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The wife uses a Windoze PC everyday and doesn’t run into any of the problems you described. You must be a quitter to cop-out and give her a fisher-price toy. It’s a sad day… ?
Kingbuzzo -December 28, 2005
I have an iBook 1.33GHz with 512MB RAM and the system runs fine. I usually have Mail, iTunes, Safari and Firefox open at the same time and I see no slow downs as I switch between them. I don't use any of the MS Office products so I can attribute to their affects on the system. I am planning on a memory upgrade but it's only because I have started using iDVD and iMovie.
John -December 28, 2005
My wife started out on a mac at home - she has a travel business. Not surprisingly, she also approaches the computer exactly the same way - no patience for the technical side of things. She just expects it to work. Now when the internet goes down, she practically goes ballistic (sign of the times). When I set up a home network, I decided after seeing all the nightmares our IT dept had to contend with at my office, that it would be easier to maintain if I bought two new Dell PCs and converted her over to the PC. At first that was true, but now after many software installs/uninstalls, system upgrades and of course the proliferation of viruses and other invasive stuff coming from the web, it seems I am constantly having to fix things. My opinion of the current state of evolution in PCs is this: A PC or Mac will continue to work smoothly ONLY if you never install any new software or connect to the internet. If you do either of these things, all bets are off. The windows software especially is 100% guaranteed to self-destruct over a period of 1-3 years because the standards are just too complex and not well enough integrated to insure that your system will not get screwed up over time. And unless you are prepared to spend several hours per week cleaning and updating and searching for anomalies, you are doomed to a increasingly frustrating relationship with your computer. Since the hardware keeps changing also, the best cure is to start over with a completely new computer periodically, either a Mac or a PC, in which case your update on how easy it is to transfer the data is encouraging. Thanks, John
John W -December 28, 2005
Ba-hahahahahahahaha! Fisher-Price toy!!! Hahahahaha! Man... I enjoy the humor of the nugatory nadirs of computing ontology—Windows users! Keep up the good work Kingbuzzo
Mossrockss -December 28, 2005
"The moral of this tale: use a Mac before you slam Apple's platform, because the only thing you'll be slamming afterwards is top of the box as you ship your old Windows PC off to some unsuspecting eBay buyer." http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/7999/
Power to the Mac -December 28, 2005
Hey Kingbuzzo, Calling the author names for choosing a product you don't like is very childish. I have 2 PCs at home as well with my Wife on one and my Son on the other. And the same issues that the author is having with his wife's PC is happenning to my wife and my son's PC is just a haven for SpyWare and Viruses. I have them loaded with all the apps and he still seems to get infected with stuff. My wife will be making the switch but my son wants his PC for the games.
John -December 28, 2005
>You must be a quitter to cop-out and give her a fisher-price toy. you're twelve, yes?
vauc -December 28, 2005
Um ... techno-geek and you didn't spruce up your wife's PC using Remote Desktop? I do this all the time for my wife using Remote Desktop, even showing her how to do this, that or the other operation. Remote Desktop is a Supporters Godsend. Oh, did I mention that I do this from my Mac PowerBook while she's using her iBook? Ok, now I did. But of course, you COULD have done this with Windows too. signed, a supporter (MCDST, ACHDS, ACTC)
MacAndWin -December 28, 2005
Come on everyone - Rodney King was right - can't we all just get along! Who the hell cares if it's a PC or an Apple - it's a tool - choose what makes you productive and just do the job in front of you. I've used both and prefer Apple products - doesn't make me better than another person who is happily working away on a Dell. Happy New Year and keep an open mind - people are starving in this world - do something good to make a difference. :-)
John Bevier -December 28, 2005
the goal is to have a 'Mac or Windows' toy that's helping US out! i think that they both are doing good things for us. What's in a name ? signed, a windows/mac OSX user Rodney
Rodney Varo -December 28, 2005
I took the plunge this year early on around May and purchases an iMac G5. Right now I'm not completely switched over for two very key reasons... 1) my HP Photosmart 8450 printer works intermittently with 10.4.x of OSx constantly stopping print jobs and then suddenly working again. Then stopping again. etc. I think it's a known issue with HP, but they are not fixing it. Might be time to toss them. HP has really sucked over the last few years. Not like the old HP where their stuff just worked period. 2) Finally the internet on the mac no matter if you use Safari or Firefox. Just plain sucks. It's slow. Takes forever for a page to load. My PC on the other hand serves up pages instantly when compared to my Mac. Until these two things are fixed. I'm still using my PC.
Mopcodes -December 28, 2005
I have one question about the Outlook to Mac conversion...WHY??? Entourage (the MS Office MacOS Email client) is probably the best you will find anywhere, and you can still keep most of your usual items intact - like groups and categories). I like the "Mac is a viable computing platform" comment - I always looked at them as equals and I'm a Windows Sysadmin. I think we can dispense with the platform clique-isms and get on with assessing the strengths and weaknesses. In my case it's having a MacOS X machine connected to the internet with no antivirus or antispam/spyware software for four years running. I've done the same as the writer - rebuilt countless PCs of friends in the meantime. I think there's something to be said about owning home PC and wasting one's life away trying to keep it running consistently. JB
Jason B -December 28, 2005
Your Comments (required): I am not a SysAdm or anything like it. I am just a grad student who has spent way too many hours 'fixing' family and friends pc. When it came time to buy a home laptop, I chose an Apple. Simply because I was tired of 'opening the hood.' The thing works. I have minimal problems, most due to my poking a little deeper than my knowledge of the system. However, I do take the necessary precautions when surfing and opening emails. It is nice not having to spend additional tuition-coffee money on virus, spyware, and other programs that are must when using windows. The days of virus free surfing may be numbered as the Apple gains popularity. Until then, I will continue practice 'safe computing.'
Ruben Dario -December 28, 2005
Interesting Paul. I've been thinking of doing the same thing for my wife.
Mangy -December 28, 2005
I worked with PCs since 1985 and Macs since 1987. In that time I set up and configured about 500 PCs and about 150 Macs so I think I have a fair understanding of what Paul is talking about. Three years ago I bought two PCs for my parents in Germany - main reason being that no-one around them had Macs. As a consequence I spend about a third of my visiting time fixing and setting up the PCs (removing viruses, spyware, reinstalling apps etc) - not how I imagined my holidays to go. So last year I replaced them with two second-hand 17in iMac G4. I still spend a third of my holiday time on these computers - the difference being that now it's for things like "Make a DVD of your cousins wedding" or "Can you sort the 2000+ pictures that your father imported into iPhoto?" The only regret that I have is that I didn't do this three years ago!
Markus Winter -December 28, 2005
Switched my group's 20+ pc's over to Mac once OSX came out. Saving the government ~ $40K-$60K/year in manpower alone. (no longer need one of my MS level scientists to keep machines working...) Then there's the internal NASA IT tech support I don't need anymore. Running joke in the hallway with these 2 guys why "we don't like them anymore" cause we never call them. NEVER. (Comes out to about 100 hours/year. Another $60K-ish. NASA is up to about 35% mac now and rising. All facts presented, no opinions. nuff said. Opinion? It is my opinion that we would all have personal jet packs, cancer would be cured, and the 100mpg car would be the average vehicle on the road had IBM not licensed that crap from Microsoft in the early 80's. It boggles the mind the 1000's (yes, thousands if not more) manyears of effort is spent by very technically smart people around the world fixing these things. What if a fraction of this brainpower was focused on better things?
Barry -December 28, 2005
In response to the "Internet is slow on the Mac" comment, I highly recommend Camino: http://www.caminobrowser.org/ I use Safari all the time (I don't find it to be too slow), but I use Camino for web sites that only work in Firefox (like the web-based products that my employer buys from Computer Associates). Camino's like a souped up version of Firefox for the Mac. Note that with a little Googling, you can also find G4/G5 optimized versions of Firefox available for download. - max
Max -December 28, 2005
Paul, I was pleasantly surprised by the sheer open-mindedness of your gift-age. I must say, I was completely shocked to see you endorse an Apple computer. I might even start reading your material more frequently now... Anyway, just wanted to say that I think it's great you've got some coverage on it - I just convinced my parents to migrate from an old home-brew XP machine to the iMac G5, and although it's been a bit of a struggle, I can already tell it's going to reduce the amount of time I spend supporting the machine.
Dr. B -December 28, 2005
You should have installed Camino instead of Firefox since it's more Macish and integrates with Mail, Keychain, etc. I assume that she does use Firefox extensions. So, that won't be a problem.
SpookyET -December 28, 2005
Use LINUX! IT ROCKS! And if you are really a true GURU, try the BSD (start with FreeBSD, then switch to OpenBSD which is really secure!) family. I've used Linux for a long time now and it seems to be more reliable than Windoze. For Linux start with RHEL/Fedora then move your way into SUSe then to Debian or Gentoo.
vu5459 -December 28, 2005
Mopcodes, I was googling around to find out if there are others with that printing problem, and I found... your post on Macfixit! Darn. FYI, your slower-than-PC web surfing is not typical. I seem to recall though, if you're using dial-up, that some people would use an older modem driver (selectable in your network preferences). I feel your pain.
P DuV -December 28, 2005
My wife is a technophobe. I bought her an iBook. She first used the browser, then email, now she sells on eBay. About a month ago my 19 month old daughter dropped it on the carpet when it wasn't plugged in & my wife said I had to have it repaired. I pressed the "on" button and it booted up. Apparently the jar had momentarily disconnected the battery. The point is, SHE DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT THE POWER SWITCH. For a year now, she merely openned the lid and used it, or closed the lid and it was off (sleep). Apple rocks.
DougW -December 28, 2005
USE LINUX or BSD. They are better than Windows or Mac. You can tweak it to be USER FRIENDLY. It might not be better LOOKING than Mac but if you were truly good at administering them, you can make it incredibly stable, hard to hack, more secure and easy to use (given you know what you are doing).
vu5459 -December 29, 2005
We switched my wife from Windows2000 to Linux when her first laptop finally died (after three years of heavy daily use, Sony SuperSlimPro notebooks rock!). She's been quite happy with her Toshiba Satellite since. The only "tech support" I've had to provide was to show her how to restart printing once when our in-house print server went down. She'd been using Firefox for browsing on her Windows PC, so that was no change. My background? I've used PCs with Windows since v1.0 (yes, there was one!), Xenix (an version of UNIX System 3 Release 5 licensed from AT&T by a little known and now defunct part of MS), OS/2, a couple of Linux distributions, and Macs with OS8/9/10. A computer is just a glorified screwdriver. I'd rather not spend all my time straightening out the kinks that Windows so-easily puts into the screwdriver!
David -December 29, 2005
If you think Mac or PC are a problem, Try Ubuntu Linux. Seriously.I installed it few months ago and I haven't heard any complaints from my wife.
Bob Waits -December 29, 2005
I'm most intregued how many of the leading minds in computers are switching to macs. Perhaps Linus Torvalds was the most interesting (http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/0,39023165,39183867,00.htm), but looking around at peers around me in various bay-area users groups, it seems quite a few people are taking this plunge.
RonM -December 29, 2005
hahahah a fisher price toy. hahahah coming from a windows user! he MUST be joking
not a looser -December 29, 2005
In response to the "Internet is slow on the Mac" comment, the optimized version of FireFox for a G5 is called DeerPark, try Googling that... I have just upgraded to a new rev C iMac G5 recently - sweet, but still have an aging Dell laptop for those development tasks - Windows programming - that just can't be done on any amount of emulation software. I don't believe either Windows or OS X is perfect, both have problems or areas that could be improved apon. But I do have to say that I've not had a virus sice November 2002 when I first purchased my Dual processor G4 PowerMac and am also currently removing spyware and viri from my parents computer this holiday. Microsoft Security has really forced alot of people to look elsewhere for a hassle free computing experience.
John -December 29, 2005
John: DeerPark was the code name of the 1.5 (then 1.1) release of Firefox. If you're downloading DeerPark, you're downloading a pre-release version!
Jesper -December 29, 2005
At what point do the Windows users here get tired of their own recess-mentality reactions? The Mac is fine for business applications. Excel and Word were _born_ on the Mac, later migrated to Windows. If you want to game, Windows is probably just fine until the machine is hacked. The Mac may be a toy, but it's a toy that lets me get my paying work done without the hours wasted every month in viral nonsense, blue screens of death, and LOWER cost of use. Surfing the web, building websites, doing our financials with Quicken or Excel, keeping business databases running with 4D and Filemaker, writing our reports with Word. All without a weekly visit by a Windows 'guru'. To be sure, our one remaining Windows machine works great. It isn't attached to the internet and that one step has made it so much more stable. Took us having a reliable alternative before we could isolate it, but once it was off the Internet, it started behaving. Maybe that's the secret.
Paul -December 29, 2005
Just one things and it can make you change to Mac platform: no virus. I never have to worry about the problem of cpyware and virus since I've changed to Mac a year ago. I can't say it's perfect but I think It is VERY powerful in terms of user friendiness. I don't have to worry ANYTHING, really ANYTHING, about those tweaking stuff on OSX, it is rock solid and functional. That's good enough to convince anything to change to that platform, if you really want to focus on what a computer can do for you instead of spending hours of time figuring out problems that windows platform gives you. Sorry I am not advocating OSX but it is really good.
Steven -December 29, 2005
John - "Microsoft Security" is about a big of an oxymoron as "Army Intelligence" Steven - You beat me to it. My wife has a Dell setup because we need it to interface to an AS/400, and she also does some web surfing on it (but doesn't download anything). But all of her e-mail is done on our Mac, because we have never had a Mac virus in 16 YEARS of using Macs. For what its worth, she knows her way around Windows as well as anyone, but she prefers to use a Mac.
W.P. Wily -December 29, 2005
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Dudes~ You must be kidding, right?! I use a WinTel machine at the offie, and have for 16+ years, and they work fine because it's a corporate envirnoment with controlled access, and we are limited to what we can install. However, EVERY machine I've used at the office has experiecend the blue screen of death, lost a hard drive, or just plain sucked big time after two years or so of day in day out use. In fairness, that's constant on/off 8+ hours per day of use. @ Home is a different story, I fell in love with my first PowerBook in the late '80s, bought a Performa in '95, and got one of the first gen iMacs with the dome bottom about 3 yrars ago. They all rock! No viruses, no problems that I could not resolve, and the OSX is just rock solid. Granted, I no longer update every new sofware release the day it is released, but I use my cleaning utilities every week, run weekly backups, and it jsut freakin works! Both machines serve a purpose, I can work on either one, so can my kids, but, the MAC Daddy is the most dependable, easy to use, and coolest piece of hardware to come across my desk in many moons.
Dave -December 29, 2005
Your opinion that Mac OS X is best suited only for artist types is significantly out-of-date. Mac OS X is a fully featured Unix workstation and is suitable for everything Unix has been suited for for the past 30 years. I don't think there is a single office oriented task that is not only available on the Mac but better done on a Mac, compared to Windows. Also, because of its Unix roots, Mac OS X benefits from innumerable contributions from the FOSS community, Firefox being the most prominent example. For another instance, you might have saved yourself a Microsoft Tax by installing NeoOfficeJ on your wife's computer instead of the Mac version of Microsoft Office. Lastly, I think its significant that your motivation was to avoid the plethora of maintenance issues inherent with Windows. In that respect, anything is better than Windows.
Marvin Pyrocanine -December 29, 2005
Another vote here for Camino. Just like Firefox, it's a Gecko/Mozilla engine, and it's the fastest browser on the Mac, bar none, with one exception: Shockwave and Flash animations. Safari is the fastest for that. Firefox and Camino can both be ***-slow when it comes to flash. But for everything else Camino's King. If it weren't for the 'spillover marketing' effect from the PC world, Firefox would never have got it foothold on the Mac over Camino. Firefox is the main Mac alternative to Safari, for completely non-Mac reasons, only because PC switchers are familiar with the name.
Dogger -December 30, 2005
I agree with the comment above somewhere about migrating Outlook stuff to Mail, iCal, etc. Why? Entourage (in the MS Office 2004 suite which you installed) is a superb email client with a great calendar, and tasks, notes, notifications, and address book functionality which is by far the best on the Mac platform and may well be even better than its Windows cousin (and has none of the deficiencies, vulnerabilities or silly quirks of Outlook or Windows). As for Kingbuzzo's comment, why does every serious discussion about the merits of 2 terrific platforms – Mac and Windows – always have to be infested with the ravings of such idiot children?
Kukachu -December 30, 2005
Oh my god... As per usual the applegeeks are missing the point. Windoze is a business-class operating system and if it is administered correctly (ie: limited user account, anti-spyware module, anti-virus) it can be completely "pain-free" and it has been completely stable since Win2K came out - Windoze98 however...you got me there... Of course, since general security guidelines have no place on this forum, you wouldn't know anything about safe computing so stick with the Mac - hopefully the security-thru-obscurity thing works out for you. Oh yes, it is also much easier to adminisiter because it can't run anything. Tee-hee... :D
Kingbuzzo -December 30, 2005
Of course, since general security guidelines have no place on this forum, you wouldn't know anything about safe computing so stick with the Mac - hopefully the security-thru-obscurity thing works out for you. Oh yes, it is also much easier to adminisiter because it can't run anything. Tee-hee... --- Your pain-free comment sounds like a Doctor telling a patient that they'll be perfectly fine, as long as they are on morphine 24-7. Don't you get it? You must be an IT guy if you think keeping IT guys on is fair to the business. OS X has been out for about 4 years.. you still thing that obscurity myth holds up? It's unix permissions on a modern OS that is Internet-ready.. not that amazing. I'll let you know when the first Mac virus comes... Happy Gaming...
mike -December 30, 2005
I'll give the author some heads up on how it will go. His wife will stop talking to him...... about computer problems that is. A few years ago I passed my old iMac to my sister. She lives about 100 miles away but would call me at least twice a week wanting to know how to do something on Windows or how to fix something on Windows. Since she got my iMac, she still calls me but we talk about more interesting things. Only rarely does she ask any Mac questions as it just hums away with out any problems.
Kevin Kratzke -December 30, 2005
In regard to your comment "And the constant air turbine-like sound that emanates from her Dell PC? That's just how PCs sound, she thinks." I've worked with many Dells over the years and they were all quiet except for a couple of cases. I recently purchased a Dell that sounded like a jet engine and found out that it had a defective CPU heatsink. When the heatsink was replaced the machine quieted down to normal (cpu fan was now properly cooling and running at lower rpm). You need to checkout your hardware because you have a problem with your Dell air turbine.
Sequitur -December 30, 2005
"Windoze is a business-class operating system and if it is administered correctly......" Imagine buying a car & having to make sure that there's a mechanic & a security guard in the trunk! Buy a Mac & say farewell to visits from the self-serving tech dinosaurs.
hagheid -December 30, 2005
"Windoze is a business-class operating system..." Hmm. Interesting, let's see what defines a "business-class operating system". "...if it is administered correctly (ie: limited user account, anti-spyware module, anti-virus)..." Indeed. Spyware shields up, Anti-virus shields up, adware shields up, defrag regularly, one user account, run only a few apps at any one time, don't try to make Windows Explorer do too much at once, etc., and you're golden. "...and it has been completely stable since Win2K came out" Umm. Well, I think is was completely stable when WinNT came out, but that was because WinNT couldn't run anything and didn't support hardly any hardware. Solid as a rock it was as a result. As soon as Win2k added all that sorry excuse for USB support like Win98 SE & ME had, then stability moved out. Win2k was "built on NT technology", but it was teetering on it. XP helped the USB thing a little, and wasn't too bad until they "fixed" it with SP2. Now, when it tanks, it's a mystery to everyone. I just get shrugs from the IT people. Just reboot and try again. They get paid for this. Now I know why Windows has such a particular loyal following. If you bought a car and it was horrible, when your neighbor asks for advice on what kind of car to buy, you would steer him clear of the one you bought. However, when it comes to computers, it seems people are perfectly willing to recommend the lemon with the motive of hoping the neighbor can then help them fix their lemon of a computer or at least commiserate on the problems. "You can't print? Don't feel bad - neither can I."
Ryan Gray -December 30, 2005
Paul, A few months ago I purchased a Mac Mini for my home network which has a number of Windows XP PCs storing all user data on a Windows 2003 Server. My five kids and a working wife keep it very busy, and I use it to test solutions for IT clients. I can recommend Thursby's "ADmit Mac" as a worthy software addition, as it allows my wife and kids to log on using the Mac just as they would a PC - and see their files in "their" folder on the server - while the server is set to highest security. They see it as a "more interesting" PC for certain software and iPods. I checked with Apple and they confirmed that this full functionality is only available with Thursby's software. Since discovering this I've worked with clients in the printing industry who are so grateful to integrate Macs and PCs into one network, and then use each for what it does best.
Jeff Headley -December 31, 2005
I currently have 2 Macs, 1 Windows XP, 2 Windows 98, and four Ubuntu Linux computers. I use the Macs for computing. My kids will occasionally use the XP for a game if the Macs are busy (they're still young, so the games are pretty low key). The Win 98 and linux boxes run Folding@home. I'm not highly technical, but I can get by pretty well on Macs and Windows. I, for one, am not convinced that Linux is ready for regular home use. I use it because its free and its on computers I don't ever touch once they're set up. I've found that changing anything means a lot of work. XP is stable and functions fine. The Macs are stable and function fine. For me, the software for the Macs is cheaper and more reliable. As far as the "Internet is slower on Macs," try opening Terminal and typing "defaults write com.apple.Safari WebKitInitialTimedLayoutDelay 0.25" Then use Safari again. I was shocked at the speed improvement. (Credit to the forum at 123macmini.com for that tip) I also echo Jeff's recommendation of ADmit Mac. I used a Mac in an all Windows environment, and that was tops!! Easy to use and very effective.
Bob Campbell -January 1, 2006
Paul, I wish more people would approach a computer as your wife does. I've read all the comments in this board and most people just don't get it. A computer is just a tool. Nothing more, nothing less. I administered our production network at the multimedia center on Grand Forks AFB until I retired on 1 November. We had 14 Mac workstations fully integrated into the AF LAN through our Xserve running Windows services enabled; it all worked seamlessly. As long as I had an IP address I could hit any system on the LAN and mount their shared drives and files. The technology is there, it just works, and utilizating OS X, both client and server versions makes life so much simpler and easier. I see a lot of plugs for Firefox, but I've been using Opera and I love it. It's even faster than Firefox on my home systems.
Mark Bucher -January 1, 2006
Paul, refreshing to see your openminded to all choices, hope when Apple offers the new compuers with the Intel chip, you'll get an iMac G5 (or whatever they will call it then) and give us your review and experiences with that comparison as well. To KingBOZO: Your statement says it all: "Windoze is a business-class operating system and if it is administered correctly (ie: limited user account, anti-spyware module, anti-virus) it can be completely "pain-free" ......" "IF IT IS ADMINISTERED CORRECTLY" most people don't have that much spare time. A business can hire lots of IT guys to perform all these tasks to keep the Winduhs computers free of crap, etc. We have over 30 OSX based Macs in our business. Our 2 IT's spend 90 percent of their time performing NON IT tasks, which saves the department money. They are there when we need them, but otherwise they are paying for themselves by creating databases, or other higherlevel non-tech support work within the company. Statements of a Mac being a toy or for artsy people is very retro speak. Not the case anymore folks. Since 2000, Mac is UNIX based, one of the most advanced, most secure platform on the planet. As one national security expert's lecture stated: "The decision to build OSX on top of UNIX was pure genius." If you really need to play games on the internet, then keep your old Windows box around after you upgrade to Apple. That's the reason we kept ours at home. There are many games that only run on Winduz.
25 years of computer use -January 2, 2006
I agree 100% with the experience of the author and of the many people, who left positive comments regarding the superior usability of the Mac and OS/X over the Wintel architecture in all aspects except gaming. I've been a Wintel PC user since 1985. I bought a Mac Mini in October. I now practically only use PC's at work and for gaming. Read about my experience in further detail at this address: http://macminiforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=4413&postcount=67
K N Olsen -January 2, 2006
It's heartwarming to hear your tale. I too was supporting my wife's Wintel system back in early '02 while playing the role of travelling consultant. The need for constant monitoring and 'tweaking' of the Wintel systems led to many arguments in our household. My wife had purchased an iBook for me back in Nov. '01 as a neat 'toy'. I was so impressed with even the early releases of OS X that I knew what to do when our Wintel support arguments escalated. Yep, she got an iLamp (ahem, I mean iMac) and has been a happy camper ever since. Enjoy the domestic tranquility...it's worth every penny that you spent on the Mac !!!!
TS Abdallah -January 4, 2006
I just have to laugh when the people who dismiss the mac as a toy praise Windows machines for their superior gaming ability.
skwuppie -January 4, 2006
HAHA! See all you pc dummies wil switch to mac sometime!
mac -January 4, 2006
My boyfriend always wants me to switch to PC because he says he wants to help me keep my system running. But ever since I bought my first iMac four years ago I can do all that stuff myself. I don't need anymore guys to maintain my computer, doing whizzy things I don't understand. No ten horses can drag me back to the PC. And well, maybe this Linux thing is good, but I just don't want the tweaking. Don't want to do it myself and don't want the nerdy guy to do it. My system always works like a charm, is speedy and beautiful. Switching to the mac makes one vulnerable to attacks and I just can't figure out why. Do people want me to become a masochist? Do people want me to feel stupid again because I choose a system that's not only fit for experts, but also for people considering a computer a useful tool and source of pleasure?
Els -January 4, 2006
My only fear is that this kind of writing would make the types like kingbuzzo finally decide to enter the world of real computers,aka Macs. It's a wonderfull thing more and more people decide to turn over from the dark side to the Apple platform,but some people simply don't deserve it.... Try getting you head out of bill's *** Kingbuzzo,and see whats more out there.
Pete -January 4, 2006
And go wash your hair!
Els -January 4, 2006
Hey guys I have a pc and never ran into crap like the author said either. I have a G5 and I like it, but after all it's a Mac nothing better. All you morons are just a whole bunch of stupid people. I use my pc use fine and never had a problem. If you are dumb and you put crap on it obviously it will crap back on you. So for those that think that Mac is better well you are right it is well written and looks good. I switched about 3 years and it was a great move, I love it. But don't over rate it! PC’s work well if you know how to take care of it… My son is 12 and loves windows, hates Mac and he takes care of his PC. Trust me it’s all a question of choice. So all those that are evangelist SHUT UP!
bigdumbo -January 4, 2006
My wife is a technologist and researcher. She's been using Windows in our home since 1989. I am a technologist and writer/musician who's had a Mac since 1984 in our home. The Mac experience has been a joy, and that first Mac I bought still works. I now have a G5. My wife has gone through at least five Windows computers and I estimate we've wasted several hundreds of hours addressing the various Windows "problems" over the years. From my viewpoint, it seems like a gigantic waste of time. I'm not exactly a Mac fanatic, but I've always felt sorry for Windows users. The Macs, especially OSX, continue to amaze me.
Steve -January 4, 2006
Having worked with both platforms for many many years (mainly in a publishing environment) i can catagorically state that Macs just work. Even in the days of OS9 if the machine crapped itself, reinstalling the OS was as simple as putting the disk in, telling it to create a new system folder then sit back watch the progress bar and have a coffee. 10-15 mins later open the old system folder copy across any extensions and preferences and you have a fully working machine with all applications still working (this is the big one). No DLL hell, no registry entries, no reinstallation of every single application (like on the PC). Now with OSX its just as simple. For me the main thing with macs is the fact that applications contain all they need to run under their own app folders (with the exception of some preferences in the prefs folder). This makes moving apps and getting machines back online and productive a breeze. In a newspaper environment getting a broken machine back online is top priority. Deadlines have to be met no matter what, and macs have always just been easier to fix. Fullstop. Mind u my home machine is a PC (mainly for gaming :-) and dev work) and i do like XP, but still in a corporate environment where the machines just have to work i would recommend macs anyday !!! Just my $0.02 worth !!
Darren Miller -January 4, 2006
I won't deny it's interesting to have the ultimate Windows fanboy acknowledging the Mac. Still he's got a point, there is no panacea for computer users. OSX is the closest I can get. I use a Windows workstation & laptop for work (programming and data warehouse), then go home to OSX for general usage and my "fun" programming, and finish off with Ubuntu for tinkering and playing with new technologies. Given the choice, I would use Linux or OSX for my work as I've found those environments to be particularly comfortable in maintenance (scripts and automation, though perhaps the Monad shell will assist here) and the ability to do things my way. It's all based upon your comfort levels and what you want to accomplish.
Kelly F -January 4, 2006
Barry - Your comments are my thoughts exactly. I use Mac's for work and play, and almost never have a problem with them. My kids have a HP PC with Windows XP, all service paks and updates loaded. Got Civilization (a game) for oldest child - it would not load on the computer! 3 hours later, following their Internet support site recommendations, unistalled and re-installed the game, ATi drivers, DirectX and a patch - still wouldn't work! I've been using computers for 20 years, and I thought EXACTLY the same thing - the hours lost by millions of smart people, and the fear of computing caused by the worthless trash that MS sells is a modern tragedy - the fact that Bill Gates has become the richest man off of this is the world's greatest irony.
Pete -January 4, 2006
I wonder if Microsoft (or the IT-pro's that visit your site) will learn anything from your "switch". Will their misplaced and arrogant view of MacOSX (solely based on pre-occupancy and narrow-mindedness) finally become more realistic/favorable? And will they continue to see you as the authority you used to be to them or will they see you as a traitor from now on? Following this development is another reason for me to visit your site!
Ruud -January 5, 2006
Kingbuzzo (the very first comment) is a link in the broken chain back to the neanderthals. He obviously looked at a Mac sometime in the early 90's after Microsoft came out with the Windows 3.1, an almost total clone of the early Mac OS. Now a macho Windows XP user, he basks in the superior environmental soup of viruses and worms and just knows in his heart that he is in some sort of heaven. For some peace simply imagine him sinking slowly into the slime and becoming extinct. Always works for me.....
modern man -January 5, 2006
One more comment. I like my IT guys a lot. To all you IT guys out there: Don't you think life would be more fulfilling if you were put to work doing something more interesting, like producing amazing software that helped people get stuff done?
Nick -January 5, 2006
I have 5 Dells and one mac. They are in a very corporate environment where security is an absolute must. Some of them run a unix shell for instrument control, the others run the same software for data processing. There is a staff of IT guys that seem to be on each system for about 30 minutes every two weeks to a month using remote desktop and stopping by at least quarterly for about an hour. They are very efficient and they have vast automated systems for pushing updates too. The mac only requires the automatic software updates from apple. All of my systems work but only the mac "just works". I find it funny that I have to use windows to run unix since macs are unix. I would switch to all macs if instrument manufacturers would realize that the productivity of their customers is the number one thing that pays their salaries. They don't profit from supporting our IT guys. They profit from me succeeding and getting more money for more instruments.
Nick -January 5, 2006
Funny, this is almost the same experience I went through with my wife a few months ago. I am not a Windows basher, but I only use my Windows laptop now for business, and am for the most part completly switched. The Mac Mini is a great little machine and I know I sleep better at night knowing my wife is not going to bring Spyware and viruses into our home network... Great story..
Tim -January 6, 2006
Interesting article, more interesting comments. I was a mac user from 1993 till 2001. Switched to windows but now thinking of switching back to mac for home use. XP IMHO was/is great out of the box, but keeping it up and running is a pain. A friend has a windows network to run her dental practice. Her staff spends about 45 minutes each day running spyware sweeping software. They should automate this to run overnight, but I don't think they know how to do this so they just blow 45 minutes of work time maintaining their network. We use a windows program to manage our practice and it can be difficult. We are about to purchase new software which will utilize the web more and I am concerned that this will lead to more problems with viruses, spyware and the like. Main limitation of mac platform is lack of apps. While computing is now more net centric, there still is a role for good old programs that do a specific task beyod word processing. In the health care field esentially all apps are windows. Funny because medical imaging, x-rays and photos, are important and this is a historical strength of the mac. While many predict the demise of windows, it ain't happening anytime soon. I hope more apps port to the mac. The competition would be good.
mike -January 7, 2006
This all brought me a good laugh for like 5minutes:D i especially like the extreme comments of macusers who have been trying to tell you there is 'another' computerexperience' for the last 5 years, if it isn't 20years. Who ever thought the famous and imfamous windows blogger bought a mac for her wife? well atleast i didn't.. but i must say, i am very pleased to see he is 'tasting' the mac experience and believe me, he will not stop tasting..he will only get greedy for more. I serious think Paul will switch entirely to mac within..WITHIN..12months. mark my words. Daan Vanderveen, Macuser since Jan 24th! (born on Jan 24th '86.. not 84 ;)
Lowlow -January 7, 2006
Only official builds of FireFox are allowed to be called that, so the unofficial builds that have been optimized for specific chips have retained the DeerPark name as of the last release even though they're not betas.
greg -January 10, 2006
I really don't understand why the Mac vs PC debate still rumbles on. It is just so so boring. I really couldn't give a rats what OS you are all running so long as there enough Mac users to keep my platform of choice healthy enough so that developers continue to write for it, which was not really the case a few years back. Now however things are looking up. However I am also sure Windows or Linux is absolutely fine for those that like them, and I hope you all enjoy what you have.
James Rae Smith -January 12, 2006
Another thing, I rather gave up on the Apple Backup app, admittedly a few iterations ago, as it was not then really reliable enough, and rather too limited and inflexible as well. If it suits your situation, you might care to look at SuperDuper! backup for your wife. It is the only backup app I have found that makes this complicated and rather technical job comprehensible to an ordinary person. It is also in my experience, completely reliable.
James Rae Smith -January 12, 2006
"Remote Desktop is a Supporters Godsend." Not needing to support at all is godsend.
Keit=h -January 12, 2006
>I'm most intregued how many of the leading minds in computers are switching >to macs. Perhaps Linus Torvalds was the most interesting >(http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/0,39023165,39183867,00.htm), but looking around >at peers around me in various bay-area users groups, it seems quite a few >people are taking this plunge. I know this is pretty old but Linus Torvalds uses mac hardware, not mac os. Obviously he runs linux, and has been critical of the osx implimentation of Mach/BSD (XNU). He's not using mac hardware because it's "better" but because he wanted to tinker with a different architecture.
cDub -January 20, 2006
Mike wrote "In the health care field esentially all apps are windows. Funny because medical imaging, x-rays and photos, are important and this is a historical strength of the mac." " Check out OsiriX the best medical imaging software in the industry (runs only on Mac OS 10.x) at http://homepage.mac.com/rossetantoine/osirix/
swissfondue -January 26, 2006
Hi All loved reading all your comments just thought i would put in my personal experince to this i have used windows since i can remeber (1998 i think) however it has now come to the time 1: i am bored of the bland and boring layout of windows 2: i have had my various computer crashing at crutial times (27 page essay!) 3: I can choose what computer i want thanks to my job its is for the reason above that along with this guys wife i carnt wait also i have tried other os such as linux and it seems to me windows charges a hell of alot that doesnt even keep up with freeware programs To all you windows lovers who no doubt will disagree for once be daring and try firefox instead of internet explorer u will be suprised what you can get done!
Jai -February 7, 2006
I've laughed, been amazed, and taken some deep breaths reading the comments. I've been a Windows user since the very beginning (telling my age now). I was first exposed to a friends Mac around 1990, then I took a job in 1996 where Macs were used. OMG was I hooked! Imagine my disappointment when the company changed everyone to Windows PCs over a weekend without any notice. I've poked along ever since. I am on a first-name basis with our IT guys--especially about a month ago when my machine had to be removed from my desk and taken to some dark corner of the company to have a virus erased. Imagine THEIR surpise when they discovered I was getting my work done at my desk on my personal iBook (purchased in early 2005). Of course I was not connected to the company network, but I merely copied all my Word and Excel documents to a CD, popped it into my PC and was up and running in less than 5 minutes. Yes, I've used my iBook extensively to surf the net--virus free. My PC is once again virus-laden, and I work on my iBook when the it slows and has to be "tinkered" with by the IT guys. I've teased them to hook the iBook up to the network, but I think they would miss seeing me if they did that! LOL So......which OS do you think I prefer? One guess.....
Kathy Q -February 14, 2006
Are you sure it's not KINGBOZO?
JOHNNY -February 26, 2006
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