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Wall Street Journal: Mac vs. PC
cpk0 writes "Walt Mossberg is taking a few days to discuss the differences between Mac and PCs, and which is suitable for whom. He begins by saying the tides have definitely turned in regards to Apple's state as a computer which he will recommend. This is the first in a miniature series of articles by Mossberg touching base on the Apple vs. PC situation (but don't worry, it's not at all about bashing one side)."
From Mr. Mossberg's WSJ article:
:)
It's easier today than ever to use a Mac in a Windows world and to share information. This is true partly because the Internet and e-mail don't distinguish between computing platforms.
Oh boy, does Microsoft hate statements like this
Healthcare article at Kuro5hin
Yep!
I have serveral clients with too much money on their hands that have wanted a fileserver for home - Usually I take an older ATX box of theirs, put it in a decent case with a good and quite powersupply (Antec/PC Power And Cooling) and replace the processor fan. Plop in FreeBSD, Samba and hide it in the closet.
Last week, we used an IMac for filserving and as a novelty - the machine sits in the den, where the kids can play DVDs and listen to MP3, and the Samba filserver keeps on ticking. It's the first time that I've felt confortable having little kids play games with on a computer that, at the same time, is serving files. So far, there have been no lockups or crashes.
There are several benefits that I like with this situation - the customer gets a fun toy to play with, the "fileserver" is quiet and can nativly RSync it's precious files back to my servers for an offsite backup, and best of all - I get a reliable computer thats good for my reputation.
Really, the fullfilment of dream for an easy to use Unix has snuck up on us in the form of a Luxo Jr. lamp.
Moneyed corporations, non-working 'poor' and criminal prisoners are turning productive citizens into tax-slaves.
It should alo be pointed out that with Mac OS X you get the development tools for free, which is a terrific thing for the younger, more cash-strapped generation of developers just coming into the market.
I'm not sure about full keyboard re-mapping, but for your caps lock woes, there's uControl.
Hope that helps!
mark
If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. -- Carl Sagan
I could very easily have been the LAN admin in Apple's brilliant marketing campaign. I'm still considering writing in, if nothing else to thank them.
:G:
I just love plugging in a piece of hardware and having it work the first time. Bring home some new hardware, connect it all up, pop in software, and everything works the first time. I have equal horror stories from the PC support that I did for many years of having to wrestle with hardware and drivers that just didn't work or weren't compatible with other pieces of hardware. Oh, The Pain, The Pain!!
Apple has embraced unix which, last time I checked, leaves M$ Windows as the only non-unix home computer OS. To me, that makes me even more skittish of learning anything Windows related. I can't help but think that it would be a skill that won't transfer nicely to other computer platforms. In fact, I'm even starting for forget some PC-specific skills.
The old M$/Mac war has never been an issue for me. I won't argue with people for more than 5 minutes. I just grin and say "I'm an IT person. I have several computers at home and at work. I prefer Mac over Windows." They're usual the ones who press the issue. At which point I just smile and ask them why they're being so defensive?
Why do I never get a fortune in my fortune cookies?
As I mentioned on MacSlash.
While the WSJ author made a point of criticizing Mac interaction with corporate VPNs, he failed to mention that Macs are quite often easier to integrate into Windows networks than PCs running Windows are.
If for network interface card configuration issues alone, the Mac shines in this area, and it deserves praise for this.
Not this old hokum again. Computers are a tool, people. They exist to solve problems and help us with our jobs. Comparing Macs to PCs is pointless and trollish. What you need to do is ask what task you need solved.
For "old hokum" it seems that the article is making EXACTLY the same point as you are.
For instance, my mom needed a computer that she could use to check her email and maybe do a little web browsing. The iMac is perfect for her.
Sounds just like one of the conclusions of the author.
I need something that will let me run a quality office suite, a standard development environment and all the latest games but not cost me an arm and a leg. The only rational choice for any of those things is a PC running Windows XP.
Hmm, The ONLY rational choice for ANY of these things? Microsoft Office isn't the quality office suite you are looking for? ProjectBuilder & Interface Builder that come with the package aren't exactly standard I guess, you could always get CodeWarrior. And the BSD environment, GCC 3, Java 2 etc. etc. etc. seem pretty standard.
As for "an arm and a leg" I'll grant that Macs tend to sell at a premium but when you are considering the actual specs in detail they are not that much higher, and in some cases are actually lower than comperable PeeCee's.
There are many games available but for the hardcore gamer a PeeCee is still the way to go.
A computer is a tool and this particular tool may not meet your particular needs but of the four needs you mentioned you seem to be mistaken about the Macs ability to meet three of them. It is common misconceptions like yours which prompted the author to write this "old hokum".
It doesn't make sense for businesses to "switch to Mac" as long as there is a hardware monopoly....
The same thing could be said of any non-PC computer vendor. And yet, lots and lots of businesses use Suns and IBMs, to name two. Who makes an AS/400 besides IBM? As far as I know, no one. Does this stop businesses from buying and using them? Of course not.
Businesses have no problem whatsoever signing up for proprietary systems or solutions, as long as those solutions make good financial sense. If it's cheaper to run Macs on the desktop, they'll run Macs. Hardware "monopoly" be damned.
As an aside, I'm getting pretty tired of the widespread misuse of the word "monopoly" by the Slashdot community. It's not really a monopoly, in the strictest sense of the word, when only Apple can make Apple computers. Only Volkswagen can make the Beetle; that's not really a monopoly. You guys may wish that every product or service could be decentralized, but that's just now how the world works.