Originally posted by linky
Im a PC user who's been seriously considering picking up a powerbook for some time now...Threads like this make me wonder if it's really the right thing for me to do...People always talk about how easy macOS is, how it never crashes and how it's faster, and this really appeals to me, I would want nothing more then to be able to play with a new OS, new hardware, new features, a whole new platform...
Everyone here seems to point out lots of problems with windowsXP and PC's in general - the vast majority of them however are simple 2 second fixes or the result of user error... start to worry that all of the great things about Macs may simply be 90% ignorance (no offense anyone)...Yes, you can buy your Mac and plug it in and it just works, and maybe that's where the allure is, maybe people like it being just that easy, and maybe that's why everyone thinks Macs are so stable - you dont really have to do any research, you just plug it in and turn it on, for sure this is a better platform for the average person, but for a hardcore geek that loves to build, upgrade, mod, overclock everything I see maybe I will be let down by macOS....i've never run antivirus software and I have never had a virus... sure it's quite a bit more "work" then just plugging it in and turning it on, but I like to know about every part inside my box, and what every file does, I know that if there is a problem its because somewhere, even indirectly I had done something wrong. to me windowsXP is not about babysitting the system it's about having controle over everything i do.
First, I have been a long term Mac user, however I also use a Windows 2K and XP box at work as well as a Red Hat box. I think my experience, while not as wide as others, at least does cover most computer users.
Here's the deal, the MacOS is based on Darwin which is based on UNIX, the hard-core mainframe code that runs the really important stuff (like NASA). MacOS is a GUI on top of that really powerful system and as such it fits the best of both words. Hooking a camera up, to use one of the 'Switcher' commercial examples, should be a matter of plugging the USB cable into the Mac. No drivers, no downloads, no error messages that cannot be devined but by the people who wrote the code. However, if you want to enable SSH, Apache, use Perl, Compile code using X11, create a website using Dreamweaver, connect to a network, or built your own. Create a small cluster computing network, etc. You can also do this.
My point is, at least for me, my Mac makes things that should be easy, easy and things that should be hard easy. The Mac is an M1 tank you granny could drive, its a particle accelerator a teenager could use.
My problem with Windows is the registry (I have other problems too, such as security, the ugly interface, etc.) which entails me to fiddle with it because when I hooked up a scanner Adobe Acrobat stopped working properly.
My Mac used the scanner and everything continued to work, but if I want to going into the CLIE (known as Terminal) I can make the machine do some very interesting things.
Apple's machines can be used as simple word processors or as all-in-one DV editing suites, they can be used with BLAST to work on cancer research, and 2,100 G5s created the 3rd fastest Supercomputer on the planet.
As for security problems, I can say that you will be even safer than you are now, and frankly you've been lucky with the viruses, MSBlast with the RBC call could have become a problem I would say you've dodged a bullet, however I would also note that these attacks are getting worse each year. One can argue whether this is because of Microsoft's presence in the market or because of bad coding, and they can also argue that the Mac is safer because they are rare, but either way right now every Mac user is safer than the average Windows user.
Just think, instead of spending all that time researching for parts, fiddling with the registry, and downloading update after update you could make a movie using iMovie, or send pictures to friends and family using iPhoto, or go read a book while an iTunes playlist pumps out your favorite 50 songs in random order. Or set up a cluster using Xgrid using all the Macs in your house.
With every exposure to Windows I find my Mac that much better.
