Microsoft is one step closer to ruling the world....

If you want some true, myth-busting info on why Macintosh is a good choice for many situations, take some time to have a read at this site.

The site has mostly anecdotal stories from real-world users, not Apple-sponsored hype. I'll admit that some of the statistics are a little out-of-date (for instance, surveys regarding Return-on-Investment (R.O.I.) from independent analysts GISTICS), but even that stuff is generally more true now than it was when the reports were put together. For example, Macintosh networks spend considerably more time up and running and being productive than a similarly configured windows network, and when they do have problems they are almost always easir to troubleshoot and fix. Bottom line...is the bottom line. I don't know of a single reputable print house or service bureau that runs an all windows shop. It's just not practical, and that's just in the print business (which, by the way, worldwide, as an entity, is the largest business sector on the planet....bigger even than car manufacturing).

I use an 800 mhz, 256mb rdram, geforce 64mb ddr ram, with many more options and it's running on the worlds most fun charismatic os win2k. I love how it takes you through a rollercoaster ride of errors.. like IE has generated errors would you like to send Microsoft a report? My personal favorite is the blue screen of death… well to think about it I’ve not had one of those in a few months. Then when my modem got fried a few months ago I jumped onto my dads shinny new P4 1.7 ghz 512mb of rdram. Now for reasons beyond me he decided to get windows me… Now this os was way more fun then win2k… ummm.. NOT freaking peace of $hit was freezing up on me ever 2 seconds. I almost put his monitor out the window. Now as fare as Macs go I rescind my previous statement “MAC = CRAP”. The only reason I stated that Macs are crap is because I hate learning a new os. I’m just lazy I guess. Any who.. bbl going to pump a few shotgun rounds into my monitor.

I like learning new stuff. And I don't mind learning a new OS. I've experimented with Linux, and shell replacements for windows, etc. So I really want to work on Mac OS for a change. And of course I want that iPod...

"Macs: Hard to break, easy to fix - PCs: Easy to break, hard to fix"

Maybe they don't have as much experience working with pc's as they say they do. I, and millions of other people find working on PC's very easy.

Infact, I have never had a problem I couldn't fix.

Please, give us fact...not propaganda.

Axiom—

A few points that need to be expanded upon...

If you paid attention to what I wrote in the post that referenced that URL, you'd have noticed that I explained that most of the info on that site was anecdotal, i.e. related by people who are telling their real-world experiences. To me, Real-World experience is, many times, worth more to me than bench reports. Did you follow any of the links and do any further reading?

The GISTICS study is an example of a survey that was done in a more scientific manner, and included the statistics gathered from a rather large sampling. They are a highly respected company and their studies are use deveryday by business and stock analysts to help with high-level decision making. That inspires my confidence in their findings of fact.

Third, the home site that hosts that page is for a company that does all types of system consulting and repair. They've devoted an entire page full of testimonals and links regarding Macs ease-of-use and their cost effectiveness. That says to me that, even as a full service shop, they feel pretty passionate about this.

I also must go by my personal experience (I'm 42 and have had more than most people on this forum, I'd venture to guess). As I said in the email to deker, I can negotiate my way around a windows system quite well. And if need be, I can troubleshoot and repair just about anything. It's just that in my 16 or so years working with computers (both Mac and Windows) Macs seem to "break" less, allowing me to be more productive, and are more intuitive to fix.

Let me ask you this: How many times have you had to Uninstall and Reinstall a previously problem-free application or even the entire OS in Windows because that was the only way you could get it to work again?

How many times (in 16 years, mind you) have I ever had to do that on my Macs?

Never. Not Once. Ever.

I've had to update printer drivers and the like after installing an OS upgrade, but nothing ever simply quit working, even after a full-on Hard crash where I had to pull the power plug out of the wall just to get my Mac to shut down.

Which way do you think most computer users would prefer if they wanted to be productive?

That small luxury alone is enough for me to stick with using a Mac.

I'm not trying to influence you to change your mind. I have no interest in doing that. I'm just gathering together a set of data, both anecdotal and factual, that helps support my decision.

Happy windowing, if that's what you like.

Me, I'll just get back to being productive and making money.

I, and millions of other people find working on PC's very easy.

Can't let this slide without some commentary.

It's my contention (and that of many people more expert in the ways and means of business and promotion) that most of the millions only bought windows systems because they're available everwhere, and they're advertised to death as being easy enough for anyone to use. The real, rarely-told truth, as supported by many studies, is that for most people coming into using a computer the first time the Mac OS is much easier to navigate and has a much gentler learning curve.

Windows ubiquity is not a product of its worthiness, rather it's a product of shove-it-down-your-throat marketing. And Bill Gates is the very first in line to admit this; He knows full well that it's the reason for Micrsoft's success.

so i got a few questions now:


Deker, that vector chip you were talking about, is that standard on all mac's: laptops;desktops, etc (couldn't think of anything else : ) )

and second:

i notice that alot of apples no longer come w/ a floppy drive, why is this, is it recommended to get a zipdrive?

desktop or laptop?

the desktops are definately ALOT more expensive then a PC woudl cost, and on apple.com it's only the tower, the display would cost another 400+ dollars...
the article siad that 400mhz for apple is better performance then a 800 mhz PC, why is this?

does this 'better performance" also applie to RAM?
so 256 on apple is better then 256 on PC?

multitasking:

how well is apple on multitasking? assuming you have atleast
128 RAM, and a 600 mhz ( i think that's the G4's lowest package)


and why does apple ship OSX and OS9 when you buya comp , why would you need both?

Well at the Windows XP launch, we watched a little bit of the live feed from New York, and Bill Gates himself said "I've wanted to say this for a long time, and now I can...Windows 95 is a CRAPPY Operating System". You have to give the guy credit for being honest. And in as much as I need sleep since I have to work on a Saturday morning, I'm going to continue for a few sentences.

The only real operating system I've ever had problems with IS Windows 95. Sure my Windows 98 liked to crash, but nothing like 95 did. I never did try Windows ME, nor did I care to. But I have also NEVER had a problem with Windows 2000. It have had it freeze up after burning 2 CDs, but I can honestly say that Windows XP has yet to freeze up on me completely. I've had programs crash before, but it has not taken the OS with it. And I'll be happy to report that Windows XP gets rid of the "Dreaded Blue-Screen of Death". No longer does it exist.

And to Deker about the legacy support. I can guarantee that if they let me go attempt to get those games to run (not the DOS ones, I know those won't work), but the Windows 95 games where they twiddled the options, I could get them to run. I cannot guarantee though, that they will run 100% performance like they are supposed to, but they will run. I had an experience where we changed EVERY option and we could not get this old DOS-based state treasury program to run, so we simply placed it on a FAT32 partition with those options, and it ran fine.

I hope we can continue to keep this converstion moving, because I have a lot of input I would like to add. I just need to get to bed because I have to be up at 5:30 (that's about 5 hours away) because I have to work on a Saturday, which is completely preposterous. But it will be fun since we are going to plan for a full deployment of Windows XP at a local county courthouse. We have done extensive testing to ensure that they will have no problems with compatibility, and I'm entirely sure that even these old 200 Mhz/ 32 MB RAM computers will still run XP. Sure there will be performace sacrifices, but at the next Board meeting, the county is going to discuss updating the computers...so I'm not too concerned.

Not only that, XP is going to save us SOOOOO much time and money. XP fully supports Terminal Services, so we will spend FAR less time on the road, and more time helping people get their stuff done and going. For those who don't know what Terminal Services is, it's basically like a fancy PC-Anywhere that is built into Windows 2000/XP. And even at home, with MSN Messenger, you can do the same thing--->

Here is a scenario. Your mother who lives 2000 miles away calls you and tells you that her email is not working. Instead of telling her to click here, not right-click, but left click....open this window....double-click here....choose this tab...etc, etc, just tell her to request a remote help session from you, and then you proceed to take control of her computer while she sits back and watches you fix her email. And if she feels that you are trying to do something malicious to her computer, she can simply cancel the session by hitting "ESCAPE" or choosing the correct option. I think that will be an amazing thing. I've played with it alot, but I've also only tried it on a cable to T1 or cable to DSL connection. I do not know how this will run on a 56k connection.

OK, I'll save more for later as the points come up, I need to go to bed. Feel free to comment on this, call me an @$$, or whatever your little heart desires.

Must go,
Thanks for allowing me to express myself,
Matt

Originally posted by mattboy_slim


Here is a scenario. Your mother who lives 2000 miles away calls you and tells you that her email is not working. Instead of telling her to click here, not right-click, but left click....open this window....double-click here....choose this tab...etc, etc, just tell her to request a remote help session from you, and then you proceed to take control of her computer while she sits back and watches you fix her email. And if she feels that you are trying to do something malicious to her computer, she can simply cancel the session by hitting "ESCAPE" or choosing the correct option. I think that will be an amazing thing. I've played with it alot, but I've also only tried it on a cable to T1 or cable to DSL connection. I do not know how this will run on a 56k connection.

hrm..well you can do that with win98 and 2k to my knowledge, you just need a program called VNC, it does the same thing, and i'm pretty sure that it's alot cheaper then winXP, since it's free.

Let me ask you this: How many times have you had to Uninstall and Reinstall a previously problem-free application or even the entire OS in Windows because that was the only way you could get it to work again?

Honestly.

Never. I know what I am doing. I have had training in working on PC's and I have an understanding of what makes it tick.

Keep in mind please that I encourage people to look beyond the PC market when they are in the market for the computer.

I will take my own "realworld" experience over the experience of someone I have never met who may or may not be biased. Maybe these guys who did this study had one bad experience with a PC as opposed to never encountering a problem with a Mac. Perhaps they also didn't really try either.

For an example. At one time there was a discussion on the PC Magazine website about the testing that an independant company had done with both MS IIS and Apache/Unix. The results of this study showed clearly that MS IIS had better uptime, less bugs and crashes and when configured for maximum performance, it performed 10 times better than the Apapche/Unix combination.

What they failed to mention was the fact that they never bothered turning on Apache's more advanced features. They didn't bother tweaking the OS's setup anymore than just installing it, and turning the machine one. Meanwhile, the MSIIS box received a full battery of tweaks.

The point. This was a "highly respected company" just as this other company is highly respected and used for high level decision making.

What I do know is that just as PC users believe in the myth's that surround Mac's, Mac users believe in the myths that surround PC's.