mac or win

[Colonel Sanders]

Now Microsoft does have some quality products(windws 9x being an exception ) like their flight simulator, thier keyboards and critters, joysticks. I personally am very happy with MSN Messenger and Hotmail, as well as MSIE.

However, I do disagree with some of MS business practices.

L J

[sleepypost]

ditto. products= good, business ethics= terrible.

[Mac Medic]

Sure, M$ make some great products. I love XP, it is also one of the best OS's i have ever used. Using it now as a matter of fact. Don't get me wrong, just cos I like Mac's and OS-X doesn't mean I dislike PC's. I love em and love to build and sell them, hell it's the proceeds from that allow's me to buy Macs .

I wouldn't recomend any PC user "switch". But I thouroughly recommend they learn to use a Mac, especially with OS-X just for the personal gain of learning a UNIX system. But I still wonder how many Windows users would be comfortable with a UNIX OS?.

[sleepypost]

Really? a hardcore windows user (someone who knows EVERY RUN command) (which i dont!) would find UNIX hard? I haven't really studied UNIX...

[Computer Hobbyist]

oem_guy_2000,

What do you mean "(b)ut I still wonder how many Windows users would be comfortable with a UNIX OS?"

Most Mac users wouldn't be comfortable with a raw UNIX OS, just like most Linux users wouldn't be comfortable with a raw Unix OS. What makes Windows users any different?

The fact is that most users (windows, mac, linux or whatever) would not know what to do without a GUI.

CH

[Mac Medic]

I meant even with a Unix Gui, would most windows users know how to compile a program?. Most here probably do, but Im talking about the average user who uses .exe files and the windows installer and nothing else.

[mike breck]

It pleases me to see how Apple have fought back from the chasm of financial ruin and are now producing the most beautiful computers around.

It really is quite a sucess story and any one who is interested in computers should give Apple their due. They've fought and worked hard to survive. Then come back punching with some very creative ideas.

I respect that.

[sleepypost]

I respect Apple as a hardworking company, much the likes of SEGA (my favorite tech company). I think their marketing strategy was poor in the nineties and is still poor today though. From business terminology it is quite simple: Apple faltered due to PATH DEPENDENCY, "In which people are more likely to buy the simple mousetrap due to familiarity and regularity although there are unarguably better ones on the market for less".

Oh yea, what happened with SEGA again?? (no answer needed, thank you)

[Xayd]

Originally posted by sleepypost Really? a hardcore windows user (someone who knows EVERY RUN command) (which i dont!) would find UNIX hard? I haven't really studied UNIX...

OSX is interesting because they've put so much effort into putting a fully functional GUI on top of it, but with the exception of OSX Unix/Linux operating systems are meant to be server software, not desktop software.

As far as being difficult?

If you have a grasp of how a computer functions, not really. I find my BSD machine to be very easy to operate.

It's a mail server, web proxy/server, and an FTP server, end of list. No desktop, no games, no keyboard, no mouse, no monitor, just a box with a power cord and a network cord coming out of the back of it that runs 3 servers at all times. If that's your purpose for using Unix/Linux it's quite simple .

[Mac Medic]

I didn't say it would be hard, i just wondered how "comfortable" a lifelong windows user would be with the Directory structure, Installing apps, compiling etc...

[Computer Hobbyist]

Originally posted by oem_guy_2002 I meant even with a Unix Gui, would most windows users know how to compile a program?. Most here probably do, but Im talking about the average user who uses .exe files and the windows installer and nothing else.

Tell us the truth, how many mac users would know how to compile a program? Apple prides itself on selling computers anybody can use. I don't think they have changed that philosophy with OSX.

CH

[Computer Hobbyist]

BTW, I wasn't bashing Apple. I think their overall philosophy is right on target. A computer is a tool, and like any good tool, its use should come as naturally as possible. I just don't remember reading anywhere that Apple has changed that philosophy. Do you?

CH

[Mac Medic]

They may not advertise it that way, but to hear the rumblings in the Mac community, thats certainly what they have done. A lot of Mac users hate OS-X because of it's supposed diffuculty and refuse to move away from OS-9. Apple are countering this by discontinuing OS-9. Apple did say at the release of OS-X it was time to move into the 21st century with a Modern, more powerful OS so I suppose they acknowledge that the simplicity of OS-9 wasnt cutting it hence the move to UNIX. Sure OS-X is a piece of cake to use if you want it to be, but extremly powerful if you want that also. The Unix community is picking up on OS-X real quick, with the KDE group developing for it now. And open source groups are starting to adopt it more and more, but if you want to take advantage of any of this, you'd better learn how to use the terminal. And that is what I think would make Windows users uncomfortable, and I guess mac addicts too, although it is the OS-X users that are learning these things in greater numbers than Windows users as windows doesn't provide the option to learn. As for bashing Apple, i didn't think you had ? But go ahead, they deserve it too sometimes.

[sleepypost]

Originally posted by oem_guy_2002 I didn't say it would be hard, i just wondered how "comfortable" a lifelong windows user would be with the Directory structure, Installing apps, compiling etc...

Well probably not comfortable at first, but I think they would get the hang of it eventually.

[Mac Medic]

Exactly, so do I. It's just a matter of learning, which is why I would recommend using OS-X, just to learn. You don't even have to buy a Mac. Just go to the Apple store and play.

[sleepypost]

Or school for that matter. Why do schools insist on getting apples when PCs are so much cheaper. Word processing, internet browsing and simple apps run almost as simply on each machine.

[Mac Medic]

I wonder that myself, what with budget shortfalls n'all. They do get a discounted rate, cheaper than the student rate, but I don't think it's that much cheaper.

[sleepypost]

i know that my school abuses the budget. Each room has a brand new PC with a 2 ghz processor and WinXP Pro just for the teacher. Plus, each room has TWO tvs with cable! Then there are THREE computer labs with about forty computers each and just for a school with 1200 students. My other school had 2500 students and two crappy ol computer labs.

[Xayd]

What you're paying for with a Mac is the hardware. Macs use RISC CPUs with large caches, which are very expensive even if they don't come with a Mac PC .

Apple is a hardware company that also sells software, not the other way around.

[glc]

Moderator comment:

Let's keep it respectful - I don't want to close this thread, and I won't if you all just settle down.