LoAmi

Yes! The bolded phrase is also a product of marketing. Marketing campaigns have made the expectation that the switch will result in something that is different (read: works differently), and have made the expectation that there will be a learning curve, and convinced switchers that after the learning curve, what they have will be better. And, it worked. People who "don't want to learn computers" successfully learn an entirely new user interface, just like they learned Windows when they first encountered it (and now assume that how Windows works = how computers work). Current versions of Ubuntu have about the same amount of transitional learning curve as the switch from Windows to Mac OS X. When people try Ubuntu, they may just expect "free Windows" and be disappointed when it also works differently. If the expectation is that it will work differently, the transition is smoother. There are some technical issues that make the transition easier to Macs, but they're also related to Apple's marketing choices. Apple has always had the advantage over both Microsoft and their free software competitors that they control 100% of the hardware in Apple-branded machines. And, even though Apple-branded machines and PCs use the same types of hardware, OS X is only sold for Apple-branded hardware. That's why you won't see a driver conflict in OS X just after installation. That's not because OS X has great hardware support - it has far less hardware support than Windows, Linux, or other BSD variants. The hardware it has to support out of the box is very limited. Again, we're talking about "average users" (web browsing, email, office-type applications). Gamers or people who need special software for their professions or hobbies are in a different category (A gamer might naturally favor Windows, a developer, Linux, a graphics or music producer, OS X).

OS X itself uses a surprising amount of non-original code (old code is not necessarily bad!). The microkernel it's based on is Mach. The Unix kernel is Darwin, which is based on FreeBSD. Don't confuse applications with the system. The Microsoft applications for Macs are no better (they're sometimes worse) than their Windows equivalents. While they did release the Darwin kernel code as free software (which the didn't have to do, because FreeBSD is non-copyleft), and did release the development kit as free software (a lot of which they were required to do if they wanted to release it at all, because the GNU compilers are copyleft), the most original aspect of the Mac - the user interface - is closed source/proprietary. If you want to compare top-down, paternalistic attitudes towards users and developers, you can argue that Apple is far worse than Microsoft. The difference is that Apple makes a better product, so users don't often realize that they're in a gilded prison. The official Openoffice.org 3.0 builds now support Mac OS X natively. I'm not sure how good it is. I can say good things about NeoOffice's port (they've only ported up to OOo v2.2, though). Never used it, but Pages looks a bit more like it's a bit closer to being simple "desktop publishing" software than a word processor. For reference, textedit is about the equivalent of Microsoft's Wordpad in functionality. Another gilded prison. Me too.

Red team waits in a skeezy bar for a mysterious information broker, "Fermat". Lt Riley provokes him into leaving the bar, while the others stay back to protect him. Fermat directs them to meet a woman at the end of a dark alley. They go through a hidden door and are forced to give up their particle weapons to a guard. Gold team meets a previously unknown man in the marketplace. He offers them access to high quality dilithium, for a price - 10% the cost, and of all expenses. He leads them through a transporter to the gassy corridors of Western City. The team is forced to put on respirators. Blue team obtains a sailing vessel. Lt Phoenix finds an eight-legged device (a "spider") in the utility hold, and there are many copies all over the ship's utility tunnels. They are identified as repair AI devices, and investigation continues as the sailing ship enters the Clouds. Phoenix is put in the driver's seat while Lt Kent tries to find serpents. After Phoenix loses control, a spider goes to the console and takes the ship out of a roll. ChatLog.081015to081016.txt

Explains the switch from Windows to Mac. There are other PC operating systems besides Windows :-)

Cmdr Alces convenes a staff meeting to deal with the crisis. The crew is split into three teams: The first, led by Lt Riley (Red Team) is given the mission to infiltrate the seedy side of New Atlantis and attempt to identify and assimilate into the gang of poachers. The second, led by Lt Black (Gold Team) is to explore black market and other covert channels in search of dilithium to replace Arcadia's confiscated crystal. The Arcadia must have the ability to leave the system instantly, regardless of the obstacles in it's path or who must be left behind. The third, led by Cmdr Alces (Blue Team) is to complete Arcadia's original mission, to rent a sailing vessel and conduct a research mission inside the Cloud of Pacifica. They are to be as conspicuous as possible to attract the attention of the poachers away from the other two teams. Lts Daena and Servo are found knocked out in a corridor, after having not appeared for the meeting. Red team members: Lt Riley, Lt Sema'J, Ens Torre, Lt Servo, Lt Eagle Gold team members: Lt Black, Lt Pilot, Lt Cmdr Marx, Ens Swan Blue team members: Cmdr Alces, Lt Phoenix, Lt Kent, Lt Daena, Lt Gault ChatLog.081008to081009.txt

<< This log takes place slightly before the last sim >> He was a tall man, but he didn't look particularly tall because of the proportions of his height to his girth. He wasn't a native of New Atlantis. Few knew from where he originated; to most everyone, all that was important was that he was there. To everyone, he was known as "The Barber." Most people didn't know his real name. Sometimes, even he forgot his real name. His moniker was indeed related to his profession, but he had never cut a hair in his life. On the other hand, if you run a business in Western City, he'll probably shave a bit off the top. The Barber began his day like many other days. Ironically, today, he was visiting a barber shop. He walked in, followed closely behind by three large men. Both the lax laws and the facts on the ground made the Constables too weak to do much of anything against him. As long as he stayed out of fishing, the Wardens, who held the real power, would leave him to do as he wished. Today, however, was different from other days. Rumors had spread of a massive poaching operation that had the audacity to come into Atlantian space in plain view with a large ship. The poachers usually operated in the shadows. The ship was taken down by the Wardens in an operation not seen since the strike on a serpent processing plant five years earlier, and, even then, they only got one conviction of the poor szlub who didn't have time to ditch his unlicensed serpent remains into the airlock before he was caught red-handed. The Barber didn't know much about the new poachers, but he knew that they must be filthy rich. With money being power, these new poachers - if they survived their encounter with the Wardens - could become a threat to his operations. Or, they could become his allies. Or, at least, be kept away from his rivals. There was plenty of risk involved, but the opportunity for reward was knocking. That was why, today, the shakedown of the hair cutting shop for nonpayment of protection dues was only secondary in the Barber's mind. And, when the lost-looking people found themselves practically in front of his eyes, it called for his personal intervention. The Barber's three men were left with the unfortunate barber, and the Barber walked out to evaluate the strangers.

Cdr Alces begins to suspect that the New Atlantis fishing licensure authority is stalling for time. Crew members prepare for shore leave. Arcadia is suddenly surrounded by the New Atlantis Game Warden's ships, and ordered to surrender. The Game Warden's docking lines quickly overrun Arcadia's shields, and their SWAT teams enter the ship. They take over engineering, which is sealed and evacuated. Most of their efforts are focused on the cargo bay. Security tries to hold them back, but finds that phasers on stun are ineffective against the SWAT team's armor. The crew ineffectively attempts to secure the ship against the teams' intrusions. The SWAT teams enter the cargo bays and find no dead or processed serpents in them. They offer Arcadia a deal -- turn over their "accomplices" within four days or face arrest and seizure of the ship. Lo'Ami takes the deal, seeing this as the only way out. Arcadia's dilithium crystals are taken as collateral, and three SWAT observers are placed on the ship. ChatLog.081001to081002.txt

The new Temper-Pedic™ adjusts to your contours.

Winner is Kent, for originality. Runner up is A9, for being the one who started the GM meeting/STSF bandwagon.

Agreed there -- although, interestingly, it does look like a descendant of NX-01 (and, a bit of Battlestar Galactica's Pegasus). We have to be looking at revisionist history, though. In the original canon, Cpt Pike's command of USS Enterprise was 13 years earlier than Kirk's. At that time, Spock was already chief science officer and third in command, not in the academy. Spock is way too young. That, and, if we're focusing on the early life of Kirk, everyone else is too old. Kirk was supposed to have made captain at a very young age, but he shouldn't be a cadet at the same time his ensigns are cadets. (I'm not sure about the canon ages, but he *may* have been at the same time as Scotty or McCoy). If we want consistency, the uniforms *should* look a bit more like the ones in "The Cage" (which would have been taking place within a few years of the time Kirk was coming out of the academy).

Lt. Black is promoted to chief engineer, and, in the process of accepting the promotion, she is faced with an emergency situation in engineering, which results in warp power being offline for an hour. New engineer Ens Torre Ze'Rea reports to engineering. Arcadia sets course for New Atlantis, a regional trading center known for its rough character, and the serpent-fishing economy centered around the nearby Cloud of Pacifica. Cpt Lo'Ami learns that Lt Riley has been to New Atlantis in his pre-Starfleet life. ChatLog.080917to080918.txt ChatLog.080917to080918.txt

36 hours later, Arcadia arrives at New Atlantis, and is given docking permission. Lt Sema'J finds himself busy in his new position as counselor. Science finds that sensors cannot penetrate the Clouds, showing only distortions of what's in them. Engineering puts together a requisition for materials, which Lo'Ami wants to be obtained legally. Cdr Alces calls the [[New Atlantis Game and Fishing Authority]], attempting to get a license to catch and release [[serpents]] in the Clouds for study. They are held on hold for a long time, only to be told that they are "overquota." ChatLog.080924to080925.txt

Here you go...

I just noticed I won. I'll get something up in a day or two.

Caution: Please be aware that the balcony is not on ground level.

Cmdr Alces regains enough of his memory to remember that the Inechie and Nevuluzians once lived together on the planet and that he'd once been involved in the negotiations that led to the Inechie leaving. The Nevuluzian and Inechie representatives meet in Arcadia's holodeck, and are shown the recreation of the presentation from Nevuluz. Kordov recognizes the story as true, and agrees to help convince his people to accept a compromise. Science uses the transporter pattern traces to verify that the Nevuluzians and Inechie are genetically related, which helps convince the Nevuluzians to compromise. The Nevuluzians agree to settle the Inechie on a lesser-populated continent. The Inechie agree to settle and give up their threats. Arcadia offers Federation assistance in further negotiations, if required, then leaves Nevuluz. ChatLog.080910to080911.txt

The away team reports their findings back to Arcadia. With the clock winding down, Arcadia sets up a meeting between the Inechie and the Nevuluzians to take place in an hour on Arcadia. Cmdr Alces continues trying to remember what his previous host knew happened at Nevuluz. Engineering and science set up the holodeck to recreate the projection they saw on the planet. ChatLog.080903to080904.txt

Another thing to keep in mind is that you probably don't want to shoehorn your character too early. Cultural background is good, but settling on all his traits could make it harder to do development later.

Whether a specific non-canon species is allowed on an advanced sim is at the discretion of the hosts. Once you graduate, if you're intent on using such a character, you might want to pass the details by the hosts of the advanced sim you intend to join before you request it.

The security away team is sent down to near the location where the original away team's signal was lost. Inside the dampening field, the team hears a message in an unknown language being broadcast simultaneously in two voices. Eventually, they can translate the voices and find that it stores records and record as much as they can. On Arcadia, Lt Sema'J expresses Prime Directive-related misgivings about Arcadia's position between the Nevuluzians and the Inechie. They also discover that the Nevuluzian word used to describe "monsters" is related to the word for "Inechie," further indicating a historical connection. Cmdr Alces emerges from a self-imposed hibernation experiment, which swiss cheesed his memory; he tries to get it back using multiple drugs. Alces seems to remember the Inechie from his host's past, but can't remember anything else about them. On the planet, the dampening field releases, and the away team is freed. Both away teams join and return to Arcadia. ChatLog.080827to080828.txt

The picture of the Inechie from the Nevuluzian library is determined to have been fiction writing from 500 years after the Inechie left Nevuluz. They continue searching the library for earlier graphics. Lt Eagle surmises that the ancient wall found in the hole might have been the source for the image. The star chart writing found by Prof Jones is connected to the writing down on the planet. Arcadia begins to be able to translate the language. In the hole on Nevuluz, the team continues to translate the writings on the wall. They enter an empty room, whose door opens by touch. The door closes behind them, and leaves the team stuck behind a previously undetected dampening field. There are some old machines in the room. Arcadia tries to raise the away team and scan through the dampening fiel, with no success; a security rescue mission is prepared. ChatLog.080820to080821.txt

Happy b'day N'Dak.

On the bridge, the Inechie star chart is used to backtrack the Inechie's origin location to a position deep in the unexplored regions of the beta quadrant. Their estimated time of travel had been 500 years. Dot and dash patterns on the pictures on Nevuluz are theorized to be a language. The pictures are copied and sent to Arcadia for analysis. The pictures readily indicate that the Nevuluzians and Inechie lived simultaneously on Nevuluz at some point in the past. The away team and the bridge crew use the pictures to theorize about the nature of the split that led to the Inechie exile; both a civil war or a slave/master relationship are proposed. The Nevuluzian central library database is searched for any possible references to the Inechie in Nevuluzian literature. ChatLog.080813to080814.txt

The engineers and medical continue to try to find weaknesses in the Inechie ships' biomechanical hulls via sensor scans and holodeck simulations. The bridge officers try to piece together the Inechie version of history, using one of the Inechie's ancient star charts to chart the path they took into exile and back. In the hole on Nevuluz, the drawings are found to become more complex as the team goes further into the cavern. They seem to tell a pictoral story, although it cannot be readily deciphered. ChatLog.080806to080807.txt

We're going to need more information to try to help you solve your problem: 0. Laptop or desktop? If laptop, can you go somewhere else with an Internet connection and see if it works? 1. You say you've moved -- have you changed Internet service providers? Did you upgrade your system? Is it even the same system? 2. What operating system, browser, Java version are you using?