Posted on 07/11/2018 8:44:09 AM PDT by 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
I secretly (well actually it was an accident) switched a completely nontechnical user from Windows to Linux. He figured out how do email and browse the web, but complained about not having office and some Windows menu options. In short he didn’t realize it was unix or even know. But I fixed the default for dual booting to boot to Windows and he is more comfortable again (although also more vulnerable).
That’s good to hear!
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.
The savings apparently weren't on hardware or software pricing, they were on reduced support cost.
Did you notice that they were supporting 90,000 Macs with only two (2) IT Techs?
TXnMA
Also, technically, Android is a variant of Linux.
Also, I forgot to mention that if you (or anyone you know) plays World of Warcraft, it actually runs smoother, without the crash to desktops than Windows. The only setback is that you are stuck with Dx9 instead of DX11 (which is no problem with me ;^)).
somebody get the smelling salts
I honestly did not know WoW still existed.
Still going strong ;D
Tell me about it!!! I began writing Fortran programs on a IBM 1620 computer, which had all of 16k words = 32k Bytes memory to work with and of course punch cards only! One of my Engineering calculations and design program at Link-Belt Company required breaking it up into 25 segments to work with the 16k memory. The program to run was loaded as a huge deck of punched cards, followed by data cards for the specific job. The computer punched out cards with results from Segment #1. Then the segment #2 program was loaded as another huge deck of cards, followed by cards punched out by segment #1 program.... Repeating process 25 times yielded final results which were printed out. Took about 2 hours to run the job! So when disk drives came out (they were 15" diameter) it was huge progress... and you know the rest of story.
Every business that I have work for past 30 years all have had PCs. And recently, I have been involved in purchasing computers. Of the 100+ computers that we have, not a single computer is an Apple. Most are dirt cheap PCs running xp (the now obsolete Windows OS). No way could we afford the Apple equivalent x 100. Even refurbished Macs. It would bankrupt the company.
Like I said, there is pie in the sky, and there is real world. When it comes to computers, Apple is too costly.
Anyway, in my many lives over the past 20 years, there may have been a rare and occasional Mac for example for doing documentation for the hardware and label. That was 20 years ago.
Hey, in Apples favor, we have bought an Apple TV box. Nice. Best of all, it simple and does everything that we need it to. My wife is not super technical and we are now streaming a lot of media. We don't use it for ITunes but the other streaming services.
Only concern — how soon will Apple drop support of its OS. I will be watching with bated breath. If Apple does it to me again, I will have nothing good to say about them. This is their last opportunity and an opportunity to redeem themselves.
He never will. :) He likes is because it is easy to use and it is familiar to him. He has always been an Apple fan... all the way back to the 80s.
Plus, he can afford the premium adder for a Mac over a PC. Me? I have to be frugal.
I have dual boot too- do all my online stuff during the day in linux- then at night switch to windows for photography related work and windows only games- (although I could do the games on linux in steam now i guess- never tried though)- This schedule works well for me- but someoen who is constantly switching from linx to windows throughout the day would find it tedious to keep rebooting I guess-
and you know the rest of story..
+++++++++
I do indeed. Fortran on punch cards was in wide use by several members of my department. Since I had zero experience writing code I opted to go time share and BASIC on punched tape. It was well understood at the time that the Fortran guys were the real Programmers and the BASIC users were something less, much less.
But on the other hand I used that old system to develop programs that would iterate through possible solutions and select the best. It worked and we designed and built microwave amplifiers that matched the computer results. Those were the days.
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Yes, dhs12345, you are wrong. Anecdote is not the singular of data. Especially anecdotes from the dark ages of computing history. 20 years ago was before Apple switched from the PowerPC architecture and its ancient operating system to UNIX as its base OS, and constructed the much more robust OS X.
IBM presents REAL economic data that is checkable across multiple installations and they are putting their not inconsiderable reputation, not to mention MONEY, on the line saying so. IBM's actual data, not anecdotes, has proved to be true over now multiple years, so much so they are converting all of their 400,000 employees over to all Mac and Apple products as a money SAVING move.
You can jump up an down, repeat your ancient anecdotes, and say you're right all you want, but the facts are on our side. . . multiple times. I operate an all modern Apple business. . . and our experience doing so trumps yours. We had been all PCs and were replacing PCs on a two to three year cycle as the computers failed. During that time we were frequently fixing or re-imaging computers due to other problems. Since upgrading to Macs, which were slightly more expensive ab initio in purchase price, our cost to maintain computers has gone down drastically and our replacement cycle is now SIX years not two. That is a huge savings, making the total cost of ownership of Macs considerably LESS than the total cost of ownership of PCs.
Contrary to your implication above, software cost differences were and are either negligible or non-existent. For some, we saved considerably. For example, all Macs ship with an office suite of software that is sufficient for most office requirements. There goes the cost of Microsoft Office per workstation out the window. Macs have zero need for anti-virus protection, despite the propaganda the sellers of those programs push; what protection a Mac needs comes built into the macOS and is updated as necessary.
Should we ever find need to run anything from the Windows world, our Macs can easily run Windows either natively or in a Virtual Machine concurrently alongside macOS. In fact, various Windows centric review sites and magazines have listed the Mac and MacBook Pros as the best platform on which to run Windows.
When I was doing business consulting for a large number of clients with multiple operating systemsI'm mostly retired now, keeping my business down to only a couple of my larger clientsmy main Mac routinely was running NINE different operating systems simultaneously including three different versions of Microsoft Windows and two versions of Linux in virtual machines under the UNIX primary operating system of the Mac, as well as two versions of OS X.
Only concern how soon will Apple drop support of its OS. I will be watching with bated breath. If Apple does it to me again, I will have nothing good to say about them. This is their last opportunity and an opportunity to redeem themselves.
You keep harping on Apple dropping support for its OS. Apple changed from the original MacOS to OS X in 2001. . . with introducing a server version of OS X in 1998. They did not drop support of the legacy MacOS until 2007 when Apple switched from PowerPC architecture to intel processors, but that was just for including it as a viable operating system in new Macs. By that time, the old operating system had been supported for a full 30 years and was extremely long in the tooth. It was long past time for users AND developers to have upgraded to OS X.
Apple's computers have been upgradeable for a full six to seven years with the latest and greatest OS X and now macOS. There are tinkerers out there who have successfully found work arounds to install the latest upgrades to first Intel Macs that were released in 2007.
Apple supports iOS devices for five years before they announce they have been end of life. . . and for the most part Apple stops updating their iOS not because they won't work, but because they simply lack the hardware capacity for modern capabilities. They cannot take advantage of what the new iOS has to offer because they don't have the capability. Android makers most often do not even offer OS upgrades beyond the first year or so.
You are not getting the full functionality out of your AppleTV because you are not using it in conjunction with the Apple ecosystem because you don't own other Apple products because of your mis-informed anti-Apple prejudice. Too bad, but that is your choice.
Sorry, while I will absolutely concede Apple has lost its way with its laptops in the last few generations anyone claiming windows 10 is on par with OSX is smoking some really good stuff.
No, there is little practical use for expensive, overpriced, computers. There is no compelling reason to purchase them mainstream. Why buy a Ferrari to drive to work when a Ford will get you there for a lot less money. Simple economics.
As for the Apple TV. I am cautious because I don't want to get burned again. And there is a good chance that it will happen. But I am giving Apple (and you, the Apple spokesperson) another chance.
Lastly, why purchase media that will only run on Apple platforms? RE: ITunes? Again, that is my conflict with Apple — their media only runs on their hardware and nowhere else. So, in a way, if forces me to continue being an Apple customer because of the investment in Apple proprietary media — music, movies, etc. But that is the game, isn't it?
Bottom line: Apple is closed off/locked off... so that they can increase profits and discontinue support so that I am forced to buy the next Apple widget. Apparently, that business model works for them and yes there are some fools who are stuck in the Apple rut. Apparently they are happy. Not me, I can see above the rut.
I gave up reading BI on a regular basis due to the Trump-bashing bias of the mostly amateurish bloggers who contribute.
Uh, I was running iTunes on my Windows PCs to support my iPod, long before running it on a Mac. Early 2000's. iTunes will run on current PCs.
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