Mac v the pc

[sophia jane]

So, I've just bought my first Mac and it's like finding a new religion. I'm curious how many others use a Mac (I know Rob does). And if not, why not? And while we're on the topic of pcs, what's everyone think of Vista- anyone install it yet? I think we'll be waiting a long time to put it on our pc for lots of reasons, not the least of which is our illegal copy of XP that means we'll have to buy the full version at waaaay too much money.

Anyway thoughts on Macs? Pcs? Vista?

(and yes, I've got nothing better to do right now)

 

[TheeGoatPig]

I use a PC.

I am a gamer, and most games don't work on Macs without a lot of extra work being put into making them work, and they don't always work properly after that.

AutoCAD (which I use for work) also works best on PCs.

Also, my parrents used to own a Mac and I never liked that machine, the Operating system, or anything about it. I just couldn't get used to it.

Macs just don't fit well with my brain. I am a PC user because of it.

 

[Guest]

usually people will like one or the other.
i wouldnt mind having one around for graphics...other than that, i really like pc's. like tgp said, they fit my brain.

 

[sophia jane]

I use a PC.

I am a gamer, and most games don't work on Macs without a lot of extra work being put into making them work, and they don't always work properly after that.

AutoCAD (which I use for work) also works best on PCs.

Also, my parrents used to own a Mac and I never liked that machine, the Operating system, or anything about it. I just couldn't get used to it.

Macs just don't fit well with my brain. I am a PC user because of it.

I can see that.

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

So, I've just bought my first Mac and it's like finding a new religion.
(and yes, I've got nothing better to do right now)

I thought I noticed a pod-shaped hump had appeared on your shoulders.

So you've become one of them now . . . (runs away)








(Seriously, I am very businesslike, and engaged in biz-like activities, so having the box of the biz world suits me just fine.)

 

[sophia jane]

I thought I noticed a pod-shaped hump had appeared on your shoulders.

So you've become one of them now . . . (runs away)

Yes I've joined the cult of the Apple.

 

[rgraham666]

I was a computer programmer, and I loved my Macs. It's the only computer I've used for twenty years now.

Simply put, Apple never lost sight of the 'computers for the rest of us' idea they originally released the Mac under. The Mac interface is consistent across applications which makes learning new apps a whole lot easier.

I won't say Macs are perfect, I've had problems now and then. About once every five years on the average. But I trust my Mac. I'm never wondering when it's going to crash and take God alone knows how much data with it. I still do backups, but I rarely need to use them.

The metaphor I came up with is Catholicism and Protestantism.

The PC world is Catholicism. You must have priests on hand in order for you to have a relationship with God. And the priests work very hard to make sure the religion is structured that way.

The Mac world is Protestantism. You don't need a priest to have a relationship with God. The priests are there, but only to advise, not dictate. You can figure out your own relationship with God.

As far as games go, yeah, the Mac comes up short. But most of the popular games do migrate. And now that Macs use Intel processors, most PC games will run on Macs. Once they get a decent simulator running. The current ones aren't quite there yet.

My $0.02 worth.

 

[Equinoxe]

Computers are aggravating to me, but they are useful little creatures. I don't have a Mac, at the moment, but Apples are, or were, the only computers that I think of fondly. It has been a while, but they always just worked and did what I wanted them to.

The first computer I ever used was an Apple IIe. Growing up, my school had them and on Wednesdays we would get to use them: and so we would play the Oregon Trail -- I'm not sure what the educational value was, but we learned about cholera at a young age. By the time any member of my family actually owned a computer, I had never so much as seen one not made by Apple. They did not buy a Mac.

 

[rgraham666]

Oh yes. Vista.

All the stuff I've read so far says it's pretty much a Microsoft product. Very good in some spots, needs work in others.

One commenter said it made him appreciate, again, how much he likes using his Mac at home. He uses PCs at work and although he can work with them, it's not his favourite thing to do,

He also said they stole a few ideas from the Mac, as usual.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

Oh yes. Vista.

All the stuff I've read so far says it's pretty much a Microsoft product. Very good in some spots, needs work in others.

One commenter said it made him appreciate, again, how much he likes using his Mac at home. He uses PCs at work and although he can work with them, it's not his favourite thing to do,

He also said they stole a few ideas from the Mac, as usual.

Personally, I am working otwards never buying Vista. It sounds like a clusterfuck from start to finish.

 

[rgraham666]

Computers are aggravating to me, but they are useful little creatures. I don't have a Mac, at the moment, but Apples are, or were, the only computers that I think of fondly. It has been a while, but they always just worked and did what I wanted them to.

The first computer I ever used was an Apple IIe. Growing up, my school had them and on Wednesdays we would get to use them: and so we would play the Oregon Trail -- I'm not sure what the educational value was, but we learned about cholera at a young age. By the time any member of my family actually owned a computer, I had never so much as seen one not made by Apple. They did not buy a Mac.

I used Apples before I used Macs. I still have the motherboard for my first. Number 1871 off the production line. I bought it thirty years ago come April.

 

[sophia jane]

Oh yes. Vista.

All the stuff I've read so far says it's pretty much a Microsoft product. Very good in some spots, needs work in others.

One commenter said it made him appreciate, again, how much he likes using his Mac at home. He uses PCs at work and although he can work with them, it's not his favourite thing to do,

He also said they stole a few ideas from the Mac, as usual.

Yeah, I've been keeping up with some of the talk about it, long install time, etc, but I wondered if anyone here had gotten it yet. I'd be interested in how it runs compared to XP. The worst thing I've heard about Vista is its built in anitpiracy stuff, not just against illegal Windows software (which I've heard makes the whole thing shut down till you buy a legal copy) but its built in "attack" on illegal music and other software. I understand the need to crack down on piracy, but there's a certain Big Brother feel to my computer punishing me for illegal software.

 

[Equinoxe]

I used Apples before I used Macs. I still have the motherboard for my first. Number 1871 off the production line. I bought it thirty years ago come April.

Interesting.

I suppose I'm really using "Apple" to include the Macintosh, but I always liked them. There was just always something about them that was friendly.

 

[rgraham666]

I gather from what I've read that buying Vista give Microsoft the 'right' to go into your machine and 'check it over' for things it doesn't like.

I'd have to look that up, just a rumour, but that sure feels like Microsoft.

 

[The_Fool]

It is a Microsoft world as far as many of the programs I run. I personally don't care what OS I run, it is more the programs that run on top of it that concern me, whether that be Windows based, MAC or Linux.

As far as Vista, I think I am going to do what much of the world is going to do and wait for the first service pack before considering a migration.

There was a nasty rumor about Vista that it did a snapshot of the system when loaded and established a baseline of the hardware. If sufficient changes were made to the hardware of the system, then it would shut down assuming that it had been loaded onto a second computer. The magic number I remember reading is three hardware changes, so if you changed video card, audio card and added a second NIC, then it would lock up and say call home. But that is a memory and my memory is not always so good or to be trusted.

 

[cloudy]

As far as Vista, I think I am going to do what much of the world is going to do and wait for the first service pack before considering a migration.

Exactly what I've been thinking, too.

Some of the new Macs will run Vista - saw it just yesterday, actually, on a segment featuring some of the newest tech toys.

 

[3113]

So, I've just bought my first Mac and it's like finding a new religion.

"Welcome, Sister Sophia, Welcome!" (Opens garden gate to secret grotto of waterfalls, lush trees, swings, pools and spring flowers). "Welcome at last to the Land o' Mac!"

One of us! One of us!

Yeah, I'm a Mac Cultist and proud of it. I watch every keynote from Steve Jobs and I've waited in line outside the Mac Store for a first look at new products. Man, I miss those event nights!

I've never owned a PC. It's been Mac and Mac related products all the way. In fact, there are three Macs in my house. An iMac (our base station), my husband's Macbook Pro and my black Macbook.

Sooo? What did you get? Details, details! (Yes, we in the Land O' Mac are actually interested in your specs).

 

[minsue]

The first computer I ever used was an Apple IIe. Growing up, my school had them and on Wednesdays we would get to use them: and so we would play the Oregon Trail -- I'm not sure what the educational value was, but we learned about cholera at a young age.

*insert nostalgic smile and sigh here*

 

[SimonBrooke]

Macs just don't fit well with my brain. I am a PC user because of it.

I confess I haven't used a Mac in anger since 1985 (a Fat Mac, with a whole 512Kb of memory) - but it wasn't my favourite operating system even then. In the interim I had a short time when I was responsible for some NeXT machines - the machines Steve Jobs made when he wasn't at Apple, and on which MacOS X is at least partly based. I loathed them with a passion; and what I've seen of MacOS X I think I'd have a very hard time liking it, too. It looks deceptively like a proper UN*X system until you try to do anything with it... and then you find it isn't.

As to Windows, I have XP on my laptop. It really amazes me that anyone can do anything productive with it - it isn't even alpha quality software.

 

[SimonBrooke]

I used Apples before I used Macs. I still have the motherboard for my first. Number 1871 off the production line. I bought it thirty years ago come April.

H'mmm... In my dining room is BBC Micro serial number 509. And a lot of other ancient computers as well, including a delay-line driver from the third commercial computer ever sold, and a power supply unit from the seventh. But BBC 509 is special because it was mine from new. It still works, naturally.

 

[TxRad]

Mac Vs Pc

Sorry but I'm opting out for Linux as i find both Mac and Microshaft frustrating.

I started out on Dos 2 and liked the fact that i had control of how things worked.. I stayed with dos 6 (Actually DR Dos 6) until it became absolutely impossible not to change over to windows....

Slowly over the last few years I've been dual systeming with Linux and XP.... I've tried every kernal I could get my big hands on.... Yeah, it's a learning curve but strangely it reminds me of the good old days when I ran my computer and not some idiot thats out to make a fortune whether we like what they do or not.

I guess that makes me a geeky geek but oh well, I'm enjoying the speed of a modern computer on an old 686-3 at 800 hz.... 1 gig of memory makes it fly......

Okay I'll get off the soap box.....

 

[rgraham666]

UNIX is why I didn't upgrade to OS X for years. I loathed UNIX.

Remember what I said about priests? Well UNIX and C++ are the Latin of the computer world.

It's spoken amongst the priesthood so they can show how superior to the poor peasants they rule. And it lets them keep their power as Latin/UNIX is required for anything useful to be done.

I'll say it again. I loathe UNIX. I was so relieved I don't have to have anything to do with it when I went to OS X.

 

[vampiredust]

H'mmm... In my dining room is BBC Micro serial number 509. And a lot of other ancient computers as well, including a delay-line driver from the third commercial computer ever sold, and a power supply unit from the seventh.

that brings back memories. I remember using a BBC Micro in primary school.

 

[3113]

what I've seen of MacOS X I think I'd have a very hard time liking it, too. It looks deceptively like a proper UN*X system until you try to do anything with it... and then you find it isn't.

I don't know enough to say, but from what I've *heard* it IS a Unix system and you CAN do all kinds of Unix things with it if you get under the hood. Which is very easy to do (I haven't done this, but my brother, a software engineer, does it all the time. He loves Macs and is always getting into the terminal to fool with his computers).

But most folk (like Rob and Myself) don't want to do that and so remain in the driver's seat letting the system works as it works.

I know that Macs went through a bad patch back when, I went through it with them--but I adore their current operating system. IMHO, it's rock solid and the most user friendly on the market.

 

[vampiredust]

My first Mac was a Plus. I've owned a few since then and still own a lime green iMac. But I use a PC as my main machine. It's easier to upgrade and there are better games on it then for the Mac, like Oblivion, Half Life 2 and NN2.