But the real embarrassment for Apple comes when I start 64-Bit Ubuntu 9.10 (with nVidia's proprietary drivers) on that box. While 64-Bit Vista already runs circles around Snow Leopard on that machine, Ubuntu completely blows OS X out of the water.
You're kidding, yes? I came from a homebuild (Asus P5Q Deluxe, 8GB DDR2-800 @ 4-4-4-10), Q9650 (9x400Mhz = 3.6GHz), nVidia GTX260, running Vista Ultimate 64-bit. OS X 10.5 blew it out of the water (24" iMac early 2009). Snow Leopard was far faster, especially re: disk speed.
It's unbelievable how fast that computer feels when you do NOT use Apple's operating systems on it.
I'll take your word for it; I do not wish to use Windows on anything except a vmware session.
Then there are the problems with the built-in Airport card - which works fine in Vista and Ubuntu, but is almost unusable in Snow Leopard. And yes, Third Party hardware definitely prefers non-Apple operating systems as well.
Okay, that is admittedly creepy. What's up with Apple? (You did do a clean install of Snow Leopard to be sure, yes?)
Here are the reasons why I am still using Snow Leopard, though:
My expensive software investments Photoshop CS 3 Extended, Flash Pro CS3, Aperture, Logic Studio and a bunch of other OS X-specific Shareware.
Unless I am willing to cut my losses and give up on Aperture, which is my absolutely favorite application and by far the best tool FOR ME on the market for its purposes, I am locked into the OS X platform.
They sound like good reasons; I've Adobe Master Collection CS4.
But after more than four years in Apple land, I cannot say that I am still in love with the platform or that I think that anything is better here than it is in Microsoft land. Apple completely sucks as a company and their operating system is not half as good or reliable or robust or fast as they claim in their advertisements.
With how Windows writes to the hard drive, never mind the registry, don't worry: Microsoftland will disappoint you soon enough.
When it comes to hardware, I've managed to reduce my portfolio to this one Mac Pro - at the best times, I used to have five Macs on my desk. Now I'm glad that I've gotten rid off them except for this one machine.
I doubt that I will be purchasing another Apple computer. If I decide to stay with OS X, my next machine will be a high-end Hackintosh -- meaning a PC with hardware specs that you cannot even buy from Apple with all the money in the world, because unlike what everybody wants to believe, Apple does not sell real high-end computers. They sell on high-end price segment, but not high-end hardware. Heck, they neither have high-end graphic cards nor BluRay writers. Not that I care for the latter, but those are just two examples.
Oh good, illegal activity.
It would be nice to see an ATi 5870... Mac users pay more because the market isn't as large.
Apple is all about marketing BS, and about selling designer toys that are beautiful to look at, but most of the time crappy to WORK with. This strategy only works because Apple is targeting exclusively the consumer market, and those two or three things that an average consumer wants to do with a computer mostly work with an Apple.
This is America. Which company isn't about "marketing BS"? Not Microsoft, that's for sure.
Apple should be sticking to its niche markets, I will agree.
However, when you leave the YouTube and Photoshop world behind, Apple's platform very quickly reaches the end of its capabilities and you begin to run Windows or one of the open source operating systems on your precious machine.
Windows, maybe. Linux? No...
Because of my day-time job I had to become very platform agnostic, and I usually don't care much if I have to use Windows, a flavor of Linux or OS X. They all suck in their individual ways, but the only platform of the three that can do EVERYTHING for me without having to use an emulation layer or - even worse - some sort of virtualization software is... Windows.
I'd rather have it under vmware. Easier to restore to a snapshot and not diddle with extra bloating crap.
And that always leads me the same sad realization: A platform is only as good as its Third Party and software ecosystem. And unlike Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp has always understood this.
True, but I'd rather have a more solid base and fewer apps than a dilettante base and tons of garbage running on it.
Anyway. You have a Mac Pro which isn't a bad workstation at all. If you are not in the unfortunate situation to be in a software-lock in, by all means, just drop OS X and use Windows or Linux instead. This might hurt your ego a little bit, but it doesn't hurt your machine. Just don't invest any more money in Apple in the future.
Software lock-in exists for every platform.
I will get a w3580 for my Mac Pro at some point, another 4GB for my 17" MBP, and a 5870 when it comes out for the Mac Pro (please please please).
