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many business still use xp
yes i know is old an "obsolete"

but that is their choice or decision
and maybe they got hardware that is not compatible with w10
and they will have to spend a good amount of money to buy new hardware that be compatible with w10

the only way i recommend WXP is to use it offline

I would wonder about any business that is that outdated. Sure it depends on what the business is yet why are they still using computers that old. It's just odd. Likely something I'm not aware of or have not thought of. (I know money is a factor too a point)
 
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I would wonder about any business that is that outdated. Sure it depends on what the business is yet why are they still using computers that old. It's just odd. Likely something I'm not aware of or have not thought of. (I know money is a factor too a point)
it’s just the way some people think or the way they are, i have a good friend he own a pharmacy, i saw that he had 2 computers running windows XP
these computers connect to the internet
i offered him to upgrade his computer, ram, cpu for free and just charge him for installing windows 7
that’s the highest those computers can go without choking to death

he is a good friend and i really wanted to help him that’s why i offer him the hardware for free
and i really consider those parts old parts
so for me i’m not really loosing anything because i didn’t paid nothing for them, they are just parts that i collect during the years
but yes they are good parts and they come handy to updates pc that have even older parts

i told him about windows XP being discontinued and obsolete and the potential danger, even after explaining everything to him he refuse to upgrade those 2 computers

giving him free hardware, i don’t know what more he wanted i can’t fix the computer for free
he said that those are “myths” and “urban legends”

he asked me why he needs to spent money if they are working good
and i told him that is not the problem the problem is that windows xp is obsolete and vulnerable to attacks, viruses, worms etc
is just a matter of time, is just a ticking time bomb
you should upgrade to at least windows 7 ASAP

but he didn’t listen

well a few days later he fell victim to a scam
you know the blue screen with a phone # to unlock windows
then he calls the phone # and give his credit card # to a person he doesn’t know
i told him he was an idiot for doing that
he lost more than 5,000 dollars in less than an hour that day
he find out because the bank call him to autorized some purchase and money transfer

i told him why you didn’t called me, i would it have told you not to do it
because i know those are scams

well his brother that works with him, they are partners he called me for me to come and get the computers to erase the drives
i did it even better i gave him another 2 newer bigger faster set of hard drives for free
i wanted to showed them and proved them that it wasn’t about the money

moral of the story, some people just want to make money as much as they can and they don’t want to spend any money

unless they think is strictly necessary, he thought that i was lying about windows XP
and i was trying to hustle money from him, when i was really trying to help him and trying to protecting from himself

now both computers are running windows 7 and he don’t have any computer running windows XP in his store
now he listen to me, some people has to learn the hard way
 
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My two Macs running Sierra are way, way, WAY more unstable than my Windows 10 machine.

Could you be so kind be more specific? What kind of instability do you find in UNIX-core operating system vs Windows?

I have zero issues with Sierra and previous versions (I am Mac user from Lion). Do you know why IBM switched to Mac OS (spoiler - it was software not hardware problem). They save about 270 USD/person in IT support only -- comparing to using Windows machines.

I think, you are smart enough to add 2+2 now.

I have a Windows machine too (Win7 x64) and it is slow and buggy. It is a Lenovo Thinkpad T410s 128 GB SSD, 16 GB RAM, i5 CPU. Back in time when this 2800 EUR computer was new I bought (just for coach browsing) base MacBook Air 11" -- This small laptop blew Lenovo+Windows away -- it was (and I quote) way, way, way quicker.

Some small 950 USD laptop was quicker than super duper Lenovo business laptop. I have switched to Mac and never, ever looked back.

YMMV
 
When the showed it ad WWDC, they didn't spend a lot of time talking about Siri. It won't do the same things you can do with the Echo and the Echo can't do some of the stuff you can do with the HomePod. It depends on what you want from a home assistant. A lot of the podcasts underplay the Apple ecosystem that hundreds of millions of people are happy in.
It was mac break weekly which is usually pro Apple
 
fair enough i agree, i personally have new expensive hardware but there are some cheap people out there
the only thing i don't agree is the part that you said that you don't recommend WXP at all
what harm can be done if the os is being use offline
let's just say that the person has an old computer
that is good to create documents and stuff like that
probably play some old games or emulator

at least the person can use that computer for entertainment

or that person has to spent money and buy a new pc or try to upgrade the hardware to try to run a newer version of windows

that most likely will run slow as hell

so using xp offline is no harm

everything else i agree except for that
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don't take it personal i meant no disrespect , we can respectfully disagree, no problem with that
yes i know that all oses has vulnerabilities i never said that mac os doesn't have any vulnerability
a while ago there it was a mac vulnerability that attack the firmware and survived full formats clean installs etc
so you see i'm fair
but i only use the WCRA as an example because many people believe that windows 10 is not vulnerable to that kind of attack anymore and they blame everything on old version of windows like XP
and they swear that windows 10 is "invincible"

i see you are well aware of the situation but you know that another variant came out
right after the first one that require another new patch

one thing is having viruses , erasing the HD and reinstall the system
but you couldn't do that with that specific worm or virus
because it encrypted your HD then you will loose all you important data
if you erase the drive

yes i understand you point but even if the person didn't turn off automatic updates
is like playing Russian roulette
whatever the person get first the empty hole or the bullet
because if you get the patch before the attack then you are protected
you don't how many security updates windows releases on the daily basis

you can have your computer fully patched, don't use you computer for a week and when you turn it on
you have a whole new gig of security updates ready to be download and install

and you know how the story goes
downloading updates
installing updates
windows reboot your pc like 20 times during that process
well actually like 2 or 3 but it sure feels like more
then if the person is lucky at the end they successfully updated and patched their pc
unless they get
windows update failed rolling back
:D
windows 10 anniversary update had that problem

i'm not trying to be funny is true, this kind of thing happens to windows users
anyway i respect your opinion and point of view
we disagree in a few point but that's all right
peace
:)

Yes, no problem agreeing to disagree. We probably don't disagree at some level if we peel back the forum debate positioning. I am trying to relate this back to the thread subject, which is this notion that a larger share of Windows users are ready to go out and buy a Mac tomorrow. I don't believe that's true. That got some folks on the security risk of Windows and we have people talking about the way Windows worked 20 years ago, which is hardly relevant today.

A couple of things are true about security in recent times. First, the idea of viruses and virus protection has largely gone by the wayside because hackers have moved on to other things, and the built in protection against such things in Windows is now pretty good. Those new things are scams like malware that can be done on any computer system. Mac users think they are some how completely protected from a security perspective when many of the attack vectors now are system agnostic. Thinking you are safe, when you are not, is a bad place to be.

Of course the design of MacOS (based on Unix) is a bit more secure than the design of Windows. But the bigger issue is that Windows is a substantially larger target to attack, so of course hackers will take advantage of that. My only point was that in normal daily use, the average user is not substantially less safe on Windows or MacOS, unless they are doing something silly like blocking the updates.

While in the distant past I remember being frustrated with the inconvenient reboot for an update on Windows, I haven't experienced that in quite a while, and not since I moved to Windows 10. Personally, I notice it more in MacOS now than Windows. That could be that I'm using the Mac way less and it seems like it always has the "updates needed" at inconvenient times.

So to summarize, I agree that the design of MacOS is inherently more secure to start, and that MacOS is way less of a target because there are much fewer users. Where we disagree... this idea that MacOS is somehow not vulnerable adds more risk to users that think that since most (not all) attacks now are OS agnostic; and Microsoft has greatly improved the built in security of Windows. Many Windows users are going to behave more safely because of the past, and I've heard Apple users in this thread bragging about going to sketching websites and such without any fear.

I would wonder about any business that is that outdated. Sure it depends on what the business is yet why are they still using computers that old. It's just odd. Likely something I'm not aware of or have not thought of. (I know money is a factor too a point)

There are many systems that business uses which were built many years ago, and they have no way to migrate to newer platforms without a substantial cost.
 
It's a bit of an amusing article to me--- Basically boiling down to 'people with money plan to switch to Mac'. Sure, it would be nice to work on the same ecosystem at home as I do at work, but c'mon. I'm drowning in student loan payments. It's just not affordable.
I live in a town with one large university and several smaller ones, and have observed an increasing number of college students are buying PCs over Macs. Whereas five years ago, an overwhelming majority of students were using Macs, that is becoming less and less the case the last couple of years. I still see students with MBPs and MacBooks, but they are mostly two or more years old (easy to tell with MagSafe and the lit up Apple on the back). Apple is pricing itself out of a lot of students' ability to pay, and PC hardware has become quite good for the price. You are also likely to see most faculty using nice PCs. A very popular one for faculty around here is the Dell XPS 13 running either Windows 10 or Linux. I've very rarely seen anyone around here with new Mac laptops.
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In 2010, after Vista, switching to iMac was the best decision I made. This is not perfect (i don't like iTunes) but I have never regretted.
That was a much more valid choice in 2010 than now. Mac hardware - desktops and laptops - was much better than most PC hardware at the time, and Vista was probably the worst OS Microsoft ever released. A lot of PC users switched to Macs after sampling Vista, and you got a lot better hardware for the money with a Mac purchase back then.
 
That was a much more valid choice in 2010 than now. Mac hardware - desktops and laptops - was much better than most PC hardware at the time, and Vista was probably the worst OS Microsoft ever released. A lot of PC users switched to Macs after sampling Vista, and you got a lot better hardware for the money with a Mac purchase back then.

This is so important relative to this thread. Vista was actually released in 2006. in 2010 Windows 7 was already out. Talking about what Windows was like 10 to 15 years ago is not relevant. Microsoft, in my opinion, has greatly transformed during the last 5 years under their new CEO. Vista was a humbling failure for them. Windows 8, for very different reasons, was also not a success for them. But you have to credit them with being willing to try something bold... combining a tablet UI with a desktop UI. You can complain about it all you want, but Apple hasn't even tried. In the last 10 years, there has been very, very little change in the MacOS UI other than the Touch Bar. Apple's main act is clearly iOS and everything else is just supporting cast. Bottom line is MacOS and Windows 10 are both stable and robust platforms that a user can be equally productive with. Hardware is available with both of them that are on par with each other at the high end; but Windows also has lower cost offerings. The threat to both of them for the average user is Chrome.
 
at least the person can use that computer for entertainment

or that person has to spent money and buy a new pc or try to upgrade the hardware to try to run a newer version of windows

that most likely will run slow as hell

so using xp offline is no harm

everything else i agree except for that

Windows 10 will run on a single core 1ghz CPU with 1gb of RAM (32bit) or 2gb of ram (64bit), with 16gb of free hard drive space.

This hardware compatibility goes pretty far back. The Pentium 3 era for example was already releasing computers that exceeded these requirements. Anyone on a Pentium 4 or newer is already capable of Windows 8 or Windows 10. (the Pentium 4 was released in 2004, only 1 years after XP came out)

in 2017. There is NO excuse to be on Windows XP. Except for pure cheapness / Laziness. Any user still on WinXP because their hardware is old, I recommend spending $400 and buy a cheap 15.4" laptop from best buy on sale that will be faster more modern, up to date and with the modern OS.
 
I bought a new MacBook Pro last Fall when they came out with the upgrade I looked hard at the HP Spectre x360 and came close to getting one. Doing Photoshop and Lightroom on a touchscreen using a pen is a wonderful experience, so much more useful than Apple's lame Touchbar. The keyboard was was better to. But, in the end I looked at the hundreds of files I have in Pages and Numbers and decided conversion wasn't worth the hassle. So, I'm in the statistic for sticking with Apple although but for my files I would have switched.

Apple shouldn't take too much comfort in this study and needs only to look at their marketshare in laptops and desktops which has shrank appreciably under Cook's tenure. That's the real statistic they need to be paying attention to because there comes a point when marketshare gets so low that it's not worth developers producing software for the Mac platform.
 
It was mac break weekly which is usually pro Apple
That is debatable. I would agree that Rene is pro-Apple...Leo, Andy, and Alex...not so much...I would call those three skeptical.

Andy is constantly talking about how you can jump from one platform to another much easier these days. That part is true, if you aren't using platform specific apps, but a lot of people want their devices to work together and take advantage of features like Continuity and Handoff, get notifications on the machine they are using, etc. He discounts these things because he lives in a world where he uses a lot of different devices and reviews them for a living. A lot of people just want something that works with the other stuff they own without a lot of headaches or jumping through hoops. Not saying which is better, but the HomePod appears to be more for people in the Apple ecosystem and not for people outside of it. Luckily for Apple, there are a lot of people in their ecosystem.

(As a side note, I have Echo Dots in the house and I haven't seen a lot from the HomePod that would make me want to switch. Of course, that could change with more information about it. That being said, it has Siri in it and works with Apple Music, the competitors can't say that).
 
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The funny thing is that people with an average household income of less than 15k/year are within 6 percentage points of being as likely to switch to the Mac as people with an average household income of more than 150k.

So, are the people in the <15k group planning on finding higher paying jobs or banking on winning the lottery?
More than likely its college students wanting a mac for school. They probably get financial aid to pay for the $1200 laptop
 
I would be curious to know the number that switch from Mac to Pc in the last 2-3 years. Windows is actually really stable even more than my Mac. So for me I have been transitioning back to windows.
 
Windows 10 will run on a single core 1ghz CPU with 1gb of RAM (32bit) or 2gb of ram (64bit), with 16gb of free hard drive space.

This hardware compatibility goes pretty far back. The Pentium 3 era for example was already releasing computers that exceeded these requirements. Anyone on a Pentium 4 or newer is already capable of Windows 8 or Windows 10. (the Pentium 4 was released in 2004, only 1 years after XP came out)

in 2017. There is NO excuse to be on Windows XP. Except for pure cheapness / Laziness. Any user still on WinXP because their hardware is old, I recommend spending $400 and buy a cheap 15.4" laptop from best buy on sale that will be faster more modern, up to date and with the modern OS.
i agree with you 100% but the guy from the story is uncle scrooge cheap, i personally have a 5,000 dollar hackintosh with 4 samsung 960 in raid0 hitting almost 11,000 in read speed

i'm not cheap i like having good stuff but for that the person has to spent money

yes while some version of windows can be install with that kind of cpu or specs they will run but slowwww

the guy had 2 celerons cpus and i changed them for pentium 4
also if you put and SSD drive in a "old pc" it will truly help
for windows 7 at least 1 gig of ram and for windows 8 or 10 at least 2 gigs minimum
but man there are so many cheap people in this world that is just unbelievable
then they expect their computer to flight like a jet
i always tell them if you want your computer to be fast spend money and upgrade the hardware
 
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Said it before and I'll say it again, if I didn't have to use xCode and Sketch I would never buy another Mac again.

Overpriced and unreliable are the order of the day where the Mac is concerned these days. Very strange that PC users want to switch to Apples lagging hardware platform.

In the meantime I'll be visiting the Genius Bar next week for the third time in as many months to have a defective Mac serviced. Only a week after having to have my iPhone replaced due to battery problems.

Quality control really doesn't seem to exist at Apple anymore. Prices continue to spiral and quality is at an all time low.
 
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75% of my friends are planing to switch to Windows. My next production machine will be windows machine. Still gonna keep iMac for home stuff as long as it works. It's all about bang for the buck. And NVIDIA :D
 
None of my friends that I asked are cross switching. Granted it's a small sample group but still valid, just not within the 95% confidence level for ALL my friends.
 
but a lot of people want their devices to work together and take advantage of features like Continuity and Handoff
I used to be big Apple fan and if something didn't have homekit then I was not going to be interested.
As you say people can switch easily and for me now that I have an Windows Laptop and my son has a Samsung phone rather than my old iPhones, I want all my gear to work together and Apple is poor in this respect.

If your not fully in the eco system then Apple starts to become a lesser proposition. You begin to see how much control Apple wants. Do I want Apple having control over everything. Hell no, I want them to work with other companies.
 
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This is so important relative to this thread. Vista was actually released in 2006. in 2010 Windows 7 was already out. Talking about what Windows was like 10 to 15 years ago is not relevant. Microsoft, in my opinion, has greatly transformed during the last 5 years under their new CEO. Vista was a humbling failure for them. Windows 8, for very different reasons, was also not a success for them. But you have to credit them with being willing to try something bold... combining a tablet UI with a desktop UI. You can complain about it all you want, but Apple hasn't even tried. In the last 10 years, there has been very, very little change in the MacOS UI other than the Touch Bar. Apple's main act is clearly iOS and everything else is just supporting cast. Bottom line is MacOS and Windows 10 are both stable and robust platforms that a user can be equally productive with. Hardware is available with both of them that are on par with each other at the high end; but Windows also has lower cost offerings. The threat to both of them for the average user is Chrome.
Wow, do I agree with your Chrome comment. It really comes down to what people want with a laptop vs. a tablet or a phone. I think most people who have been in computers for a while like mouse functionality over touch - and if you can have both, aka a Dell XPS or whatever, so be it. But older computer folks need multi-tasking, multi-windowing, command line when appropriate, great memory, great CPU, and robust mass storage. We also want adequate ports for peripherals and network connections. Oh, and price point is hugely important in this economy. Don't care about thin, don't much care about aesthetics, but really care about function. Microsoft is doing better post-Balmer. PC hardware is making great strides, as are Android phones. Linux, which I use now almost exclusively except for my iMac and my 2006 MBP (which still works), is filling my bill as a standard computer user of laptops. I have a 4 year old Samsung chromebook, and it still works pretty well - only cost me $300, and still surfs the internet, gives me storage on Google Drive, and basic Office functionality when I need it. May need to replace my 3 year old iMac this year, though. My wife will demand it. :)
 
I call BS on this article.

I prefer macOS over everything else out there by a LOT, but the problem is that Apple's Mac hardware is both crippled and hilariously over-priced.

I just don't see this happening, let alone in 6 months.

But Apple's got some secret sauce, 'cause their machines sure are pretty and maybe they've figured out that this is enough to bring people in.

They're surely becoming less the camp of those who "think different" and more "for the rich".

They've succeeded in turning their brand into status symbols, like Coach (figures they hire Angela Ahrendts) and Mercedes.

Bags and cars people, they're just bags and cars.

$16K Apple Watch "Edition". GTFOOH. $200-600 price hike for the BS MB"P" TouchBar, less ports, loss of MagSafe, soldered SSD. No. Just...NO.

I grow increasingly tired and irate at their pretentiousness and smugness (can't stand their keynotes and Jony Ive-voiceover videos anymore).
 
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I don't know, once I factor in the price of Bit Coin to get my files unencrypted it's pretty much a wash.
Two observations:

1) The only affected computers were running unpatched, mostly old versions of Windows (like XP). That's not a problem with Windows, but with the Windows users who failed to apply freely available security patches to their systems.

2) The targets for this ransomware were users of Windows, as 90% of businesses run Windows OS/software. If/when MacOS gets anywhere close to that market share, Macs will also become targets for this sort of criminal activity.

The main lesson, regardless of what OS you are running, is to apply security patches when they become available. I can't remember what Apple OS was current 15 years ago (Panther?), but Windows XP was released in 2002. Folks still using Windows XP - especially unpatched - have no one to blame but themselves for exposing such outdated software to the internet.
 
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But is it more enjoyable than Mac OS?

As a matter of fact, it's at least as enjoyable. It's taken some time to get used to things, but this is not the Windows I was using in some of our offices nearly ten years ago. It's got much more in common with macOS and some richer features.

More importantly for me, the horsepower/cost comparison was too much to say no.

Intel Core i7-7700k, Gigabyte GA-Z270X-Gaming 7, NVIDIA GTX 1080
 
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