The Mac vs. PC argument is one that could fill this column from now
until . . . until . . . until . . . well,
until there are no more Macs or PCs! However, we want to share the
following discourse, sent in by reader Mike Roy, which tackles the
issue with a bit of a twist:
To me XP and OS X are at the same level stability wise. The
only difference is that there is more free server software available on
the *nix side of things. (If you went 100% MS on a PC, you would pay
thousands for the software, whereas on a Unix based system you could
get free industrial strength email, www, ftp, etc. services. Mind you
there are tons of share/freeware software for a x86 PC too...) Same
stuff, different pile.
I'm just very tired of the Mac vs. PC argument. When will people see
that Macs do have drivers, they're just called extensions! And
they will screw you up just as badly on one platform when they are
buggy. I had a brand new G4/400 tower once that shipped to us with a
LaCie CD-RW. It wouldn't boot if the thing was plugged in. Why? Buggy
driver, errr, extension. A normal user wouldn't know how to fix it, PC
or Mac. All it took was to unplug the drive from USB and do some
reading and downloading from LaCie's site, but that's all it would take
on a x86 based PC too. Both drive and system were brand new, virgin
install, same generation hardware. Makes me wonder what LaCie was
testing their driver on. Same stuff, different pile.
The other one I hear lots from OS 9 people is complaining about
file extensions. When will people understand that all files have an
application identifier in pretty much any OS? Some are hidden, some are
not. But they are still there. How do people think their Word doc opens
when you click it? Because there is a bit in the file, or a table in
the OS saying file X was created in Word. Same stuff, different
pile.
I reboot my two XP workstations once every two weeks. The reboot has
to be done due to the Windows Update downloading the latest fixes and
drivers, just like on the Mac. I follow the same schedule with our
Linux servers (the apt-get and urpmi commands are godsends) and any
OS 9 and X boxes. Same stuff, different pile.
The level of features and sophistication in our modern OSes has
brought us to a very high level of stability no matter what platform
you should chose. But if you have crappy drivers in there, you will
have problems on any platform. That being said, I don't believe
that any of the three platforms and their applications has anymore bugs
than the other ones. Every week I see patches for all the OSes fixing
no checked buffers and memory leaks. No one is better than the other.
Same stuff, different pile.
The playing field has been leveled. Software is now ported to all
platforms where they matter. You can get the entire Adobe line on x86
instead of just Mac. Apache runs on everything under the sun (including
Sun stations, heh). Quark and FileMaker on x86. Even the Mac now has a
decent stable of games. For the most part software availability is a
non-issue. Supported hardware is a level field, too. FireWire, USB,
PCI, AGP, dual CPU. You can get them on any platform you chose. Same
stuff, different pile.
The future will be decided by pricing, special services, and
customer service. As a whole, I would call this total value of the
desktop system. This is the sole place where I believe Apple is still
quite far ahead. Their systems may cost a bit more, but with the new G4
bundle there is now more in the box across the entire line of Apple
products. I think most people would be happier with the Apple PC that
they might bring home.
The iApps are wonderful and ready to go. I'm still appalled that
Windows Media Player can't rip an MP3 without purchasing a $10 module.
While XP has equivalent apps included (Movie Maker vs. iMovie2), the
level of quality of the software is superior on the Mac. A free IMAP
email account from Apple is very nice tool. Free online storage
space.
Just recently I read their howto on migrating your email, address
book, and files from your PC to a Mac using their free services. You
don't see MS or Dell doing that, do you? No. Of course, Dell and MS
aren't scrambling for life, so I guess they don't have to put in the
extra effort.
This is where Apple is different. The amount and quality of software
bundled. Apples to oranges. Different stuff, different pile. In this
case, thinking different is fantastic.
