Monday, November 26, 2007

Mac OS vs Windows

And here's the follow up with my feedback on Mac OS X. As I've said before I have never really owned a Mac, of any kind. But I have had quite a few opportunities to play around with them. Last time I played with a MacBook g4 I think. The things is that, since the device wasn't mine I didn't really have a chance to check out the details, the installs , the way the thing actually works. I only saw what every demo shows : the outside, the user interface, the nice small little features that make Tiger so appealing. The thing is that I'm not really looking for design in an OS. Yes I do agree that Mac OS has a really nice design, and yes I do agree that the people from Microsoft did steal certain design elements and integrated them into Vista ( which I am running right now). But thank God , that's all they stole.
I have to confess that until now, I was always criticizing Windows and Microsoft for their many faults and weaknesses, and let's not forget their unimaginably huge sums of money. I viewed Apple as that close true friend i never had. Their smooth design, their new technologies, the fact that I own an iPod, plus the absence of A BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH ( which i have been getting quite too often in Vista due to some compatibility issues with my RAM cards) made me decide that Mac OS was the best OS out there at this time. This was before I installed it and got a chance to really do some stuff with it.
I just learned how to appreciate Windows.

Mac OS X ( Tiger) : Great design, great gadgets, great stuff. Unfortunately it sucks as an OS. I mean it's the type of OS you'd want your elevator to have , not your 10.000$ multiprocessor workstation, or even your decent programming machine. After you get your jaw off the floor and get over the design and the overall "nicety" of the OS, and when you actually try to install and do something with it you realise it's a piece of junk. It's that type of program meant for people who have had absolutely no connection with the digital world and are just getting into computers and stuff. It's simple, and usually quick.
Few errors, and almost no viruses, but when something like that happens, there's no way to say your mac. Now I agree, with people who criticize Windows ( as i said i was one of them until recently) for being full of bugs and errors and viruses and things like that. But here's THE GOOD PART: In Windows if you really know what you're doing you can solve almost any problem. In mac os you can barely set up you're applications. Sure you can change the color scheme for absolutely anything ..but you can't see the root files for a program. That's the type of OS this is. ( Yes i know you can see the root files but i was just giving a comparison. Plus even if you see them that doesn't mean you'll actually be able to do anything).
Now I'm back to my Vista Ultimate, which is getting better and better thanks to the updates from MS ( I can't wait for the SP1 to come out) and I'm really happy with it.

So I'll just sum up : Mac OS X : Smooth design, cute user interface, worthless when you want to use it for serious stuff.
Windows: Full of bugs and errors, but most of them can be easily solved. Great compatibility with almost any software, and ideal for complicated use.

Be back in a few days with a new article.

2 comments:

Illuminatus said...

Yes, and let's not forget that many of the bugs and security problems do no really affect us in any way! I mean no one will try to exploit a bug in Windows to try and steal my files.
The only downside of Vista is the huge amount of resources it needs to run. Up until recently I had 2 GB of RAM. It ran pretty good, but now, when I have 4GB of RAM, NOW you can see the difference. It is fast! And those ram modules, are not even expensive! (check out how much money you would have to pay for upgrading your mac with more ram:) )

Geeky said...

Yes yes that's very true. Imagine me, i used to have 2gb of ram and now I only have 1 :)) but hey i'm still quite satisfied with this. I actually read that SP1 might also resolve certain issues with resource consumption so i'm keeping my fingers crossed for that.