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incompatibility issues and Why is Mac better then Windows
- Thread starter riz78612
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Perhaps any Mac user could read/search for many other threads/websites that answer such a broad and ambiguous question.
-riz78612
Agreed with edesignuk, you could drop a planet through the hole that question creates.
Might I suggest reading into some of the the discussion here, and perhaps narrowing the scope of your question a tad. Like Hardware Compatibility, OS or Software compatibility, etc.
Agreed with edesignuk, you could drop a planet through the hole that question creates.
Might I suggest reading into some of the the discussion here, and perhaps narrowing the scope of your question a tad. Like Hardware Compatibility, OS or Software compatibility, etc.
That was exactly what I was thinking. Also sounds like this is fishing for an argument.
Not sure if this is a troll, but I'll bite.
Actually, the best way to answer this is to explain why I switched from Windows to Mac about 6 months ago. I used to use Macs at work almost 20 years ago. I remember it being a big deal when we switched to System 7. I was very anti-Mac when I started that job, and in a gesture of grand irony, I was put in charge of taking care of all the office Macs. At that time we were running (I think) a Farallon network which used ordinarily telephone wire. Unusual back then. Anyway, I quickly became a convert when we started doing stuff like adding printers. You'd plug a printer into the network and suddenly all the machines could see it. That was it. Or once day for grins we popped a second video card into a IIcx to see what happened, and amazingly the OS recognized it and did exactly what you'd expect it to do.
But then I moved on a to a couple different software development jobs, and the dev tools always ran on PCs. Since we had PCs at work, when it was time for me to buy home computers, I always bought PCs. I started out on Windows 3.1, then 95, then 98, then XP. There are lots of things about Windows that I like, and lots of things that annoy me. But it's what I've been using for 15+ years now, and that's a lot of inertia. At home I have three XP boxes, a Linux box, and a Sony Vaio running XP. I have a ton of Windows software and the latest McAfee virus stuff.
Over the past year to 18 months, I've noticed XP getting less and less stable. It gets worse with every update Microsoft releases. Personally, I think this is not an accident, I think this is Microsoft's way of forcing us into another update cycle. They did the same thing to me with Windows 98 - they basically rendered it unusable, then stopped supporting it, and that's what forced me to XP, which forced me to buy a new machine when 6 months prior my 98 machine had been rock solid. I played around with a Vista machine, absolutely hated Vista, and when I saw this was the way their world was headed I decided okay, I've had enough of this ****, I'm outta here.
So I bought a Mac Mini to see how that world is, and I like it. I now use the Mac Mini exclusively for email, web surfing, and most document editing. I've switched all my contacts and calendars over to Address Book and iCal, and I like how well it's integrated into the rest of the system. Those little details are nice. And even though this just about the slowest and cheapest Mac you can get, it's generally pretty snappy. In XP, having an application freeze or die unexpectedly was almost a daily experience. On the Mac, I've found this to be extraordinarily rare. I still use the Windows machine for software development because that's where my tools are licensed.
There is a learning curve switching from Windows to Mac, but really it's not bad. There are things I don't like, and I'm still finding ways to work around them. For example, I don't care much for the Finder, so I bought something called PathFinder which is more to my liking. I hated OpenOffice, so I bought the MS Office suite off craigslist, though to be honest I still prefer Word and Excel on the PC to the Mac versions. But overall I'm happy with my decision and only wish I'd done it earlier. I love being able to drop down to the shell and work there, run shell scripts, etc. Probably in another year or so I'll outgrow the Mini and I'll kick down and get a full-blown Mac Pro setup of some sort.
I'm not going to try to talk you in to or out of buying a Mac. That's a decision only you can make. But these are the reasons I find the Mac to be "better" in case that's helpful.
Actually, the best way to answer this is to explain why I switched from Windows to Mac about 6 months ago. I used to use Macs at work almost 20 years ago. I remember it being a big deal when we switched to System 7. I was very anti-Mac when I started that job, and in a gesture of grand irony, I was put in charge of taking care of all the office Macs. At that time we were running (I think) a Farallon network which used ordinarily telephone wire. Unusual back then. Anyway, I quickly became a convert when we started doing stuff like adding printers. You'd plug a printer into the network and suddenly all the machines could see it. That was it. Or once day for grins we popped a second video card into a IIcx to see what happened, and amazingly the OS recognized it and did exactly what you'd expect it to do.
But then I moved on a to a couple different software development jobs, and the dev tools always ran on PCs. Since we had PCs at work, when it was time for me to buy home computers, I always bought PCs. I started out on Windows 3.1, then 95, then 98, then XP. There are lots of things about Windows that I like, and lots of things that annoy me. But it's what I've been using for 15+ years now, and that's a lot of inertia. At home I have three XP boxes, a Linux box, and a Sony Vaio running XP. I have a ton of Windows software and the latest McAfee virus stuff.
Over the past year to 18 months, I've noticed XP getting less and less stable. It gets worse with every update Microsoft releases. Personally, I think this is not an accident, I think this is Microsoft's way of forcing us into another update cycle. They did the same thing to me with Windows 98 - they basically rendered it unusable, then stopped supporting it, and that's what forced me to XP, which forced me to buy a new machine when 6 months prior my 98 machine had been rock solid. I played around with a Vista machine, absolutely hated Vista, and when I saw this was the way their world was headed I decided okay, I've had enough of this ****, I'm outta here.
So I bought a Mac Mini to see how that world is, and I like it. I now use the Mac Mini exclusively for email, web surfing, and most document editing. I've switched all my contacts and calendars over to Address Book and iCal, and I like how well it's integrated into the rest of the system. Those little details are nice. And even though this just about the slowest and cheapest Mac you can get, it's generally pretty snappy. In XP, having an application freeze or die unexpectedly was almost a daily experience. On the Mac, I've found this to be extraordinarily rare. I still use the Windows machine for software development because that's where my tools are licensed.
There is a learning curve switching from Windows to Mac, but really it's not bad. There are things I don't like, and I'm still finding ways to work around them. For example, I don't care much for the Finder, so I bought something called PathFinder which is more to my liking. I hated OpenOffice, so I bought the MS Office suite off craigslist, though to be honest I still prefer Word and Excel on the PC to the Mac versions. But overall I'm happy with my decision and only wish I'd done it earlier. I love being able to drop down to the shell and work there, run shell scripts, etc. Probably in another year or so I'll outgrow the Mini and I'll kick down and get a full-blown Mac Pro setup of some sort.
I'm not going to try to talk you in to or out of buying a Mac. That's a decision only you can make. But these are the reasons I find the Mac to be "better" in case that's helpful.
Agree with obdave, and had a somewhat similar experience (down to the purchased McAfee). I switched to Mac earlier this year for a number of reasons.
The first was not just the halo effect of my iPod and iTunes, - which I love and which knocks the socks off Macromedia - but the fact that when the Pod dies twice within warranty it was replaced without a murmur - that impressed me. The second was the security issue; Apple has never succumbed to a virus attack (my source for that was the BBC tech corr) and their protection against spam/virus/spyware was/is way superior to Windows.
Like obdave, I had found XP to be getting slower and freezing and crashing more frequently, and I had no intention of migrating to Vista. Apple's design impressed me, and once I knew I could get Office for Mac (Word is a must in my world - everybody uses it) I was converted.
Again, in common with obdave, I have used Windows for well over a decade, and still find it perfectly fine in some ways - indeed, at present, the environment I am working in is specified Windows only, so I left my splendid MBP at home, and in a sense, I am back to Windows, though not by choice.
Re "compatibility issues", I cannot say, as the question is so broadly phrased.
Cheers
The first was not just the halo effect of my iPod and iTunes, - which I love and which knocks the socks off Macromedia - but the fact that when the Pod dies twice within warranty it was replaced without a murmur - that impressed me. The second was the security issue; Apple has never succumbed to a virus attack (my source for that was the BBC tech corr) and their protection against spam/virus/spyware was/is way superior to Windows.
Like obdave, I had found XP to be getting slower and freezing and crashing more frequently, and I had no intention of migrating to Vista. Apple's design impressed me, and once I knew I could get Office for Mac (Word is a must in my world - everybody uses it) I was converted.
Again, in common with obdave, I have used Windows for well over a decade, and still find it perfectly fine in some ways - indeed, at present, the environment I am working in is specified Windows only, so I left my splendid MBP at home, and in a sense, I am back to Windows, though not by choice.
Re "compatibility issues", I cannot say, as the question is so broadly phrased.
Cheers
thanks guys for your answer.
regarding compatability issue- ill get back on that one.
Someone asked me a question- so iv posted on their behalf.
Iv given him all your responses...so waiting to see what he says..
he might just say , thanks cool etc.
Im still a windows user...but im thinking of switching to a Mac soon.
Waiting for todays update, and get a New macbook Air.
regarding compatability issue- ill get back on that one.
Someone asked me a question- so iv posted on their behalf.
Iv given him all your responses...so waiting to see what he says..
he might just say , thanks cool etc.
Im still a windows user...but im thinking of switching to a Mac soon.
Waiting for todays update, and get a New macbook Air.
-riz78612
Well, I'm glad you came back. We forum regulars can get a little jaded as we've seen plenty of questions similar to yours which were only designed to start a 'religious' discussion, your return and reply makes me apreciate you were serious, and I hope we did indeed help.
Here's another fact for you and your friend:
You can run Windows on a Mac, and not in emulation; true, native Windows. There are those like myself, who perfer to run windows in virtualization (again, not emulation) within OS X as an application layer.
In other words: unless a plug (like a PS/2 or the like) physically doesn't fit into the ports, the old square-peg-round-hole thing, there is very likely no incompatibility at all.
This is a chief reason why Apples Market and Mind Share is heading north these days.
Well, I'm glad you came back. We forum regulars can get a little jaded as we've seen plenty of questions similar to yours which were only designed to start a 'religious' discussion, your return and reply makes me apreciate you were serious, and I hope we did indeed help.
Here's another fact for you and your friend:
You can run Windows on a Mac, and not in emulation; true, native Windows. There are those like myself, who perfer to run windows in virtualization (again, not emulation) within OS X as an application layer.
In other words: unless a plug (like a PS/2 or the like) physically doesn't fit into the ports, the old square-peg-round-hole thing, there is very likely no incompatibility at all.
This is a chief reason why Apples Market and Mind Share is heading north these days.
Thanks Patrick.
Iv given my friend the link to this friend. He said thanks.
Im thinking of getting the New Macbook Air. But will wait Jan after Macword confernce update. They might drop the price.
As they did with the MBA few weeks after release in Feb 2008
Iv given my friend the link to this friend. He said thanks.
Im thinking of getting the New Macbook Air. But will wait Jan after Macword confernce update. They might drop the price.
As they did with the MBA few weeks after release in Feb 2008