Mac Vs Vista

[Lee_K_81]

Originally Posted by webman

Lies? The lie "Apple. It Just Works." springs to mind

but "Microsoft Works" is the biggest oxymoron around.

[webman]

Lee: I agree :P

[daveyboy]

Oh Dear.

I can see that getting out the 'Microsoft Comfy Zone' does not bode well with some.

[Lee_K_81]

Originally Posted by daveyboy

Oh Dear.

I can see that getting out the 'Microsoft Comfy Zone' does not bode well with some.

Not really. I actually quite like M$. They are majorly targetted and persecuted because of their success. If M$ released bespoke hardware (excluding xbox before somebody chips in with that one), or tied their software in to certain hardware they'd put hundreds of companies out of business. They'd be sued, anti trust complaints would be filed, etc. I'm not defending M$, it's just they walk around with a huge target on them.

The biggest measure of success is that some people really dont like you.... or so i keep telling myself.

[gwendes]

Originally Posted by Lee_K_81

If M$ released bespoke hardware (excluding xbox before somebody chips in with that one), or tied their software in to certain hardware they'd put hundreds of companies out of business. They'd be sued, anti trust complaints would be filed, etc.

Exactly. That's why I can't stand these Mac adverts. If Microsoft stopped selling to crappy OEMs that make bad budget computers and started manufacturing their own 'PC' to compete with the Mac there would be outrage.
Microsoft make an operating system - that's it. And it does work. It's very good. If it wasn't good then people like us would be converting schools over to opensource alternatives, but we all know that would be even more of a headache. All software is flawed - no software is ever finished.

[localzuk]

Originally Posted by Lee_K_81

I'm not defending M$, it's just they walk around with a huge target on them.

That is a self created target though. They are convicted monopolists remember? Would they be in the position they are in today if they hadn't broken the law? I doubt it, as other companies would have had a chance of competing with them a variety of different ways.

Microsoft made their bed, now they have to sleep in it - being named as a company with no morals and bad software.

[mrforgetful]

Do you use any Microsoft products?

[localzuk]

Originally Posted by mrforgetful

Do you use any Microsoft products?

Indeed I do, all the time - but not through choice. (Although, I am using a mac to type this and Camino as the browser...)

I am not saying that Apple are any better though (look at the DRM and the tie in of their music to their iPod's - this is behaviour designed to prevent freedom of usage by their customers).

I think, usability wise, OS X is on a level way above Windows but on a managability side I would say that Windows and Active Directory is currently second to none for schools.

Eventually an open source alternative that does all of what AD does and more will become available and at that time I will dance in the streets

[Lee_K_81]

Originally Posted by mrforgetful

Do you use any Microsoft products?

Yes - all the time;

Windows XP, Server 2003, Visual Studio 2005, IE7, Office 2007, Exchange 2003, IIS;

But i also use: Firefox, cutePDF, moodle (investigating anyway), mysql, etc. So i'm not against the open source movement, it just doesnt necessarily make things easier.

I have to admit that at the moment we dont have any Linux or macs in school. I've tried pushing for macs for graphics, but it comes down to the fact of staff and student capabilities. If we had a suite of macs but a teacher who couldnt use them, the kids wouldnt be able to get the most out of them, which would be a waste.

I make no bad comments about macs, but like localzuk says:
[quote = "localzuk]
on a managability side I would say that Windows and Active Directory is currently second to none for schools.
[/quote]
We as technologist can use open source if we choose, but we send it via email to a teacher or senior manager and they either cant open it or they dont like the fact its not M$ and looks a little different, and ask you to do it in excel/powerpoint/word (delete as appropriate).

For years we had star office on our system. I can count on one hand how many people tried to use it. That being said, I am going to ensure that open office gets on our system, and hopefully used. I'll ask the ICT co-ordinator to build it in to the OCR course.

[StewartKnight]

This sums the whole debate up as far as I'm concerned!!

[CyberNerd]

lol.

Macs are glorified Fisher-Price activity centres for adults;

I'm sure I heared the same sentence describing XP when it was released

[Lee_K_81]

Originally Posted by StewartKnight

This sums the whole debate up as far as I'm concerned!!

Very good article. Found it especially funny that the mac vs pc ad is next to it! They harp on about restarting every 10 mins? I havent restarted by tablet in over a week. Also, they harp on about it being a pc.... erm doesnt linux run on a pc?

Anyway, before i incure the wrath of mac users everywhere, macs are good for somethings, like graphics and video editing and...... erm....... hmmmmm....... anyone? help?

[webman]

I agree with the Guardian article entirely

[mrforgetful]

The new billboard one is completely wrong too saying that PCs were only designed for working.
What about Media Centre PCs?

It just screams childish and scared the whole ad campaign.

[AshF]

That Guardian article is as bad as any pro mac/anti PC article you will find, and there are plenty of those too. I'm sick of the bleating on both sides. Use what you want to use. If you don't want to use it. Don't use it. It's as simple as that. I'm typing this on a PC running Vista Business/Firefox, with a Powerbook G4 sat next to me (that travels the world with me), and a Mac G5 down the desk that i'm setting up as a backup OD server.

The Powerbook G4 is my constant companion, and was last rebooted on Sunday the 10th of December 2006. And that was a deliberate reboot.
Why do I use more than one platform? Because I can, because it's my choice. I havn't had to restart this Vista PC since I installed it a week or so ago, and it's still pretty damned stable. I've a lot of issues with Vista, but likewise there's a lot I like. I didn't like the amount of futzing around I had to do to get automatic updates and the AD tools working properly. Also there's a lot of features that MS have liberally borrowed from elsewhere. But none of that is new and it's happened all over the OS world since someone first decided a blinking white cursor was a really neat idea. I use what I use to do what I do. as a mac user i'm annoyed at the attitude taken towards us by the MS fanboys, as a PC user i'm annoyed at the rep the pro-apple lobby brings up. It's worse than Snes Vs. Megadrive when I was at school. The lot of them should just sodding well grow up. Neither side is perfect, nor will it ever be.