Posted on 07/29/2002 10:28:25 AM PDT by toupsie
Mac heads are dissing our machines again! Nothing new about that--except that now they're doing it on television in commercials paid for by Apple. They're calling Windows machines "horrid" and "clunky" and "unwieldy." They're even saying that they're "disgusted!"
You're probably thinking, "So what? They're like a religious cult. Apple's last big campaign featured famous dead people who'd never touched a computer, let alone a Mac."
But now they're bringing up the Blue Screen of Death! In public!
You're probably thinking, "Hey, that's our dirty little secret. These Apple guys must be stopped!"
Or maybe you're thinking something else--the Appleseed that Steve Jobs wants to plant in your brain: "Is the Mac really easier and more reliable? And should I consider it for my next computer?"
After all, you're already using lots of Apple's pioneering concepts: Microsoft acknowledged in a written agreement with Apple back in 1985 that Windows was "derivative...of the visual displays generated by Apple's Lisa and Macintosh." And from Windows 1.0 to XP, the operating system has grown more Mac-like, not less.
Then there's innovation. The 3.5-inch floppy disk drive? First seen on the original Mac. Wireless networking via 802.11b (Wi-Fi)? As AirPort, it rolled out first in Macs. And Macs had built-in ethernet when it was a mere add-on for PCs. Although these technologies weren't invented at Apple, it committed to them long before they trickled down to Windows.
Some things were invented at Apple, including one advance now in every Mac: FireWire. Too bad the high-speed port (aka IEEE 1394) has been slow to catch on in PCs, in part because of the even slower-to-arrive copycat USB 2.0 standard. And the Mac is often far more elegant: Thanks to Apple software, editing digital video or burning a DVD on a Mac is almost a pleasure. On PCs, it's almost always a pain.
Windows users just get used to annoyances that Mac users don't have to put up with. Exhibit A: the Registry. That nightmarish Microsoft innovation means it's far easier to move applications between Macintoshes than it is to go through the grueling reinstallation process that keeps PC users clutching their current machines rather than upgrading.
Prior versions of the Mac OS managed memory poorly and crashed more often than Windows. My limited experience with OS X suggests that these problems have largely been corrected. Still, the Mac is far from perfect. I continue to prefer the PC's windowing interface, its lack of proprietary connectors, and its freedom of hardware choice (particularly in laptops, where I like 'em small and Steve Jobs apparently doesn't).
But every day that brings a Blue Screen of Death, a networking disaster, or a collection of security warnings from Microsoft is a day that more Windows users will consider making the Big Switch. And while there's no hard evidence that Apple is developing an Intel version, consider this: If OS X were available for the machine you have now, wouldn't you be frustrated enough with Windows to give it a try?
Contributing Editor Stephen Manes, a cohost of the public television series Digital Duo, has written about PCs for nearly two decades.
:^P
I learned what the BSD was last month on my work PC.
Never experienced it on my iMac.
The OS X core is built around BSD. Something I have been using on Intel for years. Linux also runs on Intel chips. Neither one crashes. Or, at least mine never have.
Don't need a MAC.
Michael
I think I can do without the 65,000 programs that run on Windows called 'Viruses'. 16,000 applications is enough for me. How many word processors do you need to write a letter to your Congressman?
The upside is that no one writes viruses and trojans for them.
However, if everyone switched to them, that would change quickly.
It's a rhetorical discussion anyway. It has been a long,long, slow public illness. If their market share does not drastically increase and reach the point that more killer apps are written for it, a kind of "critical mass", none of this will matter. The discussion had not really been about which system is "best" For whatever reason, the Marketplace voted.
VHS was quite inferior to Beta, but the non-illuminated marketplace did not care. It often does not reward the "best" for whatever reason.
I have the same opinion about Porche. Their proprietary design and lack of market share has put a serious crimp in my desire to buy one. Who would want to own a car that has less that 1% of the US auto market? That's even smaller than Apple's share of the OS market!!! You would have to be nuts. Think that fuel injector from your Ford Focus is going to work in a Porche 911? Think again!
American's like to have no choice. Thank God Microsoft is there to satisfy our desire for homogeneous computing.
Don't forget the price. I still don't have money to waste. If they sold for the same price as a PC I wouldn't mind a Mac.
Heck..you don't even need a computer. Pen and paper would be alot cheaper.
I tend to think of the Mac more as a Cadillac and Wintel as a Ford Pinto, without the huge price difference.
Do you have the Zip Code for Hell? I want to check on Weather.com to see if it is freezing over! :)
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