A few days ago, Chris Pirillo posted what he felt were 50 reasons to switch from Vista to OSX. Blogger John Obeto vehemently begged to differ on all but 5 of Pirillo's points. Hey, I've got Vista, a Mac and an opinion, too! While I won't do like Parker and elaborate every point, I have to say a few things. Chris' comments are marked with [CP]. John's are labeled [JO]. My opinions follow. Caveat: I still haven't risked the move to Leopard!
Reason 2: Excellent power management in OS X. When I close the lid to my MacBook Pro, it falls asleep. When I open the lid to my MacBook Pro, it wakes up. Imagine that! Seems to be the case 99% of the time, and it happens quickly. [CP]
My MacBook and my friend's MBP wake up as reliably as my Vista devices, but the Macs don't let us in half the freaking time. we get to look at that disc spinning in-the darkness. My friend has to shut down hard; I put my Mac back to sleep; it will generally wake up again less grumpy.
Reason 3: I’m ready to experience different frustrations. OS X isn’t perfect, certainly - but I already see its noticeably more stable than Windows Vista has been. Kernel Panics at least look prettier than BSODs. :) Seriously, I just find OS X’s update schedule to be more to my liking - instead of waiting for gigantic service packs, I get minor point releases along the way to major revisions to the OS. Bugs are going to happen, but knowing that showstopping / security bugs are likely to be squished quicker gives me amazing peace of mind. [CP]
Would everyone who had to take a notebook in for a keyboard replacement after a Windows upgrade please raise your hand? How about those who had to do it twice?
Reason 4: There’s more interesting, useful, beautiful, and affordable software being developed for OS X. If you still believe that there’s no software for “the Mac,” you’re simply a fool who hasn’t done his or her research. [CP]
Eh, what about the FREE software, bro? ESPN Dashboard widgets aren't going to help me post to multiple blogs. I hunted for something as inexpensive and customizable as Windows Live Writer. I found jack (well, except for some nice Firefox things). I saved for this expensive MB for ten months; I'm not made of money. But yeah, I did find come cool stuff. I should blog about it.
Reason 5: VMware Fusion makes it possible to have every operating system at my fingertips (as well as every app that runs on ‘em, FTW). Performance and stability is a reality, not a dream. More importantly, with USB 2.0 support in VMware Fusion, I have near complete compatibility with any external hardware. Parallels is also there, which should keep competition lively. [CP]
VMWare Server and VMWare Player are free and run on Windows, but not Macs (there he goes spending our money again!).
Reason 7: Not to say that Microsoft or Linux haven’t made great strides in recent years, but… at least Leopard feels like only one team was developing the UI. It’s not quite perfect, but closer to what perfect should be. I’m not a huge fan of iTunes or every other Apple utility - but at least with Leopard, they’re trying to make them look and work the same way.
[CP]
1st semi-true point. The UI does look good. BFD! However, so is Aero ‘Glass’ [JO]
Both UIs bore me to tears. Give me cyan, teal, vines, bamboo, curves instead of lines! Give me more control! I want a riot of color. WindowBlinds saved me once.
Reason 8: I love the fact that most programs and their associated libraries are self-contained (apps). There’s no stress in installing / uninstalling most programs, and for true cleanup jobs there’s always AppZapper.
[CP]
1st true point. For which I excoriate Microsoft daily. And cuss them the ‘F’ out whenever I run into it in client environments [JO]
The truth hurts. They made me remember how tired I get of fighting with the registry sometimes. Toss it. keep the libraries with their programs' folders. KISS
On the other hand, the Portable Apps folks are doing a lot of cool things for Windows users!
Reason 12: My iPhone is not going away anytime soon. Would I switch for better compatibility with a communications device? Not necessarily, but if the future of OS X is in the present of the iPhone… they’re going to gain consumer market share at blinding speed. Remember, I wanted to hate this device - after years of being a dyed-in-the-wool Windows Mobile advocate. [CP]
The iPhone won't go away for a little while after the battery stops charging? My Windows Mobile phone is more likely to go to heaven than anywhere without me. The iPhone is a pretty toy, but it can't sync contacts, calendar and tasks over the air with my employer's Exchange server; ergo, it is not worth the expenditure. I hope Apple put the fear of underperforming into Microsoft, so that they will work harder to make WinMo better.
Reason 24: Setting up services such as Windows File Sharing, FTP, and even Web sharing can be done on OS X with just a few clicks. If you’re telling me that I could set up FTP just as easily in Windows, then… it obviously can’t be done as easily. [CP]
File sharing - Easy. FTP looks easy, but I like my transactions encrypted, so no thanks. Like FTP, Web Services are turned on by checking a box. Sooo difficult!Not sure how to do it with my Mac, but I'm too lazy to look.
Reason 26: Almost all of the audio and video formats out there can be played on the Mac with Video LAN Player (VLC). One less barrier to entry. [CP]
If only we had VLC for Windows...(link to download VLC for Windows)
Reason 29: You can still right-click in OS X - and the way Apple decided to implement it is far more convenient than you’d think. In fact, I find double-tapping the mouse pad far more intuitive than using a second mouse button. Didn’t take long to get used to it at all. [CP]
My double-clicking's for dragging. That left me with two-finger right-clicking. It stinks.
Reason 30: Wanna set up a VNC server on your Mac? No problem, its already apart of the operating system! Moreover, the feature isn’t buried three levels deep. It’s sitting right there in the Finder. Moreover, unlike Windows Remote Desktop, a Screen Sharing session doesn’t lock the remote user out of his / her session - one reason I’ve always loathed RDC. [CP]
I prefer RDP, because I don't want someone observing me using my own computer, especially if I don't know the person's there. I also prefer the file-sharing aspect and the superior response. When RDP isn't feasible, I turn to LogMeIn.
Reason 33: A Mac costs about the same as a comparable Windows PC - for hardware and (for argument’s sake for those who don’t believe me) bundled software. And for those who still claim that Macs are still more expensive, they obviously have never seen or priced a gaming rig. Price / cost is relative. If you want a cheap machine, that’s your prerogative. The resell value on Macs has always been higher than that of an equivalent “Windows” machine. [CP]
Is he honestly claiming that my MacBook can do what a gaming rig can? What does resell have to do with anything? I've resold one machine in the 15 years I've been buying computers. I don't even know how many I've bought. Is it so hard to admit that people have to spend much more to own a Mac?
Reason 35: Dashcode appears to take the geekery out of widget-building. Moreover, the new “Web Clippings” widget appears to work better than anything I’ve seen come from Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, et al. This is putting the user first… [CP]
Imagine 1 billion PC users wasting time writing widgets. Sorry. In the RDF, that is being ‘creative’. FYI, Visual Studio Express Editions are free [JO]
I can make a widget?
Reason 36: With a .Mac subscription, you can save common local settings as global ones. You only have to configure your Dock or System Preferences on one machine to have those same changes appear on all machines connected to your .Mac account. Unbelievable. [CP]
With my 7-inch Ultra-Mobile PC, or a tiny OQO, I can have my computer with me at all times, with all my settings, documents, favorites, etc on it. Too fracking cool! Oh, yeah, and how much more money do I have to throw at this Mac? In thinking .Mac is nowhere near free.
Reason 37: Unlike Windows font management, you can activate fonts as you need them within Leopard. This translates to less wasted overhead by fonts that remain largely unused in memory. I can only imagine this results in far less resource-intensive sessions. Genius.[CP]
4th good point [JO]
I guess that's cool. I remember once having to delete fonts from a user's PC to get it to work right. Something about more than 500 being too many.
Reason 39: Can’t tell you how much I love Spring Loaded folders. Love ‘em. [CP]
I've had this Mac since October, and I don't know what Chris is talking about. Maybe I'll look it up one day.
Reason 41: Mail comes with “Data Detectors” which will highlight phone numbers, addresses, etc. You can then choose to do something with that information, like map it or store it as an appointment, contact, etc. This is a feature I had not seen outside of a pricey plugin for Microsoft Outlook. I may not use Mail.app, but at least they’re continuing to improve its functionality - ugly capsule toolbar icons notwithstanding. [CP]
Is this something Xobni does?
Reason 43: Expose works. ‘Nuff said. The only thing that surpasses OS X’s open window management is Compiz Fusion. None of this Flip3D nonsense. [CP]
Sucks in Tiger. Does Leopard show individual, minimized windows, yet?
Reason 45: Guest accounts are purged after every session in Leopard. Wow. Guest privileges, on the other hand, seem to be lacking somewhat on the security front (but most of my Guests are computer clueless). [CP]
Why would I let someone else use my computer? I work hard to put spare computers in my home so that I don't have to share the ones I care about. If it's near me, I need to be using it!
Reason 47: Call me crazy, but I love the fact that in OS X, the keyboard shortcut for opening Preferences is always the same (Command + Comma). Convenient. Dependable. Quick. [CP]
Easily forgotten. How the *bleep* is anyone supposed to remember that and other shortcuts that don't have any rhyme or reason to them? Like the snapshot that saves to theclipboard; I always have to look it up. I love the fact that Win + L is how you lock the computer and that Win + E is how you open an explorer window. The letter that the word begins with is the action. Better yet, I live not using a stinking keyboard! I love my Tablet PC and my UMPC!
Reason 50: I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Windows users need Apple’s software more than Mac users need Microsoft’s. That’s just a cold, hard fact. And given my severe disappointment with just about everything in Mac Office 2008, I’m even further driven away from Microsoft’s desktop software. [CP]
Depends on the Windows user. I basically bought my Mac to broaden my horizons. I'm grateful my employer had an unused Parallels license, so that I could run Outlook and work with my entire Exchange account (since Entourage 0 4 fell far short, and I hear Office 08 is still distance-challenged). In order to access the IT call database, I can use Netscape 7.2 (horrendously slow) or run the client in Windows. Vista's OK in Parallels; I can even use Windows Live Writer and Outlook 07 quite happily. If my Shuffle's battery hasn't died from neglect, I suppose I might need iTunes again one day. But really, what else would I need from Apple?
But really, I'm not hating on OS X. I just, ah, never mind. It never really ends. Enjoy your Mac. I'll enjoy writing on my machines with Vista (even my R2H). Maybe I'll be able to afford a ModBook late next year (but first, I have to get a Fujitsu P1620 with Vista on it!).
[Update 02/23: I attributed John's post to another blogger before, and I've corrected it.]
via Neowin
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