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To: ctdonath2
One more reason to get a Mac.

Couldn't one argue that Macs also come with their own versions of bloatware. What if you want Firefox instead of Safari? Wouldn't that make Safari bloatware? Same goes for all of the iApps. Apple has simply done a better job of convincing us that their apps are part and parcel with their OS.

I don't buy a lot of Apples beyond iPads and iPhones. But I don't think it's possible to pull one out of the box and turn it on only to see an OS with no preinstalled applications.
17 posted on 03/06/2015 6:40:03 AM PST by mmichaels1970
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To: mmichaels1970
Couldn't one argue that Macs also come with their own versions of bloatware.

Not really. The included software is from the hardware manufacturer, provided so you have basic functionality available as soon as you turn the computer on. You can't exactly download Firefox if you don't have a web browser to download it with (and offhand I can't think of any way of obtaining Firefox et al on physical media without borrowing someone else's computer, downloading, copying the file onto some other media; stores don't sell it, and you can't order physical copies if you don't have a browser). There's a few other apps, but they're unobtrusive and easy to remove.

"Bloatware" is, generally speaking, content which other companies pay the computer manufacturer to include. Frequently this content is installed to automatically run, throw "give us money" ads in your face, and are a bear to uninstall (so bad that the usual recommendation is erase everything and reinstall the OS, a pretty d@mn drastic measure). It's bad enough that you actually have to PAY the manufacturer to NOT include that stuff.

I can't really imagine what apps are included out-of-the-box on a Mac that you could possibly object to. Contact list, calendar, todo list, notepad, document previewer, iTunes (central to the Apple ecosystem), and a browser (without which it's a serious pain to get anything else like Firefox, MS Office, etc). There's a difference between "minimum common functionality included so you can start using the machine out-of-the-box" vs "OMFG get this $#!^ off my system, I can't use this machine until I format main storage and find a copy of Windows to re-install from".

22 posted on 03/06/2015 9:31:46 AM PST by ctdonath2 (Si vis pacem, para bellum.)
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