# Apple, Google, or Microsoft: Pick \*only\* one **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 7, 2012, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-google-or-microsoft-pick-only-one/618108 "2012-04-07T19:45:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2012, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-google-or-microsoft-pick-only-one/618108/41 "2012-04-09T14:03:39Z")
> [@lazybratsche](#): > > Right, I’m aware of Bing, but it’s a Microsoft product. So in the OP’s hypothetical, people who swear their undying fealty to Apple wouldn’t be able to use Bing or Google. Oh yeah. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-google-or-microsoft-pick-only-one/618108/42 "2012-04-10T15:17:48Z")
That’s rough. I’d have to say Microsoft. I don’t use many of their products but I do need Windows for work and gaming. I can use Bing or another search engine if I had to. Google has lost a lot of their shine although I like Android, Gmail, Google Maps, and a bunch of their other products/services. ---
**Author:** ![artemis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/91b2a8/32.png) [@artemis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/artemis)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-google-or-microsoft-pick-only-one/618108/43 "2012-04-10T15:30:50Z")
Apple. Definitely Apple. But I’m glad that in real life no such choice is required, as I use and like products from all three companies. ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-google-or-microsoft-pick-only-one/618108/44 "2012-04-10T15:40:07Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > I’d have to use an Apple computer, which is a toy, not a tool,… Not sure if this is what you intended, but the end result of this post is that **RealityChuck** has just been logged away in every reader’s memory as someone that makes bizarre posts about Apple computers. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-google-or-microsoft-pick-only-one/618108/45 "2012-04-10T15:55:04Z")
Another, didn’t read the question properly. I voted for Apple, thinking that I could give up my iPhone in exchange for an android. I can’t live without MS but I’ll hate it when my phone has Windows on it. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-google-or-microsoft-pick-only-one/618108/46 "2012-04-10T16:29:02Z")
I’d really miss Google’s products if I had to do without them, but for the time being I need an Apple or a Microsoft product as part of the ladder that gets me to Google in the first place. I can at least get by in a MS world. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-google-or-microsoft-pick-only-one/618108/47 "2012-04-10T16:52:08Z")
Microsoft for Windows & gaming. I don’t use any Apple products I can think of and, while it’d suck to lose my Android phone and the Google mail, I guess I’ll have to become a Bing user and revert my tablet to WebOS. ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-google-or-microsoft-pick-only-one/618108/48 "2012-04-10T18:53:41Z")
I don’t use any Apple products, so they’re easy to eliminate. I do have all Windows machines and make my living working with Microsoft products, but that’s not so much a necessity. In most cases, I prefer the Google product over the Microsoft one, and their web presence is just flat superior. And even though I work with Microsoft products and program in Microsoft languages, I’m not averse to changing to a different language, I’ve used plenty of others in the past. ---
**Author:** ![Craz3d117](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c4cdca/32.png) [@Craz3d117](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Craz3d117)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-google-or-microsoft-pick-only-one/618108/49 "2012-04-10T20:45:18Z")
The only benefit I can see of picking Google is YouTube. There are all decent equivalents to the rest of their products services. One would be forced to use a third party OS such as Linux also, which while okay isn’t the most robust of operating systems. I’d have to pick Microsoft, because my time on YouTube could probably be spent on more productive things anyways, and I already own a WP7 phone and don’t use an iPod and have always used Windows. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-google-or-microsoft-pick-only-one/618108/50 "2012-04-10T21:23:27Z")
All I used Apple for is my ipod (and their crappy iTunes, only to load it up), and that’s replaceable; I love the Google browser but have literally never accessed it except from a Microsoft OS. So there’s really no choice for me. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-google-or-microsoft-pick-only-one/618108/51 "2012-04-10T22:28:50Z")
My partner not only chose Google but was positively gleeful at the idea of an Apple/MS free world. Well, he doesn’t really have a hate on for Apple but he sees no loss removing them from his personal universe. He’s already a Linux user, has an Android, chucked his iPod in favour of Google Play Music on his phone, has never bothered with Bing… I asked what he thinks he might miss with MS gone and after a few perplexed moments he offered “Bitching?” ---
**Author:** ![Astral\_Rejection](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/258eb7/32.png) [@Astral\_Rejection](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astral_Rejection)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-google-or-microsoft-pick-only-one/618108/52 "2012-04-10T22:33:15Z")
Vimeo is a reasonable-enough alternative to YouTube if you need to upload something and share it with the world. I picked Apple. I’m a video editor, and through experience I can tell you Avid works better on macs than windows. I suspect it’s because they have to support fewer combinations of components with macs. And at home, an iPad is just about all I use. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-google-or-microsoft-pick-only-one/618108/53 "2012-04-10T22:41:30Z")
I picked MS. I vastly prefer Android over iOS, but I could _get by_ with iOS. I could also get by without Windows (though I would miss the option of good PC games.) No [ASP.NET](http://ASP.NET), though? Even people who don’t even have a vague idea what it is would feel a serious lack if it were gone tomorrow. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2012, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-google-or-microsoft-pick-only-one/618108/54 "2012-04-10T23:29:49Z")
I could get by without any of them. Except at work. We all have Windows XP. We use Outlook. There is some other software that we have that only runs on Windows. Also, a lot of documents we have to deliver have to be in Word or Powerpoint. I can use Open Office (and even at work I sometimes do, since the Powerpoint we have sucks donkey balls) but I’d be worried about small differences screwing up the formatting without checking. So I’d have to keep Microsoft. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2012, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-google-or-microsoft-pick-only-one/618108/55 "2012-04-11T09:14:37Z")
> [@Larry\_Mudd](#): > > No [ASP.NET](http://ASP.NET), though? Even people who don’t even have a vague idea what it is would feel a serious lack if it were gone tomorrow. With all the various other options out there, from RoR to Django to the myriad PHP-based frameworks, no-one would miss it. In fact, things might actually improve. ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2012, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-google-or-microsoft-pick-only-one/618108/56 "2012-04-11T14:44:42Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > With all the various other options out there, from RoR to Django to the myriad PHP-based frameworks, no-one would miss it. In fact, things might actually improve. I was confused by that comment also. **Larry Mudd** : why do you think [ASP.NET](http://ASP.NET) would be so missed? Were you thinking that it’s because there are websites created with [ASP.NET](http://ASP.NET) and those websites would suddenly be gone and/or have to be recoded? ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2012, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-google-or-microsoft-pick-only-one/618108/57 "2012-04-11T16:25:42Z")
> [@lazybratsche](#): > > Out of curiosity: for the people who went with Apple in this poll, what search engine would you use? I guess Yahoo is probably still around… but are there any other options? That would be a genuine difficulty. (I wouldn’t really like to dispense with Excel either, for that matter). Hmm, yeah, Yahoo. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apple-google-or-microsoft-pick-only-one/618108.md?page=2)