Is Microsoft really that bad?
I can't help noticing that any Mac OS X versus Windows controversy
or, by extrapolating, Microsoft versus Apple discussion reaches a point
in which the Apple fans start claiming that, without
any doubts, iPod's fathers are more creative and innovative than
Windows' creators.

I wonder, aside from the iPod, which is an indisputable success, what
other innovation has Apple come up with since the invention of the
famous wheel? (not to mention that apparently Creative and Microsoft
had something to do with it as well).

I don't argue that Mac OS X runs beautifully on Macs, but from that
point of view, it cannot be compared with Windows, which, despite all
of its flaws, is able to run on PCs made up of really cheap components.

Apple produced the iPod, and Mac fans will have to forgive me for
saying that since then, the Cupertino company has been feeding on
iPod's success. For example, would the Mac OS X 10.5 have enjoyed the
same success if the iPod hadn't been such a hit?

What would Windows users think if Microsoft said: "Do you want a PC
that runs Windows smoothly? Then you have to purchase an Intel
processor, an ATI video card, a Gigabyte motherboard and Samsung memory
modules!"

And still, there are some people who think that Apple has no idea what
monopoly means!

From what I've seen, the majority of Mac-fanciers are graphics artists, and
the reason they choose Macs is because certain specialist apps they use run
better on them, being native to that platform. This is a justifiable reason
for choosing Macs, but then theirs is a niche market. It has little bearing
on the general computing market.

As for the GUI, my take is that of Gnome, Windows, KDE, or OS X, OS X is by
far the most dumbed-down. It may be easy for beginenrs but for anyone used to
the greater flexibility of the other three, it's like trying to type with
your nose.

Ian wrote:

> As for the GUI, my take is that of Gnome, Windows, KDE, or OS X, OS X is
> by far the most dumbed-down.

OS X is by no means dumbed down. Out of the list you gave, here's my
propsective of the scale:

Dumbed-down/rigid
^
| Gnome
| Windows
| OS X
| KDE
v
Flexible

By "flexible," I mean what you can do with it without resorting to a command
line/being entirely impossible to accomplish. A GUI is a GUI: The
differences between WIMP environemnts¹ tends to be mostly negligable.

> It may be easy for beginenrs but for anyone used to the greater
> flexibility of the other three, it's like trying to type with your nose.

It helps to know that the right mouse button on the Mac is located on the
keyboard above the numeric keypad and is strangely labelled "=". I think
it's odd that Apple thinks a two-button mouse is too complex, but sees
nothing wrong with the somewhat unorthodox iPod interface...


¹ http://www.ursine.ca/WIMP_environment

wired wrote:
> Is Microsoft really that bad?
> I can't help noticing that any Mac OS X versus Windows controversy
> or, by extrapolating, Microsoft versus Apple discussion reaches a point
> in which the Apple fans start claiming that, without
> any doubts, iPod's fathers are more creative and innovative than
> Windows' creators.
>
> I wonder, aside from the iPod, which is an indisputable success, what
> other innovation has Apple come up with since the invention of the
> famous wheel? (not to mention that apparently Creative and Microsoft
> had something to do with it as well).
>
> I don't argue that Mac OS X runs beautifully on Macs, but from that
> point of view, it cannot be compared with Windows, which, despite all
> of its flaws, is able to run on PCs made up of really cheap components.
>
> Apple produced the iPod, and Mac fans will have to forgive me for
> saying that since then, the Cupertino company has been feeding on
> iPod's success. For example, would the Mac OS X 10.5 have enjoyed the
> same success if the iPod hadn't been such a hit?
>
> What would Windows users think if Microsoft said: "Do you want a PC
> that runs Windows smoothly? Then you have to purchase an Intel
> processor, an ATI video card, a Gigabyte motherboard and Samsung memory
> modules!"
>
> And still, there are some people who think that Apple has no idea what
> monopoly means!
>
Mac OS X has only gone up to version 10.4.8 so far. 10.5 has not been
released yet.