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Leopard Vs. Vista

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the why-apple-wins dept.

Rockgod writes to point us to an ongoing series of articles, "Leopard vs. Vista," by Daniel Eran. The latest is part 4, Naked Sales, and it's a meditation on hardware without Windows, Apple's strategy of hardware-software integration, and the dissatisfactions that arise from the creative tension between Microsoft and hardware manufacturers. (The earlier articles in the series are linked form this one.) From the article: "The vast majority of PCs come with Windows pre-installed, and actually can't be sold without it. Leading PC hardware makers can't freely advertise PCs sold without Windows, or with an alternative OS such as Linux, without having to pay Microsoft significantly more for every other OEM license they ship. That's why all name brand PCs prominently repeat their own version of the cult-like phrase 'Dell recommends Windows XP Professional,' as if there were a choice in the matter and they thought it would be helpful to provide some guidance... Apple's current Get a Mac advertising campaign doesn't compare Mac OS X to Windows, it compares the complete experience of a Mac with that of a PC. After all, Windows is only half of what's wrong with the PC as a product."

2 of 420 comments (clear)

  1. Re:I must say, as one of the biggest apple fans... by linuxci · · Score: 1, Troll

    I agree, Roughly Drafted is the Fox News of Mac sites. The bias is so obvious. I agree that the integration of Mac OS X and the hardware has produced some excellent systems. But it's also possible to get good quality PC's too just because all the Dell offers of the week are rather shoddy more high end stuff can be decent quality.

    The only thing I don't like about OEM PC's is basically having to pay for Windows even if you don't want it (yes, I know they offer some with linux and maybe you can get a refund) but to take advantage of the full catalogue you'll probably end up with Windows.

    However, in the end I choose a Mac, it offers something the others don't (a decent OS pre-installed) and then I can add Linux as a dual boot if I want to.

  2. Mac is just a PC with OS/X instead of Windows by Glasswire · · Score: 1, Troll

    A bit more stylish perhaps, but only major architectural difference at the platform level is the use of EFI boot - which the PCs will get to shortly anyway (it's been around for years and is superior to BIOS, but conservative vendors have held off using it).
    Apple probably wanted it because (other than being more powerful and better) it gives them some control of what OS goes on Macs and lets them also make it more difficult to run OS/X on non-Mac non-EFI systems.