Mark Morford | Why Does Windows Still Suck?

[bpcmxr]

Why do PC users put up with so many viruses and worms?
Why isn't everyone on a Mac?

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2005/02/04/notes020405.DTL&nl=fix


Thought y'all might enjoy this.

[Touchdown]

1. Love the last line...

After trashing her Vaio for an iBook...

"And of course, in a year of solid use, she has yet to have a single problem.

Oh wait. I take that back. She has had one nagging issue with her Mac. One program keeps crashing in the middle of her work, for no apparent reason. It is baffling and frustrating and makes you shake your head and want to scream.

The program in question? Microsoft Word. "

:D :D :D :D :D :D

[mrbassman03]

6. Hahahaha...

Classic.

[rocktivity]

10. I have nothing against Microsoft when it was actually a software company

I've used Office (on a Mac) and have always loved it. But they were in the business of making computer software then. It's their deciding to become the Al Capone of the internet that turned me off.

:headbang:
rocknation

[gold_bug]

2. why do people put up with it?

Here, then, is my big obvious question: Why the hell do people put up with this?

That's what I ask myself every time I watch my friends use their Windows machines, why they endure all the strain and stress Windows inflicts upon them. I'll never understand that.

[cheezus]

3. "because that's what everyone else uses"

oh, and "macs are too expensive"

then again, I believe that part of the reason windows sucks is just because it is so popular. Hence the glut of poorly written software (damn you, visual basic!), security threats and viruses.

[Poiuyt]

12. Windows keeps IT people employed

If businesses used Macs, the IT departments would have nothing to do. Natually, when management is looking for a system to buy, the IT people aren't going to say, "Buy Macintosh. Then I won't be needed."

I once heard a computer repairman say, "If you want to get your work done, use Linux. If you want to be in heaven, use a Macintosh. If you want to keep me employed use Windows."

[rocktivity]

4. I'd like to think I'd that be a Mac user by now anyway

As luck would have it, I was working in the creative department of an ad agency when the typewriters and drawing boards were replaced with computers--Macs for the creative department, PCs for everyone else.

As someone who both writes and works with graphics, I took to the Mac like a duck to water, and I didn't think of buying anything else when I was ready to venture into the then-new frontier of home computing and the Internet. I've had to get used to using PCs since, course. But while lying awake at night, I would sometimes wonder, "Suppose I'd worked in any other deepartment in that ad agency? Would I have brought a PC as my first home computer simply because that's what I was used to? Would I be looking down my nose at Mac users as just another minority group, or would I have wised up and seen the light? If I'd been weaned on a PC, WOULD I BE THE SAME PERSON THAT I AM NOW?"

But I don't anymore. Four months ago, my PC at work got so infected with spyware it took three days to clean it out. I didn't have to pay to have that done, of course. But if it had happened to my home PC, I would have been up the creek without a paddle--or a boat, OR a creek! It definitely would have been enough to drive me to buying a Mac, and now I lie awake wondering about OTHER things!

:scared:
rocknation

[realisticphish]

7. when i was much younger, about 8

my parents went to buy a computer. by chance, a friend of my dad's worked at the Mac store, so we got a discount. in short, they took the road less traveled by, and that has made all the difference:)


:hippie: The Incorrigible Democrat

[mrbassman03]

5. I like how he brings up the reason there are no Mac viruses...

It is not because "There are less Macs", it is because OS X is based of an incredibly stable UNIX core that has been tested and tweaked for decades... Glad he stuck that in.

[alfredo]

11. Even before OSX the Mac was

hard to crack. It was harder to write virii for the Mac.

[realisticphish]

8. you know the new iMac

the flatpanel single unit? i have a couple of computer geek friends who collapse on the floor in pure ecstasy just looking at it. and these are windows guys. i may have a couple converts;)


:hippie: The Incorrigible Democrat

[reprobate]

9. Just got an iMac G5. Love it.

It's everything I wanted in a computer. Quiet. Huge screen real estate. And I need no spyware detector or anything like that.

On Windoze I was using both Spybot and Ad aware. Plus spyblaster.

No longer needed.

And the wife and dogs are happier. They no longer have to listen to the loud cursing from the home office when windoze crashes once more.