Okay, I don’t intend this to be flamebait (I was toying with the idea of posting it in IMHO), but given the topic, I figure it’ll end up here in the Pit anyway.
Anyway, CNet has done a head to head comparison of OS X and Win XP, and I thought it might interest those who wanted information on the two OSes.
Unfortunately, most people who want those information are the “My OS is better than yours” zealots… Anyway, here it is.
There ain’t no way this thread going to get any appreciable length without one gearhead proclaiming “Linux rules!”
Ahem
Linux Rules!
Actually I’m perfectly OK with my current OS, the Hamster-on-the-Wheel 3.0
As long as I give him water and those little pellets, he gives good performance.
Because (IMO) it does come down to what an individual user is familiar with and has a preference for, a tie score is the most appropriate result. But sheesh, it feels so anticlimactic. Part of me’s thinking: Why did they even bother with this comparison?
Some questions:
The lack of Mac drivers and software for peripherals was considered a minus for the OS X’s hardware compatibility. I know this was an OS comparison, but why is this drivers and software stuff even considered? Isn’t the lack of an OS’s driver and support more an error of shortsightedness on the peripheral’s manufacturer part than a flaw with the OS in question?
If the fact that OS X can’t be installed on Windows-specific hardware is a drawback of OS X, why wasn’t the fact that XP can’t be installed on Mac-specific hardware considered a drawback of XP?
Of what possible use is a comparison of the features of the two OS’s ? The justice department has decided in favor of XP, so that is what we all will use. The events of September 11th render all of Microsoft’s past anticompetitive policies completely irrelevant. This country has got to pull together. Besides, those geeks at Apple, Netscape and elsewhere were all just a bunch of subversive caffeine addicts anyway, and got no more than they deserved for stirring things up. There is no middle ground between those who support XP and those who support terrorism.
Hm. What’s the raison d’etre of any website? To attract visitors. Here you get both the Mac and the PC zealots.
And on another note, it’s (probably) not as if they knew that the voting was going to end in a tie. After all, OS X won the OS X vs. Win 2K battle (OS X vs. XP is evidently their third OS head-to-head).
Yes, but it’s still a valid criteria. When you look at a peripheral and see that “Gee, it’s supported by Windows XP but not Mac OS X,” then the XP user, as a consumer, has an option the OS X user does not. Sure it’s arguably the peripheral manufacturer’s shortsightedness (god, is that ugly thing actually a real word?), but that shortsightedness sees exactly far enough to see the large pot of gold that represents the Windows share of the market (which is, what, at least 80% or so, still?) and not the much smaller OS X market share. Until Apple gains more users, that’s just the way it’s going to be, I’m afraid.
I don’t recall reading that in the article, except for the (rather flippant) remark that said that OS X’s arguably superior notebook status monitoring options are useless on non-Apple notebooks. Just more marketshare propaganda, IMHO. An easy, cheap point, but still a moderately valid one from a consumer POV.
I haven’t seen XP, (but look forward to tinkering with it whenever I get a new PC).
But so far, I like OS X. (Well, X.1, which was a much needed update, apparently.) I do spend a lot of my time in Mac OS 9 (my Mac has both OSs installed, I can switch between the two). I will migrate more and more over to X when there is more software support for it. (Illustrator and Freehand 10 will run in X, I’m sure the next version of Photoshop and Dreamweaver will too.)
I think X will really start to shine when more software is carbonized. (And it will.)
It’s also great that because of X’s Unix underpinnings, a lot of Unix developers now can work on X applications. Heck - for about $30, I can order a CD with all sorts of nifty new software, like GIMP, etc. I don’t think I need GIMP (since I have Photoshop already) but the software world is opening up for Mac users, thanks to X.
You’re getting a PC sometime in the future, yosemite? I believe I’ve heard (read, whatever) you saying that you’ve used both platforms, but I thought that your PC interaction was all work related.
Do/Would you have both platforms at home? If so, would it be for any particular purpose?
Feel free to ignore these questions of mine, or answer via email if you think it would open up a larger can of worms than it’s worth.
KK: There’s no “can of worms” to open regarding my computer usage! It’s very dull, actually!
Yeah, I have an old PC at home. (“Old” meaning I got it in 1999.) It still has life left in it, and I like it. It’s got a lot of HD, so I have umpteen MP3s on it. (It was great during the Napster era.) I also have the printer hooked up to it (I don’t use the printer a lot, I don’t have it hooked to the Mac.) I had my PC before I got into Macs, and I see no reason to get rid of it, or abandon the platform altogether.
I have both platforms at home because I am a bonafide computer geek. (Gotta have more than one computer!) I’d get a Linux box too, if I could stretch myself that far (and I may eventually!) 
I started out on Windows, and I certainly don’t hate it. I still feel a comfy familiarity about it (even when it drives me NUTS!). I made the Mac transition almost two years ago. I’m an artist/web design/graphics geek, so switching to Mac seemed like a logical move, and I certainly haven’t regretted it. The majority of my day-to-day tasks (Photoshop, Dreamweaver) are done on my Mac.
I have encountered many Mac people (on Mac boards, mailing lists) who also own a PC - I don’t find it unusual at all for Mac folk to also own and use a PC at home.
I figure that next year I’ll get another PC - a used one, at a low price. I’d want it to be at least twice as fast as my current PC (which is 450 MHz). I’m sure I’ll enjoy another PC, and I am very curious about XP!
sigh Damn computer geeks that have more money than I do… 
I would probably get a G4, for the sake of video capture/editing and the like if it were cheaper. Unfortunately, well, it’s not. 
In retrospect, I guess I was curious because I would simply be doing it on a whim. It frightens me to think that there might be people like me out there.
And, yes, I do use smileys as paragraph breaks. :rolleyes:
That has to be one of the most clueless comments I’ve heard from a supposed tech journalist…
Let’s not forget the c|Net wussed out – they originally gave MacOS X a win by a nose, and then backpedalled to say it was a tie. Guess Bill Gates threatened to pull the advertising or something.
(Personally, I was amused by some of Matt’s “rebuttals” to the MacOS X points. Someone show him where the “eject” key on the keyboard is, please…)
Alright, this is the deal, see? I need some green and I need it fast. So I am demanding that this Board and it’s members send me . . . .[Dr. Evil] One Millllllion Dollars [/Dr. Evil] or else I will unleash a holy terror the likes of which have never been seen. You have 2 seconds
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I’ll do it.
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Don’t test me.
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Alright, then. “Oh Chas E, Chas E, can you come here for a minute, we’d like to ask you a question.”
Get Tejola in the same steel cage, and the resulting fission would create enough energy to power the Earth for the next five hundred years.
Tejola probably has a tattoo of Bill Gates on his ass…