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"Opinion: "Me and my Mac - 4 months after switching from Windows" | |
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| Time: 11:27 EST/16:27 GMT | News Source: TopTechTips | Posted By: Robert Stein | ||
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"It has now been four months since I first bought my iMac, it was the first Macintosh computer I have ever used. There were various reasons as to why I decided to buy one. The main reasons were for my web site design and artwork that I do both as a hobby and as part of a degree currently. I also got it for the simple fact that it looked far better (yes I am shallow like that). So what has it been like making the change over from Windows to the Mac OS? " | ||
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| #1 By 8589 (67.65.87.120) at 7/23/2003 1:12:54 PM |
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This guy only uses his computer for work. So, no wonder he doesn't care if it doesn't support all the latest games? And again, what is a MAC story doing on ActiveWin.com ? It is not ActiveMAC.com
Later.... |
| #2 By 3465 (65.36.86.75) at 7/23/2003 1:30:06 PM |
| No, this site more of a pro linux, anti-mac, sometimes pro/sometimes anti-windows site. |
| #3 By 61 (24.92.223.112) at 7/23/2003 1:56:57 PM |
| I love it when I hear people say they switched to Mac to do graphics and such... there are graphics apps for Windows (the same exact ones). |
| #4 By 182 (208.224.173.101) at 7/23/2003 2:28:07 PM |
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I, too, enjoy such articles. I'm always looking to see what features are available in other products.
CPUGuy - In the article, didn't the guy mention that he knew he could do all those things on a PC or Mac, and had done so, but found that he preferred the Mac versions? This post was edited by Kardinal on Wednesday, July 23, 2003 at 14:34. |
| #5 By 2960 (156.80.64.105) at 7/23/2003 2:38:27 PM |
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"So all in all, over the last four months I have started to use my iMac far more than my PC in work terms, but not so much in play due to the lack of gaming quality here on the Mac"
Interesting. And they say the -Mac- is the toy computer :) TL |
| #6 By 2960 (156.80.64.105) at 7/23/2003 2:39:44 PM |
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"It is not ActiveMAC.com"
Brian - Fix that now! :) TL |
| #7 By 3 (81.106.163.107) at 7/23/2003 2:44:52 PM |
| ;o) |
| #8 By 3 (81.106.163.107) at 7/23/2003 2:47:52 PM |
| #1 - did you comment before reading the article or actually read through it and didn't notice all the mentions of Windows good and bad points etc. |
| #9 By 2960 (156.80.64.105) at 7/23/2003 2:57:44 PM |
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"Because if they did not then Microsoft would have no compitetion at all, and could just sit on it's butt and do nothing."
I'm not _entirely_ sure that would be such a bad thing... A consistent Windows version for more than two years may actually do some good. Short of the usual security patches, an un-changing platform would give hardware and software developers time to catch their breath and create some nice products without having to worry about re-writing stuff every 2 years to keep up with the OS. TL |
| #10 By 2960 (156.80.64.105) at 7/23/2003 2:58:41 PM |
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#4,
The App may be the same, but I guarantee you the usage _experience_ is not. TL |
| #11 By 3 (81.106.163.107) at 7/23/2003 3:05:54 PM |
| #12 - exactly, use dreamweaver on the PC after using it on the Mac and I know which one i stick with. |
| #12 By 7754 (216.160.8.41) at 7/23/2003 4:10:13 PM |
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Nice article, Byron. It sums up your experiences concisely, but I would have liked a bit more depth. Saying that the Mac versions of some apps "are actually better" is all well and good, but I would prefer if you stated why you think some of the apps are better.
...I can certainly see why completely new computer users find a Mac better and easier to use, because for beginners they are almost perfect. I believe part of this has to do with the OEMs. Everyone wants to put in their "value-added" software, much of which I think is garbage. Everyone has their own ideas about how they should help the "newbie," which ends up just making things confusing--it's like having four or five professors in a classroom rather than one. I think XP starts out very well, but by the time the folks at Compaq (!) or Sony get done with it, it's a pretty mucked up mess. Apple, by virtue of their position of producing both the hardware and the software, has a huge advantage in attaining cohesion of vision. That's not that it can't be done with Windows, but there's tons of extra baggage to carry, and much work could be done. As far as iTunes goes... it's a decent app, but AAC (the Apple Music Store format)? Windows Media Player has really become an outstanding app, and the 9 Series codecs are amazing. Just last night--as I was toying around with the different bit rates of the VBR encoding--I was noting how the flanger-y cymbal crashes and "wash" are gone. Even at the lowest VBR setting in WMP, the sound is satisfactory (I really can't say that about MP3--I've never understood why people got so excited about taking a giant leap backwards in sound quality), and the highest VBR setting is phenomenal. I don't think you are giving enough credit to this very high-quality app and platform. The Mac platform is at its best in the content-creation field, so your experiences are not surprising. Windows is a strong platform in this area as well, but it's also strong in a great deal of other areas. I think that with the recent OS and app improvements along with the introduction of the G5 (though I'm a bit tired of all the hype about "the world's fastest desktop computer" when it's not even available yet... and it's really more of a workstation than a desktop-class computer...), Apple has made some great strides for their platform, and it's perhaps a better competitor than it has ever been. However, I don't think your experiences will be paralleled for most of us that are not heavily into content-creation. XP "just works" as well, in my experience--most certainly for surfing, email, documents, etc. For the great majority of hardware (and that's a vast amount of hardware...), there's little or no configuration needed. I think Apple will have a tough time convincing many people on the hyped advantages of a machine that's at least $300 higher than a comparable PC if those same people do their homework and try out an XP machine. They'll quickly realize that the difference in difficulty is nominal if not nonexistent, and they'll rest easier knowing that they can go to just about any store that sells computer stuff, pick up anything, buy it, and use it without a second thought, whereas with a Mac they'll have to check for compatibility with every item--and often be disappointed. |
| #13 By 3339 (66.219.95.6) at 7/23/2003 5:51:55 PM |
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"They'll quickly realize that the difference in difficulty is nominal if not nonexistent, and they'll rest easier knowing that they can go to just about any store that sells computer stuff, pick up anything, buy it, and use it without a second thought, whereas with a Mac they'll have to check for compatibility with every item--and often be disappointed."
Since when? Even with many people using XP or 2000, I do not go a single day without experiencing many people frustrated or annoyed by PCs. Whether I'm talking about Mom using 2000 or a mechanical engineer at work on XP who has used computers for 20 years... invariably, I find people cursing MS to this day. People who have no care or interest in techno politics. Whereas I haven't bought a single peripheral for Macs with any concern for compatibility in the last three years (this includes 2 printers, 3 HDs, a CD burner, a digicam, a DV camcorder, a floppy drive, a keyboard, and 2 mice). In fact, I largely purchased peripherals advertised as PC only without encountering a single problem. |
| #14 By 135 (209.180.28.6) at 7/23/2003 5:59:26 PM |
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drestin - That's funny!
I have no interest in Macintosh advocacy. |
| #15 By 7754 (216.160.8.41) at 7/23/2003 9:28:33 PM |
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Nice to know you're still around, sodajerk! :) I thought you had vanished after the WWDC.
Are you seriously implying that you would tell a Mac owner to go into the store and pick out any peripheral or piece of software and not check for compatibility? With a PC and the great majority of computer stores, you could almost completely get away with that. On a Mac? No way. As for frustration, by no stretch of the imagination is that something limited to Windows users. I supported Macs day-in, day-out for a long time--they had just as many frustrations as our (gasp) Windows users... at least until we switched to Windows 2000, when our Windows support calls were reduced drastically. "Get out a paperclip!" And sure, OS X reduced our OS instability problem calls as well, but not the overall Mac support calls... the transition to W2k was easier than the transition to OS X. People have no care for techno politics? Then why do we even have the concept of "Mac advocacy"? :) |
| #16 By 3339 (66.219.95.6) at 7/23/2003 11:18:43 PM |
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Hey, bluvg. Yeah, got other things running these days besides AWin all day...
no, I wouldn't. I don't even recommend Macs to most people. Everyone is intrigued, the drool dripping to the floor suggests they're ready to buy, but, despite showing, explaining, lending my iPod and its features, I always ask: "How many albums do you own now?" and if it's less than 50, I say the iPod isn't necessary... depending on their listening habits... but their collection suggests a less than avid music listener... That's despite the fact... I was just making the point of wide compatibility for an informed user (something we all always presume in our discussions: basic competence) using my own experience as an example and suggesting that it is also generally true. Hell, I wouldn't take the time to recommend anything to anyone except... Get outta my face... As another digression, I would recommend to EVERYONE that they don't make computer purchases by going into a store and buying a shrink-wrapped package amongst their available stock... Simply retarded consumer behavior. But again, I digress... For that matter, I don't know why any dumbass would have a Mac and then wander around a selection of PC software, and feel he has some right to feel "disappointed" when the software ain't compatible. But that's me, I'm a hard bastard, I guess. As for equal degrees of frustration... I'm not sure that support calls directly equates to frustration, ease of use. I'm also surprised that's your experience, and it's contrary to my own. Admittedly, throughout the years, I have met the Mac users who are advanced users for their needs but are complete computer-ignorants (I just penned that one... prefer it to -literates). But these are generally few. Most Mac users I know understand the problems they encounter, or follow a routine of repair, or find a workaround... whatever. (I say whatever because its a split topic: there is the group clinging to old hardware and OS 9, and there are the Xers. So pursuing the technical issues of the average user and how it affects their "enjoyment" of the system is a little murky... I still think it favors the Mac over the PC, but... And as I said, I really don't think quantity of technical issues is directly correlative to frustration, ease of use, enjoyment in using a particular system enviro, whatever you want to call it...) Anyway, on the topic of support calls and frustration... Even if people encounter problems, this may not affect their disposition to working on the machine. Despite possibly having technical problems, the time spent when working is still less frustrating. Just what my own experience has been, that's all. No, no, no, I certainly wasn't suggesting that people don't have or get involved in technology politics... I was saying that in my experience the people, who don't give a sh!t about what they work on and don't even know what they are working on, are more frustrated by PCs than Macs. Anyway, I was saying: those people who don't give a turd (not you and I) seem to get really pissed off and frustrated every single day by the PCs around them. Mac advocacy? What a bunch of sh!tb!rds! That's not how you see moi, is it? This post was edited by sodajerk on Wednesday, July 23, 2003 at 23:24. |
| #17 By 3339 (66.219.95.6) at 7/23/2003 11:36:05 PM |
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Oh... Our migration from, say, 90% NT and 10% 2000 to 15% 2000 and 85% XP, was simple as well...
oh, except on the server side... except Exchange 2000 has still been causing problems and really took a substantial work... a lot more than expected, by us and Microsoft... And AD was not the smoothest transition either. On the server side, that is. Desktops was a breeze, but frustration and problems encountered hasn't changed much. If anything, I think users are more frustrated, and their problems are stupider. But again... that's my experience. This post was edited by sodajerk on Wednesday, July 23, 2003 at 23:36. |
| #18 By 7754 (216.160.8.41) at 7/24/2003 12:56:44 AM |
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sodajerk, I certainly do agree about the level of frustration not necessarily being commensurate with the support calls. There are a lot of factors involved, though... and I think the OS involved is one of the less significant variables. I know that if they had attempted the 2000 migration at my last job had I not arrived (I was the Windows/Microsoft lead), they would have had some significant problems, particularly after rollout. Most of the issues involved getting W2k Pro to play nice with our Novell servers. We had a mix of Unix, Linux, Mac, Novell, and Windows. I went into that job coming from a large insurance company, where I saw how slick a Windows (NT 4) environment could run. It's not always practical, but running a homogeneous network has far less headaches in my experience.
At my current job we recently moved off of Novell (and GroupWise) altogether and went with Windows 2000/Exchange 2000 (XP/Office XP on the desktop). Rolling out the desktops was a piece of cake--create the pristine image with apps up to the RIS server, and then we image the machines (even of different hardware)... the imaging process is around 20 minutes. One of the company's founders came up to me the other day and remarked about how things "just work." For my position, that's about as high a compliment as can be received. :) Also, not long ago I needed to make an adjustment to our Office installation for all machines. I made the changes in the Group Policy Object, and minutes later everyone had the update. Beautiful!! Not only that, but I can prevent the settings from being altered, either accidentally or deliberately. I have not seen that sort of power, flexibility, and simplicity on any other platform, at least not for an office suite. Anyhow, this all translates into less frustration for the user, because they have not only a reliable system, but a predictable one. They're very happy to use remote desktop to get into their work machines from home, as well.... :) The overall experience has been very positive, both from an end user perspective and an administrative standpoint. And at my last job, Windows 2000 was welcomed by the users with a hug and a cheer. Frustration level? Very, very low. If so, it was almost always because of a garbage app (wish there was a 98-to-XP style upgrade for some of our finicky apps!!). Even for home users... like I said, I think those users that have tried 2000/XP and compare it to OS X won't find the Mac any less frustrating, nor will they find any compelling reasons to switch. If anything, they will be frustrated by the relative dearth of compatible hardware and software available for the Mac when they go into their Best Buys and CompUSAs. On Windows, they won't have to hear, "Sorry, they don't make a Mac version [of that software you really want]. But you could try this [other, less appropriate/satisfactory, more expensive] software/hardware instead." That's my experience, anyhow. |
| #19 By 8589 (64.219.163.153) at 7/24/2003 1:47:09 AM |
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Byron, I read the entire article. I loathe the Mac-n-trash, always have, always will. Why? It could have been a contender, but no, it was locked into a proprietary system from the beginning. On the otherhand, IBM based theirs on open architecture. (until the advent of the PS/2 when they lost the lead in the PC market to Compaq) Look at peripherals for the MAC cost wise versus the PC? Still a problem there. But most important, go into a Best Buy, and look for Mac software.... Now look for PC Software. Get the picture? I would rather have a Pentium 3 on a BX chipset with 512mb of RAM than a brand new state of the art MAC. Why ? If you really asked that question, then you didn't really read what I just wrote.
Later. Wish you would go back to the ActiveIE format for this website. It was more useful to most Windows users than all of this Pro-Linux/Pro-Mac/Anti-Microsoft diatribe that has filled this site for the past .... how long? Too long for this cowboy. This post was edited by EWWHWW on Thursday, July 24, 2003 at 01:50. |
| #20 By 3 (62.253.128.7) at 7/24/2003 3:32:26 AM |
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You should get Pro/Anti Microsoft news here, what's the point of a site if it only posts one type of news about a company, unless you think everything Microsoft does smells of roses. No site should be pro anything, if you want pro-MS, go visit microsoft.com.
As for saying the site should go back to the ActiveIE format, that wouldn't be up to me - I haven't made decisions here for 2 years and left the work side of this site 6 months ago now. |
| #21 By 2960 (156.80.64.155) at 7/24/2003 12:00:22 PM |
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#16,
That WAS very, very funny7 :) Not very accurate, but funny as hell :) TL |
| #22 By 135 (209.180.28.6) at 7/24/2003 12:30:36 PM |
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sodajerk - Hey, bluvg. Yeah, got other things running these days besides AWin all day...
Yeah, better get moving. That recall vote is happening any day now. :) |
| #23 By 9589 (68.17.52.2) at 7/24/2003 3:25:13 PM |
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My condolences for buying a crapple. Talk about lockin, this has got to bit the epitome. The iCrap is particularly adept in this area. My desktop PCs at home are 1,2, 3, and 5 years old. They have all been upgraded since purchase and in the oldest case, several times. By and large, this just isn't possible with most of crapple's line of hardware and the iCrap in particular.
For example, if I want a larger monitor - sorry - not upgradeable if I want more memory - sorry - expect to pay nearly twice as much for it - 512MB=$200 on crapple's web site; 512MB=$114 for a Dell Dimension 8300 memory upgrade on Dell's website if I want to upgrade from 80GB to 200GB - sorry - not upgradeable I could go on, but you get the idea. If you want better whatever a year, two, of three years from now and you still have that iCrap, you are compelled to buy a new computer. Then, we have the <cough> operating system <cough>. Let's face it. This was a beta OS when released. Next, crapple has the temerity to charge for what amounts to a patch of the original operating system! If you had a crapple and bought the original version of OSX and you now have the latest version, you would have spent over $260 dollars - and who knows if there are more upgrade charges in the offing. Clearly this is the most expensive OS on the planet. Don't get me started on the dearth of applications for this . . . crap!#@!@# crapple - the computer company heading from irrelevance to oblivion. |
| #24 By 3339 (65.198.47.10) at 7/24/2003 3:33:21 PM |
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boy, hawk, you are a moron:
if you want to upgrade your monitor, don't buy a computer with one built in. You can actually mirror to a larger monitor though so in fact you could, if you wanted to. and who told you you have to buy from Apple? Any RAM manufactuer or distributor will do... as long as it's the right part. why can't you upgrade the HD? Same freakin power connectors! You certainly can. And/or you could simply add a FW HD. Whatever, dumbass. You are stupider than you think Mac users are. I have performed every upgrade you have mentioned, figure that. |
| #25 By 7754 (216.160.8.41) at 7/24/2003 4:31:13 PM |
| Jdhawk is a bit off, but it is true that if you want a Mac that is readily expandable, you're going to have to pay a premium for it. You can get a Dell with plenty of PCI slots and whatnot for $500. From Apple, you're going to have to pay at least $1300 for it. |
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