OCBen

I wouldn't think it's because of superior design as the reason for that. As I'm sure you know, the virus creators always seek to infect the largest number of computers with their creatures. Apple's share of the PC market is what 3.6% or so? And Windows based PCs account for about 95% of the market?

Norton makes a pretty good product called Internet Security which has a very robust virus prevention component built in.

boolala

Because I'm the local PC guru ("In the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king") I get to "fix" everyone elses virus problem pro bono. Just did one last week for one of our employees. I can't compel people to use protection and I wind up fixing the mess that results when they don't. But it's not just viruses. There are so many security vulnerabilities in windows it's ludicrous. Every week MS is releasing patches. Personally I don't care if the reason for the (much) better security of OS X is 1) more robust built in security (which it is) or 2) lack of interest in developing viruses for this "fringe" OS because of the relatively small installed base (probably also true). All I care about is that I don't have to deal with viruses, keeping virus definitions up to date every few days and having to download MS patches every week.

After 20 years of putting up with this crap I switched.

OCBen

I love it.

Speaking of not being able to compel others to use protection, I caught some nasty **** when my computer - on its own, mind you - decided to surf for free **** without adequate protection. Caught the equivalent of the clap or something. Took me some time to eradicate it too. Now I've placed restrictions (sort of) so it doesn't wander off again like that. ... Sheeesh!

OCBen

Nope, the latter. As I mentioned in that other thread, my company is in bed with Dell and we employees get a significant discount when purchasing Dell equipment.

boolala

LOL! Try telling your wife your computer got it from a toilet seat!

OCBen

Good one. I think I'll use it if she asks.

Cogito

4 Dell's in my house, all networked, share files, printers, and internet access.
A usually reliable source told me last night Apple is switching to Intel chips because they want to run WINDOWS and phase out OS-X. He couldn't attest to the accuracy of the rumor.

Coochas

No way. The thing that makes Apple better is the operating system! Perhaps Windows emulation software will run faster on the new Intel Mac chips?
Mac will keep doing what they're doing - they are slowly but very steadily taking over!

wross996tt

Dual 2.5 G5, Dual 1.42 G4, 12" Powerbook (travel), 2 15" iBooks, 2 iMacs and one POS dell. Oh, BTW, I like Macs (Mac OS is based on a superior OS...UNIX and they will never go backwards into windows, aka. mac 1990). I'm a statistician!

boolala

First of all the reason apple went with Intel was because Freescale/IBM could not deliver faster cooler running laptop processors in the power PC series and apple was falling behind in that area.

Secondly the rumor that apple was switching to Windows was started by an article by John Devorak and is pure speculation: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1925239,00.asp

JFScheck

Have departed Wintel for Mac for almost a year now... Although I just got my Quad a month back - guess the future is OxTel... :-)

Raptor

At home:
15" Powerbook
12" iBook (wife)
20" iMac (intel) - Maxtor 1-touch backup, and Sonos (GREAT product)

BTW, for all you pc guys - native windows on Mac in 2006! (No, I am not an Apple employee.)

OCBen

What I never liked about Macs from the beginning is that they were too dumbed-down from an operator's perspective. Granted, that was their main appeal -- catering to the lowest common intellectual quotient of the masses. The user interface and the terminology used for basic operations was something that could have come straight out of Sesame Street. My colleagues and I laughed at this "toy" when it began to surface in the mid-80s. We of course were Unix power users and were one layer removed from machine language as we wrote basic program code to run on a time-share based main frame IBM computer. Remember those?

That was some 20 yrs ago and nothing has come close to replacing the Unix workhorse platforms we use at work in terms of raw computational power, though some workstations are Dell based with a version of the software we run ported to Windows. Sun boxes are still king here for R&D.

One of the main drawbacks to a Mac was that it only had one button on the mouse! That requires doing quite a bit of tedious mouse clicks for doing any kind of meaningful work. On the Unix boxes we have 3 buttons across the top of the mouse, and a skilled user can really make the application fly.

A one button mouse has got to be inefficient as hell. One of the things I like about running Windows is that most applications take advantage of the 2 button mouse feature. You can right click on just about anything and a different menu pops up, usually providing shortcuts to what you're trying to do. And one of the things I don't like about applications such as Adobe Photoshop is that it was designed with the Mac in mind. You can't use the right mouse button in Photoshop, as far as I can tell (and I'm not at all skilled in this application).

So now after some 20 yrs Apple is now finally rolling out a 2 button mouse. I wonder if software developers for the Mac will start taking advantage of this. But to me, this seems too little too late. I have a 5 button mouse (if you count the scroll wheel's push button feature) on my home computer. I can zip along the internet using my thumb for the BACK and FORWARD buttons on the mouse and the thumb wheel for fast scrolling. Does Apple even make a scroll wheel mouse?

MJones

One of the things that Mac has had from the begining was a set of "Human Interface Guidlines"
Key commands thruout all applications were the same ie. Save, Quit, Cut, Copy, Paste, Duplicate, Hide, etc.
In years past on wintel this was not the case, everyone decieded their own.
Photoshop on wintel had "Twister" keboard commands.
The Mac: Thumb and Forefinger,
Dumbed Down? I don't think so.

Apple Mighty Mouse

Introducing the innovative mouse that reinvents the wheel — the scroll wheel. Mighty Mouse features the amazing Scroll Ball that lets you move anywhere inside a document, literally without lifting a finger. And with touch-sensitive technology concealed under the seamless top shell, you can choose either the versatility of a four-button mouse or the simplicity of a single-button beauty.

boolala

Of course OS X is Unix based (BSD I believe).

There's also a scroll button on the new mice.