I don't always agree with Michael Munger, but his columns are dependably interesting and thought provoking.

Michael 's latest offering on MacObserver, "Microsoft & Bloatware Revisited," notes that one of people's chief complaints about Microsoft software is usually about how big, gigantic and swelled up they think it is. Well, that is certainly one of mine perennial complaints about Microsoft software.

For a concrete example, Eudora 5.0 only requires a 2,500k RAM partition, and 2.8 MB of hard drive space for the application (13.1 MB for the whole folder). That compares with a 7168k RAM partition, and 6.5 MB of hard drive space for the application (15.1 MB for the whole folder, not counting shared libraries) for Microsoft Outlook Express 5.0. and of course there is the issue of all those shared libraries cluttering up your system folder, which Eudora does not do.

Or take IE 5 (please!), which gobbles up 10.2 MB and 4.6 MB of hard drive for the full folder and application itself respectively, once again not counting all those wretched shared libraries. That compares with 3.4 and 3.3 MB respectively for iCab, which does not use shared libraries. IE 5 Still has some functionality that iCab lacks, but not much, and on the balance, iCab is faster, more stable, and generally nicer to use. Explorer also wants 7634 MB of RAM, vs iCab's modest requirement of 4772 MB.

However, Michael Munger suggests that software suites such as Microsoft Office may not be as bloated as we think, after all.

In his new job at a daily newspaper, Michael says that Microsoft Word "is probably the most important software installed on our computers. We employ it extensively, exploiting features that most people would never think of reaching for. We manipulate thousands of files every day and run server-side software that turns them into parts of our Web site."

Bottom line, says Michael, "quite a few applications that people describe as bloatware are actually full of the types of features that are far ahead of everybody's needs. This kind of power is not necessarily for everyone, but let me testify that yes, there ARE people who need all the stuff that some bloatware has to offer."

A sensible evaluation, although my unscientific guess is still that more efficient coders than Microsoft uses could offer all of Word's functionality and more in a program half the size or less. Think of the BBEdit 6, or even Tex Edit Plus, which do so much in such small packages.

Michael's advice that smaller, less expensive, word processors like Nisus Writer or AppleWorks are probably a better choice then word for many users is sound.

Ditto on the Photoshop issue. "Too many people see Photoshop as the only solution to handle photo editing and image conversion," says Michael. I agree. It is absurd for any non professional user, and indeed for many professionals, to spend many hundreds of dollars on the incredibly powerful Photoshop program, when all the functionality they require and more is available for less than fifty dollars in programs like GraphicConverter and ColorIt!, which are also much faster than Photoshop and only a fraction of the size and RAM requirements of Adobe's behemoth

You can read Michael Munger's article here
http://www.macobserver.com/columns/flipside/2000/20001212.shtml

IE 5 "Good Enough?" Well, If "Good Enough" Satisfies You....

Still in Microsoft bashing mode, Macinstein has unleashed another diatribe against Internet Explorer 5. Responding to feedback to his recent editorial trashing IE 5, Macinstein says that some readers had the audacity to say it was good enough.

"I guess being satisfied with playing second fiddle is good enough for some," says Macinstein, "but not for me. I can only pray that Netscape pulls some kind of miracle and makes their version 6 usable or iCab catches up. Being stuck on I.E. will be the absolute last resort."

He goes on to explain why, with several well reasoned points of argument, Most of which I agree with a reservedly. Personally, I still have Internet Explorer 5 lurking on my hard drive, but it is not currently installed (nor is any other Microsoft software), and I have not used it for several months. A combination of iCab and Netscape handles my browsing needs nicely.

You can read Macinstein 's editorial here:
http://www.macinstein.com/pressrelease.cfm?ID=679

Charles W. Moore

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