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Boot Camp For Suckers?
DigitalDame2 writes "PC Magazine's Editor-in-Chief says the whole Mac/Windows dual-boot thing is really nothing to get excited about. He writes that Boot Camp is really just a plan to get Windows users to convert to OS X." From the article: "Once you've laid out a few kilobucks on your BC system and been frustrated a few times with Windows limitations, what are you going to do? Jobs's bet: You'll start spending more and more time in OS X, until you--too--become one of the pod people. It's sad to see so many of my compatriots being turned into lemmings. Perhaps they'll wake up and smell the Apple pie in the sky--and realize they've been taken for a ride. But I doubt it."
Well...duh! Did anyone think Apple was doing it as a public service?
Next up: Publishers put nice pictures on their book covers so you will buy them. Bastards!!
Mox
...the editor of PC Magazine reads Slashdot? What a shocker. And he even ads* in the requisite amount of Jobs hating because he knows his readers are Windows fans.
All I have to say is: Where's my royalty check?
* Whoops, freudian slip
P.S. What does everyone think of the new comment system?
P.P.S. Yes, I really typed ads. I figured it was more insightful to point it out rather than correct it.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
In economics, the most efficient markets are those that can be directly competed against one another. It's a definite statement of confidence by Apple that they will *support* the means to run a competing OS on their system. This may be the first time (myself included) that users will see the two OS's, side by side. BC is the only economic way of doing this comparison.
:-)
While there may be drivers lacking initially, I have full confidence that the open source community will fill this void. And with both OS's available and with XP trying my patience, maybe I'll finally take the dive full-time into OSX and BC will be a non-issue.
Jim http://www.runfatboy.net/ -- A workout plan that doesn't feel like homework.
I'd rather have Apple pie than Windows pie. Ewww.. gross!
Ouch! The truth hurts!
Isn't there an old commercial from Apple, I seem to think it concerned MS Office for some odd reason, where people moved along in a queue, like lemmings, off the precipice?
...those of us who have a reason to use it will reap the benefits. Yes, Virginia, there are some. Battlefield 2, for example. Annoyingly-single-platform hardware updaters, like cell phone flashers and the like. Those little one-off tasks that I used to have to go find a windows PC for? Not so much anymore. Whee! When I need to do real work? Yep, you're right, I turn back into a pod person.
Seriously, why does this guy care so much?
A hero is someone who knows when to run away. I am a hero. -Trent the Uncatchable
sorta like the pot calling the kettle black;-)
So, users are going to try OS X, find it works better for them, keep using it, and this makes them lemmings and pod people? I would have thought that this term applied better to people who used a system that didn't work as well for them as the alternatives. By starting the argument assuming that OS X is less frustrating than Windows pretty much destroys any change the author had of making a coherent argument that people should now switch.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
It's refreshing to finally see such a non-biased article about Apple.
Honestly, of course Apple did it to get more Windows users to try MacOS. Why else would they do it? They want to grab more market share, that's what the whole Intel shift is all about. To make them out to be evil because they want to improve their own market share at the expense of the competition is silly.
So let me understand this: people compare two os's side by side on the same hardware. When they find that the one they're not familiar with is much better than the one they're used to, and they switch, they're lemmings? I always thought a lemming would be doing what everyone else does just because everyone else does it, which sounds a lot more like your typical Windoze user to me...
Unfortunately, I don't think anyone's going to buy a relatively expensive mac just so they can try osx on a machine that will still run windoze. Boot Camp's primary utility is saving mac users from having to buy a pc to run applications that they need to run, but which only work in windoze. If/when a native mode virtual pc comes out, boot camp will be even less relevant. To that end, I can agree that boot camp is nothing to get excited about, but that doesn't mean it's without merit.
He would make OSX available for the masses, and not tied down to MAC computers alone. How is letting MAC owners put windows on their MAC going to make them switch to MAC?
Go ahead and call me unreliable; reliable is just a synonym for predictable.
So let me get this right...
You buy a *Mac* system to run *Windows*
You find that Windows blows so you increasingly use OS X
And this gives Apple money.
But, you bought the god damned system in the first place! Why do they care if you use Windows or OS X on it?
McDonalds or homemade?
Come on, who doesn't know this? In an earlier article there was even mention of a specific statement that they wanted windows software to run, but, to run badly. The thing is, whether they mean for it to force people to go to OSX or not, it will end up working against them in the end. The fact is, Windows sucks lemons (particularly sour, probably not even ripe ones) but, it's still the most well supported OS you'll find. What this works out to more than anything else is letting mac users not have to throw away all of their old software while finally getting to join the majority in their use of windows.
Sorry linux fans, I'm a big supporter of linux, but, I still have to dual boot to that windows crap (particularly since I'm a gamer, and don't even BOTHER trying to sell linux gaming on me because I've tried it and Unreal Tournament is about the only thing that plays even somewhat well in linux with just a few very rare exceptions.)
I don't his compatriots are the ones who need to wake up.
People will pass up steak once a week, for crap every day.
When OSX came out I was excited about it being built on FreeBSD. And not much later I had the chance to work with it for a few months. The switch is not that easy if you are used to a windows world. Fustrations grew when I had to program on them. Nothing really worked the same way and was a real headach. I know there are many more that would have a hard time making the switch even if they wanted to.
Rember Macs are now just PC's that run OSX too.
Umm..... No, there's a greater chance that you are an idiot.
I knew there was a reason I haven't looked at PC Magazine since 1998. That's not an article, it's a rant. How about some technical details/reasons why he doesn't like boot camp? What a tool.
Um, fool, the "pod people" are the 90%+ who are Windows lemmings, putting up with the myriad faults of that OS. I guess that's what I'd expect from a "PC Magazine" editor...mindless Apple bashing, whether it makes sense or not.
Galileo: "The Earth revolves around the Sun!"
Score: -1 100% Flamebait
PC Magazine's Editor-in-Chief says the Mac OX X is nothing to get excited about. He writes that Boot Camp is really just a plan to get Windows users to convert to OS X. "Once you're with Windows limitations, what are you going to do? You'll start spending more and more time in OS X, until you too discover just how much better things can really be. It's sad to see so many windoze-only patriots being exposed to the superior Max OS. Perhaps they'll wake up and realize they've been taken for a ride by Microsoft all these years.
PJRC: Electronic Projects, 8051 Microcontroller Tools
I mean really. . . . . We all aready knew this. It wasn't some big shocker.
What is a big shocker is that this guy doesn't get the fact that that is exactly the reason that many people are thinking about buying a mac, because they can try out a mac and still have windoz to fall back on (ouch that would have to hurt).
He touts this as if people are jumping into it blindly, and being swindeled. Come on, get with it. Pleople realize this, and are looking forward to it. It's a benefit, not some underhanded sucker punch.
Self proclaimed wannabe geek. You know how it is. Most of us who read this stuff probably fit in that category.
how are you more of a "pod person" for using a system 90% of computer users don't use? shouldn't people start asking why the majority blindly follows Microsoft's every beck and whim? i'd say the people who don't question their OS choice are more "pod people" then anyone who dual/triple/quadruple boots.
Let me get this straight...those people who are currently computing like ALMOST ALL the other people (94% of them at least), who can probably not give a particularly good reason why that is other than "because that's what everyone else is using", and who on a whim decide to try out something new, something different AND LIKE IT...wait for it...are LEMMINGS?
Up is down, left is right, black is white, and now the lemmings are deviants. Fuck me, I need a drink.
Scott
"Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid."
Remember that screed was written by Jim Louderbeck, one of the more notorious anti-Mac PeeCee trolls. I still remember him doing the commentary on a Stevenote carried on ZDTV a few years back, he nitpicked on everything, for no good reasons. Note that his employer, Ziff-Davis, has a major investment from Vulcan Ventures (Paul Allen). Loudermouth knows he has to cater to his owner's financial interests. Nice little doggie, sit up and beg, little Loudermouth!
until you--too--become one of the pod people. It's sad to see so many of my compatriots being turned into lemmings. Perhaps they'll wake up and smell the Apple pie in the sky--and realize they've been taken for a ride.
I count 4.
A feature to encourage people to buy a Mac is really a cunning plan to get them to switch to Mac? Wow, he must be a genius to have figured that one out...
Oh no... it's the future.
Boot Camp is really just a plan to get Windows users to convert to OS X.
Holy crap! Revelation of the year! I can't imagine this being true!
Seriously, how is this possibly a new idea? Of course that's what it's for. And switching because of "limitations" in the other OS makes you a lemming? No, I'm afraid not. That makes you "smart." See, when people decide to stop hitting themselves in the head with a hammer, and instead opt for hitting themselves in the head with, say, a a soft piece of fruit, or an old ham, we call that "learning one's lesson."
The author here needs to get over his own case of being a lemming, and try something new. Pod-people? The whole article stinks of the exact same thralldom the author envisions anyone who switches being caught in.
Yes, I own a mac. Oh, but guess what, I also own a Windows box, and a Linux box! I'm not going to say which one I prefer, because doing so would, at least according to this article, make me a lemming.
Their may be a grammatical error, misspeling, or evn a typo in this post.
before i saw it here on slashdot. The article is a big troll. I told him he should title it "I don't like Macs and Here's Why:" Seriously he compares a lot more than boot camp here. He compares macs to windows as a whole and doesn't say all that much about boot camp in itself. Besides, its still in beta so wait for Leapard before a review like this. He mentions hardware that might not run and upgradability being a problem, but come on the hardware he mentions is the kind of stuff that people that would be using it would know whether or not it would be beneficial to use a mac or not with. The kind of people Boot Camp is for ain't what he thinks it is. Either that or again, he's trolling. Boot camps good for gamers, period. (in my opinion) Everyone else that uses a mac and needs to run Windows software can use virtualization software. OR, boot into windows... but i still see it as mostly for gamers and/or people with some lingering other high powered windows software that doesnt run in mac osx. but again, why would you buy a mac if you do professional editing or some other thing in windows? as he mentioned professional sound cards and such, whatever... this guy is a deuschebag
It seems to be working because I have every intention of buying a MacPro laptop and dual booting OSX. Apple finally took away my last excuse to give them a shot.
Now I just need to give up an arm and leg to get the money to buy one.
There is nothing inherently safe about liberty. That's why so many people died protecting it.
And what happens when Joe Machead tries out Windows for the first time and realizes "Hey, you mean you can play GAMES on this thing?!?" OS X might suddenly not look so attractive and his next purchase be a lower-priced PC.
-Eric
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
I have (somewhere) and old powerpc mac with the 486 card.. It could run windows and mac.
1) Get unwilling thrown into the x86 OEM market
2) Release Boot Camp so Mac users can start supplementing OS X with native Windows applications
3) Virtualization so Apple can leverage the already gigantic Windows software market
4) Finish migrating Apple/OS X application and media APIs onto Windows
5) Dump OS X and pass the savings on to you.
6) Sell pretty x86 OEM boxes and leverage their control of digital media market the same way Microsoft does with their office suite formats
You have to be crazy if you think Apple can survive as the only x86 OEM that is saddled with funding their own niche operating system. Or that Apple marketshare is moving more than a percent or so over the next year.
How real the huge drop in iPod sales went through last quarter will determine the fate of OS X/Mac hardware. If the drop is real and lasting Apple needs to transform themselves rapidly to a real x86 OEM that can compete on price.
My understanding is that BootCamp allows current Mac users to run Windows on their Mac. The article seems to argue that this will encourage Windows users to get Macs and stick with OSX instead of BootCamping in Windows. That may apply to a few people, but for the most part I disagree.
As others have pointed out, it seems that the primary strategy behind BootCamp is: Give people the option to use whatever operating system they like. Apple has allowed their consumers to install Linux on their machines since forever, and now they're allowing Windows, too.
What does Apple have to gain? Profits from hardware sales, of course. Plus, whenever you're buying a Mac, you're also buying OSX, so they're not losing much software profits either. Who else has to gain? Possibly Microsoft in the short run (all those Mac kiddies giving Windows a shot without having to buy a PC).
And then there is the whole other market of people who aren't concerned about software expandability so much as hardware. Macs aren't great for upgrading their hardware. Windows or no windows.
- shazow
The more effete among us have embraced BC because now they can run all their favorite Windows apps on a saucy, sexy Mac.
Wow. Nothing says "class" like a thinly-veiled "Macs are for fags" joke.
You'd exect this sort of thing from a random blogger or Slashdotter, not the freakin' editor-in-chief of PC Magazine.
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
..those of us who have a reason to use it will reap the benefits. Yes, Virginia, there are some. Battlefield 2, for example.
And unfortunately, you're stuck with an underpowered graphics card. I'll pay the premium for a cohesive Unix desktop, but if Apple is not going to give me a little bit more GPU choice, then I'll just stick with running windows and linux at the same time on the same machine, or remote my Kanotix laptop that lives in the basement.
My next computer will probably be the new mac book - i've been wanting to switch to apple for a while cuase windows just drives me nuts, but I need a buffer while i make the transition and I don't feel like having two computer systems. My switch won't be BECAUSE of the macbook, it'll be with it's assistance. I'm sure I'm not the only one.
TFA implies that you're a mere lemming if you switch from one OS to another due to frustration with limitations of the former. If that's not reason enough, what is?
Did anyone else read the headline "Boot Camp For Suckers?" and imagine that this was a camp run by Dogbert? I was ready to sign-up some coworkers.
I suspect that the majority of people are not buying macs to run windows as their primary OS. If so, I'm going to agree with him. If I wanted to spend the same amount of money and run windows, I'd get a tablet. If only Apple made one...
The fact is, the majority of people buying the MacTel, are buying it because it runs OSX AND Windows. No other laptop can really claim that -- at least legally (and easily). This is a really important distinction. I love OSX. I'm a linuxhead, but just having things work, and work together seamlessly. Priceless. (though my desktop is still a linux box)
For my laptop, I have no desire to run windows. I'm through with that agony in my life. I want to enjoy my computing experience. However, I am realistic. There are some applications, unfortunately, that still require windows. Bootcamp gives me the perfect compromise.
So, this editor is way off base. It's true, Apple isn't performing a public service. But they are taking down one more barrier that would normally stop people from buying their computers. And it's true. Once you start using OS X, you find yourself much less likely to go back to Windows. But not because of some strange Apple conspiracy. Because it kicks M$'s ass (comparing apples to lemons?). And this is from someone who wouldn't touch a Mac a couple years ago.
are the people who keep visiting another Ziff Davis spam submission, click next for more pages of adverts...
I think this opinion sacks
ANCILLARY MAGNET, LLC IS A SYNDICATE
I am sure when Bill clues into the idea, we will all be multibooting into Windows CE.
I don't know whether the article is confused or trying to be clever, but I don't think Apple minds 'criticism' such as that.
--- Attorneys Assisting Citizen-Soldiers & Families -
Once you've laid out a few kilobucks on your BC system
Oh, except you can have a bootcamp-able system for well under $1000.
Damn, more poor research on the part of a journalist.
Since when did Steve Balmer become PC Magazine's Editor-in-Chief? *rimshot*
In other words...playing games.
ever have one of those days where you wish you could just rate the article 'troll'.
Jherico
What can the average user can do to ensure his security? "Nothing, you're screwed"
I am telling friends to buy a mac for exactly the opposite reason. Buy the mac and try it out... if you don't like it you can always put Windows on there. I am convinced that they will come to believe that the Mac/OS X are better anyway and keep using it.
I'm sure you know some great programmers, but honestly, they don't know what they're talking about. First, I like OS X because frequently when I have trouble, I can go pull up the source code to Core Foundation and look at the source of the API I'm using. You can't do that with Windows. while Mac OS X's Core Foundation is open source, Windows has no equivalent Open Source code from the OS. Secondly, the Security API allows me to obtain authorization from the user for my application to do anything it. If I wanted, I could use the Security API to get authorization from the user, and then set about destroying the entire operating system. Yes, there are bounds given so that the user can't accidently delete the system folder, but as soon as a Mac OS X application obtains user authorization via the Security API (by the user inputting his/her name and password), the operating system assumes that program is trusted by the user, and at that point, the program can do anything they want.
For your Windows programming friends to say OS X closes off systems, they must have had very little or no Mac programming experience. Apple restricts applications for security reasons, but as soon as an application obtains authorization, all bets are off.
There are a lot of suckers out there, and many slaves to the marketing machine that is Apple, and I bet even most geeks blindly believe "tech specs" and out of context benchmarks if it gives them a good excuse to be fashionable, have the latesty trendy useless gimmick, and for bonus points, send Microsoft a Fuck You.
Also, what's with macs and Hollywood? Pretty much everyone I know who works in the film industry owns a mac. Is it because of the product placement Apple likes to do? They swear they're better without knowing much about them, or even knowing what Linux is.
You sir, have a mediocre grasp of the blindingly obvious!
I'm tempted to go into a lot more detail, but it would just weaken the message...
The universe is a figment of its own imagination.
Making John Dvorak look sane and reasonable since 1988.
I think this guy is trolling for advertisements, even though I agree that Macintoshes are not the end all be all of computers. (I think such a thing does not exist!) There may be a case to be made against Apple Computer's sainthood, but this guy is DEFINITELY NOT the person to make it.
Just once, I would like to see a Macintosh article that is neither dripping with Apple fanboyism nor mindlessly bashing the Mac.
---- "XML is like violence. If it doesn't fix the problem, you aren't using enough."
put his flame retardant suit on!
You're messin' with my Zen Thing, man.....
whereas mac closes off its systems so normal users cant screw it up.
How did this get modded "interesting?"
Care to elaborate how Mac OS X "closes off its systems so normal users can't screw it up?"
I know this because Tyler knows this.
I run two curious little game emulators. The first is called Mame and it permits me run a bunch of antique games once written for public coin-fed consoles. The second is called Boot camp and it permits me to run games on a kooky antique dollar-fed operating system. 537
when I can't even get the damned thing to run X11 properly.
They are trying to walk the line between open source and proprietary and it is stupid sometimes.
Call me crazy but the main thing I really want from a computer is a nice xterm. I can do without the penny ante annoyances like paper clips and file opening drama.
Autonomous Retard -- Is your camp safe? UnsafeCamp.com
not much work for a windows hack when the users move on.
I work in a PC and MAC environment as I work directly with our Graphics Department. All the POD people have been sweating the new MACs and taking Bootcamp courses on Windows XP for the MAC to familiarize themselves with the OS. It's kind of fun being ambi-OS...I like to see them sweat.
Those Apple copmputers are a plague on this land. A plaaaauuuugge! We won't be safe until they're all destroyed, and all their users dead! Go forth, and cleanse our great world, PC-users!!!
-Bill Gates, spoken through Jim Louderback (Editor of PC Mag)
"Seriously, why does this guy care so much?"
Apparently he's noticed that John C. Dvorak's trolling puts the hit count through the roof. Only makes sense to start using the rest of the magazine's brand to start trolling as well.
He's obviously got some sort of logic malfunction, his arguments are both bizarre and full of emotive language. It's professional trolling.
My favorite clip is the restart one
He's got ad space to fill. Mac users don't read his crappy little rag.
Sounds like the legendary comments made by carriage-men as internal combustion began to catch on.
NetInfo connection failed for server 127.0.0.1/local
How many times do we need to hear this crap?
I forgot to mention, that of particular note, is the last paragraph:
"In fact, I'm blaming the AAF for a wide-range of habits espoused by supposedly "creative people." I'll bet it's responsible for tattoos, piercings, and the wide-spread adoption of the phrase "no worries." In fact, I believe that most of today's societal ills can be either indirectly or directly attributed to Apple. Widespread hearing loss? Blame the iPod. Carpal tunnel? Blame the Newton."
This is so insane that it seems he's trying to hint that the rest of the article was just a troll as well. He also links to a piece he wrote where he thought Boot Camp was pretty sweet. I don't know what he's trying to pull, but I'm sure his advertisers are happy.
Guys, guys, guys! Calm down, calm down!
:P
I think he's trying to be funny.
I am English. I know sarcasm. It's what we do. And I think that's what he's trying to do here. It's not very well done, but there are little hints. It's why he links to himself and calls himself "some idiot". It's why he specifically mentions the M-Audio and Kona kit (the latter is Mac only). Of course it works with the Mac.
So all those who are praising him for his insight, for debunking the Mac myth - stop now. Same goes for the Mac fanbois who are trying to find fault with his article.
It's subtle, I'll allow that, but remember: always consult the nearest Brit before responding to something that sounds a little bit too stupid to be true. It probably is.
iqu
You'll start spending more and more time in OS X, until you--too--become one of the pod people. It's sad to see so many of my compatriots being turned into lemmings.
Strange, I thought lemmings were people who all looked, thought, and acted alike. Considering that windows has over 90% of the desktops, wouldn't the lemmings be the windows users. Anyone who leaves the windows camp to move to apple should be considered an anti-lemming...
mp3's are only for those with bad memories
His theory is that dual booters will eventually switch over to Apple's OS because they like it better, and he hopes that they will realize Apple has taken them for a ride? How is using an OS you like better being taken for a ride?
And then he blames Apple for everything! Yes, literally everything. FTFA: "I'll bet it's responsible for tattoos, piercings, and the wide-spread adoption of the phrase "no worries." In fact, I believe that most of today's societal ills can be either indirectly or directly attributed to Apple." I assume this is intended as some sort of lame joke (which his intended audience will not doubt love), but any editor who would let an article of this quality slip through deserves to be fired. It's a shame that he *is* the editor. I've got nothing against editorials, but this goes above and beyond that. He's not expressing a considered opinion, he's just engaging in some "let's all laugh at the other guys because we're better" type humor.
I wasn't exactly planning on buying PC Magazine any time soon, but now I know I won't, at least until this clown is gone.
He seems really angry that Apple may win some people over by not frustrating them like Windows does (according to him). Sounds fair enough to me.
And the next time I'm trying to get a Windows laptop to talk to the outside world.
NetInfo connection failed for server 127.0.0.1/local
Trumpy! You can do stupid things!
*Gasp* Dear sir, are you saying Bootcamp is a crass commerical venture? Surely not. You could no sooner accuse them of that than one could accuse Dvorak and PC Magazine for publishing pointless trolls in order to increase profits?
Oh wait....
But if you decide OSX is a better choice for you, how did you get 'taken'?
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Congratulations to Apple for using the strats, taking a page from Microsoft's playbook, and working to bring in leagues of new users with some of the same classic co-option techniques MS itself used in the heyday of Windows.
I myself was swept up by Microsoft in the late 90s, having been a stalwart Apple zealot from System 5 to System 7.1. But then, I found Windows 95, and commodity PC hardware. Bang, zoom, switch!!
I've been a PC/Windows user from 1996-present, and really a Linux enthusiast at the same time.
I have been transitioning off Windows very slowly for some time, in favor of my favorite Linux distro. Slackware. Presently, I keep XP around mostly for gaming.
I see the attraction to OSX. I've not tried it, but I have previously die-hard Windows/Linux coworkers who have tried the hacked-for-x86-PCs versions, and have grown fond of it (even in the half-dead state that hacking it to run from a commodity PC caused).
Unless Vista is a real showstopper, and espcially if the MacOS were one day permitted on any PC (prolly never happen), I might flip back!
But think about it, this Apple move just SMELLS like something Microsoft would do, doesn't it?
Hey, it's a yin-yang situation here. Once Apple was king and MS was nipping heels, then Apple was near death and MS was Emperor, now... the cycle continues.
USNG: 14TPU4605
Seriously, why does this guy care so much?
Just a guess? Job security. Or if not that in particular (if you can train a monkey to write about Windows, you can retrain it to write about Macs), then perhaps he is feeling the relevance of his "core competence" slowly inexorably slipping away.
He does seem quite bitter about his friends and associates adopting Apple hardware. If some of them find that OS X is a better OS for their daily needs, why would he begrudge them that, calling them lemmings? He even claims that their IQs are going to slip downwards. It might be that the various insults are an attempt at humor, but if so, it doesn't really work.
No, I think this excuse for an article is just a sign of the author's insecurity. You can pretty much smell his fear. I don't know what he has to be afraid of in reality, but this guy is shaking in his boots just the same.
It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
Jealously is a pretty funny thing.
Currently, all of Apple's Intel boxes are geared toward the low-end desktop or the high-end laptop market. Neither of these markets includes the hard-core gamer.
When the first Quad Intel Mac comes out with 2 Core Duo chips (or whatever is the next best thing) and a high end nVidia graphics card, I'll personally go weak in the knees over it.
And for now, the X1600 scratches my Oblivion itch just fine when I'm on the road away from main gaming rig.
He is trying to find controversy in nothingness. Magazine sales and web advert click-through must be down.
In this house we have Linux, OS X, and XP systems. Frankly, I like OS X the best, but that system belongs to my wife. (I run Linux, mostly.) The only down side is that one obscure ap that she likes is only available on Windows. So, bootcamp would be great for that ap. I see bootcamp as a great tool for those that have already decided that OS X would be better for them, but can't switch yet because of some unavailable ap.
Yup, I got that far and realized the rest of the article was probably a joke, too.
OS/2 could run Windows Apps, DOS Apps and Windows itself. If that wasn't enough, it could dual boot to Windows just as easily. So nobody felt much pressure to port applications to OS/2.
Seems to me that by switching to Intel hardware and establiching this dual boot setup, Apple has brought about the same situation. Why support OSX if Mac users can run Windows?
Wansu, th' chinese sailor
So to summarize, if you try out two things and find one is better than the other you are a "lemming."
Whereas if you NEVER BOTHERED to actually try the competing product (OS X), you become the tech expert that is the editor-in-chief of PC Magazine.
Talk about flamebait.
As if someone was there to help with my PC. Who am I going to call when my Web site fails to run... definitely not the manufacturer that made the machine. And most hardware in the Mac is going to be equivalent to PC hardware, so why should I have a problem servicing it?
Big deal.If someone is smart enough to case-mod ther PC...
(1) they will be able to case-mod their Mac... why would this even be a problem? Is there a force field blocking people from going inside their cases?
(2) they will probably be able to get Mac OS X on a PC
It's the consumer's choice to decide whether or not Steve Jobs is ripping them off. If it's worth it, then they will spend the money. What else is there to say? Why insult them for disagreeing with you?
He writes that Boot Camp is really just a plan to get Windows users to convert to OS X."
... I actually booted XP a few times just after I installed it, but now I'm considering removing it altogether, because it annoys me within 5 minutes of using it.
It worked for me... I bought a core duo iMac, though I was used to Windows and Linux as a primary home and work OS, respectively. But i really liked the design and the level of hardware integration of the iMac, so I went for it anyway.
When Boot Camp was released as a beta a few days later I was really excited, especially as it was a vendor-supported dual-boot solution, and I was still using a reasonable number of Windows-only applications and games on a daily basis.
Now I have a native Windows XP install that runs great, just as if I was running normal x86 hardware, and it sucks ass compared to the OS X environment running on the same hardware
Note that this is someone speaking who never used OS X before and used Linux as his primary home OS. Now I'd choose OS X over *any* OS for desktop usage...
Holy cow. Sad to see so many of his compatriots turned into lemmings.
That's right, Windows users, resist the evil enticements of the Great Satan, Apple Computer. When you run into those Windows limitations, just suffer. Don't switch to the other OS, the one that works well. Because you don't want to be a lemming, do you? You don't want to just follow the crowd, do you? No, stick with Windows. The choice of independence.
I bet he'd have a different opinion on thing sif he were with Mac magazine.
I have heard this "windows is more configurable than OS X" mantra far too many times and I think it is missing any merit.
.nib file, open it in Project Builder, modify it, save it, and relaunch the application with your hacked interface.
;) I admit it's neat that you can interact with any windows app or dll via COM (as long as it's registered correctly! yay registry! not!)- Applescript serves that purpose on Macs but it's a little different.
Try this with a Windows app: Right click on the executable, Show Package Contents, navigate to the interface
If you don't like how OS X looks, there are plenty of ways to change it. But people who don't even give Macs a chance from the get-go don't look very hard.
You miss your Internet Exploiter hacks and think Safari must be accepted as-is? Again, you aren't looking very hard.
At least the OS X network preferences/settings are all in one place, as opposed to Windows.
Even the OS X Terminal is way more powerful than Windows' built-in command line! (MS Command Shell notwithstanding, since it's a beta). The irony must be lost on some.
Windows is not lookin' so much more "configurable" now, is it?
The song "Little Boxes" is by Malvina Reynolds. Pete Seeger just made the song more popular with his cover of it.
Nothing interesting to say...MUST...NOT...REPLY...ohtheheckwithit.
I for one welcome a return to serving my Apple Overlords! 1982-1990 were fine years for me, with an Apple IIe, IIc, and IIgs. Not that I have (much) against my current overlords, whom I still faithfully serve! (Until the revolution comes).
Yes, we understand these tags always apply: fud, dupe, typo, slashdotted, topic name
...or the high-end laptop market
Except they don't have high-end video cards. I've got a Nvidia 7800 in my Inspiron 9300 and I only buy laptops these days. Maybe one day Apple will offer me what I want.
"In fact, I believe that most of today's societal ills can be either indirectly or directly attributed to Apple." LOL what a sad hater
The logic of the piece appears to be thus:
1. I don't like Macs, Apple, or Steve Jobs.
2. I don't like anything that can't be tinkered with.
3. Boot Camp is an Apple Product.
4. By #1 and #2, anyone who likes any of the above is an idiot and/or brainwashed.
5. By #3 and #4, Boot Camp is for idiots.
While #5 may proceed logically from #3 and #4, #4 does not proceed from #1 or #2.
I'd say the author has a wonderful future ahead of him in either Slashdot trolling, talk radio, or writing about politics. Editing a computer magazine? Not so sure about that one.
Pure hypocrisy...
Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
When I first got my PowerBook, I thought I would keep my Windows desktop around and run the two in parallel for a bit until I got used to the Mac. After three months without turning the Windows box on, I realised quite how little I actually depended on Windows.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
And I'll bet that Inspiron is bulky and heavy. Apple is interested in making sleek laptops, not portables. They can't please everyone.
i can't read the snip about the article because your xerox ads are covering half the damn article!
Seriously... why did this opinion, which has already been hashed out a bazillion times since bootcamp was released, become interesting again?
"Gamers" don't really buy quad-CPU workstations. They buy low-to-middle end machines with a slot for a nice video card. Apple will never make such a machine.
Whenever I hear the word 'Innovation', I reach for my pistol.
I who have supported and used both Windows and Mac for years can make no sense of that argument. OS X is no less nerdy and "tweakable" than Windows. In fact, having the open source BSD layer underneath makes it probably more tweakable in many important respects.
instances where Mac users want to do something that only Windows machines can do are almost universally the result of some lazy developer who makes their app or their web app function only in Windows - it has nothing whatsoever to do with the platforms themselves.
You like your Macintosh better than me, don't you Dave? Dave? Can you hear me Dave?
From : Louderback, Jim
Sent : Thursday, May 4, 2006 8:33 PM
To : "Paul *"
Subject : RE: Boot Camp: Apple Bobs for Suckers
It was meant to be somewhat tongue in cheek. Glad you liked it and saw
it that way!
Jobs's bet: You'll start spending more and more time in OS X, until you--too--become one of the pod people.
Yes, of course! Because all the stability is just so very evil that we must fight the temptation to use OSX!
we were led to believe there would be punch and pie.
instead opt for hitting themselves in the head with, say, a soft piece of fruit
Sgt.: How to defend yourself against a man armed with a banana. Now you, come at me with this banana. Catch! Now, it's quite simple to defend yourself against a man armed with a banana. First of all you force him to drop the banana; then, second, you eat the banana, thus disarming him. You have now rendered him 'elpless.
Palin: Suppose he's got a bunch.
Sgt.: Shut up.
Idle: Suppose he's got a pointed stick.
Sgt.: Shut up. Right now you, Mr Apricot.
Chapman: 'Arrison.
Sgt.: Sorry, Mr. 'Arrison. Come at me with that banana. Hold it like that, that's it. Now attack me with it. Come on! Come on! Come at me! Come at me then! (Shoots him.)
Chapman: Aaagh! (dies.)
Sgt.: Now, I eat the banana. (Does so.)
Palin: You shot him!
Jones: He's dead!
Idle: He's completely dead!
Sgt.: I have now eaten the banana. The deceased, Mr Apricot, is now 'elpless.
I've been a Mac user for some time now, yet I still need to write Windows versions of our software. Before I had a PowerBook(15) and a Desktop, but got pissed because I was tied to my desk to do Windows programming. I searched for months to find a computer that measured up to my PowerBook. In the end I got an IBM Z60m. After hating that, I decided on a MacBook Pro to replace both my laptops. (Thank god for IBM's 30 day return policy)
I don't feel like a sucker...
IBM (Lenovo) is a sucker because demand for their product has gone down...
MS is a sucker because I wasn't forced to buy another copy of XP with a new laptop...
I win.
ender-iii
I wasn't excited about it anyway, so it turns out I was in the right. Who'd have thought it?
Give me good ratings or I will close down the internet.
Clearly what he means is that the normal users of Windows are the people who run the botnets.
Boot Camp is a ploy to get Windows users to finally see what Mac OS X can do. I've messed around with Mac OS X on a brand new MacBook Pro and I found it works better than Windows XP ever did. I never had a single problem installing software or even getting USB devices to work OUT-OF-THE-BOX.
On the Mac OS X side the ATI drivers are pretty good, Wi-Fi setup was a breeze, many of my USB devices worked without needing to install any software, and installing new software was really very easy.
On the Windows side the ATI drivers are garbage as usual, Wi-Fi is a chore to set up, most of my USB devices required me to install software for them except for the external hard drives (I had to really DIG in Google to find a FUBAR way to get my digital camera to work with XP despite the fact the camera comes with XP drivers which for some reason don't want to work), and installing software can sometimes be a pain.
The plain truth is, but this guy from PC Mag just doesn't to admit it, that Mac OS X is LIGHTYEARS BETTER than Windows XP. Apple has done decades of research and development in operating systems in order to finally achieve what they have with OS X today. Microsoft bought their OSes from somebody else and just modified the code. They did very little innovation on their own except for the original NT kernel and even that's questionable whether or not if it was really developed my Microsoft or not.
Michael "TheZorch" Haney
thezorch@gmail.com
http://thezorch.googlepages.com/home
BAH! Some of the best mods out there are mac mini's http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/pcs/vintage-mac-mini-mo d-153321.php
Subject says it all. I went over to read the linked article and I regretted it. The guy is so painfully clueless on this topic, its hard to know where to begin. His most blatant mis-statement:
"Apple's not interested in a DIY Mac, nor is it concerned with the case-mod culture of the PC."
True Apple isn't big on a DIY system. Neither are most Mac users. But saying that there isn't a case-mod culture among Mac users is completely asinine. MacAddict runs case mod articles - with photos - on a semi-regular basis, all you'd have to do is pick up a back issue or two to see how wrong this statement is. And if you don't know about MacAddict (as I suspect the author doesn't) you really have no business making commentary about Mac users or case-mod culture.
"I don't know about you, but when I buy a computer I want everything to work right."
This of course is one of the top reasons that people buy Macs. The tight integration between the OS and the hardware still beats Windows Plug-and-Pray 9 times out of 10. "Plug it in, and it just works" has been the Apple mantra for *years*. Its what the users expect. Compare to Windows XP, where plugging in a new monitor meant I had to re-install my wireless network driver, or adding memory forces me to register with Microsoft on my next reboot? I'm not sure what's worse, that these things happen or that it doesn't bother me anymore.
There are other serious flaws with the article. It really has no redeeming value, and its just so loaded with flamebait it reflects poorly on the authors of PC Magazine that they even published it.
Dell disagrees with you. Check out their "gamer" line and it all starts with nVidia 6600 cards until you hit the high-end (a $3800 base-price machine).
They bought alienware for a reason.
Damnit, the day I don't have mod points!
-- "...I'm a bad guy because I, well, I sing some rock-and-roll songs." M. Manson
While Apple hardware is more expensive than the dull, sexless, gray, soulless plastic crap at the local Best Buy, you do get what you pay for.
I'd much rather run Windows exclusively on any new Mac than run Windows on any PC I've seen. Sony can't compare, and I think they're the only ones trying to be 'stylish'. Apple wins whether you use OS X or not, and users win now that the best hardware is Windows compatible.
Even Microsoft wins (if you stay legal), because you don't get an OEM version of Windows inside your Apple box...you have to buy it off the shelf. How much is the full boxed version of XP?
Apple wins, Microsoft wins, and you win. What's to complain about?
Now we'll see what happens when Apple takes on all the PC *hardware* makers.
If a secure BSD sub-system with the full power of OSS and the commercial apps Linux still can't get (e.g. Photoshop, Flash) is a pie in the sky, I'll take two. I call it the best of every world.
If your post is serious, then you're pathetic.
Perhaps PC Magazine is for suckers.
ENDUT! HOCH HECH!
"What was I thinking? Now that the meds have worn off.."
Please, go back on the meds you crazy fool.
\
So let me get this straight...someone who uses Windows is calling OS X users lemmings?
-30-
Actually, Dell proves my point. Most of their gamer systems are ho-hum Pentium-D machines with the option for a $500 video card. Apple would never sell a machine like this because it would undercut the rest of their desktop lineup.
Whenever I hear the word 'Innovation', I reach for my pistol.
I thought it might be an educational opportunity for women like my wife to learn more about fellatio.
Jealousy is painful, and it can cause people to lash out foolishly. In general, however, we can easily recognize such sad behavior, as the frailty of one's argument can be easily measured by the abusiveness of the language employed.
Louderback makes numerous irrelevant assertions in his rant, but one that particularly bothers me is the contention that 'really creative computer users' are the ones doing all kinds of case modifications. I think a lot of these mods are really novel, but aside from 'overclocking' type mods, are largely unrelated to anything to with it being a computer, and in general, are designed to potray an illusion of futuristic utility.
Do you judge the quality of your doctor by the number of different blinking LEDs he or she has afixed to his or her instruments, or do you concern yourself more with the work done with those instruments? In point, the work employing computers in research groups around the world, usually does not hinge upon blue neon lights or hamster tubes being included, and much of this work is indeed very creative.
For me, computers are tools, and often necessary evil ones that can make some ridiculously simple needs seem impossible. Anything that lets me work more and jiggle cables/restart/reinstall/etc. less is a better tool.
Can we please have more links to obviously biased fluff with zero actual content? Thanks, bye.
The problem is, he seems to think that being a Mac user is inherently bad. "The pod people"? "Lemmings"? That's not only unprofessional it's plain rude.
But let's see how this works:
-User gets Boot Camp and tries both Windows and Mac OS X.
-User gets sick of Windows' limitations and switches to OS X.
-User is a "pod lemming".
For this to work, phase 2 requires Mac OS X to be inherently superior to Windows, and for the user to make a concious decision to change. That is a Good Thing. After all, the user can stay in Windows if he wants to.
I'd never heard about this "editor", but based on this, he appears to be a flaming idiot.Up there with Dvorak and Jon Katz (well, maybe not Jon Katz).
Macs aren't great for upgrading their hardware.
???
Lies about crimes
Finally someone gets it. Bootcamp is for playing games on a mac. Bootcamp is the *only* reason I would ever buy a mac. Before bootcamp, no games means NO MACS.
Fascism is the greatest political ideology ever conceived. Sorry.
Once you go Mac you never go back.
k.
"In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart." - Anne Frank
Hey, answer me this, don't you have to already have an intel mac to run bootcamp? It makes absolutely no sense to me whatsoever that is the goal.
Now if Apple were to do it the other way [sell OSX for PC version 10.5.XX] then I'd buy it (both the OS & this stupid article). Call me silly, but the author seems to be in another dimension.
God: When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all.
The only thing I can think of is the root account not being enabled by default, but that doesn't affect much.
In Repressive Burma, it's not just your connection that dies. slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=314547&cid=20819199
Bwahahahaha! Compatriets. That's a good one! As if there is some sort of battle going on. Perhaps only in the minds of folks who feel the need to pick a side when there aren't any. These are products. You pick the best one to suit your needs. Windows is that for a lot of people, from my experience, because they are MOST USED TO IT. It's troubling, frustrating, to switch to something else just to read email, send photos, write up the latest marketing proposal, etc. If they can try something out and still switch back to something familure with an all to comfortable reboot, then why is a bad thing if they find that OS X is a better fit for their needs, without the lack of familure old Windows getting in the way of their day to day while they learn to use it at their own pace, without needing to buy or opperate two computers?
Here's what I think will happen:
Step 1: Develop a way to run Windows on a Mac in its own partition. Done. (via Bootcamp)
Step 2: Develop a way for OS X to "talk" to Windows machines (or virtual machines) efficiently. Done. (Apple just released Bonjour for Windows a few weeks ago)
Step 3: Virtualize and run Windows inside OS X with full drag and drop capabilities (via Bonjour), running at native (since Apple has all the tech specs on the hardware) speeds in its own partition (Bootcamp).
My fearless forecast? WWDC, Steve will announce this.
"PC Magazine's Editor-in-Chief says the whole Mac/Windows dual-boot thing is really nothing to get excited about.
Duh. If/when a fully virtualized version comes out, so you don't have to reboot to get from one set of apps to the other, then it'll be something to get excited about. Of course, PC Magazine's EiC is hardly the best place to get an objective opinion about something designed to help people wean themselves from Windows.
He writes that Boot Camp is really just a plan to get Windows users to convert to OS X. From the article: "Once you've laid out a few kilobucks on your BC system and been frustrated a few times with Windows limitations, what are you going to do? Jobs's bet: You'll start spending more and more time in OS X, until you--too--become one of the pod people.
I'm so glad that Jim Louderback, EiC of PCMag is here to TELL US THE FREAKING OBVIOUS. Although, he doesn't get some things right: the only way you would have to spend "a few kilobucks" is if you bought a MacBook Pro, pimped it out a bit, and bought Windows. For under a grand you could buy a Mini and a copy of Windows, assuming you already have a monitor, keyboard, and mouse lying around (which is the point of the Mini). Even if you had to also buy those peripherals, you could still easily keep the price under $2000 US.
It's sad to see so many of my compatriots being turned into lemmings. Perhaps they'll wake up and smell the Apple pie in the sky--and realize they've been taken for a ride. But I doubt it."
While reading TFA, I couldn't tell if the whole "only a moron would ever even consider using a Mac" tone was meant to be satirical, or if Mr. Louderback is a blindly zealous Windows user and/or Microsoft shill, or if he's just a professional troll. Then I noticed the "John C. Dvorak" link to the right of the editorial, and was reminded that this is the same magazine that continues to waste money on Dvorak's paycheck, which means Louderback is Dvorak's boss. Which answers that question: another professional troll.
The U.S. Constitution needs to be ammended with a "separation of business and state" clause.
I've been an I.T. guy for over 12 years. In that time, I have never ONCE been in the same room as a Mac. Back in High School(we're talking 1990 or 1991 here), I used a Mac in a computer class. That was my last contact. I've been a UNIX system admin, a Windows network system admin, and a web programmer, but never once, in all that time, have I so much as set eyes on a real, live Mac.
This shames me deeply.
Needless to say, I'm extremely curious about this highly touted technology, and Boot Camp may be my point of entry into a new and exciting area of computing.
Make sense?
I wasn't going to reply, but I read all the posts and couldn't help myself.
TFA is so over-the-top it has to be a joke. It might sound like an unreasoned argument against running Boot Camp for the first page. But if you read all the way to the end, the whole thing spirals into farce. The article is a joke, and because it's not April 1st, many of us fell for it.
I say "us" there, because I wanted to be indignant, too. But by the end, I couldn't. It's just too funny.
This space for rent.
And the Dells come with a free forklift to carry them around! They're super-awesome!
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
How many generations of people are going to be tainted by the REAL Evil Empire.. Disney... Lemmings don't kill themselves unless some sick twisted film maker is driving them off a cliff...
http://www.snopes.com/disney/films/lemmings.htm
YouTube & Google Video -> podcast http://castcluster.blogspot.com/
This is the same guy who said Microsoft invented FireWire. When corrected he would not publish a correction. Given that and the comments of this "article," I think all he's really doing is showing his lack of journalistic ability and losing credibility with all computer users. Finally, if that's the best PC Magazine can do for an editor in chief then don't waste your time with the magazine or their online forums.
Just for comparison's sake, could you please direct me to some not-ho-hum PC's? I just want to see what it is that you're talking about.
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
Here's what I think will happen:
Step 1: Develop a way to run Windows on a Mac in its own partition. Done. (via Bootcamp)
Step 2: Develop a way for OS X to "talk" to Windows machines (or virtual machines) efficiently. Done. (Apple just released Bonjour for Windows a few days ago)
Step 3: Virtualize and run Windows inside OS X with full drag and drop capabilities (via Bonjour), running at native (since Apple has all the tech specs on the hardware) speeds in its own partition (Bootcamp).
My fearless forecast? WWDC, Steve will announce this.
The problem is, I'd have believed that Tuttle was a joke...
Sometimes, if something sounds too stupid to be true, it's really just too stupid to live. I really, really hope one of these morons gets a Darwin award soon.
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
To be fair, Apple does not open-source Core Foundation. They open-source Darwin, WebKit, and all of their forks of the various OSS projects they use (like Apache).
They do open-source something called "CF-Lite," but it's missing quite a few of the regular CF classes, like the CFAttributedString (strings with fonts) and CFNotificationCenter (indirect object communcation). And with a name like "CF-Lite," I can see the OS developers just hopping to merge their fixes into it.
Check it
Don't blame me, I voted for Baltar.
Yes, its absolutely inane to buy an expensive Mac to run Windows on - but if enough people are inane enough to do that, and eventually realize that OSX sucks a whole lot less that Windows, thats good. Call it a 'backwards compatible upgrade path' - for people that want to try OSX but may be tied to some old legacy Windows-only application.
It would be infinitely more useful in the long run to be able to run OSX on stock x86 hardware, and avoid both the expensive MS tax *and* the expensive Mac hardware, *and* get an OS that doesnt suck, *and* hardware that was more upgradable and flexible.
real Mac user: someone true to who they are, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules and they have no respect for the status quo. The ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world.
So Stallman is a Mac user?
apple.com
The Danger is not from POD people it's from CRAB people!
A direct competitor to the PowerMac would be something like the Dell Precision 670 or the IBM Intellistation workstation line. Nobody buys these to play games (except me).
Whenever I hear the word 'Innovation', I reach for my pistol.
Where are all of you people that have so many problems with their "winblows" box, coming from?
I have never had a problem in XP that I coulnd't fix in a couple minutes or less, and I can't remember the last time that happened. Mod me as flame bait, but are you people so bad with computers you need an OS that holds your hand every step of the way?
I've been forced to use OSX many times and I can never get over the feeling that it's just some well designed picture book with very few words. OSX is for people who like pretty picture books, and Windows is for people who actually like to read books with words in them?
No, Stallman's piss-poor sense of aesthetics would prevent him from understanding how to use a Mac.
Bonsai Kitten: TNG
Uh huh. And they're not ho-hum, why exactly?
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
Let's not forget all the great software that microsoft has built and released to the world simply because they're nice guys and would never use software as a means to keep one using windows... Software like IE, and microsoft's Movie Maker (i believe that's what it's called). It was never Microsoft's intent to use either of these software programs (among others) to attract people to windows and away from the competition.. I think someone needs a nap...
I've been an I.T. guy for over 12 years. In that time, I have never ONCE been in the same room as a Mac. Back in High School(we're talking 1990 or 1991 here), I used a Mac in a computer class. That was my last contact. I've been a UNIX system admin, a Windows network system admin, and a web programmer, but never once, in all that time, have I so much as set eyes on a real, live Mac.
And yet you somehow manage to not post some flamebait denigrating that with which you are unfamiliar. I'm not sure you're going to fit in around here.
Multibooting to newton would be even cooler!
It's not overpriced, because MacOS is very much worth it. However, I'm sick of Apple fanboys (I'm a fanboy too; just not a diehard/delusional fanboy) pulling random example out of the air and then claim that Apples and PCs are equivalently priced. With a bit of hunting, you can get a new, very decent PC laptop in the $400-$600 range. Within 2 weeks of looking around, I picked up my mom a Dell 600m for just under $600, tax and shipping included, with 512 RAM, Bluetooth, 80 gig hard drive, a dual-layer DVD burner, 4 hour battery life, and it only weighs something like 6 pounds. Could you *ever* get a deal like that on a Macintosh laptop? Deals like that only take a little bit of effort (usually just setting up a few fatwallet.com alerts and waiting a few weeks.)
Desktops are still no contest. Hang around fatwallet.com for a month and you can *easily* build yourself a nice little box for under $200 ($300-$350 if you don't want to go bargain hunting.) And if you don't want to build your own, Dell routinely has deals on their desktops and servers. At least two years ago I picked up an SC420 server with PCI-E, DDR2 (this was back when everyone was still using DDR), a 2.8 Ghz HT P4 with 1 meg of cache, SATA, and gigabit ethernet for a little over $300 shipped.
Last time i checked, the cheapest desktop Mac was what... $500? Yes, the difference between the pre-sale prices of the PC and Mac isn't as big as it once was, but it's still there, it's still very significant (especially on low-end desktops, where it approaches a 50% price difference), and the fact remains you CAN'T find decent sales on Mac laptops or Mac desktops; they just don't exist. I've had fatwallet.com alerts for years now, and Mac deals just don't come up, and even when they do they're pretty pathetic.
One more example (and yes, it's a Dell. I can't help it--they're so damn cheap!): One year ago I noticed a fatwallet alert and picked up an Inspiron 6000D laptop for $780 after tax and shipping. 1.5 Ghz Pentium M, a gig of DDR2 RAM, B/G Wifi, an *awesome* 15.x" WUXGA (that's 1920×1200 widescreen) LCD , 60 gig hard drive, CD-RW burner/DVD-ROM, and an ATI Mobile x300 graphics card with 128MB of dedicated GDDR3. Sound too good to be true? I'm using it at this very moment. And this wasn't a fluke, either--over a thousand fellow fatwallet'ers got similar deals from Dell that day. Tell me, when was the last time Apple had a sale like that?
any random user doesnt have full access to the system "root access"
They have exactly the same ho-hum level as an simlar Mac workstation would. Unlike a gamer PC however, they have ECC memory, good disk subsystems and so on.
Whenever I hear the word 'Innovation', I reach for my pistol.
...I've heard from my inside sources that Apple makes money from every Mac sold and that's the real reason why they had that 'Switch' campaign.
-- SIGFPE
Please describe the "limitations" Windows brings.
;)
Yes, security is a potential problem with Windows, but not what I would call a limitation. Hell, if you were a MS astroturfer, you could even tout is as a feature (look at all of the viruses the WIndows can run that Macs can't!*).
But seriosuly, both platforms have limitations. Windows can not run some of the neato "i____" apps that Mac comes with and Mac's can't run most games and certain other apps. To describe WIndows and the only OS with "limitations" is a bit baised IMO.
*That was a joke...sort of.
I don't always use unix-like operating systems; but when I do, I prefer FreeBSD.
PC users in general, and PC magazine writers in specific, are suckers... of billy gates.
People will buy a Mac and instead of just working with OS X directly, they now have the ability to try out Windows, won't like it and then work with OS X.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
Hmm.. I've heard otherwise.
Hmmmm...it seems the Microsoft stealth PR campaign has begun. Non-stories about theoretical threats of OS X viruses...anecdotes about single occurances of OS X viruses, with little evidence to support them. Pundits calling people who switch to Macs lemmings.
Microsoft is feeling threatened by the Mac. Apple was able to change its entire operating system to a completely different processor architecture with no significant problems. And with a tenth of the engineers that Microsoft has. If that isn't an indication of the fundamental technical superiority of OS X, I don't know what is. Microsoft can't even rewrite its filesystem, let alone switch to a completely different processor.
Because it feels threatened, it seems quite likely that it has a quite thorough public relations campaign. And I doubt that all of Microsoft's PR resources are simply going into TV and newspaper spots. It seems logical to me that Microsoft would also pay royalties to various tech pundits to write stories that fit into their PR framework. It also seems logical to me that Microsoft could hire posters to post pro-Microsoft views on highly read message boards such as Slashdot. I don't see anything stopping MS from doing these things.
I believe we can look forward to an ever increasing trickle of stories and postings designed to subtley "prick the bubble" of Mac users.
Once you've laid out a few kilobucks on your BC system and been frustrated a few times with Windows limitations, what are you going to do? Jobs's bet: You'll start spending more and more time in OS X.... It's sad to see so many of my compatriots being turned into lemmings
So, if you get fed up with Windows hickups, and change to a different system that works better, you are a lemming and a moron? It's better to just sit there and suffer through windows many shortcomings, viruses, and spyware?
After you've already been overcharged for a Mac, you need to spend another hundred dollars or so buying Windows, just for the privilege of tainting the Apple core with Microsoft's OS. You'll probably need more memory, too. Is it really worth all that extra money?
Again, this argument is idiotic.. You pay a little more for a Mac, which works better, and is easier to use, and doesn't break, and you don't have to spend an extra $100/yr on anti-virus/anti-spyware, and you don't have to call tech support every couple weeks because its "slow again". The extra cost for a mac is 100% worth it because it is a better system. So in the end, his argument is "Windows isn't worth $100 and the extra RAM you need to run it". BC is a dual boot environment, if you need "more memory" as he states, it is solely because windows is a memory hog compared to OS X.
The article is full of comments like this that are completely moronic. Here's my favorite:
The really creative computer users are the case modders who build extravagant designs to house their systems.
Ok, so to be a "creative computer user" I have to spend hours making my case look different from anyone else's? How exactly does that pay the bills? I think we should ask Linus, Larry Page, and the Yahoo founders how many cases they've modded... Or maybe Bill Gates and Ballmer I bet they've modded alot of cases. Seemingly since MS is the champion of case modders everywhere, Bill and Steve must be the kings of case modding, that's the whole reason they let you install their OS on commodity hardware.
In the end, the most important thing to this guy is how your computer case looks, not the work you get done with your PC, and its better to spend hours beating your head against MS security holes, viruses, and spyware than to get work done.
Somehow I am reminded of a recent issue of AppleGeek Lite.
What really got to me in the announce, and the reason why I didn't go as far as reading the entire article, is this guy dares calling OSX users lemmings, when 90% of people out there use Windows ... what a dumbass !
Perhaps they'll wake up and smell the Apple pie in the sky--and realize they've been taken for a ride. But I doubt it.
When you're given a fair chance to evaluate two alternatives, and decide on one of them... how is that 'being taken for a ride'?
BC users can use either OS. The summary assumes that choosing Windows is the right alternative and choosing Mac is the sucker one.
Poor.
Ah, but what a ride!!! :-)
I think it's strange the he acknowledges that Windows has limitations and that users would switch to the Mac out of preference simply because, as implied, the Mac doesn't have these 'limitations'. So why shouldn't they switch in that case? You're a lemming if you use something that's inherently better and without limitation?
I think you're more of a lemming if you use Windows just because everyone else does and everyone at work does and it's what you "need" to use for interoperability's sake.
You're going to get your wish. It's Mac OSX vs. Windows XP for the back to school season. Read Mini when the first Vista delay came down. It's not just Macnazis worried about Apple's next bite out of the market.
Along with Wal-Mart getting into the computer building business, we might see some interesting things happening in the next six months.
I don't hate Windows with the passion of a thousand fiery suns, but I know people who were waiting for Vista who will wander into the Apple Store now. My house has Linux, Windows, and OSX, but that situation is rare.
I'd be happy to see your statistics about how much people love Windows.
Q: What did the comedian say to the crowd?
A: If I knew, this joke would be funny.
Seriously though, Boot Camp is nothing more than a marketing ploy to get more folks to check out Apple. From the recent purchases of my friends and co-workers, Boot Camp is doing a good job too.
And this batshitloonball considers himself an editor?
"After you've already been overcharged for a Mac, you need to spend another hundred dollars or so buying Windows, just for the privilege of tainting the Apple core with Microsoft's OS. "
Which doesn't really jive with MacMall and other vendor's offers of free Windows XP bundles / pre-installations. http://www.macmall.com/
Considering recent popular press about Bloggers and their lack of fact checking - and considering PCmall / Macmall ADVERTISES in PCWORLD - the lazy cunt wouldn't have to even miss his fucking Bagel Break checking this shit out.
Must be nice to collect a check for all that sweat on his brow. PAH!
Also his name calling is oh-so professional....par for the course for a cocksucking leach of other people's oxygen whose ballsack has been gnawed off from a ferrit with rabies.
(note: author's language degrades from minutes elapsed between smoke breaks)
By the way, neither Apple nor Microsoft exist in a highly competitve market (as defined by those terms in economics).
There is still some competition between the two even if it isn't exclusively about market share. If nothing else OS.X gives Windows something to live up to in terms of design (and even Windows Vista has a looooong way to go in that department). Some of the coolest features in Vista, such as the search-as-you-type 'Quick Search' facility in the Start menu (finally a reason to use the Windows button?) and the Flip 3D Window Navigator are direct responses to features pioneered by OS.X. I wonder if Microsoft had been so adventurous in redesigning their Desktop UI for Vista if it hadn't been for OS.X upstaging Windows to the point where it is becoming severely embarrasing? Hitherto Microsoft has been very reluctant to change their Desktop UI. When they released Windows XP they didn't even credit their users with enough intelligence to be able figure out Virtual Desktops so this simple yet extremely useful feature was buried in the seperately downloadable 'Power Toys' pack along with some other very useful gems. Even today some long time Windows XP users are suprised when I point this feature out to them since they were not aware of it's availability.
Only to idiots, are orders laws.
-- Henning von Tresckow
It took you guys this many weeks to figure this out?
Hopefully you discovered your nose a lot faster than this.
. . . and still have windoz to fall back on (ouch that would have to hurt).
Another point in Apple's favor is that you don't need to defenestrate the hard drive. =)
It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
I think we should amend Godwin's law. From now on, an argument on the Internet is over when one side is compared to either the Nazi's or sheep (or something equivalent), and the side that makes that comparison instantly loses the argument. Am I the only one that feels this way?
Subject pretty much says it all.
Of course the Apple fanboys are going to mod this troll, but most of what Apple is marketing and flash. Its too bad the fanboys are too busy smoking Steve Jobs' pipe to notice. They don't seem to remember how Jobs would say how bad Intel processors were, but now they will be inside every Mac. Apple fanboys are lemmings, they'll run a systems that are completely closed (OSX only runs on Macs) and yet boast the amount of open source software installed on it. They'll complain about Microsoft's lack of interoperability and DRM, but will use Apple itunes and ipod - which will NOT WORK WITH ANY OTHER SERVICE! Sometimes I feel sorry for the brainwashed Apple fanboys - but then I realize they are just fools. Why else would buy such overpriced products?
Parallels
Sure, Windows PCs dominate the market. But so do cheap toupees.
they're not just sniffing glue.
This guy is a nimrod. I say use what you want to use, and far be it from me or any holier-than-thou idiot publisher to tell them what's best for them.
say no to acid!
*plays the Apogee theme song music*
.... Boot camp will not draw lots of people to Macs. It's rediculous to think otherwise IMHO. It is nothing to be jazzed up about. I love Macs but this is a stupid plan. "Merl"
0.6 x 1024 = 614.4
What do you mean money isn't binary? It's got 1s and 0s, right?
It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
ok, how do I moderate this article -1 troll?
This really sounds like words coming from someone with a bias against macs in general. Everyone I know that has seriously considered such a machine is truly impressed. Give up 10% of your PC's performance, and gain the entire macintosh platform? Working with math like that how can you lose? And for those used to a low end PC.. say, a Dell, even BootCamp will be an upgrade. If you're trying to compare BC with an alienware or other multibuck PC of course it's not going to be a fair comparison
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
Gotta love it.
Mac users, previously mocked as nonconformists, are now cast as "lemmings" and "pod people" by a user and advocate of the all-consuming 98-percent-market-share dominant system.
I think you're talking about the OS 9 days, before they put UNIX (and a UNIX terminal) on Macs. Back in the day, DOS and later Windows power users didn't like OS 9 because there was no command line. Now there's BASH. If you know what BASH is, you don't miss the Windows command line. Not at all.
I am a programmer. I program mostly in .NET. When I go home, I use Macs. I do not find it any harder to tweak, unless you're talking about minor things like the color scheme of the window manager.
The forklift was last year's model. This year is more environmentally friendly; it comes with a sherpa.
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
And I'll bet that Inspiron is bulky and heavy.
Nope, not at all. But if you're a little girl that needs something around 4 lbs then it's not for you.
Apple is interested in making sleek laptops, not portables
Sleek?...oh, ok. that's part of the reality distortion field.
And the Dells come with a free forklift to carry them around! They're super-awesome!
It's 7 lbs or so. But if you're too much of a wuss to carry that then yeah you might want an apple or maybe a PDA would be more your style. It must be embarrassing for you to be that weak.
Care to elaborate how Mac OS X "closes off its systems so normal users can't screw it up?"
...what he is probably talking about is the fact that OS.X restricts what you can do to critical parts of the OS outside of your home folder. His Windows programmer friends don't like that because in Windows a developer can have his software modify just about OS component or setting he likes on customers machines without the user noticing a thing since the 97% of the users installing/using their software on Windows will have Administrator rights. On Windows this solves alot of problems easily that would otherwise require you to exercise your brain. On OS.X, however, this security feature encourages a developer to seek alternative ways of solving a problem that don't involve mucking around with the OS and thus annoy the user with yet another password prompt. The extra effor that goes into that probably makes their heads hurt.
Only to idiots, are orders laws.
-- Henning von Tresckow
Economic Efficiency in a Nutshell (efficiency described in an abstract, mostly model-independent way)
Economic Efficiency (links to descriptions of various models)
Pereto Efficiency doesn't have much to say about efficiency in the global scope, and consequently doesn't have as much to say about things like this as would, say, some other allocative efficiency model. It's premise is interesting as an analytical tool, but also somewhat fantastic. In the local universe it assumes, allocations that transfer wealth or other valuable resources from you to me would not normally be regarded by you as a non-event, and I regard transfer of non-valuable items from you to me as a liability, so this model has limitations in real world application from the outset, even with limited scope.
Furthermore, economists also understand that real world markets typically are not all that efficient. If they were, then the hundreds of billions of hours spent futzing with Windows PC systems would have led to the ascendancy of Mac OS X as the dominant computing platform back when it was called NeXTSTEP. In the real world, those futzing hours are not measured, and represent an identifiable inefficiency in the market.
Most economists also understand that efficiency is inherently a value judgement, and even the criteria by which efficiency is measured and even modeled involves value judgments.
Economic Efficiency (considered as the basis for society)
Of course, I studied economics for four years at a university, and still regard the entire field of micro-economics with considerable skepticism, so take my observations with a grain of salt. Perhaps it is politicians rather than economists who are to blame for willful misuse of the tools. However, failure to understand the limitations of a given economic analysis tool allows voters to be snowed into supporting all manner of initiatives which are, on the whole, not in their individual nor collective self-interest.
If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.
Re: Your negative comment about Steve Jobs saying Intel was so bad and then later switching to using Intel.
I admire someone who is open to new ideas and capable of changing their approach if conditions warrant. Just remember that "staying the course" is not always a good or intelligent thing to do. Here's two examples: the Titanic and Iraq.
Yeah, because it's your heavy, poorly designed laptop that makes you a Man.
I am laughing at you.
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
Is that a subtle way of saying that Macs are only meant for graphic design? What exactly is it not meant to do?
But in my overall experience, it is most often the Mac users I know having issues with wanting to do something a Windows box can and not being able to.
Such as?
Also, most of the programmers I work with like windows because it allows for tweaking much easier... whereas mac closes off its systems so normal users cant screw it up.
I hate to break it to you but... they're lying to you to hide their own ignorance.
Calm down, cuddle with your cheap windows machine that has such a great design, admire the 3000 Stickers like
...so caught up in those beautifully desined stickers,...
Celeron inside!
Windows Serial
21109275lxXUXIASDU
use these screwdriver for those screws
FC blah blah
Type Number: Model Number:
(wow that is too much for me, not even half the way through from my company's T41).
Wow? Where was I?
Yeah, Jim, and you are right: I love that I have to reboot my laptop every day. Takes only 5 minutes in XP until all my progs are up and running again.
Why the hell could my wife on her MacBook write two troll articles underneath yours while I was booting up to write this lame one?!
Huh ?
Are Windows users not lemmings ?
So he's calling his compatriots "lemmings" because when they compare Windows to OSX they'll like Windows less? He himself says the reason for peoples' conversion will be "frustration with Windows limitations". And how does that makes them lemmings? Seems like you'd much more accurately be called a lemming if you stayed on the more popular Windows platform after a side-by-side comparison made you feel that OSX was better.
What a weird article.
Cheers.
The 'really creative computer users' bit jumped out at me. I consider myself pretty creative - I make my living as a freelance artist - and the most customizing I've ever done to the hardware was spray-painting a zebra pattern on my Amiga 2000 back in the early nineties!
I think this article's supposed to be a joke. Or even making fun of diehard PC folks. Or a troll to increase ad impressions - maybe all of the above.
egypt urnash minimal art.
Is this what passes for journalism or informed opinion in the P.C. web-rags these days? I mean -- c'mon! All it was missing was a line like "Windows RUL3Z, suckerz! LOL! OMG!" And how about this phrase in particular: "enjoying my real Windows computers." "Enjoying?" "Windows?" WTF?
I think price comparisons like yours (and mine below) are useless. The computer that's changed more from its standard configuration will almost always be less cost effective.
Example from Dell and Apple (based on your example):
Dell Latitude D820 (Latitude is their business/pro model)
Intel® Core Duo T2600 (2.16GHz) 667Mhz Dual Core
Windows® XP Professional, SP2, with media
15.4 inch Wide Screen WSXGA+ LCD Panel (1680x1050)
512MB (256MB onboard) NVIDIA® Quadro NVS 120M TurboCache
2.0GB, DDR2-667 SDRAM, 2 DIMMS (dual-channel mode)
100GB Hard Drive, 9.5MM, 7200RPM
8X DVD+/-RW w/Roxio Digital Media and Cyberlink Power DVD
Dell Wireless 1490 802.11a/g Dual-band Mini Card
Dell Wireless® 350 Bluetooth Module
85 WHr 9 Cell Primary Battery
3 Year On-site Economy Plan (3-yr mail-in plan is $99 less)
Microsoft ® Office Basic Edition 2003 and Adobe Acrobat 6.0
Standard features: 56K v92 Internal Modem, Gigabit Ethernet, PC Card slot (Type I or Type II), 54mm Express Card slot (supporting both 54mm and 34mm), Serial, docking connector, USB 2.0 (4), 1394, VGA, headphone/speaker out, integrated microphone, infrared port, Integrated Smart Card Reader
Weight: 6.0lbs (with 6-cell battery, a little more w/9-cell)
HxWxD: 1.39 x 14.2 x 10.43
Total: $2856
15.4" MacBook Pro
2.16GHz Core Duo
15.4-inch TFT display with 1440x900 resolution
ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 with 256MB GDDR3 memory
2GB 667 DDR2 (2 DIMMS)
100GB SATA drive (7200 rpm)
Slot-load SuperDrive (DVD±RW/CD-RW) [Apple doesn't state this explicitly, but it's 4x and not dual layer]
iWork preinstalled
60 WHr battery
AppleCare Protection Plan for MacBook Pro
Standard Features: iSight, wireless networking (802.11b/g), Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, 34mm ExpressCard slot, dual-link DVI video out, Gigabit Ethernet, USB 2.0, FireWire 400, and optical digital and analog audio in/out.
Weight: 5.6lbs
HxWxD: 1.0 x 14.1 x 9.6
Total: $3627
Dell advantages:
Better GPU for workstation/pro apps, supports more memory with sharing
Higher resolution screen
Better battery
More USB 2.0 ports
Better DVD burner
Modem
Better office suite (Office Basic vs. iWork)
Better ExpressCard slot
PC Card slot
On-site warranty (don't know about overall quality of "business" support)
Integrated smart card reader
Docking options
More configuration options
MacBook advantages:
Better GPU for gaming
Lighter and smaller
DVI
iSight
Digital audio output
Apple remote
Front Row, GarageBand, Quickbooks New User Edition, iMovie HD
TO START
PRESS ANY KEY
Where's the 'ANY' key? I see Esk, Kitarl, and Pig-Up...
Switch to Linux
Cheers, DH.
Well, if Mac users aren't fond of rules, wouldn't that include the rules of aesthetics?
So if you continually feel frustrated by Windows' limitations, you're supposed to NOT switch to something better? I'd call THAT the lemming-like behavior!
That's when it hit me that for most tasks, Windows was only a utility. A very expensive utility.
AK
It's ok if you are unable to pick up 7 lbs. We'll understand...and snicker.
If you read this article on the FACTS about lemmings, you will realize that lemmings are not blindly jumping to their deaths, they are migrating. So, in fact, you missed metaphor turned out to be apt... APT!
See, these lemmings are trying to get to a place that's better...
By Michael Woods, Post-Gazette National Bureau
Lemmings need better P.R. They don't get much mention, and when they do, they
are always following each other off cliffs. To their deaths.
The business press, in particular, seems to have adopted the furry little
Arctic rodent as the perfect metaphor for self-destructive followership.
Investors follow a once-soaring stock, employees follow a once-admired executive, a
company follows a once-promising technology.
To where? Off a cliff. Every time.
There's even a business book called "The Lemming Dilemma" in which, according
to its back cover blurb, "Emmy the lemming wakes up to her own purpose and
vision, and defies the age-old urge to follow the other lemmings off the cliff."
The problem is, according to a study being published today in the journal
Science, lemmings do not follow each other off cliffs!
And the only reason most people think they do is footage faked by Walt Disney
Studios in a 1958 "nature" film, "White Wilderness," that portrayed lemmings
as oblivious nincompoops who reduced their excess population by diving off
cliffs in mass suicides.
The hoax planted one of the most enduring myths in popular culture -- and in
science. Which really ticks off the scientists who study lemmings.
"The Disney movie was a fake," said Heikki Henttonen, a expert with the
Finnish Forest Research Institute in Vantaa. "An irritating one to zoologists," he
added, "not only because the behavior was faked, but they used a wrong
species. Disgusting."
Oliver Glig couldn't agree more. He's a specialist in population biology at
the University of Helsinki who headed the study of lemming population control
that's being published today in Science.
Glig's study found that lemmings go through a 4-year cycle in which
populations explode, reaching hundreds of times original levels, and then crash because
of periodic increases in the numbers of predators that eat lemmings, such as
arctic foxes and snowy owls. The sharp population declines have nothing to do
with overcrowding or food shortages or, of all things, mass suicide.
Ecologists have spent 50 years searching for this explanation, partly because
lemmings can help scientists understand behavior in more complex animals.
Glig's study makes no reference to the movie "White Wilderness," part of
Disney's "True Life Adventure" series which is still sold in VHS format. But the
topic arose during interviews this week with Glig, his fellow researchers and
other scientists.
"White Wilderness" was filmed in Alberta, Canada, which is not a native
habitat for lemmings and has no outlet to the sea. Filmmakers put purchased
lemmings on a snow-covered lazy-Susan and spun it to create the illusion of frenzied
behavior. Then they herded the animals off a river bank for the
"lemmings-to-the-sea" scene.
Glig said in an interview that Disney paid young Inuits from Barrow, Alaska,
one dollar per animal to trap lemmings.
Disney doesn't defend such practices nowadays.
"Although we have been unable to accurately determine exactly what techniques
were used in producing 'White Wilderness' in 1958, standards and techniques
for filmmaking were very different 40 years ago," said Rena Langley, of Walt
Disney World Public Affairs.
Documentation of what took place is readily available, however.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. ran an expose on the film in 1983. Henttonen
told the story in a 1993 book. And Riley Woodford, of the Alaska Department of
Wildlife, has written an article on lemmings and "White Wilderness" in the
current issue of the department's magazine.
To be fair, the lemming myth has some basis in fact, said Dr. Peter J. H
All I can tell you is that on my 20" intel iMac, with the ATI X1600, Battlefield 2 runs juuuuust fine. The only time I hit lag is when my network hiccups (it's Comcastic!) and I have essentially all the options midrange to high on the video. Yes, I got the 256MB VRAM option and 2GB of RAM, but whatever. And in OS X, WoW runs at 69 fps in Ironforge. Between those two, I'm a happy clam.
I will readily admit that the fact that it's an iMac means that upgrading the video in it will not be a viable option. However, meh. All of my friends who are "serious gamers" and have "serious gaming rigs" seem to end up upgrading at least their $300 video cards every 12 months at a minimum, and usually their whole PC every 18 months or less. For the approx. $2K it cost me to buy this thing, I figure I came out ahead - at least for the 3 years of warranty coverage.
A hero is someone who knows when to run away. I am a hero. -Trent the Uncatchable
Even better, not frequently using Windows will lead to greater gaps between security downloads, making Windows even less secure. I use Windows as my primary OS, and if you don't stay up on the security side, it is pretty possible (if you're a techie) and damn likely (if you're not) to miss something. Every tech friend of mine has no trouble with spyware and all the other crap people always point out as flaws in Windows, but that stuff is out of control for average, "I use my computer as a tool" users.
The logic in the article is flawed, though. Pople buy Macs because they want to use a Mac. Now they have teh option of running a few 'mission critical' apps on teh same machine. Who are they switching, when the user already shelled out $2799 for a Mac? Release Mac OS for Intel for regular retail if you want to test this theory, otherwise, this is just propoganda. OMG! 9/10 users who bought a Mac switched to the MacOS! And...
A lot of the arguments center around not being able to upgrade the hardware or add your own (possibly legacy hardware) to the box.
The only problem is that Apple sells 2 types machines that you generally don't want to upgrade: Mini and Laptop. I don't know what proportion of their sales are from Minis and laptops, but I'm guessing that the laptop side of things would probably be close to 50% of sales (by boxes, not $). For that side of things, many of the article arguments just don't apply.
meh
Funniest post ever!!
Ok, one thing that I know has not appeared in the threads yet, is that Boot Camp is "Public Beta" software. It says so right in the header graphic of the page, http://www.vbc.vt.edu/SystemX_pgs/SystemX_md.html
.Net) and produce a single binary that would run everywhere. Microsoft would stand to gain from that as well, as they could do away with the Mac BU all together. Apple could penetrate into the Windows market with their creative tools (iLife and the Final Cut Studio suite) and stand to make significant inroads in software sales.
To point out its limitations as intentional and say that it's some conspiracy against Windows users to get them to switch is a bit thin. Especially, when there is talk that Apple has revived the "Red Box" component from the Rhapsody development days (pre-Mac OS X), and the "Yellow Box for Windows". The Red Box was supposed to be a complete set of Windows APIs built for Mac OS X that would allow any Windows application to run natively without emulation or virtualization. The Yellow Box for Windows is the exact opposite. It is the complete set of Cocoa/Carbon APIs for Windows so that any Mac OS X application would run natively under Windows.
This development effort would require a great deal of cooperation between the two companies, I know. I also know that the two haven't exactly been friendly lately (and the new Apple ads don't help that cause). BUT, there is significant advantage in the marketplace for both companies to work toward the Red Box for Mac OS X and Yellow Box for Windows. Why? It would possibly increase the number of Mac hardware sales and it would certainly increase the number of Windows licenses for Microsoft. One other thing it does is to finally do away with two versions of applications. Developers for the Mac could now choose to use EITHER development environment they were comfortable in (Xcode/Mac OS X or Windows
Yes, there are some potential bad outcomes as well, I realize. But, the possibilities of such a move are quite enticing. Does Apple want people to switch to their platform? Of course, they believe its better and I happen to agree, but making that transition happen a bit smoother and offering an opportunity to run all the apps you need during the transition is a much better way to entice novice users (i.e., average home PC users). Advanced users will switch or not switch, period. That crowd is pretty resistant to change and there won't be a mass exodus from one platform to another from them...ever.
I know a lot of people, including me, who switched to macs a long time ago when they noticed running windows was overly complex, buggy, and opened you up to getting owned on teh intarweb. A LOT of people, not just slashdot type people. The ones who called mac users names were the same ones always having to "fix the registry" or "find the right drivers" or "run the antivirus scanner again". thought that was nuts then, and beyond insane now to still have to do that. Hitting yourself on the head with a hammer because it feels just so darn good when you stop, that's windows. I still remember my roomate just swearing every other night while surfing on his windows box, getting hosed, whilst I was happily going where I wanted to without even a firewall on ye olden mac. It's like, how much of "not broken in the first place" did people have to notice to give them a good opportunity to switch over? The only things macs lacked where a better pricing model and more distributors and to not SCREW OVER the distributors. They could have easily been the dominant desktop, but actually chose not to for some reason. Ancient history now..
Of course, I switched to linux on cheap hardware eventually,once Linux got "good enough", so I have no use for OSX, nor mac hardware, as I can pick out good enough components all on my own for a system, thanks, and absolutely wouldn't even consider "boot camp". Ain't a damn thing Microsoft makes that I have ever needed, I learned my lesson by 3.11, then 95 double cemented it, not a thing they make is even close to "quality", it is always a second best catch up experience with them. GUI, late to the game, flaky software no matter what, absolutely no security at all, very expensive for what you get. Cadillac price for a Pacer, no brainer to NOT go there. Never got addicted to video games, always though they were...well, not for adults, so, don't need windows for that. Don't need office and all the bloat to type a simple report. And so on. Bootcamp is for those folks still stuck in the 90s and not knowing what computing is all about. The 21st century is about ultimate customizability, building your own inexpensive systems and operating systems/applications stacks, and NOT being a perpetual cash cow slave drone to this or that billion dollar corporation ripe for the milking. Windows and mac are now the expensive training wheels operating systems. Putting them both together is the HEIGHT of ludicrousness, it is HYSTERICALLY funny. They are no longer needed for thinking adults. It's still OK for lemmings and worker drone slaves and kids playing fantasy games. Those companies should just close up and go retire on the billions they milked out of the system. Open source and open commodity hardware is the way to go now, so you can cheaply and easily just go about your business and not get raped in the wallet or in the brain. I wish more people would see tis, but alas, advertising/brainwashing works so well now.
Maybe something else will come along to supplant that, and I will gladly switch again, maybe biological genetic engineering based computing maybe, but so far, not seeing it any time soon.
apple could be evil and trash the windows partition with their driver disk that they provide - the consumer would feel that windows is less stable and want to switch over to os x
Zap here, coming at you live from my new MacBookPro. This is my first Apple PC since my Apple II circa '85. I went for Boot Camp hook line and sinker because I figured it would be a good chance to try OSX and a few linux distros.
The "problem" is, OSX is by far the best OS I have ever used (I'm not a gamer). My only regret is that I wasted so many years using inferior Dells and convincing muyself that it was *my* fault Windows was crap.
barack to the future?
There are two ways to run Windows on an Intel Mac. One is Boot Camp, best for games or for when you "really need a real PC." The other is Parallels, which is everything Virtual PC should have been, a really reliable, really compatible PC that's fully encapsulated in an enclosed environment. There seems to be no limit to what will be possible with Parallels, except that games might not be fast enough to be enjoyable. I mean, I run my iMac with the emulated Win2000 PC in full screen mode on my 2nd monitor, and it's da bomb for the software development and testing that I do. Just as the current video iPod gave "video" for free on top of the price of the iPod everyone was already buying (hence, not that many people cared that it wasn't widescreen), getting a Windows box for "free" with your elegant, camera-enabled, fast-as-heck Intel iMac is a fantastic bonus. Parallels cosr>
ts a mere $49 ($39 now) too, a big bonus over VMWare.
(I have to say, installing Windows 2000 in the background while playing Unreal Tournament emulated a perfect speed in Rosetta, with 100 bots added for a fun kill-fest, was really enjoyable.)bBy the way, his putzy discussion about not being able to run legacy crap? Come on, if you're buying a new Intel Mac, the chances are you're not trying to hook a 1997-era SCSI scanner up to it. Jeez...
You've got a friend in Japan: http://www.jlist.com
Dude, what in the fsckin label fword dw 0000h are you talking about?! First of all, OS X is a UNIX based operating system (with a perfectly good user interface layer like no other UNIX has) that is rock solid in comparison to any other desktop OS, that supports all modern standards that 99% of the computing world expects on a computer. And does nearly all of its tasks better than a comparable computer running the latest Windows OS. Not to mention that you can run 99% of your UNIX programs on it. Only trouble is, since many of us are stuck using one or two Windows applications that we MUST have (unless you can show me a Linux or Mac version of Mastercam), so we are stuck using a PC-based laptop with Windows and running some *BSD or Linux in VMware. It doesn't make sense to carry TWO laptops around just so you can have a Mac.
So what does Apple do? They switch to x86, which suddenly makes it possible to run other widely available OSes on the machines. What does that do? I can use all my favorite UNIX, Apple, and Java programs on the Mac, I can run the non-CPU-hogging Windows programs in QEMU, except at blazing speeds on x86 compared to the speeds on the G4 thanks to QEMU accelerator (why emulate x86 on x86?), and I can reboot into Windows to run Mastercam.
There is only ONE more thing I need on the Mac, and I won't need this boot thing at all: VMware for Mac OS X . If that ever becomes available, I'll never use a PC again and I'll never dual boot again.
OS X. Because friends don't let friends run GNOME.
Apple wants people to convert to Mac hardware/OS X! Oh my god! (grabs face a la Kevin from Home Alone)...
That's one of the funniest comments I've read in a long time. Too bad I don't have any mod points.
Here's a virtual +1 Funny: Killing Joke from me.
Signature has left the building.
Jim's magazine is called PC Magazine, NOT Mac Magazine. A LOT of the advertisers who pay the bills for the magazine sell PC hardware or pieces parts of PC hardware. Do you think they are all excited about having lots of glowing articles about running BC on non-PC hardware? Something tells me they're not. My guess is that ol' Jim has received some not-so-happy feedback from advertisers about the attention being paid to BC (and Apple products in general) in the magazine. So he makes an attempt at neutralizing the positive BC hoopla with this column. If it's meant to be satirical, it's the sorriest attempt at satire I've seen in a while.
I know, I know, it's hard to resist, but the post you replied to wasn't stating those as reasons per se, but as reasons MSWindows users tell themselves why they haven't switched. It all really boils down to "I've invested all this time and money on Windows. If I get a Mac, then I'm admitting that I made a mistake."
I think the main reason people still use Windows is that it's good enough. Sure, it's not as great as you'd like, but it's the devil you know. Besides, everybody else uses it, so it can't be that bad, can it?
(disclaimer: I own and prefer Apple computers)
Okay, this article is so completely baseless, not even researched, that it has to be a joke. Maybe his wife left him for another woman, maybe he's being harassed by a male co-worker, or maybe he's the one harassing. This article is so worthless that it just sits there to goad people into ranting back at him.
:-)
comparison of image rendering between a desktop/workstation v. MacMini... apples v. oranges? He's probably thinking of a nice $5k PC system with a brand spanking new top o' the line graphics card.
"no worries." Australian, I first heard it from Mick Dundee in a mildly entertaining movie.
tatoos, body piercings, they've been around since at least 5000+ years ago. Even the Iceman they found in the Alps had tatoos.
Modding PC cases, kinda reminds me of tricked out Honda Civics. It's like hanging a crystal chandelier in a run-down frat house. You know someone is going to knock it, projectile vomit on it, or the house will be demolished within a year. True Story: I saw someone sneeze and puke at the same time, and they managed to get the vomit on the ceiling (middle of the aisle) of the school bus. Hell of a site, but I got off the bus using the emergency exit at the back.
I know I was smart enough to get a Mac. After several years and countless hours of solving hardware/software problems just to get my PC to work nicely, I had enough, even running Linux, it ticked me off. Switched to Mac for my day-to-day and even some development work (what's better than unix under the hood?), and now I have more free time, which pleases the g/f. Though it does leave me more opportunity for Stupid Male Mistakes to piss her off. So for that, I blame Apple
Here's to going blind with 30" AC Displays, and going deaf by my iPod.
See no evil, hear no evil.
Bravo man, bravo!
"I like systems, their application excepted", George Sand (French)
Jim Louderback wrote a trollpost?
Besides permissions keeping one user from destroying the data of another (or the system), there's also FileVault, should you need it.
.Mac membership, I think they have more "exclusive" material you could get your hands on. Join Apple's free, online developer program (ADC) to get at the real meat, if you're so inclined.
If your interest is piqued enough to ask such a basic question, please, do some research. Go read about OSX there on Apple.com, check out a Mac Mini or a MBP and if that's not enough..get a free (limited-time)
Apple even sells a computer capable of running OSX and Windows XP, and it's housed in 2.5x2.5x6 box! They start at about $600. Assuming you're setting up an elderly relative (no spare parts, this is no geeky gramma)...
Mac Mini; $600, KB $80-100, Monitor; $350-600, Windows XP License; what is it? $200-275?
Lets give Apple $235 for its software bundle (OSX+iLife+etc) and mark the computer itself as only $365, or a dollar a day for a year;
hardware is now about: $900 (low/mid-range monitor, good KB&Mouse)
and software is: $500 (rounding, XP being somewhat variable here)
Total of about $1400.
Put that way, I think it's more interesting. At that point, you'd probably be better off reccomending an iMac, there's nothing to setup. Or, if they're planning on long vacations, a MacBookPro for a little more (hint; go refurb if it's a stretch). And if they get macs (elderly people, or people w/ similar computer experience), maybe they'll never figure out how to get Windows working in the first place! Or you could do the Windows install/setup for $50 and/in cookies, why not!?
That's a pretty sweet price point though, $600 for a base Mac Mini, and maybe a mid-range (next-gen, gotta save) mini will find a home here with me. The thing is, I think the mini is the 2.5-3yr computer. It's for people that don't care about Vista, and are looking for something good, flexible, relatively cheap and small. They don't really mind Windows but they're open, ready to be dazzled by something new and exciting..(did I mention that small helps?)...if they can continue running Windows apps..and games.., maybe they can justify the slightly higher price.
I'm a Mac user though. I'm only eyeing a new system for 10.5 and XP, for games...my current crop of PPC macs do just fine for now.
-- Sosumi Again Please
Getting taken on a ride from a buggy and insecure Windoze to a secure and stable OSX impresses me as doing the user a favor.
The editor's comments on how people will use OSX given a choice because it's less hassle than Windoze sound like a parody of the latest Apple vs Windows ads.
Though IMHO, it would be smarter for Apple to run Windoze in emulation, that way, they should be able to avoid most of the Windows support hassles; Windows would be running behind a *nix firewall and would think it was running in an ideal virtual environment. When I started running Windows in emulation, to my surprise, I found that it works far better in emulation than it does in its native environment.
Disclosure: I'm running Fedora Core 3 with W4L and WINE emulators. As you may have guessed, I've got legacy Winblows apps I can't function in the business world (writing Linux how-to articles) without.
Tech Public Policy stuff
Now that Macs will boot Windows, software companies fire their OSX developers and tell customers to boot into Windows if they want to use their software. Windows becomes even more entrenched as a standard, with Mac sellers soon bundling a copy of XP/Vista with their Macs. Eventually Apple bow to market pressure and start distributing Macs with Windows; then it's only a matter of time before the now redundant OSX is taken out to pasture.
Idiot. It's humour. Read it again. Then, if you're still confused, ask a Brit to help you.
:|
Twat.
iqu
So Mac users are lemmings... what are Windows users a herd of free thinkers?
No, not the one in "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe". (looks up online dictionary)
The article is half troll and half satire. You can't possible think the second half of the article isn't tongue-in-cheek? But since it is so badly written, the reactions are so diverse.
Don't think I'm defending that drivel, but try take it with a pitcher of salt. Then you'll feel as I did when RTFA.
Rubies and Pearls are not what you think.
So now lemmings have a choice! ROTFLMAO!
Some of us understand what it's like. As an added bonus, I'm sure your manly 7lb laptop is always handy for beating your wife with.
You want to tell me that I have been zombified by Apple? Fuck you and fuck your troll ass topic. Maybe someday you will smell the bullshit that MS has been selling you.
Of coarse, if you use Linux or a BSD, I apologize for my comments
Good day.
Dual boot also allows IT managers to better support multi-platfrom environments. Now, on one box, you can utalize Mac OS X Server tools as well as any Window's stuff you might need to do. Also, you have the ability to use Apple Remote Desktop OR Microsoft's Remote Desktop from the same machine. That's a big help.
Louderback's piece gets outed as (mediocre) satire -- not once, but repeatedly -- and most of the subsequent posts STILL rant on about the unfairness of it all. And as much as I'd like to believe most of these are just giving Louderback a taste of his own medicine, my sarcasm detector flatlines the moment I take it near this topic.
If Louderback's intent was to demonstrate that way too many Mac users are humorless and defensive to the point of paranoia, then I may have underestimated the guy. He was about as subtle as a railroad spike through the skull, yet he still got the desired effect.
I'm gonna watch a few dozen more people take the bait, smoke myself a big bag of crack, and then pound myself upside the head with a ball-point hammer until I forget any of this happened. Have a happy Mother's Day, everyone.
The poster seems to be insinuating that apple is somehow trying to dupe it's customers, but says right in his post that jobs is counting on people using windows, getting tired of glitches and slowly transitioning to OSX because it works better. I'm sorry, but I don't see a company providing it's customers REAL choice and counting on the quality of it's products to seal the deal. Just in case anyone is wondering, I'm not a mac user, just making an observation.
nt :)
bet they're both Republican. we must win the war on Mac Terorrism.
Maybe one day he'll wake up and smell the CRAP that Windoze embodies ...
(but I doubt it)
It's sad to see so many of my compatriots being turned into lemmings.
95% of the world uses Windows and Mac people are Lemmings? I think we can see who the real zealots are here.
__
The box claims that the software "fixes thousands of Windows problems automatically". Now I ask you, why
would you want an operating system with thousands of problems?
Suppose, for sake of argument, that your premise is basically correct: nearly all Windows users are "happy enough" with Windows that they wouldn't switch to the Mac. Let's say that 95% of Windows users can be described this way. Suppose the other 5 are not happy and can be persuaded to switch to the Mac.
If Apple can convince even this small percentage of Windows users to switch, the marketshare of the Mac would basically double, giving Apple billions of dollars in new sales. The implications for Apple are huge.
Some people seem to think that Apple's objective with Boot Camp and its advertising campaign is to somehow "beat" Microsoft in the OS marketshare overnight. Of course Steve Jobs would love to do that, but it is not within the realm of reality. Apple will do extremely well just getting incremental gains in marketshare. Picking up 1% of marketshare per year over the next ten years, for example, is not "absurd" or a "fantasy." Vista will bring Windows many of the features Mac users have enjoyed with Tiger for over a year now, but the Mac OS is a moving target and Apple is moving faster. Looking ahead five years, it is not hard to imagine Microsoft struggling with its next generation OS while Apple has come out with three significant revisions.
Apple, furthermore, has resisted entering the low-margin wars waged by the other PC manufacturers. Only Dell and Apple have made money consistently over the past few years, and Dell seems to be struggling a bit having reached the limits of its strategy of pursuing marketshare gains through cost-cutting. A percentage point gain in marketshare for Apple thus adds more to the company's bottom line than it does for Dell because Apple does it throuh product differentiation rather than razor thin margins.
Of all the branches of economics microeconomics is certainly the most important and it's also very sound, imo. The basic tools of microeconomics, supply and demand curves, indifference curves, demand elasticities, marginal cost/benefit analysis, all make intuitive sense and can be mathematically modeled. We may not "see" these things working in real life, but it's a way of understanding just about every decision a person or a firm makes. For example, the way that you can use a graph showing where marginal benefit intersects marginal cost and use that to determine the optimal level of consumption/production is about as fundamental and basic as it gets and applies to just about every decision made by an individual or a firm when deciding "how much" of something they want. If you reject the basic tools of micro you're basically rejecting economics as a whole. There's plenty of areas of economics that I'm personally skeptical about(Austrians, monetarists, macro) but I don't buy a criticism of microeconomics unless you've developed your own set of basic tools that you think explains the world better than traditional micro does. I say this with the caveat that, yes, it's very important to understand the limitations of any tool. There's a lot that economics simply doesn't/can't address.
I wouldn't have thought about Pareto efficiency in the Apple/Windows context, that's an interesting application. I think Pareto efficiency is most applicable to common goods problems.
I disagree that most economists would view efficiency as something determined by a value judgement. Whether a market is efficient or not has to do with whether goods are allocated to those with the highest willingness to pay for them, and allowing price to function properly as a signal of the value a good or service has. In this way, resources will flow to where they will be most productive. I'm not sure where value judgements or any normative statements/analysis enter the picture.
Interesting link, dieoff.org. Where did you study economics?
Then he writes:
How does making an intelligent choice turn one into a lemming? Who's taking who for a ride? This logic defies all reason...For the record, I use PCs and Macs every day (plus Sun workstations). I use PCs at work because my employer says I have to. I use Macs at home because I have a choice.
Tricked sure, but I wouldn't call the trickees "suckers". "Suckers" implies the person is getting screwed over or taking a loss, which is not the case here. Being tricked into using Mac OS X is like being tricked into being a millionare or being tricked into being married to Jessica Alba, or something awesome like that.
And Frozen Bubble is available for Mac OS X, so I don't know what all the fuss about games not being available for the Mac is all about.
I'm not sure how to take the opinion of a guy who was writing reviews for "Bargain Mice" last year. He is just trying to get more name recognition. If one can't write interesting USEFUL articles, one writes a troll so people will know who he is. Shame on /. for posting this.
Isn't Windows doing a great job of being less stable on its own?
Your friends sound a lot like my friends. I'm guessing you already know this, but they're making excuses, and poor ones at that. I've built most of my own PCs since the Win 3.11 days, and your friends are full of crap.
:-)
Since I've "switched", I still fiddle with hardware, and don't find it to be significantly different from doing so on PCs (with the exception of, admittedly, having a narrower range of video cards to choose from). On Mac towers I've upgraded video cards, memory, and hard drives, and upgraded memory and hard drives on both a PowerBook and an iMac (one of the original colorful ones). If you're familiar with doing these basic things on a PC you can do them on a Mac.
Oh, and the PowerBook that I upgraded the HD on? I subsequently had to have it repaired for something unrelated to the HD upgrade, and the folks at Apple didn't even blink. The drive was very obviously not stock equipment, yet they still covered the repair as warranty work.
Just so 'ya know.
Boundless Expansion, Self-Transformation, Dynamic Optimism, Intelligent Technology, Spontaneous Order- BEST DO IT SO!
As much as I live and breathe by my PowerBook, and as much as I play a metric assload of games on it (including WoW and UT 2k4), I have to admit that the GP post has a valid point. The Mac gaming situation has improved enormously in recent years, but there are still a large number of games that are Windows-only. Many of them are crap, but some are absolutely fantastic, and it's a damn shame that they're not cross-platform.
In general, if a game isn't available for my platform of choice then it's no skin off my nose to simply not play it, but I do keep a Windows box around for the gems. The day that the various Half-Life games (as you mentioned) and Tiberian Sun will run at full speed under OS X will be the last time I ever boot a Windows box at home.
What's Valve's problem, anyway?
Boundless Expansion, Self-Transformation, Dynamic Optimism, Intelligent Technology, Spontaneous Order- BEST DO IT SO!
As an added bonus, I'm sure your manly 7lb laptop is always handy for beating your wife with.
And I'm sure your dainty Mac laptop is handy for your wife to beat you with.
Yeah, right. Toshiba Portege better looking than an Apple laptop? Portege is a freakin' ugly plastic computer with "Intel Inside" stickers plastered all over it. Louderback is losing his touch.
Anyone who remembers Jim Louderback from his days at TechTV would remember him to be a pompous dofus who was so uncomfortable in his own skin it made me feel bad just watching him. I rarely have strong feelings, particularly negative feelings about newscasters/reporters / celebrities...(contrast w/ Dvorak - I may disagree w/ many of his opinions or think he's a pinhead, but find him entertaining)...Louderback is somewhere between a giant douche and a turd sandwich.
See Louderback's comments on Reliability: "I want everything to work right. I have some confidence that peripherals and software will work on my PCs, because I either built them myself or bought them outright from a vendor who knows how to make Windows PCs...Last I checked, Boot Camp is unsupported. So you're out of luck."
Boot Camp is a BETA...of course it's unsupported. INTEL designed/contributed the architecture of these all-in-one units...my guess is they know as much or more than Louderback, and the fundamental hardware will be echoed throughout the industry...(almost) any clown can assemble a PC...I suppose to some members of his audience this would qualify him as something of an ubergeek...Louderback expresses what he thinks really matters in hardware: "The really creative computer users are the case modders who build extravagant designs to house their systems. And that's just not possible if you aspire to run Windows and simultaneously "Think Different.""
Please...it doesn't compute for me.
That said, of course BootCamp isn't the end all for MOST users...very few people have the need for Windows-only apps, but for those that do the potential to boot Win (or Linux or whatever they want) next to the Mac OS is very appealing. For those rare business / school programs w/o a mac counterpart, or like me want to game but would never be worried about having the absolute latest gaming machine this takes away the last of the barriers to using the environment I prefer day in and day out...less hardware cost and clutter than a seperate machine.
The pundits who've declared Apple's death over and over and over, or said they were machines for artists and educators, this is the ultimate insurance policy...Should the underdog Apple fail you can always just use the hardware as a Windows machine.
The promise of virtualization by Apple or the 3rd party (like parallels), or WINE along with Boot Camp really will put users in the driver's seat--CHOICES....whatever meets your needs for those w/ a taste for more than the basics.
Lastly: SPEED:
As far as speed, perhaps a reminder is in order that we are still dealing w/ consumer desktops and the first gen pro laptops. I think upcoming pro machines that will build on multiple chips w/ multiple cores will be competitive w/ Win counterparts. Certainly enough has been said to document the strengths and weakesses of OS X's choice of kernel, and the old hardware debates...life is full of tradeoffs...
MOST consumers and business users could buy a machine that's half to three quarters the speed of the top of the line and think they are well served w/ a very snappy machine.
You know, I was uncertain at first, but I think if I had to pick one title for Louderback, it really is the TURD SANDWICH.
The Windows UI is the best of the 3 I've tried.
Windows has a large set of consistant keyboard shortcuts that work across virtually every Windows application. The apps where they tend to break are those stupid programs with "themes" or "skins" and those that are ported from other systems that are insanely stupid.
Mac OS has virtually no keyboard shortcuts that are actually consistant across applications. Cut/copy/paste are about it. Even moving within lines of text is not consistant on the Mac. Talk about stupid for the sake of stupid.
X Window has the most ridiculous clipboard scheme imaginable. Who had the absolutely stupid idea to make selection == copy? That is so insane from a usability perspective that only a slash-moron could defend it.
where's he been, this happened with Windows 3.1..
NPMA (Non-Poseur Mac User): Someone who thinks that bash is a good Mac app, waits for someone to get Kile working on OS X, follows any hint of a fashion trend indicationg that ThinkGeek tees are in style (and regards all evidence to the contrary), does know preemptive multitasking from cooperative multitasking. Someone who bought his iBook because it's light, robust and sexy. Someone who believes that the Mac mini was destined (if not designed) to run headless. Someone who doesn't care about Photoshop but very much about DarwinPorts, Fink and/or Portage.
;)
Someone who sees "is a *nix" as one of OS X's biggest advantages.
I don't care if you're more "real" or "trve" than me, but I do care about having an extremely sexy BSD descendant at my disposal.
(And just to flame you: Getting bought out by NeXT for a negative amount of money was one of the best thing that have ever happened to Apple.
USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
-fred
Sign #11 of Slashdot overdose: You see the phrase 'moderate Republican' and you wonder if that would be a +1 or a -1.
The company I work for is considering switching to MacBooks running Windows for its sales staff.
We prize reliability and availability, and after going with Dell for a while (lousy and unreliable, but with a decent order-to-delivery time), Lenovo (moderately reliable, and takes anywhere from 2 weeks to 3 months to deliver), HP (the one we ordered to test died within a week though that was presumably a fluke... but anyway, they don't have a model we like) we are getting really frustrated. The MacBooks, once the initial flaws are fully ironed out, might well be the way to go: the similar (business-class) models from the other manufacturers cost about the same as the MacBook Pro (we're paying between $2000 and $2500 per machine) and, at least at the moment, have worse performance.
The main issue standing in the way of this is... the head of sales. Who thinks I've suggested it just to be cute.
-fred
Sign #11 of Slashdot overdose: You see the phrase 'moderate Republican' and you wonder if that would be a +1 or a -1.
I'm not sure 'subtle' is the right word. I am not quite sure what the right word is, but some useful candidates include:
Or some fun synthetic word that translates literally to 'a waste of electrons'.
-fred
Sign #11 of Slashdot overdose: You see the phrase 'moderate Republican' and you wonder if that would be a +1 or a -1.
And the Dells come with a free forklift to carry them around! They're super-awesome!
Mine didn't...
since everyone is suing apple for hearing loss, can I sue Dell for the loss of my sex life due to the hernia I got lifting that shitbox?
Different thinkers come in many shapes and sizes. We're not all alike. We are scientists, musicians, avant-garde mathematicians; we are graphic designers, interior decorators, biologists, geneticists, all artists in our own way. So congratulations, you're one of us--whether you like it or not.
Well first up, either this guy is a complete moron, or as has been previously mentioned this is deliberate trolling for whichever reasons. But the article totally misses the point. Bootcamp is clearly not about converting windows users to OS X. If they accomplish this, then great, i'm sure Apple will be chuffed. The point (as I see it though) is merely to give semi-mac-users such as myself an avenue to get the mac they've always wanted. Since I was 4 years old, macs have been in my house, as my parents (an academic and a book designer) were early mac-fanatics, largely because of the user-friendly nature of the machines (christ, my dad can't even program the VCR, yet he loves his mac to bits). So since a young age I've loved macs too. However as I grew up, and began to take an interest in programming and videogames, I eventually had to accept that If I wanted to do university programming assignments and play Counter-strike, i needed a windows PC. Sadly I don't have the finances to justify a mac on the side just for fun. Enter bootcamp. Finally I have what I've always wanted, the ability to have a gorgeous piece of mac hardware and the joys of OS X, with windows on the side for playing games and whatever work I have to do on it. Better still there are already 3rd-party hacks to triple boot linux too, a feature I am confident will eventually be built into an official bootcamp release. So once I've saved my pennies, I'm gonna buy a brand new intel mac and start living the dream again. So to summarise, this isn't about converting windows users - this is about providing the ultimate convenience to tech geeks! THANK YOU STEVE JOBS!
"Everlasting peace will come to Earth when the last man kills the last but one." - Adolf Hitler
I'm not a Mac user, but if I were I'd be giggling at this. To me, the whole thing read as the sort of uninformed diatribe you get from kids about ATI/NVidia cards or whatever. It was steeped deeply in that whole thing that goes "people only use alternative computers/OSes to 'be different', because everyone has the same opinion as me underneath it all, surely". Couple that with the idea we'll all be wowed by the cynical insight that Apple might want to "Shock! Horror!" get windowsophiles using OS X, and you have an article that screams "I quite obviously don't use Macs, I never used OS/2, I wouldn't know an Alpha from a Banjo, and I only use windows - all of which means you should trust my comments on all of the above".