Well, I shall try to explain it. I'm sick of computers. They are evil and fincky. Many will try to explain this by saying that you need to know what you are doing, that if things go wrong you didn't pay attention, didn't read the manual.
This is true, in the same way that a shotgun used to open a can of petrol can be dangerous.
Computers are tools, and a tools purpose needs to be defined, so it can be designed and built to fulfill it. An Apple is designed to be useful. It is designed to organise and present. And it is designed beautifully.
Linux is cool to. It more open of course, and so my argument can be thrown back at me, but it can be tailored to exactly what you want, or if your not able to do it, there is someone out there who can, or who has.
Windows trys to be all things to all things, and ultimatly, while it does a lot more than everything else, it does none of it better. Its a swiss army knife, which I will admit is useful, but I prefer a powersaw in the garage, and a kitchen knife in the kitchen.
asmo
20 Comments
I agree, computers are tools.. It took me a long time but I made the switch to a Mac. Mostly because of the cost, I admit it, I'm cheap, and the Mac's are not. But when I sold my house in CA and move up to OR I decided that I had waited long effort.
I have had my Mac for a few months, I had to get Parallels (http://www.parallels.com) so that I could run some Windows programs, and IE. I know some of you are asking why in the world would I need to run IE. Well I will tell you. I'm an Independent Web Programmer and I need to make sure that the sites I build work on all major Internet browsers.
That brings up the second reason that I decide to go with a Mac. My sites run on a Linux server which make the interaction between the server and my local mac easier. For example, I use CVS on some sites, and the commands are the same on the Linux server and the MAC. I can SSH right from the command line. If fact for the most part the command line terminal is the same on either system.
Any how, that is my quick take.
-Greg
Combine that with iPhoto and the reliability, and there was no contest.
I have a MacBook at the moment, and its duties are photomanagment, Web development and Eclipse programming, all of which it handles great. Only problem is the small screen, which I got cos of travel needs, but roll on a UMPC with Linux (fingers crossed) and I'll be trading her for a 17" Macbook pro.
I never again want to go back to windows, time is money, and windows wastes so much time!
Certainly CSS compatibility between Firefox, Safari and (curses) IExploer are pissing me off at the moment.
I can't cut the windows umbilical cord completly (using it now) and I still have to go back for some things, but when I can, I do use a Mac. Or Linux.
After 3 hours work my eyes were hurting, fingers aching, etc. On the same computer using OSX I'll put in a full days work with none of those symptons. Physically, OSX was easier to use.
But your point is valid, I had to use windows for J2ME development, which really pissed me off.
I agree that the divisions between the two have shortened but you'll notice it's because the mac can now run PC programs - not the other way round.
(Have I just lost a lot of friends?)
I'm writing this on a Pentium 4 with Hyper Threading, running XP. Its slow, and takes an age to boot up in the morning, and I don't have a load of startup apps.
I come into work, switch it on, take my water bottle and fill it from the cooler. I then login, and go talk to my boss for a few minutes, when I come back its just about ready for input, I double click Outlook and Eclipse and go have a cup of tea. Its about 12 minutes at least in the morning before I can start working.
When I get a mail, it becomes sluggish. When I open file explorer, its sluggish.
It has no viruses, and no bloatware. Its just sluggish!
As someone who uses Unix, Linus, Windows and OSX regulary, the only one I dread using is Windows.
As for customisation, I could take some wood, glue a block of metal to it and call it a hammer. It would be more customisable, but I would be better off with a hammer.
:-)
function get_mac_lovers_opinion()
{
print "Macs are better.";
get_pc_lovers_opinion();
}
function get_pc_lovers_opinion()
{
print "PC's are better.";
get_mac_lovers_opinion();
}
You fools! It's recursive. And it's WRONG!
:)
Don't get me wrong though, I respect Macs and they certainly make some jobs easier and work much better out of the box. But for me I have bought software for Windows that I rely on to do my job and there just isn't a chance I'm going migrate to a Mac anytime soon.
While I don't think of Macs as "toys" (ouch snak!) but I do see a PC and much more useful (for me).
I'll refrain from commenting more though, I've just gone through my XP start up ritual, that always leaves me in foul form :-(
Hey you know AdGuy always gets the last word! ;)