Mad as Hell, Switching to Mac

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Mad as Hell, Switching to Mac

Posted by Zonk on Thursday May 26, 2005 @01:35AM from the i-want-you-to-go-to-the-window dept.

justAMan writes "Security dude, Winn Schwartau, has posted an article on Network World about switching his company to Macs because he's fed up with the security issues plaguing Windows-based systems. He also offers his view on why Windows is inherently flawed and why it will eventually fail because of those reasons. From the article, 'This is my first column written on a Mac - ever. Maybe I should have done it a long time ago, but I never said I was smart, just obstinate. I was a PC bigot. But now, I've had it. I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore.'"

30 of 1,262 comments (clear)

Flame on... by It+doesn't+come+easy · 2005-05-26 01:36 · Score: 3, Funny

Wowzers, every post on this topic is going to be modded flamebait...

Asbestos suits, anyone?

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The NSA: The only part of the US government that actually listens.
1. Re:Flame on... by Golias · 2005-05-26 01:46 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Hey, Windows users: Use whatever you like. I don't give a fuck. If one of you decides that switching to the Mac is a good idea, it really donesn't make my preference of computers any better. ... and you can tell I'm posting from work using Firefox on a PC, because the built-in spellcheck on my iBook at home would have caught that "donesn't" crap.
  
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  Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
2. Re:Flame on... by NoMoreNicksLeft · 2005-05-26 01:58 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  I thought I was allowed to reply to what the parent post said (Jobs a hero). But thank you Officer McRelevancy, I won't do it again. Please don't haul me off to slashdotjail.
3. Re:Flame on... by Golias · 2005-05-26 02:03 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Please don't haul me off to slashdotjail.
  
  They have that!?
  
  Holy crap, I'd better stop pointing out that Futurama and The Family Guy were never very funny.
  
  --
  Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
4. Re:Flame on... by Yer+Mom · 2005-05-26 03:10 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  First post!
  ...
  
  Damn. Looks like the software needs some tweaking.
  
  --
  Never mind Spamassassin. When's Spammerassassin coming out?
5. Re:Flame on... by Theaetetus · 2005-05-26 04:07 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  But by god, this guy is right, and people need to listen to him. I'm an "anything but windows" person, and ugly as OSX is to me, I bet it's pretty tolerable to most people out there and it definitely qualifies on the "anything but windows"
  My problem is when people aren't tolerant - my IT director here is a "Windows-only" person... in spite of the fact that we're a radio station doing audio production on Macs. He hates them with a passion, refused for the longest time to let them on his network, and keeps trying to put PCs running Windows 98 into the studios for doing audio... in spite of the constant crashing every time he tries.
  
  Right tool for the right job, right? Isn't it about efficient, secure, reliable usage? In this case, the only tool I've got is the IT director.
6. Re:Flame on... by NoMoreNicksLeft · 2005-05-26 04:14 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Those people are the least comprehensible of all. I wonder if he is a sexual masochist too, or if he is only a IT masochist.
7. Re:Flame on... by anagama · 2005-05-26 05:21 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  COMPUTERS ARE NOT A RELIGION
  
  Goddamned athiests. Hope you burn in Seattle!!
  
  --
  What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
8. Re:Flame on... by xSauronx · 2005-05-26 11:09 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  not honey, but goddamnfuckingcrazybitch isnt on any of my spellchecker lists either.
  
  --
  By and large, language is a tool for concealing the truth. -- George Carlin
*Opens Window* by suso · 2005-05-26 01:37 · Score: 2, Funny

I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore.
1. Re:*Opens Window* by 10Ghz · 2005-05-26 02:08 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Life is like a mop. Sometimes life gets full of dirt and crud and hairballs and things and you gotta clean it out. You gotta stick it in here and rinse it off and start all over again. And sometimes life sticks to the floor so much that a mop, a mop, it's not good enough. You gotta get down there with like a toothbrush, you know, and you gotta really scrub 'cause you gotta get it off. But if that doesn't work, you can't give up. You gotta stand right up. You gotta run to a window and say, "These floors are dirty as hell, and I'm not gonna take it any more!"
  
  --
  Lesbian Nazi Hookers Abducted by UFOs and Forced Into Weight Loss Programs - -all next week on Town Talk.
Uh oh... by tgd · 2005-05-26 01:39 · Score: 5, Funny

Queue the "why not use Linux on the hardware you already have" brigade! Fire up the klaxons! Bwooop, bwooop, bwooop!
1. Re:Uh oh... by clifyt · 2005-05-26 02:48 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  You are right...it takes a while to troubleshoot a Mac because the problems happen so rarely.
  
  On the PC, I have to troubleshoot all the time...I don't look at it as time unproductive, I look at it as time educating myself for when it happens to the next person at work, or friends, or next door neighbors.
  
  Macs? I'll see a problem and it is a waste of my time...I'll never find anyone with that exact problem again and its 3 hours wasted.
Meanwhile... by Otter · 2005-05-26 01:39 · Score: 1, Funny

...I notice that Slashdot has banned itself from the Ask Slashdot RSS feed for downloading too often...

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What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
Good 'switch' argument by Inigo+Soto · 2005-05-26 01:41 · Score: 4, Funny

But now, I've had it. I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore.
Ahhhh... Who doesn't like a cool, balanced opinion?
Maybe he should compete? by naer_dinsul · 2005-05-26 01:43 · Score: 2, Funny

Maybe we should forward the article straight to Microsoft?

You never know, he might win!
Mad As Hell by jetkust · 2005-05-26 01:46 · Score: 4, Funny

I'm mad as hell and i'm not going to RTFA anymore.
We can take his name off by WormholeFiend · 2005-05-26 01:50 · Score: 1, Funny

the list of potential people who could meet Bill Gates...
Who and Where? by Kainaw · 2005-05-26 01:53 · Score: 3, Funny
Who is this Winn Schwartau guy and what company is he talking about. He says he is in "security", so we better take his word for it when he says Windows is insecure and Mac isn't. His reasons (for those who don't want to RTFA). (my comments are inline)
- Windows is complex (and Mac is as simple as my old TI-99 4/A?)
- New package releases have tons of changes to functionality (yes, with SP2 you suddenly had to use the mouse on the left side of the keyboard or it wouldn't point correctly!)
- WinTel machines use different versions of BIOS (Hmmm... I never realized that Windows absorbed and used my BIOS. That must be why I suck at Doom 3 - I need a better BIOS)
- Some Windows programs take shortcuts (and there are no poorly written Mac programs - none at all. IE5 on Mac displays the web it was meant to be. All other web browsers are broken.)
- Hardware - there is competition in the motherboard market (and we Mac fans despise competition. All motherboards must be assimilated. Resistance is futile!)
- RAM - cheap RAM is, well, cheap (especially when you buy it from that guy under the Interstate overpass. I used to be up to 4 sticks a day - that is until the intervention...)
- Hard drisks - cheap drives are, well, cheap (I'm glad I had the intervention before I got into the hard stuff. Don't let anyone fool you. RAM is just a gateway device. Mess with cheap RAM and you'll be spinning up the cheap Hard Drives before you know it.)
Damn... I forgot to turn on sarcasm mode so the overly serious /. idiots would know this is all just a joke...
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The previous comment is purposely vague and generalized, but all of the facts are completely true.
winn schwartau? by jrg · 2005-05-26 02:00 · Score: 1, Funny

Winn Schwartau

isn't he on the jedi council? ;P
What the Hell?? by chrisnewbie · 2005-05-26 02:09 · Score: 2, Funny

Switching to MAC for those reason is like saying i'm going homosexual because women have flaws!! Mac has flaws too i'm sure (no O.S is perfect)! the user are just blinded by all the pretty lights and colors of the desktop!
Re:my next machine will be a powerbook by Joseph+Vigneau · 2005-05-26 02:14 · Score: 2, Funny

iPod even helped get me in the store to play with them.

They let you in even if you don't have an iPod, you know...
Good Point by doublem · 2005-05-26 02:19 · Score: 2, Funny

MAC vs. PC is Sooooo 1990's.

Today's war is PC vs. Linux, and Slashdot if the focal point for this cutting edge flame war.

VI vs. Emacs on the other hand... Let's just say some debates never go out of style.

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"Live Free or Die." Don't like it? Then keep out of the USA
Re:What's wrong with corporate system admins? by ch-chuck · 2005-05-26 02:27 · Score: 2, Funny

The problem isn't windows per se, it's the developers. There's all this bad inertia with the developers

So the problem is DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS

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try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
Repeated at 2 because I still think it's funny by Golias · 2005-05-26 02:50 · Score: 2, Funny

Please don't haul me off to slashdotjail.

They have that!?

Holy crap, I'd better stop pointing out that Futurama and The Family Guy were never very funny.

(Pffft. -1 Flamebait indeed. It's like walking on eggshells with you people sometimes.)

You can't win, Darth. If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.

Burn, Karma Burn!

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Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
Re:Poor Bill can't win by Anonymous Coward · 2005-05-26 04:47 · Score: 1, Funny

My question to you is why have you been buying new releases if not for particular new features?
Well, because newer=better! At least that's what all the commercials say. And, my neighbor Mr. Jones got it yesterday and I don't want to be accused of having a small penis, oh, I mean being obsolete.
Re:What's wrong with corporate system admins? by bogie · 2005-05-26 04:54 · Score: 2, Funny

"The problem with windows is that it's too "secure","

BAWAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Sorry that just sounds so fucking funny.

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If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
Re:"Windows is complex" by nuggetman · 2005-05-26 05:11 · Score: 2, Funny

Think about that nasty widget security flaw

Yeah, that whole downloading a file and copying it to a folder automatically (the widget bar folder) because running "safe" files was enabled by Safari by default. The horror. That just brought my Mac to its knees... oh, wait, it was fixed in 10.4.1 and even without 10.4.1 you can just uncheck that box in Safari.

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...and that's all there is to it.
Re:Crazy by MKalus · 2005-05-26 07:43 · Score: 4, Funny

(avoid the i* stuff and only go with the power* stuff).

There is a PowerPod?

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If you want to e-mail me, use my PGP Key.
Re:Macs won't rule very soon.... by Dr.+GeneMachine · 2005-05-26 10:34 · Score: 2, Funny

Hey, here's a couple of paragraphs for you:
Have fun with them. I know it sucks when you run out of the darn things.

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