Windows vs. Mac: Superiority and Stereotypes Debunked | My Personal Experience

[KingNothing]

What do you use? Which do you feel is superior, generally speaking? What stereotypes do you believe to be untrue about them?

I use windows computers. I think it is a superior operating system due to the availability of programs for it (especially engineering software). I have worked four years at my school's tech support desk, and I can tell you that we get just as many mac computers in (proportionally speaking) with problems as windows computers. The whole "it just works" thing is nonsense.

 

[narrator]

Windows (unfortunately), mainly because it's the (broad) industry standard. Kind'a like the difference between VHS and Betamax, in which case, the guy with the bigger stick wins.

But why stop there? What about Linux and Unix and Lindows and even DOS?

If they had fixed the memory barriers in DOS and continued developing it, it's just possible it could be a better o/s with less overhead and all.

But from a purely user perspective, Windows, because I understand it more and it's prettier. :D

Edit: Oooo! My 50th post - beers all round!

 

[rcgldr]

Wondering whatever happened to ...

 

[Ryumast3r]

Windows and here is why:

Cost: Windows computers typically cost about 1/2 to 2/3 the price of a mac. Even with the same or better hardware (and we're not talking about home-built machines either... we're talking a Dell or HP pre-built).

Support: Face it, the windows community is much much much larger than the Mac community, and therefore there are more users with which to explain how to solve your issue.

Products: Many many many many more products are on windows that aren't on Macs. Macs are at a disadvantage when it comes to gaming, and even engineering things because they don't have the support of the software companies.

The user interface is arguable on both, and the speed of a mac is irrelevant since it costs 2x more, so you could just upgrade your windows machine to a 2x better machine and keep the same price.

 

[jhae2.718]

Linux and Windows, primarily Linux.

Linux is more reliable than Windows and allows for finer control of the OS. It is also less resource intensive.

Windows because I need it to run SolidWorks...if DS released SW for *nix I would drop it immediately.

 

[Ms Music]

I have been using BOTH since the late 80s. I always felt that the Mac had better software and was more technologically advanced. It had better graphics capabilities than the pc. (Actually, the pc couldn't DO what I did on a mac in graphics, it was just a word processor.) I still feel this way, although the gap is less noticeable. But Microsoft has always been following (aka copying) Apple. In fact, a few months ago we upgraded to Windows 7 here at work, and I can't help but notice how much it imitates Tiger. Microsoft was just smarter for allowing more companies to create software that works on the pc, and allowing outside companies to build the hardware.

 

[Energystrom]

Mac. Convenient for schoolwork, light gaming, etc. I've also had good experiences with Apple in general. For any very minor "glitch" on the iPhones that I've had in the past, they've simply given me a brand new phone rather than try to foist some dubious fix on me--even if the phone is 8 months old and obviously showing signs of wear. It's a nice no-nonsense, no-questions-asked approach that I've appreciated, so I return to them for my other business.

 

[turbo]

I have used both, and though I haven't had much Mac experience for the past 5-7 years, I have always gravitated to DOS/Windows. Microsoft's worst problem was their insistence on maintaining backward compatibility with previous OS's. That guaranteed the bloat of each OS version.

I'm on XP SP3 currently, and it is quite stable and usable. Plus, I can run it on old Dell machines.

Back when I was in technical service for a leading paper-industry supplier, I found out how heartless Apple could be to their customers. Want to upgrade to a new OS? You'd have to buy all new application software. That cost our company thousands and thousands of dollars after the technical director decided that we had to move to Mac laptops. The decision was made at the managerial level without doing the research that would have revealed the costly applications upgrades that would be required to keep all our CAD/drawing/spreadsheet software up-to-date.

 

[KrisOhn]

I use Windows with intermittent Linux usage. Macs really aggravate me, most people who use Macs aggravate me, Apple aggravates me. As you can see, I'm not a fan. I really have lots of experience with the stereotype of people who use Macs are uneducated, pretentious, hipster douchebags, I have found for about 98% of people, this holds true. The rare occasion where this doesn't hold true is usually with computer science students, they seem to gravitate towards unix based systems, and the odd one gets a Mac.

 

[narrator]

Wondering whatever happened to ...

Is that the one they created Lanman (or was it Lantastic) for?

 

[FredericGos]

Windows and linux here.

The biggest myth about all this is that one is better than the other. Things like linux is more stable etc. Properly configured windows or linux are pretty much identical. there's just pros and cons to both.

 

[DavidSnider]

I've only been using a mac since OS X, from my experience I can say that the packaging system and software frameworks they use are much better designed than most windows stuff.

Everything in general tends to have better attention to detail. It's a unified experience, whereas with a PC it seems like a collection of stuff thrown together that just happens to work (evolutionary rather than revolutionary). Like somebody said earlier the main problem windows has had is its insistence on backwards compatibility and carrying around all the old junk everywhere they go.

It also helps that Apple is a hardware and software company so you pretty much know exactly what platform you are targeting on a Mac.

 

[Nicook5]

Mac. Convenient for schoolwork, light gaming, etc. I've also had good experiences with Apple in general. For any very minor "glitch" on the iPhones that I've had in the past, they've simply given me a brand new phone rather than try to foist some dubious fix on me--even if the phone is 8 months old and obviously showing signs of wear. It's a nice no-nonsense, no-questions-asked approach that I've appreciated, so I return to them for my other business.

dunno what you mean by light gaming, I'm pretty sure windows carries an easy victory in the gaming category.

 

[moogoomonkey]

Yes Nicook5!

 

[Chronos]

All other issues aside, Windows is the dominant force in the software market, and primary target of hackers. Other OS developers hide under the skirts of Windows for protection.

 

[jsgruszynski]

All other issues aside, Windows is the dominant force in the software market, and primary target of hackers. Other OS developers hide under the skirts of Windows for protection.

This is definitely changing. That fact that Apple's market cap exceeds the combination of both Intel and Microsoft combined should give you pause on being so sanguine based on this line of reasoning. You might wake up one morning to find...