"This story is for anyone considering or interested in switching from Mac to Microsoft's very beautiful new operating system, Windows Vista. I made the switch several weeks ago, from my trusty 12" PowerBook to (at first) a 17" HP widescreen notebook. Was my switch from Mac to Windows Vista easy? Was I able to 'Think Different', the other way around? And a month later, have I decided to stick with Vista or go back to the Mac? Read on to find out - and please, before you send hate mail, read the whole story."
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Member since:2005-07-06
That list looks a lot like the OS X list of talking points.
True, OsX is the main competitor and have just had a successfull campain based on some of those points. OsX is now widely regarded as more secure and good value because of iLife. It makes sense MS would focus on these areas.
To flip this, all credit to Microsoft for making a huge piece of software that runs fairly well on most hardware. I want to see Apple even try, then we can start complaining about hardware. Ditto for Linux too.
Sorry to burst your bubble there, but that has been done by a lot of companies for a long time. MS has created their own problem there by encouraging crappy win-modems, win-soundcards, etc ... that will barely function correctly even on Windows.
Member since:2005-10-12
"Apple does have a serious advantage that they also control the hardware..."
Bit of a myth. They don't control it any more than Dell controls it. Both limit the hardware, maybe a better description. Apple is buying in selected components. So is Dell. Apple is using drivers to run the components. So is Dell. Apple may write some of them in-house, but is it really so important who the driver writers work for? And in many ways, perhaps its more natural they should work for the component maker?
You just do not have any more driver problems on Windows nowadays than you do on Macs, and of course Dell, HP etc test the combinations of hardware and OS and drivers they are going to ship as thoroughly as Apple does. Linux you do have more problems - scanners and some printers and some modems.
The Windows driver issues in my experience vanished several years ago, after having diminished sharply still earlier.
Member since:2005-07-06
Member since:2006-02-06
"The Windows driver issues in my experience vanished several years ago, after having diminished sharply still earlier."
Until you loose your Windows XP installation CD and can't install the driver for your digital camera any longer; because *even though* the wizard can search on the internet and *even though* you validated the thing in the first place, the wizard *keeps* asking for an installation CD.
And then you go the the website of the company who made your camera, you download a bunch of stuff, some photo manipulation software you don't want gets installed and your digital camera STILL doesn't work. The fact it's the vendor's "fault" doesn't make it less frustrating.
Yes, this happened to me. And maybe I'm an exception, I don't know.
What I do know, is that when I rebooted to a certain Linux distro, I plugged in & powered the camera, and a window came popping up asking me what to do with the files. So I downloaded the photos and sorted them in Digikam.
So in my experience, they didn't entirely vanish just yet.
Edited 2007-02-01 11:38
Member since:2006-02-06
Yeah. We all know linux controls most of the hardware it runs on! And of course, micro-poor-soft is having a hell of a hard time figuring out how to reverse engineer the drivers to run on those linux controlled hardware vendors.
huhum...
I just can't figure out what is wrong with my above paragraph... can anyone help me ?
Member since:
2005-07-06
It's a list of talking points :
* Security
* Eyecandy
* Bundled Apps
That list looks a lot like the OS X list of talking points.
* Negatives stem from hardware problems (Dell in the article)
Apple does have a serious advantage that they also control the hardware, not just the software. To flip this, all credit to Microsoft for making a huge piece of software that runs fairly well on most hardware. I want to see Apple even try, then we can start complaining about hardware. Ditto for Linux too.