Mac or PC?

[Zelc]

[ame=http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=KLiyglcRcCA]YouTube - Touhou Video #6: Get A Mac[/ame]
[sblock]I use a PC because it can stop time.[/sblock]

 

[azhrei_fje]

[...]I've heard good things about OSX, and would like to get a look at it, but I haven't been able to.

It's unlikely that I'd switch, [...]

"I'm happy with what I use and I don't know anything else, so how could I ever be happier?"

I just love it...

I'm not a huge fan of Apple or Macs, but I am a huge detractor for Windows. Just about anything else is a step up, IMO. Or two steps, in some cases. My preferred OS is some version of a POSIX-compatible system; one that let's me run all the freeware that's available. Linux has the greatest support right now, but I've used FreeBSD in the past. I even had a box back in the 80's that run Unix System III.

Windows has gotten much better since XP came out, but there are still TOO MANY known bugs that MS refuses to fix. How could I ever support a company that won't fix known security issues? How could I ever base a company around products from such a vendor? (This is one of the reasons why I'm not too hip on Apple either. They do similar things with the Mac OS, although not quite to the same extent.)

Sorry, I'm rambling...

 

[Mercule]

"I'm happy with what I use and I don't know anything else, so how could I ever be happier?"

Wow. That's a pretty insulting mischaracterization of what I said.

How about: I like what I use, but I'd like to see the alternative and give it a chance. I just don't know where to find it. I doubt I'd like it, because I found previous versions to be inferior to previous versions of what I'm using, but you never know. Plus, I've heard good things about the current alternate, so I'm curious, at least.

Not as good of a self-serving sound-bite, but it has the benefit of being neither insulting or fraudulent.

In truth, I agree with Merkuri that each platform has user styles to which they cater. For myself, I'm a professional programmer and have always found Windows to be a superior platform to code for compared to Mac (Unix might be better, but MS is more accessible). Given that the two most marketable development skills are either Java or .NET and I really, really like C# and really, really dislike Java, it would be silly for me to use anything but a PC.

My eldest daughter, on the other hand, is pretty artistic and non-technical (my #2 seems to be the techie). I could see Mac being better for her, if traditional roles hold until she is ready to be her own help desk (I'm not going to try to support an OS I'm unfamiliar with).

 

[Orius]

I hate macs just because of that commercial. Justin Long looks like the biggest douche bag on the planet and even if I liked macs I'd hate to be associated with him. John Hodgmen, on the other hand is a genius.

I use PCs exclusively. Apple's products always come off as overpriced yuppieware to me, so I have no desire to use any of it. Those damn annoying Mac commercials don't improve my opinion either. The one where PC says, "it's all Mac's fault" I did find funny, but not for the reason Apple intended.

If I ever were to not use a PC, I'd go Linux box before I'd ever go Mac.

Also, because I HATE those commercials, obligatory reply: Ctrl+Alt+Del

Thanks for that link.

One thing that really gets my goat with Mac people is they seem to not blame Apple for a hardware defect. They just throw it away and happily march off to buy another one. If you are going to buy one at least pay for the warranty… you will use it.

It's what I referred to some time back as the cult of Steve Jobs. Some of those people who go out of their way to buy Apple seem to have a near religious fervor for their support of the company or something.

 

[ssampier]

YouTube - Touhou Video #6: Get A Mac
[sblock]I use a PC because it can stop time.[/sblock]

Uhhh, okaaaaaaaaaaay.

 

[Aeolius]

My first computer was an Apple product (Apple II+), my current computer is an Apple product (Mac Pro, though there are 8 other Macs in the house also), and my last computer will be an Apple product.

Why? Simple, I stick with what I know. As a bonus, my Apple fanaticism truly seems to annoy some people. This brings me great joy.

 

[Thanee]

Aha, so you are the one those ads are targeted at!

Bye
Thanee

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Aha, so you are the one those ads are targeted at!

Bye
Thanee

Well, I enjoyed them. I still use a PC, and actually develop exclusively for Microsoft OSes. But I also have a Mac and an iPhone. It all works, and all has its drawbacks.

 

[Rackhir]

It's what I referred to some time back as the cult of Steve Jobs. Some of those people who go out of their way to buy Apple seem to have a near religious fervor for their support of the company or something.

According to an Advertising Age article (FWIW), apparently emotionally powerful brands like Apple (and Harley Davidson, etc...) tend to activate the same areas of the brain that activate in devout christians exposed to faith-related triggers.

"Repent Sinner! Cast out DOS from your heart! Reject the works of the Gates!"

But that Apple has cult like aspects, is hardly something new or an original observation.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

One thing that really gets my goat with Mac people is they seem to not blame Apple for a hardware defect. They just throw it away and happily march off to buy another one. If you are going to buy one at least pay for the warranty… you will use it.

I've been using Apples- and now Macs- since 1985 or so.

I can count on 1 hand the number of technical difficulties I've had, and those resulted from human actions (IOW, abuse):

1) A guy liked the sound my Apple IIe made when rebooting, so when he visited me, he'd turn it on and off- rapidly. This caused one drive to catch fire.

2) A young cousin of mine came over during a family gathering and was surfing around on my machine unsupervised. He managed to- against all probability- somehow download a file that contained a virus that affected Macs. I lost a lot of data and had to have some of it professionally recovered- that cost me $$$$.

That is it.

My Dad's 15 year old Apple laptop would still function if he could get a power cord for it. Of course, its so old that about all he could do on it is play old games, but that's a different issue.

Now, I have had some issues with peripherals. I have a pair of removable media drives- an Imation superdisk and an original Iomega Zip- that no longer function properly, but they're about 10 years old. I've also had a couple of keyboards malfunction- both non-Mac (I don't care for the ergonomics of the current Mac keyboards). And I can't say I've been pleased with Mac compatible gaming peripherals, either, but 90% of those aren't made by Apple anyway.

In contrast, many of my PC using buddies are always talking about malfunctions and the like. However, I realize that they're also not typical users- almost all of them are programmers, so they're likely trying to push their equipment harder than the average user.