Ground Rules for the Windows vs. Mac War 524
FreshlyShornBalls writes "The New York Times is running a story that I think needs to be seen by everyone on both sides of the on-going Macintosh vs. Windows debate (i.e. just about everyone who posts on Slashdot): Some ground rules for the Windows vs. Mac War." From the article: "Last week, I wrote about some of the changes Microsoft has in store for the next version of Windows, which is slated for the end of 2006. Interestingly, very few of you responded to that column, probably because so much may change in the next 19 months. But a few of you fired off diatribes about how I'm either a Microsoft 'shill' or an Apple 'apologist' (or maybe it was the other way around). It's not just me, either; it's a running sardonic joke among tech columnists that you can't even USE the word 'Apple' or 'Microsoft' without getting hate mail from somebody or other."
Registration required (Score:5, Informative)
Oh no you didn't (Score:5, Funny)
And what about my BSD brehthren?
I think we've been far to lax for some time... time to take up arms.
Re:Oh no you didn't (Score:5, Funny)
>
> And what about my BSD brehthren?
>
> I think we've been far to lax for some time... time to take up arms.
1) That's GNU/Linux to you, sir.
2) Dead. Don't you reat Netcraft?
3) Leave my well-regulated militia out of this!
Now that that's over with, let's get back on topic - ground rules for the Windows vs. Mac war".
I suggest that we start by discussing whether the Logitech 1000MX favored by many M$ users is too irreducibly complex to have evolved from the one-button mouse used by many Macintosh users.
Re:Oh no you didn't (Score:2)
Quite possibly one of the funnier things I've heard this week. Well done.
Thank you (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Thank you (Score:2)
Newsweek not off the mark (Score:2, Interesting)
This post, however, is so it'll be AC.
Re:Newsweek not off the mark (Score:5, Interesting)
"Rules?" (Score:4, Funny)
non-zero overlap (Score:2)
Coming from an admitted Gnu/Linux zealot; Can't he be both?
And so it will be here (Score:4, Insightful)
I certainly hope no one thinks it will be any different here. In my several years reading
Seems to me both have their uses, both have their faults.
Re:Who are these Windows fans? (Score:3, Funny)
If Microsoft really wants people to say "Windows is Great!", they are going to have to innovate their own version of the Reality Distortion Field(tm).
well, that's ok (Score:2, Funny)
dude (Score:5, Funny)
Re:dude (Score:5, Funny)
That's SHE to you, buddy (Score:3, Funny)
No, it doesn't make sense to me either, but I didn't write the story. Then again, the start of the story talks about how the kids in the village will love eating their fresh spinach, so it's not exactly rooted in reality...
FreshlyShornBalls (Score:5, Funny)
How excellent.
Re:FreshlyShornBalls (Score:5, Funny)
Re:FreshlyShornBalls (Score:4, Funny)
Let's hope he's a he.
2. No condemning something until you've tried it. (Score:2, Insightful)
Its obvious, vacuous dribble.
I condemn it.
Move along, Move along
Apple zelots are a double edged sword. (Score:3, Interesting)
I remember one fat Mac zealot in a Computer Engineering class smugly telling me that Intel made it impossible for their chips to do multimedia and floating point mat "at the same time". Technically, you couldn't run MMX instructions and Floating instructions at the same time, because they used the same registers, and it took (I believe) 150 clock cycles to switch modes. Definitely not something a user would notice. This kid seemed to think it was now impossible to play a video and do any kind of mathematics.
These shrill, obnoxious people, I think, turned a lot of people against the Mac, because, as a PC user the basic idea is that PC users are idiots, and buying a Mac is like validating all that BS.
And the whole "lets worship a corporation as a god, who can do no wrong" is pretty obnoxious these days as well.
Re:Apple zelots are a double edged sword. (Score:5, Insightful)
Zealots are the problem, not Mac zealots.
Re:Apple zelots are a double edged sword. (Score:3, Insightful)
Now, if you're from a design background I imagine you'd cope better with the apple zealot -- though I'm sure it would still be annoying. Being from a technical background
Re:Apple zelots are a double edged sword. (Score:3, Insightful)
In my experience:
Lots of technical types like Macs as "front end" machines and respect Unix boxes as good "back end" machines.
Comparatively few technical types like Windows (relative to their marketshare). However, they do like the cheap hardware, and were long willing to
Re:Apple zelots are a double edged sword. (Score:3, Insightful)
That's very true, but as [G|g]od is my witness, I have never met a Windows zealot. I've met people who think Mac OS sucks. I used to be one before X, but I suppose the point is I'm now writing this on a powerbook.
However, I've never met anyone who is a Windows fan in the way that mac-heads are apple fans. And again
Re:Apple zelots are a double edged sword. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Apple zelots are a double edged sword. (Score:3, Funny)
Damn, I blew my cover, didn't I?
Intel processors (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Intel processors (Score:2)
The POWER chip family was very expensive as IBM found out, and the only viable solution was the Power-core derivatives like the 970. PPC may be more efficient (no wasted CISC translation interface), and more powerful per clock, but it also costs a lot more to develop faster and better chips with. As they phase into normal use, it should get cheaper, but by then, we will be calling PPC slow and the Next Best Thing
Re:Apple zelots are a double edged sword. (Score:2)
Yeah, but let's not forget that there are fanbois on both sides [slashdot.org].
Re:Apple zelots are a double edged sword. (Score:3, Insightful)
As Pogue discusses, one thing you common to most OS zealots is that they don't know what they're talking about. I've heard so many people say, "Iduno, I'm really good with computers, but when I sit down at a (PC|Macintosh), I just don't know where to go to do anything."
That's supposed to add to your credibility, yo
Re:Apple zelots are a double edged sword. (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't know anyone who's ever claimed to pick a favorite platform just to stick it to another platform's fans. Sure - people get offended or puzzled by zealotry. But who puts down chunks of cash just to upset that know-it-all fat kid?
I never went down the Mac road because I liked the commodity hardware direction happening with the IBM PC compatible crowd. And I think you'll find that is the same reason that Macs ended up in a niche market.
Great point. Keep in mind that, as others have pointed out, this should be applied to anywhere there is a coroporation (and even where corporations aren't directly involved). No specific platform or technology has a monopoly on zealotry (whether you call it that or not). And nobody is beyond criticism.
Re:Apple zelots are a double edged sword. (Score:5, Insightful)
They just tend to get really defensive when "outsiders"(meaning windows users) start criticising the mac. Partially because windows has been such a POS operating system. It's like someone driving an old rusty noisy car driving up to my cleaner, well kept vehicle and giving me crap because he doesn't like my hubcaps. Maybe my hubcaps could be better, but if you're not offering me something superior, then you're wasting my time.
Secondly, there's been a lot of bitterness because MS and their windows monopoly has made things a lot tougher for other OS'es. Their breaking HTML,
Re:Apple zelots are a double edged sword. (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Apple zelots are a double edged sword. (Score:2)
MOD PARENT UP. How many times do we have to beat it into your
Re:Apple zelots are a double edged sword. (Score:3, Informative)
Oh yeah? [winplosion.com] http://www.winplosion.com/ [winplosion.com]
Yes, it's 10 bucks and not included with the os, but guess what, there's plenty of counter examples too. (e.g. 3'rd party trackpad driver 'side track' which was pretty much required until very recently)
Re:Apple zelots are a double edged sword. (Score:3, Informative)
Of course you are confusing Altivec, a very boring-and-not-very-important vector instruction set with Quartz and Quartz Extreme, something that is much more cool, but hey, who cares -- why let facts get in the way?!
Re:Apple zelots are a double edged sword. (Score:2)
Formatted article - Karma here plz (Score:5, Informative)
Last week, I wrote about some of the changes Microsoft has in store for the next version of Windows, which is slated for the end of 2006. Interestingly, very few of you responded to that column, probably because so much may change in the next 19 months.
But a few of you fired off diatribes about how I'm either a Microsoft "shill" or an Apple "apologist" (or maybe it was the other way around). It's not just me, either; it's a running sardonic joke among tech columnists that you can't even USE the word "Apple" or "Microsoft" without getting hate mail from somebody or other.
It's kind of amazing that various extremists could find the same column too pro-Microsoft AND too pro-Apple. But hey--that's the nature of ideological soldiers, whether they're in the conservative-liberal war, the evolutionist-creationist war or the Hummer-Prius war.
The Mac-Windows war, though, is especially pointless, protracted, and winnerless. There will always be people on each side who are every bit as rabid and un-convincible as those in any other religious war.
Still, I'd like to suggest, as a starting point of civility, a few pointers for participants in the O.S. war. Consider it one man's version of, "Can't we all just get along?"
1. Hate something for its failings, not for its success.
It's totally fine to criticize something because of its flaws--to hate Windows because it's bloated and cryptic, for example, or the iPod because it's too easily scratched. But condemning something just because it's the dominant product is just sour grapes. Arguments along the lines of "I hate Bill Gates because he's rich" or "I hate the iPod because everyone has one" add nothing to the dialogue.
2. No condemning something until you've tried it.
If everyone abided by this idea, about 95 percent of all the Windows-Macintosh diatribes would evaporate overnight. But here it is: If you haven't tried something, then you really have no basis to comment.
3. Execution matters.
I'm so tired of reading discussions like this: Person A: "I love Mac OS X Tiger! That Spotlight thing is so cool: press a keystroke, type a few letters, and get an instantaneous listing every file, folder and program containing that text."
Person B: "You pathetic loser! It's called hard-drive indexing, and Windows XP has had it from Day One." Of course, the truth is that Windows Indexing Service is to Spotlight as Thomas the Tank Engine is to a bullet train. In Indexing Service, you can't search with a single keystroke, the speed is nothing like Spotlight's, you can't search for metadata (115 kinds of secondary information, like music genre, Photoshop layer names, camera settings in digital photos, etc.), the index isn't updated in real time as you create or delete documents, and so on.
It goes the other way, too. "I love how Windows XP lets me delete or rename files right in the Open or Save dialog boxes."
"What's the big deal? On the Mac, we just switch to the desktop and delete or rename things there."
Sorry, but that's just not as good as being able to do it within the dialog boxes.
The bottom line: How well something works and how elegantly it's been built is also relevant to the "which is better" discussion.
4. Don't make grandiose purchasing plans by guessing on technology's future.
This pointer is directed exclusively at Mac-bashers, particularly the ones on the nation's boards of education.
If you decide to standardize on Windows across all schools, fine. But make sure you have legitimate reasons like economics or the need to run some Windows-only software suite.
"We want the kids to learn what they'll one day use in the business world," however, is NOT a good reason. If you think you know what anyone will be using in 2020 (when today's first graders will graduate from college), you must have a heck of a magical crystal ball.
Truth is, by 2020, no operating system will look an
Re:Formatted article - Karma here plz (Score:3, Insightful)
Criticizing Microsoft for its market dominance is off the table! We sho
I'd like to address the marketshare issue (Score:2, Insightful)
It is entirely possible that if Mac OS X had the marketshare of Windows it would be compromised as often. 95% is a plum target.
It is important to note that OS X will never have the marketshare of Windows.
Apple is a single company. To supply the entire world's computing needs, they would have to grow to dwarf even IBM.
The question before us, then, is how much marketshare Apple would need to have for it to be compromised as thoroughly as Windows has been.
Is it 10%? 15%? Would an A
Re:I'd like to address the marketshare issue (Score:3, Informative)
However, I do agree with your point about Apple being a 'sole supplier'. This is very important for people to understand. With Apple being the sole supplier for both hardware and software, they can never really be as efficent as two seperate companies working flat out on improving their ef
Re:I'd like to address the marketshare issue (Score:3, Interesting)
I spend about $50-60/month on CDs currently. I have spent about that for a good few years now. I'm not bothered about paying a recuring payment for the rest of my life, which is 1/10th of what I currently pay and access to nearly infinitely more music. Apple doesn't bring anything new really to the world of music, apart from having the first m
Re:I'd like to address the marketshare issue (Score:3, Informative)
Compare:
It is entirely possible that if brick houses had the market share of straw houses the Big Bad Wolf would have been able to blow it over.
If that doesn't reveal just how idiotic your statement is, nothing will. There are more viruses for certain cell phones that have less market share than Apple, for Bob's sake! Virus writers would love to infect Macs, just to prove it can be done.
(I
Ecumenical Agnostic (Score:5, Insightful)
Neither of them is the perfect solution to every problem (and no, neither is Linux or any other OS). I work for an art and design college, and our labs are split about 50:50 between Windows and OS X, depending on the academic program (interior/industrial/furniture/jewelry design classes use Windows, fine arts/illustration/digital media/print media use OS X). My own home network contains multiple Windows, OS X, and Linux boxes.
So when people come to me with problems or for advice, I don't preach from the Gospel According to Steve or the Revelation to St. Bill (or the Epistles of Linus). I listen to what their needs are, and I suggest whatever offers the best solution for them.
Re:Ecumenical Agnostic (Score:2)
I'm an atheist. I think they all suck.
Fine, I'll start. (Score:5, Funny)
1. Always mention gaming as the pinnacle of computing.
E.g., "The Macintosh has not proven itself to the gamers market as of yet, but excels in media production."
"Windows, whatever your complaints, has wide support for a variety of gaming technologies not yet implemented on other platforms."
2. Refine to make sure it doesn't make sense:
E.g., "Apples suck because my friend tommy once he tried to play a game on his apple iie and it puffed smoke and i was like wtf??!! WHERE IN THE WORLD IS CARMEN SANDIEGO??!"
"I JUST PRESS A BUTTON IN MY WINDOWS SYSTEM CONTROL PANEL AND BACON COMES OUT!!!11one"
3. Make sure you're l33t. If you're not, girls won't like you. They also won't like you unless everybody else is a homosexual.
"FARGOT!! jesuz christo wtf MY 4PPL is T3H L33T BOMB ROX0R!! micro$0ft sux0rs to play fallout and i dont evan LIKE BACON"
"YOUR MOM like to play counterstrike and my W1NDOZE MACHENE IS WIN-WIN SITUATION!!! onbly liberals like bacon cocknut"
4. For clarity, just translate it into Spanish and ROT13 it. It's not like anybody's gonna read it anyway. Then go do your homework like your mom told you to half an hour ago.
Re:Fine, I'll start. (Score:2)
Jvaqbjf rf ry zrwbe! Éy genonwbf whfgbf!
vi! (Score:4, Funny)
Re:emacs! (Score:3, Funny)
(hey where'd everybody go?)
play to their strengths (Score:5, Funny)
Re:play to their strengths (Score:2, Funny)
Not sun (unless you're using it to code in Java).
Their strengths: Apple Keyboards r0x0r!!! (Score:3, Interesting)
Went into an apple reseller [frequency.com.au] yesterday and picked up a keyboard. Asked a salesdroid "What are my chances of getting this to work on a PC?" (I already knew the answer to that, was just trolling!). Salesdroid said "Zero - there's no drivers for it". (Clearly doesn't know about USB HIDs!). I said "Mind if I try it?".
Whipped out Dell laptop and fired it up. Windows XP detected an "Apple Extended Keyboard" and a "Generic
Everyone Is Wrong! (Score:4, Funny)
If you leave CP/M out of the debate, you are in league with the devil and deserve the evil fate that befalls you!!!!
- Greg
Re:Everyone Is Wrong! (Score:2)
I will not take large quantities of methamphetamine and halucinogenic drugs and post to slashdot.
This may even help the other zealots. I smell a reasearch grant!
I agree about the ... (Score:2, Interesting)
Shocker!!! I post on non tech forums as well, and whenever either is brought up, the level of hatred and name calling is amazing. The only think that produces more anger is talking about the president.
My point is that this is so obvious, then why not put "The sky is blue" in the news section here. IT's something we all know.
Ground Rules laid out (Score:2, Funny)
#2) I am always right
#3)????
#4) Profit !!!
#5) see rule #2
The end at last (Score:3, Funny)
If my mother were still alive.... (Score:2, Insightful)
I have used them all and stick with Windows at home because I know how to keep it clean and stable.
I have been running Windows 2000 since late 2000 and never reloaded the OS and keep it clean as can be.
Use what you like and then go out and play in the great outdoors.
Silly debate (Score:3, Funny)
One is for boys, and the other is for girls and male homosexuals.
Duh.
+1 Funny flamebait (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Silly debate (Score:3, Interesting)
No. We won't. Any serious examination of any OS will find their strengths and weaknesses, of which both Windows and MacOS have. In my own opinion, Mac has the superior OS from a technical standpoint, while Windows has a far larger development pool.
It's because of that develo
Does this mean we are going to have a real war? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Does this mean we are going to have a real war? (Score:2)
Re:Does this mean we are going to have a real war? (Score:5, Funny)
Here's how it goes down... (Score:5, Funny)
The Windows users building some kind of overcomplicated Molotov-cocktail which ignites with the least effort and causes most of them to get blown up. The balance of Windows users have already by chance attended Molotov-cocktail University and are certified to make the basic explosive.
Mac users, on the other side of the office, order theirs from molotovcocktail.com. Each one comes in box so pretty that few ever remove the contents and those that do, adorn their person with multiple cocktails. Although still heavily outnumbered, they are quite skilled at throwing. The battle plays itself out to a near draw, given the ratio of Windows users left to the Mac users who can get the cocktail out of the box and through attrition there are only two users left standing.
After that, in walks the Linux user with a mini-nuclear-bomb which he took 20 years to construct in his basement. He rids the office of both Windows and Mac users.
Afterwards, a race of mutant Linuxes grow up to inhabit the Earth.
Re:Here's how it goes down... (Score:4, Funny)
The most important one.. (Score:5, Informative)
First you'd have to get people to RTFA, for starters.
I'm often amazed however at how many non tech literate people I know simply refuse to even try OSX even when I offer to show them how to. These are people who are completely frustrated by Windows but stick with it only because it's what they know and cannot even fathom an alternative.
Stockholm Syndrome? (Score:4, Insightful)
The polite explanation for this might be Stockholm Syndrome [sniggle.net]*. The impolite explanation is pig ignorance.
"No condemning something until you've tried it." (Score:5, Insightful)
That 95% -- probably more like 99% -- of Windows fanboys have never tried a Mac, I can well believe. But the reverse? Uh-uh.
Windows is everywhere, and unavoidable. Anyone who uses a Mac, or Linux, or any other OS that's not Windows, almost certainly has made an informed decision to do so based on harsh experience with Microsoft's crap.
Re:"No condemning something until you've tried it. (Score:3, Interesting)
So true! Another factor to consider is that there is a huge network effect working against Apple and Linux, and still they have made inroads. The fact that practically every company runs Windows, almost every big game comes out for Windows first, and there are zillions of vendors in the Windows world makes it that much more difficult
Re:"No condemning something until you've tried it. (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:"No condemning something until you've tried it. (Score:3, Interesting)
If you're talking about an environment for professional programmers or other technically savvy people, there lots of places that also employ Macs and Linux. But most IT departments at large corporate or government entities (in my experience, YMMV) are extremely keen on standardization.
For example, a government agency I worked at back in the late 1990s actually went to the trouble of purging all instances of FileMaker on client machines because not only did th
Re:"No condemning something until you've tried it. (Score:3, Insightful)
As you have said, alot has changed in 5 years.
TFA is a shill! (Score:3, Funny)
Man aren't we getting tired of the NYT zealots. Mossberg rules. Pogue sucks! End of discussion.
Rules? Huh? Who needs rules? (Score:2)
Why is this a war? (Score:2)
Why is this a war? I think that whole characterization is ridiculous and has been for use.
Apple is successful. Microsoft is successful. Linux is successful. Sure, some are more successful than others but really, grow up people. This whole "my penis, er, OS is bigger, better, and more successful than your OS" is childish. That's the sort of rhetoric one hears in the schoolyard.
Just use the OS that works for you and move along.
SiO2
Do people really care about Mac vs. Windows? (Score:3, Insightful)
When TFA author says: "It's not just me, either; it's a running sardonic joke among tech columnists that you can't even USE the word 'Apple' or 'Microsoft' without getting hate mail from somebody or other." he is probably making the whole thing up. For one thing, do tech columnists really get together and tell 'running jokes.' I doubt it. Most of them seem as serious as a heart attack and for sure they never talk to other fellow tech columnists so that they won't inadvertently give away any ideas for their next article to them.
And then TFA author says "Interestingly, very few of you responded to that column..." but then gets missed by the cluebat and goes on to give his handful of readers a second dose of snooze.
Some people use both (Score:5, Insightful)
If everyone abided by this idea, about 95 percent of all the Windows-Macintosh diatribes would evaporate overnight. But here it is: If you haven't tried something, then you really have no basis to comment.
There is an interesting corallary to this, which to this day amazes me. The token zealot (on either side) appears to believe that the world is divided amonst though who don't have either "competing" product, those who own A, and those who own B.
Apparently, the notion of owning - and perhaps more importantly, enjoying - both products is so counter to the agenda of your garden variety fanboy, that it is anathema to their very dogma.
Re:Some people use both (Score:4, Insightful)
I also have to say that nearly ALL of the zealotry I see on a daily basic comes from the Mac side, and most of the time it's obvious the Mac person does not use a PC, since their claims about the Mac's superiority and the PC's tendency to crash then burst into flames are so comically absurd. Not having a preference either way constantly gets me labeled as a Mac basher or a Windows zealot. Constantly.
Mac people are geekier about their brand. I've had many an argument devolve into the Mac person saying, "well, I guess I love the Mac, and you love the PC," to which I reply, "let's get something straight. I don't love my computers. They are machines that help me work, that's all." I've long since suspected that Mac users are trying to justify to themselves all extra money they've shelled out for their machines.
Some peple use both and still hate Windows (Score:3, Insightful)
As someone who owns and uses and writes code for and maintains other people's code for and has released free software for and supports users on both Mac and Windows, I have good reason for my bias against Windows.
Despite that bias, for most of the '90s I really couldn't
It's not Mac VS Windows (Score:2, Insightful)
It's more like Mac vs PC, Not Mac vs Windows. In fact, it should be more like OS X vs Windows.
Any Mac user is going to tell you to sell your PC all together and get a Mac. I have a real problem with this, because the problems are not usually inherant in the PC, but in the operating system that runs on the PC.
I think Mac users really need to step back and really *decide* just what it is they're fighting. If it's just Windows, we
I have Tiger, FC3 and XP on my desk at work. (Score:5, Insightful)
Most OS's get two of the following:
Cheap - The combination of operating system, hardware, running software and updates is below or on par with the other choices.
Easy to setup/maintain - You average inept home user can shove a disk in, follow basic directions and expect to end up with working apps, sound and video and peripherals. If any problems arise they might be able to stick in a disk that came with a piece of hardware and remedy that problem without in depth knowledge of system editors. Updates should be easy to find and nearly automatic to install. Choosing and running updates should require little to no knowledge of computers. Joe user should also be able to walk in to the nearest wally world, pick up a slide scanner take it home and get it running without calling their family computer geek.
Stable - Would you want this OS controlling a robot doing eye surgery on you? Well you probably wouldn't want that in any case but you get my drift. Will this system do that it's intended to do without failure? Can the system be easily compromised due to minor operator oversight or ignorance?
On my desk sits a Mac to my left, an XP box to my right and a FC3 box straight ahead.
What the Mac does, it generally does well. Looks are obtained at the cost of speed but not so much that it makes the experience painful. It's very stable but it lacks good apps without a lot of money invested.
The Mac is the business guy in the tailored suit, a professional but he doesn't come cheap. He isn't really any better than anyone else, but he looks the part. He's pleasant to be around and if experience matters more to you than money, he's your man.
The Linux box is Fast, what it does, it generally does well. What it doesn't do by default requires endless toil and RTFM. It's rather stable and you can force it to do just about anything if you have enough time. Once you have all the stuff in the right places it's not hard to use but getting it to that point on all but the most generic hardware/software requires an experienced hand.
The Linux box is the genius teenager, You can dress it up, take it out, it's a cheap date and very able. It lacks refinement and organization but makes up for it with flexibility and low expense. If you can figure out how to motivate it, minimal investment can prove a staggering return.
The Windows box is pretty fast, fairly cheap but it takes a lot to keep it in proper condition. There's a large collection of free software that does a descent job though there's a large collection of expensive software that arguably does the job better. The biggest problem is that it will continue to work if it's not kept up to date. Eventually it will be struck down through it's unpatched insecurities. You can't leave it alone. If novices understood how important patching and not running too much cheesy third party software was, the competition would have a hard time holding on. Windows has great flexibility, unfortunately that usually comes at the cost of stability. It's all in how far you take it.
Windows is that lazy uncle that never seems to get things right. If you keep on him he's ok (if not pretty good) at what he does, just not very trust worthy if left alone. He's pretty cheap to impress and can be dressed up, you can let him house sit, but you don't trust him with your china. Whether it's society that makes him that way or his own shortcomings is irrelevant. If you need to deal with him, keep him in his place everyone will be OK.
With the exception of marketing gimics and minor tweaks in the product lines, Mac will continue to make moderately expensive hardware that gets combined with moderately expensive software with the main goal of providing a fantastic user experience to the unknowing public and a fair amount of flexibility to the experienced public that can afford the platform.
Windows will continue to be reactionary to the markets needs. They will continue to create ne
BeOS! (Score:3, Insightful)
Flames (Score:3, Funny)
Well I can't see it, because it requires registration, you apple-loving worm !
Not that I'd actually use or care about either Windows nor Mac, but still...
Windows is a living dead virus incubator which waits for the worst possible moment to keel over and crash when not sending porn spam with pictures of the goatse man to your mother, boss and neighbours. Mac is an overpriced decoration item for yuppies too stupid to learn how to use a two-button mouse or to be able to realize that a colored computer case is not high art, built on top the dying BSD kernel. GNU/Linux is a secret communist plot by hippies who like vi since it colors C code with pretty colors to turn the world into coder's paradise and sing USSR's national anthem in assembly while urinating on the smoldering remains of Microsoft HQ.
Now, if this post seems a bit insulting, don't forget: you could have laid out your ground rules in an open forum, webblog or something; but you chose NY Times. make a better choise next time.
Re:Bollocks (Score:2, Funny)
And, of course one of the shipping titles will be Duke Nukem Forever!
Re:Bollocks (Score:3, Insightful)
19 Month is a lifetime is IT, so STFU
Are you trying to prove his point? The "so STFU" was utterly unecessary, and only served to detract from your argument and make you look immature.
Re:Bollocks (Score:5, Funny)
Or, as we say around here, "+5, Insightful"...
Re:Bollocks (Score:5, Insightful)
(Now, anyone who mods me insightful, don't - it's funny
Re:Bollocks (Score:5, Insightful)
If you don't make the comparison to future software, Microsoft can claim anything in the world, as they have been with Longhorn to date. WinFS, Avalon,
So what if 19 months is a long time. _Both_ companies have 19 months, and as I recall, the release cycle of OS X has seemingly hit that miraculous 18 month interval, meaning that when Longhorn actually does come out, so will Mac OS X 10.5.
At this point, we can only compare what exists, and what doesn't. Dashboard and Spotlight exist
Re:Here's the article, where's my Karma? :D (Score:3, Informative)
Last week, I wrote [nytimes.com] about some of the changes Microsoft has in store for the next version of Windows, which is slated for the end of 2006. Interestingly, very few of you responded to that column, probably because so much may change in the next 19 months.
But a few of you fired off diatribes about how I'm either a Microsoft "shill" or an Apple "apologist" (or maybe it was the other way around). It's not just me, either; it's a running sardonic joke
Re:Here's the article, where's my Karma? :D (Score:2, Funny)
Re:What it comes down to (Score:2, Insightful)
Kind of depends on what you are *doing* and what software you need. Yeah, windows has a lot more choices for software... virus scanners, trojan removes, spyware scrubbers...
"Windows are faster, they have twice as many Mhz as apple's (sic)"
Yeah, because clock speed is a direct indication of how fast the OS runs. Takes nothing about processor and bus architecture into account. A 3 MHz x86 is OBVIOUSLY twice as fast as a
Re:3. No Condemning something until you tried it (Score:2)
Re:3. No Condemning something until you tried it (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:First Post + Side Declaration (Score:3, Insightful)
The Spinning Pizza Wheel Of Death is bloody annoying.
In true Slashdot style though, I can't imagine much worse than Windows.
Linux kinda sucks too, manufacturer support would be nice here, though there'd still be suckiness left.
I'm not intentionally trolling, it all sucks to varying degrees. Otherwise we wouldn't care.
Re:He's right. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:... mirror? ... (Score:2)
Re:Website for Mac vs. PC? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Website for Mac vs. PC? (Score:2, Funny)