A diehard Mac user switches to PC

Business Insider ^ | 07/11/2018 | Steve Kovach and Clancy Morgan

[SeekAndFind]

The Mac used to have numerous advantages over the PC, but with Windows 10 the PC has now closed the gap.

These days buying a PC gives you many more options compared to the Mac, which continues to stagnate. Business Insider's senior tech correspondent, Steve Kovach, switched his Mac for a PC to see what Windows 10 really has to offer.

Following is a transcript of the video.

Steve Kovach: I've been a Mac user for over 15 years. I hated PCs. They came loaded with a bunch of software that slowed down my machine, and they caught viruses way too easily.

Ad: Last year there were 114 thousand known viruses for PCs.

PCs, but not Macs.

Steve: Then I discovered the Mac. And it had everything the PC didn't. But lately, I've grown frustrated with the Mac lineup. And while Apple has let its Mac lineup stagnate, Windows 10 computers have gotten really good. So I decided to make the switch back for a few days and tested Huawei's new MateBook X Pro. Which runs Windows 10 and starts at about $1200. Some have called it the best laptop you can buy. And guess what, Windows is actually really great. And I may even like it better than my Mac.

Windows 8 tried to be two operating systems in one. One for desktop and one for mobile. And it failed at both. It even got rid of Windows' iconic Start menu. But Windows 10 reversed a lot of those mistakes. The Start menu's back and it works great on the desktop. Windows 10 comes with Cortana. The Microsoft Digital Assistant. It can dig through files on your computer and even search the web. It's almost as good as Google Search.

Windows 10 also has a lot more hardware options.

[upchuck]

And given the incredible pressure to abandon Win7, from both Microsoft and its sidekick application vendors...

Sorry, as a Win 7 user for life, I continue to feel sorry for users saddle with Win 10. Wait till MSFT starts charging you a yearly or monthly fee to use their OS software. It's coming (see Office 365). Has been since Bill Gates. It was something he wanted to do but could not because the required infrastructure wasn't there. Now it is.

[roadcat]

You stated Again, that is my conflict with Apple — their media only runs on their hardware and nowhere else.

I pointed out that I ran iTunes on Windows PCs in the early 2000's before I ran it on Macs. The Windows PCs were not Apple hardware. You were wrong. Also, I moved songs back and forth between my Archos MP3 players and iPods with iTunes. It could be done, if you know how to do it. Former Windows admin here, tinker with multiple platforms.

[daniel1212]

The world is ripe for a new commercial computer (note: not phone) OS that takes the lessons learned over the last 50 years to produce a open, fast, lean, secure and elegant OS. Untold billions await.

Commercial computer versus personal? That may see sales, while as for personal computers, most people are not interested in new Desktops in preference to mobile devices, but you can take W/10 and much customize it. Part of that form me means install Classic Shell , and also Right Click Context Menu Extender so you can add things it may take longer to find

Speed things up with hotkeys, including remapping CapsLock to ctrl+c (CapsLock::^c) with AutoHotKey, (Linux has no real equivalent), so you can add scripts to easily open up programs, or places, or features like Add and Remove programs (C:\Windows\System32\appwiz.cpl), and with and vastly improve Windows (or anything I have seen in Linux) with the White-Tiger/T-Clock .

Get the Quick Launch menu back (right click on Task Bar>Toolbars and navigate to %UserProfile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch),

You might also want to make shortcuts to the Send To (%UserProfile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo ) folder, and place one in it, so you can send other shortcuts to it, like to the Quick Launch. And to the largely unknown Start up folder (Main one is in "C:\Users\saved\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup), And by placing shortcuts to apps/programs you can send files to them to open.

[dayglored]

> Explorer!

I'd bet that's the problem. Explorer is way obsolete.

Give Chrome a try; it's pretty good, although wildly different from I.E. My personal favorite has been Firefox since it first came out (I was a Netscape fan before that), but I find Chrome is much more compatible these days.

[dayglored]

> Sorry, as a Win 7 user for life, I continue to feel sorry for users saddle with Win 10. Wait till MSFT starts charging you a yearly or monthly fee to use their OS software. It's coming (see Office 365). Has been since Bill Gates. It was something he wanted to do but could not because the required infrastructure wasn't there. Now it is.

Yep, on all points.

[Swordmaker]

Though that article is a couple of years old, it’t pretty amazing. However, it must have been a special bulk price offer. Also, they said PC’s drove twice as many support calls. However, if there are ten times as many PC’s, that’s actually less support calls per 100 workstations.

No, Cuban, it’s per user, not per OS. Do you seriously think that IBM made that stupid of a mistake? They are SAVING over $500 per user over four years. You don’t do that by making stupid accounting mistakes.

[Swordmaker]

Hey, Swordmaker. I actually enjoy our conversations. It is clear that you are completely brainwashed and never be convinced otherwise. No problem. But since I have the have the responsibility to spend my company's money wisely, and we are not rich like IBM, I will not be buying Apple computers. Ever.

Dhs, it is you who is the brainwashed one here. I’m completely familiar with multiple platforms while your postings show you are completely ignorant of the modern Apple Mac platform, basing your opinions on at least twenty year out-dated "facts" which were wrong even then. Rich like IBM has nothing to do with the total costs of ownership. Those are scaleable from the Enterprise level down to the micro business level.

I’ve converted many small businesses from PC centric to Apple oriented and I’ve learned I’ve made far less money from them after they switched to Apple BECAUSE THEY HAD FAR FEWER PROBLEMS that required me extensive attention and expertise. Instead, I made more money because a happy client referred other friends to my company due to their experience and savings.

You, dhs, are the typical IT guy who COST your company’s money by assuring your and fellow IT department tech’s jobs by always recommending Microsoft Windows PCs as a Solution because they kept ALL OF YOU EMPLOYED!

What part of IBM’s VP’s statement that it required only one Mac tech for 5,435 Macs installed but one Windows PC tech for every 400 PCs, did you skip over? That’s better than 13.5 to one, dhs. . . That’s a HUGE savings in the number of IT guys that must be employed when you’re supporting 400,000 computers. For IBM it translates to more than $50 million a year!

For a small company it means far fewer calls to an expensive outside tech support company per year, or that most problems are solved in house by the users themselves. More importantly, it means far less lost productivity!

IBM was experiencing a 45% help desk call rate PER YEAR from their employees using Windows PCs. Each call represented down time and hence anywhere from one to as much as a day’s lost productivity. 45%, dhs. The Apple Mac users call for help at only a 3.5% rate, . . .13.85 times less frequently than their Windows PC using counterparts. Right there’s why IBM found they did not need so many IT guys to keep their fleet of Macs running. . . They weren’t being called; the Macs weren’t having problems!

You condemned your employers to that Windows PC hell. You suffer from Windows Stockholm Syndrome. I’m not.

[Swordmaker]

Also, I bet not on third party players? Unless you convert the song to mp3, which of course, is a new feature that Apple added to their ITunes software recently. Versus having to burn the song to a cd and then rip the cd back to an MP3 get it in MP3 format.

Say what? Added MP3 conversion recently? Uh, no, dhs, iTunes could create mp3 tracks when it was first released in 2001, seventeen years ago. Just more of your total mis-Information about Apple. What you could NOT legally do in iTunes was save a track in a lossless file system until Steve Jobs forced the music industry to allow it in 2003 or 2004.

SHEESH!

[papertyger]

...new MateBook X Pro.

Soon to be followed by the utterly unique and groundbreaking “MyPhone 9” the “Tapple Watch” the “MyPad: standard, Glo, and Flair” as well as the completely new “MyTunes” online store!

[papertyger]

MP3?

Is that even still a thing?

[cynwoody]

Businesses don’t use Mac products because they are very expensive when compared to a PC.

Apple's biggest competitor in the smartphone market uses Macs extensively. E.g., here they were in a meeting about their flagship product (hint: it's not smartphones):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtRJXnXgE-A

Not 100% Macs, but certainly the majority. I would say the Mac market share at that company is much higher than in the general public.

[usconservative]

Windows 10 comes with Cortana. The Microsoft Digital Assistant. It can dig through files on your computer and even search the web. It's almost as good as Google Search.

ROFL!!!!!! I had to stop reading right there I was laughing so hard!!

[cuban leaf]

Do you seriously think that IBM made that stupid of a mistake?

---

IBM? No. But I really don’t trust news sources much today. ;)

[dhs12345]

Thanks. A very nice feature. We used to rip songs from CDs in mass. Our library is big.

Also, not certain if there is a loss of quality in going from the Apple standard to MP3 but that is okay since most of the devices that we play the songs on are not the best acoustically.

[dhs12345]

My dad's not so much. I can look up the model if needed. And of course the PowerPC based system is useless.

Of course, the PowerPC system is older than the hills. Hey, it powers up. :)

My dad has some old pictures cad files that he cannot accessed any more because the software support was discontinued. Important files like family history, family trees.

Long story and Swordmaker has tried to help me. Thanks Swordmaker. Still no success. The problem: either the software is no longer available or the newer OS is incompatible.

One solution is to find old IMACs (the blue monitor) and try to convert the files that way. That never got far because my dad moved and we had to dump them. We had two.

Then there are my Apple music players and ipad. No support for them. Hundreds of dollars lost. Apple have a monopoly on their products and if they deem that a device is no longer supported, they can do it without dispute. They are the kings, the gods, of their hardware platforms.

Lastly...

One thing that would be nice is a $200 credit from Apple towards the purchase of the next gen device when the previous gen device is obsoleted. That would be fair.

[dhs12345]

MP3 vs whatever Apple standard. I cannot play the Apple song on non-Apple players.

That may have changed in recent years. I don't think so though because my modern car doesn't recognize the Apple file.

[dhs12345]

Simple business decision.

Absolutely, IBM is rich. LOL.

Actually there are now 250 devices on our network and not a single problem.

Scalable — not necessary anymore. Everything on the PC side is standardized and hardware and software can be purchased from hundreds of sources and it all talks together flawlessly. And it is cheap (relatively speaking). From servers, to server software, to network devices, to PCs themselves.

PCs have made computers successful — just like Ford’s Model T. If Apple were the only option, only a select few would have a computers.

Bottom line: and it is the bottom line — Apple computers are too expensive and it is a nonstarter.

[dhs12345]

Oh no it couldn’t. Talk about misinformation and not knowing your own company’s software.

Unless you are referring to the ridiculous process of burning the song to a cd and then extracting it as an MP3.

Looks around 2015, the MP3 conversion feature was added. See other conversation. BTW, thank you Apple for doing this.

All songs purchased from Apple had DRM enabled which locked them down. Plus, the file was in an Apple proprietary format that was only compatible on Apple devices. Convenient for Apple, no doubt.

So... if you knew your history, you would know that that the DRM lock was added as a way to appease the media companies. The media companies were hyper paranoid after Napster. You remember Napster, correct? And the preferred format for song distribution under Napster was MP3. By adding a DRM, it prevented mass copying and distribution. It might have even made the file traceable to the origin.

[dhs12345]

Someone posted a link on this thread showing the OS market share for both computers and smartphones.

Apple OSs market share for computers is under 10%. They have always been less than 10%. The rest are PCs based — different versions of Windows. Linux was around 1%.

Also, interesting... Apple is not the leader in smartphones — Android OSs are. That was surprising.

Again, this makes sense. Apple smartphones and computers are too expensive and not a good value for the average consumer.

[Magnatron]

Try LINUX instead. LOL

Actually, Mac OS is Linux...