A
couple of weeks back, Russell A Beattie, a Mobile
Telecommunications and Internet Applications Developer who works
for Yahoo! in Sunnyvale, California, posted "Why I Might Switch
Back...," a blog explaining why he might switch from Mac OS X
and go back to Windows. Beattie wrote:
"I've been using Macs almost exclusively now for
about 7 months - since just after I joined Yahoo! and got my
PowerBook to go with my mini at home. Now that I've been using Macs
for a while, I'm wondering if they're all that special. The
hardware is nice, but OS X can be as slow, buggy,
non-standard, frustrating and annoying as any other operating
system."
He went on to deliver a critique of OS X with 33 explicit
points. I hope Russell didn't get flamed too severely by Mac
defenders, which I expect would do little to change his mind - and
only make Mac fans look fanatical and stupid.
Actually, I found much to agree with in his criticisms, although
I don't concur that they constitute sufficient cause to do
something as drastic as switching to Windows.
Here is what Russell Beattie had to say with my comments
interpolated.
1. Anyone who says that Macs are more stable than Windows are
smoking dope. I have two brand new Macs and they regularly go wacky
and need reboots.
I run two Macs with OS X 10.4 Tiger installed and
am a moderately heavy and demanding user. While while I have
experienced the odd kernel panic over the past three years with my
iBook running earlier versions of OS X, it was never a major issue,
and Tiger has been very stable. I've gone as long as 23 days (I
think) without restarting in daily production use.
2. My mini and PowerBook are 1.42 GHz and 1.5 GHz,
with 1 GB and 512 MB respectively. They are both sloooooow.
Though the PowerBook is a bit better, neither is as snappy as my
two year old Celeron, and not anywhere near the cutting edge x86
laptops.
Hmmm. I don't think Russell would be very happy at
all with my 550 MHz G4 PowerBook (and upgraded Pismo) and 700 MHz G3 iBook, and his point is
inarguable. If you're after raw power on the low end, the PC is
currently way out in front. That will be rectified over the next
twelve months or so as the Macintel transition progresses.
3. Also, the graphics power suck. ATI Radeon 9200 is anemic in
2005. Playing Halo on either computer is a drastically reduced
experience than on my Celeron 2 GHz Toshiba.
Can't gainsay this one either. The ATI Radeon 9200
is indeed anemic - and it doesn't even support Core Image in Tiger,
but the only Mac that still uses it is the mini. Hopefully Apple
will ship more powerful video support in the low-end Intel
machines.
4. I don't like Mail or Safari. I much prefer Thunderbird and
Firefox, both of which don't get much attention on the Mac
platform.
I'm not that crazy about any of these applications
myself. I do use Firefox, but my favorite browser is Opera, and I'm
a Eudora fan from way back for email. I'm just glad that there is
such a wide choice in these categories for OS X users.
Editor's note: My favorite browsers are Firefox
and Opera. My primary email client is GyazMail. As Moore notes, Mac
users have a lot of good software choices. dk
5. I really dislike iPhoto. I much prefer the Windows
thumbnails.
I have to say that I'm not a real big fan of
iPhoto either. I do most of my digital photography editing and
management in Photoshop Elements 3 and ToyViewer, plus several
freeware slideshow applications. Again, there is lots of choice if
one is not enchanted with the Apple application software.
6. I hate the Finder. I thought the Windows Explorer was bad and
wacky, but I had no idea. Finder makes me want to hurt someone. I
especially love when folders don't merge, but replace.
Aside from its appearance, which is attractive, I
don't care much for the OS X Finder either compared with the
wonderful old Mac OS Classic Finder, whose spatial predictability
and stability is much missed in OS X. However, at least the
Finder isn't butt-ugly like Windows is. I would find it dispiriting
to have to look at the Windows interface all day.
Editor's note: Folders not merging is a common
complaint from Windows users. In Windows, when you copy a folder to
one with the same name, the operating system adds the contents of
the dragged folder to the existing folder. On the Mac, the OS
replaces the existing folder with the one being dragged. Apple
really should add an option that asks, "Do you wish to replace the
existing folder or merge the contents of this folder into the
existing folder?" This would make switching much easier for Windows
users. dk
7. Trillian is so much better than Adium or Fire, and iChat is
non-starter.
I use MSN, but I'm not a heavy instant messaging
user, so this is not a big deal issue for me.
Editor's note: Except for voice & video chat,
I have to agree on iChat. My messenger client of choice is Adium,
although I have been playing with Proteus a bit lately. I
especially like the way these clients can work with the Address
Book. I can't comment on Fire, since I haven't used it since
version 1.04 (it's now at 1.5). dk
8. I'm not a musician, GarageBand to me isn't particularly
compelling.
I used to be an amateur musician, but chronic
health issues have put an end to my guitar playing, so GarageBand
isn't especially compelling to me either, but it's still very
cool.
9. Like it or not, it's a Windows world, and interop[erability]
has to be a priority. If I take a few screen shots, paste them into
a PowerPoint for Mac presentation and send them off, and no one can
see them because the images have defaulted to some wacky QuickTime
tiff? That's bad.
Windows world? Regrettably so. I've always found
myself most comfortable swimming against the current, so this
argument doesn't speak convincingly to me. The QuickTime issue is
more of an idiosyncratic problem for particular users. I can't
argue with Russell if it's a problem for him, and it sounds like
something that Apple or Microsoft should address pronto.
10. Keynote and Pages are both interesting, but non-standard. I
wouldn't do any real work with them because I'd be afraid of trying
to send documents to my coworkers.
I don't use either. Text editors are the ideal
tool for most of my text crunching, and I don't use presentation
software. Russell's point is valid. For better or worse, PowerPoint
and Word are the standards. However, both are supported by the Mac,
so compatibility in this context would be no reason to switch.
11. Yahoo! Products work better on Windows: Yahoo! Messenger and
Yahoo! Music Engine are awesome on the PC. Yes Y! could concentrate
more on Mac products, but they're hardly alone here.
I don't as a rule use Yahoo! products or services,
partly because of less than scintillating performance on Macs, and
indifferent Mac support. Something Yahoo! should indeed concentrate
on.
Editor's note: I've been using Yahoo! Messenger
for years. The current version is 2.5.3, and it hasn't been updated
since 2003. It barely supports webcams - and then at a maximum
frame rate of 1.67 per second. Although Macs have had standard
audio input since 1992, Y! has never supported it, so only Windows
users get voice chat. Messenger for Windows also allows you to send
IMs to a group of people, but the Mac versions only lets you send
out one at a time. Yahoo's Mac client was the main reason I bought
my first Windows PC - the Windows version is that much better.
dk
12. In fact, most stuff is available on Windows first, sadly.
And I'm a bleeding edge junkie.
Russell is correct. A prima facie topical example is the
recent release of Photoshop Elements 4 for Windows only, although
Adobe has announced that a Mac upgrade is in the works but over
half of the refreshments and enhancements to version 4 would apply
only the Windows version anyway. I'm quite comfortable living
somewhat distant from the bleeding edge (witness my antiquated
computer fleet).
13. I like UltraEdit 32 over TextWrangler or TextEdit
TextWrangler is excellent for some purposes.
TextEdit isn't especially exciting. My favorite production
application is Tom Benders wonderful, AppleScript optimized, Tex
Edit Plus, which isn't available for Windows, which would be a
major inhibition to my ever switching away from the Mac OS.
14. You know, .mac is interesting, but way too expensive.
I agree and have been saying so ever since Apple terminated the free mac.com email service. While some users may perceive that they are getting fair value for their money, I certainly would not. As Russell says, some of the .mac features are interesting, but they fall well short of being $100 a year interesting in my estimation, and Gmail provides an excellent free email service.
15. The widescreen on the PowerBook is completely overrated. Web
pages and documents are tall, not wide. Because the wide screen
lowers the viewing center of the screen, I end up getting a crik in
my neck looking "down" at the wide screen, rather than more
straight ahead on PC based laptops.
This is valid commentary. I would be more excited
about the availability of a portrait formatted screen (perhaps
rotatable?) than I am about widescreens. I also find the vertical
limitation more annoying more often than the horizontal, although
it is convenient to be able to open to documents side by side.
Editor's note: It all depends on how you work. I
typically have two windows side-by-side, and anything less than
1152 pixels wide negatively impacts my work flow. 1280 pixels is
better. For those who want a rotating display to use with their
Power Mac, Mac mini, or PowerBook, Dell makes a nice 17" 1280 x
1024 flat panel display (the 1704FPV). I have one. I love it. But I
haven't seen any reason to pivot it yet. dk
16. Having to remember my DVI to VGA adapter to hook up my
PowerBook to an overhead is a pain in the ass. The wide-screen to
800 x 600 presentation view is also jarring and painful.
The first part of this is a bit nitpicky, but I
don't dispute that it would be convenient to have a VGA adapter
port on PowerBooks. I agree that the 800 x 600 view is essentially
useless.
17. What is the friggin' deal with the .dmg [disk image] files?
The install process is so broken. Unzip .dmg.gz, mount .dmg, copy
to Applications, unmount .dmg, delete .dmg, delete dmg.gz.
Bleh.
Apple addressed this back in 2003 with the
introduction of an enhanced kind of disk images called
Internet-Enabled Disk Images. When you download one of these
puppies, the .dmg file automatically decompresses to the Desktop
and then the file automatically trashes itself. The problem, I
suppose, is getting developers to use them.
18. Do you know how long it took me to get the idea that I had
to empty the Trash before I disconnected any external drives,
memory cards, etc.? Otherwise the files just stayed wherever they
were. And those fucking .DS_Store files...
Is this really such a major issue? I think I
prefer leaving Trash emptying with the requirement for positive
authorization, than to have the system decide for you, which is a
global criticism of mine about Microsoft software in general.
19. I don't use iMovie. It'd be nice if I did, but it's not a
plus as I don't have a DVD burner, and if I wanted to buy one, it'd
cost me a ton.
They aren't that expensive. I have a SuperDrive
upgrade in my PowerBook. I don't use iMovie myself, but I might
sometime in the future if I ever get spare time to mess around with
video.
20. Everything for Macs cost more. From my $50 Mighty Mouse to
my $150 iSight camera.
Usually because the quality is better with Mac
peripherals than it is with the bargain basement PC stuff. You
certainly don't have to pay $50 for a mouse. Most PC mice will work
fine with a Mac.
21. I thought having "Unix" underneath would be an advantage.
But it's not Linux. Linux is what I know; the wackiness that is
OS X confuses the hell out of me. I can barely figure out
what's running and not running. I installed some HP Printer
software drivers months ago and the control panel starts up
automatically every day and sits in the Dock, despite my best
efforts to track down where the HELL it's started from.
I can't speak to this, as I am a command
ignoramus, so will not argue, except to say that some Unix jocks
contend BSD superior to Linux. I wouldn't know.
22. I thought Exposé was cool at first, but then realized
I was going blind trying to find the right window. Spatial memory,
what? Exposé just randomly throws the windows around the
screen, it's nuts.
I partly agree with Russell about this one. I love
Exposé for its ability to quickly clear the screen of open
windows, of which I usually have two dozen or more windowshaded,
but I virtually never use the all windows display function. Just
too hard to see.
23. I hate the Dock too. Each app responds differently. So some
apps you can click on and the window appears at the top, others it
ignores. And if you Minimize the window, well, it never pops up.
WHY?!?! Urgh. Thank god I discovered Command+~ to swap between
windows of the same app . . . I was losing my mind for a
while trying to find things.
I'm on the same page here. I have resigned myself
to semi-peaceful coexistence with the Dock, but I still dislike the
wretched thing, especially when your target folder or the Trash
fiendishly ducks away from something you are trying to drag to it.
I absolutely loathe minimizing windows to the Dock and don't know
what I would do without Windowshade X.
24. The hardware support isn't great. I've got several devices
which just are completely ignored by the Mac, including a WebCam
and several USB devices. And my iSight doesn't play nice with
anything but iChat. WTF? Why isn't it just a DV device?
Apple definitely has more work to do in this
context. However, I continue to be amused by the frequent
distinction between the PC and Apple instructions respectively for
installing peripherals. Plug and play is still much more of a
reality on Macs.
25. iSync is only marginally better than nothing. I thought it
was a holy grail . . . it's really not. In fact, I tried
to sync my wife's phone and wasn't being careful and it defaulted
to a destructive sync and blanked out my wife's phone. ARRRGGGH.
WHY!?!?
I don't use iSync, so I have nothing to say other
than that the experience related sounds very annoying.
Editor's note: Standard iSync behavior when
synchronizing a device for the first time is to ask whether you
want overwrite information on the device with date from your
Address Book, copy the information from the device to your Address
Book, or merge the two sources. dk
26. I really don't like the fact that some apps close when their
window goes away (like System Preferences and Windows Video for the
Mac) and other apps stay there in memory forever until you notice
them by accident...
This inconsistency is perhaps a bit jarring. It
doesn't bother me a great deal, because I am inclined to
windowshade windows if I'm not through with the application rather
than closing them.
27. Spotlight isn't great. It's slow and doesn't seem to find
what I'm looking for.
I agree completely. I only hope that it will
improve with subsequent versions. I find Spotlight so frustrating
that I have mixed feelings about whether it is better than
nothing.
28. Dashboard is pretty useless as well. I've installed Yahoo!
Widgets (Konfabulator) and that's much more what Dashboard
should've worked like.
I'm not a heavy user of Dashboard, but I find it
reasonably serviceable. I have never used Konfabulator, but if
someone likes it better, it supports the Mac, so what is the
problem?
Not me, but then I never did except for directory
searches.
30. Windows Anti-aliasing for LCDs is more refined than OS X.
You'd think it'd be opposite, but to me Macs seem fuzzy.
I can't comment on this. I don't have enough frame
of reference.
31. OS X mouse tracking isn't great. Why is that? Didn't
they invent it? Why do I have to go get separate mouse drivers for
my Microsoft, Logitech and Mighty Mouse mice? That's insane.
I emphatically I agree on this one. I continue to
be frustrated and puzzled by the crummy mouse tracking and clicking
support and sporadically erratic behavior in OS X contrasted
with the rock solid input device support in the Classic Mac OS.
This aspect has improved substantially in Panther and Tiger
compared with the earlier versions, but there is still plenty of
potential for improvement.
32. Rendezvous/Bonjour works as advertised . . . but
since no one around me uses a Mac, it really doesn't matter except
for iTunes, and the Windows version supports that functionality
anyways.
I don't use Rendezvous/Bonjour either.
33. Hitting F11 by accident is a wonderful way to lose your
mind. "AHHH!"
If this is a problem, just reconfigure the
keyboard shortcut. Exposé toggling on my Macs requires the
Control key modifier.
Russell does concede that there are benefits to running Mac OS
X, which you can check out by reading his essay, but he suggests
that "Apple has sacrificed their vaunted simplicity, usability and
consistency in the face of sloppy Windows competition," which I
think may be the case as witnessed by the rough edges OS X
still has after four and a half years.
"What's really needed," he says, "is a . . . Mac OS 11
to clean up all the weird bits and get back to basics with
usability and cleanliness, based on a world where most people use
Windows," but closes by admitting, "I probably need to swap back to
Windows for a bit to realize how good I have it."
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and it would be foolish
to insist that there are no contexts in which the PC has some
advantages over the Mac.
However, even though I freely concede that OS X still has
plenty of room for improvement, I can express one gigantic reason
why I would never seriously consider switching to a Windows PC in
one word: malware. Even if the Windows interface were substantially
superior to the Mac (which isn't), the Windows malware onslaught
would be plenty enough reason to stay put.
Mac of the Day: PowerBook 500 Series, introduced 1994.05.16. 'Blackbird' includes a 25 to 33 MHz 68040 along with smart batteries and grayscale or color displays.
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We believe in the long term value of Apple hardware. You should be able to use your Apple gear as long as it helps you remain productive and meets your needs, upgrading only as necessary. We want to help maximize the life of your Apple gear.
