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wrldwzrd89

macrumors G5
Original poster
Jun 6, 2003
12,110
77
Solon, OH
I just read this now, and found it quite enlightening - and potentially useful to switchers. It explains the environment in Mac OS X and in Windows in terms of houses. Here's the link to the article.
 
That story was crap. It was basically Mac propaganda. According to this story Macs never crash and it's virtually impossible to have a Windows machine not to crash constantly. Well, if that's the case why has the PC I'm writing this on not caused me any trouble, and why do some of the world's largest companies trust Windows and PCs? Oh, and why did my friend's PowerBook crash just a short while ago?

Of course I realise that Macs generally crash less frequently than PCs do, but this stuff was just stupid one-sided propaganda.
 
jesped8 said:
Of course I realise that Macs generally crash less frequently than PCs do, but this stuff was just stupid one-sided propaganda.


No, it was actually written by someone who's used Windows/DOS for 20 years, is a security expert, and finally became fed up and very recently switched to Macs. So it's someone who's quite aware of the difference between Macs and PCs, and is an expert in the field of security, and wants to explain the differences to novices.

I'd have to say it was a bit simplistic for me, but for someone who doesn't understand security at all, it could be quite helpful.
 
jesped8 said:
... and why do some of the world's largest companies trust Windows and PCs? ...
A very simple question with a very simple answer. Actually, the answer is simple, but comes in two parts. The first part is that Windows is so widespread because it is a guaranteed employment plan for IT staff. Switch from Windows to another enterprise-level OS and reduce your IT staff by 90%. However, upper management is too intimidated to question IT's choice of Windows. The second part is most illuminating. Having chosen an inherently unreliable OS, these overstaffed IT departments still have a job to do. They must deploy systems that produce at an acceptable level. Commonly, they do not trust the latest version of Windows when failure is not an option. In fact, big companies often lag one or two major versions behind the current release of Windows.
 
In the immortal words of Butthead, we need more stuff that rocks and less stuff that sucks. :)

EDIT: Add....

Mac Airlines

All the stewards, captains, baggage handlers, and ticket agents look and act exactly the same. Every time you ask questions about details, you are gently but firmly told that you don't need to know, don't want to know, and everything will be done for you without your ever having to know, so just shut up.

:D

BTW, by way of quasi-related-topics...what's up with OSes that ship with the firewall turned off? I really find that irritating. :mad:
 
He forgot to add at the end:

"Some people in the Windows house hired a watchguard (antivirus and firewall) to watch the house, but the watchguard constantly had to be woken up to find the newest invasions (needs to be updated regularly or else you wont find the latest virus). The Windows house was so upset, that they decided to mimic the design of the Mac OS X house. They painted over the walls and over the roof, changed the front door and modified the way people lived. But the same windows and doors were still open, and while it was almost indistinguishable from the Mac OS X house, some parts - the critical parts - were unchanged. In fact, this only resulted in more uninvited guests."
 
MisterMe said:
A very simple question with a very simple answer. Actually, the answer is simple, but comes in two parts. The first part is that Windows is so widespread because it is a guaranteed employment plan for IT staff. Switch from Windows to another enterprise-level OS and reduce your IT staff by 90%. However, upper management is too intimidated to question IT's choice of Windows. The second part is most illuminating. Having chosen an inherently unreliable OS, these overstaffed IT departments still have a job to do. They must deploy systems that produce at an acceptable level. Commonly, they do not trust the latest version of Windows when failure is not an option. In fact, big companies often lag one or two major versions behind the current release of Windows.

So basically you're saying that big corporations don't have the balls to cut costs when there's a chance of making more money? The same companies that gladly move their production half-way around the world despite heavy protests just to save a few bucks? Rest assured that if there was actually money to save switching from PCs to Macs they would have done it a long time ago.
 
A very simple question with a very simple answer. Actually, the answer is simple, but comes in two parts. The first part is that Windows is so widespread because it is a guaranteed employment plan for IT staff. Switch from Windows to another enterprise-level OS and reduce your IT staff by 90%. However, upper management is too intimidated to question IT's choice of Windows. The second part is most illuminating. Having chosen an inherently unreliable OS, these overstaffed IT departments still have a job to do. They must deploy systems that produce at an acceptable level. Commonly, they do not trust the latest version of Windows when failure is not an option. In fact, big companies often lag one or two major versions behind the current release of Windows.


jesped8 said:
So basically you're saying that big corporations don't have the balls to cut costs when there's a chance of making more money? The same companies that gladly move their production half-way around the world despite heavy protests just to save a few bucks? Rest assured that if there was actually money to save switching from PCs to Macs they would have done it a long time ago.

MisterMe is right. Outsourcing, or moving entire companies half way around the world - either - would of course be daunting, but is something many management personnel could deal with. It's in the 'real world', is tangeable. However, IT - well, it can be completely alien, even scary, and as MisterMe put it, 'intimidating' to many. The IT department could be likened to a shadowy ether world, as far as some management is concerned! And please, I'm saying 'some' - it depends very much on both the personnel, and the company.
In addition, the benefits of outsourcing / relocating a company can be immediately obvious to many - however, how many people dislike Macs? Or just plain don't understand them? 'Nah, they're only good for art'.

andy.
 
jesped8 said:
That story was crap. It was basically Mac propaganda. According to this story Macs never crash and it's virtually impossible to have a Windows machine not to crash constantly. Well, if that's the case why has the PC I'm writing this on not caused me any trouble, and why do some of the world's largest companies trust Windows and PCs? Oh, and why did my friend's PowerBook crash just a short while ago?

Of course I realise that Macs generally crash less frequently than PCs do, but this stuff was just stupid one-sided propaganda.

In the first part you say your's doesn't or didn't crash and the Mac did. Then in the second part you say Macs crash less frequently. It might be interesting to delve deeper to learn exactly why, or at least pose the question so others can add to the discussion.
But without any investigation into the macro and not the micro, your statements are from the mind of what I call the "willfully deaf".
 
jesped8 said:
That story was crap. It was basically Mac propaganda. According to this story Macs never crash and it's virtually impossible to have a Windows machine not to crash constantly. Well, if that's the case why has the PC I'm writing this on not caused me any trouble, and why do some of the world's largest companies trust Windows and PCs? Oh, and why did my friend's PowerBook crash just a short while ago?

Of course I realise that Macs generally crash less frequently than PCs do, but this stuff was just stupid one-sided propaganda.

I'm not sure you read quite deeply enough into what the author said.

He said that the IT people can deal with it, the "wizards and nerds" could deal with it.

The average Joe who doesn't know much about windows beyond the blue e is the internet and solitaire are most likely not as computer savvy as you.
 
Mac Security in General

Brilliant article that helped me a lot. However, I am a new user to Mac and to OSX in particular (OSX Panther 10.7). The switch to Mac from PC was dictated in part because of the security issues and I remain nervous. I now THINK I understand the firewall system behind Mac OSX but, because of my nervousness, I bought a copy of Firewalk-X and this sits on top of my OS. Am I wasting my time and money by this addition. Is Firewalk doing anything that the OSX Firewall isn't doing? Is there any way that I can see if stuff is going on (attempted hacks etc) that the OSX firewall is dealing with behind the scenes? The short question is really "Do I have anything to worry about re: spyware, malware, trojans etc?" Any help/advice would be welcome. Particularly as I am about to do a load of on-line banking. And um-er-um sorry if I am being stupid and somehow put this in the wrong place. Thanks
 
UKnjb said:
Brilliant article that helped me a lot. However, I am a new user to Mac and to OSX in particular (OSX Panther 10.7). The switch to Mac from PC was dictated in part because of the security issues and I remain nervous. I now THINK I understand the firewall system behind Mac OSX but, because of my nervousness, I bought a copy of Firewalk-X and this sits on top of my OS. Am I wasting my time and money by this addition. Is Firewalk doing anything that the OSX Firewall isn't doing? Is there any way that I can see if stuff is going on (attempted hacks etc) that the OSX firewall is dealing with behind the scenes? The short question is really "Do I have anything to worry about re: spyware, malware, trojans etc?" Any help/advice would be welcome. Particularly as I am about to do a load of on-line banking. And um-er-um sorry if I am being stupid and somehow put this in the wrong place. Thanks
If you're one of those people that likes to do advanced configuration of their firewall, take a look at BrickHouse. It's an application for configuring Mac OS X's built-in firewall - if you decide to use this, disable Firewalk-X first. Spyware/Malware/Trojans, at least of the automatically installing variety, are non-existent on the Mac (both pre-Mac OS X and Mac OS X). Generally, all you need to do with the Mac OS X firewall is turn it on, then check the appropriate checkboxes for the services you use.
 
I sleep on the ledge above the G5 processor, and it keeps me warm in my Power Mac G5 mansion. :)
 
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