Steamd

As reported by Electronista and a few other sites, Microsoft has launched a ‘PC versus Mac’ portion on their Windows 7 site. After reading all the details on the site, I can tell you without any doubt whatsoever…Microsoft is completely full of shit. The way they go about comparing PCs to Macs on their site is comparable to the way Tea Partiers go about comparing themselves to Democrats. Microsoft seems content to use FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) and outright lies as a method of marketing Windows to the masses.

Before I go into a blow by blow review of their site, let me just add that I’m not your run of the mill Apple fanboy. Yes, I do love Apple’s products but I was a Microsoft fanboy long before I took any of Apple’s products seriously. In fact, I learned everything I could know about every Microsoft OS since Windows 95 came out. I lived and breathed Microsoft and swore by their products…that is, until Vista came out. Since then, I quit my job as an IT Supervisor, bought my first Mac, became a web developer, and haven’t looked back since. With that in mind, let’s move onto talking about Microsoft’s ‘PC vs. Mac’ site…

Having Fun

Apparently, Macs just aren’t fun. You can’t play Blu-ray movies. You can’t watch or record TV content like a DVR. And there just aren’t really any games available for the Mac…well, none that are popular! That’s what Microsoft wants you believe…which is far from the truth.

Ok, ok, I’ll admit…they did get one thing right. Yes, it’s true, you can’t play Blu-ray movies on your Mac. Question is though: how many people really need this? If you’re someone who’s always on the go and likes to play movies on their laptop, that I can sort of understand. If that’s the case then one workaround would be to purchase an external Blu-ray drive and rip your movies to your hard drive. That way you don’t have to carry around a bunch of Blu-ray discs with you. Other than that, I just don’t see the point.

As for not being able to hook a Mac to a TV, that’s false. The new Mac mini has a built-in HDMI port, making it easy as hell to hook it up to a TV with a HDMI input.

Granted, there isn’t any built-in support for DVR capabilities in Macs but there are plenty of solutions out there for that. Besides, most people already use the DVR’s provided by their cable providers, which makes having DVR capabilities on your PC a moot point.

Gaming on the Mac has started booming just in the last year. Valve has rolled out support for Steam on the Mac with an impressive list of games available including Half-Life 2, Eve Online, Portal, and more. Also, one of the most popular MMOG’s is available for the Mac: World of Warcraft. Take a look at Apple’s Games site and you’ll see there’s plenty of other popular games to choose from. So to say there are no popular games available is ridiculous. Granted, none of the DirectX only games are available but, then again, if you really wanted to play a DirectX game then all you would need to do is install a copy of Windows via BootCamp and you’re good to go.

Simplicity

According to Microsoft, Macs take time to learn and, as they put it, “the computer that’s easiest to use is typically the one you already know how to use“. In other words, continue to use the same ole’ thing you’ve been using and don’t try anything new. Basically, Microsoft is using a typical FUD tactic of scaring customers into believing that switching to a Mac is difficult and that learning how to use Macs is as equally difficult. They’re not.

Sure, there are a few things here and there that work differently on a Mac than they do on a PC but not so crazily different that you can’t figure it out. If there’s one thing Apple is known for it’s for designing well thought-out, user friendly interfaces.

No, the mouse doesn’t work differently on a Mac. It works exactly the same as it does on a PC. However, newer Apple mouses like the Magic Mouse can do more, like gestures and multi-touch scrolling. Can your PC mouse do that?

Shortcuts don’t work the same on a Mac because, um, there’s no such thing as “shortcuts” on a Mac. No need for them really when you have the flexibility and functionality that’s provided by the Dock.

Microsoft claims that Windows 7 has features that Macs don’t have. Well, the same could be said about Windows 7. For instance, Windows 7 doesn’t have Stacks, which gives you direct access to files and folders in a variety of ways. Nor does Windows 7 have a highly user-friendly backup program that’s the equivalent to Time Machine.

As for the lack of a feature like Snap, there are plenty of solutions available for the Mac that not only provide the same features as Snap but provide even more functionality. A program called Cinch comes to mind but I prefer to use it’s bigger brother, SizeUp. Both provide features that are very, very similar to Snap but give you much, much more control over how it works.

Microsoft also claims that, unlike the Mac OS, Windows 7 supports Touch and thus allows you to browse online newspapers, flick through photo albums, and shuffle files and folders—using nothing but your fingers. Great, but where are these Touch-compatible PC’s? Last I heard, the HP Slate was one of the few being developed but HP decided to pull the plug and not release it with Windows 7. It’s great that Windows 7 supports this kind of functionality but, really, how can Microsoft tout a feature that hasn’t even been proven yet? Makes no sense.

Working Hard

Considering the sheer high number of college freshmen entering school with Macs, I find it amusing that Microsoft can make the claim that Macs don’t work as well at work or at school. Just because Windows is still the majority doesn’t mean that Mac’s can’t play nice with them. It’s a ridiculous notion.

While its true that if you use Apple’s iWork suite you may have issues opening certain Word or Excel documents, there are always workarounds. I rarely have issues opening up most Word and Excel documents with Pages and Numbers respectively. The only times I run into trouble is if the original document uses some sort of funky formatting, uses fonts I don’t have, or Excel macros that don’t exist in Numbers. But here’s the funny thing…if it’s really that important to you, you can always get Microsoft Office for the Mac. Seriously.

Yes, it’s true, with all new MacBooks you have to buy a separate hardware dongle to hook it up to a standard VGA projector. This is nothing new and isn’t a big deal at all. One of the primary reasons Apple choose not to include a VGA output is because VGA is an outdated standard. Consider the fact that most monitors support DVI and you’ll quickly realize that the omission of a VGA port is a bogus thing to complain about. Apple’s Mini DisplayPort technology allows for easy conversion to DVI, VGA, and even HDMI with just a simple dongle. Why is this such a big deal?  It’s not.

As for encrypting an entire hard drive, what’s the point in that? Exactly why would you want to encrypt not only your personal files but the whole operating system as well? That makes absolutely no sense. One of the reasons why I think Apple chose to allow encryption of just the home folder is for performance reasons. Can you imagine what kind of performance hit your system will take if it constantly has to decrypt anything and everything on your hard drive? Drive encryption is a rather dangerous thing to play with as it is. Why run the risk of really screwing something up by encrypting everything? Best to keep it focused on just the stuff that matters.

Sharing

When I read the phrase “Macs don’t like to share” I laughed almost immediately. No, it’s not hard to share your files, photos, music, movies, and printers on a Mac. In fact, I would almost bet that it’s easier on a Mac. No, there’s isn’t some sort of automated “wizard” with a funny name that does it for you but it’s incredibly easy to do regardless. With just a quick visit to my System Preferences I can share out a folder, a printer, a CD or DVD, my screen, and more. Beyond that, iTunes gives you even more capabilities of sharing your media (music, movies, photos, etc.) using its Home Sharing feature. So to say that sharing stuff between other Mac and Windows users is more difficult on a Mac than Windows is complete bullshit. Different, sure, but difficult? I think not.

Compatibility

Oh noes! Macs might not like your PC stuff!

Ok, so PCs still outnumber Macs.  So what? Still doesn’t change the fact that most file types that people use on a daily basis are ubiquitous on just about all computer operating systems. So unless you’re using programs that are only available to Windows and use a highly proprietary file type, chances are that just about every file you have can be opened on a Mac with little or no issues.

Like I mentioned above, in most cases you can open a Microsoft Office document in iWork. Yes, there are some compatibility cases but if that’s a major concern for you then you can always purchase a copy of Microsoft Office for the Mac (something that Microsoft failed to mention).

As for repurchasing and relearning Mac versions of a certain program, that’s just a sheer fact of switching to any platform. Most of the programs you already know are available for the Mac. If not, more often than not you’ll find a similar program that’s just as easy if not easier to use than the PC equivalent.

Yes, you will have to sit down and learn what’s different on a Mac and how each program works different. But, let’s be honest, the same applies to different programs on Windows up to and including Windows itself. Folks who are just now switching from Windows XP to Windows 7 will have to spend time learning what’s new and how to use it. Folks switching from Office 2003 to Office 2007 or 2010 will have to learn how to use the new Office ribbon interface. These examples aren’t all that different from the experience of switching from Windows to Mac.

Choice

I’m kind of on the fence about this. To say that Macs don’t let you choose is a bit of a loaded statement. On one hand, yes, it’s true that you don’t really have much choice in terms of what color your Mac is or whether it has a Blu-ray drive, TV tuner, Memory Stick reader, or 3G wireless built-in. But on the other hand, why would you want a bunch of stuff on your Mac that you likely won’t even use? Why would you want the added expense of features that don’t accurately reflect how you will be using your Mac?

Apple chooses to take a minimalist approach and embrace certain standards by including only features they believe that most users will use. The end result allows them to concentrate on hardware that is of the highest quality and allows for the highest degree of system stability. Why include a TV tuner and run the risk of affecting system stability if not many users will use it?

In my experience, one of the downsides of the PC market is that manufacturers have a tendency to concentrate more on features than on the integrity of the hardware. End result is that its hard to find a PC with a minimal number of features these days. Just about every PC is loaded with a glutenous amount of hardware features many of which will never be used. By comparison, virtually ever feature on a Mac is used and no real estate is wasted for the hardware.

Just about every missing feature you might want is available at an affordable price for the Mac: Blu-ray drives, TV tuners, Memory Stick readers, 3G wireless, multi-format card readers, touch interfaces, mobile broadband. They’re all available. More often than not, you’ll find that there is more than one solution thus giving you more options to choose the one that fits your needs the best. To me, that’s a whole lot better than getting something “built-in” that may or may not suit your needs.

As for being able to play your videos and music stored on your home computer, I’m not exactly sure what the hell Microsoft is talking about here. If Microsoft is referring to MobileMe then, yes, it does cost $99 a year. But what Microsoft doesn’t tell you is that MobileMe does a lot more than just giving you the ability to play videos and music stored on your computer. MobileMe allows you to keep your mail, calendar, and contacts synced online and between MobileMe compatible devices like the iPhone and iPad. It also allows you to share multiple photo galleries as well as synchronize files with iDisk. But if you don’t want to spend $99 to do all of this, there are plenty of other solutions, a lot of which don’t cost a dime.

Over the course of the past few years, it seems that Microsoft is on a crash course towards losing a good chunk of their market share to Apple. As such, it seems that Microsoft is content to spend more money on bad PR rather than spending it on the thing that matters most: creating great software. I believe that much of Microsoft’s problems started when Microsoft was developing Windows Vista. They took their eye off the ball and spent way too much time developing an operating system that caused a huge PR problem for them. As far as competition is concerned, I feel like they’re a good two or three years behind where they need to be. Apple is not only dominating the desktop but is eating Microsoft for lunch when it comes to portable audio/video players, smart phones, and tablet computing devices, all devices that require tight integration with desktop/laptop computers.

It’s one thing to claim that your products are so much more superior to your competition, it’s another to actually develop it and make them reality. Right now, Microsoft is in la-la land. Windows 7 may be their best operating system to date, but in a world where so many people want smart phones and tablet devices, it’s hard to see exactly where Microsoft and Windows 7 fits in with all that. As such, this whole PC versus Mac debate Microsoft is having with themselves is bullshit.

Just read an interesting post on TheAppleBlog^[1] about two different experiences when it comes to getting support for either a Dell PC or Apple computer. The writer illustrates two scenarios of how a typical support call works, both entailing a failed hard drive. The end result? According to the writer, Apple provides much better support than Dell.

I’ve worked within the IT industry for quite a few years. I worked as a computer technician at Best Buy for about a year and as an IT supervisor at an architectural firm for the better part of four years. I’ve dealt with a lot of issues with a lot of different computers. In my experience, the stories told by the writer at TheAppleBlog mirror my own, not just on a consumer level but even on an enterprise level.

One particular incident involved getting support for a Dell laptop that a co-worker owned. It was exhibiting a lot of issues: it ran extremely slow, the video was getting scrambled, and it sometimes wouldn’t boot. My diagnosis was that the video card on the motherboard was fried and had to be replaced. I told my co-worker to call Dell and tell them everything we did to diagnose the problem.

What proceeded was nothing short of typical for many PC companies: the blame game! Dell told him it was an operating system problem and that he had to call Microsoft. Microsoft told him it was an issue with the video card and that he had to call Nvidia. I then had to call Dell and explain to them in great detail that the issue is a hardware problem and that the motherboard needed to be replaced. It took over three phone calls and many wasted hours just to get Dell to acknowledge that there was a problem with their hardware.

Granted, no company is perfect nor does every PC company provide bad support. I’ve definitely had plenty of times when support from a computer company other than Apple was really good. However, I can say with most certainty that on average, Apple provides better support for their products. I have yet to have what I would call a really bad support experience that would make me think twice about buying another Apple product. Maybe that explains why Apple is ranked so high when it comes to customer satisfaction^[2].

It amazes me how little some people think about the support for a product. I have wasted a ton of time on support calls in my years as an IT supervisor. In fact, on many occasions the time and energy spent on support calls made a huge difference in the decision making of whether to buy from this company or that company. Even as a consumer, I find myself thinking about that because, when it comes right down to it, I want the knowledge of knowing that the company I buy stuff from is going to back their products. If they don’t then I’m wasting my time buying their products. If they do then I can save myself a ton of time, frustration, and even money by going with a product that is of great quality and well supported. Think about that the next time you go to buy a computer.

1. A Tale of Two Hard Drives: Apple’s Secret Weapon? [↩]
2. Apple leads, Dell lags in customer satisfaction [↩]

There are people in the world who think they are right and no matter how many times you tell them, no matter how much evidence you put in front of them, they are never wrong. Kind of like the people who think the holocaust never happened. Or that dinosaurs never existed. Or that global warming is a hoax. Even with all evidence pointing to the contrary, some people won’t budge and will point blank tell you that you’re wrong.

Yesterday I posted a rebuttal to a blog post made on Calloftheday.net. His reaction, shall we say, was expected and only proves my point…that no matter how you point out to someone they are wrong, they still insist they are right:

Now, as some of you already know, I screen all comments before they’re posted. This is mainly because about 30% of the comments I get in are just people trying to advertise their own sites. About 69% is dedicated to porn spam. (69, geddit? I’ll get my coat). About 1% are actually comments.

I have no doubt that you get spam and that a lot of the comments you receive are complete shit. However, I have no doubt in my mind that my initial comment was within the 1% you claim are actually comments…which goes back to my initial question on why it wasn’t posted in the first place.

What your original post actually contained was along the lines of “HAI GUISE, WHATS GOIN ON IN THIS THREAD!”?, and then threw a link back to your own website.

No, my original post was along the lines of “GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT!!”. I didn’t throw a link to my site until after the fact. I took some time to write a solid, well thought out response to your post and, well, it didn’t get posted. What did you think my response would be? If you were screening posts and saw
my first initial post, why didn’t you go ahead and post it? What was it
about my initial post you didn’t like?

Like I said, your “response”? was simply a direct link back to your own website. If you want to argue, feel free to do it directly. Now, I’m only going to say this once – to all further mac hatemail, please examine the following closely;

Otherwise, your comment wont get posted. And the Almighty Jeff will hate me. And the whole world will come to a fucking standstill.

Umm…right…so stupid is as stupid does, right?

Look, I don’t care whether you agree or disagree with my opinions or anyone else’s for that matter. Whether you’re a Mac user, a PC user, a gamer, you hate Macs, you think Microsoft is the devil, or whatever the
hell you believe…it doesn’t matter one iota! However, what does matter is that you get the facts straight. I’m not a MacIdiot, a Mac fanboy, or any like that. This is not a PC vs. Mac thing. This is a “Get your facts straight”? thing. If you’re going to argue and create a flame war, you better have your facts straight.

So I saw this Digg post yesterday that linked to a blog post of a system comparison between a Mac Pro and a high-end gaming PC. Here’s the specs of the PC he was talking about:

Asus P5E3 Deluxe Socket-775 Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6850 @ 3GHz
2GB DDR3 Ram @ 1333mhz
2x 1TB Hard Drives @ 7200rpm
EVGA GeForce 8800Ultra (768MB) Graphics Card
Samsung 24″ LCD Syncmaster Display
Creative SB X-Fi Elite Pro sound card
D-Link draft-802.11n Wireless Adapter
Windows Vista Premium
700W Power supply & NorthQ 2500 Chasis
Subtotal: $6019.18

Not bad, right? Looks like a pretty solid configuration for any gaming PC. Now, let’s look at the specs he presented for the Mac Pro:

“Bundled”? iLife software
Dual-Core Intel Xeon Processor @ 3.0ghz
2GB DDR2 Ram
500GB 7200rpm Hard Drive
Nvidia Quatro FX 4500 (512meg) Graphics Card
20″ LCD Display
16x CD/DVD-RW Drive
AirPort Wireless Card
Mac OSX Leopard
Standard Chassis
Subtotal: $6,102.00

The author went on to say this:

There, you still save just over $80, and the Windows PC is now about three times more powerful than the Macintosh. Thus leading back to my original point, iThings cost 300% more than normal things. Or are 300% less powerful than normal things. Take your pick.

Umm…300% Right. Do you see any flaws in the comparison of these two systems? I do! And when I did, I tried to post a very honest, very open counter-point to his argument. One commenter felt that the author’s points are bastardized. So here’s what my response was:

Bastardized? Not just that, but irresponsible as well! Here’s the problem…your comparison is waaaaay off and not fair by a longshot.

Let’s take the processors for example. A dual-care Intel Xeon is a different processor from a Intel Core 2 Extreme, one is designed for servers and workstations and the other for gamers. Yeah, they cost the same…but here’s the catch…Apple gives you two dual-core Xeon processors for the price of your single Core 2 Extreme! In fact, you don’t have a choice…Apple won’t sell you a Mac Pro with just one Xeon processor! How’s that for value?

Next, the video cards. Another one that is waaay off! In no way can an nVidia GeForce 8800 Ultra compare to a Quadro FX 4500! The GeForce is a gaming card and the Quadro is a precision graphics card. Just like the processors, two video cards for two completely different applications. Hell, the Quadro card in and off itself is over $1600! Yeah, they’re expensive…and there’s a reason for it. You don’t want to use a card that is built for gaming and risk it screwing up a very important rendering job on a CAD project.

If you buy a Mac Pro without the Quadro card and stick with the default NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT 256MB card, you can get it for about $4400. At that price, I can go out and buy a 8800 Ultra off the shelf and still save over $1000!

Now, go to HP’s website and configure a xw6400 or xw8400 workstation with the same specs as a Mac Pro. Why the workstation? Because you can’t buy a consumer-line computer with a Xeon! What you’ll find is that Apple undercuts the competition a bit. Yeah…believe it or not, they are actually cheaper than the competition! Dell may or may not be more expensive but, even then, it won’t be by much.

The point is this isn’t a fair comparison and you need to get your facts straight. Can a Mac Pro be a good gaming computer? Absolutely…but you may have to customize it a bit to get what you want out of it. But that’s not why people buy Mac Pros. People buy Mac Pros because they want the fastest, most powerful Mac to do high- end stuff like video editing and graphics.

And on that note, the other thing is that with a Mac I can still run Windows. You can talk about the high points of Windows Vista all you want but I will still prefer Mac OS X Leopard over it any day. And the cool thing is that I have my own copy of Windows XP and can boot natively into it any time I want and play a game or two. With a PC, you’re stuck…you have no choice unless you use a Linux distro as your primary OS…which, ironically, isn’t so bad! I use both SuSE and Ubuntu on a few PC’s myself.

I’ve been a Windows user for the better part of 12 years since Windows 95 came out. For me to say I prefer a Mac over a Windows-based PC is saying a lot. I used to be an ASP/ASP.NET developer and got very frustrated with all the problems I was having. Switched to PHP and a Mac and am a lot happier.

To end my comments, just remember this…the Mac is a platform. You can’t compare it to a PC on hardware alone. What makes a Mac a Mac is the combination of the hardware AND the software. That’s a very important distinction and one that will give a much fairer comparison between the two.

Hope these comments are enlightening.

Jeff

My response was not posted at all. In fact, just about any opposing viewpoints were deleted from the comments as well. It seems that the author does not want to hear it which is foolish. The fact that the author does not allow for this proves that he is ignorant and stupid, the two very things I abhor.

The whole point I was trying to make is that before you go and make the kind of claims you are trying to make, do yourself a favor and make sure that you get your facts straight. If you’re going to make a bold statement about something like this, you better have the facts to back it up.

I’ve used every major operating system that is out there: Windows, Linux, and Mac. I’ve built a few of my own gaming PCs and I’m an IT Administrator. I do know a thing or two about hardware and the cost of it. I order workstations all the time for the architectural firm I work for. My opinion is a highly educated opinion based on real-world experience.

The gentleman who made this blog post is a moron. Until he has spent a significant amount of time using a Mac, he and any of the other visitors who have made bogus comments have no right to criticize something they know nothing about. If you are a gamer then great…stick to a gaming PC. But don’t try to make comparisons like this and then dismiss any hardcore facts…you only make yourself look like a f$%ing idiot!