Windows or Mac?

[microsoft windows]

Which one do you like better? Or do you use Linux instead? I personally prefer using Microsoft Windows. It has a superior GUI, and is much faster and more secure than Mac OS X. I do own 7 Macs, however. They all run classic Mac OS though.

[keyboardlover]

And heeeeeeeere we go!

Glad to see you're still alive MW.

[WhiteFireDragon]

This thread is flame bait for fanbois.

[tjcaustin]

[FoxWolf1]

I was a Mac user and rabid zealot for a very long time, back when Macs were actual Macs rather than Unix PCs in drag. But with first the shift to OSX and then the shift to Intel processors, combined with the gradual decline in Apple hardware quality, the various reasons why I preferred (real) Macs ceased to apply. So now I use Windows.

I did try a few flavors of Linux after having decided that I was done being a Mac user, but none of them seemed to be able to compete with Windows or OSX when it came to gaming or convenience in everyday use.

[davkol]

Neither?

[SmallFry]

[dorkvader]

Linux wins.

Personally, I don't like OSX at all. There are a few issues error-handling with some of the apps (like finder) that make it unusable. I would much rather pick my policies than have them set for me. Also, there are a few oddities with sound and devices that I don't like.

I get to repair apple products every day, and they really are a mixed bag. In some ways the hardware is excellent (price aside) and in other ways it is pretty terrible (let's solder the RAM to the logic board!) (Let's pick a different SSD pinout with EVERY GENERATION) (let's not update the HDD cables that always fail!) etc.

For this reason, I use linux mainly for "work", and I use windows sometimes for gaming or media viewing (not that linux isn't good for media viewing, but I have my large CRT on windows, and I opt for dual-head on linux. As such , I have a better display for that sort of thing) I'm considering running my linux completely without a disk, and just loading the image to ram.

I also sort-of despise Apple as a company, so it's easy for me to stay away.

But I don't have anything against others using Apple. If it works for them, and they are happy with it, then I'm happy, too.
---
Anyone want to buy my (used, working) mac pro?

[Computer-Lab in Basement]

Yes.  ****ing yes!

[rowdy]

Apple.

I have to suffer Windows (7 & XP) at work. I have to reboot regularly just to keep the computer responsive. Nearly every smallest update needs a reboot. The UI sucks.

GNU/Linux is too fragmented for the desktop, although most of my servers run one distro or another. The GNU/Linux desktop has come a long way over the past 8 years.

Mac OS X just works. It sits in the background and lets me get on with my work. It looks nice. It has a Unix underneath so I can use a comprehensive command line if I want to.

Been using Windows since V2.
Been using Max OS since 10.4 (with some experience of Classic).
Been using GNU/Linux since kernel 2.0 was still new.

[keyboardlover]

My favorite OS right now is Windows 7. Windows 8, IMO, is not bad (very different though). I like Linux but never found a distro I liked enough to stick with. OS X I really do not like because I find it very unintuitive compared to the other two.

At the end of the day though, I think that no OS is perfect for everybody, and I look forward to a day with maximum freedom of choice as well as maximum interoperability. Thankfully, web technology is helping things to move in that direction.

[YoungMichael88]

I switched to Mac from windows years ago now. The reason I did was because I was about to attend school in audio production and sound engineering. Mac is far superior when it comes to running pro tools and apples Logic is a very powerful program when it comes to midi and synthesis. In fact Mac is the industry standard in audio. I'm not going to preach Mac like its the best thing ever. It does have its problems. I really wish that Mac was better for gaming. Another obvious downfall for Mac is the outrageous price (recently bought a 27" iMac and needed to start a line of credit for it). I do think that if your not into photo editing, film making or sound engineering, you should probably go with a windows system. If your buying a family computer you should probably buy a windows system and if your into gaming primarily, go with windows. I don't like the trendy direction Mac is headed in either.....

[Malphas]

Neither?

There's always one...

[baldgye]

Apple.

I have to suffer Windows (7 & XP) at work. I have to reboot regularly just to keep the computer responsive. Nearly every smallest update needs a reboot. The UI sucks.

lol your clearly doing something wrong, and while not being happy about the UI of an OS thats what, 11/12yrs old? seems redundant... I'd argue that Win7 has by far the best UI of all modern OS's simply becasue of how easy the taskbar is to navigate and how with one key press you can search (effeicentally) your entire machine for files/programs.



I only really use Windows becasue I'm primarly a gamer and there isn't another viable option for me on PC other than Windows. I've tried OSX and diffrent distro's of Linux but just have no real need for them.
I'd like to have a macmini plugged into my hi-fi and TV so I had something that iTunes would run on properly and so I could stream stuff on my TV without having to use my broken laptop but other than that, OSX is pretty limited and Linux is so backwards asfar as ease-of-use I can't be bothered with it.

[rowdy]

Maybe I'm doing something wrong, but the PC is newer than my Mac, and the Mac has been through several OS upgrades and Just Works.  There is probably an equivalent number of programs installed no both, and uninstalled over the year or two I have had them.  And in all those years the Mac has crashed twice.  Windows BSOD probably half a dozen times, but slows to a crawl or goes all weird nearly every week.

The UI sucks because it does not work.  Windows XP - not all windows were themed.  Not even Command Prompt.  And if you resize a window to narrow it switches from XP theme to classic theme, and you have to close and reopen the app to get the XP window decoration back.  Come on Microsoft - at least theme the windows properly.  How many times have you opened an application - its window appears on top of other windows and has the insertion point flashing in the input field (e.g. a login dialog), but another application has focus and swallows the keystrokes?  How many times do you open one app, and its window appears behind everything else, or minimised?  The windows don't appear in the same place each time you open them, so I usually just run every application full screen (not so with Mac).  Windows 7 - you have several applications open, close one, and the task bar buttons resize so that if you don't look closely you might click the wrong button.  There seems to be a 1 pixel gap under the task bar buttons in Win 7 where clicking achieves nothing.  So you can't just move the mouse pointer to the bottom of the screen to click a task bar button, you have to move it a few pixels up.

I could go on.  The Windows UI sucks.

[baldgye]

In my experience macs only 'just work' if you beary push them, I've had OSX lock up and crash on my as much as win7 BSOD, you must be doing something wrong and dumb... A crashing machine is one with a problem... And
Not something you can just ignorently blame on an OS you don't happen to like...

And I'm not going to read your essay on how the windows UI dsnt work, when clearly it does work, just fine...



People who cry about how 'bad' windows is and then claim macs 'just work' are the single worst thing about apple and there whole community, because it spreads ignorance and people just accept it as fact, when it's complete nonsense...
As an aside the one program that crashes my PC more than anything else is iTunes, and having to root though task manager closing random Apple processes so my iPhone will sync isn't iTunes 'just working'...





And why are you talking about XP? It compares so well to ANY Apple OS from 10-11 years ago...

[YoungMichael88]

^I've typed up 4 or 5 different responses to that last post and decided that its best to just stay out of this war. Mac users vs PC users is like Israel vs Palestine. I honestly think I would be met with less hostility if I debated the existence of God with a devout Christian.

[rowdy]

YMMV.  The above was based on my personal experience of using Windows since about version 2 and Mac OS since 10.4 (so I've been using Windows for much longer than Mac OS).

Mac OS is like a breath of fresh air compared to Windows.

And if you don't want to read some of the reasons why I have a less than optimal experience of the Windows UI, then I hope that you continue to enjoy your Windows experience.

[rowdy]

^I've typed up 4 or 5 different responses to that last post and decided that its best to just stay out of this war. Mac users vs PC users is like Israel vs Palestine. I honestly think I would be met with less hostility if I debated the existence of God with a devout Christian.

Good choice

[baldgye]

Yeah I know, but ignorant foolishness is something that drives me mad, espeically when people compare? Or try and compare the latest OSX to Windows XP, that came out in 2001, and is still supported and will be for admins untill 2014, which is frankly amazing

[baldgye]

I tried but non of it makes sense...

Ok I'm in a slow connection at work and just read your last post of 'good choice' I no see that your just one of those fanboys who dsnt want a discussion, and simply want to post about how wonderful it is regardless of facts posting 'personal experiences' as if they are suppose to mean anything towards a coherent logical argument for or against.

So I'm done! It's a shame everytime a thread like this is made people who use macs or at least a large % fall back on the old ignorance is bliss argument... But meh

[rowdy]

In Win7 the Command Prompt is themed, but other windows lose their Aero theme if you shrink their width too much and the child controls are positioned too far to the right.  I develop software for Windows and this problem crops up every now and again so we tend to set a minimum width for the app's windows slightly wider than you'd otherwise think necessary.

Just sayin' that I have used and supported our staff and clients with a lot of Windows versions, and seen quite a few Mac OS versions too.  I choose to use Mac OS at home because it lets me get things done without getting in the way.  I have to use Windows at work, so I probably get to see (and help users to fix or work-around) more problems with Windows.

[rowdy]

I tried but non of it makes sense...

Ok I'm in a slow connection at work and just read your last post of 'good choice' I no see that your just one of those fanboys who dsnt want a discussion, and simply want to post about how wonderful it is regardless of facts posting 'personal experiences' as if they are suppose to mean anything towards a coherent logical argument for or against.

So I'm done! It's a shame everytime a thread like this is made people who use macs or at least a large % fall back on the old ignorance is bliss argument... But meh

I can only post based on my experience, and this is my opinion.  There are millions of satisfied Windows users out there, and probably millions of satisfied Mac OS users.  And thousands of happy GNU/Linux users.  And probably dozens of OS/2 and Haiku users

Mac OS works for me, Windows not as smoothly.  Perhaps if I used Windows at home and Mac OS at work things might be different.

[Lanx]

itunes is such ****ty ****, that the person who likes itunes is the lowest common denominator, quite literally is the only piece of software that destroys my system (i haven't had it on my machine since 2006). thank you amazon, thank you zune, if not for these i wouldn't have digital downloads. Don't get me wrong, i have mac products, a touch, and wife's ipad and iphone. I keep itunes on her computer in a seperate eco-system, since itunes makes her computer wonky every year or so.

I used to have it on my htpc, cuz i was using the ipad to control the htpc and you needed itunes installed to interface, it made my system so unstable, that after a reformat, i'm happier using a smaller screen droid to control it instead.

hey, i've also seen where itunes works great, if you only have mac's in your eco-system. (sometimes) no joke i went to a friends place for tksgiving, and since it was family they wanted to show their family pics of our italy vacation (since we all took it together), they kept on screaming at their cable for going down, i had to tether my phone to internet working for them, and their new apple tv, wasn't pushing the images from the macbook to the tv.

turns out later that night, the apple tv, is able to do something and mess up the router, how the hell does a device take over a router to the point of destruction?

after a firmware update they still couldn't push pics from the new macbook to the apple tv, and used the old macbook with the tbolt hdmi, instead. Oh and they are both deathly afraid of updating ios cuz they still have google maps and don't want to loose it.

well that didn't turn out too well, but they're able to share purchases from ipad to iphone to mac (and maybe if appletv works finally, last phone call, they still had troubles). One's a computer engineer and the other is an engineer, so they aren't your normal hippie idiots that need the mac genius for help.

anyway i might get a droid based tablet cuz getting another ipad would be silly and only super dummies want to pay double the price for a microsoft surface.

oh btw ios sucks compared to anything droid 4.0 and up... i feel like i loose iq points when i go from my s3 to my wifes iphone or my touch.

[Halverson]

My favorite part of this thread?
It was started by Microsoft Windows.
And argument ensues, too easy some may say.

[rowdy]

The OP asked for an opinion.  Several were offered.

Opinions are opinions, and everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

[YoungMichael88]

My favorite part of this thread?
It was started by Microsoft Windows.
And argument ensues, too easy some may say.

my favorite part of this thread? Genderless wizard sharks. 

[Gupgup]

I prefer Windows for gaming, and Mac interface for everything else personally.

[a0]

I use OS X for my daily work but like to experiment with new and old systems too. The OS X offers the best compromise between solid and powerful UNIX environment and modern and elegant graphical interface, that's why it's just irreplaceable, IMO. In past I used both windows and linux. I've tried dozens of linux distros and was for a long time an active Archlinux user. After that I installed FreeBSD and realized how superior it was in comparison with Linux. Recently I've been experimenting with plan9 (aka UNIX++ from Bell Labs) — it's a brilliant system.

[Computer-Lab in Basement]

Windows.  Have always been a windows person, ever since I was a kid. 

I don't mind Macs.  I mean, I would never buy one, but they're nice to use.

[aggiejy]

OS X. I have to suffer using win7 and win8 occasionally for legacy work, but otherwise windows is a part of my past I'd rather forget.

[funkymeeba]

Every operating system is terrible, but Linux seems to be less terrible than Windows and Mac.

I do sometimes miss Mac OS 7, back in the day when I didn't know what the hell I was doing with a computer.

[microsoft windows]

Every operating system is terrible, but Linux seems to be less terrible than Windows and Mac.

I do sometimes miss Mac OS 7, back in the day when I didn't know what the hell I was doing with a computer.

I've got System 6 on a couple of my Mac's--other than that, it's System 7.5.5 or Mac OS 9.2. No Mac OS X bull**** on my machines! : )

[DrSchlock]

I like Microsoft Linux.

[schizrade]

ESXi.... run all your silly OS's.

[rowdy]

But will Minecraft run on it?

[schizrade]

But will Minecraft run on it?

Sure, pick a host.

[noisyturtle]

Takin' the bait. They make nice phones though, if not vastly overpriced.

[microsoft windows]

I'll admit that I do buy Macs, but I only buy "Old world" ROM machines from the 1980's and 1990's. And I wouldn't pay more than $20 for them. Think right now I've got 4 Macintosh SE's, one SE/30, a Classic, and a Power Macintosh G3. And a couple of those bright-colored Imacs from the late 1990's just for the hell of it (got those for free).

But I certainly would not pay thousands of dollars for an Intel PC made by Foxconn just because it had a silver case and ran some joke of an operating system. As I've always said-- MAC OS X stands for MACsimizing Obsessive Stupidity for Xtreme dummies.

[rowdy]

Takin' the bait. They make nice phones though, if not vastly overpriced.

I won't quote the pictures, and before anyone says - I am not an Apple fanboi.  I happen to use a Mac at home because it works for me.  Before that I had a GNU/Linux PC.  Before that was Windows.

Mac Pro - Apple does tend to severely overcharge hardware upgrades.  But they are commodity items and you can just buy a SATA hard drive and install it yourself ror as cheap as you can find it.  Graphics cards do require Apple-compatible ROMs, but many PC graphics cards can be flashed to work in a Mac Pro.  So processor, RAM, HDD and optical drive you can get anywhere.  RAID card will depend on whether the OS supports it or not.  And up to you what monitor you choose to use (I have a 24" Acer LCD).

The second pic - was that taken at a Microsoft conference?  I've seen a picl ike that before

[thegunner100]

Ahh microsoft windows, the subtle troll.

[aggiejy]

Haha, not very subtle.

[tauburn]

Mac + Windows dual wielding master race here..

[DasHHKBProM]

.

[pitashen]

Games + most of the engineering pro app --> windows/linux

otherwise, mac is good to own if you got the budget.

[rowdy]

windows=free service packs/ directx11 nuff said(IMO) : P

Desktop:
intel proc/Asus mobo /Windows OS


Laptop:
Intel proc/MacbookPro/osxWindows OS

osx=pay for service packs example:10.4 10.5 10.6 10.7 (or whatever mountain snow safari animal cat they are on)
as much as i hate it i must admit mac hardware in portable form is the best.

Technically OS X 10.4, 10.5, 10.6, 10.7 and 10.8 are not service packs, they are different versions of the operating system.

Apple do offer operating system upgrades equivalent to service packs, hence Snow Leopard went from 10.6.0 to 10.6.8, Lion up to 10.7.5 and Mountain Lion to 10.8.2.

[tauburn]

A lot of people get all butthurt over the fact that people pay the insane prices for macs, but they also don't seem to understand that not everyone lives paycheck to paycheck.

[rowdy]

Macs generally have higher resale value too.

[BlindRAGE606]

Both.

OSX-productivity.

Windows- gaming.

[fohat.digs]

Whoever it was that started the slogan "Don't Be Evil"

I think it was Google which has turned out to be seriously evil, anyway

As I understand that concept, Apple is far more evil even than Microsoft, but both have serious "evil" issues.

Linux, and I have mostly stuck with Ubuntu, has very little "evil" but seems to be crippled in a world where 99% of everybody else subscribes to the Evil Ones.

I would love to move into a Windows-free, Apple-free realm, but there are just too many things that JUST DON'T WORK!

So, I use Windows 7 and Firefox (Chrome is probably better, but I feel the need to keep some tad of my soul free of Google) and dual boot into Ubuntu xLTS when I can, on my desktop and laptop

I recently got a very nice Android phone, but I would love to find a realistic way to be able to be "agnostic" in every possible venue.

Dreaming, I know.