049flyer

My Feedback: (18)

Very simple really.

Microsoft is at a huge disadvantage compared to Apple. The reason is that Microsft manufactures the software only, while Apple manufactures the software and the hardware. In other words, Apple has much greater control over the compatibility between their software and their hardware.

Microsoft has to manufacture an operating system that is compatible with MILLIONS of possible combinations of components from a bewildering number of Chinese manufacturers. It's really an impossible feat and a wonder it works as well as it does.

Apple is able to more tightly integrate their operating system with their hardware. It's logical that Apple would have fewer problems and be more resistant to viruses. For this monopoly you pay a premium.

On the other hand Microsoft does an amazing job with what they have to work with. Microsoft has made it possible for millions of people to own a computer by providing a platform that enables almost anyone to cobble together a system for a fraction of the cost of a comparable Apple system.

Two wildly different companies that really should not be compared with each other. Both make fine products, but for different markets.

vasek

My Feedback: (4)

No one has mentioned the viruses yet ? [X(]

Every time you would sit in your car, you would worry about getting a Trojan up your *****

Luchnia

My Feedback: (21)

Some great points. I have been in IT for many years and work on some Apple PCs as well. The percentage of Apples systems and their proprietary OS cannot even be comparied to MS as you state, "Two wildly different companies..."

Most non-IT folks have a hard time understanding all the ins and outs of these systems. Folks will say that Apple does not get viruses which is not true and also for the most part they are so small in the grand scheme few viruses are written to thwart Apple. If the hackers spent as much time on Apple as they do MS, they would have the same problems if not more being a proprietary system. This is not to state that Apple is not solid, just some facts from working with Apple systems.

All of these PC and software companies including car manufacturers, appliance manufacturers, etc., do the consumer bad in many ways. They release products that have issues (poor design or quality) and the consumer bears the burden of cost in many cases which in my perception it is wrong. It has been going on for years and gets worse each year. Now if you do not buy extra warranty (because the product is garbage and needs it) you are stuck with huge repair bills.

Software companies are notorious for providing horrible code with problems then turning around and getting the companies to purchase a bigger "maintenance" agreement, or implying through IT smooze "talk" that such and such was the problem, when all along the problem is poor code. I have sat in many meetings with vendors and I live this daily in my work, so I can definitely speak about the issue.

Is it Microsoft? It is more about the social and ethical order of these big companies. Remember Microsoft is people and when companies get so large the folks that do the work are sort of slid by the wayside for the dollar. I deal with Microsoft on a day to day basis and know their tactics well. I have spent hours on the phone with MS premium support and my techs can usually figure the problem out quicker than MS techs at much less than several hundred dollars an hour. We certainly live in a different world and a different time, that much is true.

I fight the system daily in my job as there are areas that I simply will not comprimise. I am not even sure why they keep me around because of my stand. Gone seem to be the days when good ethical and business practices would be in front of a man and his business. Now good practices are becoming a lost part of life in the business world. Personally, I am hopeful men will change for the better, yet I don't see that happening in practice.

rgburrill

Microsoft bought into the Web 2.0 crap.  That is what is severely wrong with Windows since it released Vista.  It may make things easier for the dummy who uses cell phones as computers but for those who want a real computer to do more than surf the web we are stuck with a non-supported XP system.  And now every time you turn around some new website no longer supports IE7 and soon it will be IE8.  And for some totally idiotic reason we cannot "upgrade" from XP without doing a complete re-install of everything.

frets24

My Feedback: (15)

LOL, Good one!

frets24

My Feedback: (15)

Right on, Rgburrill.
I still have XP on the two PC's that I really do real work on. One is in my music studio(more for the kids now than me) and the other is the one I use for CAD designs and all of my business related stuff, Acct'g, quotes and such.
Wish MS had stayed with the XP design premise and just revved it up and supercharged it to be current and relevant rather than this apparent continual abandonment of past successes in the good bits and pieces of their past OpSys's. Instead we get new flashy bling and novelties wrapped in garbage and reinvention of an ever increasingly squarer wheel.

SteveR Rambin

Waay Too Funny vasek. You may get quarantined.

OliverJacob

My Feedback: (12)

Now I have been waiting with a new desktop pc for WIN 8 to come out.
I use WIN 7 on an i7 laptop and it's great except of some crashes when I run RealFlight

Then I have a Netbook running XP because my Ipod won't backup on the WIN 7 machine.

So should we have a computer for every operation system. A few years ago Linux seemed to be a great alternative, but was up to date with all the drivers.

The Apple OS might be safe, but also very limiting.

I guess I just get a Win 7 desktop

hugger-4641

My Feedback: (6)

I still have Windows 7 on my PC, but put Linux Mint on my laptop a few months ago. If you don't mind learning how use a terminal (dos prompt for you oldtimers ) you can get online and find the solution to just about anything you want to in Linux. No virus problems, no need to buy anti-virus software that won't catch a root kit anyway. Windows is a virus that makes you buy another software package to wipe your butt and an uprade to wipe your nose. Mac isn't that much better. I'm about tired of the cool aid myself. As soon as I get a little more proficient with Linux, Windows will be going bye bye from all my PC's.