. Both track pads feature horizontal and vertical scrolling – the SZ by zones along the bottom and right edge and the MacBook via touching the pad with one finger and dragging another finger in the direction(s) you want to scroll. I can definitely live with the MacBook track pad, but I prefer the one on the SZ as it's a bit smoother and more responsive (not to mention the fingerprint scanner).

Both machines have built in cameras and microphones in the top center of the screen bezel for video conferencing and both have similar specs, but the picture quality and angle is better in the MacBook. For some reason the camera on the SZ points at the top of my head when the screen is at an optimal viewing angle, where the MacBook is pretty much dead on when at an optimal viewing angle. There is a horrid little piece of Sony software on the SZ that pops up asking for adjustments whenever its camera is activated. Both cameras feature a little light so you (think) you know when they are on (these days you can't even trust a cell phone you think is off, so who knows).

One of my pet peeves on Sony VAIO’s is that, while they are very feature rich, the features are not smoothly integrated. Usually there are a number of completely separate utilities (on per special feature) that look and act like they were written by different developers – for each of whom, this was the first program they've written. No similar look and feel, little in the way of robustness, and – er not too thoroughly tested – especially if you try and run more than one at a time.

Front View:

(view large image)

Both machines have clean looking fronts as they both feature magnetic catches so no buttons or levers are needed to open. The MacBook (bottom) features a little scallop so you can grip the lid to open it a bit easier. The MacBook also has a tiny IR window for its included remote control. The wedge shape of the SZ (top) makes it appear a bit thinner from this angle but overall it is thicker than the MacBook

Left side view:

Left side view of VAIO SZ on top and MacBook on the bottom (view large image)

On the SZ (top) from left to right we have microphone and headphone jacks, FireWire 400, VGA, PCCARD T2, and Memory Stick.

On the MacBook (bottom) from left to right we have power, ethernet, mini DVI, FireWire 400, two USB 2.0 ports, Microphone and headphone jacks, and aKensington Lock slot.

The MacBook has no PC-Card slot or Memory Stick slot. The mini DVI connector is proprietary on the MacBook but you can purchase adapters ($20 each) to convert it to DVI, VGA, or Video Out.

I do miss having the PC Card slot on the MacBook, and like most tiny connectors with lots of pins that distribute some kind of video signal the MiniDVI port can be inconsistent with respect to color and brightness (the picture may look ok or may have a significant color cast to it, touching the cable or connector – on purpose or by accident - will usually transition it from one state to the other and it can be very annoying).

Right Side View:

Right side view of VAIO SZ on top and MacBook on the bottom (view large image)

On the SZ (top) from left to right we have a DVD+-/DL/RW drive, an ExpressCard 34 slot, two USB 2.0 ports, Ethernet and Modem ports (under a little door) and the Cingular WAN Antenna.

On the MacBook (bottom) we have a DVD+-/DL/RW drive slot and that’s it.

The optical drives are about the same on the two machines other than the SZ is a conventional tray loader and the MacBook is a slot loader. I think I prefer the tray because it’s easier on the media and you can use mini-media, but the slot loader sure helps the MacBook feel sturdier than the SZ.

The MacBook has no ExpressCard 34 slot, no modem (you can get a USB modem for $50), and no WAN card or antenna built in. I really miss my WAN card and wish the MacBook had one built in or a slot (PC-Card or ExpressCard) to add one. You can make do with a Bluetooth connection to the Internet via your cell phone though.

Rear View:

Rear view of VAIO SZ on top and MacBook on the bottom (view large image)

On the SZ (top) from left to right we have power, lots of heat sync fins and aKensington Lock slot.

On the MacBook there is a thin exhaust slot almost all the way along the bottom edge.

HARDWARE COMPARISON

	Sony SZ280P	Black MacBook
802.11	a/b/g	b/g
Bluetooth	2.0	2.0
CPU	2.0 GHz Intel Core Duo	2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Memory	2gb 533mhz DDR2 (2x1GB)	2gb 667mhz DDR2 (2x1GB)
Video Card(s)	Nvida Gforce Go 7400 128mb, Intel GMA 950	Intel GMA 950
Hard Drive	120gb 5400rpm SATA 2.5”	120gb 5400rpm SATA 2.5”

Both machines feature internal 802.11 wireless LAN cards. The SZ has abg while the MacBook only has bg. I've never been anywhere that uses “a” so I'm not sure that’s significant. The MacBook keeps a more reliable connection in many environments I work in (home, office, client sites, hotels) but speed is about the same at a given distance. The MacBook also does a better job of connecting to a new network when I've moved the machine from sleep or hibernate modes. Often I'll have to reboot the SZ or Repair its connection after it wakes up near a different Wireless network.

Both machines feature Bluetooth 2.0 and have performed wonderfully linking to Bluetooth mice and Bluetooth phones.

The MacBook is a few months newer than the SZ so the SZ has a 2.0 GHz Core Duo and the MacBook has a 2 GHz Core 2 Duo. The main differences are the larger cache and 64-bit in the Core 2 Duo. Since neither machine uses any 64 bit software I don't see a big advantage there (yet) and as for cache, tests I've seen show a difference of performance between 5% and 20%. Real world I'm not sure I could tell the difference because I have a friend with an SZ Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz and I can't tell it from my SZ.

Both machines are at their maximum capacity of 2 GB RAM. The SZ using 533 MHz and the MacBook using 667 MHz RAM. Tests I've seen don't show a significant difference in speed for everyday use but I'm told the 667 MHz helps the GMA 950 graphics.

Speaking of Graphics cards – the SZ has two. One NVIDIA GeForce GO 7400 with dedicated GPU and 128mb dedicated RAM, and one Intel GMA 950. The MacBook has only an Intel GMA 950. The NVIDIA Card on the SZ generates a lot of heat and consumes a lot of power for its performance increase. If you need it it’s worth it, but in everyday use I don't notice a big difference between the NVIDIA and Intel on the SZ.

Both machines feature 120 GB 5400 RPM SATA drives and I see no real differences in the drives. I wish both had 7200rpm drive options as I know this makes a huge difference in Windows and I assume it would also be a significant difference in OS X.

SOFTWARE COMPARISON

The SZ features Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP2, while the MacBook comes with OS X 10.4.8. Via a free utility (BootCamp) you can set the MacBook to dual boot with OS X and Win XP SP2 (there are a number of third party utilities that allow the use of OS X and XP or other OS's at the same time).

My experience is that OS X is far more stable, far more robust, and far faster than Windows XP. Within about a week I was able to find applications for OS X that did all of the things my Windows software did. In about 25% of the cases it was the same software that would run on both systems (Java). In about 50% of the cases it was similar software that offered some kind of data exchange with the equivalent PC application, and about 25% was a completely different application with no data interchange (although there is not always the need for data exchange either).

On the downside for the Mac there is a lot of plug-in hardware-software items out there that won't work on a Mac. There is less variety (fewer manufactures and fewer packages that perform a given function) in Mac software. My experience so far is that most of the Mac software is less feature rich but more elegant and stable. If you can find software and hardware you need and it runs on the Mac, it’s something you should consider.

Me, I'm a Mac convert at this point and looking to get away from Windows as much as I can (I still have to support some Windows boxes). I'm willing to trade off some hardware and software unavailability in return for the stability and robustness of OS X. That’s not everyone’s choice but now that Macs are Intel based and can run Window's too, I expect it will be more people’s choice.

CONCLUSION

Oh yeah, we were comparing the SZ and the MacBook weren't we? Well, hardware wise, Sony packs a huge number of features into a really small and light, high tech package. On pure specs the SZ wins hands down. The MacBook is less feature rich, but the features it has are a match for the SZ and the MacBook features are much better integrated plus the overall included software and OS is better.