I hope you read this Steve (my cup is half full) and take on board the comments. Meantime, I’m sticking with it and I have to say that your pad thing is simply EXCELLENT … always plugged a mouse into machines before, but this is a joy to use – cheers.

p.s.
you need to spank someone in your organisation for not having sufficient magic mice available for Christmas. Despite your good recent results you lost a shedload of sales over here in Europe for that reason… and pissed a lot of people off.

Of course you might say what MS did was take some of the best Mac features and copy them onto Win 7 (some of my favorites: task bar buttons that either open current windows and only if there aren’t any then open a new copy of the application–visualization of windows from the taskbar [reminiscent of expose], widg-er-gadgets, nice looking visual effects, etc). Anyway, it’s pretty darned good, I think. Still have to think more about viruses (don’t start telling me “that’s because windows has more market share…” because how does that change the fact that I still have to deal with them? I don’t care WHY it has viruses or that the Mac COULD have viruses, I care that windows DOES have viruses and the Mac, for the most part DOES NOT).

its all marketing.

Years ago, they were arguing the crisp greyscale monitor was superior to any color monitor, until the mac II’s brought color. They argued appletalk beat ethernet or netbios or tcp/ip, until Apple ditched appletalk. Or 68k/PowerPC was vastly better than intel family procs (often accompanied by arguments over the superiorness of big-endianess), or pre-emptive multitasking is a waste of time and resources. Unix, including NeXTStep, was widely despised by 90s mac users.

And then, every time Apple moves to some already-established standard, it’s hailed as revolutionary in the press, and everyone seems to change their opinion to love what they previously hated.

I’m not sure why people are complaining that they have to throw out their macs after a few years. I had one that was ten years old that ran everything I needed just fine until a couple of years ago when I started wanting to play PC games via boot camp, at which point I dropped $1200 on a used Intel Mac (G5 tower). I have been very happy with it, and it does everything I want, including playing the most graphics intensive PC games (and even the old stuff that I missed from my Windows days, like Alpha Centauri–since I can have multiple versions of Windows).

My Dad is still struggling with PC issues, and has been for years. After seeing how easy it is, ad how you can get a nice computer for not too much used, and seeing how long they last, and how they aren’t so vulnerable to system decay as Windows is, he’s finally been convinced, and has said that his next computer will be a Mac.

I have bought one new Apple computer in my life, a Mac mini, which didn’t do the job I wanted it for, but has been repurposed as a media center with great results. If you want a great computer for cheap, don’t get the Mini, instead go for a used Mac, especially within a month or two of the release of a new generation of hardware. You can get a great deal on a top of the line last generation computer that will last you for 5-8 years easily, and perhaps longer, if you don’t want to play new games .

How about, if you’re having such horrible issues with a PC, then you’re not doing it right. And stop clicking on banner ads, geez.

Charlie remains the funniest columnist around and it’s very, very sad that there are people who, on reading that piece, think only to put finger to keyboard in order to perpetuate the whole pointless Mac v. Windows debate. Ah but what about Linux? Linux? Linux! It isn’t as good as FreeBSD. You’re all forgetting BeOS. etc. etc. etc. ad infinitum. The ennui is mind blowing.

To paraphrase Bill Shatner; For christ’s sake people, they’re only computers!

all the windows fanboys in this thread are way more annoying than the mac fanboys. i don’t think anybody in this discussion has actually said anything disparaging about windows users and the windows users have often berated mac users as bad or stupid or lame people. that’s kind of pathetic guys. see poneyup’s post for an example of really unnecessary mocking.

Btw. I’m so totes a Mac guy. Lol. You PC users are such epic fails. Win. Pwn.

OSX is pretty initially, but depending on how you want to use your system it soon becomes quite annoying – oh and i have seen OSX crashing regularly. Also, in huge network environments they don’t tend to work very well if you are unwilling to spend a lot of cash on Apple Servers.

Windows got a lot better. Microsoft got a lot better. Look at the free support knowledge DB coming straight from the company rather than only fellow users – and their tipps do include more technical stuff like changes to the registry etc. Look at the support they’re giving out for junior developers (or wannabe-developers). And ever since I’ve started working in videogames, I have learned to appreciate Microsoft more and more.
My main OS on my laptop is Vista – after I got rid of the admittedly utterly slow 32 bit version it’s now on 64bit and runs like a charm. No crashes so far (knocking on wood) and it’s at over one year by now. This is where most everyday stuff gets done easily with a lot of clicking and surprisingly little need for maintenance.

Backup system is Debian Linux, which is good for keeping your brain active as there’s always something to fix when you run experimental (which … you know the risk of when installing). It’s also good for system, network analysis and other stuff.

What is most annoying about apple is their habit of overpricing things just because they have rounded corners and are white or silver. Or black, sometimes. I mean … really?

However, I will get an iPhone. Currently the iphone store seems a bit better than android …

I enjoy the Mac commercials, by the way, for a reason Microsoft’s never figured out (as is painfully shown by their misfired ad attempts): the PC guy is the LIKEABLE one. You FEEL for the PC guy. You so want to help him out by getting him a Mac, so he can supplant that damn Mac guy and shove his slacker-cool ass off the pristine screen.

“It’s grim, it’s slow, everything’s badly designed and nothing really works properly: using Windows is like living in a communist bloc nation circa 1981. And I wouldn’t change it for the world, because I’m an abject bloody idiot and I hate myself, and this is what I deserve: to be sentenced to Windows for life.”

See? We can all join hands and agree! Windows is hellish and broken, but for most of the world, that’s just fine!

“Yes, the fact that you recompiled your kernel to add the driver for that device is impressive… In fact my Grandma is trying to get one of those things working right now. Would you mind telling her how to do it?”

mac commercials are enchanting, i’m gonna stick by that, of course this doesn’t apply to everybody…almost nothing does. (does not apply to you apparently) lots of people are enchanted though, young kids, lots of moms, people who don’t know anything about computers. once you know something about computers there are different issues to be weighed…but for the large number of people who have no clue what goes into computers they see mac ads and buy the marketing ploy.

do you realize that you literally took my message personally? literally.

“they need to literally all be fired.”
A literal firing as opposed to a figurative one? Good to know.

“anyways, mac commercials are enchanting”
I find Mac commercials ANYTHING but enchanting. In fact, you’ve lost all credibility by saying that. Where is your proof that people are enchanted by their ads? The only one I find is a curse that makes me roll me eyes when I see them. Anyway, by saying that, you’ve exposed yourself as a fanboy the likes of which would be first in line to fill the position of Job’s love slave – where you pay him for the “privilege”.

“windows computers look bad”
Care to qualify that statement? My PC looks pretty damn sweet. I would stick needles in my eyes before looking at an iFroot.

“people say the product is bad? say it’s the best thing ever”
But… that’s what apple does!

As long as I have a computer that will allow me to type my essays for school, I’m happy as a clam. I don’t need to spend the extra pennies for a prettier computer. Sorry, Apple.

I say that neither one is perfect. And neither one is spiritually fulfilling. Not even a little bit.

i feel that all of the zealous behaviour boils down to advertising and design. i’m suprised nobody ever realizes this.

they are computers and nothing more. it’s the image that is projected that effects the way people feel about them.

windows has a lot going for them, but i am constantly amazed at how moronic their advertising and branding department is. they need to literally all be fired.

probably their design department too, but bringing in better designers and advertising would cost more money and then they wouldn’t be so cheap.

anyways, mac commercials are enchanting (i’m not being subjective here, it’s a witnessed fact, people believe what they say) mac design is impeccable. the designers behind the look of mac products have effected web design, film aethetics, and of course the design of other high tech gadgets.

windows computers look bad. people have eyes and cannot help but develop a bias based on appearence.

those windows ads are the pits though, the whole “windows mohave” campaign was patronizing and convoluted. the people they talked to were offputting and the music they played was lame.

windows needs a makeover like the one mac got when the first gen imacs came out. it would be simple and smart. all matte black computers and a hard business slogan like “you’re an adult now, buy a pc” or “you have work to do, do it on a pc” or “go pro, go pc”

windows mohave?? a non-existant bait and switch ad campaign centered around the idea that people think their os is terrible? this is amateur advertising. people say the product is bad? say it’s the best thing ever. people say it’s hard to use? say it’s meant for smart people.

geeeze i’m a 21 year old kid and these things are obvious to me.

Windows
Pros – Most widely used, tons of different options for purchasing your computer, the ability to always use the newest/fastest hardware, also the option of having a computer on the cheap.
Cons – Most widely used so nearly all viruses are written for it, have had to deal with a few bad OS’s (Windows ME, 2000, Vista).

Linux
Pros – Everything is free, super customizable, no viruses, Wine let’s you run pretty much any Window’s program, everything’s free
Cons – Kindof tough to transition to (tons of guides out there though), using Terminal can be pretty intense

I used Windows XP for as long as I was on a computer. I think it’s a perfectly fine OS.
I ended up getting a black Macbook 2.5 years ago, and I’m definitely glad with the purchase, but I dual-boot XP on it anyways so that I can get the benefits from both OS’s.

I hate being included in the group of the “Apple cult”. Yeah, I own a Macbook and iPhone, but I’m no spaz. They are absolutely, hands down, some of the most annoying people on the internets. Some Windows-defenders, however, can be just as annoying to listen to too, and I’m really glad that there aren’t so many Linux-fanatics because then we would all probably just shoot ourselves.

Sure, the Mac-Tax is absurd, because yes, you are paying mostly for the OS, but the OS is clean and easy to use.

I’m just hoping that with Windows 7 out, people will just shutup and come to some sort of agreement, because Win 7 is a pretty sweet OS. I’m pretty excited to build a dual-boot Win7/Ubuntu desktop and have all the options available to me.

It is not just Apple. The product cult phenomenon appears in any genres that has an expensive variation that does the exact same thing, for example:

- Music: People who insist on playing their eclectic songs on your stereo when they come visit.

- Cars: Mercedes Benz, BMW drivers. They usually say nothing when they encounter a Rolls Royce.

- Audio equipment: Those who have gigantic speakers, but only knows to play the worst pop or hiphop music.

- Art: Just go inside a snobbish rich man’s house showing their million-dollar painting. Thankfully, modern art is here to dissolve this whole complex, since modern art can be ‘done’ by 3-year-olds.

Most of my people I know who use a Mac from their parents are not snobs. They usually don’t care, and are not aware of the cult. Their desktops are usually filled with icons, and the only tool they use is Safari. The computers are usually filled with dents and scratches that will make a Mac-lover cry.

Those who buy a Mac themselves are snobs. Why? They need to prove themselves for all the losses of money for purchasing from Apple. They need reasons to justify such cost. One way to justify is to tell others that alternatives suck, i.e. snobs.

It is easy to tell who the snobs are. Usually, their computers are pristine, their desktop screens are super tidy, and you will also spot the white Apple stickers on other objects in their homes.