What's so great about macs? Why are they better than PCs?

[vanostade]

Lilbandit , your motto "I hate Meath" puzzled me ...Just to enlighten myself ( & because it's snowing ), I looked into Webster's Unabridged Dict.( 3/3 , p.1397) : "meath : old word for fermented drink , water +honey+malt+yeast..." .Nothing loathsome , looks to me , but maybe a little strong ... .Or any other signification ? signed vanostade , a friend in Macs love ( vanostade : pseudo. found out with dictionnary & knitting-needle - motto not yet choosen...)

[Rhisiart]

Surely County Meath, i.e. gaelic football rivalry (let's not mention the hurling).

I'm rather impressed with Vista. If Apple went belly up tomorrow, I think I could live with Vista.

[nixgeek]

Originally Posted by rhisiart

Surely County Meath, i.e. gaelic football rivalry (let's not mention the hurling).

I'm rather impressed with Vista. If Apple went t*ts up tomorrow, I think I could live with Vista.

I've played around with Vista, and I can definitely say that once the eye candy wears out it's just so disappointing. I actually much rather enjoy using XP over Vista. Sure, Apple has the eye candy but the rest of the system is just so much more elegant. Personally, if Apple went "nips up" then I would probably go full force GNU/Linux. I'm already using Ubuntu 7.10 as my primary OS on my work laptop and it does the job for me (sans Compiz Fusion...I prefer the performance ). Plus with the "ubuntu-studio" metapackages, I can use many of the audio applications for DAR and MIDI sequencing that I'm already using on my iMac G5 running Tiger.

[fryke]

Vista: Too much eye-candy trying to cover the fact that they've eliminated the most important features from the original plans.

Leopard: Mainly eye-candy plus TimeMachine (with eye-candy) and QuickLook.

The time for revolutionary new operating systems was in the 80s 'til 2001 or something. Nowadays, it's more about the glitter and gold. Functionality takes a backseat (see Leopard's changes to the Dock for example). Here's to the hope for a better 10.6. (Maybe we'll even see the day when Apple goes back to calling their OS by the numbers instead of stupid names that have *nothing* whatsoever to do with the content? Naah. It'll have a big cat's name, I guess.)

Tiger's still the best OS around, but over time, Leopard's inevitable.

[Rhisiart]

I am not against a little eye candy if it is subtle. Personally, I rather like the new Mac dock (beauty lies in the eye of the beholder of course). As far as Vista is concerned, I like the fact that the icons are sharper.

The mechanisms of Time Machine (as opposed to its usefulness) does seem a bit OTT. QuickLook is snazzy, but could be improved, in that I find a lot if images are blurred.

Vista seems closer to something I could live with even if it wasn't my first choice. Perhaps I should explore Linux.

Apple could have named its OS releases after planets. That would take them neatly to 10.9 ready for Mac OS XI. Hardly more relevant I guess, but starting with Mercury and ending with Pluto (if it is a planet) seems more sequential.

I agree that overall, functionality should be the No.1 priority.

[bbloke]

When OS X was about the be released for the first time, I was very "wowed" by the eye candy and looked forward to seeing it in action. It was rather more novel back then and, although I was a bit unsure at each stage, I'm glad Apple has toned things down with time. It prevented the OS aging too quickly, and we're probably less impressed with the eye candy than we used to be, as there is a lot more of it about.

I very much agree that functionality should come first, but I like using software that is both functional and pleasing to the eye. I'm also glad Apple has taken steps to make the GUI more consistent (eg. Aqua vs. Brushed Metal, etc.). With regards to the Dock, I originally thought the 3D Dock was horrible when it was first shown, but I've come to quite like it after use. Although users can make the Dock 2D with certain roundabout methods, it would be good if Apple gave users the option to choose in the System Preferences. Also, I'd really like the menu bar transparency to be customizable, as that does cause me problems sometimes...

Time Machine was not a feature I was eagerly awaiting, but now that it's here and I've played with it, I'm glad to have it. It makes sequential backups very simple and almost invisible to the user. That said, I still make my own backups, using a different method, in addition. The graphics are a little over the top, but I don't mind too much.

As for QuickLook, sometimes the images are blurry when first on screen, such as when using CoverFlow. If you wait a few seconds after the images have first appeared, they become sharper soon enough. My only complaint with QuickLook that I can think of is that EPS files are, bizarrely, not previewed.

[Soulwar]

As fryke once said; "Windows is obtrusive. It gets in the way. All the time. The Mac doesn't."
I am a Mac user, forced to deal with windows, because of my wife and children. I have tried. I swear I have. For a few years now. "Annoying" doesn't even justify it. Windows software, will let anybody that can put a computer together, run it's OS. (For the right price )
Let's stick to the basics for a moment...
Have you ever tried to update a "windows" machine?? First, it has to run an "active X" plug-in to make sure you have the latest updating software. Then it has to check if you have a legal copy of it's OS, before it even checks for an update. (every time) And if you are lucky, you might get some 3rd party hardware updates.
Do we have to even talk about updating drivers??? Unless you want to pay to get a 3rd party driver finder, it is a JOKE.
How many different machines are out there, with different internal hardware, that a user has to deal with? And if a piece of hardware breaks, or you want to update it, you'll have to call Microsoft and inform them so you can get a different product key, just so windows won't shut itself off in 30 days.
How about pop up "bubbles" to inform me of things that I already know or don't care about? Does it think that all users are ignorant or just stupid?
fryke is right. Windows has it's own preference about what it wants to do and how to behave. To Windows, users minds, are a 3rd party software conflict.
Anyone have an update for that?