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Microsoft Switcher Ads: Part 2
burgburgburg writes "We all recall Microsoft's last attempt to emulate the Apple Switch ads. Well, it seems they're at it again. MacNN reports that Microsoft has sent out emails to those who have recently registered MS products, looking for candidates for their 'Sensible Solutions' campaign, which will 'highlight computer professionals that have recently converted from Apple Computer products to Microsoft based systems.' Do you qualify? You must be 'a US resident with a minimum of 3 years experience as a computer professional. You must have used an Apple Computer product and a Microsoft based system as part of your work'. So when does it just stop being the sincerest form of flattery and just become utter, pathetic laziness?"
The First Rule Of Fat Club Is ....
I have been using computers since the late 80's. In fact, in the beginning we used AppleIIs, for artwork etc... now that im 17 years older, I have switched to Photoshop on a WinXP platform.
would that count O:-)
Sig- http://www.dreamhost.com/rewards.cgi?ayefly
You must also have a picture on a photo library CD.
It like.. evaporated! Like.. All gone.. Like. But Windows has a start button, though. Schweet.
Right about ... now.
Look, the fact of the matter is, no one likes a negro. Thank you.
I recently switched to Windows XP, because my Mac Powerbook is broken. So while I wait for that to get fixed, I borrowed a PC from work. I can't wait to get my Mac back.. oh wait, was I not supposed to say that? Do I still get paid?!
Why insist on calling it laziness? Maybe the switcher ads just work -- and it's always good sense to copy what is known to work well...
If Microsoft knows the ads are working for Apple, they'd be stupid not to use them themselves....
sqr (3 * 5) =
7 keystrokes
RPN: 3 Enter 5 * sqr
5 keystrokes
Are they just being a utter, pathetic, lazy copy of Commodore?
When does the editorial bullshit stop and the reporting begin? Did Bill Gates rape you as a child or something?
I was writing a paper, and it was, like, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep.
And then, like, half of my paper was gone.
And I was, like, heh. It devoured my paper.
It was a really good paper. And then I had to do it again and I had to do it fast so it wasn't as good.
It's kind of a bummer.
Microsoft is basically afraid because Apple has openly admitted their old OS wasn't so great, and the new MacOS has everyone switching to a Mac.. I used to hate mac's but now I use one for every day tasks, even work.. Microsoft may try a switch campaign, and they will get people to do it.. but for every switch ad microsoft makes, 500 more people just bought a mac and ditched their old PC's which can't run XP.
your "Sensible Solution" right here in my pants!
What Microsoft needs is an Ellen Feiss equivalent. How are they going to get her if they ask for 3 years experience as a computer professional?
Whether it be 98, ME, or even Windows NT, they are all the most friendly, powerful, original, and easy to use OS's of all time. ..as for XP - that is by far the most advanced and secure OS ever developed.
I say good luck to Microsoft, and may George Bush and all americans be nuked out of existence by Osama and Suddam.
Shut up you stupid wankers.
...
You lost the right to run these kinds of articles around the time you sold out to Microsoft.
And the MPAA. And
Went to the local Apple store, and at the Genius Bar there was a man dejectedly putting a brand-new 15" TiBook back into his briefcase. The websites he visits are all optimized for Windows and the software he uses daily (he's a financial planner) comes in Windows-only (and yes, he tried Virtual PC, to no avail). He's selling his TiBook and going back to Windows. The lack of software I can almost understand, but companies that refuse to make their websites accessible and usable to anything other than WIndows IE are demonstrating either major ignorance on customer service, a blatant disregard for standards, or both.
"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
But the adds will never have the pure appeal of the Mac switch adds. "TCO amoritized over the year saved us $$" is not "bleep, bleep, bleep, bleep, gone!"
I have an expensive Mac. It strikes me as slow, sometimes. I get annoyed when software comes out for the PC first. But I'm not giving it up for anything.
"A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming, is not worth knowing" - Alan Perlis
I suggest trying to find someone who is somewhat inebriated and/or high.
When you control 95% of the OS and office-suite markets, who else do you have to convince?
The remaining fringe is going to avoid MS no matter what.
Are they just trying to save face against semi-influential Apple ads?
He's the one that set the course of Apple's history, in the days of Apple ][e, by not allowing any 3rd party developers to create technologies.
Macs aren't business systems and never will be.
Macs are strictly multimedia platforms.
By sticking with the focus of the Mac only on multimedia technologies, Jobs is once again sealing the fate of the Mac.
This time around, the fate may be a one way trip to the grave for Apple.
Dolemite
Save the World! Use a Quote!
Depends how much MS will pay me.
I've got a PC with XP sitting here, right next to my TiBook, 17" iMac, CRT iMac, G3 Powerbook, OS X Servers...
I'm sensable, I use my PC for the same things my GameCube and PS2 are for...games.
If they've copied everything else from Apple, why not copy their advertisements?
Well....I was using Mac and old Apple II for over 10 years and my current work is mostly on Windows platform. So I've been using PC's for 7 years now and I'm currently looking to go back to the mac.
So, what I'm wondering is....How much time will the switcher MS find will stay on MS platform?
Apple user are loyal users and I rarely found people moving to windows and staying there.
But, the other way around is also true.
So, I think it's really more a idea of being used to a platform....trying the other one and not finding what you are used to find...then moving back.
I think this is sad on Microsofts part. Their copying apple with a succesful campaign but coming too late to the party. A lot of it is in the timing and I think Apple's switch has done all it can in mindshare
The biggest part of the apple campaign is that people have left the common world of windowsk, one that people dont think of leaving because they see nothing else but MS MS MS everywhere. Then to switch to Apple or indeed anything smaller is a big task and it can be seen as an active choice
For a switch to windows sounds like 'I used to use X but then I joined the herd' and gave in to peer pressure. Its hardly the same thing
note: the slashdot user 'danamania' is a transexual. beware
So like, I had this Mac. But I started hanging with this "other" crowd, and they were all PC users, so like, I am too now. It's been good. But now I have leprosy. Is that supposed to come with WinXP? Is it a feature or something? My name's night, and I'm a bell-jingling diseased rodent. : D /my Karma has just committed suicide.
...YOU'RE A JERK!
When does it just stop being the sincerest form of flattery and just become utter, pathetic laziness? A long, long time ago. You would think a company that has roundly trounced their chief rival wouldn't need to keep pursuing the same simian mimicry strategy over and over again. Isn't market share in excess of 90% about the time that blatant rip-offs are no longer necessary? It's amazing that the paranoia that has allowed Microsoft to succeed has become so ingrained as to be utilized in an effort to stave off a competitor with what... 3% global market share? Pathetic was indeed the right word to describe this shameless copycat behavior.
--
i mean, how else can you show off all the money you have, but by using lots of expensive stock photography from the photo library you absorbed.
is it just me, or is m$ just like Cartman's Trapper Keeper?? windows, combine with crappy media player, windows insorping . . . . . .
yes, this is what happens when you post at 3 am after you came home from a bar.
"You never want a serious crisis to go to waste." - Rahm Emanuel
From an Apple 2 to a C64 and then to a PC have been using various flavors of Windows since then, then came XP and the day my machine locked me out because I switched too many hardware components I had to call Microsoft to justify what I have done to my computer because their software locked me out was the day I bought a SuSE box. Does that count, I switched from Apple to Microsoft and then away.
>Macs are strictly multimedia platforms.
Bwahaha. Okay the irony in this statement alone is dumbfounding. Like, erm, yeah, and what the fuck do you call being able to listen to sound, see motion and click on different thingies? Audiomotorinalia?
These days, ~all computers~ are multimedia platforms.
That is of course, unless you're still using that old h4xx9r3d Amiga. Foo.
"I got... your "Sensible Solution" right here in my pants!"
First time I ever seen a pair of pants, bluescreen before.
What "business" software do most people run that can't be run on a mac? Excel? Quickbooks? Quicken? Word? I mean I know people have personal preferences but honestly, I don't get it, whats so 'un business like' about a mac? Is it the fact that they don't look dull and boring like office supplies and cubicles?
I found out that the switcher's story is recursively enumerable. Below is the grammar. Feel free to use this for your application essay.
Hi, my name is <IDENTIFIER>. I am (a|an) <IDENTIFIER> [from <IDENTIFIER>].
I used (Apple|Macintosh) version <FLOAT_LITERAL> for <INTEGER_LITERAL> (years|months) doing (documents | spreadsheets | databases | video editing | MP3 listening | surfing the net | <OTHER_FUN_JOBS>)+. It was all (fun | very nice | pleasant experience) at the beginning.
But, later on I discovered that (it has only one mouse button | some software I bought wasn't supported | their hardwares are so expensive | <REASON_WHY_IT_SUCKS>)+. Since I was only (a yet another broke graduate students | an unemployed bum | a clueless luser | <REASON_WHY_I_SUCKS>)+, I found out that their solution is [completely | absolutely] unviable.
(Enter | Here comes) Microsoft. They provide me (MS Office | MS Windows | <OTHER_MS_SOFTWARE>)+. It is really (a panacea | working like magic | <REASON_WHY_ITS_GREAT>)+. Now I can (surfing a lot faster | do my spreadsheet even better | <OTHER_PRAISES>)+. Even more, I can get added bonus, like (the great blue screen | DRM constricted media player | compulsory activation | <OTHER_STUFF>)+, which makes my computer eXPerience even better.
Now that I switched. How about you?
--
Error 500: Internal sig error
someone that has used a mac for at least 3 years, then switched to windows, and has something nice to say about microsoft products!
they will have to send a whole lot of mail to reach one of those 3!
Acts@core.mailboks.com Acrux@core.mailboks.com Adam@core.mailboks.com Adar@core.mailboks.com Ada@core.mailboks.com
But honestly now, how many times has the death bell "tolled' for apple? Every other year, it seems. I remember a quote right after Jobs released the iMac, something to this effect: "The iMac may be doing well, but it's just a momentary rise in the otherwise downward trend of apple. They're doomed."
I wonder when people will realize that Apple is the only tech company in this time actually doing well and not drowning in red ink. Apple will never die as long as it it has its hardcore section of fans.
Hell, they control more market share than Subaru, and they've been around since at least the seventies. No one's saying they're going bankrupt.
Yeah, god forbid Microsoft should actually defend themselves using the same medium, I mean, that's just pathetic laziness.
But we all knew that, Apple is the most innovative company in the world! All their products are amazing, and far more powerful then PCs with several times the core clock! Anything any-bit like apple is simply derivative.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
It's because nobody else but Apple can make anything as cool as this.
Apple leads. Anyone else watch the Macworld 2003 speech? Notebooks, Safari, Keynote, Firewire 800, etc. Sheesh.
(And I don't even use a Mac.)
LadyStar - Your Magical and Mysterious Adventure Awaits
LOL. Where did you read that? They can barely get Mac users to switch to OS-X, let alone grab a significant number of Windows users.
Uh.. do a little research into a tiny thing called NeXTStep.. It was quite robust for development of serious business apps. You are, quite frankly, pulling comments out of your ass.
I'd like you to provide some examples of why Macs are unsuitable for business.
slashdot!=valid HTML
I am a homosexual. I bought an Apple computer because of its well earned reputation for being "the" gay computer. Since I have become an Apple owner, I have been exposed to a whole new world of gay friends. It is really a pleasure to meet and compute with other homos such as myself. I plan on using my new Apple computer as a way to entice and recruit young schoolboys into the homosexual lifestyle; it would be so helpful if you could produce more software which would appeal to young boys. Thanks in advance.
with much gayness,
Father Randy "Pudge" O'Day, S.J.
Apple is the only computer maker who makes people "_feel_"! For example, Apple users got to _feel_ constant crashes from a non-preemptive, non-protected-memory OS for decades. Mac users get to _feel_ slow ass machines!
Anyway, apple makes me _feel_ like throwing up. Those information-free switch ads do nothing but insult my intelligence (just like almost all of apple's marketing I've seen)
Maybe some people just want to have a computer that does what they want, and think *gasp* they might be better served by a PC.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
well, if you were under 18 when Windows ME came out, then, yes, Gates did rape you as a child.
They're only admitting how hard it is to find professionals who switch platforms by having to resort to mail-outs.
Thanks for your letter. Being Catholic myself, I know exactly what you're talking about! It has always been our plan here at Apple Computer Inc to revolutionize personal computing with our high-quality and highly gay products.
I'm happy to answer your letter by letting you know that YES we will be releasing an entire hLife ("homo-life") software line. You'll be able to recognize it in stores by the small stylized logo depicting a large cock entering a tight anus with an Apple logo on it. ("Suddenly it all comes together" indeed!).
Anyway, I hope you and other members of our community will join us on our mission, and purchase the exciting new hLife boxed set. Only the boxed set comes with translucent cock rings!
Sincerely,
Harry Rodman
Vice-president
Homosexual Liaison Services
Apple Computer, Inc.
When we were using Apple computers, my job was in serious danger of being downsized. They were easy to use and almost never crashed.
Fortunately, due to Microsoft license incentives, my company switched to PC's running Windows.
What a relief! The stress I was suffering over job security is gone! In fact, I just got a fat raise because the bosses have seen how hard I've been working.
Sure, I'm busier now, and I may not have the spare time to check Slashdot incessantly, but that's why they call it work, right?
My reasons are: PIII)Want games, want to add hardware when I want from just about whatever source I want. The PIII is mostly a frankenstein of parts either bought or traded from friends. Unfortunatly I could not do this with a Mac.
But...
iBook) Want small, only 12.1 inch screen, the thing is tiny, fits in my backpack no prob. My friend's dell required him to buy a new "laptop" backpack. Want tough, magnesium caseing, rubber mounted hard drive, the thing is like a small tank in the laptop world. Want Unix, without all the trouble linux causes in laptops. Yeah I know it is very possible to have a very workable linux laptop, but I don't think it is possible to have a very workable linux laptop that works out the box, and I can send back to the company when the DVD-CDRW drive goes kaput.
Would I own a Mac desktop, at the moment, hell no! They would need to be more competative in both the speed and the price arenas for me to even consider it.
But my point is this, there are people out there who have weighed the differences and made the choice of both. OSX is easy, and fast, and pretty. Win2K (sorry don't know about XP) is where most of my professional experience lays so troubleshooting it easy, and it plays games, and it was hella cheap ($50 OEM version when I bought my HDD).
Note to self: No more arguing with the faithful.
Go take a look at what's available for Macs these days, and then try to tell me that a machine/OS that can run M$ Office (though I prefer OpenOffice, even on Windoze) PLUS a ton of GNU stuff PLUS -- if you really realy need it a whole fookin PC or two.
I'm running Win2K Server (for SQL Server crap) and, just because I *can*: FreeBSD 5.0. Oh -- all at the same time.
I'm not one of those "creative" types, either -- I just wanted the best machine I could buy for getting stuff done, and after more than a decade of rolling my own PC hardware, I Switched(tm). Apple finally put something together that, taken as a whole, can't be matched on any other platform.
The thought of another Microsoft switch campaign strikes me funny, as I spent a good portion of my day trying to get XP to stop crashing every 5 minutes or so. I'm so very happy that I didn't spend the extra money and buy another Mac. *sigh*
and it was like expensive hardware and all coloured and stuff and i was like duh so i bought a PC and it's like way cooler cuz it dumps physical memory all the time and i thought thats cool and stuff but all my friends were like who cares which monopoly you give the money too when you just send like email and some AIM messages and i was like duh as if i could use an old dumb pengiun computer like my brother my friends might think im like a nerd or something /roll eyes
ok correct me if im wrong, which i very well could be, but when Apples shares were worth virtually nothing a few years ago i thought that i remembered something about M$ buying up bunches of the shares until they owned like 49%... so they really dont have any say in the company and they avoid the whole antitrust monopoly thing, but either way they win... right..??
sig is broken try again tomorrow
Couldn't they just get Sinbad?
If you think
Sometimes I get the feeling that MS has been so dominant in the OS market for so long, some of the old-timers still in charge actually miss the days where they had any adversaries.
So they keep their eyes too open and attack even the tiny companies that fight over whatever MS leaves behind.
What exactly does MS expect to gain from its campaign...? 30, maybe 35 people crazy enough to switch? Maybe, ooh, a 1% sales increase in the most wildly optimistic aftermath?
And besides, to take on MacOs X in its current form, you either have to have an incredibly good piece of software, or you just have to be stupid enough to try and spin truths to gain consumer loyalty. Since MS never had any of the former, they have to try the latter.
I have this to say:
1. Apple's switcher ads are dumb, as are Microsoft's. In addition, I find them distasteful.
2a. Don't you think that people who 'feel' things about their computer need to get out in the sunshine a bit more?
2b. Are said people really the best kinds to be trumpeting the superiority of your product on TV? Apple's marketing department has successfully sold the idea that our modern world is so devoid of emotion, what with all these techno-gagetry. Its sucking our humanity away! But Apple's not like that. No sir! Why, some of humanity's greatest heroes used Macs. People like Ghandi, and Einstein, even Martin Luther King! And look, here are some regular Joes just like you and me! So buy a Mac, and get some simulated love in your life. Or, if you are poor, a tamagochi.
3. This is wild speculation here, but my sense is that many people who buy Macs as a lifestyle accessory tend to have a bright-eyed, future-looking aspect about them that brings to mind some sort of cyber-squirrel optimistically gazing into a techno-utopia, Powerbook clutched tightly to their chest, only they'd really rather not have to deal with the icky messiness of a regular PC, because the overall lack of cuteness doesn't match their Jetta, lifestyle or vision of techno-Utopia.
"It's Dot Com!"
I don't see Ellen Feiss switching back to Windows :)
So when does it just stop being the sincerest form of flattery and just become utter, pathetic laziness?
Approximately 15 years ago.
I have an expensive Mac. It strikes me as slow, sometimes. I get annoyed when software comes out for the PC first. But I'm not giving it up for anything.
I hear you about the performance issue. I've found the G4/MacOSX combo to have "baffling" performance. Many apps and many functions are zippy as can be, but yet there are still a few areas that can be slow. Resizing a window, for example, is pretty slow for all but the most lightweight applications. Apple's iCal calendar app also has a tendancy to chug pretty hard. Yet this very same machine is an absolute video monster. Final Cut Pro runs like a dream, I'm using "just" an 867 MHz machine, yet I couldn't really ask for any faster video editing performance. The app's gui is fast, scrubbing thru frames is fast, applying layers is fast. It's great! True, I don't do much compositing, so my render times are almost instant... but then, neither do most folks. (though I have heard that some folks are finding iMovie 3 to be somewhat slow) I've also found Photoshop to be extremely fast for the images I work with (never larger than 2048x2048). Others have reported zippy compile and run performance of command-line apps, though I haven't tried this out myself.
Perhaps Apple is still in the early stages of tweaking Mac OS X... maybe they're working on the demanding areas first and will eventually touch up the more minor performance issues (window resize, for example).
The unrighteous stumble against thee that they may be justly plagued, fleeing from thy gentleness and colliding with thy justice, and falling on their own rough paths. For in truth they do not know that thou art everywhere; that no place contains thee, and that only thou art near even to those who switch and go farthest from thee.
Let them, therefore, switch and seek thee, because even if they have abandoned thee, their Creator, thou hast not abandoned thy creatures. Let them switch back and seek thee--and lo, thou art there in their hearts, there in the hearts of those who confess and switch to thee.
And where was I when I was seeking thee? There thou wast, before me; but I had switched, even from myself, and I could not find myself, much less thee.
For my prayer is not for earthly things, neither gold nor silver and precious stones, nor gorgeous apparel, nor honors and power, nor fleshly pleasures, nor of bodily necessities in this life of our pilgrimage: all of these things are "added" to those who switch.
HAHA. Man...I wish I had some mod points to give out for that one. So true...so blunt...
I recall it being $120 million. (Purely nominal, as a "vote of confidence," of non-voting stock). Since sold, at a profit.
-Gareth
I'm a computer tech for a large global enterprise.
When we were using windows computers, my job was in serious danger of being downsized. They were easy to use and and everyone and their mother was an MCSE.
Fortunately, due to Microsoft licenses, my company switched to PC's running Linux.
What a relief! The stress I was suffering over job security is gone! In fact, I just got a fat raise because the bosses think that Linux is so difficult, yet I never work!
I've learned needlepoint. And I knitted a blanket. Oh, I WISH these darn computers would CRASH already!!! I'm so bored!
If you're not a Liberal in your 20's, then you have no heart.If you're still a Liberal in your 30's you have no brain.
Complain loudly and numerously to info@codex.lu.
Say no to software patents.
seriously - I've been at the computer thing for a while now, I have not known a SINGLE person that registered their windows. I mean, heck man - does that email list have a whole 7 recipients?
Of course, most of the replies otherwise would be like "I went from Apple to MS because I can pirate more software and play more games."
though - sadly, there is a bunch of people who are forced to use mycrudsoft. When the IT dept tells some apple die-hards that they are getting PC laptops or nothing at all, because they want to have "one platform" - though the powerbooks would actually cost less (seriously), last longer on flights, and preserve their values better. Sigh... maybe MS can base their campain on that: Switch - because we make you.
fuckers. (hmm... do I sound bitter?)
My life in the land of the rising sun.
Well I just ordered a AMD 2000+ with a motherboard for 90$
Have a extra 120 gig hard drive laying around
Extra case laying around/accessories
Ordered a Radeon 9000 for 100$
and got half a gig of ram for 60$ to build a computer...
And a copy of Mac OSX to put on it oh oh wait thats right...
Pathetic Laziness? You mean like Linux desktop design and conventions?
From my experience, a huge number of people have at some point switched from Macs to Windows. While not as elegant for early computer users, you won't have the nasty incompatibility problem with everyone you know who's not a graphic designer... (I'm a graphics/development guy.)
-Money_shot
If I watch one of these ads with the knowledge that all of these people registered their software with Microsoft, I will have even less faith in their testimonials than I do in Apple's "Hey, you want to be on TV?" approach to choosing "switchers."
"I used to use *nix but then I joined the HURD"?
My IP is 192.168.1.100 Hack it if you want.
I think this campaign is not aimed at Mac users and convincing them to switch to Windows, but rather an attempt to stop the herd of Windows users out there from considering Macs. I bet these ads will be loaded with implied falsehoods (i.e., Word and Explorer doesn't run on Macs, can't network on Macs, etc.)
--Rick "If it isn't broken, take it apart and find out why."
"story based on an employee of an its marketing agency"
^M
-MacNN -- "looks good"
- should I make an example?
rehab, captain ahab, you're chasing the wrong fish!
So.... what does that leave left to advertise? It must get pretty boring working in Microsofts adverts department. I expect they've got bored of spamming OSDN, that was a good wheeze for a while, but now they have to do something to make the long winter days go past right?
Anyway, it's not like MS are actually threatened by Apple, anybody who runs the numbers can see that. It's just a side show, an entertaining game to try and give the surface appearance that there's actually competition in the markets.
However. After a week of waiting for the day when OSX would respond within a reasonable time to my commands, I gave it a rest. OSX bugs me. That stupid resizing dock thing makes it impossible to consistently "maximize" my windows - press the yellow button and it goes to an arbitrary size based on whatever the dock happens to be (or something else I haven't quite figured out). Plus all those Option-whatever commands seem to be different in every (built-in Apple) application.. i mean, where's the consistency? Where's the pride in making something "user-friendly" that they're all barking about? Apple took back my Powerbook, thankfully, and even paid for shipping too - I guess that's because I got robbed with a stinking G4. Plus Office Romance.. what a joke! You know, when a company advertises then it's completely reasonable to expect that very thing, hey? I still feel totally gypped. OSX looks so great on the website, but the reality is something else. I'm never buying into that "switch" nonsense ever again - even for WinXP. Could write a whole book on what's wrong with that piece of crap. Sticking to Win2000 forever, it looks like.
just like the humble blood clot... turboporsche@telus.net
So, since you believe anything good should only be done by the original company to invent it, I assume you buy nothing but IBM parts if you have a PC, and would never think of using anything non-Apple with your Mac, and that if you have a PC, it would have to run an MS operating system.
Also, I must assume you drive a Ford, should you have a car. And that you haven't bought a modem since Hayes went out of business, and that your phone is made by Bell or AT&T, etc, etc.
In my opinion, if something works well, why _not_ use it? It's exactly that sort of NIH mentality that helps keep Apple at position #2.
If you could be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you could be told what to say or think - BoC
Fred Ghaller Piro from MegaTokyo, just switched to a Mac himself! (read his rant)
IN SOVIET RUSSIA, we switch from communism to capital economy, and look how great we turn out!
My name is Vladamir, and I'm a President.
Owned that bitch's pathetic ass!
To make this switch ad more interesting.
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
I RTFA, and started reading the comments, only to find myself being confronted with (what else but) Microsoft bashing. All those who say windows crashes all the time, i often leave win XP running weeks on end - and not a single crash (even though i use a lot of *cough*mostly-legal*cough* software)
/. worthy. It seems that any MS-Bashing post will make the /. frontpage these days.
One of the main reasons linux doesn't crash is that there's hardly any software TO crash it.
Ahem, now onto the article (hope the above rant didn't insult you too much)...
WOOP-DE-FSKING-DOO! Microsoft is using the same ad campaign that mac is. I hardly see this as
Sorry for the rant, but i'm getting sick to death of Microsoft bashing, especially XP bashing - dont like the GUI? There's an option to change it to the win 98 look!
Ok, must stop ranting now.
Yeah I had to give up, give in, throw in the towel, bow to the superior majesty, humble my self, capitulate, resign, fold, admit defeat, appreciate that a 'lingua franca' in computing was really a necessity, grow up, and finally stop being abnormal.
.Net developer. Finally I see things from a bitches point of view, and IBM's.
I will be a
I think I am happier now.
And my family and friends are proud that I have learned when to quit.
Don't hit me again.
The sanctions made me come to my senses, they really did.
Corporate Britain & America? You have been inspirational. Thank you.
I think the whole problem in your case is that Apple can't exactly deliver what they want to, at least until they ditch Motorola. The G4 is pretty nice, and I like the battery life, but raw performance just isn't very good.
I think Microsoft doesn't get it, here. They can't deliver better usability, and WinXP makes EVERY computer run like a dog. I've tried it on about twelve computers so far, tweaked it as far as possible, but there's no way to make it go faster. It boots nicely, but after that - forget about it. Who wants to switch to something that's darned near as slow as OSX? That's been my experience with XP, and I'll never switch. Long live Windows 2000 I guess.
- For price/performance, check the current prices you'll see that the Apple hardware is now cheaper than Wintel stuff of comparable quality and performance.
- Availability of software is another reason, especially because OS X gives you both the regular desktop tools (Photoshop, Quark, etc.) as well as the regualr UNIX tools.
- Apple rules Ease of use, hands down. You get the Apple GUI and, if you need it, the power and flexibility of scriptable command lines such as Bash.
- Apple also seems to rule interoperability, being able to connect easily to wireless networks, LANs, and various Macintosh, Windows and Unix machines.
- For laptops, they seem to have everyone beat with battery life, good large screens and low weight.
Value-conscious purchases are likely to result in choosing Apple, though I would not be surprised if many let ideology cloud their decisions and shell out more money for Bill.Beta is broken and the link to classic doesn't work. Stop wasting our time or there won't be anybody left here.
It's a penis stretcher. Care to try it?
Apple should not "fix" sites that are optimized for IE - in the vaaaast majority of cases, such sites use ass-whacked HTML, your mother's activeX controls, and were built in FrontPage.
Apple should stick to its guns, and continue to work on STANDARDS COMPLIANCE for Safari, so that sites will work correctly in Saf/Moz/Konq/Op/etc. This will put pressure on MS to fix IE (as they have already started to do, thanks to Tantek Celik's excellent Tasman rendering engine for IE5/mac, and the standards compliance mode triggered via the presence of a legit DOCTYPE at the head of the file).
If you find a site that is *cough* "optimized" for MSIE, do the right thing, and notify the webmaster. I have done so on countless occasions with bank sites and the like, and often I get a response and eventual compliance in the long run.
long live standards. good night.
God forbid MS would take an Apple idea and use it for themselves...
I so want to see an "Interpret bad IE code" button or option in Safari...
Stéphane "Alias" Gallay
Now, where did I put this witty quote?..
You should call up your sister and get her to turn off magnification and activate the auto-hide dock options for you.
Be like the twenty-second elephant with heated value in space-Bark!
---E commerce? "selling widgets and/or widget servicing"=sales. OK, question, are you in sales or are you an "IT" guy? Here's a hint, people showing up at a site running osx are usually *not poor*, their demographics are leaning a lot towards "we spend top money and are known for brand loyalty if we are treated right".
Admit it-I got a point? Rhetorical question, I think I made it. Basic rule of thumb in sales 101, you have to get through the noes to get to the yesses. Part of any "yes" potential is , well, having da loot. The interest on the part of the surfer was there, you got the hit, they showed up at your URL, they are doing the customer's part. That's all they can do up to that point. The next step is up to you.
good lucksi
my name is borg. i had bought a nice new iMac and had brought it home.
...oh, shit. you said switch to _windows_!!
so i was trying to set up my new iMac to print to a printer on a remote lp queue, and i kep on getting gibberish from the printer. the first line was something like:
%!PS-Adobe-3.0
and then a bunch of gibberish. i called apple tech support, but they couldn't help me. they said it was the fault of hewlett packard. I called hewlett packard, and they said that it was apple's printer driver.
i didn't know what to do.
so, i searched on google and i found out how a bunch of people had ported some drivers from linux to OS X and could solve my problem. they seemed very helpful and knowledgable.
so i formatted the hard drive, installed gentoo linux, and was able to print within six or seven minutes of booting.
it was very cool. now i use linux for everything.
my name is borg, and now i'm a linux user.
What Microsoft needs is an Ellen Feiss equivalent.
They had one, but he got arrested.
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
"So when does it just stop being the sincerest form of flattery and just become utter, pathetic laziness?"
I don't know. When did the home computing world steal color graphics, stereo sound and true multi-tasking from the Amiga?
Oh yeah, Apple had that before? No, it was the PC, I think. NO! It was the Spectrum? No, no! I think it was Apple. Wasn't Atari... Nah, video games. It must have been the PC. Damn lazy Amigas.
to admit that you have sold your soul.
Great people don't need people to complete them, great people complete other people. -- Matthew Pawlikowski.
But what if I want to switch to Canada? Will they still put me in an ad?
Help us build a better map!
blakespot
-- Heisenberg may have slept here.
iPod Hacks.com
What "business" software do most people run that can't be run on a mac?
Deltek and other serious accounting software (QuickBooks isn't enough for a medium-size business). Crystal Reports. ADP and other payroll apps. MS Project (there may be Mac and *nix replacements for some of these; indeed, if there are, post them). A lot of stuff that PHBs think are essential.
There's a whole world of stuff beyond Unreal Tournament and MS Office.
You don't understand the power of the Dark Side. I must obey my master!
One of my friends lives across the road from me, and to supplement his student loan, works for Microsoft. My server for the house to my ISP runs linux and his ran Win2k. We both decided to buy some Bluetooth dongles to bridge our houses and also to save cables following our laptops around. It took me 3-4 days to get the BlueZ BT stack working on linux. It took him 2 weeks to get his server to run Win2k, with WinXp running under VMWare to allow him to share his internet connection with his LAN and his BT apps.
;)
Not long after he has switched to Redhat 8.0 and is now my grasshopper. Needs some pictures before I submit it to M$ though I think
This is just another case of Microsoft's paranoia dictating their actions. In a consistently insecure attempt to keep everything under control, they are now inflicting their Borg-like assimilation techniques on other companies' marketing strategies, not just their technology. By flattening everything out, they take the magic out of what their competitors have to offer. Since they have the monopoly position, this gives them the advantage.
While you're complaining about all the wild-eyed, touchy-feely Mac enthusiasts it occurs to me that you my friend - yes you, mister - need a hug!
Seriously, I think there's a lot of Windows users who have entirely lost touch with the idea that one can like thier computer. I don't think there's anything wrong with doing so either; it's not like allowing such factors to influence our purchases and preferences is "stupid" or otherwise "uninformed." Hell, if it was we'd all be driving around in gray '87 Volvos or something.
I actually the fact that we like our computers annoys non Mac users. "It's a tool" they tell us with visibly strained patience. Like we didn't understand that. We should "grow up" and realize that there should be no fun, pleasure, or delight in the use of such a utilitarian thing.
It's a computer. Yes it's a tool and so is a furnace. But so is a Mini-Cooper. There's a difference. I don't work for Apple and I don't give a rats ass if you buy a Mac or not. But I do get tired of the "it's a tool" argument against computers with taste and style. Given the choice between owning something that feels utilitarian versus something that feels like someone put some love I'll take the love hands down. Ask any Harley-Davidson owner.
You like your Macintosh better than me, don't you Dave? Dave? Can you hear me Dave?
Why is there all this mouth-frothing over this. Let's actually put the truth here: the so-called fake one that Microsoft had before was a real user whom they used a publicity shot to be the face of. Yet good ole Ellen from Apple's campaign has been exposed that she went down to the shoot because she was a friend of friend of someone working on the advert and had never written that letter in the first place. But hey, Slashdot never lets the truth get in the way of a good bit of FUD.
Good G*D, that web site - where the article is - is beutiful! That's a really nice change from the dull and/or ugly 90% of the web.
:-)
(Yes, I know this is off-topic. But I'm really impressed!
It is impossible to enjoy idling thoroughly unless one has plenty of work to do.
- Jerome Klapka Jerome
Hostile Microsoft Policy Flailed
Pyongyang, February 14 (KCNA) -- The hostile policy of the Microsoft "corporation" has been assailed. It is none other than Microsoft imperialists in the lunatic guise of US imperialists who flagrantly attempt to defend interests none other than there own.
Noting that this guise has been seen through, the DPRK urges Microsoft to behave itself. Meanwhile, Microsoft continues its flagrant "embrace" and "extend" operations to incorporate none other than Apple "Macintosh". It must be understood that such moves are obvious to all but the aggressors. Until a peace treaty is ratified by the US war mongers, the DPRK continues to step up its careful preparations for full scale nuclear war. This is but more proof of the agressors real intentions.
Anecdote about Kim Jong Il
Pyongyang, February 14 (KCNA) -- Kim Jong Il took a walk on the grounds of a military academy and saw that many of his people were without valentines. He stayed up for two nights straight in order to get valentines for his beloved people. He then called his friends in Montenegro to send over some sex slaves. When the slaves arrived, Kim Jong Il toasted them with Hennessy VSOP cognac and a lobster feast and then brought them over to the factory.
But when Kim Jong Il and sex slaves arrived, they saw that all the workers had perished due to the cold winter and lack of heat. Kim Jong Il toasted his beloved people with more Hennessey VSOP and had another lobster feast and then ordered the slaves back to the house for a party.
The stock market fell only 5% this year.
The economy fell only 5% this year.
Your mortgage interest fell only 5% this year.
Only 5% my ass.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
I have a *great* set of screwdrivers. Have I told you about 'em? They're SO exciting! I tell everybody I can. I even have a bumper sticker on my car with a couple of screwdrivers to show my loyalty to the multi-billion dollar international conglomerate that makes them. The phillips heads are all blue anodized steel with fusicia handles, and the standard heads are all green anodized steel with turquoise handles. They're so much fun! I really feel special, because I bought the pretty colored screwdrivers. I really feel like my screwdrivers define me as a person. There's nothing more that I want to do than talk with others about their screwdrivers and their screw driving experiences. I am unique. I was walking through Home Depot and I said, "Why get the grey and blue ones... I want the *pretty* ones! I'll be different. Me and the 2.5 million other people who buy these screwdrivers, well, we're just better and smarter than those who settle for the regular screwdrivers. We're all very special individuals. All 2.5 million of us. Sure, they cost twice as much, but have you seen them? They're blue and green!"
Get a life. It's just a fucking tool. Speaking of tool, do you have any idea how much of a corporate tool you are?
Everyone who wants actual customers to talk about the products is just a big fat copier!
COPIER!
quit copying me!
Whiney mac owning elitist idiots.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
How will this change the fact that the site is optimized for IE?
Sure, Apple may be able to fix it, and actually that code can even go back to KHTML and Konqueror on *nix, but that won't fix the site.
If the failure of proper display is due to the site, not the browser (non-standards compliant code), then the remark has to go to the site builders, not the browser coders!
...new games that is. Starcraft was the straw that broke the camel's back, and it was goodbye Macintosh. Oh, that and paying twice as much for my hardware and upgrades because I couldn't build a Mac from parts. And lockups at least once a day. Did I mention no games?
You can tell how much I miss Apple.
managing Windows PCs and servers for companies with little to no understanding of what kind of deal with the devil they had signed, I bought a 600mHz iMac for home use. I was so happy with the intuitive design I began to help some of my smaller clients switch, which has led to even more business as I help my customers become more productive and save money. Oh wait, this was the ad I sent to Apple.com, sorry My name is Bob, and I'm not Bill Gates bitch any longer.
Speaking of copying, how about the recent Reebok commercial that starts out as an identical replica of the Nike "Streak" commercial, with the naked guy streaking at a soccer match. Just when you're thinking "oh, it's a continuation of that Nike commercial!" the dude gets SMACKED! Terry Tate, Office Linebacker, has just creamed him.
That's got to be one of the funniest crossover commercials I've ever seen. Credit to Reebok. Now I'm just waiting for Nike to respond with a naked Terry Tate streaking at a soccer match.
Err... no. Actually I don't if I'd wanna see that.
One would think that a company such as Microsoft, who has seemingly unexhaustable resources, would at least be able to come up with something a little more original than making their own "switcher" ads ala Apple.
Perhaps you were using GNU/Linux for the wrong reason(s)?
It turns out that Microsoft had patented the Switcher ad in January 2001! The patent is known as "Marketing Device For Informing User Of The Low Quality Of Microsoft Products".
Microsoft attempted to prevent Apple and other vendors from performing competitive marketing.
Alas, Steve Jobs believed that there was prior art, namely in the Intellevision versus Atari marketing campaign. However, Microsoft claims that the Intellivision ads (1) do not address PCs, and (2) do not address Microsoft products. And therefore the patent IS valid.
In order to exercise their patent, Microsoft is (1) suing the ass off of Apple, in hopes that no one else will switch, (2) exercising their right to promote their patent in PRO-Microsoft marketing, and (3) creating products that generate documents that cannot work on Microsoft products.
. Therefore, Apple may no longer use it's switcher ads,
This comment is somewhat off topic - but it does relate to Microsoft advertising.
I find the current ad running for Microsoft, where the executive is saying he wants to send an email to everyone who bought a CD an offer of credit at his on-line store, to be very disturbing. Every time I see it I think - Microsoft is promoting how their >NET software can be used to create SPAM.
Do other people see it that way?
I have been using and programming Windows, Mac and Unix for over 10 years. Although I always prefer Mac myself because "it just works" , I couldn't really recommend evryone around me to pay extra money for the Mac experiences, knowing there are substancial weakness in the classic Mac OS.
A ppleStore/ and you will notice that every things are just simply beautiful and good value for money: from the $799 CRT iMac, the $999 iBook, to the $1799 PowerBook. The single CPU Xserve with OS X Server and WebObjects and dozens of programming and system tools plus unlimited client license is only $2799, and for $10,999 you can get a 2.52 Terabytes Xserve RAID - much cheaper than the similar products from Dell, HP, Sun or IBM.
.mac account, and basicly appeared to be a Macholic (she started reading about Steve Jobs and swearing at Bill Gates) last time I met her accidentally on a train to London. What's more, she gave away her Windoze PC to some idiot in the lab and persuaded her boss to buy another iMac for her in the office. Interestingly, after playing with my wife's iMac from time to time, the IT manager switched to Mac himself recently and now he can claim he knows Unix.
But with Mac OS X and the new generations of iMac, iBook and PowerBook, the Mac platform suddenly appears perfect for evryone - geeks and novices alike, and amazingly they cost no more than branded Wintel PCs. Take a look at the Apple Store http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/
Before any of the usual idiots whining that they can build these things for less, let me just put you straight - you just can't - not to the same level of style or quality. In any case, Apple is probably the best brands (well, the second best following Google according to a recent survey), and certainly not in the business to compete with any of the DIY box makers.
The real story I am trying to tell is that I have never seen a Mac user switching to Windows in my entire computing life, but have recently persuaded someone to buy an iBook for her first ever computer and witnessed 3 Windows users switching to Mac.
The lady who bought the iBook lives next door, and she just loves playing with her new toy. Being a middle-aged women and having never touched a computer before, she was initially very nervous and constantly worried that she might break something, so I spent about 2 hours explaining the basics, encouraging her to explore the iBook intuitively, and she kept noticing those clever and cute little touches like the bouncing icons, the magnified dock, the pulsing spot when the iBook is asleep, the amber light ring when recharging, etc. And the next time I met her a few days later, she was playing iTunes, burning CDs, listen to Internet radios, playing GNU Chess, and she was fasinated by the voice recognition capability (which I haven't used very much myself).
Among the 3 switchers, my brother-in-law has always been a Windows user until recently, and has 4 Wintel boxes at home. He had been using Eclipse for Java programming on a Sony Vaio bought a year ago which already shows its age - it feels really slow just running Eclipse alone and hardly anything else, typically used two batteries to get a reasonable usage. But recently he put some extra RAM to speed up the Vaio, but unfortunately the thing would get hot really quickly and the 2 batteries couldn't last more than 2 hours. So now he have got an iBook - lighter, prettier, much longer bettery life. And Java is so much better and more on Mac OS X.
The other 2 switcher are all my wife's colleagues: an IT manager and the secretary. When my wife started her new job, she asked for the LCD iMac, but many people including the IT manager and the secretary told her that Macs were no good because no one used them. When the iMac arrived, the IT manager didn't know how to set it up, so my wife (not a computer geek by any stretch of imagination) did it herself (she called me once about the IP address and DNS server). A few weeks later, the secretary quietly bought herself an iMac and an iPod at home, even paid for a
I'd qualify (mostly.. err.. except games...).
Or what about a switch-back campaign? Tried it, hated it, switched back? Strange thing, i don't know many people who actually switched back to MS, after working some time with a new system (there ARE a some who just try it for a week and give up).
Whew! Take it easy man!
That said... How are YOU not a "corporate tool"? You own a Windows PC, no? Are you sure that you just haven't had that "it's a tool argument" beat into your head one too many times?
Seriously... I know a lot of people in a lot of different professions, and most of them are pretty particular about what tools they use.
Come to think of it, the "it's a tool" argument could be applied to just about everything in our lives. Clothes are a tool, they keep us warn and protected from the elements. I'm sure you don't just wear any old clothes. You probably have some sense of style, whether you buy expensive, trendy crap, or whatever suits your taste. Food is a tool, it provides our bodies with sustenence, but I'm sure you eat food you enjoy.
Also, your screwdrive analogy is flawed. Most people don't care about screwdrivers, but some do. But more importantly, a lot of people really like particular power-tools. Find any carpenter, or anyone who uses a lot of power-tools, and I'm sure many of them will have a particular taste regarding what tools they use.
Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
...I'm too busy switching from Microsoft-based systems to Linux. I might buy a used Apple and put Linux on it -- will that do? :-}
You sound like you know a lot about screwdrivers, can you help me? My screwdriver suddenly started stripping my screws. I don't understand. Did I violate my license agreement? Or did I screw in too many screws?
I asked my nephew about this, he's good with screwdrivers, and he says that it's because I'm using a cheap screwdriver and it's not compatible with my Philips screws.
I've been told that I should abandon Philips and use Torx screws in my doorframe. But Torx screws and screwdrivers aren't very common.
Help?
Sun could have avoided all this by making Java truly a public standard. Microsoft could have made
And if the "shell" bothers you, switch to a different one. My Mac has tcsh, bsh, sh, zsh, and ksh installed. You can use any shell you want.
Oh, did you mean the case? If the fucking case bothers you, put it under the desk! Not that you've ever used one, but Mac towers have bar none the best cases in the world. They don't have screws, they don't slice you when you open them, and so on. In fact, they have a fucking door you open. It doesn't get any better than that.
Ignoramus.
You've made your argument based on outdated facts and hearsay. Nice work.
Fact is, my Mac burns CD quite well. I click the "burn" button, and it just happens. I didn't even have to install any software beforehand! Pretty steep learning curve there.
And what if I want to delve into my system more? Well, it's there waiting for me. Remember, it's a BSD variant at heart. I can even recompile my kernel if I want to. That's delving a lot deeper than any Windows user will ever be able to do. Oh yeah, I have a half-dozen different shells on the system, it comes with apache, perl, etc, and you can install the best X11 implementation I've ever seen or heard about with one click.
As for patches and drivers, OS X takes care of that for me (just like WinXP!). Shit just magically works on this system, and it fucking rules.
So next time you want to argue something, check around for some current facts before you put your foot in your mouth.
[Insert standard disclaimer about not being "for" MS here]
But . . . what if it was the other way round? Hailing the Apple heroes for their hilarious new spin on Microsoft's tired old advertising campaign? Turning the tables on the corporate giant?
O'course, I'm in the UK with one of those "dial-up connections" you may have heard about, so I wont get a chance to see them and make up my own mind . . .
P
MS imitates everything else that Apple was successful at, so why should this be an exception?
You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
I don't see why almost everyone on Slashdot is making fun of the idea of switching from the Mac to PC. I was an Amiga (2000, upgraded with a Picasso II+ and a 68060 accelerator) owner, then an iMac owner, and now a Windows user.
Two of my friends switched in the last two years from the Mac to the PC. Both of them were hard-core Mac zealots. One of them is married to a graphic designer, and he himself is a user interface designer, so he was naturally a Mac user for a long time. The other had been a Mac user since he was 10, and was a huge believer that Macs were superior to PCs in any and every way.
Well, eventually MacOS X came out, and my friend the user interface designer basically made the switch to the PC. Why? Because Macs are too expensive, don't provide the benefits they used to (let's face it - there's no difference between using Photoshop and Quark on the Mac vs. the PC any more), and because Apple broke all of its own great user interface rules with MacOS X.
My friend who had used Macs since he was 10 switched to the PC because Macs were just too fucking slow. He had a super-speedy Athlon for much less than a new Mac would cost him. He's a big geek, so he runs Linux most of the time, but he uses Windows for gaming.
And me? I like the fact that Apple puts a lot of thought into how the software works, and how the system works as a whole. I like the fact that the computers are cool looking. But, that is not worth the premium of the MUCH higher cost of Macs (I'm sorry, for what I want to do with my computer Macs are way more expensive). Additionally, I was really, really disappointed by MacOS X's interface. The MacOS had such a great interface, and now it's as lame as Windows. So why pay a premium for it?
On the other hand, a friend of mine who was a PC-zealot (he used to mock my iMac all the time, and thought Mac users were idiots) just visited an Apple Store and has become a total convert. It's fascinating.
Anyway, I guess the point is, it's not ridiculous for people to switch from PCs to Macs, and it's not ridiculous to switch from Macs to PCs. Seriously, different platforms have different advantages. MS showing people who went from Mac to PC is no more ridiculous than showing people going from PC to Mac.
(When I switched from Mac to PC, I found the PC annoying at first. But then I got used to it, and now I find the Mac annoying when I first start using it again. A lot of this is what you're used to.)
Children...Microsoft is using a basic marketing strategy that all of us can understand. The general public will look at it much the same, but in a different light. If most of them don't have the experience that the average /. poster has, they're going to be looking for the "better" computer. Will it be Mac or a PC? The gimmick, though lame, will work to an extent.
Now, for those of you that use these articles, everytime, to proclaim that your dad can beat up my dad, or that your car is better than mine...Who Cares! You don't need to post that photoshop runs more efficiently on Macs. We know that. Most of us don't use photoshop so we don't care. Likewise you don't give a crap if my pc is 10xs faster than your Mac. That's not why you choose to use Macs. Why do we try to push one product on everyone that wasn't built to universally fit everyone. If you want to talk about why your OS rocks - Be specific about what you like, but not why it's better.
cares about their tools. Screwdrivers are an excellent example. Lousy screwdrivers have poor grips and the tips blunt quickly, while a good one lasts a long time and has a grip you can use to drive a screw through anything. Anyone who does a fair number of home repairs and is paying attention will have definite opinions on screwdrivers, and if they are craftsmen, they will find the good ones a joy to work with. (And yes, the good ones may cost more, but they're worth it.) Also, someone who likes their tools will talk about it more than anyone else would like to hear--I particularly remember a house painter holding forth *forever* about his brushes.
This applies to any tool--the lousy hacks will go for whatever appears to be cheapest and will try to make out that it is "just as good" as the better-designed tool that would do the job better. It often turns out that the better tool is also cheaper in the long run.
{-o-} ha!
A web de-singer character.
Someone who is going out of their way to remove singing from the web. Does he work for RIAA? :-)
Cheers,
Toby Haynes
Anything I post is strictly my own thoughts and doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the opinions of IBM.
well now we know who to rob ;)
Apple's switch campaign used ordinary folks. Microsoft's practically requires MCSEs.
:-)
It's only fair, of course. That's pretty much how the two operating systems stack up as well.
What is being ridiculed is Microsoft's efforts which seem to all copy Apple's. It is widely known that MS has copied Apple features over the years and has even been embroiled in litigation with Apple because of that copying. Apple's Switch campaign was notable (not groundbreaking - you'll see why in a second) not because of the core message that you should use a Mac instead of a Windows system, but because it returned to an advertising concept that had largely been abandoned by major companies - customer testimonials.
Think about it. Before Apple's Switch campaign, when is the last time you saw someone on your TV saying, "Hello, I'm a real person and I use this product because it works for me." ?
When the first company returns to a tried and true method that was largely abandoned, the concept is seen as fresh. The second one to try it had better have a radical spin on the concept to truly make it unique else they will be accused of copying. So -- MS looking for real people who have switched from Mac to Windows to tell their stories? I don't see anything unique - I see Apple's campaign in reverse. After one faux pas with a reverse switch campaign, I would think that MS would at least try to come up with something a little original.
Laws affecting technology will always be bad until enough techies become lawyers.
To Sun and SGI. Lets face it, my Sun Ultra 2 with dual 400 Mhz ultra sparc IIs is just as fast as my old dual 800 PIII. And the SGI Octane with a 250 Mhz MIPS CPU is just about as fast as a 600 Mhz PIII. There is NO DRM and I'm 64 bit. The hardware lasts for many years and can be bought for pennys on the dollar in the second hand market.
"I bow to no man" - Riddick
Nice collection. Your Turbo Color station is in great shape. I wish my desk was regularly clean enough to take pretty pictures of my Mac and NeXT hardware.
Cost.
...
In the old days:
- Apple hardware cost more but it was very dependable.
- Mac OS upgrades used to be free for minor updates and major releases (every 2 to 3 years) were resonably priced.
- Lots of free stuff like hypercard and later iMovie and blah@mac.com accounts.
Now:
- Hardware is still ~40% more than similar PC stuff.
- Dependablity has dropped to "white box" levels.
- iMoive et all applications cost $100 per year (to stay up to date)
- blah@mac.com accounts cost $130 per year PER ACCOUNT PER YEAR.
- Software updates cost $130 per year.
$360 per year for the feeding of a Mac is IMO too much. I resently bought a Toshiba 1115-S103 laptop (1.5Ghz Cel, 20G HD, 256M RAM, WinXP Home and a 14" screen) for $750 (new after $200 rebate). A similar iBook would be $1540 ($1050 + $130 + $360) over two years as opposed to my Toshiba for $900 ($750 + $150 for possible OS update costs).
In other words: screw Apple until they drop the cost their software/.Mac costs. I love Mac OS X (on my iMac 400 DV) but my laptop (RedHat for work and WinXP for games) gets 90% of my time.
And yes, Mac OS X is clearly a better OS than MS XP but IMO just not worth the extra cost for me.
As for desktops, Apple loses again. Replacement parts for Macs cost way too much and take too long to get. I can replace any part in my desktop PC in less than 24 hours and do it myself. A Mac will cost you atleast twice the price for parts, require professional installation most of the time and take a minimum of one week to get the parts and one week for installation.
Now if Apple sold an ATX Mobo I might return
"note: the slashdot user 'danamania' is a transexual. beware"
Thanks for the heads up. I mean, uh,
What computers are you talking about? 486s? XP is perfectly snappy on an athlon 550, 256mb ram, ATI rage 128.
Maybe it says more about Microsoft's inability milk further revenues from people who no longer see compelling reasons to upgrade.
Vote Quimby.
As an IT professional using Macs, I was constantly worried about my job, afraid the boss would catch me reading Slashdot, going for more coffee, or napping. It wasn't my fault, there just wasn't that much to do.
A couple of months ago we switched everyone over to Windows, and man has my life been fantastic! Now I have plenty to do. I've been coming in early and staying late. My days are now full of challenging and engaging problems that I just didn't get with the Macs.
I love Windows and everyone here just can't stop talking about it. People can now use their computers as an excuse again! It's great!
My job's a lot more secure now, too. In fact, I've heard I may get a promotion.
Microsoft - What's your problem today?
Think about it. Before Apple's Switch campaign, when is the last time you saw someone on your TV saying, "Hello, I'm a real person and I use this product because it works for me." ?
Um, all the time? I see customer testimonials all the time on web sites. The only difference between Apple's switch ads and most TV ads is that they use real people. But the point of most TV ads is "look how happy this person is using our product." And some do use real people. So Apple was hardly innovative with their switch ads.
Did anybody here see Chapelle's show the other night? It started out with him in a white background, talking about how he couldn't use his PC because it was too "clickety clack", then he goes on to say why his Mac is so much better for Internet porn. Why did he switch? Because he loves internet porn.
I'm sure you've all seen Microsoft's "Business at the speed of life" commercials or whatever they're called. You know, where the couple buying a car picks a color, the salesman clicks something on his Windows CE device and a second later a car is being painted that color in the factory, and other commercials expressing that same theme. Well, recently I got an invitation from MS to attend they're latest propaganda fest in my area. Look at the last paragraph describing how to remove myself from the list, particularly the last sentence. I've cut and paste this verbatim except for changing my e-mail address. Not exactly "business at the speed of life".: From: Microsoft To: mot@umsl.edu Reply-to: midamericaopencampus@email.microsoft.com Subject: Microsoft Open Campus Event in Nashville and St. Louis on February 10th Date: Tue, 28 Jan 2003 10:21:57 -0800 (PST) Dear Thomas, We are excited to invite you to an Open Campus event at Microsoft's Nashville and St. Louis offices on February 10, 2003. This event is designed to give you a look inside the Microsoft Operations and Technology Group. You'll learn how we use and manage our own technology to run our business and operations, and you'll hear about our experiences as customers of our own products. You'll come away with proven strategies to strengthen your organization's IT capabilities, and ideas for implementing them to gain competitive advantage. Hear from Senior Microsoft technology experts and learn how we: Operate a world class Operations and Information Technology group while maintaining business agility - Rick Devenuti, Chief Information Officer, Corporate Vice President Deliver trustworthy IT services utilizing Microsoft's own technology and IT facilities - Mike Carlson, Director of Enterprise Operations Develop and implement internal IT security strategies and initiatives that cover people, processes and technologies - Peter R. Boden, Group Program Manager, Corporate Security Maintain a global Exchange and Active Directory messaging infrastructure, and rollout product evolutions across the network - Derek Ingalls, Group Manager Messaging and Collaboration for Exchange and AD You'll also hear from Microsoft executives Rich Kaplan, Corporate VP, Content Development and Delivery Group, and Kevin Johnson, Senior VP, Microsoft Americas Sales and Marketing. Speakers will broadcast live to you from Microsoft headquarters in Redmond via closed circuit television. You'll get valuable insights from leaders within Microsoft to help you train, plan, deploy and maintain your IT environment, and improve the operations of your IT organization. We're looking forward to seeing you on February 10th at 11:30 to 4pm , and hope you'll find our presentations informative and valuable to the future of your business. Visit http://email.microsoft.com/m/s.asp?HB8090263535X17 62462X155624X
or call 1-877-MSEVENT to register and reference event ID
1032226817 for Nashville and
1032226815 for St. Louis.
If you prefer not to receive future promotional e-mails of this type,
please click below to unsubscribe. Please note that it can take up to
eight weeks to update customer information in our database;
therefore, you may receive e-mail from us within that time period.
http://email.microsoft.com/m/s.asp?HB8090263535X17 62463X155624Xmot%40umsl.edu
Apple's iCal calendar app also has a tendancy to chug pretty hard.
Amen, but I blame this on iCal being relatively new, not on Mac OS -- iCal is still 1.0. TextEdit can reflow text much faster, and iCal only has to draw a few vertical and horizontal lines and a few words of text. I hope they get their stuff together for a 1.1 or 2.0 that doesn't suck.
(How many 1.0 programs were very good? Few, if any. Not even Apple's, usually -- think iPhoto 1.0. Most of the iApps are up to version 3 now.)
I use Photoshop on a G4/500 for slightly larger images (more like 2000x3000, sometimes 16-bit-mode), and I wouldn't call it "extremely fast", but it's certainly usable -- it's not really slow, unless I'm running low on memory. Now if Adobe could just get their Illustrator and Photoshop teams to talk to each other so they don't have interfaces which look exactly the same but behave differently...
Apple's "switch" ads are cute, but seem to be rather ineffective.
Look at the market share that Apple has. It is unchanged since 1999 or so.
OS X hasn't helped... switch hasn't helped... no more fruit colors hasn't helped... I am starting to think people use what they want/like/have to. Marketing doesn't seem to play much of a role.
Look at the Madonna ads that came with the intro of Windows XP. Those flopped. Big time. And they were not horrible.
As computers become more and more common place (my 80+ yr old grandparents have one!), emotional buying decisions become less prevalent. People just replace what they had used in the past with the "latest and greatest" version.
HP has the "cool" new BMW F1 ads, and there market share has slipped over 1% worldwide since the merger with Compaq.
Sony is a huge company involved in many different markets (music, computers, PS/PS2 etc) yet 60% of their entire profits come from the Playstation sector.
A very amusing parody of the switch ads. (fair warning it's in real media format)
Frylock: That's not a toy!
Master Shake: You say that about everything you own. You should own toys. They're fun.
I switched with my father-in-law for a week, his ibook, for my sony viao. ..
likes:
1.real cool interface.
2.access to unix programs(ie ssh ect)
Dislikes
1.In order to get any software that i own to work on it, i would have to pay another 110 for jaguar.(Dreamweaver MX)
2.No pcmia card slot(no wireless unless i spent money)
3.smaller screen(15 to a 10.5 sucks)
4.I already owned firewire video equipment and cables, none of witch was compatable.
In the end he got his laptop back. He was'nt happy with that. We hav'nt spoken since. Trying to switch ruined my relationship with my inlaws
If Apple can do this type of advertisement, why can't Microsoft?
If you bash MS on this advertisement, then you should also bach Apple.
Same goes for 'I switched from MS to linux' type testomionals.
is that the majority of people they will find will be switching from Mac OS 9 or before. If they have ads where people start talking about pre OSX macs, apple can point that out in their next round of ads, probably in print, cuz they seem to be more offensive-minded in print, IMHO.
Look what happend when this fellow made the switch!!!
You mean BMW. You need a hug, you anonymous person you. Come here!!!
>kisses
The car dealership has to be nimble in order to survive - interchanging features/functionality on a customer's whim.
MS is however, unable to adhere to this reactive principle according to the sad tails of woe given to the justice department regarding their inability to separate add-on functionality from their operating systems.
"The G4 is pretty nice, and I like the battery life, but raw performance just isn't very good." This is drivel. I want my moments back from reading it.
"My God, this must be a truly remarkable corn chip, to be so widely and confidently touted."
too slow for what?.. that kind of a blanket statement really needs to be qualified. Too slow to check your email, too slow to run MS Office, too slow to play games.. what? Are we talking about an iBook or an xServe? For some tasks, Macs are significantly faster than PCs, so this is pretty much a useless argument that others use to prop up their preferred platform, and both sides are equally guilty of doing it. At some point (sooner than you think), speed will be nearly irrelevant for 90%+ of consumers.. what then?.. checking email and surfing at 5Ghz??? Why??! It's the same as surfing at 3Ghz, is the same as 2.2GHz, etc.. The selling point will shift (is shifting) to 'how well can I get my stuff done', 'does the gui impede my work or does it stay out of my way', etc..
There will always be those needing every cycle they can possibly squeeze out of their processor.. fine. For some of them, it will come from the x86 camp.. Others will get faster performance from G4s and G5s for their line of work. You may want to revisit your statement.
i'd really like to assume that you're kidding about this.. Windows is YEARS behind Apple in this area. The OS X gui (quartz, aqua, openGL, etc), while not to everyone's particular taste, can do more than anything I've ever seen come out of Redmond. Now, maybe XP is 'better' than previous Windows gui's,.. but Christ, how hard is that to do?!..
'Sensible Solutions'? Initials: SS Now why does that sound vaguely familiar?????
It's all fun and games until someone loses the key to the handcuffs.
You are a fucking idiot aren't you, yes you are...whose a fucking idiot? yes ! yes! such a sweet fucking idiot. I love you fucking idiot, you have changed the world for me. I can't believe i survived without my own fucking idiot for so long.
Thus spake Microsoft's Mike Maples, who may have since left the company, "If someone thinks we're not after Lotus and after WordPerfect and after Borland, they're confused ... My job is to get a fair share of the software applications market, and to me that's 100 percent." (Emphasis mine)
Maples said this around 10 years ago, but that was and still is pretty much the mentality of everyone in power in the company-- even with 95% of the market, the greedy bastards still lose sleep at night at the thought of dollars going into a competitor's coffers.
The above quote either came from Cringely's Accidental Empires, or Wallace & Erickson's Hard Drive, I can't remember right now-- I recalled it verbatim because it was so galling to read that it has stuck in my mind.
~Philly
Burning Mac
this is all that remains!
[About 90+ per cent of testimonials...]
"Yes, I switched to MS.
"I was a happy Apple user until corporate IT said that we had to standardize on a single platform, and since PCs were in the majority, that's what we standardized on.
"I'm not sure how much our IT costs have come down, but certainly now, after the transition, I'm resigned, I'm unhappy and, with medication, I can tolerate the crap that MS puts on my monitor at least 40% of the time."
"Provided by the management for your protection."
I switched to Linux from windoze. WIndoze was to cluncky and was crashing and virus issue every day.
I got so tired of blue screen of death of windoze I decided to try linux and I love it. I do my word processing in open office and my image editing in gimp. Linux is so easy to use.
thanks linux
Very true, since the XP interface is only the third interface change MS has ever done (Win .xx-3.xx, Win 95, and now XP), and it's hardly a revolution. Outside of chaning icons for every app I can't see anything XP's interface can do that OS X can't, if anything OS X will prove the more extensible.
Odd, that's exactly the opposite of my machine. Mine boots slow as hell, but after that runs real nice. I've got a Athlon 1700+ (1.47 GHz) with 512 MB DDR.
I don't think anyone is calling the "Switch" campaign innovative. People refer to it more as refreshing, notable, memorable or some other mildly positive adjective.
Innovative is an overused and frequently incorrectly used adjective. It is used way too much on this board and in the tech sector in general.
Innovate really isn't something someone consciouly does. Something is usually declared innovative by someone other than the originator of the product or idea.
Think about it. When was the last time you woke up in the morning and said, "I think I'll innovate today."?
Chances are, that sentence has never come off your lips ever,
Pooty tweet
It looks like real work to me. You have to go to considerable effort to hide M$'s loss of PC share. You used to hear silly things like "only 5%" of the world does not use M$ at the same time you knew that 7% of users were on Macs. Now we hear M$ say that about 10% of users have Macs and that Linux is larger than Mac. Hmmmm, how to juglgle those numbers and make it look like one in five people are sailing along just fine without any help from Redmond? I suppose you just keep on lying. It must work the same way the RIAA uses the media to blame "internet piracy" for declining sales of music. Ha! Just keep on putting out the same old BS.
The problem comes when people realize you are full of shit. Then no amount of spending can save you.
DMCA, Hollings, Palladium. What might have sounded like paranoia is now common sense.
Preferences => dock => turn magnification off => turn auto hide on. Yellow minimizes the window and places it in the dock next to the trash can (the little divider in the dock seperates applications from folders and windows). Maximize maximizes the window to fit the content, not to fill your screen. As for the commands, they all seem pretty universal to me, I think you're just trolling.
T Money
World Domination with a plastic spoon since 1984
He may have an entry-level computer with 128mb RAM or less.
:-( ).
... or should it?
My company bought Compaq 1.8ghz Celeron machines with 128mb RAM, which is double the amount of RAM we had with Windows 2000, and four times the amount of RAM we had with Windows 95 or 98, and it's definitely slow if you run more than one or two applications at a time, and even when you're not running much, it will slow down at odd spots such as performing routine tasks in the Control Panel. (I know because I have to do many of them
I know the Celeron isn't the sharpest chip on the block, but I'd think it should be able to beat a system that has a quarter the clock speed
Incidentally, I use a PowerBook G4/1ghz Superdrive system both at home and at work, and it's blazingly fast on everthing but window resizing. The problem, of course, is that most people resize windows a lot. When I started maximizing them instead of resizing, my troubles with MacOS X faded away fast.
Today, MacOS X is by far my favourite operating system.
D
If you press the green button to maximize (the yellow button doesn't maximize!), it will maximize based on the contents of the window. So if you maximize a page with a lot of table-based page layout, it will size itself based on the widest table.
The problem with this is that if the page is still loading, and there's even wider stuff below, it will not change to reflect it. Just maximize again to fix this.
In my view, this is actually a good thing because you retain the ability to see multiple windows on the screen at once. So maximizing sets the window size to the smallest size that lets you see all the content.
MacOS X performs extremely well for me, and I'm using a computer only a bit faster than the one I assume you bought. I have a PowerBook G4/1ghz with SuperDrive, and it's blazingly fast on everything but resizing web browser windows. I solve that problem by maximizing the windows instead of resizing. Works great for me.
Sadly, no computing environment is perfect. I think MacOS X is a lot better than the competition (Linux, Windows, etc). However I agree that there's plenty of room for improvement, on all sides.
D
"I used to be an OSX user. It was a lot of work being creative, and coming up with new ideas all the time."
"now I'm a dedicated XP user, and it's so much easier just copying other people's original ideas."
I made the switch and is cost me $7,000.00+ but I could not be happier. Below is the list of systems I was using followed by the Apple systems I purchased.
.99, ran X-Windows on the 486 33Mhz upgraded to a DX266 chip at about the time those Stealth VESA cards were finally supported through XFree86!
Sony Vaio 1.8Ghz - WinXP Pro upgraded from WinME
Micron PC 400Mhz PII - Win2k Pro upgraded from Win98
3 Generic Clones ranging from 90Mhz to 266Mhz now running Linux exclusively.
Sun Blade 100 500Mhz SPARC 64bit - Used for learning Solaris and Sun hardware. Part time server for training purposes.
Gateway Solo 2500 333Mhz laptop - ran Linux for a long time, currently collecting dust.
The above is well over what I paid for the Apples that I will list below. Keep in mind that included with the above boxes I fully bought and licensed every version of Windows and a whole lot of Microsoft software such as MS Office over the years.
DOS/Win3.11
Win95
Win95 OEM.B
Win98
Win98SE
WinME
WinNT
Win2k Pro
WinXP Pro
MS Office 95/97/2000
I've been running PC's since my Atari ST 4meg became obsolete. My very first comptuer was an Atari 800XL 64k RAM. My first PC was a 486 33Mhz as my first home PC purchase. Used 8086 286 and 386 computers in my profession before I bought one. I've run Linux since Slackware with a kernel version prior to
So as you can see I've been there and done that. Just prior to MS Win95 I ran OS/2 Warp and was deeply impressed. It's a shame IBM blew it...
I've programmed in everything from BASIC to Java and all the languages in between except for LISP.
Here is what I just spent 7,000+ on from Apple.
- PowerBookG4 550Mhz (OS X 10.1.5 won me over)
- MS Office X
- PowerMac G4 Dual 1Ghz MDD
- 2 - 17" Studio displays.
- Miscellaneous accessories and things like memory and a Brenthaven laptop backpack, etc.
- Additional software such as CorelDraw! Suite
I switched because Apple finally came out with a professional OS that is Unix based. It combines all the advantages of WinXP or OS/2Warp with all the raw power and flexibility of Unix. Plus I can run mainstream software such as MS Office X and Corel Draw, Adobe applications, X-Windows software, etc.
The Apple hardware designs are truly superior, sure the Motorolla processors haven't kept up but that is not a major issue with me. This Dual processor G4 PowerMac does absolutely everything I need and is plenty fast enough. In fact, I am able to accomplish so much more in a much more efficient manner that my productivity has tripled!
History shows that I am not an Apple nutcase. I never took Apple seriously until OS X made the scene. I've been watching it closely since the earliest releases and drooling over it. I never could afford a NeXT system but I always dreamed of having one. NeXT was so far ahead of it's time that few understood it. Today, Apple's Mac OS X is the next NeXT and it is a tremendous accomplishment!
I refuse to buy anymore PC's (unless OS X is ported to the x86 Intel/AMD platform)! I will be replacing the Sony Vaio running XP with an iMac 17" before the end of this year. This box serves as a family PC and I am getting tired of fixing it and patching the security issues that come out every 2 weeks. I've got the damn thing firewalled twice plus I filter it's communications with the outside world for fear of spyware and trojans that NAV could miss.
It's a brave new world and Apple will get us there. Bravo Apple! I am a switcher!
Microsoft be damned...
I wonder if M$ will have a hard time finding stoner kids to star in their ads...
How is it "pathetic, and lazy" to provide an opposing viewpoint/counterpoint to a competitors direct attack on you? Seems like good business sense to me, personally.
"Politicians are interested in people. Not that this is always a virtue. Fleas are interested in dogs." P.J. O'Rourke
Expect Less, Pay More
Microsoft took Target's slogan and reversed it, I can't imagine how that is going to make any Mac user want switch to Windows. The campaign should be "Please Don't Lease Microsoft Campaign" instead. Look at the software facts:
$199 buys you the UPGRADE ONLY version of Windows XP Professional sans web server, ftp server, network utilities, rendezvous etc, etc.
whereas
$199 buys you 5 FULL VERSIONS of OS X with apache webserver, ftp client/Server, network utilities, ssh, better stability and so on. And as an added bonus it plays well with other OSes including Windows!!!
This info is from Microsoft's and Apple's web sites.......Do you still want to stick with Microsoft???
"You helped our nation celebrate its bicentennial in 17 -- 1976." --George W. Bush, to Queen Elizabeth, Wash
I'm a Windows user, and I'm downright FOND of my computers. I always call them by name, I tell them "Good computer" when they've particularly pleased me or worked really hard (which is often), and they reward me by loving me back. In fact, I think I'll go give them all a hug right now. :)
Seriously, tho, I do know what you mean -- and it's a user thing, not an OS thing (I know Mac users to whom the computer is just a tool, even tho they're fanatical about using only *one brand* of tool). Even some DOS users name their computers, and many of us notice that different machines have different "personalities". In my WinTribe, Dink and Gremlin "feel different" due to having far different histories, even tho their current core hardware is almost identical.
Some folk will say "you're just anthropomorphizing your computer" but if it's a choice between that and being afraid of the magic black box, I'll just keep right on talking to my computers!!
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
It's not lazy... it's creepy.
Next you we'll hear is that Bill Gates has taken to wearing Steve Jobs' old shirts. Unwashed.
Super Villains switch to Linux (warning: it's Flash)
-Steve (not the Steve from the animation)
Hey, Windows users, there is no such thing as "forward" slash, there is only slash and backslash.
Photoshop 7 - G4 dual 1Ghz opens a 120Mb map scan from LandInfo (digitized topo) in 20 seconds. Same file on my 2Ghz PC - 1.5 mins. Actions speak louder than words. People want to use PCs? SURE! Less competition. Hell, buy TWO! (you'll need em).
iBook cost over two years: .Mac account: $200 ($100 x 2)
iBook: $1000
iLife: $50
Total: $1250
I still stand by the hardware repair issue which is the biggest reason not to buy a Mac. I recently needed to replace the internal iMac CDRW (my two year old shoved 2.5 CDs in it) and found out it would be $180 (parts alone and me doing the install)! The same thing in the PC world would cost me $60. Try find a PS for a Mac and a PC. The PC version will cost you $80 (for a nice one), available most anywhere and 5 minutes to install. The Mac is atleast $200 and needs to be installed by a service tech (for most folk). Two weeks of downtime. I once went 6 weeks w/o my iMac (bad PS which in turn fried the CRT) while Apple dicked around with it. And it was only a month old before it died. Yes, Apple sent me a new one and it has worked well since then but no system for 6 weeks sucked.
A reasonably priced ($200 w/o CPU) ATX Mac motherboard from Apple would bring me back into the fold. Until then I live on GNU/Linux and Win XP (which is better than Win98 and still years behind OS X).
Dude thats freaking genious.
Even if I say something insightfull or inteligent, it doens't matter cause I'm an ass.
The Switch ads have been an endless source of office comedy where I work.
We have one Mac user in the office and he has been quiet a sport about the ribbing he has taken.
We have had many votes on who these people are and if we should take away thier thumbs for the obvious threat their continued use of tools and other object present to the rest of the bipedal population.
I feel very sorry for the
like uh stoner girl who like uh lost her homework.
I am very sorry for the genetic mayhem released on the general population by the Woman who could not install a driver for her camera
And I am scared to death that a police officer with access to firearms can not plug in a cable.
I did however like the drunkgamers.com parady, upgrades are so easy on the Mac, you just unplug it toss it in the trash and go by a new one.
Blatantly, where do you get the idea that Macs are hugely more expensive? This an old myth and is now a fallacy, let it die.
Integrate Keynote and LaTeX
...that can handle anywhere from 100,000 to 1,000,000 transactions a second?
Can a Mac do this?
Dolemite
Save the World! Use a Quote!
Meanwhile, Marketing's switch to dells and XP has left them miserable. Does that count? Sure was a sensible switch in my mind. Their loss, my gain! In fact I'm typing this in using Safari right now!
I said business systems. Not business applicaions.
Dolemite
Save the World! Use a Quote!
Read this post please.
Dolemite
Save the World! Use a Quote!
Wow. When I finish counting all the ways that statement was stupid, I'll yell at you. But before I spend the next three months of my life reciting numbers, here's a little useful feedback.
1 - Starcraft has been out for Mac for a long time. In fact, you don't even have to buy two copies to have both the Mac and Windows versions, as they're on the same CD.
2 - Only an idiot would pay "twice as much" for hardware upgrades. The only non-standard part in a Mac is the motherboard and the processor mounted on it.
3 - They don't lock up "once a day" any more than Windows does(more like once a week regularly and ten times in a single day when it's acting up), and judging by your time frame(before the release of SC), I'd wager you haven't even *seen* MacOS X. Don't bash it unless you've tried it.
4 - There are tons of games for the Mac. Unless you're looking for shitty games(like the latest no-name shooter or EQ clone), chances are, you'll find plenty of decent games on the Mac. Hell, there's even a game finder that puts GameSpy to shame called GameRanger.
Next time you troll, try trolling with one or two of your brain cells active.
I said business systems. Not business applications.
Dolemite
Save the World! Use a Quote!
Not such problem with my Dell. No one could care less about it.
"Under the spreading chestnut tree, I sold you and you sold me."
I wonder when people will realize that Apple is the only tech company in this time actually doing well and not drowning in red ink. Apple will never die as long as it it has its hardcore section of fans.
Point taken. But what about new customers/markets?
Dolemite
Save the World! Use a Quote!
As far as reliability and repair go, I've found that the macs I've used have been fine, although anecdotal evidence either way is not really useful. A good survey that tells you statistically which is more likely to break, and which is more likely to break expensively, is going to be more useful.
You have to realize that most Mac users are really just Windows haters. Throughout the 90's Apple put out some of the worst computers and OSs ever. They finally have started getting things right recently and all of sudden they are forgiven for the years of torment they gave to their once loyal customers. I personally think that Apple was far more negligent than Microsoft ever was.
Switch to Linux.
I could not justify my existence if I were a turkey farmer. Would I terminate myself? Undoubtably, yes.
"So when does it just stop being the sincerest form of flattery and just become utter, pathetic laziness?"
Are you talking about Microsoft copying the Apple ad? Or are you talking about Apple copying Windows? Or are you talking about the poster of the story?
I vote for the latter. Find something interesting to talk about rather than bash Microsoft - it is getting really boring seeing the same hipocritical judgements over and over.
It's the new dialog boxes that drive most OS9'ers crazy. OS X definitely took a step backward in terms of navigation through the dialog boxes, which made a lot more sense in 9. I've gotten used to them by now but I saw a lot of frustration expressed on lists and so forth about the new dialog boxes; Apple should really rethink them, or Default Folder X should get a lot better....
Looks like Slashdot has switched to OS X too :)
I don't keep a lid on my coffee so when I walk around I look busy -me
Sorry, I don't like to wield numbers like that like weapons, but certain types of comments make me fly off the handle.
I found the meaning of life the other day, but I had write-only access.
...and I use a Mac. The connection? Neither one ever lets me down.
Right on Xyde.
Apparently Amigaluvr was looking for a date for this V-day, hit on Danamania, and found an unexpected surpise.
Perhaps he's just overcompensating up for his own hidden transgender feelings. The biggest homophobes are usually closet homosexuals who take out their self-loathing on other people.
"Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."
why bother? even M$ recognizes the future of gaming is consoles. Your a fool to let games be your primary factor.
If apple really wanted to put the hurt on M$, they would offer a PS2/mac bundle.
Hi, my name is Bill Gates. I switched from using a Macintosh about 3 years ago, when I was finally able to kick enough ass in my engineering department at Microsoft to make an operating system that didn't suck ass so completely that it was a pain to use. Heck, now with the economy like it is, when I go down to visit the engineering department most of my higher-level engineers just automatically assume the position when they hear me coming down the hall.
Of course then that nasty Steve Jobs came out with those lovely Titanium Powerbooks and OS X. So I twisted some arms over at Sony and they gave me one of those nifty new Vaios, and 'convinced' my engineering department to put a shiny new interface on the next version of Windows, Windows XP, so that it would be just like using a Mac with OS X. I can barely tell the difference, they're so similar! It's great! We even gave the interface a cool new name, Luna, like the Mac's Aqua!
The reason I switched is because I simply can't stand for anybody not to be using Microsoft software for all their computing needs! If I could just get you last few people to switch over I could finally control all web and network standards and squash that pesky IBM like the annoying mosquito it is, and with IBM out of the way, there will be no one left with enough power to stop me! And who does IBM think it is anyway, supporting OPEN-SOURCE software? If they thought that little OS/2 thing was painful, then they have no idea what's in store for them! DO YOU HEAR ME, IBM?
And once I control all the web and network standards, all other computer companies will bow down before my might! YES! THAT MEANS YOU, STEVE! BETTER GO BUY SOME KNEEPADS! CUZ YOU'RE GONNA BE MY BITCH! NO MORE MR. NICE GUY! WE'LL SEE WHO WOWS THE CROWDS NOW, STEVIE-BOY! YEAH!! Yeah... yeah...
I'm Bill Gates and I own a computer software company.
-----
Free yourself. Everything else will follow.
is here.
i just switched at work from a g4 w/ osx to a dual monitor debian box. the g4 was my first mac and this is my first linux. honestly, i liked the osx for the most part, its just that i felt like it was holding my hand the whole time (kinda lika aol, but not in the stability dept, hehe). the command line was awesome. the ftp even had (new to me, anyhow) lpwd for local pwd. for the most part, it seemed that osx was simply a mac-bastardized linux flavor. i dunno, make up your own mind. i didnt hate it
i sell illegal drugs
If a page is built to be HTML compliant it's going to render pretty much the same across all of the browsers.
It's the lame IE only extensions that people are always using that muck things up for other browsers.
Now on to the next target: http://www.lux-world.lu/. The good news is that in addition to running an IE-only site, these lusers also run an open mail relay (you need to specify an address @lux-world.lu in your mail from: command). Yum, spam, yum! Our team is currently busy registering them with a number open relay block lists, in order to diminish the customer value of their webmail service as much as possible ;-)
Say no to software patents.
Homer: And, as usual, we Joe Twelve-Packs get the royal screw job.
Moe: [stands up] Homer's right. We're getting the Joan Collins special.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
Because it is so innovative. They have this thing it is called mouse, you can move it. And they have actual windows in the monitor, yes windows. And all this cool stuff Microsoft invented, like the mouse, the internet,
and did I mention those cool windows you can move around. Ha, beat that Apple. You can never copy this thing which amuses me the most, this blueish thing which shows that the machine actually did something before it had to go to sleep.
I am Anonymous Coward and a computer professional
"So when does it just stop being the sincerest form of flattery and just become utter, pathetic laziness?"
Most of the switch ads have some person complaining about how difficult or unreliable pcs are and how reliable and easy to use macs are. Since the MS bashing in the commercials are overly subjective, it only makes sense to find people who will testify the opposite is true.
Vote for Pedro
What the hell is it about the free world (and free software) that pisses everyone off anyway?
Stupid jealous fools.
"Sensible"
Fucking Ridiculous
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_U.S._Election_c
...Back in '93. I had a sweet Amiga 3000 running AmigaOS 3.1. Sheer perfection... for a year or two...
It wasen't 'till a couple of years later when the nicer PowerPC macs started appearing on campus that I felt it was time to move on. But never since that time have I been so completely satisfied by a hardware/software combination...
One of these days I'll get ahold of a modern Mac and see if that level of "niceness" is attainable still...
This implies that Apple is feeding MS marketing info on people using Macintoshes... How/why did Apple get around to doing this???
OS Software is like love: The best way to make it grow is to give it away.
where do you get the idea that Macs are hugely more expensive?
From Apple's website.
Your lack of technical skill doesn't make Macs more expensive.
I am a believer of momentum and curves.
I'm quite a fan of MS' other lame ad campaign I've been hearing lately, mostly in radio ads.
"Office XP-- It costs less!"
Worst. Slogan. Ever.
I couldn't find a link, or even a reference anywhere. I'll try and soundcap it sometime tomorrow.
Fembots and Orbital Death Weapons are nice, but if you can't run Photoshop, nobody is going to want it. Get it?
-- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
"Forget Insanely Great -- Here's Greatly Insane!"
"Say Hello To Your New Cellmate: Windows 'Bubba' XP"
"Britney Spears Explains How Microsoft and DRM Help Put Her 'In The Mood' For Responsible Fun!"
"More Than 60,000 Viruses Can't Be Wrong!"
Free slashdot account! Excellent Karma!
username: amigaluvr
password: password
My name is Darren Howard Hayes. I am an arrogant fool who gets off on abusing people on IRC and web forums. I have a sad life. I am 43 years old and am still single. I talk shit regularly and when called on it I lie to try worming out of the situation. I have been known to mail bomb, packetflood and stalk my internet co-users. I am a loser in life and I was stupid enough to use the same password on my email, irc and web forum accounts. I may not be around much any more. I Apologise to the two Steves, I am sorry for the porn spam! really that was very immature of me. I have signed myself and my own family members for all the porn I can get to show my deep sorrow. Apologies for the email bombing to Agnus, Para and cRo on #amigazone, I will definately stop now. I am sorry I called Danamania a transexual, I know I am such a smelly personality-free blob I never had a chance of getting in your pants to find out. I apologise to everyone else for existing.
Gamespy is a piece of crap. Gamers use All Seeing Eye. Macs have a limited quantity of commercial games, and only whiny twits go out of their way to put down genres that thrend toward avoiding their low-performance hardware platform.
green button, yellow.. i returned the thing a couple months ago. It ran like a dog, and the inconsistent resizing bothered me. No other OS does this; hell, even Linux has some better window sizing behaviours, and the KDE kicker dock doesn't resize, or need to be anchored, or have little icons that jump around seemingly to random positions depending on how I open an app. However, none of this really matters since I switched right back to Windows. I'll give Mac a chance again someday, probably around OSXI (or whatever they call the major number).
just like the humble blood clot... turboporsche@telus.net
My new machine - a HP Pavilion 750n, P4-1.8, 512MB RAM. It should fly, from everything I've read, but it simply doesn't. From video encoding to video playback, games, sound editing, etc. it just sucks compared to my homebuilt P4-1.6 GHz running Win2K. Can it be the motherboard, FSB speed difference, whatever? No, because the Pavilion runs like a champ with Win2K installed. I'd say the Pavilion with XP runs about as fast as my old P3-750 IBM Thinkpad laptop, which runs Win2K.
My main laptop is an older Compaq Armada, P3-600 with 192MB RAM. It runs beautifully with Win2K, but I've tried XP Pro (same services running, same paging file size, etc.) and there's no comparison. XP sucks. I've done enough testing with enough configurations, from stock to my personal tweaked preferences.
...I didn't know that.
blakespot
-- Heisenberg may have slept here.
iPod Hacks.com
I've got an Athlon 1800+ with 512MB of DDR, too, and on nForce-based mobo. It takes a while to boot, mostly because I've got a lot of services running on it, then it flies. Since I upgraded to release 4191 of the NVidia drivers, it's never crashed except when I'm pissing around with experimental ring-0 programs.
It runs Mandrake Linux 9.0 and I sleep well at night, knowing that I won't wake up to find my loopback interface renumbered to 169.254.42.69 because the damn silly OS spontaneously decided that my loopback interface needed to be auto-configured but for some reason couldn't find a DHCP server there (true story from an XP-wielding friend, one of many).
Not sure whether I want Adobe to port DreamWeaver to it, or whether they should wither on the vine for being terminally stupid about an exploding new market.
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
I've cleaned and re-arranged since then, but this is why my desk typically looks like.
I worked for 5 years for one of the largest Apple dealers/Service centers in Western Pennsylvania. If you got a Mac fixed in the Pittsburgh area between 1996 and 2000, there is a good chance that I or one of my coworkers did that repair.
I was really gung ho Apple, until I discovered the wonderful world of Computer Gaming. I got sick of waiting for 2 or more years to find out IF a popular game that my Wintel friends were playing was going to come out for the Mac.
This was shortly after the introduction of Win95. It was not nearly as elegant or intuitive as the Mac OS, but it ran all of the games that I wanted to play.
So for years I ran a Windows PC and a Mac side by side. I noticed that when I wanted/needed to perform an upgrade, the PC was much cheaper to upgrade. In a few years I noticed that my PC had gone from a Pentium 100 to a K6-2 450 while my Mac was still a 200 mhz PPC 603ev.
The last straw for me was when Apple killed off the Clones and introcuded the iMac and the Blue & White Powermac G3. Steve Jobs had unilaterally decided that all of the peripherals that had served me perfectly for years were now obsolete. My printers, Scanner, Modem, Joysticks and ISDN adapter were no longer compatible with Apple's equipment. Since Apple insisted on "Thinking Different" for so long, I couldn't use them with any other type of computer. Apple changed their hardware to make it harder for companies like Sonnet and Newer to develop processor upgrades. You can't replace the "logic board" in their machines with an industry standard replacement. Apple fans cheer as brilliand strategy the same type of decisions that they label as monopolistic when Microsoft does it.
At that moment the reality distortion field ceased to have any effect on me. I have almost completely switched to the x86 PC format. I have an Athlon XP 1800 and a Duron 700. My Macs have been packed up for months and I have no plans on using any of them any time soon.
I have several friends who are still under Apple's spell. I can no longer make excuses for Apple. I don't care who is at fault, I want to run the programs that I want to run on my computer. I don't want to run Virtual PC so that I can kind of/sort of play games. I will run them natively on my Windows XP box. I have learned much about network services with my Linux box.
I don't need you any more Apple. Thanks , but no thanks.
Lord Kano
-Too Lazy To Log In
That's my NeXT poster. Can also be seen here.
blakespot
-- Heisenberg may have slept here.
iPod Hacks.com
That would stir things up.
MS should just pay each Apple switcher 1 billion dollars to come back to Microsoft.
I guarentee that would work. Save face, the MS way.
My best friend and I are 25, we knew each other since kindergarden. We know each other. He has heard me talk nothing but praise about Apple my whole life. He just bought his first computer this year. I could see it in him. He had NO reason to get a PC but because everyone else has one.
It was pretty sad to witness.
The only people that want to buy Macs are those who admire quality. Not just those who admire quality, but those who are willing to give up a few dollars for it.
My friend is not one of those people.
MS should not bother with Apple - they are not a threat. Besides , if you just bought an applat (400% overpriced) why on earth will you leave something that "expencive" for a cheap (150% overpriced) equvilant pc ?
What is a threat to MS is lunix - and i can see it now "uhm, i was like confused the all the black and the gray command thingy, so I load windows xp"
What a bunch of loosers with an inferiority complex. First they became "very successful" copying everything from Apple, which of course coppied from Xerox... but thye havent stopped copying yet... still copying, copying and copying!
I've used Mac for years to do my job when one day Microsoft bought out the company I work for.
I continued to use Mac becouse they said I could. But I'd find people stealing my pens and every now and then someone would say "Your still using THAT?" and "No wonder your late". The later being very annoying considering I'm the only one on the team who is consistantly ahead of scedual.
Then project team members would complain they couldn't open my files. They would automaticly try to open my files in some funky format for the Atari 800 or Commodore 64 that Windows never supported anyway instead of the Microsoft office formats I saved them in.
Then I cought someone sitting at my computer trying to log in. I lock it down as a matter of habbit so I asked him what he's up to and he said he needed files I didn't have. He assumed becouse they were messed up that they came from me and were in a Mac format. Turns out to be a garbage file from someones experement.
After the monkey left in my cubical urinating on my Mac HQ sent down a Windows system.
Thats when I switched.
After that I couldn't get my work done as the computer couldn't handle the work load. I was eventually fired.
Now I work a a fast food place using Windows NT for the regasture. No I'm tech support.. opp there's my beeper again. Somebody must have ordered the super god burger specal 5 that always takes out the whole network.
I don't actually exist.