MacHate
I am writing this on my Mac, because my other computer is ill.
I got the Mac about a year and a half ago. There were a bunch of reasons, including the fact that I was struggling with some technical issues relating to the podcast and the Mac finally solved them. Little did I know that a few months later PJ would be phasing out podcasts, and I’d find myself left holding a new Mac.
But that didn’t seem so terrible. After all, everybody loves Macs! Macs are sexy, Macs are sleek, Macs are user-friendly, Macs are for the cognoscenti. I would love my Mac, too.
And I tried to, I really tried. I don’t anyone’s ever worked harder on a relationship than I did with my Mac.
But it just wasn’t working out. I told my Mac it wasn’t my Mac, it was me.
But I’m not so sure. I think maybe it was my Mac. Or at the very least, the interface of my Mac and me.
The problems are manifold. For starters, I don’t do well with technological change, and once I’ve laboriously learned a system (Windows, for example) and can practically do it in my sleep, learning a new one doesn’t sit well.
Specifically, one of the worst things about the Mac is the font. The default one is too tiny, and I have yet to find a way (or get a support person) to tell me how to permanently enlarge it in a manner that works for me. I’ve tried about seven different methods, and they all have tremendous flaws. I will not bore you with the details, but trust me: each attempt to change it has been worse than the previous one, and caused new problems.
Then there is the writing program that comes with the Mac, which is nothing like Word. I’m sure it could be tweaked and customized so it would work well, or one could buy another one, but why isn’t it user-friendly from the start?
And speaking of start, don’t get me started on the photos. No photo card slot ; another gizmo to buy. And everyone I know with a Mac says “Oh, of course you have to get some other photo software; the one that comes with the Mac isn’t adequate.” Well, why not? I thought this thing was supposed to be designed by geniuses.
And the keyboard. Ah, the keyboard! The keys are almost level and nearly flat, instead of the moderately raised, slightly cupped ones I’m used to on my lowly, much-maligned, geriatric (three and a half years old!) Gateway. Since I have arm/hand issues, key comfort is paramount, and although the ones on the Mac look sleek and streamlined, the ergonomics don’t work well for me.
Connectivity? Last night, apropos of nothing special, my Mac disconnected itself from my wifi when I was in the middle of a complex (and unsaved) operation, and refused to recognize the perfectly good password that had been programmed into it so long ago. And no, it wasn’t the wifi itself that was at fault—my other, newly-dysfunctional and malware-infected laptop managed to connect quite nicely when I tested it out at the same time. The Mac came back eventually, decided the old password would do after all, and re-connected. But why had it happened in the first place?
There’s more, but I suspect you’ve probably heard enough. All you Mac lovers out there, no doubt you’ll give me a tongue-lashing and tell me just where I’ve erred.
I’ve a Mac downstairs.
Have owned it for three years now.
Cannot manage to do one useful thing on it.
It now works well as a thousand-dollar paperweight.
AND. . . to think, I used to be a computer-savvy military technician.
So refreshing to read this. I can’t stand the Mac I received as a gift. But I never admit it for fear of smirks and smugness. What IS it with Mac people? (I could go off on Macs and liberals, but …)
I have a newish netbook that I love with a surprising passion (I’m not a technophile). It’s a little Samsung “Go” and it is perfect for me in every way, from price to speed to battery life to portability to keyboard to color. It’s turquoise. Practical technology as fashion accessory…
Seriously, you folks can’t work a Mac? *sigh* you’ve been borgified, and added to the Microsoft Collective.
To be frank, Windows always gets in my way. Mac OS X only sometimes gets in my way. Debian, on the other hand, now we’re cooking with gas.
God bless you Neo for posting this! I am a Windows/PC gal myself…and have no desire to try at my age to learn a new system. Yes, there are countless problems with Windows….most of them are familiar (and sometimes too frequent) to me, but they are problems I know and understand how to fix. Both my kids are Mac adorers and constantly harp at me to ‘enter the new age’. I don’t want to! I’ll stick with my trusty PC that I understand. Quirks and all. 🙂
SACRILEGE! HERESY! YOU CANNOT CHALLENGE THE WON!
For all the quirks and flaws in Microsoft Windows, at least we users of that recognize and work with them without treating it as a reveaeled religion.
–
Those who do not like their Macs are cordially invited to donate them to me.
Let’s see…. we get the Mac for Podcasts, use it for that purpose alone, and when those go away we put the Mac away for, what, a year, two years.
Then we take it out and boot it up and, surprise, we do not know how to run it with only a few hours of use. Even a genius machine does take a little time and practice to get to know. Computers aren’t cars or bikes or anything else with a rigid and standard simple interface. Computers are “anything” machines and you’ve got to put some time in to get some results out.
Textedit isn’t like Word? Well the first is free and the latter costs hundreds of dollars. There are free downloadable word processing machines that are like word and for the Mac, but yé¸u’ve got to find them, download them and install them.
Type too small? In finder–> View —>View Options —-> select type size and icon size Save as defaults
But you may be several years behind in operating systems if you haven’t used the machine.
In finder Apple Menu–>Software Update
Let it update the software.
Type too small in Firefox? Firefox Menu –>View–>Zoom
I could go on but you’ve got to put more than a couple of hours into a new machine and operating system to get anything out of it.
But that said, I feel your pain.
“…I am a Windows/PC gal myself…and have no desire to try at my age to learn a new system.”
Hear me now or hear me later. “Windows” IS a Mac-derived system. Windows stole most of its essence and basic structure from Apple decades back.
If you’ve learned a program in Windows it is very, very similar to any similar program in Mac. Except for certain Windows items such as the Shut Down button is hidden inside the Start button.
As long as you are stuck with a Mac, try OpenOffice as a word processor. Much like Word.
I agree completely about the Mac keyboard. I feel I am typing with gloves on. I can’t seem to type an ‘a’ without turning on caps lock.
http://www.openoffice.org/
A free office suite that is patterned after Microsoft Office, and files created in one are (more or less) compatible with the other.
Glad to meet a fellow Macophobic. My first computer was an Apple IIe. I was seduced by the clever, hip advertising. I wasn’t going to support IBM, that ugly corporate giant. When it came time to upgrade I had a lesson in economics. I could buy an Apple product and pay more for their exclusivity or I could buy a PC clone that did more for the money. I never looked back.
I’m a Mac user. Have been since 1985. Also a programmer. Worked at Apple for two and a half years, back in the day. Helped ship System 7.0. That was fun.
But you know what? If you know Windows, have a lot of Windows apps, like your hardware, etc. then stay with it. I think it would be silly to switch just for the sake of switching.
Having said that, if you were to do podcasts again, or were to get on PJTV or some such, then I do think switching, with its attendant learning curve and software costs, would be worth it. And yeah, I’m glad I get to use iWork rather than Office, Safari rather than Internet Explorer, etc. But that’s a function of taste rather than anything that I think is inherent in the system (hat tip to Monty Python).
Neo …for your malware infected laptop: google “malwarebytes download”. Download it. Install it. Run the quick scan. Delete the malware when it’s done. Let it restart. Run it again. Done.
(I’ve supported both PCs and Macs for over 20 plus years now; and I like Macs. But.)
The issue is called “the learning curve”. Mac people have forgotten that they had one; and they are rather blind to the obvious that Windows people had one too. And that changing to the Mac implies …a learning curve.
And that learning curves suck.
(Now, lest you Mac people get all upset here: I too think/KNOW the learning curve is less for Macs …but once you’ve “paid the price” for learning how-to-do in Windows – and a great price it is – that “ease of use” argument simply doesn’t hold much water anymore.)
…and as for the “MS Word is the same on the PC as the Mac” argument: I call bs. Either you’re not familiar enough with Word to know that’s simply not true, or you’re not facile enough with Word to have come up against the VERY REAL differences in usage between the versions.
(And I PREFER Word on the Mac, but there are things on each version that are rather obscure on the other …and I’m “expert” on both versions btw.)
So there.
Sorry you hate it. I’ve always preferred Macs but hate the ads and the hipsters in the stores. The IPhoto program works for me (80,000 pix on one machine and 20k on the new Macbook Pro (the 13.3 one is cheap and has an SD card reader now tho none for compact flash, alas!). I like the mail, and you can always get Microsoft Student office if you insist on using Word. Mostly I like the relative freedom
from malware and the beautiful screen (best for editing photos for me) and that everything works. Bring in a new wireless printer or camera to the house and you can connect instantly without loading software or searching for drivers online. Less cluttered. And I like the fact that Macs are pretty (my inner airhead). Also, mine just last and get passed from family member to the next as I go for the new features. My white IBook from 2001 is still working w all 10 gb hard drive. All the family’s Windows machines are junk in 2 or 3 years. Only the gaming kids need Windows in our family.
Paul Snively is right. As an IT professional myself (I rarely get to brag about that!), I can attest to the fact that the differences between the systems are far less important than a person’s comfort level with a given one. I even think one of the popular computing magazines actually conducted an informal study on this and reached the same conclusion (now I should go find that study…).
It’s not that Mac OS is unuseable or impossible for a PC-centric user to learn (or vice versa); it’s just that like any tool, being able to intuit non-obvious aspects about a tool’s use leads to far more comfort with it, and I think I can make a reasonable claim correlating comfort level with productivity.
Mac-snobs are insufferable.
Hmmm… seeing the word Mac over and over reminds me of..
Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun.
Thats not the type of Mac youre all talking about, is it?
You don’t hate Macs, you just don’t know the system like you do Windows. It’s hard, Windows is now almost an automatic function in your brain, much like your commute route to work, so that you can do it in your sleep, maybe even have done so on occasion.
I am a total Mac user but I did once have to work on a PC in an office, and it was hard. I kept making stupid mistakes because I kept trying to use the PC like a Mac.
You can’t use TextEdit for word processing, it’s horrible. I have always bought MS Office Suite, and also Photoshop. The Mac stuff you get with your computer is only for the home consumer, but it’s not bad. The built in camera is awful though. It always makes me wince to see myself on the screen. That’s probably just me though, I hate to see how old I look.
Plus I never fear all those viruses and worms and all that stuff because Mac never gets them. That is a blessing.
But you know all computer operating systems are the devil’s handiwork. Evil, pure evil.
Is it a laptop or a desktop? If it’s a laptop, then take it to a Macstore during an off-peak hour (when school’s in session and not on a weekend). They tend to be a bit chaotic because of the sales stuff going on at the same time as the IT support, but you really will be able to get good help from those folks. Did I mention the help is free?
Given the array of problems you’re having, I would actually be tempted to schlep even a desk top out to the store to get it checked out. But, if you don’t feel like doing that yet, go to the Macstore and ask someone to show you how to change the fonts on one of their desktops. They can also guide you on a better keyboard situation and software.
I’m surprised you didn’t expect to have to buy MS Office. I would just do it.
Oh, btw, were you trying to be ironic with this first line?
“I am writing this on my Mac, because my other computer is ill. ”
😉
Neo wrote, “I don’t [think] anyone’s ever worked harder on a relationship than I did with my Mac.
Don’t go there girl !
What I’ve given of myself this past year. oh. my. goodness.
And then my sister is coming from VA to San Diego on December 4th, 2009. It’s an 8 hour drive from where I am.
I asked my sweetie to come meet her with me – with 34 days advance notice you think the default answer would be “yes”.
What I got was “no”. She is scheduled to work her second job on that day and won’t call the scheduler to cancel because she already committed.
/pulling my hair out !!!
(Disclaimer: I know some very fine, even conservative, people who use Macs. However . . .)
One of the reasons I won’t use a Mac (except for testing the web applications my company writes) is due to the elite snobbishness that seems to have infested most of the Mac world. Seriously. So many Macophiles seem to imply that they’re just too good for regular ol’ Windows. Gawd, how bad is this? Even my PC is a political statement!
Y-not: actually, no, I wasn’t trying to be ironic. I love my other computer. But it contracted some difficult-to-eradicate malware the other day, plus it’s getting pretty old and has a few other problems connected with age.
And yes, I understand that Macs are better in terms of viruses and malware. But this is the first problem I’ve had of that sort with my Gateway, and I’ve had it over three years. And funny thing, many of the people I know who have Macs have experienced plenty of other serious technical problems, such as hard drive meltdowns.
Y-not: I’ve spoken to the people at the Mac store, and they told me what to do. But it didn’t help; it just created new problems. I do plan to bring it in when I get a chance and see if they can come up with anything better in person.
spoot: but my point is that, if Macs are so all-fired wonderful, why is the default word processing program so dreadful compared to Word? I understand you can buy more and more stuff for a Mac and fine-tune it, but if it’s so well-designed why should that be necessary, unless you’re planning to use it for some especially complex things (which I am not)?
neo-neocon: spoot: but my point is that, if Macs are so all-fired wonderful, why is the default word processing program so dreadful compared to Word?
Er… what default word processing program? One reasonable complaint I think people might have about Mac OS X is that iWork (Pages, Keynote, Numbers) is sold separately from it, albeit for a steal at $80.
Paul Snively: well, maybe it’s not technically called a word-processing program, but there’s something on there that’s supposed to allow you to write some sort of rudimentary document. It’s so dreadful I can’t remember much about it, and haven’t used it. Yesterday was really the first time I picked up the Mac in probably a year. I’m just in a cranky mood about it.
You’re not alone, neo: my Grandma got a Mac hoping it would be easier to use then her PC, which it was. Trouble is, it was also much more finicky, for whatever reason. When the video card went kaput a few months ago she switched back to PC after 4 trying years with a Mac.
Yes, neo, TextEdit is pretty useless as a “word processing” program, but that’s not what it really is. Do you have one of the new, Intel-based Macs? The ones that you can boot into Windows using Boot Camp (free with the OS), so that you can run your Windows programs natively on your Mac? I need no other computer, since I can run both Windows and Mac OS on the same machine.
I have no advice to offer on how to navigate Mac OS software issues. Fifteen years ago I started out using Macs in a university computer lab. Several years later, after too many crashes, I switched over to PCs. I have no idea today whether Macs or PCs are more prone to crashing. My guess is that crashing is relatively rare for both. I bought a PC for home and office use because it was cheaper.
I do have advice on a keyboard. I have a Microsoft keyboard, which I slanted by propping it up on some wood boards. I place my wrist on a rolled up towel. Another ergonomic adaptation I took, taken on the advice of a former work colleague, was to switch from bifocal glasses to reading glasses.
Dr. Mercury over at Maggie’s Farm has many computer advice postings. Here is one on Ergonomics.
@stumbley: Why would someone looking for something that isn’t complex go to all the hassle of dealing with two operating systems via BootCamp? How many of those kinds of hoops does one have to jump through before Macs no longer become “easier to use”?
Windows isn’t perfect, but with their latest release, Microsoft had closed the gap enough that I really can’t think of a lot of circumstances that would justify paying the premium for a Mac over a PC.
For word processing, the WordPad that comes with Windows 7 is actually pretty decent–although it doesn’t include spellcheck, which limits its usefulness. If this is for blogging, you could also look at Windows Live Writer (http://download.live.com/writer), which is free (and includes spellcheck!).
Regarding security, here’s my “cocktail napkin” plan I usually give to friends/clients:
(1) Make sure you have all the latest updates installed and turn on Automatic Updates so you don’t have to deal with it manually.
(2) Make sure the firewall is on.
(3) Install antivirus software. Microsoft Security Essentials (http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/) is free and excellent, but even retail products have finally gotten to the point where the performance impact isn’t really noticable.
(4) Use the latest version of your browser of choice, Adobe Reader, Adobe Flash, and–if you use it–iTunes/Quicktime.
Most of that stuff, once it’s set, won’t require anymore intervention on you part aside from granting permission to install updates (although Adobe updates aren’t always pushed in the most timely fashion). Follow those steps, and your chances of dealing with malware are well below average.
If you have a Mac and like it, then by all means enjoy it! 🙂
I too left my MacBook to sit in shame for a year. Its shame, not mine. Many’s the time I envisioned throwing the wretched thing through the window. I would not be able to use it to this day if Mr. Bother hadn’t devoted about ten hours to helping me.
AppleCare, the extended warranty program, is your friend. Finally, when the folks at the Genius Bar know you by name, something’s wrong with the machine.
Couldn’t agree with you more, Neo. My Mac has been in cold storage for a year-and-a-half now after fighting the good fight and even the geniuses at the Apple store telling me what I needed they couldn’t provide.
My main problem, among many of your aforementioned ones, was a need to use the IBD charting service which I pay dearly for each year. It is an invaluable tool I use for making money which is not Mac-compatible. I was told I would be able to install an add-on to make it work on a Mac. But after a year of trying all kinds of expensive software—installing and uninstalling—- installing 1/2 Mac operating system and 1/2 Windows which was promised to work wonders, the omnipotents at the Genius bar gave up and threw in the towel, and so did I.
Macs are not for everybody and certainly not for me. I will never go back to Mac and love my Windows no matter where it hails from.
Gringo: As far as the keyboard goes, I use a laptop primarily. So the keyboard is very important; it’s the one that comes with it. I don’t have much room, so I’m not attaching a separate keyboard. And because of my back, I mostly stand to use the computer, and I elevate it to the right height.
stumbley: No, my Mac is close to two years old. And I’m sure not shelling out any money for a new one!
neo-neocon Says:
“And yes, I understand that Macs are better in terms of viruses and malware.”
Two main reasons.
1) People tend to run their PCs as full administrators… all the time. Bad idea. Should make a good admin password and file it away and create another user account to just use day to day.
2) Less viruses because its less popular.
My home unit died a couple weeks back. Since i build my own, I went a little overboard this time. I now have way more computing power and RAM than I will ever need. The little privately owned computer shop I deal with had just received his copies of Windows 7 when I was in purchasing my new components to build. So, I bought Windows 7 too. Windows 7 is fast as hell (64 bit version). That’s the truth. I am on line and half way through a Neo post in the same amount of time it used to take before I even saw the Windows XP Professional logo appear on my screen before.
I am as happy as a clam at high tide with this new set up, and it went together quickly and easily. I still don’t like Internet Explorer (I’m a Firefox fan like most. My son likes Opera). So far, I have stuck with Windows products as packaged with the software, except I use the Open Office suite instead of Word, Excel, Power Point, etc. This FREE Sun Microsystems software works as well as Windows Office Suite, just as seemlessly, and as I have stated, the price is right. (www.openoffice.org)
TextEdit on the Mac isn’t really a word processor. It’s basically the same as Notepad on Windows. I’ve used it for writing snail-mail letters, and it’s adequate for that.
I’m a long-time Mac user, and I prefer it. But that’s what I learned on back in 1990 when I first used a computer, so it’s what I’m used to.
And to echo what Thomass said: I have an administrator account and a user account on my home computer. I mostly use the administrator account when installing software. Whenever I go online (like now) I use the user account. This is good practice regardless of what platform you use.
rickl, you must be a few years younger then me if you hooked up with an Apple brand out of the gate. My first experience was with an IBM clone using Unix, you know, work, not school. An old ass 8088, before 286’s came out (creeeeek). Steve Jobs knew what he was doing by getting MACs into schools. I hear they are still the best for graphics, though. Is that still a true statement? When my daughter was still at VA Tech, the computer kids took a bunch of MAC G6 units, like 70 of them or something, and hooked them all together. They created the 3rd faster super computer in the world at the time. The total cost was ridiculously low compared to a Cray or IBM monster. It was impressive.
3rd fastest. Sorry.
Vertical market software, like the IBD charting software mentioned earlier, is still the most compelling reason to run Windows. For literally everything else, yeah, I do continue to believe that Mac OS X is better, assuming a new user starting from scratch.
But as most of us have noted, that’s not what our hostess is. So there ya go.
For us über-geeks, though, an Intel Mac really is the best of all worlds: multi-bootable into Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, FreeBSD… 🙂
Gotta run. It’s game time. Pedro Martinez vs. Andy Pettitte. Should be interesting.
tinkertool will change the size of fonts in some programs but NOT those used in the carbon desktop theme. it’s a free download if you don’t have it already. have you tried word for the mac? (by the way, word for the pc is part of the ms office suite and, just as with mac, does not come free with the pc.) I have a powerbook4 that is at least 5 years old and, until recently, a pc running vista. The pc died and I got a 20″ imac to replace it. the imac has the best screen I have seen anywhere and is fast. onyx is also a free download utility that tunes up OSX.
I have dropped the wifi connection several times, i think because the imac found another wifi router belonging to a neighbor. It also thought it was the year 2000 the other day but somehow fixed itself. these are the only issues i have had with mac.
if you have cameras with smart cards and a usb connection, use the usb connection to the mac to download your pictures. works great.
I use an XP pc at work and had pcs at home for years and years. I used to have what I called windows weekends, when the latest update from ms would do something horrible to the pc. On at least a half dozen occasions I had to reformat the hd and reinstall windows. I never had that problem with mac.
Lessee. I’ve used iMacs, which is the last version of the Apple I will ever use. And I’ve used MSFT stuff since DOS 3.3 right up to Vista SP2.
1. iMacs are designed rather stupidly. Who the heck thought the keyboard was a good place to put the CD drive eject key?
2. I ran bare naked Vista for eons. No anti-malware (except the built-in Windows Defender, and great it ain’t), no anti-virus, not even a decent firewall except my router. Never had a SINGLE problem crop up.
3. Secunia PSI is your friend. The combination of AVAST/AVG, Spybot S&D/AdAware and a router, along with Opera as your browser and Secunia as mentioned above, makes for a fairly bulletproof machine.
4. I have never once in my life contracted a virus, Trojan, drive-by downloads on my PC. On my WC (Work Computer), sure, due to idiot colleagues on the network. But never on my PC.
Never liked macs, the last product apple had that I thought compared well to the competition was a IIe. For a couple of years the MacBooks were a contender if you dropped apples OS and ran a Motorola version of Linux, but in a stock configuration didn’t care for them either.
Never really noted them as being easier to learn either. It was easier to switch from one persons to the nexts computer as they were all mostly the same, but the initial learning curve was about the same in either system.
Apple’s philosophy with the Mac on down is that it is the center of your computing and entertainment world. They have their vision of what your experience ought to be like and *you* adapt to it. I do not share their vision of what the world should look like (I figure I’m the center and technology needs to adapt to me) and, therefore, do not like all but a handful of their products. The only place I see it working is on the iPod arena but that market is so small (with respect to OS/Interface design) that you end up doing that no matter the device – and Apple certainly nailed that interface.
I have used over the years (both as hobbyist, student, and finally research staff/professional in Computer Science) a large number of OS’s. I’ve used VAX, OS/360, AIX, some custom one off OS for a specific supercomputer (Intel Paragon), NeXT (what the Mac OS should have been), OS/2, dos 3.x+, Windows 3.1+, Linux from nearly the ground up, OpenBSD, System V, BeOS, and then a myriad of embedded OS’s and the only one I have ever truly disliked is Mac OS. BeOS was the only one I was ever truly impressed with, NeXT was the next most but it was Apple without the “vision”.
Add in terrible hardware support – it is either certified to run on their system or do not even look at purchasing it – and you have a system I care nothing for. Even when the community *does* get it to run one something else (say a hackintosh on an Atom processor) Apple goes crazy and stops it – you aren’t following their vision. I have never, and will never, be a fan of that level of control in a general purpose consumer product that is generally a modular system.
For the most part the user community is one of the worst too – just as the system you either buy into it or are a heretic. Even worse – as we can see a few examples above – you are obviously inferior in your abilities and have no experience. I’ve always found that thought amusing as it is rare anyone making that claim has anywhere *near* the experience I do when they tell me that.
Apple knows their market well and caters to it. Some like the simplicity of only a few ways to do something, some like the “trendy” aspects of it (this is probably the largest chunk of their market), and for a few it is technically the best OS.
Heck, they still have a large portion of their market believing that the same graphics card, the same cords, and the same monitors *look* better than a PC. Back when they had proprietary hardware it was true, but as of now it doesn’t matter one whit if Windows or Mac OS tells the video card to turn a specific pixel to color FFE5 – it is the same color. Indeed, as of now when we start talking 3-d graphics shaders, textures, and other such hardware based graphics they have *better* support on the windows side of things.
I second the suggestion of OpenOffice–or even better, NeoOffice, which is OpenOffice tailored for the Mac OS. Both are free, although there is an opportunity to make a donation.
Although Word cannot recognize OpenOffice or NeoOffice (at least the last time I used word), OpenOffice and NeoOffice can recognize Word documents and they can easily convert their documents into Word format when you want to send a document to someone using Word.
Jim Nicholas: Well, NeoOffice would make a whole lot of sense.
Let me say as someone who has had a Mac of some stripe or another around for over 20 years, among various PC, *nix boxes, etc. , and worked as Mac/PC support, sysadmin and web programmer (with sprinklings of AS/400, VAX, etc…) for the last seven, that I fully feel your pain.
My wife switched over of her own volition, but it was a gradual process of weaning herself off my hand-built XP box before she realized she hadn’t fired it up for over a month (the XP box). There were definitely things that made her incredibly frustrated – and to this day MS Office’s (Mac) inability to separately scale height and width in Exel STILL drives her nuts.
Me? I preer my Mac stylistically, but regularly enough work on both that I find myself using the wrong keyboard shortcuts at times on either platform. Both have their strengths and weaknesses – but I tell people that as much as I love my machines and how I have them tweaked (I spend a LOT of time in the command line, in TextMate, and in my webserver) – I can’t recommend a windows machine to somebody who doesn’t have the ability to make a clean break – either via a secondary machine (like a laptop), a lack of investment in older software, etc. I especially can’t recommend a Mac to someone who’s running a windows-centric/only vertial business app – though several clients have switched over and run their biz apps in a virtual windows instance.
Come to think of it, virtual instances (outside of my current XP instance which natively boots the machine though I can access it via VMWare) DO ahve an advantage for Biz apps or any such environment – standardised, known-good machines that are easily backed up, snapsotted, and restored, but this applies to the windows version of VMWare as well.
A few points for fairness though:
1) There is a premium for the hardware. That said, most of it disappears when hardware of the same quality and features is bought (I’ve had several graphics shops ask me to make said comparisons). The downside is not being able to selectively choose lesser quality screens, etc., or which subset of features you can do without.
2) Viruses and malware. SOME of this is popularity, but this doesn’t pan out when you realize what percentage of voerall servers/etc. on teh web are Windows instead of Linux. One huge reason is the security model – even running as admin installing or modifying core system files requires aknoledgment and an escalation of permissions via password. Win 7 and server 2008 are finally getting there, but too many machines STILL have too many hooks to take advantage of – as the machines I regularly have to disinfest attest.
3) Malwarebytes ROCKS – and regularly removes stuff that nothing else will.
4) While the glass for screens and graphics may be the same at any level of quality, the system wide use of color profiles is still better integrated and one reason many graphics shops stick with their macs. Also, many peripherals that are not tested specifically to work on a a Mac work just fine. I do it all the time.
5) PDF writing built in at a system level without installing third party software.
br549 Says:
November 4th, 2009 at 8:37 pm
Well, Apple had already been around for awhile by then. What happened is that I got a job in a printing shop, and my boss had just bought his first computer a few months before. I don’t remember the model name, but it had a 12″ black & white monitor and a 20 MB hard drive. I used to back up our customer files on floppy disks.
An interesting sidelight from that time: Before they bought the computer, their main typesetting equipment was an IBM Selectric composer, which was basically a high-end typewriter that could use different fonts and point sizes. I learned how to use that a little bit, but it fell into disuse as I became more adept with the computer. Years later, in 2004, during the Texas Air National Guard memo scandal, the IBM Selectric made it into the news. I thought, “Hey, I know what that is.”
I don’t know whether that’s still true or not. Adobe makes Photoshop for both Mac and Windows. Today, high-end graphics would be video or games, and I don’t have much experience with either of those. I seem to remember reading that the special effects for the movie “Titanic” were created on Linux computers, but I don’t know for sure.
I agree with you Neo. I had to buy two Macs when my twin boys were enrolled in their 5th grade laptop class. Overnight they both became Mac snobs but began to lose their enthusiasm as we made numerous trips to the Apple store for repairs. I also let them know that their Macs cost me more than double for equivalent Windows machines and rarely needed repairs. Macs are dainty over-priced machines not fit for grade school boys or the business world.
The latest Apple ad campaign (as most Apple ad campaigns) bugs the bleep out of me. OK, I get why they picked the chubby, smarmy, unattractive brown-suited guy to “be a PC.” But why on earth did they choose the skinny, greasy, smug, androgynous guy to “be a Mac”? To whom is he supposed to appeal?
I presume he does appeal to SOMEbody or else they’d pull him. But, unlike with the old “Dude, I’m gettin’ a Dell!” commercials, where I thought the “Dude” guy was obnoxious and wondered why they’d pick an obtuse and lightweight Bill and Ted character to encourage a serious and expensive purchase, at least he was funny, even to those he irritated. The Mac guy? Not funny. Not good-looking. Not apparently employed at anything useful. From my perspective, he’s got nothing for any woman over 22, nor for women under that age who like male-looking men. He’s got nothing for heterosexual men of any age, as far as I can see. I cannot speak to his appeal in the gay community, but affluent as that community is, it’s not THAT big. So why choose him?
If you do a google search of “speed up osx” you will find an article titled something like “52 ways to speed up osx”. The article gives some pretty good advice. It certainly speeded up my powerbook.
I also found that Safari works well on my new iMac but not on the older powerbook. The powerbook is running osx4 so I use Camino as the browser. It is faster and more stable on the older machine than Safari. In fact I am still undecided whether to use it on the newer iMac.
neo – There is one feature of mac that might be very attractive to you. I think I remember you saying that you once lost data (other than as described above). Backing up a pc is a pain because you are limited to data and it is not easy to port a backup of an older pc to a newer pc even if both are running the same version of windows.
You can do a complete backup of the mac, operating system and all, and run the mac from the backup as if it were your primary hard drive.
If you connect an external hard drive using the firewire 400 (for older macs) or 800 (faster but for newer macs) port and using the correct firewire cable, you can boot from the external hard drive rather than the internal drive in the mac. “Super Duper” is a downloadable program that costs $30 or so, is easy to use, and lets you make an exact copy of the internal hard drive on the external hard drive AND makes the external hard drive bootable at your election. (I don’t think this works for usb external hard drives.) You can also set the software to automatically update the backup incrementally or in full. If the internal hard drive fails you are running as if nothing has happened.
I think you can find rather high capacity firewire hard drives for well under $200. (There is a 750 gb firewire drive for sale at amazon.) I would check to see which firewire port you have on your mac and, if you want an easy to use and workable backup for your mac, think about going this route.
I too prefer PC’s with MS windows. My 2nd computer was an Apple IIe. First was from radioshack & had a ‘basic’ Hammurabi game in which words played with population fluxuating in response to rats eating grain, taxes, maybe war & well-being tossed in the mix. Hard to see green writing on a dark field.
I refused to learn WordPerfect & have loved MS ever since office came out.
That being said, my son has 2 Mac’s & has truly migrated to the WhiteSide, & much as he has tried not to, runs Windows 7 on his MacBook Pro. We use the Mac upstairs to see him at college.
I don’t like the Mac, I don’t find it intuitive & I’ve decided Bill Gates will not let MS go down in my lifetime & I’m NOT changing.
My daughter has a Gateway laptop that was doing the same thing with the wi-fi. My geeky son redid our network & decided it happens when she downloads huge free time consuming anime in the background: our internet provider somehow reboots our modem to stop it. She stopped downloading iffy things and the problem stopped.
I seem to remember reading that the special effects for the movie “Titanic” were created on Linux computers, but I don’t know for sure.
The render farm was approximately 100 DEC Alphas (*sigh*) running Linux, yes. The modeling and painting, etc. was done on the usual mix of Macs, Windows machines, SGIs (yes, still, back then).
It’s true that Photoshop etc. run on both Windows and the Mac, so once again, what to use really comes down to personal preference.
Macs are for the less intelligent that like to beleive that their beliefs make them more intelligent.
you can see it in how they target their customers.
they are a capitalist firm that targets socialists and image people, and who dislilke the PC because its not easy.
its a blatant appeal to vanity of the dumb. and yes, even dilbert points out taht phds can be dumb. and i constantly point out that they have a special kind of blind dumbness… (where they dont realize that they were generally more isolated as children, didnt get out into the world and do things, and so that most of their knowlege is second hand!!! that is, they dont experience, they imagine that imagination gives them experience!. this makes for a bizarre kind of high intelligence with assurness and no competency, justified by some very vertical knowlege in a unrelated field)
take a look from it from a psychological point of view. the MAC represents the left. the cognisenti. the intelligentsia (what i call not intellgent pretenders. intelligentsia are not intelligent they are posers to intelligence). image over substance.
it draws these movie versions of jobs where people act really weird, dont work hard, press two buttons and revolutionize the world with what comes out.
but look at the reality of it…
more professers use MAC than PC
but more productive complicated work is done on PCs… so they tend to do their image work and writing and such on MAC, but when they need muscle, integration, ability to function..
you know MERIT… they go with what will do the work the most.
want to know another group that uses PC alot?
marketing people and artists… another way left group that imagines somehow that they would have MACs in a communist utopia because APPLE is communist. (yes they are that easy to play).
a PC cant do anything a MAC cant
and visa versa… they are both turing machines and have all the functional logical parts to accomplish the same ends.
however MAC is geared for the simple, who believes that from that deep simplicity comes understanding (rather than from deep understanding comes simplicity).
MAC has foudn their niche…
people who pretend to be much smarter than they are. more social than they are. more something other than what they are as what they want to be. and have huge egos from the self esteem movement, and who are on the fringe believing that fringe equates with genius…(which is why they cant tell that roman polanski is criminal. he is fringe and an artist so he must be genius, not a pervert… this again is cargo cult)
IMAGES and SYMBOLS are very important to these people. its these people that respond to swasticas, and che shirts, and triskeleons, while others dont get how these things motivate these people.
they are NOT motivated by merit and competency. they are turned off by it and envision a way that one can get the same witout having to work at it (as lazy as marx)…
so they can be motivated to pick a machine cause it can be in the color they like. or it can be decorated (image) more. they completely ignore that they have more difficulties, less access to software, a lag in operating system, etc. and a whole lot less economy of scale, access to machine to write apps, and more.
this is why communist symbolism is all aroudn now, and why fascist symbolism is all around.
NBC paid 3 million dollars for that N…
and yet, you point out the symbols that groups use and play with and say they mean nothing.
if symbols mean nothing why buy a machine that can do less for you at the same price, because it gives you symbolic cache?
*wry grin*
It’s interesting to hear people complain about how OLD they are, and how fondly they remember their Applie //e(s).
I guess it takes all kinds. I’m 41, and I’ve been using computers since 1981 or so; my second computer was an Apple ][, upgraded by software to become an Apple ][+. I had the “language card” to expand RAM to a full 64K, too. I remember the //e, yes, but at the time it seemed a long way to go for lower-case letters.
In 1983, I got one of the original IBM PCs — two full-size floppy drives, 64K RAM, a cassette port in the back if you were too cheap to buy disk drives — and I never looked back.
My oldest girl has a love-hate relationship with Macs. She will openly tell you that she much prefers to work on a PC; in the same breath, she’ll say that some tasks just need to be done on a Mac, not a PC. (She has also, apparently, ingrained her Mac skills from school; sometimes I’ll hear her writing a term paper on her home PC, make some dreadful mistake, and mutter “apple Z, apple Z” to herself.)
In re the thinly-veiled political pot shots, I found this entertaining…
cheers,
Daniel in Brookline
Paul Snively Says:
“For us é¼ber-geeks, though, an Intel Mac really is the best of all worlds: multi-bootable into Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, FreeBSD… ”
On a non Mac!
Heh, I hear some of the atom netbooks (like the inexpensive acer one) can use a modified Mac OS to become Macs.
My bottom line thoughts on mac ease of use are that they were easier to use. Back in the pre OS 10 days. Being a PC guy I could sit at an old B&W all in one mac and just use it without a hitch. They were really simple to use.
The current macs now have a learning curve. I have sat down at them and could not just hit the ground running.
Of course, it is because they’ve added more features… but they’re no easier to learn than windows now… and they cost more…
by the way…
this same effect is why the left fall for the glamour of heroin, cocain, marijuana, and other drugs that ruin their lives, and so on.
this part of the population responds to mass control. which is why the idea of so many of these states was to reward those, and impinge the others. to breed more that can be controlled over more that are independent.
you can literally sell these people misery on a stick and they will all behave as if its wonderful, and no one will actually say the king has no clothes on for fear that others will out them socialy from the collective.
in this way, we have been able to make eugenics palatable by calling it planned parenthood.
we have made self extermination a social good
we have made sex more important than brains (and wondered why our young feminist women are more like babylonian whores than the competent oppressed women of the past).
all this is done through messages, symbolism and fomenting different values. which is whyt he old culture has to go, its values are there to make everyone better, while the elite want everyone worse than them. after all, if you vacatio nwhere they do,they arent speciakl any more are they. if you can do what they do, then they arent special any more.
so take some time to look at all the symbolism we have now.
here is the symbol for the organization of cooperation between soviet and communist china.
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/68/SCO1_logo.png
here is the obama logo
bizbox.slate.com/blog/ObamaLogo.jpg
and you can see that pepsi is echoing it.
take a look at a swastika…
then take a look at the sign on this russian march.
http://www.moonbattery.com/Russian-fascists1.jpg
http://www.moonbattery.com/Russian-fascists2.jpg
notice the symbol… they basically mated half a swastica with half a mirror image of one.
and they hold up the communist fist, and the hand.
but i guess most forget that i put up a picture of both hitler AND stalin using the same symbol before the war.
here is the trilateral commissions logo. they are the strong arm of the council foreign relations.
http://www.wikicompany.org/wiki/images/thumb/Trilat.jpg/120px-Trilat.jpg
note that its a triskeleon, a three legged version of a swastika. except its points are playing with negative and positive space. the triskeleon is in negative space and is three hammers of thor rolling the same anti clockwise way as the german one. (the sun symbol its copied from is all over asia, but it turns the other way).
go into the history… if you look the symbol for the CFR is the same as napoleon on his horse in a famous painting, except its runing the other way.
the council was created by the same people that created the ford foundation. it was draw up and made real at the paris peace conference of 1919…
in the US its CFR…
in ENGLAND its RIIA…
“At the end of the war of 1914 [World War 1], it became clear that the organization of this system [the Round Table] had to be greatly extended … This front organization, called the Royal Institute of International Affairs, had as its nucleus in each area the existing submerged Round Table Group. In New York it was known as the Council on Foreign Relations, and was a front for J. P. Morgan and Company.” -Dr. Carroll Quigley, “Tragedy and Hope”
hope, change… thats all symbols too..
“Later the plan was changed to create an ostensible autonomy because, ‘it seemed unwise to set up a single institute with branches.’ It had to be made to appear that the C.F.R. in America, and the R.I.I.A. in Britain, were really independent bodies, lest the American public become aware the C.F.R. was in fact a subsidiary of the Round Table Group and react in patriotic fury. This is the group which designed the United Nations – the first major successful step on the road to a World Superstate. At least forty-seven C.F.R. members were among the American delegates to the founding of the United Nations in San Francisco in 1945 …Today the C.F.R. remains active in working toward its final goal of a government over all the world – a government which the Insiders and their allies will control. The goal of the C.F.R. is simply to abolish the United States with its Constitutional guarantees of liberty. And they don’t even try to hide it. Study No. 7, published by the C.F.R. on November 25, 1959, openly advocates building a new international order [which] must be responsive to world aspirations for peace, [and] for social and economic change … an international order [code word for world government] … including states labeling themselves as ‘Socialist’ [Communist].” -Gary Allen, “None Dare Call it Conspiracy”
take some time to see who are members of these groups and how they are linked.
here is barack obamas member page at the CFR
http://www.cfr.org/bios/11603/
note that my links are to the CFR…
Admiral Chester Ward, was a US Judge Advocate General of the Navy and CFR member for sixteen years. He said the purpose of the CFR was “promoting disarmament and the submergence of US sovereignty and national independence into an all-powerful one-world government.” In his book, “Kissinger on the Couch,” Ward wrote, “(the) … lust to surrender the sovereignty and independence of the United States is pervasive throughout most of the membership, and particularly in the leadership of several divergent cliques that make up what is actually a polycentric organization.”
—
“The most powerful clique in these (CFR) groups has one objective in common: they want to bring about the surrender of the sovereignty and the national independence of the U.S. They want to end national boundaries and racial and ethnic loyalties supposedly to increase business and ensure world peace. What they strive for would inevitably lead to dictatorship and loss of freedoms by the people.” -Harpers, July l958
[edited for length by neo-neocon]
Hi, Neo,
My friend has a Mac and she loves it. Every now and then, however, she has to come down to the city from her mountain home and visit the Mac shop. Why? The letters on her keyboard keep disappearing – they just fade away to nothing.
The first time this happened I asked her if they had to order a new key for her.
“No”, she said, “they keep a big box of them behind the counter”!!!
I’m an IT professional. I do most of my work in C#, HTML, Javascript, HTML and Oracle. One of my focuses is ensuring our rather large healthcare software application is browser independent. In my experience, Chrome is the best browser out there, followed by Firefox, Safari (Apple), and IE. I use Yahoo and Gmail for email. The current technology versions run much better in Chrome and Firefox than IE. This is because the Javascript engines in Chrome and Firefox are much faster than in IE. So, if you use Yahoo mail and/or Gmail, switch to Chrome or Firefox.
I’ve not used Macs; I’ve been a Microsoft guy for a generation. But Microsoft has a huge surprise for loyal Windows users. Windows 8 introduces the Metro theme, a completely different user interface from the one used since Windows 95. You can revert to a Windows 7 style interface but it is like having two operating systems competing for your attention.
Microsoft has jumped back into the hardware market with the release of the Surface tablet. It features Windows 8. This link gives you glimpses of the Metro interface. It should give Apple pause.
I use both Macs and PCs. My wife and I orginally bought a Mac because IBM PCs running DOS could not do math typesetting (I taught engineering) and did not have the European character set (my wife teaches Spanish). The Fat Mac had both. It also had the original Versions 1.0 of both Word and Excel.
Nowadays Microsoft Office runs essentially identically on both Macs and PCs, and the files freely transfer from one system to the other.
The Mac filing system remains much easier to use than the Windows system, at least through Windows 7. I haven’t upgraded my PC to Windows 8, yet. Windows still uses the old Xtree method that was developed for DOS and that Microsoft stole some 20 years ago.
Windows remains the king for anyone who uses engineering or financial software, most of which will not run on Mac OS. There is a large amount of software that runs on Unix, and Macs operate natively in Unix and will run these programs, but much of Unix software is very expensive.
On tests for speed, Macs generally test out as the same as upper end PCs. Apple doesn’t compete in the PC commodity market.
On a day-to-day basis, if you just do word processing, email, web surfing and spreadsheets, there is no material difference between Macs and PCs. The differences that do exist are largely cosmetic.
The Mac/PC controversies seem to be driven by the same brain differences that drive politics and are essentially just different psychoses.
@bob Engineering is also a PC universe. Autocad and Microstation are both highly developed and entrenched PC programs.
Not to worry. Droid has arrived to save the day. Give it 3-5 years, Windows 8 may be the last version of Windows you ever use.
P.S., this is old, but very appropo:
(some language NSFW)
The Mac Killed My Inner Child
It’s based vaguely on a successful ad campaign of the 90s by Apple about the Mac “Bringing out your inner child”.
Strangely, you can’t find anything about that campaign anywhere. The only readily accessible remaining reference to it is something that makes fun of the Mac.
Wow.
The resurrection of a 3 year old thread.
…this is just like when I’ve commented on some Jeep forum some half-dozen years later.
(Which I do rather often, as I’m always searching through ’em for something I need to know.)
Me too! – LOL.