10 reasons to drop Windows for Mountain Lion

Fox News ^ | July 29, 2012 | Mark Spoonauer

[PreciousLiberty]

I guess you could say I started cheating on Windows back in October of 2010.

That’s when Apple debuted the revamped MacBook Air. For the first time, I could resume working almost as soon as I flipped the lid on a laptop, thanks to the way the notebook leveraged its flash memory. (Intel and Ultrabook makers wouldn’t offer a similar instant-on experience until a year later.)

The Air was a work of art, but it didn’t feel complete until OS X Lion arrived last year. With key time-saving features like Auto Save and Mission Control for faster multitasking, I started leaving behind my Windows notebook more and more. Now that Mountain Lion is here, I may never look back. Here are 10 reasons why you might want to do the same.

(For details on the bullets, read the article.)

• iCloud Keeps Devices, Files in Sync
• Reminders App Uses Your Location
• AirPlay Mirroring Transforms TV
• Speak to Type
• Send and Receive Texts from the Desktop
• Game Center: Take That, Xbox
• Faster, Smarter Browsing With Safari
• Notifications All In One Place
• Mail VIPs: Never Miss an Email from Your Boss
• It’s More Like Windows Than Windows 8

[TXnMA]

"The Mac needs to do that [restart] once a day"

Not so! I use my MBP very heavily -- 14+ hous per day -- with nine desktops running apps like Google Earth, Safari, Canvas, (HUGE map creations) Numbers or Excel, Pages, Keynote (readily converted to PowerPoint) iMovie, etc., simultaneously.

I just toggle from work to sleep and back to work. My interval between re-starts is well over a month -- if then...

Drop your old windoze habits -- and let your Mac work for you!

[TXnMA]

hours...

[TXnMA]

hours...

[nascarnation]

By FR rules, only Linux can be used now.

Gates and Ballmer contributed to the same gay marriage initiative as Bezos and Apple is run by a gay guy.

/s

[Not gonna take it anymore]

I have Excel and Word on my year old Mac mini and have never used VM. It works great.

I have never updated so I have a a really old program but it works great.

[dennisw]

Apple sucks. This household is Mac free and gay free...Pretty much the same thing. Jobs was blown away by Windows 7 and this is why he checked out prematurely. Paul Allen and Bill Gates—alive. Jobs— gonzo

[aMorePerfectUnion]

“Then, Mountain Lion, which is still the OS with around 5-6% of the world’s market share for OSes. Why limit yourself?”

If your computer does what you want it to do, why would that matter at all?

“The only reasons for getting a MacBoor Air: a decorative device, and bragging rights for being the only kids on the block that can afford them.”

I don’t decorate with my Mac, I use it. I don’t brag, except to brag that I am no longer a Microsoft Support Slave. My time using my computer is spent actually using it, instead of fixing it. But then I value my time. Many don’t.

[martin_fierro]

I upgraded from Lion to Mountain Lion on one of my Macs, but I forgot that Mac upgrades tend to come with unintended consequences, such as certain of my desktop graphic$ + $creen $aver$ are now also clamoring to be upgraded -- for an addiitonal fee.

[WVKayaker]

...Mac takes the "idiot light" approach in computers and boiled it down to just one "check engine light", take to apple ...

I really enjoy reading these Mac threads, as I get to hear some of the most creative Bravo Sierra in the Universe.

I drive a Mercedes. If the light comes on, I wouldn't think of trying to fix it. I'd take it to the proper place to get it checked. I just got back from the Apple Store a few minutes ago, retrieving a cable to connect an iMac to an external monitor for an 83 Y.O. novice. He never had a computer, but is already using his new "appliance". I take my computer equipment to the "Genius Bar" because they don't charge me to fix my problems. Those are rare!!!

I have used Macs since 1984. They always work. I have replaced them, and sold many of them to recover some of my costs. I get a lot more money for my used Macs than many new PC's would cost.

My sister has PC's. When her inexpensive laptop dies, she gets another. Most Windoze folk know enough to just get out the Boot Disc and do the rebuild. She does not. She just goes out and spends another $600-800.

A couple of years ago, she bought a new one with Win7. She took it home, only to find that none of her peripherals were able to talk to it. She had to buy a new printer, and some other things. Oops.

I have a box below my desk, containing 6 Apple Powerbooks, an OUtbound, and a MacBook. They all still work. The G4 17" model broke a hinge, and I bought a 15" MacBook to replace it.

My computers, running any OS, will out perform most any Mac users pc and do more because I service and maintain my computers.

Mac locks down and cripples their stuff to keep you from "breaking it" just like corporate IT Nazi do with company PC's...

I am not an idiot, and I doubt that wold apply to many Macintosh owners (and users). Your computers may be over-clocked and exotic game machines, but most of us just want an appliance that works WHEN WE NEED IT!!!

I doubt you understand... but I still need MicroCrap for Flight Simulator, and nothing else!

Macs work, and they are anything but "crippled". Pardon me, but your bigotry is duly noted! Most people could care less how much horsepower is "under the hood". They just want their email, and play a few hands of Solitaire...!

[dfwgator]

That’s the best thing about buying a Mac, if I have a problem, I take it to the Apple Store, and I will get it back within 1-2 days......other computers, you have to ship it to the repair place, and it could be several weeks before you get it back.

[PreciousLiberty]

“I doubt you understand... but I still need MicroCrap for Flight Simulator, and nothing else!”

You should check out X Plane, it’s a good one:

http://www.x-plane.com/desktop/landing/

[Chipper]

If that is the worst thing that happens if I upgraded, it would be worth it;-). I jut bought a new TV so I can now hook up an Apple TV to it, so it would have been nice to do the mirroring.

[antiRepublicrat]

I help companies design powerful and sophisticated solutions using Excel with VBA.

Again, please quit using that abomination VB, and please tell me you don't actually use Excel to store the data, only to represent it for users.

[zeugma]

I am not a drone for Mac. I am just a sports photographer trying to get my job done.

What we have here is the real key. Use what works for you. You like Macs, I prefer Linux (granted I really haven't had enough time with a Mac to be able to give a truely educated opinion on it, but lack of multiple desktops is really a killer for me), some folks prefer windows. For a lot of windows users, their preferences are largely based on ignorance, as they've never used anything else. Many MS-Windows users feel that they have so much time invested in having learned the quirks of their OS, that they don't think they can invest that kind of time elsewhere. Again, ignorance helps this a bit because they really have no idea how much time it takes to convert to OSX or Linux for that matter. Most Mac and Linux users, on the other hand, do have experience with MS-Windows, and many of these, myself included find that working with MS-Windows leaves a  bad taste in their mouths. I know that when I have to use MS-Windows, it frustrates the hell out of me because of it's almost laughable lack of basic tools I use on a daily basis. Granted, I'm a professional nerd, so I have a greater need for such basic, fundamental networking tools as ssh, telnet, dig, and a shell that has more power than basic DOS shell commands.

The vast majority of folks out there that don't have the need of a specific Microsoft-only program, I believe that they'd ultimately be much happier with OSX, or even Linux, if for no other reason than their lower succeptability to malware. Most folks out there need to be able to browse the web, deal occationally with documents, do light photo work, and maybe a few other things that are trivially handled by either OS. Gamers are the exception, but frankly I don't understand why a serious gamer wouldn't be using a console. Hot. water-cooled rigs for games is not really something even considered by your average joe out there.

More than anything else, I'm glad we have choices in what kind of system we want to use. Whether it is Linux, Windows, or OSX, I ultimately don't really care. Use what works for you. For those who choose to submit to the pain of dealing with viruses, trojans, and other malware that seems to just go with the MS-centric environment, I'm perfectly willing to let them wallow in their pain. I do not offer technical support for it though. Not even for family. If they are willing to let me install Fedora, I'll help them all I can. Until then their computer is their problem. Not mine.

This rant wasn't really meant specifically to you Vermont. You just provided a convienient hook on which to hang it.

 

HAND!

 

Z!

[zeugma]

By FR rules, only Linux can be used now.

Here here!!!!!

(yeah, I saw the /s tag)

[roadcat]

I know, because I used Excel on my Mac back then, and had to tolerate the sneers of my “professional” friends who refused to even try Excel.

I have had similar disgust with PC bigots in the past. My "professional" co-workers in the mid-1980s refused to use mice or GUI systems because they said they were only for children, and would never be seen on a real PC. They would refuse to look at a Mac because it had a mouse and GUI. Until Microsoft copied Apple and started putting it on PCs. Then it was wonderful. I get sick of all the B.S. put out by the Microsoft/PC crowd, they make it up as they go.

BTW, I liked Visicalc, Supercalc, Lotus 1-2-3, but Excel doomed them all. Things change over time, and history is forgotten.

[roadcat]

Sure it is because I could watch a computer screen remotely on a tv set using Slingbox but I guess that must have been through Windows and Apple is only now getting around to it.

Except Apple has been doing it for 2 or 3 years now. I got my Apple TV when they first came out, and have long sent my Macbook and then my iPad screen output to my TV via Apple TV. Also have a Roku box, but still prefer my Apple TV box. Just because Slingbox was doing it, doesn't mean no one else was doing it. There's lots of vendors doing it. And Apple has been doing it a long time.

[Vermont Lt]

I really don’t reboot once a day...that was just an example. The only time I really shut it off is when I am leaving for more than a couple of days.

It is heaven compared to the old windows world.

[adorno]

If your computer does what you want it to do, why would that matter at all?

That's true. Some people, like you, have very limited uses and requirements for computers, so, the Macs will suit you just fine. ;)

I don’t decorate with my Mac, I use it. I don’t brag, except to brag that I am no longer a Microsoft Support Slave. My time using my computer is spent actually using it, instead of fixing it. But then I value my time. Many don’t.


If you do spend a lot of time "fixing" your computer, then, the problem is obviously with you.

[FatherofFive]

please quit using that abomination VB, and please tell me you don't actually use Excel to store the data, only to represent it for users.

Some solutions we developed with “that abomination VB” :

• Turned a two week per month sales commission process for a national distributor of medical devices into a 30 minute clerical task. The other benefit was that ‘knowledge transfer’ of the commission process took place between the staff and the tool, reducing the risk of talent flight in a critical administrative role
• Created a ‘sale visualization’ for a SAP sales company, integrating reporting for 8 different lines of business
• Turned 1,500 paper stock LTI agreements (In duplicate!) into an electronic process for a national insurance company
• Created 5,000 salary and bonus planning tools with a click of the mouse, with email distribution, and automated tool consolidation and reporting
• Created a ‘calculator’ for an international oil company as they rolled out a new expatriate pay program, so current and potential expats can see the actual result of the change

There is no shortage of information in any company. What is missing is the enabling technology to bring the data into an actionable view at a reasonable cost. Without the enabling technology, information integration and analysis is turned into more work - a manual process, multiple ‘cut and paste’ and repetitive tasks. This is where the hours in the day are stolen from higher value work.

We provide the answer. We automate repetitive, time-intensive tasks, and give clients “click of the mouse” ease, taking the hours and cost out of any process. There are no limits to what we can deliver. And yes, sometimes we store data. Usually things that either couldn't be stored by the system of record, or would be prohibitively expensive to make extensive system modifications. I am located in OK, but we do work around the world.

It may not be sexy, but we deliver sophisticated and powerful solutions Better, Faster and Cheaper.