Thank you, wonderful article.
Good points. Every OS has its benefits and drawbacks, and while they may irritate at times, computers are generally pretty wonderful things, and the operating systems have gotten better over the years.
I use both Mac OS and Windows and find things to like with both of them. I too am irritated by the “my platform is better than yours” kind of thing. I find zealots irritating no matter what their preference.
When people talk about nice things (and not-so-nice things) about each OS, in a way that is respectful and not belittling of others people’s choices and preferences, we get the best of both worlds: people use what they want, but hear ideas an opinions from elsewhere.
For example, a little thing I happen to like about the Mac: taking screen captures. Press Command-Shift-3 and Mac OS saves Picture1.png right to your desktop. Easy. Press Command-Shift-4 and you get a selection rectangle; clip a rectangle and it goes right to your desktop. On Windows, there’s a great little free screen capture program called Cropper that gives you this same kind of nice behavior.
The point is: it’s all just software, and everyone can (and does) learn from one another. The key is to filter out the idiots and zealots, only deal with the reasonable people, talking about things that are really important.
If you have enough time for these debates… then its you that doesn’t have a life or a personality. Loooooosers.
I’m sick of people downing Macs and Linux. They praise M$ as if it has brought peace and tranquility to the masses. I painfully dual boot both XP and 2 versions of Linux. I recently HAD to install XP for USB video capture/DVD authoring. Linux is just not there yet. (Ow, that hurt.) I use 1 version of Linux as my everyday operating system. The 2nd version is always experimental (I constantly try out new OSes). I choose Linux for 3 reasons.
Number 1: I like the security of surfing and being email virus free.
Number 2: I ENJOY all of the free utilities and the command line.
Number 3: I like being DIFFERENT.
I love the confused look on 99.9% of the populations face when they here that I use Linux as my operating system. I have tried to help spread Linux to anyone who was interested in trying it. They all hated it for one reason . . . it didn’t play their games. That is the very reason I hate M$. They make computer OSes for idiots and then they design to be an XBox as well. There isn’t 1 out of 1000 people that don’t use a computer to play games. These very people will talk a big game about computers and what they are capable of doing with one. Next time an M$ zealot touts his OS, ask them what they DO with there computer. Jeff is right. Computers are meant to DO things, not PLAY things. If games are your thing why use a computer. Console systems are much more stable. People have a tendency to down other systems without knowing what they are cabable of doing. Just because an OS does not run WOW, why is that even an issue? What can they produce is the real question. /end of rant
I think the pertinent question here isn’t, “What’s better, Mac or PC?”, it’s “Why aren’t you working?”
While I agree with you that all operating systems suck, I think the same could be said for programming languages.
I think it’s likewise true that they’re each likely to do some things much better than the others, and in all likelihood you won’t be able to appreciate these advantages until you’ve spent a fair amount of time using the system in question.
attrition.org has a good page about various OSs.
http://attrition.org/misc/humor/os-beer.html
and a nother about programming languages.
http://attrition.org/misc/humor/prog-shot.html
Computers suck because they are built by humans and humans are failable.
I’m reminded of the Simpson’s where Homer gets a computer and basically just turns it on and tells it to kill Flanders. His expectation is too high. Almost every computer user is like that. I was a Mac-addict for years, but now I have multiple Macs and PCs and there’s not much difference. For most tasks, I could pick either one. For some tasks, I have to pick one or the other, which is the whole reason I have both in the first place. If I had a Linux box around, the circle would be complete 
That whole Simpsons episode is a really great example of what’s wrong with people who have computers.
PC does suck Mac is soo much better
I applaud you for writing this. Truly computers are just that, computational devices. That said, users expect their mac/pc to do all things for all people! The limitation is strictly in the user and their overall ability to comprehend the machine they are using. There is a horrid trend in Americans to compare black and white, even when that isn’t relevant. It took us 200 years to come up with a third, non-viable, political party. Maybe we will all have a new option for a computer in 2180… doubt it.
And a late response to poop. Ummm who is it that posted on this site? You. I guess you can join the Rank and File Coalition of Losers. Membership dues are $1,000,000 per year, payable to me.
and to Ergo.
Some of us like to play FPSs. Try doing that with a control pad vs. a keyboard/mouse combo. That is why it’s an issue. And good luck playing pretty much any new game running the penguin.
While I agree that computers are the equivalent of silicon screwdrivers, it’s clear that Apple and Microsoft use distinct philosophical approaches to decide which problems to solve and how to solve them.
For an example, let’s take the problem of clicking on the icon of a removable device that has no media inserted.
In Windows, clicking on the device icon raises a “Please insert Y into drive X” error dialog. However, If this was an unintentional click, it could lead the user to think their computer requires media for some other, unrelated operation. If you rarely insert media into this device, it still takes up space in the device list and becomes a potential target for unintentional clicks.
On the Mac, the solution was to prevent the situation from happening in the first place by not showing an icon for a device unless formated media is present and mounted. No error dialog is required since there is nothing to accidentally click on.
This is one less dialog to maintain. One less implementation that needs to debugged. One less ‘part of the silicon screwdriver’ which can fail.
However, In the end, the choice of Mac vs. PC will likely be based on which philosophy you align yourself with most.
This is the most fucktarded pile of shit I have ever read. Just because you aren’t man-enough to hold your own and make an obvious decision about what works correctly and what is a steaming pile of shit, doesn’t mean anyone else should be subjected to your ignominious thoughts on the subject!
I hope you realize that carpenters are exactly the same when it comes to their screwdrivers and other tools: Some time ago two of my friends who are both craftsmen got so mad at eachother that they almost got into a fistfight when discussing the merits of DeWalt vs Bosch mitre saws.
If using a piece of electronics as a means to “define yourself” is a sign of insanity the majority of people in all western countries must be insane: We define ourselves with a multitude of material posessions: Cars, clothes, houses and other various gadgets, including mobile phones. This is deeply rooted in the human psyche and we have used things to “define ourselves” since the stone age.
That said, my experience from using computers as my tool of the trade for 20 years is that OSX is the operating system that causes me the least headache and that the Apple computers are in many ways superior compared to any other hardware I have own or used.
Computers suck? No. A computer was never mean’t to be used by people with average or below average intelligence. They have been forced onto the masses by Gates, Jobs, etc in the form of Macs and PCs. With that, comes the endless problems of hardware and software glitches, etc. because your average person has no clue how the thing works and can barely operate it.
It’s not supposed to be just like a light switch you turn on and it just works. It’s a piece of complex machinery with complex software driving it.
I posted this in the past, but I hate seeming my mom “use” a computer. The machine is going to waste by sending email and surfing the web.
Instead of releasing a new OS every 1-3 years, the concept of a computer device should be revisited by big name software giants.
If a computer didn’t already come with 100s of programs embedded in it, I think it would be easier to manage and would suck less in general.
Second secret of using computers: Everybody is a fracking expert!
I work with a Mac and two XP workstations. The Mac frustrates me less…but they do, as you say, all suck.
@Sailor Moon: great post
Now this is why I like this blog so much. The PC vs Mac debate/holy war is annoying and I have only one response to it. “You like what you like.” When I was reading this I remembered one of those new Mac commercials and all that I thought of was, I think Mac, actor from Accepted, needed some machine to make fake ids, and who knows what else why not a Mac.
“Everybody knows that Unix is superior, and that the REAL question is Emacs vs. vi. :)”
Not vi, ViM. ViM is superior
The problem with the Mac vs PC holy war: there aren’t any others for those users. EMACS vs VIM, KDE vs GNOME, everything from DE’s to file-systems are subject to a holy war (or at least argumentative USENET posts).
That’s something I love FOSS: nothing is good enough for either side.