I am not about to unfold some great revelation and I certainly do not intend to try and convert anyone from one side or the other. In working more and more with friends and family to troubleshoot their computer problems, I get the inevitable question about the Mac vs. PC debate.
Most people are familiar with Windows and the PC because they see them everywhere and most use them at work, but not so much with a Mac. Personally, I have never owned a Mac and have never really had the need to own one. The hardware is a bit too expensive and the software does things that I can already do on my Windows 7 PC. While I have not owned one, I have had my share of time-spent on a Mac. I even took a college course exclusively featuring Macs. I just couldn’t see spending that kind of money on, what I felt, a machine that did not do much more than my current configuration could.
I mean, when you think about it, computers all do the same thing whether Mac or PC. They both do word processing, they both calculate, they both play media, search the web, file and play games. Now, both companies have their strong suites and both have their shortcomings, but the gap has thinned out in recent years leaving the deciding factor for me, price. The biggest draw, for me, is the differences in the approach that Apple uses compared with Microsoft. One floats a dock, while the other docks a taskbar, but both generally do the same thing. Still, there is need for competition and need for individuality.
While both companies have taken a different approach to computing, essentially they are mimicking each other and doing the same thing. If you don’t believe me, here is a non-comprehensive list of similar features. Some originated in Mac and some in Windows:
Windows Taskbar vs. Mac Dock
Libraries vs. Smart Search
Jump lists vs. Dock menus
Gadgets vs. Widgets
Sticky Notes vs. Stickies
Terminal vs. Command Prompt
Mac Finder vs. Windows Explorer
Windows 7 Aero Peek vs. Exposé
Screen Sharing vs. Remote Desktop Connection
System Preferences vs. Control Panel
Leopard’s Time Machine vs. Windows Backup
Windows System Tray vs. Mac Menu Bar
That being said, there are those who like the strengths of both operating systems and choose to take not only the blue pill, but the red pill as well (pardon the Matrix reference). Mac had its own little niche market and was doing fine, but they decided to introduce Boot Camp, a utility that allows Mac users to install OS’ like Windows 7. On the other end of the spectrum are Windows users, who still have no equivalent of Boot Camp from Microsoft, but long for the ability to run a Mac OS on PC hardware. This is where folks like the OSX86project come in, who have made a way to boot a Mac OS from a Windows machine. Whether illegal or not is not for me to decide.
My point is not that one operating system is king over the other one. It is simply that we are seeing an ever-growing number of Windows users trying out Mac software and although they won’t admit it, Mac users who are dual booting Windows 7. It used to be that you were a Mac or a PC, but not anymore. Competition has created an interesting trend that is forcing Microsoft to be more creative and attentive to the user and Mac is now having to show signs of lowering prices to win over key demographics.
Everyone has their OS preference, I know I do, but every once in a while there is this need to reach beyond the comfortable and try out something new. That’s why Boot camp and OSX86project have flourished, because they give us those options.
Obviously, we have many more readers that are PC users, but are there any Mac/PC users who don’t see it as a fight, but more as a chance to take the strengths of two systems?
Mac OSes should not exists. The price is insane for what you get. Seems like it’s the new evolution, people think you get better quality with higher prices – NO
Doesn’t mean that you pay more that you will get better stuff.
Well, it’s good for a 5 years old kid though.. Well, I don’t know. 14 years old crack Windows OSes now so..
“Mac OSes should not exists. ”
I think windows is very inferior and out dated like DOS. it should be scrapped and use Mac OS X the future OS.
You, my friend, are an idiot.
This pisses me off to no end, a Mac is a PC, idiots.
Both O/S’s are polished and are popular. Lets also say that as long as it gives an end user what they want, the end user is probably happy. Correct?
OS10 and Win are just tools. Nothing more. Lets focus somewhere else.
love the accuracy of things here with Mac and PC…PC stands for personal computer…be it Apple (Macintosh), Dell, Asus, Acer, Sony or custom built it can be running Linux, Windows, OSX, or DOS…it’s a PC, it computes and it’s personal…ITS A GOD DAMN PC! Mac is a shortening of Apple branded machine, just because a computer runs Apple’s proprietry OS doesnt automaticly make it not a PC Apples computers do what computers should…they compute and if anything are more personal than any other form of computer so they’re more a PC than any other machine. I wish people who write these sorts of articles would actualy think about what they’re writing and get their definitions straight
Um… this article makes no sense, as stated already, a Mac IS a PC, in fact Apple used the term PC to describe Windows.
Anyway, I think that Apple should stop the OS market and just do the phone market.
What OS X does is to be what Linux wishes it could be. An industrial-strength Unix OS that doesn’t require overweight beardos to administer them.
Where I work (doing software to facilitate brain imaging research), we’ve bought a bunch of Mac Pro workstations for 3 reasons a) Our development platform has traditionally been Unix (first SGI/Irix, then Linux) and b) the hardware has been way more reliable than (for example) the Dell desktops we buy both for office work and Linux scientific computing and c) once our educational discount is figured in, the price is very competitive on a MIPS per $ basis.
But the religious war over platform is a waste of time. I use Windows at home because it’s less expensive platform, it supports the software I need to use, and it’s good enough. OS X is great too, but in the end they’re boxes that do things, not objects of desire or mystical powers.
Now if I could just run Windows Mobile or a good Linux (Maemo?) distro on my iPhone……. .
i only think mac are bad because they are a ripoff. The os is fine but when i can get a pc twise as fast as a mac at a lower price, i just can’t not think that macs are a pos. There is no way you can buy a mac and not find a pc in the same price range that blows it away with power. If anyone wants a mac, buy a pc and make it a hackintosh. There is no reason to blow $1500 on a dual core laptop with a picture of a fruit on it. Or else get linux which is alot better than mac because it is free and actually is pratically virus free. [depending on what version you get]