Before I start I have to write a disclaimer for all the fanatic Apple fanboys (who don't think of themselves that way) that I am not an evil anti-Apple or a Mac-hater and I did not sell my soul to the Windows devil. Although I think Bill G. is a good Samaritan (see last years Time Magazine's "Man of the Year" cover) and a VERY good business man, not Satan himself. And I have an iPod (4G), use iTunes for Windows as my main Audio Library and currently do not see any reason to change to a Zune or PlaysForSure.
I used to have an Apple Mac iBook (an 12" with 1,2GHz PPC, 100GB HDD and 1,25GB RAM). I used it for a long time as my main computer at home. It was a nice notebook. But more than often it felt more like a toy than a real PC to me - no offense, really, just my feelings. And somehow I think Windows and IBM compatible PC's have a better usability - at least for me.
But why did I switch back to the Windows world?
1) Mouse - I am not even going to start talking about the rationality of a one-button mouse on a notebook. I know it is possible to emulate the second button and the two fingered scrolling isn't a bad idea. But Steve, come on, accept one or two good notions from PC engineers and at least use a second mouse button for the coming Powerbooks just like you did with the Mighty Mouse. And even then I believe Apple will never accept and use what I personally believe to be the best mouse solution ever: the (IBM/Lenovo) Thinkpad Pointing Stick.
2) OSX User Account Security - I know OSX is reasonably secure. But I still thought it is a good idea to take away the admin rights to my daily use user account (and use a separate admin account whenever needed). Bad idea, because a surprisingly amount of applications (most of then 3rd Party) where apparently never tested or developed for non-admin users...
Starting with installation (sometimes no chance to enter the admin account/password or not being able to select the app path) or a flat out denial to run the app. I know it can be fixed easily with a bit of testing and the original Apple apps do not show this issue. But even then, anyone who has ever reduced his OSX account to a non-admin user, will never again complain about the Windows Vista UAP (User Account Protection) - Apple Security is even bigger pain!
3) 3rd party drivers - I have several fine appliances like a webcam, a multi-function scanner/fax/laser printer or an inkjet printer. All good working, never failed me in my PC life. But switching to a MAC changed the happy life with a lot of third party driver problems.
My portable webcam (originally bought for my IBM Thinkpad) from Logitech) was reasonable good. But try getting it to run with iChat or any other IM for OSX (like Yahoo or Skype) was completely useless since neither Logitech nor Apple provide any useful drivers. Yes, I know, there's always macam as freeware driver package, but why has Apple or Logitech make it so hard?
I have a nice Lexmark inkjet printer (which I rarely use for color prints) and OSX had some drivers for that printer (GIMP printer drivers). But they were not even half as good as the original Windows drivers - no easy way to default to b/w print only, no information about ink level and the print quality was really undesirable compared to the Windows versions.
My biggest problem was a Samsung multi function scanner/printer/fax. The scanner part was provided for MacOS with Samsung Twain drivers, but what should I then do to actually scan something? OSX does not have any build in application which provides the counterpart for the twain driver. The Samsung manual advised to install Adobe Photoshop. Or switch to Windows, since a scanning and OCR application was provided by Samsung...
4) A real live example. You have cupboard with a few drawers. Two of the drawers have a few things in them, you take one of the drawers and throw everything what is inside into the other one. Hwat would you expect? That the second drawer now contains all the stuff from both drawers or only the things from the first, with the rest gone? Live thought us to expect the former. But not on OSX. Dragging one folder which contains files into another folder which also contains (some different) files deletes the contents of the receiving folder. Go figure. Appearantly OSX never heard of the idea of MERGING folders! Or doesn't even give a choice. Unfortunately I learned the hard way, by loosing some of my files which made me which I had stayed in Windows (which of course merges files and folders and if necessary asks about replacing and renaming).
5) And don't let me start about games on OSX... Good thing I had my XBox for a regular fix. Or my Windows Thinkpad to play Half-Life 2.
6) iPhoto is good. But Picasa (free photo management software from Google) is MUCH better. But only available for Windows (although they published a binary for Linux recently). Maybe just a personal preference but Picasa beats iPhoto hands down.
7) Safari is a nice and good browser. But not as good as Firefox, Camino or IE 7 – even if passed the acid test. I do not care, I used Camino (based on Mozilla code) on OSX because I just want a good web experience. I do not read HTML source code regularly visiting any site and check if it’s CSS confirms to any standards…
8) Why does Apple try to force users a specific way or working with PC's. For example I like my MP3 and JPG's in exactly the location and format I put them in (i.e. MP3 in flat format, JPG sorted in specific folders). I would like to continue using my own folder organization. But iTunes and iPhoto on OSX almost forces the user to change (I know, it is possible to keep the data but you almost have to force the apps to accept it...).
Anyway, I am back now on a Windows PC, loved my Media Center 2005 Edition, installed Vista recently and am surprised how much I like it. OSX was good to play with. But at least for the time being I am staying in the Windows world.
take care
Kashif-
I used to have an Apple Mac iBook (an 12" with 1,2GHz PPC, 100GB HDD and 1,25GB RAM). I used it for a long time as my main computer at home. It was a nice notebook. But more than often it felt more like a toy than a real PC to me - no offense, really, just my feelings. And somehow I think Windows and IBM compatible PC's have a better usability - at least for me.
But why did I switch back to the Windows world?
1) Mouse - I am not even going to start talking about the rationality of a one-button mouse on a notebook. I know it is possible to emulate the second button and the two fingered scrolling isn't a bad idea. But Steve, come on, accept one or two good notions from PC engineers and at least use a second mouse button for the coming Powerbooks just like you did with the Mighty Mouse. And even then I believe Apple will never accept and use what I personally believe to be the best mouse solution ever: the (IBM/Lenovo) Thinkpad Pointing Stick.
2) OSX User Account Security - I know OSX is reasonably secure. But I still thought it is a good idea to take away the admin rights to my daily use user account (and use a separate admin account whenever needed). Bad idea, because a surprisingly amount of applications (most of then 3rd Party) where apparently never tested or developed for non-admin users...
Starting with installation (sometimes no chance to enter the admin account/password or not being able to select the app path) or a flat out denial to run the app. I know it can be fixed easily with a bit of testing and the original Apple apps do not show this issue. But even then, anyone who has ever reduced his OSX account to a non-admin user, will never again complain about the Windows Vista UAP (User Account Protection) - Apple Security is even bigger pain!
3) 3rd party drivers - I have several fine appliances like a webcam, a multi-function scanner/fax/laser printer or an inkjet printer. All good working, never failed me in my PC life. But switching to a MAC changed the happy life with a lot of third party driver problems.
My portable webcam (originally bought for my IBM Thinkpad) from Logitech) was reasonable good. But try getting it to run with iChat or any other IM for OSX (like Yahoo or Skype) was completely useless since neither Logitech nor Apple provide any useful drivers. Yes, I know, there's always macam as freeware driver package, but why has Apple or Logitech make it so hard?
I have a nice Lexmark inkjet printer (which I rarely use for color prints) and OSX had some drivers for that printer (GIMP printer drivers). But they were not even half as good as the original Windows drivers - no easy way to default to b/w print only, no information about ink level and the print quality was really undesirable compared to the Windows versions.
My biggest problem was a Samsung multi function scanner/printer/fax. The scanner part was provided for MacOS with Samsung Twain drivers, but what should I then do to actually scan something? OSX does not have any build in application which provides the counterpart for the twain driver. The Samsung manual advised to install Adobe Photoshop. Or switch to Windows, since a scanning and OCR application was provided by Samsung...
4) A real live example. You have cupboard with a few drawers. Two of the drawers have a few things in them, you take one of the drawers and throw everything what is inside into the other one. Hwat would you expect? That the second drawer now contains all the stuff from both drawers or only the things from the first, with the rest gone? Live thought us to expect the former. But not on OSX. Dragging one folder which contains files into another folder which also contains (some different) files deletes the contents of the receiving folder. Go figure. Appearantly OSX never heard of the idea of MERGING folders! Or doesn't even give a choice. Unfortunately I learned the hard way, by loosing some of my files which made me which I had stayed in Windows (which of course merges files and folders and if necessary asks about replacing and renaming).
5) And don't let me start about games on OSX... Good thing I had my XBox for a regular fix. Or my Windows Thinkpad to play Half-Life 2.
6) iPhoto is good. But Picasa (free photo management software from Google) is MUCH better. But only available for Windows (although they published a binary for Linux recently). Maybe just a personal preference but Picasa beats iPhoto hands down.
7) Safari is a nice and good browser. But not as good as Firefox, Camino or IE 7 – even if passed the acid test. I do not care, I used Camino (based on Mozilla code) on OSX because I just want a good web experience. I do not read HTML source code regularly visiting any site and check if it’s CSS confirms to any standards…
8) Why does Apple try to force users a specific way or working with PC's. For example I like my MP3 and JPG's in exactly the location and format I put them in (i.e. MP3 in flat format, JPG sorted in specific folders). I would like to continue using my own folder organization. But iTunes and iPhoto on OSX almost forces the user to change (I know, it is possible to keep the data but you almost have to force the apps to accept it...).
Anyway, I am back now on a Windows PC, loved my Media Center 2005 Edition, installed Vista recently and am surprised how much I like it. OSX was good to play with. But at least for the time being I am staying in the Windows world.
take care
Kashif-
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