Apple v Microsoft

[crockers]

Well I have always used Microsoft - trapped by software purchases etc...but I have always admired Apple...

Now that they use duo Intels, you can run "parallels" and therefore Vista alongside Tiger - just wondering if its worth taking the plunge...

Has anyone used both OS - if so what are their pluses and minuses..:bannana:

 

[eGuru]

Hi
Bought myself a PowerBook G4 three years ago after years of using a PC.
Was so impressed with it that I got a G5 desktop last year off eBay with a view to running Windows on it.
Never got round to installing Windows because everything I need runs on the Mac.
In fact a lot of the features on Vista are very similar to Mac OSX.
Don't think I will ever go back to PC's again.
Jay

 

[scotth_uk]

I used PCs for 21 years before ditching them completely for Apple.

Now that they run Intel cpus, you can either run Windows natively, or through something like Parallels. I don't really boot them up in Windows mode much anymore, and run Parallels occasionally for specific pieces of software.

A modern Apple will run OSX, Windows and Linux.
A modern PC will run Windows and Linux (OSX requires hacking).

The hardware is all premium grade, and typically works quite nicely.

 

[BonzoDog]

My wife recently went back to Apple having done nothing but complain about my PC. It's a high quality product and gives high quality results plus, I believe, it is less open to hackers.
If you like Mercedes you might want to consider Apple, especially if you are just a user.
If you are a programmer then I would think it has to be the PC with all its ups and downs.
It is the difference between just driving a reliable car and being a nerd who also likes to get under the bonnet.

 

[Spinal]

I'm an Apple Certified Network Administrator - I maintain about 600 systems, of which only 30 or so are not made by Apple.

I find apple to be an interesting concept - but frankly its not worth swapping to! The only advantage of buying Apple vs IBM-compatible is the aesthetic one.

You want secure, hard to find software for, and be in a "niche" market? Get a good system with Windows, reject the terms and conditions to Windows. Get a refund for the Windows Operating system and install Linux.

Apple is safer than Windows? You mean Macintosh OsX? Yeah right. Just look at the last security patches released by Apple. iTunes alone generates enough exploits to compete with Microsoft. Why does OsX not have spyware/adware/etc? Well, it does. Its just MUCH less common as so few people use OsX that its not worth developing spyware for most of the time (but it has been done).

So, if you are choosing a new computer; don't compare Apple vs Windows. If you are "flexible" with an operating system; think in terms of hardware. What do you get for your money. Apple is just another company like Toshiba, Dell or HP.

I'm typing this on a MacBook Pro (2.4Ghz/2GB/160GB)(the ones released 2/3 weeks ago) btw, and have already had to install 3 security patches. The most annoying is the wireless card that drops you off the network every few minutes under OsX as there is a conflict with the drivers. I'm runnign Windows under bootcamp (basically a on-boot operating system selector) and would say that as the hardware goes, the laptop compares to most Toshiba's with similar specs. No better, no worse.

One thing I will FULLY agree that Apple hardware is better at is fireWire. FireWire 400 might be slower than USB2.0 on paper - but USB2.0 operates at 480mb/s only in burst mode. If you are streaming huge files (like a video from a camcorder) Apple is a better choice.

One thing I absolutely abhor apple for is their USB drivers. Take a Toshiba and an Apple. Run nothing but the operating system. Plug in a usb-flash drive and test file transfer speeds. Apple has always had issues with USB and the speeds really reflect this.

Overall; this is how I would divide the operating systems:
Windows: General public, ideal for first time users with all their pop-up help messages.
Linux: Designed for an by people who like to know whats running at any time (this is a generalisation as linux comes in so many different flavours). Ideal if you are computer-savvy.
OsX: Ideal for looks. Perfect for most movies, commercials, and firms that want to make a striking first impression. Software support is the worst amongst the three. (so much so that if you set up an iPod under OsX as a mobile hard drive, you will be able to use it ONLY with OsX - thus making it useless as a MOBILE hard drive.)

I find that I use windows 95% of the time of this laptop - swapping to OsX only when I need to do video editing or image editing.

Hope this helps,
Michele

 

[crockers]

Thanks Michele that has really put a few myths to bed

 

[NiallerS320]

As spinal said it'll be a matter of taste. Personally I find OS X a much user friendly system to use (personal opinion) and am much more familiar with macs (been fixing them for the past 17 years) I have 5 macs and 3 windows boxes in the house but most of my work centres on the macs (I also do design & artworking).

There are a couple of factors that you'll have to consider and then look at the merits of each OS and what the software on those platforms offer.

Tell us what you want your computer to do for you, how much you're willing to pay for that, do you want to be maintaining it everyday, would you be happy with some incompatibilities.

Firstly a computer is only as susceptible as the person that's using it, as I stated earlier I've 8 computers in this house and not one has been infected in the 3 years they've been running constantly.

Macs have a lot of vulnerabilites that have largely been ignored by the hacking community but as they gain popularity expect a few worms/trojans etc.

Macs by default come with all services TURNED OFF, unlike windows xp (before sp1), the root user is not enabled thus requiring a password to install ANYTHING (the root user can be enabled but it's not recommended) and don't listen to symantec there hasn't been one virus in the wild yet for macs.

If you doing video/photos/music the mac software excels, but equally windows are as capable it's the whole UI thing.

Office on the mac is very nice (v 2004) is fairly compatible with it's XP 2003 brother and is the largest most successful software product out there for the mac. M$s Office 2007 standard has thrown the boot in not only on macs but on windows also with the XML based docx, xlsx, pptx formats I get as much calls from windows users as I do from mac users.

If you have specific windows only software parallels is perfect unless you're doing 3d/CAD stuff, if you want vista (why would anyone want vista?) you'll have to purchase the Highest Spec version of windows to allow it to be installed under bootcamp or parallels.

USB/USB 2/Firewire 400/800 - Apple have better implementation of Firewire but the USB works fine, if you do purchase an external drive for backup purposes you'll need to reformat it as FAT 32 (if you also want to use it on a PC) as macs can read/write to FAT 32 but read only on NTFS volumes. Filesharing between the 2 is seamless ie mac to windows and vice versa (again remember the read only NTFS).

Active Directory integration is flakey at times (single sign on) but normal networking is a cinch (Appletalk jabbers a lot), printers/scanners all work fine, do not use an apple mouse, get yerself a nice M$ multibutton.

Bit Torrent/Edonkey/Limwire all work fine on macs (but I didn't tell ya that) also there's a freeware/hassleware product call Acquisition that's very nice.

So tell us what you want to do and let the debate/pricing begin.

 

[crockers]

I have just bought two new laptops for myself and my wife - I was just wondering if I had made the right decision as I have a friend who works now for Apple and can get sieable discounts --

But I think I will stick with what i am using..

Thanks for all the input:bannana:

 

[Colin_b]

For what its worth, I don't really think operating systems will be that important in the future, most things will either run within a browser or have the operating system hidden, like your car, playstation or washing machine.

Stick to the system you know, playing architecture wars is an expensive and unrewarding pastime, unless you do it for money or fun

Most machines are vastly overspecced nowadays...

Colin.

 

[gaz_l]

One of the many hats I wear at work is IT bod, and I have to look after the c. 50 PC's we have knocking around the place. I don't claim to be any kind of guru but I do know XP pretty well.

I've got a bunch of hardware at home, but when I'm just being a user my box of choice is a G4 mac mini.. near as dammit silent, plenty fast enough to handle the email/web browsing tasks normally demanded of it, OS X is much nicer to look at than Windows and it's crashed maybe twice since I've owned it. Gets my vote.

Cheers,

Gaz

 

[Spinal]

As Colin says; the whole Os debate is a dying one. Soon enough buying a PC will be fairly similar to buying a fridge imo.

You will goto dixons; you will see that this PC has 3 stars of energy rating and a capacity of this much while that pc has 5 stars and a smaller capacity. You will choose which one you like, walk home and plug it in...

Sadly, we haven't reached that step yet. (and there will always be people who will confuse the Dixons employees by asking how many holes does this washing machine have in the basket? How fast does the motor spin? )

Michele

 

[shadowninja]

*whistles innocently*

http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=macs_cant

 

[Spinal]

Back off the Macolytes The reason they always "advertise" macs is that they were the underdogs for so long, and until Bill bailed them out (oh yeah, I forgot to mention... Bill Gates owns quite a large share of apple...) they needed all the advertising they could get!

Things are changing, as macs get more popular; they will come to par with the same problems all windows-based systems have. Welcome spyware, adware, malware and virii to your mac friends

Nialler: actually, there is a script available to any script kiddie that makes use of the iTunes exploits to allow a remote user to upload (and run) anything onto your mac...

Michele

 

[Spinal]

First things first, I actually do NOT hate apple. I quite like them - sure, they aren't "better" than any other computer, but they aren't worse either.

That said, I despise the majority of apple users, simply because they feel better than everyone else...

So here goes the bashing

The image with the security information is a couple of months old. Apple has now implemented one or two of those features... It just goes to show - t he more popular your are, the more secure you need to be!

 

[Dryce]

The image with the security information is a couple of months old. Apple has now implemented one or two of those features... It just goes to show - t he more popular your are, the more secure you need to be!

I'm an old cynic and I use both Macs and PCs.

The real problem with Windows is not technical exploits IME over the years. It's down to security and users.

Your average SME running a bunch of PCs and a server is vulnerable because the lack of a full time sysadmin and apps they run mean the systems are not locked down. Upshot is the security is a mess of users with too many privileges and the stuff that gets in comes down via browsers and email under those users' accounts.

The software updates that come flying down the net every few weeks make very very little difference to the world.

 

[NiallerS320]

There's nothing a 40 year old programmer can build that a 14 year old script kiddie or hacker can't break within hours.

I'm thankful for the low market share, my macs do EVERYTHING that I want, I look after a few office full of macs & pcs involved in a global single office project (AD against my better judgement but M$ have the edge in that) and have just spent the day cleaning out an overheating xeon HP blade (lots of dust), get a mac my xserve and xraid are sitting 1 foot below this blade and NOT once has it overheated, the HP sounds like a 747 on takeoff, the macs are silent but a complete pain in the **** with AD implementation.

 

[Flasheart]

I have both a Macs and a PC.

I have a PC that i built myself almost 5 years ago with one of the first P4 3Ghz chips, it still is running all the apps i want, all be it Photoshop CS3 and Lightroom are a little slow on it - but they run.

Of the Macs i have, i have just bought a new MacBook Pro 2.4 Ghz 17" model with all the whistles and bells. The other one is just over 3 years old G4 1.5 Ghz Powerbook running the old IBM chipset. It has performed flawlessly over the last 3 years, most of it spent in iraq in one of the dustiest environments i have ever lived. Now maybe i baby my kit i don't know, but i have not had one single problem with the machine in those three years. That includes doing an upgrade as opposed to a fresh install from Panther to Tiger.

I find the OS to be simple and easy to use, hardware is a bit more expensive but you pays your money etc... Just got to wait for MS to release the next version of Office so it doesn't run under rosetta. CS3 runs at warp speed on the Mac its just a joy to use. Tricks like expose... but then in some areas the software is lacking - like Office 2004, Entourage is not as good imho as Outlook 2003, the main pain for me is the way it handles contacts. Having said that the Mail client that comes with it as well as Address book are both excellent apps.

In one of the earlier posts i found it amusing when you clicked on a link to show why PC's were better than Macs the guy went off on one about iTunes. Fair enough but then when he showed the error message it was obviously on a Windows machine.....

Anyway its down to personal choice.

 

[Spinal]

In one of the earlier posts i found it amusing when you clicked on a link to show why PC's were better than Macs the guy went off on one about iTunes. Fair enough but then when he showed the error message it was obviously on a Windows machine.....

The point was that iTunes is developed, programmed, release and supported entirely by Apple... If they can't get someting as simple as a media player right, what happens with something as complex as a whole os?

 

[scotth_uk]

Spinal - you do of course realise that just like MS, Apple use different teams for different products? One dodgy component is hardly a reflection on the whole company is it?

Mercedes Benz entire reputation let down by faulty MAS sensors? Does it really matter overall?

 

[Sp!ke]

One observation I noted over the years is that MAC users seem to feel the constantly justify themselves and their purchases.

I just dont get it, I run both but find there's so much I can't do in OSx. I agree they look pretty but that doesnt explain why so many men buy them.