I am a member of a forum called Blizzforums in addition to MacRumors, and a lot of members there have been misinformed about macs.
While I agree with a lot of what people have to say there about apple, some things are just plain wrong, and I want to inform PC users that have been misinformed of their misconceptions.
Italics means it is my commentary
So here are some things I pulled up from different sites and from my own experience:
This is meant to convince *nix users
1. Mac doesn't have a CLI. No longer true. Out-of-the-box OS X supports tcsh, csh, sh and zsh. Compiling bash (which most GNU/Linux users use) is trivial for the average Linux user.
2. MacOS crashes all the time. With OS X, the MacOS doesn't crash any more frequently than any other *BSD.
My mac has crashed twice in 2 years - my PC has crashed sooooo many times. Mac OS X is so stable, it will astound PC users. Someone saying mac os x crashes all the time is just plain hillarious IMO
3. Networking is weak on MacOS. With its BSD roots, MacOS includes all of the command-line networking utilities that UNIX people are familiar with, and the OS includes the IP Filter firewall in the kernel. It also ships with support for remote mounting NFS, SMB and even WebDAV. Heck, it's got SSH installed and doesn't enable telnet by default.
4. Mac hardware costs more than x86 hardware. Apple hardware is priced similarly to both Dell or Compaq machines. Although the Macintosh costs more when compared with a home-built machine, the notion that Apple hardware is expensive is not true. The company's computers don't cost appreciably more than a manufactured x86-based computer.
Ok..... I disagree with this - macs cost a hell of a lot more. But you save money because you don't have to fix it, you save time (which is money
), and **** like that). I can deal with the extra cost, when I think about everything else mac has to offer
5. Macs only have a 1-button mouse. Since when has a true geek used a mouse that was supplied with a computer? OS X supports three-button mice. Almost any standard USB mouse will work with a current Mac.
6. You can't expand a Mac. This is true to some extent with the iMac, and, of course, with laptops. The PowerMac is extensible with lots of PCI cards and uses standard IDE drives and standard SDRAM. Firewire, available with all Apple computers, is a very cool expansion technology once you see it in action.
Im upgrading my g3 iMac's processor any day now - so that is possible too
http://www.powerlogix.com
7. You can't run Linux apps on Macs. The FINK project is working on porting more and more Linux applications to the Darwin OS (OS X's base is similar to Red Hat being the base of some versions of Linux), thus making great projects like XDarwin that are laying the groundwork for getting lots of Linux apps running on the Mac. The FINK project has even ported Debian's "apt-get" to OS X, making installation a snap.
8. Developing for OS X is a pain. Not true at all. Apple's Cocoa programming environment makes application development very easy and uses Objective-C (an object-extended version of regular old C) or Java as its base. In fact, Cocoa is a direct descendant of the NeXTSTEP development environment.
9. The Mac interface is a tired old washout. Not at all. The Aqua interface of Mac OS X has more in common with NeXT and OpenStep than with the classic Mac OS (shhh ... don't tell current Mac users.) The dock should be well-remembered by any Linux diehard who has used WindowMaker or Afterstep.
It would be so hypocritical for a windows user to say this..... look at windows 95 - then look at XP - and tell me what style is a tired old washout.
10. But it's not open. The base OS, Darwin, is an open source project. It's true that OS X itself is proprietary. This open source configuration is similar to X Server and up when using Linux. Although OS X allows you to run XFree86 and your favorite window manager over Darwin and be completely open source (well, mostly), once you've seen the beauty of Aqua you may think twice about going back to Gnome or KDE.
The fact is that OS X has quite a lot going for it to appeal to a Linux/UNIX user. The developer community is alive and well, as can be seen by daily trips to VersionTracker.
http://www.technewsworld.com/perl/story/15983.html
Everyone uses Windows.
Fact: If youre an accountant, youre most likely surrounded by beige Wintel boxes. But if you work in nearly every creative field, you most likely use a Mac. Like in graphic arts, advertising and publishing. Or in Hollywood. Or in science-based industries like biotech. Or in education, where half of the computers are Apples. Or if you are President of the United States (our two most recent presidents, a Democrat and a Republican, both use Macs). Even 25% of Americas lawyers use Macs. In all, over 25 million people use Macs in their homes, offices and schools every day.
This makes it seem as though macs are only good for people in creative fields and thats not true at all.
Macs dont work with PCs.
Fact: Simply untrue. Every day millions of documents, emails and instant messages are sent between Macs and PCs. Word documents, Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations exchanged. Emails delivered and instant messages shuttled back and forth. This isnt news because it happens silently, daily, with no fanfare. Thats because all Macs are designed to work seamlessly with PCs and connect into PC networks to easily access files and folders. The rest of the world should get along so well.
Contrary to popular belief, Mac and Windows get along perfectly together. They run the same software. They talk to each other. Its a small world after all.
This PC is networked to the mac in the other office, and I exchange files between the two all the time seemlesly. It took a lot longer to figure out how to send files from the PC to the mac then from the mac to the pc. The mac made it a LOT easier
The software I need isnt available for Macs.
Fact: There are over 15,000 applications available for the Mac, in every category imaginable. Productivity programs from Microsoft Office to FileMaker. Design programs from Photoshop to Maya. Filmmaking tools from Final Cut Pro to After Effects. Finance programs from Quicken to MYOB. And games from The Sims to Tony Hawk. But if you do encounter that rare program which isnt available for Mac, you can still run it right on your Mac using Virtual PC. Still think theres something youre missing? Go to apple.com and check for yourself. We promise not to say, we told you so.
I agree with apple on this one except for games. If you are a hardcore gamer, get a PC. If you play the occasional game like me, the mac will be more than enough. Ive played sc for years, works just as good on a mac as it does on a pc. But if you want to play all the new games the instant they come out, then get a PC, or even better - get a new hobby.
Macs dont run Microsoft Office.
Fact: Quite the opposite. Not only does a brand new version of Microsoft Office run on the Mac, but Office v.X for Mac OS X is actually better than its Windows cousin, with features available only on the Mac. Microsoft Office documents are fully compatible between Mac and Windows. So when you create an Excel spreadsheet or a Word document or a PowerPoint presentation on a Mac, you can send it to someone with a PC and it will open perfectly. And vice versa.
MS Office from PC to mac is pretty seemless. My mom writes files on the mac all the time and sends them to me on the pc, and everything is the same.
Windows has caught up with the Mac.
Fact: It cant be denied that Microsoft has made a good business out of copying the innovative Mac OS. And, truth be told, Windows XP is their best effort to date. But Mac OS X has sent them back to the drawing boards. Particularly with respect to graphics, everything digital (like music, movies and photography), ease of use and elegance. In other words, all the things that make a state-of-the-art operating system, well, state-of-the-art. And were not the only ones who think so. Consider critics like the Detroit Free Press, who recently proclaimed: The new OS X for Mac runs circles around Windows XP. Or ZDNets David Coursey, who praises Mac OS X as The nicest operating system Ive ever seen.
Windows really does make me sad......
They have only gone downhill since 98' and Windows was DOS based up until ME. Windows is sooooooo much worse than OS X. I can't stress that enough.
In my opinion, OS X is the main reason to get a mac. It is so innovative, so stable, so secure, so beautiful, and it just plain works. Even if my PC was twice as fast as my mac, I save twice as much time not having to go through loop holes to do simple tasks.
Macs are far easier to use than PCs. Guilty as charged.
hehe, apple also has a nice sense of humor, unlike M$
http://www.apple.com/myths/
please add on with stuff like 'Mhz != speed', etc. I could really use some help.
By the way, this isnt suppost to be a mac vs pc type thing. I love PCs, I love macs more, Im typing this on a PC. But I don't like PC users bashing macs with facts that just aren't true.
scem0
While I agree with a lot of what people have to say there about apple, some things are just plain wrong, and I want to inform PC users that have been misinformed of their misconceptions.
Italics means it is my commentary
So here are some things I pulled up from different sites and from my own experience:
This is meant to convince *nix users
1. Mac doesn't have a CLI. No longer true. Out-of-the-box OS X supports tcsh, csh, sh and zsh. Compiling bash (which most GNU/Linux users use) is trivial for the average Linux user.
2. MacOS crashes all the time. With OS X, the MacOS doesn't crash any more frequently than any other *BSD.
My mac has crashed twice in 2 years - my PC has crashed sooooo many times. Mac OS X is so stable, it will astound PC users. Someone saying mac os x crashes all the time is just plain hillarious IMO
3. Networking is weak on MacOS. With its BSD roots, MacOS includes all of the command-line networking utilities that UNIX people are familiar with, and the OS includes the IP Filter firewall in the kernel. It also ships with support for remote mounting NFS, SMB and even WebDAV. Heck, it's got SSH installed and doesn't enable telnet by default.
4. Mac hardware costs more than x86 hardware. Apple hardware is priced similarly to both Dell or Compaq machines. Although the Macintosh costs more when compared with a home-built machine, the notion that Apple hardware is expensive is not true. The company's computers don't cost appreciably more than a manufactured x86-based computer.
Ok..... I disagree with this - macs cost a hell of a lot more. But you save money because you don't have to fix it, you save time (which is money
), and **** like that). I can deal with the extra cost, when I think about everything else mac has to offer 5. Macs only have a 1-button mouse. Since when has a true geek used a mouse that was supplied with a computer? OS X supports three-button mice. Almost any standard USB mouse will work with a current Mac.
6. You can't expand a Mac. This is true to some extent with the iMac, and, of course, with laptops. The PowerMac is extensible with lots of PCI cards and uses standard IDE drives and standard SDRAM. Firewire, available with all Apple computers, is a very cool expansion technology once you see it in action.
Im upgrading my g3 iMac's processor any day now - so that is possible too
http://www.powerlogix.com
7. You can't run Linux apps on Macs. The FINK project is working on porting more and more Linux applications to the Darwin OS (OS X's base is similar to Red Hat being the base of some versions of Linux), thus making great projects like XDarwin that are laying the groundwork for getting lots of Linux apps running on the Mac. The FINK project has even ported Debian's "apt-get" to OS X, making installation a snap.
8. Developing for OS X is a pain. Not true at all. Apple's Cocoa programming environment makes application development very easy and uses Objective-C (an object-extended version of regular old C) or Java as its base. In fact, Cocoa is a direct descendant of the NeXTSTEP development environment.
9. The Mac interface is a tired old washout. Not at all. The Aqua interface of Mac OS X has more in common with NeXT and OpenStep than with the classic Mac OS (shhh ... don't tell current Mac users.) The dock should be well-remembered by any Linux diehard who has used WindowMaker or Afterstep.
It would be so hypocritical for a windows user to say this..... look at windows 95 - then look at XP - and tell me what style is a tired old washout.
10. But it's not open. The base OS, Darwin, is an open source project. It's true that OS X itself is proprietary. This open source configuration is similar to X Server and up when using Linux. Although OS X allows you to run XFree86 and your favorite window manager over Darwin and be completely open source (well, mostly), once you've seen the beauty of Aqua you may think twice about going back to Gnome or KDE.
The fact is that OS X has quite a lot going for it to appeal to a Linux/UNIX user. The developer community is alive and well, as can be seen by daily trips to VersionTracker.
http://www.technewsworld.com/perl/story/15983.html
Everyone uses Windows.
Fact: If youre an accountant, youre most likely surrounded by beige Wintel boxes. But if you work in nearly every creative field, you most likely use a Mac. Like in graphic arts, advertising and publishing. Or in Hollywood. Or in science-based industries like biotech. Or in education, where half of the computers are Apples. Or if you are President of the United States (our two most recent presidents, a Democrat and a Republican, both use Macs). Even 25% of Americas lawyers use Macs. In all, over 25 million people use Macs in their homes, offices and schools every day.
This makes it seem as though macs are only good for people in creative fields and thats not true at all.
Macs dont work with PCs.
Fact: Simply untrue. Every day millions of documents, emails and instant messages are sent between Macs and PCs. Word documents, Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations exchanged. Emails delivered and instant messages shuttled back and forth. This isnt news because it happens silently, daily, with no fanfare. Thats because all Macs are designed to work seamlessly with PCs and connect into PC networks to easily access files and folders. The rest of the world should get along so well.
Contrary to popular belief, Mac and Windows get along perfectly together. They run the same software. They talk to each other. Its a small world after all.
This PC is networked to the mac in the other office, and I exchange files between the two all the time seemlesly. It took a lot longer to figure out how to send files from the PC to the mac then from the mac to the pc. The mac made it a LOT easier
The software I need isnt available for Macs.
Fact: There are over 15,000 applications available for the Mac, in every category imaginable. Productivity programs from Microsoft Office to FileMaker. Design programs from Photoshop to Maya. Filmmaking tools from Final Cut Pro to After Effects. Finance programs from Quicken to MYOB. And games from The Sims to Tony Hawk. But if you do encounter that rare program which isnt available for Mac, you can still run it right on your Mac using Virtual PC. Still think theres something youre missing? Go to apple.com and check for yourself. We promise not to say, we told you so.
I agree with apple on this one except for games. If you are a hardcore gamer, get a PC. If you play the occasional game like me, the mac will be more than enough. Ive played sc for years, works just as good on a mac as it does on a pc. But if you want to play all the new games the instant they come out, then get a PC, or even better - get a new hobby
. Macs dont run Microsoft Office.
Fact: Quite the opposite. Not only does a brand new version of Microsoft Office run on the Mac, but Office v.X for Mac OS X is actually better than its Windows cousin, with features available only on the Mac. Microsoft Office documents are fully compatible between Mac and Windows. So when you create an Excel spreadsheet or a Word document or a PowerPoint presentation on a Mac, you can send it to someone with a PC and it will open perfectly. And vice versa.
MS Office from PC to mac is pretty seemless. My mom writes files on the mac all the time and sends them to me on the pc, and everything is the same.
Windows has caught up with the Mac.
Fact: It cant be denied that Microsoft has made a good business out of copying the innovative Mac OS. And, truth be told, Windows XP is their best effort to date. But Mac OS X has sent them back to the drawing boards. Particularly with respect to graphics, everything digital (like music, movies and photography), ease of use and elegance. In other words, all the things that make a state-of-the-art operating system, well, state-of-the-art. And were not the only ones who think so. Consider critics like the Detroit Free Press, who recently proclaimed: The new OS X for Mac runs circles around Windows XP. Or ZDNets David Coursey, who praises Mac OS X as The nicest operating system Ive ever seen.
Windows really does make me sad......
They have only gone downhill since 98' and Windows was DOS based up until ME. Windows is sooooooo much worse than OS X. I can't stress that enough.
In my opinion, OS X is the main reason to get a mac. It is so innovative, so stable, so secure, so beautiful, and it just plain works. Even if my PC was twice as fast as my mac, I save twice as much time not having to go through loop holes to do simple tasks.
Macs are far easier to use than PCs. Guilty as charged.
hehe, apple also has a nice sense of humor, unlike M$
http://www.apple.com/myths/
please add on with stuff like 'Mhz != speed', etc. I could really use some help.
By the way, this isnt suppost to be a mac vs pc type thing. I love PCs, I love macs more, Im typing this on a PC. But I don't like PC users bashing macs with facts that just aren't true.
scem0
